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Over 80 of Those Charged in the January 6 Investigation Have Ties to the Military  (Eleanor Watson, Robert Legare, CBS News)
More than 80 of the defendants charged in relation to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol have ties to the U.S. military — most of those with a military background were veterans. A CBS News analysis of service records, attorney statements, and court documents has found that at least 81 current or former service members face charges and are accused of participating in the mob that led Congress to temporarily halt its counting of the 2020 presidential election’s Electoral College votes. The Justice Department has so far charged more than 700 individuals in connection with the Capitol breach. While an overwhelming majority of those with military ties were veterans when they were charged, at least five were currently in the military when they participated in the attack. One was an active-duty Marine, and four were part-time troops, either in the Army Reserve or National Guard. Court documents assert another alleged rioter was “attending basic training for the United States Air Force” at the time of an August 2021 interview with the FBI following his alleged participation in the January 6 attack. In all, at least 36 have served in the Marine Corps, 28 in the Army, three in the Navy, and five in the Air Force.

Extremist Anti-Vaxxers with Crossbows Plotted to Assassinate a German Governor Who Supported Mandates, Authorities Say  (Jake Epstein, Business Insider)
Extremist anti-vaxxers in Germany were arrested on Wednesday after plotting to assassinate a governor who supported vaccine mandates, according to local authorities. Police raided a handful of homes in Dresden after catching wind of a plot to murder pro-vaccine governor of Saxony Michael Kretschmer and other officials, CNN reported. The raids targeted individuals from a Telegram group who were reportedly discussing plans to assassinate Kretschmer with crossbows and other weapons, the report said. German police said that parts of crossbows were found unassembled, the report said. Kretschmer has been publicly supportive of vaccines and mandates. Since taking office on December 8, he’s pushed for a national vaccine requirement and wants a law drafted in the near future, CNN reported. Meanwhile, politicians and journalists have received packages of meat from anti-vaxxers, along with threatening letters that vowed a “bloody resistance” to vaccination, German news site Der Spiegel reported on Wednesday. The letters claimed that the meat was infected with COVID-19 viruses and Zyklon B — a toxin used by the Nazis during the Holocaust — the report said.

Far-Right Using COVID-19 Theories to Grow Reach, Study Shows  (David Klepper and Lori Hinnant, AP / San Franccisco Chronicle)
The mugshot-style photos are posted on online message boards in black and white and look a little like old-fashioned “wanted” posters.
“The Jews own COVID just like all of Hollywood,” the accompanying text says. “Wake up people.”
The post is one of many that white supremacists and far-right extremists are using to expand their reach and recruit followers on the social media platform Telegram, according to the findings of researchers who sifted through nearly half a million comments on pages — called channels on Telegram — that they categorized as far-right from January 2020 to June 2021.
The tactic has been successful: Nine of the 10 most viewed posts in the sample examined by the researchers contained misleading claims about the safety of vaccines or the pharmaceutical companies manufacturing them. One Telegram channel saw its total subscribers jump tenfold after it leaned into COVID-19 conspiracy theories.