POLITICS

US Senate hears testimony on Capitol riot: ‘These criminals came prepared for war’ – live

10.25pm GMT

Donald Trump used to promise his supporters that they would be winning so much, they would get sick and tired of winning. But the former US president is now on a seemingly endless losing streak.

He lost the presidential election, lost more than 60 legal challenges to the result, lost his bid to overturn the electoral college, lost control of the Senate and lost an impeachment trial 43-57, though he was spared conviction on a technicality. On Monday, Trump lost yet again – with potentially far-reaching consequences.

10.00pm GMT

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

: theguardian.com

Capitol mob ‘came prepared for war’, US Senate hears testimony – video

The former Capitol police chief, Steven Sund, said during a joint hearing on security failures that the insurrectionists during the 6 January attack ‘came prepared for war’.

Senators investigating the attack on the US Capitol last month heard testimony on training and equipping the Capitol police as the former police chief of that department and other security officials testified publicly for the first time Tuesday.

US politics: latest updates

: theguardian.com

US Capitol rioters ‘came prepared for war’, Senate hears in testimony

First congressional hearing on attack comes day after Merrick Garland said he would expand investigation into 6 January assault

US politics – live updates

Testifying on Tuesday in the first congressional hearing on the US Capitol attack, the chief of Capitol police who resigned over the riot said the pro-Trump mob which stormed the building “came prepared for war”.

: theguardian.com

Biden must rethink the US migration system, not just reverse Trump’s policies | Daniel Trilling

Biden’s early reforms are promising – and what the US does can help set standards for the rest of the world

If Donald Trump’s presidency was a lesson in how symbolic acts of cruelty can be used to consolidate power, then his successors are trying to demonstrate that the same is true for benevolence. In just over a month, the Biden-Harris administration has issued a flurry of new directives aimed at reversing some of the worst aspects of the former president’s immigration policy.

Biden has declared an end to the travel restrictions imposed on numerous Muslim-majority countries, and committed to both reviving and expanding the US refugee resettlement scheme. The administration has presented sweeping new immigration reforms to Congress, which if passed would offer a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, promised a moratorium on deportations in most instances, and announced a plan to reunite children and parents torn apart by the grotesque family separation policy. On Friday, the US began allowing asylum seekers to cross its southern border for the first time since Trump’s “remain in Mexico” initiative was launched in January 2019.

: theguardian.com

Nashville Tops the List of Hottest Housing Markets for 2017

In the same year renting becomes more affordable and the homeownership rate bounces back from historical lows, the country’s housing market superstar will be — drumroll, please — Nashville!

Music City has moved beyond its country roots to become a fast-growing economy with employment by the healthcare industry and big corporate names including Nissan, Randstad and Kroger — plus the popular chain of diners, Shoney’s.

Home appreciation is expected to rocket in Nashville this year by 4.3 percent, while incomes recently grew by 1.1 percent and unemployment is a healthy 4 percent.

Nashville is followed in housing market hotness by Seattle; Provo, UT; and Orlando on Zillow’s list of hottest markets for 2017.

“These hot markets are experiencing change as more people discover them,” said Zillow Chief Economist Svenja Gudell.

Zillow’s economic predictions for 2017 include a warning about a possible worsening of labor shortages for new construction if President-elect Trump follows through on his hard-line stances on immigration and immigrant labor.

Other predictions for the year ahead:

Cities will focus on denser development of smaller homes near public transit and urban centers.
More millennials, who made up more than half of first-time buyers in 2016, will become homeowners this year, increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of homeowners overall.
Rental affordability will improve as incomes rise and escalating rents slow.
The share of people driving to work will increase for the first time in a decade, as homeowners move into the suburbs for more affordable housing.

For more insights into U.S. real estate and rentals, check out the Zillow Group Report on Consumer Housing Trends.

Related:

: zillow.com