Tracker

Capitol rioter attempts to downplay her actions after giving apology in court The first individual sentenced in connection with the Capitol insurrection attempted to downplay the deadly event just days after sharing an apology before a federal judge. Anna Morgan-Lloyd, who pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor trespassing charge for illegally entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, appeared on Fox News for an interview where she offered her real opinion on the U.S. Capitol riots and those who participated. Although multiple people died as a result of the insurrection, Morgan-Lloyd claimed most rioters were "polite as they attacked the Capitol." Capitol rioter attempts to downplay her actions after giving apology in court - Alternet.org DOJ Sues Georgia, Says GOP-Backed Restrictions Unlawfully Target Black Voters. The Justice Department has made its first move against one of the voting laws passed in the wake of Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election. The Justice Department is suing the state of Georgia, it announced Friday, over a restrictive voting law passed in response to former President Donald Trump’s lies about mass voter fraud in the 2020 election. The lawsuit, which was first reported by Mother Jones, will allege that the Georgia law was enacted with the purpose of denying or abridging the rights of Black voters in the state. The Justice Department alleges that Georgia’s law was passed through a rushed process that departed from normal procedure, and contained provisions ― including limits on drop boxes for absentee ballots and on providing food and water to voters waiting in long lines ― that were passed with unlawful discriminatory intent. A New York Times analysis of the law, which was signed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), found 16 key provisions that limit ballot access in the state, particularly in urban and suburban counties that lean Democratic. The lawsuit is being filed eight years to the day after the Supreme Court, in a majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, struck down key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Those provisions required states with a history of racist voting laws to get preclearance from the federal government before implementing new voting laws. DOJ Sues Georgia, Says GOP-Backed Restrictions Unlawfully Target Black Voters | HuffPost Donald Trump Reportedly Wanted Military To ‘Beat The F**k’ Out Of George Floyd Protesters Former President Donald Trump wanted a violent military response to civil rights protesters who took to the streets following the police killing of George Floyd last year, according to a new book. Trump reportedly told advisers that he wanted soldiers to “beat the ****” out of the mostly peaceful demonstrators, according to an excerpt from Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender’s “‘Frankly, We Did Win This Election’: The Inside Story Of How Trump Lost” that was published by CNN on Thursday. “Just shoot them,” Trump reportedly repeatedly demanded. He is also quoted as saying he wanted to “crack their skulls.” Donald Trump Reportedly Wanted Military To ‘Beat The F**k’ Out Of George Floyd Protesters | HuffPost

This sort of thing and more extreme weather events has been predicted for 2-3 decades, and should be no surprise. Moreover, Southern California, Phoenix, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado and Texas have become "Cadillac deserts"- artificially hydrated areas which steal water away from other areas, making them de facto deserts and reducing the Rio Grande (Big River) to a trickle. They have borrowed against their futures and defied nature, and now the bills are due.

'Growing tension' and 'vitriolic threats' rock Michigan GOP as Trump supporters demand Arizona-style election audit On October 8, 2020, it was obvious how severe political tensions had become in Michigan when the FBI announced that 13 men had been arrested in connection with a domestic terrorist plot to kidnap Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, subject her to a "trial" and execute her if found guilty. Those behind the kidnapping plot were angry over the restrictions she had imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the political climate in that midwestern state hasn't grown any less tense since then. Washington Post reporter Tom Hamburger, in an article published on June 23, describes the tensions that continue to rock Michigan five months into Joe Biden's presidency. "As Michigan State Rep. Donna Lasinski got out of her car at the state Capitol in Lansing on a sunny morning last week," Hamburger reports, "she was greeted by two people carrying what she described as assault rifles while protesters outside the building called for an audit of the 2020 election. Such disconcerting encounters are not uncommon in Lansing — a reflection of persistent and growing tension gripping Michigan eight months after Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump." 'Growing tension' and 'vitriolic threats' rock Michigan GOP as Trump supporters demand Arizona-style election audit - Alternet.org

There seems to be so much hatred and anger in the US- most of it from the right-wing/fascist side, that I cannot see how the US can survive as a country. If the country fragments, we inevitably will be collateral damage. So many Americans are totally oblivious to the threats posed by the neo-fascists and seem to be unable to grasp that their country could slide into dictatorship, as happened fairly recently in Hungary. The playbook is clear: demonize minorities such as immigrants and people of colour, proclaim that the country is going to Hell and that only a strong leader can save it, repeat endlessly videos of unruly or violent demonstrations and crimes committed by the "evil people", muzzle and bribe the media, restrict voting access, claim illegal actions every time a loss or setback happens in the polls or courts, and stack the courts and civil service with compliant people.

Charges may be near for Roger Stone over Jan. 6 Capitol riot, legal expert says. "Could it progress to potential charges? You bet," former U.S. Attorney-turned-LA Times columnist Harry Litman said Longtime Republican operative Roger Stone, who allegedly owes nearly $2 million in back taxes, is reportedly still on the Justice Department's radar for his purported role in organizing the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Alongside right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Stone is now being investigated by federal prosecutors over his role in organizing and inciting the attempted Jan. 6 insurrection — an allegation he refutes. News that was previously reported by The Washington Post near the end of February found new life on Twitter early this week when former United States Attorney-turned-Los Angeles Times legal affairs columnist Harry Litman tweeted, "Just wouldn't be a real scandal and outrage without the presence of, you guessed it, Roger Stone, whom DOJ now investigating for his role in 1/6 insurrection." Charges may be near for Roger Stone over Jan. 6 Capitol riot, legal expert says | Salon.com

DeSantis signs bill requiring Florida students, professors to register political views with state. Universities may lose funding if staff and students' beliefs do not satisfy Florida's GOP-run legislature Public universities in Florida will be required to survey both faculty and students on their political beliefs and viewpoints, with the institutions at risk of losing their funding if the responses are not satisfactory to the state's Republican-led legislature. The unprecedented project, which was tucked into a law signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, is part of a long-running, nationwide right-wing push to promote "intellectual diversity" on campuses — though worries over a lack of details on the survey's privacy protections, and questions over what the results may ultimately be used for, hover over the venture. Based on the bill's language, survey responses will not necessarily be anonymous — sparking worries among many professors and other university staff that they may be targeted, held back in their careers or even fired for their beliefs. According to the bill's sponsor, state Sen. Ray Rodrigues, faculty will not be promoted or fired based on their responses, but, as The Tampa Bay Times reported Tuesday, the bill itself does not back up those claims. DeSantis signs bill requiring Florida students, professors to register political views with state | Salon.com What would America be like if Trump's coup had succeeded? Suppressing SNL is only the start The "revelations" continue about the Trump regime's abuse of power, lawbreaking, crimes, corruption, general disregard for democratic norms and institutions and overall perfidy. We now know that Donald Trump wanted to use the Department of Justice, the FCC and other federal agencies to silence dissent and criticism — specifically, to clamp down on the mockery of late-night TV hosts and the venerable "Saturday Night Live." In case you didn't know this yet, Trump was and is an authoritarian and a fascist who holds utter contempt for the Constitution and democracy. On Tuesday, Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley of the Daily Beast reported that Trump had gone much further than "simply tweeting his displeasure with the late-night comedians and SNL writers' room," and "wanted to use the full weight and power of the U.S. government to punish his personal enemies." According to two anonymous sources, Trump asked his advisers in 2019 whether the FCC, the federal courts or the DOJ could do anything to suppress SNL, ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and others. He was apparently disappointed to learn that the "devastating retribution" he hoped for was not possible in a democracy, even an enfeebled one: What would America be like if Trump's coup had succeeded? Suppressing SNL is only the start | Salon.com

QAnon fans thrilled after OAN host floats mass 'execution' for people who 'stole' election from Trump Believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory are enthusiastically circulating a video of a contributor at the Trump-loving One America News calling for the mass execution of the former president's enemies. Via The Daily Beast's Will Sommer, an OAN contributor this week went off on a rant in which he falsely claimed that "voter fraud" cost former President Donald Trump the 2020 election, and said it was time to think about how to deal with the purported perpetrators.

He has nothing else to kvetch about, and attacking anything that sounds even vaguely unpatriotic and completely inane will be applauded by his base.

Reports say that he caught a virus that was not blocked.

‘MASSIVE WIN’: Capitol Rioters Breathe Sigh of Relief After Slap on Wrist Anna Morgan-Lloyd was sentenced to probation Wednesday in connection to Jan. 6, the first rioter to get her punishment. Lawyers for the accused are celebrating.

Newly released records show the staggering number of Secret Service agents who contracted COVID-19 under Trump In 2020, during the Trump administration, 881 active Secret Service employees were diagnosed with COVID-19. This, according to records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), included a majority, 477, of secret service "special agents," and 249 from the "uniformed division." This follows suit with the scant information that leaked out early on during the pandemic, when it was known that the Secret Service was facing at least 11 active COVID-19 cases and dozens more in quarantine because of exposure. The FOIA documents do not give granular details about which agents may or may not have been in daily contact with Trump or his administration's personnel. Analysis by CREW of the documents obtained does give this peek into how dangerous a job being a Secret Service employee was under a science-denying administration: "The list consists of 477 Special Agents, 249 members of the Uniformed Division, 131 working in Administrative, Professional, Technical Positions, 12 Investigative Protection Officers and 12 Technical Security Investigators." Those 477 "special agents" are employees in the division that "is responsible for protecting the president and vice president, as well as the families of these leaders and other government officials." Newly released records show the staggering number of Secret Service agents who contracted COVID-19 under Trump - Alternet.org

Not if the bible belts in Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan have anything to say about it.

Me Like!!!

We need a week of low/declining TP numbers before we can declare that this horror is beaten as a pandemic.

Thank God!! We seem to have passed the critical point where the number of new cases are well under 100. We can all breathe a little easier now.

Trump's former bodyguard becomes latest from Trumpworld entangled by Manhattan DA's probe Report: on New York prosecutors' advice, Trump's former bodyguard lawyer's up New York prosecutors are probing whether a former bodyguard of Donald Trump's benefited from tax-free corporate benefits as part of the city's broader investigation into whether the Trump Organization skirted its tax obligations. According to The Wall Street Journal, which interviewed several unnamed sources, the inquiry is centered on Matthew Calamari, who started working for Trump back in 1981 and now holds a position as a top executive at the Trump Organization. In his 2004 book "Trump: How to Get Rich," the former president claimed that Calamari, then his bodyguard, "had a lot more to offer than his job title warranted." Calamari would be promoted to Chief Operating Officer years later. Calamari reportedly lives in an apartment at Trump Park Avenue and drives a Mercedes leased through the Trump Organization. His son, Matthew Calamari, Jr., currently resides in another Trump-affiliated luxury apartment called Trump Parc East, where his rent is subsidized by the Trump Organization. The young Calamari graduated from college in 2011 and was promoted to corporate director of security six years later. New York prosecutors have reportedly instructed both Calamaris to retain legal services. Trump's former bodyguard becomes latest from Trumpworld entangled by Manhattan DA's probe | Salon.com

Or an Erin O'Toole pep meeting.

DOJ National Security Chief: I Almost Resigned Over Trump’s Election Lies The Department of Justice official who led the crucial national security division has revealed how he almost resigned when his boss came under pressure to investigate Donald Trump’s stolen election claims. Assistant Attorney General John Demers is the most senior DOJ official to have served under both Trump and Joe Biden but is finally moving on this week. In a farewell interview with the Wall Street Journal, Demers said the only time in his three years at the DOJ that he considered resigning was in early January when acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen was in Trump’s firing line, leaving him wondering who would be left to sign requests for foreign intelligence surveillance and handle the espionage threat from China and Russia. “I didn’t know what was going to happen, I thought that there was a real chance that would be my last day in the department,” Demers, 49, told the Journal. In the event, Rosen resisted the pressure from Trump and Demers stayed in his job. DOJ National Security Chief: I Almost Resigned Over Trump’s Election Lies (thedailybeast.com)

Trump wanted DOJ to stop 'Saturday Night Live' from mocking him: report For 46 years, "Saturday Night Live" has lampooned U.S. presidents — and many of them, from Republicans George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Gerald Ford to Democrat Bill Clinton — laughed at the joke. Former "SNL" cast member Dana Carvey even became friends with the Bush family because of his Bush 41 parody. But former President Donald Trump, on the other hand, was furious with "SNL" over Alec Baldwin's impression of him — and according to Daily Beast reporters Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley, Trump, in 2019, even wanted the U.S. Department of Justice to look into possible ways to stop "SNL" from mocking him. Suebsaeng and Rawnsley explain, "It was, on its face, a ridiculous question and threat, as 'SNL' is obviously satire and therefore, a form of protected speech in America that pissed-off commanders-in-chief have no authority to directly subvert. However, then-President Trump went farther than simply tweeting his displeasure with the late-night comedians and 'SNL' writers' room. The internal discussions that followed, between the former leader of the Free World and some of his political and legal advisers, once again underscored just how much Trump wanted to use the full weight and power of the U.S. government to punish his personal enemies." Trump wanted DOJ to stop 'Saturday Night Live' from mocking him: report - Alternet.org

And yet the SOB was willing to let the COVID pandemic "just wash over the country" killing millions. That is nothing short of sociopathic. His inaction was the direct cause of the deaths of hundreds of thousands.

Good life lesson!

Trump Wanted to Send COVID-Infected Americans to Guantánamo Bay, Book Says Former President Donald Trump was so frightened that rising coronavirus cases would hurt his polling numbers that he suggested a group of infected Americans being brought home from Asia should be sent to Guantánamo Bay. “Don’t we have an island that we own?” Trump reportedly asked aides in February 2020, at the start of the pandemic. “What about Guantánamo?” The story features in Nightmare Scenario, a new book by Washington Post journalists Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta, capturing the chaos of the Trump White House as COVID-19 hit. The pair report that Trump was incensed that official testing was boosting case numbers and shouted at Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar: “I’m going to lose the election because of testing! What idiot had the federal government do testing?” “Uh, do you mean Jared?” Azar responded, referring to the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. According to the Post, the book suggests that the president’s own infection was “far more serious than officials acknowledged.” Read it at Washington Post (unfortunately not serious enough because he survived)

There are so many things about being a dad to an adult son and daughter that I never knew and had to puzzle out. When I think of it, my dad probably had to go through that as well. I also wish he had been around to see how his grandkidlets who he loved turned out. It's been 25 years and I still miss him sometimes , but we are given memory that we might have roses in winter.

Is he going to wear his visor?

Speaking from experience, I want to acknowledge all the Dads out there ("fathers" denotes genetics not commitment and love), that this is a job which is sometimes thankless and always demands much, but pays off when we see what kind of dads, men and husbands our sons become and what kind of moms, women and wives our daughters become. We are one of the two most powerful influences in the lives of our offspring, without the benefit of all the hormones moms have, In recognition of this, I post the best dad joke I could find.