Last Call For Totaling A Shelby

Yet another GOP senator is retiring in 2022, this time it's Richard Shelby of Alabama.

U.S. Sen. Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the Senate’s fourth most senior member, has told confidantes that he does not intend to run for reelection next year — prompting some Republicans to urge the powerful, establishment politician to reconsider, even as potential replacements prepare to run for his seat.

The senator in recent weeks told one close Alabama ally that he was not planning on running in 2022 for what would be his seventh term, according to the ally, who was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The person said some in the state were still trying to get Shelby to change his mind out of concern about losing clout and worries that the senator might be replaced by a fringe candidate who would not be as effective.

Shelby spokeswoman Blair Taylor said Friday that the senator has not made a decision, “but there will likely be an announcement forthcoming in the next few weeks.”

A titan of Alabama politics, the 86-year-old politician has spent 42 years in Washington, serving first in the House and the Senate. His stepping down would leave a power void for the region. It would also set off a free-for-all primary in a national party deeply divided between traditional Republicans like Shelby and those who model themselves on former President Donald Trump.

Shelby was elected to the Senate in 1986 as a conservative Democrat during the party’s waning days of power in the Deep South, but he switched to the GOP in 1994. He's spent the last two years as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, before Democrats gained control of the chamber. All along he has used his influence to benefit the state's interests, particularly ports and military manufacturers. He played a key role in bringing an FBI campus and the newly announced Space Command to Huntsville.

“I don’t know anybody who knows how to wield power like Shelby does," said David Mowery, an Alabama-based political consultant.

“I would say that is his greatest accomplishment, to get money allocated to the state for many different projects,” said former Alabama Republican Party Chairman Bill Armistead.

Alabama's political circles have long braced for a Shelby retirement. Armistead said the senator told him during his 2016 bid for reelection that it was his last campaign, but Armistead added the caveat that, “Things change.” Several months ago, Shelby told a group of business leaders at a private meeting that he would retire rather than run again, according to a person in attendance who was not authorized to discuss the event and also spoke on condition of anonymity.

A list of potential GOP replacements is waiting in the wings. Possible candidates include Shelby’s former chief of staff, Katie Boyd Britt, who now heads an influential business lobby and who would likely have the senator’s backing if she decided to enter the race. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, who suspended his 2020 Senate campaign when former Attorney General Jeff Sessions jumped in the race, said he would consider a run. Rep. Mo Brooks is also expected to eye the seat. Brooks has faced criticism for his role in the Jan. 6 siege at the U.S. Capitol. At a rally before the deadly riot, he told the crowd it was time for “taking down names and kicking ass,” but has maintained since that he was talking about fighting at the ballot box.

 

I'd love to see Doug Jones get another crack at this seat for the Dems, but I'd have to admit that much like Jaime Harrison or Amy McGrath's quixotic attempts that ended up in double-digit failures, Jones would lose by an even larger margin than the 20-point asskicking he took from Tommy Tuberville.

Then again, with the GOP all but assuring there will be massive Black voter disenfranchisement in the years ahead at the red state level, Jones could lose by 30 points next time around, as would any Democrat.

Trial Of The Century 2.0, Con't

The last thing Republicans want is a lengthy impeachment trial where witnesses describe in detail how the Trump terrorists were in the US Capitol building with the intent of killing Democratic lawmakers (and Mike Pence, if the chants are to be believed). With hours of footage ending up in attack ads against Republican seditionists and enablers, they'd be doomed in 2022.  And Republicans are absolutely terrified of that.

Allies of former President Donald Trump are imploring his impeachment team to avoid one specific topic when they defend the ex-president at his Senate trial next week: the deadly riot that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol.

Despite Trump’s likely acquittal on charges that he incited an insurrection, some of his most ardent supporters fear the trial could further damage his reputation if his attorneys wade into the events of Jan. 6, when five people were killed — including a Capitol police officer — after pro-Trump demonstrators stormed the halls of Congress.

The former president, whom House Democrats have accused of inciting the rioters at a rally earlier the same day, is already hemorrhaging support within the GOP. Recent public polls have shown a sharp decline in support among Republican voters for a potential Trump comeback bid in 2024. And a widely televised trial that reminds voters and lawmakers of the disturbing moments when MAGA devotees assaulted law enforcement officials and broke into the Capitol building could harm his future political aspirations even more.

“The Democrats have a very emotional and compelling case,” said former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. “They’re going to try to convict him in the eyes of the American people and smear him forever.”

Trump’s legal team appears to have similar trepidations that next week’s proceedings will turn into a high-profile retelling of the riots and his role in them. To prevent that from happening, his lawyers have centered their case on whether it is constitutional to impeach a president after he’s left office. They also plan to argue that he did not engage in insurrection, saying his fiery speech on the ellipse of the White House was protected by the First Amendment, without indulging a lengthy discussion about what happened on Jan. 6.

“We don’t need to focus on Jan. 6 because this is unconstitutional,” said a person familiar with the strategy, who was not authorized to speak publicly. “There’s a lot of legal technical arguments that are going to be discussed.”

The concern among Trump’s allies that the trial will be a relitigation of the events at the Capitol underscores the degree to which next week is being viewed as a public relations matter for the optics-obsessed former president. It was notable on Thursday that in a letter dismissing the House impeachment managers’ calls for Trump to testify at the trial, the ex-president’s lawyers decried the request as a “public relations stunt.”

Still, there is little Trump’s team can do to stop the trial from veering towards a discussion of Jan. 6, since the impeachment managers are likely to focus intensely on the riots — and could, indeed, call witnesses to testify about what happened. In advance of that happening, top Republicans have begun to warn that Democrats are trying to score political points rather than address substantive constitutional matters.

 

Good luck with that, folks.

 

You bought the ticket, now you take the ride.

 

Retribution Execution, Con't

Donald Trump has emerged from his winter lair as his impeachment trial gets under way next week, but his real target is exacting bloody revenge against all the Republicans who refused to support him.

 

Donald Trump has been largely silent since leaving the White House last month, but he's making preparations for a comeback grievance tour.

The former president is planning a nationwide speaking tour intended to target the 10 Republicans who backed his impeachment and any GOP senators who speak out against him at next week's trial, reported Insider.

"I'm sure he wants to get out a roulette wheel with all their faces on it," said one Republican who speaks to Trump.

However, the former president is waiting until the trial ends and seems to understand Americans needed a break from his antics.

"Even he recognizes that we have Trump fatigue," said the Republican source. "Even he knows that you can get overexposed, and he wore the electorate out, and that was part of the problem. He clearly wore the country out with his behavior between the election and the inauguration."

Trump has been stung by the loss of his Twitter account and surprised by his swift impeachment -- his second in one term -- over the U.S. Capitol insurrection, but he's eager to return to the public eye.

"Trump is clearly shell shocked from the reaction to Jan. 6 and losing his social media platform," said Doug Heye, a former spokesman for the Republican National Committee. "We don't know how long that will last, but it's safe to assume we'll be hearing from him at some point."

There are no plans in place for his plans for the 2022 midterm campaigns, but some Republicans would prefer Trump take a lengthy break from politics.

"Trump would do best for himself and the party by laying low for a few years," said GOP strategist Mike DuHaime.

 

The good news is if Huckleberry Graham follows through on his threat to call witnesses and stretches Trump's impeachment trial for months, Trump clearly won't have the discipline to keep his mouth shut and he'll go rogue.

We'll see if he does, but watch for some fireworks.

StupidiNews!

• Senate Democrats had VP Kamala Harris as the tiebreaking vote to move ahead on President Biden's COVID-19 relief package after a long night of GOP amendments voted down.
• A US Navy meteorologist has been reunited with the wallet he lost in Antarctica 53 years ago, found behind a set of lockers at a demolished McMurdo Station building.
• The FDA is planning on quick approval for vaccine booster shots if current vaccines prove ineffective against a growing number of COVID-19 variants.
• The Pentagon says cost of deployment of the DC National Guard in Washington has already topped $480 million as troops are expected to stay in the Capitol Hill area through February.
• Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard's golf ball on the moon traveled roughly 40 yards according to newly released remastered images of his now famous lunar golf swing.
  

Last Call For Greene Light, Red Light

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was unceremoniously booted from her committee assignments today as her fake conspiracy theory denial apology fell on deaf ears, and Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer showed up with the receipts.

The House voted largely along party lines Thursday to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her two committee assignments, a precedent-shattering move by Democrats to rebuke a Republican who has espoused extremist beliefs that she publicly renounced in part just hours before the vote.

The vote against Greene reflected deep frustration in the Democratic ranks over the Republican leadership’s reluctance to take its own action to marginalize Greene (R-Ga.), their desire to yoke the entire GOP to her extremism, as well as their anger over a lack of accountability for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

As recently as last year, Greene had been an open adherent of the QAnon ideology, sprawling and violent web of conspiracy theories that played a role in inspiring the Capitol attack. In addition, she had made comments on social media suggesting some mass shootings were staged by supporters of gun control, that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated by government forces and that a Jewish cabal had sparked a deadly wildfire with a space beam.

“I don’t understand what is complicated here,” said House Rules Committee Chairman James McGovern (D-Mass.), exhorting his colleagues to sideline Greene. “We know the result of these violent conspiracy theories. We saw that on Jan. 6. We know what it leads to. I don’t ever want to see that again. And we all should make clear where we stand on this.”

The vote was 230-199, with 11 Republicans voting with Democrats to strip Greene of her committees.

 

Her weak apology allowed 199 Republicans enough cover to scream CANCEL CULTURE and vote to allow the raging bigot anti-Semite racist to stay on the House Education Committee.

The vote came after Greene renounced some of her most egregious past remarks on the House floor, in a 10-minute speech that was more explanation than apology — one that doubled down on her attacks against the media and her political enemies while omitting some of her most recent behavior.

“These were words of the past, and these things do not represent me, they do not represent my district, and they do not represent my values,” she said.

Greene said the 9/11 attacks “absolutely happened” and that school shootings are “absolutely real.” She said she embraced QAnon in late 2017 out of her support for former president Donald Trump and her mistrust of government and of mainstream media sources.

“I was allowed to believe things that weren’t true, and I would ask questions about them and talk about them, and that is absolutely what I regret,” she said. “Because if it weren’t for the Facebook posts and comments that I liked in 2018, I wouldn’t be standing here today and you couldn’t point a finger and accuse me of anything wrong.”

She went on to describe the uproar about her comments as a “cancel culture” attack on the free speech of conservatives: “Big media companies can take teeny, tiny pieces of words that I’ve said, that you have said, any of us, and can portray us as someone that we’re not, and that is wrong."

 

Not an iota of remorse, and so she paid the price.

The 11 Republicans who voted to strip her?

• Kinzinger(IL-11)
• Fitzpatrick(PA-01) 
• Giminez(FL-26) 
• Malliotakis(NY-11) 
• Katko(NY-24) 
• Upton(MI-06) 
• Kim(CA-39) 
• Jacobs(NY-27) 
• Salazar(FL-27) 
• Díaz-Balart(FL-25) 
• Smith(NJ-04)

They will pay the price too, from the GOP side. And note Liz Cheney's name isn't there. 

She's just as racist, as bigoted, and as evil as the rest of them.

The Coup-Coup Birds Come Home To Roost, Con't

Why yes, white supremacist militias aren't taking the arrests from the January 6 Capitol insurrection very well at all, and they are doing things like publicly telling newspapers that they now plan to secede from the union or to "collapse the American experiment" by whatever means necessary.

The leader of a private paramilitary group that provided security for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said he has formed alliances with other far-right groups to advocate for Georgia’s secession from the union, following the arrests of participants in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

“The way patriots are now being hunted down and arrested by fellow men and women who have taken the same oath has disheartened any faith I had in the redemption or reformation of the USA as one entity,” Justin Thayer, head of the Georgia III% Martyrs, said in a text exchange with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week.

Thayer said the Martyrs have allied themselves with fellow “Three Percenter” militia the American Brotherhood of Patriots and American Patriots USA (APUSA), a north Georgia group headed by Chester Doles, a Dahlonega resident who belonged to various racist and neo-Nazi hate groups before forming the new group in 2019. The combined groups will advocate for Georgia’s secession from the union through an amendment to the U.S. Constitution or through “the collapse of the American experiment,” Thayer said.

“For the last 150 years, the Imperial Yankee culture of the northeast has been molding Georgia — and the South in general — into its ‘perfect’ image,” he said.

In an AJC interview this week, Doles confirmed the groups were working together, but he would not say what they intended to do.

“Things are different now. Everything has changed,” he said. “We’ve seen our last Republican president in American history. The ballot box — we tried as hard as we could try. It’s not working.”

Folks, they're not longer pretending niceties here. We have a full-blown domestic terrorism movement on our hands and we have had them for years. They want out of America, and they are absolutely going to resort to deadly violence to achieve it. Now, they are banding together.

Researchers who study the far right say political unrest over the past year gave extremist groups opportunities to collaborate across ideological divides, forging alliances based on common grievances and enemies. The November presidential election and the proliferation of baseless conspiracy theories about its outcome only pushed groups closer together.

“We saw members of traditional militias, white supremacists, QAnon and other people in the same spaces and claiming very similar enemies,” said Amy Iandiorio, an investigative researcher with the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.

This “shared victimhood narrative” around the outcome of the presidential election created the opportunity for “tactical” alliances among groups that normally wouldn’t mix, she said.

The Martyrs raised eyebrows this fall when they appeared as private security for then-candidate Greene at a rally in Ringgold with former GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler. Greene posed for multiple photos with the militia and said she needed them to protect herself from unspecified death threats she said she had received.

On Jan. 6, Thayer joined throngs of pro-Trump supporters who rallied to hear the former president’s baseless claims of a “stolen” election and condemnation of “weak Republicans,” but he said he did not take part in storming the U.S. Capitol immediately after it.

Doles has been working longer to build support for his political group, staging occasional public rallies and motorcycle convoys from his north Georgia base. He claims to have walked away from his career as a white supremacist activist with groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the National Alliance, while also maintaining ties to some figures in those movements. His attempts to insinuate America Patriots USA into mainstream conservative politics have met with limited success, however.

Doles championed Greene’s candidacy on his website and on social media, often posting a photo of Greene posing with APUSA members taken during her Republican primary campaign.

No, I don't actually expect a war. I do however expect more terrorist attacks in the weeks and months ahead.

We all need to face that reality. 

To Boldly Go And All That

Donald Trump established the US Space Force as a division of the US Armed Forces, much to the chagrin of absolutely everyone, and it looks like Joe Biden will keep them around.

Why it matters: After President Biden's election, some advocated that the incoming administration disband the newest branch of the military, first established by President Trump.

What's happening: "We are not revisiting the decision to establish the Space Force," Psaki said at a press briefing, adding that the Department of Defense's focus on securing space is a bipartisan issue.

Background: Psaki came under fire Tuesday when a top Republican lawmaker saw remarks she made in response to a question about the Space Force as dismissive of the guardians enlisted in the force. In response, Psaki tweeted Tuesday night that she would welcome Space Force officials to come speak to the press about their work.

"I'm very proud of the guardians in the Space Force," Gen. John Raymond, the chief of space operations, said during a press call Wednesday morning. "I see the value of this force each and every day, and I'm happy to talk to anybody about the great work that they're doing. I would welcome the opportunity." Raymond also said that he has not yet spoken with President Biden about space.

The big picture: Many experts within the space industry see the Space Force as an essential means of keeping satellites and other key assets safe from attack. From GPS to photos of difficult-to-reach parts of Earth, the U.S. is increasingly reliant on space. This is particularly true when it comes to fighting wars, and the Space Force is expected to shore up defenses and capabilities in orbit.

I mean I did just point out how vulnerable our GPS satellites are to hackers and sabotage, so I mean I guess somebody should be in charge of that, and even without Space Force, the Air Force's US Space Command would be doing it anyway, so frankly yeah, somebody should keep it.

I dunno if I'd want to be the US military force established by Trump though.

Last Call For Mean Greene's Machine

House GOP embarrassment and racist conspiracy crank Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is being condemned by House GOP minority leader Kevin McCarthy, but McCarthy refuses to actually do anything about her because of "The Squad" on the Democratic side, and Rep. Ilhan Omar in particular. Omar's previous anti-Semitic remarks earned her a deserved drubbing by Jewish members of Congress on both sides, but the difference is Omar apologized when it was pointed out to her. Greene is even worse, and racist on top of that, so if McCarthy won't yank her off committees, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer will.

House Democratic leaders are gearing up to vote Thursday on legislation stripping Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) of her committee spots — unless Republican leaders do it first.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) spoke with his counterpart, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), about Greene's fate Wednesday morning, with Hoyer suggesting afterwards that the GOP leader is not ready to remove the controversial conservative firebrand from a pair of top committees.

"I spoke to Leader McCarthy this morning, and it is clear there is no alternative to holding a Floor vote on the resolution to remove Rep. Greene from her committee assignments," Hoyer said in a statement. "The Rules Committee will meet this afternoon, and the House will vote on the resolution tomorrow."

The proposal, sponsored by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), would remove Greene from two plum committee assignments — Budget, and Education and Labor — for the remainder of this Congress.

McCarthy, the House Republican leader, had huddled with Greene in his office in the Capitol on Tuesday evening. Afterwards, McCarthy hosted a second meeting with the GOP Steering and Policy Committee to discuss Greene's fate. No decisions were made, but leaders are expected to meet again on Wednesday, and the full Republican conference also has a planned gathering at 4 p.m, when the topic is sure to be a major focus.

Hoyer has already spoken with McCarthy about Greene at least once this week. Democratic leaders remain in the dark about how McCarthy will proceed, according to a Democratic leadership aide, but they're insisting that GOP leaders remove Greene from both committees, or Democrats will take that step themselves by moving the Wasserman Schultz bill.

Technically this is Steny Hoyer's wheelhouse as House Majority Leader, and while the avowed centrist has been in the House Dem leadership for decades along with Pelosi now, he knows when to swing a big bat, and this is the time.

McCarthy can either do it quietly, or Hoyer can do it publicly. It's McCarthy's choice.

 

Ridin' With Biden, Con't

A decent three-in-five Americans feel confident with Joe Biden in the White House, a figure that includes more than a quarter of Republicans, in Quinnipiac University's latest poll.

Two weeks into the presidency of Joe Biden, a majority of Americans say, 61 - 34 percent, that they are generally optimistic about the next four years with Biden as president, according to a Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pea- ack) University national poll of 1,075 adults released today. However, there are sharp divisions by party identification.

Democrats say 90 - 7 percent and independents say 62 - 35 percent that they are optimistic. Republicans say 65 - 27 percent that they are pessimistic.

Despite an overall majority being optimistic, 69 percent of Americans say they are either very dissatisfied (46 percent) or somewhat dissatisfied (23 percent) with the way things are going in the nation today. Twenty-nine percent say they are very satisfied (6 percent) or somewhat satisfied (23 percent) with the way things are going in the nation today.

A majority (56 - 35 percent) say Biden is doing more to unite the country than to divide it.

"Amid a palpable uncertainty about the months and even years ahead, there is a sense that President Biden is the man for the moment. And that moment can't come too soon," said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy.

Americans were asked about several issues the United States is confronting right now and whether they think these issues are a crisis, a problem but not a crisis, or not a problem at all. Of the six issues, the coronavirus pandemic is the only one with a clear majority considering it a crisis.

• Coronavirus Pandemic: 68 percent say crisis, 25 percent problem but not a crisis, 6 percent not a problem at all;
• The State of Nation's Economy: 45 percent say crisis, 46 percent problem but not a crisis, 7 percent not a problem at all;
• The State of Nation's Democracy: 45 percent say crisis, 43 percent problem but not a crisis, 9 percent not a problem at all;
• Climate Change: 43 percent say crisis, 33 percent problem but not a crisis, 21 percent not a problem at all;
• Racial Inequality: 41 percent say crisis, 42 percent problem but not a crisis, 14 percent not a problem at all;
• People Believing in Conspiracy Theories: 34 percent say crisis, 41 percent problem but not a crisis, 21 percent not a problem at all. 

President Biden receives a positive job approval rating with Americans approving 49 - 36 percent of the way he's handling his job. Sixteen percent didn't offer an opinion.

"The Biden numbers are solid but not spectacular as the country tries to coalesce around a new administration that faces the dual challenge of daunting economic struggles and comforting a COVID-weary public," said Malloy.

On his handling of the response to the coronavirus, Americans approve 61 - 29 percent.

 

Biden's starting off as well as any post-Trump Democrat could be, frankly.  Sixteen percent say they have no opinion of his job so far, but that will change if Biden signs big bills into law...or doesn't get to sign them because the Senate GOP blocked them.

Luckily, it looks like Biden and the Dems are going to deliver, and soon.

Our Little White Supremacist Domestic Terrorism Problem, Con't

There's still plenty of white supremacist domestic terrorists out there, and they are itching for even more lethal violence after the January 6th coup on the US Capitol. Their only goal is to bring down the Biden administration, or die trying.

Hours after the attack on the Capitol ended, a group calling itself the Last Sons of Liberty posted a brief video to Parler, the social media platform, that appeared to show members of the organization directly participating in the uprising. Footage showed someone with a shaky smartphone charging past the metal barricades surrounding the building. Other clips show rioters physically battling with baton-wielding police on the white marble steps just outside the Capitol.

Before Parler went offline — its operations halted at least temporarily when Amazon refused to continue to host the network — the Last Sons posted numerous statements indicating that group members had joined the mob that swarmed the Capitol and had no regrets about the chaos and violence that unfolded on Jan. 6. The Last Sons also did some quick math: The government had suffered only one fatality, U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, 42, who was reportedly bludgeoned in the head with a fire extinguisher. But the rioters had lost four people, including Ashli Babbitt, the 35-year-old Air Force veteran who was shot by an officer as she tried to storm the building.

In a series of posts, the Last Sons said her death should be “avenged” and appeared to call for the murder of three more cops.

The group is part of the Boogaloo movement — a decentralized, very online successor to the ­­militia movement of the ’80s and ’90s —­ whose adherents are fixated on attacking law enforcement and violently toppling the U.S. government. Researchers say the movement began coalescing online in 2019 as people — mostly young men — angry with what they perceived to be increasing government repression, found each other on Facebook groups and in private chats. In movement vernacular, Boogaloo refers to an inevitable and imminent armed revolt, and members often call themselves Boogaloo Bois, boogs, or goons.

In the weeks since Jan. 6, an array of extremist groups have been named as participants in the Capitol invasion. The Proud Boys. QAnon believers. White nationalists. The Oath Keepers. But the Boogaloo Bois are notable for the depth of their commitment to the overthrow of the U.S. government and the jaw-dropping criminal histories of many members.

Mike Dunn, a 20-year-old from a small town on Virginia’s rural southern edge, is the commander of the Last Sons. “I really feel we’re looking at the possibility — stronger than any time since, say, the 1860s — of armed insurrection,” Dunn said in an interview with ProPublica and FRONTLINE a few days after the assault on the Capitol. Although Dunn didn’t directly participate, he said members of his Boogaloo faction helped fire up the crowd and “may” have penetrated the building.

“It was a chance to mess with the federal government again,” he said. “They weren’t there for MAGA. They weren’t there for Trump.”

Dunn added that he’s “willing to die in the streets” while battling law enforcement or security forces.

In its short existence, the Boogaloo movement has proven to be a magnet for current or former military service members who have used their combat skills and firearms expertise to advance the Boogaloo cause. Before becoming one of the faces of the movement, Dunn did a brief stint in the U.S. Marines, a career he says was cut short by a heart condition, and worked as a Virginia state prison guard.

Through interviews, extensive study of social media and a review of court records, some previously unreported, ProPublica and FRONTLINE identified more than 20 Boogaloo Bois or sympathizers who’ve served in the armed forces. Over the past 18 months, 13 of them have been arrested on charges ranging from the possession of illegal automatic weapons to the manufacture of explosives to murder.

Most of the individuals identified by the news organizations became involved with the movement after leaving the military. At least four are accused of committing Boogaloo-related crimes while employed by one of the military branches.

Examples of the nexus between the group and the military abound.

Last year, an FBI task force in San Francisco opened a domestic terror investigation into Aaron Horrocks, a 39-year-old former Marine Corps reservist. Horrocks spent eight years in the Reserve before leaving the Corps in 2017.

The bureau became alarmed in September 2020, when agents received a tip that Horrocks, who lives in Pleasanton, California, was “planning an imminent violent attack on government or law enforcement,” according to a petition to seize the man’s firearms, which was filed in state court in October. The investigation, which has not previously been reported, links Horrocks to the Boogaloo movement. He has not been charged.

Again, these are the same assholes, the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters, the Molon Labe folks, the sovereign citizens, the white supremacists, that I've been warning about on this blog for years now. They have military or law enforcement training (or both), they hate the US government, and they are willing to kill and die to destroy it.

They came the closest they ever have so far with Donald Trump's help last month. They have contacts in current military and law enforcement circles. They have shown the ability to coordinate using social media and the internet. They are extremely dangerous.

And they absolutely will try again.

StupidiNews!

• Capitol Police office Brian Sicknick lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda after being slain in the Capitol insurrection on January 6th, President Biden and VP Harris paid their respects Tuesday.
• Trump attorney Lin Wood is under investigation in Georgia for possible voter fraud as Wood had previously stated that he moved to South Carolina in April with the intent of residing there.
• After last weekend's successful military coup, police in Myanmar have filed charges against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and say she will be detained until February 15th.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is increasing security for members of Congress who are traveling in the wake of last month's Capitol terrorist attack.
• For a second time in seven weeks a SpaceX Starship prototype rocket has crashed on landing as one of the pair of Raptor rocket engines failed to reignite, tipping the rocket over.
  

Last Call For Trial Of The Century 2.0

If I'm reading this right, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham is warning Democrats not to call a single witness in Donald Trump's second impeachment trial, because if they do, he'll make sure that the FBI is also called and that they will present weeks of testimony about how the January 6th attack on the US Capitol was completely premeditated by Trump's cultists (but somehow this will clear Trump's name).

 

Graham told Fox News’ Trey Gowdy on Monday that a “Pandora’s box” and “a can of worms” would be opened if just one witness was brought forward in the Senate trial of Trump, set to begin next week.

The House last month impeached Trump over the violence that left five people dead.

Graham, a former fierce critic of Trump who after the 2016 election became one of his most loyal defenders, warned that calling witnesses could mean a monthslong trial “and that would be bad for the country.” Graham and other Republicans have argued it is time to “move on” from the insurrection for the good of the U.S.

“If you open up that can of worms (by calling witnesses), we’ll want the FBI to come in and tell us about how people actually pre-planned these attacks and what happened with the security footprint at the Capitol,” the South Carolina Republican continued, parroting a right-wing talking point that the attack was planned well before Trump urged his supporters at a pre-riot rally to march to the Capitol.

Graham did not mention that Trump ― even before the election ― whipped his supporters into a lie-fueled frenzy about voter fraud.

“You open up Pandora’s box if you call one witness,” Graham said. “I hope we don’t call any and we vote and get this trial over next week when it starts.”

 

I again admit to being genuinely confused by this defense strategy. If indeed the plan by Graham is to have the FBI come in and spell out how the January 6th attack was planned weeks in advance, it'll only take one major witness to then say "and yes, Donald Trump was part of this from the beginning" and he's toast.

It's like the defense laying out a RICO case by showing there was indeed a conspiracy, but then saying "Well the mafia don didn't have anything to do with it" and half of the jurors are made mobsters saying "I don't see anything wrong here."

Yes, there's a 99% chance Trump will be acquitted anyway, because the same GOP enablers are afraid that Trump's domestic terrorist cult will show up and empty both barrels into their faces and their families.

But it still has to be done.

These Disunited States, Con't

South Dakota wants to opt out of federal control and nullify President Biden's executive orders, banking on the Roberts Court to somehow overturn 150 years of precedent over the Supremacy Clause.

A bill introduced into the South Dakota House of Representatives seeks to give the state’s attorney general the authority to review executive orders issued by the president of the United States.

Introduced by new member Rep. Aaron Aylward of Harrisburg, HB 1194 outlines a process of review for any presidential orders that have not been approved and signed into law by the U.S. Congress.

This process begins with a review by the Executive Council of the Legislative Research Board, followed by a referral from the Council to the attorney general and the governor. Once the referral has been made, the attorney general may examine the order to determine whether the state can seek an exemption or declare it unconstitutional.

The bill takes a broad view, stating that no executive order may be implemented “that restricts a person’s rights.”

The proposed bill would also allow the attorney general to block implementation of any order deemed unconstitutional if the order refers to:

• A pandemic or other public health emergency
• The regulation of natural resources
• The regulation of the agricultural industry
• The regulation of land use
• The regulation of the financial sector through the imposition of environmental, social, or governance standards
• The regulation of the constitutional right to keep and bear arms

So we're not even pretending anymore, South Dakota Republicans are going to make the Biden administration challenge this in court and argue that he can't make them do anything by executive order.

It's weird how we only have these nullification problems with Democratic presidents. 

The Coup-Coup Birds Come Home To Roost, Con't

So it turns out that many of the US Capitol terrorists didn't even vote at all in the 2020 election, for their god-emperor Trump, or for anyone else for that matter.

They were there to "Stop the Steal" and to keep the President they revered in office, yet records show that some of the rioters who stormed the US Capitol did not vote in the very election they were protesting. 

One was Donovan Crowl, an ex-Marine who charged toward a Capitol entrance in paramilitary garb on January 6 as the Pro-Trump crowd chanted "who's our President?"
Federal authorities later identified Crowl, 50, as a member of a self-styled militia organization in his home state of Ohio and affiliated with the extremist group the Oath Keepers. His mother told CNN that he previously told her "they were going to overtake the government if they...tried to take Trump's presidency from him." She said he had become increasingly angry during the Obama administration and that she was aware of his support for former President Donald Trump. 

Despite these apparent pro-Trump views, a county election official in Ohio told CNN that he registered in 2013 but "never voted nor responded to any of our confirmation notices to keep him registered," so he was removed from the voter rolls at the end of 2020 and the state said he was not registered in Ohio. A county clerk in Illinois, where Crowl was once registered, also confirmed he was not an active voter anywhere in the state.

Crowl was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of destruction of government property and conspiracy for allegedly coordinating with others to plan their attack. He remains in custody after a judge said, "The suggestion to release him to a residence with nine firearms is a non-starter." In an interview cited by the government, Crowl told the New Yorker that he had peaceful intentions and claimed he had protected the police. Crowl's attorney did not provide a comment about his client's voting record. 

Many involved in the insurrection professed to be motivated by patriotism, falsely declaring that Trump was the rightful winner of the election. Yet at least eight of the people who are now facing criminal charges for their involvement in the events at the Capitol did not vote in the November 2020 presidential election, according to an analysis of voting records from the states where protestors were arrested and those states where public records show they have lived. They came from states around the country and ranged in age from 21 to 65. 

To determine who voted in November, CNN obtained voting records for more than 80 of the initial arrestees. Most voted in the presidential election, and while many were registered Republicans, a handful were registered as Democrats in those jurisdictions that provided party information -- though who someone votes for is not publicly disclosed. Public access to voter history records varies by state, and CNN was unable to view the records of some of those charged. 

Among those who didn't vote were a 65-year-old Georgia man who, according to government documents, was found in his van with a fully-loaded pistol and ammunition, and a Louisiana man who publicly bragged about spending nearly two hours inside the Capitol after attending Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally. Another was a 21-year-old woman from Missouri who prosecutors say shared a video on Snapchat that showed her parading around with a piece of a wooden sign from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office. And a Florida man previously convicted of attempted murder who was accused by the government of refusing to leave the Capitol likely did not have the option to cast a ballot because of his unpaid court fines.

They didn't even bother to vote.

I'd say America needs a better class of villain, but we don't really deserve it. This is a trash country, filled with tens of millions of trash people, and the rest of us are trying not to drown in refuse every damn day.

StupidiNews!

• Republican Senators say that while Monday's meeting with the Biden White House was a "Very good exchange" they say no deal has been reached on new COVID-19 relief legislation.
• The Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery, established by the CARES Act, is looking into several Republicans including Ted Cruz to probe their roles in assigning small business aid.
• Dozens of former George W. Bush administration officials say they are leaving the Republican party, calling the current GOP incarnation a "cult" dedicated to Donald Trump.
• House Democrats have given House GOP minority leader Kevin McCarthy 72 hours to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green from her committee assignments, or she will be stripped.
• A new report finds that 70% of "civic" public groups on Facebook or "toxic or violent", something that the social media company knew since August of 2020.