Great loss to the world

OAN can't host him.  They've been essentially shut out.  Where will he go?

The big deal spillover

Where will we get all the chips needed for new electric vehicles?

[E]ven as Biden signs into law more than $52 billion in “incentives” designed to lure chipmakers to the U.S., an unusual alliance of industry lobbyists, hard-core China hawks and science advocates says the president’s dream lacks a key ingredient — a small yet critical core of high-skilled workers. It’s a politically troubling irony: To achieve the long-sought goal of returning high-end manufacturing to the United States, the country must, paradoxically, attract more foreign workers.

“For high-tech industry in general — which of course, includes the chip industry — the workforce is a huge problem,” said Julia Phillips, a member of the National Science Board.

[...]

From electrical engineering to computer science, the U.S. currently does not produce enough doctorates and master’s degrees in the science, technology, engineering and math fields who can go on to work in U.S.-based microchip plants.

[...]

Powerful members of both parties have diagnosed the problem and floated potential fixes. But they have so far been stymied by the politics of immigration, where a handful of lawmakers stand in the way of reforms few are willing to risk their careers to achieve.

  Politico

How about incentives and facilities to educate and train US citizens?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The big deal

Biden and Manchin hashed out a compromise to be voted on.

The bill, H.R. 5376 (117), dubbed the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022,” would spend nearly $370 billion on a raft of tax credits to help stimulate adoption of clean energy technologies, as well as spending for low-income and minority communities that suffer disproportionately from pollution.

It also calls for holding lease sales for oil and gas production on federal land and water, while establishing fines for excessive methane pollution.

Here’s a breakdown of what’s in the bill expected to reach the Senate floor next week:

  Politico

What caught my eye was a $7,500 rebate for new electric vehicles. Very definitely needed. And that really isn't enough. There needs to be a deal for people to trade in their gas-powered vehicles.  (And those should NOT be shipped to third world countries.  They should be used for parts, recycled metals, or destroyed.)

Continue reading.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

PS That's one of the first times I've seen Democrats manage to message properly, calling the bill "The Inflation Reduction Act".

Slippage

"But you like ME."

The problem is, while he endorsed an ultra-MAGA candidate, the other guy is a QAnon leader.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Newt Gingrich is still a lizard's anus

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

It's Sunday

The Republican Party’s incessant reliance on evangelical Christianity as a worldview has given the game away, revealing that the rollback of the progress of the 20th century would be achieved using the faith as the means and rationale. Eventually, with enough momentum, the usefulness of evangelicalism would mix with the political project and give rise to Christian Nationalism.

[...]

After years of the GOP embracing Trumpism, during which the white evangelical community doted on Donald Trump and treated him as an agent of God or an impure messiah, we have reached a moment where the political divide is now considered a holy conflict between Good and Evil.

The crux of Christian Nationalism as an existential threat is this: by embracing a politicized faith, the wielders are able to justify any action, any oppression, any act of violence.

[...]

As this is a conflict between “revealed” (information handed down from God in the form of revelation or dictate) and empirical knowledge (measurable, objective information), even the most obvious facts and figures are rendered moot in comparison. It is, to put it mildly, an airtight and absolute power.

[...]

What ideologues are interested in isn’t just a Christian regime, but what the story and mythology of Christianity can accomplish. For some, this is about true belief. There are evangelicals who believe, without question and with full faith, that a Christian-based America is necessary should we not descend into a hellish, apocalyptic existence. And then there are others, including wealthy donors obsessed with destroying the “scourge” of democracy itself, who see the faith and its assorted features as incredibly useful in preparing a base of supporters to accept any and all reactionary options.

[...]

This new push for Christian Nationalism echoes previous moments in our history, including the evangelical drive in the 1980’s that partnered with Ronald Reagan to radically transform the nation. This iteration, however, is playing for all the marbles.

  Jared Yates Sexton @ Substack

Jesus.  Is this in keeping with their Christian ethics?

A manager at the restaurant reportedly told a reporter for Vice that the idea behind the post was to “establish a relationship with the community.”

“We get people all the time that want to be a part of what we’re doing. This is designed to be an opportunity for that,” the manager said, according to Vice.

  The Hill

Uh-huh.

A representative for Chick-fil-A, however, confirmed to Business Insider that the Hendersonville location was no longer offering the volunteer program, which was not endorsed by the company.

Perhaps the manager would be okay with being paid in French fries.

And, btw, whatever happened to truth in advertising?

Pretty sure they didn't.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Assault weapons ban passes in the House

Barely. 217 - 213. 

Five Democrats voted against the ban: Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Jared Golden (D-Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), Kurt Schrader (D-Ore) and Ron Kind (D-Wis). 

Two Republicans voted for it: Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa) and Chris Jacobs (R-NY). 

Interesting. 

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Unwanted

“I could count on one hand the number of Republican senators who want Donald Trump to be our nominee,” said the lawmaker, adding, “I could count it on one finger.”

  The Hill

Of course none of them have the guts to admit it.

Frankly, I hope he does run. Otherwise the GOP will run DeSantis, and I'm afraid, as awful as he is, he could win.

The hosts of “Fox & Friends,” Fox News’s flagship morning news program, on Monday highlighted DeSantis leading Trump in several age demographics in a new Turning Point USA poll as well as the governor’s “tremendous strength” in New Hampshire, Michigan and Florida.

That prompted an angry rebuke from Trump.

“@foxandfriends just really botched my poll numbers, no doubt on purpose,” Trump fumed on Truth Social, his new social media platform. “That show has been terrible — gone to the ‘dark side.’”

What a joke that man is. And I use the term "man" loosely.

The first GOP senator who spoke to The Hill confidentially predicted that Fox News’s other main anchors, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson, will give other potential Republican White House candidates more airtime and attention over the next year.

No doubt. If Trump doesn't run, it will be because he's afraid he'll lose. If he runs, it will be to soak his supporters for their last dimes and to avoid criminal charges.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

DeSantis in the complaint filed Tuesday against R House, which hosts drag brunch events, alleges the restaurant violated state law and cites a 1947 state Supreme Court ruling that “men impersonating women” in a “suggestive and indecent” fashion constitutes a public nuisance.

  The Hill

Surely they weren't being suggestive or indecent in front of kids at a restaurant. But, that reminds me...

...what's Madison Cawthorn doing these days?

In hosting drag performances in the presence of young children, the restaurant has also violated a state disorderly conduct statute and a separate statute prohibiting the operation of a business “for the purpose of lewdness,” according to the complaint, a copy of which was obtained by Changing America.

Again...surely their purpose was not lewdness.

“The video shows what appears to be a transgender dancer leading a young girl by the hand and walking through Respondent’s dining area,” the complaint states. “The dancer’s buttocks were fully exposed, and his ‘g-string’-style bikini bottom was stuffed with dollar bills — a practice that is commonly known to occur at strip clubs. The dancer’s breasts — unmistakably female in appearance — were also fully exposed except for the nipple and areola, which were covered with adhesive ‘pasties.’”

OK, yeah, not appropriate.

“That is not the way you look out for our children,” DeSantis continued. “You do not expose them to things that are inappropriate.”

 Like being shot at with automatic rifles while they're in school?

It just keeps getting worse

Missing text messages for top Trump administration Homeland Security officials in the days surrounding Jan. 6, 2021, are raising new questions about why the agency’s watchdog did not alert officials to the potential destruction of records.

According to a document obtained by the Project on Government Oversight, text messages for former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf as well as his deputy, Ken Cuccinelli, were unable to be located.

[...]

Both Wolf and Cuccinelli met with Jan. 6 investigators to face questions about pressure from former President Trump for DHS to seize voting machines. Baseless allegations that the machines had been hacked are thought to be behind the pressure campaign.

But their texts from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6 could also shed light on how top national security advisors were reacting as the Capitol was stormed.

[...]

“I just don’t know why everybody’s texts and emails are suddenly disappearing all over the place. So I assume it’s not just a technological problem. But we’ll get to the bottom of it,” Rep Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said.

[...]

“Well, I’m concerned. First of all, if that information exists, what’s the format? If it’s missing, how did it end up being missed? These individuals are not connected to the Secret Service, although they are in the Department of Homeland Security. So obviously, we’ll have to look and see the connection, if any, between that,” [Jan 6 Committee Chair Bennnie] Thompson said.

  The Hill

First the Secret Service, now the DHS. 

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 8/2: And worse.

They created a monster

Donald Trump is dangling the threat of announcing he's running for president, and the GOP is panicking.

Republican leaders who worry that Donald Trump could hurt their midterm chances by announcing a presidential run too soon are hoping he'll be dissuaded from doing so by the prospect of losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal payments, according to an RNC official.

  ABC

WTF? Why is the RNC paying Trump's legal bills? He's not being sued for presidential activity. It's all personal crimes. So far.

According to the RNC's most recent financial disclosure to the Federal Elections Commission, from October 2021 through June of this year, the RNC paid at least $1.73 million to three law firms representing Trump, including firms that are defending him in investigations into his personal family business in New York. Last month alone, the RNC paid $50,000 to a law firm representing Trump in June.

The latest tally tops the $1.6 million maximum figure that the Republican Party's executive committee reportedly voted to cover for Trump's personal legal bills during an RNC meeting last year.

[...]

But an RNC official told ABC News that as soon as Trump would announce he is running for president, the payments would stop because the party has a "neutrality policy" that prohibits it from taking sides in the presidential primary.

Which they could change if they actually wanted to.

This isn't the first time that legal bills have been seen as possible leverage over Trump.

According to the book "Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show," by ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl, in the final days of Trump's presidency, Trump told [RNC Chair Ronna] McDaniel he was leaving the GOP and creating his own political party -- only to back down after McDaniel made it clear to Trump that the party would stop paying his legal bills for his post-election challenges and take other steps that would cost him financially.

Both Trump and McDaniel have denied the story.

Ha.

"The RNC needs Trump or Trump surrogates or Trump's likeness to raise money, and Trump wants them to continue paying his bills and be as pro-Trump as possible," [Republican donor Dan] Eberhart said. "So neither is in a hurry to cut the umbilical cord."

[...]

"Everyone thinks it'll scramble the midterms and we could potentially destroy the advantage we have" if Trump would announce too early, Eberhart said.

[...]

"Other Republican candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president have good reason to worry that the party apparatus is rigged against them in its unwavering support for Trump," echoed Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist at the progressive government-watchdog group Public Citizen.

[...]

The RNC is reportedly not covering Trump's legal bills related to the House special committee's investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. But as previously reported by ABC News, Trump's leadership PAC, Save America, and his presidential committee-turned-PAC Make America Great Again PAC have been footing legal bills for witnesses involved in legal battles related to the events of Jan. 6, which has raised concerns about witness coercion from Jan. 6 committee members and legal experts.

I would think that would be a more legitimate use of money than paying his personal legal bills.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Fucking GOP

Who were the other Senators who scuttled the bill?

They don't care about people.  They only care about power.  

A surprise deal on health care and environmental policies announced by Senate Democratic leaders Wednesday afternoon produced an unexpected casualty: the comprehensive toxic exposure legislation veterans advocates expected to pass this week.

The Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act — better known as the PACT Act — had been up for a procedural vote in the chamber with an expectation of final passage before the end of the week.

The measure is the culmination of years of work by advocates to improve health care and benefits for veterans suffering injuries from burn pit smoke, Agent Orange spraying and other military contaminant exposure.

[...]

The measure passed the Senate by a comfortable 84-14 vote in early June, and by a 342-88 vote in the House two weeks ago with significant Republican support.

But on Wednesday, after technical corrections sent the measure back to the Senate for another procedural vote, 41 Senate Republicans blocked the measure, leaving its future uncertain.

[...]

Eight Senate Republicans — including Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee ranking member Jerry Moran, R-Kansas — voted for moving ahead with the bill.

  Military Times

And why did those SOBs block the bill?

The legislation, known as the Honoring Our PACT Act (Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act), would expand treatment eligibility, and it has plenty of champions on Capitol Hill. Indeed, it cleared the House yesterday — though it did not pass unanimously.

The final tally was 256 to 174, with 34 Republicans voting with all House Democrats in support of the bill. That means, of course, that 174 GOP lawmakers voted against the legislation — roughly 82 percent of the House Republican conference. That includes every member of the House GOP leadership team, each of whom knew the bill would pass, but opposed it anyway.

[...]

The Washington Post reported:

Republicans who voted in opposition argued that the measure, which has a $300 billion price tag over 10 years, would add too much to the country’s deficit and exacerbate backlogs at VA.

Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, who’s both a physician and a military veteran, argued, “We are not doing right by our veterans by being fiscally irresponsible in their name.”

In other words, the House GOP minority believes Democrats wrote a bill that’s too generous when it comes to veterans’ care.

  MSNBC

Three of the region’s four U.S. senators decided Wednesday to hold sick veterans hostage to their own anger. It’s appalling and childish. The senators — Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Roger Marshall of Kansas — voted against blocking a filibuster of the PACT Act, a measure designed to provide funding to treat veterans exposed to toxins and burn pits.

[...]

The three senators voted for a virtually identical bill in June, which passed overwhelmingly. Blunt even bragged about it.

[...]

Senate Republicans were furious at a budget deal, announced just moments earlier, between Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Manchin agreed to support a budget bill raising corporate taxes to pay for deficit reduction and climate change mitigation. The tax and budget bill would need a simple majority to pass, not 60 votes. That made Republicans mad.

[...]

The vote to end the filibuster was 55 yes to 42 no (Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer switched his vote to “no” in order to bring the measure back later.) In the Senate, of course, it takes 60 votes to open a can of bean soup, so the bill remains unpassed, while veterans suffer and die.

[...]

In a fit of pique over an unrelated compromise, Senate Republicans punished veterans struggling to breathe.

[...]

Comedian and activist Jon Stewart, who came to Kansas City this summer to urge progress on the PACT proposal, was equally furious. “Not one of these stab vets in the back senators should get to leave for the Summer til this s*** is fixed,” he tweeted. “Not one.”

[...]

Sens. Blunt and Marshall should be disinvited from any Veterans Day service or Memorial Day observance until the PACT Act is signed into law.

Josh Hawley? No need to worry. If he sees an upset veteran approaching, he’ll run the other way.

  Kansas City Star

And it's not just the veterans they're dumping on. They're talking about scuttling other progress.

“I just think the timing could not have been worse and it came totally out of the blue,” [Republican Susan Collins] the Maine senator told HuffPost Thursday about Senate Democrats’ unveiling of their bill to raise taxes on some companies, boost IRS enforcement and spend the resulting money to fund anti-climate change efforts.

[...]

Collins [also] warned that the manner in which that victory was secured, where it appeared Democrats kept Manchin and Schumer’s negotiations under wraps until a separate bipartisan computer chip production incentive bill was passed by the Senate, hurt the effort to gather support among Republicans to bring the gay marriage bill to the floor.

“After we just had worked together successfully on gun safety legislation, on the CHIPs bill, it was a very unfortunate move that destroys the many bipartisan efforts that are under way,” she said.

[...]

The news that West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) had arrived at an agreement broke like a thunderclap over official Washington early Wednesday night. The bill still faces hurdles, including ensuring all Senate Democrats are on board and will be available to vote on it when it comes to the floor. But if Democrats pull it off, it could be a big political victory for the party and the White House.

  HuffPo

We're looking at you, Kyrsten Sinema. I think she's taking the opportunity to steal Manchin's position as the most powerful Senator in Congress. 

Republicans are so mad Mitch McConnell got played.

The key point, Lemire stressed, [...] is that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) got tricked into giving up all his leverage.

[...]

"It doesn't happen often, but Mitch McConnell appears to publicly have been played," said Lemire. "A couple weeks ago Senator Manchin suggested there's no deal for reconciliation, so McConnell gave the okay for the CHIPS bill. House Republicans said they'd support it, too. The White House has given its blessing, now we see McConnell and other Senate Republicans going across to their colleagues in the House, you have to oppose something you previously just a few days ago were for and also have to explain that vote if this bill goes down, seem to be beneficial to China. It's a spiteful action."

  Raw Story

Get rid of the filibuster.  And get rid of the Republicans in Congress.

UPDATE:

UPDATE:  Freely admitted.

UPDATE 8/3:

The outlook for Ukraine

Click on the graphic below (or here) for an interesting and hopeful interview with Adm. James G. Stavridis, retired US Navy, 30-year career as NATO administrator, and current Vice Chair of Global Affairs, managing Director of the Carlyle Group investment firm (not a fan of that warmongering group), and Chair, Rockefeller Foundation Board of Trustees, and chief international diplomacy and national security analyst for NBC News.  

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Good deal

They're lining up to save their skins

Flip on the other guy before he flips on you in order to get the credit and hopefully the leniency.

Well, good

Backstory is here in case you've forgotten who this little shithead is.

The usual suspects

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) was among the 20 House Republicans who voted on Tuesday against a bill that seeks to combat human trafficking.

The legislation, titled the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act, passed in a 401-20 vote, with all opposition coming from Republicans. Eight Republicans and one Democrat did not vote.

Gaetz, who is currently under investigation by the Department of Justice for sex trafficking allegations involving a minor, was among the Republicans who opposed the bill that aims to bolster programs including shelters, mental health care, education and job training for victims of human trafficking.

  The Hill

Gee, I wonder why Matt Gaetz would be against a bill to combat human trafficking.

“The government’s failure to accurately and specifically define human trafficking allows this legislation to act as a backdoor loophole for illegal immigration and amnesty,” [Gaetz] said. “The bill also costs over half a billion dollars to implement and gives more taxpayer money to overfunded, inefficient grant programs.”

I think it's more likely this is the reason:

News broke last year that Gaetz, who remains close to former President Trump, was under investigation by the Justice Department for allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and financed her traveling with him.

[...]

According to the measure, local educational agencies operating in a high-intensity sex trafficking area or a location with significant child labor trafficking would be prioritized for Frederick Douglass Human Trafficking Prevention Education Grants. Local educational agencies that work with nonprofit organizations focused on human trafficking prevention education and partner with law enforcement would also be prioritized, among other groups.

The legislation would also reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security’s Angel Watch Center, which is meant to prevent international sex tourism travel perpetrated by child sex offenders, and improve trafficking prevention education for children by including parents and law enforcement in child trafficking and online grooming prevention.

Additionally, it would allocate $35 million each fiscal year for housing options that would help women living with their abusers separate themselves.

[...]

Gaetz was joined by GOP Reps. Brian Babin (Texas), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Mo Brooks (Ala.), Ken Buck (Colo.), Andrew Clyde (Ga.), Louie Gohmert (Texas), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Andy Harris (Md.), Jody Hice (Ga.), Thomas Massie (Ky.), Tom McClintock (Calif.), Mary Miller (Ill.), Troy Nehls (Texas), Ralph Norman (S.C.), Scott Perry (Pa.), Chip Roy (Texas) and Van Taylor (Texas).

Are these the same people who complain about immigration because of claimed human trafficking across the border?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Victor Orban is their model

In a speech over the weekend to supporters in Romania, Orban railed against a “flood” of migrants being “forced” on Hungary. He said he wanted to prevent Hungary from becoming a “mixed-race” country, adding that countries with a high level of racial mixing are no longer countries. Zsuzsanna Hegedus, who is Jewish and his long-time ally and adviser, resigned. The Romanian foreign minister also criticized the remarks.

[...]

Hegedus in a letter published by the hvg.hu news website said, “I don’t know how you didn’t notice that the speech you delivered is a purely Nazi diatribe worthy of Joseph Goebbels,” referring to Adolf Hitler’s chief propagandist. The speech would have appealed to the “most vile racists,” she wrote.

[...]

[Orban] is due to speak next week at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas.

  Bloomberg

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Canceled!

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is not listed as an instructor for any courses on the website for George Washington University’s law school, where he’s taught since 2011, a removal that follows the high court’s controversial decision undoing decades of precedent protecting a nationwide right to abortion access.

[...]

GWU said in June that it would keep Thomas as an instructor for its constitutional law seminar despite the backlash following the court’s abortion decision.

[...]

Thomas, among the five justices who voted to overturn the precedent established by Roe v. Wade in 1973, also authored a concurring opinion suggesting the court should also revisit other precedents, including those entitling Americans access to contraception, same-sex marriage and same-sex relationships. His role in the decision prompted a GWU student to launch a petition signed by 11,300 people calling for Thomas to be removed from his teaching post at the university.

In an email obtained by the GWU student newspaper, The Hatchet, Thomas’ co-instructor said the justice had informed him that he would be unavailable to teach this semester.

  Politico

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The fascists are moving fast while the Supreme Court is on their side

Whatever, Marge

And if you want to support more grift...

There goes Fox

Sad!

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Flashback: Jan 5, 2021

Donald Trump has privately acknowledged he lost the presidency. He knows Joe Biden will replace him. He recognizes Congress will formally certify the results on Wednesday.

To one person, Trump even confided he was “just disappointed we lost.”

Trump’s acceptance has taken shape in recent weeks, according to three people who have spoken to Trump in that time span, with one conversation occurring a week ago. Trump admits his defeat, but still maintains he would have won a fair election, they said, despite no concrete evidence emerging of widespread voter fraud. He has even discussed his exit plans from Washington with staff, debating when to move to his South Florida Mar-a-Lago resort, according to one of the people.

Sometimes, Trump does still lapse back into the belief that maybe, just maybe, he could somehow eke out a win, most often when listening to his small group of lawyers, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Chapman University law professor John Eastman.

But mostly, he is continuing his fight to subvert the election for a Trumpian reason: to keep the attention on himself and give his supporters what they want, according to the people who have spoken with him.

[...]

Those around Trump compared the president’s attitude to someone who knows he lost a game, but believe it’s only because the referee made a bad call. “He’s come to terms with the election results,” said one of the three people. “He accepts them, but he doesn’t believe them.”

  Politico

Supreme Court leak investigation update

The May leak of the Supreme Court draft opinion signaling the overturning of Roe v. Wade quashed an attempt by Chief Justice John Roberts to persuade his Republican-appointed colleague, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, to vote to preserve abortion rights.

Roberts's attempts at swaying Kavanaugh persisted throughout the spring high court term and into the final week of the session, according to a new CNN report. However, the May 2 leaked draft opinion of the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which was ultimately handed down in a 6-3 ruling on June 24 that gave states the ability to restrict or limit abortion access significantly, severely hampered Roberts's abilities when Kavanaugh's intention to strike down Roe became public record.

  Washington Examiner

The Supreme Court won't say whether it's still investigating.

The court also won't say whether the leaker has been identified or whether anyone has been disciplined.

Or whether an outside law firm or the FBI has been called in.

Or whether the court will ever offer an accounting of what transpired.

Or whether it has taken steps to try to prevent a repeat.

To these and other emailed questions, Supreme Court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe said by email: “The Court has no comment.”

  MSN

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The DOJ investigating Trump

Finally, leaks are coming out.

Prosecutors who are questioning witnesses before a grand jury — including two top aides to Vice President Mike Pence — have asked in recent days about conversations with Trump, his lawyers, and others in his inner circle who sought to substitute Trump allies for certified electors from some states Joe Biden won.

[...]

Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, and lawyer, Greg Jacob, appeared before the grand jury in downtown Washington in recent days, according to the people familiar with the investigation.

[...]

The Washington Post and other news organizations have previously written that the Justice Department is examining the conduct of Eastman, Giuliani and others in Trump’s orbit. But the degree of prosecutors’ interest in Trump’s actions has not been previously reported, nor has the review of senior Trump aides’ phone records.

[...]

Some of the questions focused directly on the extent of Trump’s involvement in the fake-elector effort led by his outside lawyers, including John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani.

[...]

In trying to understand how and why Trump partisans and lawyers sought to change the outcome of the election, one person familiar with the probe said, investigators also want to understand, at a minimum, what Trump told his lawyers and senior officials to do. Any investigation surrounding the effort to undo the results of the election must navigate complex issues of First Amendment-protected political activity and when or whether a person’s speech could become part of an alleged conspiracy in support of a coup.

[...]

There are two principal tracks of the investigation that could ultimately lead to additional scrutiny of Trump.

[...]

The first centers on seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct a government proceeding, the type of charges already filed against individuals who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 and on two leaders of far-right groups, Stewart Rhodes and Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, who did not breach the Capitol but were allegedly involved in planning the day’s events.

The second involves potential fraud associated with the false-electors scheme or with pressure Trump and his allies allegedly put on the Justice Department and others to falsely claim that the election was rigged and votes were fraudulently cast.

[...]

[Attorney General Merrick] Garland told NBC News in a Tuesday interview that the department pursues justice “without fear or favor. We intend to hold everyone, anyone, who was criminally responsible for the events surrounding January 6th, for any attempt to interfere with the lawful transfer of power from one administration to another, accountable — that’s what we do. We don’t pay any attention to other issues with respect to that.”

  WaPo

Also, on the recent Brian Lehrer podcast, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg revealed that, contrary to speculation, his office has not dropped the previous DA's investigation into Trump's financial crimes, and that the trial of Trump Organization's CFO, Allen Weisselberg, on a 15-count indictment, will be held this fall.  Don't expect him to flip on Trump if he didn't do it before being charged.  But, according to Bragg, they are still investigating Trump himself.

2nd 5-year sentence for Capitol riot

“He did so with no intent to do anything but add his voice to the vocal protests over the injustice he perceived had happened in the election,” the lawyer added. “Unfortunately, he got caught up in the riotous atmosphere of the crowd and erroneously perceived the police as standing in the way of the crowd’s desire to protest the election results.”

  alJazeera

And, as you do when you "get caught up":

The prison sentences for Ponder and Palmer may not be the lengthiest for much longer. Prosecutors are seeking a 15-year prison sentence for Guy Reffitt, a Texas man who was convicted of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun. US District Judge Dabney Friedrich is scheduled to sentence Reffitt on Monday.

There's no way!

I think we all know the answer.  Herschel Walker can't afford to debate ANYBODY. Not even a five-year-old.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

"The floodgates have opened"

I'm here for it.

Marc Short testified to Grand Jury

Marc Short, the former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, appeared before a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Short confirmed to ABC News.

Short, in an interview Monday night with ABC News' Linsey Davis, said he was subpoenaed by a grand jury and complied with the subpoena, adding he "really can't comment further than that" upon the advice of his legal counsel.

[...]

"I think that having the Capitol ransacked the way that it was, I think did present liability and danger," he told Davis in the interview. "And I think the Secret Service did a phenomenal job that day. I think that the bigger risk and despite the way perhaps it was characterized in the hearings last week, candidly, is that if the mob had gotten closer to the vice president, I do think there would have been a massacre in the Capitol that day."

  ABC

The altered speech

On January 7, Trump was convinced to make a public speech after being threatened with the 25th Amendment removal from office by some in his cabinet.  

The Committee has released a copy of how he amended that speech.

He crossed out being "sickened" by the violence.  He crossed out that he was directing the DOJ "to ensure all lawbreakers are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law...We must send a clear message - not with mercy but with JUSTICE. Legal consequences must be swift and firm." He crossed out "I want to be very clear you do not represent me.  You do not represent our movement."  And he crossed out that if they broke the law, they "belong in jail" and replaced that with they "will pay."

Very telling of his mindset.

Here's how he ultimately worked it over...

The war in Ukraine

“The agreement to unblock Odesa would have been impossible without HIMARS. It’s now very clear that the war will end earlier if we arm Ukraine faster,” Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on July 22, referring to Russia’s agreement to allow Ukrainian grain shipments through the Black Sea.

  alJazeera

"The war will end earlier if we arm Ukraine faster" Wow. Whoever could have guessed?

The M142 HIMARS, the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems supplied to Ukraine by the United States, have become a symbol of Russian vulnerability.

[...]

Ukraine has reportedly damaged Russian ammunition depots, command posts and air defences using just eight HIMARS launchers.

[...]

These went into service in Ukraine on June 25.

[...]

The attacks have thrown a spanner in Russia’s strategy. Moscow’s main territorial gains in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk came thanks to a concentration of overwhelming superiority of firepower. Ukrainian troops who survived tactical retreats on those fronts spoke of an inability to do anything but take cover. Attacking Russian logistics hubs has allowed Ukraine to undermine the source of Russian power.

[...]

Australian retired major-general Mick Ryan believed that HIMARS have “changed the battlefield calculus in the fight for Ukraine”, allowing Ukrainians to pursue what he calls the “strategy of corrosion” of Russian capabilities and morale, which brought them victory in the battle for Kyiv.

Retired US army general Mark Hertling has called HIMARS a “game changer”, helping Ukraine gain the advantage.

Too bad they couldn't have had them in March.

Military commanders have warned that HIMARS are not a silver bullet given the small number of systems in play. On July 20, the US said it was sending four more, bringing the total up to 16, with an apparent goal of reaching 20.

[...]

Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksiy Reznikov, recently said Ukraine needs 100 HIMARS launchers to roll back Russia’s territorial gains.

Get a move on.  Twenty isn't going to cut it.

“If there’s a building you’re receiving fire from within the urban environment, you aim at that building from up to 80km (50 miles) away, and within a few minutes of receiving fire you land a rocket on the building in question.”

Yes, we saw that in the US shelling of a hotel in Iraq where journalists were housed.  Never mind, that was a tank.  Or so they said.

By July 16, Ukraine’s defence ministry said Kyiv had destroyed at least 30 logistics hubs deep behind enemy lines. A week later, US Pentagon sources were talking about 100 high-value targets having been hit.

[...]

The United States’s armed forces are to bring an even more advanced HIMARS-launched rocket, the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), with a 500km (310-mile) range, into the field next year. Should that be supplied to regional allies, they would be able to hit in the vicinity of Moscow.

[...]

Poland and the Baltic States have drawn the lesson that they are among the most effective weapons in stopping the Russian advance in Ukraine, and are ordering hundreds of launch systems at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars.

War is always good for US arms manufacturers. The US survives because of a "defense" economy.

Ukraine’s definition of victory is the complete removal of Russian forces from Crimea and the Donbas region, which broke away in 2014, as well as the territory seized since February 24 this year.

[...]

Given the effective use of HIMARS, some have questioned why Ukraine has not received more.

“We’re trying to be responsible,” a senior US military official recently told one reporter.

By slow rolling the delivery, we're being responsible for more destruction and Ukrainian loss of live.

“We also take a look … that we balance our readiness,” because the HIMARS systems being sent to Ukraine are drawn from US reserves.

In case of attack by Canada or Mexico?

The United Kingdom has announced it is sending an unspecified number of M270 multiple launch rocket systems to Ukraine, each of which amounts to a pair of HIMARS.

Good. And they're more likely to need reserves than we are.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Not so, Joe

In virtual remarks Monday to the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, Biden – who was recovering from Covid-19 – said police officers defending the Capitol were “speared, sprayed, stomped on, brutalized” for hours by white nationalists and other Trump sycophants who bought his false claims that he’d been robbed of victory by electoral fraudsters.

“The defeated former president of the United States watched it all happen as he sat in the comfort of the private dining room next to the Oval Office,” Biden said, alluding to evidence and testimony staged by the congressional committee investigating the assault during a series of public hearings throughout the summer. “While he was doing that, brave law enforcement officers are subjected to the medieval hell for three hours … dripping in blood, surrounded by carnage, face to face with a crazed mob that believed the lies of the defeated president.

“The police were heroes that day. Donald Trump lacked the courage to act.”

  The Guardian

Bullshit. We all know that he was encouraged and encouraging of the brutal riot. It's not that he lacked the courage. He lacked the will. He lacked the desire. He lacked the patriotism. He lacked the integrity.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

It's not over

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Oh, Ginniiiii

UPDATE 9/29:

Liz Cheney on Fox News

Worth listening to that whole clip.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

He has lost the NY POST!

How very MAGA

When  he gets out, he'll be elected GOP candidat for the Senate.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

An afterthought

The last January 6 insurrection hearing brought out the point that, while the mob was attacking police and breaking into the capitol looking for someone to hang, Trump was in the White House watching it on TV and calling congressmen telling them to delay or deflect so the electoral count could not proceed.  In other words...he was essentially holding them hostage.  They knew he was the only one who could call off the mob, and he was essentially telling them, "I want you to do me a favor, though."

If that's not a crime, it ought to be.

The fall begins

One of the very deserving Trump fall guys is on his way down.

Legal licensing authorities in Washington have initiated a disciplinary case against Jeffrey Clark, a former Trump administration Justice Department official who promoted the former president’s false election fraud claims and is now under investigation.

Clark “attempted to engage in conduct involving dishonesty” and “attempted to engage in conduct that would seriously interfere with the administration of justice,” a petition filed by the D.C. Bar’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel and released on Friday said.

  NBC

Bill Barr engaged in conduct involving dishonesty. Perhaps he should be disciplined.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

One small step for mankind

Will Walmart repackage all those TVs or put them on sale?

What's good for the goose...

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Bannon verdict

And if they hadn't, we could have closed the doors and shut out the lights on America.

Sentencing scheduled for October 21.  Why so long, I don't know.

UPDATE: