Politics What is happening????

And so it begins.... today is the first trial of a MAGA rioter charged with federal crimes for actions at the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021.**

The defendant, Guy Reffitt, is a member of the "Three Percenter" militia and charged with...

- civil disorder (max of 5 years)
- obstructing an official proceeding (max of 20 years)
- obstruction of justice (max of 20 years)
- charge of remaining in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon (max of 10 years)

He is also charged separately with threatening his children if they reported that he was at the US Capitol.

Prosecutor's opening argument this morning at the first trial of a MAGA rioter at the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021


View: https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1499046226347634694



View: https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1499048148110659587


**As noted, this is the first trial.

More than 165 have already pleaded guilty and agreed to and signed plea agreements (in return for reduced charges). Many with felony charges received prison time from a few months to nearly five years. Most of those who pleaded guilty to misdemeanors received fines and probation.

This trial will set the tone and likely determine if more of the remaining violent offenders hold firm and plead "not guilty" (on similar or worse charges like the 225+ charged with assaulting/impeding police) or if there will be a sudden rush for these MAGA thugs to beg for plea deals.

There is no live tv allowed in federal courtroom, so it will be 'live' twitter reports and daily updates as these trials move forward.

 

I wish I could take a vacation long enough to see it all if it's televised. As it is I'll only be able to catch some audio via the phone.
Jan 6 I was lucky enough to work on small parts and watch the riot on my phone the whole time.

I do expect a fair amount of disappointment from it all.

 

More shit hitting the fan tonight...

In a brief filed in federal court tonight against John Eastman, former Trump attorney, the House Select Committee to Investigate January 6 said it has evidence that Trump broke the law with his efforts to obstruct Congress from counting the 'electoral votes'...

Jan. 6 committee says Trump violated multiple laws in effort to overturn election

And from the House Select Committee filing in federal court:

A. Obstruction of an Official Proceeding
The evidence detailed above provides, at minimum, a good-faith basis for concluding that President Trump has violated section 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2). The elements of the offense under 1512(c)(2) are: (1) the defendant obstructed, influenced or impeded, or attempted to obstruct, influence or impede, (2) an official proceeding of the United States, and (3) that the defendant did so corruptly. Id. (emphasis added). To date, six judges from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia have addressed the applicability of section 1512(c) to defendants criminally charged in connection with the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Each has concluded that Congress’s proceeding to count the electoral votes on January 6th was an “official proceeding” for purposes of this section, and each has refused to dismiss charges against defendants under that section...

B. Conspiracy to Defraud the United States
The Select Committee also has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371...(more)

C. Common Law Fraud
There is also evidence to support a good-faith reasonable belief..that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in common law fraud in connection with their efforts to overturn the 2020 election results...
​

As a reminder, Congress does not authority to charge anyone with a fderal crime, but can make criminal referrals to the Dept. of Justice

​

 

Follow up to #901 and trial of Guy Reffitt for crimes in the attack on the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021...

• GUILTY: civil disorder - max of 5 years in federal prison
• GUILTY: obstructing an official proceeding - max of 20 years
• GUILTY: obstruction of justice - max of 20 years
• GUILTY: remaining in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon - max of 10 years
• GUILTY: separate charge of threatening to kill his own children

It took the jury less than five hours to reach their verdict. Sentencing to follow at later date.

Guy Reffitt, first Jan. 6 rioter to go to trial, found guilty on all counts

Many of the remaining MAGA thugs may likely rethink pleading "not guilty" and going to trial and, instead, may jump on plea deals now to limit their sorry asses to lesser time in federal prison.

 

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings this week on the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.

Monday, she will be introduced by several Democrat senators, followed by every senator on the committee making brief (5 minute) remarks after which she will make her own opening remarks.

The real show will begin on Tuesday with each senator on the committee having 30 minutes of questioning of Jackson and continue on Wednesday with a second round of questioning of 20 minutes by each senator. Thursday will have testimony from outside organizations on both sides.

She has quite a list of 'Letters of Support'

 

Time for MORE



The House just passed a bill to to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level by a vote of 220-204.

The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act would remove cannabis from the list of federal controlled substances and eliminate criminal penalties associated with the drug. It would also impose a federal tax on marijuana sales to fund programs to help communities negatively impacted by the war on drugs.

More on the MORE Act from lead sponsor and chairman of House Judiciary Committee

Chairman Nadler Floor Statement in Support of H.R. 3617, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act

Passage in the Senate is possible, but unlikely.

 

Mark your calendars!

Starting on June 9, the House Select Committee will hold six televised hearings to present their findings that Trump and White House insiders, DoJ officials, Republicans in Congress and others developed plans to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 election and how it led to the violent assault on the US Capitol.

According to the draft schedule, the June public hearings will explore Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, starting and ending with prime time hearings at 8pm on the 9th and the 23rd. In between, the panel will hold 10am hearings on the 13th, 15th, 16th and 21st...The prime time hearings are currently scheduled to last between 1.5 and 2 hours and the morning hearings between 2 and 2.5 hours.

Capitol attack panel to hold six public hearings as it aims to show how Trump broke law

Following these public hearings, the Committee will wrap up its work and submit a full report to Congress probably by Labor Day.

There is a high likelihood that the report will suggest that Congress vote on sending criminal referrals to the US Dept of Justice to seek indictments on a number of individuals in Trump's inner circle on charges, possibly including serious federal felonies of "Obstructing of an Official Proceeding" and "Conspiracy to Defraud the United States" along with other charges.

Then the ball is in Merrick Garland's court at DoJ.

 

I can't think of anything MG has done yet that's encouraging.
I think he's afraid of various forms of retaliation including triggering some kind of civil guerilla war-ish mess of nut jobs coming out of our of their basements. Egged on by Bannon's war room talk, the freedom caucus loonies, mmm mmm good fucker Carlson and the replacement shit show, finger rapist Madison Cawthorn, on and on...

This has been brewing for ever. I feel like I first noticed it when Reagan was running and I was just past voting age. But it's been this way for much longer. I'm no history scholar but...George Wallace...
Marketing by hate and fear is the prevailing message I get.
That's why I rejected roofers that gave me bids.
Don't tell me about how shitty the other guy is, tell me what you'll do and I can compare that to the other guys bid.

I hope Merrick has some big boy pants to put on. If he's gonna fight for truth and justice he's got a big crazy fight on his hands. He can't ever win the the minds of those lost in the cult of willful lies and delusional idiots. He's gotta be ok with ongoing hate and danger for the rest of his life.
If it were me I'd be packing my bags for another country. It's literally like a fight agents blacked out alcoholic crazys now. You can't play logic and rule of law when your opponents aren't grounded in reality.

 

I think Garland may be doing more than the public thinks 0n the January 6 assault on the US Capitol by Trump supporters. There are reportedly two ongoing DoJ investigations, one focused on persons in Trump's inner circle (including Mark Meadows and Rudy Guiliani) and a second focused on state Republican officials who submitted fraudulent slates of electors to Congress to be certified and replace those duly elected in states Biden won.

The issue is that DoJ policy prevents Garland or anyone within the agency from discussing these (or any) investigations.

1-7.400 - Disclosure of Information Concerning Ongoing Criminal, Civil, or Administrative Investigations

B. DOJ generally will not confirm the existence of or otherwise comment about ongoing investigations. Except as provided in subparagraph C of this section, DOJ personnel shall not respond to questions about the existence of an ongoing investigation or comment on its nature or progress before charges are publicly filed.
C. When the community needs to be reassured that the appropriate law enforcement agency is investigating a matter, or where release of information is necessary to protect the public safety, comments about or confirmation of an ongoing investigation may be necessary, subject to the approval requirement in subparagraph A.​

1-7.000 - Confidentiality and Media Contacts Policy

After the House Select Committee releases its final report sometime later this summer, much its thousands of pages of evidence will be turned over to DoJ. The Committee's final report may also make specific recommendations for the House to refer to DoJ for criminal investigation.

On other issues, Garland has stepped up and is issuing more "consent decrees" against local police departments found to be engaging in civil rights violations in the treatment of suspects in custody. I think there at least five or six underway - Minneapolis, Phoenix, Louisville and several others.

He has also file lawsuits in federal court against two or three state election laws, notably Georgia and Texas, for violation of the Voting Rights Act that may target minorities.

These are small steps and DoJ should be doing more in these areas - civil rights violations and voting rights violations - along with other high priority investigatory areas.

--- added---

DoJ has also indicted the leaders (and others) of two major right wing groups on multiple charges- Proud Boys (seven charges) and Oath Keepers (14 charges) - involved in the Jan 6 assault on the US Capitol.

Leader of Oath Keepers and 10 Other Individuals Indicted in Federal Court for Seditious Conspiracy and Other Offenses Related to U.S. Capitol Breach

Leader of Proud Boys Indicted in Federal Court for Conspiracy and Other Offenses Related to U.S. Capitol Breach

Trials start in August and September. The "sedition" and "conspiracy" charges are significant and if convicted, these guys could be facing serious prison time (20 years, plus more if found guilty on the other charges)

 

The problem with Garland is that his methods as a prosecutor are incredibly methodical.
He works creates steel traps that can't be broken.
The problem is that takes years, time that Biden may not have.

 

This subpoena of Trump White House insider , Peter Navarro. is a big deal. We would not have known about it from DoJ, but Navarro made it known when he filed a lawsuit to block it yesterday.

Peter Navarro says he's been subpoenaed by grand jury over Capitol riot

A subpoena from DoJ/FBI to appear before a grand jury is much more serious and focused specifically on the possibility of criminal intent as opposed to a subpoena issued by the House Select Committee.

One does not ignore FBI subpoenas lightly as has been the case with Trumpers and House Select Committee subpoenas.

Presumably, the focus of the subpoena is Navarro's self-described plan, the "Green Bay Sweep"

Green Bay Sweep (politics) (the wiki link may not work for some reason)

The Green Bay Sweep is Peter Navarro's name for a procedural strategy to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election. He outlined the plot in a book published in November 2021[1] and spoke about it in multiple media interviews. It took its name from the Packers sweep, where the Green Bay Packers of the 1950s and '60s, led by Vince Lombardi, would flood a zone with blockers, allowing the football to be advanced dependably behind them. In the political iteration, devised by Steve Bannon, the Electoral College vote count would be blocked by repeated challenges to various state's vote counts by Republican members of the House and Senate favorable to Donald Trump. Each challenge could take up to two hours of debate by each chamber, individually, leading to as much of 24 hours of televised hearings.[2]

According to the plan, public pressure created by the delay would lead state legislatures in six key battleground states with Republican-dominated legislatures – Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, Nevada – to de-certify election results, with the intended outcome that Trump would have more certified electoral college votes than the election's actual winner, Joe Biden.

Navarro claimed that then-president Trump was "on board with the strategy"[3][4] and that up to 100 congressmen were committed to executing the plan. However the plan was dependent on Vice President Mike Pence's participation, and it was difficult to pressure Pence, said Navarro, because all communication passed through his chief of staff, Marc Short, who had been president of the Koch Brothers funded Freedom Partners.[2]​

More on the "Green Bay Sweep"


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RykP-UkJ86k

 

The worse thing is the chaos strategy could work. Living in Texas I have lost faith in the integrity of our political leaders, and especially our attorney general. Gov Greg Abbott and AG Ken Paxton have no integrity.

 

The House may start to vote this week on gun control legislation passed by the House Judiciary Committee last Thursday.

House Judiciary Committee Passes Robust Gun Omnibus Legislation

The “Protecting Our Kids Act” would:

• Raise the lawful age to purchase a semiautomatic centerfire rifle from 18 to 21 years old
• Establish a new federal offense for the import, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of a large capacity magazines, with exceptions for certain law enforcement uses and the possession (but not sale) of grandfathered magazines;
• Establish new federal offenses for gun trafficking and straw purchasers and authorize seizure of the property and proceeds of the offense
• Establish voluntary best practices for safe firearm storage; award grants for Safe Firearm Storage Assistance Programs; provide a tax incentive to dealers for 10% of amounts received from the sale of safe storage devices
• Establish requirements to regulate the storage of firearms on residential premises; create criminal penalties for violation of the requirements
• Build on ATF’s regulatory bump stock ban by listing bump stocks under the National Firearms Act (like machineguns) and statutorily banning the manufacture, sale, or possession of bump stocks for civilian use
• Build on ATF’s regulatory ban of ghost guns by ensuring that ghost guns are subject to existing federal firearm regulation by amending the definition of “firearm” to include gun kits and partial receivers and changing the definition of “manufacturing firearms” to include assembling firearms using 3D printing

Next step is the House Rules Committee that meets tomorrow to set the procedures for the floor vote by the full House.

The Rules Committee, at Pelosi's urging, may structure it in the form of voting on seven separate bills on the House floor to highlight each of the above provisions and get Republicans on the record for each provision when they vote NO.

None of the above will pass the Senate.

 

Here's an article Google algorithm handed me.
It's sure topical, and addresses so much in American culture today.
Right and left, guns, religious beliefs, sexual diversity etc.
I get it right away. I know I'm guilty of indulging in this phenomenon myself as I think up words to form a post here or chat with friends.
See what you think...

Dostoevsky and the Pleasure of Taking Offense

 

I get what Eagan is saying, but..
he certainly likes to hear himself talk (so to say).

 

Ya I agree but I think so far he helps unpack and explain some of the thinking behind the phenomena of pleasure in making a victim of one's self.