…January 2, 2021…
It begins with a text message from #AngusKing, the junior senator from Maine: “Could you give me a call when you get a chance? #Important.”
#Romney calls, & #King informs him of a conversation he’s just had w/a high-ranking #Pentagon ofcl. #Law enforcement has been tracking online #chatter among #RightWing#extremists who appear to be planning something bad on the day of #Trump’s upcoming “rally” in #DC The president has been telling them the election was stolen; now they’re coming to steal it back. There’s talk of #gun smuggling, of #bombs & #arson, of #targeting the #traitors in #Congress who are responsible for this travesty.
He’ll (#MitchMcConnell) want to know about this, #Romney thinks. He’ll want to protect his colleagues, & himself.
Romney sends his text: “In case you have not heard this, I just got a call from #AngusKing, who said that he had spoken w/a snr ofcl at the #Pentagon who reports that they are seeing very disturbing #SocialMedia traffic regarding the protests planned on the 6th (#Jan6). There are calls to burn down your home, Mitch; to smuggle #guns into #DC, & to #storm the #Capitol.
#MarjorieTaylorGreene, who introduced articles of #impeachment against Pres #Biden, said she told #Trump she wanted the impeachment inquiry to be “long & excruciatingly painful for Joe Biden.” #TheCrueltyIsThePoint
…she said her ultimate goal was to have a “long list of names” — people whom she claimed were co-conspirators involved in Biden family crimes.…& that she wanted “to go after every single one of them &use the Dept of Justice to prosecute them.” (Aren’t #Republicans defunding the #DOJ?)
While Biden’s son #Hunter was charged in June w/2 #misdemeanor tax offenses & a #felony firearm offense, #Republicans have not shown that President #Biden committed ANY crimes. #HouseRepublicans are proceeding w/the #impeachment inquiry WITHOUT proof that Biden took ofcl actions as VP to benefit his son’s financial interests or that he directly profited from his son’s foreign deals.
I dunno, maybe I’m being naive here but I actually find myself becoming increasingly confident that the jig may really be up for him… He’s fully mired himself in a spiraling temper-tantrum from which he lacks the self-control, self-awareness and emotional maturity to extricate himself. I think it’s only a matter of time before he blows himself up…
Mastodon should start preparing the massive deluge of new members that will ensue!
#RonanFarrow was her guest, in addition to Musk’s ideological alignments w/Russia, he highlighted Musk’s #financial#ConflictOfInterests.
Half of #Teslas are made in #China. China has backed Russia. China explicitly expressed displeasure w/Musk providing #Starlink service to Ukraine.
As reported by #Farrow in the @NewYorker, & as reported by The Financial Times @ftworldnews, & in Walter Isaacson’s new book, #Musk has had direct conversations w/ #Putin & subsequently parroted #Russia policy on their invasion of #Ukraine.
Links:
Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule
by Ronan Farrow
"To the dismay of #Pentagon officials, Musk volunteered that he had spoken with Putin personally."
“…an impulsive billionaire, unsure of whether he wants to be a superhero or a Bond villain, should not have been in a position to make that call. No private citizen should be making such unilateral decisions about our #NationalSecurity.”
#Attorneys for Trump on Monday asked US District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to disqualify herself from presiding over his federal #ElectionObstruction case, asserting that Chutkan in past cases involving #Jan6, 2021, riot defendants made statements that give the appearance that she has prejudged Trump’s guilt.
#US advances deal w/ #Iran to swap prisoners, free frozen #oil funds
The #Biden admin has issued a waiver allowing banks to transfer $6B in Iranian assets w/o fear of U.S. #sanctions, a key step in securing the #release of 5 #American citizens detained in Iran, said people familiar with the matter. As a part of the arrangement, the admin will release 5 #Iranian citizens detained in the #UnitedStates.
The move… is likely to come as a relief to US prisoner’s #families & supporters, many of whom have waited several years for their return…. It’s also expected to come under harsh criticism from #Republicans in #Congress opposed to any agreement… (to) release of frozen Iranian funds….
The deal marks a major breakthrough for the longtime adversaries who remain at loggerheads over a range of issues, including the rapid expansion of #Tehran’s #nuclear program & Iran’s harsh crackdown on #dissent.
The fundamentals of the 2024 campaign are still taking shape, but one thing is already clear: A flurry of #court actions might cost #Republicans the #House majority.
Adding to the difficulties, no single agency keeps a complete record of all such incidents. But the #attacks they know about have #regulators & other #power experts alarmed:
#Utilities reported 60 incidents they characterized as physical #threats or attacks on major #grid#infrastructure, in addition to 2 #cyberattacks, during the first 3 months of 2023 alone, acc/to mandatory disclosures they filed with the #DOE. That’s more than double the number from the same period last year.…
Some #states are even exploring options to potentially prosecute people who help #women travel out of state to obtain an #abortion.
In the early #legal skirmishing over this agenda, opponents including the federal #DOJ have won a surprising number of decisions, mostly in #FederalCourt, blocking #states from implementing the new #laws.
In the coming years, #SCOTUS will face a series of decisions on the new #redstate#agenda that may determine whether the U.S. maintains a strong baseline of #CivilRights available in all #states or reverts back toward a pre-1960s world where people’s #rights varied much more depending on where they lived.
In the months before the ruling…, a group of #conservative activists came together to create just such an org. Its mission would be to, at the time, block then-President Barack #Obama’s pet #initiatives.
Donald Trump likes to put his name on everything — except his #TaxpayerFunded, post-presidential office here on N Flagler Dr.
Trump’s website doesn’t list the address, which is about a 10-min drive from his #MaraLago club. The nameplate on the hallway wall is blank. There is no seal, official or unofficial, on the frosted-glass door. & the name #Trump — a brand TFG estimates to be worth billions of dollars — is nowhere to be found.
It’s so hush-hush that his spox, Steven Cheung, claimed no knowledge of its existence.
“I’ve never heard of a N Flagler office,” Cheung said, when… asked….
But it’s here, across the hall from an #IRS suite w/a door marked “#criminal investigation” & one floor below an outpost for #Trump’s #SecretService detail. 3 sources confirmed the location of the office.
Under the #FormerPresidentsAct, the federal #GSA provides #funding for post-presidential offices, including #money to pay #staff. There are reasons — including security — that some ex-presidents choose to shine less light on their offices….
What stands out about this suite is that it has played a little-noticed role in Trump’s affairs….
In an #unusual 4p stmnt attached to an otherwise routine list of orders concerning pending cases, Justice Alito dismissed calls for him to step aside as “unsound.”
A top adviser to #Ukraine’s president accused #ElonMusk of enabling Russian aggression, after the billionaire entrepreneur acknowledged denying satellite internet service in order to prevent a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian naval fleet last year.