“It’s unequivocal that #Trump was the magnet that brought the people to D.C. on the 6th.
Now the question is, is he criminally culpable for everything that happened during the siege, during the breach? We have people looking at everything." #CapitolRiotspic.twitter.com/usPosJEYma
— Julie Laumann (@Otpor17) March 22, 2021
I try not to get my hopes up, but it’s nice to know some of the terrorists must be getting a little sweaty…
Former acting US attorney Michael Sherwin, who had led DOJ’s inquiry into the #CapitolRiots: evidence most likely supports sedition charges https://t.co/YV3SXxDVup
— Julie Laumann (@Otpor17) March 22, 2021
Federal prosecutors generally are not permitted to speak publicly about ongoing investigations. I was surprised (to put it mildly) that Sherwin went on 60 minutes and discussed the Capitol attack investigation. I wonder who (if anyone) at DOJ authorized that. https://t.co/2lCLB2tysQ
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) March 22, 2021
Proud Boys, militiamen, a convicted abortion clinic bomber, Charlottesville rioters, Neo-Nazis with security clearances, a descendant of Joe McCarthy's speechwriter, close family of Dirty War vets…just a real who's who of the most toxic reactionary forces of the past century. https://t.co/LTVvpPXuIQ
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) March 19, 2021
Like we just need a Watergate burglar, one of the Rodney King case cops, and idk maybe an Iran-Contra Cessna pilot for 1/6 to have been Fashy Dipshit Endgame. And we might get there!
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) March 19, 2021
"We are trying to avoid getting into any shit tonight. Tomorrow’s the day."
"…cops are the primary threat"
"…we can be looking at Gang charges"
"I’m proud as fuck what we accomplished yesterday"
On the latest Proud Boys conspiracy indictment: https://t.co/0nHlYigEQx
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) March 19, 2021
Pew poll: 69% of Americans said it is important to prosecute the Capitol rioters.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 18, 2021
Baud
OT. Not sure if this has been covered yet, but it’s better news than the other news today.
HumboldtBlue
OT but here’s some amazing footage of the Iceland volcano.
Ken
I could swear I saw a poll just last week where 63% said it was important to prosecute the insurrectionists. I wonder if the numbers are actually going up?
Keith P.
@Baud: Infrastructure Week already?
dmsilev
@Keith P.: I so hope that when this bill is formally unveiled, the rollout is officially called Infrastructure Week. I feel we’re owed that.
And those jokes have been going on for long enough that apparently I’ve trained autocorrect to know that ‘Infrastructure’ should be followed by ‘Week’.
Jay
Baud
Dems in Array
Baud
The fact that Donald Trump believed it proves that no reasonable person would.
Baud
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Well said.
Mary G
@Jay: Uh, she put them in a court filing and signed it as an attorney; no judge will let that slide. Dominion probably sued her last because I doubt she has much money to get, but they’ll get whatever it is.
Redshift
I think the infrastructure bill is (in part) a lesson for Machine. He thinks he can get ten Republicans on board for that. I suspect it’s as big as possible so they can accept some Republican requests and be seen as negotiating in good faith. And if the GOP pulls their usual crap, the administration can ask Manchin “so now do you get it?
mrmoshpotato
@Mary G:
SAD!
Elizabelle
@Jay: I hope this is about the last case Ms. Powell gets to be involved with.
Lift this lunatic’s law license.
West of the Cascades
I suppose it would be nice if DOJ/FBI officials didn’t talk publicly about ongoing investigations, but see, e.g. Comey’s letter in October 2016 and ships that have sailed. I wonder if Sherwin’s appearance was a calculated move to make more of the rats start ratting on each other?
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
Good. These people need to get locked up for life. Shitbags, the lot of them.
debbie
@Jay:
Then shouldn’t 60+ courts cite her for her bullshit?
Ken
@Jay: When the US incorporated the common law, did we also pick up those older parts about, oh, branding a big “L” for “LIAR” on the forehead of perjurers?
debbie
@Mary G:
Not a court filing. Many court filings.
patrick II
I have heard quite a few complaints about the lack of updates on progress at DOJ, and this guy goes on and gives, through an interview format, a pretty good update. While I agree that, as a general rule, that the DOJ should not talk about ongoing cases, this case is different. We all watched a crime being committed as it happened. The secrecy of the process is often because of the possibility of of an investigation where there is no crime and knowledge of investigation would harm an innocent person’s reputation. There is no chance of that happening here.
It is a matter of grave public interest and people need to be informed in a way that does not cast unnecessary aspersions or threaten the case. I think he did alright.
kindness
Some are getting nervous and some think Trump will pardon them all when he takes over as President again, just like Q is telling them…
craigie
Sure, but who cares what they think? What’s important is what Putin thinks. What does he say about this?
tokyokie
@Jay:
That was the holding, more or less, Hustler Magazine v. Falwell. Except that case involved satire, and a public figure, and a claim for monetary damages resulting from emotional injuries. I don’t see any of those factors in play here. How did this woman pass the bar exam somewhere?
Elizabelle
Ten fatalities in Boulder.
Redshift
I have a strong urge to post on Twitter “Remember that they say we have to put up with this (picture of mass shooting) because they need to be able to do this (picture of the insurrection).”
I probably won’t, though.
Wag
@Baud: And it also improves that there are lots of unreasonable tubes out there.
Amir Khalid
Aside from one story by the Associated Press and one on the ABC News site, it seems there is still no coverage in Western news media of the abrupt end in diplomatic relations between North Korea and Malaysia over the weekend.
The proximate cause was that Malaysia’s Supreme Court had allowed the extradition to the US of a Nortn Korean man to face money-laundering charges. (He had appealed the original exradition ruling all the way up.) North Korea called the extradition an unpardonable crime and a hostile act against North Korea.
North Korea vacated its embassy premises on Sunday and flew the staff home. The Malaysian Embassy in Pyongyang had already been shuttered since 2017, in the wake of the hit on Kim Jong Un’s half-brother at KL International Airport.
The only analyis I’ve seen of this, in Asian news media, suggests that Kim may be trying to get the Biden administration’s attention, for what I’m not sure.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Magnets – how do they work?
Wag
@Amir Khalid: KJU misses having POTUS as his bff, and wants Biden to take TFG’s place in his heart?
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Taylor Swift posted a picture of her pussy and – it. is. glorious. (photo)
Amir Khalid
@Wag:
Somehow, I can’t quite see Biden deigning to make friends with Kim Jong Un.
tokyokie
@Amir Khalid:
As a fellow former newspaperman, you should hardly be surprised by the lack of coverage in the Western news media of Malaysia’s diplomatic developments. News from the PRC and Japan and anything involving the U.S. military might get good play in the Western news media, but unless it’s a catastrophe of some sort, news from Malaysia and Indonesia doesn’t make a ripple in the news media over here.
Yutsano
@Amir Khalid: Maybe but…any country won’t be happy over losing an extradition battle. Having said that, all I’ve seen from North Korea so far is pouting over Kim losing his “BFF” in the White House. Plus his sister is getting more prominent so watching her moves will matter too.
BruceFromOhio
@Jay: So only stupid rubes believe her? Good to know.
Amir Khalid
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
That pussy is indeed a very pretty California Ragdoll.
Elizabelle
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: The blue eyes.
Looks like a relative of the famous Choupette Lagerfeld.
Major Major Major Major
I trust Garland to manage this all well.
dmsilev
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
Would you like a discourse on Ising-model Hamiltonians? Because I can do that.
opiejeanne
@Amir Khalid: I didn’t know there was a California rag doll.
Amir Khalid
@tokyokie:
I have noticed that Western media generally isn’t interested in acknowledging Malaysia’s existence. (ETA: They call our food Singaporean — it’s really the other way around — and our culture Indonesian.) But what’s geopolitically singnificant here, what should be newsworthy for them, is that Kim is making his first bid for Joe Biden’s attention; and Biden’s response will be worth noting.
RandomMonster
Did the DOJ authorize Sherwin to do that interview? He isn’t employed by the DOJ anymore, right? Did he endanger the prosecution of the seditionists by revealing so much? Can he be trusted?
Wag
@Amir Khalid: Nor do I. But KJU can dream, can’t he?
Amir Khalid
@RandomMonster:
Since he’s an ex-DoJ guy and a lawyer, I expect he’s still bound by DoJ and the legal profession’s rules regarding what he can or can’t say about cases he’s worked on.
tokyokie
@Amir Khalid: I was able to follow Malaysian political developments back when I lived in Japan, but I was reading Asian English-language sources back then. I doubt most Americans know the difference between Malaysia and Indonesia. On the other hand, I’ve long wanted to visit Kuching because I understand it has the best preserved colonial architecture in the region, and hey, it’s the City of Cats.
Roger Moore
@Jay:
Considering some of the statements in question were made in legal filings, I sincerely doubt the court will be happy with this explanation. There’s a reason Trump’s actual legal team always refused to put the wildest theories they endorsed in anything they had to sign under penalty of perjury.
Roger Moore
@Elizabelle:
I would be perfectly happy with her being the defendant many more times. Ideally a criminal defendant.
Amir Khalid
@Roger Moore:
I am astoundified. Does Sidney Powell realise what she is saying? “I talk nonsense all the time. I don’t know why anyone takes me seriously.”
Martin
@patrick II: We weren’t going to get updates so long as we didn’t have a confirmed AG, and Biden’s USAs weren’t in place.
BruceFromOhio
@Amir Khalid: Falls into the “everything I tell you is a lie” chasm.
Why anyone pays any further attention to this person is a mystery.
Martin
Beats spending the rest of your life paying off a $1.3B judgement against you.
karen marie
@Amir Khalid: When did a Trumper ever follow rules?
Amir Khalid
@Martin:
I’m not entirely convinced this defence will work.
LesGS
@Amir Khalid: Looks a lot like my cat, Max! He’s got more brown, but the same eyes. He’s also a lot bigger. He can stand up on his hind legs to look at what I’m working on on the cutting board. Just in case it’s cheese.
smedley the uncertain
@dmsilev: they work very well.
Amir Khalid
\@karen marie:
I don’t expect AG Garland to go easy on him if he breaks these rules.
James E Powell
@Baud:
Now who can argue with that?
Yutsano
@Martin: @Amir Khalid: A thousand lawyers across the country are salivating at the appeal potential here. I mean, what else should she not be taken seriously on?
James E Powell
@Elizabelle:
Powell – no relation and curse her for defiling the name – isn’t the attorney in the cases in which she is a party.
Some of the arguments her attorneys are making in the motion to dismiss seem to be questions of fact which can’t be resolved on a motion to dismiss. But, they have to make the motion anyway. It’s just a job.
KrackenJack
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
A little hairier than I expected. Attractive and well-groomed, but without a signature scent candle, it’s just another celebrity one.
catclub
@kindness:
When? Easter Monday? Arbor Day? Flag (Hugging) Day?
mrmoshpotato
Fixed.
catclub
@Amir Khalid:
Why not try it?
The same general approach works for Fox News when they are accused of lying on the news – ‘we’re just entertainment’. And they get away with it, and then when Obama kicks out their ‘reporters’ from press access, the other media outlets support Fox news. Nice work if you can get it.
catclub
@KrackenJack:
Do not bikini Wax it. poor kitty.
RandomMonster
I would expect so, too. Is he following rules, or breaking them? What was the motivation for the interview?
patrick II
@karen marie:
Don’t look at the sun during an eclipse? Oh, no, nevermind.
Amir Khalid
@catclub:
Festivus?
smike
@Amir Khalid:
Q says they got this. Q is on it. Stand down and stand by, Troop Q. Any day now, any day now.
You know, Q, when she started, was a 13 year old girl who had a knack with computers. She was having a discussion with a friend about the political situation in this country (she also had a knack with smarts and being generally aware.) She said that she could say that Democrats are baby killing, baby blood-sucking, baby eating, baby fucking Satan worshipers and these idiotic magats would believe her. Her friend said, “Like, no way, dude!”, and so here we are. She still sits around and thinks, “You know what? They’ll believe this, too.” And they do.
I have this on good authority.
Mary G
Boulder, very sad:
Cameron
Wasn’t Sidney Powell a Federal prosecutor once upon a time?
Amir Khalid
@Cameron:
She was.
Connor
@Mary G:
They might. It varies from state to state, but basically there’s a lot of wiggle room in what attorneys are allowed to present in their papers, and whether or not claims have to be factually accurate.
prostratedragon
A little Bach, for the heart
NotMax
@prostratedragon
Heck, let’s pull out the stops.
;)
Geminid
Israelis are going to the polls today for the forth time in two years. This election may turn out like the last three, with no coalition able to acheive 61 votes in the 120 member Knesset. Under the Israeli system, voters cast ballots for a party slate. A slate winning 10% of the vote, for instance, is awarded 12 Knesset members.
But if a slate falls below a 3.25% threshold, it wins no seats. Right now four parties poll near the threshold: liberal Meretz, Defense Secretary Benny Gantz’s centrist party Blue and White, a conservative Arab party which broke from the Arab Joint List, and a far right party that lists a a former member of the Kahanist party banned for racism. The outcome may turn on whether these parties are awarded 4 MKs, or are blanked.
Coalition negotions may take weeks, and there could be a fifth election if no one can form a governing majority. The Jerusalem Post and the Times of Israel are good sources for anyone who wants to follow this complicated story. Haaretz is even better, but much of it’s reporting is paywalled.
debbie
@Amir Khalid:
That is a horrifying thought.
Frankensteinbeck
I think we’re going to find out the Capitol attack was a clusterfuck of people who didn’t really think it would happen. ‘Planning’ violent revolution is a hobby for conservatives. Trump was “omg it worked!” His other mob-stokers just thought they were being standard extreme asshole “Democrats are evil and we should destroy them” conservative speakers, which is standard, and it wasn’t going farther than an enjoyable and profitable hate-fest. There is nothing weird about people like Stone hanging out with or even hiring for security their most frenzied supporters. The inside job people putting up no security or showing rioters around similarly didn’t think their actions were more than performative. Put it all together, and everyone involved suddenly found they were living out their violent fantasies on a barely defended target. It explains why despite all their supposed plans, when the mob frenzy died down the seditionists mostly took ego-stroking selfies instead of seriously tracking down their targets.
This does not excuse anyone’s behavior, and I’m hoping it won’t matter legally. There is also one serious exception: Everyone who, after the invasion started, refused to quell it. Although I think they were in the ‘I have been handed my violent fantasies without having to work for it’ category, they straight up knew at every point it was real.
Geminid
@debbie: Sidney Powell seems to have been sucked into the negative polarization whirlpool that’s churned in the last ten years. I am reminded of a customer I talk politics with. She and her husband both voted for Obama in 2008. Previously, she had been a Tsongas volunteer in Atlanta, and worked for Planned Parenthood as well. But she voted for trump twice, and has devolved from a Wall Street Journal Republican into an Epoch Times Republican. She never liked trump, but is so frightened by the picture of a radical, destructive Democratic party that her sources paint that she voted for him as the lesser of two evils. I’d like to think that Jane will settle back into a more balanced political viewpoint, but she is 70 years old, and may be stuck.
rikyrah
@HumboldtBlue:
????
rikyrah
@Jay:
Naw Boo..
See you in discovery
Uncle Cosmo
@Martin: I guess they could garnish her wages from assembling office furniture for US Prison Industries.
Of course it would probably end up like German reparations after the Great War – the sun would become a red giant and swallow the Earth before the debt was discharged…
J R in WV
@Amir Khalid:
That’s a really, really BIG cat — bigger than Steve! Looks like he’s longer than Ms Swift’s torso. Fuzzy too!! Love some fuzzy cat! but they do take a lot of care, brushing, etc. Tats are hard to deal with on a cat, as John has told us.
DaBunny
@RandomMonster: Good question! Doesn’t seem like he should’ve been going on 60 Minutes to volunteer all that…
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/a-trump-appointed-prosecutor-accepted-cbs-interview-on-capitol-riot-without-authorization