WIDENING THE NET

One of my favorite lines from The Godfather came from the character of Willie Cicci, “The family had a lot of buffers!”

The Justice Department appears to have moved into a new phase, seeking information about people more closely tied to the Orange Despot.  

The federal investigation initially focused largely on the 1/6 insurrectionists/rioters who had entered the Capitol, an effort that has led to more than 700 arrests.

This new development comes amid growing political pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland to move more aggressively on the case.

The investigation will encompass the possible involvement of other government officials in Trump’s attempts to obstruct !!! the certification of Biden’s Electoral College victory and the push by some Trump allies to promote slates of “fake electors.”

Prosecutors are going to be asking about the planning for the rallies that preceded the assault on the Capitol, including the rally on the Ellipse on 1/6 of last year, aka Ginni’s Rally, just before a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol.

Some of the subpoenas, which were reviewed by the New York Times, sought info about people “classified as VIP attendees” at Boy Orange‘s 1/6 rally.

As we know, this past Monday, a federal judge in California, in a civil case involving the House committee, concluded that Trump likely engaged [really bothered with this phrase!] in criminal conduct, including obstructing the work of Congress and conspiring to defraud the United States.

As many of you ALREADY can tell, and have told me, it pains me to garner the proper understanding that the Constitution and the legal rights of these miscreants must be respected within the contours of our legal system.

Can any of you tell me what the ‘oath’ is that the Oath Keepers take??!

WHY is ANYONE SHOCKED??!

According to a series of emails in the procession of the Washington Post, and now bouncing ALL over the social network platforms of Planet Earth, one of the biggest Re’Trump’lican consulting firms in the country is being paid by Facebook parent company Meta, to orchestrate a nationwide campaign seeking to turn the public against TikTok.

The Great American Way: deviousness is the real character trait; forget honor, justice and ALL other admirable traits we ascribed to ourselves…Deep down, we believe that the end justifies the means and that you must screw over your rival before he can screw you over. 

Right on, Bro…

Bare-knuckle tactics, long commonplace in the world of politics, have become increasingly noticeable within a tech industry where companies vie for cultural relevance.

Plus, let’s NOT forget, Facebook‘s dork-in-chief and the billionaires club’s’ leading whacko [you know the individual – the Orange Despot is NOT on any such legitimate list], has been/is under pressure to win back young users.

Their campaign includes placing op-eds and letters to the editor in major regional news outlets, promoting dubious stories about alleged TikTok trends that actually originated on Facebook, and pushing to draw political reporters and local politicians into helping take down its biggest competitor.

Holy Hyman Roth!!!

Employees with the firm, Targeted Victory, worked to undermine TikTok through a nationwide media and lobbying campaign portraying the fast-growing app, owned by the Beijing-based company ByteDance, as a danger to American children and society.

NO joke…by the way, I’ve got a more defined list as regards the dangers to our children…but, thus far…NO TAKERS!!!

It needs to be said – Facebook acts like old people smell.

 

STAGGERING NUMBERS

It is ALREADY the largest displacement of human beings in Europe since World War II, as the latest numbers from the UN refugee agency have estimated four million-plus people have been driven from Ukraine as a result of Russia‘s invasion…in just five weeks.

In addition, the UN says many millions have been displaced within Ukraine, with 10.5 million people uprooted either within the country or forced abroad.

Plus, on top of the above numbers, some 12 million are trapped in areas affected by the war and unable to leave, the refugee agency said.

Most of the refugees have crossed into neighboring Poland where, by yesterday, roughly 2.4 million had arrived, according to the Polish border authorities; hundreds of thousands of others have escaped to Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, and Romania.

“A refugee saved is a world saved.” ~ Abhijit Naskar.

ADJUSTING ITS GOALS to REALITY?

In much of the news this morning, we’re hearing the Russian advance in northern Ukraine has ALREADY stalled, with troops around Kyiv taking up defensive positions in the face of Ukrainian counterattacks, BOTH there and near Sumy, where Russia has been having trouble encircling the main Ukrainian army.

As regards the ongoing peace talks, numerous international analysts are cautioning that the progress made yesterday does NOT mean that Russia is ready for serious discussions on ending the war.

That would require a better outcome of future military actions on the battlefield Putin to sell at home as a victory…and that’s the real ‘danger zone’ within this horrific conflict.

Most long-time diplomats that I’ve been reading, and listening to, say/feel any agreement would, at minimum, have to give Russia control of Mariupol, the besieged port city in Ukraine that is still somehow holding out, to create a secure land route between two areas that Russia occupies: Crimea to the west, and the Donbas to the east.

And it would also, they say, have to cede control over the two administrative regions in the Donbas, Luhansk and Donetsk, which Vlad has ALREADY declared to be “independent republics.”

Late yesterday, the Ukrainians outlined a 15-year process of negotiations about the status of Crimea, and said that control of the Donbas Region could be discussed in meetings between Putin and Zelensky; Russia has said it would only agree to a meeting between the two presidents once a draft peace agreement was ready.

Truth has been impossible to discern, in any instance, since Putin started this war, why would any of us believe him at the moment?

Russia will look to move their troops from where they are losing to where they are winning…this has NOTHING to do with peace, just a tactical change as they realize they can’t take specific areas/regions.

BOOTS ON THE GROUND: where are they; what are they doing??!

IT WAS the SECOND MEETING

The old Lobsterman had gotten a call last night that it probably was going to happen.

Within the last half hour, it happened.

Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) plans to vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, ensuring that Joey’s nominee and the first Black woman to be put forward for the post will receive at least one GOP backer.

Collins said Judge Jackson had alleviated some concerns that surfaced after last week’s clown show during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. 

“I have decided to support the confirmation of Judge Jackson to be a member of the Supreme Court,” Collins announced, with heavy emphasis on reaching her decision after her second meeting with Jackson yesterday afternoon.

Collins’s decision will allow Biden and Senate Dems to claim some degree of bipartisanship around the historic nomination, though whether other Re’Trump’licans will join Collins remains unclear.

If Dems stay united, it will also avoid the spectacle of Kammy having to break a tie to seat a nominee on the Supreme Court, an unprecedented outcome that some saw as potentially damaging to the court’s standing.

This announcement also disproves the old idiom of Will Rogers, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

MESSAGING

It would appear there’s growing evidence of how a tweet by the Orange Despot less than three weeks before 1/6/2001, served as a crucial call to action !!! for extremist groups, as well as humanity’s fringe elements, that played a central role in storming the Capitol.

A Twitter post in the early hours of December 19, 2020, from Boy Orange, was the first time Trump publicly urged supporters to come to Washington on the day Congress was scheduled to certify the Electoral College results showing Biden as the winner of the ’20 presidential vote.

His incendiary message – which concluded with, “Be there, will be wild!” – has long been seen as instrumental in drawing on the insanity of his cult of ‘walking dead’ that attended a pro-Trump rally on the Ellipse on 1/6 and then marched on the Capitol.

Ginni Thomas could NOT resist!!!

What rational person would deny that Trump’s post was a powerful catalyst??!

Particularly for far-right zombies/militants who believed he was facing his final chance to reverse defeat and whose role in fomenting the violence has come under intense scrutiny…in the last week.

In light of recent developments: SDNY former attorneys’ comments of “numerous felonies”; Judge Carter’s decision/ruling of Trump’s “most likely” guilt; Ginni Thomas‘s seditious urgings; and the growing frustration of the 1/6 committee… what, and for God’s sake when, will we see the imperative action necessary to establish the rule of law and stabilize our democracy??!

Please join me with the perpetual chant of “Merrick Garland, DO YOUR JOB!!!”

IT’S a GO…

The FDA made the decision(s) without a meeting of its vaccine advisory committee, a rare move the agency has made more frequently over the course of the pandemic to expand uses of ALREADY -approved COVID vaccines.

The FDA said it authorized a second Pfizer booster shot for people age 12 and older who have compromised immune systems, and a second Moderna booster for adults ages 18 and older with compromised immune systems. The new boosters are administered at least fourth months after the last shot.

The drug regulator’s authorization comes just two weeks after Pfizer and Moderna asked the FDA to permit a second booster shot based on data from Israel.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected to quickly sign off on the decision.

The Food and Drug Administration has also authorized fourth Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccine doses for everyone age 50 and older, amid uncertainty over whether an even more contagious version of Omicron will cause another wave of infection in the US as it has in Europe and China.

The authorization of fourth shots comes as a more contagious omicron subvariant, BA.2, has caused new waves of infection in major European nations and China, which is battling its worst outbreak since 2020.

BA.2 has gained ground in the US since last month and is expected to become the dominant variant here in the coming weeks.

A SEVEN HOUR-plus GAP!!!

Backchannels, phones of aides and/or personal ‘burner’ phones are now ALL-in-play.

It was to be expected…

Internal White House records from the day of the 1/6 Insurrection on the Capitol that were turned over to the House select committee show a massive gap in the Orange Despot‘s phone logs of seven hours and 37 minutes, including the period when the building was being violently assaulted.

Holy Rose Mary Woods!!!

Once again, we’re treated to how thuggish the behavior of this triple-wide load named Trump was with this lack of an official White House notation of any calls placed to or by Donald John Trump for 457 minutes !!! on January 6, 2021 – from 11:17 am to 6:54 pm.

Put another way, this means the committee has NO record of Boy Orange‘s phone conversations as his supporters descended on the Capitol, battled overwhelmed police and forcibly entered the building, prompting lawmakers and “Pastor” Mike Pence to flee for safety.

According to documents obtained by the Washington Post and CBS News, the records show that Trump was active on the phone for part of the day, documenting conversations that he had with at least eight people in the morning and 11 people that evening.

The seven-hour-plus gap also stands in stark contrast to the multiple news reporting about phone conversations Trump had with allies during the attack, such as a call to Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) – seeking to speak to Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) – and a phone conversation he had with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

As of about 15 minutes ago, when I last checked, Tucker Carlson has NOT returned my calls.

Imagine what Nixon could have done with burner phones??!

American history has been replete with some unsavory scum…but, NO one, absolutely NO one has been in the same league as Donald John Trump.

SHATTERED FAITH in JUSTICE!

It’s NO surprise as most of you ALREADY know: the old Lobsterman wants Donald John Trump permanently designated for a ‘life-term’ residency in a penal colony.

Judge David Carter of the Central District of California ruled today that “the former guy” and a lawyer who advised him on how to overturn !!! the ’20 election most likely [what the f!#k does that mean??!] committed felonies, including obstructing the work of Congress and conspiring to defraud the United States.

Bread, water and Birds Eye frozen peas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The list of alleged criminal behavior by this corrupt turd grows every hour.. prior to, during, and after his presidency.

Time has to come when the accumulated evidence is brought before a jury in a court of law and it’s proven [hopefully] that his foul odor is real, resulting in his ticket to northern Serbia.

Judge Carter’s comments came in an order for John Eastman, a conservative whacko attorney who wrote a memo that members of BOTH parties have likened to a blueprint for a coup, to turn over more than 100 emails to the 1/6 House committee as it investigates the Orange Despot‘s efforts to hold onto power after his election loss.

Please stand…ALL together…LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP!!!

TRUTH TO POWER…in awkward fashion

“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Joey declared, a comment that White House officials said was NOT in the president’s prepared speech last Saturday.

Walk-backs are ALL too familiar with Biden when the lights go on…

It’s the nature of this pol since the early days of his first campaign journeying through the wards of the electorate seeking their votes.

Describing these remarks as a gaffe serves to undermine his efforts to save Ukraine.

Simply, Joey was doing what Joey has been doing for over 40-plus years in politics; letting Russians know that things are NOT going to get better as long as Putin remains in power.

Speaking extemporaneously has/will be the “danger zone” for the father of Hunter as the calendar turns over.

With that being said, his statement had ALREADY sent ripple effects throughout the world, highlighting just how powerful nine unprompted words from our president can be, particularly during a foreign policy crisis.

The time has passed where American presidents have a firm belief that they are “in charge” of who the leads other countries and that interference and “regime change” in countries we do NOT control has been our policy for many decades.

Biden’s, penchant for gaffes, combined with our own history, has become a dangerous liability which could expand a regional conflict to global catastrophe.