Source: Washington Post

The memo was unusual in that . . . it required me to seek authorization from the secretary of the Army and the secretary of defense to essentially even protect my Guardsmen,” Walker said. Maj. Gen. William J. Walker said he did not receive approval to change the D.C. Guard’s mission and send his forces to the Capitol on Jan. 6 until three hours and 19 minutes after he first received an emotional call from the Capitol Police chief requesting urgent backup.

The officials involved in the Pentagon’s response that day include Christopher C. Miller, acting defense secretary at the time; then-Army Secretary Ryan D. McCarthy; top Army generals Walter E. Piatt and Charles A. Flynn; and Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. None have given public testimony in Congress about the Pentagon’s response to the riot.

Walker also addressed a phone call on the afternoon of Jan. 6, during which top Pentagon officials expressed reluctance to deploy the National Guard to the Capitol as the riot unfolded. Asked who made those comments, Walker pointed to Piatt, the director of the Army staff, and Flynn, the deputy chief of staff for operations and the brother of former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn.

“They both said it wouldn’t be in their best military advice to advise the secretary of the Army to have uniformed Guardsmembers at the Capitol during the election confirmation,” Walker said, describing the comments as frustrating to him and the other officials on the call.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/capitol-riot-hearing/2021/03/02/a4867a48-7b81-11eb-85cd-9b7fa90c8873_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F304c79e%2F603fbef19d2fda4c88fa9e93%2F5bc97fa5ae7e8a50f8217d42%2F8%2F68%2F603fbef19d2fda4c88fa9e93

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/capitol-riot-hearing/2021/03/02/a4867a48-7b81-11eb-85cd-9b7fa90c8873_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F304c79e%2F603fbef19d2fda4c88fa9e93%2F5bc97fa5ae7e8a50f8217d42%2F8%2F68%2F603fbef19d2fda4c88fa9e93

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Congress should immediately subpoena the DOD members on that call: Miller, McCarthy, Flynn, Piatt and Milley. The fact that DOD did not send these traitors to the hearing speaks volumes.

“You know I always say Democrat. You know why? Because it sounds worse.”
-Former President Donald Trump

The truncated “Democrat,” ... “rhymes with rat, bureaucrat, kleptocrat, plutocrat,” Cornfield said. ”‘Crats’ are bad. So you can see why they do it.”

David Pepper, a former Democratic Party chairman in Ohio, says Republicans’ phrasing has “clearly been thought about.” Even so, he doesn’t see trying to erase it as a good use of Democrats’ time as the party seeks to reset the national agenda after four years of Trump.

He said that while President Joe Biden has pledged national unity, “the other side is literally trying to make the other party sound like rodents.”

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_603a7cdcc5b6829715009023

Bruce Springsteen pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges he imbibed alcohol at New Jersey's Sandy Hook National Recreation Area, despite knowing it was prohibited.

"I had two small shots of Tequila," Springsteen said in a virtual appearance before New Jersey Federal Court.. The plea came after federal prosecutors agreed to drop charges that Springsteen was operating a vehicle under the influence and driving recklessly, charges Assistant US Attorney Adam Baker said the government would not be able to prove.

"The evidence we reviewed indicates that after the defendant's arrest, he submitted to a breath test at the ranger station, and his BAC reading was .02, which as the court is aware is well under the legal limit of .08," Baker said.

Noting that the prohibition on alcoholic drinks at Sandy Hook was two years old, and noting Springsteen's otherwise clean criminal record, Judge Anthony Mautone sentenced The Boss to pay a $500 fine plus $40 in court fees.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/24/entertainment/bruce-springsteen-charges-plead/index.html

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) on Friday announced that a former aide to President Donald Trump was arrested in Washington, D.C. and charged with receiving, possessing, and distributing child pornography.

Ruben Verastigui, 27, who worked on Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, was previously employed as a senior digital strategist for the Senate Republican Conference and Republican National Committee.  He was also the digital media coordinator for the anti-abortion group Students for Life of America. He left the Republican Conference in July of 2020 to become the communications manager for the nonprofit group Citizens For Responsible Energy Solutions.

Verastigui was taken into custody following an 11-month investigation by MPD’s Youth and Family Services Division, the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, the Northern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and Homeland Security Investigations. The arrest was first flagged by journalist Jared Holt, who also posted several horrific and disturbing excerpts from the criminal complaint filed.

The complaint then details video files exchanged between Verastigui and the other person involving an infant being anally raped by an adult male. Verastigui later invited the other person to come to D.C. “for the purpose of sexually abusing a minor.”

Verastigui spoke at the National March for Life in 2013.


[WARNING: VERY DISTURBING DETAILS AT THE LINK, I DON'T RECOMMEND READING THE FULL ARTICLE]

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/former-trump-campaign-aide-and-staunch-pro-life-advocate-charged-with-receiving-distributing-and-possessing-child-pornography/?utm_source=mostpopular

https://twitter.com/TeamPelosi/status/1357336496903081984

https://twitter.com/TheOvalPawffice/status/1357440797570908165

Rob Portman, a long-serving senator from Ohio, is Greene’s antithesis. Over many decades in Washington, he has developed a reputation as a sober and serious policy wonk. His decision to retire next year has been greeted with predictable hand wringing. A Wall Street Journal columnist lamented: “He is a rightly respected figure. He tries to advance serious legislation. He doesn’t spend all his time talking on television.”

Yet if we are to apportion responsibility for the Republican Party’s descent into irrationality and authoritarianism, I would argue that Portman is far more to blame than Greene. That’s because there are a lot more Portmans than Greenes in Congress. Greene’s kookiness resonates with many GOP voters (30 percent of Republicans expressed a positive view of QAnon in a recent poll), but there are only a few House members who are as flaky as she is. However, the House and especially the Senate are full of Portman types: long-serving, mainstream Republicans who pride themselves on being practical problem-solvers — but who did not lift a finger to stop the takeover of their party by the lunatic fringe.

Portman announced in October 2016 that he could no longer support Donald Trump after the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape in which the GOP presidential candidate bragged about assaulting women. Yet after Trump won, Portman did support him. He compiled one of the most pro-Trump voting records in Congress, voting with the president’s positions 88.3 percent of the time. That’s actually higher than Trump lickspittles Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.).

Portman is now critical of President Biden for pursuing a $1.9 trillion economic relief package without any Republican support. (Portman favors a much smaller alternative advanced by 10 Republicans.) Yet Trump pushed his most ambitious pieces of legislation — a $1.5 trillion tax cut and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act — without making any attempt to win Democratic support. And both times Portman voted for the GOP legislation. Portman also supported the outrageous Republican decision not to grant a hearing to President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee in an election year while approving Trump’s nominee right before the 2020 election on a party-line vote. Republicans such as Portman use calls for “unity” as a code word for Democratic concessions.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/01/rob-portman-has-done-more-damage-america-than-marjorie-taylor-greene/

On her show tonight, Rachel Maddow had Ezra Levin on and talked about how important Indivisible's grassroots efforts have been, particularly their speaking out at town halls, to help stop the GOP attempt to repeal Obamacare in 2017. She asked how their tactics will change now that Democrats are in power.

Ezra Levin said he is "super excited" about the "incredible opportunity" of having Dems in control because it means we can get great stuff done, not just stopping "bad stuff." But he said their grassroots tactics won't change, it will continue to involve "constituent power." They will continue using grassroots constituent coalitions to pressure their local congressional representatives, but this time it will be to "get stuff done."

To explain, he gave the story of when FDR came into the White House in 1933 with big Dem majorities in the House and Senate. Civil rights activist and labor leader A. Philip Randolph came into FDR's oval office and asked him to do some things important to labor. FDR said, "Fine, I agree. Now go out and make me do it!"

Ezra Levin said just winning those seats is not what makes change. it's the grassroots push on these representatives that makes change. He said the same Indivisible grassroots groups that stopped the GOP will now approach their Dem representatives and say, "we got you in office, this is what we want you to do now...."

He basically said now is not the time to relax, but rather to stomp on the gas while we have this opportunity. It is that grassroots pressure that our representatives desperately need, so they can point to it to justify why action is needed. So don't just walk away from the fight now. Your energy is needed now more than ever. Now, instead of resistance, we will be providing the push our representatives need to get important things done to make our lives better.

It's an adage in any high-pressure office: proximity is power. Nowhere is that more true than the West Wing.

President Joe Biden begins his term with a team of seasoned Washington operators whose placement inside the building provides clues to who will be close at hand in moments of crisis and who is most likely to encounter the President when he's working from his office.

Unlike his predecessor, who professed a love for governing by chaos and whose aides were constantly jockeying for face-time, Biden appears more likely to go by-the-book. Officials say his meetings are run more traditionally, with a set list of attendees and usually an agenda.

And the door to the Oval Office won't be kept open for aides to drop in, as in the Trump-era. Traditional gatekeepers such as the chief of staff and an executive assistant will have the kind of control over Biden's schedule that didn't exist during periods of President Donald Trump's tenure.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/25/politics/west-wing-offices-biden/index.html

Senators were supposed to keep the pen she handed them or put it in a used pen box on the table after signing the impeachment trial oath book. At 2:47 PM EST One Senator (looked like Lindsey Graham, used his left hand to sign) handed his pen back to the clerk instead. She took the pen and put it in the box for him, but did not sanitize her hands after that. She used her now contaminated hands to continue handing out now contaminated pens.







Kinda defeats the purpose of giving each Senator their own pen to avoid spreading covid!