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January 27, 2023
Link: https://twitter.com/JordanOnRecord/status/1617972687468650497
Sentencing is later today.
"... you are the reason Brian is dead, Mr. Khater." Impact Statement From Sicknick's Mom
Filed 1/24/23 brought here through Twitter.
Look for...
In her emotional victim impact statement, Gladys Sicknick places the deaths of her son Brian and other officers who took their lives following Jan. 6 at the feet of people she describes as former President Trump's "footsoldiers."
Link: https://twitter.com/JordanOnRecord/status/1617972687468650497
Sentencing is later today.
January 27, 2023
Duncan addressed Ocasio-Cortez and urged her to educate herself on how “America attained its low emissions.” “You care about the air quality, you care about climate change. Natural gas is what got America there. Educate yourself on that,” the Republican said.
Ocasio-Cortez didn’t hold back when she responded to Duncan’s remarks. “I understand in this body it’s not the first time that it seems as though the opposing side can’t seem to be able to debate the issue and so they must come after my character,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
She added: “While I cannot control the fact that the other side seems to have made the assumption that I am uneducated, one of the things I can say... is while I may not work for Wall Street, that is true. I may not be here with the mission to increase profits for corporations, that is true. My mission here is for the well-being and dignity of our family and our planet’s future, for our children’s ability to live on this planet.”
Link: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-republican-call-to-educate-herself_n_63d3394fe4b01e928869c73b
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Slams Republican Who Urged Her To 'Educate' Herself - HuffPo
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Slams Republican Who Urged Her To 'Educate' Herself - HuffPoDuncan addressed Ocasio-Cortez and urged her to educate herself on how “America attained its low emissions.” “You care about the air quality, you care about climate change. Natural gas is what got America there. Educate yourself on that,” the Republican said.
Ocasio-Cortez didn’t hold back when she responded to Duncan’s remarks. “I understand in this body it’s not the first time that it seems as though the opposing side can’t seem to be able to debate the issue and so they must come after my character,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
She added: “While I cannot control the fact that the other side seems to have made the assumption that I am uneducated, one of the things I can say... is while I may not work for Wall Street, that is true. I may not be here with the mission to increase profits for corporations, that is true. My mission here is for the well-being and dignity of our family and our planet’s future, for our children’s ability to live on this planet.”
Link: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-republican-call-to-educate-herself_n_63d3394fe4b01e928869c73b
January 27, 2023
Link: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.228980/gov.uscourts.dcd.228980.97.0_1.pdf
Wow !
30 Page Sentencing Memo (Filed Monday) For 1/6 Rioter Julian Khater (.pdf)
GOVERNMENT’S SENTENCING MEMORANDUM
The United States of America, by and through its attorney, the United States Attorney for
the District of Columbia, respectfully submits this sentencing memorandum in connection with
the above-captioned matter. For the reasons set forth herein, the government requests that this
Court sentence Julian Elie Khater to 90 months of incarceration, three years of supervised release,
a restitution payment of $2,000, and $200 as a mandatory special assessment on each count of
conviction. The sentencing guidelines range for this defendant, as detailed further below and
agreed to by the parties, is 78 to 97 months of incarceration, and the government’s requested
sentence falls at the approximate midpoint of the guidelines range.
I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND
A. The January 6, 2021 Attack on the Capitol
Link: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.228980/gov.uscourts.dcd.228980.97.0_1.pdf
Wow !
January 26, 2023
A large contingent of Capitol Police officers is preparing to descend on the federal courthouse in Washington on Friday to attend the sentencing of a Jan. 6 rioter who sprayed their colleague Brian Sicknick in the face with a chemical agent hours before his death.
Also in attendance will be Sicknick’s longtime partner, Sandra Garza, and members of Sicknick’s family as U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan delivers judgment to Julian Khater, 33, who pleaded guilty to spraying Sicknick and has been incarcerated since his March 2021 arrest.
A medical examiner determined that Sicknick’s Jan. 7, 2021, death was the result of natural causes — strokes caused by a blood clot — but noted that “all that transpired played a role in his condition.” Sicknick’s family holds Khater primarily responsible for Sicknick’s death, saying the stress of the Jan. 6 attack, punctuated by the spray attack that Khater unleashed, may have caused his health to fail.
The family wrote a series of pained and impassioned letters to the court urging a harsh sentence for Khater. It wasn’t immediately clear whether members of Sicknick’s family would also attend the sentencing hearing.
Link: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/26/capitol-police-sentencing-sicknick-00079779
Capitol Police officers to attend sentencing of man who maced Sicknick on Jan. 6 - Politico
Capitol Police officers to attend sentencing of man who maced Sicknick on Jan. 6 - PoliticoA large contingent of Capitol Police officers is preparing to descend on the federal courthouse in Washington on Friday to attend the sentencing of a Jan. 6 rioter who sprayed their colleague Brian Sicknick in the face with a chemical agent hours before his death.
Also in attendance will be Sicknick’s longtime partner, Sandra Garza, and members of Sicknick’s family as U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan delivers judgment to Julian Khater, 33, who pleaded guilty to spraying Sicknick and has been incarcerated since his March 2021 arrest.
A medical examiner determined that Sicknick’s Jan. 7, 2021, death was the result of natural causes — strokes caused by a blood clot — but noted that “all that transpired played a role in his condition.” Sicknick’s family holds Khater primarily responsible for Sicknick’s death, saying the stress of the Jan. 6 attack, punctuated by the spray attack that Khater unleashed, may have caused his health to fail.
The family wrote a series of pained and impassioned letters to the court urging a harsh sentence for Khater. It wasn’t immediately clear whether members of Sicknick’s family would also attend the sentencing hearing.
Link: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/26/capitol-police-sentencing-sicknick-00079779
January 26, 2023
From: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/13/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-lilliana-mason.html
In a 2021 conversation at the NYT with Ezra Klein, political scientist Lilliana Mason explained...
In a 2021 conversation at the New York Times with Ezra Klein, political scientist Lilliana Mason explained...I think that the Democratic Party has been gradually, partly in response to the Republican Party's attraction of attracting people who are high in racial animosity, the Democratic Party has had to react against that. So we end up with Obama, then Trump, and then Biden, for the first time ever, in his inaugural address, actually saying the words "white supremacy." So the parties have been making it more clear where they stand along this line.
And unfortunately, that means that we have in the Republican Party — and again, it's really this MAGA faction, right, these people that really disliked marginalized groups even before Trump came along. They've always been in the American electorate. They were Democrats during the Civil War and Jim Crow, et cetera, and now they've moved into the Republican Party.
But the problem with that is that we end up with an entire political party that is really trying to speak to these animosities and that sense of hatred of marginalized groups, which means that it has become an anti-democracy party, right? It is not in their interest to fully represent every single American. It's not in their interest to have a multiracial democracy. In fact, they're campaigning against that.
And unfortunately, that means that we have in the Republican Party — and again, it's really this MAGA faction, right, these people that really disliked marginalized groups even before Trump came along. They've always been in the American electorate. They were Democrats during the Civil War and Jim Crow, et cetera, and now they've moved into the Republican Party.
But the problem with that is that we end up with an entire political party that is really trying to speak to these animosities and that sense of hatred of marginalized groups, which means that it has become an anti-democracy party, right? It is not in their interest to fully represent every single American. It's not in their interest to have a multiracial democracy. In fact, they're campaigning against that.
From: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/13/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-lilliana-mason.html
January 26, 2023
Former President Donald Trump was mostly silent about Maricopa County's 2020 election audit, but his influence over the process was much more prominent than it seemed, The Arizona Republic reports.
Records uncovered by the AZ Republic show Trump received direct updates from audit workers at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, with his allies pressuring the lead contractor "on when to report findings, and that contractor asked people close to the former president if he could help pay for it."
Leaders of the Arizona Senate publicly denied Trump had any influence over their work, and while audit workers claimed they intentionally kept Trump at arms length to protect the credibility of their effort, they sought Trump's approval and money behind the scenes.
Chat messages reviewed by the AZ Republic show Cyber Ninjas founder Doug Logan talking about secretly taking money from Trump.
Link: https://www.rawstory.com/arizona-election-audit-2659315017/
Report blows the lid off Trump's influence on controversial Arizona election 'audit' - RawStory
Report blows the lid off Trump’s influence on controversial Arizona election 'audit' - RawStoryFormer President Donald Trump was mostly silent about Maricopa County's 2020 election audit, but his influence over the process was much more prominent than it seemed, The Arizona Republic reports.
Records uncovered by the AZ Republic show Trump received direct updates from audit workers at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, with his allies pressuring the lead contractor "on when to report findings, and that contractor asked people close to the former president if he could help pay for it."
Leaders of the Arizona Senate publicly denied Trump had any influence over their work, and while audit workers claimed they intentionally kept Trump at arms length to protect the credibility of their effort, they sought Trump's approval and money behind the scenes.
Chat messages reviewed by the AZ Republic show Cyber Ninjas founder Doug Logan talking about secretly taking money from Trump.
Link: https://www.rawstory.com/arizona-election-audit-2659315017/
January 26, 2023
A new report from the New York Times details how former Attorney General Bill Barr's efforts to discredit the probe into the Trump campaign's contacts with Russian agents completely floundered.
One particularly telling section of the Times' story involves a trip that Barr made to Italy in order to push officials in that country for evidence that the Russia investigation was part of an elaborate setup designed to damage former President Donald Trump politically.
The Italian officials responded by offering evidence of wrongdoing of a very different sort.
"Italian officials... unexpectedly offered a potentially explosive tip linking Mr. Trump to certain suspected financial crimes," the Times reports. "Mr. Barr and [former special counsel John] Durham decided that the tip was too serious and credible to ignore. But rather than assign it to another prosecutor, Mr. Barr had Mr. Durham investigate the matter himself."
Link: https://www.rawstory.com/bill-barr-2659315495/
Bill Barr asked Italian officials to discredit Russia probe -- they responded with evidence linking..
Bill Barr asked Italian officials to discredit Russia probe — they responded with evidence linking Trump to crimes - RawStoryA new report from the New York Times details how former Attorney General Bill Barr's efforts to discredit the probe into the Trump campaign's contacts with Russian agents completely floundered.
One particularly telling section of the Times' story involves a trip that Barr made to Italy in order to push officials in that country for evidence that the Russia investigation was part of an elaborate setup designed to damage former President Donald Trump politically.
The Italian officials responded by offering evidence of wrongdoing of a very different sort.
"Italian officials... unexpectedly offered a potentially explosive tip linking Mr. Trump to certain suspected financial crimes," the Times reports. "Mr. Barr and [former special counsel John] Durham decided that the tip was too serious and credible to ignore. But rather than assign it to another prosecutor, Mr. Barr had Mr. Durham investigate the matter himself."
Link: https://www.rawstory.com/bill-barr-2659315495/
January 26, 2023
Washington education officials have launched an investigation into the state’s largest network of privately run schools for students with disabilities, following a series of stories by The Seattle Times and ProPublica that documented poor conditions at the schools, the state disclosed Thursday.
The investigation was revealed in a seven-page letter from the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction on the same day lawmakers considered a sweeping reform bill that would give the state greater oversight of the publicly funded system of private special education schools, known as “nonpublic agencies.”
“We have to figure out, as a state and as a Legislature, how it is that we protect and make sure our children are getting the services and supports they need,” said Sen. Claire Wilson, D-Auburn, vice chair of the Senate education committee and the bill’s prime sponsor.
Both the investigation and the bill came in response to the news organizations’ stories on the Northwest School of Innovative Learning, a program serving students with complex developmental and behavioral disabilities. Owned by Fairfax Hospital, the largest private psychiatric facility in Washington, Northwest SOIL serves the most public school students in the system and only accepts students whose tuition is paid for by taxpayers.
Link: https://www.propublica.org/article/therapeutic-schools-northwest-soil-investigation-reforms
Original Reporting: https://www.propublica.org/article/therapeutic-schools-northwest-soil-invisible-washington
Washington State Launches Investigation of Private Special Education Schools - ProPublica
Washington State Launches Investigation of Private Special Education Schools - ProPublicaWashington education officials have launched an investigation into the state’s largest network of privately run schools for students with disabilities, following a series of stories by The Seattle Times and ProPublica that documented poor conditions at the schools, the state disclosed Thursday.
The investigation was revealed in a seven-page letter from the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction on the same day lawmakers considered a sweeping reform bill that would give the state greater oversight of the publicly funded system of private special education schools, known as “nonpublic agencies.”
“We have to figure out, as a state and as a Legislature, how it is that we protect and make sure our children are getting the services and supports they need,” said Sen. Claire Wilson, D-Auburn, vice chair of the Senate education committee and the bill’s prime sponsor.
Both the investigation and the bill came in response to the news organizations’ stories on the Northwest School of Innovative Learning, a program serving students with complex developmental and behavioral disabilities. Owned by Fairfax Hospital, the largest private psychiatric facility in Washington, Northwest SOIL serves the most public school students in the system and only accepts students whose tuition is paid for by taxpayers.
Link: https://www.propublica.org/article/therapeutic-schools-northwest-soil-investigation-reforms
Original Reporting: https://www.propublica.org/article/therapeutic-schools-northwest-soil-invisible-washington
January 26, 2023
California voters will decide next year on a referendum that could overturn a landmark new state law setting worker conditions and minimum wages up to $22 an hour for fast-food employees in the nation’s largest state.
Chipotle, Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s, In-N-Out Burger and KFC-owner Yum! Brands each donated $1 million to Save Local Restaurants, a coalition opposing the law. Other top fast-food companies, business groups, franchise owners, and many small restaurants also have criticized the legislation and spent millions of dollars opposing it.
The measure, known as the FAST Act, was signed last year by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and was set to go into effect on January 1. On Tuesday, California’s secretary of state announced that a petition to stop the law’s implementation had gathered enough signatures to quality for a vote on the state’s 2024 general election ballot.
The closely-watched initiative could transform the fast-food industry in California and serve as a bellwether for similar policies in other parts of the country, proponents and critics of the measure argued.
Link: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/25/business/california-fast-food-law-workers/index.html
McDonald's, In-N-Out, and Chipotle are spending millions to block raises for their workers - CNN
McDonald’s, In-N-Out, and Chipotle are spending millions to block raises for their workers - CNNCalifornia voters will decide next year on a referendum that could overturn a landmark new state law setting worker conditions and minimum wages up to $22 an hour for fast-food employees in the nation’s largest state.
Chipotle, Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s, In-N-Out Burger and KFC-owner Yum! Brands each donated $1 million to Save Local Restaurants, a coalition opposing the law. Other top fast-food companies, business groups, franchise owners, and many small restaurants also have criticized the legislation and spent millions of dollars opposing it.
The measure, known as the FAST Act, was signed last year by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and was set to go into effect on January 1. On Tuesday, California’s secretary of state announced that a petition to stop the law’s implementation had gathered enough signatures to quality for a vote on the state’s 2024 general election ballot.
The closely-watched initiative could transform the fast-food industry in California and serve as a bellwether for similar policies in other parts of the country, proponents and critics of the measure argued.
Link: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/25/business/california-fast-food-law-workers/index.html
January 26, 2023
If you’re a Democratic candidate for office in New Mexico, Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Colorado, New Jersey, New York or Illinois, get ready: the ceiling is about to fall in on you.
The white vote in America is split, leaning 53%-42% toward the GOP. The Black vote is reliably 83 percent Democratic. But the Hispanic vote is up for grabs: they represent the second largest and fastest growing demographic group in the country at 13.3 percent of the 2020 electorate (Blacks were 12.5 percent, whites 66.7 percent) and, as conservative Spanish-language radio proliferates, they’re shifting to the right.
If Republicans can pull just a few percent of the Hispanic vote their way, they can hold the House, retake the Senate, and seize the White House in 2024. Not to mention flipping multiple purple states red.
Now, wealthy partisans aligned with the GOP are going for that Hispanic vote in a big, big way. They intend to use the same tools that have turned state after state reliably red since the 1980s: radio and television.
Link: https://www.rawstory.com/media-ceiling/
A Warning For Democrats From Tom Hartman (Hispanic Vote 2024)
A Media Ceiling is about to Fall In On Democrats - RawStoryIf you’re a Democratic candidate for office in New Mexico, Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Colorado, New Jersey, New York or Illinois, get ready: the ceiling is about to fall in on you.
The white vote in America is split, leaning 53%-42% toward the GOP. The Black vote is reliably 83 percent Democratic. But the Hispanic vote is up for grabs: they represent the second largest and fastest growing demographic group in the country at 13.3 percent of the 2020 electorate (Blacks were 12.5 percent, whites 66.7 percent) and, as conservative Spanish-language radio proliferates, they’re shifting to the right.
If Republicans can pull just a few percent of the Hispanic vote their way, they can hold the House, retake the Senate, and seize the White House in 2024. Not to mention flipping multiple purple states red.
Now, wealthy partisans aligned with the GOP are going for that Hispanic vote in a big, big way. They intend to use the same tools that have turned state after state reliably red since the 1980s: radio and television.
Link: https://www.rawstory.com/media-ceiling/
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