True and false remorse

Yesterday, two major figures in the extreme right wing white nationalist Proud Boys movement that played a major role in the attacks on Congress on January 6th 2021 were sentenced to lengthy prison terms, after having been found guilty earlier.

A leader of the far-right Proud Boys has been sentenced to 17 years in prison, one of the longest terms yet handed out over the US Capitol riot.

US Army veteran Joe Biggs, 38, was an instigator of the storming of Congress on 6 January 2021, prosecutors said.

The former Infowars correspondent was convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges in May.
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The sentence, handed down by US District Judge Timothy Kelly, is below both federal sentencing guidelines and the 33 years sought by prosecutors.

Another Proud Boys member, Zachary Rehl, was sentenced on Thursday to 15 years, also on a charge of seditious conspiracy.

Rehl, a former US Marine and leader of the Philadelphia branch of the Proud Boys, was seen on video spraying a chemical irritant at officers outside the Capitol during the riot.

Biggs was convicted of a slew of charges in May, including seditious conspiracy, intimidation or threats to prevent officials from discharging their duties and interference with law enforcement during civil disorder.
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Another prominent participant in the riot, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in May.

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Giuliani really is a crackpot lawyer

During the efforts by serial sex abuser Donald Trump (SSAT) to overturn the results of the last election, three lawyers stood out for the absurdity of their efforts: Rudy Giuliani, Sydney Powell, and John Eastman, part of what Mike Pence memorably labeled as a ‘gaggle of crackpot lawyers’. If we ever needed any further evidence that Giuliani is truly an outstanding member of that exclusive club, we now have a ruling against him by a federal judge.

You may recall how Giuliani in public forums claimed that how two Georgia election workers Wandrea ‘Shaye’ Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman had illegally manipulated thousands of votes and were seen surreptitiously “passing around USB ports like they were vials of heroin or cocaine.” (He presumably meant USB drives, not ports.) They are actually passing ginger mints to each other. As a result, the two women suffered severe harassment and death threats from the MAGA cultists.
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Just go already!

I have been watching with astonishment the dogged efforts by Luis Rubiales, the president of Spain’s football federation (RFEF), to stay on in his position despite calls from all sides for him to leave. This has been a major news story for several days.

It all began after the Spanish women’s team won the World Cup for this first time in its history. In the jubilation that followed, as the players went in a line after the final game to be congratulated by Rubiales and others, he grabbed forward Jenni Hermoso’s head and kissed her full on the lips. In the uproar that followed, he claimed that the kiss had been consensual, which Hermoso denied.

To add insult to injury, Rubiales had later ordered the coaching staff to attend a speech given by him at an extraordinary meeting of the RFEF where he defended his actions and blasted “false feminism” and a “social assassination” of his character and vowed not to resign. That was not all the offensive things he did.
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Indictments are not good for Trump

We know the routine by now. Whatever awful thing that happens to serial sex abuser Donald Trump (SSAT) is portrayed by him and his supporters as being good for him and making him more popular. That has become an article of faith and I have to give him credit for using this face-saving tactic to turn what are political disasters into fund-raising opportunities and to raise the spirits of his cult followers.

But as with all things involving SSAT, much of this bravado is all smoke and mirrors and his support has been steadily declining as his legal troubles mount and he becomes increasingly unhinged in his comments.
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The ‘big’ question to be answered today

Eight of the candidates for the Republican nomination for president had their first debate yesterday. Fox News decided to not allow any of the other streaming services to show it so I did not watch it. I have only had time to briefly read some reviews (here’s one and here’s another) but they were all over the map afterwards with no one having a breakout performance or a ‘viral moment’ as the kids say these days. The views expressed seemed to be entirely predictable, with the only variation lying between extremist and utterly nuts. But one consensus was that Florida governor did not do anything to stop his slide in the polls.

Serial sex abuser Donald Trump (SSAT) did not take part despite desperate pleading from the Republican National Committee organizers of the debate. He has been angry with Fox News for whatever reason and he gave them the middle finger by having his interview with Tucker Carlson released at the same time as the first hour of the debate. The rambling interview seemed to be the same old whining and ranting.

Today SSAT will turn himself in to the Fulton County jail for processing and that will include a mug shot and other things that he was spared in his previous three occasions. There has apparently been keen interest in the betting markets on what his weight and height will be. There had been speculation that the numbers given by his White House physician had been shaded so that his BMI index would be just below the obese marker. That weight had been given as 244 lb but the betting over/under line today is 278.5 lb. There has also been speculation that SSAT uses lifts in his shoes to make him look taller and whether his height will be measured today without shoes, which would also increase his BMI.

So there may be at least one ‘big’ question answered today, unlike in yesterday’s debate or interview.

When thieves fall out, the prosecution wins

One of the tactics that prosecutors use against defendants is to try and pressure lpeople to testify against their bosses. If that fails, then they charge them with offenses and use that to pressure them to turn against one another in exchange for a favorable plea deal. This works particularly well against low-level people who may not have the resources to pay for expensive attorney and for whom the prospect of any jail time would be alarming. They may well wonder why they should take the fall for doing the bidding of others.

The Georgia case with its 18 defendants in addition to serial sex abuser Donald Trump (SSAT) provides plenty of opportunities for such negotiations and it looks like the process the process has already started.
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Two-tier health care in a post-Roe US

When the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade precedent, we knew that it would result in the red states proceeding to ban abortion in almost all instances, even in cases of rape or incest or when the life of the mother is in danger from the pregnancy. What may not have been anticipated is how wide ranging the ripple effects might be. We seem to be moving into a situation where we have two health care systems, one for the blue states and one for the red states, where the red states do not just not have access to abortion but also lose other services as well as lose people who can afford to move to other states.

Idaho is a good example of what is happening where small towns in red states are in danger of losing all obstetrics and gynecological services since physicians are worried that by providing medical care for problematic pregnancies, they may be laying themselves open to criminal prosecutions.
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The NFT racket

I was skeptical about cryptocurrency and was utterly baffled by the appeal of NFTs. The former seemed risky and the latter felt very much like a speculative bubble driven by hype in which the underlying entity being bought and sold had no intrinsic value. So I was not surprised by the collapse of various cryptocurrency endeavors like FTX and even less surprised by the recent lawsuit filed against Sotheby’s auction house, accusing them of fraud in inflating the value of the ugly Bored Ape BFT and using celebrities to hype it.
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Not the greatest idea in counter-programming

Serial sex abuser Donald Trump (SSAT) seems to take great pleasure in tormenting the Republican party, the very organization that he seeks to become the presidential nominee of. He refuses to commit to attending the first Republican National Committee (RNC) debate debate among the primary contenders to he held this coming Wednesday the 23rd from 9:00pm-11:00pm Eastern time on Fox News or whether, if he does decide to take part, whether he will sign the pledge to support the eventual nominee, whoever that is. At present, eight people have met the donor and polls threshold (Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Doug Burgum, SSAT, Mike Pence, and Chris Christie) and only the first five have signed the pledge. Late news has businessman Perry Johnson (who?) also qualifying for the debate.

It is clear that SSAT has nothing but contempt for the GOP as am independent political entity and thinks that he, as an individual, is the only one that matters and that the GOP’s role is to merely support him. He may well be right in that judgment.

There has been speculation that he will skip the debate but since he is loath to give up the spotlight, yesterday comes reports that he may agree to an interview with Tucker Carlson at the same time as the debate, as a form of counter-programming. Typically, he just drops this as a possibility, not really committing to it, and is likely to be ambivalent right up until almost the last moment, thus keeping everyone off-balance.
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The violence to come

As serial sex abuser Donald Trump (SSAT) becomes increasingly embroiled in legal troubles, he is lashing out more and more at the prosecutors who have brought indictments against him, the witnesses who have testified or will testify in the cases, and the judges overseeing the cases. It is therefore not surprising that some of his cult followers will see his rants as a call to take up arms on his behalf, such as this woman.

A Texas woman has been arrested and charged with threatening to kill the federal judge overseeing the criminal case against the former US president Donald Trump in Washington DC, and a member of Congress.

Abigail Jo Shry of Alvin, Texas, called the federal courthouse in Washington DC and left the threatening message, using a racist term for the US district judge Tanya Chutkan, on 5 August, court records allege. Investigators traced her phone number and she later admitted to making the threatening call, according to a criminal complaint.

In the call, Shry told told the judge, who is overseeing the election conspiracy case against Trump: “You are in our sights, we want to kill you,” according to the documents. Prosecutors allege Shry also said: “If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you.” She also threatened to kill Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat representative running for mayor of Houston, according to court documents.

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