Tag: Pres. Trump

Witch Doctor Prognosis

in case you may have missed it the results of Donny’s latest medical check up….

President Trump’s physician says the president is in “excellent health” and is “fully fit” to serve as commander in chief after a medical exam on Tuesday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. A report from Dr. Sean Barbabella, released late Friday, says Trump underwent a CT scan and other heart imaging, along with cancer screenings and other preventive assessments carried out by 22 specialists, per the AP. Trump, 79, said after the three-hour visit on Tuesday that everything checked out “perfectly.”

The president weighed in at 238 pounds, up 14 pounds from a medical exam in April of last year. His doctors gave him guidance on his diet, physical activity, and weight loss, but they concluded his “cognitive and physical performance are excellent.” With his 6-foot, 3-inch frame, Trump has a body mass index of 29.7; an index of 30 is considered by doctors to be obese. The report also documented bruising on Trump’s hands, explained as “minor soft tissue irritation related to frequent handshaking,” noting it was “a common and benign effect of aspirin therapy.” Among the recommendations for Trump was a switch to low-dose aspirin.

Last year the White House said Trump, who turns 80 next month, was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a fairly common condition for older adults that causes blood to pool in the legs. The report from Trump’s latest exam noted “slight lower leg swelling” but said there was “improvement from last year.” His doctor reported nothing abnormal, saying Trump demonstrated strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, and overall health. “His demanding daily schedule, including multiple high-level meetings, public engagements, and regular physical activity, continues to support his overall well-being,” Barbabella wrote.

Then there is Donny’s pronouncement that he has “extreme intelligence’….the same thing he says every time….the problem is those tests are NOT an IQ test…..

President Donald Trump is again highlighting his performance on a cognitive screening exam as evidence of what he called “extreme intelligence,” following the release of a White House medical summary of his latest physical.

The condensed memo of the exam, issued by the White House physician after Trump’s annual examination at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, states that his cognitive function, assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), was “within normal limits” with a score of 30 out of 30.

The MoCA is a widely used cognitive screening tool designed to assess memory, attention, language, visuospatial skills and other areas of cognitive function. Medical experts say it is intended to identify potential signs of cognitive impairment and determine whether further evaluation may be needed. It is not designed to measure intelligence, IQ or academic ability.

https://www.salon.com/2026/05/31/trump-says-cognitive-test-proves-extreme-intelligence-doctors-disagree/

This part gave me my first good belly laugh this morning….with coffee it was a good start.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Trump On Education

The continuing series on what we Americans can expect from our new president……

Trump is NO friend to education but does that mean that it will become an elective for life?

Donald Trump will be serving a second presidential term, and with both chambers of Congress likely under Republican leadership—though the House is still to be decided— the future of education in the U.S. could starkly change. 

Trump has pledged to dismantle the Department of Education, cut federal funding for schools teaching critical race theory, and bar transgender female athletes from participating in school sports.

“The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver,” Trump-Vance Transition Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told TIME in a statement. 

Trump’s transition team did not respond to specific questions regarding which of his policies will take priority come January. 

Here’s what to know.

Dismantling the Department of Education

On the campaign trail, the President-elect vowed to eliminate the Department of Education, which has been a cabinet-level agency since 1980. The Department takes on numerous functions: designating federal aid through Title I, which gives state and local funding for schools serving low-income families, handing out Pell Grants, and regulating student loan relief through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program or income-based repayment plans. 

There more….please read on….

https://time.com/7174651/what-trump-winning-means-for-education/

With that said a closer look at the possibility with the elimination of the Dept of Ed…..the link below is from a conserv paper….

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to cut the Department of Education and move its responsibilities back “to the states.” The change would be an unprecedented move as no Cabinet department has ever been dissolved without being reorganized in some way.

The Washington Examiner spoke to three leading education policy experts, who explained how cutting the Education Department would work, if it is realistic, and what the effects would be.

“I think it’d be fine,” Frederick M. Hess, senior fellow and director of education policy studies for American Enterprise Institute said. “The Department of Education is extraordinarily bureaucratic. It creates extraordinary amounts of red tape for the nation’s schools, especially relative to the money it actually provides.”

Hess said that under the Obama and Biden administrations, the department became “a political entity frequently engaged in promoting particular ideological nostrums” which he called “massively problematic.” He added that the two Democratic presidents “make the best possible case for abolishing the department. So, yeah, I think downsizing the department, or even abolishing it, is certainly wholly sensible.”

How Trump’s promise to abolish the Department of Education would work

In my opinion every word of that report is bullshit!

Then there is a view from the other side of the political spectrum….

The consequences of President-elect Donald Trump fulfilling his promise to abolish the Department of Education could be widespread, CNN reports.

“I say it all the time, I’m dying to get back to do this. We will ultimately eliminate the federal Department of Education,” Trump said during a September rally in Wisconsin.

“We will drain the government education swamp and stop the abuse of your taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America’s youth with all sorts of things that you don’t want to have our youth hearing,” he added.

The establishment of the Department of Education as a Cabinent-level agency goes back to 1979 when former President Jimmy Carter signed it into legislation. Before Carter, federal education programs were housed in other agencies. It’s unclear how Trump would handle shutting the department down, but the move would have reverberating effects on K-12 schools and higher education.

One of the Department of Education’s biggest tasks is administering federal funding to K-12 and managing the federal student loan and financial aid programs. Funding programs under the federal agency for K-12 schools include the Title I program, an aid to low-income families, and the IDEA program, which helps provide money to meet the needs of children with disabilities. Programs like these could be in danger with the abolishment of the Department of Education.

The agency also doles out roughly $30 billion annually to low-income college students through the Pell grant program and manages about $1.6 trillion of student loans.

https://www.binnews.com/content/2024-11-12-heres-what-could-happen-if-trump-shuts-down-department-of-education/

My feeling is that education is a vital part of life and any attempt to eliminate or lessen its impact is a disaster waiting to happen.
Will Trump make good on his promise to eliminate the Department of Education or will he decide on something less?

Texas is trying a template for the rest of the nation on education…..

A new Texas public school curriculum criticized for focusing too much on Christianity passed a preliminary Texas State Board of Education vote on Tuesday. A measure to reject the state-produced Bluebonnet Learning curriculum was defeated in an 8-7 vote, with three Republicans siding with the board’s four Democrats, the New York Times reports. It is up to schools whether they adopt the curriculum—but those who do so can get an extra $40 per student per year. A final vote on the curriculum is expected Friday.

  • The K-5 curriculum incorporates lessons from the Bible as early as kindergarten, with a “Golden Rule” kindergarten lesson focusing heavily on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and making only brief mentions of other religions. A first grade “Sharing Stories” unit includes the Parable of the Prodigal Son from the New Testament, reports CNN. Critics say the Christian stories and ideas are presented without being introduced as religious beliefs.
  • In a press release days before the vote, Texas AFT, one of the state’s largest teachers’ unions, said it “believes that not only do these materials violate the separation of church and state and the academic freedom of our classroom, but also the sanctity of the teaching profession.
  • Critics say the curriculum has other problems, including the downplaying of the role of racism and slavery in American history, the San Antonio Express-News reports. A kindergarten lesson instructs teachers to tell children that Founding Fathers including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson “realized that slavery was wrong and founded the country so that Americans could be free,” ignoring the fact that both men were slaveowners, reports the Texas Tribune.
  • Supporters say the Bible plays a big part in American history, the Times reports. The curriculum will “allow our students to better understand the connection of history, art, community, literature, and religion on pivotal events like the signing of the US Constitution, the Civil Rights Movement and the American Revolution,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement.
  • “Of course, the Bible is an important part of history and American society. And of course, students should learn about the Bible as literature and history in the context of a secular curriculum,” Charles Haynes, a senior fellow for religious liberty at the Freedom Forum, tells CNN. “But inserting faith-based lessons into public school classrooms, which sounds like what is intended here, is not the study of history or literature. It is religious indoctrination.”
  • The Times notes that as conservative Christians push to expand the role of religion in public schools, similar lessons may be adopted by other states, and the Texas curriculum “may also offer a playbook for the White House” after Donald Trump returns to the presidency.

Forced indoctrination.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

His First 100 Days

This is my continuing series looking at the possibilities from the new Trump administration…..

We have heard what he will do on day one, and the list is massive, but what about those first 100 days that all president aim for when they enter into the sacred seat of power?

President-elect Donald Trump and his allies have already articulated ambitious plans for his first 100 days in office.

He has promised on Day 1 — within the first few hours in fact — to close the U.S. border with Mexico and launch the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.

Trump has promised to gut President Biden’s climate subsidies and resume energy exploration, including offering tax breaks to oil, gas and coal producers.

“We’re going to drill, baby, drill,” Trump said in late October at his rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City. “And I will terminate the ‘green new scam’ and will cut your energy prices in half, 50%, within one year from Jan. 20.”

Trump’s main goal is to unwind Biden’s policies and resume where he left off after his first term in office.

It’s not going to be easy.

While presidents have broad powers over immigration, for example, there are real operational, legal and political challenges to carrying out mass deportations.

Groups like the American Immigration Council estimate it would cost billions of dollars for Trump to implement his deportation plan. It could also have a dramatic impact on the economy if industries such as construction, hospitality and agriculture lose masses of workers.

There is also a resource challenge. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement already must pick and choose where to focus its limited resources.

Carrying out mass deportation would require a massive increase in manpower to arrest and deport millions of people a year.

….there is more….read on….

https://www.npr.org/2024/11/06/nx-s1-5181800/2024-election-trump-first-100-days-agenda

It will be interesting to see how he goes about his agenda….but first the House count should be over and that will determine some of the ways he will approach these problems.

This is all speculation for he has not become president yet only president-elect….for now.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That Now Famous Indictment

I promise this will be my last Trump post unless something really amazing happens.

I am sure you have your opinion on what the indictment says and how it effects the country.

Please read the indictment in full text before you pretend to know what it says…..9read? Ha ha ha…like anyone will take the goddamn time)…..

On April 4, 2023, former U.S. President Donald J. Trump was indicted in Manhattan Criminal Court, on 34 counts of falsifying business records—making him the first sitting or former U.S. president to face criminal charges. Below you’ll find the original PDF document of the indictment.

Donald Trump Indictment: Read the Original Document of Charges

If you have not read it in its entirety then your opinion is flawed.

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That Trump Thing

The biggest story for the MSM over the weekend was those indictments of our dear beloved ex-president….so I thought I should bow to conventional wisdom and do what needs to be done.

Personally I am sick of the whole idea of Trump….

The news is Trump is making a deal for his appearance on Tuesday…..

Court officials in New York said Friday that they plan to arraign Donald Trump at 2pm Tuesday. The former president’s presence is expected in a 15th-floor Manhattan courtroom for the proceeding, they said. A lawyer for Trump said his team has agreed with the district attorney’s office on how the arrest will be handled, Fox News reports: Trump is to surrender to detectives, who will not handcuff him. The Secret Service will decide how the former president is brought to Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom. A meeting was scheduled for Friday afternoon among representatives of the FBI, New York City police, New York state court officers, the Secret Service, and the district attorney’s office to settle logistical and security arrangements.

The prosecutor in the case responded Friday to intense criticism from Republican lawmakers over the indictment. A letter from District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office to three GOP committee chairmen called their accusation that the indictment is politically motivated “misleading and meritless.” General counsel Leslie Dubeck wrote that Trump is entitled to fight the charges in court, per Politico. “What neither Mr. Trump nor Congress may do is interfere with the ordinary course of proceedings in New York State,” the letter says. Dubeck asked that Reps. Jim Jordan, James Comer, and Bryan Steil withdraw their demands for information about the case and allow the case to “proceed without unlawful political interference.”

Trump launched fresh attacks Friday on the judge he’ll stand before Tuesday, posting that “the Judge ‘assigned’ to my Witch Hunt Case … HATES ME.” Merchan handled unrelated accusations against the Trump Organization, and Trump said the judge treated him “viciously.” Partly because of Trump’s recent social media posts, fears of political violence related to the case have increased. The New York mayor’s office tweeted Friday afternoon that no credible threats have been received, per the Independent

We will see what this shakes out of the woodwork.

Meanwhile the Trump sycophants are running to the closest camera and spouting their usual crap….how will that play out?

We know former President Trump has been indicted, though we don’t know the exact charges just yet. Still, the unprecedented move to indict a former president has given political observers across the political spectrum plenty to consider:

  • Worth the worry: Columnist Nicholas Kristof is worried that a failed prosecution would strengthen Trump. “Yet I’d also worry—even more—about the message of impunity that would be sent if prosecutors averted their eyes because the suspect was a former president,” he writes in the New York Times. Kristof cites the example of a police officer who ticketed then-President Ulysses S. Grant for speeding with a horse. “If a police officer in 1872 could hold out his hand and force the president’s speeding carriage to a stop, then we, too, should do what we can to uphold the magnificent principle of equality before the law.”
  • Trouble ahead: The conservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, while frequent critics of Trump, see the move as a mistake akin to opening Pandora’s box. “The danger for America is the precedent this prosecution sets,” reads the editorial. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “is busting a political norm that has stood for 230 years,” and you can bet that Republican prosecutors will try to make a name for themselves by reciprocating against a Democratic president. Our “democracy will be further abused and battered,” it warns. “Bragg, the provincial progressive, is unleashing forces that all of us may come to regret.”
  • Glenn Beck: The right-wing pundit donned a MAGA hat on Fox News and declared, “This is the way the average American feels tonight.” Appearing on Tucker Carlson’s show, he said: “The bill of rights is gone. Nobody is paying attention. … Donald Trump is not even a person anymore. He’s a symbol. He’s a symbol of the average everyday guy that keeps getting screwed every single time.” Watch the clip.
  • On the left: In the Nation, Elie Mystal writes that he doesn’t care if this makes Trump more popular politically. Still, he’s not optimistic about a conviction. “I want to get him, and these charges don’t feel likely to accomplish that,” he writes. “A federal case against Trump for tax and campaign finance fraud two years ago would have been welcome. But going at Trump with shaky jurisdictional authority, two years too late, feels doomed.”

Now you have the most recent thoughts….you decide what is right and what is wrong.

Me?  I’ll take vanilla.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Ever Had One Of Those Days?

This week is not a couple of days that Trump would not envision for himself.

The closing down of the investigation into 06 January, his taxes and one of his major supporters…..

Former President Trump will very much be in the headlines again this week, in ways he probably won’t like. “Taken together, this week will point a spotlight on both Mr. Trump’s refusal to cede power and the issue that he has most acutely guarded for decades, the actual size of his personal wealth and his sources of income,” writes Maggie Haberman in the New York Times.

Jan. 6 panel: The House panel investigating the Capitol riot has what is expected to be its final public meeting at 1pm Monday. The panel is poised to recommend criminal charges against Trump, per the AP, though the final decision rests with the Justice Department. “I think the president has violated multiple criminal laws and I think you have to be treated like any other American who breaks the law,” panel member Adam Schiff, a Democrat, said on CNN. And on Wednesday, the panel is expected to release its final report before dissolving.

  • Taxes: On Tuesday, the House Ways and Means Committee will debate behind closed doors whether to publicly release the six years of Trump’s tax returns it obtained after years of legal wrangling, per the New York Times. Any such release would likely happen before the end of the year, while Democrats still control the House.
  • Proud Boys: Members of the pro-Trump group the Proud Boys, including founder Enrique Tarrio, go on trial Monday for their role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, per CBS News. The men are accused of seditious conspiracy for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election results in favor of Trump.

Not good news for Trump…..but with that said I do not expect much to stick to our teflon don…..

By now all have heard of those trading cards and all the accusations swirling around them…..

Surely, this will come as a huge surprise, but the new NFT trading cards unveiled by former president Donald Trump this week to immediate ridicule also just happens to have a dubious provenance. And although the company behind the cards is still shrouded in mystery, it traces back to another third-party company known for registering shell companies.

Neither Trump himself nor the Trump Organization has anything to do with the cards. Instead, his likeness is being licensed through a company called NFT International LLC from another mysterious venture called CIC Ventures. And as New York Times reporter Ken Bensinger points out, the mailing address for CIC Ventures just so happens to be that of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.

“The company that licensed Trump’s image and likeness for the $99 NFT trading cards appears to be one founded in 2021 by former Trump advisor Nick Luna and current Trump lawyer John Marion,” Bensinger tweeted on Thursday, noting the suspicious mailing address.

The company behind Donald Trump’s NFT trading cards shockingly has mysterious and shady roots

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What “They” Have To say

To be fair I wrote a post recently about the idea that Trump wants to suspend the Constitution over his election loss….much has been written and now this is what he meant…..

After drawing widespread condemnation over his call to sideline the Constitution, former President Donald Trump maintained Monday that that’s not what he meant. “The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to ‘terminate’ the Constitution. This is simply more DISINFORMATION & LIES,” Trump posted online, per the Hill. The post that started it all was about his debunked claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, with the help of “Big Tech,” and came a day after Elon Musk tweeted in reference to Twitter’s handling of accusations against Hunter Biden. “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” Trump’s Saturday post said.

He wants steps taken “to right the wrong” involving the election, Trump said, per Yahoo News, though he provided no evidence of any wrong. Few Republican leaders objected to Trump’s idea over the weekend, but his former running mate stepped in Monday. “Everyone that serves in public office, everyone that aspires to serve or serve again should make it clear that we will support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Pence told WVOC, per the Daily Beast.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who won reelection last month by beating a candidate endorsed by Trump, said a suggestion to suspend the nation’s Constitution “is not only a betrayal of our Oath of Office, it’s an affront to our Republic.” White House officials on Monday called on members of Congress to speak up against Trump’s statement and defend the Constitution, in keeping with their oath, per US News & World Report.

It is easy to make a vague accusation yet another to offer some real proof of that accusation……but then that is what he does best, isn’t it?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That Espionage Act

2022 gave the American public some shiny objects to chase….the Russian invasion of Ukraine…..a mass shooting in Uvalde…..the abortion ruling by SCOTUS and now the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar a Lago property.

With the latest raid on the property of ex-president Trump there has been more focus on the Espionage Act because of the documents that were allegedly found at the president’s Mar a Lago property.

What is the Espionage Act?

Espionage Act essentially made it a crime for any person to convey information intended to interfere with the U.S. armed forces prosecution of the war effort or to promote the success of the country’s enemies. Anyone found guilty of such acts would be subject to a fine of $10,000 and a prison sentence of 20 years.

The Espionage Act was reinforced by the Sedition Act of the following year, which imposed similarly harsh penalties on anyone found guilty of making false statements that interfered with the prosecution of the war; insulting or abusing the U.S. government, the flag, the Constitution or the military; agitating against the production of necessary war materials; or advocating, teaching or defending any of these acts.

That brings us to the FBI raid on the Trump property in Florida.

After a week punctuated with reprimands of the Department of Justice by Republican lawmakers and their subsequent demands for accountability following an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, the search warrant released Friday indicates the search was conducted in connection with, among other things, the Espionage Act.

The Espionage Act is actually a series of statutes under 18 US Code Chapter 37 related to the collection, retention, or dissemination of national defense or classified information. The Mar-a-Lago search warrant referred to Section 793 — “Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information,” which doesn’t just cover “spying” in the sense that many think of when they hear the term. Section 793 specifically states that people legally granted access to national defense documents — people like the former president — are subject to punishment should they improperly retain that information.

Under the Presidential Records Act, which relates to the retention of government documents by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), official documents and other material or information a president or a vice president may have obtained while in office must go to NARA for preservation.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/13/23304194/the-espionage-act-trump-documents-mar-a-lago

For over a week now Trump supporters have been losing their minds over this raid.

The back and forth will continue because it makes great fodder for the upcoming election.

More to come I am sure.

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Trump On The Wire

More real news for this Saturday.

The latest episode of Trump Reality Show has him being invaded by the FBI in his golf course palace……the reasons for the raid have been debated in the social media sites…..that does not matter….what matters is what the FBI found in the raid….

A list compiled by the FBI shows agents took 11 sets of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago after searching former President Donald Trump’s home Monday, including some labeled top secret and sensitive. About 20 boxes were removed, reports the Wall Street Journal, whose reporters have seen the three-page list. Among the items logged were photo binders, Roger Stone’s grant of clemency, and information about the “President of France.” The warrant signed by a judge was included with the list, showing that agents wanted to search the estate’s “45 Office” and all storage rooms where boxes of documents could be kept, in any of the buildings on the property.

Trump’s lawyers say he declassified documents while he was still in office, though federal regulations require that a process be followed. “The Biden administration is in obvious damage control after their botched raid where they seized the president’s picture books, a ‘hand written note,’ and declassified documents,” said Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich. Some files were marked “Various classified/TS/SCI documents,” which indicates top-secret/sensitive compartmented information. Such documents usually are to be reviewed in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility by personnel with special clearance.

The FBI documents indicate the agency is looking into whether Trump violated the Espionage Act, a review by Politico shows. Other potential charges involve removal or destruction of records and obstruction of an investigation, the warrant says, which are punishable by fines and prison terms. The Justice Department’s original intent was to secure the documents after Trump failed to turn them over, per the Journal. The agency shifted to a criminal investigation when investigators grew concerned that Trump aides were being evasive about the files.

If the accusations are true then Trump needs to be arrested and thrown under the jail…..I mean leaving top secret docs lying around some stodgy golf course is a reach of the secrets act….time to make this dullard pay for his arrogance and stupidity.

Just a thought

I will return your weekend of worthless news back next Saturday….sorry for the interruption.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Another Insurrectionist Convicted

If you celebrate Easter then I wish you a pleasant and safe day.

After the failed coup of 06 January the participants are finding justice is final.

Another fool that followed the idiocy of Trump and his idiot sycophants had found Lady Justice is not kind to the guilty….

An Ohio man who testified he was “following presidential orders” from Donald Trump when he stormed the US Capitol was convicted Thursday of obstructing Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. A federal jury also found Dustin Byron Thompson, 38, guilty of stealing a coat rack from an office in the Capitol during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, the AP reports. Jurors deliberated less than three hours before reaching a verdict, rejecting Thompson’s novel defense. He blamed Trump and members of the president’s inner circle for the insurrection and for his own actions. Thompson, who had been free since his arrest, was ordered held pending sentencing on July 20.

Thompson’s jury trial was the third among hundreds of Capitol riot cases prosecuted by the Justice Department. In the first two cases, jurors convicted both defendants of all charges. An exterminator who lost his job during the pandemic, Thompson was the first riot defendant to mount a trial defense blaming Trump and members of his inner circle for the insurrection. Assistant US Attorney William Dreher told jurors that Thompson knew he was breaking the law when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol and, in his case, looted the Senate parliamentarian’s office. Thompson’s lawyer “wants you to think you have to choose between President Trump and his client,” the prosecutor said. “You don’t have to choose because this is not President Trump’s trial. This is the trial for Dustin Thompson.”

His defense attorney said Thompson hasn’t avoided taking responsibility. “This shameful chapter in our history is all on TV,” Samuel Shamansky told jurors. But he said Thompson, unemployed and consumed by a steady diet of conspiracy theories, was vulnerable to Trump’s lies about a stolen election. He described Thompson as a “pawn” and Trump as a “gangster” who abused his power to manipulate supporters. US District Judge Reggie Walton barred the defense from calling Trump and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as witnesses. But the judge allowed jurors to hear recordings of speeches that Trump and Giuliani delivered on Jan. 6, just before the riot. Thompson testified that he joined the mob attack and stole a coat rack and a bourbon from the Senate parliamentarian’s office. “I can’t believe the things that I did,” he said.

Glad to see that ignorance of the law is still not a defense for stupidity.

Then there is a leader of the Proud Boys that wimped out and pleas guilty….

A Proud Boys defendant pleaded guilty Friday to two felonies in the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol, becoming the first of the group’s leadership to admit guilt and agree to cooperate with the investigation of the organization. Charles Donohoe, who led the North Carolina chapter of the Proud Boys, pleaded guilty to conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, as well as to assaulting, resisting, or impeding an officer. In return, prosecutors dropped the other counts in his indictment, NPR reports. The case is one of the most prominent brought by the Justice Department as a result of its investigation of the riot. Donohoe appeared in federal court in Washington virtually.

Five other senior Proud Boys, including Henry Enrique Tarrio, are charged with conspiracy in the attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Biden’s electoral victory and have pleaded not guilty. Donohue’s cooperation could help those prosecutions and cause others to seek similar deals. The 34-year-old faces 20 years in prison on the conspiracy conviction and eight years for assaulting police, though Donohue’s plea deal probably will mean shorter terms, per CBS News. He also will pay $2,000 in restitution for damage to the building.

Before Jan. 6, Donohue posted in a Proud Boys group chat that DC officials were trying to contain the protests to deny former President Donald Trump “the people’s support,” adding, “We can’t let them succeed.” The leaders met at the Washington Monument on Jan. 6, then went to the Capitol, per CNN. Video shows him pushing past police with a crowd, carrying a police riot shield, and going up the steps to the Capitol. “We took it over unarmed,” he messaged other Proud Boys later, court records say.

Personally I say throw the book at the treasonous pricks….give them the max fine and time.

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