Collusion not a Delusion

Russia, Russia, Russia:   Does the name Konstantin Kilimnik ring a bell?  He’s the Russian spy who was also a close business associate of the Former Guy’s one time campaign manager/convicted then pardoned felon Paul Manafort. As a result of information released yesterday when the Biden administration announced new sanctions on Russia we learned that in the run up to the 2016 presidential election Kilimnik shared the internal FG polling data that he received from Manafort and his partner Rick Gates with Russian intelligence.  To be clear, that means that Russian collusion was not a delusion but a reality.  Andrew Weissman, the Justice Department attorney who was the member of former Special Counsel Mueller’s team responsible for the Manafort prosecution says that though the Mueller squad suspected the direct link, they had not been privy to the intel that tracked the polling data all the way to Russian intelligence which means either that the evidence was intentionally kept from them or that it was uncovered after the completion of their investigation. So to recap, Manafort told Gates to share polling information with Kilimnik, Kilimnik delivered that information to Vlad’s guys, and the FG pardoned Manafort, to keep him from talking about what else he knew perhaps? Moving back to the newest round of sanctions, they’re in response to both the Solar Winds cyber-attack and Russian interference in the 2020 election, the efforts that were bought into by far too many Republicans especially Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson and everyone at Fox and then used to smear Ukraine and candidate Biden and his son Hunter. By the way, Hunter’s book about his personal addiction journey is out and it doesn’t look as though he’ll need to follow in FG junior’s footsteps.  In other words he won’t need the DNC to distribute copies to donors as it’s garnered surprisingly good reviews for its candor and is sitting at #4 on the NY Times non-fiction best seller list. 

Out of Breath:  After making the highly dubious suggestion that George Floyd’s death was really attributable to carbon monoxide fumes from a nearby car rather than those nine minutes plus of pressure on his neck, the Derek Chauvin Defense team wrapped its case.  To the surprise of virtually no one who has ever watched Law & Order or Perry Mason, Derek Chauvin opted not to testify in his own defense likely because he didn’t want to be asked about his record of prior infractions. After final statements by both sides the case will go to the jury for their deliberation.  Sadly, while they’re out we’ll have plenty to focus on.  Yesterday, Kim Porter, the Brooklyn Center Minnesota police officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright with a gun rather than a taser during a traffic stop was charged with second degree manslaughter.  It turns out that even evangelist Pat Robertson doesn’t buy into her assertion that she accidentally pulled out her Glock when she really just meant to pull out her taser.  Yesterday on his 700 show, Robertson brandished reproductions of both weapons to prove his point saying that if you can’t tell the difference “it’s crazy and you deserve the consequences.” The pro-police Robertson also slammed Derek Chauvin, saying that “we can’t have clowns like him patrolling the streets.”  Shortly after Officer Porter was charged, a video of another police involved shooting, this one in Chicago, was released. The video is grainy but it looks like the shooting victim, 13 year Latino youth Adam Toledo, had his empty hands in the air at the time he was shot and killed. Toledo was fleeing the police, the shooting took place at 3 AM and the police were out in response to reports of gunfire so the facts of the case are different than those of either the Chauvin or Porter shootings, except of course for the dire result, but the timing, the death, Toledo’s age and the lack of transparency about what happened as before the video was released a local prosecutor claimed that Toledo had a gun in his hands when he was shot, are adding to an already heightened sense of outrage about police shootings of people of color.  And because guns are such an American thing, late last night another mass murder took place at a Federal Express warehouse in Indianapolis where eight people were killed, at least 7 more were wounded and the assailant committed suicide. That package you’re expecting, it may be delayed. 

Viral Musings: At over 70,000 the US daily coronavirus count is still way too high, not something that at all disturbs Jim “Gym” Johnson who finds virus mitigation procedures to be an infringement on his personal rights to spread disease, or so he told virus guru Fauci during a televised Congressional hearing.  Speaking for the rest of us California’s outspoken Maxine Waters told Gym to shut up.  Of particular concern, positivity rates and hospitalizations are still peaking in Michigan, probably a result of more contagious variants combined with the risky behavior that goes along with extreme virus fatigue, particularly among those who’ve pushed back at all of Governor Whitmer’s containment efforts. Given its population Michigan stands out as a problem area but it’s 16.1% positivity rate doesn’t top the chart, that dubious distinction goes to Idaho and Iowa with 22.8 and 20.0% respectively.  That’s the bad news, the good news is that it looks like NY state where just a smidge under 40% of the total population has received at least one shot and a whole bunch of people probably have some virus acquired immunity, is really benefitting from the vaccine rollout.  Yesterday the state’s positivity rate was at 2.76% putting the 7 day rolling rate at 3.07% and statewide hospitalizations have finally dipped below 4000. Remarkably in the US overall only 5800 break through cases have been reported among the 77 million fully vaccinated people. In other vaccine news, the J & J “pause” will stay in place for at least another week or two as the FDA and CDC continue to gather information about the incidence of the extremely rare but troubling blood clots that appear to be associated with the jab and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla says that we will likely need to roll our sleeves up again for a booster shot within the year and that doing so could become an annual ritual for a while at least. Of course, if you’re watching Fox racist/replacement theory advocate Tucker Carlson, none of the good news about the benefits of vaccination matters.  At least that’s the message that he continues to deliver to his deluded audience when he’s not trying to convince them that those people of color living next door are out for their jobs and daughters.  By the way, Ivanka isn’t buying Tucker’s vaccine mishugash, to the disappointment of many of her Twitter followers who hammered her for failing to rely solely on her “superior” immune system she got her first shot this week and actually did the right thing by tweeting out a picture of her experience.

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198,317,040 shots in arms