One Fish, Big Fish

Guns, Guns, Guns: Calling gun violence an epidemic and an international embarrassment President Biden rolled out a series of executive actions targeting homemade “ghost” guns and devices that turn pistols into short-barreled shotguns while also tasking the Justice Department to develop model red flag legislation. Additionally, he announced the nomination of David Chipman to be the director of the Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  Chipman is an ATF veteran who has been serving as an adviser for the gun control advocacy group named for Gabby Giffords, the former Congresswoman who still suffers from the horrific injuries she received when she was shot while meeting with constituents in gun friendly Arizona. While the executive actions that Biden announced might help around the edges, they are unlikely to do much to curb our lethal national obsession with guns. Yesterday Tennessee became the latest state to allow most adults 21 and older to carry handguns without first clearing a background check and training and Texas’ Governor Abbott tweeted that he’s seeking to make his state a “Second Amendment Sanctuary” by signing a law moving through the Texas house that will defy any new federal gun control laws. Just hours after Biden spoke a gunman killed one person and injured five others at a shop in Bryan, Texas where a state trooper was shot and injured while taking the suspect into custody. That shooting followed one on Wednesday where five people including two children were killed by a former NFL  player in South Carolina.  The day ended with Fox favorite Tucker Carlson calling ATF David Chipman, rather than those gun toting murderers or gun friendly state legislative initiatives, unhinged.

Barbarians at the Gaetz: The legal troubles facing Panhandle Putz Matt Gaetz continue to mount.  Yesterday, the lawyer for Joel Greenberg, Gaetz’s one-time BFF and alleged partner in sex trafficking, and the US Attorney prosecuting him told a Federal judge that they expect Greenberg to accept a plea deal by May. That’s really bad news for Gaetz since the best way for Greenberg to get years taken off the really long jail sentence that he’s facing will be for him to turn on what one time Impeachment lawyer Dan Goldman calls a “bigger fish.”  Unfortunately for Gaetz, so far at least, he appears to be that bigger fish.  As if that wasn’t enough bad news for Gaetz for one day, late yesterday the Daily Beast reported that Gaetz had used the Venmo payment app to fund Greenberg’s payments to some of those young ladies that they retained. Not only did both Gaetz and Greenberg use the app for their “dating” transactions, but the geniuses failed to turn off the “open to all” feature leaving those payments visible to prying eyes. The Daily Beast reveal is likely only the tip of the iceberg or given that this is Florida the start of a long trip into the alligator infested everglades as, not to be outdone, the NY Times shed new color on Gaetz’s Bahamas trip with hand surgeon/weed entrepreneur Jason Pirozzolo revealing that the plane they flew on was stopped by immigration authorities during their return trip, that one of the other men on the sex junket was Governor DeSantis’ aide Halsey Beshears, and that federal authorities seized a phone used by one of the group’s “dates” before they disembarked. Citing “health” concerns, Beshears left the DeSantis administration in January. Worth noting that Weed Doctor Pirozzolo was also one of DeSantis’s fundraisers and yesterday video surfaced of him greeting the Former Guy on the Orlando Airport tarmac  back in 2019.  The NY Times also reports that Gaetz is being investigated for pushing a sham candidate scheme to help a Republican candidate win a state seat. Two of Gaetz’s aides have now resigned their posts but so far the only seated Republican to call for his resignation is outlier Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger though it is fair to assume that Liz Cheney, who Gaetz campaigned against in her home state of Wyoming, is really enjoying watching Gaetz circle the drain.  In other Republican news, despite last weekend’s article about the nefarious tactics used by the Former Guy’s campaign on his WinRed campaign fundraising site, the Republican party is still modeling their solicitations after his deceptive ones. Contributions default to recurring mode, with big red boxes warning contributors that if they uncheck the annuity box their names will be forwarded to the Former Guy who will place them on his sh-t list.  One more thing, Long Island’s Lee Zeldin, one of the Trumpiest Congressman in the House,  announced yesterday, by Twitter of course, that he’s running for NY governor in 2022.  That puts him up against Andrew Giuliani and maybe also against Trumpitista North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik who is also considering throwing her hat in the ring.  NY hasn’t had a Republican Governor in a while but then again, Cuomo’s got some problems, besides when have there been so many so charming Republican options? Oy.

Asphyxia:  Though defense attorneys really hope that at least one person on the Derek Chauvin jury buys into their argument that George Floyd’s death was the result of COVID and/or drugs but had little to do with Chauvin’s knees pressing into his neck for nine plus minutes, yesterday the prosecution’s medical expert made it clear that Floyd died of asphyxia from Chauvin’s actions because it turns out that putting unrelenting pressure on a neck and continuing to do so after breathing stops effectively stops the flow of oxygen and that is lethal, really lethal.    

560,115

174,879,716 shots in arms  

Stay safe and keep masking, it’s not over yet!