7 Hours 37 Minutes 🌻🌻🌻

Burners:  War or not, the Former Guy has his priorities so, taking a page from the #ButHerEmails playbook that worked so well for him in 2016, during an interview with discredited far right journalist John Solomon he called for Putin to release everything he has, or can fabricate, about alleged dealings between Eastern European oligarchs and President Biden’s son Hunter. Vlad’s a bit busy these days with other things but it’s probably not a coincidence that Russian TV host Evgeny Popov spent some time during one of his state sponsored broadcasts calling for a change to “the regime in the US” before Biden’s term expires to again help “our partner Trump to become president.” Given Biden’s recent remarks, the regime comment wasn’t all that surprising but calling the FG “our partner” that’s saying the quiet part out loud.  Dredging up over the top Hunter allegations is something the FG and his echo chamber do when they’re seeking distraction from news they don’t like and there has been quite a bit of that lately starting with the decision by California federal judge David Carter that John Eastman, one of the more prominent “stop the steal” lawyers, has to turn over almost all of the documents that the January 6^th committee wants.  In that decision, Judge Carter said that it was more likely than not that the FG had “corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021.” Calling the “illegality” of the FG’s plan “obvious,” Carter went on to write that the US was founded on the peaceful transition of power and that the FG ignored that history by “vigorously” campaigning for VP Pence to “single-handedly determine the results of the 2020 election,” adding that “in a democracy, leaders are elected, not installed.”  Eastman’s emails are far from the only thing about January 6^th that the FG and his abettors are hiding, or at the very least trying to hide.  Yesterday we also learned from the Washington Post and CBS News that the White House phone logs shared with the January 6^h committee show a gap of seven hours and 37 minutes, including the period when the Capitol was under assault. That gap, which makes Nixon’s 18.5 minute tape erasure look like child’s play, is obviously suspicious since quite a few Republican members of Congress have reported speaking to the FG during the height of the insurrection. It’s not a stretch to assume that the FG either borrowed an aide or two’s phones and/or was using a burner phone or two.  He more or less confirmed that he was using a burner phone by denying he even knew they existed, an assertion that former national security advisor John Bolton said was completely false as the two discussed the use of burner phones several times back when he worked in the White House.  Moreover the FG accused his niece Mary Trump of using a burner phone to communicate with her lawyers when he sued her for disclosing the terms of her inheritance agreement.  If we’ve learned anything by now, it’s that the FG lies most vociferously when he’s got something to hide.  Sadly we’ve also learned that he gets away with almost everything and may well get away with hiding his calls and attempting to steal the election. 

Drugs and Orgies:  On the topic of bad behavior North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn may finally have crossed the line, not over his multiple reckless driving citations, his refusal to condemn Nazis and other white supremacists, or over his calling Ukraine President Zelenskyy a thug, but because of his assertion that his fellow lawmakers have invited him to take part in orgies in Washington and snorted lines of cocaine right in front of him.  Calling his fellow Republican lawmakers drug addled sexual perverts had to be about Republicans because no Democrat would invite him to one of their parties.  He really rubbed a few of those Republicans especially some members of his Freedom Caucus the wrong way so much so that a number of them are now demanding that, if true, he should name names or better yet that Kevin McCarthy do something to shut him up.  Kevin insists that he’ll call Cawthorn in and give him one of those stern lectures that he’s so good at, like the one he claims he’s given Margie Q.  Cawthorn’s assertions may or may not be true, but one thing’s for certain, Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s is probably not involved, not because he’s so innocent but because no one would invite him to a party.  That said, Cruz is taking some heat this week too as the Washington Post reports that he was deeply into the attempt to undo the election results, that he “crafted a plan” to get the Senate to object to the results in six swing states so that the electoral college results could be delayed indefinitely.  Cruz’s motivations were as much about helping the FG stay in power as they were about getting out ahead of Missouri Senator “Fist in the Air” Hawley who he feared might overtake him in the race to become the Republican’s next presidential candidate.  It’s not clear when the increasingly overwhelmed January 6^th committee will release its report and hold public hearings but they remain active.  They’ve voted to hold former White House communications aide/golf caddy Dan Scavino and former trade official Peter Navarro in contempt for even refusing to show up to plead the fifth, their recommendation next goes to the House floor for a vote. Navarro’s multiple appearances on Ari Melber’s MSNBC evening show, where he talked about many of the crimes he claims are protected by executive privilege were cited as part of the evidence against him. It’s not clear that Jared Kushner will tell the January 6^th committee anything, he was conveniently out of the country doing his Middle East peace thing during the insurrection, but he is expected to show up for an interview this week.  Perhaps, the Committee will ask him about any conversations with Ginni Thomas.  Though neither she nor her husband Justice Clarence have been called in, at least so far, Ginni’s name is being floated as a possibility while an increasing number of House and Senate members, all Democrats of course, are pushing for Clarence to at the very least recuse himself on all cases related to January 6^th.  On the subject of Supreme Court Justices,  Senators Susan Collins and Mitt Romney have met with Justice Ketanji Jackson, like Ben Sasse both say she’s super nice and supremely qualified, but neither have yet said how they’ll vote on her confirmation. Mitt did release some pictures of him standing and smiling with her, so now he can vote no, using them as proof that he’s so fair minded.   

Viral Musings:  The highly contagious Omicron BA 2 now dominates in the US and appears to be making inroads in NY and California where COVID positivity levels have started inching up, a harbinger of things to come elsewhere in the country.  That said, at least so far the expectation or maybe just the hope is that BA 2 won’t be as problematic mostly because so many people had the original Omicron.  Infectious disease expert Dr. Michael Osterholm says that we are back to the “familiar uncertainty” that has marked most of this pandemic.  Concerns about BA 2 may have driven the FDA’s decision to approve a second Pfizer or Moderna booster for those over 50 who are four months out from their last shot as well as for other immune compromised individuals.  They report that in making their decision which was based on data out of Israel that they determined that the known and potential benefits of second boosters outweigh the known and potential risks for those now qualified for the shot.  Big dilemma now is do you get the second booster now or wait it out in the hopes that a more tailored shot will become available later in the year. Dr Bob Wachter, Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco, another one of the frequently cited experts says he plans to get the booster. He adds that he’s 64 and pretty healthy "but the evidence is clear that six months out from my first booster shot, the effectiveness of that booster has waned considerably."  Thoughts everyone?