Pardon the Interruption 🌻🌻🌻

January 6^th Update:  Despite their earlier statement that they were taking a break until July, yesterday afternoon the House Committee announced that it will be holding a surprise hearing today at 1 PM eastern time in order to present “recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony.”  They didn’t announce the name of the witness so the Twitterverse went bonkers, bandying around an assortment of possibilities including Mark Meadows, Mike Pence, Pat Cipollone and even Melania. As it turned out, none of those suggestions are correct though former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows name was closest. The newly scheduled witness is Cassidy Hutchinson, Mark Meadows’ former top aide, not a household name but one that will be shortly.  Given her proximity to the former Chief of Staff, Cassidy was in the room when and where a lot of things related to the January 6 insurrection happened. Her live appearance will make her the first member of the inner White House staff to appear in person rather than on videotape.  Notably, Hutchinson replaced her FG friendly lawyer with a new one earlier this month. It’s not totally clear why the Committee decided to slip her testimony in during what was supposed to be a break in the action; some possibilities are that they were concerned about her safety, that she was being pressured by FG friendly forces to stop talking and/or that they wanted to get out ahead of her being called to testify in front of the Georgia grand jury investigating the FG’s infamous find me 11,780 more votes call or possibly even another grand jury.  The sudden scheduling of Hutchinson’s testimony wasn’t the only “coup” thing that happened yesterday. Kraken lawyer John Eastman revealed that Federal Agents armed with a search order seized his cell phone out of his grimy hands, forcing him to sneer for its face recognition feature so that they could easily access its contents while he was leaving a New Mexico restaurant last week on the same day that they raided former Justice Department Environmental lawyer/Attorney General wannabee/Coup planner John Clark’s house.  Given Eastman and Clarks recent run ins, It’s not a stretch to assume that Merrick Garland’s DOJ is no longer sitting on its hands.    

The Supremes:  Remember that whole separation of church and state thing that you learned about in civics classes, well forget about it and we’re not just talking about banning abortions now we’re talking prayer during public school related activities.  The right wing religious forces that now control the Supreme Court played Jenga with the bricks on the bottom of that “wall” yesterday, ruling 6-3 that it was okay for a high school football coach to kneel and pray with his team on the field after games, saying that his prayer huddle was protected by the Constitution.  The Court’s right wing majority seemed to intentionally miss that the Coach’s prayers might have a coercive effect on his student athletes, particularly those jockeying for better treatment, afraid that failing to join him would hurt their chances of getting a coveted starting spots and/or making them feel alienated from their teammates.  Of course the prayers in question weren’t Moslem, Wiccan, Jewish or to the Festivus god but were Christian and it’s not a stretch to assume that had they been otherwise the case never would have even made it to the Court.  Anyway, the Court’s not done yet, their still expected to dismantle some environmental protections as well as the whole government regulatory process before they go off to summer camp.

And: Today’s another primary day where will get to see if the FG supported crazies increase their power.  Among those to watch are Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller who with the FG smiling by her side celebrated the end of Roe by saying it was “the historic victory for white life.” Miller tried to walk back her comment saying she had misspoken but since she once tried to walk back a comment celebrating Hitler’s accomplishments it’s hard to believe that she didn’t mean what she said. As a result of redistricting MAGA Miller is running against her colleague, the more “mainstream” Republican Congressman Rodney Davis.  Also being challenged in her Rifle, Colorado primary is Lauren Boebert, the gun loving restauranteur who seems to have successfully debunked or at the very least pushed aside assertions that she had multiple abortions.  Lastly, though we keep on hearing that the Russians are running out of resources, they seem to be causing a lot of death and destruction with what they still have.  Yesterday, taking a page from Hamas they bombed a busy Ukraine shopping center in Kremenchuk, killing at least 18 civilians with more still missing and even more injured.  In addition, perhaps in a diversionary move, Russian authorities paraded imprisoned basketball player Britney Griner in front of the camera while scheduling a show trial hearing date for her alleged “crime” of possessing vape cartridges with traces of hashish oil.  Sadly for Griner, it’s likely that she’s in for the long haul unless US authorities manage to trade her for a Russian player.