“Rep. Chip Roy will run for House GOP conference chair, and Rep. Ken Buck will be the one to formally nominate him tomorrow, I’m told” reports Politico’s Melanie Zanona.

New York Times: “A network of conservative activists, aided by a British former spy, mounted a campaign during the Trump administration to discredit perceived enemies of President Trump inside the government, according to documents and people involved in the operations. The campaign included a planned sting operation against Mr. Trump’s national security adviser at the time, H.R. McMaster, and secret surveillance operations against F.B.I. employees, aimed at exposing anti-Trump sentiment in the bureau’s ranks. The operations against the F.B.I., run by the conservative group Project Veritas, were conducted from a large home in the Georgetown section of Washington that rented for $10,000 per month. Female undercover operatives arranged dates with the F.B.I. employees with the aim of secretly recording them making disparaging comments about Mr. Trump. The campaign shows the obsession that some of Mr. Trump’s allies had about a shadowy ‘deep state’ trying to blunt his agenda – and the lengths that some were willing to go to try to purge the government of those believed to be disloyal to the president.”

“Central to the effort, according to interviews, was Richard Seddon, a former undercover British spy who was recruited in 2016 by the security contractor Erik Prince to train Project Veritas operatives to infiltrate trade unions, Democratic congressional campaigns and other targets. He ran field operations for Project Veritas until mid-2018. Last year, The New York Times reported that Mr. Seddon ran an expansive effort to gain access to the unions and campaigns and led a hiring effort that nearly tripled the number of the group’s operatives, according to interviews and deposition testimony. He trained operatives at the Prince family ranch in Wyoming. The efforts to target American officials show how a campaign once focused on exposing outside organizations slowly morphed into an operation to ferret out Mr. Trump’s perceived enemies in the government’s ranks.”

“So Democrats want the civil war to go hot? Only a matter of time, I suppose.”

– The current top comment on The Gateway Pundit article “Biden Allies in Florida Preparing For Trump to Get Indicted While He’s at Mar-a-Lago“, posted Thursday afternoon.

Newsmax has pulled host Greg Stinchfield off the air for at least the remainder of the week after Stinchfield said that American Jews should not support Democrats because Democrats do not support the Jews’ “home country” of Israel, The Wrap reports.

While it’s obvious to everyone but him that the home country of American Jews is the United States, Stinchfield said Wednesday, “If you are Jewish and you are a Democrat and you are living in America today, how do you support an administration that turns its back on your home country?”

While Israel is a self-proclaimed “Jewish state,” it is not the only nation Jews live in, and not all Jews proclaim an allegiance to Israel.

Former Fox News host Eric Bolling, who lost his job at Fox after a series of sexual harassment accusations, will fill in for Stinchfield.

Times of Israel: “Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett has taken ‘off the table’ the option of forming a government without Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, due to the ongoing military conflict with Gaza terrorists, a political source says. Bennett has renewed his negotiations with Likud due to the emergency situation, and teams from both parties met today, the source says on condition of anonymity. That is a major U-turn for Bennett, who was reportedly already set to announce the formation of a so-called ‘change government’ headed by himself and Yesh Atid chief Yair Lapid, when the round of conflict began.”

“The potential government that had been negotiated included the Islamist Ra’am party, a local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is affiliated with the Hamas terror group against which Israel is currently fighting. Ra’am has suspended coalition talks until the hostilities end. Bennett explains in closed conversations that a government with Ra’am would not be able to deal with the current situation. He says the security situation is the top priority and that he is working to form a ‘broad national unity government.’ He is thus canceling all the agreements with Lapid and saying that “when there is a wave of pogroms by Arabs across the country, and when IDF forces must be involved, this is a reality-changing event.”

Donald J. Trump is the undisputed leader of the Republican Party.

— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) May 13, 2021

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will announce a major change in recommendations, allowing fully-vaccinated people to go without masks or physically distancing in most indoor and outdoor situations, NBC News reports.

The change comes one year after the CDC made the recommendations for physical distancing and mask wearing as the United States surpassed 1,000 deaths daily due to the coronavirus.

A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving their final dose of the coronavirus vaccine, either the second Pfizer or Moderna version or the single Johnson & Johnson type.

The CDC notes that people with immune-compromised conditions should check with their physicians about practicing personal health practices.   They also note that no vaccine is 100% effective and people who develop symptoms of coronavirus should see a medical professionals if they develop symptoms, whether they’re vaccinated or not.

AP: “Former Trump attorney and self-proclaimed ‘Kraken releaser’ Sidney Powell has told prospective donors that her group, Defending the Republic, is a legal defense fund to protect the integrity of U.S. elections. But the company suing Powell over her baseless claims of a rigged presidential election says the true beneficiary of her social welfare organization is Powell herself. Dominion Voting Systems claims Powell has raided Defending the Republic’s coffers to pay for personal legal expenses, citing her own remarks from a radio interview. The Denver-based voting technology vendor sued Powell and others who spread false claims that the company helped steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump. ‘Now, Powell seeks to abuse the corporate forms she created for her law firm and fundraising website to hide funds that she raised through her defamatory campaign, shielding those funds from the very company that was harmed by the defamatory campaign,’ Dominion lawyers wrote in a May 5 court filing.”

“The dispute shines a light on how Trump allies continue to support, spread and allegedly profit from lies about fraud in the 2020 election. Although the election is settled, and all major court challenges have been dismissed, Powell’s legal defense fund continues to raise money, with help from conspiracy-minded supporters like QAnon adherents. Powell didn’t respond to interview requests, but one of her attorneys said she denies Dominion’s accusations. Powell’s personal legal bills are covered by her malpractice carrier, and her nonprofit has a proper corporate structure with a board of directors, said her lawyer, Howard Kleinhendler. ‘She does not have unfettered control over its funds or how the funds are spent,’ Kleinhendler wrote in an email. ‘DTR intends to comply with all federal and state filing requirements when they are due. At that time you as well as the rest of the world will see the necessary financials.'”

A 40-year-old active duty US Marine stationed at Quantico, Virginia was arrested by federal law enforcement agents for his role in the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.

Major Christopher Warnagiris faces include assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder; and obstruction of justice, among other charges from the DoJ.  It is unknown if he faces any charges filed by the Navy’s Judge Advocate General.

A post on Facebook contains a photo of Warnagiris at a farewell dinner when he was leaving a duty station as fire support officer for the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in 2014.

Citrus County Chronicle: “Citrus County Fire Rescue crews were dispatched to a vehicle fire in the late morning hours Wednesday, May 12, according to a CCFR spokeswoman. The call came in at 10:52 a.m., reporting a Hummer was on fire at West Grover Cleveland Boulevard in Homosassa. The occupant of the vehicle had just filled up gas cans at the Texaco Food Mart on West Grover Cleveland Boulevard. Engine 3 from Homosassa arrived on scene at 10:59, and the blaze extinguished at 11:09 a.m. Fire crews found four 5-gallon containers filled with gasoline in the back of the vehicle. There was one injury, and the person refused transport against medical advice. The Florida State Fire Marshal was on scene to conduct an investigation and Florida Department of Environmental Protection was notified and will coordinate cleanup of the fuel spill. Official cause would need to be determined and confirmed by the Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office.”

So how many masks are we supposed to wear while waiting in line to buy gas?

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) May 13, 2021

“New York prosecutors have subpoenaed a Manhattan private school as they seek the cooperation of Trump Org. CFO Allen Weisselberg in their investigation of Trump and his company. Weisselberg’s grandchildren are students at the school” reports MSNBC’s Kyle Cheney.

“Joel Greenberg, former Florida tax collector and close associate of Congressman Matt Gaetz, set to appear in Florida court Monday at 10AM where he is expected to enter into formal plea agreement with government” reports CNN’s Paula Reid.

“Randy Evans, who was President Donald Trump’s U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg, will represent the ex-president and his campaign in a legal fight left over from when Trump claimed he unfairly lost the election in Georgia.

“Evans entered an appearance in the case Thursday and told the Daily Report, “We’re not going to relitigate the election.” Evans, who joined Squire Patton Boggs after he returned from the foreign service, said he is focused on whether the court claims made by Trump are frivolous as defined by [Georgia law regarding recouping legal costs incurred during frivolous lawsuits].” –The National Law Journal

Bloomberg reports that Colonial Pipeline paid nearly $5 million in ransom to the cyberterrorists who hacked their system in a ransomware attack.

The report contradicts earlier reports that the company had no intention of paying the hackers to release their hold on the company’s computer system. Reportedly, the company paid the ransom in untraceable cryptocurrency hours after being alerted to the attack. After receiving the unlock code, the company continued to try to restore the system from backups itself, a process that was going very slowly. The company reportedly shut down distribution of gasoline and jet fuel itself as a safety precaution; gas distribution was not disrupted directly by the cyberattack.

.@AOC “Ms. Defund The Police” wants to call the police for security bc she’s afraid of debating with me about her socialist GND.

AOC is a fraud & a hypocrite.

That’s fine Sandy.

Since you lack the courage & intelligence to debate me, I’ll debate the person who really wrote it.

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) May 13, 2021

This follows up on a Wednesday night incident reported in the Washington Post in which Greene started to yell at Ocasio-Cortez after the New York Democrat left the House chamber, asking why AOC supports antifa and terrorist groups. Ocasio-Cortez continued walking, ignoring the social media-hungry QAnon adherent, and at one point throwing her hands up in exasperation at Greene’s desperation. “You don’t care about the American people,” Greene shouted. “Why do you support terrorists and antifa?”

“She’s a chicken, she doesn’t want to debate the Green New Deal,” Greene said to a small group of reporters and onlookers in a desperate attempt to get coverage.  “These members are cowards. They need to defend their legislation to the people. That’s pathetic.”

The Reload: “America’s largest, most influential gun group is facing down a dark future. The NRA is likely out of options in federal bankruptcy court after a Texas judge dismissed its case on Tuesday, experts told The Reload. The move, concocted by CEO Wayne LaPierre and outside counsel Bill Brewer, was meant to keep New York Attorney General Letitia James (D.) from getting at the group’s assets in her case in state court. But the strategy may have backfired. ‘Bottom line, the gambit failed miserably, and I think it actually made dissolution more likely,’ Philip Hackney, an expert on non-profits at University of Pittsburgh’s law school, told The Reload.”

“He said Judge Harlin Hale’s ruling made clear the NRA still has serious problems, and the details of malfeasance that came out in open court will strengthen James’s case against the group. ‘To actually have a judge laugh at you, essentially, and say that you are filing this in bad faith,’ Hackney said. ‘That’s a really bad fact for them. That’s not something I’d want on my record if I’m defending this organization against dissolution.’ Matthew Bruckner, a Howard University professor and bankruptcy expert, told The Reload bad-faith dismissals are rare, and the NRA has little room to appeal. ‘It’s pretty hard to get a case dismissed as a bad-faith filing, but this always seemed to satisfy the hard-to-satisfy standard,’ he said. ‘The decision seems well-grounded in the Fifth Circuit’s legal precedent, and the facts were admittedly ‘cringeworthy.” The bad-faith ruling also opens up new claims against the NRA for the legal fees of the other parties in the case.”

With the price of gas, at least ANTIFA and BLM won't be able to afford to light everything on fire this summer.

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) May 13, 2021