Washington Post: “Capitol Police officer Brian D. Sicknick suffered two strokes and died of natural causes a day after he confronted rioters at the Jan. 6 insurrection, the District’s chief medical examiner has ruled. The ruling, released Monday, likely will make it difficult for prosecutors to pursue homicide charges in the officer’s death. Two men are accused of assaulting Sicknick by spraying a powerful chemical irritant at him during the siege.”

“In an interview with The Washington Post, Francisco J. Diaz, the medical examiner, said the autopsy found no evidence the 42-year-old officer suffered an allergic reaction to chemical irritants, which Diaz said would have caused Sicknick’s throat to quickly seize. Diaz also said there was no evidence of internal or external injuries. The medical examiner noted Sicknick was among the officers who engaged the Capitol mob and said ‘all that transpired played a role in his condition.’ Sicknick collapsed after returning to his office during the riot and died about eight hours later, on Jan. 7. Diaz said Sicknick suffered two strokes at the base of the brain stem caused by a clot in an artery that supplies blood to that area of the body. Diaz said he could not comment on whether Sicknick had a preexisting medical condition, citing privacy laws.”

A group of poachers fleeing park rangers in South Africa ran into a herd of breeding elephants who trampled two of the three poachers, killing one and leaving the second missing, USA Today reports.  The third poacher was caught by rangers and spared from the stomping.

The trio was apparently searching the Kruger National Park for rhinoceros, whose horns are highly valuable on the black market, when they were spotted by rangers who were using dogs and aircraft to find the poachers.  Rangers found a bag that had an ax, food and water at the scene and recovered a rifle nearby.  The captured poacher told authorities the missing poacher had suffered an eye injury and may have escaped.

“The campaign against poaching is the responsibility of all us; it threatens many livelihoods, destroys families and takes much-needed resources to fight crime which could be used for creating jobs and development,” Kruger National Park managing executive Gareth Coleman said in a release.

Nine juveniles between the ages of 12 and 17 were shot during an apparent shootout Saturday night between two rival groups at a birthday party for a 12-year-old boy in LaPlace, Louisiana, according to Nola.com.

Two children remain hospitalized, including a 14-year-old boy who was shot in the head and a 16-year-old who was shot in the stomach.  Only one of the people injured was a girl.

Police have not identified anyone who allegedly used a weapon during the shootout because those involved refuse to cooperate.

“One America News has fired Marty Golingan, who told us staffers don’t think many of OAN’s stories are true. ‘I’ve given up my journalistic integrity already, and to be fired, that would make me feel good,’ he had told me. ‘I would wear it like a badge of honor'” reports the New York Times’ Rachel Abrams on her piece in which OAN staffers said the network’s stories are complete bullshit.

The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission filed a civil complaint against Wellness Warrior, a vitamin and supplement company promoted by former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, for making claims that its products could prevent or treat the coronavirus.

The suit is the first filed under the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act, a law passed to prevent companies from profiting by making false claims about the effectiveness about their products in treating or preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

On its website, which prominently feature the overweight, rosy-cheeked, red-eyed host, Bannon’s “War Room” regularly features Bannon pitching Wellness Warrior products, as does his podcast.  Bannon and other Wellness Warrior ads claim that their zinc and Vitamin D products cure and prevent coronavirus infection.  A former White House advisor to Donald Trump, Bannon, founder of Breitbart News and Cambridge Analytica, Bannon was indicted on money laundering and fraud, but was pardoned by Trump.

“Over the past few years former President Donald Trump has called for boycotts against a number of companies, so it’s hardly unusual to see him add Coca-Cola, Delta and other corporate giants that recently spoke out against Georgia’s laws restricting voting access. But now that he’s back at his company that does, among other things, hotels and hospitality, it is a little different for him to be asking people to boycott Coke, the maker of a wide number of beverages popular among his guests – and that he’s known to love too. So we wondered: It’s easy enough for Trump to call on the people who support him to do something. But is he willing to put his money where his boycott calls are? We already know that Trump might personally be having trouble practicing what he preached to the people who believe in him. A well-known lover of the caffeinated glory that is Diet Coke who reportedly drank 12 cans a day of the stuff while in office, the former president was pictured smiling in a photo posted by an adviser with what appeared to be a Coke bottle on his desk at his Mar-a-Lago resort days after the boycott statement earlier this month.”

“But beyond his personal consumption of the fizzy beverage, Trump should – in theory – have the power to organize a boycott of Coke at his family business’ properties. Over the last two weeks, CNN reporters embarked on a mission to test that thesis. A CNN reporter on April 8 enjoyed a Diet Coke at the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., the property that became a flagship and magnet for Trumpworld over the past four years. The soda cost $9.00, but a friendly and professional waiter did offer two free refills of the drink; the big boss’ feelings about the soda never came up. A second CNN reporter sipped on a Diet Coke at the club bar at the Trump National Doral golf club in Miami before a speech by Rep. Matt Gaetz on April 9. And despite what the former president said, he doesn’t appear to have taken any action to stop vendors at properties that are actually named for him from serving Coca-Cola products. At Doral, the CNN reporter spotted a case of Diet Coke bottles opened and ready for use behind the eponymous Donald J. Trump ballroom. At the otherwise empty bar of DJT restaurant inside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel, a CNN reporter was served a Coke on April 14 without any hesitation” – CNN.

Yahoo News: “Foreign-based actors, principally in China and Russia, are spreading online disinformation rooted in QAnon conspiracy theories, fueling a movement that has become a mounting domestic terrorism threat, according to new analysis of online propaganda by a security firm. The analysis by the Soufan Center, a New York-based research firm focused on national security threats, found that nearly one-fifth of 166,820 QAnon-related Facebook posts between January 2020 and the end of February 2021 originated from overseas administrators. An advance copy of the report, which is being released today, was provided to Yahoo News. ‘It’s very alarming,’ said Jason Blazakis, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center and a former State Department counterterrorism official who is one of the authors of the report. ‘We have enough problems without the amplification of conspiracy theories by foreign actors, and that foreign impact really does stir up a hornet’s nest.’ The report injects a new element into the debate about how to counter QAnon – a bizarre but increasingly widespread conspiracy movement that has pushed the idea that the U.S. government is secretly run by Satan worshipers involved in a global sex trafficking ring.”

“Speaking to lawmakers last week, FBI Director Christopher Wray expressed concern that the extremist nature of the movement could lead to violence, citing as an example the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. He said the bureau is preparing a formal ‘threat assessment’ of QAnon that he expects to share with Congress ‘very shortly.’ Despite the outlandish nature of QAnon claims, the report also suggests that adherents to the movement’s conspiracy theories may be far more prevalent than some previous studies have shown. A new poll of 9,308 U.S. adults, conducted for the Soufan Center by Limbik, a data analytics firm, found that between 20 and 23 percent of respondents self-identified as a QAnon believer, member or supporter – figures far higher than in some earlier surveys.”

Eric Nelson, the lawyer for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, is using the “reasonable police officer” as a standard for demonstrating why Chauvin’s actions in the homicide of George Floyd were not just reasonable, but non-negligent and should result in a not-guilty verdict from the jury.

According to Nelson, a reasonable police officer knows how control a detainee with an appropriate amount of force.  A reasonable police officer evaluates the individual’s demeanor and responds accordingly.  A reasonable police officer, he says, will take into consideration the safety of the individual, his fellow police officers and the gathering crowd.

He argues that a “reasonable police officer” has a different set of priorities than anyone else.

The problem:  what a currently accepted idea of a “reasonable police officer” does is very different than what a “reasonable human being” would do. 

🚨🚨🚨 https://t.co/MqJhZJhpDE

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) April 19, 2021

https://youtu.be/kGqW8WJh9pQ

CNN’s Brianna Keilar points out the un-subtle propaganda in Fox News chyrons and how they’re used to promote the network’s crazy theories.  In honesty, though, I posted this only for the “Too crowded.  No room.  We need it for the sperm,” statement.

Ohio Republican Congressman Steve Stivers announced on Twitter that he is resigning his House seat to become the president of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, increasing slightly the Democratic majority in the House, CNN reports.

“Throughout my career in public service I’ve worked to promote policies that drive our economy forward, get folks to work, and put our country’s fiscal house in order,” Stivers said in his statement. “That is why I am looking forward to this new opportunity with the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, where I can continue my efforts to support free enterprise and economic growth here in Ohio.”

Stivers is the first GOP Congressman to announce his immediate resignation, although five others have said they will resign at the end of their terms.  Stivers has served Ohio’s 15th Congressional District since 2011.  The district, which Cook Political Report rates as R +7, has been held by the GOP since 1967, with the exception of one term by Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy, who was served from 2009-2011.

Axios: “MyPillow counter-sued Dominion Voting Systems for more than $1.6 billion on Monday, alleging that the voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit against MyPillow and its pro-Trump CEO aims to suppress free speech and has caused ‘grave’ reputational harm. Lindell is one of many Trump allies to face a multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuit for spreading false claims about the election, including that Dominion’s voting machines flipped votes from Trump to Biden.”

“Pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, who is also facing a $1.3 billion lawsuit from Dominion, has argued that ‘no reasonable person’ would conclude that her accusations of Dominion’s election-rigging scheme ‘were truly statements of fact.’ Lindell, meanwhile, has not renounced his baseless claims, saying he looks forward to the discovery of evidence as part of Dominion’s lawsuit.”

And yes, this is real news. The reason why National Zero made a MyPillow countersuit against Dominion part of our ridiculous April Fool’s Day prank was because we thought it was such a fucking stupid idea that could never actually happen in real life. And yet here we are 18 days later, clipping a very real Axios article about that actually happening in real life.

“Federal judge in DC says he will order Proud Boys Ethan Nordean and Joseph Biggs detained pending trial on charges stemming from the Capitol riots. Judge Tim Kelly’s ruling reverses prior findings by other judges that allowed both Nordean and Biggs to be released pending trial. This is a win for DOJ, which has recently seen other efforts to detain defendants rejected by judges, some in light of a DC Circuit opinion” reports National Law Journal’s Jacqueline Thomsen.

After four years of an estimated 631 “Infrastructure Week” announcements during the previous administration, the Biden Administration will meet with a bipartisan group of Congressmen and Senators to push his $2.25 trillion jobs and infrastructure bill, the American Jobs Plan, the Washington Post reports.

While Vice President Kamala Harris visits an electric school bus manufacturer in North Carolina, President Joe Biden will meet with members of Congress to work out differences between the Parties’ proposals.  Republican Senators has proposed a far more modest $600 billion proposal that excludes infrastructure plans for anything other roads and bridges, excluding projects for internet broadband, the power grid and water lines.

Democrats want the infrastructure plan to include a revocation of the $10,000 cap on state and local taxes being tax exemptions, known as SALT, which the GOP enacted in its 2017 tax bill, which overwhelmingly benefited the wealthiest Americans.  SALT deductions allow people to deduct taxes paid to other government entities, preventing a double taxation on things like property taxes and mortgage interest.

“Supreme Court closes the door on the last Trump/GOP post-election lawsuit. Court orders the 3rd Circuit to dismiss case PA lawsuit as moot. Big Picture: GOP had wanted the Court to review the elections/electors clause issue going into 2022” reports Dem elections attorney Marc Elias.

“Prosecutor Steven Schleicher said in his closing argument that the murder trial of Derek Chauvin is ‘not a prosecution of the police, it is a prosecution of the defendant.’ Schleicher called policing ‘a most noble profession’ and added ‘to be very clear, this case is called the ‘State of Minnesota vs. Derek Chauvin,’ this case is not called the State of Minnesota vs. the police.’”

“During witness testimony, the prosecution called multiple law enforcement officers and experts that testified Chauvin’s actions against George Floyd violated policy and were an unnecessary and deadly use of force. Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo’s testimony was a rare instance of a police chief testifying against a police officer. The chief said Chauvin’s actions ‘absolutely’ violated department policy and had previously called Floyd’s death a ‘murder.’ Schleicher said Monday that Chauvin ‘chose pride over policing.’ ‘This is not an anti-police prosecution, it’s a pro-police prosecution,’ he said. ‘The defendant abandoned his values, abandoned the training and killed a man,’ the attorney added” – NBC News.

Tufts professor Eitan Hersh ran a survey through YouGov to try to find where Anti-Semitic attitudes are most prevalent with political identity. It’s dense but worth a read. Here’s the abstract:

“Concern about antisemitism in the U.S. has grown following recent rises in deadly assaults, vandalism, and harassment. Public accounts of antisemitism have focused on both the ideological right and left. However, there is little quantitative research evaluating left-wing versus right-wing antisemitism. Building on theories of social identity, racial competition, and affective partisanship, we examine antisemitic attitudes across the ideological spectrum and across demographic cohorts. We conduct several experiments on an original survey of 3,500 U.S. adults, including a large oversample of adults ages 18-30. We find evidence of prejudice on the ideological left and among racial minority groups, but the data clearly show the epicenter of antisemitic attitudes is young adults on the far right. Unlike social identities that are closely aligned with ideology and partisanship, Jewish identity remains an outgroup to Americans across typical political divides, resulting in diverse forms of prejudice.”

“Research on right-wing antisemitism focuses on beliefs that Jews are disloyal – both to America and to the white race – and that they are too powerful. American Jews are distinctive in that they are high in socio-economic status and mostly identify as white, but unlike others with those attributes, they are liberal in their social views and supportive of racial equality and immigration (Smith and Schapiro 2019; Smith 2013). In the far-right mentality, Jews are viewed as people pretending to be white – ‘a faux-white race that has tainted America’ – or disloyal white people – ‘the ultimate betrayers of the white race.'”

“Apple has approved Parler’s return to the iOS app store following improvements the social media company made to better detect and moderate hate speech and incitement, according to a letter the iPhone maker sent to Congress on Monday. The decision clears the way for Parler, an app popular with conservatives including some members of the far right, to be downloaded once again on Apple devices. The letter – addressed to Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Ken Buck and obtained by CNN – explained that since the app was removed from Apple’s platform in January for violations of its policies, Parler ‘has proposed updates to its app and the app’s content moderation practices.’ On April 14, Apple’s app review team told Parler that its proposed changes were sufficient, the letter continued. Now, all Parler needs to do is to flip the switch. ‘Apple anticipates that the updated Parler app will become available immediately upon Parler releasing it,’ Apple’s letter said” – CNN.

A group of House Republicans, led by Rep. @MTGreenee, is leading the creation of the #AmericaFirstCaucus which will focus on #ElectionReform, limiting the power of #BigTech, and cutting down on #IllegalImmigration. https://t.co/VWgRbZhcok

— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) April 19, 2021

“Gov. Tony Evers today, together with Foxconn Technology Group Board Member and Vice Chairman, Dr. Jay Lee, announced they have reached a new agreement and a resolution is near between the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and Foxconn regarding the company’ s project in Mount Pleasant. The WEDC Board will review the amended award in the anticipated final step of the process. ‘I’ve said all along that my goal as governor would be to find an agreement that works for Wisconsin taxpayers while providing the support Foxconn needs to be successful here in our state,’ said Gov. Evers. ‘I’m incredibly grateful for all the folks at the WEDC and Foxconn for their help working to find a solution that works for everyone, and I look forward to the amendment being approved by the WEDC Board of Directors.'”

“‘In to unforeseeable economic conditions, Foxconn began formal negotiations with a desire to lower taxpayer liability in exchange for the flexibility to pursue business opportunities the meet market demand,’ said Dr. Jay Lee. ‘We are grateful to Governor Evers, Missy Hughes, and our team at Foxconn for finding a solution that can go before and be approved by the WEDC Board of Directors'” – Press statement from Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers.