“The Stone Mountain Memorial Association has denied a permit for the 19th Annual Confederate Memorial Day Service. The Sons of Confederate Veterans planned to have the event at Stone Mountain Park on April 17th. In a letter to the SCV, the association’s CEO citied several reasons for the denial, including public safety. The letter states that ‘with the volatile nature of events of the immediate past and ongoing today, there is a clear and present danger to members of the SCV, potential counter protesters, Park employees and guests'” CBS 46 reports.

“It continues to state there are not enough safety resources. The other reasons include COVID concerns and avoiding large gatherings, plus those in charge of the Memorial Plaza Lawn are not allowing group access to the area. Some park visitors told CBS46 they agree with the decision. ‘As a local, as a native, I would say that’s a positive decision to make because it’s a lot of people around family, kids,’ James Hall, a park visitor, said. Other visitors said they understand the decision, but also the history behind the event. ‘I understand what the Memorial is and I understand the purpose of the park,’ George Foster, a park visitor, said.”

Politico: “The business community doesn’t dislike President Joe Biden’s proposal to hike corporate taxes to pay for a massive $2 trillion-plus infrastructure plan. They detest it. But there are some reasons to think corporate leaders are warming to Biden: They backed his Covid-19 recovery plan, which pumped billions of dollars into hard-hit industries and small businesses. They know he comes from a business-friendly state that boasts more corporations than any other. And, well, he’s not Donald Trump, whose trade wars hurt companies and whose incendiary remarks on race offended them. Inside the White House, they are warming to corporate America, too. Biden and his team believe that while the two sides may be at loggerheads over tax rates, they can use business leaders to help move other policy priorities. They talk regularly with corporate America and the White House is considering forming an advisory group of business leaders in much the same way as other recent presidents, including Trump and Barack Obama.”

“‘We said early on … that we would engage the business community and we would reach out and we would have interactions,’ Cedric Richmond, director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, said in an interview. ‘You have to realize those are major employers of probably millions of Americans. You can’t not talk to them.’ The cautious courtship between corporate America and the Biden White House could play a critical role in the president’s agenda, as he advances an infrastructure bill through Congress and pushes politically-fraught policies, including on immigration, racial justice and gun violence, without lawmakers. It also reflects a seismic shift in the political landscape, where, not too long ago, Democrats found themselves trying to tamp down opposition from business leaders rather than work with them, and generally business-friendly Republicans were aligning with corporate America rather than periodically bashing it. ‘What President Biden realizes is that business is now ready to engage and they are an important voice at the table,’ said Valerie Jarrett, who served as President Obama’s liaison to corporate America. ‘Big business isn’t simply relying on Republicans to look out for their interests. They’re looking out for their own interests and getting more involved.'”

https://youtu.be/UyDSPhD9IrE

Fox News propagandist (and human-potato hybrid) Sean Hannity picked up on the latest Project Veritas creation in which they claim to have a damning video that will blow the lid off… something, and took to blasting CNN.  Hannity, a noted Republican Party propagandist and self-described entertainer, said “I’m honest about who I am.  I’m a member of the press.”  (Fact check:  he’s a self-described entertainer and propagandist, as stated earlier.)

The leadership of the Capitol Police received ample warning that the Capitol complex was the target of the domestic terrorists who swarmed the building on January 6th, but failed to properly prepare and brief the force for the coming insurrectionists, the New York Times reports.

The 104-page report by the agencies Inspector General Michael A. Bolton found the Capitol Police leaders received explicit warnings that they failed to act on.  Bolton also found that commanders distributed defective riot gear and ordered their Civil Disturbance Unit to refrain from using available riot-suppression tools like stun grenades.

“Unlike previous postelection protests, the targets of the pro-Trump supporters are not necessarily the counterprotesters as they were previously, but rather Congress itself is the target on the 6th,” the threat assessment said, according to the inspector general’s report. “Stop the Steal’s propensity to attract white supremacists, militia members, and others who actively promote violence may lead to a significantly dangerous situation for law enforcement and the general public alike.”

Predictably, Republicans criticized President Joe Biden’s announced plan to withdraw the remaining US troops in Afghanistan by September 11th, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, even though they praised a plan signed by Donald Trump to pull troops out by May 1st.

As the Washington Post reports, Republicans have said that precipitously withdrawing US troops is essentially a surrender to America’s enemies.  However, many of these same GOP leaders praised an agreement with the Taliban, signed by Trump on February 29, 2020, that pledged to have all troops out of Afghanistan by May 1, 2021.  Biden announced soon after taking office that the US would not be able to meet that commitment.

Trump, however, reportedly pushed to have the majority US troops withdrawn from Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia by the time he left office on January 20, 2021, a plan which was blasted by some Republican leaders.  The two month plan would’ve severely exposed remaining American troops to attack.

https://youtu.be/hX6_f_V_PQU

Fox News host (and man who looks like he’s seeing a gay couple kiss for the first time and it’s making him feel strange) Tucker Carlson is just asking questions about why people who are vaccinated should continue to wear masks.

“At some point, no one’s asking this, but it clearly should be,” Carlson says, demonstrating the grammar learned in twelve years of private schools.  “What is this about?”  Carlson thinks that vaccines mean you can’t get the virus, you definitely can’t transmit the virus.  (The vaccine doesn’t guarantee either.)

“Why are vaccinated people banned from living normal lives?” Carlson sputters.  “Honestly, it doesn’t make sense at all.”  Carlson’s only *possible* explanation:  the vaccines don’t actually work.

President Joe Biden has been invited to make his initial address to Congress on Wednesday, April 28th by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Andrew Solender of Forbes reports.

The first address to a joint session of Congress by a president is not referred to a State of the Union address because, traditionally, the new president is not briefed enough to know the overall state of the union.  April 28th will mark Biden’s 98th day in office.

“A former local official in Florida indicted in the Justice Department investigation that is also focused on Representative Matt Gaetz has been providing investigators with information since last year about an array of topics, including Mr. Gaetz’s activities, according to two people briefed on the matter. Joel Greenberg, a onetime county tax collector, disclosed to investigators that he and Mr. Gaetz had encounters with women who were given cash or gifts in exchange for sex, the people said. The Justice Department is investigating the involvement of the men with multiple women who were recruited online for sex and received cash payments and whether the men had sex with a 17-year-old in violation of sex trafficking statutes, people familiar with the inquiry have said. Mr. Greenberg, who is said to have met the women through websites that connect people who go on dates in exchange for gifts, fine dining, travel and allowances and introduced them to Mr. Gaetz, could provide investigators with firsthand accounts of their activities.”

“Mr. Greenberg began speaking with investigators once he realized that the government had overwhelming evidence against him and that his only path to leniency lay in cooperation, the people said. He has met several times with investigators to try to establish his trustworthiness, though the range of criminal charges against him – including fraud – could undermine his credibility as a witness. Mr. Greenberg faces dozens of other counts including sex trafficking of a minor, stalking a political rival and corruption. He was first indicted in June. The Justice Department inquiry drew national attention in recent weeks when investigators’ focus on Mr. Gaetz, a high-profile supporter of President Donald J. Trump who knew Mr. Greenberg through Republican political circles in Florida, came to light. Speculation about Mr. Greenberg’s cooperation began mounting last week, after his lawyer and a federal prosecutor both said in court that he was likely to plead guilty in the coming weeks. ‘I’m sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today,’ Fritz Scheller, Mr. Greenberg’s lawyer, told reporters afterward. The United States attorney’s office for the Middle District of Florida is leading the investigation, which is examining not only whether Mr. Greenberg, Mr. Gaetz and others broke sex trafficking laws but also whether Mr. Gaetz paid for women over the age of 18 to travel with him to places like the Bahamas. A Justice Department spokesman and a lawyer for Mr. Greenberg declined to comment” – New York Times.

Alert: Due to a combination of high gen outages typical in April & higher-than-forecasted demand caused by a stalled cold front over TX, ERCOT may enter emergency conditions. We do not expect customer outages. Declaring an emergency would allow us to access additional resources.

— ERCOT (@ERCOT_ISO) April 13, 2021

The government of Egypt has seized the mega-cargo ship Ever Given, the ship that blocked the Suez Canal for days, claiming that the ship’s owners owe the government $900 million for the incident, USA Today reports.

The vessel, the Ever Given, was impounded at the Egyptian port of Ismailia from its Japanese owner, Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd.  The government claims the company needs to pay the costs of the salvage operation, costs of stalled canal traffic and lost transit fees for the week that the Ever Given blocked the canal.

Officials in Ismailia have also opened an investigation into the cause of the Ever Green’s grounding.  Accountability will be difficult to secure given that the Ever Green is owned by a Japanese company but operated by a Chinese company sailing under a Panamanian registration.

Rusten Sheskey, the Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer who shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back leaving him paralyzed, will not face disciplinary measures from the police department and may return to his job, NBC News reports.

According to a statement by Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis, Sheskey was “found to have been acting within policy and will not be subjected to discipline.”  The statement said the determination was arrived at by internal and independent probes.

“Although this incident has been reviewed at multiple levels, I understand that some will not be pleased with the outcome; however, given the facts, it was the only lawful and appropriate decision to be made,” Miskinis said.

https://youtu.be/6P5YgvZyM-s

Republican Kentucky Senator (and walking example on why one should not lick an electrical socket) Rand Paul attempts to dismiss Donald Trump’s cheerleading during the January 6th domestic terrorist attack at the Capitol, but Fox News host Neil Cavuto bursts his bubble by pointing out how Trump just sat by gleefully and watched as the mob put people in danger.

“Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz’s campaign committee lawyer is demanding CNN retract its story claiming former President Donald Trump denied a meeting with the lawmaker amid sex trafficking allegations, the Daily Caller has learned. CNN’s article, written by Gabby Orr, Dana Bash and Kevin Liptak describes how Gaetz ‘was recently denied a meeting with’ Trump at Mar-a-Lago ‘as the ex-President and his allies continue to distance themselves from the’ congressman. The accusation comes as Gaetz is under federal investigation” the Daily Caller reports.

“The story cited ‘two people familiar with the matter’ and ‘Friends of Matt Gaetz Campaign Committee’ lawyer Geoffrey R. Johnson slammed the network – in part for its use of anonymous sources – in a letter demanding a retraction. ‘The April 11 story, like previous CNN stories about Rep. Gaetz, relies solely on anonymous sources, and propagates a false narrative that Rep. Gaetz is being isolated and abandoned by former supporters, including former-President Trump,’ the Monday letter to CNN, obtained by the Daily Caller, reads.”

So yeah, it sure says a lot about where Gaetz’s priorities are these days, that he needs to demand a retraction of the reporting that Trump didn’t want to meet with him while he’s under federal investigation for sex trafficking and not the reporting from say, the New York Times, that said he’s under federal investigation for sex trafficking. He could also just post a pic of himself with Trump at Mar-a-Lago conspicuously holding a copy of that day’s newspaper or a TV on in the background to date the photo. That would really own those DNC-Soros paid “fake news” assholes at CNN.

New York Times: “The election technology company Smartmatic pushed back on Monday against Fox News’s argument that it had covered the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election responsibly, stating that Fox anchors had played along as guests pushed election-related conspiracy theories. ‘The First Amendment does not provide the Fox defendants a get-out-of-jail-free card,’ Smartmatic’s lawyer, J. Erik Connolly, wrote in a brief filed in New York State Supreme Court. ‘The Fox defendants do not get a do-over with their reporting now that they have been sued.’ The brief came in response to motions filed by Fox Corporation and three current and former Fox hosts – Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro and Lou Dobbs – to dismiss a Smartmatic lawsuit accusing them of defamation. Smartmatic and another company, Dominion Voting Systems, became the focus of baseless conspiracy theories after the Nov. 4 election that they had manipulated vote totals in contested states.Those conspiracy theories were pushed by Rudolph W. Giuliani and Sidney Powell, serving as personal lawyers to former President Trump on Fox News.”

“Last month, Dominion also sued Fox News. Together, the two suits represent a billion-dollar challenge to the Fox empire, which, after Smartmatic filed its lawsuit, canceled the Fox Business program hosted by Mr. Dobbs. ‘The filing only confirms our view that the suit is meritless and Fox News covered the election in the highest tradition of the First Amendment,’ the network said in a statement late Monday. Fox’s motion, as well as those of its anchors, argued that the mentions of Smartmatic were part of its reporting on a newsworthy event that it was duty-bound to cover: A president’s refusal to concede an election and his insistence that his opponent’s victory was not legitimate. But the response Smartmatic filed on Monday, which runs for 120 pages, said that argument amounted to wishful thinking and that Fox had not covered the claims about Smartmatic objectively or fairly. ‘The Fox defendants wedded themselves to Giuliani and Powell during their programs,’ the brief said. ‘They cannot distance themselves now.'”

Senate Democrats are gaining interest from Republicans for a hate crimes bill addressing attacks against Asian-Americans, signalling that the bill may not face the first Senate filibuster of the Biden Administration, Politico reports.

The legislation, sponsored by Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, had been rumored to be the target of a filibuster by Senate Republicans who feel that a new law is unneeded and that the legislature constituted government overreach.  However, Democrats have worked with a group of GOP Senators to refine the language of the legislation to tamp down Republicans’ concerns ahead of a Wednesday vote to open debate on the bill.

Republicans face a dilemma:  they can use their power, as the minority party in the Senate, to invoke the filibuster to block this hate-crimes legislation, but that would likely lead to public disapproval of their obstructionism and a renewed call from Democrats to fundamental alter the filibuster to minimize minority power in the Senate. 

“These two hate mongers are fueling hate again! Why not say, ‘No violence. NO LOOTING!'”

– The current top comment on the Breitbart article “Barack and Michelle Obama: We Must ‘Reimagine Policing’ After Shooting Death of Daunte Wright” posted Tuesday morning.

“Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter resigned Tuesday, two days after she fatally shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop. ‘I have loved every minute of being a police officer and serving this community to the best of my ability, but I believe it is in the best interest of the community, the department, and my fellow officers if I resign immediately,’ she wrote in a two-sentence letter on Tuesday to Brooklyn Center’s mayor, acting city manager and police chief. Potter, a Brooklyn Center officer for 26 years, was put on administrative leave after she shot Wright on Sunday afternoon. Pressure has been growing for officials to terminate Potter. Police Chief Tim Gannon, who played a portion of video recorded by the officer’s body camera at a Monday news conference, said Potter mistakenly fired her firearm instead of her Taser” – TwinCities.com

Orlando Sentinel: “Before he resigned in disgrace last year, Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg doled out dubious contracts to a number of Republican politicians, political strategists and other allies, many with links to the scandals that have rocked Florida politics this month, according to audit documents, emails and other records reviewed by the Orlando Sentinel. The records also provide further details of Greenberg’s friendships with two of the powerful figures buffeted by the controversies: U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and lobbyist Chris Dorworth.”

“Greenberg, the records show, took a taxpayer-funded trip to Miami to meet with Gaetz and received an invitation from Dorworth to a VIP experience at an event with former President Donald Trump in which Dorworth promised, ‘They will feed us all booze and give us a ride as well as an escort to our luxury boxes.’ Viewed together, the records depict a Seminole County Tax Collector’s Office that turned into a source of money for people either personally close to Greenberg or plugged into GOP politics. Auditors, hired by Seminole commissioners to probe Greenberg’s spending after he resigned last year, found ample evidence of potential ‘misuse of taxpayer dollars’ and a series of vague consulting contracts for which they found no evidence of work. ‘We consider most of these contracts to be either excessive or unnecessary,’ the auditors wrote.”

“Among the people who got such consulting deals from Greenberg: Matt Morgan, a former professional wrestler who would soon run for Seminole County Commission against an opponent of Dorworth’s proposed mega-development, known as River Cross. Megan Zalonka, a woman who, according to a LinkedIn profile and social media posts, was simultaneously working for Jason Pirozzolo. Pirozzolo, a medical marijuana investor and GOP fundraiser, is now reportedly being scrutinized by federal investigators over a trip to The Bahamas with Gaetz, in which Pirozzolo, a pilot, allegedly paid for travel and female escorts.Eric Foglesong, a political consultant who provided support to a mysterious independent candidate who filed to run – but then did no campaigning – in a high-stakes state Senate election. Greenberg was arrested last year in the early stages of an investigation that at first appeared centered on attempts to smear an opponent of the River Cross development who had filed to oppose Greenberg for re-election but has since sprawled in many directions. Most notably, investigators are now reportedly targeting Gaetz over allegations that he and Greenberg paid for women – and at least one underage girl – to travel and have sex with them. Investigators have also learned of an alleged conversation between Gaetz and Dorworth about the state Senate race controversy, according to the New York Times. Gaetz has broadly denied any wrongdoing and specifically said that he has never paid for sex nor had sex as an adult with an underage girl.”

“Silversea Cruises became the second major cruise line to announce it will require COVID-19 vaccinations for all passengers when it resumes global itineraries on June 5. The decision could set up a confrontation with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when the luxury cruise line is scheduled to sail from Port Everglades in December. DeSantis’ press office on Monday asserted that his recent executive order barring businesses from requiring proof of vaccinated customers extends to cruise lines operating in Florida. ‘The Governor’s Executive Order provides that businesses in Florida are prohibited from requiring patrons or customers to provide any documentation certifying COVID-19 vaccination or post-transmission recovery to gain access to, entry upon, or service from the business,’ press secretary Cody McCloud said by email. ‘Therefore, the Executive Order prohibits cruise lines from requiring vaccine passports for their Florida operations.'”

“Silversea’s announcement follows Norwegian Cruise Line’s statement last week that it would require full vaccinations if the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allows it to resume sailing in July. The cruise line is scheduled to run trips out of Port Miami beginning in September. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings also operates Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises. Silversea’s requirement will take effect when the company launches its first cruise since the pandemic on June 5 – a seven-day Galapagos Islands voyage from Ecuador. No voyages from U.S. ports are scheduled until Aug. 29, a 26-day trip to Japan from Anchorage, Alaska. Four sailings are scheduled from Port Everglades in December aboard the ships Silver Whisper, Silver Dawn and Silver Spirit. Silversea is a luxury cruise line, with fares that run into thousands of dollars. Whether DeSantis actually has authority to bar cruise lines from requiring vaccinations could become the focus of a legal battle involving the cruise lines and the CDC. The Coast Guard and the CDC have asserted control over cruise line activity at the port, but most decisions have been made by a ‘unified command’ that includes the state, federal and county governments, working with the cruise lines, said Ellen Kennedy, spokeswoman for Port Everglades” – Sun-Sentinel.

President Joe Biden will withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan by September 11th, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States that took nearly 3,000 lives, the Washington Post reports.

Expected to be announced Wednesday, the withdraw will take American military forces out of the longest war in the nation’s history.  There are currently approximately 2,500 US troops remaining in Afghanistan, a number that fluctuates due to deployment turnovers or other missions.  Approximately 7,000 troops from US allies are also deployed in the region.

The Trump Administration negotiated with the Taliban that US forces would be out by May 1st.  Trump signed that agreement March 1, 2020.