A California police officer associated with the MAGA terrorist organization the Proud Boys has been fired, officials announced Friday. Rick Fitzgerald, formerly an officer with the Fresno Police Department, allegedly participated in a Proud Boys counter-demonstration on March 14 outside a theater being sold to a church that protesters said was hostile to the LGBTQ community and marriage equality. Fitzgerald was placed on leave the following day, and his firing was made public Friday by Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and police Chief Paco Balderrama, following an investigation.

Firing of police officers is rare, and usually disciplinary infractions are handled by allowing an officer to submit his or her resignation, so they can then go find work in some bumblefuck precinct out in the middle of nowhere.  The fact that police departments are choosing to fire these MAGA fuckwads instead of allowing them to resign is likely a response to the events of January 6th, when it became obvious to anyone that doesn’t have their head shoved permanently up their ass that all that “blue lives matter” and blue-line flag nonsense is pure white nationalist bullshit, and the only time that Trump supporters like cops is when they’re beating or murdering black people.  When a cop stops a white person from committing a crime, like Capitol Police did on January 6th, the MAGA shitheads call them “traitors”, spray them in the face with pepper spray, and beat them with wooden clubs.

Big government, big tech, and big media would all breathe a sigh of relief if I were no longer in the Congress fighting for you.

Know this – they aren’t really coming for me, they’re coming for you.

I’m just in the way. pic.twitter.com/cZBfEy6Q14

— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) April 10, 2021

“On November 30, 2020, I appeared on the Howie Carr Show. During the show, I made regrettable statements regarding Christopher Krebs, which many interpreted as a call for violence against him. A few days later on Newsmax, I apologized for my grossly inappropriate statements, and today I reiterate my public apology to Mr. Krebs and his family for any harm my words caused. Given todays political climate, I should have more carefully expressed my criticism of Mr. Krebs, who was just doing his job” says DiGenova via PR ghouls Cooper & Kirk PLLC who are repping him during Krebs’s defamation suit against DiGenova, Newsmax, and the Trump Campaign.

AP: “Former President Donald Trump insists he’s enjoying his life off Twitter. The press releases his aides fire off on an increasingly frequent basis are more ‘elegant,’ he says. Plus there’s no risk of backlash for retweeting unsavory accounts. But since Trump was barred from major social media channels after helping incite the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, his power to shape the national conversation is being tested. Trump transformed from a reality television star to a politician and president by bending the tools of communication and the media to his will. He still connects with his supporters through his releases and appearances on Fox News and other conservative outlets, where he repeats misinformation about the 2020 election. And he remains a powerful force in the Republican Party, with a starring role Saturday at a Republican National Committee event that will be held at his Mar-a-Lago club.”

“Still, the sway over American life he once enjoyed appears to be eroding – at least for now. ‘It’ll never be the same for Trump unless he’s a candidate again,’ said Harold Holzer, an historian who is director of Hunter College’s Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute and wrote a book about presidents and the press. ‘I don’t think it’s unnatural for coverage to diminish. I’m sure it’s tough on his ego, given how much oxygen he sucks up and how much ink he generates, but it’s not unnatural for an ex-president to get less attention.’ It’s been a dramatic adjustment nonetheless. Trump’s tweets used to drive the news cycle, with CNN, MSNBC and Fox News often spending dozens of hours a week combined displaying his missives, according to a GDELT analysis of television news archives. Since he was barred from Twitter and other platforms, Trump can no longer speak directly to large swaths of his audience and must now rely on his supporters and conservative and mainstream media to amplify his messages.”

https://youtu.be/4unIyzPa_bo

One time Congresswoman and person who ignored the optometrist’s advice to not look directly into the light Michele Bachmann leveraged the occasion of an indirect reference in John Boehner’s book via the term “wild-eyed crazies” to appear on Fox News and tell people how aggrieved she is.

In case you’re wondering, Bachmann is now the dean of the conservative “christian” Regent School of Government.  She is still married to her very confused husband Marcus.

• Who had “Matt Gaetz is stupid enough to pay for sex with underage girls using a public money transfer app” on their 2020 GOP bingo card?  Oh… everyone?
• Clarence Thomas reportedly wants to regulate social media companies.  Thomas, however, has voiced opposition to Net Neutrality regulations that would mandate internet service providers all websites would be given fair and equal access to bandwidth.  So Thomas is for giving government the power to decide what you see on social media sites AND giving corporations the power to determine what you can access online.
• Fox “News” is going full-on Tucker Carlson with its online and prime time promotions.  It should just rebrand itself as “The Fiery Cross” and go all-in on its true mission. 
  Read More ▶ “Random thoughts Friday, Volume XIV”

“The Anti-Defamation League is calling for Fox News to fire Tucker Carlson.

“‘Given his long record of race-baiting, we believe it is time for Carlson to go,’ ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt says.

“There is zero indication that Fox will take such a step — or even reprimand Carlson. But the ADL’s call, delivered in a letter to Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott, underscores the extreme and unsettling nature of Carlson’s anti-immigration commentary.

“Carlson, the highest-rated host on Fox News, drew condemnations for his comments about ‘replacement’ on another Fox show Thursday evening.” —CNN Business

April 9th, 1865, was the end of the Civil War for General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. For Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant and tens of thousands of Federal and Confederate troops fighting further south, the war stretched out for several more months. After Appomattox, however, only the most zealous and desperate could pretend the Union was not already victorious and the Confederacy was destined to end.

As the sun rose on April 9th in Appomattox, General Lee still clung to the belief his war was not over. 8,000 men from Maj. General John B. Gordon’s Second Corps, along with Lee’s nephew Fitzhugh Lee and what remained of the Confederate cavalry, were lined up for battle just west of the village of Appomattox Court House. Robert E. Lee hoped there was only a thin line of Union cavalry ahead of him that he could smash through, find supplies and rations, and then turn south to march to North Carolina to continue the fight. For a week Grant thwarted Lee’s plans to turn south. He actively blocked Lee’s movements and tried to surround his forces. As a result of these efforts, Grant’s forces had finally gotten ahead of Lee at Appomattox.

https://youtu.be/FbGal1MSUnI

“I really do hope at the end of the day this resolves quickly for Matt because I don’t want him to miss the prom.”

With aliases such as “Grizzly Actual,” “Orgotloth,” and “not ATF,” four members of the Boogaloo Bois have been indicted for obstructing justice in the investigation of a federal agent, court documents show.

The quartet are members (perhaps the only members) of the self-declared “1st Detachment, 1st California Grizzly Scouts,” each with a rank and a specific militarish specialty like “intelligence” or “firearm instruction.”

They were indicted for attempting to obstruct the investigation into the May 2019 shooting of two federal officers at the federal courthouse in Oakland, California, killing one of them.

Steven Carrillo, a member of a WhatsApp chat called 209 Goon HQ the group ran, has been charged with the murder.  He texted the group “Dude i offed a fed,” after which one of the four deleted the text chain. 

https://youtu.be/2sUKywXzVXY

And today on NatZero Sports…  Today at The Masters in Augusta, Georgia, golfer Si Woo Kim took his anger at missing a putt on the 15th hole on his putter, snapping it at the base.

His dilemma:  according to PGA rules, he can only play the round with the clubs he had in his bag at the start of the round, and given that a putter is pretty important in making putts on the green, he would benefit from having it for the last four holes.  Instead, Kim, who was tied for fifth when he snapped his putter, had to use his 3-wood for the last holes.

And now over to Felicia for the weather…

Organizing through online social media platforms, white nationalists are planning “White Lives Matter” demonstrations around the country on Sunday, April 11th, with city governments planning increased security for the extremist groups, Newsweek reports.

White nationalists will gather at dozens of cities, according to a review of online chatter on platforms such as Facebook and Telegram, however the number of people participating in the channels and groups organizing these rallies are sparse.

Cities such as New York, Dallas, Raleigh, and Chicago are being discussed in these groups, although there is no consensus on where in larger cities the rallies will start.  In North Carolina, Nash Square in Raleigh and The Zebulon Baird Vance Monument in Asheville are the sites where organizers hope to gather.

The Biden Administration returned the flag honoring prisoners of war and military missing in action to its traditional location on the flagpole that flies atop the White House after it was moved to a remote spot on the South Lawn by Donald Trump in September of last year.

The Washington Post reports that a bipartisan group of Congress members from both chambers urged President Joe Biden to relocate the flag, and the flag was spotted above the White House residence today.

Trump publicly demeaned members of the military who were captured during war.  A draft dodger whose father had a doctor declare him unfit for military duty during the Vietnam War, Trump said, “I like people who weren’t captured” while demeaning the military service of the late Arizona Senator John McCain.  Trump also called people killed in action “suckers” and “losers” at various times.

Politico: “The House Ethics Committee on Friday opened an investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz over an array of alleged lawbreaking and violations of House rules stemming from a federal sex trafficking inquiry. Among the alleged Gaetz improprieties that ethics committee could examine are sexual misconduct, sharing inappropriate images in the Capitol, illegal drug use and acceptance of bribes. For the sophomore Florida Republican, the House probe is only the latest threat to his political future. It follows the news that a close associate, Joel Greenberg, is expected to plead guilty to a range of federal crimes and enter a potential cooperation deal with prosecutors that could add to the growing case against Gaetz.”

“Sightings of unidentified objects in 2020 nearly doubled in New York from the previous year, to about 300, according to data compiled by the National UFO Reporting Center. They also rose by about 1,000 nationwide, to more than 7,200 sightings. But according to ufologists (pronounced ‘yoof-ologists’), as those who study the phenomena call themselves, the trend is not necessarily the result of an alien invasion. Rather, it was likely caused in part by another invader: the coronavirus. Pushed to stay home by lockdown restrictions, many found themselves with more time to look up. In New York, droves of urbanites fleeing the virus took up residence in places like the Catskills and the Adirondacks, where skies are largely free from light pollution. About a quarter of the reports nationally came in March and April of last year, when lockdowns were at their most strict. Glimmers wobbling across the sky have gone viral on TikTok, racking up millions of views.”

“Longtime UFO enthusiasts say the pandemic clearly has more people scanning the night skies. But there is another reason that the public might be newly receptive to the idea that the flicker on the horizon is worth reporting: The Pentagon revealed over the summer that it would soon convene a new task force to investigate so-called ‘unidentified aerial phenomena’ observed from military aircraft. Last year, it declassified three videos of such sightings. In addition, the $2.3 trillion appropriations package signed by former President Donald J. Trump late last year includes a provision that the secretary of defense and director of national intelligence collaborate on a U.F.O. report and release it to the public. ‘It’s encouraging to many of us in the field of ufology that the government is willing to confirm that they are aware of these circumstances, that they are conceding that people are reporting these events,’ said Peter Davenport, the director of the U.F.O. reporting center, known as NUFORC. Previously, he said, the government appeared to have believed ‘that people like me are just crazy – and we’re not'” – New York Times.

Read the original tweet here (if you aren’t also blocked by Ken Paxton).

FBI Press Release: “A Wichita Falls man who allegedly plotted to blow up a data center in Virginia has been charged with a malicious attempt to destroy a building with an explosive, announced Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Prerak Shah. Seth Aaron Pendley, 28, was arrested on Thursday after allegedly attempting to obtain an explosive device from an undercover FBI employee in Fort Worth. He was charged via criminal complaint and made his initial appearance in federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cureton Friday morning. ‘The FBI’s highest priority is ensuring public safety and we thoroughly investigate all credible threats,’ said Dallas Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno. ‘We continually ask the public to report suspicious or threatening behavior to law enforcement, and in this instance, that vigilance may have prevented injuries and the destruction of property.'”

“According to the complaint, the investigation began after a concerned citizen contacted the FBI on Jan. 8 about alarming statements posted on MyMilitia.com, a forum dedicated to organizing militia groups. A user who went by the screenname ‘Dionysus’ stated he was planning to ‘conduct a little experiment,’ that he said would ‘draw a lot of heat’ and could be ‘dangerous.’ When another user asked what outcome Dionysus desired, he responded, ‘death.’ A confidential source provided the FBI with the user’s email address, which was registered to Mr. Pendley. A subsequent search of the defendant’s Facebook account showed that he had boasted about being at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. In private messages, he allegedly told friends that although he did not actually enter the Capitol building, he did reach the ‘platform,’ where he swiped a piece of glass from a broken window and interacted with police. He said he brought a sawed-off AR rifle to D.C., but left the weapon in his car during his movement to the Capitol.”

Exploring ways to lessen the political influence on the Supreme Court, President Joe Biden announced Friday the creation of a commission to study reforms to the Supreme Court that could change the long-term composition of the Court, ABC News reports.

There are many potential moves that could legally be implemented to reform the Court and all federal courts, including instituting term limits, expanding the number of SCOTUS justices and increasing the number of federal judicial districts.

Critics of the current system point to the delay in appointing a justice after the death of Antonin Scalia, caused by political obstruction from Republicans with roughly a year left in the Obama Administration, as fuel for the reform movement.

“Rep. Matt Gaetz has hired two top New York defense lawyers – one of whom currently represents the Trump Organization in an ongoing criminal probe – to represent him as the Florida Republican faces a federal sex trafficking investigation. The retention of the Trump firm’s lawyer Marc Mukasey is noteworthy not only for Mukasey’s track record of handling serious criminal cases but also because Gaetz is among former President Donald Trump’s most ardent defenders. Mukasey, a former federal prosecutor who is the son of former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, also had been a protege of Trump’s personal lawyer former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Joining Mukasey in representing Gaetz in the criminal probe is Isabelle Kirshner. Gaetz, who has not been criminally charged, also has hired a public relations firm, the Washington-based Logan Circle Group, to manage what has been damning media fallout after news of the federal probe first broke last week in The New York Times” – CNBC.