Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: “Even though the same voting systems were used to elect such Republicans as U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert and state Rep. Matt Soper, some members of the GOP in Colorado are questioning the legitimacy of Tuesday’s Grand Junction City Council race. Those objectors are all supporters of the four losing council candidates: Mark McCallister, Jody Green, Greg Haitz and Kraig Andrews, who all ran on a similar limited government platform. ‘WE JUST LOST every single City Council Seat,’ Grand Junction resident Cindy Paschal Ficklin posted on her Facebook page the day of the city election. Ficklin is an active member of Stand for the Constitution Grand Junction who has expressed an interest in running for the Colorado Legislature.”

“‘Either we’ve already been overrun with Liberals … or CONSERVATIVES didn’t vote!,’ Ficklin added. ‘Or something else??’ That prompted Soper to post, ‘Were they using Dominion? This seems impossible!’ and, ‘Cindy Paschal Ficklin we need to request a scan of every ballot and do a manual recount.’ Not long after being questioned about those posts by The Daily Sentinel, the posts were deleted. Still, Soper defended writing them. ‘Many voters remain concerned about election integrity and whether the results are from a fair system,’ Soper said. ‘Dominion was at the center of the 2020 election complaints, and if Dominion was used, it would be an opportunity to have an audit with the public observing. If the results are verified, it helps restore confidence.'”

“Earl Simmons, the snarling yet soulful rapper known as DMX, who had a string of No. 1 albums in the late 1990s and early 2000s but whose personal struggles eventually rivaled his lyrical prowess, died on Friday in White Plains, N.Y. He was 50. His family announced the death in a statement. He had been on life support at White Plains Hospital after suffering what his family called “a catastrophic cardiac arrest’ a week earlier” the New York Times reports.

“‘Earl was a warrior who fought till the very end,’ the Simmons family said. ‘He loved his family with all of his heart, and we cherish the times we spent with him.’ The music made by Mr. Simmons, a muscular, tattooed and intense figure, was often menacing and dark, with the occasional nod to Christian spirituality. He committed crimes, served time in different correctional institutions and battled addiction long before he released an album, and his troubled past informed the gritty content and inimitable delivery of his rhymes.”

“The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Friday that state election officials do not have to quickly take people off the voter rolls when they suspect they may have moved. The 5-2 ruling means the Wisconsin Elections Commission will not force tens of thousands of people off the rolls near a major election, such as the 2022 contest for governor and U.S. Senate. From the outset, the case has been fraught with politics. Conservatives who brought the lawsuit said they wanted to make sure the state’s voter lists are accurate, while Democrats and election officials warned a change in state policy could result in some voters being bumped off the rolls when they shouldn’t be.”

“The state law at the heart of the lawsuit over when to take voters off the rolls does not apply to the Elections Commission, the majority concluded. ‘There is no credible argument that it does,’ Justice Brian Hagedorn wrote for the majority. Joining Hagedorn in the majority were conservative Chief Justice Patience Roggensack and liberal Justices Rebecca Dallet, Jill Karofsky and Ann Walsh Bradley” – Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

“Woo boy! Don’t that just look like a hoot-and-a-half? And in case you didn’t notice, a bunch of folks got on little Photoshopped cowboy hats in the video, because Texas! For just $500, you can sit in the same gaudy event hall as such rootin’ tootin’ opportunists as Sidney Powell, Gen. Michael Flynn, and even Allen West. ‘Who in tarnation is Allen West,’ you ask? Well, he just so happens to be the Texas GOP Chair. Yup, that’s right – you could get the chance to munch on lukewarm hotdogs (NOTE: limit one per attendee) right next to the overseer of one of the country’s most powerful Republican blocs as he attends a literal conspiracy theorist hoedown… Sorry, that’s an oversimplification of the situation. It will cost $1000 to meet people like West and that woman who owns the hair salon where Nancy Pelosi was spotted not wearing a mask. $500 just gets you through the swinging saloon doors” reports the AV Club.

Politico: “As Republicans nationally engage in a fierce war of words and talk of boycotts amid the fallout from Georgia’s elections overhaul (and Major League Baseball’s decision to yank the All-Star Game from Atlanta), the GOP-controlled Florida House is starting to pare back its election legislation. A House panel revamped a 51-page elections bill Thursday evening (don’t you love late-night meetings?). One key passage that was stricken from the bill? A blanket prohibition on handing out food and water to voters standing within 150-feet of polling places. The initial Florida House proposal did not go as far as the language in the Georgia law, which bans anyone from coming within 25 feet of voters anywhere in line, that drew the ire of President Joe Biden and voting rights advocates. Still, Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, the former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and the bill’s sponsor, swapped in softer wording that says it would be illegal for someone to be in that zone with the intent of ‘influencing a voter.'”

“Ingoglia, however, warned that candidates could still violate the provision. ‘If Ron DeSantis started walking up and down the line, handing out stuff to voters in line within the 150 feet, I’d dare to say your nominee would say he was trying to influence the vote.’ He also told reporters after the meeting that he wasn’t making the change in response to Georgia. ‘I don’t care what people are saying in Georgia. What I care about is Florida and our election laws,’ Ingoglia said. Ingoglia – who asserted that Florida already offers much more access to voting than Democratic-run states such as New York – also dared corporations to ‘say we are restricting access to the polls.’ That said, Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee still voted against the legislation. The measure imposes restrictions on the use of drop boxes and who can pick up and deliver mail-in ballots.”

https://youtu.be/7lypjC4fdAg

Brian Kilmeade, whose job of Fox News seems to be making Steve Doocy look like the intellectual on the Fox & Friends, apparently believes the interview Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, gave to Oprah Winfrey for the death of Britain’s Prince Philip, the 99-year-old spouse of Queen Elizabeth.

Claiming that Philip was “enraged” after the interview, Kilmeade says that if you “factor in” that to his coronavirus recovery, you *obviously* can blame the death on Meghan Markle.  A former sports reporter, Kilmeade, who does not have a medical degree nor any insight into the health of Philip, once claimed that Americans get sick because “we keep marrying other species and other ethnics.”

Bloomberg: “An explosive eruption rocked La Soufriere volcano on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent on Friday following mandatory evacuation orders from the local government. Emergency management officials said the ash column was about 20,000 feet (6 kilometers) high and that the ash was headed east into the Atlantic Ocean. However, heavy ashfall also was reported in communities around the volcano, said Erouscilla Joseph, director of the University of the West Indies Seismic Center. ‘More explosions could occur,’ she said, adding that it was impossible to predict whether any potential upcoming explosions would be bigger or smaller than the first one.”

“There were no immediate reports of casualties. The volcano last erupted in 1979, and a previous eruption in 1902 killed some 1,600 people. The new eruption followed mandatory evacuation orders issued Thursday for people who live near the volcano. Officials planned to place them aboard cruise ships, send them to nearby islands or take them to shelters elsewhere in St. Vincent that are outside the danger zone. Roughly 16,000 people live in the red zone and will need to be evacuated, Joseph, said. The pandemic could hamper evacuation efforts.”

US airlines grounded scores of planes after Boeing disclosed a wiring problem in some of its 737 Max aircraft caused by a “production issue,” the Washington Post reports.

Sixteen airlines worldwide reportedly fly the aircrafts impacted.  Southwest Airlines is pulling 30 of its 58 Max plans from service, while American Airlines is grounding 17 of its 41 planes, and United Airlines 16 of its 30.  This comes at a time when the airline industry is starting to see a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, with more people taking to air travel.

“The recommendation is being made to allow for verification that a sufficient ground path exists for a component of the electrical power system,” the company said in a statement.

The issue continues a series of problems with the 737 Max aircraft, which included two deadly crashes overseas that killed 346 people.  Boeing said the crashes were partly due to a software update for which pilots were not adequately trained.

Noticed a lot of headlines saying “First GOP member of Congress calls on Matt Gaetz to resign” last night and today and yeah they’re technically true, but how the hell is it newsworthy when that Republican is also a guy whose hillbilly cousins famously wrote him a deranged letter saying he was in the “Devil’s Army” for voting to impeach Trump for inciting the insurrection in January?

Good on Kinzinger, whom my respect for has increased since he voted against impeaching Trump the first time, but seriously, if you’ve been following him you know this isn’t out of character. When an actual hardcore MAGA Congressman like Louie Gohmert or a spineless Quisling type MAGA-lite like Kevin McCarthy calls on Gaetz to resign that will be certainly newsworthy. Not if the next one is Liz Cheney – though it’d be interesting to know why she has not done so yet, especially considering Gaetz flew to Wyoming a few months ago to campaign against her.

“Trump appointees in the Health and Human Services department last year privately touted their efforts to block or alter scientists’ reports on the coronavirus to more closely align with then-President Donald Trump’s more optimistic messages about the outbreak, according to newly released documents from congressional investigators. The documents provide further insight into how senior Trump officials approached last year’s explosion of coronavirus cases in the United States. Even as career government scientists worked to combat the virus, a cadre of Trump appointees were attempting to blunt the scientists’ messages, edit their findings and equip the president with an alternate set of talking points” the Washington Post.

“Then-science adviser Paul Alexander wrote to then-HHS public affairs chief Michael Caputo on Sept. 9, 2020, touting two examples of where he said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had bowed to his pressure and changed language in their reports, according to an email obtained by the House’s select subcommittee on the coronavirus outbreak. Pointing to one change – where CDC leaders allegedly changed the opening sentence of a report about spread of the virus among younger people after Alexander pressured them – Alexander wrote to Caputo, calling it a ‘small victory but a victory nonetheless and yippee!!!’ In the same email, Alexander touted another example of a change to a weekly report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that he said the agency made in response to his demands. The weekly Morbidity and Mortality Reports, which offer public updates on scientists’ findings, had been considered sacrosanct for decades and untouchable by political appointees in the past. Two days later, Alexander appealed to then-White House adviser Scott Atlas to help him dispute an upcoming CDC report on coronavirus-related deaths among young Americans.”

The #FBI continues to seek information on individuals involved in the violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. If you think you know the person in these photos, submit a tip at https://t.co/iL7sD5efWD. Refer to photo 294 in your tip. pic.twitter.com/87QddL1y1c

— FBI (@FBI) April 9, 2021

“Buckingham Palace officials say Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, has died. He was 99. Philip spent a month in hospital earlier this year before being released on March 16 to return to Windsor Castle. Philip, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, married Elizabeth in 1947 and was the longest-serving consort in British history. He retired from public engagements in 2017 after carrying out more than 20,000 of them. Philip was a member of the Greek royal family and was born on the Greek island of Corfu in 1921. He was an avid sportsman who loved country pursuits” – AP.

AP: “There will be no reckoning at the Republican National Committee. Three months after former President Donald Trump helped incite a violent attack against Congress, the GOP is bringing hundreds of donors and several future presidential prospects to the former president’s doorstep in south Florida. While a handful of Republican leaders hope to move past Trump’s divisive leadership, the location of the invitation-only gathering suggests that the party, at least for now, is not ready to replace Trump as its undisputed leader and chief fundraiser. Trump himself will headline the closed-door donor retreat, which is designed to raise millions of dollars for the GOP’s political arm while giving donors exclusive access to the party’s evolving group of 2024 prospects and congressional leaders. The weekend event will play out in an oceanfront luxury hotel just four miles from Trump’s Florida estate, where allies of the former president will simultaneously be holding their own fundraising events.”

“‘The venue for the quarterly meeting along with Trump’s keynote speech at CPAC shows that the party is still very much in Trump’s grip,’ said one of the invitees, GOP donor Dan Eberhart, referring to Trump’s February address at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida. ‘The party doesn’t seem to have the ability to hit escape velocity from its former standard bearer.’ Trump’s continued hold on Republican donors and elected officials ensures that Trumpism will remain the driving force in GOP politics indefinitely, even as Trump repeats the falsehood that fueled the Jan. 6 insurrection. In several public statements and appearance since leaving office, as recently as last weekend, Trump has declared that the 2020 election was ‘stolen’ from him. There is no evidence of significant voter fraud. In fact, several Republican governors and leading Trump administration officials have vouched for the integrity of President Joe Biden’s victory. Trump’s legal claims were roundly rejected by the courts, including by Trump-appointed justices at the Supreme Court. But absent a consistent party message following Trump’s loss, a clear policy agenda or a coherent strategy to expand the GOP’s appeal, leading Republican elected officials and the RNC have increasingly embraced election fraud as a chief policy priority.”

“Hunter Biden dismissed Donald Trump Jr.’s attacks on him as ‘wildly comical’ on Thursday’s episode of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ ‘That is putting it lightly,’ President Joe Biden’s son said during an interview promoting his new memoir, ‘Beautiful Things,’ which among other things details his struggles with crack addiction. Host Jimmy Kimmel asked Biden if he knew or had ever met the eldest son of ex-President Donald Trump, who repeatedly attacked him and his father in the run-up to the 2020 election. Biden deadpan replied: ‘Not that I know of, but I’ve been in some pretty rough places.’ Biden also told Kimmel it was ‘sad’ how Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), once a family friend, had morphed into a Trump sycophant. ‘Politics has become so toxic,’ Biden lamented. ‘And I think that the thing that I hope my dad is able to bring back is his genuine desire to take some of that toxicity out again. So I had a deep respect for Senator Graham. And it’s just sad to see the way in which he has decided to, not just attack me, but to approach politics'” – Huffington Post.

New York Times: “A second senior aide to Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, abruptly quit in recent days as the congressman tries to fend off a Justice Department sex trafficking investigation and mounting public scrutiny, according to three people familiar with the decision. The aide, Devin Murphy, resigned as Mr. Gaetz’s legislative director on Friday. He told associates that he was interested in writing bills, not working at TMZ – equating the work that Mr. Gaetz’s aides were now handling to the tabloid publication, according to one of the people, who all asked not to be identified discussing a sensitive personnel matter. His departure last week came hours after Mr. Gaetz’s communications director, Luke Ball, also resigned. They were among the most senior members of the congressman’s staff in Washington and their exits suggest that even as he vows to remain in the House, Mr. Gaetz may be facing a hollowing-out of his support team.””

https://youtu.be/xAx3F2R7IJs

While speaking to a immigrant to the United States who took the good paying job of a white American, Tucker Carlson defended the fringe “replacement theory” promoted by white nationalists who oppose migration to the United States of “certain people” who, they say, will corrupt the ‘Murican way of life.

While attempt to make a metaphor that likely explains a childhood lived without the love of his parents, Carlson equates immigrants coming to the United States to parents who adopt kids, saying that the family’s existing children would say, “Y’know, I think we’re being replaced by kids our parents love more,” adding “it would kind’ve hard to argue against you because–look at the evidence.”

Of course, it could be that there’s not a limit on parental love for their children and your paranoia about adopted kids should lead your parents to send you to a psychiatrist.

In his soon to be released book, former Republican Speaker of the House and wannabe spokesperson for Ernest & Julio Gallo John Boehner lists an expected number of actions undertaken not for policy or ethics, but purely partisan reason–like the Clinton impeachment.

The episode that demonstrates the Republicans’ utmost disregard for law and order and their penchant for violence was the time a Republican member of the House pulled a knife on him while he was on the floor of the House.

Boehner had just made a speech on the floor of the House decrying funding pet projects in Alaska when Alaskan Republican Congressman Don Young pulled a knife in a heated argument and held it to Boehner’s throat.

“Sometimes I can still feel that thing against my throat,” Mr. Boehner writes, according to the New York Times.

Despite repeated baseless claims by GOP pundits and politicians that the public health recommendation to stay isolated issued to stop the spread of the coronavirus was leading to a spike in suicides, the number of Americans who took their own lives in 2020 dropped by 6%, the Associated Press reports.

The reduction was the largest decline in suicides in at least the last four decades.  The reduction was credited to an increase in mental health services available through health insurance and community resources.  Some claim that it was due to a phenomenon called the “heroism syndrome” that hits during disasters.

“There’s a heroism phase in every disaster period, where we’re banding together and expressing lots of messages of support that we’re in this together,” said Dr. Christine Moutier, chief medical officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “You saw that, at least in the early months of the pandemic.”

Embattled Republican Florida Congressman and Max Headroom cosplayer Matt Gaetz used a money transfer app to pay his buddy Joel Greenberg $900 in 2018 for “hit up [nickname of teenage victim]” and then Greenberg forward the exact same amount of money to three girls, the Daily Beast reports.

The money transfer and memo undermine Gaetz’s continuing claims that he has never paid for sex or had sexual relations with a teenage girl “since [he’s been] an adult.”  Gaetz used Venmo to send Greenberg the payment, which Greenberg then split and sent to three girls within minutes of the money landing in his account; one of the girls was the one mentioned in Gaetz’s note in his payment to Greenberg.

Greenberg is facing 33 counts in federal court relating to child sex trafficking and money laundering.