Stating that he wants a return to “regular order” in the Senate, Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin wrote in an op/ed in the Washington Post that he would not support anything that would weaken the filibuster.

“The filibuster is a critical tool to protecting that input and our democratic form of government,” Manchin stated.  “That is why I have said it before and will say it again to remove any shred of doubt: There is no circumstance in which I will vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster.  The time has come to end these political games, and to usher a new era of bipartisanship where we find common ground on the major policy debates facing our nation.”

Without mentioning how Republicans have abused the filibuster and Senate rules to block any discussion on legislation passed by the House when Democrats held the majority in the House, Manchin said he strives for bipartisanship.

“The purported leader of the neo-Nazi Atomwaffen Division group has pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy and hate crime charges for threatening journalists and Jewish activists, the Department of Justice announced. Cameron Shea, along with three others, was charged last year with conspiring to identify journalists and advocates ‘they wanted to threaten in retaliation for the victims’ work exposing anti-Semitism,’ per the DOJ’s Tuesday statement.”

“The group sent Swastika-laden posters to journalists or activists in Florida, Washington and Texas. Some of the posters read: ‘You have been visited by your local Nazis.’ Shea pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit three offenses against the U.S., including interference with federally protected activities because of religion, mailing threatening communications and cyberstalking. He also pleaded guilty to one count of interfering with a federally protected activity because of religion. Shea faces up to 10 years in prison for the hate crime charge and a maximum of 5 years for the conspiracy charge. His sentencing is scheduled for June 28” – Axios.

“The Trump Organization has hired Ronald Fischetti, an experienced New York criminal-defense attorney, to represent it in Manhattan prosecutors’ investigation into the business dealings of the former president and his company. Mr. Fischetti, 84 years old, is a former law partner of Mark Pomerantz, the former federal prosecutor working on the investigation for the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. Mr. Pomerantz was sworn in as a special assistant district attorney in February and is now on leave from law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. ‘I am so pleased that Ron has been added to the team,’ said Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for the Trump Organization. ‘He brings extraordinary experience, a depth of knowledge and wisdom that is invaluable and that we so appreciate'” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The Trump Organization retained Mr. Fischetti earlier this week, Mr. Fischetti confirmed. ‘I’m delighted that I’m going to be on the defense of this,’ he said. Mr. Vance’s office has said it is investigating possible bank, tax or insurance fraud. Prosecutors have subpoenaed information from former President Donald Trump’s banks, lenders, an insurance broker and other parties, The Wall Street Journal has previously reported. They are examining financial transactions at Manhattan properties including Mr. Trump’s flagship Trump Tower; Seven Springs, an estate in Westchester, N.Y.; and a hotel in Chicago, The Journal reported. Mr. Trump has called the investigation a ‘witch hunt.’ After the U.S. Supreme Court in February cleared the way for Mr. Vance, a Democrat, to obtain his tax returns, Mr. Trump called the probe ‘all Democrat-inspired in a totally Democrat location.’ He added, ‘We will win!’ Before hiring Mr. Fischetti, people close to Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization had reached out to lawyers in New York for recommendations or to discuss representing the former president or his company, people familiar with the matter said. Some of the people who received calls were former prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, and many had a reputation for being aggressive advocates, the people said.”

CBS News: “Federal investigators are looking into a Bahamas trip Matt Gaetz allegedly took in late 2018 or early 2019 as part of an inquiry into whether the Florida representative violated sex trafficking laws, multiple sources told CBS News. Gaetz was on that trip with a marijuana entrepreneur and hand surgeon named Jason Pirozzolo, who allegedly paid for the travel expenses, accommodations, and female escorts, the sources said. Investigators are trying to determine if the escorts were illegally trafficked across state or international lines for the purpose of sex with the congressman. ‘Traveling across state lines is what creates a federal hook for a prosecution,’ Arlo Devlin-Brown, a former prosecutor and partner at Covington & Burling, said in a report that aired on the ‘CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell.’ ‘It doesn’t matter that [Gaetz] personally paid them as long as he knows someone is doing that.'”

“The Justice Department declined to comment. Pirozollo did not respond to repeated attempts to contact him, and declined to comment on his relationship with Gaetz and whether he paid for escorts for him when asked by CBS News on Wednesday outside his office in Orlando. In a statement to CBS News, a spokesperson from Gaetz’s office said: ‘Rep. Gaetz has never paid for sex, nor has he had sex with an underage girl. What began with blaring headlines about ‘sex trafficking’ has now turned into a general fishing exercise about vacations and consensual relationships with adults. Yesterday, we even learned of some nonsense ‘pardon’ story that turned out to be false, and today it’s just more euphemism. It’s interesting to watch the Washington wheels grinding so hard every time one of their falsehoods gets knocked down.’ Investigators also want to know if Gaetz was accepting paid escorts in exchange for political access or legislative favors, the sources said. ”

Use of broadband providers surged up to 60% in some areas of the United States over the course of the pandemic, causing access problems in some areas as people used video conferencing and work-from-home options, CNET reports (via MSN).

Currently about 6% of the US population doesn’t have a broadband provider available who can deliver at minimal acceptable speed, a number that jumps significantly–to 35%–in rural areas.  While many people have a broadband provider in their areas, the cost of the service is out of reach for some poor and working class families.

A study by the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group found that “downstream” use increased–for things such as downloading programs or movies–but “upstream” use–the amount of data one puts on to the internet for others–jumped significantly more at people used teleconferencing services for everything from work to school to family connections.

There’s always some asshole asking “Qui Bono?” – the latin phrase for “Who benefits?” – after innocent people are shot dead by an armed maniac. Because the typical reaction to such events is for a renewed round of calls for increases in gun control, the paranoid freaks out there immediately assume that the shooting was a false flag intended to provide an impetus for taking guns away from lawful owners. Alex Jones will rant and scream, call the victims “crisis actors”, come up with some bullshit sci-fi story about how the shooter was under the influence of Soros mind control chemicals, Marjorie Taylor Greene will harass the survivors, Rush Limbaugh’s incorporeal soul trapped in the fiery, brimstone-y part of the hereafter will say the shooter was a Democrat, so on and so forth. It’s a well worn trope these days, so much so that we at National Zero just assume readers are already well acquainted with it when we write our headlines.

I spell it out here however, because it occurred to me that this is almost EXACTLY analogous to the situation that’s playing out right now with Republican efforts to legislate voter suppression in Georgia, Arizona, Florida, Texas, and other states these days. Like whenever a shooting massacre makes national news, the response to the attack is an effort to help make sure it never happens again, even though the China-Dominion-Venezuela story is complete bullshit. Sixty-odd court cases rejected. Zero evidence of interference or malfeasance. And yet, it looks like that’s the one that results in a significant assault on Constitutionally-protected liberties by the government.

The woman who was believed to have been trampled to death during the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol actually died of an “acute amphetamine intoxication” according to autopsy reports, the Daily Beast reports.

Roseanne Boyland, a 34-year-old Georgian who was seen on video collapsing as the insurrectionists pushed toward the doors of the Capitol, was believed to have been trampled under the feet of the attackers.  She was taken from the crowd, where people were seen giving her CPR; she was later carried into the Capitol where Capitol Police and DC Metro Police continued life-saving efforts while an ambulance was called.  She was pronounced dead at a hospital later in the day.

The DC Medical Examiner’s office also released the cause of death of the three other civilians who died in the attack.  Ashli Babbitt, 35, died from a gunshot to the left shoulder after trying to climb through a broken window in a door leading to the House chamber. Kevin Greeson, 55, and Benjamin Phillips, 50, both died naturally of hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

The cause of death of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick is still pending.

Mike Pence signed a two-book deal with publisher Simon & Schuster in what many pundits see as a wind-up for a 2024 presidential campaign, Axios reports.

The terms of the deal were undisclosed but said to include a “hefty advance.”  Pence will write about his Christian faith and his political accomplishments while Vice President.  The two books will be released over the next two years.

“I am grateful to have the opportunity to tell the story of my life in public service to the American people.” He added that he will take “readers on a journey from a small town in Indiana to Washington.”

With scintillating background like that, the book is sure to be a OTC cure for insomnia.

The latest wave of people hospitalized for the coronavirus are increasing younger adults infected with the b.1.1.7 variant that was originally identified in the United Kingdom, a more infectious and potentially more dangerous strain.

According to CNBC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that more hospitalizations are required for people in their 30s and 40s, as opposed to earlier waves which predominantly hit the elderly the hardest.

“Data suggests this is all happening as we are seeing increasing prevalence of variants, with 52 jurisdictions now reporting cases of variants of concern,” Walensky said at a press briefing Wednesday.  More than 16,000 infections from the variants have been in those jurisdictions.

“Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) backtracked from his roundly mocked warning to corporations to ‘stay out of politics,’ saying on Wednesday that businesses have the right to comment on political issues. Jumping on the bandwagon of conservative outrage over corporate criticism of Georgia’s new voting law, McConnell told reporters on Tuesday that it was ‘stupid’ for businesses to comments on ‘highly incendiary.’ He called on corporations to ‘stay out of politics’ but, at the same time, specifically wanted them to know he was ‘not talking about campaign contributions.’ A day later, McConnell sought to clarify his stance. ‘I didn’t say that very artfully yesterday,’ he said on Wednesday. ‘They’re certainly entitled to be involved in politics. They are. My principal complaint is they didn’t read the darn bill'” – Daily Beast.

In which the @rcfp and the @latimes ask a federal court to force the government to reveal its secret reasons for wanting to keep a search warrant for Sen. Richard Burr secret. pic.twitter.com/3C2YXQQFuG

— Brad Heath (@bradheath) April 7, 2021

Talking Points Memo: “J.D. Mesnard, a Republican state senator in Arizona, couldn’t hide his disappointment that a high-powered group of Phoenix business leaders had signed onto a letter calling a bill of his – one that significantly beefs up identification requirements for voting by mail – an attempt at ‘voter suppression cloaked as reform.’ ‘That exact phrasing that was used is beyond disappointing,’ a wounded Mesnard told TPM over the phone Tuesday. ‘I know those guys, at least some of them, that signed the letter,’ the senator said. ‘I’ve got a reasonably good relationship with them. Don’t always agree on every issue. But that specific phraseology – how that’s characterized, my intent being questioned – is beyond offensive.'”

“In Arizona, legislation pushed by Mesnard and others that would make it harder to vote by mail has prompted pushback from businesses. The method of voting is quite popular in the state and works well – most ballots in Arizona are cast by mail. And while voters currently need only to sign their names to their ballot envelopes, Mesnard’s bill would require them to include their date of birth and an identification number, like their voter ID number or a driver license number, as further verification. Another bill, from Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R) could remove tens of thousands of voters deemed inactive from the Permanent Early Voting List, a roll of voters who automatically receive ballots by mail. For Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell, former Petsmart CEO Phil Francis and dozens of others, those bills warranted some protest. The corporate leaders were among those who signed onto the opposition letter Friday from Greater Phoenix Leadership, a well-known business group in the state. The letter, ‘Disenfranchising Voters is not ‘Election Reform,’’ quoted from a March op-ed of the same name. And it didn’t mince words. ‘The onslaught of voter suppression measures that have been introduced or entertained this session has been alarming,’ the broadside read. ‘Attempts to disenfranchise Arizona voters is not ‘election reform’ and cannot be tolerated. Further, pandering to those who willfully choose to perpetuate misleading or inaccurate information cannot continue. True leaders will play an important role in sharing the truth: our election system in Arizona works.'”

UPDATE: The @NRCC has an even worse alternate prechecked recurring donation box that says they will "tell Trump you are a DEFECTOR" if unchecked. h/t @iankoski cc @ShaneGoldmacher https://t.co/TH8sURaZ9P https://t.co/et4wN88OiW pic.twitter.com/FhDphhmNkY

— Tim Miller (@Timodc) April 7, 2021

“Congressman Matt Gaetz never asked me for a pardon.  It must also be remembered that he has totally denied the accusations against him.”  –Statement from Donald Trump.

FACT CHECK:  According to the New York Times story, Gaetz never personally asked Trump for a pardon, but instead asked intermediaries to inquire.  Plus, Gaetz has declared “First, I have never, ever paid for sex. And second, I, as an adult man, have not slept with a 17-year-old,” an oddly specific statement regarding age and the sex act, but oddly unspecific regarding a timeline, dependent on your definition of “adult man.”

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden announced that she would restart the Joining Forces initiative, a program started by herself and Michelle Obama during the Obama Administration aimed at providing aid to current and former members of the military and their families.

According to the Associated Press, the Joining Forces program will focus on employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for military families, education for the children of enlisted parents and veterans, and the overall health and well-being of these families.

“We have an all-volunteer force, and it continues only because generations of Americans see the honor, dignity and patriotism of this calling,” the First Lady said at the White House.  “How can we hope to keep our military strong if we don’t give our families, survivors and caregivers what they need to thrive? If we don’t act on our sacred obligation?”

Former New York City mayor, Trump lawyer and Nosferatu cosplayer Rudy Giuliani filed a motion in DC Federal District Court to dismiss the defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems because, he claims, he didn’t actually defame anyone.

“Giuliani denies that he has defamed Plaintiffs or that he has engaged in any wrongful or malicious conduct toward Plaintiffs,” the motion reads.  “Should this matter reach legal or factual adjudication on the merits, Giuliani will provide a vigorous and complete response.”

In what can be described as a “throw everything against a wall and see if anything sticks” legal strategy, Giuliani makes a variety of claims in the motion, including that the Court doesn’t have jurisdiction; that Dominion didn’t *actually* incur any harm; that as a corporation, Dominion can only claim lost profits as damages; and of course, that Giuliani never really said bad things about Dominion.

“In a fiery address Tuesday morning, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) railed against the left and the media while scolding American Airlines, Major League Baseball, and other corporations for meddling in politics. ‘So you’re calling us to tell us it isn’t personal against the lieutenant governor or the governor or the 18 members who voted for the bill, but you haven’t read the bill and you’re calling us out for suppressing the vote? Well, let me tell you what Mr. American Airlines, I take it personally. You’re questioning my integrity and the integrity of the governor and the integrity of the 18 Republicans who voted for this” reports NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.

“When you suggest that we’re trying to suppress the vote you’re in essence between the lines calling us racist and that will not stand! That will not stand! You have a right to your opinion, but at least read the bill.’ Patrick said the state has done a lot to lure businesses to the state through incentives and policy and that corporations like the airline or MLB, which recently pulled the All-Star game out of Georgia over a new voting law there, should reconsider weighing in on politics. ‘You’ve meddled in a lot of issues lately… stay out of things you don’t know anything about and if you want to get involved then you’re taking that risk. You have a right to your opinion, but read the damn bill before you give one. And don’t insult us, ‘We don’t want you to take this personally.’ You know why they said that? They might come down the street the next session and have a bill they want us to pass for them. Good luck!’ Patrick said. ‘We’ll treat them fairly like we always will, but as Gov. Abbott said on FOX earlier this morning, we have brought a lot of businesses to Texas. They come here because we’re the best state to do business in but if they think they’re going to attack the legislature on issues they have no knowledge about and come to us with their hand out, well that’s just not going to be the way we do business. Don’t, on one hand, say ‘Thank you Texas’ while on the other hand slap us in the face. We’re not going to put up with it anymore.'”

CNN: “Donald Trump has left the White House, but the Republican Party just can’t quit his stunt politics. As President Joe Biden sells a popular Covid-19 rescue plan, highlights a quickening national vaccine effort, positions himself to benefit from an economic growth spurt after the pandemic and tackles economic inequity in American society, the GOP seems to be acting out the temperament of the last President. At times, the party seems trapped in a perpetual primary race, shaping positions that seem best suited as fodder for the culture warriors at Fox News. The party has spent the first months of the Biden administration rewriting electoral laws to suppress minority votes, denying the truth of Trump’s Capitol insurrection, raging against vaccine passports and trashing science with state openings that threaten to cause unnecessary pandemic deaths. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell unleashed a fearsome attack on ‘woke’ corporations that reacted to a discriminatory voting law in Georgia. McConnell, at least in his rhetoric, sounded a lot like the former President. ‘Businesses must not use economic blackmail to spread disinformation and push bad ideas that citizens reject at the ballot box,’ the Kentucky Republican said. In fact, what Georgia voters rejected at the ballot box – causing the GOP to change the laws – was a second term for Trump and two Republican senators.”

“The most eye-catching current story about the Republican Party is not the way it is mobilizing to thwart Biden’s increasingly radical presidency. It is the multiple scandals ripping around Trump protegé Rep. Matt Gaetz, the latest being a New York Times report Tuesday night that alleged the Florida Republican sought a preemptive pardon for himself and congressional allies at the end of the ex-President’s time in office. Gaetz is refusing to show contrition in a defiant and unapologetic stand reminiscent of his mentor. While few Republicans are rushing to defend him, it has been an unwelcome distraction for the GOP as they try to reposition the party for the elections of 2022. Another one of the most visible Republicans this year has been first-term pro-Trump Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene who is known for conspiracy theories and spreading false narratives about Trump’s election loss. The party’s strategy does reflect the views of much of its activist base voters – among whom Trump remains deeply popular in an audience that is fully bought into the ex-President’s lies about the last election being stolen. But it is far from clear the Trump-style uproar is proving to be an effective counter to Biden, as he rushes to put a lasting liberal imprint on social policy that echoes Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson.”