Republican thug and governor of Montana Greg Gianforte tested positive for the coronavirus Monday, which will require him to spend the next ten days in isolation, KTVQ Billings reports.

Gianforte has repeatedly scoffed at masking and social distance recommendations to stop the spread of the coronavirus throughout the course of the pandemic.  He’s reported to have “mild symptoms.”

A convicted criminal, Gianforte is notorious for body-slamming a journalist attempting to ask him a question, an act or which he was found guilty in court, fined and sentenced to anger management.

https://youtu.be/Uaqng6AM2Wk

Spokesperson for the living dead (spiritually and physically) Stephen Miller, a senior advisor to Donald Trump who is widely acknowledged to have designed immigration policy that separated children from their parents when the families crossed the southern border–a policy that left more than 500 children separated from their families when Trump left office–is offended people find his policies abhorrent.

“I find it deeply insulting to describe what we did as inhumane,” he said on Fox News, to which I reply:  “Good.”

This interview happened after Miller spent a good part of his day saying that Major League Baseball should resign as the national pastime… ’cause he gets to decide such things, right?

“The man Rep. Matt Gaetz has accused of trying to extort millions from his family – and blamed for recent allegations of sexual improprieties – admitted in a bizarre interview Monday to asking the Florida Republican’s dad to finance an international plot to ‘rescue’ an American citizen widely believed to be dead in Iran. Air Force veteran and ‘research consultant’ Bob Kent verified to Sirius Radio personality Michael Smerconish that he had approached Gaetz’s deep-pocketed father, former Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, last month seeking a $25 million loan. The funds would ransom the release of Robert Levinson, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who disappeared in Iran more than a decade ago. Levinson’s own family believes him to be dead, but Kent has insisted he has evidence he is alive and remains a hostage of the Islamic Republic, even though credible experts have dismissed his claims.”

“Kent said that he was aware of the time that Gaetz might have ‘legal issues,’ and suggested that assisting in the mission would create ‘good will’ toward the congressman. Though he didn’t say it outright, those issues seem to be the recently surfaced claims the lawmaker paid women for sex – including, possibly, an underage girl – and misused campaign funds. ‘Matt Gaetz is in need of good publicity, and I’m in need of $25 million to save Robert Levinson,’ Kent told Smerconish. Despite having coupled his request for money with an allusion to the congressman’s improprieties, and despite working on the project with serial Florida fraudster Stephen Alford, Kent maintained he had not sought to extort the Gaetz clan. ‘I never threatened the man – matter of fact, it was the opposite: I told him if he decides not to help us he’ll never hear from me again,’ Kent said of his meeting with Don Gaetz. ‘I can’t help how it sounds.’ Nevertheless, Kent said Gaetz’s father initially interpreted the overture as a blackmail attempt. But Kent asserted that the local Republican power broker then grew receptive, and offered to approach then-President Donald Trump with the materials” – Daily Beast.

Politico: “Livid at what they see as corporate America’s progressive posturing on cultural issues, top Republicans are pushing for swift retribution and targeting those companies’ bottom lines. In recent days, GOP leaders have encouraged boycotts against a group of companies that have condemned or pulled business from states that have passed more restrictive voting laws. The appetite for punitive measures hasn’t ended there. Republicans are also encouraging state and federal officials to utilize the tax code as a means of hitting back at, what they deem to be, ‘woke capitalism.’ And they’re targeting some of the most iconic American brands – from Delta and Coca Cola to Major League Baseball – in the process. ‘The GOP response… is the successful playbook for how these fights will be won moving forward,’ said former OMB director Russ Vought, whose new group, the Center for American Restoration, is largely focused on cultural issues.”

“‘Boycotts may or may not work, but what will work is to identify every unique benefit these woke companies get under the law and remove them and require they operate as all other companies in those states have to,’ Vought added. The increasingly aggressive pushback against politically outspoken companies is the latest, and perhaps purest, illustration of a party at a philosophical crossroads. Republicans spent decades aligning themselves with the business community and its preferences for lower taxes and fewer regulations. During the 2017 GOP tax reform push, the party slashed the corporate rate from 35 to 21 percent. In return, they have been bolstered with industry money and political support. Now, however, they’re betting that they can win on a backlash to the idea that political correctness has entered the boardroom and is irreversibly damaging conservative causes. For Trump alumni like Vought and other conservatives who have soured on big business, the sudden enthusiasm for their cause has been a welcome development. Still, many conservatives remain skeptical that the newly coordinated campaign portends a seismic shift for Republicans. There is, for example, no appetite to embrace a corporate tax hike as proposed by President Joe Biden to pay for infrastructure spending. But while it may not be the end of the marriage for Republicans and big business, they see it as the beginning of a volatile patch in the relationship.”

“For the right price, 14 Colorado drivers can show their love for the state’s legal green. Colorado is auctioning rights for 14 different official state license plates with phrases like ‘BONG,’ ‘GANJA,’ ‘HEMP’ and ‘ISIT420.’ The revenue from these extremely obvious nods to all things cannabis will go to the Colorado Disability Funding Committee, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis’ office told CNN. This is the committee’s first ever pot-themed license plate auction, and it will go until April 20, the unofficial holiday celebrating cannabis use. All signs show this auction could see Rocky Mountain high revenues. Previous auctions have included the letter ‘X’ which sold for $20,000, ‘5280’ which sold for $6,800 and ‘MCLAREN’ which sold for $6,000, according to Polis’ office” – CNN.

A mistakenly-disclosed sealed filing in the DC Circuit Court docket, in the case of a member of the Oath Keepers who participated in the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol, show that the named defendant is cooperating with investigators.

According to Politico, Jon Schaeffer’s indictment alleges he used bear spray on police officers defending the entrances during the assault on the Capitol.  The self-described “lifetime member” of the Oath Keepers is now working with prosecutors to convict his fellow insurrectionists.

“The government’s ongoing plea negotiations with this defendant are the first and most advanced plea negotiations involving any of the over 300 Capitol Riot defendants,” prosecutors wrote in a filing they indicted was intended to be sealed to Judge Beryl Howell, chief of DC District Court.

South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reports North Korea won’t participate in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, in an article that is all headline and no text. Yonhap does this with their English edition for some reason. Maybe they’re just like “Fuck it, let’s get it up and Kang will fill it in when he’s done writing the other twelve English articles we’ve assigned him. Ten of those are about K-Pop anyway.”

Just had a terrific meeting with President Trump! pic.twitter.com/jGyAnURAky

— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) April 5, 2021

“Deion Sanders has another layer of synergy added to the mix as he works to revitalize the football program at Jackson State: Pepsi has joined forces with the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) as a major sponsor. The beverage powerhouse, which Sanders began an association with during the mid-1990s, announced on Monday it has become the primary beverage sponsor for all SWAC football and basketball championship games through 2023. The three-year deal underscores Pepsi’s support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and is a component of the brand’s Racial Equality Journey, a series of initiatives the corporation launched in April 2020 with a pledge of $400 million over five years. ‘This is kind of next level,’ Derek Lewis, president of PepsiCo Beverages North America’s South Division, told USA TODAY Sports. ‘The more attention that HBCUs get, the better it’s going to be for the students and also the communities. We’re going to be able to go deeper and wider in this partnership than ever before'” USA Today reported Monday.

The timing is just awful for the MAGA Cancel Mob, who are eager to rebuke Coca-Cola for engaging in “corporate communism” and coming about against voter suppression in Georgia. If Pepsi is welcoming them, they sure have a weird way of showing it by sponsoring an SJW, educational, Black supremacist organization, ebony tower, something something other hyperbole that I won’t repeat here because the joke gets lost when I caricature racists too accurately.

“In yet another highly partisan story, the failing New York Times wrote a completely misleading, one-sided attack piece this weekend that tried to disparage our record-setting grassroots fundraising operation during the 2020 campaign. Except for massive voter fraud, this was a campaign that was easily won by your favorite Republican President, me! Our support in 2020 was so big – never before seen (received more votes than any sitting President in history, by far), that it has become a major threat to the Democrat Party, which explains why the New York Times immediately rushed to defend their Radical Left allies. Before our two campaigns, 2016 and 2020, Republicans would always lose small dollar donations. Now we win, or do very well, because we are the Party of Working Americans, and we beat the Democrats at their own game. We learned from liberal ActBlue – and now we’re better than they are!”

“In fact, many people were so enthusiastic that they gave over and over, and in certain cases where they would give too much, we would promptly refund their contributions. Our overall dispute rate was less than 1% of total online donations, a very low number. This is done by Dems also. The New York Times knew this but these details in their story – they didn’t talk about, however, how the CHEATING Democrats State Legislatures (approval is required by the U.S. Constitution) in Swing States to rig the 2020 Presidential or how Democrats paid for votes in many Urban Centers, in a little thing called “walking around money,” how Democrats threatened Union Members with the loss of their jobs if they didn’t vote Democrat, massive Fake Mail-in Ballots, illegal immigrants and dead people who (for Dems), and much more. Our fundraising efforts, working together with the Republican party, were all done and all with the goal of ensuring that my Administration could continue to Make America Great Again. The Election on the other hand, was massively and stolen – and now look what is happening to our Country, and in particular at our southern border. If you are one of the record-setting 75 million Americans who voted for me, donated or volunteered, THANK YOU! The best is yet to come!” – Statement from embittered, deeply unhappy old man.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Monday that the lack of coronavirus vaccinations around the world, particularly in underdeveloped countries, poses a threat to the economies of all nations, including the United States, the Washington Post reports.

While so-called First World countries are preparing to reopen their economies and societies within the next year thanks to widespread availability and doses of vaccines, many less-developed nations are dealing not just with a lack of a system to obtain and administer vaccines, but with ongoing economic fallout from the ongoing pandemic, Yellen told the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

“This would be a profound economic tragedy for those countries, one we should care about. But, that’s obvious. What’s less obvious — but equally true — is that this divergence would also be a problem for America,” Yellen said. “Our first task must clearly be stopping the virus by ensuring that vaccinations, testing and therapeutics are available as widely as possible.”

ArkansasOnline.com: “Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Monday afternoon he vetoed a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Hutchinson, a Republican, said he believed House Bill 1570 interfered with the relationship between doctors and patients. The GOP-sponsored legislation prohibits health care providers from administering gender transition treatments, which can include surgery and hormone therapy, to people under 18. Had Hutchinson signed the bill, Arkansas would have been the first state to enact such a measure. ‘I was told this week that the nation is looking at Arkansas,’ Hutchinson said to reporters at the Governor’s Mansion in Little Rock. The governor referred to the bill as a ‘product of the cultural war in America’ and said the measure is ‘overbroad, extreme and does not grandfather young people currently on hormone treatment.’ If the bill were to become law, he said, the state would be creating ‘new standards of legislative interference with physicians and parents as they deal with some of the most complex and sensitive matters involving young people.’ ”

“Hutchinson added the bill would leave those people without care, and may lead them to look to the black market or go out of state to get the care they need. Hutchinson’s veto can be overridden with a simple majority in both chambers. Anticipating the general assembly will do so, he encouraged the body to come up with a more restrained approach to the bill, he said. ‘We want to send a message of tolerance and diversity,’ Hutchinson said. When considering the bill, Hutchinson said he met with transgender youth and healthcare providers. Immediately following the governor’s announcement, Family Council President Jerry Cox issued a statement calling for the state legislature to override the governor’s veto. ‘Medical researchers do not know the long-term effects these procedures can have on kids. That is why many people equate them with experimenting on children,’ he said in a release.”

“Washington scandal cycles are predictable, and sex is especially potent in politics. Let me first remind everyone that I am a representative in Congress, not a monk, and certainly not a criminal” writes Congressman Epstein Jr in the Washington Examiner.

“Nancy Pelosi once defended President Bill Clinton after he got an intern to fellate him in the Oval Office. But when it comes to the allegation that I, a grown man, paid for an adult girlfriend’s expenses? Well, consider that a bridge too far for the power-hungry hypocrites. I want to be clear about something as we process the leaks and lies from the past week. To this point, there are exactly zero credible (or even non-credible) accusers willing to come forward by name and state on the public record that I behaved improperly toward them, in the manner by which Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ten accusers.”

Otter Globe and Intelligencer: “Trying to fight voter suppression by citing legal precedents cherished by liberals creates an opportunity for Trump appointed judges to strike down or apply strict limits to those precedents, and further threaten the Civil Rights of Americans. Countering a GOP effort by citing a precedent that was considered a victory for Republicans puts conservative lawyers and judges over a barrel. The more effective a Civil Rights lawyer is at framing an issue as a matter of either promoting the short term interest of Republicans, or striking down a precedent the GOP worked very hard for, the greater the chance that near term concerns will be over-ruled, in favor of preserving the longer-standing precedent.”

“Thank you for the invitation to throw out the first pitch at the Texas Rangers’ home Olrning game. I was looking forward to it – until Major League Baseball adopted what has turned out to be a false narrative about the election law reforms in Georgia and, based on that false narrative, moved the MLB All-Star Game from Atlanta. It is shameful that America’s pastime is not only influenced by partisan but also false political narratives. The State of Texas was proud to help MLB host last season’s National League playoff games and the World Series in Arlington.”

“However, I will not participate in an event held by MLB, and the State will not seek to host the All-Star Game or any other MLB Special events. This decision not diminish the deep respect I have for the Texas Rangers Organization, which is outstanding from top to bottom. I wish the team great success this regards” – Letter from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to Texas Rangers COO Neil Leibman.

The US Supreme Court has denied an appeal by radio host and conspiracy connoisseur Alex Jones to dismiss court sanctions levied in the defamation lawsuit brought by families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, the Associated Press reports.

The Infowars host was fined and sanctioned by a Connecticut  court for multiple outbursts in the courtroom during the trial, in which Jones was sued by an FBI agent and families of some of the 26 people, including 20 first graders, killed in the mass shooting at the Connecticut school after he claimed the incident was a fake and that the people involved were “crisis actors.”

Judge Barbara Bellis, a Connecticut judge, fined Jones for refusing to turn over subpoenaed documents and for multiple outbursts in the courtroom.  She also required Jones to pay some of the plaintiffs’ attorney fees.  The US Supreme Court upheld the penalties without comment.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing him to run for two more terms in the Kremlin once his current term ends in 2024, a document posted on a government website showed on Monday. The legislation, which could pave the way for Putin to stay in power until 2036 should he choose to do so and win re-election, reflects sweeping changes to the constitution that were brought in last year” – Reuters.