“This is all a very predictable and completely avoidable result of a series of policies that the Biden Administration has adopted.” @SenMikeLeepic.twitter.com/DLAVOAfM8j

— Senate Republicans (@SenateGOP) March 31, 2021

New York Times: “State prosecutors in Manhattan investigating former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization have subpoenaed the personal bank records of the company’s chief financial officer and are questioning gifts he and his family received from Mr. Trump, according to people with knowledge of the matter. In recent weeks, the prosecutors have trained their focus on the executive, Allen H. Weisselberg, in what appears to be a determined effort to gain his cooperation. Mr. Weisselberg, who has not been accused of wrongdoing, has overseen the Trump Organization’s finances for decades and may hold the key to any possible criminal case in New York against the former president and his family business. Prosecutors working for the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., are examining, among other things, whether Mr. Trump and the company falsely manipulated property values to obtain loans and tax benefits. It is unclear whether Mr. Weisselberg would cooperate with the investigation and neither his lawyer, Mary E. Mulligan, nor Mr. Vance’s office would comment.”

“But if a review of his personal finances were to uncover possible wrongdoing, prosecutors could then use that information to press Mr. Weisselberg to guide them through the inner workings of the company. The 73-year-old accountant began his career working for Mr. Trump’s father. Separately, the prosecutors are also seeking a new round of internal documents from the Trump Organization, including general ledgers from several of its more than two dozen properties that the company did not turn over last year, according to the people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details. The ledgers offer a line-by-line breakdown of each property’s financial situation, including daily receipts, checks and revenues. The prosecutors could compare those details against the information the company provided to its lenders and local tax authorities to assess whether it fraudulently misled them.”

“Throughout the legislative process, we spoke directly with Delta representatives numerous times. We worked alongside legislative leadership to expand voting opportunities for Georgians, while also taking steps to further secure the ballot box. At no point did Delta share any opposition to expanding early voting, strengthening voter ID measures, increasing the use of secure drop boxes statewide, and making it easier for local election officials to administer elections – which is exactly what this bill does. The last time I flew Delta, I had to present my photo ID.”

“Today’s statement by Delta CEO Ed Bastian stands in stark contrast to our conversations with the company, ignores the content of the new law, and unfortunately continues to spread the same false attacks being repeated by partisan activists. The truth is the Election Integrity Act expands voting access and protects the sanctity and security of the ballot box. Mr. Bastian should compare voting laws in Georgia – which include no-excuse absentee balloting, online voter registration, 17 days of early voting with an additional two optional Sundays, and automatic voter registration when obtaining a driver’s license – with other states Delta Airlines operates in”

– Statement from Georgia Governor Brian Kemp in response to Delta CEO Ed Bastian ripping state’s new voter suppression laws on Wednesday.

“In an interview with his daughter-in-law Lara Trump President Trump announced he was thinking about holding a rally soon. The 45th President Donald Trump told Lara, ‘We’re thinking about doing a rally relatively soon just to let everybody know that there’s hope in the future… I love doing them.’ In an interview with his daughter in-law @LaraLeaTrump, former President Donald Trump said he’s thinking of doing a rally ‘relatively soon just to let everybody know that there’s hope in the future… I love doing them.’ The entire video was posted on Rumble. Facebook removed the video because it included President Trump. Facebook is evil” says the Gateway Pundit article “BREAKING: President Trump Announces He’s Thinking About Holding a Rally Soon ‘To Let Everybody Know There’s Hope in the Future’“, reposted here in all of its debased fanboy glory. Note the “Facebook is evil” and the use of Lara Trump’s Twitter handle to refer to her in the text of an article for some reason.

Left unexplained is why Trump would hold a rally when he’s not running for office, nor is he campaigning on behalf of any Republican candidate that we know of. There aren’t any contested special Congressional elections and only a handful of off-off-year gubernatiorial elections in the fall. Trump is going to hold a rally just to let people know “there’s hope”, almost as if he were a religious leader and his followers believed him to be a messiah or something.

“Two government watchdog groups have filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing the Georgia Republican Party of illegally accepting in-kind contributions from True the Vote, a nonprofit that engaged in election-related activities around the Georgia Senate runoffs. True the Vote, a 501(c)3 based in Texas, has been active for over a decade. It has advocated for voting policy changes like voter ID laws and stricter voting regulations, organizing poll-watching operations and other grassroots efforts, and suing jurisdictions over the state of their voter rolls, and often partnered with large and well-known conservative organizations”

“In the complaint, filed Wednesday morning and first obtained by Insider, lawyers for Campaign Legal Center Action and Common Cause Georgia accuse the Georgia GOP of unlawfully taking and then failing to properly report in-kind corporate contributions from the group in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act.  The FEC defines in-kind contributions as a ‘non-monetary contribution’ to benefit a campaign or committee. Federal law, however, bans corporations (including both for-profit and non-profit organizations) from making such contributions to candidates or party committees or coordinating with them” – Business Insider.

A 43-year-old Michigan man admitted in federal court that he beat a Black teenage boy with a bicycle chain because he was driven by racial hatred and wanted the Black boy and his friends off the beach, USA Today reports.

Lee Mouat of Newport, Michigan allocuted his crimes as part of a plea agreement to willfully causing bodily harm in the beating of 18-year-old Devon Freelon on June 6th at Sterling State Park in Monroe, Michigan.  He now faces up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Mouat reportedly became enraged with the group of teens playing music at the beach.  As Mouat neared the beach with his family, a witness heard him say, “I wish someone would say something to me so I can beat them.” 

“One of Biden’s dogs pooped on the floor, per pool. ‘Champ and Major were spotted in the hallway outside the Palm Room doors in front of the Diplomatic Room. There was dog poo on the floor. It’s unclear which dog was responsible for it” reports Kathryn Watson of CBS News.

So… if I’m following this image posted to QAnon fan site GreatAwakening.win correctly, rapper “Lil Nas X” posted graphic pedophilic tweets nearly six years ago on a sock account (which may not actually be his sock account), while Epstein madam Ghislaine Maxwell was hit with new charges this week, so the Deep State and media responded by leaking the news about a sex trafficking investigation into Congressman Matt Gaetz, because that demoralizes Republican voters. Also that White Nationalist activist Nick Fuentes is right that sex trafficking isn’t a big deal when the girl is 17.

I think I got it… But looking at this begs the question: Don’t any of these assholes know how to use Powerpoint? Or have any basic sense of the principles of presentation design whatsoever? You’d think people who stay up for days straight mainlining Adderall to fuel their insane alternate reality would also be pretty meticulous about production value. They’re never going to go “mainstream” unless they learn the bare minimum basics about how to jazz these things up.

“In a new memo, Delta Air Lines CEO says the final restrictive Georgia voting law ‘is unacceptable and does not match’ the company’s values. Bastian adds: ‘The entire rationale for this bill was based on a lie: that there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia'” CNBC reports.

New York Times: “The war in eastern Ukraine, which has been on a low simmer for months, drawing little international attention, has escalated sharply in recent days, according to statements on Tuesday from the Ukrainian and Russian governments. In the deadliest engagement so far this year, four Ukrainian soldiers were killed and another seriously wounded in a battle against Russian-backed separatists in the Donetsk Region of eastern Ukraine, the country’s military said. The soldiers’ deaths, along with a buildup of Russian forces on the border, has seized the attention of senior American officials in Europe and Washington. In the past week, the U.S. military’s European Command raised its watch level from possible crisis to potential imminent crisis – the highest level – in response to the deployment of the additional Russian troops. The exchange of artillery and machine-gun fire in the Donetsk Region was unusual in that it lasted most of a day.”

“Fighting across the so-called Line of Contact, a roughly 250-mile-long barricade of trenches and fortifications, are typically briefer. But it was not the only sign of tensions in a region where Ukrainian and the Russian-backed separatist forces have settled into trenches that have barely moved over the seven years since fighting erupted in 2014. European monitors have spotted new weaponry on the Russian-backed side in recent weeks. Artillery fire has become more frequent. And Russian negotiators have warned of a breakdown in peace talks that have been dragging on for years. On Tuesday, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, acknowledged the recent increase in fighting and said Russia ‘sincerely hoped’ it would not escalate. The fighting, he said, is ‘canceling out the modest achievements made earlier.’ In Ukraine, Parliament on Tuesday approved a statement declaring an ‘escalation’ along the front, essentially acknowledging that a cease-fire negotiated in July had broken down. It pointed to a ‘significant increase in shelling and armed provocations by the armed forces of the Russian Federation.’ The statement called on Western governments to ‘continue and increase international political and economic pressure on Russia,’ something Ukraine has been requesting for years.”

Okay so wait…. the DOJ has time to investigate Matt Gaetz, but the whole Hunter Biden situation is just fine now?? And where’s Durham???

This is why the American people are so over all of it.

— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) March 31, 2021

“A top adviser privately urged President Donald Trump to acquire critical medical supplies in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak – and after the warning was ignored, pursued his own ad hoc strategy that committed more than $1 billion in federal funds and has since prompted multiple probes, according to newly released documents from congressional investigators. Peter Navarro, who served as Trump’s trade adviser, warned the president on March 1, 2020, to ‘MOVE IN ‘TRUMP TIME’’ to invest in ingredients for drugs, handheld coronavirus tests and other supplies to fight the virus, according to a memo obtained by the House’s select subcommittee on the coronavirus outbreak. Navarro also said that he’d been trying to acquire more protective gear like masks, critiquing the administration’s pace. ‘There is NO downside risk to taking swift actions as an insurance policy against what may be a very serious public health emergency. If the covid-19 crisis quickly recedes, the only thing we will have been guilty of is prudence,’ Navarro wrote to the president. At the time, there were about 100 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States and just two deaths linked to the outbreak.”

“But after Trump ignored Navarro’s recommendations, the trade adviser embarked on his own strategy to acquire supplies with little oversight, Democrats said. Navarro subsequently steered a $765 million loan to Eastman Kodak to produce ingredients for generic drugs, a $354 million contract for pharmaceutical ingredients to a start-up called Phlow and a $96 million sole-source contract for powered respirators and filters from AirBoss Defense Group. The administration’s loan to Kodak, which had never previously manufactured drugs and is best known for its former photography business, was paused last year amid probes by multiple congressional committees. House investigators also learned that Kodak executives had warned federal officials in March 2020 that the company would need a waiver from the FDA’s current good manufacturing practices – federal standards intended to ensure that firms have the necessary equipment, facilities and other components needed to produce safe and effective drugs” – Washington Post.

Axios: “On a flight Tuesday from Indianapolis to Fort Wayne, Ind., two leaders in the House Republican conference discussed a memo that argues that their party’s future demands they ’embrace our new coalition’ because ‘President Trump’s gift didn’t come with a receipt.’ The document, titled ‘Cementing GOP as the Working Class Party,’ leaves no doubt that Republicans – at least in the House of Representatives – will be doubling down on Trump for the foreseeable future.”

“On the afternoon flight between fundraisers, home state Rep. Jim Banks, who leads the largest bloc of House conservatives, the Republican Study Committee, handed his memo to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Banks argues in the memo that ‘both parties are undergoing coalitional transformations’ and Republicans shouldn’t fight the trend of corporate donors pulling back from the GOP. ‘Our electoral success in the 2022 midterm election will be determined by our willingness to embrace our new coalition,’ the memo says. ‘House Republicans can broaden our electorate, increase voter turnout, and take back the House by enthusiastically rebranding and reorienting as the Party of the Working Class.’ ‘There is an embittered and loud minority in the GOP that finds our new coalition distasteful, but President Trump’s gift didn’t come with a receipt,’ he adds.”

Pfizer press release: “Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE today announced that, in a Phase 3 trial in adolescents 12 to 15 years of age with or without prior evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2 demonstrated 100% efficacy and robust antibody responses, exceeding those recorded earlier in vaccinated participants aged 16 to 25 years old, and was well tolerated. These are topline results from a pivotal Phase 3 trial in 2,260 adolescents.”

“‘We share the urgency to expand the authorization of our vaccine to use in younger populations and are encouraged by the clinical trial data from adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15,’ said Albert Bourla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer. ‘We plan to submit these data to FDA as a proposed amendment to our Emergency Use Authorization in the coming weeks and to other regulators around the world, with the hope of starting to vaccinate this age group before the start of the next school year.’ ‘Across the globe, we are longing for a normal life. This is especially true for our children. The initial results we have seen in the adolescent studies suggest that children are particularly well protected by vaccination, which is very encouraging given the trends we have seen in recent weeks regarding the spread of the B.1.1.7 UK variant. It is very important to enable them to get back to everyday school life and to meet friends and family while protecting them and their loved ones,’ said Ugur Sahin, CEO and Co-founder of BioNTech.”

“Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is pushing the Senate toward lifting the federal prohibition on marijuana with legislation that would represent the biggest overhaul of federal drug policy in decades. The bill that Schumer is drafting with Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden of Oregon and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is still being written. Though they avoided the term legalization when announcing their plan, it is expected to remove marijuana from the list of controlled substances and tax and regulate it on the federal level while leaving states able to enforce their own laws regarding the drug. Their proposal goes beyond decriminalization, which President Joe Biden voiced support for during his campaign, and may be a stretch for some Senate Democrats.”

“But it taps into building public sentiment for legalization and moves by states to change marijuana laws, including Schumer’s home state. New York is about to become the 16th state to legalize the drug for recreational use. On Tuesday night, the Assembly and Senate passed a bill that would allow personal cultivation and tax and regulate commercial sales. Governor Andrew Cuomo said he plans to sign the legislation. Several other states also are moving toward legalization. In Washington, the House passed a major decriminalization bill in December for the first time but it was kept off the Senate floor by then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Prospects for revamping marijuana laws have vastly improved with Schumer now in charge of the Senate’s agenda, but getting the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster remains a major challenge. In addition to winning over Biden on legalization, Schumer has yet to line up all 50 senators who caucus with Democrats – some of whom have long been skeptical of legalization – let alone at least 10 Republicans. Marijuana stocks have been soaring in recent months on the prospect of rapidly expanding markets as more states move to loosen restrictions” – Bloomberg.

Politico: “Gov. Gavin Newsom is in a strong position to defeat a likely recall vote, according to a new poll of California voters. A double-digit majority of likely voters said they would vote to retain Newsom, with 56 percent saying they would keep him versus 40 percent seeking to jettison the Democratic governor, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll released Tuesday night. The favorable poll bolsters Newsom’s argument that a recall fueled by pandemic fatigue will fall flat in Democrat-heavy California. While the effort to oust him hasn’t yet formally qualified for the ballot, it is overwhelmingly likely to go before voters in the fall. Newsom has launched a campaign in his defense and begun enlisting national Democratic luminaries, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams.”

“Overall, Newsom has a 53 percent approval rating, down from his peak of 65 percent in May 2020. That includes 77 percent approval among Democrats and a slight edge among no-party-preference voters, a growing constituency that makes up a quarter of voters and approves of Newsom 49 percent to 46 percent. If Newsom can retain his position in the polls, that makes it less likely that another Democrat who senses vulnerability breaks ranks and chooses to run as a backup, which in turn could cut into Newsom’s support and make it more likely he’s recalled. PPIC President and CEO Mark Baldassare said Newsom needs to preserve support among Democrats, as former Gov. Gray Davis failed to do en route to voters recalling him in 2003. ‘The key is the governor’s ability to continue to maintain his base,’ Baldassare said. ‘That’s what got him elected in 2018, and that’s what will be key to his survival in 2021.'”

https://youtu.be/RUMsh-3eXSc

Implicated in a scandal involving sex with a minor, Florida Man Republican Matt Gaetz tried to pull Fox News host Tucker Carlson into his web of denials and conspiracy theories. Carlson called it his weirdest interview ever.

The defamation suit brought against Donald Trump by former “The Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos may proceed now that Trump is no longer in office, a New York appeals court judge announced Tuesday, according to CNN.

Zervos filed suit against Trump after he repeated insulted her when she made a claim that Trump had sexually harassed her when she was on the program in 2007.  The judge ruled that an appeal filed by Trump was dismissed.  Zervos’s lawyer said they’ll seek to depose Trump as part of the case.

The Zervos suit is one of a number of lawsuits that had been put on hold until Trump was out of office.  Trump’s legal concerns continue to mount as two Capitol Police officers filed suit against Trump for allegedly inciting the January 6th domestic terrorist attack.

Co-host of “The Five” and the host of a weekend attempt at comedic political commentary, Greg Gutfeld will get his own weeknight show at 11 p.m. ET starting Monday, April 5th.

Gutfeld show will replace “Fox News at Night with Shannon Bream,” which will move to midnight.  This move is the latest shakeup at the network, which has lost more than 40% of its primetime audience since the November election.  Earlier, Fox News cancelled the 7 p.m. show hosted by Martha MacCallum, which has been replaced by a rotating list of hosts.

This will be the latest attempt by Fox News to air an intentional attempt at a comedy show:  In 2007, the network aired “The 1/2 Hour News Hour” which was so bad, it only lasted 17 episodes.

A Mexican legal resident of the United States who arranged to bring undocumented migrants into California, thirteen of whom were killed in a traffic accident in Holtville, California earlier this month, was arrested as he reentered the United States from Mexico on Monday, USA Today reports.

Jose Cruz Noguez, a legal permanent resident of the United States, was taken into custody at the Calexico Port of Entry by FBI agents.  He is charged with multiple counts relating to aiding foreigners to enter the country illegally.  An SUV with 25 people Noguez got across the border by cutting a wide hole in a fence was involved in a March 2nd accident with a tractor trailer about ten miles north of the border, killing 13 in the SUV.

“Cramming dozens of people into eight-passenger vehicles and driving recklessly to avoid detection shows an utter disregard for human life,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman in a statement. “We will find and prosecute smugglers who use these methods and cause such tragic and avoidable deaths.”