Bloomberg: “Two U.S. Capitol Police veterans who were on duty during the Jan. 6 riot sued Donald Trump accusing the former president of inciting the violent mob that injured scores of officers. The complaint filed Tuesday follows earlier suits by two House Democrats who also blamed Trump for stoking the insurrection in a months-long effort to reverse his election loss to Joe Biden.”

“Officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby claim protesters attacked them with aerosol chemicals, including pepper spray and tear gas, that burned their eyes, throat and skin. The officers not only suffered physical injuries but Blassingame is also dealing with depression since the riot, according to the complaint filed in federal court in Washington. Blassingame ‘is haunted by the memory of being attacked, and of the sensory impacts – the sights, sounds, smells and even tastes of the attack remain close to the surface,’ according to the complaint. ‘He experiences guilt of being unable to help his colleagues who were simultaneously being attacked; and of surviving where other colleagues did not.’ The officers seek unspecified monetary damages for claims including aiding assault and battery and directing infliction of emotional distress.”

President Biden still hasn’t visited the southern border.

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) March 31, 2021

Reuters: “Under attack from all sides, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro did what might have been expected of a former army captain – he went on the offensive. Thousands of Brazilians are dying daily of COVID-19, the economy is struggling and the president’s political arch-rival now threatens his 2022 re-election bid. So Bolsonaro shuffled the deck, putting loyalists in key ministerial positions and smoothing relations with capricious allies in Congress. By making six changes to his Cabinet, the largest shake-up of his presidency so far, Bolsonaro regained the initiative. The reshuffle began with allies’ demands to tone down the far-right rhetoric, including the ouster of anti-China firebrand Ernesto Araujo as top diplomat. But Bolsonaro’s main objective, according to political analysts, was gaining greater control over the armed forces and the federal police.”

“Unexpected shake-ups at the Defense Ministry and the Justice Ministry, which oversees the police, put staunch Bolsonaro supporters in charge. A Cabinet position handling legislative priorities went to a member of the powerful congressional coalition known as the ‘centrão,’ whose support is vital to keeping impeachment at bay. ‘Bolsonaro started yesterday morning on the ropes, taking hits from all sides,’ said Paulo Kramer, a political scientist in Brasilia. ‘But as the day passed, he turned it around.’ Signs of easier relations between Congress and the president helped Brazilian stocks, which hit a one-month high on Tuesday. For Kramer, Bolsonaro’s moves were at their core focused on short-term survival, although next year’s election and the prospect of facing leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is never far from the leader’s mind. ‘He knows the next two months are going to be really tough until the curve flattens,’ Kramer said, referring to the explosion of cases that has made Brazil the current epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.”

Appearing on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program, Matt Gaetz claims a former Department of Justice lawyer named David McGee is attempting to extort $25 million from him and his family, claiming that a text message sent to his father on March 16th demanded money to make it all go away.

Gaetz went on to claim that his dad wore a recording device to a meeting at the law firm, Beggs & Lane, for which McGee works for, held at the law firm’s offices.  The recording, Gaetz claimed, would exonerate him of all charges.

Gaetz said his father was going to wire $4.5 million to an account to be specified by McGee Wednesday, as a downpayment for help in making the case go away.

Asked specifically by Carlson if McGee was trying to extort money from the Gaetz family, Gaetz made a carefully worded statement:  “I know there was a demand for money in exchange for a commitment that he could make this investigation go away along with his co-conspirators.  They even claimed to have specific connections inside the Biden White House.  Now, I don’t know if that’s true.  They were promising  Joe Biden would pardon me.  I don’t need a pardon.  I’m not seeking a pardon.  I have not done anything improper or wrong.”

Washington Post: “Republicans are opening a new front in the pandemic culture wars, attacking efforts by the Biden administration to develop guidelines for covid-19 vaccination passports that businesses can use to determine who can safely participate in activities such as flights, concerts and indoor dining. The issue has received an increasing amount of attention from some of the party’s most extreme members and conservative media figures, but it has also been seized on by Republican leaders like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate. ‘We are not supporting doing any vaccine passports in the state of Florida,’ DeSantis said Monday. ‘It’s completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply be able to participate in normal society.’ Other Republicans have used more inflammatory rhetoric with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) calling the passport idea ‘Biden’s Mark of the Beast’ and some conservative activists comparing it to Nazi policies to track and exterminate Jews.”

“The hyper-charged rhetoric is directed at a nascent initiative between the Biden administration and private companies to develop a standard way for Americans to show they have received a coronavirus vaccine. The idea behind the passports or certificates is that it would be a way to ensure people could return to normal activities without risking further spread of a virus that has killed more than 550,000 Americans. Unlike some of the recent attacks from conservatives focused on cultural or economic issues that centered on children’s books and ‘Satan Shoes,’ this one focuses directly on the Biden administration and taps into a long-standing warning from the right: That a powerful federal government will try to control the population. The attacks also focus on an area that’s been a strength for Biden: His handling of the pandemic. Under Biden’s watch the vaccine distribution has significantly ramped up in the country and, according to federal survey data, reports of vaccine hesitancy are decreasing. Covid deaths have also plummeted from January highs, in part because larger portions of older Americans have been inoculated.”

G. Gordon Liddy, a central figure in the Watergate scandal and a 1970s version of Roger Stone, died Tuesday at his daughter’s home in Virginia. He was 90.

According to the Washington Post, Liddy was an operative and one-time FBI agent for the Nixon campaign and one of the people who plotted the 1972 break-in of the Democratic Party headquarters, located at the Watergate Hotel, which led to every subsequent scandal being dubbed with a “-gate” suffix. After a prison term, Liddy became at various times a radio talk-show host, best-selling author, candidate for Congress, actor and promoter of gold investments.  He infamously called ATF agents “jack-booted thugs” and urged people to aim their guns at their heads to miss bullet-proof vests if they were being arrested by them.

Over the past several weeks my family and I have been victims of an organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name.

We have been cooperating with federal authorities in this matter…

— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) March 30, 2021

Thread continued: “and my father has even been wearing a wire at the FBI’s direction to catch these criminals. The planted leak to the FBI tonight was intended to thwart that investigation. No part of the allegations against me are true, and the people pushing these lies are targets of the ongoing extortion investigation. I demand the DOJ immediately release the tapes, made at their direction, which implicate their former colleague in crimes against me based on false allegations.”

“Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida and a close ally of former President Donald J. Trump, is being investigated by the Justice Department over whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him, according to three people briefed on the matter. Investigators are examining whether Mr. Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, the people said. A variety of federal statutes make it illegal to induce someone under 18 to travel over state lines to engage in sex in exchange for money or something of value. The Justice Department regularly prosecutes such cases, and offenders often receive severe sentences. It was not clear how Mr. Gaetz met the girl, believed to be 17 at the time of encounters about two years ago that investigators are scrutinizing, according to two of the people” – New York Times.

“Drew McKissick has done an outstanding job as South Carolina GOP Chairman, electing more Republicans in 2020 than in over 140 years. Drew fought all the way to the Supreme Court to defend our voting laws – and WON. He will continue to grow the party and help Conservatives get elected in the Great State of South Carolina. Drew has my Complete and Total Endorsement for re-election!” – Statement from Trump via ABC News reporter Will Steakin

This endorsement comes less than 24 hours after MAGA lawyer Lin Wood announced his intent to challenge McKissick for the South Carolina GOP chairmanship, and after a post-election period in which Wood’s insane posts got him permanently banned from Twitter and that smirky little MAGA hat-wearing shit Nick Sandmann fired him. Kyle Rittenhouse probably still retains him however.

“The Bidens’ dog Major has been involved in another biting incident that required medical attention, two people with knowledge of the incident tell CNN. The incident, which involved a National Park Service employee, took place on the White House South Lawn on Monday afternoon. The employee was working at the time and needed to stop in order to receive treatment from the White House medical unit. Asked about this latest episode, first lady Jill Biden’s press secretary Michael LaRosa told CNN: ‘Yes, Major nipped someone on a walk. Out of an abundance of caution, the individual was seen by WHMU and then returned to work.’ The National Park Service did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.”

“Major, a 3-year-old German shepherd adopted by the Bidens in 2018, received training within the last two weeks, according to the White House, following a separate biting incident earlier this month. At approximately 5 p.m. Monday evening, Major was spotted on a walk on the South Lawn with a member of White House staff. Reuters’ White House correspondent Jeff Mason tweeted a short video of the walk. Major is leashed in the video, something that has not always been the case during other walks by the Biden dogs around the White House when they are with the President and the first lady or White House grounds superintendent Dale Haney. On March 8, Major caused an injury to a Secret Service employee at the White House, doing enough damage that the person needed treatment from the White House medical team. At the time, White House press secretary Jen Psaki referred to the injury as ‘minor,’ and chalked up Major’s behavior to ‘getting acclimated and accustomed to their surroundings and new people.’ Psaki said Major was ‘surprised by an unfamiliar person'” – CNN.

Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine: “After Georgia Republicans experienced the shocking setback of losing the state’s presidential election, the party descended into bitter internal recriminations. President Trump blamed Republican officials for allowing massive voter fraud to steal the state; many state Republicans blamed Trump’s rhetoric for losing a winnable race. But both Republican factions heartily agree on the proper corrective steps: a sweeping bill curtailing voting rights and handing new powers to Republican legislators to prevent the unfortunate events of 2020–21 from happening again. After the Gov. Brian Kemp, a target of Trump’s rage, signed the measure, the former president offered his hearty congratulations. ‘They learned from the travesty of the 2020 Presidential Election, which can never be allowed to happen again,’ the former President wrote in an official statement. ‘Too bad these changes could not have been done sooner!'”

“If you want to understand why this is happening, a timely new paper by University of Washington political scientist Jacob Grumbach helps explain. Grumbach surveys the performance of every state government across a broad array of measures of democratic health, such as indices of voting access like wait times and same-day and automatic voter-registration policies, felon disenfranchisement, gerrymandering, and civil rights. His paper finds that the states that backslid on democratization over the past 16 years were shared a single characteristic: Republicans gained full control of their state government. In other words, states that are rolling back democratic protections are not responding to demographic change nor to any change internal to their state. They are following the agenda of the national Republican Party. That agenda is spreading throughout the states, which are imposing voter restrictions almost everywhere their party has the power to do so. Restricting the franchise has become perhaps the party’s core policy objective.”

https://youtu.be/MgNJu52RU9g

My favorite part of this clip is when a Fox News host says, “We don’t do name-calling here.”  Has she never watched Fox News?  It’s pretty much all they do there.

Christopher Hahn, host of the “Aggressive Progressive” podcast, took it to fellow Fox News guest Mercedes Schlapp while calling out continued conservative whining about steps to curb coronavirus infections.  Hahn called Schlapp and Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson “conspiracy theorists” and “grifters,” which caused Schlapp to explode in unrighteous indignation.

McClatchy: “Mitch McConnell can see the future – and knows it’s likely to place Republicans in a pickle. He sees a rapidly recovering economy, an increasingly vaccinated population and general optimism budding across the country like bluegrass at the start of springtime. And he’s realized the GOP needs an explanation for the shower of good news coming in the opening months of a new Democratic administration. McConnell’s response, sprinkled in a drumbeat of speeches and media appearances during the month of March, is that the past is prologue. President Joe Biden and Democrats shouldn’t get the credit for all of this, he says, when it was the Republican-led work during former President Donald Trump’s final year in office that set the stage for this moment to begin to emerge from the pandemic.”

“‘Because of last year’s bipartisan work, our economy was already poised for an historic comeback,’ McConnell said on the Senate floor last week before the chamber adjourned for a two-week recess. ‘So I’ll be joining Kentuckians to celebrate what’s gone well, thanks to our bipartisan work last year.’ It’s a message he’s been carrying ever since Democrats were on the cusp of passing their $1.9 trillion Covid rescue plan earlier this month with zero Republican votes – and a message that he’s been plugging with more urgency now that Americans are receiving their stimulus checks and Biden is receiving the preponderance of the credit. ‘What I’m saying is the economy is about to come roaring back. What the administration is trying to do here, Judy, is to get in front of the parade so they can take credit for what’s already happening based upon what we have already done,’ McConnell said on PBS’ Newshour after Biden signed the bill into law.”

“A few days later, he added, ‘This brighter horizon is not a product of a partisan bill that was signed last week, or an administration that was sworn in less than two months ago.’ And before that, McConnell proclaimed, ‘The Biden Administration inherited a tide that was already turning.’ McConnell’s problem is that while the economic argument is at best debatable, the politics are pointed emphatically against him right now. ‘It’s hard for them to argue they should take credit for this,’ said Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody’s Analytics.”

“Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) told Breitbart News on Monday that he and other Republican senators were ‘taunted’ by Mexican cartel members during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley Sector in Texas. ‘We went right there at midnight [on Friday] to the Rio Grande River, and we were really taunted by Mexican cartel members,’ Daines shared. ‘They didn’t know it was Republican senators who were staying there – literally on the water’s edge in the brush – but they knew it was probably Border Patrol. They could hear the English voices.'”

“Daines continued, ‘We had Border Patrol who could translate what the cartel members were saying. It was vile. It was threatening. It was obscene, because they know they can have their way. They’re not afraid. They know they can make thousands of dollars per person that’s crossing right now. That’s what’s going on, right now… Our Border Patrol guys were saying that they were telling us to stick certain – it related to anatomy and other things. Let me just say that. It was absolutely vile, and it was horrible, and, ‘You can’t stop us,’ and so forth. They had these great big flashlights they shot back at us. This is what’s at stake. It’s lawlessness. They don’t care'” – Breitbart.

Fox News: “A new organization is launching to ’empower’ parents in the fight against ‘woke indoctrination’ in K-12 education – adding to the growing backlash to the rise of critical race theory and other controversial ideas spreading through U.S. schools. Launched on Tuesday, the nonprofit membership association, dubbed Parents Defending Education (PDE), wants to hold officials accountable for politicizing classrooms. ‘PDE empowers parents by educating them on their children’s rights in the classrooms, how to document abuses and extremism, and how they can begin exercising influence and oversight with their school,’ a press release reads.”

“It adds that ‘PDE trains parents how to put schools and officials on the spot, gain media attention, get involved with school boards and other oversight bodies, and make sure the school knows there will be consequences for indoctrination and radicalism in the classroom.’ Launched on Tuesday, the organization is led by founder Nicole Neilly, who also serves as the president of Speech First, and journalist Asra Nomani, who previously wrote for The Wall Street Journal.”

“Darnella Frazier, the teenager who videotaped former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, said at Chauvin’s murder trial Tuesday that she stays up at night ‘apologizing and apologizing to Floyd for not doing more.’ Her cellphone footage went viral online, resulting in nationwide outrage and protests. Prosecutors are now seeking Chauvin’s conviction on murder and manslaughter charges. Frazier appeared to take deep breaths and cry as she was questioned. She said she heard Floyd crying out when she arrived at the scene.”

“She said the 12 to 14 bystanders were not threatening as the defense painted, and that officers ‘put their hand on their mace’ when people tried to help Floyd. ‘When I look at George Floyd I look at my dad. I look at my brothers. I look at my cousins, my uncles. Because they are all Black. I have a Black father. I have a Black brother. I have Black friends. And I look at that and I look at how that could have been one of them.’ ‘It’s been nights I’ve stayed up apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more and not physically interacting and not saving his life,’ she said, her voice shaking. ‘But it’s like – it’s not what I should have done. It’s what he should have done,’ she added, referring to Chauvin” – Axios.

Houston Chronicle: “While President Joe Biden moves to expand the use of renewable energy nationwide, the Texas Legislature is doing the opposite, adding fees on solar and wind electricity production in the state in hopes of boosting fossil fuels. Among the reforms of the state’s electric grid following last month’s deadly winter storms, Republicans in the Texas Senate have included new fees aimed at solar and wind companies that Democrats warn would damage the state’s standing as a national leader on renewable energy production, particularly wind power. State Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, said while wind and solar have expanded in Texas, those are ‘unreliable’ sources of energy because they cannot be called up at a moment’s notice during an emergency like the freeze in February. To correct that, Schwertner said his bill will give the state’s grid monitor authority to create fees for solar and wind. As it stands now, he said billions of dollars in federal subsidies to wind and solar companies have ’tilted’ the market too much to benefit those sources of energy, and he aims to re-balance it. Yet fossil fuels also receive government subsidies of roughly $20 billion a year, according to some estimates.”

“Democrats in the Senate say raising fees on green energy would be a step in the wrong direction for a state that has done well in developing wind and solar. Over the last decade, renewable energy has surged past coal and nuclear power to become the state’s second-leading source of electrical power, after natural gas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. ‘This section could actually be detrimental to renewables,’ said State Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio. The fees are included in a bill that is the most wide-ranging response yet to pass the Texas Senate dealing with the power outages from the winter storms.”

“President Joe Biden’s plans to spend billions of dollars on the United States’ crumbling roads and mass transit include a novel twist – making companies and wealthy households, rather than drivers and riders, pay the cost. Biden will unveil more details about the first stage of his infrastructure plan, which could be worth as much as $4 trillion, in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Business groups and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been pushing Biden to raise U.S. fuel taxes, some of the lowest in the world, for the first time since 1993. They also want a new mileage tax that would sweep in electronic vehicles to plug holes in the national highway fund.”

“But the White House has rejected those ideas, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN on Monday . A gas tax is politically risky and would weigh more heavily on lower-income Americans, who often travel longer distances for work. Instead, Biden is expected to propose the biggest federal tax increase in decades, according to two sources familiar with the plan. It includes raising corporate income taxes back to the 28% rate in effect before the 2017 tax law, and increasing the marginal tax rate on high-earners, according to two sources familiar with the plan. White House aides say that Biden may also rely on some federal borrowing to fund the package, given historically low interest rates. Whatever the plan, it is likely to inspire heated debate among Republicans, Democrats, economists and academics about the right way to plug the holes in the U.S. economy opened by the vast spread of COVID-19. ‘The president has a plan to fix the infrastructure of our country… and he has a plan to pay for it,’ White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday. If members of Congress don’t like it, ‘we’re happy to look at their proposals,’ Psaki added” – Reuters.

Axios: “Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has privately told confidants he’s seriously considering not seeking re-election and possibly leaving Congress early for a job at Newsmax, three sources with direct knowledge of the talks tell Axios. Gaetz is a provocative figure on the right who’s attracted attention by being a fierce defender of former President Trump. The Republican also represents a politically potent district on the Florida panhandle.”

“Gaetz has told some of his allies he’s interested in becoming a media personality, and floated taking a role at Newsmax. One of the sources said Gaetz has had early conversations with the network about what a position could look like. Many Republicans turned to the network after Fox News called Arizona early for President Biden. Some critics now say Fox is not conservative enough for their tastes, providing an opening for Newsmax and the One America News Network (OANN). Gaetz has previously toyed with the idea of running for higher office.”