An obviously more-deranged-than-typical Trump supporter who has been indicted for his role in the January 6th domestic terrorist attack made a habit of posting photos of pheasants he shot on Facebook, making sure he named the slain birds after Democratic leaders, court documents show.

Prosecutors filed a motion to deny 57-year-old Michael John Lopatic, Sr. of Manheim Township in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, bail because of “obstructive and violent behavior.”  He had been charged by a federal grand jury on January 29th with assaulting an officer, violent entry and disorderly conduct at the Capitol building and related offenses; he was arrested February 3rd.  Lopatic was shown on video beating a police officer and ripping his bodycam off him.

Lopatic made a series of inflammatory Facebook posts including one in which he posted “A Call to Arms” prior to the January 6th.  He had a series of photo which showed pheasants he shot, which captions naming the dead birds.

“For those who cater to the one percent, the surprise hasn’t been the sensationalist stories of cheaters and line cutters but how difficult it has been for most people to buy their way to the front. ‘The process has been both extremely democratic and extremely bungled,’ someone who works at a high-end medical concierge service told me. ‘It’s actually one of the rare instances when the rich can’t cut the line. And they can always cut the line.'”

“Many of the well-connected people I spoke to expressed surprise over how little they had heard about vaccine loopholes or black markets. I spoke to one tech CEO who said that, while he had heard ‘rumors’ of a group of people in the Hamptons who have a doctor on call giving them the vaccine, nobody in his circles has been able to access it. ‘I know all the people in my sort of social circle out there, and I definitely haven’t heard anyone say ‘Hey, wanna get in on this thing? We’re all doing it.’’ Another person with ties high up in the tech and entertainment worlds says it hasn’t filtered into his crowd, either. ‘Honestly, I’m quite surprised that it hasn’t percolated into our sphere yet,” he says. ‘It’s such a black market that, even for the rich, it’s hard to access'” – NY Magazine.

Politico: “One of the Proud Boys arrested for participating in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol told a court Wednesday that he was duped by President Donald Trump’s ‘deception’ and ‘acted out of the delusional belief’ that he was responding patriotically to the commander in chief. Dominic Pezzola, who was indicted last month and charged with conspiracy, urged a federal court to grant his release pending trial, emphasizing that his involvement in the Proud Boys was recent and minimal and that he has no other criminal history. But the most notable part of Pezzola’s 15-page motion for leniency was his thorough repudiation of Trump.”

“‘[D]efendant acted out of the delusional belief that he was a ‘patriot’ protecting his country … He was responding to the entreaties of the-then commander in chief, President Trump,’ Pezzola’s lawyer argued in the filing. ‘The President maintained that the election had been stolen and it was the duty of loyal citizens to ‘stop the steal.’ Admittedly there was no rational basis for the claim, but it is apparent defendant was one of millions of Americans who were misled by the President’s deception.’ Pezzola is not the first charged in the Capitol insurrection to cite Trump’s calls as the motivation for marching on and breaching the Capitol. But he’s among those facing the most serious charges, along with several other members of the Proud Boys, in connection with Jan. 6.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines Wednesday urging people to “double mask” and to properly fit masks to slow the spread of the coronavirus, noting that masking has been shown to be infective in cutting down transmission.

“Cloth masks and medical procedure masks fit more loosely than do respirators (e.g., N95 facepieces). The effectiveness of cloth and medical procedure masks can be improved by ensuring that they are well fitted to the contours of the face to prevent leakage of air around the masks’ edges,” the notice states.

The announcement was based on published papers and experiments done by the CDC on the fit, effectiveness and composition of masks commonly worn by members of the public.  The CDC notes that 17 states and the District of Columbia have mandatory mask requirements, as do federal grounds.

CNN: “President Donald Trump’s legal team is scrambling to collect and produce more videos to bolster their impeachment trial arguments after a rambling debut performance that enraged the former president and dismayed Republicans, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The move to use more videotape – and lean away from in-person arguments – amounts to a tacit acknowledgment that the lawyers Trump has enlisted to defend him during his second impeachment trial are failing to inspire confidence.”

“Among the tape Trump’s team is now scrambling to assemble are clips of Democrats who also lost elections but declined to immediately concede. The former president’s legal team hopes to argue Trump was doing something similar when he cast doubt on the 2020 election results using false claims of voter fraud. The videos could also help expedite the proceedings; after Tuesday’s meandering and widely panned performance, Trump and some of his fellow Republicans are hoping more than ever to conclude the trial as quickly as possible. With few Republicans signaling a willingness to change their minds on the case, he is widely expected to be acquitted.”

The teachers union for the third-largest school district in the nation voted to return to classrooms in the coming weeks, agreeing to a deal with Chicago Public Schools that will phase in classroom education over the next few weeks, the Associated Press reports.

By a 2-to-1 margin, the Chicago Teachers Union members voted to return to classrooms, with pre-K and special education teachers starting in-person instruction Thursday, with kindergarten through eighth grade returning in coming weeks.  Parents will have the ability to decide if their children attend in-person or will continue to attend remotely.

The agreement sets metrics the union and the school system will share to identify schools with outbreaks and standards to determine if and when schools should be shut in the future.  It also provided for an increasing effort to provide vaccinations for teachers.

The House impeachment managers will broadcast never-before-seen footage of the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol from the complex’s security cameras as part of Wednesday’s presentation in the Senate impeachment trial, NBC News reports.

The recordings “will provide new insight into both the extreme violence that everyone saw, the risk and the threat that it could have led to further violence and death to many but for the brave actions of the officers and shows really the extent of what Donald Trump unleashed on our Capitol,” the aides to the impeachment managers told reporters.

“We have the goods,” they said. “Yesterday was our dry constitutional argument day. Today, the actual trial begins. We have the goods, we will be presenting the goods. We will be tying the evidence all together in a compelling case that will make it clear for everyone — Democrats, Republicans, everyone — that Donald Trump committed the most heinous constitutional crime possible.”

Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia have opened an investigators into the call Donald Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump told him to find more than 11,000 votes so that Trump could claim the state in the election, the New York Times reports.

Fani Willis, the prosecutor in Fulton County, sent letters to Raffensperger and the Secretary of State’s office instructing them to preserve any evidence and correspondence related to the call with Trump, explicitly stating that the request was due to an open criminal investigation.

During the January 2nd call, Trump explicitly asked Raffensperger to “find” just enough votes to give Trump a victory.  Trump also stated that Georgia state officials including Raffensperger, the department general counsel and the governor could face legal repercussions if they did not comply.

Newsweek: “A Twitter executive has said that Donald Trump would not be allowed to return to the platform even if he was re-elected as president. Chief financial officer (CFO) Ned Segal told CNBC’s Squawk Box on Wednesday that the former president’s permanent suspension would not be overturned. Asked about a theoretical return, he said: ‘So the way our policies work, when you are removed from the platform you are removed from the platform, whether you are a commentator, you’re a CFO or you are a former or current public official. Remember, our policies are designed to make sure that people are not inciting violence, and if anybody does that we have to remove them from the service. Our policies don’t allow people to come back.'”

“Any loyal American should make Mavericks hurt financially by boycotting them. Why support those who do not respect the fans and the country?”

– The current top comment on the Breitbart article “Dallas Mavericks Stop Playing National Anthem Before Home Games“, posted early Wednesday (by semi-regular Hill MAGA troll Azli Jamil).

Detroit News: “Mellissa Carone, one of the most well-known critics of Michigan’s 2020 election, has formed a campaign committee to run next year for the state House of Representatives. Carone, a 33-year-old Republican, is planning to run for the 46th District seat in Oakland County, which is held by Rep. John Reilly, R-Oakland Township, according to a filing with the Michigan Secretary of State’s office. Reilly can’t run for reelection because of term limits. However, the district could look different in 2022 because an independent commission will redraw legislative boundaries before the next election based on new U.S. Census Bureau data.”

“For the Nov. 3 election, Carone was a contractor for Dominion Voting Systems at the TCF Center, where Detroit’s absentee ballots were counted. Afterward, Carone levied a series of dubious claims about wrongdoing at TCF Center and was eventually parodied on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ ‘I am running on election integrity,’ Carone said in a Tuesday interview. She also criticized Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, the state’s three top Democrats. Michigan needs ‘conservative values’ back, Carone said. Her committee reported a Lake Orion address on its filing, which is dated last Wednesday. Carone, who previously lived in Wayne County, said she recently moved to Oakland County. She is currently not registered to vote in the county, Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown said Tuesday.”

The USGS issued tsunami watches for Alaska, Hawaii, the West Coast, Guam, and other US islands in the Pacific following a 7.9 magnitude earthquake near the French overseas territory of New Caledonia in the South Pacific on Wednesday. The bulletin issued for Hawaii states “If there is a tsunami threat to Hawaii… the earliest estimated time the hazard might begin is 11:13 AM HST Wed 10 Feb 2021 further statements will be issued hourly or sooner as the situation develops.”

Chinese state media reported that their probe Tianwen-1 entered Martian orbit Wednesday, a development unverifiable by third parties so the Chinese government could be making the whole thing up. Supposedly there’s a lander that will drop to the surface of the red planet sometime in May, or there’s a remote control car with an iPhone strapped to the top somewhere in the desert of Western China that will be doctored to look authentic. Maybe they’ll even pay some locals to strap on googly eyes and green facepaint to play the Martians so China has the first “authentic” claim to discovering extraterrestrial life too. These Martians will then explain, in perfect Mandarin, that they deliberately hid from past American probes because the United States is a decadent, inferior nation rife with degeneracy and sloth who are unworthy of their friendship, and the People’s Republic of China is far superior. The Martians will also affirm Chinese sovereignty over the Island of Taiwan.

CNN: “New York federal prosecutors investigating Rudy Giuliani’s activities in Ukraine raised the prospect of seeking a search warrant late last year for the lawyer’s communications but were met with resistance from Justice Department officials in Washington over the strength of their evidence, people familiar with the discussions said. Justice Department officials in Washington said a search warrant would be an extraordinary step to take against a lawyer – who is also a key adviser to a president – in an investigation into the possible violation of foreign lobbying laws.”

“The matter remains open, and any decision rests with the Biden administration. The issue got the attention of officials as high as Jeffrey Rosen, deputy attorney general, who along with other officials at Justice headquarters and the US attorney’s office in Manhattan decided not to make a final decision, in part because there would soon be a change in the administration. But the issue was sensitive enough that Rosen issued a December 30 memorandum adding new hurdles for prosecutors to consult with the Justice Department’s criminal division in Washington and with the deputy attorney general before seeking a warrant to search the offices of a lawyer.”

“Nearly 60 percent of the people facing charges related to the Capitol riot showed signs of prior money troubles, including bankruptcies, notices of eviction or foreclosure, bad debts, or unpaid taxes over the past two decades, according to a Washington Post analysis of public records for 125 defendants with sufficient information to detail their financial histories. The group’s bankruptcy rate – 18 percent – was nearly twice as high as that of the American public, The Post found. A quarter of them had been sued for money owed to a creditor. And 1 in 5 of them faced losing their home at one point, according to court filings. The financial problems are revealing because they offer potential clues for understanding why so many Trump supporters – many with professional careers and few with violent criminal histories – were willing to participate in an attack egged on by the president’s rhetoric painting him and his supporters as undeserving victims”

“While no single factor explains why someone decided to join in, experts say, Donald Trump and his brand of grievance politics tapped into something that resonated with the hundreds of people who descended on the Capitol in a historic burst of violence. ‘I think what you’re finding is more than just economic insecurity but a deep-seated feeling of precarity about their personal situation,’ said Cynthia Miller-Idriss, a political science professor who helps run the Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab at American University, reacting to The Post’s findings. ‘And that precarity – combined with a sense of betrayal or anger that someone is taking something way – mobilized a lot of people that day'” – Washington Post.

Axios: “There are at least 165 proposals under consideration in 33 states so far this year to restrict future voting access by limiting mail-in ballots, implementing new voter ID requirements and slashing registration options. As former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial begins over his role in the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection that sought to overturn President Biden’s victory – fueled by baseless allegations of voter fraud – lawmakers in states with GOP majorities are pushing new ballot obstacles based on similar baseless allegations.”

“Three states at the tip of the spear are Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Georgia – states critical to Trump’s loss in November and Democrats’ takeover of the U.S. Senate last month. According to the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, Arizona leads the pack with 19 proposals, followed by Pennsylvania with 14 and Georgia with 11.”

“Opening arguments will begin in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial after an emotional first day ended with the Senate voting to hear the case for convicting the former president of inciting the riot at the U.S. Capitol even though he is no longer in office.”

“On Wednesday, House Democrats prosecuting the case and the former president’s attorneys will lay out their opposing arguments before the senators, who are serving as jurors. The defense lost the vote seeking to halt the trial on constitutional grounds, 56-44, leaving Trump fuming over his lawyers’ performance and allies questioning the defense strategy. Some called for yet another shakeup to his legal team. House prosecutors on Tuesday wrenched senators and the nation back to the deadly attack on Congress, showing a graphic video of the Jan. 6 mob violence that stunned the the world as hundreds of rioters ransacked the building to try to stop the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory. Five people died” – AP.

Cronkite News: “As the Senate began debate Tuesday on a historic second impeachment of former President Donald Trump, a recent poll shows that more than half of Arizona Republicans believe Trump was the rightful winner of the November election. The poll, taken by OH Predictive Insights shortly before President Joe Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration, found that 60% of all Arizona voters are confident Biden won, but 20% of independents and 54% of registered Republicans believe Trump is ‘the rightful winner’ of the election.”

“‘Honestly, I was quite surprised, like eyes-fell-out-of-my-head, to see it in Arizona, where I think we have a pretty advanced election system compared to most other states,’ said Mike Noble, chief of research and a managing partner at OH Predictive Insights. But 26% of registered Arizona voters believe Trump should still be president and another 14% were not sure who won, according to the OH Predictive Insights poll. The online survey of 1,022 registered Arizona voters was taken from Jan. 11-18 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3%.”

Noted Brylcreem enthusiast and underperforming Grizzly Adams cosplayer Donald “Sniffles” Trump Jr., who’s rumored to be weighing opportunities to carpetbag in a run for office in Wyoming, Pennsylvania and/or Alabama, tells a human Lego being that he understands Americans more than any Democratic elected official.

https://youtu.be/3fLEERrl6NI

Just a reminder that his father lost the election with a lower percentage of the vote than Mitt Romney got in 2012, and 56% believe the Senate should convict his father in the trial.