“Fox News has canceled ‘Lou Dobbs Tonight,’ the program hosted by television’s staunchest supporter of Donald Trump and of his assertions of voter fraud in the 2020 election, The Times has learned. Dobbs’ program, which airs twice nightly at 5 and 7 p.m. Eastern on the Fox Business Network, will have its final airing Friday, according to a Fox News representative who confirmed the cancellation. Starting next week, the program will be called ‘Fox Business Tonight,’ with rotating substitute hosts Jackie DeAngelis and David Asman, who filled in for Dobbs on Friday” – LA Times.

The spree of thirteen executions ordered by Donald Trump in the last six months of his term turned into coronavirus superspreader events, potentially connected to the infection of more than 800 people, from prisoners to guards to media members, the Associated Press reports.

The location of the executions, the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, became a focal point for infections, with more than 700 of the 1,200 prisoners contracting the virus over the last six months.  On the date of the last execution, December 29, 2020, more than 400 inmates reported active infections.  Of the 47 people on death row, 33 are or were coronavirus positive.

In addition, no fewer than a dozen other people–including execution staff, media witnesses, and at least one spiritual advisor–have contracted the virus.  Because some prison staff are not required to report positive diagnoses, the full account is not readily available. 

The National Football League has offered the use of all 32 stadiums around the country to be used as mass vaccination centers for the distribution of the coronavirus vaccines, NPR reports.

“We can expand our efforts to stadiums across the nation more effectively because many of our clubs have offered their facilities previously as COVID testing centers as well as election sites over the past several months,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in the letter to President Joe Biden.

NFL stadiums are uniquely positioned to provide open spaces to set up multiple lanes to service patients, given that most of them have massive parking lots to hold more than 60,000 fans, at a minimum. 

Reporting from the AP is tentative, but it’s kind of exciting to imagine what kind of fucking dumbass they’re going to send to the Senate. They can definitely go lower than Tommy Tuberville.

BuzzFeed: “The Trump Organization negotiated on behalf of then-president Donald Trump to make Parler his primary social network, but it had a condition: an ownership stake in return for joining, according to documents and four people familiar with the conversations. The deal was never finalized, but legal experts said the discussions alone, which occurred while Trump was still in office, raise legal concerns with regards to anti-bribery laws.”

“Talks between members of Trump’s campaign and Parler about Trump’s potential involvement began last summer, and were revisited in November by the Trump Organization after Trump lost the 2020 election to the Democratic nominee and current president, Joe Biden. Documents seen by BuzzFeed News show that Parler offered the Trump Organization a 40% stake in the company. It is unclear as to what extent the former president was involved with the discussions. The never-before-reported talks between Trump’s business organization and Parler, a social media network that promises less moderation than mainstream sites and is embraced by the far right, provide more insight into the frantic last weeks of Trump’s presidency. Until the Jan. 6 insurrection, after which Facebook and Twitter suspended or banned him for continuing to sow discord about the election, Trump used those internet platforms to peddle baseless conspiracy theories. While doing so, his representatives actively negotiated to bring him to Parler, which sought to make the president a business partner who would help it compete with Twitter and Facebook by getting him to post his content on its platform first.”

The Food and Drug Administration has updated its guidelines for the use of convalescent plasma taken from patients who have recovered from the coronavirus as new studies suggest that the use of the treatment may have led to evolving mutations of the virus.

The new usage guidelines recommends only using convalescent plasma to hospitalized patients early in the progression of the disease and other hospitalized patients with conditions that inhibit the body’s natural ability to produce antibodies.

According to National Geographic, the use of convalescent plasma and other therapies may have been “pressured the virus to evolve” as a survival measure.  NatGeo reports that a new mutation of the virus are reported on average every eleven days, but in many cases, the variant dies off because the mutation was unhelpful to the virus’s survival.

Two Republican members of the House, Andrew Clyde of Georgia and Louie Gohmert of Texas, will be fined under House rules for failing to go through the metal detectors placed at the entries to the House chamber on Friday, CNN reports.

Under the operating rules of the House, all members must pass through the metal detectors or they will be fined.  The rules, passed Wednesday, assess a fine of $5,000 for first offenses and $10,000 for subsequent offenses.  The fines are subtracted from the member’s paychecks.

House rules ban members and staff from having weapons on the floor of the House.

The metal detectors were put in place after the January 6th insurrection attack on the Capitol, primarily because some members stated they felt unsafe around other members who had encouraged violence against their colleagues.

Colorado Newsline reports Lauren Boebert owed $18,999.36 in tax liens for unpaid unemployment insurance premiums against her restaurant Shooters Bar and Grill in Rifle, Colorado (even the friggin town has a gun-themed name, can’t make shit up) until she paid them off on October 22, 2020. And yeah, 20 days later on November 11, 2020 was when Boebert claimed over $22,000 in almost certainly fraudulent mileage reimbursements from her campaign funds.

Pretty amazing how open and shut this is – with a publicly available paper trail. Maybe Boebert knew and didn’t care, almost like someone she deeply admires inspired her to act in such a way.

ABC News: “Congressional investigators preparing for former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial are zeroing in on the actions of the president and his associates around the insurrection at the Capitol, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News. The House impeachment managers and their team of lawyers are examining materials, including videos, photos and social media posts, for possible links between individuals close to Trump and some involved in the riot at the Capitol, a source with knowledge of the House impeachment managers’ investigation told ABC News. They include a newly surfaced video first reported by ABC News showing longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone in Washington, D.C., the morning of Jan. 6. In the video, Stone is flanked by members of the Oath Keepers militia group just hours before the deadly Capitol riots – including one man who appeared to later have participated in the Capitol assault, according to online researchers.”

“‘So, hopefully we have this today, right?’ one supporter asks Stone in the video. ‘We shall see,’ Stone replies. Stone has maintained that he played ‘no role whatsoever in the Jan. 6 events’ and has repeatedly said that he ‘never left the site of my hotel until leaving for Dulles Airport’ that afternoon. Examining the actions of Trump, his aides and allies before and during the riot could help House impeachment managers make their case that the 45th president’s comments to supporters at a Jan. 6 rally outside the White House were the culmination of a weekslong effort to overturn the election results. It could also shed light on the actions of those around Trump and whether they could have been more familiar with the riot – and some of those who participated in it – than initially disclosed.”

Time Magazine ran a piece Thursday detailing the efforts of left-leaning organizations and private enterprise to tamp down whatever chaos Trump would try to sow in the aftermath of election day, and naturally the MAGA jerkoffs see this as evidence of a “Deep State” conspiracy – which in reality was meant first and foremost to ensure clarity of the result, win or lose for Trump.

.@Time comes right out and admits it. https://t.co/mxXNf8l8HU pic.twitter.com/Quu5u0wEaw

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) February 5, 2021

Breitbart is apoplectic about the piece, liberally putting in quotation marks around sentences like “nameless, secret project”, “disinformation”, “shadow”, and “national mobilization network” as if Trump didn’t repeatedly, in bold letters, telegraph to the American people that he was going to declare victory prematurely pretty much no matter what. Which he did.

An intruder who gained access to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland made his way onto a C-40 aircraft that is sometimes used to transport the President, the Air Force Times reports.

The intruder spent an unknown amount of time on the jet, which is painted in the familiar blue and white color scheme of the larger presidential Boeing 747.  The plane, designated Air Force One when the President is on it, is a smaller jet used by the President to fly to smaller airports.

“The security of our installation is paramount,” said Col. Roy Oberhaus, the vice wing commander of the 316th Wing at Joint Base Andrews, said in a statement. “This was a serious breach of security and Joint Base Andrews is investigating the incident to determine how this happened so it doesn’t happen again.”

The man was given a federal summons for trespassing by the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations and then turned over to Prince George’s County (Maryland) Police.

The House of Representatives passed a key procedural process in a party-line vote that will allow the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill crafted by the Biden Administration to get Congressional approval by March, USA Today reports.

The 219-209 vote starts the reconciliation process in the House, instructing committees to draft coronavirus relief legislation to meet the goals of the Biden Administration regarding vaccination distribution, stimulus checks, unemployment supplements and small business assistance.

A preliminary version of the legislation passed the House earlier this week, and this process matches the House measure to the proposal passed in the Senate at 5:30 a.m. ET Thursday.  This process allows the Democratically-controlled Senate to pass the relief package with just 50 Senators voting.

OpenVallejo: “Daniel ‘Cully’ Pratt of the Solano County Sheriff’s Office has a side business making decorative wood carvings. Some feature characters from movies starring his brother Chris Pratt, like ‘Jurassic World’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’ Others are more political, like the rifle display he made for Sgt. Roy Stockton, a Sheriff’s Office colleague and recently-elected member of the Vacaville City Council.”

“The piece resembles a California flag, but instead of a bear, it features hooks for Stockton’s AR-15 rifle above the words, ‘WILL NOT COMPLY.’ Thirteen shotgun shells, arranged like the stars of the Betsy Ross flag, form a circle around the Roman numeral III. Cully Pratt grins from behind his creation in a 2018 Instagram post, which he labeled with the hashtag, ‘#3percenter.'”

AP: “The International Criminal Court said Friday that its jurisdiction extends to territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, appearing to clear the way for its chief prosecutor to open a war crimes probe into Israeli military actions. The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said in 2019 that there was a ‘reasonable basis’ to open a war crimes probe into Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip as well as Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank. But she asked the court determine whether she has territorial jurisdiction before proceeding with the case.”

“The Palestinians, who joined the court in 2015, have pushed for the case. Israel, which is not a member of the ICC, has said the court has no jurisdiction because the Palestinians do not have statehood and because the borders of any future state are to be decided in peace talks. The Palestinians have asked the court to look into Israeli actions during its 2014 war against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, as well as Israel’s construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem. The international community widely considers the settlements to be illegal under international law but has done little to pressure Israel to freeze or reverse their growth. The international tribunal is meant to serve as a court of last resort when countries’ own judicial systems are insufficient to investigate and prosecute war crimes.”

Racine Journal Times: “Kyle Rittenhouse has parted ways with outspoken attorney John Pierce. The Twitter account FreeKyleUSA, which appears to speak for the Rittenhouse family, announced Thursday that Pierce was fired. ‘John Pierce was terminated by Kyle on Monday morning. His association with FreeKyleUSA was also terminated. When we begin raising funds again, John Pierce has no involvement and is not connected in any way to the funds being raised. John does not speak for Kyle anymore.'”

“The account stated that Rittenhouse retained another California-based attorney, Robert Barnes. Barnes confirmed that on Twitter Thursday evening. ‘Happy to join the #KyleRittenhouse team. Kid’s innocent, and everybody knows it,’ Barnes tweeted. Pierce also addressed the change on Twitter. ‘John Pierce freed Kyle. John Pierce fought with every fiber of his being for Kyle. John Pierce wants nothing but for Kyle to be acquitted and live a healthy, happy life. John Pierce is ferociously loyal to all of his clients, including all former clients. Mission accomplished.’ The change comes as prosecutors are asking that another $200,000 be added to Rittenhouse’s $2 million bond, saying Rittenhouse failed to abide by bond conditions that require he notify the court within 48 hours if he moved. Rittenhouse has been staying in what Pierce called a ‘safe house’ because of threats.”

“We will suspend contributions for the duration of the 2022 election cycle to all members of Congress who voted to object to the certification of electors. We will also suspend contributions for the same period for state officials and organizations who supported such objections or suggested the election should be overturned” – Microsoft corporate blog post.

Canadian stage and screen actor Christopher Plummer died Friday at the age of 91. He’s perhaps best known for his hardcore Antifa role in “The Sound of Music”.

Those wacky 21st century Millerites in QAnon have come up with a new date for their prophecy of their God, former President Trump ushering in a new golden age of whatever the hell it’s supposed to be. March 4th was Inauguration Day until 1937 following the ratification of the 20th Amendment in 1933, and for whatever reason that’s when they think Trump makes his big comeback.

Maybe this is just a coincidence, but the Trump International Hotel DC shows a curious spike in room rates on March 3rd and 4th, nearly tripling the lowest nightly accommodation price.
Now, if for just a moment, you don’t believe this price increase is a coincidence – and unless there’s some actually important event going on in the area that we may not be aware of at this point, it is definitely not a coincidence – you have to marvel at the cynicism here, because not only is the Trump Organization capitalizing on the fanatic loyalty of its namesake’s fanbase, they’re actually dishonestly creating a feedback loop in the unmanaged expectations of said fanbase. “SEE?!? ROOM RATES AT THE TRUMP HOTEL IN DC ARE TRIPLING! THAT MEANS SOMETHING’S GOING DOWN!!! THE TRUE PRESIDENT IS RETURNING TO POWER!!!” Best part is that these rooms are priced perfectly for Biden’s $1,400 stimulus checks so the QAnon faithful lucky enough to score a room don’t need to put it on their Visa card.

Former deejay Mike Pence will re-embrace his roots as a conservative talk show host as he starts a podcast after a 22-year hiatus in politics, Politico reports.

Pence gained political prominence in his home state of Indiana by starting a podcast sponsored by the Young America’s Foundation, a student-centered conservative group started in the 1960s.  Pence is also joining the conservative Heritage Foundation as a visiting fellow.

The content of the podcast has not yet been announced, but it is unlikely that Pence will use his natural talents to produce a show in the sleep therapy or AMSR genre.

Forbes: “Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, which never received a cent from the former president, moved an estimated $2.8 million of donor money into the Trump Organization – including at least $81,000 since Trump lost the election. In addition, one of the campaign’s joint-fundraising committees, which collects money in partnership with the Republican Party, shifted about $4.3 million of donor money into Trump’s business from January 20, 2017 to December 31, 2020 – at least $331,000 of which came after the election.”

“The money covered the cost of rent, airfare, lodging and other expenses. All the payments are laid out in filings the campaign submitted to the Federal Election Commission. Representatives for the Trump Organization, the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Two days after the election, on November 5, the joint-fundraising committee paid $11,000 to Trump’s hotel empire. A week later – after the Associated Press, Fox News and other major media outlets had already called the race for Joe Biden – the same committee put another $294,000 into Trump’s hotel business to rent space, order catering and pay for lodging. The campaign pitched in additional change – $110 that had been earmarked for recount efforts on Nov. 16, another $220 the following day and $189 more the day after that. On November 19, the campaign paid $31,000 for air travel to a company named DT Endeavor LLC. Five days later, the joint-fundraising committee paid the same entity $39,000. Forbes did not include those payments in its overall total of money moving into Trump’s empire, since it’s not 100% clear that the former president owns DT Endeavor LLC. There are strong indications that he does, though. The federal filings list the address for the DT Endeavor LLC as Trump Tower in one spot and Mar-a-Lago in another. Trump also owns an aviation company with an almost identical name, DT Endeavor I LLC.”