STARING AT THE END OF CRAZY WEEK THREE

While John Thune took the intelligent position - from the view of a senior Senate leader - regarding any votes to go after voter participation, the day that followed his announcment he favored keeping the4 authority to run elections with the state ran into the obdurate resistance of House crazies like Anna Paulina Lunatic and Tim Burchett recalling his earlier promise that the Senate would take action to see the SAVE Act passed. By Tuesday afternoon, he had changed his tune from the morning, announcing plans to bring the SAVE Act to a vote, where it will face a Democratic filibuster that will not see eight Democrats willing to cross their party’s grassroots and bring the bill up to a vote. Thune’s solution is employing a seldom-used interpretation of the Senate Rules to require Democrats to actively hold the Sente floor with continuous debate - a so-called standing filibuster - to increase the chances of Congress passing nationwide voting “reform” (read: restriction).

This was set in motion when Trump turned the two House crazies from “No” to “Yes” on the government funding bills in a situation where MAGA Mike can only lose one vote and hold the House majority, assuring them that Senate Republicans would strongly consider forcing Democrats to actively hold the Senate floor for hours on end if they attempt to block the SAVE Act. Thune really doesn’t want to risk losing the filibuster when Democrats take power; doing this would give them every reason to do so and kill the congressional GOP in the process. He told reporters Senate Republicans will have “conversations” about requiring Democrats to stage a standing filibuster, but emphasized he hasn’t committed to deploying this tactic, which could tie up the Senate floor for weeks and set an important precedent that would work against the surviving Senate Republicans in the next congress. He said, “We got some members, as you know, who’ve expressed an interested in that so we’re going to have a conversation about it but there weren’t any commitments made, no. There are a lot of implication and ramifications to that, that I think our conference would need to have a conversation about. Obviously, it ties up the floor indefinitely so it means you’re not doing other things. There’s always an opportunity costs.”

This morning, the Supreme Court cleared the way for California to use a new, voter approved congressional map that favors Democrats in this year’s elections, turning aside a last minute challenge from state Republicans and Maladministration II. The California map was adopted through a statewide ballot measure, rather than legislation. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom had pledged to respond after Texas Republicans redrew their districts at Trump’s urging last year in an effort to gain five additional seats. The justices issued a brief, unsigned order with no noted dissents. The decision allows California to move forward with districts that could flip as many as five Republican held seats, a potentially significant shift with control of Congress at stake in the midterm elections. In a December statement tied to that case, conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote that both Texas and California appeared to have redrawn their maps for political advantage, a motive the court has said does not, by itself, violate federal law.

In a December statement tied to that case, conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote that both Texas and California appeared to have redrawn their maps for political advantage — a motive the court has said does not, by itself, violate federal law.

Trump bailed on attending the Super Bowl at least partly due to warnings the spectators would “aggressively boo him,” according to a new report. Last week, he said the big game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, was “just too far away.” He also claimed he cannot support the halftime show, featuring Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican rap artist who has condemned ICE, and Green Day, known for their burning hatred for Trump and for Republicans in general. Trump said, “I’m anti-them. I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible. The risk he could be targeted with booing, however, is not without precedent; it has been known to happen when he visits major sporting events, like he did when he attended the FIFA Club World Cup final and the US Open last year. Aides were reportedly concerned that if the president was booed, it could produce unwelcome viral social media clips and media coverage. Tthe White House insisted that Trump would have been well-received if he attended Sunday’s game, with one spokesperson insisting, “If he did attend the Super Bowl, he would receive a warm welcome because America knows he has done more to help this country than any other president in history.”

Trump intends to erect a statue of Christopher Columbus on White House grounds. He plans to install a reconstructed statue of the controversial explorer/enslaver/pillager that was pulled down in summer 2020 and dumped into Baltimore’s harbor after a group of Italian American businessmen and politicians obtained the remnants and had it rebuilt. White House spokesman Davis Ingle said, “In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero. And he will continue to be honored as such by President Trump.” Of course he would be, being responsible for the genocide of the native peoples everywhere he went as he relentlessly pushed to find gold and other treasure whille pillaging the native communities. And like Trump he claimed to have done things he didn’t do, like “discover America.”

Former White House strategis easily mistaken for a homeless person Steve Bannon suggested Tuesday that he wants to see ICE officers “surround the polls” during November’s midterm elections. “You’re damn right we’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November,” Bannon said on his “War Room” podcast. “We’re not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again. And you can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen.” (“by anyone but us”)

President Donald Trump has promoted dozens of different lies about American elections. Some of them are relatively sophisticated. Some are transparently silly.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is now promoting one of the very most laughable Republican election lies, telling reporters on Tuesday: “We had three House Republican candidates who were ahead on Election Day in the last election cycle, and every time a new tranche of ballots came in, they just magically whittled away until their leads were lost. And no series of ballots that were counted after Election Day were our candidates ahead on any of those counts. It just - it looks on its face to be fraudulent. Can I prove that? No, because it happened so far upstream.” This is a lot of nonsense. A Democrat taking the lead in a vote count is not a sign of fraud.There is nothing magical and nothing fraudulent “on its face” about a Republican having an early lead in a California vote count and then losing that lead as more votes are counted, just as there is nothing magical or fraudulent on its face about a Democrat having an early lead in a vote count in another state and then losing that lead as more votes are counted.

The release of “Melania” appears to have given a boost to Michelle Obama’s 2020 documentary “Becoming,”which saw a huge surge in viewers the same weekend that Melania Trump’s film hit theaters. Viewership in the U.S. for the 2020 Netflix documentary focused on Obama spiked by a whopping 13,300 percent last weekend compared to the previous one, according to the entertainment data company Luminate. On Jan. 25, “Becoming” had roughly 2,450 total views, while a week later, just days after “Melania” was released, the Obama documentary swelled to 330,270 views.

A Quinnipiac Poll released today showed the 58% of respondents said they support the removal of Kriti Noem as DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. This comes as Democrats in Congress have called for Noem’s ouster after federal immigration agents shot and killed two people in Minneapolis last month. 58% support replacing Noem, while 34% keeping Noem in her role.

Yesterday, Renee Good’s brother, Luke Ganger told lawmakers his family initially took “consolation” that their sister’s killing “would bring change in our country - and it has not.” Less than 24 hours after the brothers testified before Congress - in a hearing no Republican would attend and defend ICE - Trump’s “Border Czar” Tom Homan called a press conference in Minneapolis to announce the withdrawal of 700 ICE terrorists. This leaves around 2,300 thugs still in Minnesota, but Homan expressed the hope he could draw down the force to what is “normal” - i.e., around 150 - though he made no promises of when that would happen. That drawdown was made condition on two points: Local cooperation, particularly letting ICE take custody from jails, which reduces street-level encounters. An end to “interference” - i.e., protests, roadblocks, and disruptions around operations by the public. That’s the blueprint: shift the friction point away from street confrontations (where video spreads and legitimacy collapses fast) and toward custody transfers inside facilities (where the human consequences are no less real, but the optics are less combustible). The families and other victims of ICE’s crimes are trying to build a record; Maladministration II is trying to manage a narrative. Homan and DHS are now talking up body cameras; immediately in Minneapolis, and “nationwide as funding becomes available.” Noem said, “We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country.” On its face, that’s reform. But it’s nothing more than adopting something done by every other law enforcement agency in the country; this is a shift- one that is politically forced, by the second point they want changed: our actions.

Chad Michael Watts, 45, was arrested Tuesday and charged with two counts of assault causing bodily injury after he allegedly brawled with students during a student-led anti-ICE protest in Buda, Texas. Video of the physical confrontatio, as Johnson High School students were protesting recent immigration enforcement actions shows Watts right after getting out of his truck, appearing to push past students and singling out a teenage girl. The two can be seen exchanging punches before the student is pushed to the ground. The Buda PD said: “After further thorough investigation, it was determined that Watts was the primary aggressor in the physical altercation. Probable cause was established for two offenses of Assault Causing Bodily Injury, a Class A misdemeanor.”

Last week, Trump announced he had negotiated a weeklong ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, highlighting his personal relationship with Putin, saying he had persuaded his Russian controllert to halt attacks on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure during a brutal cold snap.

The problem for Trump is that there has been no meaningful pause in the fighting from the Russian side. At the end of the “ceasefire,” Russia lunched the largest drone attack on Ukrainian cities of the war - on the coldest night of the current winter. Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s Au.s. mbassador formally submitted detailed evidence of post-truce bombardment to the State Department. Moscow’s missiles have hit not only Ukrainian targets, but Trump’s proud claims of a humanitarian pause in the fighting. This is how Putin “cooperates” with his alleged “friend”.

You are not the crazy ones. These are truly the times that try men’s and women’s souls. This is the fight of our lifetimes, and the challenge of our generation. I realize times are getting harder, which is why some readers understandably didn’t renew their subscriptions. There are several free subscribers who read TAFM daily according to the site stats. If you folks happen to be in a position to help make up the gap, please consider joining the other paid subscribers here at That’s Another Fine Mess to keep things going. Across Substack, authors like me are losing to the Big Names who come here to say the same things they said in corporate media. We need your help! It’s only 21 cents a day. I am deeply thankful to those who have done so.

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