THE MIDDLE OF CRAZY WEEK FOUR

There are 265 days to the mid-terms. Republicans continue to lose their attempts to destroy the

Republic. There have been several good smacks across Dilbert’s nose and kicks to his fat ass.

Even the Rasmussen Poll - the most pro-Trump of the bunch - says 48% of Americans now see Biden as better than Trump, who scored 40%. I hope all thos perfeshunil Dimmycraps who said “We have to get rid of Joe” take notice. Also, in reviseed BLS numbers released today, only 181,000 new jobs generated in 2025, compared to 1.46 million in 2024.

Fighting fire with fire: J.P. Cooney, a former top deputy prosecutor on Jack Smith’s team, has announced a run for Congress in a newsly-drawn Virginia district. This is the kind of congress person we’re going to need next year. “I’m running for Congress because never before in the history of our country has a president of the United States posed a graver threat to our Democracy, our rule of law, and the economic security of American families. And never before have we had a complicit Congress rubber stamp a lawless president like Donald Trump. I stood up to Donald Trump as a federal prosecutor, and I’ll do it again in Congress.” Yhe’s running in the 7th District, for you who live in Virginia.

Terribly sad but not surprising at all: Yesterday, Maladministration II ordered the Stonewall Inn National Monument to remove a Pride flag at the site. The National Monument honors the actions of the patrons of the Stonewall Inn in 1969 that led to the civil rights movement for gay rights. I well remember the joy of my first friend who I knew was gay, telling me about the “riot” and what it meant, the next morning after it happened.

Yesterday, a federal grand jury refused to indict a coalition of Democratic lawmakers over their participation in a controversial “illegal orders” video last fall. The failed federal indictment was pursued by wine box drunk Jeanine Pirro. She’s now failed every attempted grand jury indictment she has pushed. The lawmakers urged military servicemembers and intelligence community personnel to defy illegal orders in a joint video statement released in November. The video followed the Trump administration’s decision to carry out deadly boat strikes in the Caribbean. The Traitor Trump called the video “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” in a post on Truth Social. He later suggested the lawmakers should be prosecuted, removed from office, imprisoned and even killed. The video featured Democratic legislators with military and intelligence backgrounds, including Sens. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) and Mark Kelly (Ariz.) and Reps. Jason Crow (Colo.), Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.), Chris Deluzio (Penn.) and Maggie Goodlander (N.H.). The FBI had previously requested interviews with all six members of Congress, and the lawmakers said in January that they were under investigation by the Justice Department. The NYT reported federal prosecutors were seeking to indict lawmakers for breaching a law forbidding interfering with the U.S. military’s loyalty, morale or discipline. Senator Elissa Slotkin posted: “Today, it was a grand jury of anonymous American citizens who upheld the rule of law and determined this case should not proceed. Hopefully, this ends this politicized investigation for good. No matter what President Trump and Pirro continue to do with this case, tonight we can score one for the Constitution, our freedom of speech, and the rule of law.” Despite the DOJ’s failure, House Squeaker Mike Johnson maintained his support for the administration’s attempted revenge plot, telling reporters on Tuesday night that the lawmakers should have been indicted. I think that anytime you’re obstructing law enforcement and getting in the way of these sensitive operations, it’s a very serious thing, and it probably is a crime. And, yeah, they probably should be indicted.”

This is not surprising: Senate Majority Leader John Thune said yesterday that “there aren’t anywhere close to the votes” needed to change the Senate’s filibuster rule to allow Republican-sponsored legislation to reform voter registration requirements to pass the upper chamber with fewer than 60 votes. Thune dismissed the idea that Republicans might lower the procedural threshold for advancing the House-passed SAVE Act, which would require people to show passports or birth certificates as proof of citizenship when registering to vote. He said his position is broadly supported within the Senate Republican Conference. “It’s not just me not being willing to do it. There aren’t anywhere close to the votes, not even close, to nuking the filibuster.” The reason that he knows this will not happen is because if the Senate made such a “carve out” to the filibuster for voting rights bills, next year when the democrats take control, they would pass the John Lewis Voter Rights Act to restore the 1965 Voting Rights Act by cancelling the Shelby County decision and the For The People Act to expand voting rights. Republicans are the minority party in America and can only keep their power in the Senate by keeping the filibuster. They will never vote to do such a thing to the filibuster, knowing it would benefit Democrats and end them. With this announcement by Thune, you can consider the SAVE Act DOA.

In their constant effort to make government the enemy, Maladministration II moved to restrict the flow of federal funds to electric vehicle chargers. The Transportation Department proposed to tighten restrictions on which electric vehicle chargers can receive federal funds – saying it will only allow funds to go to chargers whose components are 100 percent made in the U.S. Funds can now go to chargers if 55 percent of the cost of their components are made domestically. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed under the Biden administration put billions of federal dollars toward electric vehicle charging – whose buildout could be key to increasing electric vehicle adoption in the U.S. Last month, a federal judge barred the Trump administration from withholding federal funds that were part of a $5 billion program under that law. The administration argued in its proposal that the new move will incentivize companies to shift toward domestic manufacturing.

Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson announced Monday that he was suspending his campaign after his daughter was found fatally stabbed. Hallie Marie Tobler, 22, was found dead with multiple stab wounds over the weekend in her apartment in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Her husband, Dylan Tobler, 23, was found inside the apartment with self-inflicted stab wounds. He was charged Tuesday with one count of second-degree murder in connection with his wife’s killing.

There are rumors that Republican congressman from Florida Neal Dunn is thinking of resigning, This would put the House Republicans below the 218-vote number to maintain their status as the majority party in the House. Keep tuned.

Don Lemon has brought on an attorney who recently resigned from the office prosecuting the former CNN anchor, according to a new court filing.Joseph Thompson informed the judge Tuesday that he will represent Lemon ahead of his next court appearance, which is slated for Friday.Until last month, Thompson served as the No. 2 official in the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota. He helped lead the office’s investigation into social services fraud that has emerged as a national scandal. Thompson resigned alongside several colleagues last month as reports emerged that the Justice Department was reluctant to investigate the federal agent who killed Renee Good in Minneapolis and was seeking to investigate her partner. Thompson will now represent Lemon as he looks to fend off federal civil rights charges.

Take that, Mike - SMACK! House Republicans suffered a surprise setback Tuesday after three members broke ranks to defeat a procedural rule designed to block votes challenging Trump’s tariff policies. The House voted 214-217 to reject the rule, which would have prevented lawmakers from bringing resolutions to the floor aimed at undoing Trump’s tariffs. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Kevin Kiley (R-CA), and Don Bacon (R-NE) joined Democrats in voting no. “This will open the door to a flurry of tariff votes,” CNN’s Manu Raju reported Tuesday, noting in a social media post that Speaker Mike Johnson had expressed confidence earlier in the day that he had the votes to pass the rule. Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reported that Democrats now have legislation ready to move that would unwind certain tariffs. The outcome is “a major defeat for Mike Johnson,” according to MS Now executive producer Kyle Griffin.

A prominent Catholic leader in the Archdiocese of Chicago is alleging that DHS agents are stopping priests and demanding they prove their citizenship, based solely on the color of their skin. According to Religion News Service, Cardinal Blase Cupich “made the allegation in a Jan. 17 interview with WTTW, a Chicago PBS affiliate, and in an interview published Friday Feb. 6 in the U.S. edition of El País, a Spanish newspaper. ‘I’ve had some priests who are of a different color being targeted and arrested - stopped - because of their color and asking them to prove that they’re citizens. That’s not America,’ Cupich told the PBS affiliate. ‘We should not have to live in a country where people have to carry around their documents all the time.’ It brings terror into a city where not just immigrants, but the population, feel as though they’re being terrorized by the ways that these roundups are going. This is really unheard of. That kind of tactic is really fueling the outrage of people, not only because of the murders that we had in Minneapolis, but also because of our experience here.”

French President Emmanuel Macron has accused Trump of seeking the European Union’s “dismemberment.” Macron called Maladministration II “openly anti-European,” said it has displayed “contempt” when it comes to the EU and has wanted “its dismemberment” in a recent interview with multiple European outlets. “When there’s a clear act of aggression, I think what we should do isn’t bow down or try to reach a settlement. I think we’ve tried that strategy for months. It’s not working,” Macron said. Macron’s interview, which French outlet Le Monde said occurred on Monday, follows months of tension between Europe and the U.S. over issues including Trump’s push to acquire Greenland and his tariff policies.

The National Governors Association has canceled its annual White House meeting after Trump only invited Republican governors to the gathering. The yearly meeting is traditionally bipartisan and offers a chance for state leaders to convene with one another and the president. “Because NGA’s mission is to represent all 55 governors, the Association is no longer serving as the facilitator for that event, and it is no longer included in our official program,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) wrote in a Monday letter announcing plans to forgo the meeting. “We cannot allow one divisive action to achieve its goal of dividing us,” he wrote. “The solution is not to respond in kind, but to rise above and to remain focused on our shared duty to the people we serve. America’s governors have always been models of pragmatic leadership, and that example is most important when Washington grows distracted by politics.” I can’t believe Kevin Stitt said and did this, but it shows ho Trump’s insanity is breaking politics.

The ACLU filed a federal civil rights lawsuit after an ICE raid on a horse racing venue in Wilder, Idaho, which led to the detention of 105 undocumented immigrants as well as the temporary detention of 375 U.S. citizens or lawful residents. Only five arrests ended in criminal charges, all for unlicensed gambling. Despite “Bagdad Tricia” claiming “ICE didn’t zip tie, restrain, or arrest any children. ICE does not zip tie or handcuff children.” along with the FBI Boise field office making the same claim, photographic evidence of zip-tie bruises on a 14-year-old female U.S. citizen as well as personal testimony emerged to once again leave Maladministration II exposed as liars. The FBI then said no “young” children were zip-tied.

Court documents unsealed today regarding the FBI raid on the warehouse in Fulton County, Georgia, that led to the seizure of 700 boxes of ballots and other election related items show it was based on debunked claims of fraud from 2020 election deniers. The affidavit informing the search warrant came from Kurt Olsen, one of the lawyers involved with Trump to overturn the 2020 election who was recently appointed director of election security and integrity. In the affidavit, Olsen recycled a number of debunked theories. In her Tuesday post, Joyce White Vance noted it appears the statute of limitations has run out on any potential election crimes stemming from 2020. She pointed out that both the General Assembly and the Georgia State Election Board that said there was no intentional fraud or misconduct in the counting of the Fulton County ballots in 2020 were led by Republicans. The raid was “less about bringing a meritorious criminal prosecution against specific individuals and more about casting suspicion over Fulton County’s voting system and ability to conduct a fair election.” This is part of Trump’s plan to set things up to contest the results of the coming November elections.

Wrong RFK Got Shot is at it again: The FDA is refusing to consider Moderna’s application for a new flu vaccine made with Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology, the company announced Tuesday. Moderna says it received what is called a “refusal-to-file” letter from the FDA that objected to how it conducted a 40,000-person clinical trial comparing its new vaccine to one of the standard flu shots used today. That trial concluded the new vaccine was somewhat more effective in adults 50 and older than that standard shot.

The letter from FDA vaccine director Dr. Vinay Prasad said the agency doesn’t consider the application to contain an “adequate and well-controlled trial” because it didn’t compare the new shot to “the best-available standard of care in the United States at the time of the study.” Prasad’s letter — which Moderna published online — pointed to some advice that FDA officials gave Moderna in 2024, under the Biden administration, which Moderna didn’t follow. According to Moderna, that feedback said it was acceptable to use the standard-dose flu shot the company had chosen — but that another brand specifically recommended for seniors would be preferred for anyone 65 and older in the study. Still, Moderna said, the FDA did agree to let the study proceed as originally planned.The company said it also had shared with the FDA additional data from a separate trial comparing the new vaccine against a licensed high-dose shot used for seniors. The FDA “did not identify any safety or efficacy concerns with our product” and “does not further our shared goal of enhancing America’s leadership in developing innovative medicines,” Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in a statement.

CBS Evening News is reeling from a staff exodus just weeks after editor-in-chief Bari Weiss installed Mr. Tur, er, I meanTony Dokoupil, as anchor. Six of CBS Evening News’ 20 producers have taken voluntary buyouts ahead of looming company-wide layoffs, the New York Post reported on Tuesday. Another source said, “Seems like people are jumping ship.” Ya think?

The last word: “If these fuckers think that they’re going to intimidate us and threaten and bully me into silence, and they’re going to go after political opponents and get us to back down, they have another think coming.” Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), a former Army Ranger, reacting to the Trump DOJ’s attempted prosecution of him and five other Democratic members of Congress

Photo: Karen RN

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