NYPD Retiree Charged In Capitol Cop Attack Shocked He’s Jailed With ‘Inner-City’ Inmates

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New York police veteran Thomas Webster is unhappy with his “dormitory” detention, his lawyer reportedly said.

An NYPD veteran charged with beating a police officer during the Capitol riot is shocked that he’s locked up with “inner-city” criminals, according to his lawyer.

Thomas Webster, who retired after two decades with the New York City Police Department, is unhappy with the “dormitory setting” where he’s held without bail on charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection, Washington Post reporter Rachel Weiner reported, citing Webster’s defense lawyer.

“For a middle aged guy whose never been arrested before, this has been a shock for him,” the attorney reportedly explained.  Continue reading.

He heeded Trump’s call to fight. Now a Georgia teen awaits the consequences

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ATLANTA — Long before he stormed the U.S. Capitol, Bruno Joseph Cua flashed warning signs he was headed for serious trouble in his hometown of Milton, Georgia.

Perched behind the wheel of his Toyota pickup with a Trump 2020 flag streaming from the truck bed, the 18-year-old harassed drivers whose vehicles showed support for Joe Biden or liberal causes.

He joined social media sites favored by the extreme right and filled up his feeds with screeds that became more strident following Trump’s Nov. 3 loss. He wrote of acquiring an assault-style weapon illegally. And when Trump called supporters to Washington Jan. 6 for his “Save America” rally, Cua was all in. Continue reading.

Watch this insane interview with Trump supporter who is clearly divorced from reality

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Donald Trump so successfully pushed his “Big Lie” about election fraud that his supporters stormed the capitol on January 6th. And now, it seems, conservative lies about the insurrection have convinced some of his supporters that the riots never even happened.

CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan on Saturday conducted a fascinating interview with Kinnet Ehring McSweeney at Trump National Doral.

“And I do believe that the election was stolen and I do believe it was a peaceful rally that day,” McSweeney said, when in fact the opposite is true. “And that, just because people who were in the capitol were wearing Trump shirts and Trump hats doesn’t necessarily make them Trump supporters — anybody can get one of those shirts.” Continue reading.

‘Boogaloo’ extremists destroyed evidence in probe of officer’s murder, feds say

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Four members of an armed right-wing group linked to the anti-government “boogaloo” movementhave been charged with conspiring to destroy evidence related to the fatal shooting of a Federal Protective Service officer and the wounding of another in Oakland, Calif., last May, prosecutors announced Friday.

A federal grand jury indictment says members of the Northern California-based Grizzly Scouts tried to cover for one of their own after he allegedly gunned down the officers, deleting chat histories that included a message reading, “Dudes i offed a fed.”

Jessie Alexander Rush, 29, Robert Jesus Blancas, 33, Simon Sage Ybarra, 23, and Kenny Matthew Miksch, 21, are accused of conspiracy to destroy records and destruction of records in official proceedings. Rush faces an additional count of obstruction of official proceedings, and Blancas is charged with an additional count of destruction of records in official proceedings. Continue reading.

Trump slashes at McConnell as he reiterates election falsehoods at Republican event

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Former president Donald Trump called Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell a “dumb son of a bitch” as he used a Saturday night speech to Republicans to blame the senator for not helping overturn the 2020 election and reiterated false assertions that he won the November contest.

Trump, speaking at a Republican National Committee gathering at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., excoriated a number of Republicans even as he publicly called for party unity — focusing on those who voted to convict him in impeachment proceedings. But he saved his sharpest vitriol for the Kentucky Republican.

“If that were Schumer instead of this dumb son of a bitch Mitch McConnell, they would never allow it to happen. They would have fought it,” he said of the election certification on Jan. 6, the day his supporters led an insurrection on the Capitol to block President Biden’s formal victory. Continue reading.

Republicans across the country are helping Dominion make its case against the defendants’ lies

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Baseless Republican attacks on Dominion Voting Systems may come back to bite major Donald Trump supporters in the wallet. That’s because the company appears to be losing significant business in jurisdictions where Republicans control decisions about which vendors will supply voting equipment.

To collect damages the company must show that it suffered financial harm. In that regard, various elected Republicans around the country are helping Dominion make its case as the defendants’ lies about Dominion machines are causing it to lose millions of dollars of business.

In separate lawsuits, Dominion is seeking actual damages of $1.6 billion from Fox News, and $1.3 billion each from Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, and the My Pillow Guy, Mike Lindell. It is also seeking punitive damages. Continue reading.

EXCLUSIVE: Leaked chats show Proud Boys integral to planning for ‘White Lives Matter’ rallies

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Two self-identified Proud Boys have been involved in the internal planning for a set of simultaneous “White Lives Matter” rallies scheduled for Sunday, according to chat logs leaked to the media.

The association with the White Lives Matter rallies, which are promoting overtly white supremacist messages about a supposed white genocide, is a liability for the Proud Boys, a violent proto-fascist group that claims to be non-racist. The leaked chats show that a Proud Boy responsible for organizing the Michigan White Lives Matter rally went to some effort to hide the fact that members of his group are involved in the effort.

The Telegram user “Telly Savalas,” who was the admin for the @WLM_Michigan channel, expressed concern on April 5 about a user named “BamaPatriot 2º” who wrote, “POYB,” with an A-OK emoji. Those are signifiers associated with the Proud Boys. Continue reading.

How Voting Laws Suppress the ‘New South’

GOP-backed proposals to restrict voting are steadily gaining traction across the Sun Belt, aiming to slow the effects of ongoing demographic shifts that favor Democrats.

LOOKING BACK IN AN election cycle or two, it may be that the political and economic fallout gripping Georgia today over its controversial new voter law proves to have been a sign of an inevitable march toward a very different electoral map.

The next frontier in the battle over voting rights is already creeping toward other states across the South and the Sun Belt that have two things in common: They are all seeing a similar rapid demographic shift in their electorates that stands to reimagine the American political landscape. And they have entrenched political interests trying to stop it.

After a year of record turnout, especially among voters of color in Southern states, and a barrage of unfounded fraud claims propagated by the former president, GOP-led state legislatures are leading the charge to challenge and amend voting laws. They saw their first big success last month in Georgia. That sweeping law among other things imposes identification requirements for absentee ballots, limits ballot drop boxes and shortens runoff elections. Continue reading.

Video shows Texas GOP official seeking ‘army’ of volunteers to monitor polls in mostly Black and Hispanic Houston precincts

A leaked presentation from the Harris County Republican Party shows an official citing widespread voter fraud in a call for 10,000 poll watchers in Texas. (Common Cause Texas)

‘This is a political prosecution’: After its members were charged in the Capitol riot, one group says it is more popular than ever

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BRIDGEWATER, Mass. — In federal court, Mark Sahady and Suzanne Ianni are facing charges of illegal entry and disorderly conduct for their alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. But at a rally against coronavirus restrictions held last month in a field outside Boston, the pair were hailed as “patriots.”

“Yeah, we are definitely not terrorists,” Sahady, 46, told the crowd. “Make no mistake about it: This is a political prosecution.”

In the weeks since the Capitol riot, many participants have tearfully apologized for their actions, often after paying a price legally, socially or professionally. But for some, Jan. 6 has emerged as a source of pride and inspiration — a reflection of how robustly many in the Republican Party have embraced former president Donald Trump’s false claims that he lost the White House because of fraud. Continue reading.