Tag: Capitol invasion

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First Capitol Riot Felony Sentencing – 8 Months In Prison

January 6 invasion of the Capitol building

(screen capture via YouTube)
Paul Hodgkins, 38, is now the first insurrectionist convicted of a felony to be sentenced. After pleading guilty last month to obstructing congressional proceedings on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol building, the Florida man was sentenced to 8 months in prison. That falls well below the recommended sentencing guidelines of one to two years. Prosecutors had asked for 1.5 years. But District Judge Randolph Moss chose to ignore that recommendation. Moss noted that, while Hodgkins contributed to a grave offense against democracy, he deserved some leniency because he pleaded guilty “exceptionally early,” wasn’t involved in violence and issued a “sincere” apology. According to CNN, almost 550 rioters have been charged, and the Department of Justice says at least 230 of them have been charged with the same obstruction-of-Congress crime to which Hodgkins pleaded guilty. Read more at CNN.

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Capitol Rioters Are Erasing Social Media Posts As Fast As They Can

January 6 invasion of the Capitol building

(screen capture via YouTube)
Remember all those social media posts where the Capitol insurrectionists were all sooooo proud they did something…? From the AP:

They flaunted their participation in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol on social media and then, apparently realizing they were in legal trouble, rushed to delete evidence of it, authorities say. Now their attempts to cover up their role in the deadly siege are likely to come back to haunt them in court.

An Associated Press review of court records has found that at least 49 defendants are accused of trying to erase incriminating photos, videos and texts from phones or social media accounts documenting their conduct as a pro-Donald Trump mob stormed Congress and briefly interrupted the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.

Experts say the efforts to scrub the social media accounts reveal a desperate willingness to manipulate evidence once these people realized they were in hot water. And, they say, it can serve as powerful proof of people’s consciousness of guilt and can make it harder to negotiate plea deals and seek leniency at sentencing.

Funny how that works… Did they really think they’d get their anti-American jollies done and not have anything happen to them??? More than a dozen Capitol rioters have already pleaded guilty, out of more than 510 defendants. And prosecutors are filing new cases at a steady clip.

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News Round-Up: July 1, 2021

A French woman has been charged for causing a huge pile-up at the Tour de France over the weekend

Some news items you might have missed:

• Cycling News: A spectator who held up a cardboard sign on the opening day of the Tour de France accidentally struck cyclists (above) causing dozens to crash. The 30-year-old French woman has been arrested and charged with involuntarily causing injury and faces a fine of 1,500 euros.

• Vanity Fair: Following her very public statement last week, Britney Spears’s request to have her father, Jamie Spears, removed from her conservatorship has been denied by the judge overseeing the case.

• WPRI: Chase Allen, 25, of Seekonk, was apprehended by FBI agents for allegedly taking part in the violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol building. Allen is accused of participating in the destruction of thousands of dollars worth of media equipment during the riots. Photos capturing a man wearing the exact same outfit as Allen show him stomping on cameras outside the Capitol building. He claims he was there to document the events as a journalist.

• JoeMyGod: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noam has literally rented out 50 members of the state’s National Guard to an auto scrap billionaire to head down to the Texas/Mexico border.

• Nevada Independent: Nevada casinos collected a single-month record of $1.23 billion in gaming revenues during May, a stunning figure given that most COVID-19 capacity restrictions weren’t fully lifted until June 1.

• People: Out singer/songwriter Hayden Joseph tells the pop culture magazine, “Mainstream country radio is still controlled by a couple of conglomerates, and they still play one-dimensional country music, all signed by a boy’s club that looks and sounds the exact same.” I wrote about his latest single, “Out,” here.

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News Round-Up: June 30, 2021

The House of Representatives voted to create a select committee to investigate the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol building

The House of Representatives voted to create a select committee to investigate the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol building Some news items you might have missed: • CNN: Only 2 GOP members of the House – Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois – voted in favor of a select committee to investigate the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol building where 5 Americans died and over 100 police officers were injured. Republicans said the investigation would just be a means to attack Donald Trump. But before the 2016 election, Republicans held 6 investigations into the 2012 Benghazi attack which left 4 Americans died. • Instinct Magazine: Lil Nas X released a teaser video for his upcoming album “Montero” that parodies the trailers of Marvel super hero films complete with symphonic music and “universe” of characters.

• Bloomberg: The European Union plans to announce legal actions against Hungary and Poland over discriminatory, anti-LGBTQ laws passed in the two conservative countries. • Out Music: Let’s dance our way out on the last day of Pride Month with the latest from Vincint, “Kill My Heart,” from his new album There Will Be Tears. The dance floor-filler is a defiant clap back to that ex that think they won something.

• OUT: Professional rugby player Jack Dunne came out as bisexual over the weekend. The 22-year-old, who’s been out to friends and family, said he was coming out publicly to be a role model for other questioning young athletes. • Queerty: After sharing photos from a recent shoot for CAP 74024 magazine with his husband, Jwan, Ricky Martin was surprised to see he’d lost a significant number of social media followers. He had something to say about it: “Fear no longer paralyzes me.” https://www.instagram.com/p/CQrjuFtt_gD/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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News Round-Up: June 23, 2021

Out Olympian Gus Kenworthy

Out Olympian Gus Kenworthy
Gus Kenworthy (image via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • OK Magazine: Out Olympian Gus Kenworthy (above) tells the gossip mag that the 2022 Winter Olympics will be his last after which he’ll turn his focus to acting and TV hosting gigs. • The Advocate: Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has vetoed a bill that would have banned transgender girls and women from competing in school sports designated for females calling it “a solution in search of a problem.” Edwards, a moderate Democrat, said in an online statement. “Even the author of the bill acknowledged throughout the legislative session that there wasn’t a single case where this was an issue.” • Boy Culture: Britney Spears had her day in court, wants her life back, and Matt Rettenmund has her full (explosive) statement to the court. This is a wild ride, folks. I’m not a Britney fan, but I think folks should give her her life back and let the chips fall where they may.
International pop star Britney Spears
International pop star Britney Spears (image via Instagram)
• Raw Story: Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation requiring students, faculty and staff at Florida’s public universities and colleges to register their political views with the state as a way to encourage “intellectual diversity.” • New York Times: Graydon Young, of Sarasota, Fla., admitted to conspiring to breach the U. S. Capitol building as part of a military-style “stack” made up of members of the Oath Keepers militia and disrupt the certification of the Electoral College vote. As part of his deal with the government, Mr. Young agreed to cooperate with prosecutors — the second member of the Oath Keepers to provide assistance to investigators. He faces an estimated 63 to 78 months in prison. • Mediaite: Former NRA president David Keene accepted an invitation to address what he thought was going to be its graduating class of 2021. Instead, the 3,044 chairs in the audience were left completely unoccupied. And not because it was a dress rehearsal as Keene was told, but to represent all of the should-have-been 2021 high school graduates who were killed by gun violence, “The Lost Class.”

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News Round-Up: June 3, 2021

Initial unemployment claims dropped below 400K for the first time since pandemic began

Initial unemployment claims dropped below 400K for the first time since pandemic began Some news items you might have missed: • CNBC: The labor market continues to improve as initial jobless claims fell to 385,000 last week. The last time claims were lower was the week of March 14, 2020, with 256,000. The number spiked to nearly 3 million the following week and peaked at more than 6.1 million in early April as governments across the U.S. shut down businesses in an effort to slow the coronavirus spread. • Instinct Magazine: In honor of Pride month, the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) will stream for one week only Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City The Musical. The 2011 show will stream at Broadway On Demand’s National Theater Network. • Edge Media: A viral video about a 73-year-old man coming out and being celebrated by his neighbor has taken the internet by storm. “My dad’s neighbour just came out as gay at 73!” reads the video’s caption. “His family aren’t supportive. So Dad did this to show him he is not alone.” https://www.instagram.com/p/CPlDYz8DR0e/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link • Washington Post: U.S. prosecutors this week put a price tag for the first time on damage to the U.S. Capitol from the Jan. 6 breach — $1.5 million so far — and are asking defendants to cover some of that in plea offers. Prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington are seeking to require restitution of $2,000 in each felony case and $500 in each misdemeanor case. • Delusional: Writing for the National Review, Charles Cooke reports, “Donald Trump does indeed believe quite genuinely that he — along with former senators David Perdue and Martha McSally — will be ‘reinstated’ to office this summer after “audits” of the 2020 elections in Arizona, Georgia, and a handful of other states have been completed. • Twitter: The U.S. Embassy at the Vatican is flying the rainbow flag for Pride Month and a host of Republican politicians, religious right leaders, and far right media figures are losing their minds that the government would promote tolerance.

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Republicans Block Vote On Capitol Invasion Commission

I don’t know how Republican Senators can say they ‘back the blue’ when they vote against a commission that would investigate the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol building that resulted in one police officer dead and 100+ injured. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has called the idea of an investigative commission “extraneous.” From the New York Times:

Republicans on Friday blocked the creation of an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, using their filibuster power in the Senate for the first time this year to doom a full accounting for the deadliest attack on Congress in centuries.

With the vast majority of Republicans determined to shield their party from potential political damage that could come from scrutiny of the storming of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, only six G.O.P. senators joined Democrats to support advancing the measure. The final vote, 54 to 35, fell short of the 60 senators needed to move forward.

Modeled after the inquiry into the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the proposed panel of experts would have been responsible for producing a report on the assault and recommendations to secure Congress by the end of the year.

Eleven senators, almost all Republicans, skipped the vote to head out of town for the holiday weekend.

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Giuliani: ‘No Reasonable Listener’ Would Have Taken ‘Trial By Combat’ Speech Literally

Rudy Giuliani at Trump press conference (screen capture)
Responding to a lawsuit filed by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) that alleges the incitement of the riot at the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, Rudy Giuliani says his speech to Trump supporters to engage in ‘trial by combat’ was “clearly” hyperbole. From the New York Daily News:

President Trump’s former personal lawyer Thursday asserted his fiery speech was “clearly hyperbolic” and claims that “no reasonable listener” would take it literally, even though that’s exactly what the violent crowd of thousands did.

“The statement was clearly hyperbolic and not literal,” the filing said. “And even if it were to be perceived literally, Giuliani was clearly referring to an event in the future after evidence of election fraud is collected.”

CNBC also reports on a second lawsuit brought by Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and 10 other House Democrats, which accuses Giuliani, Donald Trump, and extremist groups the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys and Warboys, of violating the federal Ku Klux Klan Act on Jan. 6 by firing up the MAGA cultists to stop Congress from confirming President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Separate motions to dismiss the suit on Thursday argued that Trump’s and Giuliani’s remarks at a pre-riot rally near the Capitol were protected under the First Amendment. Trump and Giuliani have asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit saying they were just exercising free speech.

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Survey: 54% Of Republicans Believe Capitol Invasion Was “Led By Left-Wingers To Make Trump Look Bad”

A new survey from Ipsos Polls shows 54% of Republican respondents believe the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol building was “led by violent left-wing protesters trying to make Trump look bad.” I’m guessing those are the same people who believe the COVID-19 pandemic was all staged to “make Trump look bad.” You have to wonder if those conservatives are genuinely delusional or if they just decided to lie to pollsters? More from the poll: • 59% of all respondents feel Donald Trump should not run for president again, only 31% support his running again • 33% feel Trump was not responsible for the Capitol riot while 58% believe he bears some responsibility • 30% of Republicans feel confident that absentee or mail-in ballots were accurately counted, compared to 86% of Democrats and 55% of independents Check out the full results of the survey here.

(h/t JoeMyGod)

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$90K Seized From Man Who Sold Footage Of Rioter Getting Shot At Capitol Invasion

January 6 invasion of the Capitol building

(screen capture via YouTube)
John Earle Sullivan, of Utah, has had $90,000 confiscated from him after he sold video footage of a woman being fatally shot during the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building on January 6. Sullivan has also been charged with entering the building unlawfully and taking part in the invasion. From Reuters:

According to the court filings, Sullivan portrayed himself as an independent journalist who was reporting on the chaos, but actually encouraged other participants to “burn” the building and engage in violence.

Sullivan recorded video of the confrontation between rioters and police just outside the U.S. House of Representatives chamber that included the shooting of protester Ashli Babbitt and, according to court filings, boasted to an unnamed witness that “my footage is worth like a million of dollars, millions of dollars.”

Sullivan sold that footage to several news outlets for a total of $90,000, according to a seizure warrant.

More than 440 individuals have been charged for taking part in the attack by Trump supporters which left 5 dead and over 100 police officers injured.