Deplorable:

For more than two years, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials from Chicago have been aiding a poor, predominantly white Ohio village upended when a train derailed and spilled more than 100,000 gallons of hazardous chemicals.

Vice President JD Vance, a former Ohio U.S. senator, visited the East Palestine accident site this week and vowed the EPA would finish the cleanup.

At the same time, the Trump/Vance administration is moving to fire or force out more than 20% of the agency’s Chicago staff, including officials who enforce clean air and water laws and others dedicated to helping poor communities disproportionately harmed by pollution in the Midwest.

The disconnect highlights how Trump, his aides and fellow Republicans in Congress repeatedly attempt to gut environmental protections while promising to guarantee Americans have clean air and water.

“They say they want to bring EPA back to its core mission,” said Nicole Cantello, president of the union for about 1,000 agency employees in Chicago. “But how do you protect health and the environment if they constantly undermine us?”

The EPA’s Midwest office traditionally has been one of the agency’s biggest and busiest, prosecuting companies that pollute the air, water and land in Illinois, Ohio and four other states around the Great Lakes.

Trump purged dozens of career officials in the Chicago office during his first term. His latest attempt to cull the workforce is led by billionaire Elon Musk, whose companies Tesla and SpaceX have been fined by the EPA for multiple violations of environmental laws.

“Elon Musk wants to turn EPA into every polluter’s ally,” U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said Thursday at a rally in front of the agency’s headquarters. “He wants to take environmental cops off the beat.”

History suggests Musk and scores of other polluters are going to catch a break during the next four years.

Water pollution cases filed by the EPA in the Great Lakes region declined during each of the first three years Trump was president, according to an analysis of agency records by the nonprofit Environmental Law and Policy Center.

Meanwhile, the number of chronic violators of the Clean Water Act in the heavily industrialized states skyrocketed under Trump, who as a candidate in 2016 vowed to abolish the EPA.

Among other things, Trump appointees declined to punish U.S. Steel when career EPA staff confirmed the company had repeatedly, and illegally, released harmful pollution into Lake Michigan, the Chicago area’s chief source of drinking water.

The Trump EPA brokered a settlement with U.S. Steel only after a threatened lawsuit from the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Chicago.

It took another threatened lawsuit from the Environmental Law and Policy Center to force more rigorous scrutiny of the northwest Indiana steel mill now owned by the Cleveland-Cliffs conglomerate. The mill had dumped fish-killing ammonia and cyanide into a Lake Michigan tributary.

During Trump’s first term, the EPA was led by Scott Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general who repeatedly sued to block clean air and water regulations, and Andrew Wheeler, a coal industry lobbyist.

Pruitt and Wheeler said during Trump’s first term that it was up to states to decide which environment and public health initiatives should be a priority. At the same time, the Trump White House proposed deep cuts in federal grants that account for a large share of the funding for state environmental programs.

The latest Trump appointee to lead the EPA, former New York lawmaker Lee Zeldin, has frozen billions of dollars of EPA grants funded by laws enacted by Congress, in particular money set aside to slow climate change and encourage the use of electric vehicles.

Zeldin, like all other congressional Republicans, voted against the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act intended to boost renewable energy and clean manufacturing in the U.S.

At his Jan. 16 confirmation hearing, Zeldin said he plans collaborate with industry “to promote common-sense, smart regulation that will allow American innovation to continue to lead the world.”

He vowed that under his leadership the EPA “will prioritize compliance as much as possible. I believe in the rule of law and I want to work with people to ensure they do their part to protect the environment.”

One of Zeldin’s deputies spent the first Trump term attempting to block more stringent regulation of chemicals, including cancer-causing PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — found in the blood of nearly every American, and ethylene oxide, a highly toxic gas used to make plastics and sterilize medical devices.

Nancy B. Beck formerly worked for the American Chemistry Council, the industry’s chief trade group. She has testified before Congress in favor of Republican-sponsored legislation that would effectively make it more difficult to restrict PFAS, ethylene oxide and other chemicals.

What should the punishment be for the traitor?

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I figured this will be a masssssssive argument and tons of tweets coming from our resident partisans. Let’s try and keep this to one thread since it will be a long drawn out process this year.


Those priorities also included, “no tax on Senior Social Security, no tax on overtime pay, renewing President Trump’s 2017 middle class tax cuts … adjusting the SALT cap, eliminate all the special tax breaks for billionaire sports team owners, close the carried-interest tax deduction loophole, tax cuts for Made-in-America products.”

“This will be the largest tax cut in history for middle-class working Americans. The president is committed to working with Congress to get this done,” Leavitt added.

Deplorable:

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers this week joined 17 other states in filing a friend-of-the-court brief supporting President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship.




Hilgers
JUSTIN WAN, LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR
A longtime federal judge in Seattle last month called it “blatantly unconstitutional” and temporarily blocked it from going into effect in a case brought by the states of Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon.
And on Wednesday, in a case brought on behalf of five pregnant immigrants and two immigrant rights groups in Maryland, a federal judge there did the same, saying “no court in the country has ever endorsed the president’s interpretation” of the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment.

The earlier decision already is being appealed.
Furthermore, during a Thursday hearing in Seattle, a federal judge granted Washington state’s request for a preliminary injunction against the birthright citizenship order, preventing the federal government from denying birthright citizenship to children of immigrants.

​

In the meantime, in a filing Monday in the Washington case, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Iowa Solicitor General Eric Wessan, who aren’t parties to the case, asked for leave to file a so-called amicus brief on behalf of Iowa, Nebraska and 16 other states because of the potential ramifications a decision in the case will have in their states.

Unlike the plaintiff states, Bird said they contend the U.S. Constitution permits “reasonable limits” on the United States’ grant of birthright citizenship and face “unique harms if systems that encourage illegal immigration and birth tourism continue unabated.”

“The harms to the states, including the significant financial harms associated with education and health care, accrue quickly,” Bird wrote.
While Hilgers’ office regularly sends out press releases when Nebraska joins in filings like the one Monday — including one as recent as Jan. 30 in a challenge to California’s regulation of the pork industry — there was no mention of the birthright citizenship case among its emails as of Wednesday.



Asked about his decision to join in the filing, Hilgers told the Journal Star in an email: “Our immigration system is broken, in part because of the idea that the child of any person who is here illegally, under nearly any set of circumstances, receives the privilege of United States citizenship so long as they are born here.
“This is mistaken, as explained in President Trump’s executive order,” the attorney general wrote.
Trump’s order, signed on the first day of his second term, directed federal agencies to stop issuing citizenship documents or recognizing U.S. citizenship of children born to parents in the country unlawfully or lawfully in the country on temporary visas.


It had been set to go into effect Feb. 19, prior to the injunctions, which apply nationwide.
Hilgers said Nebraska stands with Iowa and our sister states in “defending the executive order, and have urged the court to adhere to the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Stephen Crowder and Ben Shapiro are fighting over Crowder's new 50 million dollar contract. Yes, being a soulless right wing propagandist pays very well.


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Utterly deplorable:

The state, under a bill advanced Wednesday in the Iowa House, would no longer have the declared purpose of reducing air pollution from fossil fuels, and the Iowa Utilities Commission could not consider climate change when ruling on a hazardous liquid pipeline.




Thomson

House Study Bill 67 would remove from law the Iowa Legislature’s declared purpose of reducing the state’s reliance on petroleum products and “reducing atmospheric contamination” caused by burning fossil fuels, which lawmakers had deemed necessary to support the state’s vast agricultural industry.
Republican members of a three-member legislative subcommittee — Reps. Charley Thomson of Charles City and Judd Lawler of Oxford — supported moving the legislation forward for consideration by the full House Commerce Committee.

The bill was introduced by Commerce Committee Chair Rep. Shannon Lundgren, a Republican from Peosta.

​

Thomson called climate change caused by human activity “one hypotheses of many to explain what is going on in our world right now.”

Democrat objects​

Democratic Rep. Adam Zabner, of Iowa City, a member of the subcommittee, objected to the legislation, saying the Iowa Department of Natural Resources notes the state is already experiencing the effects of climate change from increased precipitation that’s led to record flooding, higher temperatures, increased soil erosion and water runoff, and public health effects, including an increase in the prevalence of Iowans with asthma and allergies.

“I think any Iowan that gets a bill in the mail for their home insurance knows that Iowa’s climate is changing,” Zabner said.
“And when you’re talking about long-term planning for the future of our energy reliance, these are really important issues. You can’t just close your eyes to the changing climate,” he said. “My concern is we’ll fall behind other states that are using all the available information to make the best decisions about the future of energy.”

Zabner also questioned whether the bill’s language removing climate change considerations would impact the Iowa Utilities Commission’s modeling for future energy projects and demand in the state.



“Is that modeling going to be accurate if it doesn’t include the changing climate we’re seeing in Iowa due to climate change?” Zabner asked.
Thomson responded that climate modeling “is not at the point where it can be relied on” for plans that help utilities determine how to meet future energy demand.
“I think there’s a big question about how reliable the theories on ... climate change are, and I think we need to as a Legislature make a statement” to that effect, he told reporters.

Tax credits​

Pam Mackey-Taylor, with the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club, urged lawmakers not to restrict state regulators from considering projects that seek to take advantage of federal programs and tax credits that encourage investment in carbon capture and storage projects or other “climate change initiative” that seek to reduce greenhouse emissions.


“Those tax credits and the climate change implications should be subject to inquiry and evaluation by the utilities commission members,” Mackey-Taylor said.

But keeps the Russian, German, French, Polish clubs. Because only certain clubs upset the racist in chief.

Senate GOP Steamrolls 30 Hours Of Dem Obstruction To Confirm Trump’s 13th Nominee​

Senate Republicans on Thursday evening voted to confirm former White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Russell Vought to helm the office for a second time.

Senators voted 53 to 47 along party lines in favor of Vought. The OMB director-designate becomes President Donald Trump’s 13th cabinet nominee to be confirmed, doubling the confirmation pace of the Biden administration and first Trump administration.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, during a press conference on Tuesday, pledged that every Senate Democrat would oppose Vought’s nomination.

Vought’s confirmation comes after Democratic lawmakers spoke for 30 hours on the Senate floor to delay the OMB director-designate’s confirmation vote for as long as possible.

Senate Republicans reminded their colleagues that Vought had the votes to be confirmed and that Democrats’ refusal to expedite the OMB director-designate’s vote was a pointless exercise.

“They’re [Democrats] over there grasping for straws,” Republican Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall told the DCNF. “They’re upset with Donald Trump. This is a barroom brawl right now, and President Trump’s really a good barroom brawler and I think this is the latest thing they can latch onto.”

“The Democrats continue to want to slow things down. Republicans are not going to allow it to happen,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso said on the Senate floor Thursday. “This week, we will have confirmed five cabinet members in four days.”

Senate Democrats opposed Vought’s nomination with a greater level of urgency than Trump’s previous cabinet nominees that have been brought to the floor. Many Democratic lawmakers appeared to cast the OMB director-designate’s looming confirmation in apocalyptic terms and openly mused what Trump getting his cabinet might mean for the future of American democracy.

“We’re going to be speaking all night,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “We want Americans, every hour, whether it’s 8 p.m. or 3 a.m., to hear how bad Russell Vought is and the danger he poses to them in their daily lives.”

Early Thursday morning, Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy warned from an empty Senate chamber that “darkness has descended” on America with Vought’s imminent confirmation.

“This is an urgent moment,” Murphy said in a video posted later on X. “We have days or weeks to be able to mount an effective opposition to stop this slide away from democracy.”

“What we’ve seen over the past few days flies in the face of what it means to live in a democratic republic,” Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock told the Daily Caller News Foundation prior to the confirmation vote, appearing to allege that Vought orchestrated the administration’s executive actions related to freezing federal funds and dismantling government agencies. “Mr. Vought’s actions are illegal and they’re unconstitutional, and the fact that he’s doing it doesn’t make it legal. So we’re continuing to fight.”

Senate Republicans largely ignored their colleagues’ alarmism over Vought’s nomination, emphasizing that the OMB director-designate will execute Trump’s mandate to roll back Biden regulations and cut wasteful spending.

“As director of OMB, Mr. Vought will have the chance to address two key economic issues — cutting burdensome government regulations and addressing excessive spending,” Thune said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “Republicans are determined to alleviate that regulatory burden – for the sake of economic growth, and to improve the lives of hardworking Americans. And I know that Mr. Vought will make getting rid of burdensome regulations a priority.”

They also wondered whether their Democratic colleagues’ rush to oppose Vought’s nomination and hold overnight speeches railing against him could backfire with the American people who sent Trump to the White House and elected a GOP-controlled Congress.

“Russell Vought is going to get confirmed. Every Republican is going to get confirmed,” Republican Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno told the DCNF. “So what did you [Democrats] accomplish?”

“The security has to be here extra hours. The poor [Senate] staff has to be here extra hours for a show,” Moreno added.

Democrats continued their display of opposition on the Senate floor, speaking out of order as they cast their vote against the OMB director-designate.

Vought served in Trump’s OMB during the first administration. He started as deputy OMB director and then was promoted to lead the office in 2019.

WTF?

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Looks like buying political favors is still in vogue.

Mississippi North legislature preparing to now extend casino moratorium until 2030.

Just proves the GOP can be bought.

Least surprising thing I'll read today.

Sorry, Cedar Rapids!

MUsk is a leech. All accounts point to Tesla not going ahead and prospering then the Obama admin gave him this big cash loan (which was paid back) but it points to the fact
that Musk did not do this Tesla stuff all in the private sector.

He has no problem being one of 3 companies to get this type of loan in 2010 when about 100 companies applied for the loan. He'll take the money to make his company succeed and now question every transaction by the govt.

He has soaked up tons of money thru NASA see below. No wonder SpaceX employees cheer and clap when one of their flights is successful; when I still have a job.

NASA has given SpaceX billions of dollars in contracts over the years, including $843 million to deorbit the International Space Station (ISS).

Contracts awarded to SpaceX

• $843 million
  In June 2024, NASA awarded SpaceX this contract to build a vehicle that will deorbit the ISS by 2030. The vehicle will guide the ISS back into Earth's atmosphere and target the Pacific Ocean's Point Nemo.
  
  
• $2 billion
  In 2022, NASA awarded SpaceX about $2 billion in contracts, which was 25% more than in 2021. This made SpaceX NASA's second-most-awarded contractor.
  
  
• • $278 million
    SpaceX received this contract for development funding for the Falcon 9, Dragon spacecraft, and demonstration launches.
  • 
    
  • https://trellis.net/article/elon-mu...t of Energy proudly,is LPO's bailout of Tesla
    
    
  • https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-gets-465-million-government-shot-in-the-arm/

Thugs, no defense. Wow.

SIAP

Please let this be accurate.

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Weird!

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Whether the state should permit more medical marijuana dispensaries in Iowa, and whether THC-infused drinks should be added to the state’s open container law, are subjects of legislation being considered by state lawmakers.



Iowa legislators this week advanced a proposal that would expand the state’s medical marijuana program by possibly doubling the number of authorized dispensaries in Iowa — from five to as many as 10.


Each licenseholder would be allowed to operate up to three dispensaries in the state, although lawmakers said they may remove that cap from the bill.




The bill, Senate File 46, earned unanimous approval Thursday from a three-member Iowa Senate subcommittee. The proposal is now eligible for consideration by the full Senate Commerce Committee.


Lawmakers in support of the bill said the state needs to expand access to medical cannabis for Iowans. With the current cap on five licenses, some Iowa patients must travel for hours to purchase from a dispensary.


Two companies operate the five current dispensaries in the state. Iowa Cannabis Company has dispensaries in Waterloo, Iowa City and Council Bluffs; Bud & Mary’s has dispensaries in Windsor Heights and Sioux City.


The Iowa Cannabis Company opposed the proposed addition of more licenses. David Adelman, a lobbyist, raised concerns about the ability of the medical cannabis program being able to support additional dispensaries.





Adelman also told lawmakers the provision prohibiting a company from holding more than three licenses would impede their ability to compete.


“We believe, frankly, the program isn’t sustainable for added licenses,” Adelman said. “… If you're looking to expand or to create more efficiencies or more productivity with the program, we believe there's different ways, but we think that there are some significant flaws in this piece of legislation.”


Logan Murray, a lobbyist representing Greenleaf Cannabis, said more dispensaries are needed in Iowa to improve access to medical cannabis.


“This program started in 2017, and since 2020 the medical cannabis oil board has made recommendations to look at the licensing and make some changes to it,” Murray said. “We see that these numbers have stagnated, and we think more opportunities with different dispensaries will allow more Iowans to gain access to this program.”


Sen. Scott Webster, a Republican from Bettendorf, recommended moving the bill forward with an amendment striking the language limiting a license holder to three dispensaries in Iowa.


“I don’t think the dispensaries need to necessarily be restricted to only having three themselves so they have the availability to compete in that same marketplace,” Webster said.


He added that medical cannabis is heavily regulated and has proved benefits for various medical conditions.


“So I continue to be a supporter of it,” Webster said.


Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, a Democrat from Windsor Heights and leader of House Democrats, said she wants to examine any proposals to expand the number of dispensary licenses to make sure any legislation would have no “unintended consequences.”


Konfrst told reporters Thursday she is in favor of expanding access to Iowans who wish to use the program, but also wants to ensure existing businesses are not injured by any legislation.

Broader reforms needed, advocates say​

Dane Schumann, a lobbyist for MedPharm Iowa — whose dispensaries and cultivation facilities have been renamed as Bud & Mary's — expressed a need for broader reforms to the state program.


Iowans who rely on medical cannabis to treat various medical conditions for years have pushed lawmakers to expand the program and lift limitations on the potency and type of medical cannabis products that eligible patients can obtain to make it more effective.


“We’re not opposed to the concept of there being more dispensary locations in the state,” Schumann told lawmakers. “… But without fixing broader, deeper reforms to the medical cannabis program, we’re not convinced that a lot of these new dispensaries, at least, would be able to survive in the environment that we have in the state.”


Iowans often travel to surrounding Midwestern states that have expanded medical marijuana programs and legalized recreational use of marijuana.


House File 105, introduced by Rep. Hans Wilz, a Republican from Ottumwa, would add vaporized flower to the list of legal forms of medical cannabis available in Iowa. The current program is limited to synthetic forms that must be processed down to an oil, which can be an expensive undertaking.


Allowing vaporized flower would provide a less expensive alternative for patients with legitimate medical needs who have been prescribed cannabis, Wilz said.


The broader goal of the bill, he said, is to start a conversation and ensure the medical cannabis program is robust and serving the needs of Iowans, particularly those with cancer and other serious conditions.


Wilz’s bill is scheduled for a subcommittee hearing Monday morning.

Bill: THC drinks should be added to open container law​

Drinks infused with THC would be added to the state law that prohibits open containers of alcoholic beverages in vehicles under legislation advancing in the Iowa House.


House Study Bill 29, was proposed by the Iowa Department of Public Safety. No opposition to the bill was expressed during a subcommittee hearing Wednesday, and all three members of the legislative panel supported advancing it to the full Iowa House Public Safety Committee.


“They’re an impairing drink so it makes sense that it would just be added to the open container law,” Rep. Zach Dieken, R-Granville, said after the hearing. “(Individuals) just can’t drink and drive.”

Locked in syndrome for 8 months. Had itches that couldn't be scratched. Was too warm under the blanket. Never slept.
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Guy was totally wasted
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Good evening and happy Thursday, Hawkeye fans. Big-time game for Iowa at Minnesota tonight, tipping off at 7 PM on BTN.

No new injuries to report for either team. Iowa's report is still just Kennise Johnson; next time I get a chance I'll ask a coach if there's a path forward for Kennise to contribute this season. With the talent already ahead of her and coming in, seems like her best opportunity to contribute on the court is at another school.

Minnesota is still without Mara Braun, who cannot stay healthy with foot problems, but the Gophers are not struggling without her (unlike last season). Minnesota is 18-5 (6-5), and undefeated against unranked opponents. They have a very balanced attack without Braun, which can be more difficult for an inexperienced team to defend as there's often not a "top priority" like JuJu Watkins to help simplify the assignment. (BTW, Aaliyah Guyton D-ing up JuJu and vice versa on Sunday might have been AG's biggest WOW moment of the season).

Iowa opened as a 3.5 favorite but that line has shifted 5 points in Minny's direction, per ESPN. Either team will likely lock up an NCAA tourney bid with a win, and Minnesota hasn't beaten Iowa since sweeping the 2017-18(!) series, so I expect a spirited contest from both teams.

Who do you all want to see have a big game for the Hawkeyes tonight? What's on the menu, @WaterlooChazz???

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Dems can't stop losing..

"In the latest blow to the party, Lindy Li, a prominent Democratic National Committee (DNC) fundraiser and surrogate for Vice President Kamala Harris, announced her departure from the Democratic Party - labeling it a "cult" after facing a barrage of internal attacks for her recent criticisms of Harris."

Sad it took her so long to realize the obvious, but better late than never. The hivemind does NOT allow for any dissent. My favorite part of the article:

"Li argued that Harris was “indulging in delusions” of making a political comeback and criticized the Democratic Party for carrying what she called the “stench of loser” following their defeat in November's elections."

Merry Christmas indeed

by using anti-democratic methods. Interesting.

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Ryan English, or 'Riley Jane English,' expressed being influenced by UnitedHealthcare CEO's alleged assassin.​

Prosecutors say the suspect who was arrested at the U.S. Capitol last week in an alleged plot to kill House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was "influenced by Luigi Mangione."

The revelation was made in a Wednesday court filing by the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. federal court in the case against Ryan Michael "Reily" English, also known as "Riley Jane English." English walked up to a U.S. Capitol Police officer on Jan. 27 and allegedly stated, "I’d like to turn myself in," according to initial charging documents.

English claimed to have two Molotov cocktails and two knives and expressed being there "to kill Scott Bessent," according to court documents. Federal prosecutors said English left home in Massachusetts and traveled to Washington with the intent of killing Hegseth, whom the suspect referred to as a "Nazi," and Johnson, and burning down the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank "two blocks from the White House."

Mangione rose to national recognition late last year when he was arrested for allegedly murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Dec. 4 in Manhattan.

Wednesday's filing referred to English using she/her pronouns and argued why the suspect should not be released from custody. The filing cited a Jan. 27 in-custody interview with detectives. English allegedly claimed to having been diagnosed with a terminal illness, a congenital heart defect. Believing to have just four months to live, English allegedly expressed wanting "to do something before I go."

"Defendant’s statements during the custodial interview reflect a recklessness that demonstrates that no condition or combination of conditions would be sufficient to assure the safety of the community. For example, the Defendant told officers, ‘That’s why I feel so okay with telling everyone everything because not only am I going to be either incarcerated or incinerated within weeks or months, doesn’t matter so I might as well tell you everything that I tell the lawyers because it doesn’t matter and I’m not afraid’," court documents say. "As another example, the Defendant specifically mentioned being influenced by Luigi Mangione, the individual accused in the recent murder of United Health Group CEO Brian Thompson. The Defendant referred to her call to violence as ‘fate’ or ‘destiny.’ Those statements, coupled with Defendant’s statements that she has only a few months to live, demonstrate that the Defendant is a risk to the community if released."

In the interview, English allegedly said "I didn’t have a plan in my mind. I felt like I had to do this. I felt like I was on a mission. Maybe I told myself to have faith and just see where this goes and I had been thinking about for this for a while because of Luigi Mangione. I have seen the response to that and that situation… It was not an everyday thing and it extremely shook up everything."

Referring to Mangione, English allegedly told detectives "that poor kid just threw his life away for like a minute of vengeance," according to the interview transcript cited in the filing.

"Vengeance is bulls---, no one feels good about that," English allegedly continued. "I cannot see an average, ordinary person hurting someone else and feeling good about it and I know that’s extremely naive, especially how he did it. It’s some guy he never met before, he shot him in the back of the head – you can’t feel proud about that. He’s probably questioning his humanity every single day. But as time goes on and as time went on, I started to understand things differently in my own personal situation, not regarding Luigi, regarding mainly the foremost thing is time – the feeling of running out of time, but of holy sh-- it’s me… I don’t think I’m the Messiah or anything…. It’s fate, it’s destiny, it’s whatever you want to call it."

English is charged with carrying a firearm, dangerous weapon, explosive or incendiary device on Capitol grounds and unlawful receipt or possession of a firearm.

During a search, officers found English with a folding knife and Molotov cocktails in the suspect's jacket pockets, authorities said.

"USCP K9s swept and cleared the area, while other USCP officers and agents tracked down English’s car along the 900 block of Independence Avenue, SW," U.S. Capitol Police statement said. "Investigators uncovered materials to make additional Molotov cocktails inside the vehicle."


The suspect allegedly told investigators that English intended to kill Bessent, who was confirmed to lead the Treasury Department last week.

A receipt found in English's pants pocket had a message that read: "Judith dear god I am so sorry. You must understand I can feel myself dying slowly b/c of my heart," the message states. "This is terrible but I cant do nothing while nazis kill my sisters. I love you. This is awful. Im so sorry. I love u. Please stay alive and heal. you can. you are strong enough. F--- them for pushing us so far. you dont deserve this. Im so sorry for lying and plotting and lying. Please survive."

At some point, English stopped at a library in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where the suspect saw posts on Reddit mentioning the confirmation hearings for Bessent. The suspect allegedly changed target to focus on Bessent and purchased alcohol bottles to make the Molotov cocktails to "throw them at Bessent's feet," court documents state.

English told authorities that the plan was to stab Bessent if the suspect was able to get close to him. While constructing the plan, English surmised that the suspect would have to kill at least three Capitol Police officers to get to Bessent.

Realizing English was unlikely to get close to Bessent, the suspect "expressed acceptance and content with the possibility of suicide by cop."

Since January 2024, the USCP has confiscated more than 50 weapons, outside of the congressional buildings, that were illegally on Capitol grounds, the agency said.

I cum in peace

This seems unethical to represent someone, then go to work for the government and drop the charges agains your former clients. But, I guess I am wistfully remembering a world of rules and ethics.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/to...itol-riot-dropped-us-case-against-2025-02-05/