(The Atlantic) The emotional high point of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial probably came in its first hours.

Closing out the opening presentation from the Democratic House managers, Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland offered a powerful speech in which he choked back tears as he recalled the attempted coup of January 6. The speech was poignant for personal reasons—as members of Congress know, and as my colleague John Hendrickson wrote last month, Raskin’s son, Tommy, had died by suicide just days before the insurrection—and because, no matter how heartfelt it was, it is unlikely to have much effect on Trump’s expected acquittal. (Indeed, later in the afternoon, the Senate voted 56-44 to proceed with the trial—only one Republican having been swayed by the day’s argument to reverse his vote from an earlier procedural motion.)

But Raskin’s speech framed the attack on the Capitol fomented by Trump not just as a technical matter or a violation of law, but as a violation of something the nation holds sacred.

Raskin recalled the horror of January 6. “All around me people were calling their wives and their husbands, their loved ones, to say goodbye,” he said. But his focus was not on the fear he and others felt but on what was left after the riot. Raskin described two low points from that day. One was his daughter’s reaction. She had come to the Capitol and taken shelter under a table, fearing for her life. After the rioters were expelled, Raskin apologized and told her it wouldn’t be like this the next time she visited the Capitol.

“She said, ‘Dad, I don’t want to come back to the Capitol,’” he said. “Of all the terrible, brutal things I saw and heard on the day and since then, that one hit me the hardest.”

(Read More)
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/jamie-raskins-appeal-to-the-sacred/617982/

(ABC13 Eyewitness News) BREWSTER COUNTY, Texas -- An attorney in west Texas received some unexpected attention during a Zoom call that involved the face of a friendly cat.

During a virtual court proceeding on Tuesday in the 394th Judicial District Court in Brewster County, Texas, attorney Rod Ponton logged on to the meeting with a cat filter emblazoned across his screen.

In the video, Judge Roy Ferguson warns Ponton, saying "I believe you have a filter turned on in the video settings."

Ponton responds saying he's aware and says, "I'm here live, I'm not a cat." The video was posted to the court's YouTube page, which houses a series of its virtual streams.

(Funny Video)
https://abc13.com/zoom-cat-filter-judge-attorney-in-texas-live-stream-rod-ponton/10324229/

CNN's Donie O'Sullivan went inside a gathering of QAnon followers in Arizona, just a couple of weeks before the 2020 election.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peopleandplaces/watch-cnn-go-inside-a-gathering-of-qanon-followers/vi-BB1dpdme

(NY Post)The suspect in the Florida shooting that left two FBI agents dead and three wounded was identified by sources as a 55-year-old man who lived alone in the Sunrise apartment complex.

David Lee Huber was the target of a child-porn search warrant being served by the agents early Tuesday when he spied on the feds through a doorbell camera and opened fire with an assault-style rifle, sources told The Post.

Huber largely kept to himself at the Water Terrace Apartments and did not appear to have befriended any of his neighbors, a former tenant said.

The shooting around 6 a.m. Tuesday left veteran FBI agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger dead — and three others wounded, two hospitalized in stable condition.

https://nypost.com/2021/02/03/suspect-identified-in-deadly-florida-fbi-warrant-shooting/

*the Post is not my usual choice of news sources, BUT I googled this guy's address (10100 Reflections Blvd #102 Sunrise, FL 33351 and it matches the address of the shootout.

(Miami Herald) One FBI agent, possibly two, were killed and others injured while serving a warrant at a Sunrise home Tuesday morning, law enforcement sources familiar with the shooting told the Miami Herald.

One federal law enforcement source said at least five agents were shot and two were ‘gravely wounded.’

Sunrise police said the suspect, a man suspected of child pornography possession, had holed up in his home at 10100 Reflections Blvd. West. Nob Hill Road is closed in both directions from Northwest 44th Street to Oakland Park Boulevard.

The shooting happened around 6 a.m. The child pornography case was being investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by federal prosecutors in Fort Lauderdale. (Read More)

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article248942479.html

https://twitter.com/SunrisePoliceFL/status/1356602581221539842?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1356602581221539842%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.miamiherald.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fcrime%2Farticle248942479.html

If facts are important, Marco Rubio could stand to learn a few. His recent claim that “only in the Third World” are high-level politicians tried and convicted of crimes is easily debunked.

snip

For instance, Silvio Berlusconi, the media mogul and former Prime Minister of Italy, was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison for tax fraud in 2013, though he wound up serving only community service because of his age. He was “expelled” from holding public office for a time after his conviction but was subsequently reelected to the European Parliament. His other alleged misdeeds are well documented. Other Italian leaders have also been convicted of crimes. France’s former prime minister, François Fillon, was convicted more recently in June 2020 of corruption charges. He was considered a frontrunner to become the president of that country. He also was forced to pay a fine equivalent to $421,000 in U.S. dollars.

Former French President Jacques Chirac was tried after he left office over a job scandal which he used to fund his political party. “[H]e was excused from having to attend his 2011 corruption trial due to ill health,” The Guardian reported. He was convicted, but his two-year sentence was suspended, several outlets, including The New York Times, said. And, prosecutors asked a judge to hand another former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, a four-year prison term last December on accusations he “tr[ied] to bribe a judge with a plum retirement job in exchange for inside information on an inquiry into his campaign finances,” The Guardian also reported. A final verdict in the case is not expected until March 1 of this year.

Former Romanian Chamber of Deputies President Liviu Dragnea went to jail in 2019 after a corruption conviction. He was described as the “country’s most powerful politician” for his leadership role in the lower house of Romania’s bicameral legislature. South Korea’s highest court recently upheld a 20-year prison sentence for Park Geun-Hye, South Korea’s former president, on a bribery conviction. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert served time behind bars for bribery and obstruction of justice. He was released in 2017. Current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was indicted on corruption charges in Nov. 2019.

While we’re making a list, former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond was tried but acquitted on sex assault charges. He claimed the case against him was a smear campaign. But he was tried. Former Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev was tried but acquitted in a scandal alleging lost government documents. For the record, France, Italy, Scotland, Israel, and South Korea are considered first-world, Western-aligned countries. Romania and Bulgaria are considered second-world countries due to their historical alignment with the Eastern bloc.

Read More:
https://lawandcrime.com/impeachment/in-defense-of-trump-rubio-claims-only-third-world-nations-convict-their-leaders-hes-wrong/

Florida has launched a statewide preregistration system to help seniors, nursing home residents & staff, frontline health workers and vulnerable individuals schedule COVID-19 vaccination appointments.

The system allows people to pre-register to receive the vaccine and be notified when appointments are available at state-supported vaccination sites.

On the site, residents can select their county and submit their contact information. Once appointments are available, individuals will be contacted by phone call, text or email and will be assisted in scheduling an appointment.


(Link to registration site below)

https://myvaccine.fl.gov/

...by saving him from financial ruin and turned him into a Russian asset who gave Putin 'everything he wanted' as president.

(DailyMail) Donald Trump was cultivated as a Russian asset more than 40 years ago which exploded into a decades-long 'relationship' of mutual benefit to both Russia and Trump, a shocking new book claims.

Trump was rescued multiple times from multiple bankruptcies by boatloads of Russian cash laundered through his real estate in the 80s and 90s, the author asserts. Russian money also picked up the tab for buildings franchised under Trump's name.

An invitation to Russia by a high-level KGB official in 1987 under the guise of a preliminary scouting trip to build a Trump hotel in Moscow, was in fact 'deep development' by KGB handlers that furthered creating secret back channels and allowed the Russians to influence and damage American democracy, the author claims.


When Trump became President, it was time to pay the piper and Trump gave Putin everything he wanted, the author writes. Author Craig Unger makes the revelations in his new book, American Kompromat, How the KGB Cultivated Donald Trump, and Related Tales of Sex, Greed, Power and Treachery. Unger is a journatist and author of six books, including the New York Times bestsellers House of Bush, House of Saud, and House of Trump, House of Putin.

Read More:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9184687/How-Russia-began-grooming-Donald-Trump-40-years-ago-saving-financial-ruin-book-claims.html

(TalkingPointsMemo) White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that President Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss, among other matters, renewing a soon-to-expire nuclear arsenal treaty and the recently reported massive SolarWinds hack.

“I will just convey to you that he called him,” Psaki said, adding that the conversation was initiated to put forward the country’s “willingness” to extend a nuclear arms agreement know as the New START, which is quickly approaching expiration. The pact, set to expire on Feb. 5, is the only remaining treaty limiting the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals.

snip

See the full White House readout below:

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. They discussed both countries’ willingness to extend New START for five years, agreeing to have their teams work urgently to complete the extension by February 5. They also agreed to explore strategic stability discussions on a range of arms control and emerging security issues. President Biden reaffirmed the United States’ firm support for Ukraine’s sovereignty. He also raised other matters of concern, including the SolarWinds hack, reports of Russia placing bounties on United States soldiers in Afghanistan, interference in the 2020 United States election, and the poisoning of Aleksey Navalny. President Biden made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to actions by Russia that harm us or our allies. The two presidents agreed to maintain transparent and consistent communication going forward.


Read More:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/biden-made-his-first-call-to-putin-after-years-of-trump-coddling-russian-leader