The Tarbabys Blog

Daily Beast

Russia’s Big, Bizarre ‘Thank You!’ to Tucker Carlson and Josh Hawley

Julia Davis – February 9, 2022

There’s no question about it: the Kremlin has found a group of advocates in Fox News and the GOP, and Russian state media mouthpieces couldn’t be more grateful. Scarcely a day goes by without a supportive mention of Tucker Carlson on Russian airwaves, and his open opposition to U.S. support of Ukraine—as it faces down the imminent threat from Russia—are bearing fruit.

Carlson, who has been described as “practically the co-host” of state TV propagandists and “a voice of reason,” is often quoted to support official Kremlin narratives. Russian senator Alexey Pushkov claimed that the West—and not Russia—is “provoking war.” He asserted: “This isn’t just my opinion. Prominent Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson says that the mainstream media is getting us ready for war, demanding war.”

At the same time, Russian state TV worries about the scrutiny Carlson and others are facing for insisting that the United States should abandon the fledgling democracy and allow the Kremlin to continue its conquests of Russia’s neighbors unabated. On Sunday’s edition of the weekly program Vesti Nedeli, New York-based reporter Valentin Bogdanov asserted: “If you’re smart, you’re pro-Putin. Those who don’t believe in Washington’s magic are treated as witches… Tucker Carlson is on the watch list of the hawks.”

Kremlin TV Worries Tucker Carlson’s Pro-Putin Bias Has Gone Too Far

Vesti Nedeli went on to air clips from Carlson’s Friday show, where the talk show host complained that “during a closed-door briefing in Congress on Russia, Jim Cooper of Tennessee, a Democrat, asked an intelligence briefer to find out if this show is tied to Russia. We are not tied to Russia, of course.”

Describing himself as an “opposition journalist,” Carlson claimed that “Joe Biden’s NSA” secretly monitored his electronic communications last year. He was likely referring to an incidental collection linked to his communications with “Kremlin intermediaries” in an effort to secure an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Carlson criticized Republicans who “now believe Russia is our greatest enemy” and opined: “They could stop this tomorrow. If Mitch McConnell criticized the build-up to the war with Putin, it would end immediately… The lunacy would end. But they are not doing that. Instead, Republicans are every bit as hysterical about Russia as Adam Schiff ever was… Is that what Republican voters want?”

Carlson proceeded to compare a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine to what’s happening at the U.S.’s southern border. “Texas is a state that’s had well over 1 million foreign nationals pour into it illegally over the last year. Right over the border. That is a far bigger invasion than anything Vladimir Putin is planning in Ukraine,” he said on Friday. In response to Carlson’s complaints, Congressman Cooper’s office reportedly told Tucker Carlson Tonight that Cooper “has every right to ask whatever questions he thinks are important to strengthening American security during confidential House Intelligence Committee hearings.”

How Putin Made a Fool of Tucker Carlson

But Russian state television doesn’t see it the same way. What’s at stake, Bogdanov alleged, is not simply the taming of Carlson, but preventative sanctions against Russia or its Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany. He complained that by accusing former President Donald Trump of “working for Russia,” the Democrats “tied his hands and feet and squeezed him out of the White House.”

Kremlin propagandists have high hopes for Trump’s triumphant return—which they’re promising to support—along with what they describe as “the new wave of Republicans.” Classifying them as a “horde” or “pack,” Bogdanov pointed to Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), who opposed the deployment of American troops to Eastern Europe, and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), who has echoed Tucker Carlson’s talking points on Russia, including when Marshall said: “I’m against sending U.S. troops to Ukraine. I’d send them to the southern border [of the U.S.] before sending them to Ukraine.”

Russian state television singled out their favorite of the bunch: Josh Hawley, who recently demanded that President Joe Biden suspend U.S. support for Ukraine’s potential NATO membership. Hawley also called on the U.S. to stop carrying “the heavy burden it once did in other regions of the world, including Europe.” It was such music to the Russian propagandists’ ears that across state media, Hawley’s position was extolled and anyone who criticized him was smeared.

During last week’s White House media briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki said: “If you are digesting Russian misinformation and parroting Russian talking points, you are not aligned with longstanding bipartisan American values, which is to stand up for the sovereignty of countries like Ukraine… That applies to Sen. Hawley, but it also applies to others who may be parroting the talking points of Russian propagandist leaders.”

Appearing on a state TV show The Big Game on Thursday, the president of the Center for the National Interest, Dimitri Simes claimed that Jen Psaki practically accused “leading Senator” Hawley of acting as an agent of Russia. Simes surmised that a sharp split is taking place within the Republican party, with the two congressmen, Braun and Marshall, suddenly opposing any intervention by the United States with respect to Ukraine’s attempts to defend itself from Russia’s aggression.

Simes was so incensed that Psaki dared to criticize Hawley’s stance that he compared the White House press secretary to the notorious chief of the NKVD, Lavrenty Beria, who played a major role in the bloody purges of Joseph Stalin’s opponents. Concerns about Hawley’s alleged persecution reverberated throughout state media channels. On Thursday, channel Rossiya-24 complained that Hawley was being “harshly denounced” by Psaki and English-speaking RT said that he was “admonished… for telling Biden to let Ukraine defend itself and focus on China.”

The same day, Olga Skabeeva, the host of 60 Minutes, also criticized Psaki for “coming after Hawley” and agreed with panelists on the show, who argued that Democrats are on their way out. She urged Ukrainians not to rely on Biden, and instead to work on establishing better relations with Trump, especially since the former U.S. president made it clear that he would be happy to let Ukraine handle Russia’s aggression without America’s help.

Skabeeva concluded: “Trump said he will become the 47th president [of the United States]… We have already started working on that. Having elected him the first time, I think we can manage to do it again.”

Insider

Putin’s super yacht abruptly left Germany amid sanction warnings over Russia-Ukraine tensions, report says

Julie Coleman – February 9, 2022

• Vladimir Putin’s yacht Graceful left Hamburg before finishing repairs, German media reported.
• It is speculated Graceful made an abrupt exit to avoid Western sanctions if Russia invaded Ukraine.
• The luxury superyacht is said to be worth at least $100 million.

A yacht named Graceful and said to belong to Russian President Vladimir Putin left port in Hamburg abruptly before finishing repairs, according to reports from German media.

It is unclear what prompted the move, but the $100 million yacht’s relocation from German waters to Kaliningrad, part of Russian territory, came amid fears the West would impose sanctions if Russia invaded Ukraine.

While Moscow has continuously denied any plans to invade its neighbor, it has gathered over 100,000 troops at positions all around Ukraine and has even sent six assault ships into the Black Sea, moving more combat power toward the former Soviet territory.

The US and UK have warned of sanctions on Russian elites, and President Joe Biden has threatened to sanction Putin personally should Russia decide to attack Ukraine. He has also deployed troops to Eastern Europe to support NATO members and has put thousands of US troops on “heightened alert” as tensions rise.

Some have speculated that sanctions could target certain luxury assets. Graceful was spotted on a public maritime-traffic-tracking site sailing for Kaliningrad.

—Manu Gómez (@GDarkconrad) February 9, 2022

Graceful arrived last year in Hamburg, where the superyacht has been receiving several modifications, including two forward balconies and an extension to the swimming platform, Boat International reported.

It was built by the German shipbuilding company Blohm and Voss and officially launched in 2014. Designed by H2 Yacht Design, Graceful is classified as a tri-deck superyacht, according to Boat International.

The luxury yacht is 270 feet long and equipped with a gym, a saloon featuring a white Steinway piano, a spa, a library, and a 49-foot indoor pool that can be converted into a dance floor. The vessel is meant to accommodate up to 12 guests and 14 crew.

Jonny Horsfield, H2’s founder, told Boat International in 2015 that Graceful was meant to be a timeless yacht.

“The owner is a very confident person,” Horsfield told the outlet without mentioning Putin directly. “He knows what he likes and he’s not a slave to trends.”

The Russian president’s net worth is unknown, but it has been speculated that Putin is worth as much as $200 billion, if not more, Fortune previously reported. Documents leaked last year suggested that Putin had secret assets abroad.

Daily Beast

Judge Orders Bannon’s Sugar Daddy to Cough Up $134 Million Over Notorious Yacht

William Bredderman – February 10, 2022

The financier famed for bankrolling some of Steve Bannon’s best-known ventures, as well as the far-right strategist’s jet-setting lifestyle, is in deep trouble for steering a $28 million yacht—the same boat where federal agents arrested Bannon in 2020—out of American waters.

A New York judge slapped Guo Wengui, who also uses the aliases Kwok Ho Wan and Miles Guo, with $134 million in contempt of court fines on Wednesday for violating multiple restraining orders barring him from selling or relocating the boat or any other property he controls. The high price tag results from nearly a year of the fugitive Chinese national defying the court’s order that he return the craft to a U.S. port—an order that carried a daily forfeiture of $500,000.

Court documents filed in late January showed the 151-foot-long pleasure vessel blithely plying the western Mediterranean. Now, Guo has only until Monday to come up with the funds. His attorneys at BakerHostetler—a firm with close ties to the Republican National Committee—declined to comment for this story.

The punishing penalties result from a case unrelated to Bannon’s maritime arrest a year and a half ago for allegedly looting a nonprofit, a charge for which he never faced prosecution thanks to a last-minute pardon from outgoing President Donald Trump.

Rather, the fines are connected to a separate fight over Guo’s enigmatic yet ostentatious wealth. Nearly five years ago, an affiliate of the Hong Kong-based investment firm Pacific Alliance Group brought suit against Guo, alleging his companies had failed to repay tens of millions of dollars in loans made between 2008 and 2009 or deliver on promised property transactions. The opulent boat has emerged as a key asset in that fight over the allegedly unpaid tab.

The Messy Money Drama Behind Steve Bannon’s Propaganda Machine

Guo, a Shandong-born construction magnate, absconded from the Chinese mainland in 2014, fleeing charges ranging from corruption and money-laundering to rape (all of which he has denied). Since 2017, he has lived in luxury, setting up residence in a $68 million Central Park penthouse and underwriting numerous right-wing projects, from nonprofits with Bannon to dodgy media operations to bogus COVID-19 studies to would-be Twitter competitor GETTR. All the while, he has sought refugee status and attacked figures in both the Communist Chinese regime and in the dissident diaspora online.

The yacht imbroglio is hardly the first time Guo’s activities have run afoul of U.S. authorities. In September 2021, his companies agreed to pay half-a-billion dollars in Security and Exchange Commission fines for running a crypto-currency scheme in violation of federal regulations.

Associated Press

Florida high court refuses DeSantis request on redistricting

February 10, 2022

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Supreme Court told Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday it will not answer his question on whether a Black congressman’s district is unconstitutional.

DeSantis has interjected himself into the once-a-decade process of drawing new congressional maps, something highly unusual for a governor to do. The House and Senate have considered maps that largely left Democratic U.S. Rep. Al Lawson’s district intact, but DeSantis is pushing a map that would make his district lean Republican.

After submitting his map, DeSantis asked the Supreme Court if Lawson’s district is unconstitutional. The district runs from Jacksonville to Gadsden County west of Tallahassee, a distance of about 200 miles (about 321 kilometers). DeSantis questioned whether drawing it to contain Black communities so far apart met the state and federal constitutions.

The court said the issue was too complicated to simply grant an advisory opinion.

“The scope of the Governor’s request is broad and contains multiple questions that implicate complex federal and state constitutional matters and precedents interpreting the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” it wrote.

The Hill

Former bank CEO sentenced in loan scheme to land Trump administration position

February 9, 2022

Former bank CEO Stephen Calk was sentenced to one year and a day in prison this week after he was convicted for participating in a loan scheme with the goal to secure a role in the Trump administration.

Calk, who was formerly the head of the Chicago-based Federal Savings Bank, was sentenced on Monday over his dealings with Paul Manafort, the onetime chairman of former President Trump’s 2016 campaign.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said that Calk improperly used his position as CEO to secure high-risk loans for Manafort and leveraged that as a means to gain a senior position in the Trump administration, according to a press release.

“Stephen Calk abused his position as the CEO of a federally-insured bank to try to buy himself prestige and power by trading millions of dollars in high-risk loans for influence with a presidential campaign and consideration for positions at the highest levels of the Defense Department,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in the release.

“Today’s sentence sends the message that those who corrupt federally regulated financial institutions will be held to account.”

Last year, Calk was convicted of conspiracy to commit financial institution bribery and financial institution bribery.

During his trial, prosecutors presented evidence arguing that he was seeking a position as either the secretary of the Army or head of the Treasury, Commerce or Defense departments, though he was not chosen for those jobs.

Calk was also sentenced on Monday to two years of supervised release and 800 hours of community service. He will also have to pay fines totaling more than $1 million, according to the release.

“As you can imagine, my life is in shambles,” he said during the sentencing, according to The Washington Post. “I deeply, deeply regret that the bank’s reputation has been tarnished as a result of my indictment and my conviction.”

Daily Beast

How the QAnon Crazies Went From Comet Pizza to the National Butterfly Center

Eleanor Clift – February 9, 2022

The National Butterfly Center, in Mission, Texas, was forced to close indefinitely after Kimberly Lowe, a fringe congressional candidate running in a GOP primary in Virginia, visited the site with hopes of uncovering a child sex-trafficking hub.

Denied entry based on her trail of inflammatory Facebook posts, Lowe became belligerent. A war of words and a physical altercation with the center’s director followed. Soon after, right-wing media featured video from outside the center’s gates alleging “credible threats of the cartels trafficking children through the butterfly center.”

The false claims follow the same script as the Pizzagate conspiracy theory in 2016, when Democrats were falsely accused of abusing children and holding them captive in the basement of Comet Ping Pong, a pizzeria in upscale northwest Washington, D.C. that doesn’t have a basement. But proving or debunking a conspiracy theory isn’t the point.

Crisis and Opportunity Could Lead to a Biden Bounce Very Soon

The point is to inflame and excite a Republican base that flirted with (or openly embraced) the QAnon conspiracy theory alleging a Deep State cabal of Democratic-Satanic pedophiles—and has focused its energy on trying “Stop the Steal” of a legitimate election that didn’t go their way.

Multiple conspiracy theories spawned by rage and grievance are coming together in a powerful and frightening GOP coalition.

“Far-right candidates like Kimberly Lowe have a blueprint on how to ride conspiracy theories and extreme rhetoric to office,” Kristen Doerer, managing editor of Right Wing Watch, said in an email. “They only have to look to Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert or Madison Cawthorn—all of whom have become MAGA celebrities—and see that’s a winning strategy.”

Harassing butterfly conservationists is cowardly enough, but for extremists looking for role models, Greene is hard to top. She harassed David Hogg, a survivor of the high school school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, suggesting the shooting that took 17 lives was a false flag.

“They are not just conspiracy theorists. They’re movements, they’re networks, and they span across multiple social media platforms,” Doerer told The Daily Beast. “These conspiracy theorists became valuable for the Republican Party because they can spread the Republican Party’s message whatever that might be throughout their networks. One only has to look at the cavalcade of conspiracy theorists traveling the country for the ReAwaken America Tour to see how large this network has become.”

The confluence of events that led to closing the butterfly sanctuary did not begin or end with Lowe’s visit. An account in The New York Times describes the escalation and the involvement of familiar figures like ex-Breitbart boss and Trump White House senior adviser Steve Bannon and Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The 100-acre site along the Rio Grande is near the path of the promised wall that helped elect Trump, and its construction remains a magnet for his supporters. Bannon raised money to pay for the wall when Congress wouldn’t. He was charged with fraud for absconding with the money. Trump pardoned him. Flynn recently spoke at a rally in support of the wall in nearby McAllen, Texas, where protesters with long guns held vigils.

Adam Klein is an associate professor of Communication Studies at Pace University, whose most recent book is Fanaticism, Racism and Rage Online. He told The Daily Beast that he listened to Bannon’s podcast the previous week recounting his version of the events at the butterfly center. The episode was titled, “Sex Slaves at the Border,” fueling the conspiracy theory swirling around the butterfly center.

Many modern right-wing conspiracy theories draw on the same storyline—which is that liberals and elites and Democrats are depraved. What is devilishly different about the butterfly center conspiracy is “marrying it to another valuable currency, anger at the border,” says Klein. He calls it “old poison in a new bottle.”

Jared Holt, a resident fellow at Atlantic Council who follows digital extremism, said his first reaction to the butterfly center’s closing was “sad to see this happen again. Conspiracy theories about this place have been floating around since 2017.”

Proximity to the wall’s construction path thrust the center into the fray, combined with rhetorical excesses on the right where opponents “are not just disagreeing but acting nefariously and are part of a larger conspiracy,” said Holt. Toss in vile accusations of sex-trafficking, which is universally reviled, “and the people who believe these conspiracy theories then place themselves in a heroic bulwark position, so in their minds they are combating these evils head on.”

The Jan. 6 Committee Members Are Patriots Making Sure Treason is Fully Documented

Monitoring this culture of true believers motivated by baseless conspiracy theories, Holt says that “any lasting solution will have to include very clear line drawings from influential Republican figures who state that this kind of behavior is unacceptable and that it is false. No amount of news media or statements from Democrats will make a difference. Until people who are politically aligned are able to speak to them and they listen, it’s going to be an uphill battle.”

With the midterms looming and control of Congress in the balance, there are few profiles-in-courage within the party whose members parrot conspiratorial theories like the Big Lie to placate Trump.

“This conspiratorial wing has gained so much sway that we’ll see more politicians catering directly to it, and that means we’re going to get more Marjorie Taylor Greenes,” says Holt. And if you’re thinking the voters will reject these extremists, “Jewish spaceships weren’t too much for her constituents,” he notes, referring to Greene’s widely ridiculed claim that Jewish space lasers caused California’s wildfires.

As for the butterfly center, the director has taken to carrying a sidearm, telling The New York Times that her board of directors won’t like it but the people attacking the center “need to know they’re not the only ones who carry weapons.”

Herald Tribune

Thursday’s letters: GOP a ‘fascist cult,’ jurors underpaid, seagrass in danger, more

Sarasota Herald-Tribune – February 10, 2022

How far the formerly great GOP has fallen

So, “ordinary American citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse”? This from the Republican National Committee. Has the GOP finally gone completely, insanely fascist for all to see?

Anybody with eyes, ears and a brain knows 100% that the domestic terrorist invasion of our Capitol Jan. 6 was not “legitimate” in any way! The insurrectionists beat Capitol police officers, causing many serious injuries and at least one death.

Legitimate? They brandished Nazi, Confederate and Trump flags. They caused great damage to the Capitol, even defecating in that sacred place and smearing it on walls and statues. Disgusting!

This latest move by the RNC shows just how repulsively low the formerly great party has fallen. It is now firmly a fascist cult, no longer a “political” party.

I cannot imagine how any American who cares about our country, our Constitution and our democracy could consider voting for any Republican for any office. I swear I will never vote for a politician with an “R” after his or her name. Period.

Dan Awalt, Bradenton

Don’t be fooled by political propaganda

Gauzy television ads and full-color mailers by the “Sun Coast Alliance” are urging Sarasota County voters to overturn our 2018 election results on March 8.

Who is Sun Coast Alliance? Why is it spending so much money on us?

Sun Coast Alliance is a Tallahassee political action committee that recently received $100,000 from something called “Serious Conservatives.” Who might its donors be? That information is “confidential.”

No surprise there. In 2018, Sarasota voted overwhelmingly to replace our antiquated, countywide system of electing county commissioners with single-member districts: Each district elects its own commissioner, the same way we elect state and federal representatives.

We voted for this change because we understand that a countywide voting system guarantees continued control of our commission by developers and large-money interests. Witness Siesta Key.

In 50-plus years, not one Democrat or independent has been elected to the commission.

The commissioners, outraged by the voters expressing their will, have forced another wasteful vote. And groups like “Serious Conservatives” and “Sun Coast Alliance” are doing their bidding.

Do not be deceived by the disingenuous propaganda you are receiving. Vote “no” on the charter amendment that seeks to reimpose the system we rejected four years ago.

Barbara J. Katz, Longboat Key

Jury pay in Florida embarrassingly low

This past year I became a permanent Florida resident and, as is the case in many states, I recently received a jury summons for the 12th Judicial Circuit Court, in Sarasota County.

I am over 70 years of age and retired. As such, I could easily check the appropriate box on the form and be permanently excused from jury duty. However, not unlike many other citizens, I believe it is your civic duty when called for such things to do so, if able, and I most likely will, but not before taking pen to paper to register my disappointment with the embarrassing compensation for jurors in Florida.

For those not aware, jurors in Florida state courts receive $15 per day for the first three days – if not paid by their employer – and $30 per day thereafter, with no mileage allowance, and gasoline currently costing nearly $3.50 per gallon, making Florida jury pay among the lowest in the country.

If the state can find millions to investigate unwarranted voter fraud claims, it can certainly find the few dollars needed for equitable juror compensation, given the cost of living today.

Edward F. McKee, Venice

Save seagrass beds by opposing Senate bill

Sometimes bills proposed in the Florida Legislature do not appear consequential until enacted and then their negative impact is realized too late. Florida Senate Bill 0198, which expands easements in seagrass mitigation, is one of those stealth measures with detrimental impact.

Seagrass is difficult to cultivate and takes years to establish. After seagrass beds are destroyed, replacing them is often unsuccessful and in no way compares to what was lost.

Seagrass is important because it provides shelter and food for manatees, fish, crabs and shellfish. Thousands of acres have been destroyed by pollution because of development, weak regulations and poor compliance, so we now have saltwater deserts devoid of life. Hundreds of manatees are dying of starvation.

Why would legislators even consider further destruction of existing vibrant seagrass? Our Florida coastal environment will be forever impacted and needs our proactive response.

Please alert our legislators to the harmful consequences of SB 0198 and request they vote against it.

Linda Vertefeuille, Bradenton

HuffPost

Stormy Daniels Tears Into Her Ex-Lawyer Michael Avenatti With A Zinger About Naked Trump

Lee Moran – February 9, 2022

Porn actor Stormy Daniels said she is “far more angrier” with her former lawyer Michael Avenatti than with ex-President Donald Trump, with whom she said she had an affair that she was paid to keep secret.

Last week, Avenatti was found guilty of cheating Daniels out of nearly $300,000 that she’d been advanced to write a book about her alleged affair with Trump.

Daniels tore into Avenatti in an interview Tuesday with NewsNation’s Dan Abrams, mocking her former lawyer with a reference to her relationship with Trump.

“He doesn’t scare me. I’ve seen Donald Trump naked. Nothing Michael Avenatti can say will scare me,” Daniels cracked.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said Avenatti ― who put her on the stand for several hours during his trial ― had personally betrayed her.

“I only met Trump a handful of times, not even. I didn’t consider him to be a friend,” she said. “I didn’t have private conversations, I didn’t trust him, and he certainly didn’t steal from me.”

“Michael Avenatti betrayed my trust in every way possible. He lied to my face. He lied about me,” she added.

Watch the interview here:https://www.youtube.com/embed/1lr-oCJsQjY?rel=0

Business Insider

Sidney Powell was ordered to resubmit her request to reverse a sanctions order because her brief was full of mistakes

Sonam Sheth – February 9, 2022

• The GOP lawyer Sidney Powell was ordered to refile her request to reverse a sanctions order.
• The original brief she filed had several mistakes in it, an appeals court said.
• A federal judge sanctioned Powell and several others for filing an election fraud lawsuit “in bad faith and for improper purpose.”

The Republican lawyer Sidney Powell has been ordered to refile a request to reverse sanctions imposed on her because the original brief she filed was full of mistakes.

A case manager for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals — which oversees parts of Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee, and Ohio — told Powell that her brief did not “comply with the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure or Sixth Circuit Rules” and that she must resubmit it.

Powell and other GOP-aligned lawyers asked the court earlier this week to reverse what they characterized as an “intemperate” sanctions order that a lower court judge imposed on them last year.

US District Judge Linda Parker, who ordered the sanctions in a scathing ruling last August, said Powell and eight of her co-counsels filed an election fraud lawsuit in Michigan “in bad faith and for improper purpose.”

The ruling came after Powell repeatedly promised to “release the Kraken” through a slew of lawsuits alleging that the 2020 election was chock full of widespread voter fraud and electoral malfeasance. None of the suits were successful, and Powell and her co-counsels were widely mocked for failing to do the most basic due diligence.

They “presented pleadings that were not ‘warranted by existing law’ … and contained factual contentions lacking evidentiary support or likely to have evidentiary support,” Parker’s sanctions ruling said.

“Further, given the deficiencies in the pleadings, which claim violations of Michigan election law without a thorough understanding of what the law requires, and the number of failed election-challenge lawsuits that Plaintiffs’ attorneys have filed, the Court concludes that the sanctions imposed should include mandatory continuing legal education in the subjects of pleading standards and election law,” it continued.

In addition to sanctioning Powell and the other lawyers involved, Parker referred the attorneys for possible suspension or disbarment because their role in the lawsuits indicated they were not fit to practice law.

In their brief requesting that the order be reversed, Powell and her co-counsels said Parker did “everything possible to make Appellants seem overwrought, dangerous lunatics.”

They also quoted William Shakespeare.

“In the canonical account of treachery towards a sovereign, it is one of the supporters of the pretender to the throne who proposes, ‘The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.'”

“That is because ‘Shakespeare knew that lawyers were the primary guardians of individual liberty in democratic England,'” the brief said. “Americans know this too. Sanctions are not a saber but the resulting damage to civil society is the same. Shutting down speech is not our way.”

Powell made headlines while spearheading then-President Donald Trump’s failed legal effort to overturn the results of the 2020 US election.

“We’re representing President Trump, and we’re representing the Trump campaign,” former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani said at a November 2020 news conference with Powell and Jenna Ellis.

“There are a lot more lawyers working on this, but I guess we’re the senior lawyers,” he continued. Ellis, who spoke after Giuliani, described the group as an “elite strike force team that is working on behalf of the president and the campaign to make sure that our Constitution is protected.”

However, despite the fact that Trump endorsed Powell by name and discussed a plan to appoint her special counsel to investigate the election results, Trump’s campaign distanced itself from Powell after she made a series of increasingly convoluted and unhinged claims about the election.

The Atlanta Black Star

‘This Was Attempted Murder’: Two White Men Chased and Shot At a Black FedEx Driver While He Delivered Packages; Attorney Slams ‘Too Light’ Charges for Father-Son Duo

Nicole Duncan-Smith – February 9, 2022

A Black Federal Express driver says that he was shot at by a white man during his shift. The 24-year-old man has given pictures to the authorities of the vehicle he was using for the deliveries showing the bullet holes from the alleged shooting.

According to the Mississippi Free Press, D’Monterrio Gibson was on the clock working when two white men attacked him on Monday, Jan. 24. The men were identified as Gregory Case, father, and Brandon Case, son.

The young man works for FedEx and was delivering packages in the Jackson suburb of Brookhaven, Mississippi, around 7 p.m. when a white pickup truck drove toward the residence located close to the designated address on the drop.

Gibson recalls the events of that night, saying to the Free Press, “In my mind, I’m thinking [the driver] is leaving to go to the store or something like that, but then they get extremely close to me and start blowing their horn. I proceed to leave the driveway. As I’m leaving the driveway, he starts driving in the grass trying to cut me off.”

After assessing the situation, Gibson says his “instincts” kicked in and he swerved out of the truck’s way. Gregory Case was driving the truck.

“I start hitting the gas trying to get out of the neighborhood because I don’t know what his intentions are,” he told the outlet.

“I drive down about two or three houses. There’s another guy standing in the middle of the street pointing a gun at my windows and signaling to me to stop with his hands, as well as mouthing the word, ‘Stop.’ I shake my head no, I hide behind the steering wheel, and I swerve around him as well. As I swerve around him, he starts firing shots into my vehicle.”

The man standing in the middle of Junior Trail with the firearm was Brandon Case, 35, WLBT reports.

The young man talked to his manager at the FedEx office once he was able to get to the end of the street and reported the incident.

“They’re shooting at you?” he said his manager asked before telling him to “head back to the station” as soon as he was able. However, as he tried to leave the area he saw the white pickup truck that tried to corner him on the grass approaching him again.

“I just went as fast as I could. He chased me all the way to the interstate,” he recounted, claiming that the truck stopped following him 10 or 15 minutes after getting on the highway.

He called the office again and spoke to a different manager, who told him the office would file a police report in the morning. Gibson did not wait. He reported the assault himself.

“I reached dispatch and let him know what was going on, and I only had a chance to get a little of the story out when he cut me off and he was like, ‘Were you at this address?’ I said yes,” Gibson said.

The dispatch told the man that they had received a call reporting that “a suspicious person” was at the address in question. Gibson says he responded, “Sir, I’m not a suspicious person, I work for FedEx. I was just doing my job.”

As Gibson continued to tell his story, he mentioned that the men shot at him, to which the dispatcher allegedly responded, “Well, they didn’t tell me that.” The dispatcher took his name down and told him that he would give it to a supervisor to continue to document his report.

After returning to the FedEx station, the first manager examined the van he was using during the day.

Gibson reported that he and the manager found, “There were bullet holes all in the back of the van, inside packages and everything like that.”

Carlos Moore of The Cochran Firm, the attorney now representing Gibson, showed photos to the outlets of the bullet holes in the truck, in packages, and one bullet on the floor of the vehicle.

Despite being a uniformed delivery driver for FedEx, a look that includes the brand’s signature color and logo, Gibson was driving a white Hertz van at the time of the shooting.

On Tuesday, Jan. 25, Gibson and one of his managers returned to Brookhaven to file a report with that city’s department.

The police report reads, “Ms. Candice Welch, said she was Mr. Gibsons boos [sic], the van had at least [sic] two bullet holes, One in the back door and one in the bumper, and three packages inside had bullet holes in them. She also had a picture of a bullet, that is still laying on van.”

Gibson alleges that even filing the report made him violated. One of the three officers that he spoke to asked him if he did “anything to make them think (he) looked suspicious.”

“I felt disrespected at that point because even if I did, they still can’t take the law into their own hand. So I told him all I did was my job. If they think that I was suspicious, that was on them. He was like ‘OK, I was just asking,’” he expressed.

One officer took him back to the scene of the crime and looked for evidence of the shooting, but nothing was to be found.

Six days after the police report was filed, the father and son turned themselves in.

On Tuesday, Feb. 1, the father was charged with a count of conspiracy assault, and the son was charged with one count of aggravated assault. The cases were released on $75,000 and $150,000 bonds, respectively, a day later.

Moore stated to WLBT, “We believe those are too light charges. We believe this is attempted murder. They had no justification under the law to do what they did. This man had done nothing wrong, and we believe it was racially motivated.”

Gibson has alleged that the two men who assailed him are related to the Brookhaven assistant police chief, Chris Case, which is why the men were allowed to turn themselves in a week later.

Brookhaven Police Chief Kenneth Collins says that is not true, stating that Case is not connected to the investigation and was told by the officer he is not related to the father and son.

His attorney said his client plans on approaching the FBI and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations to open an official investigation, and ask the U.S. Department of Justice “to prosecute this as a hate crime.”

Moore said that his client’s experience had a striking resemblance to the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, the Black man who was chased down and killed by three white men in south Georgia in 2020.

“It’s just sad that it happens. It seems to be a copycat duo copying off the Ahmaud Arbery case,” Moore said.

“They saw this man was a Black man, and they just hauled off and shot at him multiple times, at least the younger son did. The older guy tried to entrap him. They were working concertedly to try to entrap and kill this man. I mean, they shot at him several times. It’s amazing that he survived.”

Free Press reporter Ashton Pittman wrote on Twitter that the local NAACP planned a new conference to address the Gibson attack on Saturday, Feb. 5. He alleges that the local police “expecting a protest, dispatched more than a dozen officers in gear to block off the area.” The news conference was canceled.

“Lincoln County NAACP President Rico Cain says he decided to cancel today’s press conference out of respect for the family and because Black residents in Brookhaven do not feel safe coming here to speak out about the racism they’ve experienced amid such a large police presence.”

Gibson started working for FedEx during the pandemic in July 2021. Despite the traumatic incident, FedEx did not change his delivery route. Gibson has not returned to work and is currently on unpaid time-off, stating he was “uncomfortable” and “anxious” about resuming the assignment.

He is waiting for the delivery service to find a different route for him.