I burst out laughing at this one, and thought you might enjoy it, too.  Bryan Betancur, a self professed white supremacist and member of the Proud Boys, was arrested by the FBI for his role in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6th.   That’s not news, since a lot of white supremacists have been arrested for their role in the attack where 5 people died and scores injured.  The news is how Betancur was tracked down…he was wearing an ankle monitor stemming from a conviction for burglary.  That’s right folks, this genius participated in insurrection against the federal government while on probation for a felony conviction.  Sheesh.

It gets even better – he’s from Silver Spring Maryland and lied to his probation officer that he was going to DC to…wait for it…pass out Gideon Bibles.  He’s been tracked to the Trump rally at the Ellipse just south of the White House to the Capitol with the rest of the criminals.  He’s now in FBI custody for not only his role in the attack, but also for violating his probation by lying to his probation officer and his continued participation in several white supremacist organizations.

White supremacists, like gun-nuts, are generally not known for their intelligence, but this guy takes the cake.  If stupidity was a violin, this guy would be the Stradivarius of stupidity.

Today, Pro Publica published an amazing archive of over 500 videos of the attack on the Capitol posted to Parler by the insurrectionists who horrified all normal people on January 6th.  They are in sequential order and cover the time from noon until 6pm Eastern time.

The level of violence can disturb some, so be warned and cautious sharing this around.  This is significant work and preserves for all time how Americans attacked Americans because they didn’t like the result of a free and fair election and followed a profoundly corrupt man to the Capitol and now to jail for a long time.

Fox News talking heads are now trumpeting the accuracy of US intelligence that Trump claims to have used to justify the killing of the second most powerful member of the Iranian government, and all reference to the “Deep State” has ceased.  The reversal can cause serious whiplash if you’re not careful.  Even Sean Hannity got into the act, saying, “But I will say the big headline is, this is a huge victory for American intelligence, a huge victory for our military, a huge victory for the State Department, and a huge victory and total leadership by the president.”  Hannity has been railing about US intelligence for 3 years calling it the anti-Trump “Deep State”.

NY Times reporter Rukmini Callimachi tweeted earlier today that her sources call the evidence of imminent attacks was “razor thin” and leaves many questions.  Now that Congress is being finally briefed, the truth will come out, and I’ll lay odds that Trump and his enablers are lying about this, too.

Wag the Dog.

Early yesterday morning, two Aramco crude facilities were attacked.  Shortly after, satellite photos showed plumes of smoke coming from multiple locations at a scale that could be observed from space.   The Saudis announced that HALF of their production had been taken off line.  When international trading started a few hours ago, crude prices jumped $6.00 per barrel, increasing to over $60.

Just a little while ago, Trump tweeted: “Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!”

Yemeni Houthis claimed responsibility for the attacks.  Mike Pompeo accused Iran for the attacks.  I call bullshit. This has all the markings of Wag the Dog as a pretense to start a war with Iran.  Here’s why I say this:

1. The Houthis have been using quadcopters and other small commercial drones bought off of Amazon for their attacks on Saudi Arabia.  These drones have little capacity to carry munitions that would cause significant damage.
2. Iran has apparently been supplying parts and training to build cheap drones, yet they are small with little capacity to carry significant explosives.
3. The attack early on Saturday morning caused enough damage to shut in FIVE MILLION BARRELS PER DAY of Saudi production.  This kind of damage was not caused by homemade drones or quadcopters from Amazon.

The Saudi facilities that were allegedly attacked are massive, with modern controls and redundant systems.  To claim that an attack with homemade drones was significant enough to shut down 5 million barrels per day of production is laughable.  This incident is one of three things:

1. An actual attack from Iran, which would be suicide by said country, and an accusation I reject.
2. An attack by some other power trying to instigate a war (the US) which is certainly a possibility.
3. The entire story is bullshit.  Trump and Mohammad bin Salman are in cahoots to start a war with Iran and jack up crude prices.

I’ll take Door Number 3, Monty.  This “attack” stinks like yesterday’s crawfish boil, and Trump tweeting that he’s awaiting instructions from Saudi Arabia is the tell.  Let’s be clear here:  The storyline is that a fleet of small homemade drones from Yemen, built by Iran, was so effective that it knocked out 50% of Saudi Arabia’s production.  Bullshit. Alternatively, Iran was so stupid as to attack Saudi directly with powerful drones (or warplanes) guaranteeing a lethal response from the US and its Middle East allies.  Bullshit.

I believe that this is nothing more than pretense to justify attacking Iran.  Worse, Trump is subjugating the US to Saudi dominance, publicly announcing that he is awaiting instructions from that murdering SOB MBS for how our country should respond.

Christ on a Crutch.  2020 or impeachment can’t come too soon.

Did you see that story on MSM this morning about how Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s security detail attacked protestors across from the Turkish embassy in Washington?  Me neither.  If there is any coverage at all, it’s about how “violence” broke out a protest yesterday.  Watch this video:

The guys in black suits are Erdoğan’s security detail.  The protestors are across the street.  Apparently forgetting that they were in the US, Erdoğan’s goons attacked the protestors, violently punching and kicking them.  DC police were caught completely off guard, and had to hustle to stop the attack.  We understand that none of the black suit guys were arrested, just shuffled back to their side of the street.

This is what happens when the President of the United States lends credibility to an authoritarian despot by inviting him to visit in the WH.  This can’t end soon enough.