-Chuck Morse: Senate hopeful, plant nursery owner, opposer of carbon-cutting policies

The twice-impeached former president was directly involved in a scheme to keep him in power by seizing voting machines, a familiar situation so routine in healthy democracies that we hesitated to even mention it. 
 

• Disgraced former president Donald Trump’s advisers drafted two versions of an executive order to seize voting machines, according to a new CNN report. One version directed the Department of Defense to do the seizing, while the other called on the Department of Homeland Security to do the honors. The plan’s ultimate aim was to keep Trump in the White House through at least mid-February 2021. Neither order was ever issued, and it’s unclear exactly who drafted them. 
   
• But we now know that Trump himself was an active participant in the scheme. Six weeks after Election Day, Trump reportedly directed Rudy Giuliani to call DHS and find out if it could legally take control of voting machines in three swing states. Giuliani did so (shockingly without looping in a reporter by accident), and was shot down. That call came after then-Attorney General Bill Barr rejected Trump’s pitch to have the Justice Department seize the machines in an Oval Office meeting, and Trump rejected a proposal from outside advisers to mobilize the Pentagon.
   
• Both CNN and the New York Times have reported that the plan traces back to retired Army colonel and active-duty wackjob Phil Waldron, who pitched the idea of using national-security agencies to seize voting machines to Michael Flynn, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and others. (Waldron also circulated the infamous powerpoint "Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 JAN” that wound up in Mark Meadows’s inbox.) The January 6 committee subpoenaed him back in December. 

Meanwhile, House investigators have spoken to a key witness of the coup strategy that Trump did try to set in motion.
 

• Former Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short reportedly testified before the January 6 committee last week, appearing in response to a subpoena. Short is the most senior Pence lackey known to have cooperated with the investigation, and was with Pence on January 6 during the attack on the Capitol. Another top Pence aide, Greg Jacob, met with the panel on Tuesday. In what may be a subtle sign of his displeasure with Pence’s team’s cooperation, Trump issued a Tuesday statement demanding that the committee instead investigate, um, “why Mike Pence did not send back the votes for recertification or approval.
   
• Normal stuff from the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee, whose Big Lie grift has given him a huge financial head start for a potential candidacy. Trump’s political war chest stood at $122 million at the start of the year, more than twice the RNC’s cash on hand. If there’s one double-edged bit of hope, it’s that Trump may no longer be extreme enough for his base: He’s still the overwhelming favorite for the nomination, but his lead over potential GOP rivals like Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has recently narrowed, in large part due to his endorsements of vaccines and booster shots. (Trump conspicuously didn’t say a word about vaccines at his Saturday rally.)

House investigators and reporters have steadily unearthed piles of evidence pointing to Trump’s personal involvement in multiple plans to overturn the 2020 election. The trick will be lifting that story above the noise of Trump’s voter fraud lies and insurrection whitewashing, before they propel him and his antidemocratic allies back into power.

On the latest episode of America Dissected, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed talks to NYU Law Professor and host of the podcast Strict Scrutiny, Melissa Murray, about a recent ruling against workplace vaccine mandates, how that might affect the Supreme Court, and Justice Breyer's retirement. New episodes of America Dissected drop every Tuesday. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Many Democrats have increasingly resigned themselves to allowing Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) to go off and write a version of Build Back Better he’s happy with, if such a thing exists, so that they can hurry up and pass more of President Biden’s agenda ahead of the midterms. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said in a statement last week that “there is agreement among Senate Democrats on significant parts of this bill: climate action, the care economy, taking on Big Pharma’s price gouging, and lowering health care costs,” and urged Senate Democrats to pass a Manchin-friendly bill before Biden’s State of the Union address on March 1. His Majesty helpfully called Build Back Better “dead” on Tuesday, but reiterated this week that he’s open to discussing a slimmed-down bill with some of its priorities. Anyway, Manchin raked in corporate cash in exchange for blocking Biden’s agenda over the last year, suggesting that speedy good-faith negotiations may not be in the cards.

• Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) announced that he was hospitalized for a stroke last week, but is expected to make a full recovery. An awful reminder of a key reason not to waste time with a razor-thin Senate majority.
   
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the U.S. and NATO have “ignored” Russia’s concerns in his first public comments on the crisis since December.
   
• At least 13 historically Black colleges and universities reported bomb threats on Tuesday, the first day of Black History Month. Some of the schools have received multiple threats this year. 
   
• New York Attorney General Letitia James has subpoenaed the General Services Administration for records that might show Donald Trump gave false information to secure the lease for his DC hotel. 
   
• Johnson & Johnson and the three major drug distributors will pay Native American tribes up to $665 million to settle lawsuits over the opioid epidemic. 
   
• Fox News promoted and celebrated the story of Washington state trooper Robert LaMay, who resigned rather than get vaccinated back in October, but has yet to mention that LaMay died of COVID on Friday.
   
• Whoopi Goldberg apologized for saying the Holocaust was “not about race” on The View on Monday, and the show invited on Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, to discuss why her comments were such a mess.
   
• Tom Brady announced his retirement from the NFL, allowing President Biden to nominate a younger liberal quarterback before the midterms.
   
• New Jersey groundhog Milltown Mel died before the big day, which means winter is…indefinite? Shorter but haunted? Draw your own conclusions, this is uncharted ground(hog). 

Texas Republicans’ unprecedented book-banning effort has led to the removal of hundreds of books touching on race and sexuality from Texas school libraries over the past few months, often over the objections of school librarians. In the first four months of this school year, parents or community members filed 75 formal requests to ban books from school districts in the Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin areas. Only one library-book challenge was filed at those districts during the same time period the year before. Texas school librarians are facing increasing hostility from right-wing parents, and some have preemptively removed LGBTQ-affirming books or declined to order new ones out of fear of public criticism. Meanwhile, the Texas State Board of Education has appointed Stephen Balch—a conspiracy theorist who called Joe Biden’s election victory a “literal coup” and a proponent of White Replacement Theory—to revise the state’s social studies curriculum standards. Live in Texas? Demand his removal.

In 2022 mental health is finally a thing, especially as people are not feeling like their normal selves. Let’s support one another and talk openly. Whether or not therapy is your thing, knowing it’s available and affordable is important, for you or perhaps a loved one.  

Millions of people are trying and loving online therapy. It doesn’t have to be sitting around just talking about your feelings.

So, what is therapy, exactly? It’s whatever you want it to be.

You can privately talk to someone if your stress is too much to manage, you’re battling a temper, having relationship issues, anxiety, depression, etc… Whatever you need, there’s no more shame in these normal human struggles. We take care of our bodies, why not our minds, too? Without a healthy mind, being truly happy and at peace is HARD.

BetterHelp is customized online therapy that offers video, phone and even live chat sessions with your therapist, so you don’t have to see anyone on camera if you don’t want to. It’s much more affordable than in-person therapy and you can start communicating with your therapist in under 48 hours.

It’s always a good time to invest in yourself, because you are your greatest asset. See if online therapy is for you by heading to BetterHelp.com/crooked for 10% off your first month.

Pfizer has asked the FDA to authorize low doses of its vaccine for children under five, who may become eligible much earlier than anticipated. 

Thirty-four states and Washington, DC, have seen declines in new COVID hospitalizations. 

The White House said for the first time that it supports permanent legal status for migrant families who were separated at the border under the Trump administration. 

A Swedish city plans to enlist a bunch of crows (on a volunteer basis) to clean up cigarette butts in exchange for food.