Tag Archives: Jan

US

Alleged Jan. 6 rioter photographed in Pelosi’s office convicted of 8 counts

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An Arkansas man who entered the U.S. Capitol with rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, and was photographed lounging at a desk in then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office suite was convicted Monday of eight federal crimes related to the incursion.

Richard “Bigo” Barnett, now 62, who left a crude written message for Pelosi before departing the office suite with a purloined envelope bearing the California Democrat’s digital signature, sat impassively as a jury in U.S. District Court in Washington delivered its decisions.

After nine days of testimony and legal arguments in the trial, the panel began deliberating Monday morning and reached guilty verdicts on all eight counts against Barnett, including four felonies, in less than two hours.

The most serious charge he faced, obstructing an official government proceeding, carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. But advisory sentencing guidelines used by the court are likely to recommend a much shorter term in his case.

Although a prosecutor argued that Barnett should be jailed pending his sentencing, scheduled for May 3, Judge Christopher R. Cooper allowed him remain on home detention in his small hometown in the Ozarks.

Barnett, an ardent supporter of former president Donald Trump, was carrying a walking stick equipped with a high-voltage stun device when he entered the Capitol. Congress was meeting that day to confirm President Biden’s victory in the November election, despite Trump’s debunked claims that he had been denied reelection because of massive voter fraud.

Besides obstructing an official proceeding, Barnett was convicted of two felonies related to carrying a dangerous weapon in the Capitol and a felony charge of civil disorder. The four misdemeanors he was convicted of included theft of government property, meaning the envelope.

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Science

See the conjunction of Venus and Saturn in free webcast on Jan. 22

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During the evening of Sunday (Jan. 22) the solar system planets Saturn and Venus will meet up in the night sky making a close approach. Luckily, skywatchers who don’t want to brave the bitter cold of January can watch the encounter from the comfort of their homes.

The Virtual Telescope Project will stream the close-approach and the arrangement, known as a “conjunction,” between Venus, the second planet from the sun, and Saturn, the solar system’s second-largest planet. The livestream will begin while the two planets will be separated by less than half a degree, which is less than the angular size of the full moon, and is equivalent to half the width of a finger at arm’s length.

The Virtual Telescope Project’s livestream of the conjunction of Venus and Saturn will begin at 1:30 pm EST (1830 GMT) on Sunday (Jan. 22) and will be available to watch online for free courtesy of the project’s website (opens in new tab) or YouTube channel (opens in new tab).

Related: What time is the conjunction of Venus and Saturn on Sunday (Jan. 22)?

Both Saturn and Venus are visible to the naked eye in the night sky, but there is a massive difference between the brightness of the two. Venus is the brightest object in the sky after the sun and the moon and during the conjunction will be at magnitude -3.9. Saturn, famous for the rings which encircle it, will be at magnitude 0.7 during the conjunction. (Negative numbers indicate bright objects in the sky.)

That means Saturn will be 100 times fainter than Venus during the conjunction according to Virtual Telescope Project head and astrophysicist Gianluca Masi. Masi will be observing the conjunction between Venus and Saturn from Ceccano, Italy.

An illustration of the evening sky on Jan. 22 depicting the conjunction of Venus and Saturn. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

During the conjunction, the two planets will be close enough in the night sky to be resolved with a telescope. Skywatchers will also be able to observe the conjunction with binoculars or with the naked eye, though Saturn may be difficult to spot without assistance from an instrument.

Conditions for viewing the spectacle should be favorable, weather permitting, as the the moon will only be a 2% illuminated crescent the day following January’s new moon on Saturday (Jan. 21). 

An illustration of the night sky on Jan. 22 showing the conjunction of Venus and Saturn. (Image credit: Starry Night Software)

According to In the Sky (opens in new tab), from New York City the conjunction between Venus and Saturn will become visible in the constellation of Capricorn at around 5:18 p.m. EST (2218 GMT) at around 14 degrees over the horizon to the southwest. The planets will set around two hours after the sun at 6:48 p.m. EST (2348 GMT).

The conjunction of these planets marks the beginning of the evening apparition of Venus. According to Space.com’s Joe Rao, the evening apparition of Venus will see it literally soar high into the heavens by late spring during which time the already bright planet will more than double its brightness.

As Venus rises above the horizon, during this period Saturn will lower in the night sky each subsequent night, disappearing into the twilight as it does so. This is leading to Saturn’s solar conjunction on Feb. 16th, 2023.

If you’re hoping to observe the conjunction between Saturn and Venus for yourself, our guides for the best telescopes and best binoculars are a great place to start. If you’re looking to take some photos of the conjunction, see our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography.

Editor’s Note: If you snap the conjunction between Saturn and Venus, and would like to share it with Space.com’s readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com. This story was updated on Jan. 22 to include the new start time for this livestream and to include its YouTube video feed.

 Follow us @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab), or on Facebook (opens in new tab) and Instagram (opens in new tab). 



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US

Three Marines with intelligence jobs charged in Jan. 6 Capitol breach

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Comment

Three active duty members of the Marine Corps assigned to intelligence-related jobs, including one at the National Security Agency headquarters in Maryland, have been charged with participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, according to court filings unsealed Thursday and military service records.

Cpl. Micah Coomer, Sgt. Joshua Abate and Sgt. Dodge Dale Hellonen were arrested Tuesday and Wednesday near Camp Pendleton, Calif., Fort Meade, Md., and Camp Lejeune, N.C., respectively, and appeared in local federal courts.

The FBI said Abate admitted to entering the Capitol “with two ‘buddies’” during a June 2022 interview that was part of his security clearance process while assigned to the Marine Corps’s Cryptologic Support Battalion, which is partnered and headquartered with the NSA at Fort Meade. According to charging papers, Abate said they “walked around and tried not to get hit with tear gas,” and “admitted he heard how the event was being portrayed negatively and decided that he should not tell anybody about going into the U.S. Capitol Building.”

Each faces counts including trespassing, disorderly conduct and illegal parading or picketing in a restricted Capitol building or grounds, in connection with the riots that injured scores of police officers, left offices ransacked and forced lawmakers to evacuate the premises amid Congress’s meeting to confirm the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The sergeants’ occupations as special communications signals analysts and the corporal’s job as an intelligence surveillance reconnaissance system engineer were first reported by Military.com and were confirmed in their service records.

A Marine Corps spokesperson said, “We are aware of an investigation and the allegations. The Marine Corps is fully cooperating with appropriate authorities in support of the investigation.”

Abate’s attorney David Dischley declined to comment. Federal defenders for the other two men did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The men are the first active-duty military members to be charged in the Capitol attack since Maj. Christopher Warnagiris of the Marine Corps was arrested in May 2021. He is awaiting trial on felony counts including assaulting or impeding police and obstructing an official proceeding. About 120 of the roughly 940 people arrested in the Capitol breach served in the military, reserves or National Guard.

According to charging papers filed Tuesday and unsealed Thursday, Coomer posted photographs on Instagram taken from inside the Capitol during the breach captioned, “Glad to be apart of history.” Data provided by Facebook in connection with an August 2021 federal search warrant showed that in Jan. 31 direct message on Instagram, Coomer allegedly “stated his belief ‘that everything in this country is corrupt. We honestly need a fresh restart. I’m waiting for the boogaloo.’”

Coomer described the term as “Civil war 2,” according to an FBI arrest affidavit. U.S. prosecutors have described “boogaloo” as a term taken up by fringe groups referring to a racially or ethnically motivated civil war.

Capitol surveillance video recorded the three Marines entering the Capitol through the Senate Wing Door less than 10 minutes after it was first breached, according to the FBI. The trio was moving together and spent 52 minutes in the building, with Hellonen carrying a yellow Gadsden flag with a “Don’t Tread on Me” logo, according to the FBI. That included time in the Rotunda, where “they placed a red MAGA hat on one of the statues to take photos with it,” an FBI arrest affidavit said.

All three men had previously been awarded a Good Conduct Medal, which is given for every three years of discipline-free service, according to service records.

Separately, another Washington-area military reservist assigned to the U.S. intelligence community and facing a charge in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was convicted Wednesday on unrelated felony weapons offenses.

Hatchet M. Speed, a Navy Reserve petty officer first class assigned to the Naval Warfare Space Field Activity at the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly, Va., was found guilty of possessing three unregistered firearms silencers by a jury in Alexandria federal court.

Speed has pleaded not guilty to federal misdemeanor charges in Washington after being described by U.S. prosecutors as a heavily armed Nazi sympathizer with top-level U.S. government security clearance who breached the Capitol with members of the Proud Boys extremist group. A new indictment this month added a felony count of obstructing an official proceeding of Congress against Speed, who until recently worked with a U.S. defense and intelligence cyberoperations contractor based in nearby Vienna, Va.

Speed is not accused of violence, has no criminal history and retained a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information clearance at time of his arrest. But prosecutors cited Speed’s alleged statements to an undercover FBI employee about using violence to further “anti-government and anti-Semitic ideologies,” including many “enemies” who live near Washington as the seat of the government, and his $50,000-worth of “panic” buying of firearms after the Capitol attack that included a dozen pistols, revolvers, shotguns and rifles.

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World

French unions call new nationwide strikes, protests Jan. 31

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PARIS (AP) — At least 1.1 million people protested on the streets of Paris and other French cities Thursday amid nationwide strikes against plans to raise the retirement age, but President Emmanuel Macron insisted he would press ahead with the proposed pension reforms.

Emboldened by the high turnout, French unions announced new strikes and protests Jan. 31, vowing to try to get the government to back down on plans to raise the standard retirement age from 62 to 64. Macron says the measure is needed to keep the pension system financially viable, but unions say it threatens hard-fought worker rights.

During a news conference at a French-Spanish summit in Barcelona, Spain, Macron said that “we must do that reform” to “save” the pension system.

“We will do it with respect, in a spirit of dialogue but also determination and responsibility,” he added.

As Macron spoke, riot police pushed back against some protesters throwing projectiles on the sidelines of the largely peaceful Paris march. Some other minor incidents briefly flared up, leading officers to use tear gas.

Paris police said that 38 people had been detained.

In a country with an aging population and growing life expectancy where everyone receives a state pension, Macron’s government says the reform is the only way to keep the system solvent.

Unions propose a tax on the wealthy or more payroll contributions from employers to finance the pension system instead. Polls suggest most French people also oppose the reform.

Strikes across France severely disrupted transport, schools and other public services across France.

More than 200 rallies were staged around France on Thursday, including a large one in Paris involving all France’s major unions.

The Interior Ministry said more than 1.1 million people protested across France, including 80,000 in Paris. Unions said more than 2 million people took part nationwide, and 400,000 in Paris.

Big crowds also turned out for protests against previous efforts at retirement reform, during Macron’s first term and under former President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010. But none of those drew more than 1 million people according to government estimates.

Jean Paul Cachina, 56, a worker in human resources, joined the march in the French capital — a first ever for him.

“I am not here for myself,” he said. “I am here to defend the youth and workers doing demanding jobs. I work in the construction industry sector and I’m a first-hand witness of the suffering of employees.”

Many young people were among the Paris crowd, chanting “the youth is protesting. Macron you are finished.” High school student unions had urged members to join the protests.

Nathan Arsac, 19, a student and member of the UNEF union, said: “I’m afraid of what’s going to happen next. Losing our social achievements could happen so fast. I’m scared of the future when I’ll be older and have to retire.”

Sylvie Béchard, a 59-year-old nurse, said that she joined the march because “we, health care workers, are physically exhausted.”

“The only thing we have is demonstrating and to block the economy of the country,” she added.

The economic cost of the strikes wasn’t immediately clear. The government worries that a big show of resistance Thursday could encourage unions to continue with protracted walkouts that could hobble the economy just as France is struggling against inflation and trying to boost growth.

Police unions opposed to the retirement reform also took part in the protests, while those on duty braced for potential violence should extremist groups join the demonstrations.

Most train services around France were canceled, including some international connections, according to the SNCF rail authority. About 20% of flights out of Paris’ Orly Airport were canceled and airlines warned of delays.

The Ministry of National Education said between 34% and 42% of teachers were on strike, depending on schools.

National electricity company EDF announced that power supplies were substantially reduced Thursday amid the strikes.

Thierry Desassis, a retired teacher, called the government’s plan “an aberration.”

“It’s at 64 that you start having health problems. I’m 68 and in good health but I’ve started seeing doctors more often,” he said.

The strike also affected some monuments. The Versailles Palace was closed Thursday while the Eiffel Tower warned about potential disruptions and the Louvre Museum said some exhibition rooms would remain closed.

Philippe Martinez, secretary general of the hard-left CGT union, urged Macron to “listen to the street.”

Laurent Berger, head of the more moderate CFDT union, called the reform “unfair.”

Many French workers expressed mixed feeling about the government’s plan and pointed to the complexity of the pension system.

Quentin Coelho, 27, a Red Cross employee, felt he had to work Thursday despite understanding “most of the strikers’ demands.” With an aging population in the country, he said, raising the retirement age “isn’t an efficient strategy. If we do it now, the government could decided to raise it further in 30 or 50 years from now. We can’t predict.”

Coelho said he doesn’t trust the government and is already saving money for his pension.

French Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt acknowledged “concerns” prompted by the pension plans but said the government rejected other options involving raising taxes — which he said would hurt the economy and cost jobs — or reducing pensions.

The French government is formally presenting the pension bill on Monday and it will head to Parliament next month. Its success will depend in part on the scale and duration of the strikes and protests.

Most opposition parties, including the left and the far-right, are strongly against the plan. Macron’s centrist alliance lost its parliamentary majority last year, yet still has the most important group at the National Assembly, where it has a good chance of being able to ally with the conservative The Republicans party to approve the pension reforms.

Under the planned changes, workers must have worked for at least 43 years to be entitled to a full pension. For those who do not fulfil that condition, like many women who interrupted their career to raise children or those who studied for a long time and started working late, the retirement age would remain unchanged at 67.

Those who started to work early, under the age of 20, and workers with major health issues would be allowed early retirement.

Protracted strikes met Macron’s last effort to raise the retirement age in 2019. He eventually withdrew it after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Retirement rules vary widely from country to country, making direct comparisons difficult. The official retirement age in the U.S. is now 67, and countries across Europe have been raising pension ages as populations grow older and fertility rates drop.

But opponents of Macron’s reform note that, under the French system, people are already required to work more years overall than in some neighboring countries to receive a full pension.

The plan is also seen by many as endangering the welfare state that’s central to French society.

___

Alexander Turnbull contributed to this report.

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US

Donald Trump news today: White House visitor logs uncovered in Jan 6 probe as Trump dismisses DeSantis

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‘Meet the Press’ anchor reveals the ‘most powerful person’ shaping the 2024 election

Donald Trump has issued a warning to Ron DeSantis if the Florida Governor decides to run against him in the 2024 presidential race.

Speaking on conservative podcast “The Water Cooler” on Monday, Mr Trump said he had heard Mr DeSantis “might want to run” against him.

“We’ll handle that the way I handle things,” he said, without divulging what exactly he meant.

The former president also continued to sound off on his Truth Social platform on Monday about the parallel investigations into the discovery of a large trove classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago home and the discovery of a small number of classified documents from President Joe Biden’s time as vice president at his home and an office he once used.

In his latest rant, he hit out at what he called the “BOXES HOAX” and described the probe into him holding onto classified documents – as well as a probe into his role in the January 6 Capitol riot – a “Gestapo type operation”.

Meanwhile, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has spoken out to reveal that Mr Trump once advised him to take secret documents home with him.

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Trump admin visitor logs show who was at White House in run-up to Jan 6

White House visitor logs from the Trump administration were purposely hidden from view by the former president while in office. However, now a selection covering key dates leading up to the Capitol riot has come to light among the supporting documents relating to the House select committee’s investigation of January 6.

The spreadsheet of entries covers seven full days of White House visitor manifests — 12,14, 18, 21 December 2020, and 3, 4, 5 January 2021.

While not exhaustive, the logs reveal who visited 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where they went in the building (the West Wing, Oval Office, the residence), and whether they met with then-president Donald Trump.

It’s an eclectic mix of political and non-political figures, Fox New personalities, donors, governors, and people familiar from the probe into the Capitol riot.

Oliver O’Connell17 January 2023 16:00

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Newly revealed visitor logs show who was visiting Trump ahead before Capitol riot

John Bowden reports from Washington, DC.

Oliver O’Connell18 January 2023 08:45

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Trump to be joined by Graham, McMaster at first public campaign event

Former President Donald Trump will be joined by two of his highest-profile South Carolina supporters — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Gov. Henry McMaster — at the first public campaign event of his 2024 White House bid later this month in the early voting state.

Oliver O’Connell18 January 2023 06:45

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Boebert and Greene got into heated fight in the bathroom during speaker vote

Representatives Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene reportedly feuded in the restroom during the protracted speaker vote earlier this month.

The Republican congresswomen were on opposite ends of the GOP fight over the speakership. Ms Greene steadfastly supported Kevin McCarthy, who ultimately won the gavel, while Ms Boebert opposed him.

Multiple sources told The Daily Beast that on 3 January, the first day of the new Congress, Ms Greene and Ms Boebert engaged in a screaming match in the ladies’ bathroom in the Speaker’s lobby.

Eric Garcia has the story.

Oliver O’Connell18 January 2023 04:45

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Ivana Trump gifted former nanny $1m condo in her will

Ivana Trump, the former wife of Donald Trump, left behind an estate worth an estimated $34m when she died last July, willing her children Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Trump, Jr, a $26.5m townhouse in New York City, and giving a Florida condo worth over $1m to her former nanny.

The former president, meanwhile, got nothing, according to Forbes, which reported on the contents of the probate documents.

The reported snub is not entirely a surprise.

Oliver O’Connell18 January 2023 03:45

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Hacker Guccifer who infiltrated Clinton and Bush emails slams DC ‘hypocrisy’

The infamous Romanian hacker known as Guccifer, who managed to break into the online correspondence of the Bush and Clinton political dynasties, fueling years of right-wing conspiracies, declared his project a “failure,” according to his first US interview since getting out of prison in 2021.

Oliver O’Connell18 January 2023 02:45

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Sarah Huckabee Sanders dodges Trump 2024 endorsement

In an interview on Fox News on Sunday, Ms Sanders was questioned by Shannon Bream on whether she plans to support Mr Trump, who she served as White House Press Secretary before 2020.

Stuti Mishra has the story.

Oliver O’Connell18 January 2023 01:45

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Schiff calls for threat assessment of Biden’s handling of classified papers

Longtime Trump foe Adam Schiff says that the handling of classified documents discovered at President Joe Biden’s home and former office must be assessed to see if it endangered US national security.

Oliver O’Connell18 January 2023 00:45

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Who is the most powerful person going into 2024 election cycle?

Both the political fate of President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump depend on special counsel investigations headed by people appointed by Mr Garland.

Oliver O’Connell17 January 2023 23:45

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Graham and McMaster to join Trump at first public campaign event

Former President Donald Trump will be joined by two of his highest-profile South Carolina supporters — US Senator Lindsey Graham and Governor Henry McMaster — at the first public campaign event of his 2024 White House bid later this month in the early-voting state.

Oliver O’Connell17 January 2023 22:45

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Entertainment

NXT recap & reactions (Jan. 17, 2023): Be wary of toxic relationships

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It’s always weird covering a show under the cloud of something awful in the wrestling world. Condolences to Jay Briscoe’s family and everyone affected by his death. WWE did the very classy thing acknowledging his death during the show. I can’t imagine how hard it was for those in the building who knew Jay or shared a locker room with him at one point in their careers.

Weird transition but hey, I’m feeling this out just like you are right now so bear with me. Claire’s blog is still dope and the jelly to my organic peanut butter. Read that then come back here for context.

Chemical Waste

Toxic Attraction cut a promo this week that didn’t do much for me. The words were there but the delivery didn’t connect. They’re still finding their voice without Mandy Rose, at least on the microphone. But let’s get to what they said not how they said it: There’s no animosity between them and it was all part of the plan to tie in the Women’s rumble last week. The Toxic Attraction vengeance tour is full steam ahead and headed for Roxanne Perez in Charlotte, NC.

Well, Lyra Valkyria had thoughts.

Lyra admonished both women for not being woman enough to handle Roxanne on their own and if it weren’t for Cora Jade, the title match at NXT Vengeance would look a lot different. Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolin didn’t like that one bit, so the beatdown ensued. Roxanne ran in for the save and we got the setup for our main event: Lyra & Roxanne vs. Toxic Attraction.

Roxanne & Lyra started a little slow because, well, this is their first tag match together. To say nothing of the fact their opponents are former tag team champions. But they eventually found their groove, which feeds into the story that Gigi and Jacy aren’t as tight as they want us to think.

The turning point came when Ms. Jade showed up and pushed Lyra off the top rope behind the ref’s back. An incensed Lyra attacked Cora and the two brawled into the locker room, leaving Roxanne all alone with former tag champs. Also good storytelling because Cora clearly wants beef with Lyra, so sticking it to her and her former best friend at the same time makes all the sense in the world. Plus, it’s not like Lyra doesn’t want Roxanne’s title, so she feels no true loyalty to her. Their partnership was merely one of convenience.

But oh, Toxic Attraction, how you fail at being on the same page. Jacy & Gigi had Roxanne right where they wanted her but miscommunication caused Jacy to Russian Leg Sweep Gigi and not the champ. Roxanne capitalized with a Pop Rox on Gigi, and skated out of the building with the W and her title in hand. Toxic Attraction argued in the ring, clearly coming a part at the seams.

I liked the storytelling here a lot in this match. We got intersecting stories, sowed some seeds for the upcoming title match, while showing more cracks in Toxic Attraction’s foundation. It’s standard fare for a triple threat match where two of the wrestlers are part of a team, but I like the execution. Gigi and Jacy’s issues resonate more within the larger context of Mandy’s exit and Roxanne’s reign. I do wonder if Roxanne comes at Lyra for ditching her, but that also doesn’t seem within character. That said, if/when they get to that feud, there’s already something there for which the champ can chew.

Solid main event that really got me invested in the characters and their drama. Amazing how wrestling works when you keep it simple.

Extracurriculars

Violence

That headline is all you need for a Gallus match. Their return match in NXT against Briggs & Jensen was very on point. I love tag matches that fit the personas and styles of the combatants. Briggs & Jensen love a good bar fight almost as much as the Gallus boys, so why not let them get physical? Early in the match, Gallus removed the mat from part of the entrance, revealing the concrete floor. That came into play later and definitely affected the match’s outcome.

Gallus worked on Brooks’ lower back throughout the match. Brooks tried lifting Coffey but that back just couldn’t take it. So, when Brooks found himself outside the ring, no surprise when Gallus hit him with a back body drop on the concrete.

This left Josh all by himself, and it was academic at that point. Kiana James rushed to check on Brooks, which of course rubbed Fallon Henley the wrong way.

While sitting in the “medical area,” Fallon rushed in with questions and accusations. She believes Kiana is up to no good and only using Briggs to which Briggs made the great point: Using him for what? She has her bar, so what exactly is Kiana trying to get from him?

Later on, Fallon showed some legitimate growth! She asked for a tag match next week with Kiana James as her partner. The rubber will hit the road and we’ll truly find out if Kiana’s feelings are true or if Fallon’s first instincts were correct.

They Missed

Carmelo Hayes & Trick Williams shot and missed. That’s the headline coming out of their tag team match against Axiom & Apollo Crews. The four went about 15 minutes, with Trick and Axiom starting since both men wanted to rip each other apart.

Axiom sliding out of Trick’s wrist lock with that much quickness is really cool. It’s subtle but a great illustration of his agility in contrast with the power Trick showed soon after. We don’t get a lot of Trick in the ring but this is his best showing so far. Melo did most of the heavy lifting later on but Trick held his own in the early moments and looked like a powerhouse against the smaller Axiom. Trick often functions as comic relief but giving him more moments like him shoulder tackling Axiom anytime Axiom tried attacking him go a long way in adding another layer to his persona.

Apollo picked up the W by catching Melo off guard. Melo went to the top to hit Nothing but Net, but Apollo blocked it and turned it into a pinning combination. In essence, it looks like they stole the win but it’s just Crews exerting that veteran intelligence over someone who still has a lot to learn. Good match that sets the stage for more down the line, while giving Trick some work.

The Coat of Arms?

Look, I have no idea what my family’s coat of arms looks like. In fact, I doubt my family has a coat of arms, so maybe I have no room to say what I’m about to say: Tony D’Angelo’s coat of arms looks tacky as all hell. It’s like the Eagle Fang Karate logo only less cool.

Tony presented a leather jacket to Stacks, his newly minted underboss. And on the back of said jacket was the family’s coat of arms. I’d keep the promotion but burn the jacket because whew. Anyway, the main takeaway here is Stacks is no longer a goon; he’s an underboss in the family, which follows up on the finish between Tony D and Dijak last week. Tony loves Stacks and sees him as family and an equal.

Fyre Fighter

Sol Ruca dominated this match. Like she was completely on top of Sol Ruca. She displayed a newfound aggression clearly brought about from her ongoing feud with Isla Dawn. Well, right on cue, Isla appeared in the sky high position in the Performance Center. Alba lost focus and paid the price when Sol caught her in a beautiful Sol Snatcher.

This was a great way to capitalize on Sol’s performance in the last week’s rumble, continue this story between Alba and Isla, and put over Sol’s finishing move in a big way against her biggest opponent to date.

As for Alba, she took out her frustration on a referee only for Katana Chance and Kayden Carter to stop her from making a huge mistake. Rather than thank the tag champs, Alba challenged them to a tag team championship match next week. And, AND, she says she doesn’t need a partner. Alba is tired of losing, and I like this for her. I’m pretty sure Isla Dawn ends up being her partner next week though, even if it’s reluctantly. Right? I mean that’s where we’re going or am I wrong?

Not Your Locker

Indi Hartwell took issue with Tiffany Stratton’s comments last week. So much so that she kicked Stratton out of her own dressing room. Apparently, Indi speaks for all the women in NXT, but she’s the first one who gets a crack at Stratton next week.

Ivy is So Over This…

Ivy Nile is done with whatever macho BS identity crisis the Creed Bros. are going through. She told them to grow a set and get back to what they do best rather than engaging in petty nonsense with Jinder Mahal. Both brothers agreed, so we’ll see how this plays out.

More from Stevie…

Stevie Turner retuned this week, breaking down the Women’s rumble and Stratton’s return. She made note that Elektra Lopez helped Valentina Feroz during the rumble and asked why. It’s every woman for herself after all, so what gives? Well…

Cheaters Never Prosper

Thea Hail got her first W in NXT! She defeated Valentina Feroz after Valentina refused to use the brass knuckles Elektra Lopez handed her. It was a quick match with a little intrigue: Why is Elektra taking an interest in Valentina? And what’s happening with Chase U? Before the match, Andre Chase showed some footage, courtesy of NXT Anonymous, that didn’t put Duke Hudson in the best light. Anonymous caught Hudson talking to another Chase U student about everything he believes Andre Chase does wrong. Chase backpedaled quicker than a cornerback in man coverage, but Chase wasn’t completely convinced. When will the implosion happen? Sometime soon I suppose because this underlying tension has brewed for long enough.

Elektra visited Valentina in the locker room and tried talking some sense into her. I like this for both of them because it gives them something to do while providing Feroz some needed character.

New Day Violence

New Day came to the ring dressed in their Sunday best. They celebrated being completely done with Pretty Deadly and moving on to Gallus. Pretty Deadly said “nah” to all of that. They believe they’re the rightful #1 contenders. Of course, logic says nah because they failed that test last week. Gallus hit the ring, got on the mic, and Xavier said no one understood a word they said but clearly they want to fight and New Day is ready to fight.

Pretty Deadly for some reason, thought jumping these four men was a good idea. That didn’t go so well for them and the segment finished with a nice brawl.

New Day vs. Gallus intrigues me because the styles are so different. Truthfully, I don’t want Pretty Deadly involved because I believe Gallus vs. New Day straight up is the more interesting match. But, hey, we’re getting a triple threat at Vengeance.

Big Strong Boy vs. Big Body Javi

Part of me feels like going from Bron Breakker and JD McDonagh to Javier Bernal is a step down for Tyler Bate. Another part of me knows Big Body is entertaining as hell. But I’m also not sure the crowd hates him. I think most of them are just as entertained as I am, which means seeing Tyler beat up on him in his first match back isn’t that fulfilling. That doesn’t mean they did anything wrong! They put on a fine match without much time to truly get busy, but seeing Javi get beat up just isn’t doing it for me anymore. Even if his music is still awful.

This was a show with so much going on. But they actually found a really good rhythm and pacing throughout most of it, and told some interesting stories. We got solid wrestling with a fantastic tag match in the middle, and a lot of set up for NXT Vengeance. I didn’t even mention the sit-down interviews with Bron and Grayson Waller! That’s how packed this two hours truly was. That said, the interviews just teed up the upcoming steel cage match, and the fact that Grayson might have Bron’s number and be champ if not for the faulty rope. Solid storytelling again.

Grade: B+

That’s my grade and I’m sticking to it. Your turn.

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Science

Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF: a new image and live feed – 14 Jan. 2023

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Soon after its perihelion, we imaged comet C/2022 E3 ZTF again, while it continues to slowly brightening.

Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF. 14 Jan. 2023.

The image above comes from the sigma-clipping combination of 30, 60-second exposures, unfiltered, remotely collected with the “Elena” (PlaneWave 17″+Paramount ME+SBIG STL-6303E) robotic unit available at the Virtual Telescope Project. Such a combination technique dramatically reduces the interference of stars on the comet. The telescope tracked the apparent motion of comet C/2022 E3 ZTF, this is why stars left trails on the background. The image was processed to show both the bright region and the faint ion tail at their best.

While a bright Moon was high in the sky, the comet easily shows its ion tail and a larger coma.

These images were taken while showing the comet live to many thousands of people from all around the globe. Below, you can find the recording coming from the live streaming.

We will show this comet live, online again on the day of its flyby with the Earth!

Back to “Solar System” page

Support The Virtual Telescope Project!

Support us! Please, donate and receive unique, LIMITED EDITION set of images of the stunning comet C/2020 F3 Neowise above Rome, of potentially hazardous asteroids, space stations and much more, specifically made for supporters like you!

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Entertainment

SmackDown recap & reactions (Jan. 13, 2023): The Bloodline’s pawn

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Sami Zayn was tasked with taking out Kevin Owens on this week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown, an order given straight from Roman Reigns himself. He found out shortly into the show, from none other than Paul Heyman, that he would be going it alone, as the rest of The Bloodline wasn’t even in the building.

And so he went it alone, and he certainly appeared to be giving it his all, and his all was sure looking like it was going to deliver a victory. But right when he was setting up for the Helluva Kick, the dogs were unleashed, with Jimmy, Jey, and Solo Sikoa hitting the ring to force a disqualification going after Owens.

Zayn seemed confused and a bit displeased. Again, it felt very much like he was eager to prove himself.

My read on this is that this was just another example of The Bloodline not actually accepting Zayn in the way he wants. They could have trusted him to get things done himself, and they didn’t. Instead, he feels more like a pawn here, the guy they sent in to get beat up to weaken Owens so they could run in and pick at the scraps right at the end.

There’s no triumph for Sami here.

They lift him up, and then they tear him down just so they can lift him back up again. He is in the cycle of manipulation and perhaps this was the night he finally started to see it for himself, after hearing Owens try to explain it to him multiple times now.

There’s still room to wiggle, though, and it seems clear they aren’t quite ready for the breakup just yet. But this was another good story beat.

I’m for damn sure staying tuned.

I’m giving this its own space because sometimes I really do enjoy when Bray Wyatt is given the chance to just get in the ring and speak like only Bray Wyatt can.

The throwbacks to the Wyatt we used to know really hit home for me, for reasons I’m not even entirely sure of or could explain. I miss when Wyatt was twisting tales with his tongue and telling us to “RUN” before blowing out electric lanterns. That guy felt so special, like a transcendent talent whose potential just needed to be unlocked.

Maybe part of our fascination with Wyatt is that it’s long felt that potential has gone unrealized. There’s just something to this guy, and I want to experience it fully. This felt like getting back to that in some way.

Here’s to hoping the future holds more like this.

All the rest
  • This show kicked off with Braun Strowman challenging GUNTHER for the Intercontinental championship. They had a decent match but it was fairly standard considering the participants and it certainly didn’t feel like they gave everything they had to it. GUNTHER beat Strowman clean — there was some Imperium interference during the match, but it didn’t seem to affect the outcome — and left little room for a rematch. Perhaps this is over already? It definitely doesn’t feel like they need to go back to it.
  • Rey Mysterio is good and fed up with Dominik’s shit but instead of letting his own son instigate him, he’s moving forward by entering the Royal Rumble and trying to go big and win the damn thing. Naturally, Karrion Kross interrupted to call him a bad father and then choke him out when Rey responded with violence. This is doing a fantastic job of making me feel really bad for poor Rey. The guy is a legend, he deserves better than this, right?!?
  • Liv Morgan slapped the taste out of Raquel Rodriguez’s mouth. Like, holy shit, dude! That was brutal! But it was also great because it showed us a new side to Rodriguez, who ditched the smiling happy go lucky attitude in favor of getting good and pissed off and eager to remind everyone she’s the biggest and baddest woman on the roster. She showed that by beating Morgan in a singles match later in the evening, though she was right back to cheesing after doing it. Still, they showed it’s there and that’s some progress.
  • Tegan Nox defeated Xia Li in a standard singles match. Li has been getting on TV a bit more lately but they’re doing absolutely nothing with her.
  • They announced a tag team tournament will start next week to determine the next top contenders to The Usos’ SmackDown tag team titles (yes, they specified). Sheamus & Drew McIntyre will get The Viking Raiders in the first round, based on the latter attacking the former after last week’s show. They’re doing a lot of cinematic work to make Erik & Ivar cool but even with Valhalla, I’m just not feeling it. Your mileage may vary.
  • Sonya Deville wants her rematch with Charlotte Flair, so she campaigned for it to Adam Pearce — who indicated she’ll need to win the Royal Rumble for all that — and when that didn’t work she just straight up brawled with her backstage. It was a pretty damn good pull apart. We’ll see if it ends up with Deville getting another shot or if she does indeed have tow in the Rumble.

This was a solid show.

Grade: C+

Your turn.

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US

Jan. 19 debt limit deadline looms; House GOP prepares contingency plan

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House Republicans are preparing a plan telling the Treasury Department what to do if Congress and the White House don’t agree to lift the nation’s debt limit later this year, underscoring the brinkmanship newly empowered conservatives will bring to the high-stakes negotiations over averting a U.S. default, according to six people aware of the internal discussions.

The plan, which was previously unreported, was part of the private deal reached this month to resolve the standoff between House conservatives and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) over the election of a House speaker. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.), a leading conservative who helped broker the deal, told The Washington Post that McCarthy agreed to pass a payment prioritization plan by the end of the first quarter of the year.

The emerging contingency plan shows how Republicans are preparing to threaten to not lift the nation’s debt ceiling without major spending cuts from the Biden administration. Congress must pass a law raising the current limit of $31.4 trillion or the Treasury Department can’t borrow anymore, even to pay for spending lawmakers have already authorized. Economists warn that not raising the debt limit could cause the United States to default, sparking a major panic on Wall Street and leading to millions of job losses.

Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said Friday said that the Treasury Department will begin “extraordinary measures” next week to ensure the federal government is able to meet its payment obligations but that it cannot guarantee the United States will make it beyond early June without defaulting. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated Friday that the administration will not negotiate over the debt ceiling.

Treasury Department aides declined to comment on the GOP plan, and a spokesman for McCarthy did not return requests for comment.

U.S. to begin ‘extraordinary measures’ to stay under debt limit

In the preliminary stages of being drafted, the GOP proposal would call on the Biden administration to make only the most critical federal payments if the Treasury Department comes up against the statutory limit on what it can legally borrow. For instance, the plan is almost certain to call on the department to keep making interest payments on the debt, according to four people familiar with the internal deliberations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. House Republicans’ payment prioritization plan may also stipulate that the Treasury Department should continue making payments on Social Security, Medicare and veterans benefits, as well as funding the military, two of the people said.

Such a move would be unprecedented and hugely controversial, and even releasing the plan could turn into a major political liability for the GOP. A hypothetical proposal that protects Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits and the military would still leave out huge swaths of critical federal expenditures on things such as Medicaid, food safety inspections, border control and air traffic control, to name just a handful of thousands of programs. Democrats are also likely to accuse Republicans of prioritizing payments to U.S. bondholders — which include Chinese banks — over American citizens.

“Any plan to pay bondholders but not fund school lunches or the FAA or food safety or XYZ is just target practice for us,” a senior Democratic aide said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a proposal that hasn’t yet been released publicly.

McCarthy and House conservatives intentionally left the details of the prioritization plan unsettled in their initial agreement, with the understanding that it could take weeks for Republicans to decide which federal spending programs must be protected, the two people familiar with the talks said, and amid uncertainty about the best way to draft the legislation.

The idea poses logistical hurdles as well. In 2011 and 2013, when similar debt ceiling crises loomed, Treasury Department officials in the Obama administration said prioritizing payments was not technically possible, given the complexity of the millions of payments the federal government makes each day.

For the plan to be binding on the Treasury Department, it would have to pass not only the House but also the Democratic-controlled Senate, and President Biden would have to sign it into law.

Even if it were enacted, a debt prioritization plan could still jeopardize the trustworthiness of the U.S. government, some experts say. The proposal would call for the government to halt payment for as much as 20 percent of money that it has already promised to spend.

Still, many Republican lawmakers have long favored exploring these kinds of measures as a way to mitigate the worst economic consequences of breaching the debt ceiling. Two of the people with knowledge of internal GOP planning said the prioritization plan would force Democrats to acknowledge that it is technically possible for the Treasury Department to continue to pay bondholders even if Congress doesn’t raise the debt limit. One of these people noted that interest payments amount to roughly $500 billion per year, which can be easily met through federal revenue without additional borrowing.

Republicans have explored various ways to push prioritized debt payments over the years. Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) released a bill in 2011, called the Default Prevention Act, that would require the Treasury Department to borrow above the debt limit to ensure that interest on the debt gets paid no matter what. That version of the plan, however, might not win universal support even among Republicans, some of whom view it as circumventing the intention of the debt limit. McClintock reintroduced the bill this week. More than a half-dozen House Republicans voted against his legislation in 2015.

“We agreed to advance a debt prioritization bill through regular order by the end of the first quarter of 2023,” Roy said in a text message to The Post. “Now, the contours of that were not specified (there are different versions).”

Grover Norquist, founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative advocacy group, said GOP lawmakers have stepped up discussions in recent days over a debt prioritization plan. Then-Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) proposed a similar idea during the debt ceiling showdowns with the Obama administration in 2011 and 2013. At the time, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said government computer systems could not be updated to triage tens of millions of payments, arguing that “prioritization is just default by another name.” Republicans said those claims were exaggerated to get them to back off their debt limit threats.

“The reason you do this is to say, ‘We offered you a bill that prioritized things, and this is what we’re getting instead of that,’” Norquist said. “It’s being talked about by leadership because it is necessary to be prepared. If you come to an impasse, you want a fallback position.”

These efforts are expected to prove controversial even among some GOP allies. Neil Bradley, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the business group opposes prioritizing payments.

“Prioritization doesn’t work. We had this discussion a decade ago,” Bradley said. “If the U.S. government skips its payments to America’s seniors or skips its payments to bondholders, both of those things call into question the full faith and credit of the United States government and our commitment to paying our bills. And both of them have pretty catastrophic economic consequences.”

Some Republican policy experts have been convinced such efforts would fail. Brian Riedl, a policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute, studied prioritization plans at length while he was a staffer in the offices of then-Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). Riedl said such a plan would involve lopping off about 20 percent of federal spending immediately, or about $1 trillion, because revenue covers only roughly 80 percent of the $5 trillion the government spends each year. Huge numbers of people could be hurt immediately, he said, with no good way to pick between options such as forcing hospitals to deal with the cessation of Medicare payments or depriving the Defense Department of funding.

“Studying this in 2011 convinced us this would be a really bad idea and something we really did not want to happen,” Riedl said. “We didn’t end the exercise saying, ‘This is feasible and smart.’ We said, ‘Let’s avoid this at all costs because it’s going to be a disaster.’”

Michael Strain, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank, said the prioritization plan is a “live option” among some GOP officials and is being discussed quietly. Strain acknowledged that financial markets may not be assuaged by the government meeting only some of its spending obligations but said that could prove better than the alternative of a default on U.S. interest payments.

“If we have a budget deficit of 10 percent, we should be able to cover 90 percent of our spending obligations,” Strain said. “If the National Park Service or FBI don’t make the cut before a deal is signed, that’d obviously be better than paying no bills.”

Other longtime GOP policy hands are more apprehensive.

“We will see zillions of ads about this,” said Doug Holtz-Eakin, an economic adviser to President George W. Bush.

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US

Proud Boys led Jan. 6 riot to keep Trump in office, U.S. says at trial

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Federal prosecutors for the first time laid responsibility for the success of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol on five Proud Boys leaders at their seditious conspiracy trial Thursday, accusing members of the extremist group of spearheading violence that halted Congress’s confirmation of the 2020 presidential election results.

“The transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden was stopped — at the hands of these defendants,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason B.A. McCullough told jurors.

Directed by former Proud Boys chairman and lead defendant Enrique Tarrio, the prosecutor said, “These men joined together and agreed to use any means necessary, including force, to stop Congress from certifying the election, and on January 6 they took aim at the heart of our democracy.”

Defense attorneys blasted prosecutors’ effort to find “scapegoats” for what they called an unplanned riot. Instead, they blamed President Donald Trump for inciting the mob and law enforcement leaders for failing to prepare for violence.

“President Trump told these people that the election was stolen. … He’s the one who unleashed that mob at the Capitol on Jan. 6,” Tarrio attorney Sabino Jauregui said.

It would be an “injustice” to hold Trump’s followers accountable while finding it “too hard to blame Trump … too hard to put him on the witness stand with his army of lawyers,” Jauregui told jurors.

Although charges have been brought against more than 930 individuals in the Jan. 6 attack and a special counsel is investigating Trump, Thursday’s dueling opening statements in a federal court blocks from the Capitol crystallized a major question still unanswered after two years: Who should ultimately bear the greatest criminal responsibility for that day’s events?

Prosecutors before have suggested Proud Boys members played an outsize role in the violence. But for the first time in a 90-minute argument punctuated by the defendants’ own recorded words, videos and photographs on social and encrypted media, the government asserted that the successful breach of the Capitol was not the product of a spontaneous, misguided mob but the result of a preplanned assault by dedicated extremists.

The defendants, on the other hand, insisted they gathered in Washington to support Trump as they had at earlier D.C. rallies and had no other plans. They brought no arms, assaulted no one and could not have anticipated that Capitol Police would be unprepared, their defense said.

“A plot to use force that did not involve weapons?” defense attorney Nicholas D. Smith asked rhetorically.

Instead, defense attorneys urged jurors to redirect their emotions over the historic attack at Trump. They are not alone — the House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 recently recommended charging the former president with crimes that include obstructing an official proceeding, one of the charges lodged against Tarrio.

Tarrio and his co-defendants — Ethan Nordean, of Auburn, Wash.; Joe Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Fla.; Dominic Pezzola, of Rochester, N.Y.; and Zachary Rehl, of Philadelphia — have pleaded not guilty to a 10-count indictment. Two charges they face are punishable by up to 20 years in prison: conspiring to oppose by force federal authority or the inauguration of Joe Biden as president, and conspiring to obstruct Congress’s joint session.

In court, Tarrio sipped from a glass of water and Pezzola stared ahead with his hand to his chin as McCullough laid out the case against them to a jury of eight women and seven men.

According to McCullough, the Proud Boys the day after the Nov. 3, 2020, election began “calling for war because their favored candidate was not elected.” Trump falsely claimed the election was stolen, called demonstrators to Washington in November and December, then later that month announced a “wild” protest in D.C. on Jan. 6 when Congress met.

Prosecutors alleged that for that day’s special operations, Tarrio handpicked co-defendants Nordean, Biggs and Rehl to lead an ironically named “Ministry of Self-Defense.”

Until then, Proud Boys were best known for engaging in street fights with their perceived enemies in the leftist antifa movement, before Trump famously refused to denounce the group during a presidential election debate in September 2020, urging them instead to “stand back and stand by.”

On Jan. 6, while Tarrio monitored events from Baltimore, the trio marched to the Capitol with nearly 200 other men, joined the first wave that surged onto the Capitol grounds and fanned out opposite police lines, the government said. There, they pressed forward until they made their way inside, led by Pezzola, who was recorded smashing with a stolen police riot shield the first window of the building to be breached, McCullough said.

“These gentlemen did not stand back, they did not stand by,” McCullough told jurors.

Instead, McCullough showed video clips of Proud Boys members at the forefront of attacks on police at the Capitol, where they had assembled that morning even before Trump spoke to supporters at a White House Ellipse rally.

The Post obtained hours of video footage, some exclusively, and placed it within a digital 3-D model of the building. (Video: The Washington Post)

“Let’s storm the f—— Capitol,” yelled one Proud Boys member who later bullrushed police lines guarding a key stairway. “Let’s not f—— yell that,” Nordean admonished on video.

While Proud Boys said their preparations for violence were only intended as self-defense in case they were attacked by anti-Trump activists, McCullough showed jurors a text by Tarrio to others on Dec. 27 hinting at their true plans: “Whispers … 1776.”

“‘Whispers,’ as in this is a secret,” McCullough said. “‘1776,’ as in revolution.”

The Proud Boys did not come to D.C. on Jan. 6 to go up against antifa, he said: “They were coming to stop the certification of the election for Joe Biden.”

Even discarding the defendants’ pre-Jan. 6 talk, their actions that day revealed their conspiracy, McCullough said.

“Make no mistake … we did this,” Tarrio wrote others on an encrypted chat at 2:41 p.m., according to material shown in court.

“These are his words, his thoughts, just minutes after Congress had been forced to stop its work,” McCullough said.

“January 6th will be a day in infamy,” Biggs wrote that evening, after Pezzola earlier recorded himself with “a victory smoke” in the Capitol.

“A day in infamy,” McCullough repeated. “That is how President Roosevelt described the attack on Pearl Harbor that sent us into World War II.” A victory smoke, he told jurors, “like you might see by a sports team after a big game.”

When their turn came, defense attorneys accused the government of cherry-picking statements out of context by their clients, and urged jurors from the overwhelmingly Democratic area to “put aside politics” and prosecutors’ attempts to manipulate their emotions “so you hate them, you hate the Proud Boys.”

Jauregui, attorney for the Afro-Cuban Tarrio, called the Proud Boys mostly a “drinking group” that was inclusive of all races and sexual preferences, although civil rights monitors say the group increasingly targets gay and transgender people and has been used by white nationalists to recruit followers.

“What they share is an ideology. The Proud Boys think that Western civilization is the best. … The Proud Boys think America’s the best,” Jauregui said. “That’s what they fight for. It’s not a political thing, it’s not a racial thing. And they believe in free speech. They believe you should say whatever you want.”

Proud Boys leaders discussed protecting themselves because they believed D.C. police and federal prosecutors responded inadequately to the stabbing of member Jeremy Bertino outside Harry’s Bar in downtown Washington after the December pro-Trump rally. Bertino has pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with the government.

FBI probes possible connections between extremist groups at heart of Capitol violence

Tarrio was not even in Washington on Jan. 6 because he was arrested two days earlier and expelled by a judge pending trial on charges that during that same rally he set a church’s stolen “Black Lives Matter” flag on fire and returned to D.C. with an unregistered high-capacity ammunition magazine. He later pleaded guilty to those charges and served four months in jail.

Jauregui and Smith said prosecutors had warped and twisted innocent, if sometimes “offensive,” chatter into an insurrectionist plot. Smith said defendants would call as witnesses multiple government informants embedded in the group, including those who said Nordean tried to stop violence.

“You will see at trial no evidence that supports the government’s conspiracy claim that these defendants plotted before January 6 to do what the government alleges,” Smith said.

“Over and over and over,” Smith said, “the government has been told by witnesses there was no plan for January 6. You will see even the government’s own cooperating witnesses said that.”

Tarrio may have “made it easy” for investigators by celebrating that riot, but he and other members were largely posturing, their attorneys said. The group was followed that day by a documentary filmmaker, and Smith said informants would “testify that the march to the Capitol was just for the cameras.”

Another informant texted his FBI handler at noon as initial barriers were being breached that “PB did not do it nor inspire,” instead blaming “herd mentality.”

Pezzola attorney Roger Roots said his client smoked to celebrate only the takeover of the Capitol, not the obstruction of Congress. Roots accused police and prosecutors of overreacting by firing tear gas and projectiles into the crowd and criminalizing “a six-hour delay of Congress.”

Rehl attorney Carmen Hernandez said Rehl went to the Capitol expecting speeches. He didn’t enter until after the electoral vote count had stopped, and that “not a single message” of 160,000 reviewed by the FBI showed that he “intended to or planned to … disrupt the proceedings.”

As they watched in court, the five defendants sat calmly, neatly groomed and wearing dark suits, ties and white shirts — four wore dark-rimmed glasses — in contrast to their agitated expressions as depicted in government videos.

Prosecutors acknowledged to jurors that the Proud Boys organization as a whole “is not on trial today.”

“Many Proud Boys who were angry about the election, they took no part in the mission on January 6,” McCullough said.

But they showed the jury the defendants’ own social media posts, including the flashing words “kill them” and clips of groups of men beating others on the streets at night. One post from December 2020 by Tarrio featured Pezzola against a fiery backdrop labeled “Lords of War” and “#J6,” and another included a hype video posted by Rehl showing Trump attorney Sidney Powell saying she would “release the Kraken.”

“This was the image these defendants sought to promote in their fight to keep Donald Trump in office,” McCullough said, concluding. “These ‘lords of war’ joined together to stop the presidential transfer of power.”

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