Donald Trump went off-script today in his speech at Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland. It may have been the most deranged speech he has given yet (in addition to making out with the American flag -- I pity the poor thing.)

"Mothers who love their daughters give them massive amounts of birth control pills, because they know their daughters are going to be raped on the way up to our southern border. Think of that. True story told to me by the Border Patrol. Think of how evil that is."

..."They are embracing open borders, socialism, & extreme late-term abortion...lawmakers in NY cheered as they passed legislation to allow babies to be ripped from the womb of their mothers. Right up to the very moment of death... the will execute the baby."

If you had any doubt that the United States is leader-less and running on empty,this speech is all you need. [More...]

Michael Cohen is testifying before Congress. Here is a link to stream it live.

His prepared written statement is here.

His wife and daughter are with him. Also accompanying him (on the left) is his new attorney, a long-time friend and colleague, Michael Monico from Chicago. I've known Michael for 25 years and he is not only supremely ethical but highly skilled. Cohen made a great choice.

I'll be listening in the car as I head up to a jail in the mountains. Here'a a place to discuss it. Also, don't miss this story of IRS agent John Frye being charged in San Francisco for leaking Cohen's SARS (suspicious activity reports from banks) to Michael Avenati. (Case No. CR 3-19-70176 LB.) The Complaint is here, and it's got all the details on his deposits and withdrawals regarding Stormy Daniels, his reimbursement and monies flowing to and from other countries.

San Francisco erases 8,000 marijuana convictions, dating to 1975.

Also, San Francisco loses a crusader for justice -- Public Defender Jeff Adachi has died.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Alva Johnson, a former Trump campaign staffer, sues Donald Trump for a forcible unwanted kiss and lower pay than males and non-African American employees received.

The Complaint is here. In the Introduction, Johnson alleges

Plaintiff Alva Johnson brings this lawsuit to hold the President of the United States, Defendant Donald J. Trump, accountable for his sexually predatory conduct.

The Complaint recites the long litany of such claims against Donald Trump. She is suing the Trump campaign and Trump individually on her behalf and on behalf of all others similarly situated.

The Oscars are host-less this year. I think ratings, which haven't been good in recent years, will be even worse tonight.

Have any of you seen any of the movies that are up for awards?

Here's a place to discuss the Oscars if you're watching.

Robert Mueller's office has filed its sentencing memorandum for Paul Manafort in his case in the District of Columbia. His guidelines are high, but since he's only being sentenced for two conspiracy counts, each of which has a statutory maximum of five years, the most he can get is 10 years in the case. The question is if the judge will run the sentence in this case concurrently or consecutively to the sentence he'll get in Virginia.

As of now, sentencing in the Virginia case is set for March 11, while sentencing in the D.C. case is set for March 18. In the Va. case, he went to trial, was convicted on multiple counts and the jury hung on some counts. The Probation Department and the Government calculate his sentencing guideline range in the Va. case to be 235 to 293 months. If he gets 235 months in Virginia, the court in D.C. could give him 10 years either concurrent or consecutive to the Va. sentence, which would be a total sentence of 30 years.

Here is the Court's order in the D.C. case finding Manafort intentionally lied during his proffers and Grand Jury testimony.

Yesterday the Justice Department announced that indictments had been unsealed in the District of Colombia for two more of El Chapo's sons, Joaquin Guzman-Lopez and Ovidio Guzman-Lopez. The Indictment is here.

The Indictment was returned and ordered sealed almost a year ago, in April, 2018. In December, 2018, it was unsealed for a few days so the Government could include it in an extradition application for them. On January 25, 2019, the Government moved to permanently unseal the Indictment. The motion was granted on Feb. 14, 2019.

The charges are for conspiring to distribute large amounts of cocaine, meth and marijuana between April, 2008 and April, 2018, knowing it would be imported into the U.S.

Two other sons of El Chapo, Ivan Guzman-Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman-Salazar have been under federal Indictment in the U.S. for several years. Ivan is charged in San Diego and Alfredo in Chicago. [More...]

This is a pretty remarkable interview by Vice News with an anonymous juror or alternate in the trial of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. The juror says s/he, as well as multiple other jurors, regularly violated the court's instructions not to read media accounts of the trial, including tweets and articles containing information that was purposely withheld from the jurors, and then lied to the judge when questioned about it. They also discussed El Chapo's guilt before deliberations began, took notes out from the jury room (which wasn't allowed), and considered punishment, even though they were admonished not to. I'm not sure there's a rule this group didn't break, according to the "snitch juror."

It seems to me it would take the FBI about ten minutes to figure out this juror's identity, and another half hour for a the Government to file a motion for a show cause order directing the juror to appear in court and show cause why s/he shouldn't be held in contempt. [More...]

The Special Counsel (Team Mueller) report on Russia and the Trump Campaign should be out soon.

I wonder if Donald Trump, Jr. gets a pass.

While I don't expect that his father will get indicted, I think he will receive the distinct dishonor of being the man who sits at the desk in the Oval Office with the most number of indicted aides during his time there, ever.

My next thought: I wonder if the next person to occupy the office will insist on fumigating it first, and all new furniture. I sure would.

Jussie Smollett has been charged in Chicago with a felony for allegedly falsely reporting a hate crime.

From the article, it appears the prosecutors called brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo as witnesses before the grand jury this evening.

The men had reportedly told investigators that Mr. Smollett had coordinated a faux attack and paid them to participate in it.

Filing a false report in Illinois can be a misdemeanor or felony. The Grand Jury indicted Smollett for the felony version, which carries up to 3 years in prison.

Bernie Sanders has announced he's in it to win it. He will run for President (no link due to autoplay video).

I prefer him to Biden, and I hope Biden pulls out or gets pushed aside early, so I don't have to spend my time writing about his abysmal record on criminal justice issues. Someone needs to tell him for real that his time has come and gone.

As to Sanders, I'll do a wait and see this time around. There are no present runners I find exciting, and his positions are better than most. Maybe America will want someone in 2020 who will walk in on day one and tear up every proclamation and executive order Trump and his underlings pushed through. As for Kamala Harris, her criminal justice record as attorney general of California may be too much for me to get past.

I'm not looking for a candidate who's overly focused on one issue: be it women, jobs for the middle class, taxes. etc. I want someone who promises to focus on protecting the constitutional rights of everyone who is present in this country, from immigrants and refugees to persons accused of crime and persons serving long sentences for crimes. And someone with the stature to repair the damage Donald Trump has done to our national image and standing in the world.

Donald Trump owns no hotels in Venezuela. Could he even find it on a map? And why is Melania Trump speaking at this event in Miami when the podium says "The President"? Was it a fundraiser? (I honestly don't know since I refuse to listen to either one of them.) Why am I writing about this? Because of the comments on You Tube. They are as cruel (and in some cases as apt)as any I can remember since the November, 2016 election results. Some are pretty funny (others are admittedly sexist and xenophobic).

One thing appears certain: A year and a half after the 2016 election, Donald Trump remains the most mocked and vilified person ever to have a desk in the oval office. His wife is now running second, perhaps contending only with Ivanka, Don, Jr. and Jared for that unglorified spot. [More...]

Oh well, at least most people have the day off.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

TalkLeft wishes everyone a Happy Valentines Day, especially El Chapo's lawyers, Eduardo Balarezo, Jeffrey Lichtman and William Purpura, who didn't win, knew they wouldn't win, but relentlessly pounded away at the government's evidence, and despite being ham-stringed by the judge in every cross-examination,were rock stars in the courtroom and did the best they could do for their mythical client.

[More....]

The Grammy's won't be live on CBS for another hour or so, but you can watch what's happened so far at the Grammy site here. The Red Carpet pix are up there as well. Expect a big commotion when Korea's uber-popular boy bandBTS presents. They are the first Korean group to be nominated for a Grammy and to present an award. Here's some good photos of them.

Alicia Keys is hosting. I will miss James Corden, who hosted the show the past two years.

Here is the New York Times "cheat sheet" . The Staple Center has a lot of photos here.