heard he entered the portal. Rumors he may follow coach Lynn?

One thing about the argument really puzzled me: why Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar insisted upon distinguishing January 6 from other types of obstructive protests. I understand what, legally, she thought this would accomplish — but her approach runs the risk of being a disastrous misreading of the justices, and one that may have been driven more by the demands of her client than by a sound strategy for winning the case.

‘Otherwise’

The core question before the Court in Fischer is whether 18 U.S.C. Section 1512(c)(2) makes it a crime to obstruct or impede a proceeding before Congress by preventing Congress from meeting. Here’s Section 1512(c), with italics added:

(c) Whoever corruptly—

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(1) alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or

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(2) otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so,
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

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The statute was written in 2002 in response to the Enron scandal, which involved the company’s auditors at Arthur Anderson destroying records. It aimed largely to close perceived loopholes in federal obstruction-of-justice laws by strengthening the rules against document destruction in court cases and investigations. The “official proceeding” language in both (c)(1) and (c)(2), however, is broad enough that it explicitly covers proceedings before Congress.

Most everyone agrees that the language of (c)(2), if you read it by itself, is broad enough to cover a mob that obstructs and impedes a proceeding by causing it to be delayed or rescheduled. The lawyers for Fischer and other January 6 defendants, however, argue that if you read the whole statute, it’s supposed to cover a list of different ways to mess with the evidence in a proceeding, rather than taking a sharp turn between (c)(1) discussing documents and records to (c)(2) saying “or anything else that gets in the way of a court or Congress doing its business.”

The Court has to decide if “otherwise” in this context means “in some other, similar way” or “in some totally other way.” It’s a close call involving a lot of attention to the tools that courts use to make sense of the language of statutes. It has consequences not only for hundreds of people charged under this law for participating in breaching of the Capitol that day, but also for Donald Trump, who has been charged under Section 1512(c)(2) on a related but different theory.

The Law Is the Law

New contributor Aaron Heisen has his take on Jayden Maiava's spring game performance:

After his weekend visit to USC:

War is Peace! America sheeple…​

Ukraine Gets Their Billions Despite CIA Director Reportedly Warning Zelenksy To Stop Stealing So Much Money​

As Seymour Hersh recently reported, CIA Director Burns had to warn Zelensky to stop stealing so much money.

The issue of corruption was directly raised with Zelensky in a meeting last January in Kiev with CIA Director William Burns.

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His message to the Ukrainian president, I was told by an intelligence official with direct knowledge of the meeting, was out of a 1950s mob movie.

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The senior generals and government officials in Kiev were angry at what they saw as Zelensky’s greed, so Burns told the Ukrainian president, because “he was taking a larger share of the skim money than was going to the generals.”
Burns also presented Zelensky with a list of thirty-five generals and senior officials whose corruption was known to the CIA and others in the American government.

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Zelensky responded to the American pressure ten days later by publicly dismissing ten of the most ostentatious officials on the list and doing little else.
“The ten he got rid of were brazenly bragging about the money they had—driving around Kiev in their new Mercedes,” the intelligence official told me.

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Zelensky’s half-hearted response and the White House’s lack of concern was seen, the intelligence official added, as another sign of a lack of leadership that is leading to a “total breakdown” of trust between the White House and some elements of the intelligence community.

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Hersh went on to note that one estimate by analysts from the Central Intelligence Agency put the embezzled funds at $400 million last year, at least; another expert compared the level of corruption in Kiev as approaching that of the Afghan war, “although there will be no professional audit reports emerging from the Ukraine.”

US Poised To Send 60 Additional 'Military Advisers' To Ukraine​

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

The US is considering increasing its small military presence in Ukraine by sending up to 60 additional military advisers, POLITICO reported on Saturday, the same day the House approved $61 billion in spending for the proxy war.

Four unnamed US officials told POLITICO that the additional troops would "support logistics and oversight efforts for the weapons the US is sending Ukraine."

From Florida st. Just saw he is transferring in. Not sure if this is new news.

New Director of Player Personnel, assuming this article is accurate.

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Apparently portal bound. Ouch. Was looking forward to seeing both of them play.

China Building New Outpost on U.S. Doorstep, Leaked Documents Reveal​

BY DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW ON 04/19/24 AT 5:00 AM EDT

The Chinese state is expanding rapidly in the Caribbean island of Antigua, part of a regional expansion that concerns the U.S. military.

In case you missed it…

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This is all of the postgame. Riley transcript ready too, one sec.

Who's going? What are you looking forward to seeing?

BEAT THE TROJANS!

Full story on why there's fresh optimism that a delayed breakout could be in the works for junior DE Anthony Lucas:

I try not to ever support ESPN, but I have to make an exception this one time. (Just don't make a habit of it, OK???)

Interviews today include DB coach Doug Belk, Anthony Lucas, Elijah Hughes, Eric Gentry, Jacobe Covington, Prophet Brown, and Sam Greene.

USC did have one very notable prospect here today in 2025 4-star OT Andrew Babalola.

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2026 five-star QB Ryder Lyons will be at USC along with five-star Jahkeem Stewart: