Howard Frankland stabbing suspect is former federal prosecutor | Tampa Bay Times
By Tony Marrero Times staff
Patrick Douglas Scruggs, who worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa for about a decade, is accused of stabbing another motorist after a crash.
Patrick Douglas Scruggs, 38, of Tampa, was arrested and booked into the Pinellas County Jail on Tuesday. He faces charges of aggravated battery, aggravated assault and armed burglary after authorities say he repeatedly stabbed a driver on the Howard Frankland Bridge after the driver struck Scruggs’ sedan. [ Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office ]
Patrick Douglas Scruggs, 38, of Tampa, worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office from September 2012 until April of this year, according to his LinkedIn page. His time there included appearing on behalf of the federal government during hearings for Florida residents accused of taking part in the riots at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021.
In May, he joined Barnes and Thornburg, an Atlanta-based private law firm, as an “of counsel” attorney, the page says. The page describes Scruggs as “a seasoned litigator and investigator with experience in various practice areas of criminal law.”
Now Scruggs faces his own legal trouble stemming from a bizarre chain of events that unfolded on the Howard Frankland as rush hour was winding down on Tuesday morning.
According to a news release issued Tuesday by the Florida Highway Patrol, a 40-year-old Tampa man was driving a sedan south on Interstate 275 when he and his 43-year-old wife noticed a vehicle that was stopped in the travel lanes of the bridge shortly before 9:24 a.m. The 35-year-old driver, also of Tampa, was slumped over inside his sedan, troopers said, so the couple pulled over in front of the car to help.
The 40-year-old man was unable to get inside the other sedan, so he walked back to his car to get something that could break the window. While he was doing that, the 35-year-old man woke up and accelerated forward, crashing into the couple’s sedan. He shifted into reverse and then tried to get around the couple’s sedan, according to troopers, but at that point, he struck Scruggs’ sedan as he was driving by the scene.
Scruggs pulled over, got out and walked up to the driver of the vehicle that hit his car. According to the Highway Patrol, Scruggs broke a window and started stabbing the 35-year-old man with a pocketknife.
The couple returned to the vehicle to help the man being stabbed, but Scruggs then tried to stab them and they fled, troopers said. . . .
Days after the riots at the U.S. Capital in 2021, Scruggs appeared on behalf of the U.S. Attorney’s Office during the bond hearing of Adam Johnson, the Parrish man who became one of the most prominent symbols of the riots that engulfed the U.S. Capitol when he was photographed carrying a lectern from the House of Representatives. Scruggs asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher Tuite to order certain restrictions while Johnson was on release, including drug testing, the surrender of his passport and a nightly curfew.
“This is a serious case,” Scruggs told the judge. “Everyone involved in the storming of the Capitol last week needs to be held accountable for their actions, including Mr. Johnson.”
Another judge in 2022 sentenced Johnson to 75 days in jail.
Meet the guy who prosecuted me in Tampa for walking in a building on January 6th.
My crimes were so egregious that he demanded I wear an ankle monitor, be drugged tested at random, surrender my passports, be restricted to middle district of Florida, and given a nightly curfew.…
— The Lectern Guy🇺🇸 (@lecternleader) September 27, 2023
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‘Trump Was Right’ With Tougher Approach to China: Biden’s Top Diplomat Nominee
President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Jan. 19 that the Trump administration took the correct stance toward the Chinese regime, although he disagrees with the approach. “President Trump was right in taking a tougher approach to China. I disagree very much with the way he went about it in a number of areas, but the basic principle was the right one,” Blinken said at a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the day before Biden was set to take office. “And I think that that’s actually helpful to our foreign policy.” Blinken, a veteran foreign policy hand who’s a close confidant of Biden, pledged at the hearing to work with U.S. allies to confront the regime. “If we’re pulling back, that gives them a free field,” he said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Tackling the various threats posed by the Chinese …
President Trump’s Farewell Address to the Nation: Full Transcript
My fellow Americans, four years ago we launched a great national effort to rebuild our country, to renew its spirit, and to restore the allegiance of this government to its citizens. In short, we embarked on a mission to make America great again for all Americans. As I conclude my term as the 45th president of the United States, I stand before you truly proud of what we have achieved together. We did what we came here to do—and so much more. This week, we inaugurate a new administration and pray for its success in keeping America safe and prosperous. We extend our best wishes, and we also want them to have luck—a very important word. I’d like to begin by thanking just a few of the amazing people who made our remarkable journey possible. First, let me express my overwhelming gratitude for the love and support of our spectacular …
The New Domestic War on Terror is Coming
The last two weeks have ushered in a wave of new domestic police powers and rhetoric in the name of fighting “terrorism” that are carbon copies of many of the worst excesses of the first War on Terror that began nearly twenty years ago. This trend shows no sign of receding as we move farther from the January 6 Capitol riot. The opposite is true: it is intensifying.
We have witnessed an orgy of censorship from Silicon Valley monopolies with calls for far more aggressive speech policing, a visibly militarized Washington, D.C. featuring a non-ironically named “Green Zone,” vows from the incoming president and his key allies for a new anti-domestic terrorism bill, and frequent accusations of “sedition,” “treason,” and “terrorism” against members of Congress and citizens. This is all driven by a radical expansion of the meaning of “incitement to violence.” It is accompanied by viral-on-social-media pleas that one work with the FBI to turn in one’s fellow citizens (See Something, Say Something!) and demands for a new system of domestic surveillance.
Underlying all of this are immediate insinuations that anyone questioning any of this must, by virtue of these doubts, harbor sympathy for the Terrorists and their neo-Nazi, white supremacist ideology. Liberals have spent so many years now in a tight alliance with neocons and the CIA that they are making the 2002 version of John Ashcroft look like the President of the (old-school) ACLU.
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War on Terror Brought Home – Ben and Glenn’s After Hours #4
In this new episode, Ben and Glenn explore the fallout from the Capitol riot, the spate of Silicon Valley censorship in response, what appears to be a liberal desire for a new War on Terror, and whether Elizabeth Warren really loves Bailey.
As previously noted, AFTER HOURS is intended to be a more conversational and sometimes-though-not-always lighter ex…
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No terceiro episódio do podcast Aprofundando, Glenn Greenwald e Victor Pougy conversam com o advogado criminalista Augusto de Arruda Botelho sobre prisão preventiva e como a operação Lava-Jato utilizou essa instituição de forma abusiva, e outras questões referentes às garantias constitucionais.
Além do abuso desse poder por Lava Jato, discutimos casos recentes polêmicos de prisão preventiva e censura: os casos do ex-prefeito do Rio Marcello Crivella, e a investigação do STF liderada pelo Ministro Alexandre de Moraes contra vários blogueiros bolsonaristas, incluindo Oswaldo Eustáquio, Sara Winter, Allan dos Santos e outros.
Augusto de Arruda Botelho é um advogado criminalista com atuação na defesa dos direitos fundamentais. É membro conselheiro da Human Rights Watch Brasil, e um dos fundadores do Instituto de Defesa do Direito de Defesa e do Projeto Aliança.
Siga o Augusto no twitter: https://twitter.com/augustodeAB
Siga o Glenn no twitter: twitter.com/ggreenwald
Leia o Glenn em: greenwald.substack.com/
Siga o Victor no twitter: twitter.com/vpougy
Violence in the Capitol, Dangers in the Aftermath
In the days and weeks after the 9/11 attack, Americans were largely united in emotional horror at what had been done to their country as well as in their willingness to endorse repression and violence in response. As a result, there was little room to raise concerns about the possible excesses or dangers of the American reaction, let alone to dissent from what political leaders were proposing in the name of vengeance and security. The psychological trauma from the carnage and the wreckage at the country’s most cherished symbols swamped rational faculties and thus rendered futile any attempts to urge restraint or caution. . .
True the Vote: Abrams’ Sister’s Ruling Wrong on Law, Clear Conflict
True the Vote: Abrams’ Sister’s Ruling Wrong on Law, Clear Conflict
ATLANTA, Georgia – Responding to a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner that suspended the efforts of Muscogee and Ben Hill counties to verify the eligibility of challenged voters, True the Vote today called on the judge to recuse herself from the case and encouraged the counties to appeal the decision.
“Judge Gardner’s ruling is wrong on the law, and the glaring conflict of interest – pointed out by Muscogee County – undermines faith in the judicial process,” said Catherine Engelbrecht, the founder and president of True the Vote, an organization that has partner with electors throughout the state to ensure that every legal vote is counted in the January 5 Georgia Senate runoff elections.
One of the defendants, Muscogee County, asked Judge Gardner to recuse herself because her sister, Stacey Abrams, has generated significant fundraising for the plaintiff’s organization and Abrams’ own group has filed a case dealing with the exact same issues against True the Vote.
“Georgia voters have every reason to question a ruling that doesn’t follow the law but does deliver for her sister’s political agenda,” Engelbrecht said. “This entire ruling is based on the idea that these challenges are about removing voters from the registration list – a situation where the judge could apply federal law. These challenges, however, wouldn’t remove anyone from the voter registration list; the challenges are the remedy allowed under Georgia state law to verify that a particular voter is eligible to vote specifically in the January 5 runoff election. Federal law doesn’t regulate that, and the judge’s ruling should be overturned.
“In this case, Gardner’s ruling is based solely on the point of view of the plaintiffs. The counties involved didn’t even get to have their say. Perhaps a fair hearing in the light of day – as opposed to a decree issued in the dead of night – would have given the judge some insight on what’s really happening in these cases.”
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True the Vote (TTV) is an IRS-designated 501(c)3 voters’ rights organization, founded to inspire and equip volunteers for involvement at every stage of our electoral process. TTV empowers organizations and individuals across the nation to actively protect the rights of legitimate voters, regardless of their political party affiliation. For more information, please visit www.truethevote.org.
The post True the Vote: Abrams’ Sister’s Ruling Wrong on Law, Clear Conflict appeared first on True The Vote.
Jupiter-Saturn Great Conjunction: Watch Best View Since Middle Ages!
by Lance D. Davis
Stargazers get ready for a nice treat as we are about to witness a super-rare planetary alignment not seen for almost 800 years!
Our solar system’s two biggest worlds – the mighty Jupiter followed by the glorious ringed Saturn – will appear in the sky next to each other at their closest since 1623 and closest visible from Earth since the Middle Ages in 1226. This will happen on Dec. 21, 2020, during an event called a “great conjunction.”
Astronomers use the word conjunction to describe close approaches of planets and other objects on our sky’s dome. They use great conjunction specifically for Jupiter and Saturn because of the planets’ top-ranking sizes.
Credit: NASA
Since Election Night The Presidential Winner Has Been In Dispute
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Video: 1 Hour 31 Minutes
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Sky Watching Highlights for October 2020
There’s plenty to see in the sky for October! The Moon will be full not once, but twice this month. It’s also a great time for viewing Mars and trying to spot the galaxy of Andromeda. Learn more from the video below produced by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
International Observe the Moon Night 2020
by Lance D. Davis
International Observe the Moon Night is a worldwide public event encouraging observation, appreciation and understanding of our Moon and its connection to NASA exploration and discovery.
This is a great time to celebrate the Moon with enthusiasts and curious people all over Earth as excitement grows about NASA’s Artemis program, which will send the next man and first woman to the Moon.
Since 2010, the celebration has occurred annually in September or October when the Moon is around first quarter – a great phase for excellent viewing opportunities.
You can join NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center for a live planetarium show Saturday, Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m. CDT – available online to everyone via YouTube and Facebook. Interviews with planetary and citizen scientists will also be included.
This virtual event is brought to you by the Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall and U.S. Space & Rocket Center.
Whether it’s outdoors, at home, online, or wherever you may be, you are encouraged to be a part of International Observe the Moon Night. Please remember to follow your local health and safety guidelines.
Learn more and find other events here.
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