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It was for a good cause, Coulter, almost 45, explained when Associated Press Extraterrestrial caught up with her, fully loathed, at her undisclosed location.

Q: Why now?

Ann Coulter: My decision to do Playboy is literally one week in the making. I've always chided others for taking their clothes off and posed as the girl next door. I'm the number one right-wing talking head, and for years I've been known as "The Queen of Slime", all while keeping my clothes on, and that's taken some real discipline. Every couple of years when Hef would call I would graciously decline, because it would kill that whole androgynous legend that I've got going for me, and I thought that I could maintain the mystery by keeping my clothes on.

But this year, when I got the call from Hef, it was almost my 45th birthday. The Republican party had just received a humpin', so I thought, "Wow... at 45, America doesn't want us anymore?" And I thought it's almost an epiphany... like a "F--- 'em all!" moment. I feel empowered that you can criticize other people's morals and yet still be single, with no children, sexy and confident, and then bare all for the world.

Q: So what's the story on the androgynous deal?

Coulter: I feel proud of myself. I work out really hard, and people will just have to decide for themselves. The reason that I wanted to do it the most is because I am posing for a purpose: a portion of the proceeds from each issue sold is going to my charity.

Q: That would be...?

Coulter: I am the celebrity spokesperson for WILT, the national anti-erectile function association. It stands for Whitebread Ideology Less Tumescence. If you think about it, this last midterm election in which the Republican Party received such a humpin' was all because of this vast priapism of the party over the last six years that resulted in all the scandals. My charity is devoted to wresting control of erections from the parties and putting them back in the hands of voters. Celibacy is not just for Paris Hilton anymore.

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December Playboy Cover featuring Nude Ann Coulter - Daily Kos

Republicans, can you stop screaming like hyenas at every little indignity suffered by our former president? Donald Trump wouldn't lift a finger to help you.

Yes, it was asinine for the FBI to stage a raid on Mar-a-Lago when we all know the only documents Trump wanted were his letters and photos with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (North Korea has nukes. See? "Nuclear documents.") Trump needs those for his scrapbook, to accompany the photos of him with Kim Kardashian, Mark Zuckerberg and Sean Hannity.

Still, the raid isn't going to affect your life. It barely affected Trump's. He was golfing in New Jersey at the time.

You want to be mad at the FBI? This is why you should be angry. Rather than fight crime, the agency has turned itself into the wingman for "Defund the Police." That could get you and your family killed.

Consider how they treated the cops in Louisville, Kentucky, who risked their lives trying to serve a search warrant on a major fentanyl dealer's moll, Breonna Taylor, on March 13, 2020.

The true story was discussed in last week's column, as well as my Dec. 16, 2020, column.

Here's the rest of the story, as told by Sgt. John Mattingly in his book, "12 Seconds in the Dark."

In the spring of 2020, as the defenseless officers were being smeared -- by Oprah, LeBron James, Cardi B., Beyonce, Common, Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys, Demi Lovato, Ellen DeGeneres, Amy Schumer, Ice Cube, Diddy, Kamala Harris, the entire MSNBC on-air talent, and on and on a confidential informant revealed that a hit had been put on the officers by two black motorcycle clubs, No Haterz and STR8 RYDERZ.

And here's something random: Breonna's mother was dating the president of one of the clubs.

A few weeks later, the ATF received information that the club's Chicago chapter would be driving to Louisville that weekend to kill the officers. The targeted cops were given security and a description of the cars and motorcycles coming for them.

What happened next would force the officers to flee and live in hiding for the rest of their lives, thanks to the inaction of the FBI.

Here's how Sgt. Mattingly describes it: "On May 31, 2020, I was told the FBI corroborated two separate threats from different sources. We received a call at 10 p.m. asking us to pack our bags and leave our house. We had to sell our house that we lived in for six weeks and have been in 'hiding' ever since."

It seems a $50,000 bounty had been put on the heads of the officers. Breonna's birthday would have been that Friday.

As part of the balloon release celebrating the occasion, the organizers wanted to "have something to celebrate." To wit: Dead cops.

At least the FBI had the officers' backs! No, I'm sorry, the FBI -- Trump's FBI -- sided with the guys who'd put a bounty on the cops' heads. The agency dropped the case after a remarkably short 2 1/2 weeks, announcing implausibly that the informant was "unreliable."

Well, he'd proven reliable in the past. The informant was, even then, being used in another active case. And of course, no one at FBI headquarters had bothered talking to him. But so desperate was the FBI to close the case that it was willing to blow up one of its own informants: Once ruled "unreliable," a source can never be used in another federal case.

Mattingly says the FBI refused to investigate credible threats on the officers' lives because of the "optics" of "going after a mother in a nationally sensitive case."

Shouldn't it be the reverse: The FBI must investigate because Breonna's mother was affiliated with a club planning to murder the cops whom she blamed for her daughter's death? (In fact, Breonna died because her good pal Kenneth Walker shot at the police. Ironically, a no-knock warrant the officers knocked and yelled, "POLICE!" would have saved her life.)

Local FBI agents in Louisville were enraged. Asked what the targeted cops were supposed to do, the FBI bosses said: "Tell them to relocate." Two weeks later, Mattingly had to watch as the FBI sent 15 agents to investigate a racist rope in Bubba Wallace's stall at NASCAR.

Right-wingers, save your breath defending the most disloyal man alive. Do something useful and get a job at the FBI. Just be sure to put "BLM" on your resume! The next Republican president (Ron DeSantis) is going to need a lot of help.

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Ann Coulter: The FBI wing of BLM | Opinion | havasunews.com - Today's News-Herald

Former President Donald Trump departs Trump Tower, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022, in New York, on his way to the New York attorney general's office for a deposition in a civil investigation. Julia Nikhinson/AP hide caption

Former President Donald Trump departs Trump Tower, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022, in New York, on his way to the New York attorney general's office for a deposition in a civil investigation.

Donald Trump refused Wednesday to answer questions posed to him by the New York attorney general in her investigation into the former president's business dealings.

Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to New York Attorney General Letitia James, saying in a later statement that "I once asked, 'If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?' Now I know the answer to that question. When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors and the Fake News Media, you have no choice."

So what is the Fifth Amendment and what rights does it protect?

The Fifth Amendment creates a number of individual rights for both civil and criminal legal proceedings. It states that a person only has to answer for their crimes when "on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury."

There are exceptions for cases held in military courts or for those actively serving in the military.

Additionally, a person cannot be called to stand as a witness against themselves in a criminal court case, cannot be prosecuted twice for the same offense and should not "be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."

The clauses of the amendment have different origins.

According to Congress, the concept of a grand jury comes from England and Athens, Greece. It is thought to first be mentioned in the Charter of Liberties and Privileges of 1683, passed by the New York General Assembly and established 12 counties, rules for elections and colonists' rights.

"Its adoption in our Constitution as the sole method for preferring charges in serious criminal cases shows the high place it held as an instrument of justice," James Madison wrote in a draft of the Bill of Rights.

The origins of the concept of double jeopardy are harder to track down, while the self-incrimination clause stems from the Latin phrase "nemo tenetur seipsum accusare," meaning "no man is bound to accuse himself."

Trump's former associates previously invoked their Fifth Amendments in investigations that spurred from their time as key players during his presidency.

Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn refused to hand over documents subpoenaed by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which was looking into Flynn's interactions with Russian officials as part of its probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Trump's longtime attorney, Michael Cohen used his Fifth Amendment right in a civil lawsuit filed by adult entertainer Stormy Daniels, which named Cohen as a defendant. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said she had an affair with Trump over a decade ago, and signed a confidentiality agreement with Cohen days before the 2016 election, in exchange for $130,000.

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What is the Fifth Amendment, and how has it been used? : NPR

A friend of George Floyd's who was with him when he was killed has again invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid testifying in the upcoming trial of two ex-Minneapolis police officers who are charged with aiding and abetting Floyd's death.

In a motion filed Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court, public defender Adrienne Cousins wrote that Morries Lester Hall intends to invoke the Fifth if called to testify and asked the court to "quash the subpoena" calling on Hall to take the stand at the Oct. 24 trial of ex-officers J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao.

Hall invoked his right not to testify at the trial for ex-officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murder. Chauvin received a 20-year federal sentence for violating Floyd's civil rights that he will serve concurrently with the 22 -year state sentence for Floyd's murder.

Hall's testimony could have revealed that Floyd used drugs before police arrived at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in May 2020, according to Chauvin's attorney Eric Nelson, who tried to argue that Floyd died of a drug overdose.

As Chauvin pinned his knee into the back of Floyd's neck, Floyd called out to Hall, using his nickname, "I love you, Reese!"

Kueng and Thao face charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd's death. They each rejected a plea deal earlier this week that would have allowed them to avoid trial and additional prison time.

The two ex-officers could have pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of aiding and abetting manslaughter and received three-year prison sentences to be served concurrently with their recent federal sentences. Kueng received three years and Thao received 3 years for violating Floyd's civil rights.

Thomas Lane, the third officer who responded to the report of Floyd using a fake $20 bill at Cup Foods on Chicago Avenue, was also convicted of depriving Floyd of his constitutional rights by failing to stop Chauvin from using excessive force. However, Lane pleaded guilty to state charges of aiding and abetting manslaughter to avoid a trial.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's officer ruled that Floyd died of cardiac arrest, while Floyd's family attorney said he was asphyxiated. During the federal civil rights trial of the three former officers, a Denver toxicology expert testified that Floyd died of asphyxia because his airway was restricted by Chauvin's knee on his neck for more than nine minutes.

Read more:
George Floyd friend invoking Fifth Amendment right to avoid testifying in trial of two ex-cops - Star Tribune

Every parent knows that when little Johnny gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar, he points to his sister and cries, What about Susie? No fair! Parents are too smart to fall for the deflection, knowing that whataboutism is what children do to excuse the inexcusable.

However, Donald Trump and his enablers are more than happy to spew forth a bucketful of irrelevant whataboutisms as their excuse for the apparent theft of top secret White House documents in direct violation of the Presidential Records Act. Moreover, Republican politicians are more than happy to twist themselves into pretzels as they deflect from evidence found at Mar-a-Lago relevant to possible violations of the Espionage Act. The only thing more dangerous than ignorance is arrogance, goes the saying often attributed to Albert Einstein.

We all knew six years ago when Team Trump was meeting with Russians in Trump Tower to get dirt on Hillary Clinton that this day was coming. And when the indictments are issued, the childish protestations of witch hunt will fall on deaf ears as Donald Trump invokes the Fifth Amendment while caterwauling, What about Susie?

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Trump and his defenders try to excuse the inexcusable - cleveland.com