Sources tell Vanity Fair’s Gabe Sherman that North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis was warned by the FBI of “credible death threats” when he was going back and forth about voting to confirm white nationalist alcoholic Pete Hegseth – for whom Tillis ultimately provided the decisive 50th yes.

Whatever makes this easier on him. Blame some extrinsic “threat” that, whether or not it’s actually credible, has essentially zero chance of succeeding. He’s a goddamned US Senator and it would be extremely unlikely for some crazed MAGA terrorist to succeed in an assassination attempt. Sleeps easier the safe coward than the hunted heretic, right? What a total fucking pussy.

In another little bit, Tillis’s staff denied to Sherman that he told people to read a 2006 book called “Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work” if they want to understand convicted felon former President Trump. Or they denied it was for that Trump-specific purpose. Jesus Christ this is so lame.

A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Wednesday denied convicted felon President Trump’s bid to unblock the fat fuck’s executive order banning birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment, the ruling hinting very strongly that the case is headed to the Supreme Court this year.

“Appellants have not made a ‘strong showing that [they are] likely to succeed on the merits’ of this appeal. The emergency motion for a partial stay of the district court’s February 6, 2025 preliminary injunction is denied. The existing briefing schedule remains in effect. The clerk will place this case on the calendar for June 2025,” said the ruling extending the block for a good four months at least.

“ARTICLE I: JUDICIAL MISCONDUCT AND ABUSE OF JUDICIAL AUTHORITY Paul Engelmayer, as a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, engaged in judicial misconduct when he halted President Donald J Trump’s Executive order establishing and implementing the President’s Department of Government Efficiency on purely political grounds, demonstrating clear bias and prejudice against the President and the 74,000,000 Americans who voted for him. Paul Engelmayer has acted outside the bounds of judicial propriety, including— (1) by submitting this ruling that demonstrates clear bias and prejudice against the President; and (2) by willfully disregarding established legal precedent in the issuance of rulings, by submitting this injunction in the middle of the night, which may have been done with the intent to influence the outcome of cases to favor certain parties,” says the first of two articles of impeachment against the Obama-appointed Engelmayer introduced Tuesday by Wisconsin MAGA Congressman Derrick Van Orden, the angry drunk who likes to scream at kids on the internet and in real life.

And at the President of the United States during a nationally-televised joint session of Congress.

“ARTICLE II: ABUSE OF JUDICIAL POWER Judge Paul Engelmayer has abused his judicial office by using his authority to further personal or political interests, contrary to the constitutional responsibility to apply the law impartially, including the improper handling of this case in a manner that demonstrates favoritism or undue influence, undermining the fundamental principles of justice.”

“Wherefore, Judge Paul Engelmayer is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors and should be removed from office,” concludes the resolution. It’s not clear why this asshole thinks this is worth the time when there’s zero chance Engelmayer will actually be removed if there even is a Senate trial.

The MAGA octogenarian who in 2023 shot a Black Kansas City teenager in the head for the crime of approaching the wrong house died at the age of 86 on Wednesday, less than a week after pleading guilty to second-degree assault in the April 2023 incident in which he shot Black teen Ralph Yarl in the head for the crime of approaching the wrong house to pick up his brothers, ABC News reports.

Andrew Lester’s grandson described him as having become staunchly right-wing, further down the right-wing rabbit hole as far as doing the election-denying conspiracy stuff and COVID conspiracies, fully buying into the Fox News, OAN kind of line. I feel like it’s really further radicalized him in a lot of ways. And then the NRA pushing the ‘stand your ground’ stuff and that you have to defend your home. When I heard what happened, I was appalled and shocked, but I didn’t disbelieve that it was true. I was like, ‘Yeah, I could see him doing that.'” Yarl fortunately survived the incident without any serious permanent damage and is now a freshman at Texas A&M.

“I went to New York today to show the men and women of the Justice Department as well as the American people that I am personally committed to our shared fight: ending weaponized government, stopping the invasion of criminal illegal aliens, and eliminating drug cartels and transnational gangs from our homeland. For those at the Department who are with me in those battles and understand that there are no separate sovereigns in this Executive Branch, we’re going to do great things to make America safe again. For those who do not support our critical mission, I understand there are templates for resignation letters available on the websites of the New York Times and CNN,” says creepy scumbag Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove in a statement following Wednesday’s hearing in front of Manhattan federal Judge Dale Ho in the Trump Regime’s bid to dismiss the charges against dipshit New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Per Lawfare’s Anna Bower, Ho did not make a ruling from the bench but seemed to lean towards not having any discretion to block the dismissal (seems kind of questionable after that one Trump-appointed judge nuked Hunter Biden’s plea deal, though obviously this is a different situation).

“During the hearing, Trump’s Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove denies a quid pro quo with Adams, but says he doesn’t think Judge Ho has discretion not to dismiss the case even if there was a quid pro quo,” observed JustSecurity’s Adam Klasfeld on Bove’s twattish behavior.

pic.twitter.com/8YFK8JUNdY

— Taylor Budowich (@Taylor47) February 19, 2025

“President Trump, furious about delays in delivering two new Air Force One jets, has empowered Elon Musk to explore drastic options to prod Boeing to move faster, including relaxing security clearance standards for some who work on the presidential planes,” says the lede to a Wednesday story in the New York Times, copied verbatim to capture the tantalizing potential of consequences.

The town of Manchester, Kentucky was the setting last weekend of a real-life version of the 1990 hilariously heartwarming holiday family comedy classic Home Alone – which ends with two burglars arrested after being cartoonishly injured repeatedly by a series of inventive booby traps set by an plucky eight year-old boy determined to defend the house from the intruders intent on stealing whatever they can from within – although there were some key differences.

There were no traps in this one. And the age and gender of the juvenile involved in the incident were not made public, nor whether they were “home alone” at the time. And it wasn’t Christmas.

But there were two burglars. And they were thwarted by the kid. Permanently, per the Kentucky State Police. “On Saturday, February 15, 2025, at approximately 4:24 AM, Clay County 911 contacted Kentucky State Police (KSP) Post 11 London to report a shooting incident within the city limits of Manchester. Manchester Police Department responded to the scene and found two individuals who had been shot. They requested KSP’s assistance in investigating the matter. Upon arrival, troopers determined that the two men involved had forcibly entered a residence with the intention of stealing firearms from a safe. During the break-in, a juvenile resident of the home discovered the intruders and saw them holding firearms. The juvenile, acting in self-defense, retrieved a handgun and shot both men before escaping through a bedroom window. The two men who were shot were later identified as: Roger D Smith, 44, of McKee was transported to Advent Health Manchester by Clay County EMS but succumbed to his injuries. Jeffrey M Allen, 51, of Manchester who was pronounced deceased at the scene,” wrote KSP in a Facebook post on the new Angels with Dirty Souls.

🚨President Trump takes off from Palm Beach on Air Force One and is heading to Miami.
pic.twitter.com/rMAyETTfKH

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 19, 2025

“Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelensky, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the .US and ‘TRUMP,’ will never be able to settle. The United States has spent $200 Billion Dollars more than Europe, and Europe’s money is guaranteed, while the United States will get nothing back. Why didn’t Sleepy Joe Biden demand Equalization, in that this War is far more important to Europe than it is to us — We have a big, beautiful Ocean as separation.”

“On top of this, Zelenskyy admits that half of the money we sent him is ‘MISSING.’ He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden ‘like a fiddle.’ A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left. In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do. Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the “gravy train” going. I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died – And so it continues…” posted convicted felon President Trump on Wednesday.

The fat fuck’s obviously upset after Zelensky called him out for buying into Russian propaganda, upset enough to put himself in third person quotes and ignore that the Russians failed to seize control of Kyiv in the invasion’s outset and Ukraine has been able to resist them for almost three full years now. Zelensky should just use this to go into full “fuck the world” mode and take it further.

“Bird flu is supposed to be spread by migratory birds BUT there is apparently not a problem with free range and organic birds being infected. This leads one to believe that this could well be the actions of a radical environmental or vegan extremist group purposely infecting housed commercial flocks. The directive came from the Biden USDA to euthanize all of the birds in a flock if one tested positive though there is no scientific reason behind that directive because the ‘bird flu’ is rarely passed to humans and proper preparation of the meat and/or eggs destroy the virus. I cannot help but think that these are the same people that told us Covid 19 came from the wild” – The top comment on the Fox Business News article “Egg farmer hit hard by bird flu, describes ‘nightmare’ of losing 3 flocks,” posted Tuesday morning by a user calling himself “concernedusacit303,” lol.

The headline says “Egg farmer,” making you think it’s some good ol rugged country boy in a tattered John Deere cap talking standing in a muddy field but right at the top is video of a paunchy 50-something businessman in a West Elm-catalog family room. Further down Fox drops “farmer” and identifies regular (mostly) Republican donor Greg Herbruck as the “CEO” of the egg concern.

Herbruck was not propagating or entertaining conspiracy theories about the “actions of a radical environmental or vegan extremist group” alleged in the comment. What’s interesting about what the scrambled brain of “concernedusacit303” has cooked up here is that in being actually specific about the “they” here, he makes the motive self-evident and thus further removes it from the old “THEY created/spread the virus to ruin Trump politically and/or justify creating a mind-controlling vaccine.”

Put the complete lack of evidence and scientific basis aside – as well as the reckless abandon of letting people eat infected eggs and meat – it’s surprisingly coherent for a MAGA comment.

"I'm sorry, but Dick Durbin is completely out of line. He should never say that. Those words should never be spoken."

— Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin slammed Durbin for saying another 9/11 could happen if Kash Patel becomes FBI director@SenMullin @SharlaMcBride @Marc_Lotter pic.twitter.com/WrWqkNiqU9

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) February 19, 2025

Gov. Doug Burgum, R-N.D., says he's worried about another 9/11-type attack in the U.S. after more than three years of President Joe Biden's southern border policies. https://t.co/YotQXLOFCX

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) June 23, 2024

“The House and Senate are doing a SPECTACULAR job of working together as one unified, and unbeatable, TEAM, however, unlike the Lindsey Graham version of the very important Legislation currently being discussed, the House Resolution implements my FULL America First Agenda, EVERYTHING, not just parts of it! We need both Chambers to pass the House Budget to ‘kickstart’ the Reconciliation process, and move all of our priorities to the concept of, ‘ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL.’ It will, without question, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” posted convicted felon President Trump on Wednesday morning, going with the less-competent and more restive of his majorities to enact his agenda. Watch for all the Congress reporters to say this is suicidally stupid.

“Nikola Corporation (Nasdaq: NKLA), a global leader in zero-emissions transportation and energy supply and infrastructure solutions, via the HYLA brand, today announced that the Company and certain of its subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Nikola has also filed a motion seeking authorization to pursue an auction and sale process under Section 363 of the US Bankruptcy Code,” says “Nikola” in a Wednesday press release celebrating their global leadership.

Nikola, founded by conservative Mormon entrepreneur Trevor Milton but no longer led by him because he’s doing four years in the joint for two counts of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud for lying to investors about the technology and how many preorders had been placed for the trucks, was once a “unicorn” in the space despite being stuck taking famed inventor Nikola Tesla’s first name since his last name was already taken, lol. They’re now the second American electric truck company born in the era of convicted felon President Trump’s “manufacturing is back” bullshit in his first term to turn out to be built on a foundation of lies after the Lordstown Motors failure.

Corrupt “social media” company Trump Media and Technology Group and marginally more legitimate right wing YouTube knockoff Rumble early Wednesday filed a federal civil complaint in Florida’s Middle District against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre De Moraes to stop his “ultra vires attempts to illegally censor American companies operating primarily on American soil.”

Now while the MAGA Reich, specifically Elon Musk, have had it out for De Moraes for months, mostly over the usual “censorship” circlejerk – Ketamine Brain screamed the jurist is an “evil dictator cosplaying as a judge,” accusing him of “trying to destroy democracy in Brazil” for banning Twitter in the country in August over right wing conspiracy bullshit and only lifting it in October after collecting a $5 million fine – the timing is extremely hard to ignore given what just happened to Trump’s ally, disgraced former President Jair Bolsonaro, who now stands accused of plotting to assassinate De Moraes along with President Luiz Lula and other officials following his defeat in the 2022 election.

Like it was fucking hours later. Why this stupid lawsuit and not some kind of sanctions or tariffs against Brazil? And this lawsuit is stupid. How the fuck is a US federal court supposed to have jurisdiction over a foreign government’s legal system for issuing “sweeping orders to suspend multiple US-based accounts (‘Banned Accounts’) of a well-known politically outspoken user (‘Political Dissident A’), ensuring no person in the United States can see his content (‘Gag Orders’)”?

This is how they’re supposed to help Bolsonaro? (Assuming he’s “Dissident A”) And even if some MAGA judge does rule their court has jurisdiction over De Moraes, when is Musk going to sue the ChiComs for blocking Twitter to give political dissidents there access to “free speech”?

“Yum! Brands announced today its plans to designate two brand headquarters in the US, located in Plano, Texas, and Irvine, California, to foster greater collaboration among brands and employees. This strategic decision will involve relocating KFC US corporate office employees currently in Louisville, Kentucky, to the KFC and Pizza Hut Global headquarters in Plano, Texas. In addition, US-based remote employees will be asked to relocate to the campus where their work happens.”

“Yum! Brands and the KFC Foundation will maintain corporate offices in Louisville. Taco Bell and Habit Burger and Grill will remain headquartered in Irvine, California. The relocation of approximately 100 KFC US corporate roles will occur over the next six months, while the relocation of 90 remote positions will take place over the next 18 months. Throughout the process, employees will receive relocation and transition support,” says a Tuesday press release from KFC corporate parent Yum! Brands that, on top of officially de-Kentucky-fying Kentucky Fried Chicken, kind of scrambles that whole “SEE JOE ROGAN AND TESLA AND HP AND ORACLE MOVED TO TEXAS BECUZ CALIFORNIA IS TOO WOKE AND GAY LIBS, LOL” narrative the MAGA dipshits have been spewing for years.

Not much of a win for those dickheads when it’s one of the poorer, shittier Red States sending jobs to a richer, bigger one, especially when the same release seems to also include a vote of confidence in the Golden State. Yum! were sure to add some hollow paeans to continuing the Kentucky-ness of the brand, ending the release with “To commemorate its deep-rooted history in Kentucky, Yum! is strengthening its commitment to advancing higher education locally by providing a $1 million endowment to the College of Business at the University of Louisville [blah blah blah]. Additionally, KFC will continue its brand presence in Louisville with the ambition of building a first-of-its-kind flagship restaurant.” Maybe just build it instead of touting an “ambition” to do so, lol.

Responding as gently as he could to demented old man Trump’s lies that Ukraine started the war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday told reporters the simple truth that the fat fuck has been brainwashed by the Kremlin’s “disinformation space,” CNN reports.

“Unfortunately, President Trump – I have great respect for him as a leader of a nation that we have great respect for, the American people who always support us – unfortunately lives in this disinformation space,” Zelensky said without elaborating further on Donald’s batshittery.

The white South Africans whom convicted felon President Trump and his Afrikaner boss, Elon Musk, believe are soon to be victims of a mass land appropriation program at the hands of the country’s Black leadership are about to go through some things with the fat bastard’s “reciprocal tariffs” program, the chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa, tells Reuters.

“It is not clear whether the exporters are Black or white; we don’t record such data,” said Wandile Sihlobo, but only a tenth of output is from Black farmers. “The majority of white farmers likely have a significant exposure into the US market” he said, estimating it to be about $450 million a year.