In a bulky 50-page document that is long on allegations but short on actual facts, the Republican House leaders heading the committees assigned to the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden outlined their thread-thin justification for the inquiry.

According to CBS News, the chairmen of the House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees–Comer, Jordan, Smith–asserted, “The purpose of this inquiry — and at this stage, it is just that, an inquiry — is to determine whether sufficient grounds exist for the Committees to draft articles of impeachment against President Biden for consideration by the full House.”

The inquiry focused on if the President “abused his federal office to enrich his family and conceal his and/or his family’s misconduct” and it will look at his time as Vice President and President.  The memo does not outline any specific action Biden took over those years that would constitute a high crime and misdemeanor meriting impeachment.  The news of the memo was leaked to the media minutes after the end of the circus of the Republican presidential debate.

Instead of doing two separate articles for both of these stupid spectacles let’s just put them together for a “split screen.” Starting first at 8:15 EDT is fat former President Trump’s “Detroit union worker” rally being hosted at a non-union machine shop roughly 20 miles north of Detroit.

Multitasking apparently isn’t a skill Republicans have.  As they set off on their quest to find something–anything–to justify its existence, the Republican impeachment inquiry will hold its first official hearing Thursday as the caucus hurdles the nation over a fiscal cliff.

The Washington Post reports the Oversight Committee, led by Kentucky Republican Congressman James Comer, will perform the hearing, but it won’t have any witnesses with any first-hand knowledge about the claims made by Republicans that President Joe Biden, while Vice President under Obama, ordered the firing of the Ukrainian federal prosecutor to protect his son’s interests with a Ukrainian energy company.  Instead, they will rely on testimony by various pundits who will claim that if anything like taking money to direct US policy was uncovered, it would be very, very bad; they will not testify that that has happened.

So as the House chamber sits empty and the nation slides toward the precipice of financial default, a group of Republicans will hold an improv session where people like Jonathan Turley will beat their breasts about the risk to the Republic the fictitious scenario the GOP created would be.  Y’know, if it were real.

Republican representative gets asked how the DOJ could have interfered politically to help President Biden… before he was president, and he completely falls apart. pic.twitter.com/4RGYhtQfZD

— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) September 27, 2023

Twitter users should give this one a follow for all sorts of fun MAGA malarkey stomping. Just a few hours into its 2024 cycle tour and already it’s drawing heckles from the likes of Matt Gaetz.

DC Circuit Court Judge Tanya Chutkan on Wednesday denied disgraced former President Trump’s demand that she recuse from his upcoming election coup conspiracy trial to the surprise of no one except his fanboys who thought this was in the bag. Well looks like they’re stuck with her.

In her denial, Chutkan writes that Team Orange’s portrayal of her comments during sentencing hearings for Capitol rioters were “hypersensitive, cynical, and suspicious,” when they tried to make it sound like she had wanted to see Trump end up in prison for inciting the January 6th insurrection.

“Federal prosecutors today unsealed a grand jury indictment that accuses a Torrance man who was a candidate for a Los Angeles County congressional seat in four federal elections with misusing campaign funds, including funneling tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations back to himself through his friends and family. Omar Navarro, 34, is charged in a 43-count grand jury indictment. He is currently in state custody on unrelated charges, but he is expected to be turned over soon to federal authorities. As part of the case against Navarro, FBI agents today arrested Dora Asghari, 59, of Torrance, who is Navarro’s mother, and Zacharias Diamantides-Abel, 34, of Long Beach, who is a friend of Navarro, both of whom are accused of conspiring with Navarro to convert campaign donations to personal use,” says a Justice Department press release.

“Navarro unsuccessfully campaigned in the four most recent election cycles to represent south Los Angeles County residents in California’s 43rd Congressional District in the US House of Representatives. The indictment returned on September 14 and unsealed today alleges that Navarro, from September 2017 through July 2020, illegally funneled campaign cash to himself. The indictment outlines a scheme in which Navarro allegedly made payments from his campaign to various individuals – including Asghari and Abel – and then directed the transfer of cash back to himself for personal use. Navarro also allegedly used campaign funds to pay for personal expenses, including trips to Las Vegas and wine country, as well as two criminal defense attorneys. According to the indictment, Navarro later falsely reported these expenditures as campaign expenses.”

Navarro, who lost to Maxine Waters in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022, also made headlines in 2019 when QAnon freak DeAnna Lorraine, who lost to Nancy Pelosi in 2020, called the cops on Navarro for felony stalking, criminal threats, and attempted extortion. Navarro texted “Bitch, I came to see you” to Lorraine from outside her home at 1:30 in the morning in violation of a five-year restraining order. Lorriane also said Navarro had threatened to leak her family’s addresses to Antifa.

Disgraced former President Trump has commanded his defense lawyers in Georgia to find a way to get his “Find 11,780 votes” call harassing and threatening Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger suppressed from evidence in his upcoming RICO trial in Fulton County, Rolling Stone reports while noting the obvious gap between it being a “perfect calling” and wanting it excluded from the trial.

A source on Team Orange tells Rolling Stone said the fat bastard “still feels very wronged by the way that was handled” by Raffensperger surreptitiously recording the menacing call and wants to feel like he’ll have the last laugh on him by getting it hidden from the jury. “He’s made comments about how a ‘sick’ guy [like Raffensperger] does something that sneaky,” the source added.

One Trump legal adviser says they told the boss it was a dead end. “At the end of the day, that just wouldn’t work. You must confront what’s on there, not try to wish it away.” Sucks for him.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday told CNN’s Manu Raju it’s up to Democrats to decide what to do with indicted DINO scumbag Bob Menendez, further confirming that this situation is a third rail for Republicans who don’t want to say a Dem Senator should step down after being indicted but also that their Orange Messiah should stay in the 2024 race after being indicted.

And no, Mitch hasn’t been shy about pushing Dems out in the past. “The near daily barrage of allegations of sexual misconduct against Senator Franken are extremely concerning to all of us in the Senate. While the Senate ethics committee is reviewing these serious allegations, it now appears that Senator Franken has lost the support of his colleagues, and most importantly, his constituents. I do not believe he can effectively serve the people of Minnesota in the US Senate any longer,” said McConnell in December 2017. That’s from the Daily Kos article “McConnell calls on Franken to resign while his party spends cash to elect a child molester” referring to Roy Moore. Classic Mitch, right?

Raju asked Majority Leader Chuck Schumer the same question and did not get a yes/no answer, with Schumer only saying that Menendez will address the caucus on Thursday. Sounds like it might be a farewell speech but we’ll see. If he doesn’t go then they have to shove him out the door and fast.

Commander Biden just really doesn’t like Secret Service agents and he’s bitten a total of 11 of them in the last year, according to a count by far right “legal organization” Judicial Watch. Fox News’s Harris Faulkner took it further and openly wondered if the dog might have a coke problem.

In the last 24 hours or so the number of Democratic Senators calling for their deeply corrupt and now twice-indicted colleague Robert Menendez to resign went from three to now more than half of the 51 member caucus – now including second-in-command Dick Durbin who wouldn’t go for it when asked on Sunday – even as the corrupt asshole apparently dug in his heels further against quitting.

Which means it’s time to toss him the fuck out, now. Skip the ethics committee investigation and all the other process bullshit and put his expulsion to a vote immediately. Americans can’t wait.

Why? Because Menendez could give in to the pressure and resign in the meantime, which would suck for those of us who just figured out what the GOP’s game is here. To our knowledge only three Republicans in Congress have addressed Menendez: Weak and feckless House Speaker Kevin McCarthy who flip-flopped on it after being reminded he protected George Santos, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, who implied Menendez is the real victim, and Texas Senator John Cornyn, who sidestepped it by saying “I’d like all of my Democratic colleagues to resign,” which was basically just repeating what fat former President Trump ranted in a Truth Social post on Sunday.

Well actually George Santos also said Menendez should stick around, but we kind of don’t see that as any sort of multi-dimensional chess move considering the similar legal predicament he faces.

“WE NEED JUSTICE IN OUR COUNTRY! This political hack judge, who values, Mar-a-Lago, the most spectacular parcel of real estate in Palm Beach, and perhaps all of Florida, at $18 million in order to reduce valuations on my financial statements, which are, in fact, lower than my actual net worth, must be stopped. I have had very unfair judges since entering politics, but nobody has been as unhinged as this guy. Mar-a-Lago is worth, perhaps, 100 times more than he values it. Other properties are likewise worth substantially more. I am worth billions more than my very conservatively stated financial statements, and therefore could not have defrauded the banks, who all made money & were all paid back, or are current, with no defaults or any other problem.”

“Additionally, there is a powerful Disclaimer Clause on the first pages of the Financial Statements it states that nothing in the financial statement should be excepted [sic] as fact!” wrote playboy billionaire real estate tycoon Donald Trump on his personal social media platform on Tuesday, an rare insight into the mind of a celebrated deal maker whose talent was so envied he actually launched a program called “Trump University” to teach novice real estate investors his mastery of the trade.

Trump’s Wednesday post spoke to the brilliance with which he was able to leverage the value of a coveted property he owns: The fabled Mar-a-Lago club in fabulous Palm Beach, Florida. By telling banks it was worth far more than its appraisal, he was able to convince them to lend him more money than they would have if they done so using the value assessed by property tax authorities. He even skirted potential legal trouble over it for decades by including “a powerful Disclaimer Clause on the first pages of the Financial Statements it states that nothing in the financial statement should be excepted [sic] as fact!” on his statements. They don’t call him a legend for nothing.

QAnon fan Congresswoman Lauren Boebert on Wednesday proposed an amendment to the Defense Department’s budget to reduce the salary of Pentagon official Shawn Skelly to $1 to punish her for being transgender, saying “This delusional man thinking he is a woman, embodies and espouses the wokism that that’s causing significant harm to our military readiness and troops’ morale!”

If President Biden stays on the sidelines while our border is destroyed day after day, the government will shut down.

Just like we've had strikes in California and Michigan, and embassies evacuated around the world, his lack of leadership has catastrophic consequences. pic.twitter.com/vK8KDTkBhN

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) September 27, 2023

Affable suburban “Diet MAGA” Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin is shaking in his vest over the fear that voters in the Old Dominion State, home to 140,000 federal workers and scores more whose businesses depend on government contracts, will take their anger over the upcoming and all-but-certain shutdown out on state Republican legislative candidates this November, Axios reports.

“In these Northern Virginia districts, a shutdown is just not helpful,” said Republican former Congressman Tom Davis. “We saw that in the government shutdown in 2013 – it killed [2013 Republican gubernatorial candidate] Ken Cuccinelli” who ended up losing by 2.6 percent.

At least 30 percent of Axios’s article is dedicated to what the shutdown’s effect on the November elections means for Youngkin’s all-but non-existent 2024 presidential ambitions. “It’s possible for Youngkin to get in the race after Virginia’s Nov 7 elections, though it would mean missing the filing deadlines for early presidential contests in states such as Nevada and South Carolina,” they write as though they actually still believe it’s really happening, seriously what the fuck lol. The site nails great scoops all the time but the constant both-siderism, laundering of MAGA bullshit, keeping punchably-faced political editor Josh Kraushaar on the payroll, and of course this bizarre Youngkin 2024 fixation have all but completely eclipsed our good will and gratitude toward them as a source.

🚨🚨🚨 DEAL ALERT! 🚨🚨🚨 WOW! 🚨🚨🚨 Semafor reports Fox News is offering a MASSIVE 60 PERCENT DISCOUNT on all commercial slots on Wednesday night’s 2024 Republican primary debate broadcast! Hurry! Don’t miss this special offer to save BIG on space to advertise your special offer to save BIG on catheters, reverse mortgages, Cricket Wireless, free guides on investing in silver coins, asbestos and personal injury lawsuit mills, Medicare supplementary insurance plans, dating sites for 55 and over singles, IRS debt settlement “specialists,” and rheumatoid arthritis treatments!

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! The first 100,000 readers of this National Zero article will receive a free space to comment below its content and engage in lively banter about the pertinent topic – or not if they choose to post an unrelated meme or tweet to liven up the conversation. ACT NOW!

*Terms and conditions apply. See site for details. National Zero is not recommended for use by patients with a history of sexually transmitted diseases and excessive ketamine consumption. Past results do not guarantee future performance and your donation via PayPal faces substantial risk of zero return on investment. National Zero is not affiliated with Super Freedom Patriot Liberty USA Catheters, Reverse Mortgages, Wireless, Silver Retirement Trust, and Senior Singles Meetup, Inc nor any of its subsidiaries and is not liable for any of the claims made in their Fox News advertising.

Sources tell NBC News that the FBI is looking into whether the scumbags who bribed corrupt DINO Senator Bob Menendez have any links to Egyptian intelligence services, a pretty obvious line of inquiry federal law enforcement would be derelict not to pursue since bribing the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee was aimed at increasing the flow of US government aid to Egypt.

One of Menendez’s three co-conspirators, Halal meat exporter Wael Hana, surrendered to agents Tuesday evening at JFK airport in New York City after having voluntarily flown back from his native land. Hana would seem to be the obvious conduit here in the “Pyramid scheme” (get it? Pyramid scheme! Hahahaha!) though the extent of his links to Egyptian intel are unclear – if there in fact are any. Egypt is suffering from serious inflation, particularly with food prices, and there may be a scenario in which Hana was “freelancing” and that he would’ve been positioned to benefit from a contract from Cairo to ship US-produced Halal meat to supply public food aid programs.

If this Menendez shitshow was always ultimately simply about increasing food aid then in a way it’s kind of a breath of fresh air. Sure the bribery and the gold bars and the corruption of an elected official by foreign actors are an embarrassment, but there are far more malevolent interests out there seeking to buy off American politicians. We see them at work every goddamned day.

Evidently having determined that wayward US Army soldier Travis King isn’t really communist material, North Korean officials have decided to kick him out two months after he sort of defected to the impoverished totalitarian state, CNN reports citing Pyongyang’s state media outlet.

“The relevant organ of the DPRK decided to expel Travis King, a soldier of the US Army who illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK, under the law of the Republic,” KCNA said, adding that King had “confessed that he illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK as he harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army and was disillusioned about the unequal US society.” CNN’s report then stated the obvious by saying they could not independently verify if those were King’s actual words on why he had attempted to defect.

What isn’t in question is that King was due to be discharged from the US Army after being arrested for a bar fight while stationed in South Korea. He had been sent to the airport to board a flight back home to face processing but slipped away from his handler, ending up on a tour group of the DMZ a few days later. It was then that he abruptly bolted past a checkpoint into Kim Jong-Un’s kingdom to surrender – and the promptly tossed into a van by soldiers waiting on the other side.

Now we know why the NY judge decided to move on trump today. It's all so obvious. And disgusting https://t.co/KwusGJoDNJ

— Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) September 27, 2023

This is the election cycle that could lead not just to the end of MAGA, but also any significant power for the Republican Party for the foreseeable future.  Yeah, that’s right:  it’s not just Trump’s political future on the block; it’s the fate of the GOP.

I’m not saying this lightly, in the on-brand over-the-top fashion familiar here.  The Republican Party is in tatters.  The House is a microcosm of the Party:  various factions of the far-right–the fiscal conservatives, the social conservatives, the nationalists and the lunatics–are pulling on the hairs of leadership just enough to merit attention, and the attention they’re demanding is cumulatively enough to derail the proper function of government.  And while there may be a handful of Republicans brave enough to cross the aisle to work with Democrats to pull the nation back from the brink of fiscal disaster, the rank and file of the GOP is so cemented in their singular mindset, they won’t consider crafting an old-fashioned compromise bill.

While Americans who aren’t directly employed by the federal government won’t see the impact of the shutdown immediately, that impact will be felt if the shutdown lasts more than a week.  Checks to contractors won’t go out.  The first round of paychecks won’t be dispersed.  People looking for federal services–from the Medicaid HelpDesk to a national park–won’t find help.  The dysfunction of the GOP will start to shine to the populace, again.  And this is what Democrats need to pounce on nationally.

Always a friend of the working girl class, Florida Republican Congressman and Beavis cosplayer Matt Gaetz sent a letter to the House’s administrative office requesting that his paycheck be withheld if the government is forced to shutdown because of Repubican dysfunction in the House, the Daily Beast reports.

“It is my understanding that pursuant to the Constitution, members of Congress will continue to receive their pay during a lapse in appropriations,” Gaetz wrote in the letter that was conveniently leaked to the conservative outlet the Daily Caller.  “Therefore, I am requesting that in the case of a lapse of appropriations beginning at 12:00 a.m. on October 1, 2023, my pay be withheld until legislation has taken effect to end such lapse in appropriations in its entirety.”

Given that Matty lives off his family’s $30 million fortune, losing a few weeks of his measly $3,300 or so his Congressional weekly paycheck would amount to.  That is, unless he’s dating again.  He’ll have to Venmo his date’s their “tuition” beforehand.