Category: Uncategorized

“We do know that we do not have custody of everything we should,” the acting US Archivist Debra Steidel Wall said in a letter to Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, the chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, ABC News reported Saturday.

The letter noted that the Archives knows they are missing records due to public reporting of communications sent or received by Administration officials.  Many of these communications were done through personal accounts using third-party messaging apps, some of which erase messages after a set period of time, meaning those records may not be recoverable.  Steidel said the Archives “would consult with the Department of Justice” on whether “to initiate an action for the recovery of records unlawfully removed.”

“Former President Trump and his senior staff have shown an utter disregard for the rule of law and our national security by failing to return presidential records as the law requires,” Maloney said. “I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure that all presidential records from the Trump White House are returned to the custody of the government and to make sure these abuses never happen again.”

(WARNING:   Video includes graphic content.) Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrated the capture of the Lyman, a city of 20,000 people that’s a railroad hub, back in May 2021.  Now, however, the 5,000 Russian troops occupying the city are encircled and desperately trying to flee.

As the video–taken from three different sources–shows, the Russians are literally lining up to escape the Ukrainian siege:  Russian vehicles line one of the few remaining open roadways to get out of the city, but as the second segment shows, the success of the retreat is spotty:  a number of vehicles were destroyed by Ukrainian forces, leaving corpses and a freshly ransacked minivan  in the road.

The final segment shows Ukrainian ground forces–obviously with high morale–doing a kind of conga dance as they approach the city.  It appears Russia’s annexation of four eastern Ukrainian provinces isn’t going as smoothly or with the support of the people as Putin would have everyone believe.

Ah, the sideshow that precedes a Trump rally.  In his typical fashion, Trump coup supporter and shredded foam pitchman Mike Lindell claims–of course without evidence–that the FBI illegally tracked him in order to serve him with a warrant to seize his cell phone while he was waiting for his Frisco Angus Burger or whatever stroke-inducing concoction he ordered from Hardee’s in mid-September:

“It was like one-o’cl– no, it was like 11:30 in the morning,” Lindell starts before the interviewer asks how the FBI knew were he was or if they were following him.  “No, we have no idea.  No, we pulled into a Hardee’s– Well, how did they know?  They tracked me illegally, with a tracking device or my phone.  We don’t know yet.  We’re trying to fi– get to the bottom of that.”

Federal officials indicted a former Baltimore city prosecutor for using his office to arrange for subpoenas and to get confidential information on five former lovers to stalk and harass them, the Baltimore Sun reports.

Prosecutors allege former Baltimore City homicide prosecutor Adam Lane Chaudry, 43, used false pretenses and lies to convince fellow investigators grand juries working on different cases to issue more than 60 subpoenas allowing Chaudry to get communications and credit card records for five unnamed women with whom Chaudry had been romantically involved.

Chaudry used the information in sustained harassment campaigns against the women.  For one victim, Chaudry reportedly kept a spreadsheet listing her family, friends and associates, tracking with whom she talked or texted, where she used her credit cards and even when she went to doctors’ appointments, including her OB/GYN.  He also obtained 33 subpoenas over a little more than two years to repeatedly obtain her phone records.  He also requested an investigator in the Baltimore state’s attorney’s office to pull her driving record and to surveil her on several occasions under the guise of a non-existent state probe.

The “RightStuff” dating app went live on iOS on Friday – or maybe earlier, we don’t know or really care – and National Zero spent an inordinate amount of time getting a profile set up to make a completely insincere foray into the MAGA dating scene in NYC. This reporter didn’t even get far enough to find hookup prospects exist among foul-tempered Staten Island housewives, as he has not yet and never will receive an invite to join before the network – if it ever does – opens up to new users who aren’t already connected to existing users. All of the better part of an hour spent finding an AI-generated face and photoshopping the background, answering the icebreaker prompts and coming up with mostly fake profile info just to show our readers three screenshots.

Oh and we had to upgrade to iOS 15.7 before we were allowed to download it. That was a pain in the ass. We guess the feature that allows you to pick from one of about 30 songs to play in your profile is innovative-ish. But the off-the-shelf selection is mostly absolute shit. Of course a MAGA dating app would have “All Summer Long” by Kid Rock, “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay, “God Bless the USA” by that asshole, some lame R&B song featuring that racist guy Morgan Wallen, and the absolute fucking douchiest song ever by the absolute fucking douchiest artist ever: “Uptown Girl.”

Ukrainian military forces have encircled the key Russian-held city of Lyman in the Donetsk region, threatening yet another serious setback for the Kremlin’s war machine, CNN reports.

“The Russian group in the area of Lyman is surrounded. The settlements of Yampil, Novoselivka, Shandryholove, Drobysheve, and Stavky are liberated. Stabilization measures are ongoing there,” said Ukrainian army spokesman Serhii Cherevatyi on Saturday. “of Lyman is important, because it is another step towards the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbas. This is an opportunity to go further to Kreminna and Severodonetsk. Therefore, in turn, it is psychologically very important,”

In a since-deleted tweet posted Friday, CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, celebrated Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Russia had (illegally) annexed four Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories–or as CPAC called them, “Ukrainian-occupied territories.”  So obviously all those rumors about CPAC and the far-right, including Tucker Carlson, embracing the authoritarian rule of Putin are just Fake News from the Mainstream Media, right?

• After hearing the new Space Force theme song, I’m reminded that in space, no one can hear you sing.
• Add to Dark Brandon’s accomplishments:  competently dealing with the spread of monkeypox.  US infection rates are down 60% in six weeks after a rapid effort to get vulnerable people educated and vaccinated.  Nobody questioned the vaccine or lambasted efforts to stop the spread.  THAT’S effective leadership.
• Florida:  the state warning labels were made for.
• The privilege of being a conservative, powerful troll like Ron DeSantis is that when you’re in trouble, you know the opposing political party in power won’t be an asshole like you would be.  So when you need help, you know you can rely on the Democrat to do the right thing.  Democrats can’t say the same thing because conservatives are self-important authoritarians who would withhold assistance to people in need simply because they disagree politically with you.

Following a legally questionable decision by Trump-appointed federal judge Aileen Cannon, the Department of Justice has filed a motion for an expedited appeal to challenge the order for a special master to the 11th Circuit Court, which overruled an earlier Cannon order.

According to Politico, prosecutors claim that not only is the special master unnecessary, but the process would slow needed investigations into the fact that Donald Trump had a reported 200,000 pages of government documents, including some classified documents, at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home that just sustained $842 million in damage because of Hurricane Ian (an expected insurance claim will fraudulently claim).

The government also contends that the new timeline laid out by Cannon significantly slows the investigation into the theft of the documents to an unacceptable degree.  The motion notes that the Circuit Court overruled Cannon regarding her orders about the classified documents, and the need to continue the investigation into the remaining 1,000-plus documents also must proceed.

“[Indecipherable] Senator Warnock like ta talk about it ’cause he doesn’t wanna talk about inflation.  He don’t wanna talk about crime.  He don’t wanna talk about the border.  He don’t wanna talk about men and women’s sports.  Those are things he voted for, so it’s one of those issues.  He’s turned his back on the Braves.  He’s turnedin his back on the men and women in blue.  He’s turned his back on Border Patrol ’cause he don’t wanna talk ’bout those things.  And, ah, that’s ah, those are the things that we should be talkin’ about, not whether the Braves should change their name because they got nothin’ to talk about.  They don’t have anything to talk about.  We gonna talk about me.  They’re gonna talk about everything else.”

For the record, Herschel Walker, the Texan running as the Republican nominee for the Senate from Georgia, was asked about his thoughts on pressure for the Atlanta Major League Baseball team to change its mascot.

The American sailor accused of setting fire to the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego, California in July 2020 has been acquitted by a court martial, Reuters reports.

The defense for Seaman Recruit Ryan Mays argued that Mays did not set the fire, asserting that lithium-ion batteries onboard or a short circuit in a forklift sparked the fire.  Prosecutors stated Mays was a disgruntled recruit who did not take to Navy life and wanted to show his dissatisfaction.

It took four days for Navy firefighters and fire departments from the city, county and Coast Guard to put out the fire on the ship, which was largely vacated with crew on leave.  At least 60 people were hospitalized because of the fire, and the ship sustained so much damage it had to be scuttled.

“A Tennessee man pleaded guilty today to felony charges for his actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His and others’ actions disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election. Ronald Sandlin, 35, of Millington, Tennessee, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers. According to court documents, Sandlin and two co-conspirators – Nathaniel DeGrave and Josiah Colt – planned to interfere with the peaceful transition of presidential power, beginning in December 2020. For example, on Dec. 31, 2020, Sandlin posted to Facebook that he was organizing a caravan to travel to Washington and sought donations on a GoFundMe site.”

“The same day, he, DeGrave, and Colt began a private chat on Facebook to plan for Jan. 6. In the chat, they discussed ‘shipping guns’ to Sandlin’s residence in Tennessee, where they planned to meet prior to their trip. On Jan. 4, 2021, before heading to Washington, Sandlin posted to Facebook a picture of Colt lying on a bed holding a firearm, with the caption, ‘My fellow patriot sleeping ready for the boogaloo Jan 6.’ Sandlin understood at the time that the term ‘boogaloo’ referred to civil war,” says a DOJ press release that goes on for quite a while about why this scumbag is guilty.

The bottom line is Sandlin “is to be sentenced on Dec. 9, 2022. He faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and up to eight years in prison on the charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers.” Enjoy your stay Ronnie.

In a terribly non-shocking new report in the Washington Post, the lawyers working to slow down the felony criminal investigation into disgraced former President Trump are not on the same page as to how to handle their obese client, with $3 million dollar man Chris Kise pushing for a less combative approach – described as an “off-ramp” – and the others, naturally, still all in on the MAGA bullshit.

Kise’s role in the Mar-a-Lago docs case has been reduced and he’s been shifted into the Donald’s other legal issues, of which there are many (there still seems to be some confusion on this after it was reported earlier this week that he had been effectively demoted). Overall the picture remains not great for the MAGA Reich, as yes, Trump was rescued from an immediate jam on Thursday when shitty federal Judge Aileen Cannon overruled the special master on forcing the Donald to put up or shut up with his claims that the FBI planted evidence at Mar-a-Lago, but the 11th Circuit Court’s ruling last week uncuffed the Justice Department from pursuing the criminal investigation into the theft of classified documents from the White House.

Photo tweeted by VOA’s Ostap Yarysh.

In a question probably framed as “Are you voting for the Democrats: the official party of Rainbow Fentanyl in Halloween candy or the Republicans: The party of Trump, Jesus, Freedom, Patriotism, Family values, election integrity, and the Nord Stream pipeline?” in the most recent Rasmussen poll found the GOP leading only 45% to 44%. So it’s probably 50% Dems – 45% GOP in real life.

Just as he was finally starting to get settled into his military junta office seized earlier this year in a likely Russian-backed coup, Burkina Faso leader Lt Colonel Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba is facing a challenge from some brash young upstarts as gunfire was reported around the presidential palace in Ouagadougou and the state TV broadcaster went off the air on Friday, the AP reports.

Well Damiba may’ve already lost the challenge as his whereabouts are currently unknown. So it’s kind of a jump ball, really. If he’s still in one piece, Damiba must be kind of pissed that the Wagner Group are currently getting their asses kicked in Ukraine instead of helping him out of this jam.

“U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan (both R-AK) today introduced the Don Young Recognition Act, a bill to honor the legacy of the late Don Young, Congressman for All Alaska. The legislation designates one of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian Islands, currently known as Mount Cerberus, as Mount Young. In addition, the bill recognizes Congressman Young’s lifelong contributions to Alaska by designating the Federal office building in Fairbanks as the Don Young Federal Office Building and the Job Corps Center located in Palmer as the Don Young Alaska Job Corps Center,” says a Thursday statement on Murkowski’s Senate.gov website.

Mount Cerberus was a smart pick considering there are unlikely to be that many worshippers of the vicious mythological three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hell who would feel like their culture is being squashed. It’s a safe bet Murkowski and Sullivan’s staffs double and triple-checked if there was any historic indigenous Aleutian name for the mountain and came up empty. Dead white men have been losing ground in the number of places and topographic features in Alaska named for them in recent years, so why not let the guy whose death gave way to the first ever Native Alaskan member of Congress’s election (and a Dem) have this one.

“Must be inherited money because that dude is stooooopid!!!!”

– The current top comment on the Breitbart article “Florida Man’s $1 Million Car Waterlogged by Hurricane Ian.” We need not mention whom such an observation could also be applied to.

The Intercept have a solid writeup on how Katie Halper was fired following her push back against The Hill’s ownership for squashing this segment backing up Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib correctly calling Israel an Apartheid state. “I am a Jew and I am outraged. Not by Tlaib, but by the attacks on Tlaib. Rashida Tlaib is saying that Israel is an apartheid state and that people who claim to have progressive values cannot support an apartheid state. No matter how loose a definition of progressive we use, it certainly excludes supporting a racist apartheid system,” said Halper in the segment that led to her being fired from the shitty political news site we all love to hate.