“The Department of Homeland Security did not adequately follow its internal processes and comply with applicable Intelligence Community policy standards and requirements when editing and disseminating an Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) intelligence product regarding Russian interference in the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. For example, I&A employees during the review and clearance process changed the product’s scope by making changes that appear to be based in part on political considerations, potentially impacting I&A’s compliance with Intelligence Community policy. Additionally, the Acting Secretary participated in the review process multiple times despite lacking any formal role in reviewing the product, resulting in the delay of its dissemination on at least one occasion,” says the top of a Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s report titled “DHS Actions Related to an I&A Intelligence Product Deviated from Standard Procedures.”

The whole thing is pretty dense, but basically it appears to center on Acting Secretary Chad Wolf’s pushing various buttons to slow things down because the Orange God Emperor freaked out every time someone would mention Russian election interference, stating that Wolf “asked during the July 8 meeting that the intelligence product be ”held’ because it ‘made the President look bad,” we made a specific effort to understand what occurred during the meeting… it is clear the Acting Secretary asked the Acting USIA to hold the product from its pending release. We interviewed the Acting USIA, who told us the Acting Secretary asked the product be held because it made President Trump look bad and hurt President Trump’s campaign – the concept that Russia was denigrating candidate Biden would be used against President Trump. The Acting USIA also told us he took contemporaneous notes of the meeting, a copy of which we obtained. The notes… read ‘AS1 – will hurt POTUS – kill it per his authorities.’ The Acting USIA told us these notes meant that the Acting Secretary told him to hold the product because it would hurt President Trump.”

A Russian missile attack targeting electrical infrastructure has knocked out power to parts of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, the New York Times reports. Lviv, near the border with Poland, has become a major transit point for refugees headed out of the country and relief and supplies headed in, as well as the new home of the US Embassy in Ukraine. Attacks have been sporadic on the city, the most recent being on April 18th when a Russian missile strike killed seven people. The worst attack in the area killed 35 on March 13th when a Ukrainian military airfield was struck by missiles.

Cap’n Crunch the numbers and drop the answer below. pic.twitter.com/m1RA5f2qyV

— Cap'n Crunch (@RealCapnCrunch) April 29, 2022

The public relations team behind American cereal brand Cap’n Crunch have not weighed in on the massive pending Supreme Court decision that will ultimately affect over 80 million women’s right to make their own decisions about reproductive health, a review of their Twitter feed showed Tuesday (their the most recent post embedded above). While it’s entirely possible the “Crunch Crew” are still drafting a statement, a late response or none at all could be interpreted as complicity in the right wing’s barbaric assault on women’s health. This in turn could lead to boycott of the original Cap’n Crunch, Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries, Cap’n Crunch’s Oops! All Berries, and Cap’n Crunch’s Peanut Butter Crunch by progressives fed up with the Cap’n’s inaction on the contentious issue.

Calling the leak an “egregious breach of trust” without addressing the egregious breach of trust by two members of his court who apparently committed perjury during the confirmation hearings, Chief Justice John Roberts has called for an investigation to identify who at the Court released the draft, PBS reports.

In a statement, Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the draft, cautioning that the draft opinion from February is not the final version of the opinion, which will not be released for at least two months.

“Although the document described in yesterday’s reports is authentic, it does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case,” Roberts said in a statement.  “To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed.  I have directed the Marshal of the Court to launch an investigation into the source of the leak.”

Angered over the draft opinion that outlined the nullification of Roe v. Wade, hundreds of protesters have assembled at the  Supreme Court to protest the order and let their collective voices demonstrate support for women’s reproductive rights, Politico reports.

Without breaking any windows, injuring scores of police officers or stealing any podiums, the pro-choice protesters arrived late Monday night after Politico released the draft, written by Justice Samuel Alito, that would nullify the ability of a woman to get an abortion in any state, the first time a right has been revoked in the last century in America.

A few dozen anti-choice trolls also appeared at the Court building by mid-morning Tuesday, with Supreme Court Police, assisted by Capitol Police, keeping the two groups largely separated.

Elderly granny Senator John Kennedy is far from alone in his butthurt over the leak of the draft opinion from the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade and wanting someone to be prosecuted while also being unable to identify which statue, if any, was violated. You know like the kind of statutes that Trump violated when he took classified documents to Mar-a-Lago that Kennedy was unable to summon the same level of performative outrage for back then. As far as we understand, the secrecy of the Supreme Court deliberations is governed by strictly institutional and professional norms, and it’s simply not a place that requires some level of operational security, unlike say the Pentagon or FBI where leaks can compromise national defense or ongoing criminal investigations.

Women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights.

An extreme wing of the Supreme Court may seek to deny that fundamental truth.

They may try to force their views on a country where 70% of people want Roe upheld.

We will not be quiet and we will not go back.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 3, 2022

“We do not know whether this draft is genuine, or whether it reflects the final decision of the Court.

“With that critical caveat, I want to be clear on three points about the cases before the Supreme Court.

“First, my administration argued strongly before the Court in defense of Roe v. Wade. We said that Roe is based on “a long line of precedent recognizing ‘the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty’… against government interference with intensely personal decisions.” I believe that a woman’s right to choose is fundamental, Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned.

Racist MAGA asshole Laura Loomer, apparently out of ideas on how to hype up her second campaign for a Florida US House seat after the first one failed, is filing a second massive $10 billion RICO lawsuit against Facebook and Twitter for banning her after her first one failed.

From a Monday press release via the Gateway Pundit: “Today, conservative attorneys John Pierce [Yeah, that’s the asshole who ghosted on his clients charged in the Capitol riot when he was supposedly dying of COVID-19] and former United States Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA) announced the filing of a major, $10 billion-plus federal civil RICO lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jack Dorsey on behalf of Florida congressional candidate Laura Loomer. The Complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges what millions of Americans already know – that these social media giants have long engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity, including extortion, all designed to stifle free speech based on political viewpoints under the pretext of upholding ‘community guidelines.'”

“Specifically, the Complaint alleges that defendants have engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity, including by violating a number of federal criminal laws, including 18 USC §1951 (interference with commerce by threats or violence), 18 USC §1952 (interstate and foreign transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises), 18 USC §1343 (wire fraud), 18 USC §2339B (providing material support or resources to terrorist organizations), and 18 USC §2385 (advocating overthrow of government). Loomer’s Complaint also alleges that a significant factor in Big Tech’s decision to ban her was pressure from Proctor & Gamble, one of the largest digital advertisers and the biggest consumer goods product company in the world. In April 2019, P&G made clear publicly that it did not want its brands tarnished by ‘divisive’ voices and people like Loomer. The next day, exactly three years ago to the day of the filing of this lawsuit, Loomer was designated a ‘dangerous individual’ by Facebook in its scramble to appease one of its largest advertisers.”

“The Witch Hunt continues, this time in Fulton County, Georgia, considered one of the most corrupt areas anywhere in the Country, where a ‘Special’ get Trump Grand Jury has been convened to discuss a ‘PERFECT’ phone call that was made by me, as President, directly from the White House, with many lawyers and other people knowingly on the call, and with my assumption that the call was being recorded. As President I am the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the U.S. The Election was Rigged and Stolen!” says the Former Guy, actually using his stupid app for his day-to-day whining rather than his spokeswoman’s Twitter account. We think that might actually be the more “newsworthy” aspect here, rather than his bitching over potentially facing accountability.

On a related note, it’s a fucking pain in the ass to put a screenshot here and for us to expect our readers to simply take our word for it that the Donald posted this because there’s no way to link it (in contrast to tweets which we either embed or link). Not that you wouldn’t believe us that it came from Trump’s Truth Social account, we still would like to be able to source it properly. Which is why it’s nice to see that Devin Nunes claimed on Monday the desktop web version of Truth Social will be ready by the end of May. That probably means mid-July, but at least they’re working on it. Maybe. At some point we might not have to use iOS screenshots to source from Truth Social. If we’re really, really lucky we might even get an embed feature, thought that might be hoping for too much.

A warehouse owned by Russian public school textbook publisher Prosveshcheniye – the assholes recently made famous for their Ron DeSantis-like removal of Ukraine from its history books – was torched on Tuesday, the New York Times reports on the latest in a string of unexplained fires that have broken out across Russia in recent weeks. As one might expect of a building full of kindling, the Prosveshcheniye warehouse was completely engulfed in flames, leading to its at least partial collapse. Authorities blamed “faulty wiring,” per the Times, which is pretty stupid that they’d just pass up an opportunity to blame Ukrainian agents for setting the fire, regardless of its true cause.

By a margin of 52 to 42 percent, respondents to the most recent Washington Post/ABC News poll believe fat former President Trump should face criminal charges over his incitement of the Capitol riot on January 6th, 2021. Among self-identified Democrat voters the split was 88% yes to 8% no, Republicans 11% to 86%, and independents 56% to 38%. Meanwhile on the question of whether the House January 6th Select Committee “is or is not conducting a fair and impartial investigation?” the results were more mixed with 40% yes, 40% no overall. Among Dems it was 68% yes to 18% no, Republicans 15% yes, 69% no, and independents 39% yes to 38% no.

The large portion of “don’t know” on the second question could probably be attributed to the committee’s relatively low profile over the last few months and would likely see a major shift once the public hearings begin and are broadcast in prime time next month. Hopefully toward “yes”.

British defense officials have assessed the Russian military has been “significantly weakened” in the ten weeks since the invasion of Ukraine began,the Evening Standard reports. “Failures both in strategic planning and operational execution have left it unable to translate numerical strength into decisive advantage,” the Ministry of Defence chiefs said in an intelligence briefing on Tuesday, adding “Russia’s military is now significantly weaker, both materially and conceptually, as a result of its invasion of Ukraine. Recovery from this will be exacerbated by sanctions. This will have a lasting impact on Russia’s ability to deploy conventional military force.” The UK MOD estimates 15,000 Russian troops have been killed and many more wounded in Ukraine since the invasion began.

Birth Announcement

“Alva, Oklahoma:  The family of William Enos Martin are pleased to announce the birth of his grand-niece/daughter, who will be identified as his daughter, Britney Cher Martin, on Friday the 17th.  The baby and her mother, her sister Chastity Babe Martin are both healthy even though the earthen vessel had just recovered from the chickenpox.  William Enos has been unable to see his new daughter because he is currently incarcerated at Crabtree Correction Center pending his trial for rape and corruption of a minor for the incident in which Britney Cher was conceived, he claimed.  Upon learning of their daughter’s pregnancy, Chastity’s parents, William Enos’s sister and brother, demanded she marry the father of the baby so the child is born in a Christian way.

“Because Chastity will be unable to return to school because the school board will not permit an unclean girl on school property, she will be unable to complete the eighth grade and will have to get a two jobs to pay for her and her child, which she could not put up for adoption because the baby’s uncle-daddy would not give his permission.  As a 14-year-old, however, she cannot legally work for another two years, so she has set up a GoFundMe page (set up here) to pay for her living and medical expenses because her Christian parents kicked her out of the house for dressing like a strumpet and seducing her uncle, now husband.  With no social services available in the state of Oklahoma, you can give her and her baby donations directly under the Curtis Street overpass.”

The shocking disclosure of a draft Supreme Court opinion is something that has never happened in the memories of former Supreme Court clerks and SCOTUS watchers.  “It’s impossible to overstate the earthquake this will cause inside the Court, in terms of the destruction of trust among the Justices and staff,” SCOTUSblog tweeted minutes after the Roe draft decision by Justice Samuel Alito was posted on Politico.  “This leak is the gravest, most unforgivable sin.”

For more than two centuries, the Supreme Court was seen as the indefatigable champion of confidentiality in a city known for leaking information.  A Google search of incidents of a premature leak of Supreme Court rulings found the last confirmed episode to have been a SCOTUS clerk from 1919 who alerted Wall Street traders of decisions prior to them becoming public.  There has been no such leak like this one in more than one hundred years.

But the Court has been leaking a lot lately, and it’s the conservatives who sit on the bench who are the sources of most of these disclosures.  Antonin Scalia broke a lot of norms for the Court:  he would openly socialize with Republicans.  He would discuss cases in interviews.  And he would disclose his judicial rational relating to cases the were expected before the Supreme Court.

A draft of an opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito will overturn the court case that provided a woman’s right to an abortion:  “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Alito wrote according to a copy obtained by Politico.

“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito writes. “Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.”

While Roe has been in danger since the court was turned conservative by the machinations of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, the reality of its reversal will cause an upheaval in states, many of which have laws in place that would make abortion completely illegal if Roe were to be overturned. 

Poor Tucker Carlson, the frozen food heir and brevet Hungarian marketing director who was exposed as a white nationalist Russian dupe in a New York Times expose. He wants everyone to know that American Democrats are prodding Russia to go to war… by supporting the democratic government of Ukraine which was invaded by Russia under Putin’s orders.

Tuckums thinks this because Democrats are obvious mad that Putin interfered in the 2016 election to deny Hillary Clinton the presidency…. not supporting the democratic government of Ukraine which was invaded by Russia under Putin’s orders.

Note in his delivery his proposing assumptions as fact: “We know it’s not. We know about going to war in Ukraine is not about saving democracy.” Do we? Do we really know that, ’cause that’s what is seems like to every free democratic government in the world who is aiding Ukraine.

It was obviously more car than he could handle.  Robert J. Guarini, a 50-year-old from Boca Raton, Florida wanted to take his new-to-him 2006 Ford GT Heritage edition on a spin around the neighborhood, and promptly ran it into a tree.

Apparently, Guarini didn’t know how to drive a stick shift–why he chose to pay $704,000 for a high performance car with a manual transmission on which to learn how to drive is a mystery–and as he exited his development, accidentally dropped the transmission into second gear and torqued the engine, Road and Track reports, running it into a palm tree.