Category: Uncategorized

A new survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University finds that 70 percent of New Jersey adults wanting DINO scumbag Senator Bob Menendez to resign immediately after being charged with taking bribes and acting as a foreign agent for the government of Egypt while he was serving as the chairman of the Senate’s top international policy panel, the New Jersey Globe reports.

Among those wanting the asshole gone are 71 percent of Dem and independent voters, and 80 percent of Republican voters. Only among certain demographics does the number dip slightly, with 66 percent of voters under 30 and 58 percent of Black voters saying Menendez should go.

Turgid Congressman Jim Jordan’s bid to become Speaker of the House is still doomed and even more doomed than it was two days ago when it was doomed from the get-go, Punchbowl reports.

“His entire brand is wrapped up in fighting liberals and being a winner. That’s why Jordan doesn’t want to go through a third roll-call vote on the floor, especially when he could lose even more votes, according to more than a half-dozen sources involved in the talks. Jordan’s office denies this, saying he plans to move forward with trying to become speaker,” they write in a run-down sent with the subject line of “Jordan’s off-ramp,” incredibly but accurately describing a grown man and an elected official whose ego needs to be given hospice care as it slides toward inevitable failure.

“On October 18, authorities in Kazan, Russia, detained Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Tatar-Bashkir Service. Kurmasheva has been charged with failure to register as a foreign agent. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment. ‘Alsu is a highly respected colleague, devoted wife, and dedicated mother to two children,’ said RFE/RL acting President Dr Jeffrey Gedmin. ‘She needs to be released so she can return to her family immediately.’ Kurmasheva is a dual US and Russian citizen who lives in Prague, Czech Republic, with her husband and children. Kurmasheva traveled to Russia for a family emergency on May 20. She was temporarily detained while waiting for her return flight on June 2. Authorities at Kazan airport confiscated Kurmasheva’s US and Russian passports. She was subsequently fined for failure to register her US passport with Russian authorities. She was awaiting the return of her passports when the new charge was announced on October 18,” says RFE/RL in a statement.

Matt Gaetz has been more destructive to Republicans in the last two weeks than Godzilla was to Tokyo (pre-CGI).  His latest nihilist, fame-seeking stunt of seeking the removal of the Speaker of the House has resulted in a series of dominos failing that exposed the GOP for the fraud it is.

Think about it:  Gaetz took down Kevin McCarthy, who is now reportedly considering retiring from the House.  Steve Scalice’s career is over; he’ll never advance in the Party and will likely be pushed out of any leadership position in a future GOP House regime.  And Jim Jordan?  Well, his grappling tactics may have served him well on the mat, but the strong-arming and threats have turned more against him.

And now, it’s possible the disembowelment Gaetz started could lead to a long-term schism in the GOP.  Most explicitly, Gaetz exposed the lack of depth of Republican leadership.  Not one person could rally the Party around themself.  Not only was there no bench, there wasn’t even a dugout.  The next generation of Republicans is full of social media stars and short of actual leaders.

Saying that his lawyer is irreparably conflicted, the Special Counsel’s office argued that Walt Nauta, Trump’s co-defendant in the federal documents case, should be advised so he can find a new lawyer to ensure he receives the full, competent benefit of counsel.  Stanley Woodward has previously represented Trump Employee 4, independently identified as Mar-a-Lago IT director Yuscil Taveras, whom the Special Counsel describes as “a significant witness at trial.”  Woodward also worked for unidentified “Witness 1.”

The Special Counsel seeks a Garcia hearing to advise Nauta of possible conflicts of interest his lawyer may have that may prevent the lawyer from fully and competently defending his client. Woodward has been a Trump-paid lawyer for a number of people attached to Trump’s various legal cases.  Taveras ditched Woodward after a conference with an independent lawyer raised doubts about Woodward’s loyalties.

“Mr. Woodward has also acknowledged that his ethical obligations may constrain his ability to discredit Trump Employee 4 or Witness 1 in closing arguments,” the Special Counsel argues in its effort to advise Nauta.  “Nauta should therefore be fully apprised of that possibility, as well as the possibility that Mr. Woodward may hold back in discrediting Trump Employee 4 or Witness 1 to ensure he complies with his obligations as a member of the D.C. bar.”

Reacting to Middle East leaders refusing to meet with President Joe Biden during his trip to the region in the midst of an active war between Hamas and Israel, Donald Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed shock, pretending that foreign leaders didn’t frequently mock the Trumps.  But in expressing his contrived outrage, Pompeo let the foreign policy initiatives of his administration out:  everything gets addressed in a tweet.

“Sean, it’s stunning,” Pompeo says to Trump advisor Sean Hannity, a host on Fox.  “I try to imagine them checking out of a meeting with President Trump like that.  I, w-we’d all be workin’ on a tweet really quickly.”

You may not have heard of Gabrielle Hanson, a GOP candidate for the mayor of Franklin, Tennessee, and frankly, why should you?  It’s Franklin freakin’ Tennessee.  Nothing against the 85,000 residents of the fair city–Except you, Scott.  You know what you did–but no one really cares about its municipal politics.

Well, Hanson has been openly courting white nationalist, far-right elements which are apparently not as scarce in Franklin as one might think.  Hanson has been seen with a bodyguard bedecked with a Proud Boys face tattoo.

Well, now the GOP candidate who wants to be seen as a tougher, more racist version of Donald Trump, has posed for a series of photos posted to Telegram with white supremacist Sean Kauffmann, leader of the Tennesee Active Club, a far-right group of intimidation agents responsible for attempted intimidation at drag shows and LGBTQ events throughout the state. 

The Biden Administration will lift some sanctions on Venezuela’s oil and gas industry after the left-wing government of Nicolas Maduro came to an agreement with opposition leaders to hold elections in 2024, helping to further democracies around the world, Reuters reports.

The Treasury Department, the agent of the sanctions, will issue six-month licenses for the oil, gas and state-owned gold sectors in Venezuela, and it will allow some bond and equity trading involving state-owned companies.  A Treasury spokesperson stated that it would maintain the ability to reinstate the sanctions if the situation reverses in the future.

The goal is a savvy one for Dark Brandon:  it supports a struggling democracy and it opens up another source of oil into the United States, easing some market pressures and hopefully lowering prices… as the US enters an election year.

“Yesterday, I voted to support Jim Jordan’s candidacy for Speaker of the House. I voted for Jim Jordan for the greater good of the House Republican party, based on our Conference meeting and the test Speaker ballot that was cast earlier this week. However, after one round of votes, with my support, he was not able to secure enough votes for the Speaker nomination and my initial concerns about threatening tactics of Jim Jordan’s supporters, including from members of Congress, increased despite assurances. Today, it became abundantly clear early in the roll call vote, that Jim Jordan still did not have the votes necessary to become Speaker. Given the concerns I had before any vote and the ability of the speaker designee to unify the conference, I voted in support of Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Kay Granger to serve as Speaker of the House.”

“I voted for Chairwoman Granger because she has demonstrated great leadership this year by bringing forth, and passing, fiscally responsible, single-subject appropriations bills and is a staunch conservative. However, since my vote in support of Chairwoman Granger, I have received credible death threats and a barrage of threatening calls. The proper authorities have been notified and my office is cooperating fully” says Iowa GOP Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks in a statement.

Weird how she didn’t claim it was some kind of Antifa false flag or whatever. Almost like she was too shocked to come up with an alternate explanation for her own party’s voters turning on her.

“We’ve had two rounds of floor votes, and the vote against Rep. Jim Jordan has only gotten stronger.  The hardball tactics haven’t worked. If we move to a third round, we already know the opposition is on track to grow,” Florida Republican MAGA Congressman John Rutherford said in a statement. “It’s time for Rep. Jordan to understand this race is over. Tonight, I suggest we either go to conference to show him in private or back to the floor to show him in public. Rep. Jordan is fiddling while the world is on fire. It’s time to get down to business and select a consensus candidate who can bring the Republican Conference together.”

Isn’t it about time for Republicans to understand Trump’s hand-picked candidates fail more often than they succeed?  Trump lost the 2016 popular vote.  He lost Congress for the GOP in 2018.  He lost the 2020 election.  His 2022 endorsements largely failed in 2022, costing the Republicans a shot at taking back the House.  And now this public humiliation, which will only grow worse, according to reports:  CNN’s Melanie Zanona reports Republican members of the House plan to increase the number of “no” votes to Jordan to illustrate the growing frustration with the leadership option.

Returning from a trip to Israel to show US support after a horrific attack by Hamas, President Joe Biden announced that the president of Egypt agreed to open up a key crossing into Gaza to allow 20 trucks of humanitarian aid into the zone, ABC News reports.  The White House also announced President Biden will make an address to the nation from the Oval Office about the Israel-Hamas war on Thursday night.  National Zero will cover the address live.

GOLBAL INTIFADA!!!

It’s an Arabic rebellion and uprising!!!

Photo of one of the insurrectionist phones!!!

These people are NOT for peace! pic.twitter.com/CH6j2LggEb

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) October 18, 2023

Angered that anyone should voice an opinion opposing her own, Georgia Republican Congresswoman and missing link candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene took to Twitter to stir fear and panic.  Going live, Marge claimed, “There’s an insurrection happening now on Capitol Hill[!]” before turning her phone to show a group of anti-war protestors doing an organized performance demonstration in the lobby of the building.  Later, she posted a photo of a group chat, titled “Global intifada” taken over the shoulder of a purported “insurrectionist.”  The conversation between a few friends seems to be centered on helping the members meet up during the protest.  Marge apparently doesn’t understand the self-mocking humor of college students.

Far right Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s travel buddy/boss/mom’s landlord Harlan Crow gave $3,300 – the maximum personal amount – to the campaign of far left activist/third party presidential candidate Cornel West in August, NBC News reports based on FEC filings.

Weird how a Texas MAGA billionaire would support a crazy liberal extremist like West.

After his campaign for the third choice of Republicans to be the Speaker of the House came up embarrassingly short, again, Ohio Congressman and sexual assault misprisioner Jim Jordan told Mica Soellner, a reporter for Punchbowl News, that he doesn’t expect another vote Wednesday, probably a certainty given that he lost support between the first and second votes.  Jordan also commented that he was in the race “for now.”  (I’ll note the quote comes from Soellner’s post, which she does not represent as a direct quote from Jordan, though it sure sounds like something Jordan would say.)

This whole “Democrats got us into this mess” line is getting better by the day. Doesn’t this jackass get that he’s on CNN and they’re not going to just nod their heads like the morons on Fox?

“Earlier today at the People of the State of NY vs Trump civil trial taking place at 60 Centre Street, an individual disrupted the proceedings by standing up and walking towards the front of the courtroom and yelling out to Mr Trump indicating she wanted to assist him. This individual was stopped by court officers before she got near Mr Trump or any of the attorneys or other litigants.”

“None of the parties were ever in any danger. The individual was safely escorted out of the courtroom and the courthouse by uniformed court officers and has been charged with Contempt of Court in the 2nd degree, ie disrupting a court proceeding. Upon investigation, it has been determined that this individual is a court employee. The employee has been placed on immediate administrative leave pending investigation of the incident and prohibited from entering any UCS facility until further notice. At this time we cannot offer any additional information about the employee” says a press release from the New York Court system about some MAGA douchebag.

“NBCUniversal Media, LLC, doing business as NBCUniversal News Group (‘NBCU News Group’), respectfully submits this application under Local Criminal Rule 57.6 to request that this Court allow video and audio of the March 2024 trial of former President Donald J Trump, either by a pool camera shared by NBCU News Group and other news organizations, or through the Court’s own equipment.”

“Powerful First Amendment values and the extraordinary importance of these proceedings counsel strongly for this Court to exercise its discretion to authorize the public dissemination of the audiovisual record of these proceedings either in real time or at most with the limited delay necessary for the Court to assess whether significant public interests require the extraordinary relief of withholding any portion of these proceedings from the public. NBCU News Group respectfully requests an oral hearing on this application,” write lawyers for NBC News in the motion.

It’s long and filled with a shit-ton of citations. Probably cost a lot of billable hours. We have no idea if it’s going to work or not but evidently NBC thinks it’s worth a shot.

I know this will seem unbelievable, but Donald Trump is completely wrong about ocean-based windmills are causing massive whale die-offs.  (It’s okay.  Take a deep breath.  Regain your composure.  We’ll get through learning Donald Trump was wrong about something.) And the reason for the mass losses stems from the issue the windmills are meant to address.

According to the journal Science, gray whales have had three massive die-offs in the past three decades causing losses of 15-25% of the species’ population each time. Scientists discovered the deaths were due to the whales migrating to find new food sources because of climate change:  a major source of food for the whales, an algae growing on the bottom of ice sheets, is disappearing because the ice sheets are melting.  In the latest wave since 2017, nearly 700 have washed up in North America.

National Zero’s special live coverage of the House GOP’s inability to elect a speaker continues Wednesday as spandex-wearing grapple-freak Jim Jordan faces an increasingly unlikely path to wrestling the gavel from the hands on Speaker pro-tempore Patrick McHenry. Pennsylvania Republican Mike Kelly has a privileged resolution to do just that and has been talking to the parliamentarian to make it happen, while whip Tom Emmer tells CNN’s Manu Raju it’s a “non-starter.”