The old party is dead. Time to bury it. Build something new

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) November 13, 2022

Incumbent Democrat Catherine Cortez-Masto held on to her Senate seat, NBC News projects, giving Democrats control of the Senate for the next two years with a possible addition of one more seat after the Georgia runoff. Cortez-Masto took 61% of the latest Clark County vote dump of mail ballots, taking a lead of approximately 5,000 votes over Republican former Attorney General Adam Laxative. With remaining ballots expected to favor Democrats, Laxalt will not be able to make up the gap. In related news, the Democratic nominee for Nevada Secretary of State, Francisco Aguilar, won, knocking off MAGA scumbag Republican Jim Marchant.

Non-Correction: The current version of this article misspelled Adam Laxalt’s last name as “Laxative.” National Zero does not regret the error and will not be correcting it.

New House math:

Dem called/likely (213), incl. #AKAL, #CA09, #CA21, #CA47, #CA49, #CO08, #ME02, #OR06
GOP called/likely (217): incl. #CA03, #CA27, #CA45, #CO03, #NY22, #OR05
Toss Ups (5): #AZ01, #AZ06, #CA13, #CA22, #CA41

Dems need to run the table on the last five for 218.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) November 13, 2022

Cook Political Report guru Dave Wasserman has determined Democrat Mike Levin has won reelection, defeating Republican Brian Maryott in California’s 49th Congressional District, another important hold in Democrats’ effort to maintain control of the House.

An Iranian man who lived in Paris’s airport for nearly 20 years, a saga made into the movie “The Terminal” starring Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones, died of a heart attack at the airport he once called home, USA Today reports.

Mehran Nasseri essentially became a man without a country in 1988, when he arrived at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport with a ticket to England but no travel documents; Nasseri said they were taken in a robbery in Paris.  While he was allowed to leave on his flight, British authorities immediately returned him to Paris. Because he had no passport, he could not leave Terminal 1.  He lived in the terminal, surviving on food vouchers for airport vendors and contributions, until 2006, when he left the terminal, having been granted French citizenship years before.

Airport authorities say Nasseri had been living in a different terminal for the last few weeks; no one knows why he returned to the airport.  The 77-year-old had a heart attack Saturday morning.

Sources including the New York Times have called the race in the tightly contested Washington 3rd Congressional District for Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez, a pick-up for Dems as they fight for control of the House.

The district is currently represented by Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler who lost the primary to MAGAt Joe Kent, a veteran whose wife was killed in Syria while serving in the US Navy.  It’s rated an R+5 by the Cook Political Report.

Spartan adds:  “Kent had defeated Trump impeacher Republican Congresswoman Jamie Herrera Beutler in the primary, making this yet another revenge quest for the Orange God Emperor ultimately resulting in a Democrat win.”

Don’t say we didn’t tell you it was coming.  Since 2015, Democrats, independents, foreign analysts and a significant number of its own members have told Republican Party leaders repeatedly that Donald Trump was a train wreck, an anchor around its neck, an albatross, AND a poison pill that would destroy the GOP from within.  We warned Republicans that Trump and Trumpism were not just a danger to the nation; we told them he would ultimately ruin the GOP.  And that’s exactly what’s happening:  because of Donald Trump, Republicans have lost badly in three straight national elections, costing them thousands of seats across the country.

Think about that for a moment:  as political opponents, liberals should be strategizing for the complete destruction of Republicans.  And yes, politically, Democrats do try to stomp opponents at the ballot box.  But patriotically, Democrats and this unique coalition of pro-American allies recognized something Republicans still do not:  to function, the United States needs two strong, dedicated political Parties listening to voters and adhering to Constitutional principles. 

I traditionally image the political path of the nation as a thick line that wobbles slightly to the left or right as it’s drawn, but it never sways too far off-center–because the vast majority of Americans are political moderates who don’t subscribe to radical political doctrine from either side.  Step back a few feet and you see the overarching path of American society, appearing clear, bold, and smooth (and in my opinion, tilting Left).  It’s only when you examine the line closely–like looking at politics on a day-to-day basis–that you see the striations and frays.

Meet the Jericho March, a so-called Judeo-Christian group dedicated to ensuring the integrity of America’s elections which has taken up protesting around the Maricopa County, Arizona building house election offices where they’re counting ballots.  And in case you’re Biblically disinclined, the story about Jericho is that God instructed His followers to march around the impenetrable walls protecting the enemy’s city of Jericho, banging drums and loudly extolling His virtues, to make the walls tumble down.  So obviously, these modern God warriors want the elections offices to collapse ’cause Bible.

It seems clear by now the Dems lost the House majority. Would like to be wrong about this. Might even be wrong as some smart guys are still leaving it up in the air that the Democrats have a path, if an extremely narrow one, to 218 seats. Literally 218 seats, not 219 or 220. 218 seats.

That sucks. The barest of a GOP majority in the House means Jim Jordan gets the Judiciary Committee gavel and – if Democrats don’t get their act together and pass some legislation defanging the debt limit in the lame duck period – the serious and ever-present threat of a catastrophic default with Social Security and Medicare being held hostage to MAGA psychopaths. Same story with Ukraine. The pro-Russians in the House will hold up any further military aid unless a blank check is passed in the lame duck. It’s critical that happens amid Kyiv’s momentum.

Then there’s the lost opportunity to make other things happen: Just a few more House seats and a win for Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin would’ve opened the door to filibuster reform, Supreme Court reform, the Voting Rights act, DC and Puerto Rico statehood, all that pie in the sky shit is out of reach barring a sudden death or resignation of a Republican Senator in a state with a Democratic governor plus some similar attrition in the House within the next two years.

“I love the United States of America.  If I do not win this seat, we may not recognize America as soon as they get back in control because they seem not to like America,” amateur crash test dummy and Texan running for Georgia’s Senate seat Herschel Walker claims, apparently unaware that Democrats already control the Senate. “[break] I want America to be great.  I want every kid in America to have that America’s [sic] dream.  Well, I can tell you right now, if I don’t win that seat, no other American will ever have that America [sic] Dream again.”

The damage from the $8 Blue Check shitshow on Twitter spread outside of Elon Musk’s kingdom on Friday as a tweet from a fake account posing as pharmaceutical megacorporation Eli Lilly and Company saying “We are excited to announce insulin is free now” reignited public anger over the cocksuckers charging obscene amounts for the life-saving drug and resulted in a 5% drop in its stock price, Semafor reports. Several of Eli Lilly’s competitors, including Danish company Novo Nordisk and French Sanofi also took similar hits. “This is almost like a symbol of the mob in many ways: like the market realized that there are people who want to come out at Eli Lilly with pitchforks,” medical media egghead Dr Eric Feigl-Ding told Semafor about the karmic destruction.

Our editorial position is that insulin production should be nationalized by the United States government and the official response to complaints over the patent violation should be “Fuck you.”

Allies of deadbeat dad Herschel Walker prefer Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to come to Georgia to campaign for the mentally ill liar candidate ahead of the December 6th runoff election against incumbent Dem Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock, another hint at a coming snub of a different mentally ill liar, fat former President Trump, the New York Post reports.

“I think that Youngkin or DeSantis is a better fit for soft Republicans or independents in the suburbs that we need to turn out,” said Walker supporter Ralph Reed, president of the Christian nationalist death cult Faith and Freedom Coalition, told CNN. The deterioration in support for the chunky twice-impeached loser could not come at a worse time for him, as he prepares to launch yet another run at the presidency after a Red Wave failed to materialize in the midterms.

“Imagine [Trump] seeing Ron campaign for Herschel while he is being told, ‘Please stay away.’ He would go ballistic,” one anonymous Trump ally said. Fingers crossed he goes too ballistic.

The stop has been stolen from MAGA insurrectionist shitbag Mark Finchem in Arizona, as Democrat Adrian Fontes has been projected the winner in the crucial Secretary of State race by NBC News.

The defeat is just the latest in a string of repudiations against the “They’re going to fucking steal 2024 slate” of which only Nevada Secretary of State candidate Jim Marchant remains (though we’ll have to see about Nevada Governor-elect Joe Lombardo, he could be another).

Control of the Senate comes down to two races–one in Nevada and one in Georgia–with the Senate evenly divided after NBC News calls the Arizona Senate race for incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly.

• The midterms were a disaster for Donald Trump.  Out of his Top 10 headline endorsements in competitive races, only JD Vance has assured a victory; it’s very possible he’s the only one that wins.  Dems are currently in the lead in each of the other races except the Nevada Senate.  The only person who had a worse week was Alex Jones.
• Democracy in Purple States won:  Six GOP Secretary of State candidates who denied the results of the 2020 election lost or are on their way to losing.  Three in Deep Red states (AL, IN, WY) won, but they won’t overturn a GOP win.
• Joe Biden doesn’t blow his own horn loudly, but damn, he’s an effective SOB.  He’s quietly leading an exceptionally successful administration.
• I admit, I got a bit emotional early Wednesday morning when it became clear Trump’s endorsees were failing.  It felt like a good purge.

“While votes are still coming in – and we need every ballot tallied and every voice heard – it appears we will fall a percentage point or so short of winning. Obviously that is not the outcome I want, but I believe in our election system, in democracy and honoring the will of Nevada voters. So whether you voted for me or Sheriff Lombardo, it is important that we now come together to continue moving the state forward. That is why I reached out to the Sheriff to wish him success. We’ve been through a lot these last four years, from a once-in-a-century pandemic to the stresses and strains of global inflation. I know it has been a challenge for many of you and I couldn’t be prouder of how this state has worked to get us to a better day. I also am proud that we made the tough decisions during COVID that helped save an estimated 30,000 Nevada lives even if those decisions sometimes had tough political ramifications. Over the remainder of my term I will continue working hard on behalf of Nevada. You deserve no less. And upon leaving office, I will work in every way I can to make Nevada stronger. While it seems I will come up short at the polls, I am excited that Senator Cortez Masto is on a path to win. We need her strong voice on behalf of our state in Washington.”

“I want to thank my family, including my two daughters, Ashley and Carley, the love of my life and best friend, Kathy, and my mother, who at 96 has been my biggest supporter since day one. And to my campaign staff, everyone who knocked doors, sent texts, and donated, thank you for fighting for me. For this single dad and son of a blue collar factory worker, the opportunities this state has given me are more than I could have ever asked for. It has been the honor of my life to be your governor and I want to thank you for giving me this incredible opportunity to serve,” says Dem Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak in a statement conceding to Republican Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo.

Instead of responding to the subpoena like he pretended he would, disgraced former President Trump has filed yet another lawsuit against the House January 6th Select Committee, this time to try to block the subpoena. Wasn’t he supposed to excited to take them on in his testimony?

After Elon Musk’s plan to sell “blue check” accounts that previously denoted verified users led to thousands of fake “verified” accounts for everyone from George Washington to Barney the Dinosaur, Twitter pulled the Blue service to work out the problems the program led to, NBC News reports.

The option to purchase the service was removed from Twitter sometime Thursday, with the icon for subscribers missing from their menus Thursday morning.  A page that once had Twitter Blue subscription forms now just has information on it; a prompt says to go to the iOS app to sign up, but there is no sign-up option on the iOS app.

Musk touted the subscription service for Twitter after he bought the extensive social media platform for $44 billion about two weeks ago.  Since then, all he’s done is fire the company’s moderating and ethics teams, devalued the blue check, and spent two weeks whining that he bought a nonprofitable company.

Grumpy Donald Trump spotted at daughter Tiffany's wedding rehearsal https://t.co/Kwp9wuogu7 pic.twitter.com/AugAgjojCl

— New York Post (@nypost) November 11, 2022

“A Pennsylvania man has been found guilty in the District of Columbia of felony charges for his actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election. Brian Gundersen, 28, of State College, Pennsylvania, was found guilty on Nov. 9, 2022, of obstruction of an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers. Judge Thomas F. Hogan returned the verdict after a trial in which Gundersen and the government agreed upon a stipulated set of facts regarding his conduct”

“He is to be sentenced on Jan. 27, 2023. He faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison on the obstruction charge, as well as a statutory maximum of eight years in prison for assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers. The charges also carry potential financial penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors,” says a Justice Department press release from Thursday.

It leaves out that Gunderson first came under FBI investigation because a former classmate tipped them off saying they spotted Gunderson wearing his high school varsity football jacket in CNN footage of the riot… about eight years after he graduated from high school.