The Georgia Secretary of State’s office on Tuesday announced that over 1 million voters had cast ballots so far in the 2022 election, demolishing the 2018 Midterm record at the same point and coming within spitting distance of the 2020 turnout one week in, the Washington Post reports.

According to the Post there’s been a marked turnout in Black, women, and over-50 voters, particularly in the Atlanta area and the southeast and southwest corners of the state. The Secretary of State’s office also says 17% of voters didn’t vote in 2018, but didn’t specify if they were new or returning voters. Georgia is just about the most transparent state when it comes to early vote reporting, but the data from other states shows a similar steady pace of voting. Virginia is at 411,000, already topping the entire total early vote in 2018. North Carolina is down to 530,000 from 590,000 at the same point in 2018 – however early voting began later this year. Texas however is seeing a large drop, from 695,000 at this point in 2018 down to 550,000 this year.

“I think, uh, I mean the Senate race in Pennsylvania is gonna be close. I’d say it’s neck and something that looks like a neck,” failed comedian and something that looks like a human being Greg Gutfeld projects, before trying to shove this pre-written–Gutfeld reads it off the tablet he’s holding–into the conversation because he finally came up with a joke six years after Obama left office and he just had to bring the, um, “hilarity” (?) of it.  “But I do think Joe and Obama, together, it’s a perfect pair.  They’re the yin and yang.  Joe’s poll number have [glances at pad to make sure he gets the set-up right] gone to the dogs.  Obama eats dogs.  [Adolescent Jesse Watters giggles.]. Call back 12 years.  I had to do that. … He ate dogs.  He ate dogs.  We can’t forget that.  I’m never gonna let America forget that.”

Funny how Gutfeld doesn’t mention that New Jersey Republican Senate candidate for Pennsylvania Mehmet Oz killed hundreds of dogs, but IOKIYAR, right?  Gutfeld’s xenophobia and bigotry are right on brand for Fox.  He personifies the soft bigotry of low expectations:  No one expects conservatives to be funny, so when Gutfeld bombs like this on national television, it’s expected.  The unusual thing would be if he had an actual original joke instead of re-hashed racism.

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman on Tuesday cried over Biden’s release of oil from the US strategic reserve as an attempt to “manipulate markets”, AFP reports

“People are depleting their emergency stocks, had depleted it, used it as a mechanism to manipulate markets while its profound purpose was to mitigate shortage of supply,” Bonesaw’s brother told an investor conference in the Saudi capital. “However, it is my profound duty to make it clear to the world that losing emergency stock may become painful in the months to come.”

U.S. Senate Announcement: I am polling around 3% which places Democracy at risk. In the interest of protecting the United States I am dropping out of the U.S Senate Race in PA. I fully endorse John Fetterman. The Democrats must win. PA must be Blue. It has been an honor running.

— Everett Stern (@EverettStern1) October 25, 2022

You’ve likely never heard of Everett Stern, a dark horse Independent who polled as high as 3% of the vote in the Pennsylvania Senate race over the summer, but has recently dropped even lower in recent polls to, well, zero, which is likely why he’s dropped out of the race.

Instead of running to promote his ego, however, Stern has dropped out of the race and thrown his support behind Democrat John Fetterman in the race against New Jersey resident Mehmet Oz, a celebrity Republican.

Last week I semi-jokingly reported there was a “factual inaccuracy” in a campaign attack ad for Pennsylvania Dem Attorney General Josh Shapiro in his contest against QAnon freak Republican Doug Mastriano and a small handful of readers didn’t respond so positively in the comments to my pointing out how COVID vaccines tuning people gay isn’t a canonical belief in the Quniverse.

That they didn’t get it because my half-assed joke sucked or if they weren’t in the mood is neither here nor there. The unfortunate fact is that Dems aren’t doing so great in a number of contests in crucial states and that’s been weighing on the vibe here. All caveats about encouraging news on the early turnout front and a possible overweighting of Republican support in polling – among other variables and uncertainties – aside, November 8th could end up being a very bad night for Dems.

The National Archives pushed back on GOP screeching about Democrats being behind the criminal referral the Archives sent to the Justice Department, saying it even though they sent the referral on February 9th, the same day House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney sent a letter asking them to provide info on Trump’s theft of documents, the timing was purely coincidental, Politico reports.

Competence is boring.  It’s just not newsworthy.  So I’m writing a story about it because a 5.1 magnitude earthquake just shook the Bay Area of California at 11:47 a.m. local time and nobody will really care because everyone is safe.

Why is everyone safe?  Because over decades–if not more than a century ago–California started putting into place regulations mandating building codes that improve the structural strength of buildings and other methods to ensure structures can withstand such a tremblor.  Centered about 4 miles below the surface, the quake will be found to have caused minor damage for the 7.7 million or so people who live in the Bay Area.

Over decades, liberal California leaders mandated new buildings have structural improvements included, such as joists that can sway in an earthquake and reduce–or even prevent altogether–damage.  They implemented zoning restrictions that prevent certain types of new construction on some of the most dangerous fault lines.  And they advise residents on what to do in an emergency.

An eight-year-old boy was shot and killed Monday by a shotgun blast fired by his 10-year-old brother after the boy found the gun loaded and unattended while the boys and their older 13-year-old brother were left home alone, NBC News reports.

“I always struggle to even say it’s accidental because these are truly preventable,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. “I think it’s something we continually get the message out on: the importance of safe storage, especially when there are kids around. … In this case, we had three kids who were home alone and obviously had access to the shotgun and so that’s concerning.”

Reportedly, the family had recently moved to the Houston area and had not yet been enrolled in school, which is why they were home alone.  Authorities did not know who owned the shotgun.  The sheriff said the case was being referred to Child Protective Service for the safety of the surviving two children.

Oath Keepers founder Stewie Rhodes on Tuesday decided to throw the court a bone by waiving his right to be present at his trial on charges of seditious conspiracy as he suffers with what’s hopefully an excruciating case of COVID, CBS News reports. Rhodes’s positive test on Monday threw the trial’s progress into doubt as DC Circuit Judge Amit Mehta paused the government’s witness testimony to figure out a way forward. Rhodes agreed via speakerphone to waive his rights to be present in court, probably after being advised that the jury would be pretty fucking pissed if another week or more were added to the trial. Rhodes will be given transcripts of the testimony.

Disgraced former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has asked a South Carolina judge to block a subpoena from the Fulton County, Georgia special grand jury investigating the failed Trump 2020 coup attempt in the state, Politico reports. Meadows was present for Donald’s “Find 11,780 votes” to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and as such is a key witness for the district attorney’s office. Depending on if and when the Supreme Court tosses Lindsey Graham’s attempt to dodge his subpoena for testimony, Meadows’ case could be over in short order.

When a media outlet reported that his son was appointed to a job with a fantastic salary that he is supremely unqualified for, he told a reporter researching the story to “Go fuck yourself,” saying “Normal people understand it’s wrong to go after a man’s family.”  Typically, in politics, that’s a fair rule to follow for ethical journalists:  politicians’ children did not seek the spotlight or the political power.  They’re private citizens and particularly in the case of minors, should never be targeted by malicious media stories.

But the person in question here isn’t a politician; it’s Fox host, frozen food heir, Hungarian tourism attache and Reichsminister of White Nationalism Tucker Carlson.  The offspring?  Carlson’s 25-year-old son Buckley, who is employed by rightwing, but not Reich-wing, congressman and tacit supporter of the white nationalist agenda Republican Jim Banks of Indiana as his director of communications at an annual taxpayer-funded salary in excess of $135,000 per year.

Media started reporting on the Carlson family grift this weekend, with stories in Axios and The Daily Beast reporting that a GOP strategist speculated that Banks hired the Naziesque offspring to garner favor with the GOP media establishment–y’know, Fox.  Banks hired Buckley after he graduated from Georgetown, an institute of higher education like those that are regularly disparaged by Tuckums, in 2019 at a $40,000 salary.  Three years later, his salary more than tripled.

Trump minion Hope Hicks, who kind of went around Donald’s White House quite a bit, will meet with the House January 6th Select Committee, CNN reports without any further detail. Hicks was a close confidant of the Orange God Emperor and may be able to corroborate other testimony about the disgraced former president’s state of mind on the day his marauders attacked the Capitol.

The Alaska Republican Party voted on Monday to censure Moscow Mitch over his support for non-MAGA Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski amid her sort of tight reelection contest against Trump-endorsed freak Kelly Tshitkablahblah, a move with no actual consequence whatsoever because Mitch represents Kentucky, but we guess makes them feel a little better, the Washington Post reports. McConnell’s PAC has spent more than $5 million on ads for Murkowski in one of the few races in which he and the Orange God Emperor are not aligned with their choice of candidates.

They’re radical. We love America.

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) October 25, 2022

Two groups representing Arizona voters have filed for a temporary restraining order against a far right “voter integrity” cult directing MAGA terrorists to intimidate voters using ballot drop boxes in the state, CNN reports. The lawsuit from Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans and Voto Latino alleges “coordinated campaign of vigilante voter intimidation” by “Clean Elections USA” and its founder, Melody Jennings, in violation of the Voting Rights Act and federal civil rights law.

“Defendants’ organized vigilante groups have already turned away voters. Under any circumstance, Defendants’ conduct would be objectively intimidating. But, in the current charged political climate, Defendants’ actions carry with them exacerbated threats. There is no guarantee that the crowds that Defendants have mobilized and are continuing to stoke will remain peaceful,” says the complaint, which seeks an injunction preventing the group “from gathering within sight of drop boxes; from following, taking photos of, or otherwise recording voters or prospective voters, those assisting voters or prospective voters, or their vehicles at or around a drop box; and from training, organizing, or directing others to do those activities.” A hearing is set for Tuesday.

A sinner hath sought redemption in Georgia. Robert Sinners, a former acolyte in the Satanic death cult of MAGA-Ra, known for their fanatic devotion to the demonic and corpulent deity Donald Trump, has renounced his former faith and committed himself to the work of promoting the bare minimum of conduct in representative democracy by taking a job as spokesman for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

“This far-flung election conversation has turned into the ultimate grift,” Sinners, who worked on the fake Trump 2020 Georgia electors scam before snapping after hearing Trump’s “Find 11,780 votes” call to Raffensperger. “As long as they can keep the grift going and keep these people sucked into their orbit, it’s going to be a fight that has to happen. And I want to be part of that fight against it.”

In all seriousness, this is probably mostly a good thing on balance. Yeah there’s the distinct possibility Sinners is full of shit and just finding a new angle, either for cynical career preservation – or worse, embedding himself as a MAGA fifth columnist. Then there’s also that, like Raffensperger, he’s still a conservative Republican and as such generally hostile to voter access. But beyond that, it’s an all too rare mirror of Q-evangelism, which is heavy on intros along the lines of “I used to be a liberal Democrat, but then what I saw about [insert wokeism, vaccines, elections, Jews etc here] opened my eyes to the truth.” The unfortunate truth is that people are going to need to be deprogrammed one way or another, much as we wish they would just simply fuck off and die (even though many have due to COVID). If Sinners can be shown the light, then others can too.

A new Susquehanna Research survey sponsored by right wing hate site The Federalist shows Dem Secretary of State Katie Hobbs with a razor thin 47% to 48% lead over MAGA psychopath Kari Lake in the state’s hotly contested gubernatorial race. Incumbent Dem Senator Mark Kelly leads Reptilian humanoid Blake Masters 48 to 44 percent, and Dem Adrian Fontes leading MAGA insurrectionist and anti-semite Mark Finchem 47 to 42 percent in the crucial Secretary of State race.

Of course everything could go to shit with MAGA terrorists interfering in the conduct of the election and the outcome could go unresolved for weeks with God knows what kind of horrific violence by militias and malfeasance by QAnon freaks embedded as election workers. Should be fun.

A new CBS News/YouGov survey finds Pennsylvania Lt Gov John Fetterman with a slim but majority lead over quack TV doctor Mehmet Oz in the state’s all-important Senate race.

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss officially tendered her resignation to King Charles III on Tuesday, officially becoming Britain’s shortest serving premier after just 49 days and ending an ignominious reign notable only for its sheer economic and political clusterfuckery and the death of the nation’s longest-serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, the BBC reports. Immediately afterward former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak arrived and officially received the King’s blessing to take over and became the first ever non-white UK Prime Minister.

Athletic giant Adidas will end its partnership with former right wing 2020 third-party presidential candidate Kanye West over his anti-semitic meltdown as early as Tuesday, Bloomberg reports. The ubiquitous “Yeezy” sneakers with their ridiculous “SPLY-350” written backwards that have been a staple of Adidas’s lineup over the past decade, making up as much as 8% of sales for the company, could continue as Adidas owns the intellectual property.

UPDATE 10/25/2022 6:43 AM EDT: Adidas officially ended the partnership on Tuesday. “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. [Kanye West’s] recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion. mutual respect and fairness. After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with [Kanye West] immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. Adidas will stop the adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect,” the company said in a statement.