“Imagine that, in 2018, [Hillary] Clinton had been very active on the campaign trail, endorsing candidates that often went against the wishes of the party establishment, repeatedly claiming that the 2016 election had been stolen – and then there had been a FBI seizure of classified secretary of state records in Chappaqua. Would that have helped Democrats in the midterms? Probably not”

– Nate Silver in a FiveThirtyEight piece titled “Why Trump’s Presence In The Midterms Is Risky For The GOP.” Definitely an interesting question to ask and one that sticks out amid the long grinding hamster wheel of such pieces coming in from Nate and his cohort ahead of the election. Of course the reaction would be completely disproportionate, especially from the mainstream media, but you could see how there would be definite damage done in giving someone for Republicans to feel like they were running against that they didn’t really have in the real world in 2018. It was all just Soros and Caravans, maybe Robert Mueller to an extent, but Biden wasn’t in the picture.

The pilot of a small plane who threatened to crash it into a Tupelo, Mississippi Walmart has been taken into custody alive by police after landing the plane in an empty field, WTVA reports.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s reelection campaign have informed the organizers of a planned October 20th debate with Democrat candidate former Governor Charlie Crist the Napoleonic autocrat will not be participating, FloridaPolitics.com publisher Peter Schorsch reports. Schorsch adds that there are other debates being proposed, so the door isn’t completely shut yet.

Schorsch was the guy who first broke the news of the raid on Mar-a-Lago last month, prompting Trump to confirm it minutes later so going forward his word should be taken as that of God’s.

$13.7 BILLION MORE TO UKRAINE?

The Democrat spending spree never, ever ends.

Biden needs to understand that we are the USA not the US-ATM.

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) September 3, 2022

Dumbassery aside, we would love to see an example of Boebert or her ilk making the same complaint about US military aid to Israel, which was $3.3 billion during Fiscal Year 2020.

“To have – I mean, I have been around prosecution and criminal justice for 30-something years, longer than I want to admit maybe, but to have any Executive Branch official publicly announce, I’m ready to unseal these documents at the expense of any defendant, much less like a marginalized defendant, any defendant is an amazing moment. It is an extraordinary moment. It calls out for some questioning of what the motivation is here and whether or not we, as a criminal justice system, should allow completely unfettered conduct to go unchecked, unobserved, unmonitored.”

“Now, as it turns out, our client was perfectly happy with the notion of transparency. He doesn’t just say it in his speeches, he actually means it and says, ‘If they want to let that stuff loose, let it go loose; how about the affidavit too,’ and that will be the subject of another conversation, at some point, about the affidavit. But you have this selective leaking and disclosing on behalf of the Government” said Trump lawyer Chris Kise in court on Thursday, per a transcript.

The largest rocket ever built by NASA, the Artemis began leaking hazardous fuel as crews began to prepare the craft for a Saturday afternoon launch that would send it to the moon and back, but the problem could scrub the launch for a second time, the Associated Press reports.

The Artemis rocket sprung a fuel leak as crews pumped liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen into its 332-foot main rocket, forcing a suspension of the operation to fix the problem.  Monday’s scheduled launch was scrubbed due to a technical issue with the launch system.

The Artemis program is the US effort to put human and robotic explorers on the moon as a staging ground and testing area for technology that will eventually be used on a mission to Mars.  The Artemis 1 launch would shoot an Orion capsule holding three mannequins to the moon, where they will orbit and then return to Earth.

UPDATE 9/3/2022 11:27 AM EDT: NASA officially scrapped the launch. It’s not clear when they’re going to try again as it could be at least a few weeks before both seasonal weather conditions and the position of the Moon relative to Earth make for an ideal window.

Always one to avoid a difficult conversation when their team is down, Fox has decided to avoid covering anything of consequence at a time when a former President of the United States was caught with hundreds of classified documents at his un-summer retreat and supper club.  It’s good that this field reporter from one of Gretchen Carlson’s old costume pieces to use in this segment.

• Roughly one in 44 adult Americans has at least one felony conviction.  Seems plausible that the same ratio would hold for former presidents.
• Biden’s Thursday speech warning of the risk from the extreme Right put in stark perspective the danger of inaction.  There can be no sitting on a fence or disinterest in politics for at least the next decade until Trumpism is dissipated. 
• Think for a minute how the national conversation would be different if Donald Trump had made the speech Dark Brandon made, except demonizing all the people he believed were conspiring against him.  The difference:  Americans know Trump lies all the time (even MAGAts).  Biden has credibility and sincerity.
• We need to know what three classified documents Donald Trump was hiding in his desk at Mar-a-Lago.  We (the public) don’t need to know specifics, just subject matter.  Saudi Arabia intel?  Information about Putin?  A list of foreign agents?  This will tell us what Trump thought was valuable enough to keep at hand, ready to show whoever walked through the door.
  Read More ▶ “Random thoughts Friday, Volume LXXXV”

With Chinese acts of provocation on the rise, the Biden Administration announced Friday its intention to sell $1.1 billion in military equipment, including advanced anti-ship missiles, to Taiwan, NBC reports.

The deal include more than 100 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles as well as Harpoon anti-ship missiles that can be launched from a variety of platforms, including coastal defense batteries.  The US will also help to finance upgrades and training for Taiwan’s surveillance radar system that provides advanced warning of Chinese military actions.

The Chinese military has conducted a series of aircraft “fly-bys” in which military jets rapidly approach Taiwan airspace before breaking off at the last moment.  China has also conducted drone exercises just off Taiwan’s airspace and has ordered its ships to circle the island.  The Chinese increase in activity came in response to visits by high level Congressional delegations, including one led by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan.

Disgraced former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, already possibly under federal criminal investigation for seditious conspiracy and definitely North Carolina state criminal investigation for voter fraud, was apparently scared enough after the Mar-a-Lago raid last month to turn over to the National Archives some texts and emails he had been holding on to, CNN reports.

“It could be a coincidence, but within a week of the August 8 search on Mar-a-Lago, much more started coming in,” a source told CNN. “This is how it’s supposed to work.”

“I don’t remember MAGA rallies being so dark,” Fox D-lister and life-size Ken Doll in every respect Pete Hegseth reminisces longingly about the rallies that called for people to be locked up, focused how the world would end, and envisioned American carnage.  “We just showed you a clip of one right there.  [Hegseth points over his shoulder to a non-existent inset video.]. Right there, sorry, wrong side.  And it looks like a pretty good time.  I’ve been to many.  They are a good time.  A celebration of America.  Maybe Biden would’ve been more convincing if he wasn’t standing in front of, y’know, a creepy blood red backdrop straight out of Soviet Russia.”

Hey, Pete, just an FYI:  that “creepy blood red backdrop straight out of Soviet Russia” was the red brick of Independence Hall, the place where American freedom was declared.  I don’t know what your memories of “Soviet Russia” were, but it shouldn’t include the birth of a democratic nation.

Well, here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write:  Famed opera singer Placido Domingo was being recruited with a criminal money-laundering yoga sex cult in Argentina that police just broke up.  Yep, that’s the story, according to the Associated Press.  Nothing to see here.  Move along.

Okay, if you insist on more details:  a popular high-end yoga school in Buenos Aires operated as a front of an organized crime operation involving sex trafficking, money-laundering, involuntary servitude and illegally practicing medicine.  How do we know it was a front?  Because the studio, the Buenos Aires Yoga School, doesn’t actually teach yoga.  It holds no classes whatsoever.

The leaders of the school/cult recruited members with promises of eternal happiness before exploiting them financially and sexually.  The victims were then made available to high-profile VIPs, with the most sought-after victims being called “Geishado VIP,” or geishas for VIPs.  The group sent women to clients in the United States and Uruguay, particularly to men in exchange for money, or in some cases, legal assistance to avoid questions. 

A DC federal judge on Friday dickslapped alcoholic degenerate Steve Bannon’s motion for a retrial following his July conviction on criminal contempt of Congress, Politico’s Kyle Cheney reports.

One of the lesser recognized factoids that have been floating around since the detailed inventory of documents recovered from Donald Trump’s solarium and soft-food destination Mar-a-Lago was that the FBI recovered more than 10,000 unclassified government documents during the August 8th search of the property.

Besides the mysterious and scary “documents that weren’t there” puzzle, NBC News reports agents seized 10,000 government unclassified photographs, letters and other documents that should have gone to the National Archives.  While much media attention has gone to the number of classified documents found on site, the sheer volume of government documents Trump took from the White House and failed to deliver to the Archives even after being subpoenaed is astounding.

Remember that the potential charges listed in the search warrant were not related to classified documents only.  There were all related to the mishandling of a general government record or document, not specific to classified materials; separate, more serious charges for that can be brought separately.  The focus on the classified documents, though appropriate for its impact on national security, may have lost the forest for the trees in the “what is Trump actually in trouble for?” department.  Trump’s looting of these records is the undeniably proven crime here.

“The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) today announced that Harry E. Wait, 68, of Union Grove, Wis., has been charged with two counts of Election Fraud and two counts of Unauthorized Use of an Individual’s Personal Identifying Information in connection with his requesting absentee ballots for two other individuals,” says a press release from the State Department of Justice.

“‘The Wisconsin Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that the integrity of our elections is protected from alleged intentional violations of the law,’ said AG Kaul. According to the criminal complaint, on the evening of July 26, 2022, Mr. Wait went to MyVote.wi.gov and requested absentee ballots for two individuals to be sent to his address in Union Grove, Wis. The complaint states that, in multiple online videos and other correspondence, Mr. Wait admitted requesting the ballots using the other individuals’ personal identifying information. The complaint states that the individuals did not authorize Mr. Wait to use their personal identifying information for this purpose. As in any criminal proceeding, Mr. Wait is presumed innocent until proven guilty. The investigation was led by DOJ’s Division of Criminal Investigation,” the statement added.

Wait’s indictment by the state came after the local MAGA Sheriff, Chris Schmaling, declined to investigate the asshole, claiming Wait was actually exposing a vulnerability even if he was breaking the law in doing so, which was a complete bullshit cop-out from a weenie who last year melted down over orderlies helping nursing home residents fill out ballots in 2020. No vulnerability was exposed because Wait didn’t actually try to vote using the fraudulently obtained ballots. All he accomplished was wasting state resources on printing and postage to mail them to him.

The inventory list of materials seized from the unconstitutional FBI Trump raid has been unsealed.

Mostly unclassified government documents, magazines, newspapers, books, photos, and press articles.

They did this to continue to lie in the news about Trump.

They belong in jail!

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) September 2, 2022

The Michigan Secretary of State’s office on Thursday announced they were investigating how the hell a Dominion touchscreen voting terminal ended up in a Goodwill store before being sold on eBay for $1,200. The seller, an Ohio Uber driver who bought the machine for $8 at Goodwill’s online shop, told CNN he then sold it to a Connecticut election cybersecurity expert named Harri Hursti, who then turned it over to the Michigan Secretary of State’s office. Hursti also cameo’d at Mike Lindell’s infamous 2021 “Cybersymposium” and left early, calling it “a big fat nothing and a distraction.”

Well now we know why Trump’s lawyers did not want this detailed inventory of what FBI agents found at Mar-a-Lago to be unsealed. What a fucking idiot. If you’re going to sell this stuff to hostile foreign powers then just give them the goddamned folders too, or at least throw them out.

Are you a Trump voter who didn’t watch Biden’s Thursday night speech but still have strong opinions about it? Want some talking points and material to get an edge when arguing with libtards about how it was the most terrifying speech ever? Great, because National Zero is here to help!

President Biden opened by dancing awkwardly to “YMCA” as the crowd sang along. It was kind of stupid and weird that he would dance to an anthem about casual gay sex, but the libs in the audience loved it. Biden then said he’ll pardon any Antifa rioter who wants to attack the Supreme Court or Fox News headquarters because they’re patriots fighting against injustice and oppression.

Turning to the upcoming Midterms, Biden said he’s done more in two years than any other president in history with 97% approval among Democrats. He’s the most popular Democrat President since FDR. “A lot of people don’t know FDR was a Democrat,” said Biden, before going into details about he’s ordering FEMA and the FBI to observe voting in rural areas of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and other states where Republicans might be tempted to cheat. “They’re going to be checking vaccination cards and if they don’t have them or if they’re fake then the shooting starts,” said Biden, adding “Sorry, should’ve voted by mail if you’re not vaccinated.”

The US economy added a solid 315,000 new jobs in August, according to the monthly jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in a sign that employers continue to see improving business even as inflation cuts some revenue.

In President Joe Biden’s 19 months in office, the US has seen an increase of 9.7 million jobs, averaging more than 500,000 per month. Data also show that the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the workforce are easing, with just 6.5% of employed persons teleworking in August, versus 7.1% in July.

The unemployment rate rose from its record low in July of 3.5% to 3.7% in July.  Professional and business services added 68,000 jobs while 48,000 jobs were created in healthcare.