Steve Bannon’s defense lawyer Rob Costello has filed a motion to withdraw as counsel from the degenerate Nazi alcoholic’s upcoming trial on charges of criminal contempt of Congress due to a likely conflict posed by his past interactions with the House January 6th Select Committee

“Due to the fact that I have been the only individual who interacted with the Select Committee and that Mr. Bannon’s sole basis of information about the facts and the law concerning this matter came about through communications with me, there has always been the possibility that I might be called as a witness in this matter… In light of the possibility that I could become a witness, I examined the ethical opinions of the bar of this Court to determine if I could participate as Mr. Bannon’s co-counsel in the pre-trial portions of this proceeding. According to a published opinion, I am permitted to participate in the pre-trial aspects until such time as it becomes apparent that I would be a witness at trial,” wrote Costello in the motion. Bannon’s trial starts July 18th.

Saddened by the death of Former PM Shinzo Abe, a truly historic figure & leader of lasting consequence. Abe’s advice, wisdom & warmth had a profound impact on me during my government service. My heart is with his family & the Japanese people as the world mourns his passing. pic.twitter.com/UAEAXHRIGY

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) July 8, 2022

Durham investigators have concluded two prominent left wing politicians didn’t commit any crimes and that’s about as far as we can go with a stupidly misleading but still technically accurate headline and lede… British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and deputy Angela Rayner were cleared Friday in an investigation by Durham, UK cops over whether they violated COVID lockdown rules when they grabbed takeout food and beers in the town last year, Bloomberg reports.

Starmer and Rayner had pledged to resign if they were fined for breaking the rules as to draw a contrast with disgraced outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “Partygate” scandal, which was the second-to-last major shitshow before Pinchygate ultimately brought the dumpy assclown down. “It has been concluded that there is no case to answer for a contravention of the regulations,” said Durham police in a statement, citing lockdown exceptions for “reasonably necessary work,” as reason the two would not be hit with a “fixed penalty notice.”

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh had to escape through the back exit of Morton’s Steakhouse in DC on Thursday as a radical leftist cancel mob showed up to harass him over his taking away personal liberties from freedom loving Americans, Politico Playbook reports.

“Honorable Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh and all of our other patrons at the restaurant were unduly harassed by unruly protestors while eating dinner at our Morton’s restaurant. Politics, regardless of your side or views, should not trample the freedom at play of the right to congregate and eat dinner. There is a time and place for everything. Disturbing the dinner of all of our customers was an act of selfishness and void of decency,” said Morton’s in a statement, as if a 10 year old girl raped and impregnated being forced to travel to another state to obtain an abortion isn’t also the direct result of a “void of decency” and maybe Morton’s should simply refuse Brett service next time if they don’t want libs showing up and ruining the experience for others.

Disgraced traitor Mike Flynn has been hit with a citation and a $38,557.06 pension garnishment by the Defense Department Inspector General over Flynn collecting $450,000 in payments for scumbag “consulting” work with Russia, the Washington Post reports. Army attorney Craig R. Schmauder informed Flynn of the penalty in a letter, writing that Flynn’s failure to obtain approval “to obtain the approvals of the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of State resulted in a violation of the Emoluments Clause… When there is a finding that a military retiree has violated the Emoluments Clause, the United States Government may pursue a debt collection.”

Flynn probably won’t miss the $38,000 and change the Army will be collecting given his side hustles selling QAnon-themed t-shirts and appearing at right wing extremist fan conventions.

Today, President Biden will sign an Executive Order Protecting Access to Reproductive Health Care Services. This Executive Order builds on the actions his Administration has already taken to defend reproductive rights by: “Safeguarding access to reproductive health care services, including abortion and contraception, Protecting the privacy of patients and their access to accurate information, Promoting the safety and security of patients, providers, and clinics, and
Coordinating the implementation of Federal efforts to protect reproductive rights and access to health care” says the White House in a statement on the Executive Order planned for Friday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday threw a fit and left the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia early after the other nations’ chief diplomats denied him the opportunity to appear in a group photo with them by simply not having a group photo at all, Politico reports. “In terms of meeting with me, the declaration that they won’t be photographed with me,” Lavrov said. “Yesterday, there was a reception that the Indonesians organized, it was sort of an introductory reception with a concert, and [the Westerners] didn’t attend.”

Pro tip: don’t film an ad for your PA senate campaign from your mansion in New Jersey. https://t.co/D9BDweZmym pic.twitter.com/pld8RLmWYv

— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) July 7, 2022

A Georgia prosecutor called the bombing of the Georgia Guidestones, a henge attraction erected by a local eccentric in 1980, an act of domestic terrorism and vowed to catch those responsible, NBC News reports.

“The destruction of a public building by explosive is inherently intended to influence the actions of the governing authority that owns the structure,” Parks White, the Northern Judicial Circuit district attorney, said in an email.  “The use of violence to sway or alter the behavior of any government agency is terrorism.”

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has released a video of the bomber placing what looks like a large barrel or keg, presumably packed with explosives.  Because of the damage caused by the bomb, the attraction known as “America’s Stonehenge” had to be dismantled.

A video taken by a bystander listening to the campaign speech by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe captured the moment the first of two shotgun blasts were fired.  You can hear the sound of the second shot as the filmer scrambles for cover.  (Note:  there’s nothing exceptionally graphic or violent about the video, but the gunshots may be disturbing.)

Former Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot by an man who approached from behind with a shotgun during a campaign speech on the street in the city of Narra, AFP reports. The attacker was detained at the scene. Abe was taken to a hospital and was reported by officials to be “in cardo-respiratory arrest,” the term typically used in Japanese media to indicate a person has died prior to formal declaration by a coroner. We sort of regret the marginally tasteless Abraham Lincoln jokes in an earlier version of this article based on initial reporting that did not indicate the seriousness of Abe’s wounds after being shot from behind. Kind of like Abe Lincoln.

Fittingly, Biden awarded his presidential medals to fellow losers, Biles and Rapinoe.

— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) July 8, 2022

Soon to be nobody, and woman who got Covid from a Rudy Giuliani fart, Jenna Ellis demonstrates the class and sophistication of the modern conservative lawyer by “Mean Girl”-ing Olympic champions.

https://youtu.be/jaoHJH3mbwY

“I don’t have just other congresspeople that I’ve talked to who have met with Trump.  He is running.  He, he is set to announce,” claims conspiracy theorist and “Before” picture on any self improvement promotion Alex Jones.  “He said he might do it on July 4th, prolly would, but would do it by the end of July and now his plane is repainted with a big American flag on it, and he released a video of that.  Just because what Alex Jones predicts doesn’t come true right when I think is the spot doesn’t mean it’s not gonna come true.  But I’m not always right.  Sometimes we expose the globalists and expose them and they back off.”

Remember, folks:  when Alex Jones says that he’s got inside information that Donald Trump is going to announce his candidacy for the 2024 GOP nomination for president on July 4th, he’s not actually making a prediction because it’s gonna happen on that date or at some time in the future, so Alex isn’t really wrong; he’s just prematurely correct.

Beginning September 24th, onlookers to police actions in Arizona will no longer be allowed to record the police if they are within eight feet of the officers, a new bill signed by Republican Governor Doug Ducey establishes, according to USA Today.

The law is designed to keep people out of the police’s way while they’re attempting to make an arrest or conduct other business, and it should help with people becoming so fixated on their screens that they forget to get out of the way of a fight.

Exceptions to the law include the person who is the one being questioned by police and those who are in a car stopped by police, provided the recording doesn’t interfere with police work.

Timothy Loehmann is already out of a job.  The former Cleveland police officer–who shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice as the boy was playing with a toy gun–has withdrawn from the sole police job in Tioga, Pennsylvania without working a shift, the Associated Press reports.

“The community spoke. They got their feelings out, and we listened to them and we’re going to react to it and that will be that,” borough council President Steve Hazlett said in a phone interview. “We thank the community for stepping forward and letting their voices be heard.”

Loehmann’s position had been approved by the borough council, but apparently they didn’t know the fact that he shot and killed a child before the patrol car he jumped out of had even rolled to a stop.

Total dipshit Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson reportedly “scrambled” to pull the above radio ad after his claim in it that the most recent “massacre” in America – the death of 53 migrants stuffed into an 18-wheeler in Texas – didn’t involve guns was no longer true because of Monday’s Highland Park, Illinois mass shooting at a 4th of July parade. Johnson was able to get it pulled from the radio before it first aired, but the Intercept were able to obtain the audio.

No reason to dignify this horseshit other than to laugh at the MAGA kids who thought the notoriously mercurial and unhinged rich asshole was their guaranteed savior for “free speech” on the world’s most important social media platform. Read it at the Washington Post, if you want.

Fairfax County, Virginia cops brought a K9 trained to find electronic devices for evidence seizure named “Browser” with them while assisting with the FBI’s raid on Trump DOJ coup plotter Jeffrey Clark’s house last month, CNN’s Zachary Cohen reports. Body cam footage from the raid, a police report on which described it as part of an “ongoing fraud investigation” into Clark’s time at the Justice Department, also revealed that Clark’s claim that he was in “pajamas” at the time of his rude awakening was false. He’s clearly wearing just a dress shirt and boxers. Not seen is Clark’s wife or kids, because he doesn’t have any. Wednesday, June 22 was a rough day all around for at least a dozen MAGA assholes involved in Trump’s coup attempt with John Eastman, Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward, and others associated with the fake electors scam were paid very unfriendly visits by the FBI.

The director of the United States Secret Service announced Thursday that he was retiring from his position after 27 years to take a job with social media site Snapchat, the Washington Post reports.

James Murray became Secret Service Director in 2019 after having run the agency’s protective services branch, including during the 2016 presidential campaign.  Prior to joining the Secret Service in 1995, Murray was with the Department of Transportation and had served in the US Army.

The Secret Service has been under scrutiny for a series of foibles in recent years, including agents drinking excessively and hiring sex workers while traveling on a protective detail.  More recently, Secret Service agent Tony Ornato took a position as assistant White House chief of staff during the Trump Administration, a violation of USSS code to stay politically neutral.

Brilliant to discuss human rights, peace and international solidarity with the formidable and inspirational @IlhanMN pic.twitter.com/nkqpBWx2FF

— Claudia Webbe MP (@ClaudiaWebbe) July 7, 2022

That was simple serendipity for Ilhan Omar to show up and hang out with fellow progressive legislators across the pond on the day Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation over the Pinchy scandal. She had nothing to do with it. She didn’t bring bad karma or anything. She definitely didn’t bring a Boris Johnson voodoo doll made out McDonald’s fries and honey mustard dressed up in a little suit to make him give up. That’s just crazy talk.