Kyle Rittenhouse, the Illinois teenager who illegally obtained an assault-style rifle and shot three people during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, killing two, has asked the Kenosha police department to destroy the gun he used in the killings so no one would profit off it, the Chicago Tribune reports.

He, who killed Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, was deemed not guilty in a jury trial last year after the judge cited an obscure Wisconsin law to dismiss illegal gun possession charges prosecutors filed against Rittenhouse.  Rittenhouse’s lawyer successful argued that a state law allowing a minor to possess a rifle for hunting purposes applied.

Rittenhouse’s friend, Dominick Black, purchased the weapon in an illegal strawman purchase with cash Rittenhouse sent him.  Black pleaded guilty to a county ordinance citation of contributing to the delinquency of a child in a plea deal and faces a $2,000 fine.

The House Select Committee investigating the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on Congress to overturn the results of the November 2020 election have subpoenaed 14 people who were listed as “alternative electors” on forged documents purporting to be official slates of electors.

“The Select Committee is seeking information about attempts in multiple states to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including the planning and coordination of efforts to send false slates of electors to the National Archives,” chairman Bennie Thompson said in a statement. “We believe the individuals we have subpoenaed today have information about how these so-called alternate electors met and who was behind that scheme. We encourage them to cooperate with the Select Committee’s investigation to get answers about January 6th for the American people and help ensure nothing like that day ever happens again.”

The fourteen people subpoenaed are the people who listed themselves as the heads or secretaries of the seven states: From Arizona, Nancy Cottle, Chair, and Loraine B. Pellegrino, Secretary; from Georgia, David Shafer, Chair, and Shawn Still, Secretary; from Michigan, Kathy Berden, Chair, and Mayra Rodriguez, Secretary; from New Mexico, Jewll Powdrell, Chair, and Deborah W. Maestas, Secretary; from Nevada, Michael J. McDonald, Chair, and James DeGraffenreid, Secretary; from Pennsylvania, Bill Bachenberg, Chair, and Lisa Patton, Secretary; and Andrew Hitt, Chair, and Kelly Ruh, Secretary, from Wisconsin.

Far right asshole Dan Bongino’s website Bongino.com has ben demonetized by Google Ads for COVID-19 disinformation, the Daily Beast reports. The canceling comes hot off the heels of Bongino’s lifetime ban from YouTube for the same reason. The asshole is still on Twitter for now, despite vowing to depart shortly after the Capitol riot. For a guy who’s backed “free speech” platforms Parler and Rumble, it sure is funny to see how much he still does (or did) use “Big Tech”.

Sitting through far right anti-vax conspiracy theorist Sherri Tenpenny’s rant, you can tell Stewie Peters is suppressing the urge to scream “What the fuck is wrong with you lady?!? We just want to say the vaccine kills people, not turns them into fucking ‘quantum entaglement nodes’ for 5G data! You’re overshooting the target! Stop pushing this shit much further than we ever wanted to! Say they’re going to die, not that they’ll be converted into cyborgs! Shut up! Shut the fuck up!”

Neighbors in an unspecified Maryland suburb outside DC have reported a sizable contingent of US Secret Service agents in marked vehicles patrolling around the home of former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton for the past two days, Forbes reports. The Secret Service would not disclose the reason why Bolton merits protection, citing operational security. Bolton, though a right wing scumbag himself, is hated by MAGA nationalists and their Russian allies for his refusal to play along with the Ukraine scam Trump tried to pull in 2019, eventually publishing a book detailing the Donald’s treasonous crime, though it’s anyone’s guess if there’s a connection to the current crisis.

Harris County, Texas man Kenneth Thompson, 95, a veteran who served in Europe in World War II still hasn’t gotten his mail-in ballot for an upcoming election and fears he may not get one due to red tape created by the newest Republican voter suppression laws, KPRC reports. “I’ve been voting many, many years and I’ve never missed a vote,” said Thompson, who has twice been denied a ballot for failing provide his diver’s license number to his registration. His daughter, Delinda Holland, attempted to have county and state Secretary of State’s Office to add the number online.

Turns out there’s not actually a way to have that done. “We know it’s a new law, we’re happy to correct it. He’s a law-abiding citizen. He doesn’t want to miss voting, and yet, there’s no mechanism to add that driver’s license to your record,” said Holland. Suppression’s bigger in Texas.

pic.twitter.com/59nykhhIjs

— Pittsburgh Public Safety (@PghPublicSafety) January 28, 2022

A Pennsylvania court has granted relief to a group of fourteen MAGA Republican state lawmakers suing to overturn Act 77 of 2019 and thus banning no-excuse absentee voting in the state.

“In this companion opinion to McLinko v. Commonwealth, _ A.3d _ (Pa. Cmwlth., No. 244 M.D. 2021, filed January 28, 2022), Representative Timothy R. Bonner and 13 members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (collectively, Petitioners) have filed a petition for review seeking a declaration that Act 77 of 2019,2 which established that any qualified elector may vote by mail for any reason, violates the Pennsylvania Constitution and is, therefore, void. Petitioners also assert that Act 77 violates the United States Constitution. U.S. CONST. art. I, §§2, 4 and art. II, §1; U.S. CONST. amends. XIV and XVII. Finally, Petitioners seek an injunction prohibiting the distribution, collection, and counting of no-excuse mail-in ballots in future state and federal election,” says the ruling. The best part is that, besides Bonner and one of the other plaintiffs who weren’t elected until 2020, all twelve of the other state representatives voted YES on Act 77 in 2019.

Now it’s your turn @JoeBiden. #ReleaseTheTranscript https://t.co/rH3PDsitOX

— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) January 28, 2022

A Trump-era throwback hashtag has returned as MAGA trolls attempt to recreate the controversy over the now-infamous July 25th, 2019 call between the Former Guy and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Trump pushed the then-newly elected leader to announce he was opening a fake investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden in exchange for military aid against Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine, which led to Trump’s first impeachment. Libs had pushed the #ReleaseTheTranscript hashtag to pressure the White House into publicizing the call contents, which sure enough showed that Trump had indeed attempted to coerce Zelensky.

Now MAGA World is out for “revenge” after some initial disagreement between the White House and Ukrainian leadership about how a Thursday night call between Biden and Zelensky went. A Ukrainian official told CNN their chat “did not go well” as the two had disagreed on the severity of the threat of invasion Ukraine faces from Russia, and Zelensky had asked Biden to tone down his statements, fearing the economic impact of panic over an invasion. However later on Thursday both the White House and a Zelensky spokesman disputed that characterization, with the spokesman tweeting the two had “discussed recent diplomatic efforts on de-escalation and agreed on joint actions for the future” and “possibilities for financial support to Ukraine were also discussed.”

Naturally none of the nuances and complexities matter to Republicans, backseat drivers who complain about the radio station and the noise from the windshield wipers even while they’re busy throwing eggs at pedestrians and other cars while screaming racist slurs.

Willow, a Pennsylvania cat who jumped on stage during a campaign stop for Jill Biden in 2020 has been caught and remanded to the White House, Reuters reports. “A farm cat from Pennsylvania, Willow made quite an impression on Dr. Biden in 2020 when she jumped up on the stage and interrupted her remarks during a campaign stop. Seeing their immediate bond, the owner of the farm knew that Willow belonged with Dr. Biden,” said First Lady spokesman Mike LaRosa. Willow joins new First Dog Commander after the death of original First Dog Champ and the exiling of other First Dog Major for repeated breaches of presidential decorum and biting incidents.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a radio station Friday there would be no war in Ukraine, but the Putin regime won’t allow its “security interests” to be stomped on by the West, the AP reports. “There won’t be a war as far as it depends on the Russian Federation, we don’t want a war, But we won’t let our interests be rudely trampled on and ignored,” said Lavrov. Since Russian government figures lie all the time, the statement is meaningless, and should not be credited until they withdraw of all the forces they have arrayed on the border with Ukraine.

“If you care about your Second Amendment rights, this nomination needs to be stopped,” Trump advisor (and woman who’s shocked that cross doesn’t scorch a burn in her neck) declares on Fox before a nominee is even named.  “If you believed criminals need to be punished, this nomination needs to be stopped.  If you believe B, Biden’s team doesn’t actually have the power to shut down any business that disagrees with Dr. Fauci, this nomination, oh yeah, it needs to be stopped.  And if you believe that traditional religious beliefs are protected by the First Amendment, this nomination needs to be stopped.  We don’t have to wait for the nomination to get started.  We know exactly what the left wants:  a blank check to rewrite the Constitution and every US law that gets in the way, regardless of the actual language.”

And now, the breakdown:

https://twitter.com/marceelias/status/1486895343497322502

Justice Department: “A Nevada man made his initial appearance in federal court today for allegedly making multiple threatening phone calls to an election worker in the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office. Gjergi Luke Juncaj, aka Gjergj Juncaj, aka Gjurgi Juncaj, aka George Juncaj, 50, of Las Vegas, was arrested by the FBI yesterday in Las Vegas. According to court documents, on Jan. 7, 2021, Juncaj allegedly made four threatening phone calls to an employee in the Elections Division of the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office. According to the employee, the threats included: ‘I want to thank you for such a great job you all did on stealing the election. I hope you all go to jail for treason. I hope your children get molested. You are all going to (expletive) die.'”

“This case is part of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force. Announced by Attorney General Merrick Garland and launched by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in late June 2021, the task force is leading the department’s efforts to address threats of violence against election workers, and to ensure that all election workers – whether elected, appointed or volunteer – are able to do their jobs free from threats and intimidation. The task force engages with the election community and state and local law enforcement to assess allegations and reports of threats against election workers, and investigates and prosecutes these matters where appropriate, in partnership with FBI field offices and US Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country as warranted.”

“[screeching]… in Afghanistan.  I get to read reports that intelligence is saying maybe the Russians are maybe launching a cyberattack on America,” an obviously unstable Junior rants–and who the fuck is giving this guy access to “intelligence reports”???  “I don’t think so.  I imagine that’s our people lying to us to try to instigate us to get into another war to distract from the incompetence.  Do you think our posture in Ukraine has anything to do with his corrupt son raking in millions over the year and this is the way to cover it up?  That favors are being called in…”

So to be clear:  Junior believes that Russians aren’t actually amassing at Ukraine’s border or conducting cyberattacks against America?  Junior thinks Russia is benign, just like Tucker Carlson does, but it’s just assisting to cover up something something Hunter Biden because it’s *obvious* that Vladimir Putin really wants to help Joe Biden.  { snort }

“Anyone who dares to criticize George Soros is denounced as a BIGOT,” Fox host and Russian co-host Tucker Carlson dramatically intones.  They claim that disagreeing with an atheist billionaire is an act of prejudice.  IT’S HATE!  George Soros may be one of the richest, most influential men in the world.  He would like you to note that he is an oppressed victim of your unauthorized opinion.  [Tucker giggles maniacally.]  Just like if you’re not for going to war in Ukraine, you’re a tool of Putin!”

… or you’re just a tool.

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court lifted a lower court injunction that put the execution of Matthew Reeves on hold, paving the way for his execution as soon as later tonight, CBS 42 Birmingham reports.  Reeves was convicted of murdering a man who had helped him tow Reeves’ car after Reeves broke down on the side of the road.

The four Justices who voted against lifting the injunction:  Kagan, Breyer, Sotomayor… and Coney Barrett.

A University of Michigan student was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis after attending a fraternity party at Michigan State University, and now Michigan State officials and county health departments are trying to find everyone at that party to start them on antibiotics, the Associated Press reports.

Students who say they attended the Sigma Beta Rho fraternity party on January 22nd can receive a free course of antibiotics during two distribution events on campus.  The students don’t have to verify they were at the event to get the antibiotics.

While many students will likely take the preventive course of antibiotics, a proven treatment, some will likely insist they receive a ginger ale high colonic because Joe Rogan said it would cure everything.

“Y’know, can I just say something about Joe Biden and, and his reported deal ah, as to this nomin– it just shows, I think, Joe Biden is willing to do anything for power.  Y’know, he didn’t hesitate to lead the mob against Clarence Thomas, an African American man, when it suited him.  But now, when he wants power for something else, oh, then it’s a whole different song.  It doesn’t matter to Joe Biden.  It’s just what’s good for him in the moment, and that’s the opposite from what it should be.  It should be about principles.  It should be about the Constitution.”

Just a note:  Biden was the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee when Thomas was nominated in 1991.  Thomas’ problem in the nomination stem from multiple sexual harassment complaints, many of which the Committee never reviewed, much like the Kavanaugh hearing.  Thomas passed through Committee with a 12-1 vote, so obviously, Hawley doesn’t actually remember Thomas’ nomination.  Oh, and Hawley wanted to completely upend the Constitution to keep Trump in office after he lost the election.

Today we remember, along with the world, the millions of lives lost in the Holocaust.

We will never forget. pic.twitter.com/ZWuqhKitAz

— GOP (@GOP) January 27, 2022