Convicted felon President-Elect Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F Kennedy Jr in 2016 applauded descriptions of Trump’s base as “belligerent idiots” and suggestions that some were “outright Nazis” and “spineless fellow travelers,” according to audio if Kennedy’s radio show “Ring of Fire,” CNN reports on unearthed audio of a big no-no in politics.

“Like many Americans, I allowed myself to believe the mainstream media’s distorted, dystopian portrait of President Trump. I no longer hold this belief and now regret having made those statements,” Kennedy said in a statement that he may or may not have actually written.

The FBI arrested a 30-year-old man from Coral Gables, Florida on Wednesday for planning to blow up the New York Stock Exchange, CNN reports.  On a tip, agents raided a storage unit rented by Harun Abdul-Malik Yener and found “bomb-making schematics,” circuit boards, and various kinds of timers that could be used to detonate explosives.  According to the indictment, Yener told undercover FBI agents that he wanted to detonate a bomb during the week before Thanksgiving, and the stock exchange was a possible target.

Artist Maurizio Cattelan got the last laugh:  his 2019 work featuring a banana duct-taped to a wall, which he titled “Comedian,” sold for $5.2 million, more than three times pre-auction estimates, the Guardian reports.

An expected Trumpified version, called “Reality Star,” will feature an orange Scotch-taped to a classified document on a bathroom wall.  Only 1,017 Trump versions will be released, with an asking price of $250,000 each, to be installed personally by Eric.

Wisconsin’s dick of a Congressman, Derrick van Orden, told CNN that if a vote comes up on the floor, he would vote to release the House Ethics Committee report on alleged underage sex trafficking and illegal drug use former Florida Congressman and Attorney General-designate Matt Gaetz undertook while in office.  Looks like Matty doesn’t have a lot of friends.

Gravel-headed former podcaster Alex Jones filed a lawsuit alleging a conspiracy existed between the bankruptcy trustee who oversaw and the winning bidder for Jones’s Infowars business, a partnership between the satire website The Onion and a group representing a subset of the Sandy Hook families to whom Jones owes more than $1 billion.  Jones says the bankruptcy trustee, an attorney named Christopher Murray, conspired with the bidders to keep Infowars out of Jones’s control and to prevent Jones from getting back on the air.

According to The Independent, Jones claims the families, a group that had separately successfully sued Jones, promised to withdraw some financial claims against Jones as part of The Onion’s bid, effectively doubling the $1.75 million offer and outbidding a group of Jones supporters.

Justice Department: “Edward Kelley, 35, of Maryville, Tennessee, was convicted following a three-day trial in the Eastern District of Tennessee of conspiracy to murder federal employees, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, and influencing a federal official by threat. The evidence presented at trial established that Kelley – while awaiting trial for his involvement in the Jan 6, 2021, Capitol breach – developed a plan to murder law enforcement, including FBI agents and employees.”

“The proof showed that Kelley developed a ‘kill list’ of FBI agents and others who participated in the investigation into his conduct on Jan 6 and that Kelley distributed this list – along with videos containing images of certain FBI employees identified on the list – to a co-conspirator as part of his ‘mission.’ A cooperating defendant, who previously pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy, testified that he and Kelley planned attacks on the Knoxville FBI Field Office using car bombs and incendiary devices appended to drones. He also testified that the conspirators strategized about assassinating FBI employees in their homes and in public places such as movie theaters. At trial, the US introduced recordings of the defendant calling for a ‘course of action’ related to his plan.”

“In one recording, the defendant gave the instructions to, among other things, ‘attack,’ and ‘take out their office’ in the event of his arrest. Kelley was recorded stating: ‘Every hit has to hurt.’ Kelley is scheduled to be sentenced on May 7, 2025, and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.”

Following a lengthy meeting of his panel, House Ethics Committee chair Michael Guest on Wednesday told reporters simply there was “not an agreement” on whether to release all the filthy stories about now-former Congressman and the second Trump Reich’s would-be Attorney General Matt Gaetz for public consumption, CBS’s Scott MacFarlane reports on more GOP bitchassery.

The Republicans on the committee all voted no, CNN’s Sarah Ferris reports, writing they all “voted to protect Gaetz.” So whatever you might hear about “process” and “rules” that the committee is bound by its own proscriptions and jurisdiction is a convenient pretext for playing politics and appeasing the Orange God Emperor. There are only ten members, five in each party, a small enough group that Trump could’ve turned his rage on all five if the report were released in full. So expect some leaks.

November 20, 2024

“This is what the Radical Left Lunatics do to people. They dirty them up, they destroy them, and then they spit them out. They are trying that right now with some great American Patriots who are only trying to fix the mess that the Democrats have made of our Country. WE WILL WIN!!!” posted convicted felon President-Elect Trump on Wednesday, evidently annoyed that people don’t want rapists and miscreants in charge of major responsibilities within the federal government.

Marco Rubio is a fucking weasel and he sucks but nobody doubts that he’s mentally fit to serve as Secretary of State. If Trump had just followed up and picked Tom Cotton for Defense and Josh Hawley as Attorney General and so on then the libs would be pissed off that he chose fascists for the jobs but nobody would be doubting whether they could get confirmed. This is on him.

A jury in Georgia on Wednesday found Venezuelan migrant Jose Ibarra guilty on all 10 counts in the trial over the February murder of white 22 year-old nursing student Laken Riley, Fox News reports.

This is the top story on the propaganda network’s home page, but horrible crimes are kind of their bread and butter, politically salient or not. The real question is whether we’ll see any sort of acknowledgement from convicted felon President-Elect Trump or any of his minions like Marjorie Taylor Greene and the rest of them who seized upon the murder of a white girl to vilify all migrants. In that way Riley’s already served her purpose and can be forgotten by the MAGA machine.

“I am pleased to announce that former Acting Attorney General, Matthew G Whitaker, from the Great State of lowa, will be the United States Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Matt is a strong warrior and loyal Patriot, who will ensure the United States’ interests are advanced and defended. Matt will strengthen relationships with our NATO Allies, and stand firm in the face of threats to Peace and Stability – He will put AMERICA FIRST. I have full confidence in Matt’s ability to represent the United States with Strength, Integrity, and unwavering Dedication.”

“I look forward to working closely with him as we continue to promote PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, Freedom, and Prosperity around the World. Matt is also the former US Attorney for the Southern District of lowa, and is a graduate of the University of lowa with a BA, MBA and JD, where he played football, and received the Big Ten Medal of Honor,” said convicted felon President-Elect Trump in a statement on Wednesday, putting Whitaker in charge of breaking up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orban, and other corrupt foreign dictators.

Whitaker’s other claim to fame is the “Big Dick Toilet Salesman” where he was on the board of a company that sold specially designed toilets for well endowed men who didn’t want their schlongs to touch the porcelain or water of a normal toilet while shitting, among other products in a line that was considered simply a patent scam mill. There was some hot tub type piece of shit in the lineup too. Can’t remember because his reign as top law enforcement officer in the US was pretty short.

I had a very good meeting with President Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, Matt Gaetz, and Vice President-elect JD Vance. I am committed to allowing the process to go forward in a manner consistent with past practices and fundamental fairness. This process will not be a…

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 20, 2024

Continued after the cutoff: “This process will not be a rubber stamp nor will it be driven by a lynch mob. My record is clear. I tend to defer to presidential cabinet choices unless the evidence suggests disqualification. I fear the process surrounding the Gaetz nomination is turning into an angry mob, and unverified allegations are being treated as if they are true. I have seen this movie before.”

“I would urge all of my Senate colleagues, particularly Republicans, not to join the lynch mob and give the process a chance to move forward. After years of being investigated by the Department of Justice, no charges were brought against Matt Gaetz. This is something we should all remember. I would also urge my colleagues to go back to a time-tested process, receive relevant information, and give the nominee a chance to make their case as to why they should be confirmed. This standard – which I have long adhered to – has served the Senate and country well.”

Weird how Little Poodle Lindsey rather than Sort-of-Principled Lindsey we’ve seen with Ukraine funding comes out here. Maybe it’s just he thinks Gaetz is going to implode no matter what and there’s nothing to lose with this bullshit, especially if Lindsey’s angling to be the next choice.

“In his latest act of defiance of court orders, and continued defamation of Plaintiffs, Defendant Rudolph W Giuliani has clearly violated a permanent injunction – an injunction to which he consented to less than one year ago – prohibiting him from repeating his false and defamatory lies about Plaintiffs. Accordingly, the Court should hold him in contempt and enter civil contempt sanctions.”

“Mr Giuliani is now brazenly violating that Consent Injunction. In two recent broadcasts of his nightly show, Mr Giuliani claimed – unambiguously referring to Plaintiffs – that “they never let me show the tapes that show them quadruple counting the the the ballots,’ that his tapes showed Plaintiffs ‘passing these little uh little hard drives that we maintain were used to fix the machines right and they say it was candy. Well you look at it looks like a hard drive to me and they told me it was a hard drive and there’s no proof that it was candy,’ and that ‘you can see if you want uh in living color her quadruple counting votes and the people uh thrown out of the Arena.’ These statements repeat the exact same lies for which Mr Giuliani has already been held liable, and which he agreed to be bound by court order to stop repeating. They constitute unambiguous violations of the Consent Injunction.”

“The Court should hold Mr Giuliani in civil contempt and – following a hearing, if necessary – impose sanctions calculated to ensure Mr Giuliani’s compliance with the Consent Injunction,” write lawyers for former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shae Moss asking a federal judge to increase Rudy’s suffering as he clarly hasn’t learned his lesson even after losing all his personal shit to them.

Vice President-Elect JD Vance has been given the terrible, thankless job of walking credibly accused statutory rapist Matt Gaetz around the Senate side of the Capitol on Wednesday, introducing Big Forehead and selling Vance’s current colleagues on supporting him, the Washington Post reports.

The Post noting that, given it comes as House Ethics weighs whether to release the report on Gaetz, it’s something “even the best, most experienced hand would struggle to handle. But for Vance, it’s the latest of what is likely to be many difficult tasks imposed by Trump throughout his term.”

New story the mainstream media is running with: “RFK Jr. Said the Government May Have Planned COVID.”

What RFK actually said: “Many people argue that this pandemic was a plandemic, that it was planned from the outset, and it's part of a sinister scheme. I can't tell you the… pic.twitter.com/kC9FtRR9g6

— End Tribalism in Politics (@EndTribalism) November 19, 2024

You will not be shocked to learn that COVID vax truther and HHS Secretary nominee Robert F Kennedy Jr bought into the “plandemic” bullshit in 2020, according to video unearthed by the Bulwark in which Bobby told fans “Many people argue that this pandemic was a ‘plandemic,’ that it was planned from the outset, it’s part of a sinister scheme. I can’t tell you the answer to that. I don’t have enough evidence. A lot of it feels very planned to me,” Kennedy said in an address to mark a newly formed European chapter of his group, Children’s Health Defense. “I don’t know. I will tell you this: If you create these mechanisms for control, they become weapons of obedience for authoritarian regimes no matter how beneficial or innocent the people who created them.”

Walmart CFO John Rainey tells CNBC in an interview that the retail giant is getting ready to jack up prices the second convicted felon President-Elect Trump returns to power and hits them with massive tariffs on imported goods. “We never want to raise prices,” said Rainey. “Our model is everyday low prices. But there probably will be cases where prices will go up for consumers,” he continued, adding that it’s too early however to tell which products they’re going to have to jack up.

Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison said they’re pretty concerned about the risk of higher costs and are already having conversations with suppliers about the “what ifs of tariffs,” as they wait to see what Trump’s fucking stupid plan is going to look like. “We’re not waiting to act. We’ve got plans in place, we’ve got scenarios in place, and we’re trying to understand the implications,” said Ellison.

Now maybe the most likely scenario is that Trump gets talked out of the promised maximal version of his tariff plan and isolates it to a single sector like, say, socks. The cost of socks going up would of course be annoying as shit but it’s just socks and doubling the price of a pack of Fruit of the Loom no-shows obviously won’t be a grievous burden on the average consumer. That way Trump can claim he’s on-shored the manufacturing of socks because this one factory in Arkansas is booming and the photo-op gets hours of Fox News coverage, America wins, MAGA, suck it libs, end of story.

“The US Embassy in Kyiv has received specific information of a potential significant air attack on November 20. Out of an abundance of caution, the Embassy will be closed, and Embassy employees are being instructed to shelter in place. The US Embassy recommends US citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced,” says a bulletin from the Embassy.

Matt Gaetz, Dr. Frankenstein’s discarded first attempt, reported paid not enough money to two women who had sex with him according to records obtained by the House Ethics Committee which showed 27 separate payments totaling more than $10,000, ABC News reports.

Made over the Venmo app, Gaetz made various payments of between $100 and $700 to the two women for sex, they testified.  The payments were made from May 2018 to January 2019, with various notations including “Love you,” “Travel,” and “Joy!”  Gaetz entered Congress in January 2017.

Linda McMahon, the former head of the Small Business Administration during the Past Dark Period, will head the Department of Education in the coming Dark Period, the elected felon reported on his social media dalliance.  Previously known for leading a professional wrestling organization, McMahon is still married to her husband, Vince, a long-time friend of Trump’s who has faced a laundry list of sexual misconduct allegations of his own.

“By advocating government support of the traditional family unit, a return of the acceptability of the ‘homemaker’ vocation, freedom from oppressive government oversight, moral responsibility, and the revival of religious faith, conservatives provide a working blueprint for a free and prosperous future,” thrice-married Fox host and wannabe Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth once wrote in the Princeton Tory, a conservative college publication he led for a year while he was a student.

Besides advocating for every woman on campus to switch her major to pre-wed, Hegseth also approved the publication of an op/ed that legitimized raping an unconscious woman.  It should be noted that while an officer in the National Guard, Hegseth allegedly cheated on his wife, impregnated another woman, and was accused of assault.  Hegseth now claims he paid off sexual assault accuser to keep his job at the Fox cable propaganda network, where he hosts the weekend morning show.