Jesus Dork Speaker of the House Mike Johnson wasn’t really in the mood on Tuesday to actually try to defend Anthony D’Esposito, one of the members key to his tenuous majority, from very credible allegations of graft instead just insisting the New York Times’s reporting on it was just a “partisan hit piece.” Later Johnson touched his face a lot when another reporter asked if he would stay out of it if Vice President Kamala Harris defeats his Orange Jesus in November. Johnson still qualified his response with the old “if it’s a free and fair election,” as if the last one he tried to overturn wasn’t.

Oran Routh, son of failed Trump assassin Ryan Routh, was arrested Saturday after federal agents found “hundreds” of files with child pornography during a search of his home conducted “in connection with an investigation unrelated to child exploitation,” ABC News reports.

Nothing’s funny about child pornography. But if you imagine it was instead like a shit ton of cocaine or whatever, then it becomes kind of darkly ironically hilarious because you know when they said “in connection with an investigation unrelated to child exploitation,” they were looking for more evidence against his father to see if he had any accomplices in his assassination attempt and instead came across another crime. “Thanks Dad, you stupid fucking asshole. Fuck.”

One-time theoretical First Lady of the United States, actress Cheryl Hines, has fled to Italy to avoid TMZ and other Hollywood news outlets from asking her any questions about why the fuck her weirdo husband Robert F Kennedy Jr was getting nudes from New York Magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi, the Daily Beast reports, citing gossip newsletters putting Hines at Milan fashion week.

CNN host admits it 'doesn't feel like crime is down,' despite FBI statistics https://t.co/cstZj90YFK

— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 24, 2024

A new USA Today/Suffolk University survey of likely Michigan voters finds Vice President Kamala Harris leading convicted felon former President Trump 48 to 45 percent in the Great Lakes State.

We don’t know what her maiden name is or if she even reverted back to it, but it appears that Trashelle Odom, wife of Trump donor John Odom, who first shot to fame when she was sexually harassed by legendary Trump scumbag Corey Lewandowski during a Las Vegas fundraiser for Corey’s other girlfriend, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, is single again, announcing on TikTok earlier this month that John was fucking one of her best friends, leading her to file for divorce.

Lewandowski was fired from his job running a Trump PAC in 2021 after Trashelle filed a criminal complaint with the Las Vegas Metro Police over the indicent. Per Trashelle’s statement, Corey bragged about stabbing two people to death, the first one was when he was 10 years old, that his “dick is four inches bigger than a normal dick,” and had groped her repeatedly. Lewandowski ended up taking a non-plea deal on a sexual harassment count in 2022, by which time he’d already been re-hired again by Fat Donald and then detailed to now-Louisiana Gov Jeff Landry’s 2023 campaign, prompting John to rage publicly against Landry and demand a refund on his $100,000 donation.

Trashelle herself (allegedly) disagreed with the Corey drama, saying “Jeff Landry is not just my friend but I believe he has been the strongest Attorney General in America. He has protected children and fought for our individual rights. Jeff truly has my full and complete support for governor of the state of Louisiana,” an “unsolicited” statement Politico attributed to a “representative for Trashelle Odom.” Maybe that was the first sign that their marriage wasn’t built to last.

Nebraska State Senator McConnell should be treated as a Democrat and removed from office.

Maybe even a recall election? It’s one thing to disagree, it’s another to not work with or meet with Republicans. He’s a dishonest broker and I wouldn’t trust him on ANY vote https://t.co/MdQhb8fg3I

— Tyler Bowyer (@tylerbowyer) September 23, 2024

Now, while we can’t say for certain whether Charlie Kirk acolyte Tyler Bowyer, the credibly suspected beneficiary of major graft from the coffers of the very slush fund-y MAGA “youth” activist organization Turning Point USA, does or does not know what he’s talking about here, specifically on the question of if Nebraska state Senator Mike McDonnell can be recalled from his seat for coming out against the plot to rig the electoral college for convicted felon former President Trump. We simply aren’t familiar enough with Nebraska election laws to make a call one way or another.

We can say however that since the whole point of taking the position was to avoid pissing off his constituents that a recall bid probably would not actually succeed. And it’s unlikely that one could be launched within the next 42 days even if it is possible. And that he’s leaving office on January 8th, 2025 due to term limits. And that he wants to run for Mayor of Omaha next year and as such should try to continue to stay in his constituents’ good graces ahead of that bid. And that, per the New York Times, McDonnell is not the only holdout, there are two other Republicans still opposed, putting Team MAGA three votes shy of the 33 needed to pass the bill Gov Jim Pillen calls a special session.

So yeah, Bowyer is just crying salty tears of butthurt rather than dealing in reality.

National Hurricane Center bulletin on Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine: “The disturbance is forecast to intensify and be near hurricane strength when it reaches the far northwestern Caribbean Sea early Wednesday. Tropical storm conditions are expected over portions of western Cuba and the northeastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula with hurricane conditions possible. The system is expected to intensify into a major hurricane before it approaches the northeastern Gulf Coast on Thursday, and the potential for life-threatening storm surge and damaging hurricane-force winds along the coast of the Florida Panhandle and the Florida west gulf coast is increasing.”

“Hurricane and Storm Surge Watches have been issued, and residents should ensure they have their hurricane plan in place, and also follow advice given by local officials. Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine will bring heavy rain to portions of the western Caribbean, which will cause considerable flooding and mudslides across western Cuba. Heavy rainfall will likely result in locally considerable flash and urban flooding across portions of Florida, with isolated flash and urban flooding possible across the Southeast, Southern Appalachians, and Tennessee Valley Wednesday through Friday.”

A new survey of registered voters in North Carolina by Elon University and YouGov finds Vice President Kamala Harris leading convicted felon former President Trump 46 to 45 percent in the state, while Dem Attorney General Josh Stein leads obese Nazi pervert Lt Gov Mark Robinson 49 to 35 percent in the gubernatorial race – and the survey was conducted before Nude Africa-mania.

Really just picked this up because “Elon University” sounds funny. Never heard of them but, given it was founded in 1889 and named for the town of Elon, North Carolina, it’s clear they’re NOT the new version of Trump University. YouGov running the poll does carry a partial imprimatur of reliability too.

Another interesting finding worth mentioning: The survey asked respondents “In North Carolina, do you believe Donald Trump’s campaign is…” to which 34 percent said “Gaining support,” 30 percent said “Losing support,” and 27 percent said “Staying the same,” while on the same question for Harris, 45 percent said gaining to 25 percent losing. Of course a lot of such responses are always going to be partisans seeing what they want to see on the ground, but even the deltas could be revealing: 81 percent of Dems said Harris gain to 2 percent saying loss vs 61 percent of Republicans saying Trump gain to 8 percent Trump’s campaign losing support. Guess that’s “momentum.”

Donald Trump pushes for early voting in Pennsylvania https://t.co/QTcVLuOEzA

— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) September 24, 2024

Right wing propagandist John Solomon on Monday dutifully reported the scripted part of convicted felon former President Trump’s rant to a crowd of his cult members in Pennsylvania that evening, but left out when the fat bastard then said “You can start right away, you know that right? Now we have this stupid stuff where you can vote 45 days early… I wonder what the hell happens during that 45 (days). What happened the last time was disgraceful, including right here. But we’re not going to let it happen again.” Good on Solomon for the selective coverage of his Lord and Savior’s messaging.

Starting of the lead section of their Tuesday morning roundup’s edition, Punchbowl News points out that Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign recently transferred $10 million to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as part of a $25 million boost to downballot Ds. “How much has former President Donald Trump given the NRCC? Not one red cent,” they write, underscoring how little the fat fuck has been doing to help out the rest of his party in this final stretch.

They also point out that Donald has yet to appear at an NRCC fundraiser, noting that in the spring he had to send Senator Tim Scott to fill-in for him at a dinner because Trump was stuck in court during his Stormy Daniels hush money payoff 2016 election interference trial for which he was convicted of 34 felony counts. NRCC chair Dick Hudson has been begging Trump to help out but has been ignored so far and the day Jesus Dork Speaker Mike Johnson was supposed to shake the Orange God Emperor down was interrupted by the golf course assassination attempt. Trump of course has his own money problems, being outraised by Vice President Kamala Harris the entire time since Joe Biden handed her the keys, but that hasn’t stopped him from helping them out before.

“Sources told us that Trump’s operation has agreed to fundraise for the NRCC, but they haven’t found the time to make it happen. Soon it will be too late. There are just 42 days left until the election,” Punchbowl writes. Maybe this is cynical but that sure sounds like they’re lamenting the failure to rake in more cash than the Democrats rather than stating it as a simple matter of fact.

Shortly after taking office in 2023, Long Island MAGA Congressman Anthony D’Esposito put on his House office’s official payroll two women who were gutsy hires even by the grimy standards of Nassau County GOP machine politics, the New York Times reports. The first hire, Tessa Lark, is not actually his stepdaughter but the live-in adult child of the 42 year-old Republican former NYPD cop’s 61 year-old on-and-off fiancee, Cynthia Lark, and thus Tessa’s hiring was more of a violation of the spirit than the actual letter of House ethics rules against employing children or stepchildren.

Tessa, then a recent art school grad, collected $21,181.94 in federal taxpayer funds for her part-time position at D’Esposito’s local district office. It’s unclear what, if anything, she actually did to serve his constituents, though aides based in the Long Island office told the Times Tessa worked on graphic design and photography, and helped constituents with immigration issues a few days a week.

The second hire, Devin Faas, was definitely a violation of the letter of House ethics rules as she was (and maybe still is) in a sexual relationship with D’Esposito – which ended her marriage to another man, Derek Ciaschi, and temporarily broke D’Esposito’s engagement with Cynthia Lark. Also unlike Tessa’s “job,” it doesn’t appear that Faas even pretended to show up to work at the district office to collect a total of $7,400 while on the payroll in 2023, even as she remained employed full-time by the Town of Hempstead, the local jurisdiction in which D’Esposito got his start as a councilman.

“Ghost employment, true ghost employment, is probably an eight or nine out of 10 on the scale of public corruption and ethical violations,” said the House’s former top ethics counsel Dan Schwager.

Monday night’s rally was deeply unhinged from the standpoint of verbal insanity – and hateful, Nazi-level shit. Between claiming he was going to go work the fryer at a McDonald’s to championing himself as women’s “protector” it was a notch further than his previous insanities.

A member of the swim team at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania who used a box cutter to carve a racial epithet into a teammate’s chest last week is no longer enrolled at the school, a spokesperson for the college said on Monday, NBC News reports.

In a story broken first by the private college’s student-run newspaper, the men’s swim team was at an on-campus “informal gathering” in one of the residences, during which the no-longer-student used a box cutter to “etch” the n-word into the chest of the only Black member of the team.  Racism is highly suspected, though Jim Jordan is expected to say the attack was purely coincidental.

The brilliance of expanding NATO during Biden’s term and the reason it strikes fear into Vladimir Putin comes clear:  defense officials in Finland and Estonia are developing plans to potentially block the Gulf of Finland, denying Russia use of the vital port of St. Petersburg, the unfortunately translated Estonian news service ERR reports.

Instead of withdrawing from NATO as Trump wanted, Biden led NATO to expand to include Finland in 2022, thereby further strengthening the Alliance against the Kremlin, and the Alliance members are exploiting it.  “Maritime defense is an area where cooperation between Finland and Estonia is set to increase, and we may be able to make more concrete plans on how, if necessary, we can completely block adversary activities in the Baltic Sea, literally speaking. Militarily, this is achievable, we are ready for it, and we are moving in that direction,” Estonian Defense Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Andrus Merilo said. “If there is a threat and it is necessary, we are ready to do it to protect ourselves.”

Anyone who watched the History Channel before it changed focus to paranormal pawn shops or somesuch nonsense understands that St. Petersburg is key to Russia’s industrial and military might in the Atlantic as the major port and home to six million people.  It’s the home of the Russian Navy, and vital to keep open for Russian independence.

Donald Trump has made a lot of broken promises:  that coronavirus cases would be virtually wiped out by the beginning of March 2020; that he would erase the entire federal debt in eight years; that he’d release his tax returns; that he’d be faithful to his wives.  But as the respected-by-conservatives Wall Street Journal editorial board pointed out in a Sunday op/ed, the Republican presidential candidate and convicted fraudster has been making a lot of promises the US economy simply cannot keep.

The latest promise–on top of promising no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime pay, apparently rescinding the cap on deductions for state and local taxes implemented during his single term, and paying for everyone’s IVF, among other things–is to implement a cap on credit card interest for balances at 10%.

Not only would this cost banks a lot of revenue, it also reduces credit opportunities for high-risk borrowers.  Such a move would effectively shut the short-term loan industry, and would effectively punish consumers with good credit histories. And as the Journal’s board points out, it’s not kosher, capitalism-wise:  it’s less than the 15% temporary cap once proposed by both Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Oscasio-Cortez.  “It’s bad enough to have a Democratic Party that ignores economics. What’s the point of a Republican Party that follows suit?”

Polling should be pretty simple. Basically a mini, trial-run version of an election. Voters interested in participating in the election should be interested in participating in a poll. It should be pretty easy to get a straight fucking answer from enough people that you can get a reasonable enough estimation of how an election is going to turn out… Well that’s how it should be.

“BREAKING: an internal audit conducted by Trump campaign has discovered ‘discrepancies’ between amounts spent on mailers and the actual direct mail campaigns conducted – per source familiar,” reports QAnon freak former Newsmax correspondent Emerald Robinson, famous for her “Luciferase” theory about COVID vaccines and the invincible Chinese UFO invasion of 2023.

Now obviously she’s an idiot and should never be taken seriously. Incredibly there just might actually be something to this. Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall recently was collecting reports from readers about an absolute deluge of mailers going out to people in swing states, with no apparent targeting whatsoever. Voters running for state legislative races as Democrats were getting multiple mailers a day. They were indiscriminately stuffing people’s mailboxes with this shit – Republicans, indies, and Dems alike. Marshall never was able to track the vendor down, but it seems absolutely ripe for a scam.

Convicted felon former President Trump’s legal team squealed angrily in a motion filed in DC Circuit Judge Tanya Chutkan’s court on Monday that it would be “fundamentally unfair” if she allows Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s office be permitted to enter a “180 page hit piece” detailing all the evidence against him in the still-stalled post-2020 election coup attempt case.

Entitled cunts going to act entitled. Chutkan already told them, and she seemed very clear earlier this month, that “not concerned about the election schedule,” and the 2024 election “is not relevant here.” Yet here they are filing this shit anyway, evidently unable accept the reality she’s created.

A police bomb squad responded to a home in Dayton, Ohio on Monday after the owner said their cat had apparently knocked over a box containing a hand grenade in the basement, WHIO reports.

The homeowner apparently had never seen the grenade before and yet there it was in the basement. Police took possession of the grenade for disposal. The cat was unharmed.