A new YouGov/Economist survey’s question of “Do you think that Trump will be convicted of a crime in the hush-money case?” just 24 percent said yes, while 36 percent said no, with the partisan split of 35 percent yes to 26 no among Dems and 16 percent yes to 52 percent no among GOP voters.

YouGov also asked if Trump “should” be convicted, finding far more saying yes at 43 percent, but a nearly identical 37 percent also saying no, it’s partisan split 80 percent yes/6 percent no among Dems and a nearly exact inverse 7 percent yes to 77 percent no among Republican voters. Whether or not you think this poll is “reliable” the findings are, the deltas between the respective “should” and “will” are just kind of funny given the motivated reasoning applied to a probabilistic outcome on the latter. The 20 percent of Dem respondents saying he should be convicted but won’t are just tired of the fat fuck getting away with everything and don’t expect that to change. Keeping expectations low for political and/or legal justice is so cool in Blue America these days. Kind of like kombucha.

It’s the Republican respondents that stick out more. If they’re so confident that he won’t be convicted then why the hell are they freaking out so badly? Wouldn’t embarrassing Alvin Bragg be the greatest lib-owning since he was acquitted at the first impeachment trial back in February 2020? The wishful thinking expressed in this poll finding does not at all line up with the “vibe” that MAGA world is giving off these days. It’s almost like these respondents know it but didn’t want to say it.

New York AG Letitia James on Friday asked Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron to void disgraced former President Trump’s bond for appeal, writing “movants cannot demonstrate that KSIC’s management meets the requirements of trustworthiness and competence under regulations governing insurance placed through a licensed excess lines broker. Accordingly, this provides a further, independent basis for the Court to deny Movants motion to justify KSIC as the surety. Based on the foregoing, the People respectfully request that the Court deny Movants’ motion to justify the surety, declare the Bond to be without effect, and order that any replacement bond be posted within seven days, along with such other and further relief the Court deems necessary and appropriate.”

On a very, very related note, while this was happening, Assistant DA Matt Colangelo told Judge Juan Merchan “It’s hard to think of something that’s more squarely in the wheelhouse of… impeachment information than a finding of a judge of persistent fraud and illegality in the state of New York over a period of years,” while arguing that the verdict in that trial is admissible to the current criminal one.

You will not be surprised to learn that, per NYPD officials, the still-unidentified self-immolator is a conspiracy freak from St Augustine, Florida who thinks educational institutions are fronts for the mafia, according to pamphlets he tossed before lighting himself up.

People in a Manhattan courtroom reportedly recoiled in disgust after a massive expulsion of toxic gas was leaked in the courtroom where Donald Trump’s criminal election interference trial is underway.  According to Ben Meiselas of the MeidasTouch network, his sources in the courtroom tell him that apart from Trump falling asleep again in court Friday morning, his lawyers were visibly shaken at one point by a noxious odor wafting around the defense table that didn’t seem to disturb the defendant.

An unknown individual set themself on fire outside the Manhattan court house where former president and cult leader Donald Trump’s trial in his election interference hush money case is being held.  Photos and video of the incident show flames shooting up from a person seated in a cordoned off area of an outdoor courtyard.

EDITOR’S NOTE:  We are not posting the disturbing video here, although it is available at the link above for those who wish to view it.  Any attempt to post the video or photographs to the comments will immediately be deleted.

White nationalist Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar signed on as a cosponsor to white nationalist Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson, making him the third white nationalist on the motion after white nationalist Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie joined it earlier this week, Politico’s Olivia Beavers reports from the white nationalist beat.

“Nearly 11 million illegal aliens have crossed our southern border in the past three years. My congressional district in Arizona, ground zero for the invasion, is getting pummeled by the surge of lawbreakers. These illegal aliens have brought violent crime, deadly drugs, human trafficking and are depleting resources and services meant for US citizens. In fact, every state has become a border state. Communities across the country are being ravaged, families are being destroyed and Americans in need are being ignored [and blah blah blah the usual MAGA bullshit] I have added my name in support of the motion to vacate the Speaker. Our border cannot be an afterthought. We need a Speaker who puts America first rather than bending to the reckless demands of the warmongers, neo-cons and the military industrial complex making billions from a costly and endless war half a world away,” said the white nationalist Gosar in a statement which introduced him as “Paul Gosar, DDS” like being a fucking dentist is somehow germane to serving in Congress, lol.

Fred Flintstone-lookalike former US Attorney General Bill Barr is so Yabba-dabba-done with the Biden Administration’s socialism-something and prefers to vote for the guy who reportedly will install an attorney general who will direct line prosecutors in the department to investigate Barr for any and every pretext they can find to make his life miserable, the Huffington Post reports.

“Trump may be playing Russian roulette but a continuation of the Biden administration is national suicide in my opinion,” said Barr in an interview with Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.” Now if you check out Empty Wheel or Mueller She Wrote we’re sure you can find some example of something the Garland Justice Department could and maybe should have prosecuted Barr that he did while he was serving with the Trump Administration. Whatever it is, that would probably be the crime that Trump commands his new AG to pursue. Not even joking about this. Trump would use that.

So maybe save the comments about how much of a spineless bitch Barr is being. It’s not anything surprising to those who pay even the least bit of attention to the drama. So dedicated he is to his country that he would sooner roll the dice on his own freedom and reputation than continue to live peacefully and personally unperturbed under another four years of the “Biden Regime.”

Kids and adults participated in an hours-long walkout at Mt Nebo Middle School in Payson, Utah on Wednesday in protest of an imaginary outbreak of furry-ism among the student body, ABC4 reports.

To introduce furries to the religiously conservative Utah media market, the Salt Lake City-based Nexstar-owned ABC affiliate contacted a furry identified only as “Strudel” to serve as their expert on the lifestyle. “Furry is a fandom. We don’t think we’re animals. I really like the idea of animals that walk and talk, so I’m going to dress up as one, as kind of a fun sort of cosplay thing,” Strudel said.

“According to WebMD, a furry is someone who has an interest in animals with human qualities, and who sometimes dresses up as a cartoon-like version of an animal,” the article then says, strongly indicating that the reporter was still deeply confused after speaking to “Strudel” and had to go do some research themselves, settling for a resource that makes it sound like a psychiatric disorder.

It’s taking control of the military:  US defense researchers conducted the first dogfight between an AI-controlled fighter jet and one piloted by a bipedal biological entity over the skies of Edwards Air Force Base last year, the first time an autonomous aircraft engaged in a combat exercise, military sources say.

According to the defense industry blog DefenseScoop, researchers equipped the X-62A VISTA (Variable In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft), a modified F-16, with AI technology developed after running hundreds of computer simulations as part of DARPA’s AlphaDogFight trials.  The team then ran more than 20 test flights with the autonomous plane alone.

In September, the team put the X-62A in the sky against a human-piloted F-16, with the two engaging in an unscripted dogfight after completing various trials, including a head-on encounter that brought the two craft within 1,200 feet of one another.  Officials did not announce which aircraft “won” the simulated dogfight.

Minutes later, the demented freak posted disturbing all-caps rants online such as “WITHOUT PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY, IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR A PRESIDENT TO PROPERLY FUNCTION, PUTTING THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN GREAT AND EVERLASTING DANGER!” and “IF THEY TAKE AWAY MY PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY, THEY TAKE AWAY CROOKED JOE BIDEN’S PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY,” and so on. He is not well and hopefully his suffering ends soon.

Republican campaign consultant Alex Conant admits to the Daily Beast he might’ve been a little too optimistic about how fat former President Trump’s 2016 election interference/45 seconds of sex with a pornstar hush money trial in New York City was going to work out with him also trying to return to the White House to finish off the job of destroying American democracy.

“I had sort of underestimated just the giant time-suck this is going to be for him as a candidate. He could be raising six, seven figures pretty regularly at major-dollar events around the country at this point. That’s literally what Biden is doing. So Trump’s fundraisers are probably frustrated that because he’s in New York, they can’t schedule that stuff,” said Conant, who’s not really exaggerating considering the fat bastard already had to cancel an appearance at a the NRCC’s biggest spring fundraising event. “The most valuable commodity in any campaign is the candidate’s time. t’s the only thing you can’t get more of. And the fact that he’s going to have to spend weeks in the courtroom is time his campaign isn’t going to get back,” Conant added.

An anonymous Trump consultant tried and pretty much failed to spin it. “President Trump’s campaign strategy is obviously going to be a little bit different, but he’s going to put in the energy and time needed to win this election… We’re only at day three now, and I think this is gonna have a backfiring effect on Democrats, I really do.They are interfering with Trump’s ability to get on his plane and go to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia,” lol.

Another MAGA source, identified as only as a “strategist,” said “I don’t think people are gonna get bored of” the fat bastard’s court hallway rants. “People never know what he’s gonna fuckin’ say.”

The strategist said he’d start worrying if and when the political press started tuning out from those bits. Not trying to speak for the political press as a whole but man we are already starting to get pretty fucking bored with his bitching and crying and are instead looking forward to covering the testimony and prosecution exhibits. Even if that sucks and there’s nothing new or all that good in them, the bottom line is still the top here: This trial, win or lose (guilty verdict obviously much more preferable), is hurting the Orange God Emperor’s chances of restoring his corrupt autocratic regime.

House Ethics Committee investigators are leaking to ABC News about Matt Gaetz again, this time telling the mainstream media outlet they have evidence that the large-foreheaded MAGA Florida’s 1st District Congressman was present at a 2017 party with a then-17 year-old girl and a shit ton of cocaine and ecstasy according to a sworn statement from a woman who was 20 at the time.

In the statement to the committee the woman wrote that “she saw the then-minor naked at the party, which was also attended by adult men other than Gaetz, and that at the party there allegedly were bedrooms that were made available for sexual activities,” ABC writes. A Gaetz spokesworm said “no” when asked by ABC if the Congressbro remembers attending the party. They also said “no” to a question of whether he has used illicit drugs since getting elected. Those two single-word denials constitute the entirety of Gaetz’s response to the media about this story.

In related news, a Florida Atlantic University survey of Sunshine State Republican primary voters this week finds state First Lady Casey DeSantis leading the credibly suspected statutory rapist 38 to 16 percent in the 2026 gubernatorial race with no other candidates such as total assclown Florida MAGA Congressman Byron Donalds or nutcase Attorney General Ashley Moody named as contenders. “Other” received 21 percent support, while 26 percent were undecided.

Once again, not actually taking this seriously so much as mocking the dipshits that do: Stupid betting site Polymarket finds President Biden leading fat former President Trump 58 to 42 percent in Pennsylvania, 58 to 41 percent in Nevada, 57 to 42 percent in Michigan, and 52 percent to 47 percent in Wisconsin, leading to some pretty goddamned angry MAGA replies to the tweet by Political Polls listing off those outcome probabilities (not “polling” numbers).

A group of eight US-based weapons companies asked the Supreme Court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the government of Mexico holding them accountable for the flood of weapons steaming over Trump’s Wall and into the country, Reuters reports.

The seven manufacturers and one distributor want the Court to reinstate protections gun makers enjoy from civil suits under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which shields gun makers from product liability laws covering other manufacturers.  The First Circuit Court in Boston found Mexico’s lawsuit fell within a narrow exception to the rule, saying Mexico’s case focuses on business practices of the companies that aided and abetted illegal gun trafficking.

Claiming “Mexico’s lawsuit has no business in American courts,” apparently against anything from south of the border, the gun companies said that if the case could goes forward, they could be subjected suits by any “foreign sovereign that is trying to bully the industry into adopting a host of gun-control measures that have been repeatedly rejected by American voters.”  In other words, the gun companies think they reign over sovereign nations.

CNN reports that US officials confirm Israel has struck near the city of Isfahan in central Iran, although US officials said Israeli leaders were not going to strike the nuclear facilities around the city.  Israeli officials told American counterparts that the attacks would not be directed toward civilian targets.

The American officials did not approve or oversee the operation, with President Joe Biden telling Israel’s corrupt Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel should “take the win.”

Former Republican Congressmen–we don’t know if they’ve left the Party, but they’re not with the Party–Denver Riggleman and Adam Kinzinger got to the heart of a political Party that supports sexual assaulters and claims to be for Christian values.

Five women and seven men were selected to sit on the jury for Donald Trump’s first criminal trial, the election interference hush money case in Manhattan that involves the lovely salaciousness of a porn star, a Playboy model, scandal sheets and a small penis.  As the Guardian notes, the jury will include two native West Coasters, one person who avoids social media, and surprising number of people who proclaim they “don’t follow the news.”

While there were a couple who seemed awed by Trump, the description of one’s response to a question is noted:  “Asked if he had any strong opinions about Trump, he paused for a moment before answering yes.”  The judge included him.

Half of the karaoke influencer duo Autotune and Trump, and the co-chair of the Republican National Committee Lara Trump acknowledges that Democrats are currently enjoying an odd selection of unicorn-like things because they’re pulling the strings, but if “the shoe [is] on the other foot” and Republicans regain control, “then we lose our country.”  The leader of the Republican Party just admitted the GOP will destroy America.

This is the precedent we are setting right now.  We’re saying, hey, we’re just gonna change the law whenever it’s convenient for us and whenever we can attack a political opponent with it, then think about what that means for the future of this country.  Yeah, it’s sunshine, lollipops and rainbows for the Democrats because they’re the ones in charge and they’re the ones pulling the strings and it’s Donald Trump forced to sit in a courtroom right now, but it could turn around very quickly and the shoe could be on the other foot and then we lose our country, Rob.  This is not how America was designed to operate.

Of course, Lara’s prophecy of doom is only accurate if a person who announced he’ll use his renewed government authority and absolute immunity to punish those who opposed him, like her father-in-law proclaims, doesn’t get elected.  “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

Two-term Republican Congressman Jake LaTurner from Kansas’s 2nd District announced he will not seek reelection saying he wants to “pursue other opportunities and have the benefit of spending more time with my family,” the Kansas City Star reports.  He becomes the 14th Republican House member to not seek reelection, but he will serve out the rest of his term to keep the GOP’s thin majority.  No hopes for a Democratic pickup:  the Cook Political Report puts the district at R+11.

“Why is the border not in this package?” current House gavel holder Mike Johnson tells downgraded propagandist Greta van Susteren.  “Because, Greta, we didn’t have the votes to do it.  A handful of my Republicans at least will not advance a rule to bring that to the floor to combine it with the Ukraine and Israel funding.  They won’t do it.  So if I don’t have Republican votes, it means we have to have Democrat votes, yeah.”