John Podesta, a Biden advisor who also worked as a former chief of staff to Bill Clinton and an advisor to Barack Obama during their presidencies, will take over John Kerry’s role as senior adviser to the president on international climate policy, CBS News reports.

“In three years, Secretary Kerry has tirelessly trekked around the world — bringing American climate leadership back from the brink and marshaling countries around the world to take historic action to confront the climate crisis,” White House said in a statement. “We need to keep meeting the gravity of this moment, and there is no one better than John Podesta to make sure we do.”

The 80-year-old Kerry stepped down from the position earlier this year, having served as the lead on climate change policy since the beginning of the Biden Administration.  He’s led domestic and international efforts to curb carbon emissions and as a former member of the chamber, helped to usher through the Senate some of the Biden Administration’s climate legislation.

The maverick-y presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. spent more than it took in last quarter, leaving it with $5.4 million in cash as he enters the general election campaign, NBC News reports.  The Super PAC affiliated with Kennedy’s campaign also has $14.8 million in cash on hand after spending $7.7 million despite only raising $7 million.

By comparison, President Joe Biden’s campaign has $117 million in cash on hand; the Trump campaign has not yet released fourth-quarter fundraising data. While Kennedy’s funds won’t support a nationally-viable campaign for president, he can use it to wreak havoc in competitive states that Biden’s campaign cannot lose, forcing it to spend more money to retain voters and voter enthusiasm.

Entering an election year where polls and pundits say he’s lacking enthusiasm among younger voters, President Joe Biden announced plans to resurrect his student loan forgiveness program that was struck down by the conservative-led Supreme Court, the Washington Post reports.

Biden will attempt to extend loan forgiveness to debtors experiencing financial hardship, but after a panel convened by the Department of Education failed to define what constitutes “financial hardship,” the administration will bring together another panel in late February to define the term for policy purposes.

“The Biden-Harris Administration will never stop working to deliver student debt relief for borrowers,” James Kvaal, Undersecretary of Education, said in a statement. “We look forward to discussing another avenue for borrower relief related to hardship at our next negotiation session.”

🚨We just filed a D.C. Bar complaint against Hunter Biden alleging professional misconduct. Read about it: https://t.co/PqnvPfZ0y1 pic.twitter.com/kEcKika1WS

— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) January 31, 2024

Iowa Senator Charles Grassley on Wednesday told Semafor’s Joseph Zeballos-Roig he’s opposed to tax cuts this year, which is surprising considering Republicans are usually pretty big on that

“I think passing a tax bill that makes the president look good mailing out checks before the election, means he could be reelected and then we won’t extend the 2017 tax cuts,” Grassley said.

Former The Hill publisher Jimmy Finkelstein’s second go at a media venture is bust after less than a year in business, as the Daily Beast reports The Messenger is shutting down, putting good reporters like Adam Klasfeld and Steven Neukam out of a job. Joe Concha is now unemployed too.

Finkelstein – who last month reportedly told editorial staff not to put any stories about his “friend,” fat former President Trump’s civil fraud trial on the site’s home page, even as Klasfeld worked his ass off to cover it – had predicted in a prelaunch interview with the New York Times $100 million in annual revenue for The Messenger. The site ended up making $3 million in 2023.

Love this! Fantastic border security plan. Full and total endorsement!!

Only thing missing is the space lasers. pic.twitter.com/hvFjAQpuTx

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) January 31, 2024

The Republican caucus of the New Mexico state Senate was united in opposition to SB5, a bill making it a misdemeanor offense to carry a firearm within 50 feet of a polling place on election day, with all 15 of them voting against the measure on Thursday, Marc Elias’s Democracy Docket reports.

The bill still passed 26 to 16, with one Democrat joining the GOP in opposition. Fuck ’em.

In what’s sure to drive the Trump fanboys absolutely fucking nuts seeing former South Carolina Governor Nikki “Birdbrain” Haley’s “electability” argument against Trump getting a boost, a new Quinnipiac University survey finds President Joe Biden leading disgraced former President Trump by 50 to 44 percent among registered voters while Haley leads Biden 47 to 42 percent among registered voters nationally. Biden maintains a 39 to 37 percent lead over Trump and also leads Haley 36 to 29 percent when RFK Jr and the other Kremlin assets are added to the mix.

In other findings, Biden’s approval rating improved slightly to a still-shitty 41 percent from 38 percent in November (when they also found Trump leading 46 to 44 percent), Trump leads Haley by an apocalyptic 77 to 21 percent among GOP primary voters and, sur-fucking-prise: After finding in November that 41 percent of Republicans rated the economy as their top concern to 23 percent immigration, QU now says 38 percent of GOP respondents say immigration to 29 percent economy.

Funny that, just as perceptions about the economy started to match reality suddenly the border and illegal immigration became an apocalyptic crisis that could end up destroying America and now it’s being reflected in findings from the very same pollster in the span of two months.

Oh heck, the Moose Jaw MLA Greg Lawrence is in a heap of trouble now as the Saskatchewan Party caucus leaders have gone and kicked him out on account of his being charged by the Crown for assaulting and choking another fella during a ruckus last summer, CTV News Canada reports.

Shameful thing is that it’s not like Greg was standing up and choking another fella in the Saskatchewan legislature chamber or some other breach of the decorum of a minister. Sometimes fellas in Moose Jaw have a little too much Molson in them and things get a little rowdy. Doesn’t matter what they were ruckusing aboot, everyone’s friends in that town. Eh, they probably even had a cup of black together at Timmies next morning when they were nursing their heads.

Like if it’s okay to ask a dude with a Chinese name who’s the CEO of Chinese-owned TikTok if he’s a member of the Chinese Communist Party and then ask again because you don’t believe when he said he’s from Singapore, then it’s okay for us to just assume that Tom Cotton is a racist because he’s from the South and is named for the cash crop which sustained slavery, right? Is that cool?

Two sources within the US State Department tell Axios that the Biden Administration is looking into recognizing an independent Palestinian State as the next step after whenever Israeli dictator Benjamin Netanyahu stops bombing the shit out of the place. We understand this would be a pretty big deal but we’ll leave it to those a more fluent in the history of the region to estimate just how big.

A 68 year-old The Villages, Florida man is facing charges of possession of viagra without a prescription after a K9 unit sniffed out the sexual performance-enhancing drug during a traffic stop near the sunny golf cart maze prompted by a suspicious license plate, Villages-News.com reports.

Michigan native Marc Arlon Nuyen was cuffed in the nearby town of Fruitland Park after a cop ran a check of his Washington State license plate and found no match in the national database. Nuyen was observed making “furtive movements,” prompting the officer to call a K9 unit in to search the vehicle. It was then that Nuyen admitted he didn’t have a driver’s license. And when the dog found “several Viagra pills, which require a prescription from a licensed practitioner” in the van, along with some suboxone that Nuyen claimed belonged to his wife. Cops promptly cuffed Nuyen.

The Michigander-Washingtonian-Floridian was charged with possession of suboxone without a prescription, driving without a license and refusal to sign a citation. He was booked at the Lake County Jail on $3,500 bond, hopefully time to contemplate turning his life around and maybe starting a PSA campaign on the dangers of illicit Viagra with a slogan like “No Rx? No senior sex!”

“Kilauea volcano is not erupting. Increased earthquake activity and inflationary ground deformation at Kilauea’s summit began occurring during the early morning hours of January 31, 2024, indicating movement of magma in the subsurface. The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is raising the volcano alert level/aviation color code for Kilauea from ADVISORY/YELLOW to WATCH/ORANGE due to this activity. At this time, it is not possible to say with certainty if this activity will lead to an eruption; the activity may remain below ground. However, an eruption in Kilauea’s summit region, within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and away from infrastructure, is one potential outcome.”

“Patterns of earthquake activity and ground deformation are concentrated south of the caldera region. Any new eruptive activity could occur in or near Halemaʻumaʻu crater or the region south of Kilauea caldera, within the closed area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. HVO is in constant communication with Hawaii Volcanoes National Park as this situation evolves. The activity is confined entirely within the park. HVO continues to closely monitor this activity. Should activity change significantly, a new Volcanic Activity Notice will be issued. Hazards are present on Kilauea and are described below. Residents and visitors should stay informed and follow County of Hawaii and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park guidelines” – US Geological Survey bulletin.

Biden rape accuser never had her day in court. In fact, there was never an investigation. The media barely covered her charge. Most of the media dismissed it. She had to flee to Russia.https://t.co/kz0v0JBHdS

— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) January 31, 2024

“With the World blowing up around us, with the Middle East on FIRE, Biden has finally decided to visit East Palestine, Ohio, a year late, and only to develop some political credibility because EVERYTHING else he has done has been such a DISASTER. I know those great people, I was there when it counted, and his reception won’t be a warm one. Worst President in History!” writes disgraced former President Trump on Truth Social, as if his showing up for the cameras and buying people fucking McDonald’s was somehow more meaningful than the Biden Administration sending federal agencies to assist in the cleanup and suing Norfolk Southern for their negligence.

It’s also funny that the fat fuck mentions “the World blowing up around us” now when he also literally said “You have a President going to Ukraine and you have people in Ohio that are in desperate need of help,” prior to his visit to the site of the attempted “white genocide” last February.

A source described as a “senior GOP aide” involved with negotiations over the increasingly doomed border compromise bill in the Senate tells the Daily Beast that “Republicans were elected to secure the border. The fact that we’re putting one man’s political desires over the rare opportunity to make the border safer is a betrayal to our voters and the American people,” adding that if Republicans didn’t act “simply because Donald Trump told us not to,” then they’ll have “squandered a huge opportunity. If you want to blame Democrats for the border. Republicans can’t be the problem.”

The Texas state Supreme Court on Tuesday at least temporarily acceded to disgraced former President Trump’s orders that they intervene in Attorney General Ken Paxton’s desperate bid to avoid being deposed in a lawsuit brought by several former deputies who were fired after reporting Paxton’s corruption to the FBI, with the court staying the deposition – which was scheduled for this week – and ordering arguments by February 29th, the Texas Tribune reports.

Four asylum seekers viciously beat up two NYPD officers in Times Square.

These thugs have already been released and are roaming our streets.

This is anarchy. https://t.co/jxHpsdtaah

— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) January 31, 2024

After three years of screaming about the economy every goddamned minute they could, Republicans in Congress are now telling Punchbowl News that it’s not such a big deal and they’re probably not going to freak the fuck out at the Federal Reserve Bank for cutting interest rates.

“It’s going to be a sideline issue,” said Missourian Blaine Luetkemeyer. “I don’t think it can be a main issue.” That’s the only quote Punchbowl includes to describe what they summarize as “Republicans are skeptical that the Fed’s role in the economy could become a campaign issue this year.”

NRSC Chairman Steve Daines meanwhile was already getting cranky though, telling Punchbowl he thinks the Fed “needs to stay true to its mission. They should not be listening to the politicians.”