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.”

A 32 year-old Levittown, Pennsylvania man is under arrest and faces murder charges after he beheaded his own father and posted a video of himself ranting against the government and “far-left woke mobs” while holding the severed head on Tuesday night, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Middletown Township Police responded to a call from the wife of Michael Mohn – a long time federal government employee – reporting the murder at around 7 PM on Tuesday, at which time Justin Mohn had already fled the bloody scene in his father’s vehicle. Cops later caught up with Mohn in nearby Lebanon County and cuffed him. BNO News reports that YouTube took more than six hours to take down the video in which Justin had held his father’s head in front of the camera and spewed a bunch of MAGA bullshit about his father being a “traitor” because he worked for the federal government, demanding the postal service be shut down, and God knows what else.

Speaking at the “Restoring National Confidence Summit” thrown by small-faced Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA outfit in Las Vegas on Tuesday (“Restoring National Confidence” an obvious rip on “RNC,” whose winter meeting in the same town is closed to the public), MAGA influencer douchebag Jack Posobiec swore he was unbothered by the whole Taylor Swift thing, telling the fanboys assembled that they may not have “Taylor Swift on our side, but you know who we have? We have Kid Rock. We have Ted Nugent. We have influencers. We have all these people – Jon Voight.”

“I am in the process, along with my team, of interviewing various law firms to represent me in an Appeal of one of the most ridiculous and unfair Witch Hunts our Country has ever seen – The defamation Sham presided over by a Clinton appointed, highly partisan, Trump Hating Judge, Lewis Kaplan, who was, together with certain other Radical Left Democrat Judges, one of the most partisan and out of control activists that I have ever appeared before.”

“He was a ‘bully’ who demanded two trials, rather than one, denied me Due Process, would not allow me to put forth vital evidence (of which there was much!), and only allowed me to be on the witness stand for minutes, telling my lawyer what to ask, and telling me to only give one word answers, as his wife and friends sat in cordoned off front row seats watching with glee. This entire HOAX is a disgrace to our American System of Justice. Any lawyer who takes a TRUMP CASE is either ‘CRAZY,’ or a TRUE AMERICAN PATRIOT. I will make my decision soon!” posted disgraced former President Trump on Truth Social on Tuesday night, later adding “SAVE JUSTICE IN AMERICA!!!”

There’s a pretty solid chance the fat bastard won’t end up actually appealing the verdict. If he was going to do it he would just have hired someone already and filed notice. We’ve seen him say shit similar the “I will make my decision soon!” before only to see him bitch out and call it a win.

Trump also ripped Robert F Kennedy Jr for the first time we’re aware of, writing “He is by far the most Radical Left person running for office, maybe ever! Look at his environmental program, and close up the USA!” while posting a link to a Breitbart article about Bobby Jr claiming that Trump’s campaign reached out to him about the running mate spot, a claim that didn’t originate with RFK jr.

A Texas state House candidate who once called paraplegic Governor Greg Abbott “spineless” in a since-deleted Facebook post but then was endorsed by him anyway took a narrow loss to a more normal-ish Republican in a closely-watched special runoff on Tuesday, the Texas Tribune reports.

The state House Speaker Dade Phelan-backed Republican Jill Dutton took the special to replace the far right secessionist former Baptist minister who resigned in May – and then was still expelled – after getting caught trying to date rape a 19 year-old legislative intern, by a mere 107 votes over the Abbott and Ken Paxton-backed MAGA d-bag Brent Money, who actually conceded on Tuesday.

Saying that “you can’t lie about the numbers,” professional Georgia embarrassment Marjorie Taylor Greene goes on to insist that “we are going to impeach Secretary Myorkas today on this committee” even though committee have no authority to impeach anyone.  And speaking of numbers, Marge goes on to recite the following indecipherable phrase:  “February Twenty Seventeenth, Two thousand four hundred and thirty seven eight hundred and fifty six.”

Aimenn Penny, an Ohio white supremacist who personifies what’s not supreme about anything, received an eighteen-year sentence in federal prison for firebombing a church in Geauga County to intimidate the congregation so it would not host two planned drag events, USA Today reports.

A member of the Ohio White Lives Matter and Blood Tribe groups, Penny was unapologetic, saying he threw Molotov cocktails at the Community Church in Chesterland early in the morning of March 25th, 2023 “to protect children” and declaring men shouldn’t dress like women “especially in a place of worship,” Penny said, adding. “I didn’t hurt anyone.”

Asked by Trump advisor Sean Hannity if the latest witness brought in to testify to the House GOP Performance Art Troupe disclosed anything that could lead to even an accusation of corruption, headhunter Jamie Comer replied dejectedly, “No, y’know, all of the people that we brought in for depositions, they have a hard time remember the bad things.”  Or they have no information because the things you’ve made up never happened.

A statue of Black baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson that was stolen last Thursday from a complex of athletic fields in Wichita, Kansas was found broken apart and set afire in a trash can in a different park on the other side of town, CNN reports.  City officials said the statue does not appear salvageable, but they vowed to have a replacement in place as soon as possible.

A surveillance video released by police last week showed two people knocking down the statue at McAdams Park, where the fields and facilities are named after prominent Black figures in the city’s history.  After the pair knock the statue over, a pickup truck enters view and the pair put the statue in the truck’s bed before driving off.

Democratic California Congressman Eric Swalwell brought to the forefront the hypocrisy of his Republican colleagues urging the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the ongoing crisis at the border, saying the GOP continues to allow the problem for its political benefit.

Never one to show gratitude to anyone not named Trump, Republican Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake took a six-figure consultant’s fee from the app development company run by the former head of the state GOP she helped to oust last week, the Arizona Republic reports.

Lake reportedly took more than $100,000 from Superfeed Technologies, a company founded by Jeff DeWit that specializes in developing apps for political campaigns.  DeWit was the head of the Arizona Republican Party until last week, when a recording of him offering Lake a bribe to not enter the Senate race was released.

After filing a letter with the court calling into question the judge’s objectivity based on an anonymous accusation published in the Trump-friendly New York Post, serial legal failure Alina Habba submitted a new letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan cartoonishly backpedaling from her claim that he once served as a mentor to her opposing counsel, Roberta Kaplan (no relation).

Roberta Kaplan herself quickly sent the judge a letter denying all claims made by Habba and suggesting Habba herself (or another of Trump’s minions) was the source of the anonymous tip to the New York Post, a move Roberta Kaplan pointed out, that could lead to sanctions for trying to defraud the court.

After seeing her opposing lawyer’s response, Habba quickly responded with a response saying she wasn’t making the claim; she was just asking about the report in the Post.  “The purpose of the letter was simply to inquire as to whether there is any merit to a recently published New York Post story which reported on the alleged existence of such a relationship. To be clear, this claim originated solely from the New York Post, where it was purportedly sourced from a ‘former Paul Weiss partner who asked not to be named.’ I played no part in uncovering this information; have never communicated with the unnamed Paul Weiss partner; and have no personal knowledge as to whether the information contained in the article is true or false. As I stated in my January 29 letter, I ‘learned for the first time’ about the purported mentor-mentee relationship from the New York Post.  Although I am quoted in the article, my statements were given in response to the reporter’s request for comment (which, per the article, was also sought from Kaplan Hecker & Fink).”

Disgraced former President Trump’s MAGA Inc, Save America, and other associated political action committees spent more than $50 million on lawyers in 2023, the New York Times reports.

That’s obviously a shit ton of cash, the only thing we’ll note here is that legal fees probably eat up a lot of money even at the PACs not supporting a candidate under 91 felony counts in four different jurisdictions plus at least three massive civil cases. So maybe a better baseline would be if and when we know how what percentage Ron DeSantis’s “Never Back Down” spent on paying lawyers to file reports with the FEC and advise on other day-to-day shit maybe we’ll have a better idea.

New Jersey Devils' Michael McLeod charged with sexual assault in 2018 case, his lawyers say https://t.co/0liUC72iNB

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 30, 2024

“Just like every other witness called by House Republicans, Eric Schwerin told the Committee that he never saw evidence of any wrongdoing by President Biden and that President Biden was not involved in, did not profit from, and took no official actions in relation to his family’s business dealings. Mr Schwerin, who was previously interviewed by Committee staff in March, voluntarily appeared again today to reiterate these basic facts. From 2009 to 2017, Mr Schwerin performed a number of administrative and bookkeeping tasks for then-Vice President Biden related to his household finances, which included helping then-Vice President Biden and his accountants in the preparation of his taxes and annual financial disclosure statements.”

“In helping then-Vice President Biden with his personal finances, Mr Schwerin could see transactions into and out of the then-Vice President’s bank accounts. Mr Schwerin confirmed that he never saw any transactions or compensation going into then-Vice President’s bank accounts related to his family members’ businesses. Mr Schwerin was clear that he was not aware of any involvement by Joe Biden, as a public official or a private citizen, in his family members’ businesses.”

“And Mr Schwerin was clear that he has no recollection of any promises or suggestions made by Hunter to any of his clients that his father would take any officials actions on their behalf. Mr Schwerin told investigators that his conversations with then-Vice President Biden were limited to his personal finances, and the then-Vice President was always clear that he wanted to take the most transparent and ethical approach possible to the management of his personal finances.”

“House Republicans are about to begin the 14th month of this Trump-demanded fishing expedition. They have uncovered a mountain of evidence discrediting their own allegations, and they have failed to uncover any evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden whatsoever, much less an impeachable offense. Yet, Republicans have devoted more than a year to circulating lies and conspiracy theories in service of Donald Trump’s demands for political retribution and vengeance,” writes House Oversight Ranking Member Jamie Raskin posting another L for dipshit Chairbilly James Comer who, to our knowledge, didn’t even bother this time to act like Schwerin implicated Joe Biden in a scam.

Fulton County, Georgia special prosecutor Nathan Wade on Tuesday settled his divorce case, closing one potential avenue of fuckery for disgraced former President Trump and his minions as they seek to exploit the probably real personal relationship between Wade and District Attorney Fani Willis to undermine the sprawling RICO case against them, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Again, this is the best Team MAGA has in their case. Politically it’s not great for Willis to have hired Wade for the case if they had a preexisting relationship, though the Journal-Constitution notes that Wade’s $250/hour rate was lower than usual for a hired gun and it’s not like the guy just dicked around and played Xbox in the office all day. Next month Wade and Willis will have to answer to the judge so we’ll know more about how all this is going to shake out fairly soon.

Republican former Congressman and 2022 gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin may or may not be bound with handcuffs that are chained to a ring bolted to the floor of the studio in this clip. Well he probably isn’t, but he just looks like he’s trying to escape futilely. His face says it all.