Asked by CNN congress reporter Lauren Fox on how she’ll work with Louisiana MAGA Congressman Mike Johnson on spending issues if he’s elected Speaker this week, Maine Senator Susan Collins said she doesn’t know him but will Google his name this morning so she can learn more.
We’ll follow up if and when Collins gets back to Fox and says Johnson’s record is very concerning.
Apologies if we’re oversaturating this site with the Trump bullshit, but this morning the fat fuck posted “I will soon be leaving for Crooked Joe Biden’s ‘Political Opponent Court’ in Lower Manhattan” and we’ll skip ahead to “This is a RIGGED TRIAL, right out of a Banana Republic, but sadly, it gives the Republicans the right to do the same thing when we assume office… And remember, Crooked Joe Biden is the most CORRUPT (and Incompetent!) President in the history of the US, VERY FERTILE GROUND THERE, but very bad for our Country!” and more whining follows.
It’s a pretty clean snapshot of how the Orange Allah’s self-created disinformation ecosystem operates in how he blames Biden for New York Attorney General Letitia James’s $250 million lawsuit against his corrupt business empire. Like you have to be pretty fucking stupid to believe that, aside from the fact that Biden is no doubt enjoying a fellow Democrat inflicting such misery on Donald, he’s in any way directing a state-level civil case that started with an investigation that no doubt began months before Joe had even declared he was running for president in April 2019.
But that’s all he needs to create his own future hypothetical permission structure for he and his minions to weaponize federal law enforcement against Democrats with the “sadly, it gives the Republicans the right to do the same thing when we assume office.” The insincere regret is a nice touch, as if he would actually be “sad” to take on the burden of leading an actual persecution of political opponents. This is where the Republican Party is at right now, that their grievances against the legal system’s abuses – none real, all imagined – are not being identified as merely the subject of reforms to ensure they never happen again but to be turned around in a campaign of “retribution” against a man who had nothing to do with it. It’s hard to appreciate how fucked up this is in the day-to-day cacophony of madness from the MAGA Reich, yet here it is in black and white.
The Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institute dropped their “14th Annual American Values survey” survey on Wednesday and this year’s joint titled “Threats to American Democracy Ahead of an Unprecedented Presidential Election,” has all the fun and dark quantifications of a populace riven with the insanity wrought by the deeply malevolence of the MAGA GOP information sphere. Most salient of these is the sentiment “true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country” finding agreement among 23 percent of respondents overall – the first time ever that it’s gotten above 20 percent. By affiliation, 33 percent of GOP voters agree (shocker) compared to 22 percent of independents and 13 percent of Dems.
Broken down by the clearer metric of 2020 election trutherism, the split comes to 46 percent of those who think the election was stolen from Trump vs 13 percent of those who live in reality saying violence is the answer. We guess you might call that the “Antifa voter” demographic.
Other sundry findings: 23 percent of respondents believe the QAnon prophecy that “a storm is coming that will sweep away elites in power,” up from 14 percent in 2021. 48 percent overall and 72 percent of Republican voters think “society as a whole has become too soft and feminine.” The same share of GOP voters think “the growing number of newcomers from other countries” represent a threat to “traditional American customs and values,” vs 44 percent overall. 57 percent of respondents agree that Trump getting reelected in 2024 poses a threat to American democracy.
The survey findings are massive and we’re just barely scratching the surface here, so give it a read.
More than three weeks after he was ousted by a motion to vacate, weak and feckless former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy’s name has been removed from outside the office suite in the Capitol housing the staff of the lower chamber’s presiding officer, CBS’s Scott MacFarlane reports.
Whether or not this means that someone decided that the now-fourth “Speaker-designate” MAGA Congressman Mike Johnson has the “momentum” needed to actually wield the gavel after a full House vote is unclear, but the Orange Pharaoh is on board this time, writing on Wednesday his “strong SUGGESTION is to go with the leading candidate, Mike Johnson, and GET IT DONE, FAST!”
Secretary of State Tony Blinken this week told a gathering of Jewish leaders that he asked the Qatari government to “turn down the volume on Al Jazeera’s coverage because it is full of anti-Israel incitement” during a meeting with the Emirs earlier this month, Axios reports, explaining that this much more about the state-owned outlet’s Arabic-language programming than the English side of it.
The sources told Axios that Blinken didn’t mention any specific examples of Hamas-sympathetic coverage. Such details are almost beside the point when you look at it alongside the American right wing’s multi-year meltdown over the US government contacting social media companies with content moderation requests about election and COVID disinformation, especially with that demented fucking lawsuit from Missouri and Louisiana now on the Supreme Court’s docket.
Call us cynical, but we don’t expect Jim Jordan to subpoena Blinken demanding answers on why he “censored the free speech” of an outlet that certainly counts American citizens among its audience.
“I don’t think Mark Meadows would lie about the Rigged and Stollen 2020 Presidential Election merely for getting IMMUNITY against Prosecution (PERSECUTION!) by Deranged Prosecutor, Jack Smith. BUT, when you really think about it, after being hounded like a dog for three years, told you’ll be going to jail for the rest of your life, your money and your family will be forever gone, and we’re not at all interested in exposing those that did the RIGGING – If you say BAD THINGS about that terrible ‘MONSTER,’ DONALD TRUMP, we won’t put you in prison, you can keep your family and your wealth, and, perhaps, if you can make up some really horrible ‘STUFF’ a out him, we may very well erect a statue of you in the middle of our decaying and now very violent Capital, Washington, DC.”
“Some people would make that deal, but they are weaklings and cowards, and so bad for the future our Failing Nation. I don’t think that Mark Meadows is one of them, but who really knows? MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” wrote fat former President Trump early on Wednesday before following up with apparent outright panic with “Mark Meadows NEVER told me that allegations of significant fraud (about the RIGGED Election!) were baseless. He certainly didn’t say that in his book!”
Gabrielle Hanson, the Republican candidate for mayor of Franklin, Tennessee who openly associated with white nationalists and neo-Nazis and defended racist beliefs thankfully lost the election to incumbent mayor Ken Moore, who was leading with more than 70% of the vote when the race was called by the Tennessean.
A white male with a name so generic it’s used to check in to motels that charge by the hour, Mike Johnson of Louisiana secured 128 votes, a majority within the GOP conference, to secure the honor of being the next person not to be named Speaker of the House.
UPDATE 10:10 p.m. ET: A roll call vote has been called within the Republican conference to see if Johnson had enough support to get the requisite 217 votes on the floor of the House. Results pending.
UPDATE 10:24 p.m. ET: Johnson received a handful of “present” votes from the members, and more than 20 were absent from the vote. Johnson told members that he plans to reach out to the absent members Tuesday night and wants to get a vote on the floor of the House at noon Wednesday.
The first pass at ballots in the Republican Conference now puts Louisiana’s Mike Johnson, the House GOP Conference vice chair, in the lead to be the next former Speaker-designate. And it shows a lot of unity that “Other” came in third. The vote outcome:
A Montana MAGA terrorist pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to federal charges that he threatened to assault and murder former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the Associated Press reports. Billings man Richard Lee Rogers is accused of threats to injure and murder a member of Congress after at least one February 2023 call in which the hardcore Trump fan threatened harm to the then-titular House Speaker for some transgression against MAGAmericans, who the hell knows what it was.
The administration of Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, desperate for a distraction from his failing presidential campaign, has decided to try to reignite his failed “Culture War” attacks on drag shows, asking the Supreme Court to end lower courts’ blocks on enforcing the newly-enacted ban on the millennia-old form of entertainment because it makes conservative men feel uncomfortable.
According to NBC News, Florida officials seek an incredibly narrow interpretation of the lower courts’ order: that the ban on enforcement is only applicable to the specific restaurant mentioned in the court case, Hamburger Mary’s in Orlando, not a block on enforcement of the law overall.
Michael Whitaker received an exceedingly rare unanimous bipartisan 98-0 vote on Tuesday to take over as the newest Federal Aviation Administration head, ending an 18-month vacancy caused by an unexpected resignation and an aborted Biden nomination. The Washington Post reports Whitaker’s predecessor, Trump-appointee Stephen Dickson, retired midway through his five-year term in March 2022.
Biden’s first nominee, Phillip Washington, spent a number of months trying to win over Senators, but he faced questions from members of both Parties about his qualifications to run air travel regulation after being the administrator for municipal transit systems. Whitaker, however, was an executive at American Airlines, preparing for a position where he’ll explain why everyone’s flights were delayed.
Marjorie Taylor Greene: I voted against Tom Emmer because he voted to certify the 2020 election and voted to codify marriage equality pic.twitter.com/UwrtAtEGtU
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) October 24, 2023
Disgraced former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was granted immunity to testify to the grand jury impaneled by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith to investigate the post-2020 election coup attempt federal conspiracy case in DC, ABC News reports.
“Speaker-designate” Tom Emmer was spotted by Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman leaving a House GOP meeting that started 20 minutes ago. “EMMER just briskly walked out of the Longworth House Office Building. The meeting is ongoing and he’s gone,” Sherman wrote. “Iconic,” replied George Santos.
And just now CNN’s Manu Raju reports that Emmer has dropped out. The search continues.
Justice Department press release: “An Ohio man pleaded guilty yesterday to violating the Church Arson Prevention Act and to using fire and explosives to commit a felony, all in connection with his attempt to burn down a church because of the church’s support for the LGBTQI+ community.”
“According to court documents, on March 25, Aimenn D Penny, 20, of Alliance, made Molotov cocktails and drove to the Community Church of Chesterland (CCC), in Chesterland, Ohio. Angered by the church’s plan to host two drag events the following weekend, Penny threw two Molotov cocktails at the church, hoping to burn it to the ground. Through Penny’s guilty plea, he admitted to using force through fire and explosives, intending to obstruct CCC congregants in their enjoyment and expression of their religious beliefs. Penny was arrested and charged earlier this year with violating the Church Arson Prevention Act, one count of using fire to commit a federal felony, one count of malicious use of explosive materials and one count of possessing a destructive device.”
“Penny faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the violation of the Church Arson Prevention Act and a 10-year mandatory prison sentence that will run consecutively with any other prison term imposed for using fire to commit a federal felony. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the US sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.”
“I have many wonderful friends wanting to be Speaker of the House, and some are truly great Warriors. RINO Tom Emmer, who I do not know well, is not one of them. He never respected the Power of a Trump Endorsement, or the breadth and scope of MAGA – MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! He fought me all the way, actually spent more time defending Ilhan Omar than he did me.”
“He is totally out-of-touch with Republican Voters. I believe he has now learned his lesson, because he is saying that he is Pro-Trump all the way, but who can ever be sure? Has he only changed because that’s what it takes to win? The Republican Party cannot take that chance, because that’s not where the America First Voters are. Voting for a Globalist RINO like Tom Emmer would be a tragic mistake!” wrote disgraced former President Trump on Truth Social while he was on break from watching testimony in the trial that will likely completely destroy his businesses.
In another post Trump celebrated some of New York Attorney General Letitia James’s team coming down with COVID writing that “they lost another Thug to Covid today. Judge would not delay this SCAM, Election Interference, No Jury Case. Judicial and Prosecutorial Misconduct!”
Sort of like their former governor did once in a movie to a “Johnny Cab,” the California Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday ripped the AI drivers out of GM subsidiary autonomous cab company Cruise LLC, writing in a statement that they “notified Cruise that the department is suspending Cruise’s autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permits, effective immediately. The DMV has provided Cruise with the steps needed to apply to reinstate its suspended permits, which the DMV will not approve until the company has fulfilled the requirements to the department’s satisfaction. This decision does not impact the company’s permit for testing with a safety driver.”
Left unclear is what incident or incidents might have prompted the revocation, or if a Cal DMV official simply hailed one and was like “Yeah, fuck this” and got out after only a few blocks.
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