Republican Arkansas Governor and woman who took offense when someone pointed out she wore excessive eye makeup Sarah Huckleberry Slanders is under scrutiny after an independent reporter discovered she commissioned a custom $19,000 podium for an upcoming trip to Europe.  And even though the daughter of former governor and sanctimonious child groomer Mike Huckabee ran on being a fiscal responsible leader, that’s not even the worst of it.

According to the Arkansas Times, muckraker Matt Campbell of the Blue Hog Report asked through a state FOIA request for information regarding the purchase made from an out-of-state vendor, Beckett Events in Virginia.  The receipt shows a cost of $18,475 for the podium, pluse a 3% surcharge ($554.25) for credit card processing.  On the receipt is a handwritten now:  “To be reimbursed” initialed  by what appears to be “LH.”  The money was paid by taxpayer money, but after the controversary arose, the state Republican Party said it would reimburse the state for the funds.

A lawyer for the unnamed whistleblower who apparently tipped off Campbell of the purchase alleges that the receipt has been altered or tampered with, apparently with the notation that the amount will be reimbursed.  It’s unlikely that such a note would be handwritten on an official receipt; the state uses other forms to arrange such transactions.  The note was likely added to lessen the public relations impact of the Republican governor buying a decorative piece for more than the cost of a new compact car. 

“Will Congressman Jamal Bowman be prosecuted and imprisoned for very dangerously pulling and setting off the main fire alarm system in order to stop a Congressional vote that was going on in DC. His egregious act is covered on tape, a horrible display of nerve and criminality. It was a very dangerous ‘Obstruction of an Official Proceeding,’ the same as used against our J-6 prisoners. Actually, his act may have been worse. HE MUST SUFFER THEIR SAME FATE. WHEN WILL HIS TRIAL BEGIN???” writes fat former President Trump in a Truth Social post on Sunday.

About ten days ago, federal prosecutors in New York unsealed an indictment against Dem New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez accusing him of having accepted cash, a Mercedes, and gold bars from some Egyptian nationals and their associates who were sought to influence the then-chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, in his decisions with regard to US foreign aid to Egypt.

It’s simple enough to grasp that this was money and favors rendered with the expectation Menendez would direct US taxpayer funds to Egypt in sums far greater than the bribes. “Among other actions, MENENDEZ provided sensitive US Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt” and “as the Chairman or the Ranking Member of the SFRC, possessed substantial influence over foreign military sales,” the indictment literally says.

Which is to say nobody should expect Nancy Mace to be the one laying out a similar case in the impeachment articles against Joe Biden (if House Republicans even get as far as writing them). The clip above is, to our knowledge, the first time Maria Bartiromo asked the question “Have you been able to identify specific policy decisions Joe Biden made that he was paid for?” or similar. Why a state media propagandist like Bartiromo would “go rogue” and ask such a direct and simple question that (as far as we know) she’s avoided for years we don’t know, but we might guess that she was just as pissed and disappointed as many House GOP members and staffers were after that clusterfuck of an “impeachment inquiry” hearing on Thursday. Mace of course whiffs it, claiming her only job is to look at the alleged maze of LLCs the Hunter Biden and his uncle (not President or Vice President Joe Biden) used to launder their proceeds from the sale of fake access and influence.

So yeah, they don’t have shit. Mace of course would be strangling the Fox News bookers with a belt for taking too long to get her on if she had even a rumor of a policy concession for the “bribery.”

“There are not moderates in the Republican party. There are just different degrees of fealty to Donald Trump. But it starts with a lot of fealty and goes to extreme fealty… We saw them run around the House like a Roomba until they found a door that Democrats opened” – New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday morning.

Rapey McForehead continued by saying the only way McCarthy “remains as speaker is if he makes a deal with Democrats,” a tantalizing possibility that would only come through a power-sharing agreement which would be very costly, according to Progressive Caucus leader Pramila Jayapal.

“When you host this show next week, if Kevin McCarthy is still speaker of the House, he will be serving at the pleasure of the Democrats. He will be working for the Democrats,” Gaetz kept going, threatening Americans with a good time of effectively ending the GOP House majority early.

Marion, Kansas Mayor David Mayfield on Saturday suspended Chief Gideon Cody over the fascistic August raid on a local newspaper over a complaint filed by some scumbag with connections to Republican Congressman Jake LaTurner, the Marion County Record reports on the ongoing fallout from the shitshow that saw their newsroom and publisher Eric Meyer’s home tossed by cops, which was so stressful to his 98 year-old mother (and co-publisher), Joan Meyer that it literally killed her.

“I believe when the rest of the story is available to the public, the judicial system that is being questioned will be vindicated,” Cody had told Axios just two days after the raid in response to Eric Meyer announcing a major lawsuit over the mess. Well the rest of the story isn’t available yet but already it’s obviously not going great for him. The whole drama is too detailed to reprint here – you can see our post on it from August 12th – but the gist of it is that for the Record’s “crime” of notifying the cops that a politically-connected local business owner’s estranged soon-to-be ex-husband had attempted to use them for a smear job (even though the smear was true) they were targeted in a raid and had their computers seized on a warrant. The Record’s newest report strongly indicates that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation is pursuing Cody for the atrocity, hopefully the piece of shit judge that signed the warrant instead of a subpoena is going to have hell to pay too.

Some teachers are 'completely overwhelmed' by helicopter parents, suffering 'burnout': Essay https://t.co/rhdk98BQZd

— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 1, 2023

Disappointed with the mockery they’ve endured since the televised impeachment investigation virtually started with a witness asserting there’s not enough evidence to actually impeach President Joe Biden, House Republicans are considering pulling the investigation from Oversight Committee Chair James Comer and handing the effort to avenge Donald Trump’s embarrassments to Judiciary Chair and sexual abuse misprisioner Jim Jordan, Politico Playbook reports.

While remedial Congress critters Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert griped about how unimpressive the hearing was, more mainstream Republicans are also annoyed with Comer’s production, saying having the first hearing feature legal experts and not fact witnesses was a serious error that disengaged voters.  Others complain that Comer’s strategy of exclusively releasing information to Fox’s cable propaganda network and other conservative media was preaching to the choir and ignored the need to convince non-MAGA voters about the seriousness of the charges.

Advocates for dumping Comer say the investigation should be handled by the Judiciary Committee, headed by Jordan, the traditional place for impeachment inquiries to start.  The quick-talking Jordan, who himself is not a good interviewee, would be able to doubletalk information into the record without really saying anything, something that might be necessary given the Republicans haven’t released any evidence supporting their claims regarding Joe Biden corruption.

I just signed a law to keep the government open for 47 days. There’s plenty of time to pass Government funding bills for the next fiscal year, and I strongly urge Congress to get to work right away.

The American people expect their government to work.

Let’s make sure it does. pic.twitter.com/ffjwUIPWIt

— President Biden (@POTUS) October 1, 2023

A member of the San Francisco Republican Party County Central Committee has been arrested after parts of a headless, handless, and footless body wrapped in garbage bags found in July were identified as his missing fiance, the San Francisco Standard reports.  A Navy veteran, 42-year-old Joseph C. Roberts was charged after DNA evidence connected him to the killing of 27=year-old Rachel Elizabeth Imani Buckner.

What makes this more than a typical Republican-kills-a-woman story is that Roberts made a name in conservative circles by vocally defending himself against allegations made by three women at Savannah State University in Georgia that Roberts sexually harassed them, which got him expelled from the school.  His cause was picked up by “men’s rights” activists and even Donald Trump, whom Roberts supported, as an example of the #MeToo movement gone wild.

The US Senate on Saturday night passed a 45-day bill funding the government just three hours and seven minutes before money was to expire. The margin was at least 88 yes to 9 no votes.

Joined by 126 Republicans, Democrats in the House largely united to pass a stopgap spending bill, saving the country from a federal government shutdown and likely all but ensuring a bid to end Kevin McCarthy’s time as Speaker, the Washington Post reports.

Only one Democrat voted against the bill–Mike Quigley of Illinois–with California’s Katie Porter absent, but 90 Republicans voted against the bill, forcing the effort to rely on Democrats to save the proposal.  Members of the nihilist Freedom Caucus have stated that they will push for a new Speaker if McCarthy relied on Democrats to pass the measure.

We missed some of the drama in Congress on Saturday but we heard that it didn’t go great for Republicans or Kevin McCarthy. He definitely doesn’t look very happy to be answering questions.

In a rare piece of actually original reporting – or at least more “original” than assigning a writer to watch The View or listen to a Joe Rogan podcast – Mediaite on Friday broke that antisemitic anti-vax freak Robert F Kennedy Jr is going to drop out of the Dem presidential primary and mount a third party run, news that was received well, not so well, and then like “Oh fuck” by the MAGA internet:

“If this is true RFK Jr just fired a shot across the bow of Biden’s sinking ship” – The current top comment on The Right Scoop’s story. That’s exactly the kind of enthusiasm we like.

“If he can get on the ballot as an independent, it will eliminate any chance the democrats may have had at winning. He should watch his back” – Top comment on Fox News’s article. Same as above.

“Awesome news, he will suck up demoRat votes” – Top comment at the Daily Caller. Still excited.

“Kennedy knows how corrupt the Democrats are” – Top comment at Breitbart and about the most generic take possible, like they couldn’t bring themselves to contemplate the actual real-world consequences of the anti-vax cult’s champion being on the ballot in crucial swing states next year.

“I hope he splits the Democrat vote in half. MAGA vote MAGA! Trump 47!” – Top comment on the Gateway Pundit’s article. Key word is “hope” followed by the call for Trump fans to vote for him again, like “Please don’t fuck around on this. The COVID vax thing isn’t more important than MAGA.”

A necropsy of an orca whose body washed ashore in Russia’s far eastern Bering Strait revealed the killer whale had eaten seven sea otters by simply swallowing them whole, with the last one getting caught in the beast’s esophagus, Live Science reports citing a recent study of the 2020 death.

“It is very unusual because orcas don’t normally eat sea otters,” study author and Moscow University marine biologist Olga Filatova told Live Science adding that the killer whales “normally don’t swallow prey whole – they usually tear it apart and eat only the best (most fatty) parts.”

• Dianne Feinstein was forced to remain in the Senate until her dying day because of a callous political calculation by Mitch McConnell and the GOP.  She should have been allowed to retire and spend her last days with family in California with her successor seated in DC, but because of McConnell’s craven desire to manipulate rules to his political advantage, Feinstein was denied that dignity.  That is disgusting and inhumane.  May she finally have peace.
• Notable:  in his Thursday speech, Joe Biden didn’t implore people to go out and vote for him to save our democracy.  He just implored people to participate in our elections.  Biden will never say “Only I can save you!” as Trump does.  Biden knows only the People can save the nation, at the ballot box.
• Remember when Lauren Boebert claimed she had a super-secret parliamentary way to force an impeachment vote on the floor of the House?  That ploy, like her high school education, failed.
• If it isn’t obvious enough, Trump is now trying to throw his Georgia racketeering case so he can (1) appeal and (2) play up how unfair the System is to him before the election.  It’s why he doesn’t want to remove the Fulton County case to federal court:  he believes he’ll appear more of a victim at the hands of those naughty (Black) Atlantans.
  Read More ▶ “Random thoughts Friday, Volume CXL”

Saying “The defendant should not be permitted to continue to try this case in the court of public opinion rather than in the court of law,” Jack Smith’s Special Counsel’s office argued Trump’s ongoing efforts to threaten and intimidate people necessitate a gag order to protect the integrity of the trial and keep court officers, witnesses and prosecutors safe.

“The need for the proposed order is further evidenced by a review of the defendant’s prejudicial statements in the weeks since the Government initially filed its motion on September 5. Since that date, the defendant has continued to make statements that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case and that fall within the narrowly tailored order proposed by the Government.”  Smith then goes on to list a number of violence-tinged statements made by Trump, including calling for the execution of retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley.

“On September 22, on Truth Social, the defendant falsely claimed that the retiring Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a witness cited in the indictment, had committed treason and suggested that he should be executed,” says Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith in his motion in support of gag order on disgraced former President Trump in the DC coup attempt case.

Which means Trup already violated his release terms with the post calling for Milley’s execution.

Asked if the federal government will shut down this weekend, the bane of sandal designers, Georgia Republican Congresswoman Majorie Taylor Greene, shares a unique take on the week’s news, being certain to pat herself on the back in the process:

Yes, I do agree with that, Eric.  Um, now this is coming after a very successful week here in Washington, DC.  Ah, one of the biggest success that we had this week was passing our defense appropriation [sic] bill and stripping the Ukraine war money out of it.  That was a big win that I personally worked on, um, and I’m very proud to say that 117 Republicans, which is over half of our conference, voted against Ukraine war money.

The appropriations bill Marge refers to won’t make it through the Senate, which will fund the defense of Ukraine, regardless of what de factor Speaker Marge declares, so her claimed success for the week is a loss.  The dysfunction of the GOP was on full display this week, with a comical presidential debate and a hysterically meaningless “impeachment hearing” exhibiting Republican incompetence.  And calling the week successful when her antics will push the nation over a fiscal cliff demonstrates Marge is concerned with nothing more than her ego.

Regardless of if the federal government shuts down at midnight Saturday, student loan borrowers will have to restart their loan payments October 1st unless a different continuing resolution is passed by the House and Senate in the next two days, CBS News reports.

While President Biden has worked to forgive much student loan debt or at least tried to waive repayment requirements, Republicans are insistent that loan holders keep payments up, even while forcing federal workers to miss paychecks because of Matt Gaetz’s desire for notoriety.