A one-time dermatologist from California who donated enough money to the GOP that he hit the “Ambassador to Iceland” loyalty level during the last months of the Trump Administration is now making a play to take the Republican nomination for the Nevada Senate seat, the Washington Post reports.

Jeffrey Gunter announced he’ll challenge Party-anointed candidate Sam Brown, an Army veteran, and election denialist Jim Marchant for the GOP nomination to take on Democrat Jacky Rosen for the seat in 2024.

Ruling in an issue separate from tossing out Donald Trump’s defamation suit against E. Jean Carroll, whom he raped (per the court), Federal judge for the Southern District of New York Lewis Kaplan ruled that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office can receive a copy of videotaped and transcribed interviews from the original Carroll defamation and assault case she won against Trump, per Kyle Griffin of MSNBC.

While the information may not seem to directly impact the 34 financial fraud charges Alvin Bragg has leveled against Trump, Trump may have said things under oath that contradict information Bragg’s office has, particularly when it comes to how Trump handled his business operations.

Donald Trump’s lawyers have filed their 29-page response to the Special Counsel’s Office seeking a protective order against Trump to protect information, witnesses and evidence Trump may learn about through the discovery process.

Instead of hewing to this narrow framework, the government requests the Court restrict all documents produced by the government, regardless of sensitivity, contrary to established law and President Trump’s First Amendment rights. To resolve this issue, President Trump respectfully requests the Court adopt the attached redline which narrows the Proposed Order to shield only genuinely sensitive materials from public view. This more measured approach is consistent with other protective orders entered by this Court in cases concerning the events of January 6, 2021, and appropriately balances the government’s claimed desire to “protect [] highly sensitive categories of material” and “expedite the flow of discovery,” with the rights of President Trump and the public to free speech and an open proceeding.

Additionally, the Proposed Redline addresses several important definitional and procedural issues. The parties have reached agreement on a small number of these revisions, as indicated in the Proposed Redline. We discuss certain additional revisions in Section B, below.

Finally, to the extent the Court overrules President Trump’s objection to restricting the use of non-sensitive documents produced by the government, we attach an alternative redline that removes edits directed to that issue, while retaining all other proposed revisions

Mike DiNapoli, appointed by Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis to be executive director of the Florida Housing Finance Corp., the state agency responsible for doling out more than $700 million in aid, was ordered to step down–in other words, suspended–from his position by the organization’s Board of Directors, the Palm Beach Post reports.

DiNapoli was barred from entering the FHFC offices or campus, and he was blocked from accessing his official email after reports surfaced of mismanagement and a hostile workplace at the 130-person organization.  DiNapoli’s six-month tenure at FHFC has been marked by significant staff turnover:  Not only did DiNapoli’s predecessor resign after a six-month term of his own, but Hugh Brown, the organization’s general counsel and chief ethics officer, left in April and his successor, Betty Zachem, resigned Thursday.

Florida’s real estate market is in shambles with sky-high rents and purchasing costs making housing unaffordable for some.  Additionally, insurers are pulling out of Florida’s dreadful market, where homes are destroyed regularly by phenomena such as hurricanes, sinkholes or soil erosion.  DeSantis, busy traveling the country as he runs for higher office, did not comment on the latest scandal to hit his administration.  A spokesperson said he “is aware” of the situation at FHFC.

Because he simply isn’t ridiculous enough, Donald John Trump–age 7-7, former president, indicted felon and court-declared rapist–had a petty, childish defamation lawsuit he filed against his rape victim, E. Jean Carroll, thrown out of court, Reuters reports.

U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York Lewis Kaplan ruled that Carroll did not defame Trump when she claimed Trump raped her in a CNN interview after a jury awarded her $5 million in her own defamation claim against Trump.  The jury in that civil suit did not find Trump inserted his mushroom into her–the act that narrowly defined rape in that accusation–because Carroll herself expressed uncertainty on the stand, saying she could tell if she was penetrated by a penis or one of Trump’s stubby thumbs.  The jury ruled, however, that Trump sexually assaulted her.

After Carroll’s appearance on CNN, Trump filed a lawsuit claiming Carroll defamed him.  Kaplan previously ruled that even if there were specific questions unanswered, the jury did effectively determine Trump raped Carroll.  Based on that and the finding that Carroll did not make her statements with malice, Kaplan tossed Trump’s lawsuit against Carroll.

One of Donald Trump’s disgraced lawyers, Rudy Giuliani, has put his 3-bedroom, 3-bath Manhattan apartment up for sale, according to a listing on Sotheby Real Estate’s website, with an asking price of $6.5 million.  Co-conspirator 1’s abode was reportedly listed starting at the end of July.

In May, Giuliani claimed he could not afford to conduct searches of material to turn over relevant information in the civil lawsuit brought by Georgia election workers Shae Moss and Ruby Freeman.  Unlike his former client, Giuliani has been unable to bilk Trump supporters out of cash to cover his legal bills and to support his exorbitant lifestyle, even though he has boasted that he’s getting $20,000 per day for his services; FEC records do not reflect him getting paid that amount.

“Accessed by a semi-private elevator landing, the welcoming, square Gallery opens into the Living Room, which benefits from pleasing proportions and three very large west-facing windows. Adjacent, a handsome wood-paneled corner Library with a wood-burning fireplace offers open views up Madison Avenue and to the west,” the listing reads, helpfully noting that 50% of the selling price may be financed.  “Nearby, a stately, well-proportioned Dining Room is oak-paneled and boasts a carved plaster ceiling and very tall leaded glass windows. The Dining Room is further distinguished by its Conservatory. With impressive leaded glass eastern and northern-facing windows, it is marvelously light-filled and ideal for a tranquil breakfast or cozy dinner.  Beyond, the cheerful eat-in-Kitchen with northern and eastern exposures and open outlooks is supported by a proper Butler’s Pantry, a Laundry Room, and a Staff Room with an ensuite bath.”

In the first such action since 1981, the 4,500 municipal workers for the City of San Jose will strike from Tuesday through Thursday this week, KTVU Fox-2 in Oakland reports. Members of IFPTE Local 21 and MEF-AFSCME Local 101 voted by a 99% to 1% margin to authorize the strike.

Leaders of the unions say the city is facing a severe manpower shortage exacerbated by years of poor working conditions and low wages.  The unions say the city’s poor recruitment and retention programs have overburdened an already stretched workforce.

Various city workers including librarians, emergency dispatchers, planners, animal shelter technicians and veterinarians, engineers, airport staff, water maintenance staff, architects, and others will stay off the job Tuesday in the first significant work action by the city’s municipal union since 1981.  It will be the first time since the Oakland city workers walked out in 2017 that an entire city government operation has been the target of a strike that went beyond a school system or a utility union.

Co-conspirator 2 in Donald Trump’s federal indictment for trying to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 election, John Eastman, asked the California judge overseeing his disbarment hearing to temporarily pause the action until he resolves a potential indictment expected from Jack Smith’s special counsel’s office, Politico reports.  In other words:  “Don’t punish me for my professional malfeasance until we figure out if I’m going to jail.”

“Respondent John Charles Eastman hereby moves the Court for an order abating the above-captioned State Bar disciplinary proceeding pending resolution of the ongoing federal criminal investigation into an alleged conspiracy involving the efforts by former President Donald Trump and six unnamed co-conspirators to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election.  Alternatively, Respondent seeks a stay of this proceeding for three months to allow for an updated assessment of the scope of the ongoing investigation, including the recent federal grand jury indictment against Trump, as well as the likelihood that formal charges will be brought against Respondent.”

Reported consumer fraud losses totaled more than $8.8 billion in 2022, a 30% increase from the previous year, although the amount may no include funds falsely raised to cover federal legal expenses for politicians’ trials, the Associated Press reports.

Cryptocurrency scams led the way, taking nearly half of the money:  $3.9 billion.  The report from the Federal Trade Commission found that people between the ages of 20-29 were more likely to fall prey to scams than those in their 70s, though the amount of money lost by septuagenarians greatly outweighed the amount lost by younger people.

“When approached with urgency, give it an extra three-second pause,” said Amanda Clayman, a financial therapist who works with digital payment network Zelle around issues of fraud, giving great advice to people who respond to the thousands of panicked emails and text messages sent by an indicted former president and his lackeys. “When someone is trying to get us to take action quickly, that’s usually a red flag indicating we should do the opposite.”

The last former Minneapolis Police officer convicted in the death of George Floyd in May 2020 has been sentenced to more than four years in state prison, the Associated Press reports.  Tou Thao was sentence to four years, nine months in prison for his role in Floyd’s death, for which he was found guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter; Thao had turned down a plea agreement.  Previously, he was found guilty of federal charges and sentenced to three-and-a-half-years in federal prison.

Thao described in his role in holding back the crowd as then-0fficer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s back and neck for more than nine minutes as Floyd repeated stated he couldn’t breathe.  During the sentencing hearing on “I did not commit these crimes,” Thao said. “My conscience is clear. I will not be a Judas nor join a mob in self-preservation or betray my God.”

The former head of counterintelligence for the FBI’s New York field office is expected to plead guilty to charges that he got paid to help try to the the US sanctions against Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska lifted, ABC News reports.  Lawyers for Charles McGonigal entered a notice Saturday that a court appearance scheduled for Monday should be reclassified as a “plea proceeding,” although specific details of the deal were not released.

Having retired from the FBI in 2018, McGonigal reportedly took money from Deripaska to try to get the sanctions against Deripaska lifted, and he used FBI resources to get information on Deripaska’s rivals, which he transmitted to the Russian billionaire.  McGonigal is also accused of accepting an undisclosed $225,000 payment from a former agent of the Albanian intelligence service who is now living in New Jersey.

Highlighting Donald Trump’s penchant for demeaning people and lying in social media posts, curvy couch resident Steve Doocy asks a common sense question:  does anyone review things Trump posts before he hits send?  Spokeslawyer Alina Habba doesn’t see Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric online for anyone but Trump’s opponents.  “Yeah, um, the [former] president obviously has access to his social media.  There’s a system in place meaning that we have a ton of communications people as we know, but in terms of what he does day-by-day, minute-by-minute, I can’t speak to that.  I wouldn’t speak to that.  That’s his personal business.”

Illinois will ban advertising gun designed for children, a marketing avenue designed to groom children, including those under the age of 10, to enter the weapons-obsessed culture fostered by violence-prone far-right radicals.  ABC News reports Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker will sign the law this week.

Democratic Attorney General Kwame Raoul noted companies like Wee 1 Tactical market a JR-15, a smaller version of the AR-15-style assault rifle designed for children’s hands that fires lower-power but just-as-deadly .22 caliber bullets.  To reinforce the cult-like tradition of gun fanciers, Wee 1 used the tagline “Get ‘em One Like Yours” in their marketing.

“We’ve gone after the marketing that has historically driven up the consumption by minors for those products that are harmful to them,” Raoul said, noting that the statute is based in laws that bar marketing tobacco to minors. “The firearms industry shouldn’t be immune to the standards that we put on other industries.”

Evidently upset with Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith indicting her client, Donald Trump, two more times in the past week, federal Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday “came out swinging at special counsel this morning, striking two of prosecutors’ sealed filings and demanding an explanation of ‘the legal propriety of using an out-of-district grand jury proceeding to continue to investigate’ the docs case,” according to Politico’s Kyle Cheney.

The docket items were struck because Jack Smith’s office wanted the information filed under seal, but Cannon doesn’t see the need for them to be hidden from the public.  Smith can refile in the documents after making them suitable for public viewing, if he so chooses.

Ukrainian security force detained a Russian agent suspected of trying to coordinate a missile strike on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a recent tour of the Mykolaiv region, with the agent collecting information on Zelenskyy’s travel schedule and agenda, CNN reports.

According to the Ukrainian Secret Service (SBU), the woman, a resident of Ochakov in southern Ukraine, “tried to establish the time and list of locations of the approximate route of the Head of State in the territory of the region,” including filming sites Zelenskyy was expected to visit.

In monitoring the woman’s communications, the SBU found that she was also transmitting information to Russian handlers regarding the location of ammunition caches and warehouses, as well as the location of electronics warfare systems.

“Deranged Jack Smith is going before his number one draft pick, the Judge of his ‘dreams’ (WHO MUST BE RECUSED!), in an attempt to take away my FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS – This, despite the fact that he, the DOJ, and his many Thug prosecutors, are illegally leaking, everything and anything, to the Fake News Media!!!” posted fat former President Trump on Monday morning in the midst of another public panic session over the afternoon deadline for his legal team to respond to the prosecution’s motion for a protective order in his post-2020 election coup attempt case.

Earlier Trump wrote “I never said anything bad or even slightly inappropriate to Liddle’ Mike Pence. What I did do was make him, over the many people who wanted it, Vice President of the United States. Disloyalty in politics is alive and well,” which means he’s getting nervous after Pence said he would be open to taking the stand as a witness for the prosecution in the upcoming trial.

Far right Cochise County, Arizona’s stupid new plan to “secure” ballots with holograms or invisible ink or some stupid bullshit like that appears to be tailored for one specific vendor tied to MAGA former state Senator and 2022 Secretary of State loser Mark Finchem, VoteBeat Arizona reports.

The company, Texas-based Authentix, which has zero experience in elections supply, has been angling for a contract with the county to print their ballots, the terms and scope of which is unknown except for the roughly $1 million price tag and that one of the Authentix’s founders, Olaf Halvorssen, was listed as a team member of a failed clean energy startup helmed by Finchem. To be fair, the company does have foreign contracts to produce watermarks and holograms on official documents like tax notes and what not, so it’s not like this is definitely another Cyber Ninjas situation where they’re just so far out of their league and going to completely fuck everything up.

But that any eventual watermarks on ballots by this company would be solid security features doesn’t mean they’ll be necessary because there’s zero evidence any ballots have been faked in the 2020 and 2022 elections. The whole venture also makes us think a little bit less of Mark Finchem: We’d understood him to be like his ticket-mate Kari Lake, as in genuinely and sincerely pilled up to his eyeballs on this “Stop the Steal” bullshit, that he really believed all the fantasies. Instead it now seems like he’s just another grifter looking to make a few bucks off the fucking rubes. Shame on you Mark for making us think you were the deceived when all along you were one of the deceivers.

MAGA fascist lawyer John Eastman, aka “Co-Conspirator 2” came clean in an interview last week, admitting he was trying to overthrow the United States government, Talking Points Memo reports.

Not really hiding his argument under any sort of legalese, Eastman might as well be Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes as he told Tom Klingenstein, chair of the board of directors at Eastman’s “think tank,” the Claremont Institute, that the outcome of the 2020 election was an “existential threat to the very survivability, not just of our nation, but of the example that our nation, properly understood, provides to the world… There’s actually a provision in the Declaration of Independence that a people will suffer abuses while they remain sufferable, tolerable while they remain tolerable.

“At some point abuses become so intolerable that it becomes not only their right but their duty to alter or abolish the existing government. So that’s the question. Have the abuses or the threat of abuses become so intolerable that we have to be willing to push back?” Eastman continued.

The Declaration of Independence is not a legal document. It was a political statement asserting that the Thirteen Colonies were no longer under the sovereignty of King George and the founding fathers knew they were signing their own death warrants if their homegrown militias were unable to force British troops back home. Eastman citing it is in effect the same thing: He should be willing to die in prison because his effort to overturn the 2020 election failed. Let’s hope he gets his wish.

In an “explosive” Sunday article “BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: Same DOJ Attorney Prosecuting President Trump, Declined to Prosecute Andrew McCabe for Lying Under Oath, Gave Imran Away Sweetheart Deal, and More,” with a typo in the headline because the guy’s name is actually Imran Awan, the Gateway Pundit “connects the dots” with a current member of Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s team, DOJ Fraud and Public Corruption Section Chief JP Cooney, who gave “gave Imran Omar [sic] a sweetheart deal after getting caught spying on the US Congress.”

The article also technically isn’t an “exclusive” because it was first printed at JoeHoft.com, the eponymous blog run by Jim “Gateway Pundit” Hoft’s twin brother Joe. Which in turn was largely sourced from a Saturday morning tweet thread by batshit insane MAGA influencer Julie Kelly.

Anyway the “report” is poorly written and extremely hard to follow, and basically all it amounts to is that the case against Trump is “rigged” because these high-level Justice Department prosecutors who worked other politically charged investigations, including the contempt of Congress case against Steve “Bannan,” are working on the Trump case too. But the callout to the obscure fan favorite Imran Awan makes this a gem. Awan, a Pakistani-American IT technician who worked for Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and other Democrats in the House until 2017 when he and a few members of his staff, including his two brothers and his wife, were caught skimming equipment out of purchase orders, probably for resale. Awan was arrested at the airport trying to flee to Pakistan and in 2018 pleaded guilty to an unrelated bank fraud count, then was sentenced to time served plus three months probation (by none other than Judge Tanya Chutkan).