Kick Hannity off the air for interfering in the Speakership race!

Daily Dose of Democracy:

Jim Jordan camp's efforts to strong-arm House GOP critics backfires badly
The MAGA extremist crashed and burned during the second ballot of speakership voting on Wednesday, losing 22 Republican votes — even more than he lost in the first round. Jordan's pitiful tally might have something to do with the pressure campaign waged by his allies to literally bully other Republicans into voting for him in the most ham-fisted, wannabe mafia way possible. Rep. Don Bacon's wife received ominous emails and texts saying “your husband better support Jim Jordan,” while Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks' office announced that she had received credible *death threats*. Should the math-challenged Jordan plow ahead with a third round of voting his detractors predict that it’s just going to get “a lot worse” for him. That’s Trump’s GOP for ya!

Take Action: Demand Congress reject Jim Jordan as House Speaker!

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Trump's Jan. 6 allies hit with worst news over prison sentences
The Proud Boys knew they were deep in the hole — and Merrick Garland just showed up with a shovel.

Take Action: Tell President Biden to take climate action ASAP!

Republicans are salivating at the thought of stealing a battleground Senate seat
Bob Casey for Senate: Stung from their humiliating defeat in 2022, McConnell and his cronies have now set their sights on defeating Bob Casey and flipping the Senate back to red. Can you chip in to help re-elect Sen. Casey and protect our critical Senate majority?

Someone finally tells Trump to shut the hell up for once in his life
Donald Trump had to be chided by the teacher to stop talking with his friends while other students were presenting their work in class yesterday — except he's 77 years old, the teacher is actually a judge, and the serially indicted grifter is on trial for extremely serious financial crimes. The disgraced ex-president got so heated he started throwing up his hands and whining aloud to his lawyer during witness testimony, earning a sharp rebuke from Judge Engoron, who spoke on behalf of all humanity when he told the defendant to zip his lip.

Take Action: Tell Congress to boost funding for food stamps!

US vetoes UN’s call for "humanitarian pause" and aid corridors into Gaza
In an alarming show of support for the far-right-wing Netanyahu government's relentless bombardment campaign in Gaza, the United States vetoed not one but TWO UN Security Council resolutions calling for a pause in the fighting and for Israel to allow humanitarian corridors to be established for aid to reach the besieged civilian population of Gaza. The US complained that the resolutions didn't reference Israel's "right to self-defense" and blamed Hamas for the exploding humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the nearly 5,000 killed since the war began on October 7. China called the veto “nothing short of unbelievable" while Japan and France broke with the US to support the measure. Nobody is denying Israel's right to self-defense, but shouldn't "humanitarian aid" and "less fighting" be something we all are working towards?

Take Action: Tell corporations to stop funding lobbyists pushing harmful laws!

Biden clinches deal with Egypt to allow aid into Gaza
During his emergency visit to Tel Aviv to show US solidarity and support for Israel in its ongoing war with Hamas, President Biden secured a badly needed diplomatic breakthrough to allow aid trucks to enter Gaza from Egypt to alleviate the unspeakable humanitarian crisis crippling the beleaguered Palestinian enclave. Biden also announced a $100 million US aid package to support Palestinian civilians with plans to ask Congress for $10 BILLION in aid for Israel as soon as Friday.

House GOP scrambles for escape hatch
Faced with yet another dead-on-arrival speakership bid, the House GOP is reeling in search of a solution, any solution, to their own internal dysfunction. Some think that empowering interim Speaker Patrick "Bowtie" McHenry is the solution, while others are so desperate they think a nice field trip might be the ticket. "It sounds silly, but let's go to Gettysburg or something. Let's go somewhere that is meaningful to our nation's history so the Republican Party can once again remember why we do what we do," said Rep. Mike Garcia. It's too bad there aren't any meaningful places of great importance in Washington, DC — like, say, the US Capitol, where 👏 they 👏 all 👏 work — to remind Republicans of America's storied history or capacity to do big things.

The possibility of a DEMOCRATIC Speaker surges into spotlight
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: Whoa...

Biden eases sanctions on Venezuelan oil and Republicans howl
The Biden administration said Wednesday it will ease sanctions against companies that trade in oil produced in Venezuelan or invest in the South American country’s oil industry in response to a welcomed new agreement to allow free elections next year. The sanctions reprieve predictably sparked howls of sputtering indignance from Republicans, who are just mad that Venezuelan oil revenues won't immediately flow into the pockets of the American oil companies that fuel their political war chests. Biden's move will hopefully ease the economic strangulation of the Venezuelan economy and might even help stem the flood of immigrants that the GOP clearly hates so very much.

State Department official resigns, citing "destructive" decisions in Israel-Hamas war
Josh Paul, who worked in the arms transfer division at the State Department, resigned in protest over the Biden administration's unblinking support for the Netanyahu government's brutal bombardment of the Gaza Strip, citing too many "moral compromises." "I cannot work in support of a set of major policy decisions, including rushing more arms to one side of the conflict, that I believe to be shortsighted, destructive, unjust, and contradictory to the very values that we publicly espouse," Paul wrote. When you have literal arms dealers resigning over moral qualms, then perhaps a re-evaluation of foreign policy decisions is in order.

GameStop employee fatally shot a fleeing shoplifter stealing Pokemon cards
Only in America will the worker at a freaking GAMESTOP feel like he has the moral obligation to kill another human being over the pettiest of minor property crimes. The vigilantism problem in the United States stems directly from its obsession with firearms — and the pernicious idea that property is more important than human life.

RFK Jr. is going to be a huge problem for Trump, new poll shows
Sure, we're 13 months out from the 2024 general election, and any single poll should be taken with a proverbial grain of salt, but news that Kennedy, a virulent anti-vaxxer, conspiracy theorist, and QAnon flirt, will cut into the anti-vaxx, conspiracy-theory-loving base of Mr. MAGA himself should a) come as no surprise and b) raise all sorts of alarm bells in Trumpland.