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GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson feebly urges calm after Republican discloses mysterious "national security threat"
House Speaker and man clearly not in charge of his house Mike Johnson issued a prepared statement aimed at reassuring Americans about a supposed national security threat leaked by his own chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Turner, yesterday. Amid growing speculation and concern about the unnamed threat, Johnson hastily arranged a press gaggle in the Capitol to announce that he and other Hill leaders would meet with President Biden at the White House on Thursday to discuss the matter. Yet another GOP House clown, Rep. Andy Biggs, called Turner's move a stunt to convince lawmakers to support the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which gives intelligence agencies broad powers to spy on foreigners without a warrant. Republican infighting is nothing new in Johnson's remarkably dysfunctional caucus, but they appear to have notably raised the stakes playing games with — why not — national security in full public view.

Take Action: Reject Matt Gaetz’s bill to exonerate Trump!

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Supreme Court spells disaster for Trump with speedy move
The Supreme Court just lit a very short fuse in a very bad sign for the serially indicted ex-president and his attempt to derail his federal trial for attempting to overthrow the US government following the 2020 election.

Take Action: Kick insurrectionists off the ballot!

Winning an open Arizona seat will take back the House
Yassamin Ansari for Congress: Winning in Arizona means we get our majority back — and losing means that some of the most unhinged election-denying, democracy-hating Trumpers in the country will be headed to Washington. Yassamin Ansari is a fantastic candidate running for Congress in a crucial Arizona seat to make sure we deliver President Biden a new majority for his second term! Can you chip in to help keep Trump's most radical minions out of office?

Donald Trump stands by remarks about not defending NATO members after widespread backlash
True to misshapen autocratic form, the disgraced ex-president and undisputed leader of the Republican Party doubled down on earlier proclamations that he'd let Russia "do whatever the hell they want" on the geopolitical world stage, telling pep rally goers in plain terms that, should he some weasel his way back into the White House, he would NOT defend NATO allies against Russian aggression if they hadn't met specific defense spending targets. Not that anyone here needs a history lesson, but the ENTIRE premise of NATO — an international alliance of 31 member states first established after World War II — is the treaty-bound guarantee that independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties. It's a rather simple "all for one and one for all" international security system that has worked remarkably well over the past 80 years, and the serially indicted, seditious grifter is signaling in plain terms his intentions to abandon the alliance in deference to none other than Vladimir Putin.

Take Action: End child poverty in America by expanding the Child Tax Credit!

Donald Trump set to appear at hearing in porn star hush money case today
Another day, another courtroom, another circus, same clown. The 77-year-old con man and undisputed head of the GOP is facing 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in an alleged effort to conceal payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. Through his notorious, one-time fixer Michael Cohen, Trump attempted to silence Daniels — with whom he had an affair months after his third and current wife Melania gave birth to his fifth child — to the tune of $130,000, but the pair did a predictably sloppy job and left a cartoonishly incriminating paper trail. Trump's lawyers will undoubtedly try again to dismiss or delay the trial until after the election, but New York State Judge Juan Merchan has made no indication he is receptive to any such stalling tactics.

House panel obtains texts allegedly showing Matt Gaetz setting up 2017 Florida Keys trip with woman his sex-trafficking friend paid for sex
Congressional House Ethics investigators have obtained text messages allegedly showing that a few months after first joining Congress, Florida Rep. and ipecac syrup stand-in Matt Gaetz asked a young woman, who at the time had received payments for sex from Gaetz's then-close friend and now-convicted sex-trafficker Joel Greenberg, to join him and others on a three-day trip to the Florida Keys in May 2017. "Hey — any interest in flying on a private plane to the keys May 19-21?" Gaetz allegedly wrote, adding that the trip would feature "2 guys, 4 girls. A very high-quality adventurous group." The messages, if accurate, mark the first known example of alleged direct private communication between Gaetz and a woman who Greenberg told investigators he had been paying to have sex with other men. Apologies if you just threw up a little in your mouth.

Take Action: Demand Big Chocolate stop using child labor!

US probes Israel for refugee camp strike, using white phosphorus weapons...given to IDF by US military
The United States is investigating Israel for potentially misusing weapons — provided by the United States — in its indiscriminate bombing of civilians, and its suspected use of white phosphorus in Lebanon — again, provided by the United States. Investigators suspect that Israel used a 2,000-pound bomb that could have come from American stockpile to attack the Jabalia refugee camp in October. The strike, which killed more than 125 civilians could be a war crime, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office. The US is also investigating several reports that Israel excessively used white phosphorus in Lebanon, which could also be a war crime. Lebanon’s Environment Minister Nasser Yassin said that soil samples taken from the south of Lebanon contained an abnormally high level of white phosphorus. Despite the fact that the US provided Israel with the chemical weapon, a US official said Israel has been strongly cautioned against using it. As this probe was launched, the Biden administration continued to assert that it was not investigating the possibility of war crimes committed by Israel in their brutal military campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 70,000 more.

Republicans lose their minds over prosecutor's announcement
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: There it is... (Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

Gunfire at Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration kills 1 and wounds nearly two-dozen, including children
A historic railway station on the edge of downtown Kansas City became the latest backdrop for a mass shooting as gunfire near the end of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration sent terrified fans scrambling for cover and left 21 people wounded — including at least nine children — and a mother of two dead. The shooting outside Union Station happened despite the presence of more than 800 police officers who were in the building and nearby, including on top of nearby structures, said Mayor Quinton Lucas, who attended with his wife and mother and ran for safety when the shots rang out. "Parades, rallies, schools, movies. It seems like almost nothing is safe," Lucas said. Uh, it seems like almost nothing is safe because, in fact, nothing is safe. Until criminally negligent Republican lawmakers come to their senses — or better yet, lose in droves at the ballot box — America's gun violence epidemic will continue destroying lives and wreaking havoc on communities large and small. Thoughts and prayers mean nothing. It's the guns, it's the guns, it's the guns.

Ex-Philadelphia police inspector acquitted of assaulting student protester despite video showing him beating the student with a baton
Welcome to the American dystopia, where a cop named Joey Bologna was let off the hook for assaulting 21-year-old Evan Gorski despite video evidence clearly showing him beating the Temple University student with his baton during the 2020 George Floyd protests. The jury found that under the law, the use of force was justified simply because Gorski appeared to resist arrest. As if this wasn't already an appalling miscarriage of justice, the police had originally attempted to charge Gorski with assaulting a police officer until video evidence made it clear that they were lying. If anyone is wondering why police brutality continues to be a serious problem in America, it's because the cops can brutalize people, lie about it, and then face zero consequences.