HP Lovecraft on Republicans…
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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee Weighs in on Christa Pike’s Fate After She Survived Botched Lethal Injections
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said on Thursday that Christa Pike’s death sentence is likely to remain in place after she survived a completed lethal injection attempt.
The decision will ultimately be made by the courts, not the governor, unless he chooses to commute her sentence.
“As it related to a particular individual like Christa Pike and her crime, she’s still incarcerated under the laws of the state of Tennessee,” Lee said, according to a report from the New York Post. “I suspect her sentence will be the same as before unless determined otherwise by the courts.”
The comment strongly implies that a commutation is out of the question.
Pike, 50, was scheduled for execution on September 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution for the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville.
If the attempt had been successful, Pike would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
Execution team members spent nearly an hour and used roughly 10 needles trying to establish IV lines after earlier warnings that Pike had difficult vein access.
Ultimately, Pike received two doses of pentobarbital, remained conscious enough to complain of arm pain, snored audibly, and was later transported to a hospital unconscious and on a ventilator.
Texas Republican Cites Little-Known Rule That Could Stop DSA Radicals From Being Sworn Into Congress
Texas Republican Rep. Keith Self believes he knows a way to keep DSA radicals from being sworn in to Congress, if they win their races. He should reach out to Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, who is also looking into this.
Rep. Self believes these candidates cannot swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution because their own platform describes their desire to destroy it.
How can they swear to protect something that they want to destroy?
FOX News reports:
Little-known rule could stop socialists from being sworn into Congress
A little-known congressional maneuver could block members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) from being sworn in as members of the House of Representatives next year, even if they win their elections on Tuesday.
Members-elect must swear an oath to uphold the Constitution before they can become full members of the House. At the beginning of a new Congress, that oath is typically taken en masse by all 435 members, led by the House speaker.
But an argument circulating in conservative circles posits that any member-elect can challenge another member-elect’s right to be sworn in, provided they have compiled evidence that that person would not uphold their oath. That would then lead to House-wide deliberations followed by a vote on whether that member-elect has a right to be sworn in.
In the case of DSA members, one potential argument could be the group’s platform calling to scrap the current U.S. Constitution and draft a new one. Several DSA members and self-proclaimed democratic socialists have already won primaries across the country.
Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, suggested to Fox News Digital that he could invoke the maneuver.
“You cannot swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution while actively working to destroy it. The oath of office is not just words you say at a ceremony. It is a belief. It is an oath to our country and our fellow countrymen,” Self told Fox News Digital.
House Republicans Subpoena New Jersey Over 6,600 Noncitizen Voter Registrations
House Republicans have subpoenaed New Jersey’s top election official, demanding to know how roughly 6,600 noncitizens ended up registered to vote. According to a House Judiciary Committee press release published last Wednesday, four Republican committee leaders subpoenaed Acting Secretary of State Shirley Emehelu after her department failed to turn over adequate records.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, led the effort alongside House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil of Wisconsin. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.), who chairs the Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, and Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.), who heads the Administration Subcommittee on Elections, also signed on.
The investigation centers on New Jersey’s registration of about 6,600 noncitizens to vote between June 2023 and June 2024. The Committees argue these improper registrations raise serious questions about whether New Jersey follows federal law requiring accurate voter rolls. They also contend that the state’s failure to find and remove noncitizens threatens the civil liberties of American voters and weakens their ability to choose their representatives.
The lawmakers first requested documents on August 3, 2026, seeking information about the Department of State’s compliance with federal voting laws. The Department has since produced only 12 documents. None of them explain how officials discovered the alleged software error that registered the noncitizens or why those registrants stayed on the rolls until 2026. The Committees had specifically asked about both issues, and those 2 questions sit at the heart of the inquiry.
The Committees say the records offered no real insight into how the problem came to light or why New Jersey waited until 2026 to begin fixing it. Lawmakers made clear they tried to cooperate with state officials before resorting to compulsory process. They note they spent 79 days trying to accommodate the Department, yet its response still falls short. That failure, they argue, has hampered their oversight work and stalled their consideration of legislative reforms.
The subpoena marks a sharp escalation in a dispute that began as a routine oversight request. Emehelu now faces a legal demand to hand over the records lawmakers have sought since August. Readers can review the full subpoena cover letter sent to the Acting Secretary of State.
“I Am F**king Getting You!” Unhinged Mayor Lunges At Resident During Chaotic Meeting
A New Jersey mayor erupted in a profanity-laced tirade during a chaotic public meeting Wednesday night, charging toward a resident and threatening him before several people rushed to restrain the furious politician.
Pemberton Township Mayor Matthew Bianchini, a Republican, was caught on camera lunging toward Michael Sawka, a frequent critic of his policies, as an already contentious council meeting descended into pandemonium.
“I’m fucking getting you,” Bianchini shouted as others scrambled to prevent a physical confrontation.
The wild incident unfolded while recently fired township official Ken Gerber, a retired police chief, was addressing council members about his dismissal, which supporters have characterized as politically motivated.
Video captured Sawka gesturing toward the back of the room before making an obscene gesture toward the mayor. Bianchini suddenly sprang from his seat and rushed toward him.
Councilman Perry Doyle Jr., a retired police officer, helped restrain the mayor before escorting him away. Police subsequently arrived to restore order.
In an interview with WPVI-TV afterward, Bianchini conceded to losing control.
“I just basically snapped,” the mayor admitted. “I hate to put it this way, but it’s a long time coming.”
“Was it wrong? Absolutely. Was it justified? Absolutely. And I would do it again if I had to,” he added.
Sawka disputed the mayor’s account, insisting he never left his seat, Fox News reports.
“I’m just sitting there. I never got up. I sat there the whole time. I was calm the whole time,” Sawka said.
Sawka has filed a municipal court complaint seeking assault and terroristic threats charges against Bianchini. Police have not announced any charges against the mayor.
Mike Rogers’s Wife Raked in Lucrative Government Security Contracts While Rogers Served as Intel Chair
Mike Rogers and his second wife, Kristi, saw their wealth rise substantially after Rogers was elevated to chair of the House Intelligence Committee in 2011 and lucrative government contracts poured her way, a review of financial disclosures finds.
Rogers was first elected to Congress in 2000, in time to be a major backer of the Iraq war. With a background at the FBI, Rogers was encouraged by Speaker Dennis Hastert to get involved in foreign policy and national security matters. According to the Rogers Archive at Oakland University, he made seven trips to Iraq between 2001 and 2005 as a member of Congress. In 2005, he was appointed to the House Intelligence Committee. (Drop Site could not independently verify the number of trips, but taking seven trips to Iraq in the space of four years would be highly unusual for a member of Congress—and trips in 2001 or 2002, before the invasion, are unlikely.)
Kristi Clemens was a top press aide to L. Paul Bremer, who oversaw the U.S. occupation of Iraq as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority. Clemens turned heads in DC in 2006, when, following her role in Iraq, she successfully pitched the major British security contractor Aegis Defence Services to launch an American offshoot. Within three years, she rose to CEO and president. Rogers divorced his wife of 17 years in 2007 and married Clemens in 2010. By 2011, when Mike Rogers assumed his chairmanship, she was vice chair of Aegis LLC US.
After his divorce, according to Rogers’s financial disclosures, the congressman had few assets to his name and little wealth. That would soon change.
The Rogers family added at least hundreds of thousands of dollars to their net worth as Rogers was elevated to chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) and Kristi Rogers’s private military security company received increasingly large contracts from the U.S. government, according to Rogers’s financial disclosures. The couple added millions more after Rogers left the House and began working in the industry he had spent years overseeing.
While Rogers is not required to disclose his spouse’s income, their reported “Unearned Income,” including multiple investment funds, dividends, and interest income, soared over those years. They also acquired two mortgages in Maryland and Virginia—neither principal residences.
GOP Spending Swells US Deficit to Nearly $2 Trillion for 2026
The Treasury Department released its monthly statement on Friday and has now confirmed what we all suspected: the US federal government, under the Trump Administration, will finish the 2026 fiscal year with an annual fiscal deficit of about $2 trillion.
To be precise, the federal deficit for the 2026 fiscal year, which ended on September 30, is $1.99 trillion. That’s the third largest deficit ever recorded. From fiscal year 2025 to 2026, the deficit grew by 12 percent and that’s the largest growth rate since 2023. Last year, the federal deficit was $1.84 trillion, which was slightly smaller than the 2024 deficit of $1.95 trillion.
Even when adjusted for CPI inflation, however, 2026’s deficit remains the third largest ever, even including the Second World War, when the deficit in 2026 dollars reached an eye-watering $1 trillion.That was considered an off-the-charts deficit at the time. Today, World-War-Two style spending looks quaint compared to Covid-era spending and the past two years of Trump deficits.
“Democrats for Mike Rogers” PAC Is Funded by Republicans, Records Show
Democrats for Mike Rogers, a group that has spent millions of dollars to defeat Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, has received funds from Republican-aligned organizations, campaign finance records show.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, made public on October 16, revealed that TFM, a super PAC that has been running commercials against El-Sayed under the “Democrats for Mike Rogers” name, was funded by two other PACs that back Republican candidates.
GLCF, a pro-Rogers group, gave TFM $50,000, while American Unity PAC, whose stated mission is to promote “Republicans who support LGBT freedom,” transferred $25,000 to the Michigan group.
Other donors include three individuals in Tennessee and one Michigan resident.
The name and place of residence of the Michigan donor — Michael Sandler, of West Bloomfield — matches those of a doctor who was appointed to the Central Michigan University board of trustees in 2017 by then-Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican.
House GOP crafts nuclear option for sanctuary cities, letting victims sue local officials
ouse Republicans are pushing ahead with sweeping legislation to obliterate sanctuary cities, setting up a post-election vote that would empower victims of illegal immigrants’ crimes to sue the local officials who released them from custody.
The Shut Down Sanctuary Policies Act passed through the House Judiciary Committee with little fanfare last month, creating a path for GOP lawmakers to impose the toughest crackdown yet on states and cities that refuse to turn over illegal immigrants under federal detainers or outright release migrants in their custody.
The bill’s most poignant weapon creates a right of private action for victims and families of victims to sue the municipalities and officials who released violent offenders, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Just the News.
“We got a good deal that we worked long and hard on”: Jordan
The provision would strip some of the civil immunity that state and local officials enjoy. Currently, in some jurisdictions, those officials enjoy “absolute immunity,” which is the broadest form of the doctrine.
“It allows people who’ve been harmed, where local political leaders tell the local law enforcement they can’t work with federal law enforcement, detainers aren’t honored … to go take that city, take that state to court, and say, ‘look, this was ridiculous. What happened and was so wrong, so tragic,'” Jordan explained.
“So we got a good deal that we worked long and hard on. We just got to try to get it passed in the lame duck [period],” he added.
In addition to the lawsuit provision, the bill also:
- Reasserts federal supremacy over state and local laws that restrict cooperation with immigration enforcement with the Department of Homeland Security.
- Requires state and local authorities to honor DHS detainers for illegal immigrants arrested for criminal or motor vehicle offenses who are subject to deportation.
- Withholds some federal funding from sanctuary states and municipalities who don’t comply and reallocate the monies to compliant jurisdictions.
Illegal immigrant involvement in felonies said to be still growing
The push by Jordan and his allies comes as it’s claimed that the number of cases of released aliens causing harm or death continues to grow. The data is conflicting, but individual cases putting a human face on the issue raises public interest.
Just last month, Homeland Security decried a case where an illegal immigrant from India who was released during the Biden years stalked and killed a woman in California.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed last month that Rohit Rohit, the man accused of stalking 38-year-old Shalini Thakur for months before executing her in a Panera Bread parking lot in Sacramento, was in the country illegally.
“Sanctuary politicians must put an end to reckless policies that play Russian roulette with American lives,” the DHS said.
The Right-Wing Ukraine Divide Returns
President Donald Trump reignited a fierce debate within the American right on October 10, when he made some aggressive remarks about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Zelensky could’ve settled this war many times,” Trump said. “He chooses not to. Very difficult.”
Trump went on, “We said you can do whatever you want to Russia, don’t hit the refineries, because that’s a world problem that it’s caused… and what does he do? He goes and hits the diesel fuel.”
“He better damn well stop,” Trump continued. “I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal.”
Trump’s colorful statements come in the aftermath of an oil deal he announced with Russia, in which he says Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to distribute “300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel” to the American and global markets. As the midterm elections quickly approach, Trump is making a last-ditch effort to bring down the price of gasoline and diesel here in America – an issue which has caused serious concern among voters.
The move was a brief and sudden departure from the foreign policy that has defined Trump 2.0 up to this point, which has been one that combines Bush-like hubris with a lustful attraction to militarism. Trump even seemed to have been growing fond of Zelensky, whom he had lambasted in February 2025 – saying the Ukrainian president was “gambling with World War Three.”
In response to the deal, the Russia-Ukraine war’s top boosters came out of the shadows to denounce the move as a betrayal of Ukraine. Former Vice President Mike Pence was among the pro-war figures to speak out, saying on Twitter/X that “President Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on Russian fuel amidst Putin’s ongoing and brutal attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine makes no sense and is a betrayal of the legacy and leadership of the late Senator Lindsey Graham.”
Lindsey Graham?
Graham, who died this past summer, was one of the biggest pro-Ukraine zealots in Washington. He was working up until his final hours to pursue the interests of Ukraine in the U.S. Senate. A fierce advocate for increased American support for Zelensky’s war effort, Graham also drafted legislation to sanction Russia – a bill which was passed over the summer in his memory. He often acted as Zelensky’s voice in Trump’s ear.
To say that American foreign policy should prioritize the defense of Graham’s legacy – a man who “never saw a war that he didn’t like,” in Trump’s words – is foolish at best, and dangerous at worst. The good news is that Pence isn’t in a position to enact such policy goals. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t people close to Trump, or media figures from whom Trump seeks approval, who share Pence’s perspective.
Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade is one such figure. Kilmeade has always held the line on supporting America’s foreign adventures, no matter how reckless or needless they may be. The proxy war in Ukraine is no different. After the news broke regarding the Russian oil deal, a debate ignited on Sunday’s edition of “Fox & Friends Weekend” between Kilmeade and Rachel Campos-Duffy, wife of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Campos-Duffy gave the administration’s pitch to the Fox audience, attempting to convince Kilmeade.
“[Zelensky] keeps blowing up these refineries after the President [Trump] said ‘please don’t do that,’ especially before the midterms,” Campos-Duffy said. “It’s hurting President Trump and the administration who’s been very generous towards him and his war efforts.”
Kilmeade responded, saying “The President got ticked off because Zelensky came out and said do not buy 500 million tons of diesel, which is in violation, I thought, of the bill that they just signed, Lindsey Graham’s bill. If you buy any energy from Russia, you’re going to get sanctioned and tariffed. Are we going to tariff ourselves?”
He went on, “Zelensky’s frustrated because now all this money is going to flow into Russia, who started this whole war unprovoked, their the bad guys… there’s no plausible, practical peace effort that Vladimir Putin would participate in effectively that would end this war. There’s one person who is responsible. Vladimir Putin. That is it.”
“It would be the biggest mistake of his administration to work with Russia,” Kilmeade added.
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