#ne-02

Steve "Halfwit" Witkoff gave instruction to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on how to get a favorable response out of Trump regarding the Witkoff-Putin appeasement plan.

Witkoff is working for Russia – not the United States.

A few days after Trump said that members of Congress should be "executed" for telling members of the armed forces to follow the law, we discover that Halfwit Witkoff is acting like a traitor. Members of both chambers of Congress from both parties are calling for Witkoff's removal.

A handful of US representatives have reacted furiously to a leaked recording in which the special envoy to Ukraine reportedly coached Moscow on how to handle Donald Trump, but most have so far remained mute on the revelation that American officials were advising a US adversary. Don Bacon, a Republican representative, called for Steve Witkoff’s immediate dismissal. “For those who oppose the Russian invasion and want to see Ukraine prevail as a sovereign & democratic country, it is clear that Witkoff fully favors the Russians,” the Nebraska lawmaker wrote on X. “He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations. Would a Russian paid agent do less than he? He should be fired.” Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican wrote that the leak represented “a major problem” and “one of the many reasons why these ridiculous side shows and secret meetings need to stop”. He urged that the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, be allowed to “do his job in a fair and objective manner”. Democratic representative Ted Lieu went further, calling Witkoff an “actual traitor,” and adding: “Steve Witkoff is supposed to work for the United States, not Russia.” In a recording obtained by Bloomberg of a 14 October phone call between Witkoff and Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Witkoff said peace would require Moscow gaining control of Donetsk and potentially additional Ukrainian territory.

(Because Tumblr's search function is still ass.)

1: It's Alive!

2: Monster Warehouse

3: Test Mission

4: Gifts

5: Until September

6: Requisition

7: Deployment

8: Wading Through Disaster

9: Wild Hunt

10: Instructions Unclear

11: No Signal

12: New Friends

13: A Sense of Security

Upcoming parts will be updated onto this list when they're posted up!

Взаимное уважение (Vzaimnoye Uvazheniye) 1

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE-02) is part of a severely endangered political species - the Moderate Republicans.

Rep. Bacon represents a district known as The Blue Dot because it tends to vote for Democrats in presidential elections. In US House elections, NE-02 can potentially go either way. In 2024 Bacon won by a narrow 1.85%. With Bacon's likely retirement, this looks like a golden pickup opportunity for Dems in the midterms.

Bacon, 61, had hinted back in March that he was considering retirement, saying in a statement released by his campaign that whether to run for a sixth term was a “family decision” that would be made during the summer. He has been one of the few Republicans in Congress willing to criticize President Donald Trump, going so far as to introduce a resolution in April in the House of Representatives that would have required Congressional approval for tariffs. The Air Force veteran also criticized the president’s strategy toward the Russia-Ukraine war, saying in a “60 Minutes” interview earlier this year that it appeared Trump was trying to “appease” Russian President Vladimir Putin. And he was the first House Republican to call for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to be fired after Hegseth shared plans for an airstrike on Yemen in a chat on the Signal messaging app and inadvertently included the editor of the Atlantic magazine on the message string. Bacon is considered a moderate Republican, which helped him to continue to win reelection in a Congressional District nicknamed the “blue dot” because its electoral vote has gone to the Democratic candidate in three of the past four presidential elections. But his elections have always been close, with Bacon never winning more than 51% of the vote.

If Bacon indeed doesn't run again, MAGA automatically loses any leverage over him for the remainder of his current term. You can't threaten to primary somebody who won't be in a primary again. d'oh!

Omaha Democrat John Ewing Jr. upset Republican incumbent Jean Stothert in the city's election for mayor on Tuesday.

Douglas County, Neb., Treasurer John Ewing Jr. (D) has ousted incumbent Republican Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert in the latest victory for Democrats during President Trump’s second term, Decision Desk HQ projects.  Ewing, who is also a former deputy chief of police for Omaha, will become the city’s first Black mayor. He denied Stothert a chance at an unprecedented fourth consecutive term in office in an election that was officially nonpartisan but featured a Democrat and a Republican facing off against each other.  The city hasn’t had a Democratic mayor since 2013, when then-incumbent Jim Suttle lost his reelection bid for a second term to Stothert, Omaha’s first female mayor, who has enjoyed comfortable electoral victories since then. Her closest race was in 2017, when she won by just less than 6 points.  But Democrats were hopeful about winning the race and electing Ewing. The city of Omaha and the wider 2nd Congressional District it is part of have been considered a “blue dot” where Democrats have found success in recent elections. 

The Blue Dot just got more blue. 🔵

This is the latest election since Trump's inauguration where Republicans were either defeated or suffered significant dropoffs in support.

Democrats notched a major victory in a Wisconsin state Supreme Court race last month in which the liberal candidate comfortably defeated her conservative opponent. Democratic candidates in two strongly Republican-leaning House districts in Florida that same night fell short of winning but made both of their races much closer than would normally be expected.  And the party picked up low-key but still major upset wins in a state Senate district in Iowa in January and a state Senate district in Pennsylvania in March. 

At the New York Times, Mitch Smith provides some background on the area.

Nebraska is dominated by Republicans, but Omaha is politically mixed, with more registered Democrats than Republicans. The city is home to several major businesses, including Union Pacific Railroad and Berkshire Hathaway, and is geographically quite large, with many suburban-feeling subdivisions inside city limits. Among the 40 most populous American cities, Omaha is one of only six with a Republican mayor, according to Ballotpedia. The Omaha area is represented in Congress by a moderate Republican, Representative Don Bacon, who has survived several Democratic attempts to unseat him, including last November by just under 2 points. In that same election, Kamala Harris won the electoral vote in Mr. Bacon’s district by just under 5 points. That congressional district includes suburban and rural areas in addition to Omaha.

Nebraska is unlikely to turn blue outside of the Blue Dot. But a slight but discernible shift seems to be gradually taking place there.

Here's a clip of Mayor-elect Ewing from last night's news coverage.

Since Republicans need a Speaker and wish to keep Hunter Biden in the news, they should just make him Speaker. 💡

The only problem is that Marjorie Taylor Greene might keep hoping for dick pics from him.

Over the weekend House Republicans are taking a break from their ongoing fiasco. At least a couple of them are fully aware that the House GOP caucus looks like "a bunch of idiots".

Are you really committed to getting rid of Trump?

Move to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, or Arizona in time to register and vote in the November 2020 election. Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional district also works to a lesser degree. Of the orange (leaning Republican) states on the map above, North Carolina is the best bet to become a toss-up. 

Signing petitions for impeachment, outrage tweeting, and attending demonstrations may be satisfying -- but the only certain way to send Trump from the White House to the Big House is through the ballot box.

Moving is not an option for most people. But if you’re graduating from college in 2020, send some resumés to potential employers in states where your vote will have a greater impact. And if you’re a high school senior, take a serious look at colleges in such states.

It’s not enough simply to vote, it’s necessary to vote smart.

Pacific Northwesterners may be accustomed to mentally picturing Nebraska as a giant cornfield between Kansas, Iowa and Wyoming — a state in the very middle of the country that has little in common politically with the Left Coast, with a ruby red electorate not unlike that of other midwestern states such as the Dakotas or Oklahoma. While Nebraska does indeed typically vote for Republican…