Fri - Congressman, Those Aren't Little People Inside Your TV

--------------
Today's Worst Joke in the World

I used to suffer from soap addiction, but I got clean.
--------------
--------------
Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees

Democrats Must Be Insisting the Bill Actually Do Something.

The lead Republican negotiator for what would be the US Senate's first gun control bill in a generation has walked out of talks with Democrats.

Texas Senator John Cornyn has played a key role in drafting the framework of a proposed firearms bill following mass shootings in Texas and New York.

Leaving Washington, he said: "I'm through talking."

After Investing in Dogecoin, He Still Has Enough Money to Hire a Lawyer.

Elon Musk was sued for $258bn on Thursday by a Dogecoin investor who accused him of running a pyramid scheme to support the cryptocurrency.

In a complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, plaintiff Keith Johnson accused Musk, electric car company Tesla Inc and space tourism company SpaceX of racketeering for touting Dogecoin and driving up its price, only to then let the price tumble.

Maybe They Should Sue LinkedIn.  Or Maybe They Should Just Avoid Crypto

Fraudsters who exploit LinkedIn to lure users into cryptocurrency investment schemes pose a “significant threat” to the platform and consumers, according to Sean Ragan, the FBI’s special agent in charge of the San Francisco and Sacramento, California, field offices.

“It’s a significant threat,” Ragan said in an exclusive interview. “This type of fraudulent activity is significant, and there are many potential victims, and there are many past and current victims.”

The scheme works like this: A fraudster posing as a professional creates a fake profile and reaches out to a LinkedIn user. The scammer starts with small talk over LinkedIn messaging, and eventually offers to help the victim make money through a crypto investment. Victims interviewed by CNBC say since LinkedIn is a trusted platform for business networking, they tend to believe the investments are legitimate.

Typically, the fraudster directs the user to a legitimate investment platform for crypto, but after gaining their trust over several months, tells them to move the investment to a site controlled by the fraudster. The funds are then drained from the account.

Don't Worry the Taliban are on the Case

An explosion at a mosque in Afghanistan’s northern Kunduz province has killed at least one worshipper and wounded seven others, a Taliban official said.

Dozens of people had gathered inside the mosque in the district of Imam Sahib for Friday prayers when an explosive device detonated, said Obaidullah Abedi, the Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Kunduz police chief.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack and an investigation is under way.

Last month, a similar attack at a mosque in the capital, Kabul, killed at least five people and wounded 22. In April, a powerful explosion ripped through Khalifa Aga Gul Jan Mosque – also in Kabul – during Friday prayers, killing at least 10 people and wounding as many as 30.

Truth





How About Both?

Free Press poll: Kelley leading GOP gubernatorial field after arrest

Republican gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley’s recent arrest by the FBI for his suspected involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol appears to have boosted his name recognition and favorability among GOP voters in Michigan, new polling conducted in the days following his arrest indicates.

Kelley was arrested June 9. In a June 10-13 poll conducted for the Detroit Free Press and our outstate polling partners by EPIC-MRA of Lansing, 17% named Kelley as their preferred candidate for the August primary to determine which Republican candidate challenges Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in November.

Other Republicans vying for the party’s nomination garnered varying enthusiasm — 13% of respondents picked Kalamazoo-area chiropractor Garrett Soldano as their preferred candidate, 12% named Bloomfield Hills businessman Kevin Rinke, 5% touted Norton Shores businesswoman Tudor Dixon and 1% selected Farmington Hills pastor Ralph Rebandt.

What is Clarence Hiding?

The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 requires all federal judges to disclose their spouse's employer. ...

"Justice Thomas sits on the highest court of the land, is called upon daily to understand and interpret the most complicated legal issues of our day and makes decisions that affect millions," Common Cause president Bob Edgar said after viewing the amendment. "It is hard to see how he could have misunderstood the simple directions of a federal disclosure form. We find his excuse is implausible."

Thomas amended the reports today noting that his wife, Virginia Thomas, drew income from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank where she worked from 1998 to 2003. Thomas also noted that she worked at Hillsdale College for three months in 2008.

None of Thomas' forms, covering activities through Dec. 31, 2009, mention his wife's work at Liberty Central, a conservative political education group she co-founded in January 2009 in part to energize Tea Party activists.

"We also continue to be puzzled by omission of Liberty Central as Virginia Thomas's most recent employer," Edgar said.

Thomas had come under fire last year for an article posted on Liberty Central's website originally attributed to her that suggested the recently passed health care legislation was unconstitutional. Critics suggested that her comments compromised Justice Thomas' impartiality on an issue that will likely come before the Court in the future.

Congressman, Those Are Not Little People Inside Your TV.  They Are Images on a Screen.






He then deleted his tweet, ostensibly after he became aware that CNN was using a digital screen in a studio and not actually setting up shop in the National Statuary Hall, where Lincoln’s desk was once located and where rioters waving Trump flags paraded on Jan. 6.





Walmart Finally Figures It Out

Mike Lindell accused Walmart of canceling him after the retail giant removed MyPillow products from its shelves.

Lindell, the MyPillow founder and a loud supporter of Donald Trump who backs his election lies and got sued for it, said he told a Walmart executive: “You guys are just canceling us.” The far-right conspiracy theorist was told his pillows were no longer rated high enough, The Daily Beast reported on Thursday.

Lindell told the outlet the executive smirked at him, prompting the bedding mogul to slam his laptop shut and basically end the meeting. He blamed “cancel culture” for Walmart’s decision.

Lindell, who recently caused a stir in Wyoming by declaring that state’s 2020 results rigged despite a landslide victory for Trump there, told Steve Bannon in a livestream that Walmart’s exclusion will result in a ”$10 million hit” for his Minnesota-based bedding company, The Hill reported.

Walmart told The Hill that while it no longer stocks Lindell’s goods in brick-and-mortar stores, “MyPillow products continue to be available on Walmart.com.”  (So they will still sell you crappy merchandise online.)

Other retailers, including Bed Bath & Beyond, Wayfair and Kohl’s, quit selling MyPillow products in January 2021 following the Capitol riot.

The Suit Lives!

A Delaware judge on Thursday denied Newsmax’s motion to dismiss a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems alleging the network’s reporting about the voting software company following the 2020 election was false.

Judge Eric M. Davis of the Superior Court of Delaware ruled Dominion at this stage has a case for defamation and allowed the company’s suit to advance.

“The Complaint supports the reasonable inference that Newsmax either knew its statements about Dominion’s role in the election fraud were false or had a high degree of awareness that they were false,” Davis wrote in his decision.

The judge also said Newsmax continued pushing election fraud claims, even though the network “knew the allegations were probably false.”

“Newsmax possessed countervailing evidence of election fraud from the Department of Justice, election experts, and Dominion at the time it had been making its statements,” the judge wrote.
--------------
Today's Best Person in the World Nominees

He Should Listen to His Mother

Karen Amsden hoped that being arrested and accused of criminal conspiracy to riot would change her son’s heart. When he stood by his hateful views, she says she told him to get out of her house.

Jared Boyce was one of 31 men arrested in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on Saturday as they gathered near a Pride parade. Police said they believed all are affiliated with or part of the White nationalist Patriot Front group and were planning to “antagonize and cause disorder,” according to a court filing.

A Message From Beyond the Grave


--------------
Invasions Have Consequences

Day 114

Fighting

Russian-backed separatists in Luhansk said they were ready to open a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from a chemical plant in Severodonetsk if Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire. Ukraine said Russia’s proposal for peace talks was an “attempt to deceive the world”.

Ukrainian officials said their troops were still holding out against massive Russian bombardment in the eastern city of Severodonetsk.

An air raid hit a building sheltering civilians in Ukraine’s embattled eastern city of Lysychansk, killing at least three people, according to the regional governor.

At least 1,348 people have been killed in Mariupol since the beginning of the war, making it the “deadliest place in Ukraine”, United Nations’ top human rights official Michelle Bachelet said, adding the death toll was likely “thousands higher”.

The intensity and extent of the death and destruction in Mariupol suggested that “serious violations” of international humanitarian law and “gross violations” of international human rights law occurred during the battle for the city, Bachelet said.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s invasion amounted to aggression against all of Europe and that the more weapons Ukraine received from the West, the faster it would be able to liberate its occupied land.

The United States said it had not asked Russia about two US citizens reported missing after travelling to Ukraine to fight against Russian forces and said there were reports of a third missing American.

Diplomacy

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis have backed Ukraine’s bid for European Union candidate status on their first trip to Kyiv since the war started.

The EU executive is expected to propose on Friday that Ukraine become a formal candidate for membership.

The United Kingdom will welcome representatives from Ukraine and business leaders on Friday to discuss how British companies can help rebuild infrastructure in Kyiv.

The Dutch intelligence service said it uncovered a Russian military agent attempting to use a false identity to infiltrate the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is investigating accusations of war crimes in Ukraine.

Russia said it had banned 121 Australian citizens from entering.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would attend a NATO meeting in Madrid at the end of the month.

Economy

Russia’s economy faces pressure from abroad that could persist “for a long time indeed, if not forever”, the head of the Russian Central Bank warned.

US satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies obtained pictures of a Russian-flagged ship carrying Ukraine’s stolen grain to Syria over the last couple of months. Moscow’s representative to Syria said these reports were fake, state news agency RIA reported.

Ships loaded with grain and metals will leave the port of Mariupol soon, with shipments potentially headed to the Middle East, a pro-Russian separatist leader told the Interfax news agency.

Russia said it would speed up talks about increased gas sales to China and warned that Europe would pay a hefty price for its oil embargo against Russia.

Europe’s energy security is not at immediate risk as a result of Russia reducing gas supplies to more European countries, a European Commission spokesperson said.

Popasna

Some of the fiercest fighting in the war is around the Popasna pocket where Russia is trying to advance in 14 directions.





Just imagine if Russia could manage a massed combined arms operations, focusing all that firepower in a single direction, punching through Russian defensive lines, and wreaking havoc in Ukraine’s rear? The reason defenses are holding as well as they are is because Russia is strung out so thinly. It’s been the story of this entire war.

Kherson





Presidential advisor Oleskyy Arestovych said Ukraine’s goal in Kherson was merely to threaten Kherson and Crimea’s water supply at Nova Kakhovka to draw Russian reinforcements away from Donbas. Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense insists it can’t make a serious bid for Kherson until Western gear arrives and is fielded. September is bandied about as the target date. And yet this supposedly limited counteroffensive continues to creep ever closer to Kherson. Some sources claim Ukraine is 10 kms away.

We’ll know Ukraine is making a serious push if they make a bid for the airport just northwest of Kherson city. Until then, I’d expect Ukraine is more interested in taking Snihurivka to cut the main supply line to Russian troops to the north, in the direction of Kryvyi Rih. Just expect the flat, open terrain to hinder the massive offensive and Kherson liberation we are all yearning for.

He's Ignoring the Dog









--------------
First Indoor Events.  Now Outdoor Events

Outdoor public events have been banned in an area of France as a record breaking heatwave sweeps across Europe.

Concerts and large public gatherings have been called off in the Gironde department around Bordeaux.

On Thursday, parts of France hit 40C (104F) earlier in the year than ever before, with temperatures expected to peak on Saturday.

Scientists say periods of intense heat are becoming more frequent and longer lasting as a result of global warming.
--------------
It's All About the Base

Nepal is preparing to move its Everest base camp because global warming and human activity are making it unsafe.

The camp, used by up to 1,500 people in the spring climbing season, is situated on the rapidly thinning Khumbu glacier.

A new site is to be found at a lower altitude, where there is no year-round ice, an official told the BBC.

Researchers say melt-water destabilises the glacier, and climbers say crevasses are increasingly appearing at base camp while they sleep.

"We are now preparing for the relocation and we will soon begin consultation with all stakeholders," Taranath Adhikari, director general of Nepal's tourism department, told the BBC.

"It is basically about adapting to the changes we are seeing at the base camp and it has become essential for the sustainability of the mountaineering business itself."

The camp currently sits at an altitude of 5,364m. The new one will be 200m to 400m lower, Mr Adhikari said.
--------------
Shed a Tear for the Little Blue Penguins

Little blue penguins — a flightless bird native to New Zealand and the world’s smallest penguin species — have been washing up dead on the country’s beaches, in what experts say are more frequent mass die-offs amid changing climate patterns.

Hundreds of lifeless birds have been found in northern New Zealand since early May, though the exact number is difficult to determine and reports are still coming in, said Graeme Taylor, principal science adviser at the New Zealand Department of Conservation.

The penguins, also known as korora, were tested for diseases and biotoxins, but appeared to have died from starvation, Taylor said.

“All the birds were at least half the normal weight, they had no fat on them at all and their muscle tissue had wasted away.”

It is not unusual for seabirds to die off in large numbers because of severe weather, conservationists say. But mass deaths among little blue penguins, which used to take place about once a decade, have now happened three times in six years, Taylor said.


--------------
Today's Mystery Headline.  WTF Does This Mean?

"Italian surgeon convicted for fatal Swedish transplants"
--------------
When Turkey (Or Whatever It's Called) Sends Its People, They’re Not Sending Their Best. They’re Bringing Drugs. They’re Bringing Crime. They’re Rapists. And Some, I Assume, are Good People

The number of undocumented immigrant crossings at the southwest border once again broke records in May, prompted in large part by surges in migration by nationalities that were previously rarely found at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to Customs and Border Protection data obtained by NBC News.

CBP stopped migrants at the southwest border of the U.S. more than 239,000 times in May, though this includes migrants who attempted to cross more than once. The number of individual migrants who attempted to cross the border was 157,555, still up by 2% over April’s previous record high.

The number of border crossers from India, Turkey, Russia, Haiti, Brazil, Colombia and Nicaragua increased in part because it is harder for border agents to subject some of those nationalities to the Covid-19 border restrictions known as Title 42 that let the U.S. quickly send migrants back to their home countries. India, Russia and the other home countries of these migrants are reluctant to accept the migrants back. As a result, the data shows that most are allowed into the U.S. to pursue their immigration claims.

Colombians, for example, accounted for nearly 20,000 border crossings in May, a sharp increase from the 821 Colombians who crossed in May 2021. Only 134 of the nearly 20,000 Colombians who crossed the border in May were subjected to Title 42.
--------------
If You Slept Through the Hearing

Eastman told Trump their plan was illegal, a Pence aide said.

Greg Jacob, who was Pence’s legal counsel at the time of the Capitol riot, told the committee Thursday that Eastman made it very clear to Trump that the plan they’d crafted to overturn the election was illegal.

Eastman knew the other legislative branches would dismantle their scheme.

In a December 2020 email the committee presented, Eastman acknowledged that his and Trump’s plan to use alternative electors in the certification would be “dead on arrival” if presented before Congress.

Jacob said Thursday that Eastman privately acknowledged to him that if Pence did what he was asking him to do and the matter went before the U.S. Supreme Court, they would “lose 9-0.” However, Jacob said Eastman didn’t think the matter would end up before the highest court.

Eastman reportedly shrugged off the possibility of inciting a riot.

The committee played testimony from Eric Herschmann, a lawyer and former senior adviser to Trump, who said Eastman cared little about the barbarity his plan could unleash.

“You’re going to cause riots in the streets,” Herschmann recalled telling Eastman, who allegedly replied: “There’s been violence in our history to protect the republic.”

Eastman asked for a pardon after the attack.

After all hell broke loose, Eastman sought a way out.

Despite Trump’s claims otherwise, Pence allegedly told him “many times” he disagreed with him.

Pence’s onetime chief of staff, Marc Short, told the committee that Pence informed the president “many times” that he didn’t have the power to overturn the election and that it would be illegal for him to try to do so.

That contradicts statements made by Trump, who said before the insurrection that he and Pence were in “total agreement that the Vice President has the power to act.” Pence has never indicated that to be true.

Weeks before the riot, Pence thought he didn’t have the power to overturn the vote, his aide said.

Jacob shared that in early December, he and Pence discussed whether the 12th Amendment gave him the power to overturn the election and that Pence’s first instinct was that it did not.

Trump snapped at Pence in the heat of their Jan. 6 disagreement, according to Ivanka Trump.

In video testimony from Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, who served as one of the president’s advisers, she said her father had a profanity-laden call with Pence as the events unfolded on Jan. 6

“The conversation was pretty heated. It was a different tone than I’d heard him take with the vice president before,” she recalled in the testimony aired Thursday, adding that he used “the p-word.” (Previous Guy seems obsessed with pussies.)

The mob got dangerously close to Pence.

Aguilar said that the committee’s investigation found that the crowd of rioters were within 40 feet of Pence inside the Capitol at one point.

The crowd surged when Trump tweeted his anger at Pence.

Aguilar also said they found evidence that the mob got more out of control when Trump tweeted mid-riot: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done,” referring to his refusal to throw out the election results.

“Our investigation found that immediately after the president’s 2:24 p.m. tweet, the crowds both outside the Capitol and inside the Capitol surged,” Aguilar said, adding that Pence then had to be moved to a secure location.

A Pence adviser said he believes Trump remains a threat to democracy.

Retired federal judge J. Michael Luttig, who served as a legal adviser to Pence before the Capitol riot, said at the hearing Thursday that he was still very worried about Trump’s influence, calling him, his allies and supporters “a clear and present danger to American democracy” because of their stated plans to overturn the 2024 presidential elections if Trump runs and loses again.

Here's Another Summary


--------------
Old, Sick, and Broke

More than 100 million people in the U.S. have been saddled with health care debt. That includes about 40% of all adults, according to an investigation from Kaiser Health News and NPR.

The debt can ripple through their lives for years and has major consequences. In partnership with Kaiser Health News, CBS News Consumer Investigative Correspondent Anna Werner spoke with a Chicago family whose medical debt continues to follow them.

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that one-fourth of American adults with health care debt owe more than $5,000 — and one in five of those who have any debt say they don't expect to ever pay it off.

The poll also said in the past five years, more than half of U.S. adults have gone into debt because of medical or dental bills, and one in seven people in debt say they've been denied access to a hospital, doctor or other provider because of unpaid bills.

About two-thirds of those surveyed said they have put off care they or a family member need because of the cost.

"Care just costs so much more in the United States than almost anywhere else in the world," said Dr. Aaron Carroll, the chief health officer for Indiana University.

When asked what is driving the medical bill crisis, he said, "I think it's a combination of the high price of health care in America, coupled with the fact that even with insurance, Americans still out of pocket have to pay a significant amount for health care."
--------------
Is Italy Part of California?

Authorities fear that if it doesn't rain soon, there'll be a serious shortage of water for drinking and irrigation for farmers and local populations across the whole of northern Italy.

The drying up of the Po, which runs 652 kilometers (405 miles) from the northwestern city of Turin to Venice, is jeopardizing drinking water in Italy's densely populated and highly industrialized districts and threatening irrigation in the most intensively farmed part of the country, known as the Italian food valley.

Northern Italy hasn’t seen rainfall for more than 110 days and this year's snowfall is down by 70%. Aquifers, which hold groundwater, are depleted. Temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above season average are melting the tiny snowfields and glaciers that were left on the top of the surrounding Alps, leaving the Po basin without its summer water reservoirs.


--------------
Would They Rather Be Where the Streets Have No Name?

A street in front of the Saudi embassy in Washington DC has been renamed after Jamal Khashoggi, whose murder by Saudi agents caused shock around the world.

The local government in the US capital said it had changed the name to Jamal Khashoggi Way to ensure the dissident's memory "cannot be covered up".


--------------
If Hunting Burmese Pythons is on Your Bucket List, Here's Your Chance.

Flanked by a huge writhing snake, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Thursday that the annual prize-winning hunt for invasive Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades will begin Aug. 5.

People must register to participate and complete an online training course for the event, which typically draws hundreds from across the country. Last year's “Python Challenge” involved more than 600 people from 25 states, DeSantis said at a news conference in the Everglades.



The snakes have virtually no natural enemies in the Everglades and have decimated native populations of mammals, birds and other reptiles.

The hunt begins Aug. 5 at 8 a.m. and ends Aug. 14 at 5 p.m. Prizes include $2,500 for the most pythons captured and $1,500 for the longest snake. Last year, the first-prize winner captured 223 pythons, while the $1,500 winner bagged a snake that was more than 15 feet (4.5 meters) long. Snakes must be killed humanely.
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------