Mon - Mayonnaise Doesn't Kill People. Guns Do.

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Today's Worst Joke in the World

Research shows 6 out of 7 dwarves aren't happy.
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees

Note to the QOP:  Sperm and Eggs Don't Know if the Sex is Consensual.

The old favorite Republican claim that hey, maybe it’s okay not to have rape exceptions in your abortion bans because people don’t really get pregnant from rape has resurfaced, this time in a competitive U.S. House race in Virginia.

Vega is a Prince William County supervisor and sheriff's deputy who beat out better-known candidates to win the nomination to take on Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger. Vega drew on her law enforcement background in arguing against rape exceptions, saying, “The left will say, 'Well what about in cases of rape or incest?' I'm a law enforcement officer. I became a police officer in 2011. I've worked one case where as a result of a rape, the young woman became pregnant.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Almost 3 million women in the U.S. experienced [rape-related pregnancy] during their lifetime.” But hey, Vega has only encountered one of them (that she knows of), so case closed.

Vega wasn’t done there. Someone at the May campaign event where Vega made her comments, audio of which were obtained by Axios, asked her, “I've actually heard that it's harder for a woman to get pregnant if she's been raped. Have you heard that?”

Vega thought it seemed plausible, answering, “Well, maybe because there's so much going on in the body. I don't know. I haven't, you know, seen any studies. But if I'm processing what you're saying, it wouldn't surprise me. Because it's not something that's happening organically. You're forcing it. The individual, the male, is doing it as quickly — it's not like, you know — and so I can see why there is truth to that. It's unfortunate.”

Liberal Brutality in Action. It Must Be Antifa.

Rudy Giuliani was viciously attacked Sunday at a ShopRite grocery store on Staten Island, he told The New York Post. It’s a wonder he made it out alive. “All of a sudden, I feel this ‘Bam!’ on my back,” Giuliani said. “I don’t know if they helped me not fall down, but I just about fell down, but I didn’t.” There was a “tremendous pain in my back,” Rudy told the Post.

So much pain, he told WABC talk radio, like “somebody shot me,” and, “Luckily, I’m a 78-year-old who is in pretty good shape. If I wasn’t, I would have hit the ground and probably cracked my skull.” He was so concerned about the possibility of other 78-year-olds being menaced in grocery stores that he was compelled to call the cops on the rogue grocery store worker who so brutally attacked him. “I mean, suppose I was a weaker 78-year-old and I hit the ground, cracked my skull, and died,” Giuliani recounted.

Thanks to the wonder of security cameras, you can see the brutal attack for yourself.



There is actual outrage here. The New York Police Department told Axios that the store employee who greeted the former mayor with a slap on the back and allegedly said, “What's up, scumbag,” was arrested and charged with second-degree assault. Thanks, NYPD.

So He Thinks Most Working Mothers Work for Goldman Sachs?



How Big Was the Big Scam?

Former President Donald Trump continued to fundraise after he lost the 2020 election, and poured some $1.3 million of political contributions into his own businesses, his latest federal filings showed.

How is This Scam Going?

Federal prosecutors are scrutinizing a billion-dollar merger between a blank-check company and former President Donald Trump's social media startup, the company revealed in a regulatory filing Monday.

A federal grand jury in New York last week issued subpoenas to Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special purpose acquisition company merging with Trump Media & Technology Group, as well members of Digital World's board of directors.

The grand jury in New York's Southern District is the latest federal investigation that could delay or complicate the merger between the company Trump chairs and Digital World, a special purpose acquisition company. The companies previously indicated they expected the merger to be complete this year, and would provide Trump Media with $1.25 billion in net proceeds, as well a stock market listing.

She Needs to Work on Her Similes





Mayonnaise Doesn't Kill People.  Guns Do.

A Subway sandwich customer allegedly shot two employees after he reportedly became angry over too much mayonnaise on his food, officials said.

One employee, a 26-year-old woman, was killed and the other, a 24-year-old woman, was injured in the Sunday evening shooting, Atlanta police said.

The 24-year-old is in critical condition, Atlanta Police Deputy Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said at a news conference Monday.

One of the owners of the Subway on Northside Dr. SW, Willie Glenn, told ABC News, "A customer came in and he wasn't happy with the way his sandwich was made -- there was too much mayonnaise on it."

Hampton said the customer then "decided to take out his anger on two of the employees" in a "senseless act" of gun violence.

The 24-year-old victim's 5-year-old child was in the Subway at the time of the shooting, Hampton noted.

Glenn, who was not there at the time of the shooting, said he's in shock.

He said he doesn't understand why the customer didn't ask the employees to "take some mayo off, or make another sandwich, or ask for a refund."

"I just never, ever, ever thought that any kind of situation would rise to that level," Glenn said. "We've always been able to deescalate any situation. But this one just went from zero to 100 in a matter of seconds."

He added, "Now we've got a young person who is probably going to spend the rest of his life in jail over a $7 sandwich and some mayonnaise."

A 36-year-old Atlanta man has been arrested, Hampton said. His name was not released.
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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees

He Might Want to Get British Citizenship First

Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has told fans at a concert that he intends to renounce his United States citizenship following the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade – a controversial move that eliminates the federal constitutional right to abortion nationwide.

During a performance as part of the band’s Hella Mega tour at the London Stadium in the UK on Friday, Armstrong expressed his frustration as he told the crowd: “F**k America. I’m f***king renouncing my citizenship. I’m f**king coming here.”

He went on to say there’s “too much f**king stupid in the world to go back to that miserable f**king excuse for a country,” before urging fans to be prepared, saying: “You’re going to get a lot more of me in the coming days.”

He Should Get the Doctor Vote

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, vowed over the weekend to grant clemency to anyone charged under the state’s 1849 law banning most abortions.

That law, enacted more than a century before Roe v. Wade, has remained on the books in the state and has technically retaken effect following the Supreme Court ruling on Friday overturning the landmark case.

Evers, Wisconsin Democratic attorney general Josh Kaul and several county district attorneys in the state have said they would refuse to enforce it, but it remains possible that other officials — such as other district attorneys and newly elected state lawmakers — could enforce it now or in the future. Evers and Kaul are both up for re-election this fall, and both are facing tough races.
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Invasions Have Consequences

Day 124

Fighting

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country needs a more modern air defence system after a series of deadly attacks on the capital, Kyiv, as well as the regions of Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Lviv.

More than 100 bodies have been found in a house in the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol, the mayor’s adviser, Piotr Andryushchenko, said.

The TASS news agency quoted a separatist official on Sunday as saying that Moscow’s forces had entered Lysychansk from five directions and were isolating Ukrainian defenders.

On Saturday, the twin city of Severodonetsk fell to pro-Russian forces.

Diplomacy

Leaders from the G7 held their first day of meetings, in which four nations backed a ban on Russian gold – although it is unclear whether there is a consensus yet.

Zelenskyy is set to join the summit of G7 leaders in southern Germany on Monday via video call.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will attend a round of talks with the leaders of Sweden and Finland, as well as NATO, on Tuesday before the summit in Madrid, his spokesperson said.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will visit two small former Soviet states in Central Asia -Tajikistan and Turkmenistan – this week in what would be the Russian leader’s first known trip abroad since ordering the invasion of Ukraine.

Economy

Russia has missed the deadline on payment of its foreign currency sovereign debt for the first time since 1918 amid Western sanctions over Ukraine’s invasion.

The United States is likely to announce this week the purchase of an advanced medium- to long-range surface-to-air missile defence system for Ukraine, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters news agency.

Energy ministers from the European Union will meet this week to attempt joint plans to fight climate change and discuss emergency plans to reduce gas demand amid further cuts in supply from Russia.

How's that "Weakening NATO" Plan Working, Vlad?

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the Western military alliance will increase the size of its rapid reaction forces nearly eightfold to 300,000 troops as part of its response to an “era of strategic competition”.

The NATO reaction force currently numbers around 40,000 soldiers, who can deploy quickly when needed.

Slow Russian Advance

Russia managed to move 20 kilometers from Popasna to the southern outskirts of Lysychansk in six weeks. It managed that task by massing its artillery ahead of its lines of advance, then sending its best infantry (VDV airborne remnants and Wagner mercenaries) back and forth between Severodonetsk and the Popasna advance once artillery had reduced the next objective to rubble.

If Russia wanted to destroy Ukraine’s war-fighting capacity, it would try to surround Ukrainian defenses, choking off avenues of retreat. But earlier efforts to do just that failed, so now, Russia is happy to just push Ukrainian forces out of the way. Pulverizing the ground ahead of their advance has proven effective way to motivate Ukrainian defenders to pull back.

But it is slow going. Slooooow. Russia isn’t winning any war advancing an average of three kilometers a week, 400 meters per day. Manpower shortages are becoming more acute—Russia just approved a law allowing 17-year-olds to go straight from school to the front lines. Equipment is a serious problem, with obsolete T-62s being issued to front line units, and Russia begging Belarus for ammunition.

Ukraine is Pouncing



Look to the south, and Ukraine has picked up in a few days almost as much territory as Russia took around Popasna over the last six weeks.

You can see Russia has committed the bulk of its forces, over half, to the northern Donbas front (Izyum, Severodonetsk, and Popasna). Localized Ukrainian counteroffensives have forced Russia to reinforce Kherson and Kharkiv, leaving little left over for the southern Donbas. So Ukraine is pouncing:



Capturing Polohy would clearly complicate Russian resupply efforts and expose the flanks of that Russian salient to its east. Those are nice tactical reasons to push down. But what is the strategic goal? Let’s look at the map again, pulling back a bit:



Berdiansk, Mariupol, and Melitopol are three of the four biggest priorities (along with Kherson) on Ukraine’s liberation tour. Polohy is still about 100-125 kilometers to all three of these cities, but liberation needs a first step, and Russia’s inability to cover all fronts with the necessary manpower has given Ukraine a chance to take that first step.

This is Russia’s precious “land bridge” to Crimea. It will be loathe to see it at risk. So what front will Russia weaken as a result? Because if Russia moves enough troops to stop Ukrainian advances here, that just means Ukraine will get new opportunities somewhere else.
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Bad Rulings Have Consequences



51% of voters nationally say the Supreme Court’s decision will make them more likely to vote for a congressional candidate who would back a law that would restore the protections of Roe. 36% would definitely vote against a candidate with that intent, and 13% are unsure. Among independents, a plurality (47%) would vote for a candidate who would restore the protections of Roe. 38% of independents think they will definitely vote against such a candidate.





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They Are Only Small Glaciers, But They May Not Be a Small Matter.

According to new data published by the American Geophysical Union, Greenland's northernmost glaciers are rapidly melting. The small peripheral glaciers of the northernmost regions of the massive ice sheet contribute to sea-level rise. These glaciers are not attached to the larger ice sheet though they contribute disproportionally to mass ice loss on the island despite heavy snowfall falling in the higher elevations. The smaller glaciers' melt rate is currently not factored into any climate models, even though the Arctic is melting up to seven times faster than the rest of the planet.
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Is Crypto Really Crap?

Prominent crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital has defaulted on a loan worth more than $670 million. Digital asset brokerage Voyager Digital issued a notice on Monday morning, stating that the fund failed to repay a loan of $350 million in the U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDC, and 15,250 bitcoin, worth about $323 million at today's prices.

3AC's solvency crunch comes after weeks of turmoil in the crypto market, which has erased hundreds of billions of dollars in value. Bitcoin and ether are both trading slightly lower in the last 24 hours, though well off their all-time highs. Meanwhile, the overall crypto market cap sits at about $950 billion, down from around $3 trillion at its peak in Nov. 2021.

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