Newsweek: “Christina Bobb, an attorney who has supported Donald Trump’s legal challenge to overturn the 2020 election, has suggested a scenario in which the former president could be reinstated after the midterm elections in November. Bobb told the conservative news outlet the Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN) what she thought could happen in states in which there was “evidence that Joe Biden cheated” in the election Trump and his allies have continuously claimed was fraudulent.”
Deadline.com: “Continuing the war of words between Florida and California – and potentially previewing the presidential campaign for 2024 – California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a new ad attacking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Newsom’s July 4 weekend ad claims “Freedom is under attack” in states run by Republican governors, like Florida. It goes on to demonize several decisions led by the conservative DeSantis.
“’Your Republican leaders, they’re banning books,’ Newsom says in voiceover of images of DeSantis. Republican governors are ‘making it harder to vote, restricting speech in classrooms, even criminalizing women and doctors,’ Newsom’s ad claims….
“Newsom called on Floridians to ‘join the fight’ against DeSantis. He added that disgruntled citizens in the Sunshine State are welcome to move to California, ‘where we still believe in freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom to choose, freedom from hate and the freedom to love. Don’t let them take your freedom.’”
Former grocery store manager and State of Jefferson pitchman Chris Kelstrom finished second in the District 5 supervisor race. Photo source: A News Cafe/Facebook screenshot.
A News Cafe: “Fascism isn’t too strong of a word for an undertaking that was sparked two years ago by Cottonwood militia member Zapata’s threat to turn his minions loose on the public if Shasta County didn’t stop following the state’s COVID-19 mandates. This gang of dead-end MAGA Trumpublicans, anti-science ‘medical freedom’ advocates, gun-toting militia enthusiasts, State of Jefferson secessionists and white-Christian nationalists came to us literally wrapped in the flag brandishing the cross. It seeks to impose its own dystopic vision of America upon the rest of us.”
UNCOVERED! Top Secret facility where Bill Gates makes fake meat in PEACHTREE DISHES
Mediaite: “The government totally wants to provide surveillance on every part of your life,” [Georgia GQP Rep. Marjorie Taylor] Greene said during a recent broadcast of ‘MTG Live.’ ‘They want to know when you’re eating. They want to know if you’re eating a cheeseburger, which is very bad because Bill Gates wants you to eat his fake meat that grows in a peach tree dish. So you’ll probably get a little zap inside your body that’ll say ‘No, no, don’t eat a real cheeseburger, you need to eat…the fake meat from Bill Gates.’
“The freshman representative added that ‘they probably also want to know when you go to the bathroom and if your bowel movements are on time or consistent.’”
Texas Tribune: “Beto O’Rourke caused a dramatic scene Wednesday when he angrily confronted Gov. Greg Abbott at his the governor’s news conference about the school shooting, yelling, ‘This is on you.’
“O’Rourke, who is running for governor against Abbott, moved to the third row of the Uvalde High School auditorium about 15 minutes after the governor began speaking to the media alongside other state and local leaders onstage. When Abbott concluded his comments and introduced Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, O’Rourke rose and walked to the stage and spoke directly to Abbott.
“’You are doing nothing,’ O’Rourke said. ‘You are offering up nothing. You said this was not predictable. This was totally predictable when you choose not to do anything.’”
Immediately after interrupting Abbott’s news conference spoke to the media. “There are family members that are crying as we speak,” he said. “There are family members whose hearts are broken. There’s no words that anybody shouting can come up here and do anything to heal these broken hearts.”
PoliticalWire: “Shortly after the nation’s latest mass shooting, which killed at least 18 children at an elementary school in Texas, the California Senate passed a bill Tuesday to allow private citizens to file suit for at least $10,000 — a bounty-hunter provision modeled on a Texas abortion law — against makers or sellers of untraceable ghost guns or illegal assault weapons,” the [paywalled] San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The percentage of roughly 450 total deadly political attacks in the United Sates committed by right-wing extremists in the past decade as counted by the Anti-Defamation League, according to the New York Times. The ADL found that 20 percent were committed by Islamic extremists and 4 percent by liberals.
When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation this week in Miami (of course) establishing a “Victims of Communism Day” on Nov. 7 and decreeing that Florida public school students will receive 45 minutes of indoctrination about the victims of Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong and, of course, Fidel Castro, my first thought was, We need a Victims of Capitalism Day — and fast!
Come to find out there already is one. Or, more accurately, there is a movement already extant to defend capitalism and deny its victims. I know, shocker, right?
If you do a Google search for “victims of capitalism,” the first link on the page is to the Nassau Institute. The banner at the top of the institute’s website is the cover of Ayn Rand’s “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal.” Triggered!
This is from the institute’s “About” link:
Founded in 1995 The Nassau Institute is a research institute – a think tank – that promotes capitalism and free markets. Our mission is to formulate and promote public policies for The Bahamas based on the principles of limited government, individual freedom, and the rule of law.
So, a country that is historically majority Black and that was a slave state until the British Empire outlawed slavery in 1833 — in other words, has a population that would not have been in the Bahamas if it were not for capitalism — the slave trade — has an “institute” that perpetuates capitalism? What’s wrong with this picture? […]
A Yahoo News/YouGov poll found that confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court has dropped nearly 40 points among registered voters since 2020, when former Pres. Trump began packing the court with right-wing extremists. Overall confidence in the Court is down from 70 percent in September 2020 to 51 percent today. Among those who expressed no confidence in the court, the number has risen 19 points, from 7 percent in 2020 to 26 percent today.
Trump and the Iranians seem to be in different realities,
Though they share a callousness toward the war’s casualties.
Is Trump insane
Or just insanely vain?
And how can we extract ourselves from his “Quagmire of the Vanities?”
“If any politician wants to get mothers on their side, they should adopt this issue. It’s such an obvious electoral winner. And what I’ve learned is there is no force in the universe stronger than mothers trying to protect their kids.”
— Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, quoted by Politico, on the threats posed by social media and artificial intelligence.
“There are a lot of Ukrainian drones in the air. It would be dangerous.”
— Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, quoted by the Associated Press, when President Trump asked him if he would accept Moscow as a venue for peace talks.
“Years before Natalie Harp became a key White House aide to President Donald Trump, she flooded her Twitter feed with posts demonstrating extraordinary devotion to him on January 6, 2021,” CNN reports. “Harp posted more than 150 tweets that day, urging Republicans to ‘FIGHT FOR TRUMP’ as he began his speech near the White House. She echoed the president’s talking points that the election was stolen, and amplified rhetoric of his allies, who also sought to undermine the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s election win. Harp’s X account appears suspended. It’s unclear when her account was taken down, and whether she or the platform removed her posts.”
“The number of U.S. service members wounded since the start of the Iran war has passed 750, according to the Defense Department’s war casualty database,” CNN reports.
“The U.S. State Department announced on Monday that it has revoked more than 175,000 visas during President Donald Trump’s administration so far,” Fox News reports.
President Donald Trump is asking for $1,500,000 million for the military for next year. That’s close to $600 billion (adjusted for inflation) more than we were spending on the military in fiscal year 2025, before Trump took office, Alternet reports. This increase is huge by any measure. It comes to around $4,600 per household. It is around 8% of the total budget.
A new Emerson College survey of likely 2026 voters finds the Democrats with an 11-point advantage over the Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, leading 53% to 42%. President Trump holds a 39% job approval rating, consistent with the past two months, whereas his disapproval increased another point, to 57%.
