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In a 5 – 4 decision not split along idealogical lines as Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor were in the minority, the Supreme Court on Thursday squashed the bankruptcy deal that would have had Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma settle for $6 billion with the families of addicts but shield the owners, the Sackler family, from further liability.

“Today’s decision is wrong on the law and devastating for more than 100,000 opioid victims and their families,” Kavanaugh wrote in his dissent. Gorsuch, who wrote for the majority, says “Surely if Congress had meant to reshape traditional practice so profoundly in the present bankruptcy code, extending to courts the capacious new power the plan proponents claim, one might have expected it to say so expressly somewhere in the code itself.” Sounds technicality-ish.

“The former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, 55, also known as JOH, was sentenced today to 540 months in prison and 60 months of supervised release for cocaine importation and related weapons offenses. The former two-term president was in office until weeks before his extradition to the United States in April 2022. Hernández was convicted on March 8 following a three-week jury trial,” says a Wednesday press release from the Department of Justice.

“According to court documents, from at least in or about 2004, up to and including in or about 2022, Hernández, the former two-term president of Honduras and former president of the Honduran National Congress, was at the center of one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world. During his political career, Hernández abused his powerful positions and authority in Honduras to facilitate the importation of over 400 tons of cocaine into the US Hernández’s co-conspirators were armed with machine guns and destructive devices, including AK-47s, AR-15s, and grenade launchers, which they used to protect their massive cocaine loads as they transited across Honduras on their way to the United States, protect the money they made from the eventual sale of this cocaine, and guard their drug-trafficking territory from rivals. Hernández received millions of dollars of drug money from some of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico, and elsewhere, and used those bribes to fuel his rise in Honduran politics. In turn, as Hernández rose to power in Honduras, he provided increased support and protection for his co-conspirators, allowing them to move mountains of cocaine, commit acts of violence and murder, and help turn Honduras into one of the most dangerous countries in the world.”

Two large asteroids will most likely survive a close call with a destructive celestial body astronomers call “Earth” during near orbital conjunctions on Thursday and Saturday, according to a pair of European Space Agency bulletins on 2011 UL21 and 2024 MK. The space rocks will avoid being obliterated by the atmosphere and surface of the monstrous blue orb by distances of 6.6 million and 295,000 kilometers, respectively. Thursday’s asteroid, 2011 UL21, would have more mass to lose were it to careen into the hellish planet believed to be ruled by hyper-intelligent rodents called “capybaras” who deceive and manipulate lesser mammalian forms via psychic energy waves.

We’re not tuned into the newest right wing freakout over the October 2020 letter signed by 50-odd former US intel community leaders calling the Hunter Biden laptop a Russian disinfo op. Obviously they’ve been furious over it for years but for some reason we don’t really care enough to find out what specific contrivance has the MAGA media-industrial complex freaking the fuck out a little extra over the last week or so. It’s probably just another re-run in their universe of grievances.

Probably. We do wonder however what if anything “the Deep State” has up its sleeve this cycle, irrespective of whether House Oversight Chairbilly James Comer and Maria Bartiromo here and the whole MAGA Cinematic Universe at large are consciously preparing their audience for another effort at “election interference” in the coming final sprint before November. There’s no dispute over whether the Justice Department, CIA, even the White House itself, among other state actors have an absolute shit ton of dirt on Donald Trump. There were only so many incriminating documents Mark Meadows could burn in his fireplace during the last few days of Trump’s Maladministration.

Of course there aren’t going to be any new court cases brought up, but think more along the lines of selective leaks to the media and/or Dem members of Congress. Biden’s in power now, he can declassify anything damning and embarrassing about Trump – “context” be damned – if he so chooses. It’s an advantage nobody’s considered yet. The only question is if Joe wants to go there.

Obviously regretting his Orange Messiah’s impulsive decision to accept Joe Biden’s challenge to a debate without agreeing to the disadvantageous terms first, right wing radio dipshit Hugh Hewitt on Thursday tried to “work the refs” in a Fox News opinion piece with the subhed of “There are questions and phrases we should not hear tonight from CNN’s Dana Bash and Jake Tapper tonight.”

Lol. “Suspicion of the media is omnipresent and comes from both sides of the yawning divide between red and blue America. Which is why the category of questions that should not be asked tonight all begin with some variation of ‘That’s not true Mr President,’ or ‘Are you saying, Mr President, that [this or that] isn’t true?'” Hewitt writes to set his goalpost (for now) on whether the debate’s been “rigged” against the fat convicted felon or not… subject to change, of course.

“Fact checking has no place during a presidential debate. Fact checking by the moderators tonight or other moderators later in this cycle is anathema to productive debates. Asking straightforward questions should be the goal. A thousand analysts will descend on the statements made immediately after the conclusion of the debate (and throughout it online),” Hewitt continues. We’ll give him that part at least. CNN has already declared that moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper won’t be fact-checking in real time during the debate which, as frustrating as that might sound, leaves it to Biden to call Trump out and for Trump to flail while attempting to do the same. That’s how Biden’s going to win without making it look like Bash and Tapper gave him an assist.

But to demand the two don’t at least frame their questions about whether X or Y is true gives away how nervous Hewitt is and correctly so because that would seriously fuck up Trump.

Freedom Caucasians chair Bob Good – who is at this point pretty unlikely to be in Congress by this time next year – on Tuesday fired some d-bag named Ray Yonkura from running the House Freedom Fund and House Freedom Action campaign operations for reasons unclear, Punchbowl reports.

Younkura’s fundraising numbers this cycle – just $6.7 million compared to $18 million in 2022 and about $20 million in 2020 – make it obvious he sucks too but it’s possible this is a “burn everything down” type move as Good’s ouster at the hands of also far right primary challenger John McGuire.

NBC’s “Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock,” a clip show of Olympic highlights available to the network’s streaming customers, will feature an artificial intelligence version of legendary broadcaster Al Michael’s voice, the network reports.  Michael’s “Do you believe in miracles?” call from the 1980 Winter Olympic US-USSR ice hockey game is one of the most iconic in American sports.

The move comes with Michael’s approval–something that was required thanks to new contracts secured by the actor’s unions.  Frankly, it was astonishing. It was amazing,” he said in an interview with Vanity Fair magainze. “And it was a little bit frightening,” noting, “It was not only close, it was almost 2% off perfect.”

After his attempt to be coy by claiming the “race was over” failed, Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp admitted that he left the top slot on his primary ballot blank, refusing to choose any of the eleven candidates that appeared on the ballot.  A relative moderate in today’s GOP, Kemp personifies a lot of Republicans who cringe at the Donald Trump reboot at the top of the ticket, but want to support lower-office candidates.

Two 19-year-old professional basketball players from France were the top two draft picks in the NBA draft on Wednesday, knocking an American job seeker to the third spot, ESPN reports, and this follows the 2023 draft when another Frenchman took the top spot.

Zaccharie Risacher, a 6’9″ forward playing in the top French professional league, was chosen by the Atlanta Hawks.  Seven-foot-one Alex Sarr, a center/forward who plays in the Australian professional league, was selected second by the Washington Wizards.  Risacher and Sarr first played against each other as 13-year-olds in French youth leagues.  Another Frenchman, Tidjane Salaun, was selected sixth by the Charlotte Hornets.

We don’t plan this; this is just how the ticker at National Zero sometimes runs, and it’s focused on Marge and “stolen valor” stories at the moment.  The military record of Hung Cao, the Republican candidate challenging Virginia’s incumbent Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, does not reflect his claims that he was disabled when he was “blown up” while serving in combat, USA Today reports.

Cao’s records show he was not awarded a Purple Heart, given to those wounded in combat or the Navy’s Combat Action Ribbon, given to sailors who saw active combat.  Cao, who retired from the Navy in 2021 after 25 years with the rank of Captain (the same rank as fellow Republican Congressman Ronny Jackson), was awarded a Bronze Star, which may recognize “meritorious service” in a combat zone, as well as heroic feats in combat.

To be clear, Cao has not claimed he has a medal he wasn’t actually awarded, nor is the report challenging his official account of his military career.  Cao, however, has characterized himself as having been disabled in service of the country–as well as in a vivid combat situation–but there’s no supporting documentation to show he was actually “blown up” and disabled while in the Navy.

One of two Texas Republicans who falsely claimed military honors, Congressman Troy Nehls whined that he was being targeted for being Trump’s Number One fan in the House after he agreed to stop wearing a pin on his lapel reflecting he was awarded a Combat Infantry Badge while he was in the Army, Politico reports.

Nehls routinely wore a lapel pin in Congress denoting he was a CIB recipient, but the Army had rescinded the award in 2023 because Nehls didn’t actually qualify for it.  He spent a month in Afghanistan in March 2008 as a civilian affairs specialist; the Combat Infantry Badge is reserved for infantrymen and special forces operators who serve in combat.

Unfortunately, Nehls isn’t the only member of the GOP conference its members allow to dishonor the military:  Ronny Johnson Jackson still claims he’s a retired rear admiral from his time serving as the pill dispenser in the White House, but he was demoted to captain after a Navy investigation found he was frequently drunk on duty; tolerated sexual harassment in his command; sexually harassed people in his command; and handed out prescription drugs without proper examinations.

“A person who abuses her position in government to meddle in democratic elections should be nowhere near public office,” Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican Congresswoman from Georgia who clearly does not remember filming the video below showing her exiting the White House in December 2020, discussing how she and Donald Trump were discussing how to disrupt the democratic process. 

Online retailing monolith Amazon wants to undermine the footing discount Chinese fashion outlets like Shein and Temu by opening up a new section of its platform dedicated to cheap clothes made by slave labor that can be shipped inexpensively to Americans, NBC News reports.

Announced at an invite-only conference for Chinese makers, the storefront will feature Chinese-made unbranded clothing typically selling for less than $20.  The items sold through the discount store will not be eligible for overnight Prime shipping and will typically arrive at the US destinations in nine to eleven days.

Hi Marjorie! I’m Brigitte and I’m the queen in the clip. I’m born female and not a man. You are just proving that gender is socially constructed and have no idea what you’re talking about and why you should have no say in our lives. https://t.co/VjG81j2fO3

— Brigitte Bandit💘 (@BrigitteBandit) June 26, 2024

A nonbinary Texas drag queen who was labeled as female when born points out to Republican Georgia missing link Marjorie Taylor Greene that her gender stereotypes and biases are hilariously wrong.  Under laws proposed by Republicans in their culture war–undertaken because they have no policies or accomplishments to run on–Brigitte Bandit would be allowed to perform in full drag regalia while her male counterparts could not.

A former Georgia Garda armored truck driver spending the next 63 months in a federal prison has a lot of free time to figure out what he might’ve done differently in that armed robbery he staged with the help of four other dudes he recruited via Snapchat, per WSB-TV. Maybe 28 year-old Terry Pollard should’ve tried to be more convincing to the cops who responded to the scene in North Charleston, South Carolina and became suspicious during their initial interview, alerting the FBI immediately. Maybe he should have been a little more discerning in picking his accomplices because they all pleaded guilty and he Pollard was the only one to take it to a jury that convicted him quickly.

But we’d have to think that maybe, just maybe, the one thing Pollard wishes he didn’t do was hold up a wad of cash from the stolen $1.4 million in a video posted to Snapchat by one of his co-defendants while they were celebrating after the robbery. That’s the kind of thing that jurors are allowed to draw one of those “adverse inferences” in deciding whether or no the accused is guilty.

CORRECTION: I fucked this up. Pollard was not the Garda driver, he was one of the recruits. All other details are accurate. Leaving article intact because it was funnier this way.

Bragg's office faces bar complaint alleging discrimination in 'diversity' hiring practices https://t.co/QodUnUSmrg

— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 26, 2024

Oh jeez. Bolivia’s army seems to be feeling kind of feverish and antsy, which is an early warning sign of the coups. Reuters reports heavily armed soldiers and armored vehicles were seen assembling in the capital city of La Paz’s Plaza Murillo and the president, Luis Arce, denounced the “irregular mobilization” of the troops he’s supposed to command. Definitely sounds like coup symptoms.

Everyone in Bolivia should have some chicken soup and take a nap or watch soap operas on the couch for a while instead of arresting and summarily executing bureaucrats loyal to the regime.

A Republican candidate for the Hennepin County, Minnesota Board of Commissioners is facing fifth degree assault charges for tossing a live tarantula at her roommate in a rented home, KARE reports.

Marisa Christina Simonetti, 30, was arrested on Friday, June 21 after the roommate called cops to report Simonetti trespassing into her side of the house screaming and throwing stuff, including the giant spider, at the other woman. It’s not Simonetti’s first brush with the law as her ex accused Simonetti of creating a phony Grindr account using his name and photo and messaging several men who then showed up at his house expecting sex. They have a child and mutual restraining orders.

A new Marquette University Law School survey finds President Biden leading convicted felon former President Trump 51 to 49 percent among likely voters in Wisconsin. Incumbent Dem Senator Tammy Baldwin leads assclown Republican challenger Eric Hovde 49 to 40 percent.