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Ukrainian intel officials tell the Kyiv Post that Monday’s drone attacks on Moscow and Crimea were just a taste of what’s to come and the sorties will “continue and increase in scale.”

“The strikes on the key facilities of Russia’s security sector located in Moscow testify to the fact that the Putin regime is unable to fully control the sky even for the protection of the most important facilities,” Ukraine military intel spokesman Andriy Yusov told the Post after a drone took out the top floors of a Moscow office building and another was felled just barely short of the Russian Defense Ministry’s main headquarters. Meanwhile in Crimea, a drone struck a Russian army ammunition dump, prompting the closures of a major highway and rail line nearby.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Russia has “already lost” its war in Ukraine, citing the Kremlin’s inability to hold on to land and hit the targets Russian President Vladimir Putin put out as the goals for the invasion.  As USA Today reports, Blinken cites Ukraine regaining half of the territory it took in the first weeks of the invasion, as well as Russia’s inability to force Ukraine to the negotiating table.

“The objective was to erase Ukraine from the map, to eliminate its independence, its sovereignty, to subsume it into Russia. That failed a long time ago,” Blinken said during an interview Sunday with CNN.  “Unlike the Russians, Ukrainians are fighting for their land, for their future, for their country, for their freedom.”

Over at the Daily Beast, UNLV law professor Benjamin Edwards presents a fun little argument that demonstrates how painfully stupid Republican Florida Governor and floundering presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is, given that he’s a Yale Law School alumnus.  Edwards tears into DeSantis’s claim of dereliction of fiduciary responsibility that would need to be the basis of the lawsuit the Florida Man is threatening against Bud Light’s parent company, noting that any such lawsuit would have to show that the board of directors disregarded explicit warnings of a potential disaster from one social media outreach from one marketing effort for one brand of the international conglomerate AB InBev–a task so far removed from the duties of board members that any such claim would be laughed out of court.

As Edwards points out, though, even if DeSantis throws the entire quiver of resources of the Florida taxpayer-paid legal team at the lawsuit, the financial return would be minimal.  If the Florida argument prevails–which is virtually impossible–and the lawsuit nets a $50 million penalty against the company, the amount of the award gets split among all the shareholders.  AB InBev has more than 2 billion shares outstanding; the Florida Pension Fund holds about 600,000, or 0.03%.  If the Florida lawyers spent all their resources to win the case, they would net a pawltry $15,000.

This DeSantis campaign video was weird and sad even before it ended with that Third Reich imagery.

Although the pundits predicted the right-wing parties would make significant gains, Spanish voters did not give the conservative coalition led by the People’s Party an absolute majority in the nation’s Congress of Deputies, the New York Times reports.  The People’s Party won 136 seats while the ultra-nationalist Vox party took 33 seats.

The left-wing faction, led by the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, took a total of 160 seats among its three key groups; the Socialist Worker’s Party itself actually increased its seats in the Congress by picking up two additional seats.  People’s Party leader Alberto Feijóo will have to “Kevin McCarthy” a coalition to hit a majority 176 seats in the 350-seat legislature.

Former third First Lady and migrant with no discernable skill Melania Trump’s latest grifting venture–an NFT featuring an iconic image of Buzz Aldrin walking on the Moon–appears to violate NASA’s rules on uses of its proprietary material, SheKnows reports.

Trump’s website features an NFT which incorporates an image of Aldrin adapted from a photo taken by fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong which NASA waives copyrights for the image when used for educational or informational purposes, and the agency allows the use of most images for commercial purposes that fall within its usage guidelines, but it explicitly states, “NASA is not approving any merchandising applications involving Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), as they are not consistent with the categories of products the Agency is approved to merchandise.  Further, as stated in the NASA Media Usage Guidelines, NASA does not wish for its images to be used in connection with NFTs.”  Apparently, Melania’s lawyers did not “Be Best” when it comes to researching fair usage rules.

But don’t rush yourself to make the $75 purchase from Melania’s online store before they’re gone:  The limited edition “Man on the Moon” [Such an original name!] NFT has more than 440 of the original 500 run remaining after four days on sale.  And it’s not like the Trump family has a habit of obeying legal orders, so it’s unlikely to be pulled down anytime soon.

With $155 million in gross receipts in under 48 hours, the Barbie movie about the iconic doll and her boyfriend Ken coming to life has completely destroyed astroturfed QAnon fan fiction film Sound of Freedom at the box office, CNN reports on a thorough repudiation to all the dildos who made the cult hit’s performance against major Hollywood productions so important to their self-esteem.

At $70 million so far this weekend, the Christopher Nolan-directed historical drama Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy as the tortured father of the nuclear bomb, is also on pace to quickly overtake the Jim Caviezel jerkfest’s $110 million haul. “Both [Barbie and Oppenheimer] can be considered absolute homerun hits,” industry egghead Paul DerGarabedian told CNN.

One of the most recognized icons on the internet may be going the way of dial-up service and Friendster if temperamental oligarch Elon Musk has his way.  Musk tweeted Sunday, “And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds[,]” a characteristically ambiguous post that the enigmatic billionaire used to create buzz and discussion.

A new Fox Business News survey of likely South Carolina Republican 2024 primary voters finds disgraced former President Trump leading the pack at 48 percent support, former Governor Nimrata “Nikki” Haley in second at 14 percent, and pudding fingers Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in third at 13 percent which is lol this evil little bastard cannot catch a friggin break these days.

DeSantis is at least still in second place in Iowa in Fox Business’s parallel survey in the Cornhole State, but it’s a very distant second to Trump who leads Tiny D 46 to 16 percent among likely caucus voters there. It’s getting harder and harder to remember the last time Trump didn’t lead a 2024 GOP primary poll, but amazingly it was a pretty regular thing seven months ago.

The Greek party destination of Rhodes was scorching hot on Saturday as a wildfire forced the evacuation of thousands of locals and foreign partygoers from the island, the BBC reports.

“We have just literally escaped from a 5 star luxury resort by boat amid severe conditions. We had to follow our instincts rather than directions. Poor visibility, smoke inhalation, no real directions,” British guy Mark Cook told the BBC, adding that one moment had been lounging in the sun but “the next ash is falling and smoke rapidly progressing because the winds suddenly got significantly stronger.”

President Joe Biden will sign a proclamation on Tuesday establishing a national monument at three locations in Illinois and Mississippi honoring Emmett Till, the Black Chicago teenager tortured to death by a group of white men after allegedly whistling at a white woman while visiting Mississippi, the Associated Press reports.

The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument will remember the impact Emmett’s death had on the nation, as well as the strength and bravery his mother showed after his murder to expose the brutality of the white supremacy power structure in the South that allowed the murderers to be acquitted in an unfair trial.

The announcement will be made on what would have been Emmett Till’s 82nd birthday, and it comes as conservatives attempt to erase or minimize white racism in American history, such as Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’s requirement that schools in the state teach that slaves were taught skills that benefited them.

The Cambodian People’s Party is expected to sweep all 125 Parliamentary races, leading to another term in office for Han Sen, who has rules as the country’s prime minister since 1998, the BBC reports.  The election was more-or-less wrapped up in May when the leading opposition party, the Candlelight Party, was banned from the nation.  In March, Sen jailed his leading opponent, Kem Sohka.

The sweep is not unprecedented in Cambodian history:  it was shockingly done by the CPP in the last national elections in 2018, when all credible opposition parties were outlawed or their leaders jailed.

The Barbie movie has a conservative message.

It reunites a mother with her teenage daughter who denied her affection and brings a mother and daughter closer.

It also reinforces the fact there there’s only 2 genders and tells men to stop being simps.

If anything, it’s a pro-… https://t.co/Q9mnKQ6Hp5 pic.twitter.com/8JKelUH5nA

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) July 22, 2023

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was hospitalized unexpectedly Sunday (local time) for an emergency operation to insert a pacemaker, Politico reports.  The procedure comes one week after Netanyahu was briefly hospitalized for what staff reported was dehydration.

During that hospitalization, Netanyahu had a monitor fitted that reportedly alerted last night to a heart rhythm abnormality that requires a pacemaker to correct.   Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the author of the judicial reform program that is causing widespread demonstrations, will take on Netanyahu’s duties while he is incapacitated.

Yeah, this is rational:  in apparent rage over something to do with the demasculinization of a character based on a doll featured in a comedy movie based on a fictitious world centered on a doll’s marketing campaign, conservative gadfly Ben Shapiro decides he’s going to torch his entire collection of Barbie toys.

Set aside the fact that a 39-year-old man has his own collection of dolls marketed to pre-teen girls.  The conservative penchant to destroy things they bought specifically to destroy in a theatrical fashion demonstrates that it’s really not about the brand or the movie, but about their desire to stage elaborate violent acts to prove how manly they are.  Shapiro seems comfortable while setting girls’ dolls on fire in an angry rage; perhaps he did it often as an adolescent.  That would explain so much.

Their silence was deafening. Watch the video: https://t.co/fNsPlVZtYt pic.twitter.com/rthurjQIub

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 22, 2023

Fox hosts decry liberal “virtue signaling” as overt and presumably insincere efforts to promote a (typically liberal) cause.  They’ve demeaned it as performance art to placate special interest groups–y’know, like women–while doing nothing to solve the real problems that need to be addressed, like high taxes and the oppression of white Christian men.

But don’t let Fox’s own personal hypocrisy stand in the way of using its own virtue signaling to denounce the US women’s national soccer team as insufficiently patriotic for Fox standards.  Showing video of many of team members standing silently and respectfully while the “Star-Spangled Banner” is played prior to their match, Fox noted that the players didn’t sing, something they viewed as disrespectful even though there is no rule or law requiring citizens sing while the song is played.  Fox just made up that in its own passing grade for patriotism, “virtue signaling” of what they demand, and setting their angry audience on the targets of their displeasure.

A YUGE Happy 35th Birthday to the KING OF NEW YORK @MrSantosNY who just turned old enough to run for POTUS 👀 pic.twitter.com/hAFqgyFj3F

— VISH BURRA 🏴‍☠️ (@VishBurra) July 22, 2023

Indicted and admitted fraudster Republican New York Congressman George “Anthony Devolder” Santos celebrates his 35th birthday Saturday, acknowledged by his ethically challenged operations guy Vish Burra.

In its quest to make voting as difficult and cumbersome as possible, Florida elections officials unilaterally canceled millions of standing requests from registered voters in the state to get mail-in ballots, a move Republicans claimed they made after the 2020 election to cut down on voter fraud that barely exists in the state, NBC News reports.

Florida voters could request an absentee ballot in a statewide election up to four years prior to the election.  A 2021 law cut that window to two years and did not accommodate requests that had already been put in for the 2024 election and automatically canceled requests made through 2022, meaning all those requests made to date for 2024 mail-in ballots are now void for the next election cycle and must be resubmitted.  Democrats are now scrambling to advise all impacted and help them reapply.

“It’s doing exactly what they intended it to do, which is suppress voters and take resources,” state Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried said. “Instead of focusing our money, resources and time on other endeavors and talking to voters, we’re having to spend resources to get people back on the rolls.”