The death toll in the cataclysmic flooding in Texas over the weekend continued its grim climb as it now stands at 104 with the discovery of new victims in the muddy riverbanks, the AP reports.

BREAKING: ESPN commentator Stephen A Smith’s agent on Monday said Smith will not be running for president in 2028, completely upending the America Party primary field, AF Post reports.

Massive joint federal immigration operation happening now in Los Angeles.

🎥: @Julio_Rosas11 pic.twitter.com/UlRaJj0ABE

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) July 7, 2025

Convicted felon President Trump’s stormtroopers just marched around an empty park in Los Angeles on Monday, the AP reports on the scene shitty right wing outlet The Blaze was triumphal about.

Sur-fucking-prise: The Daily Beast reports, with confirmed photos of the podcaster outside the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, that Texas Senator Ted Cruz was in the ancient Mediterranean country on July 4th during cataclysmic flooding that has killed at least 90 of his constituents.

Now in an effort to be fair, this is not the same sin as fleeing to Cancun when the February 2021 cold snap/ice storm was already underway. It’s not like he knew it was coming or was even supposed to and he’s self-aware enough of his history to fly back apparently as soon as he could to do what he should have been doing in 2021*, even if it’s just media appearances. It’s just a bad look that an alleged “patriot” is not in Texas but in fucking Greece on America’s independence day.

(You can go back and forth all you want about what Ted Cruz’s power is in a disaster affecting his state, but the truth is he’s not the governor and has no immediate powers or responsibilities. The 2021 debacle was just a display of his level of willingness to suffer alongside voters – which was zero – rather than anything that would have had any meaningful difference on that suffering)

At least three people were hospitalized – one an octogenarian who had to be resuscitated from cardiac arrest – and dozens more were stung a bunch of times after a swarm of bees suddenly erupted from a rooftop apiary in the town of Aurillac in France on Sunday, EuroNews reports.

The fuckers were believed be driven into a frenzy by the presence of a hive of Asian murder hornets nearby, but the article does not indicate whether that hive exists or has been located.

A Texas South Carolina Bloomington, Indiana man was utterly stunned and left breathless by an incredible, dazzling post-4th of July fireworks display early Monday on Thursday Saturday night, KSAT San Antonio WPDE in Florence, South Carolina the Indianapolis Star reports.

Pablo Ruiz, 43 Allen Ray McGrew, 41 Tyler Pinkley, 23 was [probably] drinking heavily and lighting off fireworks with friends when he decided to make things even more exciting by placing a lit mortar upright on his head… and yeah Ruiz McGrew Pinkley was pronounced dead at the scene by cops.

This article originally appeared on National Zero under the headline “Texas man absolutely blown away by amazing fireworks display” on July 6, 2022, and then reprinted on July 6, 2024 with minor edits to adjust for differing details as “South Carolina man blown away by amazing fireworks display.” Per the Star, Pinkley’s friends tried to stop him but he claimed he’d done it before.

A Colorado federal judge on Monday fined two of mustachioed pillow man Mike Lindell’s lawyers for using AI to draft or complete a pretrial motion in the case and included “thirty defective citations” in the filing, CBS’s Scott MacFarlane reports without naming the price the two dumbasses paid.

Full-time podcaster and part time federal legislator Ted Cruz on Monday responded to a reporter’s pretty general question about what could have been done in terms of a warning system that could’ve prevented more than 80 people – dozens of young girls among them – from drowning during a catastrophic flash flood with a monologue about how “people immediately say, ‘the hurricane was Donald Trump’s fault.’ I think most normal Americans know that’s ridiculous,” which says maybe more than he intended about where his head’s at in the wake of this tragedy.

Toward the end of this clip – and it isn’t 100 percent clear what the question is given the audio, but it seems likely that another reporter was not asking about weather control conspiracy shit and yet Cruz said “To the best of my knowledge, there is zero evidence of anything related to anything like weather modification. Look, the internet can be a strange place,” and blah blah blah.

In a draft of a notice to the federal register obtained by CBS Miami, dog-murdering Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem will this month announce she’s “terminating the designation of Honduras for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The designation of Honduras is set to expire on July 5, 2025. After reviewing country conditions and consulting with appropriate US Government agencies, the Secretary has determined that conditions in Honduras no longer support its designation for TPS. The Secretary, therefore, is terminating the TPS designation of Honduras as required by statute.” Per CBS Miami, about 72,000 Honduran and 4,000 Nicaraguan refugees who have lived and worked in the US, many of them since 1999, are fucked.

“Brazil is doing a terrible thing on their treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro. I have watched, as has the World, as they have done nothing but come after him, day after day, night after night, month after month, year after year! He is not guilty of anything, except having fought for THE PEOPLE. I have gotten to know Jair Bolsonaro, and he was a strong Leader, who truly loved his Country – Also, a very tough negotiator on TRADE. His Election was very close and now, he is leading in the Polls. This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent – Something I know much about! It happened to me, times 10, and now our Country is the HOTTEST in the World!”

“The Great People of Brazil will not stand for what they are doing to their former President. I’ll be watching the WITCH HUNT of Jair Bolsonaro, his family, and thousands of his supporters, very closely. The only Trial that should be happening is a Trial by the Voters of Brazil – It’s called an Election. LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE!” posted convicted felon President Trump on Monday.

The fat fucking idiot doesn’t understand that Bolsonaro is banned from office until at least 2030 and isn’t running in the 2026 presidential election, so no, he isn’t “leading in the Polls.”

BREAKING: Gunman opens fire on Border Patrol agents in McAllen, Texas, is killed after they return fire, sources tell @BillMelugin_ pic.twitter.com/U809ecgPWH

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 7, 2025

You think you’re having a bad Monday after a nice holiday weekend? Try being Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit! First his hardass boss Vladimir Putin fires him for a bunch of fuckups in the country’s air travel system, then hours later he was found dead in his car of a gunshot wound in what was probably an “assisted suicide” since it’s Russia. Friday can’t come soon enough, right?

It’s not clear why Starovoit wasn’t tossed out of a window the usual way, but it’s entirely possible that was the original plan – and that he knew it, so he was staying out of tall buildings and then Putin’s goons got sick of waiting for him to slip-up so they just did it the old-fashioned way.

You will not be terribly surprised to learn that Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” gulag in the Everglades was built by IRG Global Emergency Management, a subsidiary of Access Restoration Services US Inc, a major campaign donor to heels-wearing Governor Ron DeSantis, the Florida Trident reports after having obtained the paperwork for the $20.8 million construction contracts.

Dog-murdering idiot Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on Monday again spewed some vague canned line about how “the National Weather Service has indicated that with that and the NOAA we needed to renew this ancient system that has been left in place with the federal government for many, many years” and that President Trump has been working to put in new technology and a new system because it has been neglected for years. It’s an ancient system that needed to be upgraded, and so President Trump recognized that right away and got to work on it but that installation is not complete,” without any real specifics about what the hell happened, and then seconds later also claiming that the “notification was proactive and out there.”

Noem was at least able to squeeze in a quick cheap shot at the Biden Administration, claiming FEMA was so much faster last weekend than it was at anytime during his term. She also said Gov Low Energy Greg Abbott was leading the response, so enough self-contradictions for now.

A new Punchbowl News survey of Congressional staffers finds that 85 percent of respondents think that the Big Beautiful Bill’s Medicaid cuts will hurt the Republicans in the Midterms. When split by party, 98 percent of Dem staffers, naturally agree, but 73 percent of GOP staffers say the same thing. A marginally smaller number – 75 percent overall and 94 percent of Dem aides – agreed that SNAP cuts would hurt Republicans, but a majority of GOP staff at 57 percent agreed too.

“Following the disastrous and deeply devastating flash flooding in Texas this weekend, I write to urge you to immediately to open an investigation into the scope, breadth, and ramifications of whether staffing shortages at key local National Weather Service (NWS) stations contributed to the catastrophic loss of life and property during the deadly flooding. My heart breaks for the at least 78 people including at least 21 children – who have died as of this writing, the many others who remain missing, and all people impacted by this tragedy. Many of the victims were swept away in the early morning hours of July 4 as flash floods devastated Kerr County and the surrounding region, including a private summer camp. This is a national tragedy which people across the country are mourning. The American people deserve answers,” writes Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a letter to Commerce Department Acting IG Roderick Anderson’s shredder.

…The weaponization of such tragedies has become commonplace in American politics. Previously, Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer bizarrely attempted to blame the crash of a Mexican ship in New York and air accidents around the world on Trump cuts…

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 7, 2025

Just shy of six months ago this same assclown wrote “There is an interesting New York Post report that roughly 200 of Hunter Biden’s art pieces were destroyed in the Los Angeles wildfires. The value of the art stored near the home of Hunter’s patron and lawyer, Kevin Morris, is being claimed in the ‘millions of dollars.’ The question is whether, with reports of a collapse in the value of Hunter’s art with the departure of his father from office, the fire might prove the ultimate windfall for Hunter and his ‘clients,'” which obviously makes him an authority on how commonplace such weaponization is.

“Endless viral posts are blaming DOGE and broader federal budget cuts for the failure to forewarn people who lost their lives. Online sleuths last night were sharing this April 2025 article from local media about the region’s NWS ‘warning coordination meteorologist,’ who took one of those early retirement packages offered by the federal government. ‘The importance of experience in the WCM role cannot be understated,’ the article bemoaned at the time. ‘Ensuring ample and timely warning to the Central Texas counties… is among the chief responsibilities’… And let’s be clear: Just as my Playbook colleague Zack Stanton set out in yesterday’s newsletter, there’s still absolutely no evidence that Trump’s NWS cuts had any impact on what happened in Texas on Friday morning. As you’d expect, local and national reporters alike have been digging away at this angle incredibly hard and so far, the picture that’s emerging is one of a National Weather Service that did its job as a catastrophic weather event unfolded,” writes Politico Playbook on July 7, 2025, all emphasis theirs.

“TRUMP is heading to Valdosta, Georgia, this afternoon to be briefed on the damage. During a campaign rally in Pennsylvania yesterday, he said President JOE BIDEN – who spent the weekend in Delaware – was ‘sleeping’ on the beach instead of leading the recovery effort and blasted KAMALA HARRIS for fundraising in California and Nevada when she ‘ought to be down in the area,'” they wrote on September 30, 2024, approximately three days after that similarly devastating flood.

Interesting, right? It’s like their pushback on false narratives and the full picture is kind of situational, like they’ll put in the extra effort and emphasis depending on who the president is.

At least 15 cops in the Philippines were taken into custody as part of the investigation into the dumping of the bodies of dozens of men murdered over allegedly rigged cockfights several years ago, the AP reports, citing a Monday announcement from the national police chief.

The victims went missing around 2021 and 2022 mostly while on their way to or from cockfighting arenas dotting the main northern Philippine island of Luzon, including in the metro Manila capital area, their bodies dumped in the lake surrounding active volcano Mount Taal south of Manila.

“I was very shocked,” National police chief General Nicolas Torre III said when asked about the informant, known only as “Toytoy” whose tips led to the arrests. “It firmed up our resolve to really solve this because what happened was savage and not acceptable by any standard.” It’s not clear if Torre was referring to the cockfighting and the murders or just the murders.