“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday praised President Joe Biden’s federal response to the collapse of a condo building in the coastal suburb of Surfside – providing a moment of bipartisan bonhomie between the leader of the Democratic Party and a rising star within Donald Trump’s GOP. Speaking at a command briefing near the site of the deadly disaster, DeSantis – seated beside Biden – said the president had ‘recognized the severity of this tragedy from day one, and you’ve been very supportive.’ The governor went on to assess that cooperation between local, state and federal partners seeking to manage the fallout from the building collapse ‘has been great,’ telling Biden: ‘You guys have not only been supportive at the federal level, but we’ve had no bureaucracy.'”

“‘I promise you,’ the president replied, ‘there will be none.’ The exchange offered further insight into the governing partnership between Biden and DeSantis, a closely scrutinized dynamic as Florida’s first responders and officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency continue search and rescue efforts” – Politico article that’s like a paragraph longer than this clip, underscoring how little there is to say when a President and governor work together competently on a disaster response instead of the president abusing and bullying the governor and his constituents.

Officials have called off rescue efforts at the 12-story Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida over concerns that the portion of the complex still standing is structurally unstable, endangering workers sifting through the rubble pile, CBS News reports.

The stoppage likely signals a change in the status of the efforts of crews on site, switching from a rescue effort to a recovery effort, to find bodies rather than survivors.  So far, 18 people have been confirmed dead as a result of the June 24th collapse.  More than 140 people remain unaccounted for.

Engineers measured a 6-12 inch shift in a large concrete column that looms of the collapsed section of the complex where workers have been digging through rubble looking for survivors.  Should that column collapse, it could bring down the remaining standing structure. 

Ron Brownstein, The Atlantic: “Yesterday, the Pew Research Center released its eagerly awaited Validated Voters survey. Pew builds its findings by surveying adults it can identify as definitely having voted in November based on voting records, a methodology many analysts favor. (The CES will soon issue revised results based on a similar process of matching poll respondents to voting records.) Each of these methods has its fans: Catalist, for instance, has emerged as the data source most trusted by Democratic political professionals, while other politicos and academics swear by Pew or CES. ‘It is part art and part science,’ says the UCLA political scientist Lynn Vavreck, who helped launch the massive Nationscape polling project, which will eventually release its own assessment of 2020 in an upcoming book.”

“But with yesterday’s release of the Pew results, one thing is now clear: The principal data sources about 2020 have converged to a striking degree in their account of what happened. ‘As I’ve been looking at our data and comparing it to some of those other sources, I’ve actually been struck by how similar [they] are,’ says the Tufts political scientist Brian Schaffner, a co-director of the CES study. ‘You get a pretty consistent picture.’ That consistent picture offers both parties reason for optimism and concern in roughly equal measure. The cumulative message from these studies is that we should brace for more years of grueling trench warfare between two coalitions that are becoming more and more inimical in both their demographic composition and vision of America.”

As part of the continuing stream of conservatives claiming they are being oppressed by the Deep State, “Dr.” Sebastian Gorka now says he was the subject of ongoing surveillance by the National Security Agency while he was serving as a White House advisor to Donald Trump, Salon reports.

“There is a part of the NSA, it is the most aggressive cyber arm of the NSA called the ‘Tailored Access Operations,'” Gorka said, then claiming “there was a small unit of contractors in the TAO who had been tasked to actually surveil members of the Trump administration, me, Steve Bannon and others included.”

In an elaborate conspiracy theory, Gorka claims that his intranational communications were intentionally rerouted through Malaysia so that they could be monitored by the NSA, whose charter allows it to monitored by foreign communications.

I'm honored to serve on the January 6th select committee. Our oath to the Constitution must be above partisan politics. pic.twitter.com/LpPoWhBHPx

— Rep. Liz Cheney (@RepLizCheney) July 1, 2021

UPDATE 10:05 AM EDT 7/1/2021: The court ruled 6-3 in favor of Brnovich, Dem elections attorney Marc Elias reports. Below is an intro/analysis by National Zero contributor The Contentious Otter.

Last March the SCOTUS heard oral arguments for two voting cases from the state of Arizona: Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee and Arizona Republican Party v. Democratic National Committee. Brnovich deals with an out-of-precinct voting law which states that if a voter uses a provisional ballot at a polling place other than the one assigned to them by their local board of elections, then the entire ballot is declared invalid and is thrown out. The Arizona GOP case asks the question of whether a state is compelled to adopt any voting practice likely to be favored by minority voters, even if all other factors are considered to be race neutral.

Punchbowl News: “During a closed-door meeting with freshman House Republicans Wednesday, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had a stark warning. If any Republican accepts an appointment from Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the Jan. 6 select committee, they better be ready to get all their committee assignments from her. Republicans, McCarthy said, get their committee assignments from Republicans – not from Democrats. Or else. That’s a pretty stark threat. To be clear, the only Republicans that Pelosi seems to be considering for the new select committee are Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), who voted for it. Although both of them may be out of Congress by 2023. Of course, McCarthy can move to strip them of their current committee assignments, but that seems like a bridge too far. Still, McCarthy’s threat – relayed to Punchbowl News by multiple people present – lays bare how he views Pelosi’s idea to name one of his lawmakers to the panel investigating the insurrection.”

National Zero is pleased to announce that we’re only breaking our “Never cover the fucking View, ever, we’re not fucking Mediaite or The Hill where we need to fill space with that stupid bullshit” rule to report that Meghan McCain is quitting. Read more at The Daily Beast.

Between energy shortages, crime waves, and election fiascos democrats have really turned NYC into a third world country. pic.twitter.com/MgZ6ACqCQR

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 1, 2021

Because you know, it’s not like any other Republicans found themselves either sheepishly admitting they were wrong or just looking like complete assholes when their tweets ripping on Democratic leaders over power grid issues are shoved back in their faces at a later juncture.

“Nearly half of college Republicans support public schools teaching about institutional racism – and six in 10 don’t think state legislatures should be able to stop it – according to a new Generation Lab/Axios poll. The findings suggest that younger, educated Republicans think much differently about racism and academic freedom than GOP-led state legislatures seeking to censor the teaching of critical race theory. 93% of college students overall – including 73% of college Republicans – say their high school’s curriculum was flawed for focusing insufficiently, rather than too much, on the impact of racism on U.S. history.”

“82% of college students overall say public schools should teach ‘that patterns of racism are ingrained in law and other institutions’ – including 97% of Democrats, 74% of independents and 46% of Republicans. 77% of college students overall say that state legislatures should not be able to limit how public schools or universities teach history. 41% of respondents said they don’t really understand the term ‘critical race theory.’ 85% said they first heard about it within the last year and for 30%, this survey was their first time hearing of it” – Axios.

Politico: “The former president was on a conference call with his advisers Monday discussing his favorite topic – revenge – when he was interrupted with an update on the Manhattan D.A.’s investigation. He would not be personally indicted, Trump was told – only Weisselberg and the Trump Organization would be. Trump was thrilled by what he saw as light charges, and according to one of the advisers on the call, his mind raced to 2024. ‘Just wait until 2024, you’ll see,’ Trump said. The former president implied that the legal case would be seen as a political witch hunt that would backfire on Democrats. ‘This is going to hurt Sleepy Joe.’ The adviser had the impression that Trump, who was already coming off a high from the large crowd at his rally in Ohio last weekend, was emboldened by the news. ‘Now he’s definitely going to run for president’ again, the person said. ‘It’s going to be a two-pronged message: the message for political public consumption and then the PR message against the substance of the case itself,’ Trump’s former campaign adviser Sam Nunberg told Meridith McGraw… expect to hear Trump push that narrative on his nationwide tour when he’s not dwelling on his true fixation: the results of the 2020 election.”

“Aides said that Trump’s interest in the Manhattan D.A.’s case pales in comparison to his obsession with the idea that he could still prove to be the winner of the 2020 election. ‘His world is seriously consumed by that,’ said another Trump adviser. ‘In comparison to election fraud, [the D.A.’s investigation] is not even close.’ According to this adviser, Trump is holding out hope that if the Arizona ‘audit’/fishing expedition ends up in his favor, a few other states will follow suit, triggering some sort of legal process that would make him president. He’s even questioned the merits of the Constitution, if it can’t be used to investigate election fraud.”

“President Joe Biden announced eight new federal judicial nominations on Wednesday as the White House seeks to maintain its rapid pace of nominations – and confirmations – to the federal bench. The announcement, which marked Biden’s fifth wave of judicial nominees, includes his intent to nominate two circuit court selections and comes as Democrats are pressing to quickly fill openings across the federal judiciary with their slim majority in the US Senate” CNN reports.

“It’s a central priority for Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who has already shepherded seven judicial nominees through to confirmation, including two high-profile circuit court selections in recent weeks. That number is notable for its historical context: It puts Biden on the fastest pace for judicial confirmations in a first presidential term in more than 50 years. The last president to have seven confirmations by this point was Richard Nixon in 1969, according to a White House official. The speed of the effort – and the focus Biden’s team has placed on quickly identifying, naming and sending nominees to Capitol Hill – comes as Dems both inside and outside of government have placed a new emphasis on the issue in the wake of former President Trump’s sweeping effort to confirm more than 230 federal judges during his time in office. Trump’s success marked a cornerstone achievement for then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, and elevated the issue among Democrats, who saw the balance of courts from the Supreme Court down reshaped before Trump’s 2020 election defeat.”

“The Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, surrendered to the Manhattan district attorney’s office this morning ahead of expected criminal charges against him and the company in connection with alleged tax crimes” reports CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

Non-Correction: The current version of this article misspelled Alan Weisselberg’s last name as ‘Weaselberg’ in the headline. National Zero does not regret the error and will not be correcting it.

“The Biden administration is rethinking its approach to Covid-19 testing as the pandemic enters an uncertain phase – one in which new infections have dropped to the lowest level since the spring of 2020, but the highly contagious Delta variant is driving fresh outbreaks. Federal health officials, along with testing labs and test makers, are weighing how to implement the lessons they have learned from this pandemic to prepare for the next one. That includes what types of government incentives could help keep companies prepared to quickly develop tests in the face of a new emergency, and whether to stockpile key testing supplies. The administration also recently retooled the leadership of its Covid-19 testing and diagnostic workgroup.”

“But with newer variants like Delta circulating, the administration must also ensure that existing tests are capable of detecting emerging strains – and maintain enough testing capacity to detect and tamp down new bursts of infections. The government is working with the diagnostics industry to ensure the gains in domestic manufacturing are not lost over time. But it is not yet out of the danger zone with Covid-19. With public health experts warning that Delta could drive up cases in under-vaccinated areas, the Biden team is pushing ahead with plans to establish testing programs in schools and homeless shelters as the fall approaches. It is also pushing test makers to create products that can be used at home to simultaneously screen for flu, Covid and other common respiratory viruses. ‘I do think it’s important for HHS, the federal government and the lab community to seriously think about not needing to ramp up to where we were in January and last fall, but to be prepared for surges, and it may not be uniform,’ said Scott Becker, CEO of the Association of Public Health Laboratories” – Politico.

AP: “Hundreds of deaths in Canada, Oregon and Washington may have been caused by the historic heat wave that baked the Pacific Northwest and shattered all-time temperature records in usually temperate cities. Oregon health officials said late Wednesday more than 60 deaths have been tied to the heat, with the state’s largest county, Multnomah, blaming the weather for 45 deaths since the heat wave began Friday. British Columbia’s chief coroner, Lisa Lapointe, said her office received reports of at least 486 ‘sudden and unexpected deaths’ between Friday and 1 p.m. Wednesday.”

“Normally, she said about 165 people would die in the province over a five-day period. ‘While it is too early to say with certainty how many of these deaths are heat related, it is believed likely that the significant increase in deaths reported is attributable to the extreme weather,’ LaPointe said in a statement. Like Seattle, many homes in Vancouver, British Columbia, don’t have air conditioning. ‘Vancouver has never experienced heat like this, and sadly dozens of people are dying because of it,’ Vancouver police Sgt. Steve Addison said in a statement.”

At the bequest of Willis Johnson, a Tennessee billionaire and the deep pockets financing many conservative causes, South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem dispatched 50 members of the state’s National Guard to the Texas border following a disaster announcement by Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott.

But as the New York Times reports, the privately-funded mission of the South Dakota National Guard–with dollars from Johnson (who, it should be noted, doesn’t even live in South Dakota) and orders from Noem–raises a plethora of legal, ethical and political questions.

The move smacks of Noem turning the state’s Guard into a mercenary force, available for assignments to the highest bidder.  Is the Guard the militia of the People of South Dakota, paid for by citizens of not just South Dakota but all of the US?  Or is it a private security firm that can be deployed at the whim of the governor to make a political statement?

And who will be responsible for any injury or fatality of a South Dakota Guardsman who is sent to Texas at the request of a Tennessee billionaire?  Would the member of the Guard be eligible for benefits?  Should the family be granted military survivor benefits for a private foray inspired by political ambition?

A California high school basketball team was stripped of its division championship by the state athletics’ governing board after an incident where players from the team threw tortillas at opposing players from a largely Latino school.

The Associated Press reports that the California Interscholastic Federation announced Coronado High School will lose its boys Division 4-A regional championship because of the “degrading and demeaning behavior.”  Following a June 19th 60-57 victory over Orange Glen High School of Escondido, players from Coronado were filmed throwing tortillas in the air toward the players on the Orange Glen bench.

The Coronado Unified School Board voted unanimously to fire coach JD Laaperi, and the superintendent of the school district issued an immediate apology for the incident.

“The spectator who caused a massive pile-up during the first stage of the Tour de France has been arrested after presenting herself at a police station, a source close to the investigation told Reuters on Saturday. The spectator, a 30-year-old French woman, is in custody at a police station in Landerneau, Brittany, the northwest French region where the Tour de France, the world’s biggest cycling event, held its first four stages.”

NOAA.gov: “Metereologists are already voicing concern over a tropical weather pattern developing in the Mid-Atlantic. Potential tropical cyclone FIVE is located at 9.6°N and 44.6°W as of 8PM AST on Wednesday June 30th.”

“The storm already has wind speeds of up to 35 mph, and given the recent heat wave that’s stretching across the United States, with daytime highs near 100 degrees Fahrenheit and overnight temperatures in excess of 80 on the Eastern coast of Florida, this disturbance could easily become the first Atlantic hurricane to hit the Eastern Coast of the United States in 2021.”