Wall Street Journal: “When Republicans were carving up the state into congressional districts a decade ago, Lynn Westmoreland saw the warning signs for his party in the Atlanta suburbs. Republicans in the state legislature thought they could stave off any Democratic gains in suburban areas by balancing them out with small pockets of outlying, staunchly conservative precincts in the Sixth and Seventh districts, the former GOP congressman said. He told lawmakers that if demographic trends favoring Democrats accelerated, ‘those little slivers weren’t enough to carry the district.’ He was right. After years of Republican dominance, Democrats now hold the Sixth and Seventh House districts in the Atlanta suburbs, and the GOP’s advantage in the state’s congressional delegation has fallen from 10-4 to 8-6. State officials and lawmakers across the country are preparing to redraw congressional districts this fall based on new population totals from the 2020 census. Republicans, who have greater control over the process because they hold majorities in more states with partisan redistricting processes, are grappling with how to approach once-reliably conservative suburbs that have more recently swung toward Democrats.”

“The redrawing of the congressional map is expected to be a key factor in whether the GOP can retake the House in 2022, when the changes will take effect. The process is complicated by the fact that the last election, which typically offers clues to the direction of the electorate, took place under the unusual circumstances of a pandemic with former President Donald Trump, a polarizing figure, atop the ticket. Those redrawing the districts must decide whether the results were an aberration – despite losing the White House and control of the Senate, many Republicans were heartened by the narrowing of the Democratic majority in the House – or should guide maps for the next decade. To balance out that suburban growth, Republicans will look to create districts where their candidates are heavy favorites even if it means drawing some safe Democratic seats in the process. That sorting will likely mean more districts where members see little incentive to buck their respective parties.”

The confirmed death toll in the collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South in Surfside rose to 16 as local authorities informed families rescue workers found four more bodies, the Associated Press reports.

Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told families that they have found other remains, along with the four bodies, but did not specify what exactly was found.  The identity of the four dead were not released pending notification of families.

At least 145 people are still unaccounted for, according to Miami-Dade county officials.  More than 900 people are working on rescue efforts, including teams from Mexico and Israel that are specially trained to search for survivors in collapsed buildings.

“East Baton Rouge Animal Control officers are working on a plan to relocate dozens of ducks that have taken over a neighborhood on Summa Court. The ducks are multiplying and becoming a nuisance to those who live there. ‘As we speak, we have a batch over there of new babies, and we have a dozen over here that are about to hatch,’ homeowner Jennifer Richardson said. The ducks have become attached to Richardson and her neighbor Debby Osterberger. They follow them when they walk on the sidewalks and even wait at their front doors until they come outside. When there were not as many ducks, the neighbors fed the birds. Now they are dealing with around 60 ducks.”

“The two met with EBR Animal Control officers Tuesday morning and were told that the waterfowl would be relocated to another area Thursday. ‘We don’t want to get rid of them, we just want to relocate them where they can live and not cause havoc and other people can enjoy them,” Richardson said. The women say parting with their feathery friends will not be that easy. ‘We will probably miss them. We’ll have to find out where they are going to make sure they are okay,’ Richardson said. But they will enjoy a cleaner environment around their homes. ‘I’m going to clean my garage because they’ve been in there, and the driveway will be just wonderful'” – WBRZ.

KDKA: “Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor vetoed a Republican-crafted elections bill Wednesday, a proposal that would have mandated voter identification in all elections and made a host of other changes to election law. Gov. Tom Wolf said outside his Capitol offices that he considers it a voter suppression measure. ‘I think voter suppression is absolutely the wrong thing to do,’ Wolf said.

“The Republican elections bill, developed in large part in response to some GOP voters’ anger over President Donald Trump’s re-election loss, would have changed registration deadlines from 15 days to 30 days prior to an election. Mail-in voters would have had an earlier deadline to request ballots. Drop boxes for mail-in ballots would have been limited to seven days before an election and monitored by designees of the major political parties. Wolf also used his line-item veto authority to eliminate funding in separate budget legislation after GOP lawmakers claimed that it had been earmarked to create an election-auditing bureau under the independently elected auditor general. Wolf had said there was no such agreement to use the money for an election-auditing bureau.”

“The Manhattan district attorney’s office is expected to charge the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer with tax-related crimes on Thursday, people familiar with the matter said, which would mark the first criminal charges against the former president’s company since prosecutors began investigating it three years ago” – Wall Street Journal.

“Federal authorities are deeply concerned about the possibility of domestic terror and violence, including mass shootings, as the July Fourth holiday approaches and the summer season gets fully underway. A new Homeland Security bulletin obtained exclusively by ABC News warns that ‘violent extremists might seek to exploit easing COVID-19 restrictions, increased access to mass gatherings, and possible changes in levels of violence during the summer months to conduct attacks against a range of potential targets with little or no warning.’ The intelligence document locks in on the nation returning to normalcy after the pandemic and notes that by the end of Wednesday, ’34 states will have State of Emergency orders expire,’ which means bans on mass gatherings and social distancing restrictions will be largely lifted” ABC News reports.

“‘In recent weeks, domestic violent extremists (DVEs) motivated by various violent ideologies have continued to advocate violence and plan attacks,’ the bulletin said. ‘As of 16 June, racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist-white supremacists (RMVE-WSs) were sharing downloadable links to a publication discussing targeting mass gatherings, critical infrastructure, and law enforcement officers.’ ‘In a sense, we have the perfect storm,’ a senior law enforcement official told ABC News. ‘It’s a very volatile moment and it’s about to be a more target-rich environment.’ The official encouraged the public not to be in a panic mode but to be alert and to reach out to law enforcement if they see anything suspicious in the coming weeks. ‘Sociopolitical factors that possibly contributed to violent acts in 2020, including social isolation and other pandemic-related stressors and divisive political climates, continue to exist,’ the document, which was pushed to 18,000 law enforcement agencies on Monday, bluntly states. Homeland Security officials also expressed fears about ‘the recent rise in mass shootings nationwide,’ noting that it ‘increases our concern for violence, particularly in advance of upcoming holiday celebrations and anniversaries associated with high-profile extremist attacks.'”

Nothing screams above board government transparency like limiting the comments of citizens who have been watching and realize there’s almost zero chance that this statement is true. https://t.co/XIJm3pGDOx pic.twitter.com/yFy8o7kMtZ

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 30, 2021

“New York prosecutors investigating the Trump Organization are scrutinizing cash bonuses as part of their focus on whether the company failed to pay taxes on benefits provided to some of its employees, people familiar with the matter say. The interest in cash payments, which has not been previously reported, is part of investigators’ look at whether executives and the company failed to pay appropriate taxes on benefits, including school tuition, cars and rent-free apartments, the people said. It’s not clear who received the bonuses or how much they totaled.”

“The Manhattan district attorney’s office and the New York attorney general’s office have been investigating the Trump Organization and its employees for potential tax-related frauds, and charges could come as soon as this week, CNN has reported. Lawyers for Trump and the Trump Organization met with prosecutors last Thursday and Monday in last-ditch efforts to try to persuade prosecutors not to bring charges against the company. Prosecutors are also expected to decide as soon as this week whether to charge Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, in connection with benefits, including a rent-free apartment, company car and school tuition for his grandchildren, CNN has reported” – CNN.

Dana Milbank, Washington Post: “Republican leaders have developed a new strategy for ousting Democrats from their majority in Congress: Blue Lies Matter. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) falsely tweeted Friday: ‘The ‘Defund the Police’ campaign – endorsed by Democrats – has decimated our law enforcement… When Republicans are in the majority, we will FUND the police.’ Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), falsely tweeted Monday: ‘Dems’ manta [sic] ‘Defund the Police’ was one of their top policy messaging points in 2020… GOP has always supported increasing funding for police!’ The rank and file have followed them down Mendacity Lane. Rep. Jim Banks (Ind.) said on ‘Fox News Sunday’ that ‘Joe Biden is being held hostage in the White House by the Squad and the radicals in the Democrat [sic] Party who control their party, who have spent the last year stigmatizing one of the most honorable professions in America, in our law enforcement.'”

“By midday Tuesday, a dozen House Republicans had tweeted messages about Democrats defunding the police. How, then, to explain the latest ‘legislative scorecard’ from the National Association of Police Officers, a group claiming to represent a quarter-million officers who endorsed President Donald Trump’s reelection? McCarthy, Stefanik and Banks all scored 57 percent, and some of the back-benchers piling on Tuesday – Reps. Ken Buck (Colo.), Jody Hice (Ga.), Mo Brooks (Ala.) – scored a paltry 43 percent on NAPO’s pro-police scorecard. And the Squad? Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) all scored 86 percent. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) scored 71 percent. Where it really counts, all four members of the Squad are more pro-police than their Republican critics. The reason is simple. Democrats, at least at the federal level, have been the ones funding the police. The 2019-2021 scorecard is based on votes on health care, pensions, covid-19 relief, bulletproof vests, victim compensation and policing reform. There’s not yet a scorecard of votes in the new Congress, but police groups favored the American Rescue Plan covid-relief legislation, which Republicans uniformly opposed, and President Biden wants to pump $300 million more into the COPS community policing program, which Republicans have long opposed.”

When applying for personalized plates for my car the DMV would not allow “Slave1“. Okay I understand. Had to try. But I get it.

This #disney idiocy however. Not buying it. Not conforming to the Mouse, no siree. Not gonna happen.

When I was growing up I loved #disney. No more. pic.twitter.com/9076VcIiwN

— Mark Anthony Austin (@BobaFettANHSE) June 28, 2021

Just to fill in the background, the main bounty hunter character from Star Wars is named Boba Fett, and we’ve actually previously mentioned three other actors who have played him in different incarnations in Star Wars history here at National Zero (that’s how dorky we’ve gotten). Unknown to us was a fourth one, a man wearing the costume who was digitally inserted into the 1997 “Special Edition” re-release of the original 1977 Star Wars film “A New Hope” to show the character present in a previously deleted scene. There are no lines uttered by Boba Fett in this scene and he’s just standing there, yet this Mark Anthony Austin assclown evidently considers it the apex of his career – so much so that his Twitter name is “@BobaFettANHSE” – as in “Boba Fett A New Hope Special Edition“. Yeah, it’s that fucking stupid, before we even get to what his actual malfunction is.

Austin is upset because the name of Boba Fett’s spaceship, “Slave One” is being quietly dropped from merchandise, instead being referred generically as “Boba Fett’s Starship” because – you know. While I can’t be 100% certain right now, I am almost positive that the Slave One was never actually referred to by name by any of the characters on screen in the two movies it appeared in. It’s possible it was in one of the spinoff TV series, but to my knowledge it’s only been named on merchandise. Come to think of it, I actually can’t remember any ship besides the “Millennium Falcon” ever being referred to by name by any of the characters on screen.

Anyway, that’s why this guy whose entire online persona rests on what was essentially a role as an extra wearing a costume 24 years ago is “done” with Star Wars, and a piece of the same contrived, gratingly petty Conservative frustrations with efforts at creating a culture a little more welcoming to Black folks whose ancestors were enslaved that led 120 Republicans to vote against removing the statues of Confederate traitors from the rotunda of the US Capitol on Tuesday.

MyPillow founder (and man who literally has a painting of Jesus Christ and a lion behind him) Mike Lindell claims that a judge let his company’s defamation suit against Dominion Voting Systems go forward on Steve Bannon’s podcast.

“My Pillow sued Dominion, okay, for a, y’know, for a, for completely for our First Amendment rights for free speech, okay?” Lindell babbled.   “That judge ruled we can move forward.  That is a HUGE ruling, that they used Lawfare basically against My Pillow and attacked My Pillow for no reason and nobody’s reporting this, Steve.  Nobody.  It’s like crickets.”

Nobody’s reporting it because it didn’t happen.  My Pillow filed suit against Dominion on April 19th in an obviously retaliatory, frivolous suit, claiming $1.6 billion in damages; Dominion is suing Lindell for $1.3 billion.  What Lindell is reporting is a denial of a pro forma motion to stay the case by a magistrate judge.  Hardly news.

In a sign that its inaugural attempt at rank voting in its Democratic mayoral primary is more troublesome than thought, the New York City Board of Elections pulled down a website tally of votes Tuesday hours after posting some initial results, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Initial tallies showed Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams leading former sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia by less than three percentage points.  The results had Adams at 51.1% of the vote, with Garcia garnering 48.9% of the ballots.

However, before rank choice counting kicked in, Garcia had been in third place, trailing Adams and Maya Wiley, who was in second place.  The website said more than 920,000 votes had been counted, but other tallies showed just 800,000 votes had been counted; both numbers claimed to be the number of in-person votes cast.

“‘The day is coming when even the most closed-minded ridiculers will have to face the truth’ – David Icke… TRUMP WON! ??” – The current top comment on The Gateway Pundit Article “BREAKING! MI Rep Daire Rendon (R): ‘I am in receipt of evidence reflecting systemic election fraud in MI that occurred in the November 2020 election’“, posted Tuesday evening.

David Icke is the guy whose dozens of books about the “Reptiloids” – also known as the alien lizard people from Nibiru – served as kind of an early forerunner to QAnon. The Reptiloids live in underground caves they colonized and disguise themselves as humans so they can control human society and abduct people to eat them in their caves. It’s fun stuff for the mentally ill basement people and was a good way for them to keep themselves preoccupied on the fringes of society for decades before they suddenly – within the span of a few years – evolved into a significant chunk of one of the two major American political parties. Now it’s not so much fun for the rest of us.

If you love this game, you are welcome here. Football is for all. Football is for everyone.

The NFL stands by the LGBTQ+ community today and every day.

For more information on how you can help the @TrevorProject, visit https://t.co/YtauzLAHIF pic.twitter.com/bkdWkAZ3vF

— NFL (@NFL) June 28, 2021

“A boat was found drifting about a mile off Grand Turk island with 20 dead people on board, authorities in the Turks and Caicos Islands said Sunday. Officials said investigators had ruled out foul play but were still trying to determine what happened. The identities and origin of the dead were also under investigation. Fishermen spotted the small boat Thursday morning and alerted the marine branch of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force, who towed the vessel ashore.”

“The police communications officer, Takara Bain, said in a news release that investigators had discounted foul play and were looking at other possibilities, without giving any specifics. Police Commissioner Trevor Botting said the boat appeared to have come from outside the Caribbean and authorities did not think it had the Turks and Caicos as its destination. ‘My investigators are working to establish their identities and how they met their death,’ Botting said” – AP.

A statement from NSA regarding recent allegations: pic.twitter.com/vduE6l6YWg

— NSA/CSS (@NSAGov) June 30, 2021

“Richard Lee and Claire Guyer are taking a short break from selling Chinese dumplings, even though their customers are clamoring for more. They’re not being bad businesspeople. They’ve just had a bit of bad luck, thanks to a wayward dumpling machine. In February, Lee and Guyer started Little Brother Chinese Food, a small business that sells bags of frozen, hand-folded jiaozi, or dumplings, based on family recipes Lee learned from his grandmother and aunt. Their food proved to be much more popular than they expected, and they routinely made 3,000 dumplings a week. ‘We would think, ‘OK, we finally folded enough to last us for a week,’ and then they would sell out in two days,’ Guyer said. ‘The folding is definitely the longest time commitment when you’re making dumplings.'”

“They couldn’t keep up, but they didn’t feel ready to bring on more staff either. So they found a company in China that would make them a custom dumpling machine to fill and fold their dumplings. It would also allow them to make their own dough for wrappers. ‘We took pictures of our dumplings and gave them specific weights and all the specifications, and they made a dumpling die (a manufacturing tool used to form materials into specific shapes) that’s suited for our dumplings,’ Lee said. He asked the company to ship the dumpling machine to Portland, Maine. Then the bill of lading arrived in an email. What happened next is familiar to many residents of our fair city: The company sent the machine to the wrong Portland. ‘We saw that it was headed for Tacoma, Washington, and then Portland, Oregon.’ Lee said. ‘We called them and they said, ‘It’s already in the water. We can’t do anything about it now.” Guyer, laughing, recalled the company’s suggestion: ‘Can’t you just go to Oregon and pick it up?'” – Portland Press Herald.

“On a very narrow 5-4 vote, the US Supreme Court allows CDC eviction moratorium to remain in place through July 31” reports MSNBC legal columnist Chris Geidner.

Searching the extremely shitty interface of QAnon fan site GreatAwakening.win for terms related to the collapse of the Champlain towers in Surfside, Florida on Thursday indicates that – for whatever reason – the Q hardcore appear to be not all that interested in coming up with and posting batshit “alternative explanations” for the tragedy. Naturally, because these idiots don’t pay attention to basic facts in news reports, there are more results referring to the building as being in Miami (20), rather than where it is actually located – the town of Surfside, Florida (9). The first post mentioning the disaster – along with a bridge in DC falling – also spells it “callapse”. The most recent one – pictured at the top of the screenshot – was posted late Monday

Contrast this with the self-inflicted death of John McAfee in a Spanish jail cell a day earlier, which returns 174 results for posts with the batshit software magnate in the title. Searching for the “Ever Given” and “Suez” returns 157 and 138 results, respectively (though there’s plenty of crossover between those) for the QAnon fan favorite post-Trump storyline. Q Nation really needs to step up their game. We were expecting more “CONFIRMED” and “BIG, IF TRUE” posts connecting the collapse to Soros and the Clintons and HAARP weather control device, not this tepid half-assery.