https://youtu.be/A4Qk6081VV0

President Joe Biden says he has reached an infrastructure deal with a bipartisan group of senators, he announced in a press briefing in front of the White House.  Biden noted that both sides conceded specific points of their options to reach the deal, and the final details of the package will have to be worked on during the reconciliation process with the House bill.

“I didn’t hear him make any false and misleading statements about the ‘election’ (coup d’etat). Did any of you out there hear him make any?”

– The current top comment on the Gateway Pundit article “Breaking: Rudy Giuliani Suspended from Practicing Law in New York State – For ‘False and Misleading’ Statements on 2020 Election“, posted Thursday afternoon. “Liberals covering up”, says the top reply.

Miami Herald: “A 12-story oceanfront condo tower partially collapsed early Thursday morning in the town of Surfside, spurring a massive search-and-rescue effort with dozens of rescue crews from across Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The ocean-facing portion of Champlain Towers South Condo, completed in 1981 with 130 units at 8777 Collins Ave., collapsed around 1:30 a.m., leaving a heap of rubble and trapping residents asleep in their beds inside. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava addressed the media in front of a backdrop of thunder and lightning. Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Ray Jadallah says 55 units in the Northeast corridor of the building collapsed, and 35 survivors were pulled out. Ten were treated at the scene, two were transported to the hospital. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett confirmed at least one person has died.”

“Authorities anticipate more fatalities but wouldn’t speculate on the number. Sally Heyman, the Miami-Dade commissioner whose district includes Surfside, told CNN that 51 building residents were unaccounted for as of now. In a text, Heyman said that information came from the emergency reunification center set up to track the names of survivors, injured and the unaccounted for, and to give friends and family a place to go while they await news from the scene. Rachel Johnson, communications director for county mayor Daniella Levine Cava, said she couldn’t confirm the tally. ‘We don’t have an official count,’ she said. Just after 8 a.m., Frank Rollason, director of Miami-Dade Emergency Management, told the Miami Herald emergency workers believe they have cleared all easily reachable survivors from inside the tower, which has more than 130 apartments. He said more than 70 of the units have been destroyed or damaged. ‘Everyone who is alive is out of the building,’ he told the Miami Herald.”

Trump lawyer and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani’s law license has been suspended by the New York Supreme Court for making false claims relating to the November 2020 election, preventing Giuliani from acting as counsel in any legal action in the state:

It is Ordered that the motion is granted and respondent is suspended from the practice of law in the State of New York pursuant to Judiciary Law § 90(2) and 22 NYCRR 1240.9(a) (5), effective the date hereof, until such time as disciplinary matters pending before the Committee have been concluded, and until further order of this Court, and

It is further Ordered that respondent is commanded to desist and refrain from the practice of law in any form, either as principal or agent, clerk or employee of another; that respondent is forbidden to appear as an attorney or counselor-at-law before any court, judge, justice, board or commission or other public authority; that respondent is forbidden to give another an opinion as to the law or its application or advice in relation thereto, all effective the date hereof, until such time as disciplinary matters pending before the Committee have been concluded and until further order of this Court…

“The slickly produced movie trailer, set to ominous music, cuts from scenes of the 2020 election to clips of allies of former president Donald Trump describing a vast conspiracy to steal the White House. ‘The Deep Rig,’ a film financed by former Overstock.com chief executive Patrick Byrne for $750,000, is set to be released online this weekend – the latest production by a loosely affiliated network of figures who have harnessed right-wing media outlets, podcasts and the social media platform Telegram to promote the falsehood that the 2020 election was rigged. The baseless assertion, backed by millions of dollars from wealthy individuals, is reverberating across this alternative media ecosphere five months after Trump and many of his backers were pushed off Facebook and Twitter for spreading disinformation that inspired a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol.”

“While largely unnoticed by Americans who have accepted the fact of President Biden’s victory, the deluge of content has captured the attention of many who think the election was rigged, a belief that is an animating force inside the Republican Party. In this world, ballot reviews like a Republican-commissioned recount now underway in Arizona are about to begin in other key swing states. Conspiracy theories that grow more dizzyingly complex by the day will soon be proven, showing that China or other foreign powers secretly flipped votes for Biden. Trump will be restored as president in months. These falsehoods are now seeping into civic life, spurring citizens in multiple states to demand that local officials review the 2020 results. Kim Wyman, the Republican secretary of state in Washington, said her staff contended with the latest barrage of email and calls just last week. ‘It told us something had transpired online,’ she said, adding: ‘You can’t disprove the negatives that are being thrown out that are absolutely based on nothing'” – Washington Post.

“‘This morning, with great solemnity and sadness, I’m announcing the House will be establishing a select committee on the January 6th insurrection’ says Speaker Pelosi, calling it an ‘insurrection incited by the president of the United States… It is clear that the Republicans are afraid of the truth” reports Voice of America White House Bureau Chief Steve Herman.

Joe Biden intends to come after law abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights.

David Chipman is proof of that. pic.twitter.com/LZh5tdFMjv

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) June 24, 2021

Al-Jazeera: “An Indonesian court has sentenced hardline religious leader Rizieq Shihab to another four years in prison on charges of spreading false information about the results of his COVID-19 test. The Thursday verdict on came after the same court handed Rizieq, leader of the banned Islamic Defender’s Front, an eight-month jail term for breaching coronavirus curbs during several mass events, including his daughter’s wedding, which was attended by thousands of people.”

“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced new state programs for students Tuesday that will require civics and patriotism education as well as CPR training. ‘Once students graduate high school, some will go to college, some of them will do other things…whatever you do, this civics is gonna be relevant because you are going to be a citizen,’ DeSantis said at an afternoon news briefing in Fort Myers. It will also require high school students to learn about ‘the evils of communism and totalitarian ideologies.’ ‘We have a number of people in Florida, particularly southern Florida, who’ve escaped totalitarian regimes, who’ve escaped communist dictatorships, to be able to come to America. We want all students to understand…why would somebody flee across shark-infested waters…to come to southern Florida? Why would somebody leave a place like Vietnam? Why would be people leave these countries to risk their lives to be able to come here'” – Fox News.

BBC: “Cathay Pacific has told its aircrew that they must get a Covid vaccination by 31 August or risk losing their jobs. The airline said staff rostering has become ‘difficult and complicated’ because of a need to segregate vaccinated and non-vaccinated crew. Cathay Pacific said it could, in the ‘short-term’, accommodate those employees not able to take the vaccine. But it said: ‘We will review the future employment of those who are unable to become vaccinated.'”

“The carrier added that it would ‘assess whether they can continue to be employed as aircrew’. The Hong Kong-based airline said that 90% of its pilots and 65% of its cabin crew have been vaccinated or have appointments to receive the injection. But it said it was ‘becoming clear that only fully vaccinated aircrew will be able to return without quarantine from most places’. It said that in order for Cathay Pacific and the global airline industry to recover, ‘vaccination is a critical component’. ‘After very careful consideration, we have now made the decision that all Hong Kong-based crewmembers must be vaccinated against Covid-19 by 31 August 2021,’ it said.”

“A 12-story oceanfront condo tower partially collapsed early Thursday morning on Collins Avenue in the town of Surfside, spurring a massive search-and-rescue effort with dozens of rescue crews from across Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Part of Champlain Towers South Condo, completed in 1981 with more than 100 units at 8777 Collins Ave., collapsed around 2 a.m. Miami Beach police confirmed the address of the building on Twitter. A portion of the building facing the beach crumbled, leaving a heap of rubble. Officials have not yet commented on how many people are hurt, but a firefighter on the scene could be heard saying there are multiple casualties” – Miami Herald.

ABC News: “Harrison Ford is taking a hiatus from filming ‘Indiana Jones 5’ after sustaining a shoulder injury on set. The 78-year-old was hurt rehearsing a fight scene, a Disney spokesperson said Wednesday. Production will continue and the filming schedule will be reconfigured while treatment options are evaluated. Filming on the fifth installment in the series began earlier this month in the U.K. under the direction of James Mangold. The film is set to be released in July 2022”

A key part of the Biden proposal to curb gun violence in cities focuses on the pipeline that brings guns into high crime areas.  There are a lot of components to it, from community programs to jobs creation plans to what will be the most impact thing.

Biden intends to go after gun dealers, who are responsible for about 70% of gun sales in the United States.  Previously, federal gun selling licenses had rather weak requirements:  you submit to  a regular audit of inventory that was supposed to happen every other year, but because of staffing shortages at ATF, it was more likely one in every five years.

There were no punishments if you had guns that were supposed to be in your inventory missing.  You could be punished if you knowingly sold to a strawman purchasers or someone using a fake name.  If you sold to someone on the banned list, you got hit with a fine.

If your store in, say, Virginia, sold 15 guns to a guy every week, and all 15 of those guns were used in crimes in the following weeks, you wouldn’t be punished because the buyer was legal even though you thought he was selling the guns further along the line. 

https://youtu.be/CFe3Sz7zib4

Fox News hostess (and president of the German-American Bund ladies’ auxiliary) Laura Ingraham is outraged–OUTRAGED, she says!–that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley testified that the military wound step up to defend the Constitution by “weeding out so-called extremists,” whom Ingraham describes as “conservative evangelicals, as far as I can tell.”

Ingraham’s solution:  stop the flow of taxpayer money to fund the military.  So in Ingraham’s world, you must allow people who despise Americans and want to undermine the Constitution in the military despite their oaths.

A lieutenant for the Bexar County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office was fired Wednesday for her role in the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol in Washington, DC, nearly six months to the day after she was suspended, KENS CBS-5 reports.

Roxanne Mathai has not been charged with any crime for her participation in the domestic terror attack on the Capitol, which occurred as Trump supporters attempted to prevent the Congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election.  Mathai, however, did breach the police lines and marched up the steps of the Capitol.  However, Mathai did post a 35-second video on social media in which she celebrated insurrectionists beating back police and getting into the Capitol.

“Not gonna lie……aside from my kids, this was, indeed, the best day of my life,” she posted.  “We’re going in. Tear gas and all. Tear gas don’t bother me.”

A gun safety group duped a former NRA board member and a lobbyist for the gun industry to give graduation speeches to 3,044 empty chairs in a Las Vegas field–one seat for every student who would have graduated this year if they had not been killed in gun violence.

As NBC News reports, NRA board member and former president David Keene and gun advocate John Lott, Jr. were told they would be addressing the graduates of James Madison Academy, a fictional school, where they would be awarded for defending the Constitution.

Keene told the empty chairs, “Follow your dream and make it a reality.  Never for a minute doubt that you can achieve that dream.”

https://youtu.be/B3tmwb558yQ

Fox News host Tucker Carlson held his trademarked mouth-agape, “I’m trying hard to understand” look for a full 17 seconds before claiming falsely that Loudoun County police moved in to silence speech they didn’t like from Jon Tigges (more on him below)–not that the group had stayed in a public building long after the meeting ended.

“Then they got this stooge cops, who should be ashamed of themselves, to arrest you for the crime of saying something they didn’t like,” Carlson said after his brain cell rebooted. 

“Former top aides to President Donald Trump have begun an aggressive push to combat the teaching of critical race theory and capitalize on the issue politically, confident that a backlash will vault them back into power. These officials, including Trump’s former campaign chief and two former budget advisers, have poured money and organizational muscle into the fight. They’ve aided activists who are pushing back against the concept that racism has been systemic to American society and institutions after centuries of slavery and Jim Crow. And some of them have begun working with members of Congress to bar the military from holding diversity trainings and to withhold federal funds from schools and colleges that promote anything that can be packaged as critical race theory. The immediate goal, two Trump alumni said, is to get language included in a must-pass bill. The larger one is to harness a national movement that could unseat Democrats.”

“‘This is the Tea Party to the 10th power,’ Steve Bannon, Trump’s former adviser who has zeroed in on local school board fights over critical race theory, said in an interview. ‘This isn’t Q, this is mainstream suburban moms – and a lot of these people aren’t Trump voters.’ Concerns about critical race theory, which examines how race and racism permeates society, have been percolating for months in what activists describe as a sincere grassroots phenomenon led by parents. Critical race theory dates back to the 1970s, but as the country remains in a prolonged conversation about race following George Floyd’s death, a new political battle over how to teach American history has emerged. It has increasingly become a major focus of the Republican establishment, which has sought to capitalize on the angst even as some officeholders have failed to define what critical race theory is and the threat it poses. (Critical race theory, for example, does not imply white students should feel guilty about past civil rights issues and is not taught in many of the schools where lawmakers are seeking to ban it). Their efforts to elevate the issue have worked” – Politico.

In a blow to conservatives seeking to privatize federal mortgage programs Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that their umbrella organization, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, was structured unconstitutionally, negating the ability of the President to place someone in charge of the agency that would support administrative policy, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The court judgement also reinforced the agency’s ability to determine how its dividends are distributed, a point of contention with private shareholders of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, who feel the government should not be taking dividend even though it’s the primary shareholder.

The Biden Administration immediately dismissed Mark Calabria as the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, a position he held since April 2019.  He had been the chief economist for Vice President Mike Pence; prior to that, Calabria has been Director of Financial Regulation Studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.  FHFA directors serve a five year term.

Calabria pushed for the privatization of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which back about $5.5 trillion in mortgages in the United States, roughly half of the entire market.  Calabria encouraged a lawsuit by private investors to turn the two organizations to be privatized, although the federal government would still underwrite their holdings.

Wall Street Journal:  “Members of a bipartisan group negotiating a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure proposal said they had agreed to a framework for a package, with plans to meet with President Biden on Thursday to finalize the deal.

“The Democrats and Republicans emerged from a meeting with top White House officials Wednesday saying that staff would continue to work on smaller unresolved issues. Recent talks have focused on how to finance the package, which drafts showed would spend $579 billion above expected federal levels for a total of $973 billion over five years.”