Bloomberg: “A judge investigating corruption allegations against former Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz ordered that he be jailed, an opposition party said as it called for his release. The imprisonment is ‘illegal, irresponsible and non-democratic,’ Ould Louleid, president of Ribat National, an opposition party Aziz joined in April to rebuild his political career, said Monday in the capital, Nouakchott. In March, Aziz was charged with economic mismanagement, money laundering and illicit enrichment, allegations his defense attorney said are political and intended to damage his reputation. Aziz led Mauritania for a decade until 2019 and was succeeded by the ruling party’s candidate, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani. Prior to the last vote, Mauritania hadn’t had a peaceful transfer of power between elected presidents for five decades.”

“At the hearing on June 21, 2021, [Pauline] Bauer stated that she was making a ‘divine special appearance’ as a ‘free living soul’ and ‘a woman.’ Bauer also cited several passages from religious scripture as the basis for her statements. Bauer also sought to read a document into the record. The Court accepted the document, indicating that it would enter it into the record but rejected Bauer’s request that she be allowed to read the 37- page document during the hearing. Upon information and belief, that document sets out various references to God, citations to Bible passages, and Constitutional Amendments as the basis for Bauer’s statements to the Court.”

“The Government indicated that it was not seeking detention but asked the Court to impose what it termed the standard conditions of detention, which included that she not commit other offenses, not possess a firearm, not travel to the District of Columbia except for court appearances, not travel outside the Western District of Pennsylvania without advance notice to Pretrial Services, not travel outside the country without approval of the Court, and contact Pretrial Services as directed. Among other things, Bauer asserted her rights under the Bill of Rights. She also stated to the Court that no conditions of release should be imposed as she was innocent of the charges… She objected to conditions of release because she had an upcoming planned vacation and seminar to attend… When Bauer declined to answer a number of questions that the Court posed to her including whether she would be willing to be placed under oath and swear to abide by the conditions of pretrial release, the Court suspended the hearing, directed the Marshals to detain her and indicated that it would reconvene the hearing later in the day to give her time to reconsider. The Court also told Bauer that it would hold her in contempt if she continued to refuse to answer questions and abide by the procedures for the hearing” says the Factual Background section of the defense’s motion to prevent their client, Capitol rioter Pauline Bauer, from being tossed in jail for contempt of court, arguing Bauer “asserted religious and constitutional reasons for her decision to refuse to answer” the court’s basic questions on whether she understands the proceedings.

Bauer was tossed in jail Tuesday.

“Mahanoy Area High School student BL failed to make the school’s varsity cheerleading squad. While visiting a local convenience store over the weekend, BL posted two images on Snapchat, a social media application for smartphones that allows users to share temporary images with selected friends. BL’s posts expressed frustration with the school and the school’s cheerleading squad, and one contained vulgar language and gestures. When school officials learned of the posts, they suspended BL from the junior varsity cheerleading squad for the upcoming year.”

“After unsuccessfully seeking to reverse that punishment, BL and her parents sought relief in federal court, arguing inter alia that punishing BL for her speech violated the First Amendment. The District Court granted an injunction ordering the school to reinstate BL to the cheerleading team. Relying on Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist., 393 U. S. 503, to grant BL’s subsequent motion for summary judgment, the District Court found that BL’s punishment violated the First Amendment because her Snapchat posts had not caused substantial disruption at the school. The Third Circuit affirmed the judgment, but the panel majority reasoned that Tinker did not apply because schools had no special license to regulate student speech occurring off campus. Held: While public schools may have a special interest in regulating some off-campus student speech, the special interests offered by the school are not sufficient to overcome BL’s interest in free expression in this case” say Los Supremos on the case in the 8-1 ruling.

Only Clarence Thomas dissented. “A more searching review reveals that schools historically could discipline students in circumstances like those presented here” here wrote in his opinion, which I guess means he’s cool with other “historical” means of punishing students. Like paddling.

Indiana Capitol rioter Anna Morgan-Lloyd, a 49 year old grandma is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty Tuesday. “In a letter to the judge, Morgan-Lloyd apologized for entering the U.S. Capitol and said she feels ‘ashamed’ about how the march that day turned violent. She attached movie and book reports to her letter, summarizing ‘Schindler’s List’ and ‘Just Mercy.’ Her attorney recommended them, she said, to learn ‘what life is like for others in our country'” per USA Today. This CNN appearance by Morgan Lloyd’s attorney Heather Shaner confirms Shaner is about as convincing and forceful as you’d expect in real life.

“A long-awaited report from the GOP-led Michigan Senate Oversight Committee is out this morning: ‘This Committee found no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud in Michigan’s prosecution of the 2020 election.’ The committee also recommends that Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel ‘consider investigating those who have been utilizing misleading and false information about Antrim County to raise money or publicity for their own ends.’ Antrim refresher: human error caused the county’s tabulators to incorrectly communicate results to central election software and suggest Biden won the county. Equipment was reprogrammed and the results showed that Trump won Antrim by nearly 4,000 votes. A hand recount confirmed that.’The Committee finds those promoting Antrim County as the prime evidence of a nationwide conspiracy to steal the election place all other statements and actions they make in a position of zero credibility'” – Adam Brewster, CBS News.

We believe the Russians were undertaking a gunnery exercise in the Black Sea and provided the maritime community with prior-warning of their activity.

No shots were directed at HMS Defender and we do not recognise the claim that bombs were dropped in her path.

— Ministry of Defence Press Office (@DefenceHQPress) June 23, 2021

CNN: “With each passing day away from Washington, former President Donald Trump’s grievances continue unabated. And those complaints appear to be driving away two of the people who were closest to him during his White House tenure: his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Sometimes the former President complains for several hours about the ‘stolen’ 2020 election. Other times, his frustrations emerge in fits and starts – more likely when he is discussing his hopeful return to national politics. And while he often has a rotating audience of cheering listeners, the gap between Trump and his daughter and son-in-law grows wider by the week, according to 12 former Trump White House officials, former administration officials, family friends, acquaintances and members of Trump’s team who spoke with CNN about changes to the former President’s current inner circle. A large part of the reason for the separation is Trump’s constant harping on the past and his inability to move on.”

“The former President has also started to question the role that Kushner – one of the few people who were able to stay close to Trump throughout his two presidential campaigns and White House tenure – has played in his presidential legacy. Ivanka Trump has also struggled to undo the entanglements caused by the years at her father’s side in the White House, as she seeks a less complicated life for her family, according to two acquaintances. They described her as having to walk a fine line between embracing her father and distancing herself from his election lies. Having spent much of the last five-and-a-half years in close proximity to him, Ivanka Trump and Kushner were rarely seen with him in the months leading up to the former President’s seasonal shift from living at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, to living in a cottage at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. ‘They weren’t around for the usual spring and summer events at Mar-a-Lago,’ says one clubgoer and family friend, noting the absence of Trump’s elder daughter and the couple’s three young children.”

“Trump had tried to joke about the virus for months, sometimes even mocking people who had become ill… At one meeting several months [before Trump got sick], NEC director Larry Kudlow had stifled a cough. The room had frozen… Trump had waved his hands in front of his face, as if to jokingly ward off any flying virus particles, and then cracked a smile. ‘I was just kidding,’ he’d said. ‘Larry will never get COVID. He will defeat it with his optimism… John Bolton,’ he had said … ‘Hopefully COVID takes out John'” – Excerpt of the new book “Nightmare Scenario” published in Axios, adding “The authors’ sources thought Trump was deadly serious.”

“The huge voter turnout over the past three elections could scramble the usual dynamics of midterm voting – potentially providing Democrats their best chance to avoid losses next year that could cost them control of the House, the Senate or both. The president’s party has almost always lost ground in the first midterm after his election, a trend that stretches back well into the 19th century and threatens Democrats clinging to a slim majority in the House and a 50-50 split in the Senate after Joe Biden’s victory in 2020. One reason for those consistent losses, political scientists and campaign operatives agree, has been that voters who support the new president typically have not felt as much urgency to turn out in the midterm elections as the voters opposed to him. That risk still looms over Dems, but the party has a unique, rarely discussed, asset in trying to avoid that fate in 2022: the unusually large pool of voters who have backed its candidates in recent elections.”

“Everything else is working against Democrats, but this is the first midterm… that a president’s party has had this reservoir of votes hanging over. That’s the way Democrats can avoid the usual losses in the midterm: They have the names and addresses. Voters surged to the polls in large numbers in 2016, and in record-breaking proportions in the 2018 and 2020 elections; Democrats won the popular vote in both of those presidential races by substantial margins, while also capturing significantly more House votes nationwide than the GOP in 2018. As a result, there are nearly 91 million individual Americans who have voted Democratic in at least one of those three elections, according to previously unreported calculations by Michael Podhorzer, the longtime political director of the AFL-CIO, from data collected by Catalist, a Democratic targeting firm. Even with Donald Trump’s formidable success at energizing his supporters, that’s significantly more than the slightly more than 82 million voters who backed Republicans in at least one of the past three elections, according to Podhorzer’s calculations. This disparity helps explain the torrent of new laws that red state Republicans are passing, on an almost entirely party-line basis, making it more difficult to vote” – Ron Brownstein, CNN

Bloomberg: “Russia used bombs and gunfire in ‘warning shots’ against a British Navy destroyer in the Black Sea, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said Wednesday. A Su-24 aircraft dropped four bombs in waters near the Royal Navy destroyer H.M.S. Defender and a border patrol ship fired its gun to divert it after the British vessel entered Russia’s territorial waters off Crimea and refused to heed radio warnings, the ministry said, according to Interfax news service. Russia alleged the ship was 3 km (2 miles) into its waters when the incident occurred and reversed course after the firing.”

“Republicans want to go after Big Tech. But they’re now openly clashing with each other over a bipartisan effort to do just that. The House Judiciary Committee will consider a package of sweeping bills on Wednesday to crack down on the country’s largest tech companies, a proposal that’s won support from members of both parties after years of complaints from Congress about industry abuses. But these efforts have also exposed deep divisions in the GOP over how best to rein in Silicon Valley’s power, with House Republicans sparring over the legislative push.”

“Some GOP lawmakers have blamed leadership-aligned lobbyists for working behind the scenes to tank the measures, while others in the conference claim their colleagues went behind leaders’ backs to hash out a deal with Democrats. The infighting, which has spilled out into public view in the run-up to the consequential committee vote, underscores that the politics of antitrust don’t cut neatly across ideological lines, despite widespread agreement over the need to curb the power of tech giants. And the schism among conservatives has created some particularly strange partnerships in the halls of Congress. Look no further than progressive Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) linking arms on antitrust with GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Ken Buck of Colorado, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, or leading liberal Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) co-sponsoring a bill with stalwart Trump backer Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas). Such unlikely alliances also pit those very same Republicans against two powerful Trump allies: House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee” – Politico.

BBC: “Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy paper Apple Daily has announced its closure, in a blow to media freedom in the city. The publication’s offices were raided last week over allegations that several reports had breached a controversial national security law. Company-linked assets worth HK$18m were later frozen. Police also detained its chief editor and five other executives.”

“The tabloid has been critical of the Hong Kong and Chinese leadership. Its founder Jimmy Lai is already in jail on a string of charges. The paper’s management said that ‘in view of staff members’ safety’, it had decided ‘to cease operation immediately after midnight’ – making Thursday’s publication the final printed edition. The digital version of the 26-year old paper will no longer be updated after midnight. A separate announcement by publisher Next Digital thanked the readers for their ‘loyal support’ as well as its journalists, staff and advertisers.”

https://youtu.be/Ik2y8_GjCOI

Posted solely so I could write the headline.

“Yang is the first to concede, even though he ranks in fourth place. Nine candidates that rank below him have yet to drop out” website named after a guy who won 3 NYC mayoral election reports.

Founder of the Guardian Angels, a quasi-vigilante group of volunteer crime fighters, Curtis Sliwa has won the race to be Republican nominee for Mayor. He defeated Michael Flynn-endorsed rival Fernando Mateo by 40 points, reports the New York Times.

https://youtu.be/dVvx0Wnqfr8

Fox New hostess (and the anchorman of the network’s “Desperate Fox Wives” prime time lineup) Laura Ingraham claimed that Loudoun County (Virginia) police acted “China style” to break up a mob that refused to leave a county building after a school board meeting ended, some of whom were using a bullhorn to protest a variety of things, including the teaching of Critical Race Theory that’s not actually being taught in the schools and the existence of transgender students.

Having been a bartender and a pub manager myself, and coming from a family that’s been in the hospitality industry for four generations, I have a special place in my heart for bartenders and restaurant servers.  At various times, bartenders are amateur therapists, event planners, arbitrators, artists, bouncers and entertainers.  Because you play a different role for each customer who comes in, a good bartender does it with balance and grace.

A Florida bartender, however, turned into a guardian angel for a pair of women who were trying to have a quiet drink at his bar, No Vacancy in St. Petersburg, Florida.  Max Gutierrez noticed that the women seemed uncomfortable with a man who was repeatedly pushing himself on the women.

Instead of assuming he knew the situation, he slipped her a note disguised a receipt.  “If this guy is bothering you, put your ponytail on your other shoulder, and I will have him removed.  He’s giving me the creeps,” the note read.

Trump tweet on February 17, 2019: “Nothing funny about tired ‘Saturday Night Live’ on Fake News NBC! Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution? Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real Collusion! …THE RIGGED AND CORRUPT MEDIA IS THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!”

Trump tweet on March 18, 2019: “It’s truly incredible that shows like Saturday Night Live, not funny/no talent, can spend all of their time knocking the same person (me), over & over, without so much of a mention of ‘the other side,’ Like an advertisement without consequences. Same with Late Night Shows. Should Federal Election Commission and/or FCC look into this? There must be Collusion with the Democrats and, of course, Russia! Such one sided media coverage. Hard to believe I won and am winning. Approval Rating 52%, 93% with Republicans. Sorry! #MAGA”

Trump statement, June 22, 2021: “The story that I asked the Department of Justice to go after ratings-challenged (without Trump!) Saturday Night Live, and other late-night Losers, is total Fake News. It was fabricated, there were no sources, and yet the Lamestream Media goes with it. I did say, however, that Alec Baldwin has no talent, certainly when it comes to imitating me. The one who had what it took was Darrell Hammond. With all of that being said, however, I do believe that the 100% one-sided shows should be considered an illegal campaign contribution from the Democrat Party, hard to believe I got 75 million votes (the most of any sitting President) despite all of that, together with a very Fraudulent Election. 2024 or before!”

Tom Perez, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and Secretary of Labor under President Obama, is readying a run to be governor of Maryland, attempting to flip a state that was led by a Republican for the last eight years, Politico reports.

A resident of Takoma Park, Maryland, Perez would enter the race with perhaps the highest name recognition in the state.  Other Democrats, including state comptroller Peter Franchot and Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker, enjoy strong pockets of support in various places of the state.

The winner of the Democratic primary is believed to have an advantage at winning the governorship, succeeding Republican Larry Hogan, who is term limited.  Hogan is expected to mount a challenge for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. 

https://youtu.be/Vdv0hw_TBZQ

“Human engineering,” Fox News host Tucker Carlson chortles.  “Why do we laugh at Alex Jones again?  Sincere question.”

And then Tucker’s disturbed, maniacal laughter.