Washington Post: “If Donald Trump was looking for some good news on his 75th birthday on last Monday, it arrived at 8:15 a.m. by way of a blue Mercedes slipping into Trump Tower’s private garage entrance on West 56th Street. Behind the wheel was Allen Weisselberg, Trump’s longtime confidant and Trump Organization chief financial officer, whom the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has pressed to turn on the former president as they investigate Trump’s business dealings. Every day that Weisselberg arrives for work at Trump Tower – as he did that day, steering in from his Upper West Side apartment across town – could be seen as a public signal that he is sticking with Trump and deflecting investigators’ advances.”

“As the most senior non-Trump executive at the former president’s private, closely held company, Weisselberg is probably a key figure in prosecutors’ efforts to indict Trump, legal experts say. His central role in nearly every aspect of Trump’s business, revealed in depositions and news interviews over the past three decades, afforded him what former employees say is a singular view of the Trump Organization’s tax liabilities and finances. Although that role long allowed him to stay behind the scenes, it may place him front and center in what would be an unprecedented prosecution of a former president, should the investigation advance.”

“In the span of a week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed bills restricting the teaching of critical race theory and allowing Texans to carry handguns without a license. He’s preparing to order state lawmakers back into a special session to pass legislation restricting voting access, a GOP priority. And in the most pugilistic affront to President Joe Biden’s White House yet, he announced Texas will build its own border wall. Less than six months into Biden’s presidency, Texas conservatives are in revolt against the new administration. And Abbott, the often overshadowed governor of the nation’s biggest red state, is emerging as an unlikely leader of the Biden resistance.”

“‘We are the tip of the spear, we are on the front of the battle lines, no question,’ said James Dickey, the former chair of the Texas Republican Party. ‘With the federal government entirely abdicating their responsibility, that leaves us on the border needing to take up the fight, and Governor Abbott is clearly doing that.’ In part, raising the Texas flag is a return to form for Abbott, who made a political career out of suing the Obama administration. As state attorney general, his posture toward Washington was so hostile that he said of his job in 2013, ‘I go into the office in the morning. I sue Barack Obama, and then I go home.’ But in restoring Texas to its place as Washington’s chief antagonist, Abbott is also doing something more revealing: Facing criticism from Republican activists for the mask mandate and business restrictions he imposed during the coronavirus pandemic, he is covering his right flank, while re-elevating immigration and border security – a major concern to Republican base voters – as a national issue. Just as important, he is carving out a distinct lane in the GOP’s presidential sweepstakes at a time when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is beginning to rise in stature among the party grassroots” – Politico.

The Guardian: “The prospect of the son of illiterate Andean peasants becoming president as his rival cries fraud has shaken Peru’s entrenched class system and its fragile democracy, letting loose a torrent of racism in the bicentennial year of the country’s independence. With 100% of the official vote counted, leftist Pedro Castillo had 50.12% – and advantage of about 44,000 votes over his far-right rival Keiko Fujimori. But Fujimori has claimed fraud, challenging about 500,000 votes, calling for half to be annulled, and obliging officials at Peru’s electoral board to reexamine ballots – despite the lack of evidence of wrongdoing. Two weeks after the election, which national and international observers said was transparent, the stance of Keiko Fujimori – the daughter of jailed 1990s autocrat Alberto Fujimori – has emboldened the far right, who have vowed not to accept the results.”

“In a move which illustrates the skewed playing field, Fujimori has recruited Lima’s most expensive law firms to quash 200,000 votes, almost all from poor Andean regions which voted overwhelmingly for Castillo. ‘The tension has reached a breaking point,’ said José Ragas, a Peruvian historian at Chile’s Catholic University. ‘The Lima elite is not just trying to keep power – it’s not just that they don’t want to recognise the victory of Pedro Castillo – but they are trying to cancel the rural vote.’ The election has unleashed expressions of racism that go beyond the discrimination against Japanese-descended Alberto Fujimori who took office in 1990 and Alejandro Toledo, a US-educated Andean, who governed Peru from 2001 to 2006. In one ugly but not unusual case, the online news site Sudaca published a private text messages between middle-class white men in Lima who discussed how people from the highlands should ‘die of hunger’ and called for the return of Alberto Fujimori’s alleged forced sterilisations which mostly targeted indigenous women. Other social media memes characterised Castillo as a donkey or said Andeans were too ignorant to be allowed to vote. They echo old ‘racist and classist attitudes ingrained in the national and social debate,’ said Ragas. But social media has given such comments a much bigger audience, he said.”

A nontrivial number of people in my mentions appear to actually believe that Champ, who died today, was the son of the president. (Also, I did no such thing). https://t.co/d5SgZ3c3mN

— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) June 20, 2021

The Department of Veterans Affairs is taking the first steps to provide gender confirmation services, including formatting the ability to conduct gender confirmation surgery, marking the first efforts of the VA to assist an estimated 150,000 trans veterans.

According NBC News, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough said the move is an effort to make amends for a “dark history” of discrimination against LGBTQ service members.  McDonough made the announcement in LGBTQ Pride Month.

“We’re making these changes not only because they are the right thing to do, but because they can save lives,” he said, noting that LGBTQ communities suffer from higher suicide rates, and veterans in the LGBTQ communities having higher rates of mental illness and suicidal thoughts, but do not seek help from the VA for fear of discrimination.

Ammon Bundy, the anti-government leader of a standoff against federal agents in Oregon in January 2016 and the son of Cliven Bundy who refused to pay grazing fees on federal land in 2014, has announced that he will run for governor of Idaho as a Republican, CNN reported.

“I’m running for governor because I’m sick and tired of all of this political garbage just like you are,” Bundy said in a video announcing his campaign on Saturday. “I’m tired of our freedoms being taken from us and I’m tired of the corruption that is rampant in our state government.  We have a great opportunity in Idaho to not only preserve our rights and freedom, but we can thrive by expanding and upholding the principles of liberty and prosperity that were passed on to us by our Founding Fathers and enshrined in our state and US Constitution.”

Bundy has been arrested at least half a dozen times during the coronavirus pandemic for criminal trespass and resisting arrest for invading the Idaho capitol to protest public health regulations put in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus. 

“A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany and at the University of Boulder in Colorado in the US has found a new way to exploit the principles of spiders’ joints to drive articulated robots without any bulky components and connectors, which weigh down the robot and reduce portability and speed,” reports Techexplore.com.

On June 20th, 2020 then-President Trump was getting worried about his reelection prospects. Lagging in the polls behind Democratic presidential nominee and then-former Vice President Joe Biden, and his signature MAGA rallies on hold for months due to the nationwide Coronavirus pandemic, Trump was dying to get back on the campaign trail. For whatever reason Trump and his campaign chose Tulsa – maybe due to the relative lack of local Coronavirus restrictions, that a deep Red State would guarantee a large crowd as opposed to a swing state, deliberate trolling because it was the site of one of the deadliest racial pogroms in American history, or some combination thereof – and set it for June 19th, before pushing it back a day as to respect Juneteenth.

The Trump campaign and their fans were elated that he was hitting the road again. Better yet, they got over a million requests for tickets, so much so they made plans for a double indoor-outdoor rally at the Bank of Oklahoma arena in Tulsa. The MAGA kids were SO excited.

“This week’s high profile summit between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin was markedly different from the meetings between Putin and Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump. The former President was largely seen as friendly toward Putin, while Biden is definitely not. In fact, Trump was so friendly with Putin that he took an issue (Russia) that was either bipartisan or one on which Republicans were more skeptical and turned it into a partisan one, with Republicans more inclined to be on Russia’s side. That still holds true today. Let’s start with basic favorability ratings. A quarter (25%) of Republicans viewed Russia favorably in a Gallup poll taken in February. Just 16% of Democrats did. This is about the same as it was last year when 27% of Republicans and 16% of Democrats had a favorable view toward Russia. To put this 25% of Republicans who like Russia in perspective, only about 10% of Republicans hold a favorable view of Biden in Gallup polling.”

“The partisan split on Russia is far different from what we had seen previously. From 1974 to 1994 and 2013 to 2016 in Gallup and General Social Survey data, Democrats and Republicans pretty much always had the same favorable rating of Russia (or the Soviet Union). The maximum difference (near the end of the Cold War in 1985) was when Democrats were 7 points more likely to hold a favorable view of the Soviet Union than Republicans were. The partisan split holds for Putin himself. Like with Russia, Americans of all stripes haven’t had a lot of confidence in Putin doing the right thing in world affairs in recent years. Republicans, however, were more likely to have less confidence (80%) than Democrats (74%) in 2015, according to the Pew Research Center. This year, Democrats were 9 points more likely to express a lack of confidence (87%) in Putin than Republicans were (78%). This 78% is only slightly worse than the 72% of Republicans who lack confidence in Biden’s ability to do the right thing in world affairs. Indeed, like with Russia as a whole, other polling indicates that Republicans are more likely to hold a favorable view of Putin than Biden” – CNN.

In the last several weeks, political pundits and users on social media have begun calling out the Republican Party of the United States for being a fascist organization. Although there have been discussions brewing on this topic for some time, the recognition in the past week appears to have been largely spurred by an article that appeared in the UK Independent, and by discussions on the Lincoln Project podcast. I am hopeful that my own work, on this site, has contributed to an acceleration of that discussion.

The Hill, 6/20/2017: “Handel returned to the stage shortly after Ossoff gave his concession speech at his own watch party, declaring victory and striking a tone of unity after a long and frequently bruising campaign. ‘To the Jon Ossoff supporters, know that my commitment they extend to every one of you, as well. We may have some different beliefs, but we are part of one community, the community of the Sixth District,’ Handel said at her Atlanta election night watch party.”

Laughing my #Ossoff

— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) June 21, 2017

“‘And I will work just as hard to earn your confidence in the weeks and months ahead. And I give every Georgian this promise. My promise is to work every single day relentlessly to make our state and there country a better place.’ Handel also went on to thank the slew of Republicans who helped her on her path to victory. She specifically called out President Trump and Vice President Pence, as the administration has deployed surrogates to help with the effort, as well as House Speaker Paul Ryan (Wis.), whose associated super PAC spent millions on her behalf. And she told the crowd about her phone call with a ‘more than gracious’ Ossoff, wishing him and his fiancee ‘all the best in the new life that they are going to be starting.'”

Epilogue: Karen Handel lost reelection twice, in 2018 and 2020 to Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA). The guy she was running to replace in the special election, HHS Secretary Tom Price resigned in September 2017 over personal use of a government plane. House Speaker Paul Ryan didn’t even run for re-election in 2018. After losing in the very first special election of the Trump presidency, Jon Ossoff is now serving as the Senior United States Senator from Georgia, having defeated Republican David Perdue in the very last special election of the Trump presidency in 2021.

New poll shows 30% of GOP voters think Trump ‘likely’ reinserted, supporting other recent survey | Just The News https://t.co/tGJdZoJe6Q

— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) June 20, 2021

https://youtu.be/CGdbNYBt9_4

Fox News host (and woman who can’t help commenting about how good her nephew looks in those swim trunks) Jeanine Pirro has a bad case of projection, as cuts from her former shows demonstrate.

“[President Joe Biden] seems to be losing it.  There are issues of clarity, memory, irritability, orientation and judgement.”

Jeanine mentions nothing about her slurring word or drinking on the job.

Champ Biden dies, Major lives on. The Biden family tragedy in miniature.

— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) June 19, 2021

The situation speaks for itself.  McLaughlin is a total prick and a fucking imbecile.

“Senator Ron Johnson (GQP – Wisc) Was greeted with boos when he stopped by Milwaukee’s Juneteenth Day celebration Saturday afternoon, June 19,” reports Milwaukee CBS 58.

“Johnson dropped his objection to making ‘Juneteenth’ a federal holiday earlier this week, after he blocked the bipartisan legislation a year ago. The republican senator says he is not against celebrating the day, but he didn’t think workers needed another paid day off at tax payers’ expense.”

A video of a Montreal police officer kneeling on the neck of a Black teen boy while he was apparently in handcuffs has sparked outrage in the Canadian city about one year after the death of George Floyd under similar circumstances, the Washington Post reports.

Taken by an unnamed bystander, the 90-second video of the June 10th confrontation shows two Montreal police officers detaining a 14-year-old boy, who was lying on the ground handcuffed while one of the officers kneeled on his neck, even though the teen does not appear to be resisting.  The other officer searches the boy’s backpack, pulling out what the officer says is a stun gun.

The boy, who was not identified because of his age, reportedly was not injured in the encounter.  His mother said during a CBC interview, ““Is it because my son is Black?  It’s not because we’re Black that we have to experience those kind of things. We’re humans. Poor child.”

Daily Beast: “Two people were injured Saturday as a driver plowed into a Pride parade in what the Fort Lauderdale mayor is calling a ‘terrorist attack against the LGBT community.’ The incident occurred during the Stonewall Pride Parade in Wilton Manors, Florida, a neighborhood about 10 miles north of Fort Lauderdale. Police have not confirmed the status of the victims, but WPLG reports the two are in critical condition.”

“What we witnessed was, as we were beginning to assemble the parade, I was walking with Congressman Ted Deutch, and the parade had just begun, and we saw people lining up, ready to move, and all the sudden this white pickup truck dashed right through the crowd, barely missing Congresswoman [Debbie] Wasserman-Schultz’ car, by inches, and just… smashed through a gate, smashed into a landscaping company, and he hit two people.’ Trantalis said it was ‘hardly an accident,’ but police have yet to confirm whether it was deliberate.”

CORRECTION 6/21/21 9:42 PM EDT: We jumped the gun calling the driver a terrorist in the original headline. Turns out this was indeed a tragic accident and one person lost their life. National Zero does sincerely regret this error, unlike some of the others ones.

On Saturday, the Former Guy endorsed some greaseball for Staten Island Borough President, an especially pointless endorsement, given the nature of the office. For those of you unfamiliar with the political landscape of New York City, here’s why: unlike the other 57 counties of New York State the five boroughs of NYC – The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island – don’t actually have their own governments, as they’re all part of a single municipality.

Since all the actual power rests with the Mayor and the City Council, the borough president of each does pretty much jack shit. It’s a ceremonial role – ribbon cuttings, signing letters, “advocating” their borough’s interests to the mayor and city council, etc. It’s the kind of office Trump should ran for instead of President of the United States. Why Trump is endorsing this dipshit for the highest office of the MAGA-est borough of New York City we don’t know and don’t particularly care, but National Zero does often report on pointless bullshit to fill space.

“A Palm Beach County man vandalized a new LGBTQ Pride intersection and crosswalk in Delray Beach on Monday while participating in a birthday rally for former President Donald Trump,” WPTV News reports.  “Alexander Jerich, 20, is facing charges of criminal mischief, vandalism with repair costs of over $1,000, reckless driving, and evidence of prejudice, which elevates the crime to a third-degree felony.”

Washington Post: “Late last December, as President Donald Trump pressed senior officials to find proof of election fraud, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows emailed acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen a letter detailing an outlandish theory of how an Italian defense contractor had conspired with U.S. intelligence to rig the 2020 presidential contest. The letter, which was among records released by Congress this past week, was printed under the letterhead of USAerospace Partners, a little-known Virginia aviation company. In early January, a second Virginia firm, the Institute for Good Governance, and a partner organization released a statement from an Italian attorney who claimed that a hacker had admitted involvement in the supposed conspiracy theory.”

“According to the conspiracy theory known as ‘Italygate,’ people working for the Italian defense contractor, in coordination with senior CIA officials, used military satellites to switch votes from Trump to Joe Biden and swing the result of the election. Though her name was not mentioned in either document, both Virginia organizations are led by Michele Roosevelt Edwards, according to state corporate filings reviewed by The Washington Post. Edwards is a former Republican congressional candidate who built a reputation as an advocate for the Somali people and as someone who could negotiate with warlords and pirates in the war-torn region. Edwards was formerly known as Michele Ballarin but changed her name last year, court records show. In 2013, The Post’s magazine explored how Edwards, once a struggling single mom, had reinvented herself as a business executive and then as a well-connected horse-country socialite who cultivated ties with senior Somali officials. The discovery of the role Edwards’s two firms had in spreading the Italygate conspiracy theory, as well as the roles others played, sheds new light on its origins and on how the claims made their way from feverish online speculation to some of the most powerful figures in the government. As Trump refused to concede defeat, his die-hard supporters pushed the conspiracy theory on social media and other channels as part of an effort to discredit Biden’s presidency that continues today.”