The Florida Republican Party doesn’t have enough on its mind with an assassination scandal between its candidates; now it’s also trying to explain a tweet it sent out in which it called a Jewish Democratic candidate for governor anti-Semitic.

As Politico explains, the Florida GOP tweeted Thursday morning, “While @GovRonDeSantis [Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis] works on policies and signs legislation in support of Florida’s Jewish communities, Pelosi calls an anti semitic, @CharlieCrist, a valued leader. Crist, @valdemings & @NikkiFried won’t stand up to Pelosi doing nothing to defend Florida’s Jewish community.”

Charlie Crist is a Democratic Florida Congressman running for governor who has supported pro-Israel policies.  A Democratic Florida Congresswoman challenging Republican Marco Rubio for a Senate seat, Val Demings is a former Orlando police chief who has been embraced by the local Jewish community.  And Nikki Fried, the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture who’s also running for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination?  Well, she’s Jewish. 

Mississippi Clarion Ledger: “Republican Mississippi Rep. Steven Palazzo is using campaign money to pay lawyers defending him in an investigation into whether he misspent campaign funds. Palazzo, who represents most of southern Mississippi, paid Jackson law-firm Watkins & Eager more than $60,000 in December using campaign dollars, according to campaign finance reports. The disbursements are listed as professional fees. Forbes first reported the payments. Justin Brasell, founder of Triumph Campaigns in Jackson, confirmed to the Clarion Ledger that the payments were for legal defense. Brasell offered no other comment on the matter. Palazzo’s office did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.”

https://youtu.be/6wZAEg2r8yU

Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-Clowntown, Texas) had to take more than a minute on the House floor Thursday to explain that he was being sarcastic in suggesting two Department of Interior agencies could alter the orbits of the moon and the Earth to reduce the impact of climate change… ’cause good sarcasm always needs a postscript to explain it, right?

I sarcastically asked [a] question regarding the Bureau of Land Management and the National Forest Service since they were going to be spending so much time on climate change and the Earth’s orbit was changing slightly and the moon’s orbit was changing slightly, could they do anything about that.  So for those that thought I was really challenging BLM and th– the Bureau of Land Management and the National Forest Service like they were gonna do something about the Earth’s orbit, uh, the National Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, they’re not gonna do anything about the Earth’s orbit because they can’t.  That’s not their job and, uh, although there’s some professor that thinks we might could [sic] adjust our orbit, ah, I think that’s still yet to be, ah, ah, arrived at scientifically.  But it’s an interesting concept but I had no belief that it was about to happen by the Bureau of Land Management or the National Forest Service.  

“Documents stored in safes in the Prime Minister’s Office were shredded on Sunday, in violation of the law, shortly before Prime Minister Naftali Bennett took office. People who worked at the office under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was he who ordered the documents shredded. It was not immediately clear which documents were destroyed or how many” – Haaretz.

Charlie abandoned them.  Then they were sent to the outfield.  And now, Victoria’s Secret is bidding their Angels adieu.

Five years after abandoning its then-ubiquitous catalogs that excited teen boys (and some girls) for four decades, Victoria’s Secret has announced that it would no longer promote the lingerie models as the, um, face of the brand.

According to New York Times, the brand will turn to a different set of women to promote the independent and strong spirit the company wishes to project.  Women such as Indian actor and entrepreneur Priyanka Chopra Jonas; Eileen Gu, a 17-year-old Chinese American freestyle skier and soon-to-be Olympian; Paloma Elsesser, a 29-year-old biracial model and inclusivity advocate who was the rare size 14 woman on the cover of Vogue; and the pro soccer player and gender-equality activist Megan Rapinoe, will become the face and voice of the brand.

KCCI: “An Iowa man has pleaded guilty to felony charges for firing his handgun into a carful of Black girls near the Iowa Capitol last December, injuring one. Michael McKinney, 26, pleaded guilty Wednesday to intimidation with a dangerous weapon and willful injury, charges that each carry up to 10 years in prison. He’s expected to receive a prison term at his Aug. 9 sentencing, but the parole board may determine how long he actually serves. Under a plea agreement that a prosecutor called ‘generous,’ the state will dismiss four charges including attempted murder and won’t seek sentencing enhancements that would require McKinney to serve a mandatory minimum of five years on each count before becoming eligible for parole.”

“McKinney, an Army veteran and resident of Saint Charles, Iowa, admitted that he intentionally fired into the girls’ vehicle, ‘causing the occupants to fear serious injury from my action.’ He acknowledged that one of the girls, 15, was shot in the leg and seriously injured. His trial had been scheduled for Monday and McKinney had been expected to argue he fired in self-defense after the girls’ car backed into a Trump supporter’s pickup truck. McKinney was wearing body armor and heavily armed when he participated in a pro-Trump parade of slow-moving vehicles through Des Moines on Dec. 6. Police say he had a pistol, another firearm in his vehicle and was carrying two loaded magazines. A car carrying four Black teenage girls began following the caravan as it passed through the heavily Democratic city, with occupants trading epithets with Trump supporters. A confrontation broke out between the teenagers and the much larger group of Trump supporters at a Capitol parking lot. Witnesses and the teen driver’s mother say the clash included racial and political taunts on both sides. Trump supporters surrounded the girls’ car, yelling and honking horns, so the driver put the car in reverse and struck a pickup. Bystander video shows McKinney pulling a handgun from his waistband and firing into the car from 15 feet away.”

“Malta is set to reopen to most U.S. travelers on June 17, following the addition of 38 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico to the country’s ‘amber’ list. ‘Malta looks forward to welcoming back Americans, one of our strongest inbound markets,’ Johann Buttigieg, chief executive officer of the Malta Tourism Authority, said in a statement issued by the country’s superintendent of public health on Wednesday. Like many nations that have begun to open their borders to foreigners, Malta is using a color-coded system that allows visitors from certain countries to enter, with conditions, depending on their color designation. Travelers from countries – or, in this case, states – on the amber list can visit after providing proof of a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of travel or proof from a healthcare provider that they recovered from COVID-19 within the past 90 days.”

“The following states, along with Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, are currently on the amber list: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. The other 12 states – Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming – remain under Malta’s ‘red’ designation” The Points Guy reports.

The headline is not clickbaity. Buttigieg really did say the government’s policy is officially discriminating against residents of eleven Red States, plus Nevada. That’s on you if you didn’t read far enough to see that it’s not Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg but Malta Tourism Authority CEO Johann Buttigieg talking about Maltese government policy toward MAGAmericans.

CNN: “Fox News, right-wing websites and Republican lawmakers are promoting a new false flag conspiracy that the FBI orchestrated the deadly assault on the US Capitol. The haywire theory originated from an article published Monday by Revolver News, a right-wing website. From there, it was picked up by Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who used his opening segment on Tuesday night to slam the FBI, saying it played a role in the January 6 attack. Several Republican lawmakers quickly piled on. They entered the article into the congressional record, tweeted about the Fox News segment, condemned the FBI agents who supposedly ‘organized and participated’ in the Capitol attack, and demanded answers from the FBI director. But here’s the problem: The underlying article was nothing more than a conspiratorial web of unproven claims, half-truths and inaccurate drivel about perceived bombshells in court filings.”

“Legal experts laughed off Carlson’s convoluted breakdown of how court documents supposedly revealed that ‘FBI operatives were organizing the attack.’ Twitter even fact-checked Carlson’s comments on Wednesday afternoon, calling them a ‘baseless suggestion.’ But the right-wing disinformation echo-chamber was already at full blast, and the false flag theory went viral. These theories are just the latest example of right-wing figures deflecting responsibility for the deadly Capitol riot away from former President Donald Trump and his supporters. Many GOP officials and conservative outlets have promoted false theories that the attack was instigated by Democrats, supporters of Black Lives Matter, or members of the far-left Antifa movement.”

“The Committee is now engaged in an investigation of the Trump Administration’s surveillance of Members of Congress, the news media, and others. We must determine if the Department sought these sensitive records for improper political purposes. We must ask why the Department repeatedly pursued gag orders – preventing companies from notifying their users of the sweeping information requests by federal law enforcement – despite realizing early in the effort that no criminal charges would result from these investigations. Finally, because the news media, the Members of Congress identified in recent reports, and the former White House Counsel were so frequently targets of President Trump’s public ire, we must identify the full set of individuals who may have also been the targets of politically-motivated investigations” – Excerpt of letter from the House Judiciary Committee to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

you know you’ve made it when the
drive-thru employee says ‘see you tomorrow’

— McDonald's (@McDonalds) June 16, 2021

When asked of the Capitol riot “Is it appropriate or not appropriate to describe this incident as a legitimate protest?” 47% of Republican respondents to a Monmouth University polls survey said “Yes”, while 48% said “No”, with remainder a “don’t know”. Read more here.

Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic: “These leaders claim to believe that, in addition to what they might personally suffer, their nation will pay a huge price for their loss as well. Netanyahu, who had to be ushered to his seat on the opposition benches after losing the vote, calls the new government a ‘dangerous coalition of fraud and surrender,’ and has vowed to ‘overthrow it very quickly.’ Fujimori has described her leftist opponent’s victory as a mortal threat to Peru and a guarantee that the country will follow Venezuela into repression and poverty. Trump, of course, has never acknowledged that there is such a thing as legitimate opposition to himself at all. Even before the election took place, he made clear that unless he won, he would not recognize the result.”

“The consequences for democracy – democracy around the world, not just in America, Israel, or Peru – are higher still. Elections have been stolen before. Dictators have falsified results before. But losing candidates in established democracies do not normally seek to turn their supporters against the voting system itself, to discredit elections, to undermine the very idea of competitive politics. No modern U.S. president has done so. No postwar European democratic leader has tried it either. And there is a reason: At its core, Trump’s ‘Stop the Steal’ campaign presents an existential challenge not to his opponents, but to democracy itself. If, by definition, your opponent’s victory can be obtained only through fraud, then how can any election be legitimate?”

“The refusal of Philadelphia to contract with CSS for the provision of foster care services unless CSS agrees to certify same-sex couples as foster parents violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment” says the decision, which sources say was unanimous.

“Plaintiffs do not have standing to challenge §5000A(a)’s minimum essential coverage provision because they have not shown a past or future injury fairly traceable to defendants’ conduct enforcing the specific statutory provision they attack as unconstitutional” says the decision.

“You know what really surprised me? I did the Heights, I did Jerusalem, and I did Iran – the Iran Deal was a disaster, right? And I also did many other things. Jewish people who live in the United States don’t love Israel enough. Does that make sense to you? I’m not talking about Orthodox Jews. I believe we got 25% of the Jewish vote, and it doesn’t make sense. It just seems strange to me. But I did very well in Florida. I did great in Florida” – Fat Rameses, still angry at the Tribe for (mostly) not voting for him after all he did for “their country” via Ami Magazine.

“The No. 3 Republican in the House of Representatives returned to one of Donald Trump’s properties, raising money for both her campaign and the former president’s business. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) held what she termed her ‘biggest #TeamElise fundraiser ever!’ A video posted to Instagram shows the former president addressing her supporters (who also happened to be his guests), plugging both Stefanik’s campaign and the club’s macaroni and cheese.”

“Campaign filings show that the business relationship between Stefanik’s political groups and the former president’s company stretches back more than a year. Within one week in December 2019, Stefanik’s campaign, affiliated PAC, and joint-fundraising committee all reported their first disbursements at a Trump property. The expenditures added up to $8,900, not a sum that will make or break the Trump Organization. But, if Stefanik was looking to check a box that says I’m a Trump customer, well, ✓✓✓. The most-recent patronage, which has yet to be reported to the FEC, comes on the heels of Stefanik’s move from moderate conservative to staunch Trumpist, a shift that helped vault her into Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyo.) old position as chair of the House GOP Conference. Stefanik’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment” – Forbes.

2. I'm introducing legislation to Eliminate the ATF to protect ALL gun owners across this country from a tyrannical, power hungry group of bureaucrats whose goal is to destroy our Second Amendment rights.

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) June 17, 2021

This shit is getting weird. Really starting to suspect Marjorie is going out of her way to twist leftist slogans and policy positions into MAGA rhetoric and be the “Republican AOC” like she was supposed to be. First it was going all “social justice” for Capitol riot defendants, now it’s “Abolish ICE” becoming “Abolish the ATF”. Wonder what the “Greene New Deal” is going to look like.

Politico: “A little-known GOP candidate in one of Florida’s most competitive congressional seats was secretly recorded threatening to send ‘a Russian and Ukrainian hit squad’ to a fellow Republican opponent to make her ‘disappear.’ During a 30-minute call with a conservative activist that was recorded before he became a candidate, William Braddock repeatedly warned the activist to not support GOP candidate Anna Paulina Luna in the Republican primary for a Tampa Bay-area congressional seat because he had access to assassins. The seat is being vacated by Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.), who is running for governor.”

“‘I really don’t want to have to end anybody’s life for the good of the people of the United States of America,’ Braddock said at one point in the conversation last week, according to the recording exclusively obtained by Politico. ‘That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. Luna is a fucking speed bump in the road. She’s a dead squirrel you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood.’ Reached by text message, Braddock refused to say whether he made any threats about Luna to the person who recorded him, Erin Olszewski. Asked repeatedly via text if he mentioned Russian-Ukrainian hit squads, Braddock wouldn’t give a yes or no answer, saying he had not heard the recording and that it’s ‘allegedly me… there is no proof of that.’ He also suggested the recording ‘may even be altered and edited.’ ‘This is a dirty political tactic that has caused a lot of people a lot of stress and is completely unnecessary,’ he said.”

An Media Matters analysis of Fox News broadcasts over the last year shows the the network’s pushing of a narrative regarding “critical race theory” has skyrocketed since the inauguration of President Joe Biden, with mentions of it growing nearly 2,700% in just four months.

As with topics like “cancel culture” and the “Green New Deal,” Fox News goes into overdrive to saturate its airwaves with various conspiracy theories and complaints about the subject matter.  Entire segments are dedicated to it, in which the network hosts and guests explain how horrible it is, without actually explaining–or in most cases, understanding–what the subject is.

The explosion of mentions of Critical Race Theory, from about twenty times in January to 537 times in May, demonstrates the importance conservative media pundits believe an obscure academic theory will have in the future.