https://youtu.be/cq0tTbLCbB4

It’s just one minute of a 40 minute whine-a-thon.  But it properly characterizes how crazy the entire thing was.

HANNITY:  “If you do run in 2024, what might you do differently?  Whaddaya know now that you didn’t know in 2016?”

TRUMP:  “Well, y’know, we ran a very successful administration.” (Fact Check:  nearly half a million people died in one year; he never had an annual GDP growth over 3%; he never topped 50% in job approval.  By any measure, his administration was a failure and will be one of the bottom three presidencies in US history.)

“Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced Wednesday the state budget would provide $250 million as a ‘down payment’ to help fund the construction of a wall at the state’s border with Mexico. Former President Trump pledged to build a wall along the southern border, but only 450 miles of new barriers had been completed by the end of his term, per the Washington Post. President Biden terminated the national emergency declared by Trump used to fund his wall plans and is returning more than $2 billion redirected from Department of Defense projects for the border project. Trump, who will visit the border with Abbott later this month, faced opposition from ‘private property owners unwilling to allow the federal government to build on their land,’ the Texas Tribune notes.”

“Abbott told a news conference that his belief, per conversations he’s had with officials, is that a ‘combination of state land as well as volunteer land will yield hundreds of miles to build a border wall in Texas.’ He did not detail precisely how long he planned the wall to be nor its location, but he has directed the Texas Facilities Commission to hire a program manager to determine this, along with the total budget. Abbott said the $250 million in funding was ‘more than enough to hire a project manager and contractor to begin building the wall,’ declaring: ‘Texas will build a border wall in our state to help secure our border'” – Axios.

The tale of Georgia Republican Congressman Andrew Clyde refusing to shake the hand of a DC police officer who was beaten as he tried to protect the Capitol from a mob of domestic terrorist continues to get more disgusting.  And another Republican Congressman’s staff was concerned that a Black man entered their office while strapped with a gun… while wearing a police uniform.

With Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who is Black and in uniform because he had just gotten off duty, DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, was working his way around the Capitol Wednesday morning when he ran into the Georgia Republican.  Fanone reached he is hand out to shake hands, but Clyde recoiled.  When Fanone asked why Clyde wouldn’t shake his hand, Clyde responded, “I don’t know who you are,” according to the Washington Post.  Clyde then pulled out his cell phone to record the interaction, Fanone believed, perhaps to post the interaction and claim Fanone was aggressive.

Fanone, who was tased and suffered multiple minor heart attacks while being pummelled by the insurrectionists, has become a recognized face in the Capitol as he’s pushed Congress for additional police funding and for recognition for the officers who tried to hold back the mob of Trump supporters set on disrupting the Constitutional peaceful transfer of power exemplified by the certification of the Electoral College tallies by Congress on January 6th. 

Department of Justice press release: “A Massachusetts man was convicted by a federal jury yesterday in connection with placing a lit firebomb at the entrance of a Longmeadow senior health care facility in April 2020. John Rathbun, 37, of East Longmeadow, was convicted following a week-long trial of one count of attempting to transport or receive explosive devices in interstate or foreign commerce with the knowledge or intent that the device will be used to kill, injure or intimidate any individual or unlawfully to damage or destroy any building, vehicle and one count of attempting to maliciously damage or destroy, by means of fire or an explosive, any building, vehicle or other real or personal property used in interstate or foreign commerce. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for Nov. 12.”

“‘Mr. Rathburn’s dangerous and cruel acts harmed not only the elderly residents of this Jewish assisted living facility, but also the entire community,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “I thank the jury, prosecutors and investigators for their efforts to ensure the defendant was held accountable for his actions.’ ‘The jury has spoken: Mr. Rathbun is guilty of lighting a firebomb right at the entrance to a Jewish assisted-living facility – a cruel and senseless crime,’ said Acting U.S. Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell for the District of Massachusetts. ‘Thanks to the jury’s verdict and the good work of prosecutors and investigators, the man who targeted vulnerable members of our community will not be a threat to public safety anytime soon.’ ‘The danger posed by John Rathbun in this case was very real. By trying to ignite a firebomb outside a Jewish assisted-living facility, he put the lives of innocent people at risk,’ said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Boston FBI Field Office. ‘Through the diligent efforts of our Western Massachusetts Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the jury’s hard work, the community is much safer now.'”

“Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that Florida law-enforcement officers will go to Texas and Arizona to help with border control, as Florida continues to challenge the Biden administration in federal court about immigration enforcement. DeSantis’ announcement during a news conference in Pensacola came after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey sent a letter last week to governors of the 48 other states requesting assistance in battling illegal immigration at the border with Mexico. Details on the number of Florida officers that will be deployed, where they will go and the costs to Florida taxpayers have not been determined, DeSantis said.”

“In addition to the Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the DeSantis administration said commitments to send officers have come from the Brevard, Escambia, Hillsborough, Holmes, Lee, Okaloosa, Pasco, Santa Rosa and Walton county sheriff’s offices” – Miami Herald.

https://youtu.be/9W87y8IZlX4

“The events of January 6th that you keep hearing about endlessly, events that Democrats in Congress describe as an act of war carried out by white supremacists, as dangerous and historically significant as Pearl Harbor and 9/11–those events apparently were at least in part organized and carried out in secret with people connected to federal law enforcement.  It’s hard to think of a bigger potential scandal than this one.”

He’s right:  there would be no bigger scandal than a sitting president telling federal law enforcement to run a false flag operation to storm the Capitol.

The House of Representatives voted by a 415-14 margin to make June 19th a federal holiday called the Juneteenth National Independence Day, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk where it will be signed, NPR reports.

Juneteenth commemorates the day when slaves in Galveston, Texas learned of their emancipation in 1865 upon the reading of announcement of General Order No. 3 by Union Army General Gordon Granger when the Union Army took control of Texas after the Civil War.

All fourteen votes opposing the holiday came from white male Republicans:  Andy Biggs (AZ), Mo Brooks (AL), Scott DesJarlais (TN), Tom Tiffany (WI), Thomas Massie (KY), Andrew Clyde (GA), Ronny Jackson (TX), Doug LaMalfa (CA), Ralph Norman (SC), Mike Rogers (AL), Matt Rosendale (MT), Paul Gosar (AZ), Tom McClintock (CA) and Chip Roy (TX).

Vaccine opponents, including former child star and Trumpian Ricky Schroder, picketed outside the site of an intimate Foo Fighters concert Tuesday because the band required all those in attendance to prove they were fully vaccinated, Variety reports.

The concert was held at The Canyon Club in Laguna Hills, California, which has a maximum capacity of 600.  The show was a warm-up gig for a Foo Fighters performance at Madison Square Garden on June 20th, where all in attendance must show proof of vaccinations.

Photos on social media show a couple dozen protesters carrying picket signs reading, among other things, “Foo Fighters fight to bring segregation back” and “Vaccines cause injury and death.”

https://youtu.be/oOjlsEfbAN8

President Joe Biden took a moment before boarding Air Force One in Switzerland to apologize for chiding a reporter at the end of the press conference he held following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I owe my last questioner an apology,” Biden said to reporters on the tarmac in Geneva. “I shouldn’t have been such a wise guy with the last answer I gave.  To be a good reporter you have to be negative at life.  You are the brightest people in the country, but [it] makes no sense for me to negotiate with you.  I apologize for having been short.”

The Federal Reserve announced that it would keep interest rates steady at zero to one-quarter point for the moment, but it anticipates seeing two separate quarter point increases in 2023 because the US economy is rebounding from the pandemic faster than initially anticipated.

According to NBC News, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell stated that current inflation is being caused by temporary clogs in the supply chain that will abate over time.  These problems are impacting things like lumber and car prices.

“This is an extraordinarily unusual time, and we really don’t have a template or any experience in a situation like this,” Powell said at a news conference after the meeting of the Board.  “These very specific things that are driving up inflation will be temporary.  High inflation readings will start to abate.  There’s no reason for supply and demand to be out of whack.”

New York Times: “The Justice Department has closed its criminal investigation into whether a disparaging memoir by President Donald J. Trump’s national security adviser John R. Bolton illegally disclosed classified information and dropped its lawsuit aimed at recouping profits from the book, according to Mr. Bolton and a court filing. The agreement ends an effort that began under the Trump administration to silence Mr. Bolton and sue him over the book’s profits. Ending both the inquiry and the lawsuit is a clear rebuke by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland of the Trump Justice Department’s tactics in the matter. ‘We argued from the outset that neither action was justifiable because they were initiated only as a result of President Trump’s politically motivated order to prevent publication of the ambassador’s book before the 2020 election,’ said Mr. Bolton’s lawyer, Charles J. Cooper. By ending the legal action, Mr. Cooper said, ‘the Department of Justice has tacitly acknowledged that President Trump and his White House officials acted illegitimately.'”

“A settlement by the Justice Department is likely to shield Trump administration officials from being forced to answer questions under oath about their time in office. A federal judge had given Mr. Cooper approval to begin deposing those officials, but a settlement would end that litigation. A spokeswoman for the Justice Department declined to comment. The legal action against Mr. Bolton began last year after Mr. Trump publicly and privately pressured White House aides and Justice Department officials to use their powers to stop Mr. Bolton from publishing his book about his time working in Mr. Trump’s White House, ‘The Room Where It Happened.’ In June 2020, the Justice Department sued Mr. Bolton seeking to stop the publication of the memoir and to recoup profits he made from it; a judge ruled that the department could continue to seek the profits but could not stop its publication. It was revealed last September that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation into whether Mr. Bolton had unlawfully disclosed classified information in the book – an inquiry that started after the Trump administration failed to halt its publication. As part of the investigation, the department issued a grand jury subpoena to the book’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, for communications records about the memoir.”

Speaking on a Zoom call with members of the nonpartisan No Labels, a major donor network, West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin suggested that the donors could help convince Republican Senators support a January 6th commission to help him fend off efforts to reform the filibuster.

In a recording of the call obtained by The Intercept, Manchin approached–but did not cross–Congressional ethics lines about sitting members dealing with political donors.  At one point, Manchin suggested that those on the call “who might be working with [retiring Republican Missouri Senator Roy Blunt] in his next life” could convince Blunt to vote in favor of the commission.

There are laws against offering members of Congress future employment if they vote in favor of specific legislation–which Manchin seems to be implying–but because Manchin says “[work] with” instead of “hiring,” the statement is legal.

“The Yukon Territory’s COVID-19 outbreak climbed from 18 to 21 active cases on Monday. That’s despite nearly three-quarters of the territory’s adult population being fully vaccinated. And even though life in Skagway seems to be getting back to normal for most, the rising case count is upending daily life on the other side of the border. Whitehorse, Yukon’s largest city, sits about 110 miles north of Skagway. With the international border between Canada and the United States remaining closed to all but essential traffic, many people in the small border town of Skagway dream of visits to its closest neighbor accessible by road for groceries, hot springs and more.”

“However, this weekend Yukon’s COVID-19 cases surged. New cases were reported in Whitehorse as well as smaller communities like Burwash Landing and Carcross. Yukon Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Catherine Elliott briefed reporters on Monday about a new, more infectious strain of the coronavirus. ‘This is an outbreak of the gamma variant of COVID-19, which is a variant of concern that was first recognized in Japan, among people traveling from Brazil,’ Elliott said. Though most of the cases in Yukon involve high school students and unvaccinated adults, at least one fully vaccinated individual in Whitehorse was reported as infected. But Elliott said that’s rare. ‘The times we see those unusual rare breakthrough cases is prolonged close contact of the type you have in a household or with a sweetie or with your, you know, best friends,’ Elliott said. Additionally, Elliott confirmed that symptoms are less severe in fully vaccinated people, plus the risk of hospitalization and death is far lower” – Alaska Public Broadcasting.

AP: “Former Republican Speaker Larry Householder was expelled from the Ohio House in a vote Wednesday following his indictment in an alleged $60 million federal bribery probe, only the second time the state Legislature has pushed out a member and the first time in 150 years. The Republican-led House voted 75-21 to remove Householder, of Perry County, approving a resolution that stated he was not suited for office because of the indictment.”

“The full House voted after lawmakers forced the measure to the floor instead of waiting for the expulsion resolution to work through the committee process. Reps. Brian Stewart and Mark Frazier, both Republicans representing districts that border Householder’s, encouraged their colleagues to ‘do the right thing’ and vote to expel. ‘This has been a distraction. This has been a stain on the institution and it is time for us to come together as one body,’ Frazier said, adding that ‘this institution is greater than any one man.’ Householder and four associates were arrested in July in an investigation connected to legislation containing a ratepayer-funded bailout of two Ohio nuclear power plants. The $1 billion rescue would have added a new fee to every electricity bill in the state and directed over $150 million a year through 2026 to the plants near Cleveland and Toledo.”

In a complete turnaround from US-Russian summits from the last few years, President Joe Biden abandoned the fawning language favored by his predecessor for Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that he made clear to Putin that the United States would not accept criminal activity sponsored by the Russian government.

According to the Associated Press, Biden stated that he told Putin that Russian cyberintrusions into US utilities and businesses would not be tolerated.  “I pointed out to him, we have significant cyber capability,” Biden said. “In fact, (if) they violate basic norms, we will respond. … I think that the last thing he wants now is a Cold War.”  Putin denied any Russian part in the attacks, although US intelligence puts the responsibility squarely in Moscow’s corner.

The meeting between the two leaders was polite, but far from cordial, with Putin saying there was “no hostility” during the hours-long meeting.  “The meeting was actually very efficient,” Putin said. “It was substantive, it was specific. It was aimed at achieving results, and one of them was pushing back the frontiers of trust.”

A federal appeals overturned a decades-old North Carolina law that bans abortions after the twentieth week of pregnancy, saying it was unconstitutional and posed a threat of prosecution on providers who are operating within the law, the Washington Post reports.

A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit unanimously overturned the 1973 law, and sets up a Supreme Court case going at the heart of the viability argument in Roe v. Wade.  In the past few years, Republican-led states have passed legislation that has far more restrictive timeframes for women to seek an abortion, including “heartbeat” bills that would prevent a woman from seeking an abortion at six weeks, before many women may realize they are pregnant.

The judges involved in the case:  Judge Diana Motz, a nominee of President Bill Clinton,  Judge Albert Diaz, a nominee of President Barack Obama, and and Judge Julius Richardson, a nominee of President Donald Trump.

The official total of the number of weapons stolen or missing from US Army inventories is less than one-fifth the number actually unaccounted for, with many of those guns being used in civilian crimes including murders, a special report from the Associated Press documents.

The Army has reported just 251 weapons going missing between 2010 and 2019; however, internal memos show that the Army is aware of at least 1,313 weapons that are accounted for from 2013 to 2019.  The Army is supposed to account for any weapon in the field, in storage, destroyed, sold, lost in combat or retired.

In a legal battle stemming from a 2013 Freedom of Information Act request, the AP finally got records this year on the missing records from the Department of Defense Small Arms and Light Weapons Registry, which inventories weapons for all US armed forces.  Charles Royal, a retired civilian employee of the office, said that he compiled the data as requested, but was ordered by military officers to withhold the information.  He was not given a reason to prevent the release of the information.

Facing financial struggles, two far-right extremist groups at the center of conspiracy charges by federal authorities for their members’ roles in the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on the US Capitol continue to struggle with fundraising and money management issues.

According to the Wall Street Journal, board members of the Oath Keepers are questioning the leadership and management of co-founder Stewart Rhodes, whom the board accuses of spending the group’s funds on things like hair dye, steaks and guns for himself.

The Oath Keepers have less than $10,000 in the bank, according to Rhodes.  Their membership ranks have dropped 80% from their peak of 7,500.  Four board members quit after uncovering Rhodes’ spending, and at least six state chapters has split from or minimized involvement with the national organization.