Ron Brownstein, The Atlantic: “While Senator Joe Manchin is demanding that both parties agree on any further federal voting-rights legislation, a new study quantifies how completely Republicans have excluded Democrats from the passage of the restrictive voting laws proliferating in red states. In places such as Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, and Montana, the most restrictive laws approved this year have passed on total or near-complete party-line votes, with almost all state legislative Republicans voting for the bills and nearly all Democrats uniting against them, according to an analysis of state voting records provided exclusively to The Atlantic by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU. That pattern of unrelenting partisanship has left many state-level Dems incredulous at the repeated insistence by Manchin, a conservative Dem from West Virginia, that he will support new federal voting-rights legislation only if at least some Republican senators agree to it.”

“Manchin is ‘acting like Republicans and Democrats are working together on this stuff, and Republicans in Arizona have completely shut the Democrats out of the [legislative] process,’ Katie Hobbs, the Democratic secretary of state there, told me in an interview. Similarly, Jennifer Konfrst, the Democratic whip in the Iowa House of Representatives said, ‘It is unfathomable to me that we would look at this issue and say we have to bring Republicans along, in this political climate, in order to make true change. I don’t see anywhere where Republicans are inviting Democrats along, or inviting Democrats to the table. Why are some Democrats saying ‘I won’t do this unless it’s bipartisan?’’ In its latest tally of state voting laws, the Brennan Center says that since January, 14 states have passed 24 laws restricting voting access. (That’s not likely to be the final tally, because the center also reports that dozens of other restrictive bills are still pending across another 18 states.) Of the new restrictions that have already passed, the Brennan Center qualifies 17 in nine states as ‘highly restrictive,’ imposing the greatest barriers to participation. In all of those nine states, Republicans hold unified control of both the state legislature and the governorship, except for Kansas, where the GOP-legislature overrode Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s veto of their voting changes.”

“Days before the first Republican candidate jumped into next year’s Arizona Senate race, he poured millions into an ostensibly nonpartisan voter registration operation affiliated with prominent election fraud conspiracy theorists. GOP candidate Jim Lamon embraces many of these theories, and a drive to register voters with the same inclination has the potential to benefit his candidacy. Lamon also stands to get a substantial tax break from his $2 million effort to turn out conservative voters. In late April, Lamon, a renewable energy executive, announced his donation to the nonprofit Look Ahead America, designed to help register ‘tens of thousands of new conservative voters.'”

“A week later, Lamon officially entered the race to challenge Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat. Records indicate Lamon had been laying the groundwork for his run by the time he donated to LAA: his campaign website’s domain was registered in March, and its social media pages were created in April. LAA is officially a nonpartisan charity and can legally engage in voter registration activities as long as they’re not geared toward benefitting a specific candidate or party. The group said it planned to use Lamon’s $2 million to register and turn out ‘America First patriots.’ LAA was formed as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2017 but had its tax-exempt status revoked last year for a persistent failure to file annual reports with the IRS” – Axios.

Business Insider: “Some QAnon conspiracy theorists are fixating on the fact that one of the Brood X cicadas landed on President Biden, with some believing that the insect was a coded message from the mysterious ‘Q.’ A June 9 video of Biden swatting away a cicada that landed on his neck circulated on QAnon forums and group chats. This led some followers to wonder if this was a sign from ‘Q,’ who they believe is a shadowy government insider who is exposing top-level secrets in info drops called ‘comms.’ QAnon is a baseless far-right conspiracy theory that claims former President Trump is secretly fighting a ‘deep state’ cabal of satanic pedophiles and cannibals.”

“A post in a 225,000 strong QAnon Telegram chat We The Media read: ‘JOE BIDEN BITTEN BY A CICADA – COMMS? Just so happens that Cicadas nymphs emerge after a 17-year childhood underground!!! What? CHILD? UNDERGROUND? 17?’ The post draws parallels between the 17 years that Brood X cicadas spend living underground, implying that this timeframe is somehow linked to Q. The number ’17’ is often used in QAnon circles because Q is the 17th letter of the alphabet. It also references the ‘underground,’ a baseless belief that QAnon supporters hold that there is a hidden network of pedophiles that ‘Q’ – and Trump – will one day expose. However, it is common knowledge that the emergence of cicada swarms is a natural phenomenon that occurs once every 17 years. The current swarm, Brood X, is one of the largest broods so far.”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party on Thursday released an English-language statement in which it committed to a peaceful transfer of power in Israel, if indeed a new government not led by Netanyahu is sworn in next week. This is the first time the party has publicly addressed the issue since Yair Lapid announced last week that he has succeeded to form a coalition. The statement, which wasn’t published in Hebrew, came a day after CNN aired a segment comparing Netanyahu’s reaction to the results of the last election, the fourth in two years, to former U.S. President Donald Trump’s challenge of his election loss in 2020. The segment was titled ‘Netanyahu ripping a page from Trump’s playbook.’ The Likud statement seemed like a direct response to the CNN segment, in which quotes by Trump and Netanyahu were aired one after the other, highlighting the similarities between them. ‘When PM Netanyahu speaks about ‘election fraud’ he isn’t referring to the vote counting process in Israel in which he has complete confidence,’ the party claimed. ‘There is also no question about the peaceful transition of power'” – Haaretz.

Oregon Public Broadcasting: “State Rep. Mike Nearman became the first person ever expelled from the Oregon Legislature on Thursday, following revelations he helped plan an armed incursion in the state Capitol late last year. In a widely anticipated vote, the Oregon House approved a resolution that formally found Nearman’s act of opening a Capitol door for a far-right crowd on Dec. 21 amounted to ‘disorderly behavior’, the constitutional standard for ejecting a legislator. The resolution passed by a vote of 59-1, with only Nearman voting against.”

“‘This is potentially the most serious and historic vote any of us will ever take in our career as legislators,’ said state Rep. Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, toward the end of a somber, relatively brief debate in which Nearman was the only Republican to speak. Nearman, granted unlimited time to speak, instead kept his remarks short. As he has consistently, he argued that the ongoing closure of the state Capitol is unconstitutional, and by allowing protesters into the building he had done the right thing. ‘You’re considering expelling a member, for the first time in history, because he thinks that people should have access to their Capitol, especially during session,’ Nearman said. ‘After this session, we’re all going to go out to dinner or stop at the grocery store, or maybe tomorrow we’ll shop and buy clothes or get our oil change, because all these places are open, but not this building.’ Outside the building, several dozen of Nearman’s supporters gathered in protest of the vote, with at least one person briefly kicking the Capitol’s facade.”

https://youtu.be/9zdbX_yodEc

“Between  July 1st, 1997 and the end of 2013–that’s five and a half years…”

Sigh.

https://youtu.be/HXifwSfnsTk

Fox News host (and paperback romance novel in a textbook world) Tucker Carlson explored the lowering birth rate of white people in the United States with a conservative military historian on his show tonight because… Fox News.

“Do you find it interesting that they [whoever “they” are] are *so* offended by fertility, and nature, and the idea that people reproduce, and that’s okay” Carlson laments without citation.  “You know, that we, men and women, come together and create new life.  Like, the whole thing is repulsive to them.  Why is that?”

An ongoing drought has prompted federal authorities to cut off water going to farms in southern Oregon from the Upper Klamath Basin on the California-Oregon border because dangerous low water levels threaten an endangered fish species, CNN reports.

The problem comes from a “geo-scaping” project undertaken more than a century ago that funneled water from the Klamath Basin away from Native American lands and into the farms of white settlers in southern Oregon.  Over the years, the tribes have regained some of the water rights, but it’s now pitted the tribes against federal agencies, farmers and environmentalists.

The geo-scaping ultimately led to two species of fish in the basin that are important to the culture of the Klamath tribes of the region. 

https://youtu.be/kdVMt4AQ3Ac

Democratic California Congressman Eric Swalwell, a member of the House Intelligence Committee in 2017, tells CNN’s Don Lemon that he was informed by Apple that the Trump Administration seized his communications records.

In a court filing comparing her to a Buddhist monk, Sidney Powell’s attorney asked a New York state judge to dismiss the $2.7 billion defamation suit filed by Smartmatic against her for her repeated statements claiming the company conspired to flip votes against Donald Trump, Business Insider reports.

According to the filing by attorney Howard Kleinhendler, Powell also didn’t use her appearances on Fox News as “infomercials” to raise money for herself or her organization funding her election fraud claims, Defending the Republic, even though she frequently asked for donations to the group while she made appearances on the supposed news network.

“Powell’s Fox News interviews were about election integrity, evidence of election fraud, and her intention to take legal action to bring the malfeasance to light,” the filing said.  “Her appearances were not informercials [sic] promoting her law firm or DTR’s websites.”

“Count Doral among the latest Miami-Dade cities to erect defenses against casino politics as the prospect of gambling — and a Trump-branded casino — creeps closer,” reports the Miami  Herald. “The Doral city council on Wednesday voted 4-0 to ban gambling and casinos from the city unless approved by residents in a referendum, weeks after Gov. Ron DeSantis negotiated a $500 million gaming deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida.”

https://youtu.be/QbKGQZdsWvI

One America News personality Christina Bobb blows up at Arizona Republic reporter Jen Fifield, who has been questioning Bobb about her objectivity covering the Cyber Ninjas audit of Maricopa County ballots when Bobb’s been actively fundraising for the effort.

Bobb yells at Fifield something that sounds like, “You can come at me every fucking day!  I don’t care.”

“Texas will begin building its own border wall and next week will begin arresting migrants who trespass on private property, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday. ‘Change is needed to fix the border crisis,’ Abbott said. The order was one of several new initiatives announced by Abbott during the Border Security Summit, including appropriating $1 billion for border security, asking the federal government for relief for landowners and creating a task force on border security. Abbott said he would provide more details on the border wall next week.”

“He also spoke of a disaster declaration he had issued last week, which directed the state’s Department of Public Safety to enforce both federal and state criminal laws, including criminal trespassing, smuggling and human trafficking while having Texas Health and Human Services Commission take ‘all necessary steps’ to discontinue the state licensure of ‘any child care facility that shelters or detains unlawful immigrants’ under a contract with the federal government” – CNN.

The Trump Administration subpoenaed communications records for two Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee, their aides and their families in order to try to identify people who were reportedly leaking classified information, the New York Times reports.

The Trump Justice Department, then led by Jeff Sessions, subpoenaed Apple for information on calls and text messages for the two members, one of whom was California Democrat Adam Schiff, then the minority ranking member of the committee and now the committee’s chairman.  One of the people whose records were subpoenaed was a minor.

While Trump has complained repeatedly that the “Deep State” was spying on him and his family, it appears that Trump was actually using the apparatus of the federal government to spy on his political opponents, including those who were investigating Trump’s connections to Russia during the 2016 election.

A panel of six Oregon state lawmakers has recommended that the state house expel Republican state representative Mike Nearman, who opened locked doors to let antigovernment protesters into the statehouse, the Associated Press reports.

“It’s impossible to overstate the seriousness of the reason we are here today,” Democratic state representative Paul Holvey said. “Rep. Nearman enabled armed, violent protesters to enter the Capitol, breaching the security of the Capitol, which was officially closed to the public, and also endangered the authorized staff and legislators inside the building.”

Nearman was seen on security cameras opening locked doors to allow right wing protesters into the capitol.  Some of the protesters were armed, and their intent was to disrupt the legislative session considering coronavirus virus public health restrictions.  A video of Nearman explaining to a townhall meeting how to breach the building went viral earlier this week.

NPR: “Ever wish you could combine the comfort of a sensible shoe with the trendiness of after-work heels? Your prayers may have just been answered – if you have the guts to rock what may be one of the most controversial shoe releases in recent memory. Behold, Crocs with stiletto heels, a fashion choice that has come out of the shoemaker’s latest collaboration with Balenciaga for the fashion house’s spring 2022 collection. The new version of the foam clog seems to feature its usual look, but with the surprising (and, if you ask some, disturbing) addition of a stiletto heel. The shoes’ debut rocked social media, becoming a hot topic for many on Twitter.”

“‘WE DONT WANT THIS,’ one user put it succinctly. A handful are pressing the brands to announce a release date. Most, unsurprisingly, are giving it the meme treatment. As strange a pairing as it may seem, this isn’t the first time Crocs and Balenciaga have teamed up: Their first partnership in 2017 saw the creation of an $850 pair of platform clogs that sold out before they were even officially released, according to W Magazine. Is it possible that Crocs, an iconic sensible shoe beloved by grandparents and toddlers the world over, is slowly legitimizing itself as a fashionable footwear option? The brand has already launched limited collections with high-profile artists like Diplo, Justin Bieber, Bad Bunny and Post Malone.”

“Jason Miller is leaving his day to day duties as former President Trump’s spox to take over as the CEO of a tech start-up company, according to a person familiar. The company owns one of the social media platforms Trump is considering. Trump is interviewing spox replacements now.” —Meridith McGraw of Politico

A federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday rejected the lawsuit by a non-profit group representing Atlanta-area small businesses seeking to mandate that Major League Baseball return to playing the league’s All-Star Game in Atlanta in July, the Associated Press reports.

U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Carponi ruled that the plaintiffs failed to make their case that the businesses had suffered any irreparable damages by the decision of the league to move the game, a decision made after the Georgia legislature and governor rushed through voting restrictions designed to suppress voter turnout.

Rob Manfred, the league’s commissioner, said the decision to move the game came after consulting with individual players who were likely to be selected to the All-Star teams as well as the Players Alliance, a group of Black players formed after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. 

With President Joe Biden starting his first foreign trip with meetings of the G-7, NATO and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump released another whiny missive, declaring his fealty and trust in Putin and refusing to call Biden “President Biden.”  He also demeans US intelligence agencies who found that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections–a finding that the then-GOP majority US Senate concurred with.

As President, I had a great and very productive meeting in Helsinki, Finland, with President Putin of Russia.  Despite the belated Fake News portrayal of the meeting, the United States won much, including the respect of President Putin and Russia.  Because of the phony Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, made up and paid for by the Democrats and Crooked Hillary Clinton, the United States was put at a disadvantage–a disadvantage that was nevertheless overcome by me.  As to who do I trust, they asked, Russia or our “Intelligence” from the Obama era, meaning people like Comey, McCabe, the two lovers, Brennan, Clapper, and numerous other sleezebags, or Russia, the answer, after all that has been found out and written, should be obvious.  Our government has rarely had such lowlifes as these working for it.  Good luck to Biden in dealing with President Putin–don’t fall asleep during the meeting, and please give him my warmest regards!

Six members of far right militia group the Three Percenters were hit with conspiracy charges Thursday on top of up to five other counts for their roles in the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol, Reuters reports.

Two of the six defendants, Alan Hostetter and Russell Taylor, were photographed with Roger Stone at a hotel and a rally night before the Capitol attack, and they were reportedly acting as bodyguards for the Trump advisor during his time in Washington.  The others named are Eric Scott Warner, Felipe Antonio “Tony” Martinez, Derek Kinnison and Ronald Mele.

The Three Percenters were formed in 2009 by people who mistakenly believe that only three percent of the residents of the Colonies participated in the fight against the British to gain American independence.