A judge with London’s high court rejected a motion by Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers to block a lawsuit filed by Prince Harry alleging two British tabloids illegally hacked into his voicemails and used other illegal methods to get material for their stories, CBS News reports.  Murdoch’s lawyers had argued that the lawsuit, originally filed in 2019, was too old to continue.

Although London High Court Justice Timothy Fancourt ruled that Harry’s suit about the phone hacking could have been brought sooner, he ruled that the suit could continue because the tabloids continued to use other illegal methods, such as hiring private investigators, to dig up dirt for publication.  Murdoch-owned outlets including The Sun and the defunct News of the World published suspect stories using information gathered through means that violated the Royal’s privacy.  It’s one of at least four lawsuits Harry is currently pursuing against British media outlets for intrusive, gossipy and untrue reporting.

Trump-shielding New York Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik continues the Republican campaign of indictment by insinuation.  The GOP have not presented a single bit of hard evidence of any of the claims they’re making, and Stefanik continues that practice of throwing shit against a wall to see what sticks.

The American people deserve to know that.  They deserve to have all of the facts.  And we’re going to do that, and I believe that what we’ve uncovered just in seven months alone is stunning.  It is chilling.  It is the biggest political scandal of my lifetime and perhaps the last century, perhaps ever.  But I want to make sure we have all the evidence possible.

And while the 39-year-old Stefanik did not live through Watergate, she did live through Reagan selling arms to Iran, Bush starting the war with Iraq based on lies, and every crime of the Trump administration including the insurrection, so to say this unspecified Biden is the worst in her lifetime demonstrates she’s perpetually wearing blinders.

Katherine Faulders of ABC News reports soon-to-be-thrice-indicted former president Donald Trump’s lawyers were spotted entering the offices of Special Counsel Jack Smith Thursday morning as the grand jury in Washington, DC was meeting potentially voting on indictments for their client.

The American economy bested estimates in the second quarter, coming in with a 2.4% year-over-year growth, fending off fears that a recession is brewing even as the Fed raised interest rates, Bloomberg reports.  For the fourth straight quarter, the economy had growth of 2.0% or greater, with job creation holding steady and consumer spending strong.  In a sign that the Fed’s interest rate manipulations are fine-tuning the economy, the housing market has cooled, but spending on other large ticket items such as vehicles has increased.

The grand jury that could soon end up handing down an indictment of disgraced former President Trump and his minions for their attempt at overturning his humiliating defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election were spotted entering the DC federal courthouse by NBC’s Dan Barnes on Thursday.

In a preview of Tucker Carlson’s upcoming biography obtained by the Guardian, the former top Fox News propagandist tells author Chadwick Moore that being racist “isn’t a crime,” but he would be totally open about it if he believed himself to be racist… Even though he pretty obviously is one.

“Being racist is not a crime. Maybe a moral crime, but not a statutory crime – so if I was racist, I would just say so,” says the frozen food heir in the book, as if he hasn’t already made it plain that he has held and continues to hold deep contempt for non-whites and non-Christians.

LAURA INGRAHAM: This is why people don't trust the government https://t.co/DxJ1cJr2KO

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 27, 2023

The new backer of disgraced former President Trump’s deeply corrupt business empire tells the Washington Post on the record that the $225 million in cash his bank supplied to keep the sinking ship afloat for another year or two was totally legitimate and the fact that he’s a Republican who personally donated to the fat fuck’s 2020 campaign had nothing to do with his decision.

“It wouldn’t matter if I was friends with someone, I’m not going to make a loan that’s no good. I don’t like anyone that much,” said Axos Bank CEO Gregory Garrabrants, who indeed comes across as a douchebag who doesn’t get along with people, providing a convenient cover story. Public records show Axos lent the Trump Tower $100 million at a 4.25 percent interest rate and the Trump Doral $125 million loan at a 4.9 percent, each maturing in 10 years, but Garrabrants was unwilling to discuss other terms such as the long-term rate and what the collateral was. So yeah, he probably lent the money hoping for some political favors if Trump wins in 2024.

A Nigerian judge last week sentenced internet scammer Emmanuel Chisom Mbah to two years in prison following a Mbah’s guilty plea on impersonation contrary to Section 1 (1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006, the Guardian of Nigeria reports.

Mbah is not royalty nor did he claim to be. Instead his racket was simply pretending to be a professional foreign exchange trader and ripped off two other Nigerian guys for $4,655. It’s not clear if he met his victims by cold emailing them but that would be fucking hilarious if he did.

A Pennsylvania MAGA terrorist who wore his high school varsity football jacket to the January 6th, 2021 MAGA insurrection and was identified by former classmates who tipped off the FBI after seeing him fighting cops during the melee – captured nearly eight years after he graduated from high school – was sentenced to 18 months in prison Tuesday, NBC News reports.

Bryan Gundersen, now 28 and who we must emphasize again was still wearing his fucking high school varsity jacket while trying to violently overthrow the US government and embodying the kind of townie douchebags naturally drawn to Trumpism, had been convicted last November of obstruction of an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers.

Credibly suspected statutory rapist Congressman Matt Gaetz on Wednesday told News Nation’s Kellie Meyer he and other MAGA Congressman Tom Tim Burchett will soon be talking with titular Speaker Kevin McCarthy to form a select committee to investigate the military’s knowledge of UFOs.

A consortium of seven carmakers that sell in the US market have vowed to construct 30,000 fast-charging stations for electric vehicles in urban areas and along highways, doubling the number available to travelers, the Washington Post reports.  The first of the stations will open by next summer.

General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, BMW Group, Mercedes-Benz Group and Stellantis N.V. said they will construct the stations to be universally available to their vehicles.  Tesla owns a network of around 20,000 chargers in the US, but only around 7,500 will be available to other manufacturers by the end of 2024.

One of the major hurdles for electric vehicles in the consumer market is the concern about not being able to recharge quickly and conveniently on long journeys.  As goals for electric vehicle sales increase, establishing a network of reliable charging stations will be key to overcoming consumer fears.

The Department of Justice asked a federal judge to order Republican Texas Governor Gregg Abbott to take down the barriers he ordered placed in the Rio Grande to dissuade migrants from crossing the river, NBC News reports.

Saying that the barriers are causing irreparable harm to foreign relations, public safety and navigation, the Justice Department argues that Texas committed a “straightforward violation” of the Rivers and Harbors Act and Abbott did not have the authority to construct the barrier because, among other things, it did not get approval from the US Army Corps of Engineers, the federal authority for such things.

“No relief granted at the end of this case would make up for the continuing threat to navigation and public safety that the Floating Barrier will impose while the parties litigate the merits,” prosecutors wrote.

NBC News reports Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had experienced a number of physical stumbles prior to the lengthy zombie-like pause during an afternoon press briefing Wednesday, including a previously unreported one earlier this month at Reagan National Airport in which he “face planted” while disembarking from a plane.

The 81-year-old McConnell, who survived contracting polio as a two-year-old and has always been particularly careful negotiating stairs, fell at a fundraiser held at a DC hotel in March which resulted in a concussion that led to a month of hospitalization and rehab.  He has been using a wheelchair when moving through crowded airports as a precautionary measure.  On July 14th, McConnell was exiting a flight that had been delayed after everyone had boarded and according to another passenger on the flight, McConnell had a “face plant” on the jetway while deplaning.

McConnell stopped by a gaggle of reporters later Wednesday evening, commenting that President Biden called to check on him.  When asked how he felt, McConnell replied, “I’m fine.”  When asked if he knew what happened, McConnell replied, “I’m fine.”

From NBC News Garrett Hakke, read by Lawrence O’Donnell:  “Trump legal and political teams are preparing for the possibility that the federal grand jury will vote on charges against the former president as early as tomorrow according to three sources familiar with the thinking of Trump’s inner circle.  None of these sources know of any direct notification from the Justice Department officials that charges are coming tomorrow, but given Trump’s receipt of a target letter a week ago and public reporting that the grand jury is scheduled to meet tomorrow, they are taking prudent steps to prepare.”

“Joining us know with more is one of the leaders of this hearing, Tennessee Congressman Tom Burchett,” Trump advisor Sean Hannity declares to his live studio audience who dutifully erupts in applause.”

“Tim.  It… it’s Tim,” responds Tim Burchett, the Republican Congressman from the 2nd District of Tennessee.

In a potential blow to cannabis smokers around the country, Mastercard has instructed banks that use its branded products as debit cards to bar their use at pot dispensaries because, the company claims, it violates federal law.

The BBC reports the credit card company sent notices to banks to cut off dispensaries that accept debit cards from running transactions.  Marijuana is legal to some degree in 40 states, but the federal government still considers it a banned drug, so transactions cannot use the federal banking system.  Most states get around this by limiting cannabis transactions to cash.

“As we were made aware of this matter, we quickly investigated it. In accordance with our policies, we instructed the financial institutions that offer payment services to cannabis merchants and connects them to Mastercard to terminate the activity,” Mastercard said in a statement on Wednesday.  “The federal government considers cannabis sales illegal, so these purchases are not allowed on our systems.”

Hot tub-level ocean water temperatures off the Florida Keys caused massive bleaching of the region’s coral reef network, the third largest in the world, worrying scientists that the ongoing heatwave could cause catastrophic damage to the fragile ecosystem, the Washington Post reports.

“This is definitely the worst bleaching event that Florida has ever seen,” said Andrew Baker, director of the University of Miami the Coral Reef Futures Lab, about the damage done to the 360-mile-long reef. “We knew something like this was going to happen at some point, we just didn’t know when. We still managed to be surprised by the magnitude of this event and how early it came in the season.”

Mediocre political news website National Zero on Wednesday made a half-assed attempt to drive traffic from QAnon fans by posting a story with a headline purposely omitting key details of a so-far successful coup aimed at removing a democratically elected president from power.

“Might as well pretend to yank the chains of those fucking freaks with what’s actually a cloying meta-joke directed at our own audience,” National Zero’s founding editor “Spartan” revealed before explaining that the coup is actually happening in the West African nation of Niger and it’s their President Mohamed Bazoum who’s been arrested by a group of rogue soldiers. “We still hope douchebags like Kash Patel and Mike Flynn somehow end up reading this,” Spartan added.

In the actual story sourced from Reuters, the Nigerien colonel who led the coup said his new junta aims to “put an end to the regime that you know due to the deteriorating security situation and bad governance” and ordered all borders closed which, lol, is exactly the kind of shit the fanboys dream of in their fantasies of Biden being overthrown by “patriots” in the US military.

Republican former Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks on Wednesday told NBC News he’s “mildly surprised” that Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith hasn’t reached out to him to talk about Brooks’s role in and knowledge of disgraced former President Trump’s post-2020 election coup attempt, something he says he’s ready and willing to “explain what I know about it. Whether it’s relevant or material, I’m not sure… I was shocked [Trump] was so blatant about it – illegal conduct.”

Brooks, whose failed 2022 Senate campaign was just an endless string of humiliations at the tiny hands of the Orange God Emperor, not least of which was being undorsed by Trump in the primary for being too “woke” on the subject of whether Brooks could get the House to pass legislation that would reinstate Trump to the presidency, seems more than a little eager to help settle the score.

“Donald Trump wanted me to do four things: Advocate rescinding the election, advocate physically removing Joe Biden from the White House, advocate reinstating Donald Trump as president of the United States and advocate a new special election for president of the United States – all of which violate the US Constitution and federal law,” Brooks told NBC, adding “And after I got done explaining that to him, he withdrew his endorsement and endorsed my opponent. So I’m mildly surprised none of these people have made inquiries about the details of this, but it is what it is.”

It’s not clear why Brooks, a former prosecutor, had to do this publicly in the media rather than simply reaching out to Smith’s team privately… unless he wanted to rattle Trump’s cage simply for the fun of it before he picks up the phone and schedules an appointment with the special counsel.