-If recent reports and reactions are correct, it's ALL SYSTEMS GO! for the Fulton County grand jury hearing D.A. Fani Willis' evidence and witnesses linking Thrice-Indicted (so far) Ex-President (TIsfEP) Trump and his 2020 Presidential campaign to a scheme aimed at finding 11,780 non-existent Trump votes to steal GA's electoral votes from the rightful winner, President Joe Biden.
-First, reports over the weekend that two of the four final witnesses that could be heard by the Grand Jury have been summoned to testify on Tuesday has fed the belief that Willis may be presenting her case for indictments on Tuesday or Wednesday. By all appearances she will be making that request this week, with reports of at least a dozen people besides Trump in potential legal jeopardy.
-That suspicion has been further fed by a CNN story this morning which claims Willis has texts linking attorneys in the Trump campaign with officials in a rural GA county who breached voting machines in an apparent attempt to access voting software - in and of itself a felony, but also one that links to one of the working theories of Trump campaign voting corruption: that outside sources ranging from the government of China to a private Italian company were changing Trump votes to Biden votes. Needless to say, this theory is as insane as it sounds (though the potential that it may have been local officials changing votes can't be discounted beyond the fact that Coffee County, where the breaches occurred, was a 70% Trump county).
-And if we needed any other proof, Trump has went to his social media to continue to rant, rail, and try to intimidate Willis, creating one of his infantile nicknames for her ("Phoney" Fani - GET IT? GET IT!?!) and continuing to slander her by baselessly claiming Willis slept with a gang leader (that's another QAnon-bred consipriacy theory).
-Trump theoretically can continue to attack Willis without breaching the order from DC Judge Tanya Chutkan NOT to discuss THAT January 6 case - and while right now Trump has no gag order or detention, Chutkan did warn that if (HAHAHAHA) Trump breaks that order, it will mean an earlier start to that trial (Special Prosecutor Jack Smith has proposed a start date of January 2, 2024, with the Trump team expected to ask for a date of tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow ...)
-That order may also explain why, at an appearance at the IA State Fair, Trump allowed RSBN substitute interviewer Rep. Matt Gaetz (Hey GiRl, FL, man) to do the dirty work for him. Gaetz, in a week when while substituting as a commentator on another ultra-right 'news' site admitted he is hoping to become Attorney General in a second Trump Administration, ran interference for his party leader by 'warning' that "...only through force can we make any changes in a corrupt town like Washington, DC."
-Whether Gaetz gets censured for that remains to be seen, though it should be repeated that GAETZ COULD BE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL UNDER A SECOND TRUMP ADMINISTRATION.
-And while Trump remains solidly in charge of the GOP primary (at that same IA State Fair, fast-flopping Gov. Ron DeSantis faced "WE WANT TRUMP!" chants everywhere he went, and just this morning former VP Mike Pence proudly declared he is with the same MAGA forces that tried to literally string him up on January 6, 2021), the New York Times reports the ever-escalating legal fees of Team Trump are now so high, and his fundraising so off the mark compared to his other runs, that the balance of the 'campaign' money is being eaten into. No word on whether Trump will tap into his vast wealth to pay for either more attorneys or the campaign - STOP LAUGHING!
-The Maui wildfires are now one of the deadliest in American history, with the death toll up to 93 as searches continue and the fires, while not as out of control, have yet to be completely contained. Entire towns and villages have been destroyed, and there is bubbling criticism that a siren system designed to warn residents about imminent natural disasters did not seem to work when the fires began raging. Others note that if Hawaii and other tropical areas are literally boiling and frying (there were also wildfires in Greece, elevated ocean temperatures in the Caribbean, and continued triple-digit highs in AZ and TX), that the time to confront the global climate crisis is obviously here. Help where you can.
-Whether there is clearly a Summer Song of 2024 or not, this summer is clearly The Summer of The Pop Woman. Currently, the top three cultural summer events are all female-driven and have earned over $1 BILLION each: Taylor Swift and The Eras Tour, Beyonce and The Renaissance World Tour, and Greta Gerwig's BARBIE - now the highest-grossing comedy of all time and, no duh, the highest-grossing female-directed movie of all time. This could explain why nattering nabobs of male vulnerability from Ben "Wha's WAP?!" Shapiro to Bill "Why Does This Relic Still Have A Show?" Maher take well-deserved brickbats over their whining about these cultural rock stars. But please, don't give them sympathy - they deserve every bit of mockery and laughter you can direct at them!
-On this date in 1521, Hernando Cortez conquered the Aztec empire. On this date in 1898, Manila was occupied by American forces in the Teddy Roosevelt-created Spanish-American War. On this date in 1919, Man o' War lost for the only time in his racing career. On this date in 1952, Big Mama Thornton released the original version of "Hound Dog." On this date in 1961, a wall began to be built that separated the city of Berlin from itself (the wall would be torn down in 1989). On this date in 1967, BONNIE AND CLYDE premiered. On this date in 1982, FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH premiered. And on this date in 1997, SOUTH PARK premiered.
-Happy Birthday to Annie Oakley, Bert Lahr, Alfred Hitchcock, Ben Hogan, John Facenda, George Shearing, Pat Harrington Jr., Don Ho, Dr. Jocelyn Elders, Jim "Mudcat" Grant, Kevin Tighe, Janet Yellen, David St. Hubbins, Bobby Clarke, Dan Fogelberg, Jeff Altman, Danny Bonaduce, John Slattery, Sridevi Kapoor, Debi Mazar, Jay Buhner, Quinn Cummings, Karine Jean-Pierre, Ibram X. Kendi, Sebastian Stan, and DeMarcus Cousins.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Florence Nightingale, H.G. Wells, King Curtis, Joe Tex, J. Willard Mariott, Mickey Mantle, Tom Mees, Julia Child, Brooke Astor, Phil Rizzuto, Edwin Newman, Helen Gurley Brown, Kenny Baker, Jim "the Anvil" Neidhart, Kip Addotta, and Nanci Griffith.
-Feed the Worms: professional liar and child labor promoter Sarah Huckabee Sanders entered Earth on this date,
-Fidel Castro and Cleveland-born MI-corrupted Baltimore Ratbird Elvis Grbac were born on this date. You decide if they get Happy Birthdays or if they Feeds the Worms.