NATIONAL BE HEARD DAY UPDATES

Oyez! Oyez!!!

-Remember when Kevin McCarthy (SINO, CA) gave Tucker Carlson "exclusive" rights to over 41,000 hours of security footage from January 6, 2021? Well, yesterday Tucker used his show for an "exclusive" attempt to thoroughly rewrite the events of the day, attempting to use (already seen) footage of rioters entering the Rotunda in a somewhat orderly fashion (including "QAnon Shaman" Jake Angeli - the goofball in the Viking helmet and fur vest) and people running past a camera AFTER the shot of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-VA, Represents MO) running away (which itself came after his closed-fist 'salute' of the 'protestors' earlier that day) to insist that, no, what happened that day was NOT a violent insurrection that left five people dead, but "angry protestors" who "revered" the Capitol building expressing indignation over a stolen election (the election was not stolen - Joe Biden defeated Ex-President Trump in the cleanest Presidential election in decades, if not ever). That you don't hear other GOP media figures or politicians chiming in supporting Tuckums' work is ... revealing, let us say ...

-The story occurs among the revelations of Fox News admitting under oath that both executives and hosts - Tucker included - knew full well immediately after the 2020 election that Trump had lost but continued to broadcast conspiracy theories to their viewers. That initial report was followed up by a New York Times story spelling out the panic within Fox News after it correctly called AZ for Biden on Election Night itself. The fear, of course, was what it would do to their relationship to Trump, which has been strained at times but, according to some reports, may be being tended to as polling shows GOP base voters may still give Trump an edge in a multi-candidate 2024 primary race. That latter fact reflects a conflict that has weighed on Republicans since 2016: the movers and shakers and financiers really cannot stomach Trump, but Trump's stranglehold on the 'working class' base voters - primarily white, male, and with a high-school level education - is enough for him to win. Stay tuned ...

-Meanwhile, President Biden used the New York Times today to propose modifications to Medicare that he believes will keep it solvent until 2050, when a wave of retirements will make it more important than ever. Among the proposals is a tax on families making more than $400,000/year and a renewed effort to allow the federal government to negotiate drug prices for Medicare users - two ideas that have traditionally met fervent GOP opposition. Dark Brandon continues to work ...

-In Israel, massive protests have erupted (including members of the military) in response to an attempt by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu that would effectively give Netanyahu the power to remove members of the judiciary. This would be handy for Bibi, as he is currently at trial for corruption for one of his other reigns as Israeli Prime Minister. This effort was noted by Rachel Maddow last night as she compared that effort to a bill being fast-tracked in GA that would theoretically allow the state to remove Attorneys General for 'ineffectiveness' - a move most observers see as being directed to Fulton County DA Fani Wills, currently working on what her office describes as "imminent" indictments in connection with the Trump campaign's attempts to "find 11,780 votes" and overturn the results of the Presidential election from 2020 (won by Biden). Should the GA bill pass it would take time to create the apparatus, and there would undoubtedly be court challenges to the law if it is in force, but as Rachel likes to say, watch this space.

-Twitter continues to collapse, with the network going down and users being unable to upload video and photos for several hours yesterday, and further layoffs being made by its owner, billionaire weirdo Elon Musk. Musk, for his part, spent a good amount of time fighting with a laid off employee with disabilities, while also beating back a story that Musk is now so paranoid he literally will not go to the bathroom at Twitter offices without armed guards accompanying him. No word on whether those guards are carrying toilet paper, which is also reportedly scarce after a previous round of budget cuts.

-Best of luck to George and Kellyanne Conway. The would-be DC power couple - George now a never-Trumper, Kellyanne the inventor of "alternative facts" to help defend Ex-President Trump - announced they are divorcing after 18 years of marriage and lots and lots of controversy. Trump, of course, praised Kellyanne for the move, because if there's one thing Trump knows, it's divorce.

-And, in local summer news, the City of Chicago's 2022 summer festival has been released - and, for the first time since 1980, there is no Taste of Chicago among the festivals listed. It is unclear if the event, the first in the modern era of the city to bring hundreds of thousands of tourists from the suburbs and beyond into the Loop, has been cancelled, but between a new NASCAR street race on the first weekend of July (organized by now-outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfood) and the now-ensconced Lollapalooza festival on the final week of July (produced by the brother of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel) (notice a pattern?), the fate of one of the world's largest 'food festivals' seems to be unknown as of this writing.

-On this date in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell filed a patent for the first telephone. On this date in 1936, Nazi forces occupied the Rhineland, placing them in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. On this date in 1965, peaceful civil rights marchers were attacked by white police troopers at the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, AL. And on this date in 2010, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win an Academy Award for Directing, for THE HURT LOCKER.

-Happy Birthday to Rob Roy (the guy, not the cocktail), Piet Mondrian, Maurice Ravel, James Broderick, Willard Scott, Janet Guthrie, Daniel J. Travanti, Michael Eisner, Tammy Faye Bakker, Chris White, Townes Van Zandt, Peter Wolf, J.R. Richard, Ernie Isley, Kenny Aronoff, Bryan Cranston, Rik Mayall, Ivan Lendl, Joe Carter, Taylor Dayne, Wanda Sykes, Rachel Weisz, Laura Prepon, and Amanda Gorman.

-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, Jacob Javitz, Divine, Cool Papa Bell, Stanley Kubrick, Paul Winfield, Gordon Parks, and Dan Jenkins.

-Feed the Worms: Pale imitation of Jim Brown Franco "Don't Hit Me!" Harris and overrated wide receiver Lynn Swann entered Earth on this date.