A shitload of news already this Thursday, and we’re just at mid-morning right now. Most of the shit is depressing and there’s some weird mixed-in, though, as a country based on the optics we’ve in for a rough road ahead. Almost all of news items can be directly/indirectly traced to chaos/bullshit coming from the bowels of asshole Republicans.
Hard to make ‘normal’ when near-half the nation is not only batshit crazy, but violent, cruel and nasty about it.

Probably top of the shit list today are a couple of legal rulings which in the farside of time, will cause great grief to American democracy and well being.
SCOTUS shit big-time hard on voting rights:

The Supreme Court says two Arizona voting rules that restrict how ballots can be cast do not violate the historic Voting Rights Act https://t.co/2e5AUGoZKv

— CNN (@CNN) July 1, 2021

And just good timing with what the GQP Party is currently doing in the states — per The New York Times:

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld voting restrictions in Arizona and signaled that challenges to new state laws making it harder to vote would face a hostile reception from a majority of the justices.

The vote was 6 to 3, with the court’s three liberal members in dissent.

The decision was the court’s first consideration of how a crucial part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 applies to voting restrictions that have a disproportionate impact on members of minority groups, and it was issued as disputes over voting rights have taken center stage in American politics.
…
“The court today also makes it harder to prove intentional racial discrimination in passing a voting rule, making it that much harder for D.O.J. to win in its suit against the new Georgia voting law,” Richard L. Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, wrote in a blog post.

And SCOTUS part two:

JUST IN: The Supreme Court throws out a California rule on charitable donor disclosures in case that's feared could let more "dark money" into politics https://t.co/569hNscsnQ

— CNN (@CNN) July 1, 2021

Dark money in politics can now get ever darker, black as smut maybe (Mother Jones): ‘The conservative Supreme Court majority ruled in favor of the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity on Thursday, holding that a California law that requires nonprofit organizations to disclose their donors to state regulators was unconstitutional. The ruling is likely to have far-reaching ramifications, potentially upending disclosure laws across the country and making it far easier for deep-pocketed interests to pour money into political causes anonymously.‘

SCOTUS majority are hypocrites — this note on the ‘dark money’ decision via Law&Crime: ‘After the ruling, Court watchers were quick to raise the point that several justices were helped onto the high bench by funding from Americans for Prosperity. Had those justices recused themselves, the outcome might have been quite different:‘

Onward news cycle — Republicans again showing their insane method for governing as showcased by the newly-formed House select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection/riot — Nancy Pelosi this morning named Liz Cheney to the committee, the only Republican, along with Dems Bennie Thompson (the chair), Zoe Lofgren, Adam Schiff, Pete Aguilar, Stephanie Murphy, Jamie Raskin and Elaine Luria.
Details via Axios:

The former GOP conference chair was ousted from leadership for her opposition to Donald Trump’s election lies. She is the only Republican hand-picked by Pelosi to serve on the 13-member committee.

The committee will consolidate several House investigations. It was formed after Republicans blocked a bill that would have established a bipartisan 9/11-style commission to probe the attack.
The remaining five members will be picked in consultation with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), though he has not yet indicated whether other Republicans intend to participate.

In a closed-door meeting with freshmen Republicans Wednesday, McCarthy warned they would be stripped from their committee assignments if they accepted a position on the select committee from Pelosi, two sources familiar with the discussions tell Axios’ Alayna Treene.

“I’m honored to have been named to serve on the January 6th select committee. Congress is obligated to conduct a full investigation of the most serious attack on our Capitol since 1814,” Cheney said in a statement.

Kevin is ‘shocked’ at the gall:

“What I’m saying is, it was shocking to me that if a person is a Republican, they get their committee assignments for the Republican conference,” McCarthy told reporters during a press conference.
“For somebody to accept committee assignments from Speaker Pelosi, it’s unprecedented.”
“It would seem to me, since I didn’t hear from her, that maybe she’s closer to her than us,” He added.

The committee’s work is really cut-out for them with GQPer (except for Cheney) doing their very best to fuck shit up and spew lies and chaos into the air. Cheney’s “I’m honored” is a slap in Kevin’s baby face.

And in a second slap in a baby face, this one the T-Rump’s. Joe Biden visited Surfside, Fla., today, site of the condo collapse last week and sat next to Ron Desantis, even seemingly cuddling one another:

Background/details via Forbes:

We’re letting the nation know we can cooperate,” Biden told DeSantis during a briefing with Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava on the building tragedy, before putting his arm around the governor and adding, “This is life and death.”

Biden noted that he had just arrived back from a 12 day trip in Europe, and leaders there wondered whether the U.S. can still “do this,” referring to bipartisanship.

Thanking the president, DeSantis asserted Biden had “recognized the severity of this tragedy since day one.”

Biden had “not only been supportive at the federal level,” DeSantis said, but had found a way to ensure “bureaucracy” did not get in the way.

After the briefing, Biden told reporters he believes the federal government will likely be able to pay for 100% of the costs of responding to the disaster.
The president also met with families of people missing from the wreckage.

DeSantis’ posture will probably piss-off the T-Rump, but what the hey.

And also earlier today, a hope but not a real justice-ringing scenario — the Trump Organization and CFO Allen Weisselberg were indicted last night, and the charges rolled-out this afternoon:

Details per CBS News:

A grand jury returned a 15-count indictment against the company and Allen Weisselberg, its chief financial officer, late Wednesday evening. Prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office detailed the alleged crimes at Thursday’s initial court appearance and in the 25-page indictment.

The indictment alleged the company and Weisselberg orchestrated a scheme to funnel more than $1.7 million in “indirect employee compensation” to the longtime executive from 2005 to 2021. Prosecutors said the Trump Organization failed to properly report the payments to tax authorities.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said the indictment “is an important marker in the ongoing criminal investigation of the Trump Organization and its CFO.”

“This investigation will continue, and we will follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead,” James said in a statement.
…
The tax fraud scheme, according to the indictment, also “allowed the Trump Organization to evade the payment of payroll taxes” it was required to pay.

While the indictment focuses on Weisselberg and the benefits he received, prosecutors allege the tax fraud scheme extended to other executives and employees, who received rent-free lodging and other perks.

One person, a member of Weisselberg’s family, lived in an apartment owned by the Trump Organization from 2005 to 2012 and paid roughly $1,000 in monthly rent. The unnamed family member moved to another apartment on East 61st Street in Manhattan in 2018, with no reported rent, according to the filing.

Two other employees received “substantial amounts of compensation” through lodging in New York City and the payment of car leases.

And on and on. Most-likely Weisselberg, and most-certainly the T-Rump will ever see the inside of the jail cell. Looks good on TV and in the news cycle, but another toss in the wind for bring the horrible T-Rump to account.
Despite the intentions, just ain’t gonna happen.

Add the Bill Cosby bullshit from yesterday, and you just want to scream…

(Illustration out front: Edvard Munch‘s ‘The Scream,’ lithograph version, found here).