- Profound insight from QAnon-believer Marjorie Taylor Greene

As if one global pandemic weren’t enough, it seems that fascist coups are also a catching disease.
 

• Specifically, Donald Trump-inspired riots organized by supporters of losers like him. Following the defeat of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro last year, unrest began to foment among the country’s far-right. The aggression came to a head on Sunday when thousands of Bolsonaro supporters refused to accept his defeat (sound familiar?) stormed Brazil’s Congress, presidential palace, and Supreme Court in an attempt to seize control of the government from the recently inaugurated President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, leading to over 1,500 arrests. 
   

• The insurrectionists caused major damage across the capital before government security forces regained control. A flag was placed in front of the National Congress building reading “intervention”—an overt reference to calls for the military to stage a putsch. Lula arrived in the capital, Brasília, to survey the damage to the presidential palace before being taken by two justices to view the destruction at the Supreme Court. At the end of the night, the president tweeted, “The terrorists who promote the destruction of public spaces in Brasília are being identified and punished. Tomorrow we will resume work at the Presidential Palace. Democracy forever. Good night.”
   

• Sunday’s attack was the most significant threat to democracy in Brazil since the 1964 military coup which overthrew the reformist president and ushered in over 20 years of brutal dictatorship. Unsurprisingly, Bolsonaro has repeatedly praised that period of his country’s history, when the country’s military controlled all levels of Brazilian political and civil society. Bolsonaro, nicknamed the “Trump of the Tropics,” has similarly delusional/fanatical supporters, who often wear merchandise with the slogan “Make Brazil Great Again.” How creative.

News of the attempted coup has sent shockwaves around the world, as more and more Western nations see an uptick in right-wing political violence. 
 

• At home in the United States, Democratic members of Congress condemned yesterday’s attack, and, if you can suspend your disbelief, their Republican colleagues have not! Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries both spoke out against the attack, while other Democrats like Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) called for Bolsonaro, who is currently hanging out in Florida, to be extradited to Brazil. Neither new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy nor Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have issued statements, because of course the GOP is now canonically pro-insurrection. Particularly ones endorsed by the MAGA movement.
   

• Right-wing reactionaries all over the world have clearly become emboldened in the past decade, which helped fan the January 6th insurrection here, the ascendance of proto-fascist candidates across Europe, and the dozens of far-right, QAnon-inspired German nationals who were arrested in December for plotting to overthrow their government. The common thread running through these movements is not just far-right-wing ideology, but rampant, ubiquitous racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories, and a refusal to accept the defeat in democratic elections.  

With Bolsonaro in self-imposed exile in suburban Orlando, FL, the Biden Administration faces mounting pressure to extradite him. Commitment to upholding democracy was the horse President Biden rode in on, and he and other heads-of-state need to find a way to cauterize the gaping international wound that is far-right violence.

Kevin McCarthy’s marathon of humiliation finally came to a close late Friday night when he was elected Speaker of the House after a historic and truly embarrassing 15 rounds of voting. Mercifully, this allowed members of Congress to finally be sworn in, and the legislative term to begin. The bad news is, the House GOP is hellbent on destruction and extorted commitments from a desperate and nihilistic McCarthy that will allow them to destroy things. House Republicans voted to adopt their much-maligned Rules package changes which put MAGA extremists firmly in the driver’s seat in a party-line 220-212 vote. These new rules will make it much easier for the GOP caucus to oust McCarthy, and will reinstate an 1876 rule that allows lawmakers to rearrange government agencies or slash specific positions or salaries. On top of that, the rules package effectively guts the Office of Congressional Ethics, because nothing says the GOP is ready to do honest, above-board governing by abolishing more mechanisms of accountability.

New data from Pennsylvania’s elections agency shows that more than two-thirds of the 16,000 mail-in ballots that were disqualified by county officials because they did not have accurate handwritten dates on their exterior were from Democratic voters. Funny how that works!!

Iran’s judiciary sentenced three more anti-government protesters to death on charges of “waging war on God.” 

A complaint filed with the FEC today accused Rep. George Santos (R-NY) of wide-ranging campaign finance violations. Seems like this guy has a problem with honesty!!

Conservatives have set their sights on a new target in their race to dismantle the American education system: abolishing tenure for university professors. 

Albuquerque police announced they have apprehended a suspect in connection to recent shootings and attacks targeting elected Democratic officials in New Mexico. 

Drug manufacturer Pfizer gave $1 million to the Republican Party of Kentucky to expand its headquarters, the largest contribution ever given to a political party in the state. I guess Pfizer isn’t a “Democratic operative” after all!!

The Fulton County, GA, Special Grand Jury has completed its probe of 2020 election interference by disgraced former president Donald Trump and his allies. The special grand jury recommended releasing its report on that scheme, and the judge overseeing it will hold a hearing to determine whether to do so later this month.

San Francisco-based United States Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Paul Watford, who was once considered by President Obama for a seat on the Supreme Court, announced today that he will resign from the bench in order to return to private practice. His decision creates the first new appellate-court vacancy for President Biden since Dems held the Senate in the midterm elections. It’s vital that the Biden Administration and Senate Dems work together to confirm federal judges in the coming years to offset the 234 ultra-right wing federal judges President Trump was able to push through in just one term. Watford, who is only 55, is said to be leaving the bench for financial reasons, (apparently his $236,900-a-year salary wasn’t cutting it?), but he declined to answer a request for comment.

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The Pentagon has commenced renaming Fort Bragg and other bases, ships, signs, and roads, as it moves to scrub commemorations of the Confederacy from all installations by 2024. 

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin was discharged from a Cincinnati hospital today after going into cardiac arrest resulting from a tackle during a game against the Bengals last Monday. 

Beginning July 1, senior citizens and other Medicare enrollees will not pay more than $35 per month for insulin, thanks to a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act. 

Some experts believe that geothermal energy, which could help reduce disastrous climate-warming emissions, is poised for a boom in the United States.