Menacing Spirit: Despite devastating testimony that he tried to illegally overturn the 2020 election, Donald Trump in a speech yesterday railed against the House January 6^th committee and denounced his former vice president Mike Pence for not overthrowing the election on Trump’s demand.

  Speaking at a conference hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition in Nashville, Trump said, “Mike did not have the courage to act.” Trump compared Pence to a “robot” and “human conveyor belt” for following legal advice that he was required to oversee certification of the electoral college vote.

  Despite any proof that the election was rigged, Trump continues to spout his lies and feed the faith of both elected politicians and millions of voters that he was robbed of a second term.

  In the House hearing Thursday, former Pence attorney Greg Jacob and retired federal judge Michael Luttig explained for hours Thursday that the Constitution clearly gives the vice president no power other than to oversee certification of the Electoral College vote.

  Yet Trump said about the House investigating committee, “There’s no clearer example of the menacing spirit that has devoured the American left than the disgraceful performance being staged by the unselect committee.” He said, “They’re con people, They’re con artists.” He claimed, “It’s a one-way street. It’s a rigged deal.”

  Trump hinted at another run for president, pledging that if he’s elected again he would pardon the people prosecuted for their involvement in the insurrection,  which Trump described as “a simple protest” that “got out of hand.”

Calling Mrs. Thomas: The January 6^th Committee plans to call Ginni Thomas, the politically active wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. She had been engaged with Trump lawyer John Eastman in the effort to overturn the election and everyone wants to know whether she talked about it with her husband.

  “I can’t wait to clear up misconceptions. I look forward to talking to them,” Thomas told the conservative outlet, The Daily Caller. 

  Ginni Thomas’s had worked with Eastman as well as emailing former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about legal challenges to the election, and lobbied members of the Arizona legislature. Her activity has prompted  calls for her husband to recuse himself from any election-related cases coming before the court.

  Eastman, who once clerked for Justice Thomas, said in a statement, “I can categorically confirm that at no time did I discuss with Mrs. Thomas or Justice Thomas any matters pending or likely to come before the Court.” 

Boyfriend Trouble: Congressional negotiators hammering out some kind of gun bill are stumbling over the meaning of “boyfriend” in an effort to clamp down on what’s known as the “boyfriend loophole” and keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers.

  The law now prohibits people convicted of domestic violence or subject to a domestic violence restraining order from buying a gun, but it applies only if they have been married to, or have lived with the victim, or had a child with them. The lawmakers appear to be stumbling over the definition of boyfriend and whether a gun ban should be appealable.

  The issue is so sticky that Sen, John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, walked out of a meeting and said the boyfriend clause could be dropped altogether. He said, “We’re not ready to release any smoke, so we don’t have a deal yet.” 

  Speaking at the Texas Republican convention yesterday, Cornyn said, “Democrats pushed for an assault weapons ban, I said no.” he went on, “They tried to get a new three-week mandatory waiting period for all gun purchases, I said no. Universal background checks, magazine bans, licensing requirements, the list goes on and on and on. And I said no, no, 1,000 times no.”

Grounded: As the summer travel season gets under way the airlines are not. Already today, the airlines have announced 1,964 cancellations. As many as 1,300 flights were cancelled yesterday and 5,000 were delayed. American Airlines, for one, attributed most of the problem to weather.

  But the airlines are short on staff after cutting back during the pandemic. About 50 Delta pilots protested in New York this past week, claiming they are forced to fly too much overtime.

The Spin Rack: Pictures and video have surfaced of two American men fighting for Ukraine who were captured by Russian troops. A third American is also missing since April. — Stocks made a small gain yesterday after slipping into Bear Market territory this week. The S&P 500 has fallen 23.4 percent since its peak in January. —  The flooding along the Yellowstone River this week is a 1 in 500-year event, according to a US Geological Survey. The flooding has altered the river’s course through Yellowstone park as well as wiping out roads, bridges, and homes. — A third person has died of wounds suffered in a shooting during a potluck dinner Thursday night at an Episcopal church in a town outside Birmingham, Alabama. The shooter was captured after a parishioner hit him with a chair.

Sleepless: “MyPillow” creator Mike Lindell, who has espoused the Trump election lie, is in a pillow fight with Walmart after they dropped his products.

  Lindell blasted Walmart as “absolutely disgusting,” saying his MyPillow line is “one of the top-selling products in the history of Walmart.” 

  But Walmart is not the only retailer to throw his pillows off the bed. Costco, Bed Bath & Beyond, QVC, JCPenney, and Wayfair stopped selling his stuff last year because of his claims about the election. He’s also being sued by the voting systems companies Dominion and Smartmatic.

  Lindell told Insider that now he wouldn’t let his pillows back into Walmart if they begged him. “”What they did is inexcusable! It’s cancel culture, and you don’t get to come back,” he said.

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