nobody needs to see Hunter Biden’s dick. there is no legal or ethical rationale for it.

Hunter Biden could be the world’s most notorious criminal, the Republicans could have him dead to rights, there could be mountains of evidence, and still — there would be no need to see his dick.

and yet, yesterday afternoon, on the floor of the United State House of Representatives — the so-called “greatest deliberative body in the world,” as we are taught in school — Marjorie Taylor Green, shithole representative from Georgia, went there.

in front of the House, in front of live TV cameras, in front of the world, she displayed poster-sized enlargements of nude photos of Hunter Biden.

ladies and gentlemen, what in actual fuck.

Kennedy O’Dell has a picture with Sen. Bob Casey and a bunch of her coworkers at the Philadelphia Pride parade last year on her desk of her Capitol Hill office. It’s a reminder, as she juggles work on transportation projects, housing policy, and other daily happenings in a U.S. Senate office, of one of her favorite memories on the job.

“At any office, you always wonder what share of yourself you can bring and that moment was so important to me because I was able to bring my whole self,” O’Dell said. “The whole organization was invested in creating a place where I can talk about my girlfriend. I can be happy and settled where I work.”

Casey’s office continues to be the Senate office with the highest percentage of LGBTQ staffers, according to a diversity survey by the Senate Democrats released last week. According to the survey, 30% of Casey’s staff of about 60 people — based in D.C. and around the state — identify as LGBTQ. That’s down just slightly from when Casey topped the list at 32% last year.

Pennsylvania’s junior senator, Sen. John Fetterman, ranked third with 28% of his staff of about 50 people identifying as LGBTQ. Sen. Patty Murray (D., Washington) was second with 29%. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia had the lowest LGBTQ representation at 0%. Senate Republicans did not conduct a diversity survey.

Dwayne Johnson has had a rough go of it. His long con to punch Superman in the face, Black Adam, was a bust, leading to one of the worst public relations nightmares of his career. There’s nothing sadder than a 10-time WWE champion explaining to reply guys on Twitter that, actually, Black Adam was a hit thanks to some financial gymnastics. As a result, he had to come crawling back to Vin “Candy Ass” Diesel for another ride with Hobbs And Shaw. Then, his very own self-mythologizing TV show, Young Rock, was canceled. But, in the end, we’d kill for a lousy year like Dwayne Johnson—he’s about to become the highest-paid actor in Hollywood.

Per Puck, Amazon reportedly paid The Rock $50 million for the upcoming holiday movie Red One, starring Johnson and Chris Evans. No, this isn’t a sequel to Red Notice, which Netflix says is the most-watched movie in the platform’s history even though no one remembers seeing or hearing about it. A Red Notice sequel is coming, apparently—or maybe it came out years ago. There’s simply no way to tell.

The Rock’s $50 million payday would make him the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, overtaking Robert Downey Jr.’s $40 million Captain America: Civil War salary. At least that movie had the possibility of recouping the massive payout. Red One will stream on Amazon Prime, where money means nothing, and Jeff Bezos can pay the Rock $50 million for a Santa Claus-themed action-comedy.

The Rock’s status as a box office heavyweight is a little complicated. As The Direct notes, the actor’s films have grossed $12.5 billion. However, in most cases, he bolsters and firms up an already star-studded ensemble, making jokes with Kevin Hart and body-slamming Jason Statham. To say nothing of the one-two punch of Skyscraper and Rampage in 2018, when it comes to his last few solo outings (Jungle Cruise and Black Adam), the Rock has struggled to justify his $22 million paycheck.

First Lady Jill Biden landed in Pittsburgh on Tuesday afternoon to meet with local officials and business owners to discuss industry investment and workforce development.

Her visit is the latest in the Biden administration’s summer “Bidenomics” tour touting economic gains and investments in America’s workforce. President Joe Biden’s administration has adopted the branding to showcase its efforts to invest in infrastructure, boost U.S. manufacturing and create jobs in a range of industries such as biotech and renewable energy.

Mr. Biden himself will visit Philadelphia on Thursday, and the first couple’s bookending of Pennsylvania over a 72-hour span is the latest indication of the battleground state’s importance to his 2024 reelection hopes.

Mrs. Biden was set to deliver remarks from the Neighborhood 91 site in Clinton, near Pittsburgh International Airport. The site is a hub for additive manufacturing, which is being built on 195 acres of land at the airport. Part of Mrs. Biden’s visit Tuesday focused on how Pittsburgh is working to “expand pathways to good-paying jobs” and on rebuilding infrastructure, according to the White House. Mrs. Biden was joined by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su.

Hundreds of local broadcast stations have come together to create a new advocacy coalition that will urge the Federal Communications Commission to take action on a regulatory loophole that they say imperils their ability to get distributed on streaming services.

Why it matters: As more Americans ditch their traditional cable and satellite packages for digital alternatives, local broadcasters worry their newscasts will be left out. "The intent of the coalition is to protect the future of local news," said Mike Meara, former chair of the ABC Television Affiliates Association and the current president of broadcasting company NPG.

Details: The Coalition for Local News is made up of more than 600 local broadcast stations that are part of the trade associations representing the local affiliates of major broadcast networks, like NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX.

* The group is urging the FCC to close a legal loophole that allows live TV streaming companies, like YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV, to bypass streaming distribution negotiations with local broadcast affiliates.

* The legal loophole stems from a 2014 provision that requires traditional TV providers to negotiate directly with local broadcasters to carry their stations. That provision doesn't apply to digital live TV providers because the FCC doesn't define live streaming providers the same as traditional TV distributors.

* The group ultimately wants the FCC to refresh the years-old rule to reflect today's modern streaming landscape. Doing so could force the FCC to revisit its definition of what a TV provider is. It could also potentially invite a new debate over whether Congress or the FCC should have regulatory oversight over TV distribution negotiations.

Any time they answer an alarm call, firefighters face an array of possible dangers: searing flames, collapsing buildings, suffocating smoke. A leading cause of death for firefighters, though, is cancer, likely due to exposure to toxic chemicals while battling fires.

Across the United States, many firefighters now worry that their illnesses may be traced to something that is supposed to protect them: their turnout gear. Researchers have found that the gear has for years contained PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), which are associated with kidney and testicular cancer, liver damage, decreased fertility and immunity, and increased risks of asthma and thyroid disease.

The Inquirer interviewed firefighters, in Philadelphia and across the country, who are battling cancer, and explored how some cities and states are attempting to protect firefighters from being exposed to PFAS.

How prevalent is cancer among firefighters? The International Association of Fire Fighters, a union that represents 334,000 members in the U.S. and Canada, said it added the names of 261 active-duty firefighters to its memorial wall last year. Of that total, nearly two-thirds had died of cancer.

Rosemary Lane's boss summoned her to his office. It was important, the doctor told her, and the young nurse followed without question. There, a small group of hospital staff gathered around a radio to listen to President Truman address the nation. There was a remarkable new development in the ongoing war, one many felt would end it once and for all. It was a new weapon, and it had just been deployed against Japan.

Rosemary heard Truman describe the power of this bomb, the “battle of the laboratories” and “achievement of scientific brains” that created it, and the countless people across the nation who unknowingly aided in this endeavor. The Secretary of War, Truman added, would soon issue a statement that would “give facts concerning the sites at Oak Ridge near Knoxville, Tennessee, and at Richland, near Pasco, Washington, and at an installation near Santa Fe, New Mexico.”

Two words seized Rosemary’s attention: Oak Ridge — her home. Word spread rapidly through the outpost by mouth and media, shockwaves of revelation rippling throughout offices and homes. The secret was out. That secret — the development of the atomic bomb — was kept not only from those who lived outside the secured gates of Oak Ridge, but also from tens of thousands of individuals who served as integral parts of what is now known as the Manhattan Project.

Now, 78 years later, many moviegoers will learn about the Manhattan Project for the first time, primarily from a fascinating yet top-down perspective, via Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. The view of those who “knew.” Physicists and chemists. Geniuses and generals. But their efforts would have amounted to nothing without the female workforce that helped transform their theory into reality.

In what New Jersey officials called a first-of-its-kind reform, the state’s courts have begun collecting racial and demographic data on jurors to help align jury panels with the diversity of surrounding communities. Court officials say the effort will help ensure that jury pools are an appropriate reflection of the communities from which jurors are drawn.

It’s one of a host of changes New Jersey began last year, including limiting how extensively trial lawyers can examine jurors’ backgrounds when seeking to remove potential jurors from serving on a particular case.

Other efforts, such as implicit bias training for court staffers, and education campaigns about the benefits of jury duty in marginalized communities, are also underway.

Civil rights groups and legal experts lauded the reforms, saying the jury selection process has long kept working-class people and people of color from participating in a key function of the criminal justice system.

For nearly five years, publisher and journalist Julian Assange has fought extradition to the United States where he faces 175 years in prison for revealing evidence of U.S. war crimes.

Instead of protecting freedom of the press, to which he pledged allegiance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April, Joe Biden is continuing Donald Trump’s prosecution of Assange under the infamous Espionage Act. James Ball is one of at least four journalists that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI are pressuring to cooperate with the prosecution of Assange, Ball wrote in Rolling Stone.

Biden’s DOJ is apparently attempting to bolster its prosecution of Assange in the event he is extradited to the United States. Ball said that all three of the other journalists being pressured to provide a statement told him they have no intention of helping the prosecution.

Assange, who is in frail physical and mental health after years of confinement, is contesting the U.K. High Court’s rejection of his appeal. If he loses in the U.K., Assange’s last resort is to the European Court of Human Rights to litigate several violations of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). But even if the European court issues an injunction against extradition, the U.K. courts might not honor that ruling. Assange is “dangerously close” to extradition, according to his family and observers.

Among their demands, the actors are asking for higher wages and protection from technology that could be used to alter their images or performances without their permission or pay.

Striking writers are also asking for more pay, protection from AI generated scripts and higher streaming residuals, among other items. It is the first time actors and writers have participated in simultaneous strikes since 1960.

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A schedule of picket lines indicated strikers would show up with their signs and bullhorns at the gates of Warner Bros, Amazon Studios, Fox Studios, Paramount Pictures, Netflix, Disney and Sony Studio Friday in Los Angeles. HBO/MAX, Warner Bros, Paramount, Netflix and NBC Universal were picketed in New York.