Roscoe Dependents: “Roscoe said that he quickly ascertained that Dominion’s monetary demand was not the only issue keeping the two apart. They were also divided by a dispute over the language that Fox would release acknowledging the court’s ruling that Fox had spread falsehoods about the company.” Some interesting backstory on the last minute Fox/Dominion settlement. WaPo (Gift Article): Fox was resigned to a tough trial. Then, a secret mediator stepped in.

+ America is a Basket Case: “A 6-year-old girl and her parents were injured by gunfire on Tuesday night after a basketball rolled down a residential street in North Carolina and into a man’s yard, enraging him.” (Obviously, the lesson here is that we need to arm 6-year-old girls.)

+ Norm on Norms: “Outside of voluntary resignation, the options the Senate faces are either expulsion—requiring a two-thirds vote—or living with a long-term vacancy or a senator truly incapable of making appropriate decisions.” Norm Ornstein in The Atlantic: Dianne Feinstein Reminded Us That the Senate Doesn’t Have a Plan.

+ Sons in Law: “The sons of notorious drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman and their cartel associates used corkscrews, electrocution and hot chiles to torture their rivals while some of their victims were ‘fed dead or alive to tigers,’ according to an indictment recently released by the U.S. Justice Department.” (And the fentanyl they were peddling was a lot more deadly than their tigers.)

+ BuzzKill: “BuzzFeed is shutting down BuzzFeed News because it is not able to turn a profit, according to a memo CEO Jonah Peretti sent to company staff Thursday.” (They did some great reporting over the years. In my opinion, they were hampered by sharing the same design as the much less serious Buzzfeed buzzy content. Hard to be taken seriously with that limitation.)

+ Hunter Gatherer: “An IRS special agent is seeking whistleblower protection to disclose information about what the agent alleges is mishandling of an investigation into President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, according to a letter sent to members of Congress.” (In the end, all that will survive will be the cockroaches and the obsession with Hunter Biden.)

+ Space Ex: “SpaceX’s giant new rocket exploded minutes after blasting off on its first test flight Thursday and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.”

+ Pillow Guy Has $5 Million Less Under His Mattress: “It’s a strange story. It started in August 2021 when Lindell claimed during a ‘cyber symposium’ in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that he had data proving China interfered in the election. He announced he would pay $5 million to anyone who prove him wrong, dubbing the contest, naturally, the ‘Prove Mike Wrong Challenge.'” So someone did. Mike Lindell Ordered to Pay $5 Million to Trump Voter Who Debunked His Election Lies.