Extra, Extra

Shock and Draw: “The opinion was unexpected. On two previous occasions, the conservative court has acted to gut provisions of the Voting Rights Act, leaving the once-hailed milestone legislation now a hollowed-out shell. But this decision appears to have left redistricting’s last remaining guardrail intact, unlike the other provisions that have been struck down or neutered.” Supreme Court unexpectedly upholds provision prohibiting racial gerrymandering.

+ Say Anything: “If you or I went on Instagram and created daily posts saying the COVID vaccines are harmful, we’d likely lose our accounts just like Kennedy did. But now he’s launched a bid for the presidency that looks to have about as much chance as Connor Roy did in Succession. And presto: he has his Instagram account back.” Casey Newton welcomes you back to the free-for-all. The platforms give up on 2020 lies.

+ KIA Get a Witness? “A loose collective of teenage car thieves calling themselves Kia Boys have stolen tens of thousands of Hyundai and Kia vehicles, often posting the results on YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok. But the chaos and destruction left in their wake rarely goes noticed.” What happens when you mix a remarkably easy to steal vehicle with a vehicle to go viral? This: The Kia Boys will steal your car for clout. (It’s a bit ironic that a car called KIA doesn’t really require A Key.)

+ Messi Swaps Football for Soccer: Lionel Messi is not going to Saudi Arabia! “Great news and a win for democracy, freedom, and human rights.” He’s going to Florida. “Oh…”

+ Pat Down: “Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who turned a tiny Virginia station into the global Christian Broadcasting Network, tried a run for president and helped make religion central to Republican Party politics in America through his Christian Coalition, has died. He was 93.” (A conspiracy theorist who was ahead of his time, he squeezed a hell of a lot of BS into 93 years.)

+ Orgasmic Drop: “The founder and an executive of a cult-like San Francisco company that taught orgasmic meditation were charged Tuesday for allegedly running an enterprise that encouraged members to cut ties with outsiders, incur debts, exult the company’s founders and perform forced sexual acts with potential investors and others.” (If you can’t trust people selling orgasmic meditation, who can you trust…)