Comment on Midday open thread: NSA domestic spying costs us more than personal privacy, no hope from El Niño

CNN's Kara Scannell describes the dramatic moment in the Trump hush money trial where Judge Juan Merchan briefly cleared the courtroom after a tense exchange with Costello over his behavior on the stand.

Texas Rep. Drunky McDrunkerson is confused again. Former President Donald Trump, not Biden, is on trial right now for interfering in the election. And it's Trump, not Biden, who blatantly weaponized the governmental agencies while he was in office. Rep. Ronny Jackson is the least self-aware person in Trump's orbit, and that's saying a lot. "I came because I'm a long time supporter of President Trump," Drunky said.

On the list of most populous states, North Dakota comes in at 47. Even its neighbor to the south, governed by puppy-slaying Kristi Noem, has a greater population of people—and voters. But despite North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum’s obscurity and the fact that he held no political office before becoming governor of this lightly populated state in 2016, he is reportedly at the top of Trump's list of vice presidential hopefuls. Burgum has been touching all the bases on the Wanna-Be-VP Tour, including making an appearance at Trump's New York trial for falsifying documents connected to the 2016 election.

Did you hear? Eleventy bazillion people showed up to hear Donald Vonshitzinpants drone on for hours about himself in Wildwood, New Jersey. Welp, Lisa Fagan, spokesperson for the city of Wildwood, is the one who guestimated that between 80,000 and 100,000 attendees were there, "based on her own observations on the scene Saturday, having seen 'dozens' of other events in the same space." This really needs a 'Sure, Jan" gif.

Look who's got a crush on far-right authoritarian Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. There are things the United States should learn from Hungary, like not following the same path they have with putting someone like Orban in power, but not this nonsense. Here's Vance doubling down on his praise for Orban during an interview on this Sunday's Face the Nation: MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about some of the things you've said about American universities.

Trump's NRA speech on Saturday was marred by insane rantings and unexplained long pauses when the orange disgrace claims he's been better for Black Americans than Abraham Lincoln tops the list. This isn't the first time he's tried to compare himself to Lincoln, and even the great MLK, but it's just as sickening as it ever was. What type of man would do such a thing?