June 24, 2026

Brennan Leach, et al., of NBC News: “... Donald Trump abruptly canceled his plans to sign a major, bipartisan housing bill Wednesday, saying he will not do so until Congress passes the SAVE America Act, a sweeping elections bill.... 'Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency,' he posted on his Truth Social account. It was not immediately clear whether he still plans to sign the housing bill or veto it.... Trump undercut the [housing] bill just hours before he canceled the planned signing, writing in another Truth Social post that it was 'of minor importance' before pivoting back to the SAVE America Act....  House Republicans were dumbfounded by Trump’s decision, but spoke candidly on the condition of anonymity. 'What a s--- show. ... Crazy crazy crazy,' one House Republican said in a text to NBC News. 'A once in a generation housing bill falls victim to the nuts.'” ~~~

      ~~~ Michael Gold, et al., of the New York Times: “Mr. Trump’s decision threatened to deprive Republicans, in particular, of an opportunity to showcase a legislative success in a year with very few of them — one that spoke directly to voters’ economic concerns.... Even as Mr. Trump was dismissing the housing bill, House Republican leadership was championing it during a weekly news conference.... Mr. Trump also ... called [the bill] 'Warren centric,' along with a racial slur to refer to Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.” The link appears to be a gift link.

Cheyanne Daniels, et al., of Politico: “... Donald Trump ripped into the U.S. oil sector on Wednesday, accusing oil majors of keeping gasoline prices high and prolonging the pain at the pump as he sought to bring his four-month war against Iran to a close. In a post to Truth Social early Wednesday, Trump said consumers were being 'gouged' and he ordered the Justice Department to investigate big oil companies for not bringing gasoline prices down fast enough.... The attack is ... notable since Trump has courted the U.S. oil industry — which he pushed to donate heavily to his campaign — and hailed the record-high oil production that has helped insulate U.S. consumers from the worst of the price spikes since the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks on Iran in late February.”

Julie Smyth & Michael Casey of the AP: “A federal judge on Wednesday permanently barred ... Donald Trump’s administration from implementing most of his first executive order on elections, part of which sought to require people to show documentary proof of citizenship when they register to vote. The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper in Boston effectively converts a preliminary injunction she issued a year ago, in which she temporarily blocked many of Trump’s efforts to overhaul elections, into a permanent ban. Casper rejected the administration’s argument that the lawsuit to block the changes brought by Democratic state attorneys general was premature because the rules had yet to be implemented. Instead, she agreed that the Constitution gives states and Congress the authority to regulate elections, and that Trump’s requirements violated the separation of powers.”

Neither Snow Nor Rain Nor Heat Nor Gloom of Night ... But Trump, Yeah. Jacob Knutson of Democracy Docket: “Postmaster General David Steiner told senators that, under a new proposed rule, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will not deliver mail ballots unless states hand over their voter lists to the Trump administration. 'Under our proposed regulation, no,' Steiner said during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing Wednesday after being asked whether USPS would refuse to deliver election mail if states refuse to divulge their voter lists. 'We would tell the state that we need the manifest,' Steiner added. Steiner’s alarming answer is yet more evidence that the Postal Service is following through with ... Donald Trump’s sweeping attack on mail voting and breaking from its decades-long history as a neutral, nonpartisan carrier of U.S. election mail....

“Sen. Margaret Hassan (D-N.H.) urged Steiner to 'immediately' withdraw the rule, calling it 'blatantly illegal' and designed to 'reduce participation in our democracy.' In response to a question from Hassan, Steiner said the Postal Service would comply if a court blocks the proposal. Multiple federal courts are hearing lawsuits against Trump’s order and the USPS’s new regulation.” MB: This really cannot stand.

Raquel Uribe & Kyle Stewart of NBC News: “Billionaire Bill Gates told the House Oversight Committee this month that he believed Jeffrey Epstein 'contemplated blackmailing' him over extramarital affairs, according to a transcript of the Microsoft co-founder’s interview released Tuesday. 'He never blackmailed me, but looking at these emails, it raises a serious probability that he contemplated blackmailing me,' Gates told lawmakers on June 10 as part of the committee’s probe into the late convicted sex offender.... Gates also told House members in the interview this month that he was aware Epstein had a criminal conviction 'of a sexual nature' when they met and that he 'probably should have' dug into the specifics of the conviction.” 

Jonathan Dienst of NBC News New York, & AP: “A chief of staff to former New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been charged with accepting more than $100,000 in bribes to steer a city contract for emergency housing for migrants to a Queens hotel, according a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday. The indictment lodges multiple charges of bribery, wire fraud, money laundering and other crimes against Frank Carone, along with his brother Anthony Carone as well as a Queens hotel owner Yan Po Zhu and Crystal Chen, an employee of the hotel. They were expected to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday afternoon.”

~~~~~~~~~~ 

Primary Elections Results

The New York Times is liveblogging primary elections results & developments. From the pinned item at 11:00 pm ET: “Mayor Zohran Mamdani showed the strength of his progressive coalition in New York on Tuesday night, using his political muscle to elevate three like-minded candidates to victories in Democratic House primary races — including two that ousted incumbents.... Mr. Mamdani had made a major gamble to parlay his popularity in the city to expand his progressive left-wing movement, and three of his allies won closely watched races: Brad Lander, the former city comptroller, and two democratic socialists, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez.”

Maryland House Races. Bayliss Wagner of the New York Times: “Adrian Boafo, a state delegate, won the Democratic nomination for a heavily blue House seat in Southern Maryland on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, capping off an elbow-to-elbow primary in which spending from the pro-Israel and cryptocurrency lobbies played an outsize role. Mr. Boafo, 32, bested nearly two dozen Democratic opponents in the contest to succeed Representative Steny Hoyer, 87, who was once the right-hand man to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and is retiring after 44 years in office. Mr. Hoyer’s retirement set off a scramble for a safe Democratic seat in the Fifth Congressional District, which includes Prince George’s County and its many Black voters. Mr. Boafo — a former aide to Mr. Hoyer, who endorsed Mr. Boafo — is very likely to win a seat in Congress in November given how overwhelmingly the seat leans to the left.” The AP's report is here.

Bayliss Wagner of the New York Times: “Representative April McClain Delaney of Maryland won a nail-biter of a Democratic House primary race on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, holding off a fierce, multimillion-dollar challenge from a former representative [-- David Trone --] who had pulled from his personal fortune in an aggressive bid to reclaim his old seat. With her victory, Ms. McClain Delaney, a lawyer and former official in the Biden administration, will advance to the general election in Maryland’s Sixth District. She is seeking a second term in a solidly Democratic seat in western Maryland.”

Maryland Gubernatorial Race. Campbell Robertson of the New York Times: “Dan Cox, a hard-right former state lawmaker, will once again face Wes Moore in the race for governor of Maryland, having won the Republican nomination on Tuesday, The Associated Press said. Gov. Moore, who is running for re-election, defeated Mr. Cox in 2022 by 32 percentage points. Mr. Cox bested a crowded Republican field, few of whom had held political office before, reflecting the absence of a unifying leader for the state Republican Party since Larry Hogan, Maryland’s last Republican governor, left office more than three years ago.”

New York House Races. Chris Sommerfeldt, et al., of Politico: “Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander defeated Rep. Dan Goldman in Tuesday’s Democratic congressional primary, ousting the two-term lawmaker after a bruising campaign that focused heavily on their differences over Israel. On the campaign trail, Lander concentrated much of his attention on immigration and his opposition to U.S. military aid for Israel — and he was buoyed by an early endorsement from Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Goldman, who staked out more supportive views on Israel on the campaign trail, became a household name after helping lead the first impeachment of ... Donald Trump in 2019. A former federal prosecutor and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, he was first elected to Congress in 2022 by a razor-thin margin....” The NBC News story is here.

Claire Fahy of the New York Times: “Darializa Avila Chevalier, 32, who stunned the Democratic political establishment by upsetting Representative Adriano Espaillat, is a relative political newcomer who emerged from the world of far-left activism. Her campaign was buoyed by strong support from Mayor Zohran Mamdani over the closing stretch. The mayor had originally pledged to endorse her opponent, the incumbent, Representative Adriano Espaillat. But Ms. Avila Chevalier and Mr. Mamdani, both young democratic socialists, had enough in common that the mayor backtracked on his vow to back Mr. Espaillat. Some of Ms. Avila Chevalier’s views may be considered too extreme for mainstream politics, and should she be chosen to represent Upper Manhattan in Congress, her views could pose a challenge for the greater Democratic Party.”

Madison Fernandez & Joe Anuta of Politico: “State Assemblymember Micah Lasher, a longtime political operative who had the support of retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler, won the contentious, crowded primary to succeed the 17-term incumbent. Lasher, who was elected to the Legislature in 2024, has spent decades working for some of New York’s most powerful Democrats, including Nadler, Gov. Kathy Hochul and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who poured $10 million into a super PAC boosting his campaign. His main argument was that political experience is a must to be effective in Washington, and he leaned heavily on touting his legislative record.” The New York Times' story is here.

Grace Ashford of the New York Times: “Anthony Constantino, the sticker magnate who erected a 12-foot-high 'VOTE FOR TRUMP' sign atop his company’s headquarters, won the Republican nomination for an open House seat in New York’s North Country, according to The Associated Press. His victory is a major blow to the state’s Republican Party, which had taken the unusual step of endorsing his opponent, Robert Smullen, a state assemblyman and former Marine. With 78 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Constantino was 18 percentage points ahead of Mr. Smullen. An amateur rapper and onetime boxer who grew his company, Sticker Mule, into a multimillion-dollar operation, Mr. Constantino, 43, is not the average upstate Republican. In his self-funded campaign, he has emphasized his similarities, and fealty, to ... [Donald] Trump, who endorsed him.... But ... come November, victory is by no means assured. In his short time in the public eye, Mr. Constantino has made enemies of many local Republicans and other party leaders.” Politico's story is here.

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: “Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his allies swept a series of congressional primaries in New York City on Tuesday in a remarkable show of strength for the insurgent left that sent shock waves through the Democratic Party. Mr. Mamdani’s candidates toppled a pair of incumbents backed by the city’s political establishment, including major labor unions and the House Democratic leader. Another candidate backed by the mayor won an open House seat, and a handful of democratic socialist challengers he supported were winning down the ballot. For months, Mr. Mamdani threw himself and his energized political organization into the three marquee congressional contests, campaigning late into the night in the race’s final days and calling the election a referendum on the direction of the party. All the winning candidates share Mr. Mamdani’s progressive economic platform, and they each ran campaigns that focused intently on ending American support for Israel, a sign of how far public opinion has shifted on the issue, even in New York.” Here's an NBC News story. ~~~

~~~ Jennifer Medina & Rein Epstein of the New York Times: “Three Democrats who made criticism of Israel central to their political identities swept to victory in House primary races in New York City on Tuesday, signaling a new era of skepticism in their party toward the Jewish state and its actions. The striking results reflected a fast-moving shift in liberal politics. Democratic voters are now more likely to be critical of Israel and its government than they are to be supportive, according to several recent polls, a monumental change in American sentiment.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: At the top of today's Comments, RAS links two posts that explain Democrats' shifting priorities. The first is a Guardian story reporting that a U.N. inquiry has found that Israel was still committing genocide is Gaza. In the second, Joe Jervis reports that millions of MAGA folks have fallen for a clearly-marked satirical story about Antifa operatives caught dumping algae into the Reflecting Pool. So what we're seeing in the elections results, IMO, is Democrats responding to changing facts -- i.e., Israel killing innocent Palestinians. Meanwhile, wingers are so mired in their prejudices that they believe whatever reinforces those prejudices even when the "whatever" is clearly identified as false. It's the difference between intelligence & stupidity, between reason & raw emotion.

South Carolina House Races. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: “Jenny Costa Honeycutt, a Charleston County councilwoman and lawyer, won a Republican primary runoff election on Tuesday for a House seat in South Carolina currently held by Representative Nancy Mace, according to The Associated Press. Ms. Mace, an outspoken Republican who has a knack for making headlines and has shifted from moderation to staunch support of ... [Donald] Trump, lost her bid for governor this month. Ms. Honeycutt defeated Mark Smith, a state representative, in a runoff after the two candidates advanced this month out of a crowded and chaotic field in the Republican primary. The district, which hugs the southern coast of the state, leans significantly Republican, and Ms. Honeycutt is likely to be the favorite to prevail in November. But Democrats will try to make the race competitive: House Majority PAC, the main House Democratic super PAC, has reserved $2.1 million in the district for the fall, according to AdImpact, a media tracking platform.” ~~~

     ~~~ Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: “Nancy Lacore, a former Navy admiral who was fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, won the Democratic nomination for the First Congressional District of South Carolina, according to The Associated Press. Ms. Lacore defeated Mac Deford, a Coast Guard veteran who was previously the general counsel for the town of Hilton Head Island. Now, Ms. Lacore faces a difficult task: flipping a seat currently held by a Republican, Representative Nancy Mace, who ran unsuccessfully for governor instead of seeking re-election. The coastal district was redrawn in 2021 to be more reliably Republican. Ms. Mace won re-election by double-digit percentages in each of her past two elections. But Democrats, who view Ms. Lacore’s military biography as a potentially game-changing asset, are still eyeing the seat despite how difficult it may be to flip.”

South Carolina Gubernatorial Race. Meg Kinnard & Jeffrey Collins of the AP: “South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson won a runoff election on Tuesday, swiftly routing the candidate initially endorsed by ... Donald Trump to be the Republican nominee for governor. Wilson defeated Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, whom Trump backed in the closing days of the primary campaign. The president later said he supported both candidates, hedging his bets in the race after his candidates for governor lost in Iowa and Georgia earlier this month. Wilson, the son of longtime U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, has served as the state’s top prosecutor since 2011. His victory sets up a November general contest with state Rep. Jermaine Johnson, who won the Democratic nomination outright two weeks ago.”

Utah House Race. Kellen Browning of the New York Times: “Ben McAdams, a moderate former representative, won the Democratic primary race in Utah’s newly redrawn House district around Salt Lake City, The Associated Press said on Tuesday. Mr. McAdams, who served one term from 2019 to 2021 before losing his re-election bid, will be strongly favored to return to Congress this fall, after court-ordered redistricting led to the creation of a heavily liberal congressional district in deep-red Utah. The newly redrawn map featured a district so liberal, in fact, that Mr. McAdams, a Latter-day Saint, had to distance himself from some past positions he took in his campaigns in more difficult territory. In the past, Mr. McAdams expressed opposition to abortion, but he distanced himself from that stance this year and said he would vote to restore nationwide access to the procedure. Mr. McAdams faced opposition from a few progressives, including Nate Blouin, a state senator backed by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. But they could not keep up with Mr. McAdams’s greater name recognition among voters in the area, where he served for years as county mayor.” The AP report is here.

David Sanger & Yeganeh Torbati of the New York Times: Donald “Trump was eager on Tuesday morning to announce the latest concession that he says his negotiators extracted from Iran, writing on social media that the country had agreed to allow the 'highest level Nuclear Inspections long into the future (Infinity!!!).' But he omitted the fact that as a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Iran is required to allow in international inspectors. And his statement came after the Iranians had insisted that there were no plans to allow inspectors into the three major nuclear sites the United States bombed a year ago — and where just about all the nation’s enriched uranium is stored. The previous day, Vice President JD Vance, leaving the negotiating site at a Swiss resort, said Iran had agreed that if Iranian assets were unfrozen, the United States and Qatari officials would oversee the process and the money would be used to buy American farm products. The Iranians denied that, too, saying that the 14-point memorandum of understanding they had signed with the Americans did not require them to do so....

Until recently, one rule of diplomatic bargaining has usually held: 'Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.' That is how the United States and Iran traditionally have left themselves some trading space.... In fact, there were elements of truth in both what Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance were arguing, and in the Iranian rebuttal. And dissecting the differences helps explain why this negotiation is likely to be painful — and long.”

⭐The Mysterious Case of the Unidentified Fat Man. Ellie Houghtaling of the New Republic, republished by Yahoo! News: "Millions of Americans are eagerly awaiting access to retatrutide, a powerful new drug from the pharmaceutical company. But one unidentified [then-79-year-old man] has been able to gain premature access to the drug via the FDA's 'compassionate use' program, STAT reported Tuesday. The FDA program is designed to prioritize access to experimental drugs for patients with grave or life-threatening medical issues. And while the name of the individual is not known, several signs indicate that they are likely very well-connected. A senior clinician at the National Institutes of Health, Ranganath Muniyappa, requested access to the drug for the unnamed patient in April. Muniyappa cited a diagnosis of refractory obesity with obstructive sleep apnea and pulmonary hypertension, a potentially life-threatening disease characterized by high blood pressure in the lungs. The request reportedly drew the attention of top health officials, which STAT noted was indicative of the patient's influence.... The White House did not explicitly deny the patient was Trump." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Darius Tahir of KFF News (May 18, 2026): "... Donald Trump earlier this year bought as much as $680,000 in stock of Eli Lilly, the maker of blockbuster obesity drugs, as the agencies he oversees undertook an agenda that largely benefited the company.... The timing of Trump’s purchases coincides with several favorable government decisions benefiting the drugmaker’s GLP-1 business, including progress toward a long-held goal: qualifying the drugs for reimbursement from Medicare..., when they are prescribed for weight loss. The disclosure forms — which bear Trump’s distinct signature — give ranges rather than exact dollar amounts for the trades. They show seven purchases of Lilly stock made on the president’s behalf through the end of March, the first of which occurred on Jan. 6. During that period, and just afterward, several Trump administration initiatives ultimately benefited Lilly." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Maybe the Unidentified Fat Man just wants to please his girlfriend. ~~~

~~~ Brandon Rascius of the Independent: “Few qualities carry more weight for ... Donald Trump than loyalty, and few aides embody it as fully as his executive assistant, Natalie Harp. A former TV presenter, Harp is a near-constant presence at Trump’s side — encouraging his Oval Office redesigns, typing up his Truth Social tirades and printing out online articles, a role that has earned her the nickname 'the human printer.'... She even penned her own uplifting notes, leaving them for Trump in 'personal spaces.' One read: 'You are all that matters to me.'... These details about one of the most influential White House aides were revealed by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan in their new book Regime Change.... After returning to office last year, he told staffers that she 'was the only one who loved him as much as his wife and kids,' Haberman and Swan wrote.... 'All of you will go off and make money,' the billionaire president told his subordinates. She’ll never leave me.'”

Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: Donald “Trump has nominated a lawyer from a firm that worked on his taxes to become the top attorney at the Internal Revenue Service, an arrangement that could add to the scrutiny that the nomination was already likely to face after the administration granted the president protection from tax audits last month. The White House said on Tuesday that Mr. Trump was nominating James R. Gadwood, a tax lawyer at Miller & Chevalier, to be the chief counsel of the I.R.S. Miller & Chevalier represents DJT Holdings LLC, Mr. Trump’s holding company, in tax matters....”

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “Under Mr. Trump, the [U.S. refugee] program has effectively become a whites-only path to life in the United States, a culmination of the president’s longstanding antipathy toward immigrants and his embrace of the concept of 'reverse racism' as a guiding principle in his administration.... The president has fought to limit immigration for more than a decade, imposing travel bans on mostly African and Muslim-majority nations and making it much more difficult for people from those nations to obtain green cards.... But few of Mr. Trump’s efforts are as striking as his efforts to turn the refugee program on its head, leaving thousands of people across the world sitting in refugee camps with no chance of entry into the United States, even as he created a workaround for Afrikaners.” Read on. I'm a nonviolent person, but I would like to pummel Marco Rubio. The link is a gift link. 

I’m very good at building things and constructing things. -- Donald Trump, June 15, the day before workers noticed the peeling sealant in the Reflecting Pool ~~~

~~~ Maxine Joselow & David Fahrenthold of the New York Times: Donald “Trump says the peeling blue coating and algae blooms that mar his $16.4 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool are the fault of vandals working with 'knives' in the 'dark of night.' But government documents obtained by The New York Times show that while National Park Service workers found two cuts in sections of foam between the pool’s expansion joints, those were not directly related to the 'American flag blue' coating that is now peeling, or to the algae that has turned the pool a bright shade of green. Even as the documents show workers were attempting to address deteriorating conditions, Trump administration officials were insisting publicly that the pool was pristine.... The cause of the cuts was unclear.... By June 16, workers had noticed that chunks of blue sealant that covered the pool’s bottom were peeling and floating to the surface, the documents show. That sealant was separate from the foam in the pool’s expansion joints, which allow its concrete slabs to expand and contract. The workers had also discovered that some devices installed to kill algae were not working as intended, according to the documents.” ~~~

~~~ Trump Ruins Everything, Ctd. Philip Kennicott of the Washington Post: “No matter how thronged with tourists and school groups, [the Reflecting Pool] is one of the most serene places in Washington.... It was anything but serene last week. Giant pumps disgorged a torrent of Shrek-green water, while tourists gawked, and authorities patrolled around the edges to prevent vandalism that, as of this writing, seemed to exist only in the mind of the man who made the whole mess, Donald Trump.... A place that was meant to amplify the ideals of our democracy by reflecting an image of its sacred monuments was now a police zone, where cops carried out what seem to be arbitrary arrests motivated by the president’s need to blame his own mismanagement on an imaginary enemy.” ~~~ 

~~~ Heather Cox Richardson has a fine summary of Trump's expanding tall tales about Reflecting Pool vandalism, culminating in his assertion that "we have pictures," pictures you'll be able to see "at the right time." You might think this is nothing more than the ramblings of Dementia Don, but in fact it is a replay of Trump's racist birtherism gambit when back in 2011, as Art Intel says, "Trump repeatedly claimed on national television that he had hired private detectives to investigate former President Barack Obama's birth certificate, telling interviewers that 'they cannot believe what they are finding.' When pressed by reporters to provide proof, name his investigators, or reveal his findings, Trump deflected by stating it wasn't 'appropriate' or 'none of your business right now." Trump fixer Michael Cohen, according to Art, later admitted there were never any investigators. ~~~

~~~ Don Moynihan writes a fine little essay on what the Reflecting Pool reflects about Trump. Enjoyable reading. (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: I meant to embed this yesterday, but I forgot. Definitely good for some giggles: ~~~

~~~ Stewart's interview of Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times runs almost a half-hour, but -- jokes notwithstanding -- it's quite substantive. So amusing AND informative.

Dave Levinthal of NOTUS: "... Donald Trump wants his name on most anything: money, buildings, airports, warships, even the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration. But one item is increasingly out of reach: newborns. In 2025, the baby name 'Donald' hit its lowest point of popularity in U.S. history, according to data maintained by the Social Security Administration and reviewed by NOTUS. The federal agency received fewer than 400 Social Security card applications for baby Donalds last year, making 'Donald' the nation’s 690th most popular baby name amid Trump’s return to the White House for a second term.” Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: One day I was walking through Manhattan's Little Italy with my husband -- who was born in Italy -- and I noticed that there were several little restaurants named "Benny's Pizza." I commented on that to my husband, and he said, "Oh, it's not likely the same Benny owns them all. It just means that the parents of the restaurants' owners were fascists." That is to say, the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was more popular in Italy than Trump is in the U.S.

Isaac Arnsdorf & Natalie Allison of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump traveled on Tuesday to one of the tightest congressional battlegrounds in this year’s midterms, but he showed about as much interest in boosting the Republican candidate as the candidate showed in him.... When Trump finally called up [Rep. Ryan] Mackenzie [who represents the Lehigh Valley in eastern Pennsylvania], almost an hour into his speech, he teased the candidate, whose seat is rated one of 14 GOP-held toss-ups by the Cook Political Report. 'Run up here,' the president said. 'Run fast. Nobody wants to hear you.' Onstage, Mackenzie kept it short — and bland.”

Jade Cobern, et al., of ABC News: "A flu outbreak at the Air Force's basic training hub in San Antonio ... is unfolding just two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the annual flu shot optional for troops, scrapping the military's requirement for it, which dates to 1945, a move breaking with longstanding public health directives.... The services have already been given exceptions to Hegseth's policy according to Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell.... As part of those exceptions to the policy, the Army, Navy and Air Force are once again requiring flu shots for basic trainees, according to officials. In the Air Force, only about 40% of its new trainees at Joint Base San Antonio had a flu vaccination when the outbreak started in early June.... But with the new exception to policy, the Air Force has the goal of vaccinating all of the recruits in this recruit class and will vaccinate all new recruits arriving at the base according to one of the sources. Moreover, the Army is preparing in the coming weeks to broaden that requirement to troops deploying overseas, first responders, child care workers, health care personnel, prison staff and soldiers taking part in certain large-scale training exercises, according to a service spokesperson." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So it appears that to let Drunk Pete save face, the rule remains in place, but just about everyone is covered by an "exception."

John Vandiver of Stars & Stripes: “Gen. Christopher Donahue, the head of U.S. Army Europe and Africa and commander of NATO ground forces, will step down next week, an Army official confirmed Wednesday. The exit of Donahue, who has been in command for less than two years at his Wiesbaden headquarters, marks the latest shakeup in the military’s upper ranks.Concerns that Donahue’s career could be headed for a premature end recently attracted attention in Washington. Last month, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., issued a statement concerning 'rumors' that Pentagon leadership was trying to sideline Donahue and downgrade his headquarters to a three-star command.... Donahue, a West Point graduate with long stints in some of the Army’s most elite units, has been a major figure in the military for years.... A famous grainy nighttime photo of Donahue, the last U.S. service member out of Afghanistan in 2021, became associated with the political fight over former President Joe Biden’s messy withdrawal from the country.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Although Vandiver writes that "there is no indication that Donahue was fired, the headline on a firewalled Financial Times story is "... Hegseth forces out top Army officer in Europe."

Jazmine Ulloa & Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: “A federal judge in California issued an order on Tuesday blocking immigration agents nationwide from making arrests inside immigration courts. The decision halts what had been one of the most aggressive aspects of ... [Donald] Trump’s mass deportation campaign. Judge P. Casey Pitts of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California said in his decision that federal officials had violated a key statute governing administrative procedures when they changed previous guidelines that restricted civil arrests inside immigration courthouses. The judge called officials’ decision-making processes 'arbitrary and capricious,' saying they had failed to consider alternative options and had dismissed their own prior concerns that courthouse arrests would 'disincentivize' immigrants from attending their hearings....

“Judge Pitts was nominated to the federal bench by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. The decision is likely to be challenged as the Supreme Court has substantially limited the ability of lower-court judges to block executive branch policies nationwide. Appeals courts have also already reversed some of the many lower-court rulings against the Trump administration on immigration.”

Alligator Alcatraz Is Closing. David Ovalle & Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: “Crews began dismantling a state-run immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades on Monday, signaling its closure even as state and federal officials continued to say little about the shutdown of a year-old facility that they once praised on a near-daily basis. State officials informed vendors in a call on Monday morning that they could begin 'demobilizing,' or taking down, the tents, fences, trailers and other structures at the detention center, known as Alligator Alcatraz, according to three people familiar with the call.... The directive came days after the Department of Homeland Security said that all detainees had been transferred out of the remote center, which opened a little less than a year ago to much fanfare from ... [Donald] Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis....”

Sam Levine of the Guardian: “A group of Texas protesters convicted of terrorism charges received unusually harsh sentences of at least 50 years in prison on Tuesday in a closely watched case that was widely seen as a test case of the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on dissent. After a three-week jury trial, the nine activists were all found guilty of a slew of criminal charges in March, stemming from a Fourth of July protest at an immigrant detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, south of Fort Worth. The demonstrators arrived late at night with a plan to set off fireworks as part of a noise demonstration to show solidarity with those detained inside. A few of the protesters spontaneously broke off from the main group and vandalized cars in the parking lot, a guard shack, slashed the tires on a government van and broke a security camera. When a police officer arrived on the scene and drew his weapon, one of the activists fired an AR-15 from the woods, hitting the officer in the shoulder. The officer survived. Benjamin Song, who fired the gun at the police officer, was sentenced to 100 years in prison.” The Washington Post's report is here.

Robert Jimison of the New York Times: “The Senate on Tuesday adopted a resolution instructing ... [Donald] Trump to end the war in Iran or seek congressional authorization to continue it, delivering the most significant bipartisan rebuke yet of the conflict. The resolution does not have the force of law and is therefore unlikely to compel an immediate change in policy. But the 50-to-48 vote — in which four Republicans joined Democrats in favor — marked a striking break by the G.O.P.-led Congress with a president who has faced little resistance from his party on any topic, particularly matters of war and national security.... In the Senate on Tuesday, Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the lone Democrat to vote against the resolution. Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana broke with fellow Republicans and supported the measure. Their backing and the absence of two Republicans who have opposed such measures in the past, including Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, who was recently hospitalized, allowed the resolution to prevail.” Update: the link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link. The Guardian's report is here.

Ronda Kaysen of the New York Times: “The House on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a landmark housing bill, notching a rare bipartisan accomplishment ahead of the midterm elections and clearing the way for ... [Donald] Trump to sign the most significant piece of housing legislation in 36 years. The bill’s passage, by a lopsided 358-to-32 vote, ended months of sparring between the House and the Senate over a sprawling measure that aims to tackle the housing crisis by boosting supply in a country facing an acute shortage of new homes. The Senate passed its version of the same bill Monday, by a vote of 85 to 5. A White House official said Mr. Trump was expected to sign the bill into law on Wednesday. Passage of the legislation secured a much-needed achievement for his party months before midterm elections....” NPR's story is here.

It Was a 6-3 Kind of Day:

Lindsay Whitehurst of the AP: “The Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration Tuesday in an immigration case dealing with the government’s power over green card holders accused of crimes. The 6-3 decision centers around an immigration officers’ 2012 decision to put lawful permanent resident Muk Choi Lau on immigration parole when he returned from a short trip to China because he had been accused of a counterfeiting crime. Lau argued that the officer overstepped their authority, and the decision wrongly allowed the Department of Homeland Security under then-President Barack Obama to swiftly begin deportation proceedings after he pleaded guilty to selling counterfeit clothes in New Jersey. The high court disagreed. 'Border officers did not have the burden to establish by clear and convincing evidence that Lau had committed a crime involving moral turpitude,' Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the opinion. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson disagreed, writing that the decision to put Lau on immigration parole effectively sentenced him to 'immigration limbo' before he’d been convicted of any crime, she wrote.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Ann Marimow of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court cleared the way on Tuesday for Exxon Mobil to seek compensation from Cuban-owned entities over oil and gas assets the Communist country seized in 1960. Then known as Standard Oil, Exxon had supplied, refined and distributed fuel throughout the island with more than 100 service stations, when its assets were abruptly confiscated after Fidel Castro rose to power and nationalized private property. Exxon later sued three government-owned companies that it said had been exploiting its stolen refineries and service stations without compensation ever since.... Foreign governments and the businesses they own are generally shielded from liability in U.S. courts under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, but Exxon had argued it qualified for an exemption to the prohibition. In its 6-to-3 vote, [with the liberal justices dissenting,] the court’s conservative majority agreed because of a separate statute, the Helms-Burton Act, which the court said permits such lawsuits against Cuba and Cuban-owned entities at the president’s discretion. Presidents, not the courts, are the 'gatekeeping authority over those suits,' wrote Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, a strong proponent of executive power. The “president has determined that permitting those suits will promote U. S. foreign policy interests,” and blocking them because of other federal laws would 'thwart Congress’s design and directly contravene the president’s foreign policy judgments,' he wrote.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Just for a little context here, I asked Art Intel to compare the annual income of Exxon with Cuba's GDP. Art sez, "ExxonMobil’s annual revenue sits at approximately $332.2 billion, with annual net earnings reaching $28.8 billion. In contrast, Cuba's GDP is estimated to be around $108 billion to $109 billion." I'm not saying that the win should always go to the underdog, but I will assert that Standard Oil, along with other U.S.-based companies, exploited Cuba & its people before the revolution. Art Intel sez Standard Oil "imported crude oil — largely sourced from its operations in Venezuela—and established a virtual stranglehold on Cuba’s fuel supply." So I'm having a mighty hard time seeing the justice of reimbursing Exxon for its losses.

Mark Sherman of the AP: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday barred a former Louisiana inmate from suing prison officials who cut off his dreadlocks in violation of his Rastafari religious beliefs. The justices condemned what happened to the former inmate, Damon Landor. But they ruled that a federal law designed to protect the religious rights of inmates does not permit lawsuits for money damages even when rights are violated. The high court agreed with lower courts that without exception had ruled that the law, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, can’t be used to hold those who violate inmates’ rights financially responsible.... The justices refused to apply the rationale from their decision in 2020 that allowed Muslim men to sue over their inclusion on the FBI’s no-fly list under a sister statute, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.” (Also linked yesterday.)~~~

     ~~~ Justin Jouvenal of the Washington Post: “In a 6-3 ruling along ideological lines, the justices found Damon Landor could not sue prison officials as individuals under a 2000 federal law that requires states to protect the religious rights of prisoners in state institutions. The ruling is a departure from a series of decisions by the Supreme Court expanding religious freedoms in recent terms.... That trend has pushed up against another set of court decisions limiting the ability of prisoners to obtain compensation for ill treatment in custody.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court said on Tuesday that members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement could not sue a U.S. company that they claimed helped facilitate the Chinese government’s efforts to target and torture them. Writing for the majority, Justice Amy Coney Barrett signaled an unwillingness to expand the scope of a 237-year-old law that had been designed to allow foreigners to bring lawsuits in U.S. courts for violations of international law. The ruling in favor of Cisco Systems, a technology company based in San Jose, Calif., could help insulate other companies from legal risks in dealings with foreign governments with histories of engaging in human rights abuses. The company has denied that its technology was customized to enable the Chinese government to facilitate repression, calling the allegation 'inaccurate and entirely without foundation.'

“In a mixed ruling that reversed a lower appeals court that had sided with the Falun Gong members, all of the court’s conservatives joined Justice Barrett in the majority, and two of the court’s liberals joined in part. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, joined in part by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. The Supreme Court case involved a federal law known as the Alien Tort Statute, which was enacted in 1789 by the country’s first Congress.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Ephrat Livni of the New York Times: “Iran is taking steps to cement its control over the Strait of Hormuz and to generate revenue from the waterway through new entities and procedures, experts say. The moves come even as negotiations with the United States and Iran’s neighbors over managing the vital waterway are taking place. The head of Iran’s primary insurance regulator, Mousa Rezaei, said on Sunday that a new insurance company had been established that was dedicated solely to the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media reported. And late last week, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which was created by Iran in May, demanded that vessels register and sign up for a new mandatory Iranian insurance policy — free of charge for now. Shipping experts see these steps as an attempt to assert Iranian control over the whole waterway, which it shares with Oman. They appear to be a prelude to Iran’s demanding payments from vessels that once transited without fees or need of its assent, the experts say. The Iranian requirements could set a dangerous precedent for global shipping, experts say, and they are already making a confusing situation in the strait much more so.” (Also linked yesterday.)

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