July 22, 2026

Goodbye, Soft Power. Marie: I'm guessing the map is based on this Pew Research report. Thanks to RAS for the link: ~~~

The New York Times' live updates of developments in the Iran War are here. From the pinned item at 5:45 am ET: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that the United States would continue to attack Iran as long as it tried to exercise control over the Strait of Hormuz, as the two sides traded another round of strikes across the Persian Gulf overnight. While Mr. Rubio continued to leave the door open for diplomacy, he told reporters in Manila that Iran at this point was 'not serious about talks,' arguing that Tehran had violated a preliminary agreement that says it should allow ships to transit the strait.... Signs of diplomatic efforts to end the war have been muted. Iran’s interior minister met on Tuesday with Pakistan’s prime minister and army chief in Islamabad, the capital. Pakistan has been brokering negotiations between the United States and Iran.”

David Sanger of the New York Times: Donald “Trump threatened on Tuesday to accelerate the war with Iran by returning the conflict to where it began, with a bunker-busting attack on one of the country’s nuclear facilities. But the target he has in mind, known among Western intelligence agencies as Pickaxe Mountain, is not complete. No nuclear experts believe it houses the kind of working equipment to enrich uranium, and convert that material to bomb fuel, like the three major nuclear sites Mr. Trump ordered bombed in June 2025.... At most, experts say, Pickaxe Mountain for now is a deep underground storage site. But for Mr. Trump, facing a turning point in the war, it may make little difference whether Pickaxe Mountain is empty or giving cover to the surviving remnants of Iran’s stockpile of nuclear centrifuges.... In his own statements on Tuesday and those of his military advisers, who spent much of the afternoon dodging questions from Senate Democrats, Mr. Trump seemed mostly fixated on sending a message to Iran that his willingness to escalate knows no limits.” Here's an Axios story by Barak Ravid.

AP, published in the Guardian: “Donald Trump said ... after meeting with the Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun ... on Tuesday he would allow American carriers to resume direct flights to Lebanon more than 40 years after the US suspended the route. Direct flights between the US and Lebanon were suspended in 1985 by Ronald Reagan’s administration following the hijacking of TWA flight 847.... During the meeting with Aoun, Trump pledged to help Lebanon 'a lot'. Aoun came to Washington to push for long-term calm after months of war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.” MB: Uh, would you fly into Lebanon with Bibi shooting at the country? ~~~

~~~ David Ignatius of the Washington Post: “... Tuesday’s visit by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun was a moment to celebrate. Aoun came away with a pledge of support from ... Donald Trump that could help rescue his country from a half-century of chaos.... On Lebanon, [Trump] has been rock-solid. He pushed Aoun to embrace a plan to disarm Hezbollah, despite fears in Beirut that it might trigger civil war. And he pressured Israel to begin a troop withdrawal that could allow Aoun and the Lebanese Armed Forces to reclaim the country’s sovereignty at last.... The hardest part [for Trump] will be standing up to Israel....” MB: Maybe it's not coincidental that Lebanon has a lot of beautiful beachfront property.   

Jacey Fortin, et al., of the New York Times: “The Pentagon on Tuesday released the name of a U.S. soldier killed during the disposal of an Iranian drone in northern Iraq. Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of Fayetteville, N.C., died Saturday during a controlled detonation at Erbil Air Base. The incident is under investigation, the Pentagon said.... Sergeant Swinton was not involved in the actual detonation, but was killed by flying debris from the blast, said a U.S. official....” (Also linked yesterday.)

Noah Robertson, et al., of the Washington Post: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced bipartisan scrutiny in the Senate on Tuesday as frustrated lawmakers pressed him to explain the Trump administration’s strategy for the war in Iran amid renewed hostilities and rising costs. The hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee was the first time Hegseth testified before Congress since the collapse of a truce between Washington and Tehran in recent days. The session also marked lawmakers’ first public oversight of the administration’s request for $67 billion in additional funding to cover the costs of the conflict. Hegseth, who testified alongside Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, defended the funding request as an “urgent, necessary” step to restock the Pentagon’s arsenal of precision weaponry diminished during the fighting and to avoid looming shortfalls in the military’s budget.” ~~~

     ~~~Joseph Gedeon & Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: “The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth told the Senate on Tuesday that the US-Israel war on Iran had cost $37.5bn so far, as he faced lawmakers furious over the conflict’s soaring price tag and the deaths last week of three American service members. During an appearance before the Senate appropriations committee, Hegseth, whose opening remarks were repeatedly interrupted by protesters, provided an updated account of the war’s cost – up from previous estimates – and defended the Trump administration’s roughly $88bn supplemental funding request, calling it 'urgent, necessary'.... Hegseth argued that the Pentagon was running low on cash to keep the fight going. Of the total request, as much as $67.1bn is earmarked specifically to cover the costs of the Iran war effort.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I saw a couple of clips from the hearing and could not help but notice Pete was sweating profusely. Gen. Caine, who was sitting alongside Pete, was not visibly sweating. This got me to wondering why Pete's makeup was running down his face. An idea popped into my head. So I asked Art Intel a pointed question, and he answered, "Yes, testosterone therapy can cause increased sweating. It is a very common side effect as your body adjusts to changing hormone levels, which alters your metabolism and temperature regulation." ~~~

~~~ Taking the Back Door into a War Authorization? Emin Yucel in TPM: “Almost five months into ... Donald Trump’s war on Iran, the Trump administration still has not asked for authorization from Congress to continue hostilities.... In 1999 'the Clinton Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion holding that the supplemental appropriation itself — passed without any authorizing language — satisfied the War Powers Resolution requirement. So is the department looking to that or intending to rely on that same reasoning that funding alone can substitute for explicit congressional authorization?' [Sen. Lisa] Murkowski [R] asked [Pete Hegseth during yesterday's hearing].... Hegseth largely dodged the Alaska senator’s question on Tuesday, saying he would have to 'defer to our legal department' on the issue.”

Noah Robertson, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Pentagon faces an urgent budget shortfall caused largely by the war in Iran, with some critical lines of funding set to run out within weeks even as ... Donald Trump escalates the conflict with Tehran, according to lawmakers and current and former U.S. officials. The funding crunch is already leading the Pentagon to limit training and maintenance that help maintain military readiness, according to four current and former officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to candidly describe the budget constraints.And the collapsed ceasefire with Iran could further strain the military’s budget: After four U.S. service members died during more than a week of intensified fighting, officials in Washington signaled they were preparing for a wider conflict.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: While there are a number of reasons -- lives lost, prestige tanked, etc. -- that the U.S. could not afford this war of choice, it turns out that we also literally could not afford it. Trump & Hogsbreath got us into a war they didn't have the money to fund. 

It Was the Best of Deals; It Was the Worst of Deals. Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: “On Monday ... Mr. Trump made use, for the first time in history, of a nearly century-old provision to impose fresh tariffs on [Canada,] the second-largest U.S. trading partner. But the move is more likely to elicit stoicism than panic from the Canadian side. The tariffs, which experts expect to face legal challenges, target more than 500 Canadian goods.... That’s about 2 percent of the entire trading relationship in goods between the two neighbors, which was worth some $720 billion last year. Those goods are virtually all covered by the upended United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a free-trade pact known as the U.S.M.C.A. In 2020 it replaced and updated the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in 1994. Mr. Trump, who negotiated the U.S.M.C.A. during his first term, at the time called it the 'largest, fairest, most balanced and modern trade agreement ever achieved,' but has criticized it in his second term as the worst agreement ever.... [Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney,] has turned to both Asia and Europe to strengthen Canada’s economic and strategic alliances, and has made it plain that diversification away from the United States is his core U.S. policy.” (Also linked yesterday.)~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If you are a U.S. citizen, it is patriotic to root for Canada, because when you do so, you are rooting for the Americans (including yourself) who will pay these regressive tariffs. As PM Carney said in his statement, linked yesterday, "This trade dispute has raised costs for families, particularly in the U.S." ~~~

~~~ Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: “U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Tuesday signaled another round of ...Donald Trump’s tariffs is on the way. 'We expect to see some action soon,' Greer told CNBC’s 'Squawk Box' when asked if new tariffs are forthcoming, in light of an FT report that more duties could be announced as soon as this week. 'I can’t really specify a timeline right now. I have responsibility to brief Congress and other stakeholders before I really reveal that kind of thing,' Greer noted.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Phillip Bump, in a squeet, cites two Trump social media posts; in one, as RAS writes, Trump "blame[s] for its forest fires and then whine[s] about climate change being a hoax." Bump writes: "This combination, two days apart, will serve for future historians as an effective shorthand for the lunacy of the moment."  

Josh Gerstein of Politico: “A federal magistrate judge ruled Tuesday that ... Donald Trump must turn over detailed financial information in connection with his defamation lawsuit against the BBC. U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett concluded that Trump’s sweeping complaint put injury to his businesses at the forefront and made their vitality a fair subject for the BBC to demand information about. 'All of President Trump’s brand, properties and businesses are impugned or said to have been impugned. Reputational, economic damages, all of that is now at issue in this case,' Lett said at the conclusion of a three-hour hearing. Her decision opened the door for the BBC to explore the finances of more than 400 companies owned by a Trump family trust, but Trump can appeal the ruling to U.S. District Court Judge Roy Altman, a Trump appointee.... Trump’s lawyers had tried to head off the ruling by backing away from some of his initial damage claims, giving up on assertions that the 2024 BBC documentary had caused him economic injuries and diminished the value of his companies.” MB: Still, discovery is a bitch. Maybe Trump should not have sued the BBC.

“Have You No Sense of Decency, Sir?” Marco Wants to Revive McCarthyism. Ken Klippenstein: “A new State Department report on Cuba’s 'campaign of subversion against the United States' is a virtual government blacklist against left-wing Americans and groups. Linked to last week’s Rubio-led summit on 'political terrorism,' the report is unusually candid about the government’s targets.... It names people like Ben Cohen (of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream fame), Mayors Zohran Mamdani and Karen Bass, media figures like Amy Goodman and Hasan Piker, and organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America and the Amazon Labor Union. The implication is clear: Secretary of State Marco Rubio thinks there should be a modern-day blacklist of the political left in America. In fact, the report explicitly mentions the 'blacklists, McCarthy-era investigations and prosecutions' of the 1950s and their effectiveness at dismembering the Communist Party USA.” Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: I think we have enough information now to assert that the Viceroy of Venezuela is not just playing at being a right-wing extremist to placate his boss; he is a right-wing extremist. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: This is truly insane. Joe McCarthy was a madman whose Red Scare brought dark days to the nation. Not for nothing, his chief counsel Roy Cohn was Donald Trump's favorite twisted lawyer. (Art Intel defines "McCarthyism as "the political practice of making baseless accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without sufficient evidence." Sound familiar?) On another note: sometimes maybe it's not the cruelty that is the point. Maybe it's the indifference: ~~~

~~~ The State Department Is Killing People -- Especially Children -- Then Lying About It. Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: “The Trump administration’s cuts to the largest global H.I.V. program last year resulted in sharp drops in both prevention efforts and treatment for the people most at risk from the disease, according to the first large survey of organizations that had received the funds. The findings show a grimmer picture of the impact of the cuts than the State Department’s data, released in April, which seemed to suggest that the program had helped to treat about as many people last year as it had in 2024. To comply with the administration’s policies, the new survey, conducted by the H.I.V. charity amfAR, found, three-quarters of the organizations stopped providing services to those at highest risk from H.I.V. — sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people and people who inject drugs.... A second study, conducted by a multinational group of scientists..., found that the cuts had disproportionately affected children with H.I.V.” (Also linked yesterday.)

FOIA, the Fascism Exception. Eleanor Watson & James LaPorta of CBS News: "The Pentagon is asking Congress for broad new authority to withhold unclassified records from the public, a proposal that transparency advocates say could significantly reduce the public's ability to scrutinize the nation's largest federal agency and understand how billions of taxpayer dollars are spent. The legislative proposal seeks to create a new section of federal law allowing the defense secretary to exempt certain 'controlled unclassified information,' or CUI, from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act if the U.S. military determines the records concern national defense vulnerabilities and concludes that the harm from disclosure outweighs the public interest. Brett Max Kaufman [of the ACLU] ... told CBS News in an email that for decades, there has been 'a massive overclassification problem throughout the executive branch.... The last thing the government needs is a new power to withhold information under the FOIA,' Kaufman wrote." Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, every damned time a journalist or other interested party submitted a FOIA request for documents that could embarrass the administration, the Pentagon would deny the request. This is yet another step in Drunk Pete's aggressive program to shut down journalists and any other avenue for accountability, another bullet point on the very long list that mocks the Orwellian claim that "this is the most transparent administration ever." 

Robert King of Politico: “The Trump administration is withholding more than $1 billion in Medicaid funding to California and Minnesota over what it deems suspect claims. Tuesday’s funding suspension is the latest action by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to target Medicaid funding in the two states. More than $2.5 billion has been deferred from them due to fraud concerns this year. The agency is deferring $867 million in Medicaid funding to California and $199 million to Minnesota for claims the states spent in the previous quarter. Oz said the money could be unlocked, but only if the states can prove it was used for legitimate services.” (Also linked yesterday.)

David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration plans to announce Wednesday that it has reached a broad nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia that could lead to the country enriching its own fuel for nuclear reactors, U.S. officials said. The accord is intended to further bind the United States with the Saudi government as the war with Iran strains the relationship. The Trump administration, according to officials, estimates it will provide billions of dollars for the U.S. nuclear industry — starting with Westinghouse, which designs many of the reactors sold abroad.... Although the agreement likely would have support among many Republicans, some U.S. lawmakers from both parties along with Israeli officials have expressed opposition to such a plan, fearing that the kingdom could use a civilian nuclear project to eventually develop nuclear weapons.” 

Dustin Volz of the New York Times: “The Senate Intelligence Committee approved Jay Clayton on Tuesday as ... [Donald] Trump’s pick to oversee the U.S. intelligence community, clearing a key hurdle that may install Mr. Clayton in the job by the end of the week despite evaporating support from Democrats. The vote, 9 to 8, fell along party lines, as every Republican on the panel backed Mr. Clayton while every Democrat voted in opposition. Assuming he is confirmed by the full Senate as expected, Mr. Clayton will take command of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence from Bill Pulte, a housing official who has pursued campaigns of retribution against the president’s perceived enemies.... Democratic senators were disappointed with Mr. Clayton’s performance in his confirmation hearing last week, finding his evasive answers about whether President Joseph R. Biden Jr. had won the 2020 election unsatisfying.”

Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: “A federal appeals court on Monday rejected former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s effort to stop the Justice Department from releasing tapes and transcripts of interviews he had with his ghostwriter for his 2017 memoir. In a 2-to-1 ruling, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that Mr. Biden had 'not satisfied the stringent requirements for an injunction' to prevent the release of the tapes. But the court said the decision would not take effect until Aug. 3 to allow Mr. Biden time to appeal. Mr. Biden filed a lawsuit in May in an attempt to block the Justice Department from releasing the recordings to the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank. The interviews between himself and Mark Zwonitzer, who ghostwrote his book 'Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship and Purpose,' came into the Justice Department’s possession as part of a special counsel investigation into whether Mr. Biden had improperly retained classified materials from his earlier term as vice president. Mr. Biden’s lawyers argued that the recordings were always intended to stay private.” The Hill's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jonah Bromwich & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: “A U.S. attorney in Washington State who was abruptly fired by the Trump administration filed a lawsuit on Tuesday contesting his termination, the first legal challenge of its kind to a Justice Department that has exerted fierce control over top prosecutors. Roger Rogoff, who was fired last week less than an hour after a panel of district court judges unanimously appointed him, argues in his lawsuit that the president does not have the power to terminate judicially appointed U.S. attorneys, despite having done so several times in his second term. The law allows judges to nominate their own U.S. attorneys, and the district court in Washington selected Mr. Rogoff last week after the position sat vacant for months. But he became the latest U.S. attorney to be swiftly dismissed by the Trump administration, whose officials have said they will not tolerate judicial appointments in the absence of close consultation with the Justice Department.”

Democrats to Challenge Law Firms' Deals with the Devil. Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: “Top Democratic lawmakers demanded new documents on Tuesday from a law firm that cut a deal with ... [Donald] Trump to head off a potentially crippling executive order, signaling that if they return to power after the midterm elections, they plan to investigate the nature of the agreements. Under the deal it reached with the White House, the firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, agreed to do $100 million in pro bono work on causes that Mr. Trump supports to avoid the threat of the executive order. It was later revealed that Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer had also connected the firm with the Commerce Department to do legal work for the administration. Eight other firms reached similar deals with the White House while four successfully fought them in court. 'We need to confront what a serious crisis this was, and is, in the legal profession of America,] Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee..., said in a brief telephone interview. 'We’ve never seen anything like it before.'”

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: “House Republicans on Tuesday pushed through a stopgap spending bill to keep government funding flowing through early December.... But the fate of the measure was deeply uncertain, with Democrats opposed and the Senate G.O.P. leader casting doubt on the chances of quick action in his chamber, where legislation needs some degree of bipartisan backing to move. On a 220-to-205 vote, mostly along party lines, the House approved the kind of emergency temporary spending measure that normally is advanced mere days or hours before federal funding is set to lapse in order to avert a shutdown. But this time, House G.O.P. leaders offered the so-called continuing resolution months in advance of the Sept. 30 deadline, effectively daring Democrats to oppose it.” Politico's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Jordain Carney of Politico: “Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday that he will put a short-term stopgap bill to fund the government on the floor before the August recess – and warned that Republicans could pursue a party-line spending bill if they can’t reach a deal with Democrats.... Thune ... indicated he could use a House budget resolution to fund the government using the party-line reconciliation process...[, which requires only a simple majority of votes].”

Mychael Schnell & Ken Dilanian of MS NOW: "The Department of Justice is conducting a criminal investigation into Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., according to two sources..., adding to the mounting legal and ethical scrutiny facing the embattled congressman. The sources didn’t disclose the focus of the DOJ investigation. But a third source told MS NOW at least one person was contacted by the FBI last year about Mills’ finances, allegations of misconduct and individuals in his orbit. The DOJ investigation comes as Mills stares down an ongoing investigation from the House Ethics Committee, which is looking into allegations that include campaign finance violations, sexual misconduct, accepting improper gifts, financial disclosure violations and the misuse of congressional resources."

Tens of Millions of Americans Watched Trump Embarrass Their Country Again. Dan Shanoff of the New York Times/Athletic: “The World Cup final — won by Spain 1-0 over Argentina — drew 38.9 million viewers on Fox, making it the most-watched English-language soccer telecast in U.S. history. At its peak, the final on Fox drew nearly 51.7 million viewers. Telemundo also delivered record ratings for the final, with 23.9 million viewers, making the game the most-watched Spanish-language soccer telecast in U.S. history by total audience, topping the previous record set by the Mexico-England game on July 5. Taken together, more than 60 million people across the U.S. consuming the World Cup final on Sunday put it in the same audience category as the NFL playoffs, the most popular programming on U.S. TV outside of the Super Bowl.”

Liam Bowman of the Washington Post: “Benjamin Del Real Jr. was visiting the White House with his father and sister on May 23 when a gunman opened fire on Secret Service agents across the street. Del Real and other bystanders dropped to the ground, but as the agents returned fire, a bullet struck Del Real in the abdomen, critically wounding him, an attorney for Del Real said Tuesday. The gunman, later identified as Nasire Best, was killed in the exchange. Now, Del Real, 25, is pursuing a lawsuit against the Secret Service, accusing its agents of negligent conduct for wounding him in their response to the shooting.... Secret Service agents 'are trained to identify and neutralize targets without hurting or injuring civilians.... Unfortunately, they fell well short of their training on May 23 of this year,' Joseph T. Murphy, a Chicago-based attorney representing Del Real, said at a news conference Tuesday.Del Real, an active-duty soldier stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, said Tuesday that he worries the long-term effects of his injuries will hamper his career in the Army.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: A settlement fund the Treasury holds is meant for cases like this, where federal agents harm an individual. The fund is not meant for cases where individuals attack the federal government, as Donald Trump -- who does everything ass-backwards -- wants to use it. 

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Arizona Gubernatorial Race. Reis Thebault of the New York Times: “Representative Andy Biggs, a conservative ally of ... [Donald] Trump, won the Republican nomination for governor of Arizona on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. His victory tees up a general election showdown with the Democratic incumbent, Gov. Katie Hobbs, in the battleground state. Mr. Biggs prevailed over three other challengers, including Representative David Schweikert, who argued that the party needed to nominate more moderate candidates to win back statewide offices.... Mr. Biggs, the former chair of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, began his campaign early last year, dismayed that Arizona was not 'the reddest state in the country.' He pledged to transform it into 'the Florida of the West.'” MB: Biggs is not “a conservative,” as Thebault asserts. He is “far-right,” as Thebault notes further down the page. (See, for instance, Biggs' Wikipage. ~~~

Arizona Secretary of State Race. David Chen of the New York Times: “State Representative Alexander Kolodin, an Ivy League-educated lawyer who has echoed ... [Donald] Trump’s unfounded claims of fraud in the 2020 election, on Tuesday won the Republican primary to become Arizona’s top elections official, The Associated Press said. Mr. Kolodin will face Adrian Fontes, the Democratic incumbent, in the November election for secretary of state. Mr. Kolodin defeated Gina Swoboda, a former chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party. Their bitterly fought primary offered a stark contrast over how elections have been conducted in Arizona.... 

“Mr. Kolodin was backed by Turning Point USA and other hard-right organizations. Mr. Trump had endorsed Ms. Swoboda when she initially announced a congressional bid, but he did not explicitly endorse anyone after she switched to the secretary of state race. Mr. Kolodin represented Mr. Trump’s allies who challenged election results in 2020 and in 2022, when Kari Lake, an ally of the president, lost her bid for the governorship. He was later censured by the state bar for bringing cases in bad faith.”

New Jersey. Tracey Tully of the New York Times: “Roughly 400 noncitizens voted in New Jersey after about 6,600 residents were improperly registered to vote between June 2023 and June 2024 because of a software error at the Department of Motor Vehicles, Gov. Mikie Sherrill [D] announced on Tuesday. All of the people affected had disclosed that they were not citizens when registering for either a driver’s license or ID, but were nonetheless placed on the voter rolls in error.... All 6,600 people will be removed from the voter rolls.... State officials became aware of the error last week and began an immediate investigation into what had happened.” A Politico report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

New York. Liam Stack of the New York Times: “Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday night challenged the federal government to execute an international arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, calling him a 'war criminal' and 'the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people' in a striking video statement. The mayor said the city Law Department explored whether the New York Police Department could arrest the Israeli prime minister during his expected visit to the city in September but that the city did not have 'independent legal authority' to do so. The mayor’s announcement came days after he told Lulu Garcia-Navarro last week on 'The Interview,' a New York Times show, that he had been in 'active conversation' with the city’s lawyers about executing a warrant issued for Mr. Netanyahu in 2024 by the International Criminal Court.” ~~~

     ~~~ The video statement is embedded within the NYT story. The video statement also is on YouTube here. 

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Marc Santora of the New York Times: “President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine removed his top general on Tuesday night amid swelling public protests and growing concerns that the national unity that had helped the country survive nearly five years of war was in danger of fracturing. The dismissal of the general, Oleksandr Syrskyi, was a major reversal for Mr. Zelensky, who just days earlier sided with him and fired Ukraine’s defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov. Mr. Zelensky said he was replacing General Syrskyi with Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi, the commander of the Joint Forces. The choice was likely to please the protesters, after Mr. Drapatyi had publicly sided with Mr. Fedorov in his clash with General Syrskyi over warfighting strategy. Thousands of people had joined mass demonstrations to pressure Mr. Zelensky to change course and reaffirm Mr. Fedorov’s vision of warfare as increasingly dominated by drones and robots. As he championed a military overhaul that leaned into high-tech innovation, Mr. Fedorov, 35, emerged as a symbol of hope to many Ukrainians, particularly young people.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Obviously, "letting the people decide" is not always the best idea -- and perhaps it's not the best idea here; I don't know. But it is a Ukrainian tradition -- a boost for pure democracy -- that would serve the U.S. well right now. Imagine if the anti-ICE protests had curtailed DHS excesses! Imagine if the massive "No Kings" protests had curbed Trump's tyranny! It is true that many of our past presidents and legislators have heeded the polls -- another way of responding to the public's will. But Trump hears no one except the crazy little man bouncing around in his empty head, and GOP Congressional toadies dance in a conga line behind the crazy man.