June 30, 2023

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Alexandra Hutzler of ABC News: "President Joe Biden said Friday his administration is moving forward with a new student loan relief plan after the Supreme Court struck down his original program to wipe out $430 billion in debt. Biden detailed the next steps in remarks delivered at the White House, where he was joined by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.... Under the alternative strategy, Biden said the administration will invoke the 1965 Higher Education Act to allow Secretary Cardona to 'compromise, waive or release loans under certain circumstances.' In the meantime, Biden said they also have a plan to help alleviate the financial stress as loan payments restart in October after a three-year pause. The administration will create a temporary, 12-month "on-ramp repayment program" that will remove the threat of default for borrowers who are unable to pay their bills. The Department of Education will not refer borrowers who miss payments to credit agencies for a year as they readjust to making payments again.... Biden on Friday hit Republicans for opposing his plan, painting them as hypocritical for opposing relief for borrowers while some had their own business-related loans provided by the government during the pandemic forgiven."

Robert Barnes & Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Friday said President Biden does not have authority for his roughly $400 billion program to forgive student loan debt, the latest blow from a Supreme Court that has been dismissive of this administration's bold claims of power. The vote was 6 to 3 along ideological lines, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. writing for the court's dominant conservatives.... 'The Secretary [of Education] asserts that the HEROES Act grants him the authority to cancel $430 billion of student loan principal. It does not,' Roberts wrote. 'We hold today that the Act allows the Secretary to "waive or modify" existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs under the Education Act, not to rewrite that statute from the ground up.'" NPR's report, by Nina Totenberg & Meghanlata Gupta, is here. The New York Times has a liveblog on the decision & reactions here.

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court's conservative majority ruled in favor of an evangelical Christian graphic artist from Colorado who does not want to create wedding websites for same-sex couples, despite the state's protective anti-discrimination law. The vote split along ideological lines 6 to 3, with the liberals in dissent. It was the court’s latest examination of the clash between laws requiring equal treatment for the LGBTQ community and those who say their religious beliefs lead them to regard same-sex marriages as 'false.'... Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, writing for the majority, said the First Amendment protects designer Lorie Smith from creating speech she does not believe." At 10:20 am ET, this is a developing story. NPR's report, by Nina Totenberg, is here.

     ~~~ The decision & dissent, via the Court, are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times has a liveblog on the decision & reactions here: "In a statement on the court's ruling, President Biden said he is 'deeply concerned that the decision could invite more discrimination against LGBTQI+ Americans.' He added, 'More broadly, today's decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations -- including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith and women.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It seems to me that under the majority's theory of the First Amendment, Whole Foods, for instance, would not have to serve LGBTQ+ people or even say, disabled people, because the grocery chain "artistically" arranges its tomato displays.

Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "Fox News has agreed to pay $12 million to Abby Grossberg, a former Fox News producer who had accused the network of operating a hostile and discriminatory workplace and of coercing her into providing false testimony in a deposition. Parisis G. Filippatos, a lawyer for Ms. Grossberg, said the settlement concluded all of Ms. Grossberg's claims against Fox and the people she had named in her complaints, which included the former host Tucker Carlson and some of his producers.... Ms. Grossberg said in a statement on Friday that she stood by her allegations, but she was 'heartened that Fox News has taken me and my legal claims seriously.'... Fox News had previously disputed Ms. Grossberg's claims. A spokeswoman for the network said in a statement on Friday: 'We are pleased that we have been able to resolve this matter without further litigation.'"

Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "The State Department should plan better for worst-case scenarios, strengthen its crisis-management capabilities and ensure that top officials hear 'the broadest possible range of views,' including ones that challenge their assumptions and decisions. Those were some of the key findings of a State Department review of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in summer 2021, which contributed to the sudden collapse of the Afghan government and required a massive airlift to rescue roughly 1250,000 U.S. citizens and Afghans who had assisted the United States. The report does not pin blame on specific individuals, and mentions Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken only in passing.... It does say that the department's participation in executive branch planning for an evacuation 'was hindered by the fact that it was unclear who in the department had the lead.'" Less than half of the 87-page report has been released to the public because much of it is classified.

Blake Ellis, et al., of CNN: &"A secret investigation into alleged sexual abuse at the US Coast Guard Academy, the training ground for the Coast Guard's top officers, uncovered a dark history of rapes, assaults and other serious misconduct being ignored and, at times, covered up by high-ranking officials. The findings of the probe, dubbed 'Operation Fouled Anchor,' were kept confidential by the agency's top leadership for several years. Coast Guard officials briefed members of Congress this month after inquiries from CNN, which had reviewed internal documents from the probe. Despite credible evidence of assaults dating back to the late 1980s, investigators found that most of the alleged perpetrators were not criminally investigated at the time. Instead, the incidents were handled as administrative violations, and punishments, if they happened at all, were as minor as extra homework or lowered class standings. Sometimes, even those pushed out of the academy were still able to serve in the US military. As a result, some of the accused ascended to top roles at the Coast Guard and other military agencies. In contrast, many alleged victims left the academy after reporting their assaults, ending their hopes of a career in the service." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It appears the investigation and report were completed in 2019. I guess we shouldn't be surprised the Trump administration covered it up.

Marie: At about 9:45 am ET, I linked a post by Tommy Christopher. If you missed it, scroll down & read it.

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Making America White Again
Supremes Unaware 14th Amendment Was about Protecting Minorities

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "As [President Biden] departed for a daylong trip to New York City, a reporter asked whether the [Supreme Court's] decision [to strike down affirmative action considerations for college admissions] should make people question the court's legitimacy and then asked, 'Is this a rogue court?' Mr. Biden stopped midstride and appeared to think for a moment before saying, 'This is not a normal court.'... A few hours after Mr. Biden's comment..., he was asked to explain by Nicolle Wallace during an interview on MSNBC's 'Deadline White House' program. The president said he had been referring to the fact that the justices on the current court have been more willing than usual to overturn the precedents set by previous justices.... 'It's done more to unravel basic rights and basic decisions than any court in recent history,' Mr. Biden said.... He declined to say that the court is 'anti-democratic,' but he said 'its value system is different and its respect for institutions is different.'" ~~~

~~~ President Biden speaks against the Supreme Court's decision to effectively end affirmative action in college admissions: ~~~

~~~ Robert Barnes of the Washington Post:"The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina that relied in part on racial considerations, saying they violate the Constitution. The vote split along ideological grounds, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts writing for the conservative members in the majority, and the liberals dissenting.... As recently as 2016, the court upheld an affirmative action program at the University of Texas, concluding for the third time that educational diversity justifies the consideration of race as one factor in admission decisions." This is a developing story. The New York Times story, which currently appears in a liveblog, is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ You have to scroll all the way down to Page 140 of the opinions to get to Justice Sotomayor's dissent, and on to Page 209 to get to Justice Jackson's dissent, which even more than Sotomayor's, calls the majority dimwitted ignoramuses:

"With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces 'colorblindness for all' by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life. And having so detached itself from this country's actual past and present experiences, the Court has now been lured into interfering with the crucial work that UNC and other institutions of higher learning are doing to solve America's real-world problems. No one benefits from ignorance.... The best that can be said of the majority's perspective is that it proceeds (ostrich-like) from the hope that preventing consideration of race will end racism.... Ultimately, ignoring race just makes it matter more.... The Court's meddling not only arrests the noble generational project that America's universities are attempting, it also launches, in effect, a dismally misinformed sociological experiment."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times highlights key sections of the five opinions issued Thursday. For instance: "In his [majority] opinion, Chief Justice Roberts said giving Black and Latino applicants an edge over white and Asian applicants in the name of diversity violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution's 14th Amendment.... In his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas reiterated his longstanding view that affirmative action hurts some of the people it is intended to help, including by stigmatizing students who would have been admitted regardless of race. He also argued that the Constitution requires 'colorblind' government policies[.]... Justices Sotomayor and Jackson also criticized the majority for making an exception for military academies.... [Jackson:] 'The Court has come to rest on the bottom-line conclusion that racial diversity in higher education is only worth potentially preserving insofar as it might be needed to prepare Black Americans and other underrepresented minorities for success in the bunker, not the boardroom...'"

Supreme Majority Ignored Fact-Based Proofs. Edwin Rios of the Guardian: "... students in nine states already live in a post-affirmative action world. In 1996, Californians voted to ban race-conscious affirmative action policies in the state's public universities. Since then, eight other states -- Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington -- have also barred race-based considerations, often through ballot initiatives approved by the states' voters. Some universities in these states report that the bans have made it significantly harder to achieve racial diversity on their campuses. The University of California and the University of Michigan, whose representatives submitted arguments to the supreme court in support of race-conscious admissions, are two such schools. In the years since Michigan voters ended affirmative action in 2006, for instance, the number of Black and Indigenous American students at the University of Michigan has plummeted. The same happened at UC Berkeley and UCLA.... And despite developing numerous strategies to supplement the lack of affirmative action policies with other outreach tactics, the representatives wrote, their efforts have failed."

Marie: Several teevee commentators have noted the college admission affirmative action isn't over for some elites: legacy admissions continue as do admissions for those who excel in various sports. Oh, and those whose parents give colleges a lot of money: like Jared Kushner, whose disgraced father Charles pledged $2.5MM to Harvard just before the university granted admission to unremarkable student Jared.

Marie: I heard a clip of mike pence applauding the decision. Of course he had to quote the only sentence he knows among Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s many famous remarks: "... they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character," of course misappropriating Dr. King's intention. There is no occasion in which mike pence opens his mouth that I don't want to forcefully put my fist in it.

Aw, but this is sweet: ~~~

~~~ Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Thursday strengthened protections for religious rights in the workplace, siding in part with a Sabbath-observant mail carrier who quit the U.S. Postal Service after he was forced to deliver packages on Sundays. Gerald Groff, the former postal worker, had asked the justices to overturn a decades-old Supreme Court decision, which his lawyers said undermines religious protections by allowing employers to deny accommodations that would cause them more than a minor inconvenience. In a unanimous decision, authored by Justice Samuel A. Alito, the justices declined to get rid of past precedent, and instead clarified that employers must meet a higher standard to reject a workers' request related to religious observance." See also Jeanne's comment below. (Also linked yesterday.)

** Supreme Court Expected to Make Major Decision Based on Fake Case. David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movement: "Attorneys for a Colorado web designer using her personal Christian beliefs to sue over the state's anti-discrimination law have reportedly included in their court filings a claim that a man, after their case was initially filed in 2016, asked her to create a website for his upcoming same-sex wedding. The case, 303 Creative vs. Elenis, went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in December and likely will hand down its decision Friday. The web designer, Lorie Smith, says she wants to expand her business to make wedding websites, but says she can't because rejecting a same-sex couple's request could violate Colorado law, and her religious beliefs do not support same-sex marriage.... After the case was filed, a same-sex couple named Stewart and Mike, according to court documents as The New Republic reports, [asked] Smith for a wedding website. Stewart's name, email address, phone number, and even his website URL were included in the filings, yet no reporter appears to have ever contacted him to verify his story. Until now. He says it's false.... [Melissa] reports Stewart says his contact information is accurate, but 'he never sent this form, he said, and at the time it was sent, he was married to a woman.'" Moreover, Stewart himself is a web designer living in California, so it doesn't make much sense for him to ask a Colorado web designer to design his wedding website. MB: This is really is extraordinary. (Also linked yesterday.)

Alan Feuer & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Three weeks after ... Donald J. Trump was indicted on charges of illegally retaining national security records and obstructing the government's efforts to reclaim them, a federal grand jury in Miami is still investigating aspects of the case.... In recent days, the grand jury has issued subpoenas to a handful of people who are connected to the inquiry.... Post-indictment investigations can result in additional charges against people who have already been accused of crimes in the case. The investigations can also be used to bring charges against new defendants." (Also linked yesterday.)

Kaitlan Collins, et al., of CNN: "A senior campaign official for Donald Trump was allegedly shown a classified map by the former president during a meeting at his New Jersey golf club after Trump left office, according to a source familiar with the matter. The campaign adviser, Susie Wiles, has spoken to federal investigators numerous times as part of the special counsel's Mar-a-Lago documents probe, multiple sources told CNN.... ABC News previously identified Wiles as the individual to whom Trump allegedly showed a classified map. Wiles, one of Trump's closest advisers, is effectively running his third bid for the presidency and has taken an active role in Trump's legal strategy, including helping find lawyers and helping arrange payment to attorneys representing Trump associates.... Sources in Trump's inner circle tell CNN they were blindsided by the news."

Zachary Cohen & Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "Former Donald Trump campaign official Mike Roman is cooperating with prosecutors from special counsel Jack Smith's team in the ongoing criminal probe related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. One of the sources said that the agreement, known as a proffer agreement, means that Roman may not have to appear before the grand jury but could instead speak to prosecutors in a more informal setting. Under such an agreement, prosecutors generally agree not to use those statements against them in future criminal proceedings. Roman, who received a grand jury subpoena months ago and had his phone seized, was involved in efforts to put forward slates of fake Trump electors following the 2020 election.... The timing of [the proffer] discussions coincides with last week's grand jury appearance by Roman's former deputy, Gary Michael Brown."

Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "One of ... Donald Trump's claims about having classified documents at his country club in Florida and New Jersey was that he had a 'standing order' to declassify whatever he wanted.... On Thursday..., the Justice Department and the Director of National Intelligence [told Bloomberg News, in response to an FOIA request & subsequent lawsuit, that] they haven't been able to find the 'standing order.'..." Marie: Under his Article II privileges, Trump had the right to make a standing order in his mind.

Trump's Investors Are Crooks, Feds Allege. Matt Egan & Kara Scannell of CNN: "Federal prosecutors arrested three investors on Thursday on insider trading charges related to a deal to take ... Donald Trump's media business public. According to the indictment, the three individuals together made more than $22 million in October 2021 by illegally trading on nonpublic knowledge of Digital World Acquisition Corporation's secret plan to buy Truth Social owner Trump Media & Technology Group. The defendants allegedly tipped off friends and colleagues, who also purchased securities in Digital World before the blank-check firm's Trump Media deal became public. Once the deal was announced, the value of those securities spiked. The defendants and individuals they tipped off then sold their securities for a significant profit, according to prosecutors. The three men charged in the indictment are Michael Shvartsman, Gerald Shvartsman and Bruce Garelick, who served as a director on Digital World's board of directors.... There is no allegation that Donald Trump had any involvement at all in the alleged insider trading." (Also linked yesterday.)

No, President Biden Did Not Take a Bribe from Burisma. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) ... and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) sent a letter to the FBI demanding that [a document detailing a June 2020 FBI interview of a longtime informant ... [who] spoke to a Ukrainian business executive [claiming] to have paid bribes of millions of dollars to Joe Biden and his son Hunter.... be released to the public.... But since that initial letter from Comer and Grassley about two months ago, no other evidence of this alleged 'bribe' has emerged. And, in fact, on Thursday, the central allegation only got weaker.... If the person who spoke to the informant was, in fact, [Mykola Zlochevsky, founder of the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, as far-right Republicans claim], Oversight ranking minority-party member Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.) produced a new transcript that effectively (though not entirely) undercuts the claims...": an associate of Zlochevsky's answered a questionnaire Rudy Giuliani sent him, and declared their neither Joe Biden nor anyone working for him ever had any contact with anyone working for Burisma.

Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "The State Department placed President Biden's envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, on unpaid leave on Thursday amid a review of his security clearance.... The State Department confirmed that Mr. Malley was on leave, but did not provide additional details. Axios and CNN had earlier reported that Mr. Malley's security clearance was being evaluated.... Mr. Malley, a longtime Middle East diplomat and analyst, is well known as an advocate of dialogue between the United States and Iran. As a senior official in the Obama White House, he was instrumental in the negotiation of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal...." ...

     ~~~ Kylie Atwood, et al., of CNN: "A US official said that [Robert] Malley's clearance was suspended amid a State Department diplomatic security investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information. Another source familiar with the matter said he was placed on unpaid leave on Thursday afternoon.... For a period of time following the State Department investigation, Malley remained on the job but was not allowed to access classified information, said the US official...."

Marie: In February, a man attacked Rep. Angie Craig, a Democratic member of Congress, in her Washington, D.C.,, apartment building. Craig fought off the attacker and suffered minor injuries. The Washington Post covered -- hyped! -- the story on its online front page, and many other outlets carried news of the attack as well as of the capture of the attacker of the Minnesota Democrat some while later. But the WashPo and other liberal elite media don't care about Republicans. So that's my excuse for missing this important story: ~~~

     ~~~ Martin Pengelly of the Guardian (June 26): "The far-right US congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared to say she thinks she is being spied on through her television, possibly by the US government, and that someone may soon try to kill her. In a tweet on Sunday, the Republican from Georgia said: 'Last night in my DC residence, the television turned on by itself and the screen showed someone's laptop trying to connect to the TV.'... Greene followed her tweet about her television with an altered image, Barack Obama's portrait changed to show the 44th president looking through binoculars from behind lush green foliage.... In her Sunday tweet, Greene also seemed to suggest someone might try to harm her, writing: 'Just for the record: I'm very happy. I'm also very healthy and eat well and exercise a lot. I don't smoke and never have. I don't take any medications. I am not vaccinated. So I'm not concerned about blood clots, heart conditions, strokes, or anything else....' Matt Binder, a reporter for Mashable, offered a less sinister explanation for what happened to Greene's TV. A neighbour, he suggested, 'accidentally tried to screen cast to the wrong TV'. But, Binder added, Greene's 'first thought is that this means someone is trying to assassinate her'." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Got that? Barack Obama is stalking her in the bushes and trying to assassinate a MAGA Republican, and it's merely a blip on the media's radar. Outrageous! Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead. See also his comment at the end of yesterday's thread.

~~~ Dear Margie: Here's what a real assassination threat looks like. There's a real person lurking in the bushes. He has a real livestream not attached to the potential victim's TV, and he has real lethal weapons. Marie ~~~

~~~ Luke Broadwater & Aishvarya Kavi of the New York Times: "A man accused of involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol was arrested Thursday afternoon near the Washington home of former President Barack Obama, as police found weapons, ammunition and materials that could make explosives inside the suspect's van, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the case. Taylor Taranto, 37, of no fixed address, livestreamed his activities before his arrest, including as he drove into the neighborhood and talked briefly with a member of the Secret Service stationed there. On the livestream, he talked about seeking an interview with John Podesta, a Democratic official who has been the focus of far-right conspiracy theories, and also spoke of the neighborhood as containing underground tunnels. He entered a wooded area attempting to take photos of a house. 'I'm outside Barack Obama's house,' he said at one point on the livestream." A CBS News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ ** Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "Several details of the arrest are stunning and disturbing, including the fact that Taranto posted the message 'Got them surrounded!' above a Trump Truth Social post that included a news article revealing the address of the Obama home, as well as several other prominent Democratic figures.... The article Trump posted was a 2017 opinion piece by Phyllis Schlafly that included the details of a home near the White House that the Obamas had recently moved into." MB: First, Trump tried to have his own vice president assassinated by others; now he's attempting an assassination-by-proxy of the Obamas and other Democrats by posting their home addresses online. What an evil old man. ~~~

     ~~~ Ryan Reilly of NBC News tweeted yesterday, "Donald Trump recently posted a screenshot featuring Barack Obama's DC address."

Presidential Race 2024. Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "The political network established by the conservative industrialists Charles and David Koch has raised more than $70 million for political races as it looks to help Republicans move past Donald J. Trump, according to an official with the group. With some of this large sum to start, the network, Americans for Prosperity Action, plans to throw its weight into the G.O.P. presidential nominating contest for the first time in its nearly 20-year history.... In February, a top political official in the [Koch] network, Emily Seidel, wrote a memo to donors and activists saying it was time to 'have a president in 2025 who represents a new chapter.'"

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Oliver Darcy of CNN: In April, Fox "News" host Jesse Watters sat for an interview during a conference of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America. "Watters -- who Fox News this week promoted to the all-important 8pm hour -- ... made a crude comment questioning the gender of Vice President Kamala Harris..., [sources said].... What followed] 'was an epic meltdown...,' one of the people familiar with the matter told me. 'The organization went into damage control.'... When asked for comment on Wednesday, a Fox News spokesperson told me that Watters had 'no recollection' of the events. 'In fact, the unscripted Q&A he participated in was well received with executives thanking him profusely afterward, enthusiastically taking photos, and presenting him with an award,' the network spokesperson said. 'He was told it was one of the best talks they've ever held and never received feedback from the organization or his speaking agent after the event.'"

Uh, Maybe Kale Isn't So Healthy. Tom Perkins of the Guardian: "Seven out of eight US kale samples recently tested for toxic PFAS 'forever chemicals' contained high levels of the compounds. The testing looked at conventional and organic kale bought at grocery stores across the country, and comes after Food and Drug Administration analyses conducted between 2019 and 2021 found no PFAS contamination. The findings 'stunned' researchers who expected to find low levels of the chemicals, said Robert Verkerk, founder of the Alliance for Natural Health non-profit, which produced the paper."

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Mirna Alsharif & Minyvonne Burke of NBC News: "A former school security officer was found not guilty Thursday over a failure to confront the gunman who massacred 17 people at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. Scot Peterson, who was a Broward County sheriff's deputy and worked as a resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, was charged in 2019 with seven counts of neglect of a child and three counts of culpable negligence and one count of perjury." (Also linked yesterday.)

Florida. Unsafe on Any Road. Li Cohen of CBS News: "Florida governor and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis signed a bill Thursday that would allow for roads across Florida to be made with 'radioactive' mining waste that has been linked to cancer. The measure, brought forward by the state House, adds phosphogypsum to a list of 'recyclable materials' that state officials say can be used in road construction. The list already included ground rubber from car tires, ash residue from coal combustion byproducts, recycled mixed-plastic, glass and construction steel, which officials had previously determined are 'part of the solid waste stream and that contribute to problems of declining space in landfills.' But unlike most of those products, phosphogypsum is not a material that is aggregated in landfills. It's the remains left behind from mining phosphate, which is described by the EPA as being a 'radioactive material' because it contains 'small amounts' of uranium and radium."

Ohio. Sydney Kashiwagi of CNN: "A former Republican speaker of Ohio's House of Representatives was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for his role in a $60 million bribery scheme. Larry Householder was convicted by a federal grand jury in March on racketeering conspiracy charges in connection with a scheme to accept bribes in exchange for ensuring the passage of a billion-dollar bailout for a nuclear energy company.... Former Ohio Republican Party Chair Matthew Borges was also convicted in the scheme. Borges is set to be sentenced in a Cincinnati federal court on Friday.... The scheme centered on House Bill 6, a $1 billion dollar bailout that saved two nuclear plants operated by FirstEnergy Corp."

Way Beyond

France. Aurelien Breeden of the New York Times: "More than 600 people were arrested in France during a third night of unrest that has rocked cities around the country since a police officer fatally shot a 17-year-old driver this week, the authorities said on Friday. President Emmanuel Macron convened a crisis meeting for a second successive day on Friday as the government struggled to contain the anger unleashed by the killing, which took place during a traffic stop in Nanterre, west of Paris, on Tuesday. The officer who fired the shot has been placed under formal investigation and detained on charges of voluntary homicide -- a rare step in criminal cases involving police officers. But that appeared to have done little to calm tensions, which have been stoked by decades-long feelings of neglect and racial discrimination among people living in France's poorer urban suburbs, many of whom identified with the teenager, who has been publicly named only as Nahel M." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian is live-updating developments.

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Early intelligence reports suggest a top general ... -- Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the country's former top commander in Ukraine -- ... has been detained in Russia in the aftermath of a short-lived rebellion last weekend that challenged President Vladimir V. Putin's grip on power, U.S. officials said. Many experts on Russia have predicted that Mr. Putin would carry out a purge.... On a surprise visit to Ukraine on Thursday, former Vice President Mike Pence met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and toured a mass burial site in Kyiv, placing flowers at a memorial." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Friday is here: Mike "Pence during his Kyiv visit endorsed sending aid to Ukraine, separating himself from Republican critics of U.S. support, including former president Donald Trump. By supporting Ukraine, 'We'll make it clear to Russia, to China and any other nations in the world that would seek to redraw international lines by force that the free world will not stand for it,' he said.... The European Council released its recommendations for Ukraine, which include a commitment to 'long-term' support. Following a meeting in Brussels with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, European leaders pledged 'future security commitments to Ukraine, which will help Ukraine defend itself in the long term, deter acts of aggression and resist destabilization efforts,' said the document, which was released Thursday. A delegation from the Vatican traveled to Moscow to meet with Russian officials as part of Pope Francis's efforts to reach 'a much-wished-for peace,' the Vatican's envoy to Moscow, Giovanni D'Aniello, said Thursday." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

But What About This?? June 29, 2023

Both the New York Times and Washington Post ran stories this week about how investigators were concerned that Donald Trump was hiding classified documents in his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club. Other than new details the reporters added to the story about Trump moving boxes and Justice mulling over searches, it is an old story. Any reasonable person who has followed at least parts of the story suspects or is sure that Trump is still hoarding classified material somewhere.

For instance, one document that has never surfaced: the Iran war plan Trump apparently was waving around to impress the kids. Maybe Trump burned it in a roaring fire, but more likely it's in his socks drawer. After all, this is a guy who used a "classified evening summary" folder as a lampshade in his Mar-a-Lardo bedroom. He likes to keep this stuff. He likes to use this stuff. The FBI and the DOJ have plenty of evidence and reasonable suspicions that Trump is still holding many classified documents.

We can all be shocked at how cavalier Trump is with the nation's secrets. Keeping them in a publicly-accessible bathroom. Keeping them in a Mar-a-Lardo ballroom. Keeping them in an unlocked desk drawer. Moving them around the country in trucks, planes and limousines.

But what about this? What about the documents themselves? Aren't CIA officials and operatives terrified that Trump is still holding onto -- and maybe sharing -- documents that would compromise their operations? Why isn't there a huge push to retrieve all of the documents Trump is hiding? Why pussyfoot around worrying it would be unseemly to raid Bedminster and Trump Tower and the Doral Golf Club and all the other properties Trump owns or controls?

Our national security remains at risk every day Trump has those documents. Operatives' lives remain at risk. And we're worried about making a bad impression if we take measures to collect the documents? That does not make sense.

If I were Joe Biden, I would call a meeting of the National Security Council and work out a plan to retrieve the nation's secrets from the thief who stole them. Now. That's not interfering with law enforcement, Mr. President; that's not making a political decision. That's upholding your duty to protect the nation from an enemy within. Get out in front of this. And once the operation has been executed, own it. Keeping an arm's-length distance has not worked. You are the "leader of the free world" but for more than a year, you have left decisions about our own security to Merrick the Unready and a squad of chin-pullers. The stakes are high. The meek may some day inherit the earth, but in the meantime, they will not beat the bully. It takes a leader to do that.

June 29, 2023

Marie: Very late start this morning.

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Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Florida. Mirna Alsharif & Minyvonne Burke of NBC News: "A former school security officer was found not guilty Thursday over a failure to confront the gunman who massacred 17 people at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. Scot Peterson, who was a Broward County sheriff's deputy and worked as a resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, was charged in 2019 with seven counts of neglect of a child and three counts of culpable negligence and one count of perjury."

Alan Feuer & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Three weeks after ... Donald J. Trump was indicted on charges of illegally retaining national security records and obstructing the government's efforts to reclaim them, a federal grand jury in Miami is still investigating aspects of the case.... In recent days, the grand jury has issued subpoenas to a handful of people who are connected to the inquiry.... Post-indictment investigations can result in additional charges against people who have already been accused of crimes in the case. The investigations can also be used to bring charges against new defendants."

Trump's Investors Are Crooks, Feds Allege. Matt Egan & Kara Scannell of CNN: "Federal prosecutors arrested three investors on Thursday on insider trading charges related to a deal to take ... Donald Trump's media business public. According to the indictment, the three individuals together made more than $22 million in October 2021 by illegally trading on nonpublic knowledge of Digital World Acquisition Corporation's secret plan to buy Truth Social owner Trump Media & Technology Group. The defendants allegedly tipped off friends and colleagues, who also purchased securities in Digital World before the blank-check firm's Trump Media deal became public. Once the deal was announced, the value of those securities spiked. The defendants and individuals they tipped off then sold their securities for a significant profit, according to prosecutors. The three men charged in the indictment are Michael Shvartsman, Gerald Shvartsman and Bruce Garelick, who served as a director on Digital World's board of directors.... There is no allegation that Donald Trump had any involvement at all in the alleged insider trading."

President Biden speaks against the Supreme Court's decision to effectively end affirmative action in college admissions: ~~~

~~~ Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina that relied in part on racial considerations, saying they violate the Constitution. The vote split along ideological grounds, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts writing for the conservative members in the majority, and the liberals dissenting.... As recently as 2016, the court upheld an affirmative action program at the University of Texas, concluding for the third time that educational diversity justifies the consideration of race as one factor in admission decisions." This is a developing story. The New York Times story, which currently appears in a liveblog, is here. ~~~

     ~~~ You have to scroll all the way down to Page 140 of the opinions to get to Justice Sotomayor's dissent, and on to Page 209 to get to Justice Jackson's dissent, which even more than Sotomayor's, calls the majority ignoramuses:

"With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces 'colorblindness for all' by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life. And having so detached itself from this country's actual past and present experiences, the Court has now been lured into interfering with the crucial work that UNC and other institutions of higher learning are doing to solve America's real-world problems. No one benefits from ignorance.... The best that can be said of the majority's perspective is that it proceeds (ostrich-like) from the hope that preventing consideration of race will end racism.... Ultimately, ignoring race just makes it matter more.... The Court's meddling not only arrests the noble generational project that America's universities are attempting, it also launches, in effect, a dismally misinformed sociological experiment." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here's what really pisses me off about this decision. When I was applying for admission to colleges and university in late 1961 and 1962, a number of southern schools -- like the University of Texas -- required me to include my picture as part of my application. I didn't apply to the schools that required the photo because it was obvious to me why they wanted the picture: to make sure I was white. I'm sure that for many years, many schools excluded applicants based on their race. So white people no doubt had their own "affirmative action" program for decades. The whole purpose of affirmative-action programs -- in education and other fields -- was to make up for the long-standing discrimination against people of color.

     ~~~ Marie: I just heard a clip of mike pence applauding the decision. Of course quoted the only sentence he knows among Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s many famous remarks: "... they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character," of course misappropriating Dr. King's intention. There is no occasion in which mike pence opens his mouth that I don't want to forcefully put my fist in it. ~~~

Aw, but this is sweet: ~~~

~~~ Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Thursday strengthened protections for religious rights in the workplace, siding in part with a Sabbath-observant mail carrier who quit the U.S. Postal Service after he was forced to deliver packages on Sundays. Gerald Groff, the former postal worker, had asked the justices to overturn a decades-old Supreme Court decision, which his lawyers said undermines religious protections by allowing employers to deny accommodations that would cause them more than a minor inconvenience. In a unanimous decision, authored by Justice Samuel A. Alito, the justices declined to get rid of past precedent, and instead clarified that employers must meet a higher standard to reject a workers' request related to religious observance." See also Jeanne's comment below.

** Supreme Court Expected to Make Major Decision Based on Fake Case. David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movement: "Attorneys for a Colorado web designer using her personal Christian beliefs to sue over the state's anti-discrimination law have reportedly included in their court filings a claim that a man, after their case was initially filed in 2016, asked her to create a website for his upcoming same-sex wedding. The case, 303 Creative vs. Elenis, went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in December and likely will hand down its decision Friday. The web designer, Lorie Smith, says she wants to expand her business to make wedding websites, but says she can't because rejecting a same-sex couple's request could violate Colorado law, and her religious beliefs do not support same-sex marriage.... After the case was filed, a same-sex couple named Stewart and Mike, according to court documents as The New Republic reports, [asked] Smith for a wedding website. Stewart's name, email address, phone number, and even his website URL were included in the filings, yet no reporter appears to have ever contacted him to verify his story. Until now. He says it's false.... [Melissa] reports Stewart says his contact information is accurate, but 'he never sent this form, he said, and at the time it was sent, he was married to a woman.'" Moreover, Stewart himself is a web designer living in California, so it doesn't make much sense for him to ask a Colorado web designer to design his wedding website. MB: This is really is extraordinary.

~~~~~~~~~~

Michael Shear & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden began a concerted campaign on Wednesday to claim credit for an economic revival in America, powered by policies that he said represent a fundamental break from the Republican approach 'that has failed America's middle class for decades.' Flanked by blue signs with the word 'Bidenomics,' Mr. Biden delivered to a Chicago crowd what aides called a cornerstone speech of his presidency. In it, he hailed the impact of his economic agenda as the 2024 campaign cycle heats up.... Mr. Biden asserted that his willingness to plunge the American government more directly into supporting key industries like silicon chips has revitalized manufacturing. He said investments in rebuilding crumbling infrastructure have begun to pave the way for growth. And he insisted that spending billions of dollars on programs like student debt relief will let more people find their way to a comfortable, middle-class life." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "A number of congressional Republicans who voted against the bipartisan infrastructure law are now spotlighting and at times celebrating how it will fund broadband expansion in their home states. And President Biden is mocking them for touting money they opposed.... Hours after [releasing the tweet below]..., during a speech on his economic agenda, Biden kept at it, calling out [Sen. Tommy] Tuberville [R-Ala.] by name.... 'There's a guy named Tuberville ... senator from Alabama,' who 'strongly opposed the legislation,' Biden told the crowd. 'Now, he's hailing its passage.' The Biden administration's plan aims to deliver reliable broadband to the entire country by 2030. Alabama is among the 10 states receiving the most funding through the plan -- $1.4 billion. In 2021, Tuberville argued that he could not vote for the infrastructure legislation, saying it 'fails to give Alabama a fair slice of the pie while also saddling Alabama taxpayers with even more debt.'" ~~~

See you at the groundbreaking. https://t.co/1kJZ2h3JZW

— President Biden (@POTUS) June 28, 2023

     ~~~ Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

~~~ Thanks, GOP! Jonathan Weisman & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "... in a speech on Wednesday in Chicago about the economy, Mr. Biden ... put a renewed focus on the two most significant bipartisan legislative accomplishments of his term, the infrastructure bill and the CHIPS and Science Act. He hopes these measures will help brand him as the cross-aisle deal maker he sold to voters in 2020, appeal to political moderates who formed a core of his winning electoral coalition and impress upon tuned-out voters what he has done in office. One significant benefit for Mr. Biden: Republicans helped pass those bills.... Mr. Biden's infrastructure bill won votes from 19 Republican senators and 13 Republican House members. Sixteen Senate Republicans and 24 Republicans in the House voted for the semiconductor legislation. It will be difficult for Republicans to land criticism when they themselves are taking credit for the same achievements."

Glenn Thrush & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "... House Republicans released testimony last week from a senior Internal Revenue Service investigator on the [Hunter Biden] case that appeared to contradict [Attorney General Merrick] Garland's assurances to [Sen. Chuck] Grassley and others that [U.S. Attorney David] Weiss had all the freedom and authority he needed to pursue the case as he saw fit. The I.R.S. official, Gary Shapley, oversaw the agency's role in the investigation of Mr. Biden's taxes and says his criticism of the Justice Department led to him being denied a promotion. He told the House Ways and Means Committee that Mr. Weiss had been rebuffed by top federal prosecutors in Los Angeles and Washington when he had raised the prospect of pursuing charges against the president's son in those jurisdictions.... Mr. Shapley gave Republicans a fresh opening to raise questions about the case and to cast doubt on the Justice Department's repeated statements that Mr. Weiss[, a Trump appointee,] had complete control of the investigation with no political interference. But it remains unclear how much of the difference in the accounts reflects possible factors like miscommunication, clashing substantive judgments..., or personal enmity among officials.... Investigators like Mr. Shapley whose job it is to uncover evidence often have different perspectives from prosecutors who have to take into account how to treat defendants fairly and present cases to juries." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times have more on Rudy Giuliani's interview with prosecutors: "The voluntary interview, which took place [last week] under what is known as a proffer agreement, was a significant development in the election interference investigation led by Jack Smith, the special counsel, and the latest indication that Mr. Smith and his team are actively seeking witnesses who might cooperate in the case. The session with Mr. Giuliani, the people familiar with it said, touched on some of the most important aspects of the special counsel's inquiry into the ways that Mr. Trump sought to maintain his grip on power after losing the election.... A proffer agreement is an understanding ... that can precede a formal cooperation deal. The subjects agree to provide useful information to the government ... to stave off potential charges or to avoid testifying under subpoena before a grand jury. In exchange, prosecutors agree not to use those statements against them in future criminal proceedings unless it is determined they were lying. Prosecutors working for Mr. Smith asked Mr. Giuliani about a plan to create fake slates of pro-Trump electors in key swing states that were actually won by Mr. Biden....

"They focused specifically on the role played in that effort by John Eastman, another lawyer who advised Mr. Trump about ways to stay in office after his defeat. Mr. Giuliani also discussed Sidney Powell, a lawyer who was briefly tied to Mr. Trump's campaign and who made baseless claims about a cabal of foreign actors hacking into voting machines.... Prosecutors further asked Mr. Giuliani about the scene at the Willard Hotel days before the attack on the Capitol." (Also linked yesterday.)

Katherine Faulders, et al., of ABC News: "One of the top advisers on Donald Trump's 2024 campaign is among the individuals identified but not named by special counsel Jack Smith in his indictment against the former president for allegedly mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House and obstructing the government's efforts to retrieve them, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. Susie Wiles, one of Trump's most trusted advisers leading his second reelection effort, is the individual singled out in Smith's indictment as the 'PAC Representative' who Trump is alleged to have shown a classified map to in August or September of 2021, sources said.... Sources have also further identified some of the other figures mentioned by Smith's team in the indictment. Hayley Harrison and Molly Michael are said to be 'Trump Employee 1' and 'Trump Employee 2,' respectively. The indictment details their text messages back and forth about moving Trump's boxes out of the business center as his Mar-a-Lago estate to create room for staff to work. Michael, whose name was previously reported as an individual identified in the indictment, is Trump's former executive assistant who no longer works for him, while Harrison is currently an aide to Trump's wife, Melania Trump."

"My Documents." David McAfee of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump continued asking his attorneys for 'my boxes' and 'my documents' back from the DOJ, even as they warned him he was about to be indicted, according to ... the Rolling Stone's new report. 'Last month, Donald Trump's lawyers told him he was on the cusp of a federal indictment in the classified documents case. But the former president still wanted "my documents" and "my boxes" back, asking some of his lawyers if they could get them from the federal government, according to a source...,' the outlet wrote. 'It's one of many such conversations Trump has had over the past few months, the sources say. In these conversations, Trump also claimed it was "illegal" that he could no longer have the documents seized in the Mar-a-Lago raid...."

Philip Bump of the Washington Post listens closely to Trump's Bedminster confessional tape and hears this: "'Trump: Declassify. See, as president I could have declassified it. Now I can't, you know. But this is classified.'... The 'but this is classified' does not comport with existing transcripts.... If Trump said 'this is still a secret,' [as the government's transcript has it,] he has some wiggle room on denying that he was showing his audience a document that was legally protected under classification rules. If he said 'this is classified,' that goes out the window. It's Trump admitting that he had something that was classified in his hand, at that moment -- and was showing it to people." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The article includes an audio clip. What I heard from the Bump's clip incorporated in his tweet what I heard was, "... this is classi...." But that clip doesn't tells the whole story. When I listened to the Guardian's audio of the whole conversation, what I heard Trump say was, "this is highly classified, (inaudible) secret. This is secret information." The government of course would have to get expert testimony, but I feel the expert would hear more or less what I heard, not what the transcript in the indictment says. Let me know what you hear.

Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "Legendary journalist Bob Woodward tore into ... Donald Trump in an interview on CNN Wednesday evening, calling him the largest threat to national security he had ever seen from any U.S. government official.... 'Bob, you've interviewed the former president a lot,' said anchor Anderson Cooper. "... What stands out to you about this latest recording?' 'Well, it really shows that Donald Trump is an alarming, dangerous threat to national security,' said Woodward, who ... has recently been caught up in a legal battle with Trump over White House transcripts. "In the book, "Peril" that I did with Robert Costa, we recount two National Security Council meetings where Trump, not General Milley or the Defense Department, was agitating for a possible attack on Iran. And he is pushing it. And General Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the number one military man in the country, is telling Trump, you don't want a war. If you start a war, you're going to get into a conflict that you can't get out of.'"

Eeew! Adam Nichols of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump made sexual comments about his daughter Ivanka that were so lewd he was rebuked by his Chief of Staff, former Trump official Miles Taylor writes in a new book.... 'Aides said he talked about Ivanka Trump's breasts, her backside, and what it might be like to have sex with her, remarks that once led (former Chief of Staff) John Kelly to remind the president that Ivanka was his daughter,' Taylor writes. 'Afterward, Kelly retold that story to me in visible disgust. Trump, he said, was "a very, very evil man."'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race 2024

Neil Vigdor & Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "It was a photo op intended to turbocharge Republican voters, one showing Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida posing in front of a helicopter on Sunday at the southern border in Texas. But the display is creating an unwanted spotlight for Mr. DeSantis: The helicopter is funded by Texas taxpayers, raising questions about the political nature of the flight and its cost. Federal law requires presidential candidates to pay the fair-market rate for noncommercial air travel and reimburse providers of flights.... Additionally, ethics rules in Texas bar officials there from using state resources in support of political campaigns. Mr. DeSantis's office suggested that he was visiting the border in a dual capacity, as both governor and presidential candidate, but his official schedule as governor omitted mention of it.... Mr. DeSantis's campaign shared the helicopter photo on Twitter on Monday, the same day that he proposed a series of hard-right immigration policies in a campaign speech in Eagle Pass, a small Texas border city." More on Ron's very shady spending linked below under "Florida."

Jonathan Allen, et al., of NBC News: "... in interviews with more than a half-dozen advisers, it was clear that -- even in his private conversations -- [Donald] Trump is leaning heavily toward skipping [the first GOP presidential] debate. Trump is also exploring options for counterprogramming during the first debate, according to people familiar with his deliberations. Trump's absence would deprive the RNC, Fox News and GOP primary voters of the Republican Party's most compelling -- and most powerful -- figure. And Trump knows he can keep attention on himself by making his appearance conditional, at best." (Also linked yesterday.)

Rachel Bade of Politico: Donald Trump and his "inner circle" are still flipping out over My Kevin's remark Tuesday that he wasn't sure if Trump was the best GOP candidate for president*, even though McCarthy made excessive efforts to atone for his infidelity. MB: Fine with me. I hope this leads to a GOP House revolt. (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Charles Blow of the New York Times: "Republicans' anti-woke, anti-vote crusade has crashed into the Constitution.... Across states, we're seeing promising signs that the judiciary may wind up serving as a check on the relentless Republican campaign to disempower and disenfranchise. G.O.P. attempts to impose a kind of semi-fascist federalism is being trumped by our own constitutional democracy." ~~~

~~~ Kentucky, Tennessee. Anna Betts & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Federal judges in two states intervened on Wednesday to temporarily block laws that would ban gender-transition care for minors, the latest instances where legislation targeting transgender people have been halted by the judiciary. The separate rulings in Kentucky and Tennessee came days before key provisions of the laws were set to go into effect, as a wave of legislation aimed at curbing L.G.B.T.Q. rights has cleared Republican-controlled legislatures across the country this year. Several of those laws either remain tangled in legal battles, or have been ruled unconstitutional by federal judges."

** Florida. Michael Scherer, et al., of the Washington Post: "The administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) steered $92 million last year in leftover federal coronavirus stimulus money to a controversial highway interchange project that directly benefits a top political donor, according to state records. The decision by the Florida Department of Transportation to use money from the 2021 American Rescue Plan for the I-95 interchange at Pioneer Trail Road near Daytona Beach fulfilled a years-long effort by Mori Hosseini, a politically connected housing developer who owns two large tracts of largely forested land abutting the planned interchange. The funding through the DeSantis administration, approved shortly after the governor's reelection, expedited the project by more than a decade, according to state documents.... Since the money arrived in Florida, he has used it for favored projects unrelated to the pandemic, including using interest from the federal funds to pay for the flight of mostly Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard last year." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Read on to see just how corrupt the entire enterprise is. I think the federal government should begin now to claw back the Covid grant. DeSantolini is trying to make the Most Corrupt President* in U.S. History look like a piker.

Way Beyond

China. Matt Seyler & Jon Haworth of ABC News: "The Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean in early February was built -- at least partly -- using American off-the-shelf parts, a U.S. official has confirmed to ABC News. A second U.S. official was also able to confirm that the balloon did not appear to have transmitted any of the data it collected on its journey above North America, as was initially reported by the Wall Street Journal.... [One] official could not say whether any of the American gear was sold illicitly to China but said determining whether any of it came from illegal trade was a topic of serious concern among officials since some items -- like chips -- are forbidden to sell to certain markets." At 9:00 am ET, this is a developing story.

France. The New York Times' live updates of developments in the unrest in France following the shooting of a teenager are here: "French prosecutors on Thursday urged that a police officer be placed under investigation for voluntary homicide after the deadly shooting of a 17-year-old driver set off violent riots in more than a dozen cities overnight, with protesters burning cars, lighting buildings on fire and setting off fireworks for the second day in a row. President Emmanuel Macron, convening a crisis meeting on Thursday morning, called the violent protests 'absolutely unjustifiable' and appealed for calm after the death of the teenager, who has been identified only as Nahel M. Gérald Darmanin, France's interior minister, said on Thursday that 180 people had been arrested nationwide and that 170 officers had been injured in what he called 'a night of intolerable violence against symbols of the Republic.' Police stations were vandalized or targeted with fireworks in cities including Trappes, near Paris, and Rouen, in the north. In Clamart, a Paris suburb, a tramway was briefly set ablaze."

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Rescue efforts ended in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk after a 12th body was pulled from the rubble of a popular restaurant hit by a Russian missile strike on Tuesday. Three Colombians who were in the country to increase Latin American support for Ukraine were among the dozens of people injured.... The possible relocation of the Wagner troops to Belarus has provoked anxiety among nations in NATO's eastern flank. Visiting Kyiv on Wednesday, President Andrzej Duda of Poland called the potential transfer of Wagner fighters to Belarus a threat." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Thursday is here: "Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare public appearance, traveling to the southern city of Derbent in an apparent bid to demonstrate the strength of his support. State media outlets reported that Putin received an enthusiastic reception from residents.... Belarus said it agreed to establish joint military training centers with Russia on its territory." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Liz Sly of the Washington Post: "The weekend mutiny by the Wagner Group and its chaotic aftermath have jeopardized [Vladimir Putin's image as a strongman], jolting many assumptions about Putin's autocratic credentials, Russia's stability and the likely course of the war in Ukraine. With events continuing to unfold, it is still too early to tell how badly Putin has been weakened, analysts caution. The Wagner Group could be dismantled and its leader, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, now in exile in neighboring Belarus, could end up detained or killed. Putin may yet launch a broad crackdown against all his critics that could leave him more firmly in control than he was before. But the Russian leader's failure so far to take a tough stance against the mercenaries, or punish those involved in the mutiny, is denting the cultivated image that he always controls events..., said Dmitri Alperovitch, a foreign-policy analyst who heads the Silverado Policy Accelerator think tank." ~~~

~~~ BUT. Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "As President Vladimir V. Putin seeks to assert control in Russia, he is moving to punish people who enabled the mercenary boss Yevgeny V. Prigozhin's rebellion over the weekend, but Mr. Prigozhin's deep connections with the ruling elite are complicating those efforts. The question of who gets punished for the mutiny carries high stakes for the Russian leadership, especially because some of Mr. Prigozhin's key allies and sympathizers are believed to be inside the military and the government. There was intense focus in Moscow about the fate of Gen. Sergei Surovikin, a senior military official whom Mr. Prigozhin praised publicly and who is said to have known about the rebellion in advance; he has not been seen publicly since early Saturday.... Mr. Putin fed speculation about a broader crackdown on Tuesday evening in a closed-door meeting with Russian media figures at the Kremlin. In the meeting, he presented himself as a leader in total control, and said he was delving into Mr. Prigozhin's business contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry."

Christoph Koetti, et al., of the New York Times: "Satellite imagery shows that Belarus is rapidly building what appear to be temporary structures at a deserted military base, revealing a possible location for Wagner fighters who were given the option of relocating to the country after the group's failed mutiny against President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. The construction was first visible in satellite images taken on Monday by Planet Labs, a private company with a network of shoebox-size satellites, two days after Wagner forces suddenly stopped their march on Moscow."

News Ledes

New York Times: "An oppressive heat wave that baked Texas and Oklahoma last week, contributing to several deaths, is raising the heat index to dangerous levels from Kansas City, Mo., to the Florida Keys. Temperatures will climb up to 20 degrees above normal for much of the region through at least the weekend, reaching the high 90s or low 100s in many places The heat index -- a measure of how heat and humidity make the air feel -- will be even higher." This is a liveblog.

Washington Post: “Much of the United States felt like a blazing inferno on Wednesday, as record heat attacked the South like a blowtorch, thick smoke from Canadian wildfires blanketed the Great Lakes region, and triple-digit temperatures threatened to wallop California for the first time this year. Scientists said climate change helped shape the weather conditions that were causing misery and putting lives at risk from Mexico to Canada. There was no disputing the impact: If it wasn't way too smoky, it was way too hot." This is a liveblog.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Alan Arkin, who won a Tony Award for his first lead role on Broadway, received an Academy Award nomination for his first feature film, and went on to have a long and diverse career as a character actor who specialized in comedy but was equally adept at drama, died on Thursday in San Marcos, Calif. He was 89."

New York Times: "At least 10 states from the Midwest to the Northeast on Friday were again facing smoky conditions created by raging wildfires in Canada, capping a week in which millions of people struggled to cope with poor air quality.Smoke that has obscured skylines and made it difficult for some to breathe was expected to linger into the long Fourth of July weekend, according to the National Weather Service. However, the air quality was expected to slowly improve as thunderstorms help disperse the smoke and possibly clear the way for Independence Day firework celebrations." ~~~

     ~~~ This site will tell you the air quality in your area.