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The latest and most ridiculous Justice Department indictment of James Comey claims that his sharing of a photo of shells spelling out 8647 amounted to a threat on Trump’s life. Trump followed up with the claim that 86 is a mob term for putting a hit on someone. While many hospitality workers claim they use 86 to refer to items they’ve run out of, a noted prosecutor who spent his career listening in on the conversations of the five families says he has never heard any of them use the term 86—and even as a mere layperson, I feel confident making the definitive statement that no mob boss has ever ordered a hit by arranging pretty seashells on the beach. Fuggedaboud eighty-six. America’s most dangerous number is actually 6-3, represented by the SCOTUS majority that is systematically stripping away cherished freedoms and hard-earned rights, now including the Voting Rights Act. These rights were painstakingly earned during some of the most significant moments in American history, from Freedom rides, to Freedom Summer, to the Bloody Sunday march in Selma, to President Lyndon B. Johnson’s speech watched by 70 million Americans, to his signing the act into law with the words, “Today is a triumph for freedom as huge as any victory that has ever been won on any battlefield.” This makes SCOTUS crushing the Voting Rights Act an equally huge defeat. To understand what was undone, let’s look back at how we got here. NYT (Gift Article): Why Is There a Voting Rights Act? A Timeline.
+ “Consider the effect in Louisiana. That state had no Black representation in Congress for more than a century after the end of Reconstruction, and finally elected one Black member in 1990. A second Black member served from 1993 to 1997. In 2001 Louisiana redrew its map to revert to only one majority-Black congressional district out of six, in a state where the Black population is now about one-third of the total.” NYT Editorial Board: The Justices Acted as Partisans in the Voting Rights Ruling.
+ “What we can expect in the aftermath of this ruling is for more Republican-controlled states to implement discriminatory maps and call them partisan so they can pass legal muster. In practical terms, this will likely mean fewer nonwhite representatives in Congress. Diminishing the power of minority voters may also allow the Republican Party to continue on its path from reactionary color-blindness to more overt racism, safe in the assumption that it will not have to answer to constituents who oppose such racism because they are its targets. There is little risk in attacking people who lack the power to remove you from office.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): Voters Can Be Disenfranchised Now.
+ This ruling represents a long-term risk. And a near-term one. Louisiana postpones primaries as states rush to redraw districts after Supreme Court ruling. “More governors call for special sessions following supreme court’s decision severely weakening Voting Rights Act.” Officials were ready to pounce once this decision was made because they knew what the decision would be. The Court’s majority is doing one of the things it has been strategically designed to do: Respond to the changing demographics in America by 86ing racial progress and equality.
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Carbon Foodprint
Human diets are getting less healthy. Even the human diets that aren’t changing at all. “Surging concentrations of carbon in the atmosphere, caused largely by burning fossil fuels, have produced potent changes in the way plants grow — from increasing their sugar content to depleting essential nutrients like zinc. Experts fear the degradation of Earth’s food supply will cause an epidemic of hidden hunger, in which even people who consume enough calories won’t get the nutrients they need to thrive.” WaPo (Gift Article): The invisible force making food less nutritious. “People in wealthy countries with strong health care systems will have many tools to cope with the change, experts said. But for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable, the consequences could be devastating.”
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Where Roids Are All The Rage
“Most drugs are banned in the world of elite sports, but not here. In this competition—backed by Peter Thiel, Donald Trump Jr., and Saudi royalty—the athletes are guinea pigs. And if those backers have their way, you’re next.” So trans competitors are threatening the sanctity of sports, but this is totally kosher. Got it. Vanity Fair: Inside the Enhanced Games, Where Athletes Compete on Steroids. And Growth Hormones. And Adderall.
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Liv and Let Die
“LIV plans to tell players and staff by Thursday that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will no longer bankroll the circuit after this season, according to people familiar with the matter. The move sounds the death knell for the upstart that sowed chaos in professional golf by plowing billions into the sport and poaching A-list players.” WSJ (Gift Article): Saudi Arabia Pulls Funding From LIV Golf. Its Star Players Face a Painful Road Back. Some of this cruddy league’s tournaments are played on Trump’s golf courses (a bad idea backed by Saudi money, how could he resist?). So we’ll see how he reacts to his Gulf strategies currently facing a water hazard and sand trap at the same time. Sadly, that seems like par for the course.
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Extra, Extra
Running Up the Bill: “By itself, the milestone doesn’t mean much. There isn’t a special level where debt goes from problematic to catastrophic. And the ratio might bounce around in coming quarters as tax receipts come in, tariff refunds go out and GDP fluctuates in response to inflation and revisions. Still, the triple-digit mark is a potent symbol of the fiscal stresses on the U.S. that have been building for decades.” Richard Rubin in the WSJ (Gift Article): U.S. Debt Tops 100% of GDP. In other economic news, the GDP grew at 2%, thanks in large part to AI investment spending. And then there’s the financial metric that probably impacts voting patterns the most: Gas prices hit $4.23 per gallon.
+ Jay Curve: “I worry these attacks are battering this institution and putting at risk the things that really matter to the public.” Jerome Powell plans to remain on Fed board, cites legal actions by Trump administration. “Powell’s decision to stay — the first time a Fed chair will remain on the board as a governor since 1948 — denies President Donald Trump a chance to fill a seat on the central bank’s seven-member governing board with his own appointee.”
+ Nuclear Option: Iran’s new supreme leader gave a rare statement on Thursday, vowing not to give up the country’s nuclear or missile technologies and signaling Tehran would keep control of the Strait of Hormuz. And Trump is weighing renewed attacks.
+ Teenage Wasteland: “Two teenage brothers from the Republic of Congo were living their version of the American dream. They were leaders on their high school basketball team and involved in their local church. The elder was weeks away from graduating. That dream was thrown into upheaval this month when the brothers were detained by ICE agents ... Their detention has crushed the school community in their conservative small town.” They Left for the School Bus. ICE Picked Them Up Instead. (Feel safer?)
+ Blinded By Science: “He opened it to find a half-dozen federal agents carrying guns and wearing tactical gear, including bulletproof vests ... The agents did not harm Morens, but took off his pants and shirt, handcuffed him.” Guns and bulletproof vests: How federal agents arrested Fauci aide. (It’s a metaphor for the way all science has been treated by this administration.)
+ Soccer Pitch: “The sticker shock appears to have driven some fans away. The Athletic obtained a document dated April 10 reportedly sent to local organizers indicating that fewer than 41,000 tickets had been sold for the U.S. team’s group stage opener against Paraguay at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium on June 12 despite a listed seating capacity of just under 70,000.”