❧ Los Angeles police are using potentially lethal ammunition against journalists. The LA Press Club has sued the city of Los Angelesand LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell over widespread use of force against journalists throughout the recent protests in LA. According to a database compiled by the organization, more than sixty journalists have been injured by police since protests began last week. Journalists have been shot, tear gassed, hit with flash-bang grenades, trampled by horses, hospitalized, detained, and arrested. Some injuries came from officers shooting indiscriminately into crowds of nonviolent civilians (which is not a particularly effective de-escalation tactic, particularly when you accidentally shoot other officers). Other times, officers deliberately shot at journalists.
While the munitions used to disperse journalists and protestors are described as “less lethal,” as the name implies, they are still lethal. Rubber bullets in particular can kill and permanently disable. Wired reports that the weapons used to subdue protestors in LA are banned in Canada due to their risk of severe injury to those hit by their projectiles. Of course, the Trump administration is not seriously interested in the safety of Angelinos. (Sending in the National Guard and Marines was never going to reduce tensions, as anyone who’s had a party broken up by cops can tell you.) But hopefully this lawsuit can provide justice to the victims of police violence.
❧ The EPA is set to entirely remove greenhouse gas emissions restrictions on power plants. As stated in an EPA press release, the agency is proposing to “repeal all ‘greenhouse gas’ emissions standards for the power sector under… the Clean Air Act.” Electric power production accounts for a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.—if power plants were their own country, they would be the sixth largest greenhouse gas emitter on earth. And as a bonus, the agency is also repealing regulations about emitting mercury, a neurotoxin linked to Alzheimer’s and other brain conditions, into the air! Isn’t that nice. (NBC News)
❧ Mahmoud Khalil spent Father’s Day in an ICE detention center. The Columbia graduate student has been imprisoned since March, when the Trump administration began deportation proceedings as punishment for his pro-Palestine activism. But on Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that the government’s argument that his speech risks “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences,” and thus justifies imprisonment, is likely unconstitutional.
Khalil still isn’t free though, because the judge upheld the government’s second argument: that Khalil could be held in jail until the court can determine whether or not Khalil lied on his green card application.
Let’s put aside the fact that immigrants are rarely, if ever, held in jail as green card proceedings continue. (ICE has been told to get “creative” with arrests.) And let’s also put aside the fact that the charge of lying on his application was only added a week after Khalil was arrested for his speech. Prosecutors allege that Khalil didn’t disclose his memberships in a Columbia student group and UNRWA, the UN aid organization in Palestine. His lawyers argue, though, that the activities in question took place after he applied for his green card, so he did not need to list them on his application.
However specious the government’s argument, the upshot is that Khalil spent Father’s Day in an immigration facility in rural Louisiana. Fortunately, that didn’t prevent him from writing a deeply moving open letter to his newborn son, which you can watch at the link below. (NPR)
Video: ACLU
AROUND THE WORLD
❧ El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, signed deals with violent gangs to secure political power. Since his election in 2019, Bukele has cracked down on opposition media, used the military to pressure legislators to vote in his favor, replaced the entire Supreme Court with loyalists, and imprisoned one percent of the Salvadoran population without due process. And yet, he still has an 80 percent approval rating because of his perceived success in curbing gang violence.
But according to ProPublica, a report from the U.S. government has found that Bukele cut a “secret deal” with MS-13, the most prominent gang in the country. In exchange for money (some of which reportedly came from USAID funds), MS-13 gave Bukele votes and reduced homicide rates. Not only has Bukele worked alongside gangs, he directly impeded the U.S. government’s investigation by persecuting Salvadoran police who cooperated with Americans and refusing to extradite suspected terrorists to the U.S. who may have knowledge of the deal. (ProPublica)
As usual, the “law and order” guy was the biggest crook all along.
❧ Israel has closed the Al-Aqsa Mosque—the third-holiest site in Islam. On Friday, after declaring a state of emergency regarding its war with Iran, Israel’s government sealed the gates of the Al-Aqsa mosque “until further notice.” Soldiers stormed the mosque after dawn prayers and cleared the space of worshippers, as part of Israel’s complete lockdown of the West Bank.
Control over and access to the mosque is hotly contested because the area is a holy site for both Jews and Muslims, and the IDF has a history of strictly controlling when Muslims can access it. For the past twoyears, Palestinian Muslims were only allowed to enter the mosque if they were over the age of 50 or under the age of 12—meaning the vast majority of Palestinian Muslims were unable to worship at Al-Aqsa. More recently, Israel’s far-right defense minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed the mosque alongside thousands of Israelis chanting “death to Muslims” in celebration of the anniversary of Israel’s annexation of Jerusalem. (Middle East Eye)
❧ Protests are spreading through Kenya after police killed a critic. Albert Ojwang made a tweet criticizing the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Eliud Lagat, on June 6th. He was then arrested and taken to a prison more than 200 miles from his home. Less than 24 hours later, police claim Ojwang was dead. Police initially said Ojwang’s death was caused by him “banging his head against a wall,” but an autopsy found that police had lied. A government pathologist who conducted the autopsy said after the fact, “the cause of death is very clear,” and the injuries are “pointing to assault.”
Protesters have successfully demanded answers and consequences for the officers involved. The head of the police station where the attack occurred has been detained, as has a technician accused of turning off the station’s CCTV. President Ruto has condemned Ojwang’s death. Lagat, the government official who had ordered Ojwang’s arrest after being criticized, has “stepped aside” from his post. (BBC)
CROOKS vs. SICKOS (or, “What’s going on with our politicians and oligarchs?”)
❧ No, the Supreme Court is not moderating. The Supreme Court has done almost everything in its power to fuel the Trump agenda. This year alone, the Court allowed Trump to fire independent agency heads, expelled trans soldiers from the military, and gave DOGE access to millions of Americans’ private data. And yet, every June, this one included, liberal outlets publish think pieces about how SCOTUS is moderating.
In 2022, Politico and CNN argued that we have a 3-3-3 court (with three liberals, three moderates and three conservatives; as opposed to a 6-3 conservative supermajority). A week later the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. In 2024, Politico doubled down on the 3-3-3 theory. Immediately afterward, the Court signed off on racial gerrymandering in South Carolina, ended the Chevron doctrine (which took away substantial power from government agencies including the EPA), and granted Trump sweeping criminal immunity. But in spite of this history, this week, the New York Times published a 4,000 word piece on how conservative justice Amy Coney Barrett is splitting the right and left, “confounding” her fellow justices.
The reason for this phenomenon is that the Court publishes its easiest opinions in May and early June, and releases its most controversial, ideologically divided opinions at the end of the month. This gives the impression at this time of year that the Court might just stop its conservative surge, and the notoriously chummy Supreme Court press corps are keen on making their law school classmates look reasonable. But this year in particular, Justice Barrett will likely be a key vote to expand the role of religion in government and public life.
One of the most controversial cases yet to be decided is Mahmoud v. Taylor. In Mahmoud, religious parents sued a Maryland school district for the right to remove their kids from classrooms where books featuring queer themes and characters were read aloud. A win for the parents could grant religious groups the right to receive individualized accommodations for each book they don’t want their child to hear—creating an impossible web of requirements that would force books with gay characters out of classrooms. At oral argument, Barrett seemed likely to side with the religious parents, as would be expected given her strict Catholic background. Maybe this time the Times is right—but don’t hold your breath.
❧ Early voting has begun for the New York mayoral primaries. The two leading candidates in the Democratic primary are Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who resigned from office for sexually harassing female employees, and Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist candidate. (Eric Adams left the Democratic Party to run for reelection as an independent after Democrats urged him to resign for taking bribes.) Most polls say Cuomo has an edge, but New York’s use of ranked choice primary voting—plus a late-breaking endorsement from Senator Bernie Sanders—means surprises are possible.
Traditional media is not helping Mamdani’s efforts, though. The New York Times Editorial Board issued a strange non-endorsement where they advised voters not to put Mamdani on their ballots, essentially telling voters they should let Cuomo win. (Last year, the Times announced that they were no longer endorsing state and local candidates—give them credit, this is a creative loophole to their own rule.) To paraphrase a quote from the most prominent New Yorker in politics, you could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and you wouldn’t lose the Times’ support, so long as your opponent is a leftist. (NBC New York)
REPTILE FACT OF THE WEEK
Desert whiptail lizards reproduce without males!
The all-female species reproduce by parthenogenesis, where embryos develop from unfertilized eggs. But despite this fact, the lizards perform intense courtship rituals identical to lizards that reproduce through more, erm, traditional means. Children, please avert your eyes: the lizards’ typical sex lives includes five to ten minutes of biting and a “donut position.”
This diagram shows how the lizards copulate: one performs an elaborate
gymnastics routine while the other just lays there. Similar to sex with a man.
Writing and research by Grady Martin. Editing and additional material by Nathan J. Robinson and Alex Skopic. Header graphic by Cali Traina Blume. This news briefing is a product of Current Affairs Magazine. Subscribe to our gorgeous and informative print edition here, and our delightful podcast here.
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