Thank you to @DistrictMediaDC’s @bevhallberg for co-hosting with @VinceCoglianese on @WMALDC this morning! #motm pic.twitter.com/HOEjvUl96H

— WMAL DC (@WMALDC) June 17, 2019

Professor William Jacobson, Joe diGenova, Mark Krikorian, James Carafano and guest host Beverly Hallberg joined WMAL on Monday!

Mornings on the Mall

Monday, June 17, 2019

Hosts: Vince Coglianese and Beverly Hallberg of District Media Group

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C Washington Free Beacon:  This Father’s Day, Thank Dad for His Hard Work. New study busts ‘myth of the lazy father’  // Dads are sometimes labeled lazy, but they don’t deserve to be, a new research brief from the Institute for Family Studies argues.  In the past several years, both entertainment media and the think-piece-industrial complex have tended to paint a not-so-friendly pictures of dads. Moms are said to be suffering under “second-shift motherhood,” while the “working dad” commands less and less respect, thanks to the perception that he does not pull his weight. But is every dad really a shiftless Homer Simpson? Not quite, according to new work by IFS research fellow Robert VerBruggen. In honor of Father’s Day, he looked at data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), a time diary study that tracks how Americans spend our days. “Among married couples living together with kids, if anything, it’s dads who do more work in total—adding up paid work, housework, child care, and even shopping,” VerBruggen wrote. “Moms do work more in some specific circumstances, but the data acquit fathers as a group of the slacking charges so frequently leveled against them.”

5am – D         HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TRUMP-STEPHANOPOULOS ABC INTERVIEW:

• Dramatic ABC montage opening of the 30 Hours with Trump
• George asks Trump about Biden being in Iowa while he is and Trump says he watched Biden’s speech but DOZED OFF
• George asked Trump about being him being behind Biden in polls. Trump insists he’s ahead.  Then Trump asks off the record to talk to his campaign manager
• George gets Iowa supporters to ask Trump to cut back on his tweets and Trump says he has an unfair press so he has to
• George asks Trump about the best and worst parts of his job.  He notes that Congress is hard to work with
• Trump admits that he doesn’t eat breakfast
• Trump’s ABC Interview Briefly Derailed by Mick Mulvaney Coughing in Oval Office while Trump is talking about his financial statements

6am – A/B/C IN ABC’S STEPHANOPOULOS-TRUMP INTERVIEW, THEY SPAR OVER COLLUSION AND OBSTRUCTION:

• While sitting in the Beast, George asks about what Trump’s pitch to swing voters is and then it turns into an argument between George and Trump about what’s in the Mueller report about collusion and obstruction
• STEPHANOPOULOS: Happy to. So I’m listening to you. You’re not worried about being prosecuted once you leave office?
• TRUMP: I would say that he certainly must have known about it because it went very high up in the chain. But you’re going to find that out. I’m not going to make– that statement quite yet. But I would say that President Obama had to know about it.
• Trump calls George Stephanopoulos “a little wise guy”
• Trump lashes out after George Stephanopoulos presses him on obstruction, claiming he had full authority to fire Mueller.
• TRUMP: But I wasn’t going to fire. You know why? Because I watched Richard Nixon go around firing everybody, and that didn’t work out too well.
• TRUMP: there was NO CRIME… MCGAHN was just trying to show what a good counsel he is
• TRUMP – STEVE BANNON has NO IDEA, WASN’T IN THE ROOM!
• TRUMP – I saw what happened

6am – D         INTERVIEW – PROFESSOR WILLIAM “BILL” JACOBSON – professor at Cornell Law School and president  of Legal Insurrection foundation

• Jury hits Oberlin College with a total $44.2 million in damages. (Toledo Blade) — ELYRIA, Ohio — The family at the center of a defamation lawsuit against Oberlin College hugged in celebration on Thursday when a jury granted them $33 million in punitive damages on top of the $11 million compensatory award they’re already owed by the liberal arts school. The newly decided punitive damages — money awarded to plaintiffs in a civil lawsuit to punish defendants and deter future bad conduct — were broken down by the jury into $17.5 million for David Gibson, $8.75 million for family patriarch Allyn Gibson, and $6.97 million for their company, Gibson Bros, Inc. The family sued Oberlin following an incident on Nov. 9, 2016, in which a black college student attempted to shoplift wine from Gibson’s Bakery. A grandson of the family also named Allyn Gibson, who is white, followed the student out, leading to a physical altercation in front of the store. The student and two friends — who were also black — were then arrested. Protests erupted on campus in the days following, with students claiming that the robbery charge and subsequent conflict were racially motivated, as well as claiming a history of racial profiling in the store. The arrested students later backtracked on those claims and pleaded guilty to misdemeanors in court, and the Gibsons brought a lawsuit against both Oberlin College and Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo. The suit alleged libel and accused the school of supporting the students’ harmful actions and cutting economic ties with the bakery.

6am – E         2020 NEWS:

• Former VP Biden maintains a consistent lead in most 2020 polls, but Sen. Warren, Mayor Buttigieg, and Sen. Sanders are slowly inching their ways closer to Biden’s lead.
• New Fox News NATIONAL poll (which counts for the July debate stage) Biden 32% Sanders 13% Warren 9% Buttigieg 8% Harris 8% O’Rourke 4% Booker 3% Klobuchar 2% Yang 2% Everyone else at or below 1%
• New @CBSNews poll on Iowans’ first choice for the Democrats’ 2020 nominee: Biden: 30% Sanders: 22% Warren: 12% Buttigieg: 11% Harris: 5% Klobuchar: 4% O’Rourke: 4% Booker: 3% Delaney: 2%
• Trump Officially Launches 2020 Run on Tuesday as AOC Admits ‘Very Real Risk’ He’ll Win  via @LifeZette. President Donald Trump will officially launch a second run for the White House on Tuesday with a huge rally in Orlando, Florida, at the Amway Center — but not everyone’s happy about it.  At the end of May, the president declared on Twitter, “I will be announcing my second term presidential run with first lady Melania, Vice President Mike Pence, and second lady Karen Pence on June 18th in Orlando, Florida, at the 20,000-seat Amway Center.” “Join us for this historic rally!” he added. Some groups, meanwhile, are threatening to protest outside the event even as some 74,000 people have requested tickets for the 20,000-seat venue. A Fox affiliate, Fox 35 in Orlando, noted that three protest locations include Church Street, Lake Eola and City Commons, as the outlet reported. Meanwhile, in her first appearance on a major Sunday morning news program since the young lawmaker took office this past January, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the self-described Democratic socialist, warned there is a “very real risk” Trump will win re-election in 2020. She also openly acknowledged that there is frustration among progressives with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-N.Y.), saying it is “quite real.” “I think that if we elect a president on half-measures that the American people don’t quite understand — the agenda of a president, you know, that says we’re fighting for higher wages but we don’t want a $15 minimum wage, fighting for education but we don’t want to make colleges tuition-free, fighting for women’s rights, etc, but we don’t want to go all the way with that, then I think we have a very real risk of losing the presidency,” Ocasio-Cortez, 29, continued.
• Trump taunts ‘never Trumpers’ on anniversary of his presidential bid. President Trump needled the “never Trumpers” on the fourth anniversary of him and First Lady Melania Trump descending the escalator at Trump Tower to announce his bid for the presidency. The video posted on his Twitter page begins with “The Simpsons” send up of Trump launching his campaign on June 16, 2015, and segues into a rash of celebrities and politicians pooh-poohing his chances of winning the White House. “There’s not going to be a President Donald Trump,” actor George Clooney says on the video.
• Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said he is taking the summer to rest and will revisit his presidential ambitions after Labor Day. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says he’s taking a “detour” from a possible independent presidential bid. The billionaire businessman cited health concerns in a message to supporters, and said he’s taking the summer to rest and will revisit his presidential ambitions after Labor Day. Two aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions are confirming that Schultz’s Seattle-based campaign has made significant staffing cuts. Schultz writes that he’s taking “this detour from the road reluctantly.” He says his “concern for our country’s future remains, as does my belief that the American people deserve so much more from our elected officials.”

6am – F         ACOSTA NEWS:

• ‘SO PROUD OF HIMSELF’ — TUCKER CARLSON MOCKS JIM ACOSTA. (Daily Caller)  Fox News host Tucker Carlson poked fun at CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta during a Friday night “Tucker Carlson Tonight” segment on liberal media bias. Carlson’s comments came the same day fellow Fox News host Sean Hannity tussled with Acosta on Twitter about a contention in the CNN correspondent’s recently-released book that both Fox News hosts purposefully ignored him on a press bus.  Fox News contributor Dan Bongino brought up the controversy during his “Dan Bongino’s Explosive Headlines” segment at the end of Carlson’s show: “Jim Acosta writes a book about — wait for it — Jim Acosta!” Bongino quipped. “We are living in peak Acosta right now. This is peak Jim Acosta. This book, it’s not about The New York Times’ failure to cover the Soviet Union in the ‘50s and ‘60s. The book is literally about Jim Acosta and his experiences with Donald Trump. Tucker, I hear you make an appearance in there. He’s upset you didn’t go to summer slam with him on a bus when you saw him. I guess he wanted some physical confrontation, which is just, again, totally peak Acosta.” “I don’t yell at people I disagree with personally, because I’m not a liberal,” said Tucker. “Me either,” Bongino said, laughing. “It’s not personal buddy, get over it, right?”
• Jim Acosta’s ‘Quiet’ Book Signing: 30 Books Sold. CNN White House Correspondent Jim’s Acosta’s tell-all book, “The Enemy of The People,” describes his time “fighting on the front lines in President Trump’s war on truth.” Acosta showed up Wednesday to the Barnes & Noble in Arlington, Virginia, for an impromptu book signing. Acosta tweeted out pictures of himself at the “surprise signing” displaying a stack of books and himself signing one.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia – shared his thoughts about the Trump-Stephanopolous interview and what’s ahead for the last two weeks of June on the Supreme Court docket.

• Trump cites lessons from Nixon, says he ‘was never going to fire Mueller.’ Trump lashes out after George Stephanopoulos presses him on obstruction, claiming he had full authority to fire Mueller. “But I wasn’t gonna fire. You know why? Because I watched Richard Nixon go around firing everybody, and that didn’t work out too well.”
•  Push to impeach Trump stalls amid Democrats’ deference to — and fear of — Pelosi / (Washington Post/By Rachael Bade) Prominent liberals in the House, impatient with Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s opposition to impeaching President Trump, seemed on the brink of a major breakthrough one night last month. The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, a key Pelosi ally and the man who would preside over the hearings, was preparing to buck his party’s leader and join the pro-impeachment movement.Pelosi moved swiftly. She summoned her top lieutenants to a late-night meeting and hatched a plan — that six party leaders, speaking in unison, would make clear to the chairman why impeaching Trump was a terrible idea.
• CENSUS CITIZENSHIP QUESTION AND PARTISAN GERRYMANDERING ARE THE TWO BIGGEST ISSUES LEFT… With just two weeks left in the month of June, the justices have yet to issue rulings in 24 cases, including high-profile decisions that will affect the census citizenship question and partisan gerrymandering.

7am – B/C     FATHER’S DAY NEWS:

• Most American men are fathers, who tend to be better educated, census report finds. Fathers in the U.S. tend to be better educated than men without children, and relatively few men have children over age 40. These are some of the conclusions in a newly released report by the U.S. Census Bureau, just in time for Father’s Day.  (LA Times) — It found that more than 60% of the 121 million adult men in the U.S. were fathers. About three-quarters of fathers were married. Almost 13% of dads were divorced and 8% had never been married. Just under a quarter of U.S. men between ages 40 and 50 were childless, and about 17% had never been married by the time they reached their 40s. Both figures were noticeably higher than for women who had reached middle age. Just under 16% of women between ages 40 and 50 were childless, and 14% had never been married, according to the report. There were also noticeable differences in workforce participation between fathers and mothers with young children. Nearly 90% of fathers whose youngest child was under age 6 were employed, while that figure was only around 60% for mothers, according to the report. There was no difference between the sexes for childless men and women. Men with children tended to be more educated than those without kids, although the report noted that may be the result of age since the chances of becoming fathers and reaching higher-education levels increases with age.
• Washington Free Beacon:  This Father’s Day, Thank Dad for His Hard Work. New study busts ‘myth of the lazy father’ // Dads are sometimes labeled lazy, but they don’t deserve to be, a new research brief from the Institute for Family Studies argues.  In the past several years, both entertainment media and the think-piece-industrial complex have tended to paint a not-so-friendly pictures of dads. Moms are said to be suffering under “second-shift motherhood,” while the “working dad” commands less and less respect, thanks to the perception that he does not pull his weight. But is every dad really a shiftless Homer Simpson? Not quite, according to new work by IFS research fellow Robert VerBruggen. In honor of Father’s Day, he looked at data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), a time diary study that tracks how Americans spend our days. “Among married couples living together with kids, if anything, it’s dads who do more work in total—adding up paid work, housework, child care, and even shopping,” VerBruggen wrote. “Moms do work more in some specific circumstances, but the data acquit fathers as a group of the slacking charges so frequently leveled against them.”
• Trump wishes Happy Father’s Day to his “worst and most vicious critics”: “Happy Father’s Day to all, including my worst and most vicious critics, of which there are fewer and fewer,” he tweeted Sunday morning. “This is a FANTASTIC time to be an American! KEEP AMERICA GREAT!”
• TRANS CONFUSING FATHER’S DAY: “Happy Father’s Day to our amazing dad.” – Kendall Jenner. Caitlyn Jenner took to Instagram on Sunday to share sweet photos of her family on Father’s Day 2019. Her daughter Kendall Jenner also paid tribute to the reality star, posting on her Instagram Story throwback pics of the two, including photos with her sister Kylie Jenner and mom and Caitlyn’s ex-wife Kris Jenner. “Happy father’s day to our amazing dad @caitlynjenner,” Kendall wrote.
• “DAD BOD” IS IN THIS SUMMER: The hottest look this summer is apparently the dad bod. LOS ANGELES – A new survey found more Americans than ever think the “dad bod” is attractive, even sexy, and that it just might be the new six-pack. The survey, conducted by Planet Fitness, found there’s an ever-increasing appreciation for and acceptance of this kind of shape in 2019, sometimes described as a cross between muscular and overweight. Nearly four in five among both women and men believe a dad bod is a sign of a man who is confident in his own skin. Since the term first came on the scene in 2015, mostly in part due to a viral piece written by a college student for The Odyssey, we’ve all come to know and appreciate a dad bod or two. The dad bod physique is a body that says, “I go to the gym occasionally, but I also drink heavily on the weekends and enjoy eating eight slices of pizza at a time,” as The Odyssey writer Mackenzie Pearson originally put it. Of the 2,217 American adults who participated in the survey, 65 percent said the dad bod is attractive, 61 percent said men with a dad bod are sexy and 51 percent think the dad bod is the new six-pack. More than 23 million men now identify as having one, and and more men believe there’s universal acceptance of the dad bod than last year (71 percent vs. 63 percent), according to the survey. Almost half of the men in the survey claimed their dad bod has helped them accept themselves (48 percent) or made them less concerned about their appearance (47 percent). So gentlemen — raise a glass, grab another slice of pizza and toast to that relatively fit, but neither lean nor muscular look.

7am – D        INTERVIEW – MARK KRIKORIAN – Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS)

• MIGRANTS QUARANTINED ON THE BORDER: About 5,200 immigrants detained by ICE are now being quarantined due to exposure to mumps or chicken pox.  (Daily Mail) – ICE quarantined more than 5,000 for mumps, chicken pox exposure: More than 5,000 migrants detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been placed in quarantine after being exposed to mumps or chicken pox, the agency said Friday.
• TX Border Patrol agents are concerned about being exposed to Ebola by a migrant fleeing Congo for the US, but more agents are worried about other illnesses popping up among detainees at stations across the border, according to union representatives. (Washington Examiner) – EAGLE PASS, Texas — Some Border Patrol agents in Texas are concerned about exposure to Ebola by a migrant fleeing the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the United States. But more of them are worried about other illnesses frequently popping up among detainees at stations across the southern border, according to union representatives. Border Patrol’s holding facilities in the Del Rio and El Paso sectors, or regions, are inundated with sick detainees, as well as sick agents. Jon Anfinsen is a National Border Patrol Council vice president and based in Del Rio, which includes Eagle Pass, where most Congolese are arriving. Anfinsen represents approximately 1,000 agents who are based out of 10 regional holding stations. Anfinsen has been an agent 12 years and said the number of people in custody and subsequent illnesses among that population is “unprecedented.”
• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Anti-Sanctuary Bill Into Law. Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation into law Friday that bans “sanctuary cities” in the state, fulfilling a pledge he made while on the campaign trail. DeSantis — at a ceremony in the Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners alongside Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz — added his signature to SB 168. The bill requires state and local governments to honor retainers made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and to cooperate with federal immigration authorities
• Julian Castro tells woman whose Social Security number was stolen by illegal, ‘Crime happens’ 
• ICE is considering opening a second permanent facility where transgender migrants can be detained amid the influx of Central Americans crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
• Mexico steps up revisions amid US pressure over migrant flow via @foxnews. COMITAN, Mexico – Mexican authorities increased immigration enforcement along well-traveled routes for migrants in southern Mexico over the weekend, checking identifications, pulling migrants off public transport and intercepting four trucks packed with nearly 800 migrants. The National Migration Institute said 1,000 immigration agents had been deployed in the north and south of Mexico. The deployment comes as Mexico faces heightened pressure from the U.S. to reduce the surge of mostly Central American migrants through its territory. Mexico plans to position 6,000 National Guard troops by Tuesday to its southern border with Guatemala.
• Mexico Releases Terms of Migration Deal With Trump. Under agreement signed to avoid punitive U.S. tariffs, Mexico is responsible for stemming flow. (WSJ) – MEXICO CITY—Mexico released the side agreement made with the U.S. that outlines additional measures it would take if it fails to stem a surge in migration from Central America to the U.S., including becoming a “safe third country.” The supplementary agreement signed June 7 between the two countries shows that Mexico will require migrants fleeing their homelands through Mexico to seek asylum there. Mexico agreed to examine domestic laws and regulations to identify necessary changes to implement the side agreement.

7am – E         TAYLOR SWIFT GETS PANNED FOR BLATANT LGBTQ PANDERING:

• Esquire: Taylor Swift’s ‘You Need to Calm Down’ Misses the Point of Being an LGBTQ Ally. Taylor Swift’s cotton candy assault on 2019 continued Friday as she released the second single from her newly announced album, Lover.  “You Need to Calm Down” sounds like a refreshing callback to her 1989 era. There are synth beats and chant-able refrains, which are hallmarks that typically spell out a Taylor Swift Mega Hit. But as the synth beats soften between verses one and two, something happens. Swift gets political. Kinda. To be clear, the gesture is nice. Swift came under quite an online firestorm by staying practically silent during the 2016 election. Since, she has taken somewhat more overt stances, particularly in regard to LGBTQ rights and the 2018 election. And in a first, the second single from her newest album serves as a partial anthem for the LGBTQ community. But in the less than three minutes of “You Need to Calm Down,” Swift stumbles in her lyrical execution. Seemingly unable to decide if this should be an anthem for the LGBTQ+ community or a personal anecdote about incessant online trolls, she chooses both with neither quite taking hold. The song becomes too frivolous to become an LGBTQ+ anthem
• SLATE: Taylor Swift’s New Single Is a Teachable Moment About How Not to Be an Ally. The singer’s would-be Pride anthem is a cringeworthy attempt to write another “Born This Way.”
• You Need To Calm Down By Taylor Swift: You are somebody that I don’t know…. But you’re taking shots at me like it’s Patrón… And I’m just like “Damn, it’s 7 AM”…. Say it in the street, that’s a knock-out…. But you say it in a Tweet, that’s a cop-out…. And I’m just like, “Hey, are you OK?”…. And I ain’t trying mess with your self-expression… But I’ve learned the lesson that stressin’… And obsessin’ ‘bout somebody else is no fun… And snakes and stones never broke my bones so….. Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh… You need to calm down …. You’re being too loud… And I’m just like oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh… You need to just stop… Like, can you just not step on my gown?… You need to calm down … You are somebody that we don’t know… But you’re coming at my friends like a missile… But you mad…. When you could be GLAAD? (You could be GLAAD)… Sunshine on the street at the parade… But you would rather be in the dark ages… Making that sign, must’ve taken all night… You just need to take several seats and then try to restore the peace… And control your urges to scream about all the people you hate.. ‘Cause shade never made anybody less gay so

8am – A         INTERVIEW – James Carafano – vice president of foreign and defense policy studies, The Heritage Foundation

• IRAN TENSIONS:
  • Iran Threatens to Violate Nuclear Deal’s Limits on Uranium Enrichment. (NY Times) — LONDON — Iran announced on Monday that it would soon exceed the limits on the nuclear fuel it is permitted to possess under the landmark 2015 nuclear deal, which the United States withdrew from last year, leaving the door open to an “unlimited rise” in Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium and potentially triggering another flashpoint with Washington. The announcement by Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization was the country’s latest signal that it will abandon the pact unless the other signatories to the deal help Iran circumvent punishing United States economic sanctions imposed by President Trump. The threat seemed aimed primarily at the European signatories, to convince them to break with Washington and swiftly restore some of the economic benefits of the deal to Tehran. After the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal, the Trump administration imposed severe economic sanctions that have discouraged any outside companies from doing business with Iran. More recently, it followed that up with measures to all but cut off Iran’s revenues from oil sales, the lifeblood of its economy.
  • President Trump’s national security team is expected to discuss sending more US military force to the Middle East in the wake of tanker attacks.  (CNN) President Donald Trump’s national security team is expected to discuss in detail this week whether to send additional US military force to the Middle East in the wake of last week’s attack on two oil tankers, according to two US officials with direct knowledge of the discussions. It is not yet clear how soon Trump will be briefed and when a decision will be made, the officials said. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan hinted at the discussions Friday. “When you look at the situation, a Norwegian ship, Japanese ship, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE, 15% of the world’s oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, so we obviously need to make contingency plans should the situation deteriorate but we also need to broaden our support for this international situation,” he said.
  • Pompeo on Iran: US considering range of options including military. Washington (CNN)Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that the United States is “considering a full range of options” regarding rising tensions with Iran, including military options, but emphasized that President Donald Trump has said that he does not want to go to war. “The United States is considering a full range of options. We have briefed the President a couple of times, we’ll continue to keep him updated. We are confident that we can take a set of actions that can restore deterrence which is our mission set,” Pompeo said in an interview on CBS “Face the Nation.” When asked if a military response was included in that set of actions, Pompeo responded, “Of course.””The President will consider everything we need to do to make sure, right? But what’s the President said? We don’t want Iran to get a nuclear weapon,” Pompeo added. “President Trump has said very clearly, he doesn’t want to go to war.”
  • ABC NEWS: Iran attempted to shoot down a U.S. drone that was surveilling the attack on one of two tankers hit in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday morning, U.S. Central Command says. The attempt missed the MQ-9 Reaper by “approximately one kilometer”
  • James Carafano: Iran’s incredibly stupid blunders and terrorist aggression continue, while US responds wisely. (Fox News/James Carafano) – The Iranian regime is nothing if not consistent. It always manages to do the wrong thing, at the wrong time, in the wrong place, for the wrong reasons. Thursday brought more evidence that this woeful streak continues. The day broke with reports of two oil tankers burning off the coast of Iran. Then, in an afternoon appearance before reporters in Washington, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced: “It is the assessment of the United States government that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for the attacks that occurred in the Gulf of Oman today.”
  • Buttigieg: “Extremely Disturbing” To See Iraq War Architect John Bolton Pushing For War With Iran: “There’s no question that Iran has a pattern of malign activities. There’s also no question that there is a pattern that is disturbingly reminiscent of the run up to the war in Iraq, in some cases being driven by the same people.”
  • Rep. Adam Kinzinger calls for strikes against Iran
  • Sen. Tom Cotton says, “unprovoked attacks on commercial shipping warrant a retaliatory military strike against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
  • HONG KONG PROTESTS: Hong Kong was once again the scene of enormous peaceful demonstrations Sunday, a day after the territory’s chief executive bowed to public pressure by suspending a contentious extradition bill viewed as a challenge to the city’s autonomy.
  • In “Stunning Reversal”, Hong Kong Indefinitely Suspends Extradition Bill
  • Close to 2 million people took to Hong Kong’s streets on Sunday, according to the organizers of the protest against a controversial extradition bill. Hong Kong’s leader apologized for mishandling an extradition bill as protest  organizers said almost two million marchers returned to the streets
  • In Hong Kong, aerial footage shows thousands of protesters marching in opposition to a controversial extradition bill. Many are dressed in black and wearing white ribbons on their chests:

8am – B/C     Simpson Joins Twitter On Nicole’s Death Anniversary, Says He Has Some “Getting Even” To Do. O.J. Simpson opened a Twitter account Friday, two days after the anniversary of the slaying of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. His first tweet? A video of him saying, ‘I got a little getting even to do’  Simpson vowed he will use social media to “set the record straight,” in a video the notorious figure posted to his new Twitter account Saturday night. “You know, for years, people have been able to say whatever they want to say to me, with no accountability,” the former NFL player said in the video. “But, now I get to challenge a lot of that BS and set the record straight.” Simpson joined Twitter, under the username @TheRealOJ32 — referencing the jersey number he wore — nearly 25 years to the day after his ex-wife’s murder. Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman, were found stabbed outside her Los Angeles home on June 12, 1994. Soon after, O.J. Simpson became the prime suspect in the murder investigation which quickly became an international phenomenon. In October 1995, a jury found him not guilty, capping off his stunning trial. While Simpson avoided prison in that case, he was convicted in 2007 on armed robbery and kidnapping charges. He was sentenced to 33 years in prison, nine years minimum without parole. He was released on October 1, 2017.He added: “More importantly I’ll be able to talk about everything, especially sports fantasy football. And even politics. But for now let me just say to my fellow fathers out there, happy Father’s Day, and God bless.”

8am – D/E     Trump ‘all in’ on bill to make burning the American flag illegal (NY Post) — President Trump is “all in” on the latest attempt to make flag-burning illegal, he wrote Saturday in a post boosting a proposed constitutional amendment. “All in for Senator Steve Daines as he proposes an Amendment for a strong BAN on burning our American Flag,” Trump tweeted. “A no brainer!” Daines (R- Montana) and Sen Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota) reintroduced legislation Friday, Flag Day, that would allow Congress to override the First Amendment and criminalize desecration of the stars and stripes. Daines proposed a similar measuree in 2017 that stalled in the Senate. “A flag worth dying for is a flag worth protecting,” Cramer said Friday. But the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that desecrating the flag is a protected form of free speech. Trump has made much of his love of Old Glory, criticizing the NFL for allowing players to kneel rather than salute it and frequently embracing it at rallies.