JUNETEENTH UPDATES
We Celebrate the End of Slavery (Which is Why the Markets and More Than A Few Offices Are Closed Today)
-This update begins in Pyongyang, North Korea, where two of the worst leaders on Earth who are idolized to the point of fetish by the would-be wannabe Worst Leader on Earth got together to come to an "agreement" on helping each other do more evil. North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un welcomed Russian Really-a-Dictator Vladimir Putin for the summit, which featured staged displays of fawning adulation towards Putin and a gift of a luxury Russian limo to Kim - along with a "promise" that each will "defend" their country if they perceive the need to arise. North Korea is suspected of helping Putin launder and reroute funds and arms in order to allow Putin to continue his attempt to seize Ukraine by all means necessary.
-That help is apparently needed, as Western reports from earlier in the week noted that Ukraine - a country with no standing Navy - has effectively gutted Russian Naval power in the Black Sea, where Crimea stands as the potential key to potential Ukrainian military victory. Those reports come as Ukraine is reportedly turning the tide of Russia's offensive near Kharkiv, with The Guardian reporting a Russian soldier estimates 88 of the 100 members of his unit were killed under drone and machine gun attacks from Ukraine. And Ukrainian military officials heartened by their new ability (and tacit permission from NATO) to attack Russian positions and materiel inside of Russia are also ready to unleash more air power in the form of American F15 jets and others, making Pootie-Poo's pitch to Lil' Kim all the more necessary, if not desperate.
-SLAVA UKRAINI!
-Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ignited yet another battle with withholding shipments of arms to Israel in their war against HAMAS - a charge the U.S. not only denied, but countered by cancelling a meeting Netanyahu had scheduled with American officials. The back-and-forth comes as yet another protest in Israel demanding Netanyahu step down took place yesterday, as well as a late July trip Netanyahu is scheduling for Washington that features a address to a joint session of Congress, which is triggering protests from Democratic representatives furious at the Israeli military's conduct in its warfare in Palestine and Republicans gleeful that the open ally of Convicted Felon Ex-President Trump (R-apist) is driving a wedge into critical parts of Democratic support ahead of the Presidential election.
-As for that election, another round of primaries took place yesterday with one result that ties all the above reports together. Eugene Vindman, a former National Security Council officer whose whistleblowing on Trump's attempt to blackmail Ukrainian President Zelenskyy by withholding arms to Ukraine in exchange for political dirt on the Biden family, won the Democratic primary to win a House seat in Virginia being vacated by Democrat Abigail Spanberger so Spanberger can run to replace Glenn Youngkin (R) for Governor of that state. The district is rated 'lean Democratic' in a state that has leaned blue in Presidential races over the last several cycles, and Vindman - who has been a regular on cable news and wrote a best-selling biography about his immigration to the U.S. from Ukraine and his experience outing Trump - has a substantial war chest heading into the general and is a vocal Biden supporter.
-As for Trump, one of his more vocal supporters had a day yesterday as well. Robert Morris, the Pastor of the Gateway megachurch in Dallas and a member of Trump's "Spiritual advisors," resigned his position in the church yesterday after acknowledging to a point a published story from a 52-year-old woman who revealed that when she was a member of that church, Morris initiated a four-year relationship with her in 1982 ... when she was 12. Morris claims that he "confessed" to "inappropriate sexual behavior" with "a young lady" in 1987, and Gateway claims "it did not have all the facts" regarding the "relationship" until this story was released.
-Morris is hardly the first religious leader who supports Trump to have been discovered to have been statutory rapists, and of course Trump himself is a long-time sexual abuser who has bragged about walking through the Miss Teen World pageant dressing room with contestants being undressed and a longtime pal with the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein (that despite protestations from failson Donald Trump Jr. that Daddy and Epstein didn't know each other - Trump and Epstein lived within blocks of each other both in Florida and in New York City).
-That and other stories may be stories told in THE APPRENTICE, the movie about Trump's rise that wowed audiences in Cannes starring Sebastian Stan as Trump and new Tony winner Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn, who is also getting Oscar buzz for his performance ... or would, if the movie could find an American distributor. Because despite the accolades and an upcoming European release, the movie is having a harder time finding a distributor in the United States.
-The Daily Beast is reporting that the problem could be that one of the producers of the movie who thought it would be a Trump hagiography is now trying to use his powers to deny a pre-November release, which also depicts Trump raping former wife Ivana (a story that had been in their divorce papers before a non-disclosure agreement was enforced). The Beast reports that producer is Dan Snyder, the former FedEx CEO whose tenure as owner of the now-Washington Commanders franchise was so horrific (both for producing a series of truly terrible teams and a toxic abusive sexist workplace) the rest of the owners' club of the NFL to force Snyder to sell the team.
-This report doesn't have the tons of Presidential reporting as others - we're in a quiet moment, and I do mean moment - but there was one fun minor point that came up yesterday surrounding Trump's attempt to conduct damage control after saying the GOPMAGA PartyCult convention host city Milwaukee was "HAUR-ible!" In a rally in Racine, WI yesterday attended by upwards of 2500 people, Trump kept trying to fluff his followers by hilariously claiming he'd rather be in the blue-collar town than New York or Florida and preferred Lake Michigan over the oceans he lives near because of "sharks" - but also had to change his housing plans to try to cover his large rear end.
-You see, reports emerged that Trump was planning to "attend" the Milwaukee convention but to stay in Trump Tower in semi-nearby Chicago. When it was announced he would be staying in Milwaukee after all, reports in Chicago reported frustration because of the lost income that would take place for Trump not staying in a Trump property, verifying the story Trump had denied (because of course he did), thereby ticking off a second Midwest city (though to be fair, Trump was never going to win Chicago or Milwaukee).
-This relative news quiet is likely to erupt thanks to the courts. Tomorrow and Friday, the Supreme Court will again tease whether or not the radicals on the Court will grant Trump the title Supreme Being Who Can Do No Wrong Ever, otherwise known as his attempt to kill his January 6 trial in DC by claiming presidential immunity (the ruling could come on either day, with Team Trump's dreams of delaying the trial long enough to give Trump a chance to get back in power and eliminate that and all other trials against him - otherwise known as "the Trump 2025 agenda" - pretty much achieved). Meanwhile, an extraordinarily unusual hearing will take place in Florida on Friday that could do the same thing thanks to fangirl Judge Aileen "ofTrump" Cannon - and we'll talk about that on Friday.
-Until then, stay cool as best you can - the 'heat dome' that has settled over the Midwest and spreading to the East Coast is expected to bring 90+ and 100+ degree weather in the area through to the weekend. Hydrate and don't forget the sun screen!
-On this date in 1865, slaves living in Galveston, TX were told that the Emancipation Proclamation made them freed men - thus creating Juneteenth. On this date in 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for giving nuclear bomb information to the Soviet Union. And on this date in 2016, the longest major-city championship drought in American sports history ended as LeBron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 93-89 win over the Golden State Warriors - overcoming the Warriors' 3-1 series lead in the process.
-Debuts on this date: Local Police forces (in London, 1829), The Belmont Stakes (1867), Fingerprints as evidence (1892), Nickelodeon movie theatre (1905), I'VE GOT A SECRET (1953), The Tasmanian Devil (1954), THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW (1973), THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS (1978), Garfield the Cat (1978), INSIDE OUT (2015).
-Happy Birthday to Wallis Simpson, Moe Howard, Guy Lombardo, Lou Gehrig, Mildred Natwick, Lester Flatt, Pat Buttram, Pauline Kael, Nancy Marchand, Gena Rowlands, Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney, Spanky McFarlane, Salman Rushdie, Nick Drake, Phylicia Rashad, Ann Wilson, Duane Kuiper, Kathleen Turner, Paula Abdul, Mia Sara, Jean Dujardin, Dirk Nowitzki, Zoe Saldana, and Macklemore.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to J.M. Barrie, Ed Wynn, Len Bias, Jean Arthur, William Golding, Manute Bol, James Gandolfini, Slim Whitman, Gerry Goffin, Anton Yelchin, Ian Holm, and Champ Biden.
-Feed the Worms: War Criminal Radovan Karadzic and Brexit clownstooge Boris Johnson entered Earth on this date. Sam Giancana bought it on this date.
-Aung San Suu Kyi was born on this date. You decide whether she gets a Happy Birthday or if she Feeds the Worms.