THE RUSSIA HOUSE: After 15 months in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich went on trial today behind closed doors on charges of espionage. If convicted he faces up to 20 years in prison.

  After several hours of proceedings, the court scheduled its next session for August 13^th.

  The Journal and the State Department have insisted that Gershkovich is not a spy. The Russians have offered no public evidence to the contrary.

  The NY Times reports that Gershkovich has been spending his time plowing through Russian literature and playing chess by mail with his father.

Photos and video of Gershkovich standing in the glass defendant’s cage were released before the trial began. Hs head was shaved but he appeared to be in good humor.

IT’S POLITICAL: The congressional liberals known as “The Squad” lost a member last night in a New York primary vote. Jamaal Bowman, a democratic socialist who has opposed the war in Gaza, was the man who pulled a House office building fire alarm to delay a vote on a spending bill. He lost to moderate George Latimore.

  In Colorado, the firebrand conservative Rep. Lauren Boebert successfully carpetbagged herself into a new district, winning the Republican primary in the state’s east. She abandoned the district she represents now because it looked like she would lose her seat there

ANTI-TAX: Demonstrators yesterday broke into the Kenyan parliament and set fire to the entrance before crowding the streets and looting in protest of a vote to raise taxes that opponents say will drive up the cost of living for millions of people.

  The police fired tear gas and guns, killing at least five people and injuring 31. The independent Kenya Human Rights Commission posted a video of police firing live rounds at protesters down the street.

  Kenya has long been an island of stability in Africa but protesters were active a week before yesterday’s vote and resulting riot. Legislators then eliminated from their bill new taxes on bread, cooking oil, and cars. 

  President William Ruto introduced the tax bill to curb growing national debt. He now has two weeks to sign or have the bill modified.

THE GUN RANGE: Surgeon general Vivek Murthy yesterday issued a 40-page report in which he declared gun violence in the US to be a national health crisis.

  Gun deaths surpassed car crashes as the leading cause of death for American children in 2020. “It is up to us to take on this generational challenge with the urgency and clarity the moment demands,” Murthy said. “The safety and well‑being of our children and future generations are at stake.”

  A recent national survey found that 54% of US adults or their family members have experienced a firearm-related incident, but the National Rifle association has blocked all kinds of gun legislation and even federally-funded research into gun violence. Murthy’s declaration of danger is likely to hit a wall.

LOST IN SPACE: Two astronauts who rode to the International Space Station are overdue to come home in yet another embarrassment for the Boeing corporation.

  Boeing launched its Starliner craft earlier this month after years of delays and setbacks costing $1.5 billion in overruns, but they cautioned that this first manned flight might not go off without a hitch. It hasn’t.

  Boeing engineers are dealing with several problems, including helium leaks and some thrusters in the capsule that stopped working at a critical moment.

  Boeing is desperate to become part of the future in space and NASA needs them, but they have yet to prove themselves. The return of astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore has been delayed from June 18^th to “sometime in July.”

TABLOID NEWS: The splashy Boston area murder trial of Karen Read has gone to a jury to decide whether she ran over her boyfriend in an angry breakup, or whether he was beaten to death in a fight and Read was framed for murder.

  The 44-year-old Read admitted dropping off her boyfriend in front of a house one January night in 2022 then returning hours later to find his snow-covered body on the lawn. Witnesses testified that she testified, “I hit him.”

   Now her defense claims that John 0’Keefe, a police officer, was beaten in the home’s basement before being dragged out to the lawn and that Read is being pinned for something she didn’t do.

THE SPIN RACK: The Oklahoma Supreme Court yesterday ruled that a publicly-funded online Catholic charter school would be unconstitutional. It’s a setback to the movement to inject Christianity into public life, but the school’s backers are expected to appeal. — The struggling Volkswagen says it will invest $5 billion in Rivian, a maker of electric trucks. — Dharmesh A. Patel,the man who drove his family off a California cliff killing his wife and two children, will receive mental health treatment rather than stand trial, according to court records. — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pleaded guilty earlier today to a single felony for obtaining and publishing US military secrets. He was credited with time served in British custody and was freed to go home to Australia.

BELOW THE FOLD: The promotional graphic for the 1987 Vietnam War movie “Full Metal Jacket” famously featured a helmet with a peace symbol on it, a bandolier of bullets, and the slogan “Born to Kill” written on the camouflage cover.

  It was an illustration of what the movie’s star, Matthew Modine, described in the character of Private Joker as “the duality of man.” But in its promotion for sales and rental of the movie, Amazon removed “Born to Kill” from the helmet.

  The 65-year-old Modine blasted Amazon in a tweet saying, “Not only did they alter a piece of iconic art by Philip Castle, but they completely misunderstood the point of it being there.”

  Amazon is in the business of money, not art, but they restored the graphic for “Full Metal Jacket” to its original message.

-30-