THE WAR ROOM: President Trump is still publicly undecided about whether he will order US forces to enter Israel’s war on Iran and its nuclear development facilities. “I like to make a final decision one second before it’s due, you know, because things change,” Trump told reporters. “I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” the President said.

  Hundreds of Iranian civilians are reported to have died under the Israeli bombardment that’s now in its seventh day.

  Despite some hints of engaging in peace talks, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, “Intelligent people who know Iran, the nation and the history of Iran will never speak to this nation in the language of threats, because the Iranian nation cannot be surrendered.” 

  Here in the US, there’s a spilt among diehards about whether enteron g the war is a spilt from Trump’s vow of “America First.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia posted on Twitter/X that, “Anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/MAGA.”

BAHSTON JUSTICE: In the tabloid trial of the Boston century, 45-year-old Karen Read, who garnered thousands of supporters and endless pages of internet amateur sleuthing, was found not guilty in her second trial of both murder and manslaughter in the January 2022 death of her Boston police officer boyfriend. Read was found guilty only of drunk driving.

  The case had seemed pretty straightforward. Read was accused of drunkenly backing into her boyfriend in front of a friend’s house and leaving him in a blizzard to die. Investigators found fragments of her tail light at the scene. Returning hours later, Read was even heard to say, “I hit him.”

  But the investigation was flawed and her defense produced a theory that the boyfriend, John O’Keefe, had gone into the house where Read dropped him, was beaten there, and left outside.

  Read said after the verdict that, “No one has fought harder for justice for John O’Keefe than I have.” She is free and no one is looking for another killer. 

THE SUPREMES: The Supreme Court in a 6-3 ruling upheld the Tennessee law restricting gender transition care for minors, delivering a major blow to transgender rights and medical care.

 The ruling supports 24 other states that have similar laws which bar gender transition surgery, puberty blockers, and hormone therapy for youth. 

The court was divided on ideological lines, with the six conservatives in the majority and three liberals in dissent.

 The opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts concluded that the Tennessee law does not constitute a form of sex discrimination that would violate the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. “This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field,” Roberts wrote. “The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound.”

  Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent that contrary the majority’s conclusion, the law discriminates based on both sex and transgender status. She said, “the court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims.” She wrote, “In sadness, I dissent.”

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: 

— The State Department says it will be reviewing the social media of foreigners applying for student visas for evidence of “hostility” toward the United States.

— Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested to a Senate committee that he might ignore court orders blocking domestic deployment of troops if President Trump orders him to. “I don’t believe district courts should be setting national security policy,” Hegseth answered to questions  about sending troops to Los Angeles amid protests over immigration raids. Pushed a little more, Hegseth did say he would honor a Supreme Court ruling.

— President Trump suggested that his dispute with California Gov. Gavin Newsom over immigration protests could endanger the state getting $40 billion in disaster aid for January’s wildfires. “When you don’t like somebody, you don’t respect somebody, it’s harder for that person to get money if you’re on top,” Trump said 

SCREEN TIME: A study published in the medical journal JAMA, which followed more than 4,000 children across the country, found that children at higher risk for suicidal tendencies were those who told researchers their use of technology had become “addictive.” Those kids said they had trouble putting down their phone, or felt the need to use it more and more. 

  The study found that by age 14, children with high or increasing addictive behavior were two to three times as likely as other children to have thoughts of suicide or harming themselves. 

LIKE A HEAT WAVE: A “significant and extremely dangerous heat wave,” according to the National Weather Service, is sitting over the Midwest and beginning to move East. Temperatures will be in the 90s.

THE SPIN RACK: The Buss family, longtime owners of the franchise, are reported to be selling the Los Angeles Lakers for an NBA record of $10 billion. Jerry Buss, who died in 2013, bought the Lakers for $67.5 million in 1979. — Britain’s Princess Kate at the last minute pulled out from attending the Royal Ascot horse races, raising questions about her health as she recovers from cancer. 

BELOW THE FOLD: The flag at the White House has always flown from a pole at the top of the building, but yesterday President Trump had two 100-foot flagpoles erected on the grounds.

  Trump has already reworked the Oval Office, adding gold accents like he has at his gaudy Mar-a-Lago, and he’s having the grass in the Rose Garden paved over. Trump is talking about building a ballroom on the compound.

  Watching the flagpole installation Trump said, “This is the real deal. This is the best you can get. There’s nothing like this.”

  “I love construction,” Trump said. “I know it better than anybody.”

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