THE WAR ROOM: Following diplomatic meetings in Geneva about the Israel/Ukraine war, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said that his country’s nuclear program is peaceful, and that “Iran’s defense capabilities are non-negotiable”. Araghchi told reporters that Iran is “ready to consider diplomacy” once “the aggression is stopped”. Israel and Iran continue to trade fire.

  Israel and Iran continue to bombard each other.

  Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is reported to be hiding in a bunker and communicating through aides so he cannot be electronically tracked. He has also named replacement candidates for himself and military leaders should he be killed.

  Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard got herself in Donald Trump’s crosshairs when she testified before Congress that Iran was not building  nuclear weapons. Gabbard now says Iran could produce nuclear weapons “within weeks” and that her comments to Congress in March had been taken out of context by “dishonest media”.

TRUMP WORLD: 

— A federal judge yesterday blocked the Trump administration’s effort to stop international students from enrolling at Harvard University. A preliminary injunction allows about 7,000 Harvard students and recent graduates to continue to study and work legally in the US.

  President Trump is punishing Harvard for refusing to bow to his demands about campus antisemitism, eliminating diversity equity efforts, and installing more ideological conservatives on the faculty. Harvard and Trump have been holding talks to defuse their dispute, but the fight goes on in court as well.

  In a preliminary injunction, Judge Allison Burroughs said the government is forbidden from “implementing, instituting, maintaining, or giving any force or effect” to the Department of Homeland Security’s to elminate Harvard from the international student program.

— Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University graduate student detained by Customs and Immigration because he had been a pro-Palestinian campus protester, was released on bail yesterday.

  Near the end of a two-hour hearing, Federal Judge Michael Farbiarz in Newark said there is reason to believe the Trump administration retaliated against Khalil for his part in demonstrations on Columbia’s campus in the spring of 2024.

   Farbiarz said there was “at least something” to the argument that there had been “an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish Mr. Khalil,” adding, “And, of course, that would be unconstitutional.” 

  Leaving court a free man … for now … Khalil said, “Justice will prevail no matter what this administration may try.”

  A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland security said in a statement, “An immigration judge, not a district judge, has the authority to decide if Mr. Khalil should be released or detained.” 

— Trump adviser Kari Lake, a former Arizona anchorwoman who became a MAGA acolyte, yesterday  laid  off  639 employees of Voice of America, the government-owned international network that has beamed independent news reports to countries without freedom of the press since World War II.

  In her press release, Lake called her action “part of a long-overdue effort to dismantle a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy.” She said 85% of jobs at VOA have been eliminated under the Trump administration and her guidance.

  Only last week Lake was forced to rehire speakers of Farsi because of the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran. Nevertheless, Lake said yesterday, “For decades, American taxpayers have been forced to bankroll an agency that’s been riddled with dysfunction, bias, and waste. That ends now.”

  Several employees are suing Lake to stop the gutting of their agency.

— Social Security has stopped publicly reporting processing times for benefits, the length of time people have to wait on the phone, and other measures of administrative performance as they struggle to serve beneficiaries. 

— What’s in a name? As the Pentagon proceeds to re-name military bases for Confederate war heroes while claiming they are not, they are removing the name of the only female winner of the Medal of Honor.

 In 2023 Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, named for a Confederate general, was re-named to honor Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, a surgeon for the Union Army who treated soldiers at the front and spent time as a prisoner of war. Now the Pentagon under Pete Hegseth is returning to the name Fort A.P. Hill while claiming it’s in honor of three Union soldiers, with the surnames Anderson, Pinn, and Hill … therefore, Fort A.P. Hill … just a coincidence.  

THE SPIN RACK: The average price of a pound of ground beef hit a record $5.98 in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s a 16% increase from a year before. But beef is more popular than ever. — CNN’s media correspondent Brian Stelter reports that some of Mark Zukerberg’s Meta employees have begun referring to him as “MAGA Mark” for his cozying up to Donald Trump.  

BELOW THE FOLD:  Pavel Durov, the founder of the instant messaging app Telegram, says he will leave his fortune to the six children he fathered with several women and as many as 100 born with donations of his sperm.

  The busy procreators Elon Musk and actor Nick Cannon have yet to publicly announced their estate planning for their multitudes of children.

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