THE WAR ROOM: The US bombed targets in Iran for the third night in a row after President Trump declared that he will charge a toll for protecting ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a move he declared illegal when Iranian authorities said that’s what they would do.

  He posted on his Truth Social that; “The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as “THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” but as such, and as a matter of FAIRNESS, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World.”

SHOOT FIRST: Law enforcement agencies in Maine are investigating the fatal shooting yesterday by federal agents in Biddeford, 20 miles south of Portland. 

  Witnesses said a man was shot through the windshield of his car. It’s the second fatal ICE shooting in a week.

  In Texas, the family of 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo are demanding accountability for the death of the father of three.

  Federal agents said that Salgado had “weaponized” his car and rammed one of their vehicles so they shot him. A collection of videos show Salgado’s white work van being followed by two mismatching unmarked cars, neither of which is flashing emergency lights.

  A Jeep driven by a federal agent appears to cut off and stop the white van but it’s not clear if there was a collision or that Salgado tried to run over anyone. The moment of shooting also is not clear. 

THE INSIDER: A federal judge ruled that President Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and the settlement for immunity from tax prosecution was an improper act of self-dealing. 

  Judge Kathleen Williams said the settlement was a backroom deal outside of the legal process between the President and senior officials at the Justice Department that he controls.

  Williams wrote, “The nature of the suit itself and the conduct of the parties and counsel from its filing make plain that this was an attempt to use the court to provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the president and to earmark billions of dollars from American taxpayers to redress grievances not defined in the law.” 

  Trump sued the IRS for $10 billion because of the leak of his returns that showed in some years he paid virtually no federal taxes. He settled with the Justice Department receiving immunity from prosecution for any tax returns already filed by himself, his business partner sons, and family businesses. He also arranged for a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who believe they were victims of political prosecution by the Biden Justice Department.

  Judge Williams referred the lawyer who brought Trump’s case against the IRS to the Florida bar for potential disciplinary proceedings.

THEATER SEATING: California and 11 other Democratic states have teamed up in a lawsuit to block the merger of Paramount and the Warner Bros. Discovery entertainment behemoths, saying the deal would be anti-competitive both in the movie theater business and in the market for basic cable channels like CNN.

 Rob Bonta, the California attorney general leading the lawsuit said in a statement, “The unlawful merger of these two entertainment behemoths would lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the U.S.” 

INTESTINAL DISTRESS: The outbreak of severe diarrhea that has reached 3,000 cases in Michigan and Ohio may have been caused by fresh lettuce and other vegetables exposed to fecal matter, health authorities say. The infection is caused by the parasite cyclospora.

  As of Monday evening, health officials in Michigan had reported 2,640 cases and 44 hospitalizations. The state typically records only 40 to 50 cases per year.

INFINITE SCROLL: The sister of the late South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, Darline Graham Nordone who has no experience in politics, was appointed by Gov.  Gov. Henry McMaster to finish her brother’s term ending in January. This came after the recommendation of President Trump, who enthused on his social media that,  “This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!”

  Graham and his sister are reported to have been very close. He became her legal guardian after both their parents had died by the time she was 13. She said, “Lindsey has always been there for me. And now, I will be there for him.”

— President Trump signed proclamations yesterday shrinking two national monuments in Utah by 90 percent. He reduced Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by around 90%, and Bears Ears National Monument by 91%.

  National monuments are preserved wildlands. Trump reduced the size of the same two monuments during his first term and then President Biden restored them.

THE OBIT PAGE: Pat Oliphant, the Pulitzer-winning political cartoonist who skewered the powerful, and self-import, and criminal for 50 years, died yesterday in Santa Fe, New Mexico at age 90.

  Oliphant’s targets included presidents, pedophile priests, warmongers and a variety of villains. He had been syndicated in 500 newspapers with a worldwide audience.

  He portrayed FBI director J. Edgar Hoover in fishnet stockings and Vice President Dan Quayle in a baby carriage. 

  During the Vietnam war he drew the Statue of Liberty looking skyward with the caption, “Send me your tired and huddled masses, your generals, your wealthy classes, your crooks and pimps and bar girls, yearning to breathe free.”

BELOW THE FOLD: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s kids Zahara and Maddox have taken out newspaper ads in the Los Angeles Daily Journal as the next step in officially dropping their father’s last name. Dad is less popular at home than he is in theaters.

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