THE WAR ROOM: Saudi Arabia joined US forces overnight responding to what the Pentagon described as a “surprise attack” coming from Iran and its “proxy” forces in Iraq.

  Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said that it had launched missiles at US military targets in Jordan as retaliation for American aggression. 

  Continuing to wage war by threat, President Trump told Fox News, “If they don’t make a deal, then I’ll go back and finish the job,”

LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE: Georgia school shooter Colt Gray, just 16, who killed four people at his high school in 2024, was sentenced yesterday to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

  Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith asked the judge to for the extreme sentence, saying Gray  carried out the attack to be famous in a twisted online subculture that glorifies mass shooters. 

  “You understood the horror of what you were going to do,” Judge Nicholas Primm said. “You wrote, ‘I want to make history. I want people to remember the pain I caused.’ And there you succeeded — the pain that you visited upon this community is unlikely to disappear in my lifetime.”

  Gray’s father, Colin, was convicted in March of murder for giving his son an assault rifle for Christmas, failing to keep it safe, and ignoring his son’s deteriorating mental condition.

JAPAN QUAKE: Responders in Japan are racing reach people trapped in collapsed buildings after yesterday’s 6.8 magnitude earthquake. At least 13 people were killed.

  Ten people were pulled from a heavily damaged shopping mall. Some of the wall at the centuries-old Kumamoto Castle collapsed. 

PROOF OF LIFE: Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear yesterday sent a letter to the state’s Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell demanding that he prove he’s fit to do the job. The 84-year-old McConnell has been under medical care since falling on June 14^th.

  Beshear, who’s considered a possible presidential candidate, wrote, “I am calling on you to directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign.” 

FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT: Cost overruns for Boeing’s two new Air Force One jets have reached $3.1 billion, all of it to be footed by the company, Boeing revealed. The original cost for the planes that have been six years in building was to have been $1.4 billion.

  President Trump’s frustration waiting for two new luxury jets moved him to accept the gift of a 747 from Qatar. Now that plane is back in the shop for retrofit to bring it up to standards for defending itself from missile attack.

INTELLIGENCE: Jay Clayton, a former corporate lawyer and US attorney with no experience in intelligence, was confirmed by the Senate to be director of national intelligence. He replaces Bill Pulte, a housing executive with no experience in intelligence, who relaced Tulsi Gabbard, who had no prior experience with intelligence.

KISS AND TELL: One sign that a politician is close to taking a step up in the world is that former lovers come out of the woodwork.

  Ruby Rippey, who had an affair with California Gov. Gavin Newsom when he was mayor of San Francisco, has written in Vanity Fair about the romance she had with Newsom while married, all of which was aired out at the time. Newsom is a likely candidate for president.

  When news of the affair broke, Rippey was married to Alex Tourk, a close friend of the mayor and his re-election campaign manager. Newsom had already announced his divorce from Kimberly Guilfoyle, now Donald Trump’s ambassador to Greece.

  Facing all this at a press conference back then, Newsom admitted, “Everything you’ve heard and read is true.” 

  Rippey partly blames her drinking problem at the time, but also Newsom, the man in power. She writes, “Power does not need to coerce. It only needs to exist. The responsibility to hold the line belongs to the one who holds it.”

  It’s not a good look for Newsom, but worse is that he was married to Guilfoyle, who spent years as Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancée.

BLINK OF AN EYE: CBS News announced a new lineup of correspondents and contributors at “60 Minutes” after cleaning the house of veterans Cecelia Vega, Sharyn Alfonsi, and Scott Pelley.

  The new executive producer Nick Bilton is bringing on NY Times conservative columnist Ross Douthat, who’s never covered so much as a three car accident for television.

  Joining as “contributors” are  Sebastian Junger, who wrote “The Perfect Storm,” Gianna Tononi, previously of Vice News, and British broadcaster Trevor Phillips.

  “60 Minutes” last year was the rare television news program gaining audience. Why the management decided to gut it has been unexplained, but the appointment of Douthat suggests it’s about political leanings. Bilton wrote in a memo that, “An exceptional lineup of journalists will be joining ‘60 Minutes,’ carrying on its tradition of fearless, independent and impartial reporting.” 

  They had  an exceptional lineup.

DURESS CODE: Federal prosecutors in Atlanta have brought charges against a man who was returning from overseas in January last year and gave customs officers a passcode for his phone that erased the contents when they punched it in. 

  Customs and Border authorities say they have the right to search and seize incoming travelers’ digital devices without a warrant or court order. They argue that the digital data on a phone is property they have the right to seize if they see fit.

  The traveler, Samuel Tunick, argues that he was targeted because of his opposition to Atlanta’s plan to build a police and fire training center inside a 1,000-acre preserve of urban woodland, referred to as “Cop City.”  But the law treats data wipes the same as flushing drugs down the toilet.

BELOW THE FOLD: The NY Times reveals that the rippled biceps on Matt Damon in his new epic “The Odyssey” actually belong to his stunt double, Devyn Dalton, a four foot six inch tall woman. 

-30-