Hit Man: Saudi Arabia’s  Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved “and likely ordered” the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to a report expected to be released by the US government. The prince insists he didn’t know in advance and had nothing to do with the killing, which is considered unlikely.

  President Joe Biden is expected to use the report to readjust relations with the oil kingdom. Biden spoke on the phone yesterday with the country’s 85-year-old king. The White House says  Biden “affirmed the importance the United States places on universal human rights and the rule of law” and that the two discussed working on “mutual issues of concern”.

 On October 2^nd, 2018, Khashoggi, who wrote for The Washington Post went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, to get documents for his upcoming wedding. A 15-member Saudi hit team was waiting. Khashoggi was killed, dismembered, and his body packed out in suitcases.

  The CIA has previously said the crown prince ordered the operation, but President Trump denied it and expressed support for him.

Equity: The House yesterday passed the Equality Act, a law many years in the making that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

    The law passed the house in 2019 but was blocked by Senate Republicans. It will still need 60 votes this time if Republicans decide to filibuster. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said,  “This time, it will be not only passed in the House, but on a path to a signing at the White House. We’re very excited about that.”

  The vote came after a spat between Republican freshman Marjorie Taylor Greene and her office neighbor across the hall, Rep. Marie Newman, who put up a transgender flag outside her door to protest the Georgia Republican’s opposition to the Equality Bill. Greene then tacked up a sign that said, “There are TWO genders: Male & Female, Trust the science.”

Fenced In: Acting US Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said in a congressional hearing that militia groups involved in the January 6th insurrection want to “blow up the Capitol” and “kill as many members as possible” when President Joe Biden delivers an as yet unscheduled joint session of Congress.

  Asked by members of the House when she plans to take down the razor wire fencing around the Capitol, Pittman said she’s concerned about threats by known militia groups “with a direct nexus to the State of the Union” address. “We know that members of the militia groups that were present on January 6 have stated their desires that they want to blow up the Capitol and kill as many members as possible,” she said. “They wanted to send a symbolic message to the nation as to who is in charge of that legislative process.”

Life in Wartime: In his first overt act of warfare as President, Joe Biden ordered airstrikes in eastern Syria against Iran-backed militias responsible for recent attacks against American and allied personnel in Iraq. American jets dropped seven 500-pound bombs on a cluster of buildings at the Syria-Iraq border.

The Beautiful Game: More than 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar preparing to host the 2022 World Cup, The Guardian  reports.

 The report cites government statistics from the home countries of two million migrant laborers who have worked in a country of three million who spurn physical labor. The numbers have been tracked since Qatar was awarded the World Cup in 2010. 

  Qatar is building or has built seven new stadiums, among other projects. Amnesty International says the workers are being “exploited” and “subjected to forced labor.” Their report says the workers “can’t change jobs, they can’t leave the country, and they often wait months to get paid.”

  The listed causes of death include electrocution, falling from heights, and suicide. Most of the deaths are listed as “natural,” citing heart or respiratory failure in the country where temperatures in summer can reach 120. 

  Qatar’s government did not deny The Guardian’s report and described the death toll as “expected.”

The Bulletin Board: The Manhattan district attorney’s office confirms that it has received millions of pages of Donald Trump’s tax returns and financial documents after a Supreme Court decision against the former president. — Former US Olympic gymnastics coach John Geddert, who owned a gym where athletes said they were sexually assaulted by their former team doctor Lawrence Nassar, killed himself hours after he was criminally charged with physically, emotionally, and sexually abusing female gymnasts. Geddert’s body was found yesterday afternoon at an interstate highway rest stop. — In Los Angeles, Lady Gaga’s dog walker was shot and wounded and two of her three French bulldogs were stolen. — Amidst a national debate about a $15 minimum wage, the Costco discount chain says it’s raising its minimum to $16. — Unemployment claims last week dropped by 132,000 to 710,000.

Gender Neutral: The Hasbro toy company has decided to remove the “Mr.” from its “Mr. Potato Head” and go with just Potato Head. Hasbro says as well that it will release a new Potato Head set this fall that will let kids create families with two mothers or two fathers, and, of course, the traditional Mr. and Mrs. Potato head. 

  Mr. Potato Head has been in the toybox since 1952 and was invented in the days when you used a real potato and stuck a plastic moustache in it. Now it comes with a plastic potato and pronouns of your choice.

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