BABY IT’S HOT:  More 75 million people in the US are under extreme heat alerts as a massive heat wave moves into the mid-Atlantic and New England states where temperatures are expected to spike into the 90s.

  Extreme heat is expected in Chicago, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati.

  As heat waves become more common, various groups are pressuring the Federal Emergency Management Administration to declare extreme heat and wildfire smoke as “major disasters,” just like floods and tornadoes that bring federal relief.

BOTH BARRELLS: Dangerously close to his opponent in the polls, President Biden has let loose with an television campaign directly attacking Donald Trump for his legal record and personal ambition.  The new commercial begins; “In the courtroom we see Donald Trump for who he is. He’s been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault and he committed financial fraud.” It goes on; “This election is between a convicted criminal who’s only out for himself and a president who’s fighting for your family.”

 The ad ends with the legally required, “I’m Joe Biden and I approved this message.” And you can bet he did.

  This promises to be a nasty campaign, nastier than it already is. Popular in the Trump camp is a t-shirt that says “Biden Sucks. Kamala Swallows” Very classy.

FULL AUDIT: The IRS says it’s going to crack down on the tax-avoidance methods of big companies to net an additional $50 billion for the treasury over the next 10 years.

  The revenuers will be targeting what’s called “basis shifting transactions” in which companies play a shell game shifting around properties and depreciating them — deducting lost value — several times on the same property.  IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel told reporters, “In the audits we’re doing today, we are seeing systemic use of basis shifting where there is no economic substance to the transaction. That is not allowed.” 

  The IRS will pay for its efforts with money from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act over the objection of Congressional Republicans who say it’s a waste of money. They are trying to reduce the IRS budget even though its compliance wing shrunk 30 percent between 2010 and 2021.   

JUST HANG UP: Dr. Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, announced that he would push Congress to require a warning label on social media platforms advising parents of the potential damage to the mental health of adolescents. The warnings would be similar to those on tobacco and alcohol products.

  Dr. Murthy said he’s optimistic that Congress will act even though the tech companies are likely to fight a labelling requirement as they have with state laws regarding social media. The tech companies can be expected to argue that warning labels infringe on their rights to free speech.  “I don’t think we can solely rely on the hope that the platforms can fix this problem on their own,” Murthy said. “They’ve had 20 years.”

JOISEY: New Jersey power broker George E. Norcross III, a wealthy insurance executive who has been considered a Democratic kingmaker, was charged with racketeering in what prosecutors say is a 12-year scheme to control the Camden waterfront.

  The square-jawed, silver-haired Norcross actually sat in the front row at the press conference as New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced the 13-count indictment. Norcross and five co-defendants are accused of illegally obtaining property and property rights along Camden’s waterfront, fraudulently taking millions of dollars in tax breaks, and influencing government officials. Platkin said Norcross and his co-defendants led a “criminal enterprise” that “took the Camden waterfront all for themselves.”

  Prosecutors have a recording of one developer asking, “Are you threatening me?” and Norcross answering “Absolutely.” 

  After the press conference Norcross called Platkin a “coward” and a “politician masquerading as an attorney general.”

HOOP DREAMS: The Boston Celtics beat Dallas 106-88 in game five to win a record 18^th NBA championship.

TABLOID NEWS: As Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos works to save the broadsheet Washington Post in the shrinking world of newspapers, he has infected the paper with scandal carried over from the British tabloids.

  Bezos, who bought the paper 10 years ago, appointed Will Lewis, a veteran of the Rupert Murdoch news empire, to be the company’s publisher and chief executive. The British Lewis is now accused of involvement 20 years ago in the publication of a story sourced with illegally hacked phone records. The widespread phone hacking scandal in Britain led to the closure of a major tabloid and years of lawsuits by celebrities claiming reporters hacked into their personal documents and voicemail.

  Peter Koenig, the reporter assigned to the questionable story, said of Lewis, “His ambition outran his ethics.” 

  Insiders at the Post say that twice this spring Lewis pressured reporters and editors not to do stories that mentioned him and the hacking scandal. The stories were published anyway.

  NPR reporter David Folkenflik reported that when Lewis was hired by the Post this past winter, he offered Folkenflik an exclusive interview in exchange for ignoring a story on the hacking scandal, a sleazy deal that is not acceptable in legitimate journalism.

  In a sign of internal turmoil over Lewis’s ethical past and his plans to reorganize the news operation, the Post’s executive editor Sally Buzbee resigned a week ago. Then on Sunday the Post ran a story examining Robert Winnett, another Brit who is expected to take over the Post newsroom in November and supervise the same people who documented what they reported to be his slippery journalistic ethics.

  It’s doubtful that the last shoe has dropped at The Washington Post.

THE SPIN RACK:  President Joe Biden is set to announce a new policy to protect about half a million undocumented spouses of American citizens from deportation, — Russia’s Vladimir Putin makes a state visit to North Korea today. 

BELOW THE FOLD: McDonald’s is offering a $5 “value meal” to lure back customers lost to the pandemic and inflation. The value is financial not nutritional.

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