THE VOTING BOOTH: Following President Trump’s alarmist speech about election security Thursday night, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin yesterday threatened local election officials with prison time if they do not comply with Trump’s efforts to change election policies.

  Repeating Trump’s unsubstantiated claims about election security, Mullin said, “If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections, and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties and even, depending on how far it goes, prison time,” Mullin said.

  The states, not the federal government, control elections.

  Mullin repeated Trump’s claim that about 250,000 non-citizens are registered to vote. This month, the Justice Department sent letters to all 50 states and the District of Columbia threatening criminal prosecution if election officials count ballots cast by noncitizens. 

  The numbers of non-citizens registered to vote … while there are some … tend to drop under further scrutiny. And then there’s the question of how many of them actually vote in numbers to make a difference.

THE WAR ROOM: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed today that two oil tankers exploded and caught fire after hitting mines south of the Strait of Hormuz. The US says it didn’t happen.

  As President Trump ramps up attacks, Iranian state media reported today that the US bombardment overnight had damaged bridges and a desalination plant in the southern province of Jask, leaving about 10,000 people without water.

  Attacking civilian infrastructure, particularly power and water facilities, is a big step and possibly a war crime. 

  A new banner hanging in Tehran portrays flag-draped coffins holding the bodies of President Trump and his family with the message “Blood for Blood.”

SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES: The trail of wildfire smoke from Canada continues to linger over the upper Midwest all the way to the Northeast. Smoke shrouds the view of the Statue of Liberty in New York. 

 As many as 185 fires are burning in Ontario. President Donald Trump … there’s always a Trump angle … posted an angry social media message saying, “We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests, and Brush therein, and the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous, and totally unacceptable!”

  Trump said, “This is Willful Negligence, and becoming a yearly occurrence, costing the United States Billions of Dollars, which cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying.” 

  Trump did not mention the 68 large wildfires currently burning in the US.

THE LETTUCE WRAP: In the midst of Cyclospora parasite infections in at least five states, Taylor Farms of Mexico is voluntarily removing and recalling all shredded iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico, according to the  

Centers for Disease Control. The outbreak of explosive diarrhea has been linked Taylor Farms lettuce at Taco Bell restaurants. 

ICE, ICE BABY: The ex-wife of the ICE agent who shot and killed an immigrant in Biddeford, Maine told NPR that her former mate is a racist with violent tendencies who called her after the shooting and asked her to cover for him.

  Ashley Brouillette told NPR that David Brouillette “asked me to basically talk good in his character, not to talk bad about him. And if I couldn’t not talk bad about him, then just not to talk at all to anybody.” She said; “And I told him that I was not going to lie for him. He asked me not to talk about the abuse in our marriage. And I told him again I was not going to lie for him.”

  David Brouillette has been an ICE agent only a few months.

INFINITE SCROLL:

— Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more than 1400 people in the first 12 days of July, putting them on pace for the highest number in the second Trump administration.

   ICE arrested 39,500 people in June, surpassing the previous high from last December.

— President Trump is expected to attend the World Cup final in New Jersey tomorrow and present the winner’s trophy. “His attendance will cap what has been the most watched, most secure and most successful World Cup in American history,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. We have come to expect no less under Trump. 

THE SPIN RACK: Tickets for the World Cup final are on track to be the all-time most expensive for a sporting event with re-sale prices ranging from $11,000 to $12,700. — A water main break wiped out a busy intersection on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, causing a massive sinkhole. The rupture was in a 110-year-old water line. Businesses, homes and parking garages were damaged. Water flowed for hours through Dialog Café, a popular spot on the corner, that likely will be closed for months. — Paul Pelosi, 86, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was charged yesterday with misdemeanor hit and run for an automobile incident earlier this month.  The Napa County Sheriff’s Office says that Pelosi crashed his brown Maserati GranCabrio into an unoccupied parked vehicle and left without reporting it. 

BELOW THE FOLD: The Chipotle Mexican Grill, the California-based restaurant chain known for serving Mexican-ish food in American airports and shopping mall food courts, is going to find out whether Mexicans like AmeriMex food. The chain has opened its first location in Mexico, with a storefront in San Pedro Garza García, a suburb of Monterrey.

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