YOU’VE GOT MAIL: In a surprise reversal, the Trump administration asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by three states that seeks to restrict mail-order access to the abortion pill mifepristone, modelling the same position as the Biden administration in a case with major implications for abortion access.

  It’s a surprise because Trump and senior members of his administration have opposed abortion rights and/or fought for the right of states to set their own rules. Trump brags that he appointed the three Supreme Court justices who made it possible to overturn the national right to abortion. But the government’s motion says that the states don’t have the standing to sue on this issue. 

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

— The Trump administration is offering $1,000 in cash and an air ticket to any illegal immigrant who volunteers to return to their home country. It costs multiples of that to arrest, detain, and deport someone. President Trump said, “We’re gonna get ‘em a beautiful flight back to where they came from.”

— Trump last night signed an executive order restricting so-called “gain of function” experiments on pathogens and toxins that could make them more dangerous. Trump blames such scientific work for creation of the highly contagious Covid virus in a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

  The lab leak theory has never been confirmed but Trump said, “I think I said that from Day 1, that it leaked out. A scientist walked outside to have lunch with a girlfriend or was together with a lot of people.”

— NPR reports that As the Trump administration continues to slash the federal workforce, the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), is scrambling to fill some vacancies left by people who resigned in exchange for pay and benefits through September.

— A group of officials at the National Endowment for the Arts, including directors who oversee grants for dance, design, theater, and folk and traditional arts, resigned days after the Trump administration began withdrawing grants from arts groups across the country. Trump has said he wants to eliminate the NEA.

— The President yesterday said he had “nothing to do” with the artificial image of him as the pope posted on his own Truth Social account.

  Trump said while taking questions from the press in the Oval Office; “That’s not me that did it, I have no idea where it came from — maybe it was A.I. But I have no idea where it came from.”

  The image offended many Catholics. “You don’t mean the Catholics; you mean the fake news media,” Trump said. “The Catholics loved it.”

DEAR LEADER: The US Army says it plans a June 14^th parade in Washington and along with military demonstrations celebrating the 250th anniversary of its founding, which is also Donald Trump’s 79^th birthday.

COGNITION: A new book by authors from three major newspapers says that in early 2024 President Joe Biden chose not to take a cognition test to prove his continued fitness for office. The book “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America” says that Biden’s aides were confident in his performance but that the mere fact of his taking the test would cast doubt on his mental acuity.

  Doubts were mounting about Biden’s age and sharpness until the June 2024 debate with Donald Trump in which he came off as a confused old man, leading to his withdrawal from the race for re-election. 

THE OBIT PAGE: Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who in 2000 suspended the death penalty in his state and later went to prison for taking bribes when he was the Illinois secretary of state, died at home in Kankakee, He was 91. 

  Ryan said there was a “a shameless record of convicting innocent people and putting them on death row.” 

THE SPIN RACK: Three people were killed and five wounded in a shooting Sunday evening at a restaurant, according to police in Glendale, Arizona. They said there were several shooters but they have no suspects.  

BELOW THE FOLD: Asked in the Oval Office about his desire to re-open Alcatraz prison in the San Francisco Bay, the President of the United States said this:

“Well, I guess I was supposed to be a movie maker. We’re talking -we started with the movie making and will end. I mean, it-it represents something very strong, very powerful in terms of law and order. Our country needs law and order. Alcatraz is, uh, I would say, the ultimate, right? Alcatraz. Sing Sing and Alcatraz. Eh, the movies. But, uh, it’s right now a museum, believe it or not, a lot of people go there. It housed the, uh, most violent criminals in the world, and nobody ever escaped. One person almost got there. But they, as you know the story, they found his clothing rather badly ripped up. And, uh, it was a lot of shark bites, lot of, a lot of problems. Nobody’s ever escaped from Alcatraz. And just represented something, uh, strong having to do with law and order. We need law and order in this country. And so we’re going to, uh, look at it. Some of the people up here are going to be working very hard on that. And, uh, we had a little conversation. I think it’s going to be very interesting. We’ll see if we can, uh, bring it back in large form, add a lot. But I think it represents something. Right now it’s, uh, a big hunk that sitting there rusting and rotting, uh, very, uh, you look at it, it’s sort of a …. You saw that picture that was put out. It’s sort of amazing. But it sort of represents something that’s both horrible and beautiful and strong and miserable. Weak. It’s got a lot of, it’s got a lot of qualities that are interesting. And I think they, they make a point. Okay.”

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