The Hot Zone: More than 85% of Americans are expected to face temperatures above 90 degrees through the weekend. And the south-central US may hit triple digits, according to the National Weather Service. Many state and local officials have declared heat emergencies.

  The temperature rose to 107 in Dallas yesterday and it was already 100 degrees at 2am today in Phoenix.

  In Europe, 19 countries are on “extreme danger” alerts for wildfires aggravated by the heat. Major fires have been burning in Italy, France, Greece, and Germany where the high temperature yesterday was 104.5.

The War Zone: Russia intends to seize a swath of southern Ukraine as well as the eastern provinces it has already taken, according to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. “This is an ongoing process,” Lavrov said.

  While Russia presses on, gaining little territory, Ukrainian defenders have been hitting back hard. In recent days they’ve damaged a bridge vital to Russian re-supply, shot down a Russian jet, and killed Russian soldiers.  They have been helped by the use of the American-supplied HIMARS high accuracy artillery system.

  The latest estimate is that 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed so far in the war. Ukraine is losing 60-100 a week.

  Ukraine needs to re-take its territory before Russia formally annexes what it’s taken. The Russians are expected to appoint their own public officials who will call phony public referendums, the inevitable result of which would be a vote to become part of Russia.

  Russian President Vladimir Putin said this week that international sanctions and condemnations will not stop him.  Speaking as if Russia is the victim, Putin said, “Not just restrictions but the almost-complete closure of access to foreign hi-tech products is being deliberately, intentionally used against our country.”  He said, “It is clear that this is a huge challenge for our country, but … we are not going to give up and stay in a state of disarray or, as some of our ‘well-wishers’ predict, go back decades. Of course not.”

Every Vote: A coalition of Senators from both political parties has proposed new legislation to update the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act in an effort to change the law that President Donald Trump tried to use on Jan. 6, 2021, to block the certification by Congress of his election defeat.

  The law would clarify that the vice president has no power other than to see that the electoral College vote is rubber-stamped and make it more difficult to challenge a state’s slate of  electors.

  Trump appointed unelected “fake” electors and tried to get then Vice President Mike Pence to reject certifying the real electoral vote. 

Now Hear This: A public hearing by the House January 6^th investigating committee to be held in prime time tonight is expected to focus on the 187 minutes President Trump was in the White House and what he was doing … or not doing … before he issued a video calling for the rioters to go home.

  Rep. Elaine Luria, Democrat of Virginia and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, Republican of Illinois, are expected to take the lead in demonstrating that Trump was derelict in his duty.  Luria, a 20-year Navy veteran, told The NY Times, “The captain of a ship cannot sit there and watch the ship burned to the waterline and not do anything to stop it. And that’s exactly what he did.”

  Luria said, “We have accounts from people who observed him,” during the riot. She said, “There was no concern, anger, distress. He wasn’t upset by it.”

“Show Trial”: The government rested its contempt of Congress case yesterday against former Trump adviser Stephen  Bannon after calling only two witnesses, a congressional staffer and an FBI agent. 

The first witness, Kristin Amerling, who is chief counsel for the January 6th committee, told how Bannon did not answer the  committee until after he had missed the first response deadline. In the following weeks and months, Bannon still refused to provide the information sought by subpoena, Amerling said.

The Spin Rack:  A Georgia judge has ordered former New York mayor and Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani to testify about what he knows of efforts to meddle with the election on behalf of the former president. The Fulton County prosecutor has indicated that she is considering conspiracy or racketeering charges against people who tried to turn the election for Trump. — The US Army projects that it will miss recruiting goals by tens of thousands. — Georgia’s ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy went into effect yesterday after years of legal wrangling. Six weeks is generally the earliest a fetal heartbeat can be detected. — The Trump family including Donald’s current wife, Melania, gathered in New York yesterday for the funeral of the former president’s first wife, Ivana, who  died in a fall in her New York home.

The Mrs.: Celebrity watchers have noted that there’s nothing shocking about the marriage of actor ben Affleck and singer Jennifer Lopez who re-kindled their romance 20 years after breaking off their engagement and going separate ways.

  No, what’s shocking is that Jennifer Lopez, who is a name brand in the music business in an age in which brides commonly keep their maiden name, signed off on her announcement to fans as “Mrs. Jennifer Lynn Affleck.”

  But Lopez … errr … Affleck wrote, “When love is real, the only thing that matters in marriage is one another and the promise we make to love, care, understand, be patient, loving and good to one another. We had that. And so much more.”

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