DEAL OR NO DEAL: The US carried out what it described as “self-defense strikes” in southern Iran yesterday “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.” Iran threatened to retaliate, putting the ceasefire and peace talks in jeopardy.

  The Pentagon said Iranian surface-to-air missiles threatened American warplanes and nearly two dozen Navy ships, including two aircraft carriers and their escort vessels. The US targets included missile sites and Iranian boats placing mines, Capt. Tim Hawkins, a Central Command spokesman, said in a statement.

PAPAL INTELLIGENCE: Pope Leo XIV yesterday issued a 42,300-word “encyclical” warning tech leaders and politicians to safeguard humanity from the potentially disruptive and harmful effects of artificial intelligence. 

  Leo’s encyclical, an open letter to “all people of good will,” expressed his desire to protect human dignity and autonomy as technology threatens to sideline people in professional and social roles.  The Pope presented it alongside Christopher Olah, a co-founder of the AI company Anthropic, in a gesture of shared concern.

 Emphasizing that “technology should not be considered, in itself, as a force antagonistic to humanity,” the American pope wrote that “the pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs.”

  Leo called for government regulation of AI companies, protection and retraining for workers, safeguards to keep humans rather than artificial intelligence making decisions about the use of weapons.  

  He said, “A society that guarantees employment to only a small fraction of the population, despite having a high level of technical development, risks exposing many to forced inactivity.”

DETENTION TENSION: Protesters clashed with federal agents yesterday outside Delaney Hall, the 1,000 bed ICE detention center in New Jersey where inmates have been on a hunger and labor strike over the conditions in which they are held.

  One lawyer said, “People just sleep on the floor — overcrowded rooms, cold showers, no food, extremely cold in the cells with no blankets.” 

  Protesters blocked unmarked government vehicles and got into a skirmish with armed and masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents wielding gas canisters and batons.  Government officials, including Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill were denied entry to inspect the facility.

IT’S POLITICAL: The vicious Texas Republican primary for the Senate comes to a vote today with the uber-religious, adulterous, and once-indicted Attorney General Ken Paxton looking like he is going to unseat third-term Sen. John Cornyn with the endorsement of Donald Trump.

  It is one of the most expensive senate primary races in history with $120 million spent on advertisements alone.

  Paxton was impeached but acquitted in the Texas legislature on charges including bribery and unfitness for office; indicted on securities fraud charges  that were dismissed; and his wife filed for divorce “on biblical grounds” after finding he had cheated on her.

  Trump abandoned Cornyn because he voted to convict the President in his 2021 impeachment and was slow to endorse him in 2024. Paxton swears absolute allegiance to Trump, and that’s all the President wants. 

INFINITE SCROLL:

— President Trump had his third medical examination in 13 months yesterday, feeding the rumor mill about his health, which he always says is better than anyone else.

— The NY Times did an analysis of cabinet meetings and found that, on average,  one of every six sentences uttered by the attendees either flattered Trump, gave him credit, or criticized his political opponents. Some samples:

  — “You have saved this country …” – Treasury Secy. Scott Bessent

  — “You have changed America and created the golden age.” – Commerce Secy. Howard Lutnick

  The most obsequious was Secretary of State Marco Rubio:

  — “You’re the only leader in the planet that can bring the two sides together.”

  — “It’s your fearlessness to take on the issues that other presidents would not touch.”

  — “No other leader in the world that could have done it.”

THE BRISKET CRISIS: In the cattle-raising and barbecuing state of Texas where meat-eating has become a political issue in the race for US Senate, some of the state’s most beloved barbecue joints have closed because of the rising cost of beef.

  The Washington Post reports that Emily Williams Knight, president and CEO of the Texas Restaurant Association tells them that “inflation, tariffs, meatpackers’ pricing, and a national cattle herd at its smallest in 75 years, as well as labor shortages, high operational costs, and dwindling ranch land have all played a part.” 

HOOP DREAMS: The New York Knicks swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in four games to reach the NBA finals for the first time in 27 years. 

  The Knicks will face either the Oklahoma City Thunder or the  San Antonio Spurs, which are tied 2-2 in their series.

THE OBIT PAGE: The great jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, who was one of the dominant jazz musicians of the post-World War II era, died at home in Woodstock, NY, yesterday at age 95.

  Rollins came up when the style known as bebop was on the rise but over his career it was impossible to pin him down. In the true style of jazz, he was fluid. He had more than one note.

THE SPIN RACK: The threat of a chemical explosion known as a BLEVE in Garden Grove, California has diminished, but 40,000 people are still under evacuation orders. A “BLEVE” is a “boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion,” and we just wanted a chance to use the term. — Republican Rep. Thomas Kean Jr. of New Jersey has come up on the radar again after 12 weeks of silence and absence from Congress with an unexplained health crisis. He has begun calling friends. Joe LaBarbera, the Sussex County Republican chairman, told the NY Times he asked Kean if he needed anything and the answer was, “Just your prayers.” 

BELOW THE FOLD: The Pabst Brewing Company announced that it will stop making the 177-year-old Schlitz, the “Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous.” It was once the best-selling beer in the world and the equivalent of a mandatory course in college.