JOURNALING: With the President and his staff unable to keep drawing attention to the issue they want everyone to ignore, The White House is banning Wall Street Journal reporters from traveling with Trump during his upcoming trip to Scotland in retaliation over the outlet’s reporting on the President’s relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Now the press is reporting on Trump’s petty retaliation … regarding Epstein

  “The Wall Street Journal or any other news outlet are not guaranteed special access to cover President Trump in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One, and in his private workspaces,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Monday to The Hill. “Due to the Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board,” she said.

  Trump is suing the Journal and its owner Rupert Murdoch, king of the right wing New Corp. empire, for their reporting on a 50^th birthday letter the newspaper said Trump wrote to Epstein. Trump wants $10 billion for damages to his reputation and earning capacity.

  In an attempt to distract the press and the public in recent days, Trump has been busily posting complaints about opponents in Congress, the old “Russia, Russia, Russia” investigation, border control, the University of Idaho murders, and being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. It’s not working.

STILL DEAD: The National Archives yesterday released a quarter million pages of documents on the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in what the Trump administration claims is an act of transparency. And again, this raises questions among the chattering classes about why they are not being transparent about Jeffrey Epstein.

  Historians have already said there are no revelations in the King documents released. 

FIGHT ON, HARVARD: A federal judge in Boston yesterday was skeptical about the Trump administration’s efforts to strip Harvard of billions of dollars in research funding over campus antisemitism. Judge Allison Burroughs questioned how the administration could tie withdrawal of medical research funding to concerns about the civil rights of Jewish students.

JUSTICE DELAYED:  In what amounts to a sharp rebuke to the Trump Justice Department, a federal judge in Kentucky sentenced a former Louisville police officer involved in the fatal raid on Breonna Taylor’s home to nearly three years in prison rather than the one day behind bars requested by the government.

  The killing of Taylor in a botched drug raid in 2020 caused an uproar … similar to other incidents … about police brutality and excessive violence. 

  Former officer Brett Hankinson was convicted of one count of violating Taylor’s civil rights for firing 10 shots into her apartment even though none of his bullets hit Taylor. The other officers were not charged because they were engaged in a gunfight with Taylor’s boyfriend.

  The cops were executing a no-knock warrant and the boyfriend pulled his gun because he thought intruders were kicking down the door. In all, the police fired 32 rounds and found no drugs or cash in the apartment.

THE MESS WITH TEXAS: The Republican majority in the Texas legislature is moving to jam through a partisan congressional redistricting plan before they vote on measures to address the state’s July 4^th flooding, thereby preventing their Democratic minority from walking out to block the redistricting.

  The Texas Republicans in special session want to re-draw congressional district lines to give their party five more seats in the narrowly split Congress in the 2026 mid-terms. They are considering taking the risk of trying to bolster their own political power and welfare before dealing with disaster relief and preparation for the next one.  

THE OBIT PAGE: Actor Malcolm Jamal-Warner, who as a teenager rose to prominence as a member of the lovable Huxtable family on Bill Cosby’s “The Cosby Show” that aired on NBC from 1984 to 1992, drowned while on a family vacation in Costa Rica. The National Police said that Jamal-Warner had been caught in a strong current. 

  Jamal-Warner had a string of other television credits following “Cosby” and as a musician won a Grammy Award. He was 54 and left a wife and daughter.

THE SPIN RACK:  Five million above-ground swimming pools are being recalled because they have a support strap that a child could use as step to get in the water. Nine children have drowned in such pools since 2007. The makers have been identified as Bestway, Intex, and Polygroup. — A 21-year-old pro-Palestinian activist has been charged with arson after the burning of 10 police vehicles in a Brooklyn parking lot last month.  

BELOW THE FOLD: Comedian Jon Stewart devoted his monologue last night to a rant about CBS cancelling the “The Late Show” hosted by his friend, Stephen Colbert. Stewart said that like some universities and law firms, CBS is bowing to a president “suffering terribly from a chronic case of penis insufficiency.” Stewart said CBS’s reasons are not financial. “I think the answer is in the fear and pre-compliance that is gripping all of America’s institutions at this very moment,” Stewart told his Daily Show audience.

  Stewart was taking his chances. “The Daily Show” and Comedy Central are owned by Paramount, which cancelled Colbert and paid Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit against “60 Minutes,” as Stewart said, “selling out their flagship news program to pay an extortion fee.” 

  Paramount needs approval from the Trump administration for a merger with entertainment company Skydance. Paramount’s Shari Redstone is desperate for the money. Stewart said, “The fact that CBS didn’t try to save their number one rated network late night franchise that’s been on the air for over three decades is part of what’s making everybody wonder, was this purely financial, or maybe the path of least resistance for your $8 billion merger.” 

  Then, Stewart got up from his desk, broke into song, and ended his monologue backed up by a gospel choir singing, “Go fuck yourself !, go fuck yourself !”

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