Don’t Breathe: As any as 40 million Americans are under an air quality alert after a blanket of smoke from Canadian wildfires has drifted over at least 17 eastern US states, obscuring the sky and filling the air with the smell of a campfire. As many as 250 wildfires are burning out of control in Canada. 

  New York City this morning is rated as having some of the worst air quality in the world. Wildfire smoke is considered particularly bad for your health, especially for people who already have lung and breathing trouble, because it is loaded with particulate matter, basically soot.

The Racing Form: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie opened his presidential bid yesterday with a direct blast at Donald Trump unlike any other Republican in the race.

  Speaking in New Hampshire, Christie said, “A lonely, self -concerned, self-serving mirror hog, is not a leader.”

  Once a Trump supporter, Christie said, “The person I am talking about, who is obsessed with the mirror, who never admits a mistake, who never admits a fault, and who always finds someone else and something else to blame for whatever goes wrong but finds every reason to take credit for anything that goes right, is Donald Trump.”

Trump World: Donald Trump’s last presidential chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has testified before the federal grand jury run by the special counsel investigating his handling of classified documents after he left office and his involvement with the January 6^th insurrection, several news outlets report.

  Meadows has been keeping a low public profile in matters related to Trump, which some Trump advisers are reported to take as an ominous signal.

  A lawyer for Trump told The NY Times, “Without commenting on whether or not Mr. Meadows has testified before the grand jury or in any other proceeding, Mr. Meadows has maintained a commitment to tell the truth where he has a legal obligation to do so.”

  The Times also reports that a previously unknown grand jury in Florida has been taking testimony. Among those called have been 20 members of Trump’s Secret Service detail.

The War Room: Water released by the destroyed Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine is flooding towns and villages. Ukraine and Russia blame each other, but Ukraine says they saw Russian soldiers swept away by water.

Gender is Real: In a blistering decision in which he said, “Gender identity is real,” a federal judge in Florida has blocked that state’s new law prohibiting the use of puberty blocking drugs and other treatments for adolescents who believe they were born into the wrong gender.

  Judge Robert Hinkle  said that three families who sued the state are “likely to prevail on their claim that the prohibition is unconstitutional.” He wrote that, “Florida has adopted a statute and rules that prohibit these treatments even when medically appropriate,” and bluntly said that it was done for political reasons, not medical.

  At least a dozen states in the past year have passed bans  or other restrictions on transition-related care for children and teenagers in the past year.

Shanked: Only months after decrying the establishment of  LIV Golf, the insurgent golf league financed by billions of dollars from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Professional Golfers’ Association has decided to merge with its new competition.

  Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, said he’d had a “heated” meeting with some of the players, but that this is a “landmark agreement to unify the game.” 

  A year ago Monahan condemned players taking big money to play for the Saudis. Alluding to Saudi involvement in the 9/11 attacks, he said, “As it relates to the families of 9/11 … I would ask any player that has left … have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?”

  Now he’s had a miracle conversion, which could involve Saudi money.

Dangerous Mommies: The Southern Poverty Law center, which tracks extremist groups of all types, has labelled the recently established “Moms for Liberty” as “an antigovernment organization.”

  Founded in 2021, Moms for Liberty has fought what they call “woke” indoctrination of kids in school and described people dealing with gender dysphoria in children as “predators.”

  The SPLC says Moms for Liberty “presents itself as a modern parents’ rights organization” but that the group “commonly propagates conspiracy theories about public schools attempting to indoctrinate and sexualize children with a progressive Marxist curriculum.”

  The SPLC says one quality that defines Moms as an anti-government organization is that they want to dissolve the Department of Education.

The Obit Page: Austrud Gilberto, the sultry-voiced Brazilian who introduced the world to the sound of Bossa Nova with her international 1964 hit “The Girl From Ipanema,” the first song she ever recorded,has died at age 83.

  It happened when Astrud and her husband, João Gilberto, travelled to New York to record with Stan Getz and, in an unplanned moment, she was asked to sing the song. For a song that made a fortune and has been covered uncounted times, she was paid only a session fee of $125.

  Gilberto once said that the song’s popularity had  something to do with its breakthrough just after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. “People needed some romance,” she said, “something dreamy for distraction.”

  “Tall and tan and young and lovely
    The girl from Ipanema goes walking
    And when she passes, each one she passes goes – ahhhhh”

  The Spin Rack:  Two people were killed and five wounded in a shooting after the graduation ceremony for a Virginia high school. One of the dead is a graduate.

— Britain’s Prince Harry testified yesterday in a lawsuit brought by himself and other complainants who say reporters for the Mirror Group Newspapers hacked their phones and used other illicit methods to gather gossip.

Below the Fold: Mike Pence declared himself a candidate for president “before God and my family,” but not many voters.

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