Meet the new boss, son of the old boss. Iran’s named Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s replacement: His hard-line offspring, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
■ Time: He’s wielded clout behind the scenes for years.
‘Why did the war begin?’ Nine days in, Popular Information says, Trump and his administration have failed to answer that most fundamental question about their actions in Iran.
■ Law and Chaos columnist Liz Dye: “Right now would be a really good time for the U.S. to have a direct line to speak to the Iranian people. A radio station, broadcasting directly into Iran from a friendly Gulf state like, say … Kuwait. But we don’t because Arizona’s perennial loser Kari Lake pulled the plug” …
■ … although a federal judge has now ruled that Lake’s actions to dismantle Voice of America were illegal.
■ Chicago-born journalist Terry Moran—fired from ABC after a tweet critical of Trump (June link)—on gas prices climbing as the Iran war unfolds: “The earth is beginning to shake. The man in the White House is yelling at it to stop.”
■ The Wall Street Journal: “The long-feared Persian Gulf oil squeeze is upon us … acting as a tax on consumers.”
■ The AP: “New footage raises likelihood the U.S. struck an Iranian school where a blast killed at least 165.”
■ Author and Emmy-winning veteran NBC and NPR broadcast journalist Jeff Kamen: Because Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is a “cartoon character of mindless machismo, it is unlikely that there were psychologists on the scene to help the missile crew sort out the shock to their system.”
■ The Onion: “Trump To Americans: ‘You Won’t Have To Pay Your Son’s Cell Phone Bill When He Dies At War.’”
‘Now is the time to be loudly anti-war.’ Handbasket columnist Marisa Kabas: “We can distance ourselves by calling it ‘Trump’s War,’ but the fact remains that, as the president of this country, his actions cast a filthy pall on all of us.”
■ As Hegseth revels in the carnage, military experts are sounding the alarm: “I can’t even muster the words to describe his self-adulation, matched only in scope by his apparent moral depravity.”
■ Colin Jost, playing Hegseth on Saturday Night Live’s opener: “Whoever called this a war, except maybe the president a couple of times accidentally?”
■ LateNighter: The corporate escape routes are narrowing for late night’s comic Trump critics.
Ya think? Virginia Democratic Sen.—and 2016 vice presidential candidate—Tim Kaine says his vote to confirm Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary was a “big mistake.”
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich has questions about Noem’s new portfolio: “What the fuck is a Shield of the Americas?”
■ The Onion: “Noem Reassigned To Scarecrow Role At USDA.”
‘We were being lied to our faces.’ Friends and supporters say Customs and Border Protection agents detained six legal U.S. residents—returning to O’Hare Thursday from a work trip to Turkey—for more than 30 hours without explanation.
■ The Trump administration faces a court filing accusing it of wrongly deporting hundreds of people.
‘It’s disgusting.’ Civil Discourse columnist Joyce Vance: “If you’re Donald Trump, nothing says great opportunity for pushing your merchandise like bringing home fallen soldiers.”
■ But, hey, Fox News covered for him.
Racism rising. That was Gov. Pritzker’s warning yesterday in Alabama, joining thousands marking the 61st anniversary of Selma’s “Bloody Sunday,” a protest that sparked passage of the Voting Rights Act—which the governor says faces a gutting by the Supreme Court.
■ Republicans vying for the chance to challenge Pritzker are running this time without cash from big-bucks regressives.
■ When you hear U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush in a campaign commercial for Jesse Jackson Jr., you’re hearing an AI-restored version of his voice, weakened by throat cancer.
■ If you’re ready to dig into your ballot for the March 17 primary, the Chicago Public Square Voter Guide Guide awaits.
Ticketmaster punched. The company’s parent, Live Nation, reportedly has cut a deal with the Justice Department to settle an antitrust case launched under President Biden.
■ Early reports indicated the company would have to open parts of its platform to rivals and would agree to limits on its longtime exclusivity deals with venues.
Daylight saved? At least five bills in Congress would make daylight saving time—on which we now are, at the earliest date possible under present law—permanent.
■ Honk if these seasonal disjunctions add credence to this 2012 call to shift the whole world to Universal Time.
New colors! We’ve doubled the number of shades in which Square T-shirts and hoodies are available.
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