[guest post by Dana]

Let’s go!

First news item

While most 18-25 year old men who live in the U.S. must register for Selective Service, Democrats have now suggested that women follow suit. And that’s not going over well with Republicans:

Senate Democrats have added language to the annual defense authorization bill to require women to register for the draft, prompting a backlash from Republicans and social conservatives and complicating the chances of moving the bill on the Senate floor before Election Day.

Conservatives led by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) are certain to attempt to remove the provision requiring women to register for the draft, which could present a tough vote for Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and other Democrats in tight reelection races.

. . .

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) called the provision requiring women to sign up for the draft “insane.”

He accused the Biden administration of trying to implement a woke agenda at the Pentagon.

“There shouldn’t be women in the draft. They shouldn’t be forced to serve if they don’t want to,” he said on Fox News. He criticized Democrats for wanting to experiment with the military, saying “normal people are like, ‘Leave our daughters alone.’”

If young men have to register, why shouldn’t young women also have to register? Clearly there are any number of non-combat roles for women, if it came to that. Additionally, the Hawleys and Wickers of the GOP likely object to the mandatory registration of women because they tie it into the “gentler sex” notion: Men are strong and defenders of hearth, home and country. Women are caretakers of children, home and community. Each has their assigned place, and if women were required to register, that would upset these historic roles. I think that a number of Republican lawmakers still hold to this thinking, and they want to keep their like-minded voting bloc happy. If it’s not because of these reasons, then why are they so stridently against it?

Second news item

Democrats worried:

Many senior Democrats — including some of President Biden’s aides — doubt his theory for victory, which relies on voter fears about Jan. 6, political violence, democracy and Donald Trump’s character, Alex Thompson writes.

A Democratic strategist in touch with the campaign tells Axios: “It is unclear to many of us watching from the outside whether the president and his core team realize how dire the situation is right now, and whether they even have a plan to fix it. That is scary.”

Why it matters: People close to Biden tell Axios they worry about raising concerns in meetings, because his longtime loyalists can exile dissenters.

Third news item

Judge Cannon: loose cannon?:

Judge Aileen Cannon was reportedly urged by senior federal judges to hand off Trump’s classified documents case when it was handed to her last year. . . The new details add to what’s already a lengthy series of suspicious choices by Cannon that have benefited Trump.

According to The New York Times, two senior federal judges reached out to Cannon. The first unnamed judge contacted Cannon and argued she should hand the case off by citing the lack of a secure storage facility at the Fort Pierce courthouse where Cannon sits, a necessity for storing the classified documents seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. Cannon refused, requiring the city (and taxpayers) to shell out to build a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility at the courthouse.

After Cannon’s refusal, Chief Justice Cecilia Altonaga got on the horn and told Cannon taking the case would be “bad optics,” according to The New York Times, due to Cannon’s intervention after Trump sued the government for seizing the classified documents, which Trump argued were his personal property. Cannon took over and decided the case in Trump’s favor. Prosecutors appealed her decision, and an appeals panel—including two Trump-appointed judges—overturned her order, ruling that she had no authority to intervene. Cannon rejected Altonaga’s assessment.

Fourth news item

Apology not accepted:

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) apologized while on a local radio show this week for past comments calling Hamas’ use of rape and other sexual violence against Israeli women on Oct. 7th “propaganda” and “lies.”

Politico reported on Bowman’s apology in its playbook on Thursday and noted it was also the first outlet to document Bowman’s November comments calling the rape of Israeli women “lies.”

“There was propaganda used in the beginning of the siege,” Bowman told a rally in New York City, adding, “There’s still no evidence of beheaded babies or raped women. But they still keep using that lie [for] propaganda.”

If Bowman had truly wanted to be objective instead of playing politics, he could’ve kept his big yap shut while waiting for confirmation from somewhere (other than from the victims themselves!). Instead, he jumped on the idiotic Ooh, look at me, I’m so with it I’m on the pro-Palestinean bandwagon. Instead the self-serving gasbag chose to further victimize the victims.

P.S. Hillary Clinton has endorsed Bowman’s opponent in the House primary in New York. Bowman got a bit snippy in response:

“I definitely wouldn‘t call that a major endorsement, with all due respect,” Bowman told host Laura Coates of Clinton’s announcement.

Fifth news item

It’s always someone else’s fault:

Independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. failed to qualify for the first presidential debate.

Kennedy did not meet CNN’s June 27 debate requirements, the network announced Thursday, which included a polling minimum and access to enough state’s presidential ballots to theoretically be elected president. . .

“My exclusion by Presidents Biden and Trump from the debate is undemocratic, un-American, and cowardly. Americans want an independent leader who will break apart the two-party duopoly,” Kennedy said in a statement. He also falsely claimed that debate is illegal.

For a man who likes to present himself as a man’s man, he sure acts just like a little boy peeved that he didn’t get his way. Grow up!

Sixth news item

Punching back:

Ukraine has launched a “mass” drone assault on Russian infrastructure and military targets in the Black Sea, Crimea and southern Russia, officials and Kyiv’s military said.

Ukraine’s military said its drones struck four oil refineries, radar stations and other military objects in Russia on Friday morning, as Russian officials reported a “mass” drone attack in Krasnodar and claimed to have shot down 70 drones over the Black Sea and Crimea.

P.S.

"China is now the main supporter of the Russian war effort, war aggression against Ukraine… And at the same time, they are trying to have a normal relationship with European allies. This cannot work in the long run" – Jens Stoltenberg.

📹: BBC pic.twitter.com/TBc5962KVf

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 18, 2024

Seventh news item

Good:

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a federal law that makes it a crime for people under domestic violence restraining orders to have guns, handing a victory to President Joe Biden’s administration as the justices opted not to further widen firearms rights after a major expansion in 2022.

The 8-1 ruling, authored by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, overturned a lower court’s decision striking down the 1994 law as a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment right to “keep and bear arms.”

Justice Thomas was the lone dissenter.

Eighth news item

The very best news!

Y'all have been through all the highs and lows of my triple negative cancer diagnosis, so I wanted you to be the first to know. My dr called after evaluating the tumors they removed surgically.

No cancer — even microscopically!! https://t.co/EqI2SSEkbW

— Nancy French (@NancyAFrench) June 17, 2024

Have a great weekend!

—Dana