Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
Let’s go!
First news item
Trump “celebrating” Juneteenth, a federal holiday that he once made positive campaign promises about and later recognized during his previous term:
Second news item
This seems to be hurting more than it’s helping:
Farmers in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley say they are feeling the effects of workers failing to show up due to the continued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.
Farmer Nick Billman of Donna told Nexstar’s KVEO that the raids are keeping employees from coming to work, leaving farmers without any help. He said things started getting worse just weeks ago.
“I would say within the last three weeks, it started to slow, but this last week has been huge,” Billman said. “That is when it has been zero people wanting to come out and be exposed, to be able to be picked up, whether they are legal or illegal.”
. . .Billman reported having zero workers on his farm for the past week.
“One hundred percent. One hundred percent don’t want to come out of fear of being picked up even if they are doing it the right way,” Billman said.
The produce market in downtown Los Angeles has become another casualty of the ICE raids happening across Southern California, with employees not showing up and customers staying away out of fear of being detained.
Rotting fruit and vegetables scattered throughout the market were seen on Tuesday in what would otherwise be a bustling scene. Store after store closed for now, each with plenty to sell but no one to buy.
The immigrant community usually fills the L.A. produce market but since ICE agents arrived in downtown, the market has been empty, with only a trickle of workers showing up.
And then there is this ruling:
A federal appeals court has indefinitely blocked an effort by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to reclaim control of the National Guard troops President Donald Trump deployed to Los Angeles following unrest related to immigration enforcement.
The three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that Trump appeared to have acted within his authority when he took control of 4,000 California National Guard troops under a law that has never been invoked without the consent of a state governor.
Third news item
Trump and his “two more weeks” claim :
President Trump has stepped back from bombing Iran, giving Tehran up to two weeks to negotiate an end to the conflict with Israel.
Trump is looking for an “off-ramp” after advisers became concerned at Iran’s ability to hit United States bases across the Middle East and kill American troops in retaliation for any military intervention, such as the targeting of nuclear facilities with bunker-busting bombs, The Times understands. On Wednesday, Tehran wreaked considerable damage against targets in Israel, including by using hypersonic missiles to evade Israel’s Arrow interceptor system.
Trump’s spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, quoted the president as saying: “Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.”
This:
And at some point Benjamin Netanyahu will be gone, probably replaced by a (moderately) more dovish prime minister. His retirement would drain some of the venom from the American left’s antipathy to the Jewish state and possibly encourage moderates who have soured on it to look at it with fresh eyes.
All that’ll be left to do at that point is, uh, broker a peace between Israel and the Palestinians before whatever depraved successor to the PLO and Hamas gets up and running. Piece of cake.
But in the meantime, Willick is right: The Israelis should handle Fordow themselves if at all possible. Their enemies in the United States are looking for excuses to hold a grudge. They shouldn’t give them one.
Read the whole thing.
P.S. If recent history tells us anything, maybe not count on anything happening after the two week mark.
UPDATE: So this is happening:
The President will make an Address to the Nation at 10:00PM ET. Tune in! pic.twitter.com/WT0AeS3ghA
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) June 22, 2025
Now what?? What kind of payback are we looking at? After all, we have troops and bases in Europe and the ME. What about the Straits of Hormuz?? We are now in a war. And with no Congressional authorization. Just because American planes are safely on their way home doesn’t make a difference to Iran.
Fourth news item
Adriana Smith, a 31-year-old Georgia nurse and mother, was just eight weeks pregnant when she was declared brain dead in February after suffering a medical condition.
However, the family claims the hospital told them legally she had to be kept on life support to allow the fetus to grow. The family claims doctors told them they were not legally allowed to consider other options, according to local Atlanta station 11Alive.
Last week, Smith’s baby was born by emergency Caesarean section, weighing under 2 pounds and needing care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), reported 11Alive.
. . .
The case has captured national attention and raised numerous legal and ethical questions about medical consent; who should get to make decisions for permanently incapacitated people, especially when pregnant; and whether abortion laws are further complicating pregnancy care.
“This is a case that reflects the confusion in the post-Dobbs-era,” Michele Goodwin, the O’Neill professor of constitutional law and global health policy at Georgetown Law, told ABC News, referencing the Supreme Court decision that resulted in the overruling of Roe v. Wade.
“Because the hospital believed that it could not allow this brain-dead woman to simply be deceased because the state has a very strict abortion law, they believe that they needed to do all matters possible to keep the fetus alive,” she continued.
Fifth news item
President Donald Trump has extended the deadline for TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the short-form video app to an American owner by another 90 days.
On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order granting a third extension for the Chinese company to sell its platform so it can continue to operate in the United States.
At least some lawmakers and commentators are pointing out the wrongness of Trump’s action:
Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, told the Associated Press: “An executive order can’t sidestep the law, but that’s exactly what the president is trying to do.”
And:
“This is lawless—nothing in statute or otherwise permits the President to extend the deadline like this,” Heath Mayo, founder of conservative group Principles First. . .
Brazenly illegal. https://t.co/Nz5rplj6gG
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) June 19, 2025
Sixth news item
Russian drone attacks against Ukraine might decrease due to Iranian Shahed production capabilities being targeted in Israeli strikes, Estonian military intelligence commander Ants Kiviselg said on June 20, according to the ERR broadcaster.
The comments come as Russian drone strikes across Ukraine have been breaking records in recent weeks, with nearly 500 drones and missiles launched overnight on June 9.
Have a good weekend.
—Dana