“The Supreme Court on Monday reinstated a murder conviction in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz. The justices, by a 6-3 vote, granted an appeal from New York prosecutors who had urged them to undo a federal appeals court decision that overturned the verdict. The three liberal [sic] justices dissented. Prosecutors had been preparing to try the man, Pedro Hernandez, for a third time. … Etan vanished while walking to his downtown Manhattan school bus stop on May 25, 1979. Hernandez worked at a nearby convenience shop at the time, but the Maple Shade, New Jersey, resident didn’t become a suspect until 2012. Etan was among the first missing children ever to appear on milk cartons, and the anniversary of his disappearance became National Missing Children’s Day. Hernandez already has been tried twice. A jury deadlocked in 2015, and then a different panel of jurors convicted him at a 2017 retrial.” (06/22/26)
“n the run-up to SpaceX’s historic initial public offering on June 12, commentators worried about who would get hurt. Their top concern was for everyday retirement savers …. But these are speculative victims, losers only if SpaceX stock plummets. There’s another group, however, that has definitely suffered real harm on the road to Musk’s becoming a trillionaire: Americans in the nation’s most rural communities. For decades, they have lived without the high-speed broadband service that the rest of us take for granted. This ‘digital divide’ was set to close thanks to a federal program created by President Joe Biden’s administration. But at Musk’s urging, Donald Trump’s administration sabotaged the effort, changing the rules to funnel money toward Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet subsidiary, while diverting billions of dollars from higher-quality competitors.” [editor’s note: So far as I can tell, Starlink is head and shoulders above other rural competitors, on both cost and quality. I have to suspect Lowman’s real problem with Starlink is that it doesn’t use tax money to subsidize digging ditches – TLK] (06/22/26)
“A court sentenced a former South Korean justice minister on Monday to 25 years in prison for his role in ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol’s brief and disastrous declaration of martial law in 2024. Park Sung-jae was found guilty of involvement in ‘insurrection,’ the Yonhap news agency reported from the Seoul Central District Court. Yoon’s December 2024 martial law declaration lasted only about six hours as lawmakers raced to the assembly building and voted it down in an emergency session. He has since been convicted of leading an insurrection, and is in detention while appealing a life sentence. Yoon was also given a 30-year jail term earlier this month for sending drones to North Korea to ‘manufacture a national crisis’ to justify his martial law.” (06/22/26)
“In recent weeks, the misnamed US Department of Justice has indicted twenty-three activists on serious charges related to their organizing against institutional complicity in the US-Israeli genocide of Palestinians and the kidnapping of US residents by militarized federal immigration enforcers. The indictments are connected to two different cases, one in Michigan and the other in Minnesota. From my vantage point, it seems fairly clear that the indictments are, among other things, designed to deflect the media and the public attention away from the crimes against humanity being perpetrated by the government and those institutions behind the prosecutions. In fact, these indictments are purposefully political and part of a broader repression against US residents and organizations opposed to the ultra-right government of Donald Trump.” (06/22/26)
“U.S. crude prices fell 2.7% Monday to about $74 per barrel, after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a 60-day waiver of sanctions on the purchase of Iranian oil. It was the first time crude prices had broken below $75 since early March. International Brent crude prices fell 4% to about $77 per barrel, likewise a new low since the Iran conflict began. Both prices remain above their immediate pre-war prices of $62 and $68 a barrel, respectively. In a statement published on social media Monday, Bessent said Iran had ‘committed to free and open transit in the Strait of Hormuz.'” (06/22/26)
“As Congress debates the 2027 defense budget, members must confront an essential reality: their children and grandchildren will be left footing the bill. Many of the dollars that will be appropriated for military purposes in 2027 will be borrowed and tacked onto the ballooning national debt. But that is only part of the problem. Defense policies established today become spending obligations for future generations. If members of Congress are seriously considering $1.5 trillion in defense spending for 2027, it is in part because they must cover the expenses resulting from policy decisions made years ago by people who have long-since passed from the scene.” (06/22/26)
“With each passing day, it looks more and more likely that Democrats will control at least one—if not both—houses of Congress after this November’s midterm elections. Continued increases in the cost of living, a strategic quagmire in the Middle East, and President Trump’s own personal unpopularity all seem set to give Democrats an opportunity to overcome structural headwinds like partisan gerrymandering and the Senate’s rural bias that would otherwise advantage their Republican rivals. When Democrats win majorities in Congress they will need a national security agenda of their own to counter the Trump administration’s gangster-style foreign policy as best they can.” (06/22/26)
