Good evening, everyone. It was a busy news day with a lot to cover. From Italy’s leader publicly calling out Donald Trump in a way we rarely see from a close American ally, to Trump demanding jail time for people he says interfered with his Reflecting Pool project, including an Olympian arrested today. Meanwhile, Iran has again closed the Strait of Hormuz as negotiations continue to face obstacles. And much more. As I mentioned earlier, tomorrow’s Good News Update is still coming as scheduled.
FImagine your 79-year-old spouse is lying in a hospital bed after a heart attack. After several weeks of tests and a long list of drugs — not to mention all sorts of prodding and probing — the doctors don’t give much hope. “He’s old,” they say. “He had a good life.” So, they sign the discharge papers and refer your significant other to hospice — to help them stay “comfortable” until the end. But that’s your soulmate.
Mike Bonanza is a pilot—even when he’s off the clock. In his free time, he relaxes and unwinds by flying, because this requires “just enough concentration where I can’t think about other stuff,” he tells Abortion, Every Day. Flying isn’t just his job and his hobby of choice—it’s also the main vehicle for his advocacy. As Executive Director of Elevated Access, Bonanza—along with Manager of Flight Coordination Kira Lima and a network of volunteer pilots—transports clients seeking abortion or gender-affirming care across the U.S. with free flights.
I have no business being a chaos gardener. So why, then, am I spending most of my free time covered in dirt, huffing and puffing behind a wheelbarrow, dragging plants around my yard, puzzling through the ancient art and arithmetic of sunlight, soil, color, scale, and all the other things I do not yet understand? I blame my friend Behida. Behida has a baby, a book deadline, and a business to run. But last fall she also had a vision of planting 3,000 tulips in the meadow behind her house, of watching them emerge come spring. Everyone told her this was a terrible idea. It was too much work.
Mona Charen welcomes military analyst Andrew Fox for a conversation on Trump’s Iran ceasefire, whether America squandered its leverage against Tehran, the growing influence of Qatar and Turkey, Israel’s military and political mistakes, Hamas’s strategy in Gaza, and the battle over public opinion that could shape the future of the Middle East. show notes: Bulwark Book Club: Mona will interview presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky about her book, “Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic.” Join the conversation! Drop your questions about the book for Mon
Republican voters regularly use mail-in voting. Nearly one in five registered Republicans vote by mail. Trump himself uses it. But in his role as president, he has an almost pathological dislike for the practice. One in four Democrats votes by mail. Data on who votes by mail suggests that many Americans like it and have confidence in it. For instance, States United reports that 40% of voters who are 65 and over vote by mail.
For more than a year, I have been warning about this moment. From the first day Donald Trump returned to office, I have said the same thing: he is not planning on leaving. This was never only about winning another election, punishing his enemies, relitigating the past, or repeating the same lies about fraud. Those were always symptoms of something larger. This was about control. Control of the Justice Department. Control of the FBI. Control of the intelligence community. Control of the courts. Control of the states.
Sometimes determination isn't born from a dream. It's born from a memory so uncomfortable that you'd rather suffer through the climb than return to where you started. Most people talk about vision boards, goals, and dream lives, but many people aren't driven by what they want. They're driven by what they refuse to experience again: financial insecurity, feeling powerless, toxic relationships, dependence on others, feeling stuck, or being overlooked. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." — George Santayana When life becomes comfortable, it's easy to forget why you sta
Not only are the Israelis relentlessly killing genocide survivors in the Gaza Strip, but their continued blockade of the enclave has once again brought besieged Palestinians to the brink of famine. Long lines persist outside community kitchens as people struggle to secure adequate meals for themselves and their families amid widespread deprivation. “In Palestine, conditions in Gaza remain fragile despite some improvements after the October 2025 ceasefire,” a report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) stated earlier this week. “More than 1.6 million people were previously assessed as needing urgent food support.” It added: In the latest IPC [Integrated Food Security Phase Classification] analysis from December 2025, 1.6 million people were projected to face Crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above) acute food insecurity in the Gaza Strip between December 2025 and mid-April 2026, of whom nearly 571,000 people were expected to face Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and 1,900 people were expected to face Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5). Due to the wholesale destruction of Gaza’s agricultural infrastructure by the genocidal Israelis during the course of their ongoing genocide, the report states that “nearly the entire population remains dependent on humanitarian food assistance.” That assistance is also at the mercy of the Israelis, who have explicitly and repeatedly stated that they intend to make Gaza unliveable for its Arab population and eventually displace that population to make way for Jews-only settlements. The effects of this genocidal policy are leading to catastrophic consequences for Palestinians enduring famine-like conditions in the Gaza Strip. They have already braved severe food scarcity, including an official famine in August 2025, since the start of the genocidal Israeli assault in October 2023. Due to the Israeli siege, which has continued despite the supposed ceasefire last October, community kitchens are struggling to meet the needs of a hungry population that the Israelis have continued to bomb, shoot, and starve with total impunity. “In the community-kitchen line, people do not ask what food is being served; they ask whether it will be enough,” Ultra Palestine reported on Saturday. “Lines stretch outside communal kitchens in displacement camps, where for thousands of families, a hot meal has become the daily dividing line between hunger and the ability to keep going.” These kitchens helped Gaza’s residents survive the worst stages of the genocidal war, but they now face a crisis threatening their continued operation. With funding cuts, depleted supplies, and growing numbers of people in need, fears of famine are returning — not merely as an international warning, but as a lived experience residents know all too well. “The community kitchen comes to our area between eleven and twelve, and if I want to secure today’s meal, I have to line up an hour beforehand,” Abeer Bashar, who was displaced from eastern Gaza City, told Ultra Palestine. “Life has become nothing but queues — a queue for water, a queue for the kitchen, a queue for medical treatment, and a queue for aid,” she added. “Fear now governs us — the fear of war returning, the fear of displacement, and the fear of famine all over again. The first and second famines were extremely difficult; we were on the edge of death.” In a camp west of Deir al-Balah, Suhad Sukkar bears responsibility for supporting her own children as well as her brother-in-law’s children, who lost both parents during the war. “The food wasn’t enough,” she said. “I have my own children and my brother-in-law’s children after their mother and father were killed. They all need food, water, and care.” For her, the war has not ended: “The war hasn’t stopped as long as I’m unable to cook and feed my children. For the past three years, our greatest fear has been not having enough food.” Farajallah Masad lives an even harsher reality. “Sometimes I have to give up my share of food or reduce my portion for the sake of my son’s children,” he said. “Praise be to God in all circumstances. I’m a government employee nearing retirement, and we receive only a reduced portion of our salary every seventy days or more. Even then, neither the food nor the money is enough.” “What breaks your heart is the children,” he added. “They need proper nutrition. But who is there to talk to or complain to? The whole world sees what’s happening and remains silent.” I’ve never put up a paywall, but this newsletter wouldn’t be possible without your support. If you are able, please consider supporting my work with a paid subscription here, on Ko-fi, or on Patreon. You can also buy me a coffee or two at the link below. Thank you!
President Trump said the United States and Iran have struck a preliminary deal to pause the Gulf fighting, extending a cease‑fire for sixty days, lifting the U.S. naval blockade and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The agreement leaves Iran’s nuclear track for later talks, and the Council on Foreign Relations notes it opens a waterway without ending the war.
In Ukraine, a massive drone swarm hit Moscow on 18 June, sending black smoke over the Gazprom Neft refinery and knocking out a tenth of Russia’s refining capacity. Russian officials claim they downed hundreds of drones nationwide, while Kyiv says the strikes are retaliation for recent attacks on Kyiv, including a hit on the historic Pechersk Lavra complex.
Russia responded with a missile and drone barrage on Kyiv that set the ancient cathedral ablaze and killed at least eleven people, among them rescue workers in Kharkiv. The attacks on civilian sites have continued, with glide‑bombs hitting apartments in Zaporizhzhia and a residential block in Kharkiv.
NATO ministers met in Brussels, and a Ukraine contact group secured hundreds of millions of dollars for air‑defence kits, drones and radar from Europe and Canada. The G7 in Evian focused heavily on the Iran cease‑fire, while keeping the Ukraine war on the agenda, and President Trump hinted at possible new sanctions on Russia.
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