6.30 Alan Arkin dies at 89.
6.29 The Supreme Court effectively ending affirmative action for college admissions instead. Writing for a 6-3 majority split along ideological lines, Chief Justice John Roberts concluded that the race-based admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause., and that giving some students a race-based boost necessarily discriminates against others in the “zero-sum” world of admissions to highly selective colleges and universities. In a scorching, 29-page dissent, Ketanji Brown Jackson sharply criticized her conservative colleagues’ decision: “With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces ‘colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.’’
6.28 Domingo German pitches a perfect game, as Yankees beat A’s 11-0.
6.28 EJ Dionne in the Post: “ President Biden might not seem like a revolutionary, but he is presiding over a fundamental change in the nation’s approach to economics. Not only is he proposing a major break from the “trickle-down” policies of Ronald Reagan. . .He is also departing from many orthodoxies that shaped the presidencies of Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.” Government is no longer shying away from pushing investment toward specific goals and industries. Spending on public works is back in fashion. New free-trade treaties are no longer at the heart of the nation’s international strategy. Challenging monopolies and providing support for unionization efforts are higher priorities.’’
6.27 Greg and Susan visit
6.27 At least 100 members of the last sitting Congress are direct descendants of ancestors who enslaved Black people, representing at least 8% of Democrats in Congress and 28% of Republicans. The group includes Republican senators Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton and James Lankford, and Democrats Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan. President Joe Biden and every living former U.S. president except Donald Trump are direct descendants of slaveholders, including Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Governors of 11 of the 50 U.S. states in 2022 were descendants of slaveholders, as were two U.S. Supreme Court justices. The Congressional slaveholding ancestors were among the richest in America before the Civil War; three-quarters were among the richest 10%. In researching America’s political elite, Reuters found names of more than 700 people enslaved by ancestors of the leaders.
6.27 Trump, explaining the documents transcript to ABC and Semafor: “I would say it was bravado, if you want to know the truth, it was bravado,”. “I was talking and just holding up papers and talking about them, but I had no documents. I didn’t have any documents. . . I just held up a whole pile of — my desk is loaded up with papers. I have papers from 25 different things.’’ Earlier, to Fox: “Did I use the word plans? What I’m referring to is magazines, newspapers, plans of buildings. I had plans of buildings. You know, building plans? I had plans of a golf course.”
6.26 Ivy visits Fenway Park.
6.24 The Wagner Group challenges Putin, then desists. David Ignatius in The Washington Post: “The speed with which Putin backed down suggests that his sense of vulnerability might be higher even than analysts believed. Putin might have saved his regime Saturday, but this day will be remembered as part of the unraveling of Russia as a great power — which will be Putin’s true legacy.”
6.22 Rich Lowry in Politico: “What might really kill Trump in a general makes him stronger with Republican primary voters.”
6.21 Marjorie Taylor Greene to Lauren Boebert on the floor of the House, as reported in The Daily Beast: “I’ve donated to you, I’ve defended you. But you’ve been nothing but a little bitch to me. And you copied my articles of impeachment after I asked you to cosponsor them.” Boebert: “OK, Marjorie, we’re through.’’ Greene: “We were never together.”
6.20 Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, quoted in SI speaking to his team: “It’s always good to acknowledge reasonable expectations, I expect you to get better 
in all areas, whether it’s the knowledge relative to what you do. . . the preparation of your body, the understanding of the game. You need to be continually on the rise. That is a reasonable expectation.”
6.19 Day 
trip to the Berkshires. We visit The Mount, home of Edith Wharton, in Lenox MA. She had an impressive Library. Also visit the museum in Pittsfield, where we saw Audubon‘s rats.
6.15 Glenda Jackson dies at 87.
6.15 John Kelly, Trump‘s former chief of staff, regarding Trump, to the Washington Post: “He’s scared shitless.”
6.14 Robert Gottlieb dies at 92.
6.13 Cormac McCarthy dies at 89.
6.13 With a 9-3 victory, the Las Vegas Golden Knights defeat the Florida Panthers 4 games to 1, and win the Stanley Cup.
6.13 Trump pleads not guilty at his arraignment in Florida.
6.12 Treat Williams dies at 71.
6.12 The Denver Nuggets win their first NBA title, defeating the Heat 4 game to 1. Nikola Jokić is named MVP.
6.12 Ruth Marcus in The Washington Post: “Prosecutors use the term “speaking indictment” to describe a charging document that narrates a story of criminal conduct. This indictment all but shouts: This man is a danger to the country. He is a liar. He is a hypocrite. He is a crook. It does not say, but I will: He should never again be allowed anywhere near the levers of power. Missing from the indictment — unnecessary as a matter of law, unavoidable as an element of human psychology — is the question of motive: Why did Trump do this? Why his zeal, his mania, to retain these particular documents when government officials came calling for them? Why persist — why dig the hole deep into the territory of obstruction — when a subpoena underscored that the government meant business?’’
6.11 Novak Djokovic wins the French Open, his record 23rd Grand Slam title.
6.11 Bill Barr on Fox Sunday Morning: “If even half of it is true, he is toast. I mean, it’s a very detailed indictment, and it’s very, very damning.”
6.10 Fintan O’Toole in NYRB: “Secrets are a kind of currency. They can be hoarded, but if kept for too long they lose their value. Like all currencies, they must, sooner or later, be used in a transaction—sold to the highest bidder or bartered as a favor for which another favor will be returned. To see the full scale of Donald Trump’s betrayal of his country, it is necessary to start with this reality. He kept intelligence documents because, at some point, 
those secrets could be used in a transaction. What he was stockpiling were the materials of treason. He may not have known how and when he would cash in this currency, but there can be little doubt that he was determined to retain the ability to do just that. Before the publication of the grand jury’s indictment, it was possible to believe that Trump’s retention of classified documents was reckless and stupid. The indictment reveals that recklessness and stupidity are the least of his sins. With Trump, it’s always a mistake to equate anarchy with purposelessness or to think that the farce is not deadly serious. Trump’s hoarding of official secrets is both breathtakingly careless and utterly calculated. At the heart of that calculation is a cold resolve to not give up the power that access to highly restricted information had given him.’’
6.8 Trump is indicted on 34 federal charges, including conspiracy to obstruct false statements and conspiracy to obstruct.
6.7 Mike Pence announces presidential run. “”Anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States. And anyone who asks someone else to put themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again. . . .[Trump] demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice. … I chose the Constitution, and I always will.”
6.7 Brian Stelter in The Washington Post: “We live in an age that requires a muscular form of TV journalism, one that defends truth against a torrent of lies — and accepts that the truth-telling will spur backlash from some viewers.’’
6.7 New York City’s air quality deemed worst in the world.
6.6 More than 100 wildfires burning in Quebec cause hazy conditions across most of the New York.
6.6 The PGA Tour and LIV Golf announce a planned merger.
6.6 Bill Barr on CBS Morning: “This is not a case of the DOJ conducting a witch hunt…This would have gone nowhere had the president just returned the documents, but he jerked them around for a year and a half…There is no excuse for what he did here.”
6.5 Damon Beres in The Atlantic: Apple unveils a $3,499 headset called the Vision Pro “that will engulf your field of view in pure screen. . . . Although the Vision Pro has a lot in common with virtual-reality products that have existed for years, it features a uniquely Apple twist. . . If you want to engage with the outside world while you wear the headset, it will display footage of your eyes on an external screen, an effect that makes the Vision Pro look almost like a transparent pair of goggles. . . .The idea is to minimize the barrier that the technology might present: The look is disquietingly cyborg, but the selling point is clear. We live our lives in digital space but also outside of it. Picture the thin pane of glass between you and this article simply vanishing. This is, it seems, an attempt for Apple to have its cake and eat it too. You’ll wear a computer on your face, sure, but you can still exist in real life, talk to your family, kick a soccer ball. This is the all-screen future: Apple’s promotional video shows the Vision Pro being used in tandem with the Apple Watch and a MacBook, but not the iPhone, suggesting that this is the future of mobile technology. You don’t need the small rectangle: You need your entire universe to be a screen.’’