HUGE NEWS: Gershkovich and Whelan to be released from Russia in prisoner swap
Russia kidnaps innocents to trade them for the guilty
Evan Gershkovich to Be Freed in U.S.- Russia Prisoner Swap | National Review
Just One Thing: Israel's been busy; Iranian leader orders retaliation
Israel has been busy killing the worst of the worst. A couple of weeks ago they killed two top Hamas military commanders. Then on Tuesday they killed the top military leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon and, the cherry on top, early Wednesday morning, they killed arguably the top guy in Hamas, Ismail Haniyah…they killed him with some sort of rocket or missile while he was in a residential building in Tehran. Hours later, according to the NY Times, Iran’s co-called supreme leader ordered his National Security Council to strike Israel directly. The Times claims their information comes from members of the Revolutionary Guards. There’s no way to know that the order really means, assuming it exists. Strike when? Where? How? Is Iran willing to risk getting the US involved? So many questions, with a lot of possible bad answers.
.Iran's supreme leader orders strike on Israel over Ismail Haniyeh assassination (nypost.com)
Iran, its proxies will meet to discuss retaliation against Israel, say sources (msn.com)
One more thing: Trump's insane appearance with black journalists
Former President Donald Trump's appearance with three black female reporters (two liberals, one conservative) went off the rails from the first moments and never got better.
It really is watching in full.
Some of the questions -- or at least their tone -- were nuts, but just like in the debate Trump mostly didn't answer what he was asked. He will have to be better in a debate against Kamala Harris, if it happens.
Five moments you may have missed in Trump's contentious NABJ interview (axios.com)
The comments are more interesting than the post itself, to see the divide between one side and the other
The Olympics destroys women's boxing. Utterly shameful.
Olympic boxer Imane Khelif wins bout after opponent stops fighting (usatoday.com)
Today's Guests
Delphine Farmer is a professor of chemistry at Colorado State University. We'll discuss new research that suggests that plants to something like holding their breath when in smoky conditions.
Trees Hold Their Breath to Avoid Wildfire Smoke, Too | Westword
Kevin Flynn is a member of the Denver City Council. We'll discuss the proposed ballot measure that would ban animal processing facilities, aka slaughterhouses, in Denver.
We'll also spend a little time talking about the mayor's proposed 0.5% sales tax increase to support "affordable housing" that the council appears to have pumped the brakes on, the push to allow certain municipal government workers to unionize, and an article Kevin wrote lately about ranked-choice voting.
Denver Slaughterhouse Ban — Official Ballot Measure (kinsta.cloud)
Denver City Council hits pause on mayor's affordable housing tax plan - Axios Denver
Denver Council sends collective bargaining bill to voters | News | denvergazette.com
Denverites, don’t let ranked-choice voting throw out your ballot (denverpost.com)
Other Stuff
It took over 20 years to get to this?!? Alleged 9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Accomplices Agree to Plead Guilty, Avoid Death Penalty | National Review
ICD - Khalid Shaikh Mohammad et al. - Asser Institute (internationalcrimesdatabase.org)
Kamala Harris will soon name a running mate. Mandy's been betting on Mark Kelly, senator from Arizona. I had been thinking Gov Andy Beshear of KY but there's not much chatter about him lately. Clearly, Josh Shapiro, governor of PA makes sense because it's easy to see a situation where whoever wins PA wins the election. And there's a little noise about Gov Walz of MN who is much older than the others and who started calling JD Vance (and then Trump) "weird", which has really caught on among Dems.
Anyway if it is Kelly, expect to see this fun little video of Kelly as an inspirational speaker for Chinese multi-level marketers selling Shaklee vitamins. It's not a great look but I also don't think it's disqualifying.
Olympic stuff
Too many veggies at the Olympics: Les Misérables? Non! - WSJ
Female US Olympic swimmer wins bronze medal 32 years (to the day) after her dad won an Olympic swimming medal, also for backstroke: Missoula's Katharine Berkoff wins bronze medal at Paris Olympics (montanasports.com)
They'll celebrate by getting matching tattoos of the Olympic rings: Katharine Berkoff Shares Olympic Dream With Father David (swimmingworldmagazine.com)
Keeping with Olympic swimming, congrats to French swimmer Léon Marchand: Paris Olympics: Marchand pulls off the most audacious doubles in swimming history | AP News
(I can't embed the video but here's his second race, the breast stroke, just a couple of hours after winning a gold medal in the butterfly: https://youtu.be/EjqeW6voLXQ?si=MSJzYuGsA2xXG8mL
Good: Colville Tribes rescind Colorado wolf offer | Wildlife | gazette.com
This story is not about what you might first guess from the headlines: Military service members banned from Colorado Springs mall | Military | gazette.com
Guess this means the price of postage will soon increase even further: Amazon Pushes Fast Delivery Into Rural Areas in Challenge to Post Office - WSJ
A bunch of stuff I didn't get to yesterday:
Like the human medicine version or not? Backers of vet practitioner initiative submit signatures | Colorado-politics | denvergazette.com
Start at :43 in the lower video then :45 in MKs:
Too funny: Progressives Need To Stop Lecturing White Voters About Their Privilege (theamericansaga.com)
Of course they do: Majority of Public Comments Support Descheduling or Legalizing Marijuana (reason.com)
Conservative judges piss me off sometimes: Oklahoma Court: A Fetus Doesn't Need Its Own Medical Marijuana License (reason.com)
Here’s a wonderful story even though I don’t like rye bread: After Days Lost at Sea, They Needed a Pastrami Sandwich - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Missing Gulf of Mexico divers dine at Houston deli Kenny & Ziggy’s (houstonchronicle.com)
Today's Videos
Because we all need to see a fat cat
Kevin is soooooo annoying sometimes
I gotta try this
Like the warning at the bottom says, don't try this yourself