By
Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Along Texas’ Gulf Coast: “Hurricane Beryl made landfall on the Gulf Coast of Texas early today, the National Hurricane Center said. Beryl hit near the coastal town of Matagorda, Texas, about 85 miles south-southwest of Houston, packing maximum sustained winds of 80 mph.”
* Sighs of relief in France: “Besting all expectations, France’s leftist coalition pulled off an upset victory over the populist National Rally that quelled, for now, fears of a far-right takeover in a nation with a long history of keeping the far right out of government and at society’s fringes.”
* In the U.K.: “Britain woke Friday to the scene of a political earthquake. The opposition Labour Party, after 14 years in the political wilderness, has handed a brutal defeat to the ruling Conservatives. In his first speech outside his new home at number 10 Downing Street, the country’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer said people had voted ‘decisively for change’ and the country could ‘move forward together.’”
* The results in Iran mattered, too: “Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian has called for ‘cooperation, empathy and trust’ after being declared the winner of Iran’s runoff presidential election Saturday. The win for reformists is a turn from the hard-line presidency of Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash in May.”
* Mass shooting in Kentucky: “Five people, including the suspect, are dead and three others are injured after a shooting at a birthday party early Saturday in northern Kentucky. Officers responded to multiple calls of an active shooter at a residence in Florence around 3 a.m. When officers arrived, shots were still being fired and there were two victims in front of the residence, Florence Police Chief Jeff Mallery said at a news conference Saturday afternoon.”
* A victory for reproductive rights in Kansas: “The Kansas Supreme Court reaffirmed abortion protections in the state’s Constitution on Friday, striking down Republican-backed laws that banned a common second-trimester abortion procedure and created additional licensing requirements for abortion clinics.”
* All is not well at the 5th Circuit: “A federal judge in Texas engaged in improper conduct but will face no discipline for making disparaging remarks about women attorneys and permanently barring a female prosecutor from his courtroom, a federal appeals court’s chief judge has concluded. Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Priscilla Richman of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in an order made public last week said no further action was necessary to address a judicial misconduct complaint filed against Senior U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes in Houston.”
* It’s a real problem when senators spread misinformation: “On Friday evening, Utah Sen. Mike Lee used his personal X/Twitter account to amplify a baseless claim that President Joe Biden was having a “medical emergency” on Air Force One. It’s unclear if Lee tried to verify the falsehood before sharing it with his 224,000 followers.”
* The latest Jan. 6 sentence: “A school board member in Frederick County, Va., who has rejected calls to resign over his presence inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, pleaded guilty and was sentenced this week to 12 days in jail and two years of probation for misdemeanor trespassing and disorderly conduct during the riot.”
* Embarrassing, even for her: “Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene spent the Fourth of July weekend getting barbecued after boldly declaring that several people who did not sign the Declaration of Independence were signers of America’s most well-known document.”
See you tomorrow.