Good morning. I’m Corinne Straight, and this is AlterNet America.
Trump threatened to destroy a civilization, then didn’t, then called it a victory. The DOJ has opened an investigation into the woman who testified to Congress about January 6th. An 18-year-old went to a protest with a camera and came home without an eye. And Democrats’ gains in two swing states have Republicans sweating.
Before we get into it: You’ve noticed, probably, that the news sites you used to count on are getting quieter. Softer. That is not an accident. That is a business decision made by the billionaires who own them. We haven’t made that decision, and we won’t, because we don’t answer to billionaires. We answer to you. A paid subscription to AlterNet America helps keep media independent. Please consider one today.
Let’s dive in.
Trump Threatened to Destroy Iran’s Entire Civilization. Then He Didn’t.
Trump posted on social media Tuesday morning that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” He had set an 8 p.m. deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face a massive escalation of U.S. strikes.
At around 6:30 p.m., he called it off.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his field marshal asked Trump to hold off. Trump agreed to suspend the bombing for two weeks, contingent on Iran fully reopening the strait. Iran’s Foreign Minister confirmed Tehran’s acceptance and said Iran would allow safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz during the pause “via coordination with Iran’s armed forces.”
Both sides immediately declared victory. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council announced that nearly all of its war objectives had been achieved. Trump announced that he had already exceeded all military objectives.
The small print is doing a lot of work here. Iran’s 10-point proposal includes the lifting of all sanctions and UN resolutions, the release of frozen Iranian assets, the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from bases across the region, and Iran’s right to nuclear enrichment.
It has been six weeks since the United States and Israel began bombing Iran. Oil prices are still far above where they were in February, which means we started a war, almost started a bigger war, and the main thing Americans have to show for it is a more expensive drive to work.
The DOJ Is Investigating the Woman Who Told the Truth About January 6th
Cassidy Hutchinson was 25 years old when she sat down before the January 6th Committee and described, under oath, what she witnessed in the final days of the Trump White House. Her testimony was dramatic. It was also, by every account, entirely credible.
The Department of Justice has now launched an investigation into Hutchinson, with four anonymous sources confirming that the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division is examining her statements. This follows a formal criminal referral made by Congressman Barry Loudermilk, who chairs the House Republicans’ January 6th committee.
A few things worth knowing about that committee: it was created specifically to undermine the findings of the actual bipartisan January 6th committee. It released a report that broke no new ground and that even most Republicans ignored.
It has now referred Hutchinson to a Justice Department that, as of last week, is run by Trump’s own former defense attorney after Trump fired the previous attorney general for not being aggressive enough in pursuing his enemies.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated publicly that Trump has the “right” and the “duty” to call for investigations into individuals he believes warrant scrutiny. That is not how the Justice Department is supposed to work. That is how a protection racket works.
Based on all publicly available information, there is no reason to believe Hutchinson did anything wrong. This is, unfortunately, not how the current Justice Department decides who to investigate.
An 18-Year-Old Went to a Protest With a Camera. He Lost an Eye.
There is a version of this country where an 18-year-old who shows up to a protest with a camera goes home with photographs. Tucker Collins went home with one eye.
The USC freshman was shot in the eye with what appeared to be a less-lethal projectile containing chemical irritants during the March 28 “No Kings” demonstration in downtown Los Angeles. His eye had to be surgically removed.
He was not throwing anything. He was not blocking anything. He was an astronautical engineering major who had come to photograph the protest. Video shows him pointing his camera at the crowd when he was struck.
His attorney said his firm has now represented over 15 people allegedly injured by Homeland Security agents at protests. Other cases include a guitar player whose finger was shattered and a 79-year-old car wash owner who was slammed to the ground and suffered a brain bleed.
Federal judges have issued injunctions restricting DHS agents from using certain crowd-control weapons at protests. They’re ignoring the injunctions.
Tucker Collins is 18. He wanted to document what was happening in his country. The government took his eye. That sentence should bother you more than anything else you read today.
Liberals Win Wisconsin’s Supreme Court and Democrats Encroach on MTG’s Old Seat
Democrats lost Georgia and won Wisconsin last night. It sounds like a wash until you look at the numbers. Then it starts to look like a warning.
Republican Clay Fuller won the special election in Georgia to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene, defeating Democrat Shawn Harris. In Wisconsin, Chris Taylor won a seat on the state Supreme Court, expanding liberals’ majority to 5-2.
Start with Wisconsin, because it’s the cleaner story. Democratic candidates have now won four straight Wisconsin Supreme Court elections, and the liberal majority on the court is out of conservative reach for years to come. The last time a Republican won a seat on that court was 2019. Elon Musk spent millions trying to change that last year. He failed.
Now Georgia, where Republicans held a seat in a district Trump won by 37 points. Shawn Harris lost by just 11.8 points, posting the largest Democratic overperformance in a House special election since Trump took office
Fuller won, but Fuller should not spend too long celebrating. A party that needed to win by 37 and won by 12 is a party that is watching something happen to its voters and not yet willing to say what it is.
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POSITIVE STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
ICE Finally Releases Soldier’s Wife After Raiding Military Base. ICE agents raided a military base and arrested the 22-year-old newlywed wife of an active-duty Army soldier, a woman with no criminal record who had hired an immigration lawyer and was doing everything by the book. She was released five days later, once the Trump administration apparently noticed that detaining military spouses during wartime was the kind of story that doesn’t poll well.
Support skyrockets for librarian fired for refusing to hide LGBTQ+ books. A Tennessee library board fired 25-year veteran director Luanne James for refusing to relocate over 130 LGBTQ-themed children’s books to the adult section. Her GoFundMe has now surpassed $127,000, which is one way for a community to weigh in on a board decision.
Kansas Governor vetoes bill barring undocumented immigrants from state benefits. Kansas Democratic Governor Laura Kelly vetoed a bill that would have stripped undocumented immigrants of state benefits and in-state college tuition. Republicans, who passed the bill without enough votes to override a veto, will try anyway when the legislature reconvenes Thursday.
Human trials begin for drug that could let adults regrow teeth for the first time. Japanese researchers have begun human trials for a drug that could allow adults to regrow a third set of teeth. If the trials go well, the treatment could be commercially available by 2030, at which point the dental implant industry will have some very uncomfortable conversations to look forward to.
