Pursuit of Justice: “A Swedish court recently handed down life sentence to former Iranian prosecutor involved in killing of political prisoners.” Look, it doesn’t happen often enough. But sometimes, bad guys are held to account through the tireless work of those who pursue them. Irish Times: Russia would do well to remember that war criminals do get caught. And from NPR: How prosecuting war crimes in Ukraine compares to hunting Nazis. “Rosenbaum is best known for leading the Justice Department unit that tracked down Nazis in hiding long after World War II. And last month, Attorney General Merrick Garland tapped him to lead a team investigating atrocities in Ukraine.”

+ Booted From Boot Shaped Country: Italian Premier Mario Draghi resigned Thursday after his ruling coalition fell apart. “The moves dealt a destabilizing blow to Italy and Europe at a time of inflation and economic uncertainty brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine.” Meanwhile, Rome is burning.

+ Majority Report: “Few think abortion should always be illegal, and most Americans support their state generally allowing abortion six weeks into the pregnancy.” AP-NORC poll: Majority in US want legal abortion nationally. (Let’s see if they vote like it in November.) Meanwhile, “the right to use contraceptives would be enshrined in law under a measure that Democrats pushed through the House on Thursday, their latest campaign-season response to concerns a conservative Supreme Court that already erased federal abortion rights could go further.” (The Senate is where the rubbers hit the road.)

+ Pharma, Bro: “The retail health care giant instructed pharmacies to check why customers need medications such as methotrexate—and to refuse to provide them if they can’t prove they’re not for an abortion.” After Roe’s Repeal, CVS Told Pharmacists to Withhold Certain Prescriptions. (The latest in a series of stories reminding you that corporations won’t save us.)

+ Poppy Seeds of Despair: “Hundreds of men, strung out on heroin, opium and meth, were strewn over the hillside overlooking Kabul, some in tents, some lying in the dirt. Dogs skulked around because they sometimes give them drugs, and there were bodies of overdosed dogs amid the garbage. Men here as well slip, quiet and alone, across the line from oblivion and despair to death. ‘There’s a dead man next to you,’ someone told me as I picked my way among them, taking pictures.” AP Photos: Despair and poverty fuel drug use in Afghanistan.

+ Yimby: “Even after Manchin’s decadeslong efforts to upend environmental policy that would undercut the fossil fuel companies funding his political campaigns (and the waste coal industry generating his personal fortune), he and his wife, Gayle Manchin, have directed millions of federal dollars to a small, pristine valley in West Virginia where the couple owns a condo.”

+ Gas Backwards: OK, there are caveats. The Ukraine invasion or other global crises could get worse. Weather or politics could cause a disruption in oil and refining operations. And of course, hurricane season is a “wild card.” But it looks like Gasoline prices may have peaked for the summer and could be headed below $4.