Extra, Extra
Mergers and Ammunitions: “The cartel has for months been torn by violence between two main factions, as Mexico, under pressure from the Trump administration, has moved aggressively against it. In that turmoil, a faction of the cartel led by sons of the drug lord known as El Chapo have allied with an old and powerful adversary, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.” NYT (Gift Article): Cartel Fighters Make a Desperate Alliance That Could Transform Underworld. “‘It’s like if the eastern coast of the U.S. seceded during the Cold War and reached out to the Soviet Union,’ said Vanda Felbab-Brown, an expert on nonstate armed groups at the Brookings Institution. ‘This has global implications for how the conflict will unfold and how criminal markets will reorganize.'”
+ Marching Against Orders: “Around 100,000 people defied a government ban and police orders on Saturday to march in what organizers called the largest LGBTQ Pride event in Hungary’s history in an open rebuke of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government.”
+ Non Compliance Officer: “I may not be the sort of person you would expect to oppose a ban on transgender troops. I am a conservative evangelical Christian and a Republican. Though I have deep compassion for people who feel they are in the wrong body, I do not think that transitioning — as opposed to learning to love and accept the body God gave you — is the right thing to do in that predicament. But my views are irrelevant to the issue of transgender troops.” NYT (Gift Article): I’m Not the Person You’d Expect to Oppose a Ban on Transgender Troops. “The meek compliance of military leadership with the ban sends a chilling message to all service members — namely, that our ranks are open only to those who fit a specific ideological mold, regardless of their ability to serve. Equally concerning is the message that military compliance sends to policymakers. If officers accept this kind of unethical order, where does it end? I fear that the White House will ask members of the military to perform increasingly loathsome tasks.”
+ The Strain in Spain: “A vicious heatwave has engulfed southern Europe, with punishing temperatures that have reached highs of 114.8F in Spain and placed almost the entirety of mainland France under alert.” Europe swelters in heatwave. (Did I mention that, We’re doing coal?)
+ Nothing But Net Gains: The WNBA is expanding to 18 teams over the next five years, with Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia all set to join the league by 2030.
+ The Silent Treatment: “It’s not just career staffers who are clamming up, fearful they will be tagged as rebellious or resistant to Trump’s policies and dismissed amid the administration’s push to trim the workforce, fulfilling the president’s promise to eradicate waste, fraud and abuse. Trump’s own political appointees are also resistant to writing things down, worried that their agency’s deliberations will appear in news coverage and inspire a hunt for leakers, federal workers said.” WaPo (Gift Article): The first rule in Trump’s Washington: Don’t write anything down.
+ Electric Shock: Ford’s CEO says China’s EV progress is ‘the most humbling thing’ he’s ever seen.’ (Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, but We’re doing coal!)
+ Tale of the Tape: This time around the devices have bluetooth, USB-C charging, and rechargeable batteries. But Maxell is back making cassette players again.
