The news slowly gets better. Exhaustion has grabbed most of us by the neck, and this regime continues to pummel us daily with its onslaught, but each week it seems there’s just a bit more good news than the week before.
Let’s take a look at some of it.
Ukraine drones bomb Moscow
My über intelligent and pacifist readers will say, “Bombing is bad, Charles!”
Normally, I agree, but I liked what Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy had to say when Russia bombed the thousand-year-old Eastern Orthodox Pechersk Lavra Christian monastery compound in Kyiv during one of Russia’s most intense aerial onslaughts of the war: "If Ukraine burns, then your Moscow will burn as well.”
Putting drones where his mouth is, Zelenskyy and his armed forces ordered a massive drone assault on Moscow, which, along with a previous strike a few days earlier, was the first of its kind. Nobody was killed, which is what makes it cool, but Moscow refineries were hit hard.
Russia is already suffering from gas shortages because Ukraine has been hammering oil infrastructure throughout the country. The attack on Moscow refineries was an extension of an existing drone campaign.
Earlier in the month, Zelenskyy helped Putin host an economic forum in Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg by using drones to blast oil infrastructure in that area, thereby gracing the skies of St. Petersburg with plumes of dark oil smoke that turned into black acid rain.
Russia’s state media, of course, doesn’t like to report on these things, but with Zelenskyy taking the war to Russia’s citizens, who are facing high gas prices and long lines at the gas station thanks to all the damaged oil refineries, they’re learning about the costs of the war, anyway.
Presumably, they’re not yet aware of the 500,000 to one million Russian dead soldiers (depending on your source). State media doesn’t report on that, either.
Russia, under Boris Yeltsin, once had a thriving and active media. Putin systematically eroded it. It’s worth noting here that the Trump regime is trying to accomplish the same thing here, as we’ve seen with the takeover by MAGA-friendly oligarchs of CBS, Twitter, and Sinclair Broadcasting (177 television stations in 77 markets), 1 along with the relentless propaganda of Fox News.
This New York Times link in the Footnotes describing the attacks is free.2
ICE melts away $700 million in U.S. taxpayer money
Most of you might say, “Charles, this, also, is not good.” Ah, but it is, because ICE has been forced to abandon its dreams of building warehouse-based concentration camps.3
ICE spent $700 billion buying a bunch of warehouses, many in places like Flowery Branch, Georgia, which is right up there in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s neck of the woods. Now they’re trying to dump them back onto the market for cheap.
I guess ICE figured they’d get a lot of local citizen support for rounding up savage immigrants, stuffing them into cages, and feeding them a diet of stale peanut butter sandwiches, but it turns out that red staters aren’t the fascist lunatics that Stephen Miller and his warpigs thought they were.
Independent journalist Marisa Kabas interviewed someone she calls “the warehouse whisperer,” Michael Wriston, about this development (hey, everyone has a specialty these days).4
Wriston isn’t glassy-eyed about the development, because optimism is always foolish whenever the Trump regime takes action, but he at least takes some comfort in the resistance in red states, of all places, that prompted the retreat:
Obviously it didn’t mean an end to Trump’s project of mass incarceration and deportation, but it signaled to me that the widespread pushback among communities blue and red, coupled with numerous legal challenges, meant that sand had successfully been thrown in the gears. Still, I figured it was best to consult an authority.
[New York] Times reporter Hamed Aleaziz subsequently reported that the following facilities are the ones planned for offloading: Romulus, Michigan; Social Circle, Georgia; Flowery Branch, Georgia; Hamburg, Pennsylvania; Tremont, Pennsylvania; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Roxbury, New Jersey. So what did that mean for the remaining warehouses?
The citizens of these small towns took one look at the plans and organized a stiff resistance to them. Enough so that the terrorists in charge of U.S. immigration decided they needed to disengage and figure out a new plan of attack.
Read Marisa Kabas’ story for more details. She’s always free and always reliable.
Meanwhile, let’s celebrate it as another win, one that is just as big as the citizens of Minneapolis, Chicago, L.A., and Portland, Maine, forcing ICE from the streets into stealth mode.
But the celebration will be short because the battle (one battle after another) continues. The Chicago Tribune reports that ICE operations are ramping up again in Chicago. The good news? The whistles are out in force, too.5
JD Vance had a broken clock moment and said something intelligent
No, for realz. He did. He actually said this in response to Israel’s declaration that it wouldn’t cooperate with the Trump regime’s surrender to Iran:
“What’s your exact proposal? You’re a country of 9 million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem you have.”
I’m sure he read that somewhere (Jacobin, maybe?), but that’s a pretty good line.
Check it out (via the Tennessee Holler and before that, apparently, the New York Times, since that looks like their logo):
Of course, his comment was stuffed deep inside a pile of stupid and lies, but hey, I always get excited when I see a glimmer of working neurons attempting ignition in someone who has never displayed any.
Vance went on to Vancesplain that the sanctions relief that comes with the surrender was not new, even though it was, and even though it will allow, for the first time pretty much since Iran first started chanting “Death to America,” the Islamic Republic to obtain full price for its oil, whereas before the big, beautiful Strait of Hormuz Insider Trading War, they had to shop oil around to countries willing to dodge American sanction punishments and accept drastically below market prices.
He told other lies, too, while Vancesplaining the most irrational war since some dumb ass in America’s foreign policy apparatus decided Ho Chi Minh had a terrible chin scarf.
Vance barely finished trying to defend the surrender before Israel’s Netanyahu used American weapons to deliver a big, fat middle finger to TrumpleThinSkin and his real estate investor “diplomats,” Steve Witkoff and his cherubic nepo-sidekick, Jared Kushner.
You see, dear reader, the famous Versailles surrender (the second one) memorandum of misunderstanding contains this key passage:
The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran and their allies in the current war by signing this M.O.U. declare the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and undertake from now on not to initiate any war or any military operation against each other, and to refrain [from] the threat or use of force against each other and ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon. The final deal will confirm the permanent termination of the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and other provisions of this paragraph.
I don’t know if this kind of oversight is a common screw-up among all real estate diplomats or if it was just done in haste whilst dreaming of gleaming hotels on Iran’s Kharg Island, or what. But whoa, what a doozy.
Either way, Netanyahu’s response was intense, as he continued his genocidal attacks against anything not wearing a yarmulke. He killed 18 people in Southern Lebanon and basically broke the so-called peace process in less than 24 hours.
Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy fighting force in South Lebanon, and Israel announced a mutual ceasefire shortly after, but you know how that goes.
But the good news of this remains. “You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem you have” should live on for the rest of this vile regime’s Confederate tour of duty, if Democrats have any brains at all (there are plenty of questions there).
[UPDATE] On Saturday, around noon EST, after I posted this, Iran announced it has closed the Strait of Hormuz.6
Question: Does this count as part of Trump’s surrender? Or is it something else? I’m so confused.
Italy gives Trump the finger
Speaking of giving the finger…
…One screenshot says a thousand words:
Do you really want the context of this if you don’t know what he said in his attempt to humiliate yet another female leader? My friends, some things you just need to research yourself.
Needless to say, the world’s most classless predator (that says a lot!) isn’t worthy of tying Meloni’s sandals, and Meloni isn’t exactly a giant among progressives.
She’s had enough, just like the rest of us.
All the world’s a stage for Trump’s extreme senior moments
Another bit of good news was Trump’s hysterical march around the G7 meeting, where world leaders led him around the rooms like they were guiding a diseased, mute, and ancient attack dog wobbling on all fours. But I can’t compete with JoJo from Jerz on the apt descriptions, so I’ll quote her to show you how it went:
We had just spent an entire week watching this man at the G7 looking like a heavily sedated timeshare salesman who got separated from his bus tour, took a wrong turn looking for the breakfast buffet, and accidentally stumbled into a summit of world leaders.
Every appearance felt like somebody had stuffed pudding into a grandfather clock, shaken it violently, and then asked it to negotiate global trade policy.
He drifted away from group photos.
He clung to railings.
He shuffled in the wrong direction.
World leaders kept gently steering him back into position with the careful patience usually reserved for elderly relatives trying to pay for groceries with a Blockbuster card.
At one point Emmanuel Macron looked less like the President of France and more like an exhausted activities director at a retirement community trying to prevent a resident from wandering into traffic.
As JoJo points out later in her article, if this had happened under Biden, just one incident would have been the primary media topic for a month. The difference in coverage is almost as insane as he is.
JoJo also made a collage, which I love:
The whole thing is worth a read. Just click the cute little raised number to hit the Footnotes in this article. As Joyce Vance might say, we’re all in this together. I like to share good stuff here, and JoJo’s description of the clasp war is tons of fun to read.7
Obama ridicules Trump by just being Obama
The contrast between two men could not be bigger if Jesus himself descended upon the planet and deposited a poop-filled litter box for Trump to spill his diapers into.
I don’t need to sell any of you on the difference between these two, but it sure was heartening to see the love given Obama when he opened the newly christened Obama Presidential Center.
Kid Rock and Vanilla Ice were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the list of celebrities performing at John Lewis Plaza read like an all-star cover of People magazine, according to People magazine:8
Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera, Bruce Springsteen, U2’s Bono and The Edge, Eddie Vedder, Marc Anthony, Tems, Common, Marsai Martin and The Roots.
More appalling to the ego of the world’s most demented narcissist was the list of famous types who attended the opening. See the footnotes (the cute raised number at the end of this sentence) for a list as reported by NBC.9
The list included all of the former presidents. Notably, Donald and his diapers were not invited.
Obama took the opportunity seriously, and, in typical Obama fashion, slammed Trump without uttering his name:
When we lose faith in each other. When we stop believing that voting matters, that citizenship matters, that our collective voices matter, that how we treat each other no longer matters and we give away our power to decide our own futures, we open the door to the most ruthless, or the most careless or the most fearful among us. Who see some groups and some people as more equal than others. And see government is nothing more than a way to divvy up the spoils and punish enemies, and keep those who are different in their place.
I do not believe that is the story of America that prevails in the end. I don’t believe it because for us to give up, for us to give in now, after all this country’s been through, to cynicism and division would be a betrayal of our founding ideals.
A betrayal of our faith.
And I remain convinced that the overwhelming majority of Americans feel the same way
Both he and Michelle Obama, in a speech that followed, made clear that in terms of the upcoming midterms, they’re on team “Let’s fix this” more than on Team Economy.
If you want to read his full speech, again, the cute little raised number is your friend.10 If you’re more into video of such things, the link provided also contains the full video of the speech.
The Kennedy Center takedown
Last Sunday morning began with the removal of Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center. I wrote about that already:
The Kennedy Center Takedown Reminds Us That Rebuilding America Takes a Village
In April 2025, Serendipity Books in Chelsea, Michigan, was enjoying the growing trend toward the joy of brick-and-mortar independent booksellers.
More events of the week
More happened, of course, but it’s not healthy to write too much about Trump in one sitting, so I’m bailing.
Thanks for reading!
Footnotes
Sinclair, Inc. “TV Stations at Sinclair Broadcast Group,” May 2026. https://sbgi.net/tv-stations/.
Sonne, Paul, and Nataliya Vasilyeva. “Ukraine Strikes Moscow Refinery in Large-Scale Drone Attack.” Nytimes.com. The New York Times, June 18, 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/world/europe/moscow-ukraine-drone-attack-fire.html.
Hamed Aleaziz. “ICE Spent $700 Million on 7 Warehouses. Now It Wants to Get Rid of Them..” Nytimes.com. The New York Times, June 18, 2026.
Ruminato Gift Link 🎁 https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/us/politics/ice-warehouses-immigration.html 🎁
Kabas notes Wriston’s qualifications as a warehouse whisperer thusly:
Wriston is a 20-year veteran military analyst and one of the founders and masterminds behind Project Salt Box, a data and editorial project that has tracked the many developments in the Trump administration’s quest for warehouses to cage humans. He’s been aware of every sale, every failure, every contract awarded, and as a result, he has a unique insight into what this news functionally means (insofar as anyone can really divine anything from Trump news.)
Kabas, Marisa. “ICE Is Offloading Seven Concentration Camp Warehouses. What Does It Really Mean?” The Handbasket, June 18, 2026. https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/ice-warehouses-offloading-project-salt-box-q-and-a.
Presa, Laura Rodríguez. “ICE Arrests on the Rise around Chicago, Attorneys and Advocates for Immigrants Say.” Chicago Tribune, June 19, 2026.
Ruminato Gift Link 🎁
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/06/19/chicago-ice-arrests-uptick/ 🎁
Dahir, Abdi Latif, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Alan Yuhas, Jenny Gross, Peter Eavis, Euan Ward, Caroline Houck, et al. “Live Updates: Iran’s Military Says Strait of Hormuz Is Closed as Israel and Hezbollah Exchange Fire.” Nytimes.com. The New York Times, June 20, 2026.
Ruminato Gift Link 🎁 https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/06/20/world/iran-trump-israel-lebanon 🎁
https://www.facebook.com/peoplemag. “Obamas Rally A-List Singers to Perform at the Obama Center Grand Opening: Everyone Who’s Set to Make an Appearance.” People.com, 2026. https://people.com/obama-center-grand-opening-performers-12000625.
A partial list of attendees at the Obama Center’s opening:
Tom Hanks
Steven Spielberg
Justin Trudeau
Kamala Harris
Angela Merkel
Bill and Hillary Clinton
Former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush
Former President Joe Biden and former first lady Dr. Jill Biden
Nancy Pelosi
Jennifer Hudson
Hakeem Jeffries
David Letterman
Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union
Stephen Colbert
California Gov. Gavin Newsom
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker
John Legend and Chrissy Teigen
Oprah Winfrey
Jon Batiste
Tyler Perry
Conan O’Brien
George Lucas
Quinta Brunson
Rahm Emanuel
Bill Daley
LL Cool J
Ayo Dosunmu
Tom Ricketts
Gabby Giffords
Al Sharpton
Pete Buttigieg
Josh Shapiro
Billie Jean King
Dave Chappelle
Christina Aguilera
Eddie Vedder
Derek Blasberg
Karlie Kloss
Anthony Blinken
Bill Foster
Danny Davis
Dick Durbin
Common
NBC Chicago. “Celebrities Spotted at Star-Studded Obama Presidential Center Grand Opening in Chicago,” June 18, 2026. https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/celebrities-spotted-at-star-studded-obama-presidential-center-grand-opening-in-chicago/3950568/.
Full video and transcript of Obama’s speech at Grand Opening of the Obama Center: Staff, NBC Chicago, and The Associated Press. “Read Barack Obama’s Full Speech at Grand Opening for His Namesake Center in Chicago.” NBC Chicago, June 18, 2026. https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/read-barack-obamas-full-speech-at-grand-opening-for-his-namesake-center-in-chicago/3950680/.