It’s a kind of tradition for olds to criticize Kids These Days but personally I think we should lay off. After all, we didn’t have to deal with Waymo calling the cops on us. -Whitney

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THE BIG NEWS

US Sold Out Iranian Asylum Seekers to Iran

It wasn’t enough for Trump to simply deport Iranian asylum seekers back to Iran. He also wanted to jeopardize their lives and the lives of their families, as well as curry favor with the despotic Iranian government. That’s the upshot of a new lawsuit the Washington Post covered yesterday, which described the Trump regime’s practice of betraying asylum seekers to the very country they’re fleeing. 

According to the lawsuit, Trump gave the Iranian government details pulled from Iranian asylum seekers’ applications before deporting them back to Iran. That means the ultraconservative anti-democracy Iranian government now has compromising material on “pro-democracy protesters, religious minorities and LGBTQ people,” and can even more ruthlessly target them and their families. Recall that earlier this year, the Iranian government violently suppressed nationwide protests. They killed at least 7,003 people – some Iranian doctors say the number is more like 30,000 – and seriously injured thousands more. Since March, the government has hanged to death at least 19 protesters, according to a report from the Center for Human Rights last month. The US has issued reports on Iran, too, which should have prompted the government to protect asylum seekers as much as possible. Per the Post: 

An annual State Department report on human rights in Iran, released last year under the Trump administration, called the situation in Iran “severe” and worsening, with political protest movements and religious minorities targeted by authorities. Previous U.S. administrations have reported that Iranian authorities have targeted LGBTQ people for prosecution and subjected them to humiliating treatment.

“The law couldn’t be more clear that information in asylum applications is protected,” said Michael Kirkpatrick, a Public Citizen attorney involved with the complaint. He called the case “potentially a matter of life and death” for Iranian asylum seekers who end up deported back to Iran.

Since returning to office last year, immigration hard-liners in the Trump administration have taken several steps that opponents say has eroded the United States’ established practice of allowing migrants who say they are fleeing persecution to seek asylum in the country. The administration and its allies have argued that the asylum system had become overwhelmed and, in some cases, abused by individuals making dubious claims.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund and Public Citizen Litigation Group, names as defendants Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement David Venturella. It seeks to end the practice and “require that the U.S. government notify anyone whose personal information was shared with the Iranian government without their consent.”

MORE STORIES TO WATCH

Breaking News: Trump Resumes War With Iran

The US military bombed more than 80 targets near the Strait of Hormuz early this morning, a response to Iranian attacks yesterday on three commercial vessels in that waterway, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal reported. The US also cancelled a temporary sanctions waiver for Iran to export oil. 

The memo of understanding with Iran to stop fighting is “over,” Trump said. “I do not want to deal with them any more, they are scum.” He called them “sick people, they are vicious, violent people” and said that “it’s just a waste of time dealing with them. They are liars. … There is something wrong with them. They are cuckoo. As far as I am concerned, it is over.”

Immigration Agents Kill Yet Another Person, This Time in Houston

Federal immigration thugs shot to death Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo at 6:50 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Houston Chronicle. Salgado Araujo is at least the 30th person immigration agents have either directly killed, or been involved in the deaths of, since the start of Trump’s second term. Prior to Salgado Araujo, the most recent victims of agents’ abuse, neglect and murderous intent included Haitian asylum seeker Daphy Michel, refugee Nurul Amin Shah Alam, beloved special needs teacher Linda Davis, Minnesotans Alex Pretti and Renee Good, and Los Angeleno Keith Porter. A spokesperson for ICE says Salgado Araujo tried to evade arrest and tried to run agents over with his car, so the agent had to shoot him in self defense. That is a line we have heard before. The FBI is investigating, another line we have heard before.

Half of Americans Cannot Afford Food; Almost All Say US in Affordability Crisis

A new survey by Harris Poll demonstrates the utter divorce between discrete economic indicators like record-high stock prices or “stable” employment and the crushing reality of American life, the Guardian reported. “The affordability struggle crosses party lines: about half of all Democrats, Republicans and independents say they are having trouble affording everyday necessities like gas and groceries. Two-thirds of Americans – including 49% of Republicans – said they have little faith that the federal government will improve the cost-of-living crisis they face.” Ninety-five percent of Americans say the US is in an affordability crisis and a growing number of people say the economy is getting worse – 57 percent, up from 46 percent since the last poll in February. 

QUICKEST QUICKIES

• Trump Deletes Department of Energy Air Conditioner Guidance to Set ACs to 78 Degrees After NYC Mayor Says Same Thing Zohran Mamdani made the request so the power grid wouldn’t fail during the historic heat wave. Then right-wing extremists shrieked about how that was communism and/or socialism. Then Trump took down the Energy Department’s webpage that made the exact same request. via Talking Points Memo. 
• Trump’s Toxic Fireworks Did Indeed Break a Record! It temporarily caused Washington, DC to have the worst air quality on the planet. via The Guardian.
• Judges Give French Fascist Marine Le Pen OK to Run for President The panel of judges upheld the embezzlement conviction against her but drastically reduced her prison sentence, which had barred her from running for public office; now she’s running to replace President Emmanuel Macron next year. via the FT and the NYT.   

SOME NUMBER

115.7 degrees Fahrenheit

That’s how hot it was in and around New Delhi during peak summer temperatures this year. Construction workers, farmers, street-food vendors and others who work outside described the physical and economic brutality of doing so to the Wall Street Journal. They noted that bosses don’t do much to help and that they can’t survive unless they keep on working. One man, a brickmaker, described how workers in his industry “often come down with fever, nausea and vomiting” during the summer, forcing them to take time off, for which they don’t get paid. The heat from the fun plus the heat from the ovens makes it feel “like you are burning but you are still alive.”

ON THE SHOW TODAY

7/8: Emma continues her week of hosting solo and her guest is Oğul Tuna, historian and writer working on Turkey, Eurasia, intellectual history, socialism, and the political cultures of the modern Middle East. Tuna is discussing his piece in Jacobin: Turkey's Key Role is No Contradiction.

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

Netanyahu’s Desperate "Woke Right" Attacks

The man’s popularity is tanking in the US, according to a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, as are Americans’ views of Israel. The survey found that Jewish Americans, who are overwhelmingly Democrats, view NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani more favorably than they do Netanyahu.

Abdul El-Sayed Politely Dismantles CNN Host's Tired Gotcha Question

I’m dreading seeing that racist McMorrow lady resurface in 3-4 months with some obnoxious TV gig like all the other jerks.

PARTING WORDS

“These will remain as a memory — a battle scar — because not only did I suffer, but I also did everything possible to get out.”

– 12-year-old Fabiana Blanco, commenting on the injuries she suffered to her legs and back after a pair of earthquakes struck Venezuela nearly two weeks ago and trapped her beneath rubble for 30 hours. The death toll across the nation continues to rise; by Monday, 2,353 were counted dead. But given the level of devastation, the US Geological Survey said the final death toll is likely to be between 10,000 and 100,000.

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