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Millions Protest; Hunt for Minn. Political Assassin Ends – the Monday AM Quickie 6/16/25

By Whitney Curry Wimbish —

RIP the cold Alaska summers of my childhood. The Last Frontier just got its first-ever heat advisory. - Whitney

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THE BIG NEWS

Millions Protest as Trump Dozes at Poorly Attended Birthday Parade; Suspected Minnesota Political Assassin in Custody

Millions of people took to the streets around the country to protest Donald Trump Saturday, the same day a man assassinated an opposition party leader in Minnesota, the AP, BBC, The NYT, and multiple other outlets reported. Police arrested the suspected killer on Sunday.

Protesters held 2,100 No Kings rallies across all 50 states, The Guardian reported, including in small towns like Pentwater, Michigan, where half of the 800 people who live there showed up to march. Protesters were peaceful and yet again endured the violence of cops and others. In Salt Lake City, Utah, a man who the police chief said was “possibly part of the event’s peacekeeping team” shot marcher Arthur Folasa Ah Loo while aiming for someone else. Ah Loo died from his wounds Sunday. In Los Angeles, police rioted again, unloading their rubber bullets, tear gas and other “less lethal” weapons on those who had assembled. And in Culpeper, Virginia, Joseph Checklick, Jr. rammed his SUV into protesters as they left and struck one person, Culpeper Police said. Fascists are circulating tips on how to depress protests, The WSJ reported, with memes saying things like “shoot a couple, the rest will go home.” 

The day began with the political assassination of Minnesota House Democratic leader Melissa Hortman, who was the force behind Democrats’ massive wins in 2023, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported, including the codification of abortion rights and legislation to provide universal free school lunch to kids. The suspected murderer, Vance Luther Boelter, also killed her husband, Mark, and attempted to assassinate state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife. They underwent surgery for multiple gunshot wounds, said Gov. Tim Walz, who was “cautiously optimistic” they would survive. The 57-year-old Boelter left a manifesto with nearly 70 other targets, including multiple reproductive healthcare providers and supporters, and is deeply connected to evangelical Christianity, Wired reported. He also runs an armed security service. The search for him ended Sunday, after SWAT teams tracked him through the woods outside Minneapolis. He is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder.

No Kings organizers cancelled the Minnesota rallies and police advised people to stay home. But thousands of people gathered at the state capitol on Saturday anyway, including one woman in her 80s who said the huge crowd gave her “hope, some hope.” She added: 

“We’re in such dire times, it feels like the end times for me honestly. But it was important for me to come out, I wanted to experience the community.”

Contrast that turnout and vibe with the grindingly boring, poorly attended and “just kind of lame” military parade Trump held Saturday for his 79th abysmal trip around the sun and paid for with our taxes. It was so dull, in fact, that live coverage showed the birthday boy dozing off.    

Israel Has ‘Large List of Targets’ in Iran  

The rogue nation plans to attack “energy facilities, natural gas installations and government buildings,” according to The Washington Post. As of Sunday afternoon, Israel had killed at least 406 people in Iran and wounded another 654, The Guardian reported, while CNN said at least 14 were dead in Israel. A spokesman for the Israeli military disputed that its campaign seeks a regime change in Iran, as various experts and even Israel’s own politicians suggest, though reports Sunday said Israel had proposed assassinating Iran’s supreme leader, which Trump rejected. The spokesman said the goal is to end Iran’s nuclear program. The US had been negotiating over that. But according to the WSJ, those negotiations were nothing but “the perfect cover for a surprise Israeli attack.” I’m no diplomatic expert, but why would any nation ever agree to negotiate with the US after this?

Trump Considers Banning 36 More Countries

Nations facing visa bans or other restrictions are Angola; Antigua and Barbuda; Benin; Bhutan; Burkina Faso; Cabo Verde; Cambodia; Cameroon; Democratic Republic of Congo; Djibouti; Dominica; Ethiopia; Egypt; Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Ivory Coast; Kyrgyzstan; Liberia; Malawi; Mauritania; Niger; Nigeria; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Sao Tome and Principe; Senegal; South Sudan; Syria; Tanzania; Tonga; Tuvalu; Uganda; Vanuatu; Zambia; and Zimbabwe, according to a State Department memo signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and sent Saturday to US diplomats, which the Washington Post read. The reasons for the ban are that some of the countries have “no competent or cooperative central government” that can provide documents, have “widespread government fraud,” and because the people of the countries commit “antisemitic and anti-American activity in the United States.”

QUICKEST QUICKIES

  • Marines Deployed to LA Detain US Citizen, an Army Vet They detained Army veteran Marcos Leao on Friday as he was heading towards an office of the Department of Veterans Affairs and crossed a yellow tape boundary, the first known detention by Marines deployed to LA. via Reuters. 
  • Trump Pick to Lead Crumbling Federal Aviation Administration Is Another Liar Bryan Bedford said he’s certified to fly aircraft commercially, but he’s not. via Politico.
  • Israeli Spyware Targeted Reporters in Europe Paragon Solutions is backed by former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and owned by a private equity outfit in Florida and someone used its spyware to hack the phones of three prominent journalists. via The AP. 
  • Extreme Weather Affects Fetal Brain Development A new study on children whose mothers experienced Hurricane Sandy while they were in utero found “noticeable differences” in the part of their brains that control motor skills and emotional regulation. via 404 Media.  

SOME NUMBER

5,500 square miles

That’s how big the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expects the Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” will be this year – the area of water where oxygen is unnaturally low. Trump’s destructive policies will likely make it even bigger.

ON THE SHOW TODAY

6/16: Today’s guest is Stephen Wertheim senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, on to discuss Israel's bombardment of Iran. 

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

Trump Treasury Stooge Accidentally Breaks Character When Grilled By Democrat

Who is Arthur Laffer? Ooh I know this one. He’s a widely discredited quack!

How Gaza Exposed The West’s Moral Rot

Omar El Akkad’s book is One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This.

PARTING WORDS

“They treat us like criminals, but we only came here to work and have a better life.”

-- a farmworker who left her children in Mexico two years ago to work in California. She was worried that the BBC reporters who came to interview workers were immigration officials; she told them she’s scared all the time now. “We don't want to leave the house anymore. We don't want to go to the store. We're afraid they'll catch us.”

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