• CDC director fired after tiff with RFK: Susan Monarez, the recently confirmed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been fired. Monarez refused Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s request for her resignation over vaccine policy disagreements. Monarez’s lawyers released a statement saying the firing was due to her refusal to “rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives.” Several other CDC officials resigned on Wednesday following Monarez’s firing. One of the resignees, Demetre Daskalakis — the head of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases — posted a fiery resignation letter to X, accusing HHS of ignoring the “gold standard” of science at the CDC … before signing off with his pronouns.

• Judge blocks Garcia deportation until October: We wrote earlier this week about activist Judge Paula Xinis’s decision to “absolutely forbid” Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation for now. Xinis’s intent is to keep deportations of even wife-beating MS-13 gangsters from ever happening. That much is revealed by the delayed hearing date of October 6, which is set to allow Garcia to plead fear of deportation. Garcia’s lawyer announced yesterday that Garcia will once again be seeking asylum in the U.S. and has requested that an immigration judge reopen the proceedings. Garcia has previously been denied asylum.

• California’s two-state solution: “Gavin, let my people go.” So says the top GOP California assemblyman after the state easily passed a new redistricting map that reduces the nine GOP-held House seats to just four out of the 52 total California House seats. Assemblyman James Gallagher is now pushing to split California into two states, with 35 inland counties splitting from the coastal areas to pursue a more representative government. At a press conference, Gallagher stated that the two-state solution would be a long, locally driven process. Democrats, including Senator Alex Padilla and a spokesman for Gavin Newsom, dismissed the proposal as unrealistic and an indication that Gallagher is unfit for office.

• COVID jab EUA rescinded: On Wednesday, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced: “I promised 4 things: 1. to end covid vaccine mandates. 2. to keep vaccines available to people who want them, especially the vulnerable. 3. to demand placebo-controlled trials from companies. 4. to end the emergency.” He then noted that all those goals have now been met, therefore “the emergency use authorizations for Covid vaccines, once used to justify broad mandates on the general public during the Biden administration, are now rescinded.” Kennedy added that the FDA has issued market authorization for COVID vaccines for the three major providers (Moderna, Pfizer, and Novavax). These will be “available for all patients who choose them after consulting with their doctors,” he said. “The American people demanded science, safety, and common sense. This framework delivers all three.”

• Air Force reverses, grants military funeral for Ashli Babbitt: The only person actually killed during the January 6 Capitol riot was 35-year-old Air Force and National Guard veteran Ashli Babbitt. She was shot and killed by Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd as he sought to prevent the unarmed Babbitt from climbing through a smashed window. Under the Biden administration, the Air Force refused to allow Babbitt a military funeral. That has now changed. In a letter sent to Babbitt’s husband and mother, Undersecretary of the Air Force Matthew L. Lohmeier wrote, “After reviewing the circumstances of Ashli’s death, and considering the information that has come forward since then, I am persuaded that the previous determination was incorrect.” The Air Force will now provide full military funeral honors for Babbitt. This also comes following the Babbitt family getting a $5 million wrongful death settlement from the U.S. government.

• Russians kill 15 Ukrainians: The Russian military launched another massive overnight ballistic missile and drone attack against the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv last night, killing 15 Ukrainian civilians, including four children. It’s a continuation of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to have his military target civilian populations in his ongoing war against Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noted that Putin has chosen “ballistics over the negotiating table,” as Donald Trump’s efforts to get Putin to seriously negotiate a peace deal are proving fruitless. Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia “maintains its interest in continuing the negotiation process.” Recent Gallup polling finds that roughly two-thirds of Americans don’t believe that a peace deal can be struck.

• Offshore wind opponents frustrated by Trump: In April, the Interior Department hit the brakes on a massive offshore wind farm project in New York and New Jersey. Donald Trump has been critical of green energy technology, even signing an executive order blocking new wind farm projects. Yet the Trump administration lifted its block on the Empire Wind project in May, and construction of 54 offshore wind turbines has been given the green light, angering a coalition of opponents comprising fishermen, residents, business owners, and local government officials. “It was just jaw-droppingly surprising to see the about-face that happened a month later,” Protect Our Coast NJ President Robin Shaffer stated. The Trump administration struck a deal with New York Governor Kathy Hochul to halt her opposition to the completion of a major natural gas pipeline project. A Trump administration official argued that the Empire Wind project was still under review.

• Fake college websites built with AI scam students: “Southeastern Michigan University,” “Baltimore Metropolitan University,” and “California Lake University” don’t exist, but they’ve scammed cash-strapped students out of an unknown amount of money. Inside Higher Ed recently released the results of an investigation that found 40 of these fake universities with AI-built websites. The poor, new arrivals to the U.S., and international students are the targets of these fake universities that offer too-good-to-be-true bachelor’s degrees that cost as little as $31,680 and can be completed in just two years. The scams are well-built with social media presence and links to fake accreditations from fake organizations. Experts warn that AI has accelerated these scams, allowing a single individual to build a convincing website with chatbots and social media advertising almost instantly.

Headlines

• DC mayor concedes Trump takeover has reduced crime (Daily Signal)

• Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook sues Trump (Fox Business)

• Biden admin advanced Bolton probe over foreign-intercepted emails (Newsweek)

• Southwest Airlines ripped over controversial new plus-size passenger policy (NY Post)

• Humor: Genius Trump enacts plan to dumb down Chinese population by inviting them to attend American universities (Babylon Bee)

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