A trio of Medals of Honor
On Thursday, at a White House ceremony, President Donald Trump awarded three long-overdue Medals of Honor. The recipients are Marine Maj James Capers Jr., Marine Col John W. Ripley (posthumous), and Army MAJ Nicholas Dockery. Mark Alexander has previously posted Profiles of Valor for Maj Capers and Col Ripley. A full Profile of Valor on MAJ Nicholas Dockery will be posted next week.

Iran talks falter
The 60-day negotiation window for U.S.-Iranian peace talks began on Thursday following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding. Despite the timing, Vice President JD Vance will not immediately set out for Switzerland as the plan initially suggested. A White House spokesman reiterated that the VP will travel at the first opportunity, but the logistics of the negotiations have never been simple. The situation is very fragile as Iranian proxy Hezbollah continues to strike Israel daily. Despite the provocation from Hezbollah, Israel is the one garnering criticism from American leadership, including Vance, for continuing to take defensive military actions.

Trump invokes Defense Production Act to boost munitions production
With concern over dwindling stockpiles of munitions, primarily tied to U.S. aid to Ukraine and the operation against Iran, President Trump has invoked the Defense Production Act to increase production of munitions. In a memo to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Trump writes, “I hereby find that conditions exist which may pose a direct threat to the national defense or its preparedness programs.” This is not the first time Trump has invoked the DPA, as he did so several times during his first term. However, this time it appears that Trump is responding to growing national security concerns expressed by lawmakers, especially in light of a possible, though not imminent, clash with China. The focus of munitions production will likely be on precision-strike missiles.

DACA illegal alien allowed in under Obama planned UFC drone attack
On Thursday, Michelle Obama spoke of “Dreamers” at the grand opening of her husband’s eyesore presidential library: “They are America. They are the beating heart of this country. They are us, and we are them.” That same day, we learned that one Dreamer granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status by Barack Obama was the ringleader behind the foiled plot to carry out a maximally lethal attack at the UFC event at the White House on Sunday. Abraham Alvarez arrived in the U.S. as a child, presumably with his parents, who have done quite well in America, and overstayed his B-2 visa, which expired in 2001. Rather than show gratitude for the country that allowed his family’s success, Alvarez chose to plot to kill the president, vice president, and Israel-supporting congressmembers in an attempt to jumpstart a revolution.

Socialist to be elected DC mayor
Democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George has won the Washington, DC, Democrat mayoral primary, garnering roughly 53% of the vote. Given that the vast majority of DC residents are Democrats, Lewis George will likely win the general election in November, giving the rising Democratic Socialist Party another mayor in a major U.S. city. Lewis George, who was endorsed by outgoing three-term Mayor Muriel Bowser, focused her campaign on opposition to President Trump, specifically over his dispatching of the National Guard to tackle DC’s crime problem. Meanwhile, Trump threatened to take back the District and “run it on a federal basis” if Lewis George won, which may be a welcome development given the history of how poorly the city government has run the nation’s capital over the years.

2A rights upheld for marijuana users
“The government cannot make it a crime for people to own a gun … simply because they use marijuana,” summarized ACLU legal director Cecilla Wang on yesterday’s 9-0 Supreme Court decision in United States v. Hemani. The decision was written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, and it hinges on the necessity of a historical analog to justify modern gun-control efforts. In this case, the Department of Justice argued that habitual drunkard laws in the early days of the Republic represented such an analog, but SCOTUS disagreed, pointing out that the bar for “habitual drunkard” in those days was quite high, as otherwise even many of the Founding Fathers would have run afoul of such a restriction. Interestingly, this decision renders unconstitutional the law cited in a well-publicized case against Hunter Biden.

DOJ sues Philly over anit-ICE mask law
“Today we regrettably had to sue the birthplace of this great Nation,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward stated on Thursday. “But we will not sit by while Philadelphia flagrantly violates our Constitution, seeking to criminally punish our nation’s law enforcement heroes merely for doing their job.” The DOJ lawsuit stems from Philadelphia’s passage of an anti-ICE law banning federal agents from wearing masks. The law also requires that every agent be identified, making it possible to track them. Furthermore, it bars federal agents from using unmarked vehicles. The bill was passed by the city council despite legality concerns raised by the city’s legal division, which is why Mayor Cherelle Parker refused to sign it. The DOJ charges that the law violates the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause because the city seeks to regulate “federal law enforcement operations.”

Mark Judge launching anti-communist film festival
Conservative author and activist Mark Judge has teamed up with the Victims of Communism Foundation to launch the nation’s first anti-communist film festival, planned for this October. “Imagine free admission for students. We will inoculate them against the poisonous ideology of communism for a fairly inexpensive program,” Judge explained. His vision is to counter the socialist ideology he sees being fed to America’s youth. Last year, he launched a GoFundMe campaign with this idea and found “The response was instantaneous.” He added, “I was instantly getting emails from people around the country going, ‘When is this? How do I get involved in this?’” Judge notes that a number of good anti-communist films already exist, such as “Doctor Zhivago” and “Red Dawn,” but hopes the festival will become an annual event that inspires young filmmakers to counter leftist Hollywood.

Trump settles lawsuit against niece
In 2021, President Trump sued his niece, Mary Trump, The New York Times, and three NYT reporters for $100 million for conspiring to leak sensitive records in a “personal vendetta” against him. The parties have finally reached a settlement. Trump argued that Mary broke a 2001 confidentiality agreement involving his father and grandfather’s estate. She smuggled information out of her attorney’s office and turned it over to the Times, leading to a Pulitzer Prize-winning story about Trump’s financial records. The case will be dismissed with prejudice, meaning Trump cannot sue again. In 2023, a judge had dismissed the case and ordered Mr. Trump to pay $400,000 of the other party’s legal fees. However, in 2024, a state appeals court agreed that Trump had legal grounds for the lawsuit against his niece, but for “nominal” damages rather than the $100 million.

Are dads disappearing this Father’s Day?
Men who have children are more involved in childcare than ever before, but the number of young men who are fathers is sinking to incredibly low levels. In 1980, two-thirds of men aged 25-45 were fathers; by 2024, that number had sunk to 53%, making the 23 million childless men in that age bracket the largest ever. Traditionally, men with more education are less likely to be fathers, and that holds true today, but the percentage of men without a college degree who are fathers is falling far faster than the percentage of those with a degree. The rapid changes in society, with children now representing more of a financial burden than an asset, have contributed to a decline in fatherhood among the less affluent. Fatherhood is declining across the board, by a few percentage points among conservatives but by a staggering 21% among liberals.

Headlines

• Bill Pulte takes over as DNI with no FISA off-ramp in sight (Washington Examiner)

• EEOC to probe MLB over alleged discrimination in Pride Night hat controversy (Washington Examiner)

• Gas prices fall below $4 per gallon as oil supply fears ease after Iran deal (CNBC)

• Ukrainian drones strike major refinery supplying Moscow’s fuel market (Fox News)

The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.