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Debate debrief, public Bible study and Cannon strikes again

 
Today's politics story

Biden and Trump trade barbs in testy debate

What happened
President Joe Biden and Donald Trump held the first of two scheduled presidential debates Thursday night, arguing over abortion, immigration, the economy and global affairs, and trading personal attacks. 

Who said what
Unfortunately for Biden, "presidential debates are often scored on style and impression more than substance," The Associated Press said. Trump was "confident and composed, even as he steamrolled facts," while Biden was "often halting, his voice raspy, even when he had the facts on his side." Trump sometimes "rambled and offered statements that were convoluted, hard to follow and flatly untrue," but "he did so with energy and volume," Peter Baker said at The New York Times. His rival's "halting and disjointed performance" sparked "a wave of panic among Democrats and reopened discussion of whether he should be the nominee."

Biden "experienced the worst opening 15 minutes of a presidential debate ever," University of Michigan debate director Aaron Kall told The Wall Street Journal.

What next?
Biden "picked up some steam as the debate went on, clearing his throat less and getting in tougher hits on Trump's character and values," David Weigel said at Semafor. But the debate will "largely be judged based off its start and social media clips," Zolan Kanno-Youngs said at The New York Times. In a post-debate snap poll, CNN said, 81% of registered voters who tuned in stated it had "no effect on their choice for president," while 5% — split into "roughly equal shares" of Biden and Trump supporters — said the debate changed their vote.

 
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Today's CHURCH-STATE story

Oklahoma schools chief orders Bible taught in class

What happened
Oklahoma's top education official, Superintendent Ryan Walters (R), said Thursday that all public schools will have to incorporate the Bible in lessons for grades five through 12, and "immediate and strict compliance is expected."

Who said what
“The Bible is an indispensable historical and cultural touchstone," Walters said in a statement. "Without basic knowledge of it, Oklahoma students are unable to properly contextualize the foundation of our nation." 

"Requiring a Bible in every classroom does not improve Oklahoma's ranking of 49th in education," countered state Rep. Mickey Dollens (D). Walters "should focus on educating students, not evangelizing them." Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which sued Louisiana this week for requiring display of the Ten Commandments in public classrooms, said Walters' directive was "textbook Christian Nationalism" that similarly violates the Constitution's Establishment Clause. 

What next?
It was "not immediately clear how the Bible would be taught or what instructional standards around it would require," The Washington Post said. It's also "not clear if Walters has the authority to mandate that schools teach" the Bible, The Associated Press said. State law gives local school districts "exclusive authority" over instruction and curriculum.

 
 
Today's LEGAL Story

Judge reopens Trump challenge in secrets case

What happened
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Thursday rejected one attempt by Donald Trump to suppress evidence that he unlawfully retained classified documents. But in a win for Trump, who appointed her, Cannon ordered an evidentiary hearing to consider whether prosecutors should have been allowed to pierce the confidentiality of communications between Trump and one of his lawyers — a question already settled by a more experienced chief federal judge in Washington last year.

Who said what
Winning the right to depose former Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran under the "fraud-crime exception" to attorney-client privilege was a "hugely consequential legal victory" for prosecutors, The New York Times said. Reversing the D.C. judge's ruling "could deal a serious blow to the obstruction charges" against Trump.

Cannon's latest ruling "continues her pattern of siding with special counsel Jack Smith on fundamental questions" while also "sharply critiquing prosecutors" and signaling she may yet "back some of Trump's myriad efforts to dismiss the case," Politico said. It's also typical of her "tendency for wanting to decide legal questions" in the case that have "already been settled," the Times said.

What next?
Cannon has not scheduled the hearing yet. Nor has she set a date for the trial, originally due to begin in May.

 
 

It's not all bad

Walking three times a week to ease back pain nearly halves the risk of recurrent episodes, according to a study published in the Lancet. Researchers found that people who walked three to five times a week, for an average of 130 minutes, stayed pain-free almost twice as long as those who did not walk. About 800 million people worldwide suffer from lower back pain, and walking can have a "profound impact" on preventing flare-ups and improving quality of life, said study author Mark Hancock.

 
 
Under the radar

Swedes have been warned that picking up baskets of strawberries from roadside vendors risks fueling the country's gang war.

That's a serious issue, because the "jordgubbstarta strawberry cake" is a "wholesome and indispensable accompaniment to one of the high points of the national calendar," the Swedish midsummer, said The Times of London. Before this year's festival, police raided several roadside sellers to "cut off what appears to be a lucrative sideline for one of Sweden's most violent criminal organizations."

The fruit trade "might look like an incongruous venture for an outfit whose core business model has traditionally been drugs and racketeering," said The Times. But the raided roadside vendors may have links with notorious gang leader Ismail Abdo, said Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet. He's nicknamed Jordgubben, which in Swedish means "Strawberry."

The sellers had been "marketing Belgian strawberries as Swedish" and using the revenue to "fund serious organized crime," said The Local. Authorities believe illegal strawberry sales supply Sweden's criminal gangs with "billions of kronor every year," the equivalent of hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars.

In the past few years, Sweden has become a "European hot spot for gang-related shootings and bombings,'' said the BBC. In a televised address in September 2023, center-right Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson blamed an "irresponsible immigration policy and failed integration" for the unprecedented violence, adding, "I cannot overemphasize the seriousness of the situation." 

 
 
On this day

June 28, 1914

Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, were assassinated by a Serbian activist, setting off a chain reaction that led to World War I. The Treaty of Versailles was signed five years to the day after Ferdinand's assassination, bringing to an end a brutal war that claimed an estimated 17 million lives.

 
 
TODAY’S newspaperS

Friday's front pages highlight the debate between Biden and Trump — a "long night of personal attacks," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says — and the Supreme Court throwing out the $6 billion opioid deal between Purdue Pharma and states and other plaintiffs. The ruling by a split court "imperils" the funding to tackle the opioid crisis, and the "Sackler family loses its shield from liability," The New York Times says. In Ukraine, the Times adds, there's "a grim churn as Russia floods the front lines," incurring "1,000 casualties a day."

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Monolithic mystery

A mysterious reflective silver monolith recently appeared in the middle of a Nevada desert, leaving local authorities bewildered. "We see a lot of weird things," but "check this out!" the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said on social media. When the 6-foot-tall object was removed a few days later, Las Vegas police said they didn't know who put the monolith there, or how, and urged the internet to "work on this mystery." Similar unexplained monoliths have appeared in Utah, Romania, California, Spain, Wales, and Paraguay.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Sorcha Bradley, Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Harold Maass, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Image; plherrera / E+ via Getty Images; U.S. Department of Justice via Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images