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Alito's flags, Sunak's gamble and weed beats booze

 
Today's politics story

Justice Alito's Jan. 6 flag problem grows

What happened
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, already facing criticism over an upside-down U.S. flag flown outside his Virginia home in January 2021, had another flag popular with Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol rioters displayed at his New Jersey beach house last summer, The New York Times said Wednesday. Alito said last week his wife had raised the inverted flag amid political arguments with neighbors and he "had no involvement whatsoever." He declined to comment on the "Appeal to Heaven" flag flown outside his beach house.

Who said what
The Revolutionary War–era white-and-evergreen "Appeal to Heaven" flag had fallen "into obscurity" until it was recently adopted by Christian nationalists supporting Donald Trump and a "religious strand of the 'Stop the Steal' campaign" to keep him in office after he lost, the Times said. "Judges are not supposed to give any impression of bias" or partisanship.

"At this point it is difficult to make any reasonable case for Alito's impartiality," Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington head Noah Bookbinder told The Associated Press. At minimum, "he must not sit on cases about the 2020 election or the insurrection he appears to have supported."

What next?
"There has been no indication Alito would step aside from the cases," just as fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas "has ignored calls to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election" because his wife tried to help overturn the results, the AP said. "Public trust in the Supreme Court, meanwhile, recently hit its lowest point in at least 50 years."

 
 
Today's international story

UK's Rishi Sunak calls surprise July 4 election

What happened
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday unexpectedly called a general election on July 4, months before a January deadline. "Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future," he said.

Who said what
Sunak, the third Conservative prime minister since the party's last electoral victory in 2019, said he was the man to ­protect Britain in "the most uncertain of times." After 14 years of Conservative rule, it's "time for change," said Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party. "Together we can stop the chaos" and "start to rebuild Britain."

The only compelling reason for Sunak to call a snap election with his party in such dire straits is if he believed "the worst was yet to come," said The Guardian's Jessica Elgot. Losing in July would turn the "government's multiple crises" into "Starmer's atrocious inheritance" all the sooner.

What next?
Polls have Labour about 20 percentage points ahead. Barring a "historic turnaround" — or substantial polling error — the Tories face a "1997-style wipeout," The Times said.

 
 
Today's HEALTH Story

Cannabis tops alcohol in daily US consumption

What happened
People who say they use cannabis daily outpaced the number who say they drink alcohol daily for the first time in U.S. history, researchers reported Wednesday in the journal Addiction. 

Who said what
While alcohol is "still more widely used," the study of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 2022 marked the first time "intensive level of marijuana use overtook daily and near-daily drinking," The Associated Press said. Nearly two-fifths of cannabis consumers reported daily or almost every day use, a pattern "more associated with tobacco use than typical alcohol use," said study author Jonathan Caulkins.

During the "nadir of modern marijuana use, in 1992, just 0.9 million Americans reported using marijuana daily or near daily," Washington Monthly said. That number has grown "20-fold" to 17.7 million, according to the study. And marijuana's potency has increased.

What next?
The Biden administration is working to reclassify cannabis as a less-dangerous drug on the federal level, opening the door for further federal studies and less onerous restrictions on the marijuana industry.

 
 

It's not all bad

Japanese beverage maker Kirin Holdings is selling an electrified spoon that researchers say enhances salty tastes without added sodium. The "Electric Salt Spoon," co-developed with Meiji University, uses a weak electric field to concentrate sodium ions on the tongue, increasing perceived saltiness. This could be helpful for people who love salty foods, as elevated sodium intake is linked to high blood pressure and strokes. Kirin plans to expand sales globally, targeting 1 million users within five years. 

 
 
Under the radar

When "Welcome to Wrexham" premiered in 2022, the premise was novel: two North American actors — Rob McElhenney of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and Hollywood A-lister Ryan Reynolds  — hoping to lift Wales' historic Wrexham Association Football Club out of the English football league's bottom tier. 

But while McElhenney and Reynolds may have the spotlight of Hollywood illuminating their foray into foreign football, they aren't alone. European soccer leagues — particularly in the U.K. — have become hotbeds for American investors, drawn in part by the "promotion" system that allows lower-ranked teams to move upward into more elite leagues. "More than a third of the 92 professional teams in England's top four leagues now have some form of U.S. ownership," Bloomberg said. 

In England's Premier League, the percentage is even higher. With nine of the 20 Premier League teams owned by U.S. investors, "most of the Americans spotted in the owners' box from time to time — or, worse, seldom spotted there at all — are disdained by their club's fans," The New York Times said. There have already been a number of incidents in which European fans have turned against U.S. club investors.

Which is not to say all American forays into soccer are destined for doom. U.S. Liverpool Club owner John W. Henry's initial years with the team were a series of disasters, The Times said. But after "he apologized and communicated with fans," he is "now considered one of the best owners around."

 
 
On this day

May 23, 1934

Outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, better known simply as Bonnie and Clyde, were shot to death by a police posse in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. The pair robbed banks and committed several murders throughout the early Great Depression, and they are still considered two of the most notorious criminals in U.S. history.

 
 
TODAY’S newspaperS

"Israel's isolation grows in Europe," The Washington Post says on Thursday's front page, as "Norway, Spain, Ireland move to recognize Palestinian state," The Wall Street Journal adds. For American Jews, "discussion of Gaza war" entails walking a fine "line between free speech and hurtful bias," the Los Angeles Times says. In Gaza, the Post says, aid groups "see their humanitarian gains eroding" amid a combination of scarce food and medicine deliveries and repeated Israeli attacks. The New York Times turns back to the U.S. war in Afghanistan, specifically its long alliance with Abdul Raziq, "America's monster" in Kandahar.

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Toast office

France's postal service is honoring the beloved baguette with its own scratch-and-sniff stamp, raving that the iconic bread is a "symbol of our gastronomy, jewel of our culture." The stamp features a baguette with a tricolor ribbon wrapped around it, and at $2.14 each, it does not cost too much dough. The special stamp is making its debut a few months before all eyes turn to Paris for the Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by 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: Spencer Platt / Getty Images; Dan Kitwood / Getty Images; guruXOOX / iStock / Getty Images Plus; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images