SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET:

PROGRESS? – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:    Nix the nuclear warheads, cue the doves.  The North Korean government is erasing much of its anti-U.S. propaganda following dictator Kim Jong-un’s forays onto the world stage.  Gone are the posters depicting the U.S. as a “rotten, diseased, pirate nation” and promising “merciless revenge” on American forces for an imagined attack on the totalitarian country.  In their place are cheery messages touting praising the prospects for Korean reunification and the declaration Kim signed in April with South Korean President Moon Jae-in promising “lasting peace,” according to reports.  Still the most isolated country in the world, very few North Koreans have access to news and information from the outside world. So state propaganda plays a huge role in shaping their views.  We'll see. This is the easy part.  Next come the negotiations over denuclearization.  If they go well, great.  If they don't, according to the Trump White House, no deal

WHAT A PHONY – FROM FOX:  A vocal critic of President Donald Trump's immigration policies is a top recipient of campaign donations from operators of privately run prisons, according to a report.
The 2016 re-election campaign of U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., received a total of $7,500 from private prison operators, the Seattle Times reported, citing Federal Election Commission filings and data from OpenSecrets.org, a campaign-finance transparency organization.  The sum includes $5,000 from the Florida-based political-action committee for the GEO Group, the nation’s largest private-prison firm, the data show.
GEO Group operates the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Wash., which has faced protests and lawsuits alleging mistreatment of detainees facing deportation, the Times reported.  Aside from the GEO Group, Murray also received a $2,500 donation from the PAC for Management and Training Corp., a Utah company that runs facilities housing immigrant detainees, according to the Times.  She's one of the bigger frauds in the Senate.  This does not surprise me.  But the level of hypocrisy in the Democratic Party is staggering.

EVEN MR. ROGERS ISN'T SACRED – FROM THE HILL:  Protesters confronted Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) on Saturday as she left a movie screening of the new documentary about Mr. Rogers, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"  A video posted to Twitter shows Bondi being escorted out of the building by police officers as protesters chant slogans and demand Bondi support health care provisions from the Affordable Care Act.  "What would Mr. Rogers think about you and your legacy in Florida? Taking away health insurance from people with pre-existing conditions, Pam Bondi!" yelled Maria José Chapa, a labor organizer, according to the Tampa Bay Times. "Shame on you!"  What would Mr. Rogers think of the rudeness of the demonstrators?  Not much, I think.

June 23, 2018