SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

TRANSITION – FROM MRC:  And so it ends.  On Friday, June 18, 2021 the Rush Limbaugh Show officially shut down the Golden EIB microphone.  As it happened, it fell to my local Harrisburg radio host, WHP’s Ken Matthews, to be the last “guide” host that had shepherded the show since Rush departed to give back the talent he had on loan from God.  The realization that Rush’s show - which had continued since his death with guide hosts and taped Rush playbacks on various topics - was now, in fact, irretrievably over and never to return was both poignant and a tad unnerving for his fans.  The Rush era was, in fact, truly over for once and for all and for good. What began almost a full 33 years ago and had quickly become an American institution was, as all things must, turning to memory. Whether some liked him or not, he was one of the founders of modern talk radio.  For conservatives, he was a source of comfort and common sense in an age when the media was heading left. 

IRAN'S HARD LINE GETS HARDER – FROM THE JERUSALEM POST:   Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline judge under US sanctions for human rights abuses, secured victory as expected on Saturday in Iran’s presidential election after a contest marked by voter apathy over economic hardships and political restrictions.With all 28.9 million ballots counted, Raisi was elected with a tally of 17.9 million, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said on state TV.  Turnout in Friday’s four-man race was a record low of around 48.8% and there were 3.7 million invalid ballots that were likely to have been mostly blank or protest votes.  Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called Raisi the “Butcher of Tehran” and “an extremist responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iranians.”  “His election should prompt renewed determination to immediately halt Iran’s nuclear program and put an end to its destructive regional ambitions,” Lapid tweeted.  The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Raisi has “been rightly denounced by the international community for his direct role in the extrajudicial executions of over 30,000 people.  I'd like to see Joe Biden try to make a deal with this madman, and then justify it.  Maybe only Barack Obama could pull that off.

June 19, 2022