Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Hours after Trump said the deal wasn’t final, he signed it in the same place where Germany surrendered at the end of World War I: “President Donald Trump has digitally signed the memorandum of understanding with Iran while at dinner in Versailles with French President Emmanuel Macron, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced Wednesday. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also digitally signed the memo, according to Sharif.”

* Dramatic strikes in the Russian capital: “After weeks of intensifying Russian bombing of Kyiv, Ukraine hammered Moscow with a swarm of drone strikes in what appeared to be the largest attack on the capital since President Vladimir Putin plunged the region into full-scale war in February 2022.”

* ICE bought 11 warehouses to detain human beings, but “in a major turnabout, the agency is planning to offload seven warehouses purchased for more than $700 million by either giving them to other federal agencies or selling them outright, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.”

* An unrelated, but also important, reversal: “The Trump administration is abandoning its plan to dismantle a $368 million ocean monitoring system critical to understanding climate change and marine ecosystems, bowing to a bipartisan backlash on Capitol Hill.”

* Quite an event in Chicago: “After more than a decade of planning and construction, the $850 million Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago hosted its grand opening ceremony today. Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama delivered speeches that urged Americans to embrace hope. Three other former presidents — Joe Biden, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton — attended. (President Donald Trump was not invited.)”

* A story we’ve been following: “President Donald Trump’s administration can replace the slavery exhibits it removed in January from George Washington’s Philadelphia residence, a federal appeals court ruled. A three-judge Third Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously agreed Thursday to toss out an injunction issued by a Philadelphia district court judge in February that ordered the National Park Service to restore interpretive panels telling the history of the nine individuals who were enslaved by Washington at the President’s House.”

* The administration’s antagonistic posture toward NATO is ongoing: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lashed out at NATO allies Thursday, announcing a six-month Pentagon review of American forces in Europe that will depend on how fast they take responsibility for their own security.”

* SCOTUS news: “The Supreme Court sided with a marijuana user over the Trump administration in the court’s latest Second Amendment ruling, with Justice Neil Gorsuch writing for the court that the prosecution of Ali Danial Hemani ran afoul of the amendment.”

* It’s worth noting that, among other things, Trump’s beloved blue paint is already starting to peel off the bottom of the Reflecting Pool as the water turns green: “Days after the completion this month of a $14 million renovation, the shallow water in the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool had more algae in it than at any recorded point in the month of June for at least five years, according to a specialized analysis of satellite data.”

I’ll be off tomorrow for the Juneteenth holiday, but I’ll return to the usual publishing schedule on Monday, June 22.

The post Thursday’s Mini-Report, 6.18.26 appeared first on MS NOW.

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