Beltway Insider: Trump/SCOTUS, Iran, War Powers, NYC Primary, QE II Memorial, Carolyn McCarthy

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Category: Beltway Insider

Published on Sunday, 29 June 2025 05:29

Written by Janet Walker

President Trump ordered strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, and while early assessments have shown significant damage, the strikes did not dismantle the facilities but were significant enough to engage both Israel and Iran in peace talks.

The President's job approval rating, according to The New York Times for the period ending June 29, 2025,  of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President decreased by 1% to 44% and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as president decreased by 1% to 52%. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

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SCOTUS Balances Trump White House

The Supreme Court release their ruling for the 2025 session, providing balance and guidance to the unsteady Trump administration in his effort to redesign the laws to conform to his particular beliefs and ideologies of America.

In a surprising ruling the Supreme Court upheld provisions in the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, which has been challenged in court more than 2,000 times since its enactment in 2010. Even as the Supreme Court has nine justices, the conservative slant of five of the court's justices have paved the way for many to attempt through the use of religious infringement to have long held laws to challenged in hopes that the court of five will unite and dismantle the entirety of the law, as was the hope for the Affordable Care Act.

Affordable Care Act Provisions Upheld

"In a 6-3 decision, the justices ruled against a Christian-owned business and individuals who objected to being forced to offer medications intended to prevent the spread of HIV among people at risk. The plaintiffs contend the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) treatment administered to prevent infections, "encourage and facilitate homosexual behavior" in conflict with their religious beliefs," reported The Washington Post.

Birthright Citizenship

The American people, and the Constitution did not prevail in the high court on Birthright Citizenship.

Birthright Citizenship, which has long been an upheld practice, granted citizenship to babies born in the United Sates, even if neither parent held any permanent status, and the constitutionality essentially strips the lower court judges of the ability to halt deportations.

While not handing the president a complete victory, the justices returned cases to the lower courts. There are 28 states that have not joined in a class-action lawsuit, and if those states do not join, any birthright citizens will be stripped of their alleged citizenship and could possibly face deportation.

The reversal in birthright citizenship could cause undue chaos. It remains unclear if the reversal of birthright citizenship will only effect children of a certain age, or will the law reverse citizenship for immigrants of any age.

"That the court uses this case of all cases to review the question of universal injunctions is shameful," said [Justice Sonia] Sotomayor, who was joined in her written dissent by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. "If there was ever a case where a universal injunction is appropriate, it is this one under every historical precedent," reported The Washington Post.

The case was part of a larger immigration plan enacted by the president which includes reversing the protection in sanctuary cities.

World News: Trump Seals the Israeli Deal

Iran Nuclear Strikes

The 12 day war between Israel and Iran ended as a cease fire brokered by the United States and Qatar, followed the airstrikes ordered by Mr. Trump on the Iranian Nuclear facility Fordow. Although not having the complete destruction Mr. Trump presented to the American people, the strikes were effective in bringing both Iran and Israel to the negotiating table.

The White House disputed the topography assessments and rebutted the leak that the strikes only damaged the facility.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran's nuclear program," she wrote. "Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration," reported The Washington Post.

However, the possibility that the underground facilities have retained some structure remains, as the Hamas tunnels in Gaza were intact after a barrage of airstrikes from Israel.

War Powers Act

The untethered reign of President Trump has continued to be supported by his trifecta, in the house and senate, and this week the senate majority blocked the democratic resolution that would have forced the president to seek congressional approval before engaging in any further war efforts in the Middle East.

"The measure, sponsored by Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, invoked the War Powers Act, a 1973 law aimed at limiting a president's power to enter an armed conflict without the consent of Congress. It would have required the White House to notify lawmakers and seek the approval of both the House and Senate before U.S. forces could take further military action against Iran," reported The Washington Post.

As Mr. Trump has successfully built gained control over the house and senate, as well as the Supreme Court, he has gained considerable power in enforcement in the United States, but without a checks and balance system authorizing the use of military force, Mr. Trump can determine the actions of the U.S. military in any region in the world.

Mr. Trump is not the first president to use military action without a formal declaration of war. President's from both parties have intervened globally with military action. War can only be authorized by the U.S. Congress, single acts of military action do not necessarily constituent war, as they do not include a full scale commitment.

World News: United States, Israel, and Iran - An Unlikely Threesome

NYC Primary Shock

Nearly 1 million New Yorkers braved a 100 degree heatwave to head to the polls this week, in what many pundits called a decisive moment in New York City political history. And it turned out to be just that.

In a shocking upset, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, 33, a naturalized American citizen, Muslim, and self-proclaimed socialist running on the democratic ticket, upset the favored old guard former governor and scandal scarred Andrew Cuomo, by nearly 8 percentage points.

As the ranking system was used in the primary, meaning the top two will be on the ticket in November, and will face incumbent mayor Eric Adams, who decided to run as an independent, rather than face the possibility, in the very crowded 11 candidate primary election of ranking less than the top three.

By the end of voting, Mamdani had secured 43.5%, Andrew M. Cuomo, 36.4%, and current NYC City Comptroller, Brad Lander, in the third spot with 11.3% of the vote. Even as Mamdani is the presumptive democratic nominee, the ranked choice tallies will not be released until Tuesday, July 1, 2025.

Should Mamdani win the November 2025 election, he will become the first Muslim to ever be elected mayor of the nation's largest city, and one densely populated with a melting pot of diversity.

"For other New York Jews, the triumph of a Muslim candidate who refused to disavow the phrase "globalize the intifada" has prompted doubts about their place in a city that has been a quasi-homeland. "This is the end of Jewish New York as we know it," Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic political strategist and ordained rabbi, despaired. Many Jews would leave, he predicted, and real-estate developers, who have increasingly gravitated toward Florida in recent years, would build elsewhere," reported The Wall Street Journal.

Mamdani, influenced by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (I), and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D), campaigned on a socialist platform, integrating free into his campaign, free buses, free child care, and city-run grocery store, and bringing down the cost of living in New York City.

Promises are easy and that is what campaign are made of, as many have seen and invested their vote in the current administration. The cost of living in New York City ranks near the bottom of 182 cities for affordability, and 48 out of 52 large city markets.

Mamdani has been described having Obama-esque charm, he will need a more than charisma, he will need an Omaha Beach invasion plan to move his proposals through a bureaucracy that cherishes the old ways and a system that favors the elite, power brokers and capitalists.

Coronavirus Total

At the order of the President of the United States, the U.S. no longer recognizes the value of The World Health Organization. The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens should receive at least one shot of an updated COVID-19 vaccine, annually.  The death toll from Covid-19 has dramatically decreased, as has transmission of the virus. Even as confirmed new cases continue each week, fewer are dying from the newer variants.

For the 7 days ending June 29, 2025, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by the World Health Organization increased by 136,424 to 778,186,599. The total worldwide death toll increased by 292 to 7,097,227 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated June 1, 2025, from the World Health Organization).

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Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Chosen

As British government struggled with how to formally honor the late Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away September 8, 2022, they opened the design up to the general public, much in the way the Vietnam Memorial was chosen.

Very few caveats were in place, "The monument, which will provide the public with a permanent memorial to the UK's longest-reigning monarch, will be located in St James's Park, close to Buckingham Palace in central London," Euronews reported.

Five shortlisted designs were unveiled and while the public could comment on each of the five design, the winner would be chosen by the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee.

The winning design was submitted by Foster + Partners with Yinka Shonibare and Michel Desvigne Paysagiste and can be seen here. Queen Elizabeth II Permanent Memorial Design featured several sculptures and a Unity Bridge. The project is expected to be unveiled in 2026 during a commemorative ceremony.

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Former NY State Representative Carolyn McCarthy Dies

Former Long Island Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, who became an advocate for harsher gun control legislation after her husband was murdered, died this week. She was 81.

McCarthy, who became the face of a tragedy after her husband of 27 years, Dennis, and her son, Kevin, were shot on December 7, 1993, by a deranged gunman, Colin Ferguson, who boarded the 5:33pm from Penn Station in New York City, and midway into the ride, fired upon passengers for three minutes. Six passengers died, including McCarthy's husband, and 19 were injured, including her son, who Ferguson had shot in the head.

An Intensive care nurse, to hear Mrs. McCarthy speak of that night, she triaged the situation and began working on what she could. Her son was not expected to survive, and she was asked to sign over his organs. As she explained, she wouldn't leave his side and then near the morning, he opened his eyes, and she explained his condition. He blinked with acknowledgment and then fell back into a semi-coma.

 Confronting a double tragedy, Mrs. McCarthy showed a determined resolve. Her story of allowing herself to fully absorb the moment, for one moment, before she and maybe mechanically flipped the switch and moved forward. Both burying her husband and tending to her gravely injured son.

"The resolve that she so quickly displayed would become familiar to — and widely admired by — people across Long Island and much of the country. The woman who rose from those front steps was soon to turn herself into a determined advocate for measures to rein in the country's horrific gun violence," reported The New York Times.

More frustrated than experienced, on a whim she decided to run for Congress campaigning on gun control, against a single term congressman who opposed any gun control. With the Long Island Massacre so vivid, in her heavily republican district she won a landslide victory.

Originally dismissed as a one issue wonder, and a woman, McCarthy would win her seat in New York 4ith Congressional District nine times and spend 18 years, from 1997 to 2015, in Congress advocating for changes to gun laws. Progress is slow, and change is even slower, and she turned her tragedy into a determined drive for change.

Mrs. Carolyn McCarthy died in her home in Fort Myers, Florida. She was 81. She is survived by her son Kevin.

For more information on President Donald Trump: Whitehouse.gov.

Sources: Various © Articles covered by Copyright protection.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is completing the non-fiction narrative, "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," which is expected to be released in early 2025. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.