The Day of Bended Knee

UPENN and 60 Minutes grovel and roll over. Plus: The Diddy verdict, the Dalai Lama’s birthday message to China & can ICE actually do that?

Today is the day of the bent knee for two major institutions, UPENN and 60 Minutes, who are groveling a bit over their current situations and hoping it goes away.

First, the University of Pennsylvania reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education over Lia Thomas’ participation in the women’s swim team, which ended three years ago. The school has agreed to ban transgender women from competing in women’s sports, apologize with a personal letter to each of Thomas’ teammates, and reinstate records and titles to female athletes who competed against Thomas.

What’s interesting about this is that the circumstances that allowed Thomas to swim on the women’s team in the first place are unlikely to again arise because the NCAA goes by World Aquatics standards that dictate testosterone levels need to be at a certain level for 24 months before competing. And that won’t happen again unless we have another pandemic. However humiliating it is to roll over and play dead for Donald Trump’s campaign against trans people, this does a huge favor to a lot of schools. Instead of having to internally struggle with the issue and contend with parents and student athletes, they now have the excuse that they’ll have to leave tons of federal funding on the table if they allow trans women to participate on women’s teams.

As for 60 Minutes, Paramount Global has settled the lawsuit with Donald Trump alleging election interference over its editing of an interview with Kamala Harris. To be clear, they didn’t do anything wrong here. They, much like I do every day, made editorial decisions in service of telling an interesting story that wouldn’t put their viewers to sleep or go over, well, 60 minutes. Sure, you can criticize that the $16 million payout is just caving to legal pressure to a president that wants to control the narrative (a perfectly fair criticism to make), but it’s pretty easy to understand why they would want to make what could have been a years-long court battle go away.

Welcome to the Gist List—a groveling news roundup, things you might want to know, and my thoughts leading up to today’s podcast episode, if that’s okay with you.

Here’s what’s on my mind:

💸 The Big Beautiful Bill™️ is in the final stretch of House voting.

⚖️ The Sean “Diddy” Combs verdict is in, and still no one knows what racketeering is.

🕉️ The Dalai Lama’s birthday message is more of a message to Beijing.

🥸 So… can ICE break open your car window?

🇭🇹 Mixed results on Haitian drones.

The Gist List

GOP Leaders Launch Their Last-Ditch Megabill Whip Job (Politico)

The House is finally in the home stretch for the Big Beautiful Bill™️, and it is back on the floor for a final vote by the end of the week. President Donald Trump wants the bill to be passed by July 4th, and GOP leaders are running around trying to scrape up enough votes to pass it, but there is some intraparty resistance that could derail the whole thing. According to Politico, there is speculation that if just four representatives vote no, it could usher in a cascade of 20 or more no votes. But considering what a fickle mistress Trump can be to those who defy him, it would take a lot of courage to say no.

In Split Verdict, Sean “Diddy” Combs Found Guilty on 2 Counts, Not Guilty of Sex Trafficking, Racketeering (The Hollywood Reporter)

Hot off the presses: the Sean “Diddy” Combs verdict is in. He was found guilty on two counts of transporting individuals to engage in prostitution, but acquitted of the more serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. What is racketeering, exactly? No one knows.

Well, actually, we do. It’s participating in or leading a criminal enterprise. It is prosecuted under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) of 1970, which was originally intended to help law enforcement crack down on organized crime. In this case, the prosecution attempted to prove that Combs used his company to engage in sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, bribery and a whole host of other vices, but failed to do so. Prosecutors will be pushing for up to 20 years in prison for the prostitution charge.

Dalai Lama Confirms He Will Have a Successor After His Death (BBC)

In a video that is part birthday greetings and part threat to the Chinese government (which is what happens when you invite Tom Cottons to a quinceañera), the Dalai Lama confirmed that the 600-year-old Tibetan spiritual leadership role would not die with him and that only his trust—the Gaden Phodrang—has the authority to appoint his successor, not the Chinese government. Beijing, stopping short of wishing the Dalai Lama a happy birthday, rejected the statement, saying that the successor must be born in China and approved by the government. I’m not exactly sure how karma decides where the next Dalai Lama is born (or how awkward of a conversation it must be to tell some eight-year-old that they are the anointed leader of an ancient world religion), but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work like that.

Now you might be asking, “How can the Dalai Lama even know all of this for sure?” Keep in mind that the full title of the Dalai Lama is “Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama.” So that’s how.

What Is and Isn't Legal When ICE Officers Make an Immigration Arrest (Washington Post)

With all the crazy stories in the news of ICE agents wearing masks, breaking car windows and beating the shit out of landscapers, you might be wondering if they are allowed to do that. The Washington Post did a piece breaking it down. Here’s what stood out to me:

• Wearing masks: Why do we allow civil servants to mask up before performing their service? The Department of Homeland Security is arguing that ICE agents need to do so to protect their identities and avoid doxxing by gangs. There is, however, no constitutional law prohibiting it (even though it does look like something they would do in Venezuela).

• Warrants: ICE agents can arrest without a warrant in public spaces IF they have probable cause that someone is undocumented and likely to flee, although they cannot use race or someone’s profession to make that determination. The subject having a criminal record would be a valid factor toward making this determination.

• Making arrests on private property: Private homes or restricted areas like kitchens need a judicial warrant unless the owner gives permission or the agent uses deception tactics.

To the extent anyone is following these rules is anyone’s guess, but the high-profile mistakes that have been made by immigration enforcement suggest the rules might be more of guidelines.

'The Ground Shook': Drone Attacks Help Haitian Government Wrest Control of Capital from Criminal Gangs (The Guardian)

Yes, I know—you’re probably sick of my tirade against the supposed illegality of the Haitian government using drones to fight people like “Barbecue” and his gang, BUT there have been some updates. If you want to get caught up, read my Gist List from a few weeks ago and listen to the Spiel in this episode and this episode. And for what it’s worth, The Gist List has the following editorial stance: International Law is inadequate to anticipate the needs of a country taken over by gangs in the year 2025.

Despite headlines in foreign newspapers that using drones against their own people is a human rights violation, the Haitian people don’t have the UN’s High Commissioner on Human Rights, Volker Turk, on speed dial to reference a pack of antiquated tropes. Haitian rights groups like RNDDH support the strikes, citing gang atrocities as justification. Violence has declined, and schools and banks are reopening, life is starting to go back to normal, and Barbecue could be running out of gas.

Of course, not everything is as it should be. Gang leaders have not been neutralized, and there is a growing concern that they might source their own drones to fight back. They are apparently not the only ones with this inclination. Drug traffickers in Brazil and Mexico have also invested in drones of their own, raising the possibility of the Sinaloa cartel funding their own Operation Spiderweb.

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July 4th Holiday: We won’t have a Gist List on Thursday or Friday in recognition of the holiday. Please use these two days to reflect on what we’ve taught you and on the legality of Haitian drones. Also, if you like what you’ve read, tell a friend because while Freedom isn’t free, the Gist List is free (for now)!

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Yesterday on The Show: The U.S. Steel Fight - Politics, Profits, and Union Power

Then, a trip to Minnesota’s Iron Range, where Bethany McLean discusses the bitter fight over Nippon Steel’s bid to buy U.S. Steel—and the awkward dance between union leadership and the workers they claim to represent. It’s a story about how economic reality collides with political theater, and why Democrats keep misreading the mood in places that once anchored their coalition.

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This newsletter was put together in collaboration with Kathleen Sykes. All mistakes belong to Mike Pesca. All 30 Rock references belong to Kathleen.

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