Good morning! Congratulations to former USC quarterback Caleb Williams for going #1 overall in round one of the NFL draft last night. The 22-year-old is expected to sign a nearly $40 million contract. The only downside? He has to play for the Chicago Bears.

On the political front, Kim K joined Vice President Harris at the White House yesterday for a meeting on criminal justice reform. She made similar visits during the Trump years.

WHITE HOUSE

🥂 Nerd Prom 2024: the White House Correspondents Dinner returns

If Washington, D.C. truly is “Hollywood for ugly people,” tomorrow’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner is its Academy Awards. To maintain its “Nerd Prom” reputation, the event will stream on C-SPAN.

The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) is the professional organization for journalists who cover the White House. The annual WHCA dinner is their big fundraiser.

• The WHCA advocates for White House reporters and pushes for more press access to the presidency.

• It creates the all-important seating chart in the White House’s Press Briefing Room (where they yell questions at the poor White House Press Secretary every day).

• The WHCA also manages the (teeny tiny) workspaces assigned to reporters behind the briefing room.

The dinner has been around since 1921. It gradually became a celebrity-dominated affair that peaked in the Obama years. The bubble burst when then-President Trump became the first sitting president to never attend.

• It’s bounced back since then to re-cement its image as a bizarre cocktail of politicians, journalists, and celebrities.

• Celebs (like Jon Hamm and Rachel Brosnahan) who attend are guests of various news agencies.

SNL's Colin Jost will host. Though it began with musical performances, it later morphed into a roast-style event hosted by a comedian. President Biden, like his predecessors, will take the stage and deliver a PR-approved comedy routine spun up by political speechwriters.

• The event faces criticism from those who see it as an unprofessional mingling of journalists and the officials they cover.

Regardless, the party must go on. Red carpet arrivals kick off at 6:00 ET while the main event starts at 8:00 ET. Later, competing after-parties will take place at the Swiss ambassador’s residence and the French ambassador’s residence. All followed by a Sunday brunch at the British ambassador’s residence.

GOVERNMENT

📡 Net neutrality is back

Yesterday, the five-member Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-2 to reinstate net neutrality, a policy it repealed during the Trump administration.

This is the FCC we’re talking about. They regulate broadband, radio, and television.

• Not the FTC — that’s “Trade.” They just voted to ban noncompete.

• Not the FEC — that’s “Election." They track campaign cash.

What's net neutrality? Net neutrality is the idea that internet service providers (ISPs) have to treat all users, websites, and online traffic equally.

• The new rules reclassify broadband providers as "common carriers." That lets the FCC regulate them like they would phone companies.

• Net neutrality was implemented by the Obama FCC in 2015 and axed by the Trump FCC in 2017.

Proponents of the move argue broadband is a necessity of modern life that needs a government watchdog. They say this will prevent ISPs from charging extra for certain types of internet traffic or websites. It's also meant to prevent "throttling" or slowing access.

Opponents of the move argue government regulation will stifle innovation. One of the FCC's "no" votes noted that the internet flourished without this policy. He doesn’t believe the law even gives the FCC the power to do this and hopes the court will smack it down.

Future: Since this is an FCC rule rather than a law passed by Congress, a future FCC could quickly vote to overturn it. Congress not required.

In other Biden administration news:

• The Defense Dept. rushed $1 billion in weapons to Ukraine as soon as Biden signed the aid bill

• The Transportation Dept. issued four air travel rules forcing some cash refunds and transparency on certain costs

• Over some Democratic opposition, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued new rules aimed at cutting fossil fuel pollution

POLITICS

🔴 Donald Trump's "leave it to the states" position on abortion is popular with voters left, right, and center. Though stronger majorities of each party prefer national rules, this might show he’s found a way to assuage the concerns of moderates.

• In a sign some Trump opponents are coming around, former Attorney General Bill Barr endorsed his old boss. Trump’s reaction was, well, very on-brand.

• An Arizona grand jury indicted 18 Trump allies for an alleged 2020 scheme to submit fake pro-Trump electors (to vote in the Electoral College).

• As Trump’s NYC criminal trial continues, his (other) attorneys argued their case to the Supreme Court yesterday that presidents are immune from prosecution for “official” acts taken in office.

🔵 The 15-month attempt to impeach Joe Biden is running out of gas. House Republicans are “fed up” and looking for a way out of this political pickle as they struggle to make their accusations stick.

• Campus protests are turning into a political timebomb for Biden. On one side, he’s losing young voters over his support for Israel. On the other, he’s losing some Jewish voters who say he’s capitulating to antisemitic protestors.

• Biden is finally pulling even in national polling against Trump. But that may not be enough to win if he loses 6 of 7 swing states.

• Yikes. A Secret Service agent protecting VP Kamala Harris freaked out, was relieved of duty, and promptly attacked the agent in charge.

🔴 A poll of Florida has First Lady Casey DeSantis leading the 2026 Republican primary for governor. Mrs. Ron hasn’t announced anything but is a long-rumored candidate.

🔵 Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ) sadly passed away at 65 after a heart attack. November’s election will proceed with a new Democratic nominee (picked by the local party). There could also be a special election in November to serve out the last two months of Payne’s term (which could mean a six-week Congressman).

TRIVIA

As weird as it sounds today, the Philippines was a U.S. territory for quite a while. It sent a non-voting delegate to Congress and its governor was appointed by the president. In what year did the Philippines gain independence from the United States?

Hint: The U.S. took control in 1898. So this is after that.

WORLD

🇫🇷 France: Europe saw loads of flight cancellations yesterday as French air traffic controllers canceled a planned strike at the last minute. If negotiations falter, Paris' Summer Olympics could be impacted. Elsewhere, Moulin Rouge's windmill blades mysteriously fell off.

🇭🇹 Haiti: A transitional council backed by the U.S. and Haiti’s Caribbean neighbors took charge as Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigned yesterday. Violent gangs control 80% of the capital and Haiti's health system nears collapse.

🇵🇭 Philippines: A court blocked the growth of golden rice in a win for anti-GMO Greenpeace activists. The breed was created to alleviate vitamin A deficiency, which causes childhood blindness, in the developing world. Opponents say it’s unsafe and hurts biodiversity.

🇵🇱 Poland: It doesn’t take a genius to understand why 200,000 Ukrainian men live in Poland. But Ukraine is short on soldiers. So Poland is stepping up to help out. Ukrainian men of fighting age living in Poland might soon be sent to the one place they’d rather not go: home.

BRIEFS

• With the clock ticking on TikTok, the company is exploring selling its U.S. business without one tiny thing: its algorithm

• A Maryland high school's former athletic director was arrested for using AI-generated audio to frame his principal as a racist

• Arizona's state House voted to repeal the state's 1864 abortion ban that was recently reinstituted by the state’s high court

• Hundreds of musicians have signed a letter urging Congress to pass the bipartisan Fans First Act ticketing reform bill

• As the nationwide wave of campus protests continues, USC became the first to cancel its commencement ceremony as a result

• Port of Baltimore crews opened a fourth (deeper) temporary channel yesterday, allowing more ships stranded in the harbor to leave

• U.S. economic growth in Q1 slowed to a 1.6% annual rate, per yesterday’s Commerce Department report

• Western manufacturers see an opening in India as the world's biggest arms importer cuts back use of Russian weapons

QUOTE

SNACKS

🔎 CIA: From the “worth a shot” files, here’s a wild story about the CIA’s 1970s attempt to turn self-proclaimed psychics into spies.

🍕 Food: For the less social among us, here are some weekend tips on how best to reheat leftovers without turning them to mush in the microwave.

🐴 Horses: Seven ceremonial military horses — one white and casually drenched in blood — ditched their riders and took off through London.

🌊 Subs: The 2023 OceanGate tragedy hasn’t slowed demand for undersea excursions. Now they come with transparent hulls, champagne, and blackjack.

ANSWER

The Philippines became an independent, sovereign nation when the Treaty of Manila was signed on July 4, 1946. The islands had been ruled primarily by a rotating cast of Spaniards from 1565 til the U.S. won control in 1898 in the Spanish-American War.

Future U.S. President William Howard Taft served as governor-general of the Philippines from 1901 to 1903. He also later served as governor of Cuba.