Trump's pick for ___ director was fired on Biden's first day. 5 of 6 top ___ employees targeted for termination by Michael Pack have now been reinstated, 1 retired. Pack was subject to 30+ whistleblower complaints during his 6 months as agency head. (State Dept. subdivision) --WaPo, 07/14/21
Satirist Andy Borowitz, "New Yorker," 07/15/21: "Trump Obtained Podiatrist’s Note to Avoid Serving in Own Military ____" (overthrow)
Stock market gauge, for short
A volcanic tuff cone on 9 ACROSS (initials) --Wikipedia
Turnberry, on the ocean with the most spectacular holes, sightlines, shots and seaside views of any golf course in the world, wasn't chosen for this year's British Open because a wonderful person and its many-time club champion Donald Trump is too controversial. --_____ (initials) --thehill.com, 07/17/21
Future 1-star Yelp review of space travel: "Earth looked really small and vulnerable and I couldn't see any of my parents' 18 ______". --(residences) --Alexandra Petri opinion piece, WaPo, 07/14/21
Only house in the US on the UN World Heritage list of internationally significant places (name) --"Garden Smart," S23, E5, 07/16/21, KVCR
Originally "Rhoot Eylandt" meaning "red island", 37 miles wide and 48 miles long. (initials) --**.gov/facts/history.php
Bill _'______ threatens to sue over reports his planned tour with Trump is struggling to sell tickets. (last name) --"Salon," 07/17/21
Much of the West Wing and campaign staffs were made up of people whom _____ had picked. Their common characteristic was that, while they were tolerant of Trump, they could be counted on to slow-walk his worst excesses. Trump's fevered impulses were filtered through a management system _____ had created to lower the immediate temperature precisely to the point where the president would not notice and _____ would not be blamed. (first name) --"Landslide," by Michael Wolff --joemygod.com, 07/14/21
Surrounded by Lakes Michigan and Huron (state, abbrev.) --google.com/maps
Ink-distributing point of a pen --lexico.com
Has the highest IQ of any continent? --boredpanda.com/self-inflicted-insults/, #21
Garage sale condition (2 words)
If there's 1 thing the British royal family is extraordinarily good at it's ________--not marriages, necessarily . . . but ________, for sure. (hitch-ups) --"Lucy Worsley's Royal Photo Album," 05/13/20, KOCEDT
National anthem at a ball game
Impossible to stop or prevent --lexico.com
Satirist publication headline: "Infrastructure Talks Come To Halt After Giant Sinkhole Swallows _______ Building" (Congress) --theonion.com, 06/14/21
Represented by Sen. John Kennedy (state, abbrev.)
Twelve ________ users are responsible for 65% of vaccine misinformation. (Zuckerburg-owned platform) --Center for Countering Digital Hate.
--"New Day," 07/16/21; heathercoxrichardson.substack.com, 07/16/21
Seeming to "read the cards" with only 6% support for her run for California governor, she's traveling to Australia to film "Big Brother VIP" during the campaign period. (last name) --"Shutterstock," 07/16/21
Freud category of personality
Unit measuring the relative loudness of sounds (abbrev.) --britannica.com/science/
Finger protector in sewing --lexico.com
Ethiopian province engaged in a bitter guerrilla war against the government --lexico.com; news.yahoo.com, 07/13/21
Alphabetical vowel progression
Tall as a 60-story building, 45' thick at the top, 660' thick at the bottom (engineering marvel, 2 words) --theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/13/
First person form of "he's"
Satirist Andy Borowitz, "New Yorker," 07/13/21: "Democrats Agree to Return to _____ if Greg Abbott Leaves" (state)
10 countries have a higher percentage covid vaccinated than the _._. (country, initials) --usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/covid-19-vaccination-rates-by-country, 07/13/21
Lesson dogs teach us: "Run, romp and ____ daily." (frolic)
--RS email, #6, 07/02/21)