July 31, 2026

02 U.S. Politics

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Excerpt from www.jdsupra.com

In Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, the case’s second appearance before the California Supreme Court in two years, the Supreme Court confirmed that an employer does not incur civil penalties for failing to report unpaid wages, or any other required information on a wage statement, if the employer reasonably believed that it was providing a complete accurate wage statement.

Naranjo’s Odyssey

Naranjo was filed as a class action approximately fifteen years ago, and has navigated through the California court system since. As relevant here, a jury found Spectrum liable on a meal break claim for a period between June 2004 and September 2007 because it did not have a valid meal break policy. Accordingly, Spectrum owed the class meal break premium payments pursuant to California Labor Code section 226.7.

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Excerpt from tcpaworld.com

The FCC issued a notice permitting the carriers to begin blocking calls from three entities “One Street Financial,” “Main Street Financial,” and “Alliant Financial” following unsatisfactory responses to ITG tickets.

USTelecom’s Industry Traceback Group (ITG) conducted tracebacks on 13 calls  placed to wireless numbers between November 10, 2023 and February 3, 2024.

The calls delivered prerecorded messages purportedly related to debt consolidation loans and claimed to be from “One Street Financial,” “Main Street Financial,” and “Alliant Financial.” Notice that these names are confusingly similar to–but apparent different from– entirely unrelated financial entities: (1) MainStreet Financial Services; and (2) Alliant Financial Solutions. (The FCC reports that both of these companies have posted warnings on their websites that their names are being used by another party to make “spam type calls offering lending services.”)

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Excerpt from thefederalist.com

The Biden administration is going after western coal producers with new rules published last week that eliminate new coal leases in the nation’s largest coal-producing region.

Last Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced the agency would halt additional leases to mine coal across the Powder River Basin, which runs through southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming and is the most productive stretch of coal reserves in the United States. The Washington Post described the administration’s move as the “biggest step yet to end coal mining.”

Larry Behrens, the spokesman for the energy nonprofit Power the Future, told The Federalist the agency’s decision illustrates a president who holds “nothing but contempt for affordable and reliable energy.”

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Excerpt from conservativeroof.com

President Joe Biden unveiled his most recent student loan forgiveness initiative, wiping out $7.7 billion in debt. This brings the total amount of loans forgiven during his administration to $167 billion.

“Today, my Administration is canceling student debt for 160,000 more people, bringing the total number of Americans who have benefitted from our debt relief actions to 4.75 million,” President Biden said in a May 22 statement.

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Excerpt from thefederalist.com

Fulton County’s election board and director are unlawfully withholding election records from a GOP board member, a new lawsuit alleges.

Filed on Tuesday by Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections (BRE) member Julie Adams, a Republican, the suit contends that the board and Elections Director Nadine Williams are preventing Adams from “performing her statutory duties as a BRE member” by denying her “access to essential election materials and processes by which elections in Fulton County are conducted.” Adams was appointed to the position in January and took office the following month.

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Excerpt from www.breitbart.com

Trump supporters at a New York Yankees baseball game unfurled a banner in support of the former president ahead of his rally in the Bronx.

During the game at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, a banner with former President Donald Trump’s mugshot and the words, “Never Surrender” was unveiled.

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Excerpt from thehill.com

 

Former national security adviser John Bolton on Wednesday fiercely defended Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito against a barrage of criticism following reporting that, at one point, two flags associated with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol had been on display outside his home.

“Absolutely not,” Bolton told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer when asked whether the recent reporting about the flag raised concerns about whether he can serve impartially on the Supreme Court.

“I think it is outrageous, outrageous and unacceptable, for people to take a flag from the American Revolution and say that because some January 6 protesters flew it, that it’s now unacceptable to fly that flag, and I’d like to hear a Democratic Party politician say that expressly,” added Bolton, who has frequently been critical of former President Trump and the risk he says Trump poses to the country’s national security.

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Excerpt from thefederalist.com

Democrat New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gloated Tuesday that the Manhattan lawfare case against former President Donald Trump is achieving its goal of keeping him from campaigning.

Speaking to reporters outside Capitol Hill about Trump’s upcoming rally in the South Bronx, Ocasio-Cortez pointed out the former president is holding a rally in the deep-blue Empire State because he has a “legal version of ankle bracelet around him” and can’t easily campaign in battleground states.

“By the way, he’s doing [the rally] in the South Bronx not to make a point but because he’s got court and the man practically has the legal version of an ankle bracelet around him. And he can’t leave the five boroughs because he always has to be in court,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And so it is truly an embarrassment to him.”

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Excerpt from www.lifesitenews.com

Florida’s Voice reported that the first of the laws, HB 1645, eliminates a mandate for the state to address “the potential of global climate change” and blocks the expansion of offshore wind turbines while requiring the state to instead review the potential of nuclear power. It also requires rural electricity utilities to be ready for outages related to natural disasters by having at least one mutual aid agreement with another utility expands natural gas production.

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Excerpt from www.rawstory.com

CHICAGO — As Democratic leaders gathered in Chicago for a Democratic National Convention walkthrough, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker let it rip on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

“It’s a choice between kindness and cruelty, between a president who stands up against hatred and extremism, or a candidate who promises to be a dictator and makes excuses for white supremacists who chant ‘Jews will not replace us,’” Pritzker said Wednesday at the United Center in Chicago.

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Excerpt from redstate.com

 

Joe Biden and Kenyan President William Ruto made some remarks and held a press conference on Thursday afternoon. As often happens with Biden, the event was an hour late.

Their remarks were each about five minutes.

The topics on the table? Kenya providing people to help bring some order to Haiti and dealing with African nations saddled with debt.

 

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Excerpt from www.breitbart.com

Alyssa Farah Griffin told her co-hosts Thursday on ABC’s “The View” that former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (R) endorsing former President Donald Trump was a betrayal to her voters.

Griffin said, “I am disappointed but I’m not surprised. I lost all faith in all politicians quite some time ago. Maybe I’m being petty but if someone attacked my  intelligence, my family, my marriage and American democracy I probably wouldn’t then go back and support them and them military. Listen, Haley voters feel betrayed. A quick scan of her Instagram comments on this post itself and it’s just we feel betrayed by you. You told us why we should be fearful of him and now you flipped on it. I have always believed that the Haley voters actually were with her she was an aviator for something other than Trump.”

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Excerpt from amgreatness.com

Now that president Biden and former president Trump have agreed to debate one another on CNN and ABC in the run up to November’s general election, there’s another candidate who wants in on that action.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent, has floated the idea of a presidential debate between himself and the presumptive Republican and Democratic nominees hosted on the social media platform X–formerly Twitter.

And Elon Musk appears to be on board.

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Excerpt from trendingpoliticsnews.com

Former FEC Chairman Bradley Smith, who agreed to provide expert testimony in Donald Trump’s high-profile hush money trial, has openly criticized the legal strategy employed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Trump’s defense team was set to bring forward the seasoned expert from the Federal Election Commission to testify in the high-profile NY v. Trump case. However, their strategy hit a snag when Judge Juan Merchan dramatically limited the topics Smith could address, leading to his testimony being sidelined.

Speaking to Newsweek, Smith argues that Bragg’s theory is wrong and therefore could increase the defense’s ability to win on appeal if a conviction is made. Smith stated, “The legal theory on which the prosecution rests regarding possible [Federal Election Campaign Act] violations is wrong and this is an issue I care deeply about.”

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Excerpt from www.chicagotribune.com

A judge in Springfield on Wednesday issued a temporary injunction blocking a law passed by Democrats that would have prevented Republicans from slating candidates for legislative races not filled in the March primary.

Sangamon County Judge Gail Noll issued the order pending a hearing on June 3, which had been the statutory date for filling the unfilled candidate slots on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the measure into law on May 3 shortly after Democratic majorities in the House and Senate passed the legislation in a two-day tour de force.

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Excerpt from www.washingtonexaminer.com

Democrats and liberal media ranting and raving about Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has nothing to do with the veneration of the American flag. It is all about delegitimizing a Supreme Court over which they have no control.

Alito is being attacked over his wife (not him) briefly flying an upside-down American flag in a dispute with neighbors, and is now being attacked for flying the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which the New York Times has decided is a pro-Jan. 6 riot symbol rather than a flag that goes back to the Revolutionary War and George Washington.

On the back of this, Democrats are demanding investigations. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called it an “extraordinary breach” and is demanding Alito recuse himself from cases. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) did the same, saying it is part of “the Court’s ongoing ethical crisis.” With that, they are giving away the game.

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Excerpt from thehill.com

 

President Biden on Thursday bashed Republicans for blocking the border security legislation in the Senate, arguing that the GOP doesn’t care about securing the U.S.’s southern border.

“Congressional Republicans do not care about securing the border or fixing America’s broken immigration system. If they did, they would have voted for the toughest border enforcement in history. Instead, today, they put partisan politics ahead of our country’s national security,” he said in a statement.

Senators voted 43 to 50 to take down the proposal, in a widely expected outcome, which marks the second time the legislation negotiated over the fall and winter by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) has been blocked.

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Excerpt from redstate.com

 

Whatever anyone has to say about former President Donald Trump, one has to admit, the man has chutzpah, and a certain ability to make lemonade out of the sourest of lemons. His being restricted to New York in the ongoing, farcical “hush money” trial has hampered his campaigning; he’s making up for it with a few high-profile appearances, and now, on Thursday, he will cap it all with a typically Trumpian rally — in the South Bronx. Fox News’ Rachel Campos-Duffy, in advance of Thursday’s rally, took to the streets to talk to some of the regular folks about all things Trump and some of their responses were… interesting.

As Campos-Duffy toured the neighborhood, residents described Trump on “Fox & Friends” as being for the “little man” and that the former president has shown a lot of respect to the Bronx by visiting.

“Senior citizens cannot walk down the street. Our children are being killed. When you go to a grocery store, you can’t even buy anything anymore,” said Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr., president of New York’s Hispanic Clergy Association.

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Excerpt from www.politico.com

Senior leaders in both parties are working to finalize an invitation for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress — but it may not happen as soon as Speaker Mike Johnson would prefer.

“The four leaders are working it out,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told POLITICO on Wednesday, referring to himself, Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Schumer’s office said earlier this month that the New York Democrat, who sparked GOP criticism by calling for new elections in Israel and directly criticizing Netanyahu in March, would sign onto a bicameral invitation for the prime minister that Johnson is spearheading. But there’s been little public movement since then.

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Excerpt from www.hindustantimes.com

 

As US Presidential elections are inching closer, former President Donald Trump on Thursday claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to do one major thing for him.

Taking to his social media platform Truth Social, Trump stated that he will use his strong ties with Putin to release Wall Street journalist Evan Gershkovich from a Russian jail.

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Excerpt from www.truthdig.com

 

“Most Americans are decent, caring, reasonable, and patriotic people. But we do not see those traits reflected in our politics today. Instead, we see our two major political parties dominated by angry and extremist voices driven by ideology and identity politics rather than what’s best for our country.” Those reheated platitudes open Common Sense, a thirty-point quasi-platform issued last summer by No Labels, the shadowy group whose attempt to run a third-party presidential candidate in 2024 recently came to a close. They cast their failure to find a prospect in their usual terms. “We needed a leader of extraordinary bravery,” sighed No Labels’s CEO, Nancy Jacobson, in the Wall Street Journal. “Instead, we came face to face with the problems we were seeking to solve, including a system hostile to innovation and competition.”

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Excerpt from news.bloomberglaw.com

The US Supreme Court sided with the federal government in a case about which laws judges should look at when determining whether to apply a 15-year mandatory minimum prison sentence.

In a 6-3 ruling Thursday, the justices said courts should look at law in place at the time of the original conviction. The opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito.

The case focuses on what time period a court should look at when determining whether a previous drug conviction is considered “serious” enough to trigger the Armed Career Criminal Act’s sentencing enhancement. The time period between the drug conviction and a firearms conviction under the act can be years or even decades.

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Excerpt from nypost.com

Fox News Digital obtained letters Grassley, R-Iowa, and Johnson, R-Wis., sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Attorney General Merrick Garland on the matter.

The Obama-Biden administration began its Joint Plan of Action, which served as the negotiating process for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, that was signed by then-President Obama in 2015.

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Excerpt from yourvalley.net

PHOENIX — Arizona’s use of private prisons does not violate the rights of inmates, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

It also does not amount to slavery, wrote Judge Kenneth Lee for the three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, despite arguments to the contrary by attorneys for the state NAACP.

The decision leaves intact moves by state lawmakers over the years to increasingly contract with companies that run private prisons in what they have argued is a bid to save money.

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Excerpt from www.politico.com

A NON ENDORSEMENT: Gov. Kathy Hochul won’t endorse Mayor Eric Adams for mayor — at least not yet.

“I’m not doing endorsements for elections even this November yet, other than my president,” Hochul told reporters today while making a push for more restrictions on kids’ social media feeds.

She added, “Read into it all you want, but I’m not doing endorsements for an election that is a year and a half away.”

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Excerpt from pjmedia.com

The Knights of Columbus have filed suit over what they say is a First Amendment violation, as the Biden administration’s National Park Service refuses to allow their tradition of a Catholic Mass on Memorial Day to honor fallen U.S. heroes.

On Memorial Day, for more than half a century, the Knights have had a Catholic Mass at Poplar Grove National Cemetery in Petersburg, Va. But enter “Catholic” Joe Biden, and suddenly the Knights are refused permission, with the claim of separating religious services from public grounds.

The Founders, of course, never meant separation of church and state (a phrase not in the Constitution) to keep religion out of the public square. They wanted religion in the public square, but they also wanted individuals from different faiths to have the freedom to practice their religion publicly. Unfortunately, the Feds don’t agree.

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Excerpt from redstate.com

 

Joe Biden didn’t have a heavy schedule on Wednesday. He had one event scheduled, meeting with the President of Kenya, William Ruto at the White House.

But he shows now, each time he has an appearance, how he just keeps getting worse. As Biden went to greet with Ruto, who had just arrived in his car, a reporter asked him when he would be going to Africa. This is the leader of the free world, just spewing random things out of his mouth, like a child or someone who is not mentally well:

REPORTER: “When are you going to Africa, sir?”