China helps Iran chip away at US air superiority despite Xi’s no-arms pledge – Iran International
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02b U.S. Politics – Progressive
“The ICE Agent Behind Me Grabbed the Back of My Shirt and Just Threw Me Like a Sack of Trash” – Mother Jones– www.motherjones.com
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Masked ICE agents stands guard outside the Delaney Hall detention during a protest against the transfer of detainees on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in Newark, New Jersey.Andres Kudacki/AP
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A 68-year-old nurse who brought her mobile clinic to serve visitors at an ICE detention center, only to be thrown to the ground by ICE agents. A pair of cemetery workers who were maced and handcuffed at work after ICE agents broke through a gate to reach them. A family of six wrongly detained for a month. A trans man forced to labor without pay in ICE detention, and a legal observer beat with a baton at the scene of Alex Pretti’s killing.
These are some of the 54 people who filed tort claims against federal agents this week as part of a nationwide ACLU push for ICE accountability. 32 are US citizens, 22 are immigrants. And they’re all seeking monetary damages for harm sustained during Donald Trump’s ICE surge.
Under US law, it is near-impossible for a person to file a civil rights lawsuit against an individual federal agent, the way someone who’s been hurt by a local or state police officer could. But an increasing number of people harmed by ICE and DHS agents are filing tort claims: demanding monetary compensation from the federal government for what has been done to them.
Trump Has Broken The US Military So Badly That It Can’t Defend Israel– www.politicususa.com
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The Trump administration has broken the US military to the point where it could expand the war in Iran, as Trump threatened to do, because the US is running out of munitions and equipment.
Only Donald Trump could try to expand a war and fail because he has wrecked the military to the point where it is having to cut back.
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The Pentagon has never passed a full financial audit, and Trump was trying to shake Congress down for $1.15 trillion in additional military funding.
One of the reasons why Israel under Netanyahu has been able to carry out what many consider to be a genocide in Gaza and start a war with Iran is because the United States has protected Israel.
Netanyahu has made Israel historically unpopular in the United States. Many Americans want Israel under Netanyahu to fight its own wars and stand on its own.
New York Times reveals Trump administration subpoena over North Korea story | Freedom of the Press News– www.aljazeera.com
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The US Justice Department faces criticism for its increasing use of subpoenas in attempts to compel journalists to reveal their sources.
The New York Times has revealed that another journalist is facing a subpoena from the administration of United States President Donald Trump, this time about reporting conducted into a secret military operation in North Korea.
On Saturday, the newspaper — one of the most prominent in the country — identified freelance reporter Matthew Cole as the target of the subpoena.
Trump’s Brutal Blockade on Cuba Harkens Back to the Days of US Invasions – Truthout
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‘Platner on steroids’: Max Miller abuse claims have Republicans silently sweating– www.politico.com
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Public scrutiny of domestic abuse allegations against Rep. Max Miller is quickly mounting. His Republican colleagues have been slow to respond.
New reporting on government documents claiming that Miller poured hot water on his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, held a gun to her head and broke their young daughter’s collarbone has brought a wave of new attention to the Ohio lawmaker’s long-running public marital dispute. This week, Moreno’s lawyer filed for a restraining order against Miller, accusing him of harassing his ex-wife’s counsel.
The surge of attention presents a dilemma for Republicans: speak out against their colleague who is running in a competitive race or face accusations of hypocrisy after hammering multiple similarly scandal-plagued Democrats — including Graham Platner, who recently ended his Maine Senate campaign, and Eric Swalwell, who resigned his House seat in April.
Miller, like Platner and Swalwell, denies any wrongdoing. And so far, those fellow Republicans have been largely silent. A host of prominent GOP leaders nationally and in Ohio either declined to comment or did not respond to inquiries from POLITICO.
Houthis push back on report of planned Red Sea shipping fees– thehill.com
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Yemen’s Houthi-run maritime authority pushed back on Saturday against reports that the group is considering charging toll fees to commercial vessels passing through the Bab el-Mandeb strait, saying ships can continue to pass through the waterway without paying. The Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center said in a statement that its safe-passage service is voluntary and does…
TMZ Had a Total Meltdown Over the Attacks on Fauci…and They’re Not Alone– townhall.com
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Sure, the media reactions from the usual outlets were expected to be wild, but they’re not resonating. Too many Americans have endured the indignity of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s COVID regime, which was based on science fiction, fueled by politics, and ended up causing undue misery and pain for countless American families. Children’s reading and math scores may never recover. The number of businesses wiped out was unimaginable, and this Fauci guy had federal workers chasing cash prizes for him. We’re done with the masking and vaccine talking points that changed and became contradictory, but we want this guy grilled and held accountable.
For some, what happened Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee was a brazen attack on a patriot, ‘America’s doctor,’ likening it to McCarthyism. I’m not kidding. TMZ had a total meltdown over the hearing, saying it was a disgusting swipe at a man who saved lives. Yeah, many of those people died alone, and even more couldn’t say goodbye. It’s madness.
🚨TMZ’s Harvey Levin MELTS DOWN over Fauci hearing, calling Fauci an “amazing public servant” who saved countless lives, calling efforts to prosecute him a political “witch hunt,” and declaring America is in “Joseph McCarthy territory” and a “dark period.” pic.twitter.com/zkuoFXOIl7
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 29, 2026
Every time Fauci pleads the Fifth to a simple question, his answer is delivered 10% faster… pic.twitter.com/4QNvSovcMG
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 29, 2026
U.S. Senate unanimously opposes Ghislaine Maxwell pardon– boingboing.net
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President Trump’s friendship with dead billionaire Jeffrey Epstein is still a matter of endless public discussion. And it’s rumored he plans to pardon convicted sex trafficker and Epstein “madam” Ghislaine Maxwell in return for “exonerating” him. Already moved to a cushier prison, Maxwell has reportedly worked on a “commutation application” to this end. Today the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution opposing such a pardon.
Introduced by Senator Jacky Rosen, a Democrat of Nevada, the resolution states that Maxwell “should not be granted a Presidential pardon or any form of clemency for her crimes with Jeffrey Epstein relating to the sexual exploitation and abuse of minors”.
Although Senate resolutions like these are non-binding and symbolic, Rosen’s office noted in a news release in February when she introduced the measure that the resolution was “designed to put the Senate on record opposing the prospect” of Donald Trump of granting a pardon or clemency to Maxwell.
Maxwell, the well-connected daughter of late media mogul Robert Maxwell, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors. Epstein himself died in prison awaiting trial in 2019; he was briefly incarcerated after an earlier conviction for procuring a minor for prostitution, which did not cost him many of his famous friends.
‘Out of Context’: Morning Joe Defends Fauci Diaries Before Hearing– www.newsbusters.org
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Before Dr. Anthony Fauci pleaded the Fifth Amendment at a Senate hearing after the release of his diaries from the pandemic, Wednesday’s Morning Joe gave a preview of the hearing where 8 AM host Jonathan Lemire defended Fauci and called much of it “taken out of context.”
Lemire also minimized the possible Chinese lab origins of COVID-19 and possible U.S. funding of gain-of-function labs, which he called “unproven.”
Just as the Senate hearing was set to begin, Lemire introduced the hearing as “Fauci is expected to face some tough questions about the origins of COVID-19 and the federal government’s response to the virus.”
On Wednesday, Morning Joe finally reported on the Fauci diary release before he appeared at a Senate hearing and pleaded the Fifth.
Unsurprisingly, Jonathan Lemire defended Fauci and his diaries, as he said: “Some of this is being taken out of context.” pic.twitter.com/rAwytdRe1x
— Nick (@nspin310) July 29, 2026
The MS NOW host then detailed released pages of Fauci’s diary and focused on his talk of a “newfound celebrity status”:
This comes just days after Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)released more than 1000 pages of Fauci’s diary entries from the early months of the pandemic. In some of the entries, Fauci does reveal how much he enjoyed his newfound celebrity status, calling it “flattering.” (…)
Covid Truthers Are Claiming Fauci’s Diary Was “Scrubbed” – Mother Jones– www.motherjones.com
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EXCERPT:
Anthony Fauci reads an opening statement as he testifies before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Capitol Hill on July 29, 2026. Francis Chung/AP
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On Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) released a trove of diary entries from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the 85-year-old immunologist and public health veteran who led the US response to the Covid pandemic in 2020. On X, Paul posted an AI-generated image of a grinning, pastel-sweater-clad Anthony Fauci lying on his stomach on a purple shag carpet, poring over a unicorn-themed diary and surrounded by teen girl accoutrements. Paul explained to his 5.9 million followers that the image was “What Anthony Fauci looked like every night when he wrote about how great he is in his diary.”
The diary entries contain plenty of cringeworthy moments—Fauci congratulating himself on how famous he had become, for example, and basking in the attention of female celebrities like Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand. What they don’t contain—much to the dismay of Paul and Fauci’s other critics—is any kind of smoking gun proving that the public health leader deliberately misled the American people.
Undeterred, Covid truthers have only amped up their efforts to prove that Fauci lied—and they’re spinning up conspiracy theories about crucial information they say is missing from the diary.
Democrats’ Fundraisers Are Also Running AI’s Congressional Access Operation– readsludge.com
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Democratic fundraising consultants working for Senate campaigns, including those of Sen. Jacky Rosen and Rep. Haley Stevens, also run a nonprofit backed in part by Google and Amazon that has become one of the AI industry’s primary channels for cultivating relationships with the congressional staff overseeing federal AI legislation.
The Innovative Future Collective (IFC), founded by Democratic fundraising consultants Ashley Kennedy and Tonya Fulkerson, has spent the past year flying congressional aides on industry-guided tours of Google, Meta, Amazon, Palantir, Anduril, and other companies at the center of the AI industry’s campaign to shape federal AI policy, including its push to preempt state AI regulation. The nonprofit describes the trips, built around briefings from company policy executives for committee counsels and chiefs of staff overseeing AI legislation, as “educational,” and told Sludge in March that it “does not engage in advocacy.”
Though IFC does not disclose its donors, two companies whose executives regularly participate in its congressional programs, Google and Amazon, have identified IFC among the political and policy organizations they fund in their own public political-engagement disclosures.
Kennedy and Fulkerson own Fulkerson Kennedy & Company (FK&Co.), a political fundraising firm that has been paid nearly $3 million this election cycle for fundraising consulting services by Democratic campaigns and committees, according to Federal Election Commission records. Its clients include Sens. Chris Coons, Jacky Rosen, and Martin Heinrich; Reps. Chris Pappas and Haley Stevens, who are running for open Senate seats; and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. IFC’s first federal tax filing, covering 2025, shows the nonprofit paid $179,079 back to FK&Co. for “management, staffing, and fundraising services.”
Mamdani’s NYC-Run Grocery Stores Tackle Affordability Issues– crooksandliars.com
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EXCERPT:
While Donald Trump tries to gaslight us into thinking his Trump-flation is not a problem, we non-billionaires know better. That includes New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
On Monday, Mamdani announced that the city-run grocery stores he plans to open will sell food staples at a 30% discount from “the typical retail price in New York City.” He told SiriusXM’s Lurie Daniel Favors, “It’s going to apply to all fresh produce, meat, seafood, along with around 20 other items like cheese, milk, bread, as well as pasta, soup, beans, nuts, rice, and flour.”
Mamdani promised during his campaign that he’d open city-run grocery stores. He has now announced locations for stores in two boroughs: the Bronx and Manhattan. On SiriusXM, he said he plans to open one in each of the other three boroughs by the end of 2029.
Mamdani said he expects New Yorkers will save $90 a month and about $1,000 per year.
John Thune Isn’t Bowing to Trump’s Pressure: ‘Show Me How This Ends’– time.com
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“If I thought there was a path to getting a result, I’m all for it,” Thune told reporters this week.
The Senate is racing toward an August recess with a packed to-do list that seems doable: a sanctions bill targeting Russia, a stopgap funding measure to keep the government open through Election Day, movement on a catch-all reconciliation bill, and a bunch of nominees, including one that on Wednesday seemed to inch closer to giving Trump an up-or-down on his imperiled pick for Attorney General. But Trump says the upper chamber should not leave town until it gives him the SAVE America Act, his voting bill. He also wants the Senate to change its threshold for moving most legislation from 60 votes to 51 votes, ending the delay machine of the filibuster.
“John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to ‘leave town’ until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can then quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of, including a full and deep throated SAVE AMERICA ACT, the Budget, and the ever looming Debt Ceiling disaster, 1929!” the President wrote on his social media platform. “The Dumocrats will do it on day one, and can’t believe how lucky they got with this Senate leadership.”
EPA Ordered—Again—to Release $2.8 Billion in Climate Justice Funds – Mother Jones– www.motherjones.com
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EXCERPT:
A protestor holds a sign in Manhattan, New York on January 25, 2022.rik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty
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This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
A South Carolina federal judge this week ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to resume distributing funds designed to address environmental and health challenges in underserved communities.
In June, US District Judge Richard Gergel voided the Trump administration’s termination of the $2.8 billion Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program. But the court ruling did not explicitly require the Environmental Protection Agency to resume distributing the block grants.
Although Gergel ruled that the government’s internal actions terminating the grants were “unlawful,” he declined to order the EPA to immediately restart the program, saying such a move would be “impractical.”
Last month, emails between the EPA and the Southern Environmental Law Center, which filed the lawsuit in partnership with the Public Rights Project, showed that government officials believed that no “specific agency action is required to comply” with Gergel’s ruling.
FIFA President Under Investigation For Bribing Trump– www.politicususa.com
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FIFA and corruption go together like peanut butter and jelly. You don’t have to be a fan of soccer to be aware of the 2015 FIFA corruption scandal that involved top officials taking $150 million in bribes to influence the awarding of the World Cup.
FIFA has earned a reputation as one of the most corrupt organizations on earth, which is why it was no surprise that Donald Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino were thick as thieves.
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Trump magically made the FIFA convictions disappear, and House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin has launched a corruption investigation.
Raskin wrote to Infantino and laid out what looks like a bribery scheme:
DOJ’s puzzling capitulation makes a lot more sense when we reflect on FIFA’s brazen campaign to curry favor with Donald Trump since his re-election—a campaign that has now paid rich dividends for FIFA just as North America hosted its first joint World Cup. Over the past 18 months, you invented a hilariously fake “FIFA Peace Prize” to award to President Trump, who has made no secret of the fact that he covets the Nobel Peace Prize. You leased an office space on the 17th floor of Trump Tower—a space that might retail for $600,000 a year—even though it; would only be used during the 39-day period of the World Cup. That comes to more than $15,000 a day.
These actions appear designed to induce President Trump and his Administration to make decisions in FIFA’s favor. Even your predecessor, Sepp Blatter (himself suspended from world soccer in the wake of the bribery scandal) noted that your “yearslong campaign to curry favor” was aimed at influencing the President, wryly noting that “Infantino thinks he’s the leader in the relationship.” This strategy of outright bribery is not new to your organization.
Cornyn says there’s no deal on Blanche AG nomination: ‘They know what they have to do’– thehill.com
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Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Tuesday said there is still not a deal with the Trump administration that would pave the way for him to vote for Todd Blanche’s nomination to serve as attorney general, which could result in Blanche getting stuck in the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Fake news alert: there is no ‘deal’ on…
DCCC adds five candidates to 2026 ‘Red to Blue’ midterm program– www.washingtonexaminer.com
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The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added five candidates to its “Red to Blue” program on Tuesday, expanding its list of top recruits as Democrats work to reclaim the House majority in November.
The additions, spanning Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, and Montana, bring the committee’s flagship program to 30 candidates in competitive districts across the country.
“In less than 100 days, Democrats will take back the House majority and it will be powered by our incredible candidates such as the five named to Red to Blue today,” DCCC Chairwoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA) said in a statement. “Whether in suburban, rural or redistricted seats, the American people have soured on Republicans’ broken promises and failure to lower costs. Voters are outraged by higher prices on everything and a war of choice spiraling out of control. They are eager for change and new leaders who will fight for them, not be a rubber stamp for Donald Trump.”
The “Red to Blue” program provides Democratic candidates in competitive races with financial support, strategic guidance, and additional campaign resources. Candidates qualify based on factors including fundraising, grassroots engagement, local support, and campaign organization.
GOP triggered by Mamdani making the ultrarich pay up– www.dailykos.com
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Republicans are lashing out at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani after he announced the city had taken a significant step forward in securing millions in taxes owed by the city’s ultrawealthy residents.
Mamdani said on Thursday that notices had been sent out informing owners of second homes worth $5 million or more that the pied-à-terre tax put in place by the state’s Democrats is coming soon.
Under current law, the properties are undertaxed, and plans are to apply the money that will be raised to help address New York’s budget deficit.
“The best city in the world deserves the best parks, libraries, and schools in the world. That’s only possible when we all pay our fair share,” Mamdani wrote.
An April estimate from the New York City comptroller analyzed the tax and found that it could provide as much as $510 million annually if fully implemented.
The U.S.-Iran War Is In Limbo. Tehran Officials Reportedly Believe They Have The Upper Hand Over Trump – International Business Times
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Donald Trump earns more in last two years ‘than previous 60 combined’ | World | News– www.express.co.uk
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Donald Trump’s personal wealth has ballooned, reportedly earning more in the last two years than the previous 60 combined. The US president has seen his net worth go from £1.73 billion in 2024 to £4.81 billion in 2026.
Roughly 26% of Trump’s wealth comes from “pre-existing real estate and golf” ventures. But the overwhelming majority comes from cryptocurrency, with the total going up by a staggering 183% in two years.
Trump launched his “Official Trump” ($TRUMP) meme coin in January 2025, days before his inauguration. It went onto the market with a valuation of £11.26 billion, it is now worth £339 million, a 97% drop.
But this didn’t hurt Trump, who never directly invested in the coin. Instead, he was paid a 1% to 5% transfer fee every time a $TRUMP meme coin was bought or sold.
Steven Ratner, a former Obama staffer and journalist, called the increase “unprecedented in scale and source”. He said: “Obama’s wealth grew from royalties on books written before office — and Bush’s mostly from a sports‑team stake from over a decade prior. Most of Trump’s new billions are from deals made in office.”
Hawaii’s Democratic lieutenant governor indicted in bribery investigation – Washington Examiner
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Wokeness Made People ‘More Respectful And Empathetic,’ Fuentes Says During Hunter Biden Interview– dailycaller.com
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Conservative political commentator Nick Fuentes suggested that the fruits of woke culture isn’t all bad.
During an interview with Nick Fuentes and Hunter Biden uploaded Friday by YouTuber Andrew Callaghan, the 27-year-old conservative voice suggested that woke culture has had long-term benefits. “I don’t think everything about wokeism was bad. I think genuinely it has made people more respectful and empathetic,” Fuentes told Callaghan on his page “Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan.”
WATCH:
Nick Fuentes believes WOKE wasn’t all bad
“I don’t think everything about wokeism was bad. I think genuinely it has made people more respectful and empathetic.” pic.twitter.com/6SGn0Rb4Gi
— Fuentes Updates (@FuentesUpdates) July 24, 2026
“Wokeism had its excesses. Edge-lording also has its excesses … I think we’re at a middle point between saying the edgiest thing we can think of with no regard for anyone and saying ‘everything is racist … you should lose your job,” he said. (RELATED: California Republican Party Plans To Block Candidates Aligned With Nick Fuentes)
Trump revives old tropes as he pushes warnings of ‘communist menace’ | Donald Trump– www.theguardian.com
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Perhaps above all else, Donald Trump is a child of the cold war.
Three months before the US president was born, Winston Churchill delivered a historic speech in Fulton, Missouri, that ushered in a generations-long existential struggle between western capitalism and Soviet communism.
Lamenting the spread of Soviet communism across eastern Europe following the allied victory in the second world war, Churchill – by then no longer British prime minister – warned his audience on 5 March 1946 that “an iron curtain has descended across the continent”.
It was the prelude to a nuclear-armed standoff between Washington and Moscow that triggered a hysteria-driven “red scare” in the US – leading to the execution of convicted spies and exemplified by witch-hunts instigated by the Republican senator Joe McCarthy, who claimed he had obtained lists of communist agents working in the state department and other key areas of American life.
The hunt for communists would have been a ubiquitous theme of Trump’s early childhood.
Why conservatives cling to conspiracies long after they’re debunked– www.dailykos.com
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After director Christopher Nolan’s new film “The Odyssey” saw great success at the box office last weekend, it became clear that the campaign against the film’s diverse cast, led by racist multibillionaire Elon Musk, failed.
You’d think that the right would move on from this battle, choosing instead to tilt at another windmill. But a strange post from a right-wing influencer called “Mr. Obvious” shows that conservatives are going down a different path.
Instead of accepting defeat, Mr. Obvious claimed that the success of “The Odyssey” was a mirage, alleging that producers were “FAKING ticket sales” and buying up seats “to make the movie look like a success.”
None of this is really happening, but the lurid fantasy is a microcosm of a conservative phenomenon that has existed for a long time.
The right thrives on conspiracy culture. Since the era of the John Birch Society during the Cold War, conspiracies have been a core feature of the conservative movement. There’s a clear timeline from worrying about fluoridated water being a communist plot all the way up to President Donald Trump’s insistence of a Democratic scheme to attack Christmas.
Mamdani backs off pledge to arrest Netanyahu citing lack of authority– www.bbc.co.uk
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who previously pledged to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he visited the city, now says he does not have the “authority” to do so.
In a video posted on social media, Mamdani instead called on US officials to act on the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for the Israeli Prime Minister over alleged war crimes.
Technically, if Netanyahu set foot in an ICC member state, he could be arrested and handed over to the court – but the US is not a member of the ICC.
President Donald Trump has said Netanyahu would not be “arrested, in any way, shape or form” while in the US.
“He is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors [sic], and has spent the last 47 years killing American Soldiers, and others,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Monday.
Trump was responding to comments Mamdani made in an interview with the New York Times on Saturday, in which the mayor said he was having “an active conversation” with law enforcement about the possibility of enforcing the ICC arrest warrant.
Iran War Live Updates: Iran Digs In After Latest Trump Threat on Civilian Targets– www.nytimes.com
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Early Thursday in the Middle East, the U.S. Central Command said it was carrying out a new wave strikes on Iran, a 12th consecutive day of attacks. Iranian state media said the province that is home to Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant had been hit in a missile strike.
Lisa Murkowski is undecided on Blanche’s confirmation. Her state is getting a windfall from DOJ.– www.politico.com
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The Justice Department has been lavishing nine-figure policy wins on Alaska — and openly touting what a “huge” time it’s been for the state — as attorney general nominee Todd Blanche is scrambling to lock down support for his confirmation from its senior senator, Republican Lisa Murkowski.
A July 7 settlementover the federal government’s unfinished work on the port of Alaska resulted in a $180 million payout to Anchorage — an announcementBlanche, who is currently the acting attorney general, made personally during a two-day visit. The Justice Department shared news around the same time it had dropped Biden-era lawsuits related to Alaska’s energy production.
Then on Tuesday, the administration inked a $400 million settlementwith a group that administers health care programs for American Indians and Alaska natives.
“The wins keep coming for the American people in Alaska,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward declared last week, after announcing yet another win for the state: a $6.1 million award to tribal governments to combat violent crime.
Those developments all coincide with Blanche’s effort to court Republican senators to vote for his nomination as he deals with blowback over the botched release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which he oversaw as deputy attorney general, followed by the launch of a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” — which he has since said is dead.
Oil prices jump 4% as Rubio says Iran ‘not serious’ about peace talks– www.cnbc.com
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Oil prices were about 4% higher on Wednesday morning following the eleventh consecutive round of U.S. strikes against Iran overnight, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Strait of Hormuz remains a sticking point between the two sides.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, traded about 4% higher at $94.76. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 3.9% to trade at $87.61.
Trump Media Company Unveils Insider Trading Service– www.truthdig.com
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Starting August 1, Trump Media and Technology Group will launch a new data feed aimed at high-frequency trading firms whose profits are made by making trades a fraction of a second faster than everyone else.
It will provide “licensed, real-time access to posts from the highest-ranking Truth Social accounts.” In other words, the feed will let you know what Trump has said before anyone else knows, meaning it’s well worth the tab that Truth Social will charge to see Trump’s posts before the rest of the public sees them — up to $100,000 per month.
That’s a pittance relative to what could be made, because Trump’s words on Truth Social — about his war in Iran, about his latest tariffs, about the Fed — have caused the stock market to soar or drop. So, if you’re a trader on Wall Street, you’ll make millions if you know what he’s posting a fraction of a second before everyone else knows. Perhaps more to the point, if you’re behind on that news, “you’ll get crushed,” as one hedge-fund executive told the Financial Times.
The feed will let you know what Trump has said before anyone else knows.
No wonder Trump Media’s interim CEO Kevin McGurn is gloating that the feed will “become a meaningful, ongoing source of revenue for the company, creating lasting value for shareholders.” Trump Media has been unprofitable until now.
Trump, of course, is the company’s largest shareholder.
