The Tariff Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves  —  The video above has nothing to do with the subject of this post.  A big red-headed woodpecker got to work right in front of me yesterday, and I thought I'd give him a few seconds before getting to the dreary subject of tariffs.  —  Yes, tariffs.

A Marco Rubio impostor is using AI voice to call high-level officials  —  The unknown individual contacted at least five government officials, including three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor and a member of Congress, according to a State Department cable.  —  Summary167

Vacationing Ted Cruz's as ‘Fast as Humanly Possible’ Return Claim Crumbles  —  ACROPOL-OOPS  —  Cruz says he returned to Texas as quickly as he could after news of devastating floods broke.  Flight data tells a different story.  —  Ted Cruz could have booked numerous flights from Greece …

Top House Democrats demand release of Epstein files that mention Trump  —  Exclusive: Jamie Raskin and 15 others accuse justice department of withholding Epstein files to protect Trump  —  Hugo Lowell and Chris Stein in Washington  —  House Democrats on Tuesday demanded …

I.R.S. Says Churches Can Endorse Candidates From the Pulpit  —  In a court filing, the tax agency said a decades-old ban on campaigning by tax-exempt groups should not apply to houses of worship speaking to their own members.  —  The I.R.S. said on Monday that churches and other houses …

Transcript: Trump Blurts Out Awkward Truth about ICE as MAGA Seethes  —  The following is a lightly edited transcript of the July 8 episode of the Daily Blast podcast.  Listen to it here.  —  Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR network.

FEMA response to deadly Texas floods delayed & deficient with Noem in charge  —  Staffers sound the alarm. … Disaster struck in Texas on July 4th when the Guadalupe River rapidly overflowed, resulting in lethal flash floods.  As of Monday, local officials said at least 104 were confirmed dead across six counties.

Ex-NYPD chiefs sue Mayor Adams, top aides over alleged favoritism, corruption in department  —  Four high-ranking former NYPD chiefs are suing Mayor Adams, claiming they were forced to retire from the department after complaining that his “unqualified” friends were being placed …

Major medical groups sue Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccines  —  Kennedy's track record of undermining vaccine safety and effectiveness prompted the lawsuit.  “We've had enough,” one public health expert said.  —  Several major medical organizations are suing Health Secretary …

How Insularity Defined the Last Stages of Biden's Career … At the most perilous moment of his presidency, Joseph R. Biden Jr. was all but impossible for anyone outside his tight inner circle to reach.Eric Lee/The New York Times  —  Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s aides did not want him to speak with me.

Trump Escalates Criticism of Putin After Restoring Arms Shipments to Ukraine  —  President Trump is increasingly suggesting that he believes his Russian counterpart had become an impediment to the peace deal he aims to make.  —  President Trump stepped up his criticism of President Vladimir V. Putin …

TSA to End Shoe Removal Requirement at Airport Security Checkpoints  —  Most passengers had been required to remove their footwear at checkpoints since 2006, a policy later eased only for members of trusted traveler programs.  —  Travelers at some airports, including LaGuardia …

No Ceasefire But Netanyahu Proposes Trump for Nobel Peace Prize  —  A new Global South bloc, the Hague Group, will meet July 15 in Bogotá to address Israel's escalating crimes under international law.  —  Bluesky  —  Pocket  —  When Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu illegally began bombing Iran …

Alligator Alcatraz detainees allege inhumane conditions at immigration detention center  —  Cuban reggaeton artist Leamsy La Figura, arrested last week in Miami-Dade on assault charges, was transferred to South Florida's new immigration detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades …

Gabbard's team has sought spy agency data to enforce Trump's agenda  —  The Director's Initiative Group has expressed an interest in gaining access to emails and chat logs of the largest U.S. intelligence agencies to root out “weaponization,” according to multiple people familiar with the effort.

Trump on DOGE cuts: ‘I would have done it differently’ … Trump praised the Department of Government Efficiency for many of its cuts to the federal workforce, specifically citing the exodus at the Environmental Protection Agency, where more than 1,300 employees have left through the Trump administration's deferred resignation program.

The Bleak Unifying Principle of This Supreme Court Term  —  It's an emergency whenever Trump says so. … On Thursday afternoon, the Supreme Court issued a brief order condemning eight migrants to banishment in South Sudan, where they face the very real possibility of torture and death.

Texas flood exposed America's warped priorities  —  I've always believed there's a lifetime limit on excitement from fireworks — even on July 4 — and that I passed mine many years ago.  Maybe that's why I volunteered to pick up a family member at New York's JFK Airport last Friday night …

Judge recommends that case against Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan proceed  —  A federal magistrate judge recommended Monday that the case proceed against a Wisconsin judge who was indicted on allegations that she helped a man who is in the country illegally evade U.S. immigration agents seeking to arrest him in her courthouse.

Exclusive: Top Trump Adviser Sergio Gor Was Born in the Soviet Union  —  The birthplace of U.S. President Donald Trump's director of personnel has been the subject of media speculation — fuelled by his refusal to answer the question. … When he was named director of the White House Office …

Trump Says He's Weighing Federal Takeover of Washington, DC  —  President Donald Trump said his administration is weighing whether to take control of the city of Washington, DC, to help combat crime, in a move that would represent a dramatic upheaval to the capital's half-century of home rule.

How to Know When the Frog Has Boiled  —  Autocracy in America won't unfold the way you expect.  —  A few days ago, Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo shared a few paragraphs from Harvard political scientist and sociologist Theda Skocpol about what is probably the most important …

Alvarado ICE facility attack: 11 charged in ‘ambush’ on ICE officers, officials say  — 11 people have been arrested in what it calls a “planned ambush” on an ICE facility in Alvarado on July 4.  — Officials say 10-12 individuals in military-style clothing fired fireworks to lure officers out …

CDC ends bird flu emergency  —  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has ended its emergency response to the H5N1 avian flu.  —  A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said that the emergency bird flu response was “deactivated to transition …

Who's Afraid of Zohran Mamdani?  —  To win the nomination for mayor, Zohran Mamdani outwitted and outworked the city's lethargic Democratic political Establishment.  And that seems to be driving the old guard mad.  —  Think of New York's Democratic Establishment as a network of political clubs …

On the Jan. 6 attack, Republican leaders keep failing basic tests of self-awareness  —  Key GOP leaders keep making comments suggesting they've forgotten that the Jan. 6 attack happened.  —  Shortly before House Republicans approved their far-right domestic policy megabill …

Trump's “tough cookie” call to Harris: New book “2024” on campaign aftermath … - “Phone service isn't what it used to be,” Trump quipped.  — “Aides ended up holding two phones together on speaker so that the rivals could talk,” the authors write.

Rollins suggests Medicaid recipients can replace deported farmworkers  —  Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters Tuesday that she thinks Medicaid work requirements and automation will help offset President Trump's massive immigration crackdown, which has threatened migrant farmworkers.

Nearly two-thirds of US beaches saw fecal contamination last year: Report  —  As Americans flock to the country's coasts — and to the lakes and rivers in between — in the heat of summer, they may be doing so despite the presence of fecal matter.  —  A stark 1,930 out of 3,187 beaches sampled across …

This Law Made Me Ashamed of My Country  —  Last week, Robert Rubin and I warned of the many macroeconomic risks created by the domestic policy bill President Trump signed into law on Friday.  I stand by our judgment that it will most likely slow growth, risk a financial crisis …