Top Items:

Conservatives Are Prisoners of Their Own Tax Cuts — Aside from hype artists and White House spokespeople, it's hard to find true enthusiasm for the sweeping new policy law, even among Republicans who voted for its passage. But because almost all Republicans did vote for it …
RELATED:

Now Republicans Have to Sell Trump's Megabill to Voters — Control of Congress in next year's election could turn on how Americans view the sweeping tax and domestic-policy package — Republicans had a hard time persuading some of their own lawmakers to support the party's big tax-cutting and domestic-policy bill.
Discussion:
Raw Story, HuffPost and Washington Post

Social Security Administration sends misleading email lauding Trump's new tax cuts law — The emails say nearly nine in 10 Social Security beneficiaries won't pay income taxes on their benefits in the future. But the Trump tax law did not directly address Social Security.
Discussion:
CNN, Social Security Matters, CBS News, USA Today and Alternet.org

Social Security letter on taxes sends confusing message, some experts say
Discussion:
NPR, Forbes and MeidasTouch News
Reuters:
Trump signs controversial spending bill during White House 4th of July celebrations
Trump signs controversial spending bill during White House 4th of July celebrations
Discussion:
Mediaite, APA.AZ, The Hill, CBS News, The Gateway Pundit, Associated Press, UPI, New York Times, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, New York Sun, Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Washington Examiner, IJR, The Japan Times, WTTG-TV, The American Conservative, ABC News, Breitbart, Fox News, NewsNation and The Indian Express
Alex Leary / Wall Street Journal:
Trump Signs ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Into Law
Trump Signs ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Into Law
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Daily Mail, New York Post, CBS News and The Japan Times
Zac Anderson / USA Today:
Trump signs megabill that slashes taxes, Medicaid while boosting national debt
Trump signs megabill that slashes taxes, Medicaid while boosting national debt
Discussion:
The Fulcrum, National Review, Reuters, The Texas Tribune and Raw Story
Scott Wong / NBC News:
Trump signs big tax cut and spending bill into law in July Fourth ceremony
Trump signs big tax cut and spending bill into law in July Fourth ceremony
Discussion:
Roll Call, Washington Times, CBS News, MSNBC and Reuters
Brendan Buck / New York Times:
Is This Really How We're Legislating Now? — Speaker Mike Johnson once again defied skeptics …
Is This Really How We're Legislating Now? — Speaker Mike Johnson once again defied skeptics …
Discussion:
Alternet.org, Washington Examiner, NBC News and Punchbowl News
Zack Stanton / Politico:
Playbook: The fireworks begin
Playbook: The fireworks begin
Discussion:
New York Times and Washington Examiner
Brian Faler / Politico:
GOP megabill littered with special tax breaks
G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:
One Big Unpopular Bill
One Big Unpopular Bill
Discussion:
CNN, Lawyers, Guns & Money, HuffPost and New York Times

Don't call it ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ Call it a concentration camp. — This facility's purpose fits the classic model, and its existence points to serious dangers ahead for the country. — By Andrea Pitzer, author of “One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps”
Discussion:
Alternet.org
RELATED:
Timothy Snyder / Thinking about:
Concentration Camp Labor

Trump's Politicized F.B.I. Has Made Americans Less Safe — Only 11 days after President Trump was inaugurated for a second term, his administration began a purge of the F.B.I. that now threatens some of the bureau's most important missions. His appointees ousted eight of its most experienced managers …

Texas Officials Blame Agency Gutted by Trump for Results of Deadly Storm — Experts warned for months about cuts to NWS and NOAA — As the best and the brightest were being fired at the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration by senseless …

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Makes Herself Heard, Prompting a Rebuke — In solo dissents this term, the justice accused the conservative majority of lawless bias. On the term's last day, Justice Amy Coney Barrett fired back. — Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote just five majority opinions …
Discussion:
NewsNation
RELATED:

One of the Supreme Court's sharpest critics sits on it — Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson emerges as a strong voice on an unusually fractious U.S. Supreme Court. — Summary161 — Dissenting — again — on the last day of the Supreme Court's term, in its most high-profile case, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson did not mince words.
Discussion:
USA Today

Trump tariff letters going to a dozen countries Monday — President Trump said the U.S. will begin sending letters Monday to other countries setting a tariff rate on their imports. … - For businesses craving certainty, who've had a period of relative calm of late, the move could once again upset that balance.
Discussion:
Euractiv, NewsMax.com, The Guardian, Forbes, HuffPost, Semafor, USA Today, Bloomberg and The Hill

Multiple deaths reported in Hill Country, rescue efforts underway as flash flooding threatens communities — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said rescuers are searching for survivors, including 23 girls missing from a Christian camp along the Guadalupe River. — Officials said as many as 13 bodies …
Discussion:
CBS News, Bloomberg, The Gateway Pundit, The Indian Express, NPR, RedState, New York Post, Al Jazeera, Bangor Daily News, KARE-TV, al.com, twitchy.com, Off the Kuff, KEYE, UPI, USA Today, Associated Press, Texas Monthly and NewsMax.com
RELATED:

Frantic Search for the Missing After At Least Six Killed in Texas Flood
Discussion:
The Hill, NBC News, Fox News, Texas Standard, NewsNation, KSAT-TV, APA.AZ, Salon, Washington Examiner, New York Post, WTOP News, FOX 11 Los Angeles, KARE-TV, Associated Press, CBS News, WBIR-TV and NewsMax.com
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Critical Read About the BBB, Federalism and the Future of American Democracy … TPM Reader TS (Harvard sociologist/political scientist Theda Skocpol) and I often compared notes on the news of the day and I am always particularly attentive to her thoughts on state structure and power.

Trump ramps up deportation spectacle with new stunts and ICE funding … - It's an extraordinary shift from Trump's first term, when nationwide backlash and the appearance of cruelty forced the administration to abandon its family separation policy for unauthorized immigrants.
Discussion:
Al Jazeera, Rolling Stone and Talking Points Memo

Trump DOJ Drops Cases Against Top MS-13 Leaders — The deal with Bukele comes with significant strings attached, it turns out. — When foreign criminals commit serious crimes in the United States, and particularly if they are leaders of violent transnational organizations who orchestrate …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars

No One is ‘Gutting’ the Safety Net — The GOP will have to rebut the Democratic and media distortions about their reforms or lose the 2026 election. — Democrats and their media collaborators always distort GOP policy, but the coverage about the big budget bill has kicked free of the earth.
Discussion:
Fox News

Congo Braces for HIV Surge After U.S. Funding Stops — The virus is quickly spreading in what should be the country's most economically productive regions — The mineral-rich provinces of South and North Kivu along the eastern flank of the Democratic Republic of Congo should be among its most productive.

Judge transfers new case challenging South Sudan deportations — An administrative stay issued Friday morning will last until 4:30 p.m. Further action would have to come from Massachusetts. Read the new claims at Law Dork. — After a hearing on Friday, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss transferred …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner and Raw Story
RELATED: