Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
Iran's Secret Plan to Escalate the War — Intercepted communications and other intelligence suggest a strategic shift by hard-line leaders to raise the costs for the U.S. and its regional allies — After President Trump signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran in mid-June …
Discussion:
HotAir, Bloomberg, Israpundit, NewsMax.com, Semafor, The Times of Israel and SpyTalk
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Eric Mack / Fox News:
Trump confirms IRGC backchannel, but calls for Iran's ‘white flag of surrender’
Discussion:
Deseret News, Breitbart, Al Jazeera, RedState, CBS News, BBC, MS NOW, Blaze Media, Metro.co.uk, Axios and The Times of Israel
Erika Solomon / New York Times:
Iran's Supreme Leader Signals Intention to Keep Country on a War Footing
Luke Broadwater / New York Times:
Trump Lashes Out as Preliminary Deal With Iran Expires
Trump Lashes Out as Preliminary Deal With Iran Expires
Discussion:
NBC News, The Guardian, New Republic, Reuters, Townhall, Los Angeles Times, The Times of Israel, Agence France-Presse, The Hill, CP24, WFXB, Washington Examiner, Forbes, Associated Press, Drezner's World, The Independent, The Sun, New York Post, Washington Times, France 24, Daily Mail, Bloomberg and The American Conservative
Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media:
We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility … Amazon is buying massive quantities of books, scanning them for AI training data, and destroying them in the process. — A 404 Media investigation was able to reveal Amazon's book buying operation …
Discussion:
TechCrunch and The Post Millennial, more at Mediagazer »
Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:
Trump Will Make South Korea Pay for His Iran Humiliation — His rage is driving him to make irrational policy choices. — Last winter, Donald Trump plunged recklessly into war with Iran. The United States is now losing that conflict. Iran remains defiant, much of the world economy …
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Ashleigh Fields / The Hill:
South Korea hoping for talks after Trump reduces joint military exercises
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Chosun Daily, Al Jazeera, NewsMax.com, The Asia Business Daily, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Breitbart, Euronews, Adam Kinzinger, Straight Arrow, HuffPost, OutsideTheBeltway, The Bulwark, Reuters, BBC, The Daily Caller, CBS News, Fox News, Bloomberg and KQTV-TV
Jordan Rubin / MS NOW:
Supreme Court denies Trump's rehearing petition, cementing Carroll's $5 million win — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Donald Trump's long-shot request to reconsider taking up his appeal in one of the two civil cases he lost to E. Jean Carroll.
Discussion:
Reuters, CNN, Washington Examiner, Scripps News, Axios, The Gateway Pundit, ABC News, SCOTUSblog and Forbes
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Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
Supreme Court turns away Trump's latest bid to block E. Jean Carroll award
Discussion:
Associated Press, Above the Law, CNBC, The Guardian, The Parnas Perspective, New York Times, The Independent, New Republic and Deadline
Ann E. Marimow / New York Times:
Supreme Court Again Rejects Trump's Appeal of $5 Million E. Jean Carroll Payment
Supreme Court Again Rejects Trump's Appeal of $5 Million E. Jean Carroll Payment
Discussion:
Washington Post, NOTUS, NBC News, Politico, CBS News, The Hill, Newsweek, Washington Times and Bloomberg
Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice:
“Suckers and losers” as policy — PN is supported by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ — 🚢 Subscribe to PN 🚢 — The Navy Times reported last week, based on interviews with family members, that multiple sailors have recently tried to jump overboard …
Discussion:
Salon
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Brett Meiselas / MeidasTouch:
Fox Host Trashes U.S. Sailors as ‘Weak’ for Speaking Out About Dire Conditions — Fox News host Joey Jones mocked service members speaking out about conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln — Key Points … Fox News host Joey Jones lashed out at U.S. service members who have spoken publicly …
Discussion:
Yahoo Entertainment, The Independent, NPR, Althouse and The Daily Beast
Owen Scott / The Independent:
Trump roasted over ‘flying palace’ trips with aide: ‘He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie’ — Democratic senator Jon Ossoff claimed that the president is ‘treating citizens as fools and those who serve as pawns’ — Donald Trump would rather build the White House ballroom …
Discussion:
The Guardian, twitchy.com, Wonkette and Newsweek
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New York Post:
FBI stumbled across Eric Swalwell's affair with Chinese spy Fang Fang when agents tried to recruit her: docs — WASHINGTON — The FBI stumbled on disgraced ex-Rep. Eric Swalwell's affair with Chinese spy Fang Fang when the bureau tried to recruit her to be a double-agent, bombshell documents reveal.
Discussion:
JusttheNews.com, HotAir, NewsMax.com, RedState and twitchy.com
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
From Natalie, With LOVE ... With the growing attention being given to Trump handler/confidante Natalie Harp, I looked up this November 2024 Times article which captures some of the relationship ... Given that Natalie Harp is not only a conventionally attractive women but also Trump's type …
Julia Curlee / The Atlantic:
The Wrong Kind of American — The Trump White House needed me—until the fact that I am trans became public. — At the cia, they'd started an office pool on when I'd be fired. — President Trump would be sworn in for his second term at noon; the smart money had me gone by 12:15.
Adam Bonica / On Data and Democracy:
With Fear and Favor — Institutions don't have courage. They have incentives. — Institutions don't have courage. They have incentive structures. When incentives line up just right, it is not uncommon for an institution to make a collective decision that almost no one inside it would have made alone.
Discussion:
The Nation
Associated Press:
Trump blames vandals for damaged grass in the same spot where he held his big July 4 celebration — President Donald Trump on Sunday said vandals are to blame for large swaths of dead grass on the National Mall near the World War II Memorial — in the same spot where Trump had a stage built and hosted crowds for his July 4 celebration.
Discussion:
Staff Stories, The Independent, Forbes, The Hill and New Republic
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Sammy Westfall / Washington Post:
Trump blames vandals for dead grass on lawn where he held Fourth of July event
Trump blames vandals for dead grass on lawn where he held Fourth of July event
Discussion:
Washington Examiner
Sam Blewett / Politico:
Burnham exchanged messages with impersonator of top Trump aide — The U.K. leader believed he was communicating with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. — LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham engaged with messages from somebody impersonating one of Donald Trump's closest advisers, four officials have told POLITICO.
Discussion:
The Guardian, NOTUS, Forbes, New York Times, Washington Examiner, BBC, CBS News, Associated Press, Breitbart, The Sun, NewsMax.com, The Independent, Metro.co.uk, Bloomberg, KQTV-TV and The Gateway Pundit
Washington Post:
Supreme Court asked to hear case on Texas law requiring Ten Commandments in schools — The case could set up a landmark clash over the separation of church and state. — Summary — Civil liberties groups on Monday asked the Supreme Court to hear their challenge of a Texas law requiring …
Discussion:
Common Dreams
Steve Benen / MS NOW:
New evidence suggests White House took steps to punish Colorado over Tina Peters case — Exactly one year ago this week, Donald Trump threatened to impose “harsh measures” on the state of Colorado unless it agreed to release election denier Tina Peters from prison several years before her sentence runs its course.
Discussion:
Democracy Docket and The Colorado Sun
Jason Koebler / 404 Media:
‘Show How 3M Is 0% at Fault:’ Expert Witness Used ChatGPT to Write Report Defending Company in Deadly Explosion Lawsuit — ChatGPT prompts show how an expert witness report was created in a $61 million lawsuit over an explosion that killed three people. — An expert witness testifying …
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
Is the DSA a Republican Psy-Op? — If I told you the DSA was secretly run by Roger Stone to hurt Democrats it would make more sense than . . . this. — 1. Sides — Over the weekend Hakeem Jeffries was asked if he endorsed the agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America. He said no.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, The Hill, Fox News, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Wire and Washington Times
Courtenay Brown / Axios:
Why prescription drug prices are plunging — America is experiencing its biggest prescription drug price deflation in generations. … - Prices haven't risen in any month this year, an unusually persistent stretch of flat or falling drug prices. — The downward trend comes as costs …
Discussion:
New York Post, Townhall, RedState, The White House, STAT and The Gateway Pundit
Brian Beutler / Off Message:
Reclaiming “Normalization” — Normalization is a dirty word in the pro-democracy movement, because we associate it with the many ways elites and institutions under-reacted to authoritarianism and corrupt conduct when Donald Trump brought them to the center of national politics.
Mike Zapler / Axios:
The Democratic establishment's ideas deficit — The centrist Democratic group Third Way recently declared “war” on democratic socialists to head off what they fear could be a far-left hijacking of the party ahead of 2028. — But establishment Democrats have made clear what they're …
Discussion:
The Hill, American Greatness, New York Times, No More Mister Nice Blog and Washington Post
David Strom / HotAir:
Don't Say Sophie! — No matter how much of a disaster you think the WNBA has been lately, the geniuses at the League are determined to prove that they can make the problems worse. — AOC is right that Woke One was crazy; what she leaves out is that Woke Two, Three, and Four are or will be crazier yet.
Discussion:
Louder With Crowder, RedState, Legal Insurrection and The Post Millennial
Anna Bower / Lawfare:
What's So Special about a Special Grand Jury? — A primer on how special grand juries work, what federal law actually permits them to do, and why this one might backfire. — annabower.bsky.social — Meet The Authors — The Justice Department has empaneled a special grand jury in Washington …
Rebecca Santana / Associated Press:
Trump administration pauses contentious border construction in Texas' Big Bend National Park — The Trump administration says it is temporarily pausing construction of a controversial border construction project in the Big Bend National Park while the head of the agency tasked with building …
NOTUS:
James Talarico's Campaign Is Refunding Over $1 Million in Excess Contributions — James Talarico keeps raising too much money. — The Texas Democrat has already raised more than $70 million in his bid to defeat state Attorney General Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate — more than any other non-incumbent candidate …
Discussion:
RedState
Matthew Choi / Washington Post:
Cassidy on Trump's vaccine overhaul: ‘Crazy, stupid thing’ — Sen. Bill Cassidy blasted President Donald Trump's recent executive order that calls for unbundling the childhood MMR vaccine into three individual shots. — Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) blasted President Donald Trump's …
Discussion:
The Guardian, New York Post and ABC News
Mac William Bishop / Rolling Stone:
Trump Has Opened the Door for Putin to Make a Move on NATO — The alliance that has kept Russia at bay for nearly 75 years is starting to crack, and the U.S. may be hastening its dissolution — President Donald Trump is providing Russian President Vladimir Putin a window of opportunity …
Discussion:
The Atlantic
Thomas Beaumont / Associated Press:
Trump dwarfs his predecessors in the number of ultra-rich in his second White House, report shows — Wealth, perhaps second only to loyalty, has been a prized attribute for Donald Trump during his second presidency. — The number of people worth at least $100 million whom the Republican president …
Discussion:
Common Dreams
