Source: France 24 [French state media]
“The Palestinian movement Hamas announced Monday that it had dissolved its governing body in the Gaza Strip after nearly 20 years in power, paving the way for a technocratic committee to administer the territory. … The dissolution of the Hamas body paves the way for the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), headed by Palestinian official Ali Shaath, to assume administrative responsibilities. The NCAG was established by the Board of Peace, which was in turn set up by US President Donald Trump when he brokered the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel last October. But it has remained based outside Gaza for months, reportedly due to Israeli objections to its entry into the war-devastated territory.” (07/06/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20260706-hamas-dissolves-gaza-governing-body-clearing-way-for-technocratic-committee
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“We live in condition Z. The libertarian anarchists both want condition A, which is a society without a monopoly government. The gnostic anarchist looks at A, sees the vision clearly, and falls in love with what he sees. He pictures the end state in fine detail and then, in his mind, simply arrives: Z to A, with no intervening steps. Because A is the only acceptable condition to the gnostic anarchist, every other governance arrangement is equally illegitimate to him, and fighting over any of them is silly or wrong-headed. … The directional anarchist keeps the same destination in view and never loses sight of A. But he knows he is standing on real ground, and that the climb has a topography. … A direct path to A is not on the board. It is not a path he nobly refuses; it is a path that does not exist.” (07/06/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/gnostic-anarchists
Source: Reason
“Can You Hate the Government and Still Love America?” (07/06/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/07/06/can-you-hate-the-government-and-still-love-america/
Source: US News & World Report
“The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to block a Texas law requiring app stores and developers to verify the age of mobile device users, and for minors to obtain parental consent, to download apps or make purchases, acting in a challenge on free speech grounds by a technology industry group and students. The justices denied requests by the challengers to lift a lower court’s decision that had allowed the law to take effect while litigation continues over whether it violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, which protects against government abridgement of free speech. … The Supreme Court last year upheld a different state law that requires age verification by pornographic websites, rejecting the adult entertainment industry’s [irrefutably true] claim that the measure violated the First Amendment rights of adults.” (07/06/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2026-07-06/us-supreme-court-wont-block-texas-app-store-age-verification-law
Source: Foreign Policy
by Stephen M Walt
“Even if you’ve never read On War, you probably know Carl von Clausewitz’s famous dictum that ‘war is the continuation of politics by other means.’ His point was that war should always have a clear political objective, which must guide the choice of strategy and the manner in which military power is used. Brilliant battlefield achievements are meaningless if they fail to produce the desired political results. I’ve been thinking about this issue a lot lately, and I’m beginning to wonder if war in today’s world is increasingly pointless. I say that with considerable trepidation, because past predictions that war was increasingly costly and likely to become less frequent have not fared well. … So I’m not going to tell you that war is disappearing. It’s not. It’s just becoming increasingly pointless. Consider the recent historical record.” (07/06/26)
https://archive.is/bMnrY
Source: Associated Press
“A woman who previously dated Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner said he drunkenly forced her to have sex after she told him to stop, according to a Politico report released Monday, leading prominent supporters to pull their endorsements and throwing a must-win race for the party into turmoil. Platner denied the allegation, but said he would be considering next steps for his campaign. … Platner won the Democratic nomination last month, setting himself up to face Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who has beaten back previous attempts to dislodge her from the seat that she’s held for nearly three decades. Although Platner has long been controversial, the sexual allegation sparked a flight away from the candidate, who canceled a handful of town hall events.” (07/07/26)
https://apnews.com/article/graham-platner-maine-assault-senate-061e18bdd180928bbcd94b18a52f4ec9
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith
“Thomas Paine did not sign any of the founding documents, either the Declaration or the Constitution. … He was not a member of the Continental Congress. He never held political office at any level. His only military experience was as an aide-de-camp for Major General Nathanael Greene. Thomas Paine was ‘a man who had failed as a skilled craftsman, as a teacher, as a shopkeeper, as a street preacher, as a petty customs official in the Excise, dismissed more than once and a sometime debtor and bankrupt.’ In short, a nobody. At his death in 1809 he was one of the most despised people in the country. Yet, without Thomas Paine, America might have become like Canada—a self-governing dominion under the Crown rather than an independent republic. Without Paine, we don’t get Common Sense and his clarion call for independence from England.” (07/06/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/no-paine-no-declaration
Source: Reuters
“Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s Omsk refinery, the country’s largest and located deep in Siberia, in what would be one of the longest-ranged Ukrainian strikes since the beginning of the war, Kyiv’s military said on Monday, with local Russian authorities also confirming a strike. In a statement, Ukraine’s General Staff said that the strike had caused a fire at the Omsk refinery, which is located around 2,700 km (1,700 miles) from Ukrainian-held territory and close to Russia’s border with Kazakhstan. … Aside from Omsk, Ukraine’s military overnight hit Russia’s Ust-Luga and Vysotsk ports, which handle oil exports on the Baltic Sea, as well as targets in the Kaluga and Yaroslavl regions, local governors said. In Crimea, which Russia seized and annexed from Ukraine in 2014, one woman was killed in a strike on the port of Kerch, Russian-installed authorities said. Sevastopol, the peninsula’s largest city, suffered a blackout, they said.” (07/06/26)
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ukrainian-drones-hit-russias-largest-refinery-one-deepest-strikes-yet-2026-07-06/
Source: The Atlantic
by Marie-Rose Sheinerman
“The official line remains the same: The 10-month campaign of strikes on small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific has nearly stopped the flow of drugs by sea into the United States. In December, President Trump boasted about a 92 percent drop in seaborne shipments. Last month, in an apparent sign of further progress, he said the decline was up to 97.2 percent. But government officials and agencies closest to the action, at sea and on America’s streets, tell a different story. In hearings, official reports, and interviews they have all but given up the pretense that the campaign has succeeded in reducing the flow of drugs into the U.S., even as 221 people have been killed in more than 60 strikes. … street prices for cocaine in the United States have plummeted, the opposite of what would be expected if smugglers were being deterred.” (07/06/26)
https://archive.is/6Suyz
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Utah prosecutors began presenting their case against Tyler James Robinson in the killing of Charlie Kirk on Monday, as part of a five-day preliminary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to proceed to trial. Dozens of exhibits are expected to be presented over the week to state district judge Tony Graf, including several videos of the 10 September shooting, which occurred as the far-right commentator spoke to large crowds at Utah Valley University last year. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Robinson, the 23-year-old who is accused of fatally shooting Kirk, and who has been charged with aggravated murder. They have claimed there is DNA evidence that links Robinson to the weapon believed to be used in the killing, and say Robinson allegedly confessed to the assassination in a note he left his roommate and romantic partner.” (07/06/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/06/charlie-kirk-killing-hearing-begins
