“The parents of former Raiders running back Doug Martin say that the excessive force Oakland police officers used on their son during a mental health crisis led to his death in October, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday. Martin died in police custody on Oct. 18. In a statement released two days later, the Oakland Police Department said the 36-year-old was involved in an alleged break-in near the Oakland Zoo. … According to the suit, Martin fled to a nearby neighbor’s home during what his family described in the immediate aftermath as a mental health crisis, where police found him in the basement. The suit acknowledges a struggle but alleges that officers placed Martin face down on the ground with at least one officer on his back. When Martin appeared to be unconscious, the lawsuit alleges, police thought he was sleeping or pretending to be asleep.” (06/26/26)
“During an April Senate hearing dominated by debate over the Iran war, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth batted down criticisms from skeptical members of Congress, saying ‘I believe we do have the support of the American people’ in this conflict. Hegseth, it turns out, was wrong. Two months later, we can now confidently say that the Iran conflict is the most unpopular war in U.S. history. When I compared public opinion on the Iran War to previous major U.S. conflicts in May, it hadn’t quite reached the Vietnam War’s level of unpopularity. But polling from June shows that the Iran War has now sunk to negative 32% net support — below the negative 31% recorded in the final poll during Vietnam.” (06/26/26)
“The world’s biggest superconducting magnet for a nuclear fusion reactor has passed final tests as part of China’s CRAFT ‘artificial sun’ project, eclipsing international performance benchmarks. The assembly comprises two coils: a toroidal-field magnet that acts as a magnetic cage, and a central solenoid that serves as the igniter. The results, achieved by researchers with the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, clear a major engineering hurdle on the path to confining a plasma hotter than the sun’s core, state news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday. The project – the Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology – aims to create a miniature sun at over 100 million degrees Celsius (over 180 million Fahrenheit) and trap it inside a doughnut-shaped metal cage to generate electricity.” (06/28/26)
“Since its inception, the government of the United States has inexorably exceeded its powers under the Constitution. All three branches have been complicit in a consistent pattern of constitutional indifference. … that behavior is nowhere as manifest and harmful as war.” (06/26/26)
“Iran’s armed forces struck a container ship that was passing through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, according to U.S. and Iranian officials, undermining efforts to restore shipping traffic through the crucial waterway. The attack came hours after Iran, demonstrating its control over the strait, had warned ships that the only route through the vital pathway for oil and natural gas was through its waters. Many ships had been using a route on the southern side of the strait, hugging the Omani coast.
The strike halted traffic through the crucial waterway, contradicting President Trump’s claim that Iran did not control the strait and his assurances that it was open once again to shipping. Oil prices jumped after the attack, with the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, rising over 2 percent to about $75 a barrel.” (06/25/26)
“My solution has three parts. Part one: Drain the pool. Part two: Zone the pool ‘commercial.’ Part three: Auction the pool off to a new, private sector, owner. I mean, it’s prime commercial real estate, right? Smack in the middle of a busy tourist area, lots of people walking around all day long with money in their pockets. And have you ever noticed what that tourist area’s called? ‘The National Mall.’ But good luck finding a Nordstrom or Bath & Body Works there. It’s mostly just museums and statues of, or for, dead people.” (06/25/26)
“Roughly $10.63 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) options expire on Deribit Friday. The settlement drops into a market that keeps sliding lower while traders hunt for a floor. Bitcoin trades near $60,200 after a 2% daily drop, while ether sits around $1,580 after a steeper 4.43% fall. Both rest far below their options max pain levels. Friday’s settlement ranks as the quarter’s largest options event on Deribit. The bulk of expiring value sits in Bitcoin, with notional contracts worth about $9.06 billion against ether’s $1.57 billion. Max pain marks the price where the most options expire worthless.” (06/26/26)
