Ukrainian attacks on Russia kill one as Kyiv continues to target tankers and refineries

Source: ABC News

“A Ukrainian attack in southwest Russia killed one person and wounded three more, local officials said Sunday, as Kyiv’s forces continued to bombard Russia’s oil facilities. The head of Russia’s Samara region, Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, said that a child was among the injured. He also said that residential homes and apartment buildings were damaged in the strike, as well as an unspecified ‘industrial site.’ Russian media outlets reported that the attack’s target was the region’s Syzran Oil Refinery, with many sharing images that appeared to show plumes of black smoke rising over the site.” (07/12/26)

https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/ukrainian-attacks-russia-kill-1-kyiv-continues-target-134689098

The vibe shift in American socialism

Source: Washington Post
by Megan McArdle

“I stand by my assertion that the Soviet Union’s demise cast a long pall over the word ‘socialism’” — at least for those who had not already recoiled from the purges, famines and censorship. I grew up on the Upper West Side, one of the remaining redoubts of socialism in the Reagan era, and watched as the toppling of the Berlin Wall crushed the last hopes that central planning could work. Encountering a socialist holdout in the 1990s was as quaint as finding someone who still believed in alchemy. This makes the current renaissance all the more remarkable. Yet what’s also striking is how little the movement resembles the socialists I remember from my youth.” (07/12/26)

https://archive.is/zuxiW

Bitcoin, ether ETFs snap eight-week outflow streaks with $282 million combined inflow

Source: The Block

“U.S. spot bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds returned to weekly net inflows for the first time since early May, collecting a combined $281.8 million over the five trading days ending Friday, according to The Block’s analysis of SoSoValue data. The spot bitcoin ETFs posted approximately $197.4 million in net inflows for the week, ending an eight-week run that had drained about $8.26 billion from the products. The funds last recorded a positive week in the five days ending May 8, when they brought in roughly $622.7 million, per the data. The losing streak was the longest since the funds began trading in January 2024.” (07/11/26)

https://www.theblock.co/post/407957/bitcoin-ether-etfs-snap-eight-week-outflow-streaks-with-282-million-combined-inflow

How Israel and American Zionists Are Canceling First Amendment

Source: CounterPunch
by Jamal Kanj

“Pro-Israel foundations fund Think Tanks and media organizations that set the parameters of acceptable debate before a single word is written. Social media algorithms suppress Palestinian postings while amplifying Israeli military statements as authoritative fact. TikTok became a ‘Chinese security risk’ the moment it fell outside their algorithmic control. American Zionists pressured Congress to force its sale, ensuring the last major social media platform joined every other American social media outlet under the thumb of Israel-first ownership. Zionist influence over social media is not a conspiracy theory; it is an openly declared strategy. … Israel’s bullying of American activists critical of Israel and media outlets is not about defamation or even prevailing in court. It is a deterrence strategy by making the financial cost of covering Israeli war crimes high enough that editors think twice before approving the next investigation.” (07/10/26)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/10/how-israel-and-american-zionists-are-canceling-first-amendment/

Four Reporters Subpoenaed After Asking About Trump’s Qatari Air Force One’s Defenses

Source: Military.com

“On Friday, federal agents delivered grand jury subpoenas to four New York Times journalists, arriving in some cases at their homes, days after the paper reported the Secret Service had urged President Donald Trump to leave Turkey aboard an older jet rather than his new Qatari-gifted Air Force One. The subpoenas order Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, and Eric Schmitt to testify Wednesday before a federal grand jury in Manhattan ‘in regard to an alleged violation of criminal law,’ according to the Times, which says it will fight the order. David McCraw, the paper’s newsroom lawyer, said the sight of federal agents on reporters’ doorsteps ‘should shock the conscience of any American.’ Issuing them was Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, whom Trump nominated last month to serve as director of national intelligence, the Times reported.” (07/11/26)

https://www.military.com/justice-department-subpoenas-reporters-air-force-one-security

War Watch: The Masque of the Red Death

Source: The Realist Review
by Martin Sieff

“They were lucky in 1914: They only had the Guns of August to worry about. Here in 2026, we are facing thermonuclear weapons. However, now Prince Prospero himself – in the guise of US President Donald Trump – has just presided over the latest NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. Far more than the ghastly, doomed revelry in Roger Corman’s classic 1964 schlock horror movie starring Vincent Price and Hazel Court, it has been the last and greatest ‘Masque of the Red Death.'” (07/11/26)

https://therealistreview.substack.com/p/war-watch-the-masque-of-the-red-death

McConnell finally resurfaces

Source: News Channel 9

“A long-awaited response from Sen. Mitch McConnell has been released about his June 14 hospitalization. In a press release, the Kentucky Senator shared what his doctors have confirmed about his condition, and that he was hesitant to share the news. He reports that a fall was the cause of the hospitalization. The statement comes after Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear requested an official update from Sen. McConnell himself regarding his health after weeks of silence.” (07/12/26)

https://newschannel9.com/news/nation-world/statement-from-sen-mitch-mcconnell-regarding-health-announces-retirement?teaserSource=trending

The Supreme Court has ruled: One jury shouldn’t write the nation’s warning labels

Source: The Hill
by Cory L Andrews

“Last month, the Supreme Court held in Monsanto v. Durnell that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, in tandem with the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, bars a state jury from punishing the maker of Roundup for omitting a cancer warning the EPA has repeatedly refused to require. The decision was right on the law. The reason has less to do with weedkiller than with who, in a country of 50 states and one federal regulator, gets to write the label.” (07/10/26)

https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/5959470-supreme-court-monsanto-glyphosate-ruling/