“Protesters in Bolivia demanding the resignation of conservative President Rodrigo Paz hurled firecrackers, stones and sticks at police who responded with tear gas on Monday, leading to dozens of arrests as road blockades continue to paralyze the Andean nation. The renewed clashes in the central city of Cochabamba erupted after President Paz signed a measure that could pave the way for a hard-line government crackdown on the demonstrations that have roiled Bolivia over the past five weeks, disrupting transportation and causing shortages of food, fuel and medical supplies. Bolivia’s national workers’ union, peasant farmers and Indigenous groups from the highlands — outraged over Paz’s scrapping of fuel subsidies and frustrated with his failure in the last seven months to resolve Bolivia’s persistent economic problems — have set up 90 blockades on key routes nationwide, effectively isolating major cities, especially La Paz, the seat of government and neighboring El Alto.” (06/09/26)
“The famed historian Gordon S. Wood died on Sunday, struck by a car in a parking lot at the age of 92. He was his generation’s foremost scholar of the American Revolution and the early Republic, and for decades he pressed a single argument with alacrity. The argument was this: the American Revolution was the most radical event in American history, and the men who made it neither intended nor controlled the radicalism they unleashed.” (06/09/26)
“A lawyer who represented Ken Paxton, Texas’s attorney general, for nearly a decade over accusations of corruption and securities fraud is supporting Democrat James Talarico – and not his former client – in one of the biggest US Senate races. Talarico on Monday drew attention to his campaign winning the endorsement of Houston attorney Dan Cogdell, who was part of Paxton’s defense team during the Republican’s historic impeachment trial in 2023 that ended in acquittal. The legal troubles that shadowed Paxton in public office in Texas are a central attack line of Talarico’s campaign, though in his endorsement, Cogdell didn’t cite concerns about his client’s past. Cogdell said he didn’t dislike Paxton as a person and felt that Texas lawmakers were right to eventually acquit the attorney general. But as a politician, Cogdell said, Paxton is too focused on appeasing Donald Trump.” (06/09/26)
“Do you know the documented history of decades of illegal Israeli government spying on Washington? Do you know who was involved in the nuclear smuggling ring that stole America’s nuclear secrets to build Israel’s illegal and still undeclared nuclear arsenal? Do you know about Unit 8200 and the inescapable web of cyber spying operations that leads from Tel Aviv to Washington right through Epstein Island? Well, you’re about to! Strap in and get ready.” (06/09/26)
“The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) recently released a study by David Primo measuring faculty viewpoint diversity through campaign-contribution data. The average faculty donor scored only slightly to the right of progressives like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. The findings and criticism traveled quickly. John K. Wilson, writing in Inside Higher Ed, pronounced the study ‘worthless’ because most faculty never make campaign contributions, so a sample of donors cannot describe the average professor. On the narrow point he is right: a sample of donors is not a sample of all faculty. ‘Worthless’ is a serious conclusion — a verdict that, applied consistently, would discard nearly every measure we have.” (06/09/26)
“Christian religious leaders from Lebanon’s southern port city of Tyre called on the international community and Lebanese officials on Tuesday to act quickly to prevent Israel from attacking the Christian district of the city, as airstrikes on nearby neighborhoods killed eight people and wounded dozens of others. The Israeli military has issued an evacuation warning for the port city, including the Christian quarter, which has been spared so far. The statement by the Christian leaders was from George Iskandar, the metropolitan archbishop of Tyre for the Melkite Greek Catholic Church; Elias Kfoury, the Greek Orthodox metropolitan of Tyre, Sidon and Dependencies; and Charbel Abdullah, the archeparch of the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre. The warning from Israel’s military prompted hundreds of people to flee the Christian district along the Mediterranean coast, while members of the Civil Defense evacuated older people to safer areas, the state-run National News Agency said.” (06/09/26)
“‘We are capitalist, not socialist.’ Those words are from the ‘Promise to America’ pledge promoted by a new group of the same name and unveiled last week by Reps. Tom Suozzi (D-New York) and Rep. Adam Gray (D-California). … they declare: ‘We are proud, not ashamed of America.’ The Post suggests, however, that this slogan ‘could be polarizing on the left.’ Sure, it is a much different message than Maine Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner has expressed.” (06/09/26)
“Long championed as a leader in adopting digital technology, Sweden is set to ban mobile phones in schools beginning in the fall for the next academic year as part of a broad, international reversal on the use of screens in classrooms. Since 2023, the Scandinavian country’s center-right coalition government has pursued a policy prioritizing more reading time and less screen time, particularly among preschool students, by favoring books and other traditional learning tools.” [editor’s note: The story hints, but doesn’t say, that mobile phones will NOT be banned in schools generally … just for students. Teachers and administrators will likely still be allowed to doomscroll to their hearts’ content – TLK] (06/09/26)
Source: Niskanen Center
by Lawson Mansell & Jonathan Wolfson
“Nearly 15 million Californians live in communities with too few primary care doctors. In many communities, patients face long waits for appointments, struggle to find a physician accepting new patients, or must travel significant distances for routine care. The shortage is especially acute in rural communities, the Inland Empire, and the San Joaquin Valley, where access to healthcare often depends on a patient’s ZIP code rather than their medical needs. The California Senate now has an opportunity to address part of that challenge.” (06/09/26)
