Hungary: Parliament passes constitutional amendment to remove Orbán-era president

Source: ABC News

“Hungary’s Parliament voted Monday to pass a constitutional amendment aimed at removing President Tamás Sulyok, part of an effort by the country’s new leadership to dismantle the autocratic political system of former prime minister Viktor Orbán. After winning in a landslide election in April, Prime Minister Péter Magyar and his pro-European, center-right Tisza party hold a two-thirds majority in Parliament, allowing them to make constitutional changes and roll back many of the policies Orbán implemented during his 16 years in power. The constitutional amendment, which had the stated purpose of ‘restoring rule-of-law democracy,’ passed with 139 votes for and six against. Tisza lawmakers held a standing ovation after the vote, while lawmakers from Orbán’s far-right Fidesz party boycotted the parliamentary session.” (07/13/26)

https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/hungary-passes-constitutional-amendment-remove-orbn-era-president-134720264

Hiding Racism and Nativism Behind “Heritage American”

Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye

“Ayn Rand captured the moral bankruptcy of racism better than almost anyone when she wrote that it is ‘the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism.’ She understood that racism reduces human beings to representatives of a group, assigning moral, social, and political significance to ancestry rather than treating people as individuals. That’s why phrases like ‘heritage American’ bother me. The phrase is deliberately vague. … Every American has a heritage. The descendants of enslaved people have one. The descendants of Ellis Island immigrants have one. The children of Vietnamese refugees have one. Native Americans certainly have one. Heritage isn’t the distinguishing feature. The phrase only makes sense if ‘heritage’ refers to a particular ancestry that some people believe is more authentically American than others.” (07/13/26)

https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/hiding-racism-and-nativism-behind

While the Political Circus Distracts Us, Flock Builds the Digital Police State

Source: Rutherford Institute
by John & Nisha Whitehead

“The government is watching. It watches where you go, whom you meet, where you worship, what medical offices you visit, what political rallies you attend, what protests you join, what books you read, what websites you visit and what causes you support. It watches through your phone, your car, your doorbell, your appliances, your purchases, your social media accounts and the cameras positioned along the roads you travel every day. This is how freedom dies in the digital police state: not always through dramatic declarations of martial law or soldiers stationed on every street corner, but through the gradual construction of a technological dragnet—an electronic concentration camp—so pervasive that privacy becomes impossible and anonymity becomes suspicious.” (07/13/26)

https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/while_the_political_circus_distracts_us_flock_builds_the_digital_police_state

MN: Prosecutors get long-withheld evidence in Good, Pretti murders

Source: The Guardian [UK]

“Previously withheld evidence regarding the [murders] of Renée Good and Alex Pretti is now in the hands of Minnesota prosecutors, helping the state gain clarity on the [murders] that occurred earlier this year during protests against a federal immigration crackdown. ‘Through the cooperation of our federal partners, we have obtained hard drives of previously withheld evidence in the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, and the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis,’ the Hennepin county attorney, Mary Moriarty, said in a video statement posted on social media. The newly obtained evidence includes Good’s car, statements, police body-camera video and other evidence that federal officials had previously withheld in the [murders].” (07/13/26)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/13/renee-good-alex-pretti-minnesota-evidence

Microlooters and Macrolooters

Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders

“Jennifer Baker, PhD, receives about $100,000 per year in monetary compensation, plus an additional ~$30,000 in benefits. Because she works at a state university—The University of Charleston—supported by both state and federal taxpayers, she is the direct beneficiary of what we might call macrolooting. Her salary depends, at least in part, on compulsory taxation, placing her in the comfortable position of evaluating the ethics of breaching paywalls while leaving the coercive institutions that fund her livelihood unexamined. … ‘let’s turn now to the subject of ‘microlooting.’ Here, Baker opens a recent Psychology Today post. ‘If you deliberately scan one fewer lemon than you are taking at the self-checkout at Whole Foods, you might be ‘microlooting.'” (07/13/26)

https://underthrow.substack.com/p/microlooters-and-macrolooters

Congressional Ratification of President Trump’s Corporatism

Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul

“Despite regularly denouncing the rising socialist menace, President Trump has been pursuing a policy arguably just as, if not more, dangerous to liberty and prosperity as anything proposed by Zohran Mamdani or Bernie Sanders: using government funds to purchase partial ownership of private companies. The Trump administration has obtained ownership interests of approximately 27 billion dollars in 30 companies since January of 2025. While President Trump and his defenders claim making these ‘investments’ will benefit the American people, the truth is this policy will harm most Americans.” (07/13/26)

http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/congressional-ratification-of-president-trumps-corporatism

Lindsey Graham’s Legacy? It’s About One Thing Only, and It Isn’t Good

Source: The New Republic
by Michael Tomasky

“He alone had the moral authority within the Republican Party to try to stop Donald Trump, especially after January 6. He chose not to. That’s what we must remember today.” (07/13/26)

https://newrepublic.com/article/212980/lindsey-graham-legacy-trump-enabler

Guinea-Bissau: Junta Court Orders Opposition Leader Back to Jail

Source: US News & World Report

“Guinea-Bissau opposition ⁠leader ⁠and former Prime Minister ⁠Domingos Simoes Pereira was moved back to ​prison last Friday following a decision by the West ‌African country’s military court, ‌his family told Reuters. The junta that seized ⁠power ⁠in Guinea-Bissau in a coup last year released Pereira, ​the leader of the revolutionary PAIGC party, in February in an apparent attempt to appease the West African regional ​bloc ECOWAS. He had remained under house arrest on ⁠suspicion of ⁠economic crimes. … Pereira was ⁠previously detained on November 26 when a group of army ⁠officers seized power before the planned announcement of presidential election results.” (07/13/26)

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-07-13/guinea-bissau-military-court-orders-opposition-leader-back-to-jail