Judge bars deportation of witness in ICE gang’s murder of Mexican homebuilder

Source: NBC News

“A federal judge has barred the deportation of a witness in the [murder] of a Mexican homebuilder by federal immigration officers during a traffic stop in Houston. Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego was one of three passengers in a van driven by Lorenzo Araujo Salgado when Araujo Salgado was [murdered] by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on July 7 while they were driving to work at a construction site. … Rojas Pliego must remain in the Southern District of Texas while his habeas petition is pending, U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison wrote in an order on Monday. Rojas Pliego says he is being held unconstitutionally in ICE custody, court records show.” (07/22/26)

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-bars-deportation-witness-fatal-ice-shooting-mexican-homebuilder-rcna588690

Quandaries That Should Not Exist

Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Laurence M Vance

“No American is entitled to health care or health insurance that he does not pay for. No American should be forced to pay for or subsidize the health care or health insurance of any other American. Health care and health insurance are services that can and should be provided on the free market just like other services. No American is entitled to eat or drink anything unless he pays for it or some other American voluntarily pays for it or gives it to him. All food aid should be privately given and privately funded. No American is entitled to welfare payments at the expense of any other American. No income should be transferred from one American to another.” (07/22/26)

https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/quandaries-that-should-not-exist/

LA Must Stop Bidding for Mega Sports Events

Source: Common Dreams
by Cerianne Robertson

“LA’s World Cup experience reinforces concerns about the city’s ongoing efforts to bring one sports mega event after another to the region. Hosting major events always gobbles up public resources that could otherwise be directed toward pressing needs, while host cities under pressure to sparkle on camera often violate residents’ rights. The people paid to organize these big events, like [Paul] Krekorian, love to repeat myths about mega-event benefits while pooh-poohing questions about the costs.” (07/22/26)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/la-stop-bidding-for-sports

Judge rules Trump must hand over financial info in frivolous suit vs. BBC

Source: New York Post

“President Trump must make detailed information about his finances available to attorneys for the BBC in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the venerable UK broadcaster, a Miami judge ruled Tuesday. The president had accused the Beeb of defaming him by deceptively editing his speech at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021, ahead of the Capitol riot …. The initial complaint, filed in December, argued that ‘the injury to President Trump’s business and personal reputation … continue into the present, thereby causing massive economic damage to his brand value and … direct harm to his professional and occupational interests, including, without limitation, the value of his brand, properties, and businesses’. On Tuesday, US Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett ruled that Trump had to back those claims up …” (07/22/26)

https://nypost.com/2026/07/22/us-news/trump-must-hand-over-financial-information-in-10b-defamation-suit-against-bbc-judge-rules/

What Trump doesn’t know, or want you to know, about elections

Source: USA Today
by Chris Brennan

“It didn’t take long for President Donald Trump’s latest conspiracy rant about elections, this time dressed up like a national address on July 16, to start falling apart. Trump’s claims about China meddling in American elections flopped, even as the documents he declassified inadvertently confirmed that Russia tried to influence our presidential elections in his favor. Ultimately, Trump offered zero proof that any votes had been changed in the 2016, 2020 or 2024 elections. But what really stood out is just how much Trump showed us he doesn’t know about how elections are run in America. And this, too, matters – he doesn’t seem at all interested in learning the ins and outs of elections, even as he has spent a decade trying to destabilize America’s confidence in how we vote.” (07/22/26)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/07/22/trump-election-security-china-russia-influence-voting/90993464007/

The Top Gun: Maverick Theory of Pete Hegseth

Source: The Atlantic
by Missy Ryan

“Maverick is a seasoned military man who resolutely refuses to grow up. He remains stuck in the same rank he has occupied for years, attached to the same mentality, concerns, and priorities. Although three decades have passed, he hasn’t progressed, instead spending his time on rebellious flying, seaside sports, and drinking in dive bars. His is an arrested development. The most unrealistic aspect of this portrayal is that, in 2026, that profile would make Mav not a superannuated flight instructor, but secretary of defense.” (07/22/26)

https://archive.is/HKQoq

Washington Can’t Afford to Let the US Lose the Open-Source AI War

Source: American Greatness
by Julio Rivera

“The greatest danger isn’t that China builds a better AI model. It’s that China builds the AI platform the rest of the world decides to use. Those are two very different contests.” (07/22/26)

https://amgreatness.com/2026/07/22/washington-cant-afford-to-let-the-us-lose-the-open-source-ai-war/