“I recently got the chance to walk through the exhibits of the Barack Obama Presidential Center before its opening on Thursday. Looking at photos of the young Obama as a community organizer in Chicago, watching video clips of those iconic speeches that marked his dream-like rise from a nobody to leader of the free world, I was reminded of a time when our politics was more hopeful, our social sector was more constructive, and the two were aligned in the service of the nation.” (06/21/26)
“Romania’s prime minister-designate Adrian Vestea asked parliament late on Sunday for a vote of confidence, banking on support from the country’s largest party, but his cabinet is unlikely to pass without support from the opposition far right. Centrist President Nicusor Dan nominated Liberal Party member Vestea earlier this week without consulting the party, in what analysts said was a forceful attempt to rebuild a pro-European government to carry out reforms and keep cutting the largest budget deficit in the European Union. … On Sunday, the Liberals reiterated they would no longer join a ruling coalition with the Social Democrats and voted to exclude Vestea from their ranks, as well as any party member who would back or join his government.” (06/22/26)
“Scott interviews William Van Wagenen about what he’s been seeing in southern Lebanon as the fighting between Hezbollah and the IDF drags on. They also discuss the Western-backed bin Ladinite regime in Syria.” (06/21/26)
“Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukrainian forces have struck energy and military infrastructure either side of a key bridge linking occupied [sic] Crimea and Russia. The Russia-appointed Crimean governor Sergei Aksyonov said fuel stations across the peninsula suspended sales to the public and businesses, with supplies restricted to government agencies responsible for essential services and security. Russian authorities said at least five people were killed and 28 injured in the attacks, adding that air defences had downed 239 Ukrainian drones overnight.” (06/22/26)
“‘The state,’ 19th century French economist Frédéric Bastiat wrote, ‘is the great fiction by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.’ Many, maybe even most, people seem to believe that without government we not only wouldn’t, but couldn’t, have things like roads, schools, mail delivery, and electricity. And yet all those things existed long before any of the governments that provide them today existed, and in some cases long before political government itself, as we understand it, existed.” (06/21/26)
“U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Monday that he will stand down as Labour leader and prime minster, ending months of political turmoil and opening a contest to replace him. The announcement follows mounting pressure on the prime minister after Labour suffered heavy losses in local elections in May and faced an increasingly vocal rebellion from his own lawmakers over his leadership and policy agenda. The move comes less than two years after Starmer led Labour to one of its largest parliamentary majorities in the 2024 general election. In a statement outside 10 Downing Street shortly after 9:30 a.m. in London, Starmer said he would remain in post until any leadership contest is completed, which he said would help ensure an orderly handover of power.” (06/22/26)
“On Wednesday the Interior Department announced that it would pay the energy developer Invenergy $765 million not to develop three offshore wind farms. This is the third such payment by the Trump administration to undo offshore wind projects that have been years in the planning. Trump has so far committed $2.5 billion in taxpayer dollars to killing renewable energy projects. … Yet here’s the irony: Donald Trump’s disastrous Iran war has delivered a huge boost for renewable energy around the world — except in the U.S.. Trump has so far done more to shift the global economy away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy than any other single individual in history.” (06/19/26)
“Political outsider Abelardo de la Espriella held a razor-thin lead in Colombia’s presidential election with nearly all the votes counted Sunday, in a runoff vote marked by people’s fears of a renewed internal conflict. A victory by de la Espriella would effectively be an indictment of the policies of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, whose protégé had promised to continue his agenda if he defeated his rival. De la Espriella, a business owner and lawyer who earned U.S. President Donald Trump’s endorsement despite never having run for office, led progressive lawmaker Iván Cepeda taking 49.7% of the votes, with 99.9% of the results released by electoral authorities. Cepeda, Petro’s ally, earned 48.7% support. Election officials have not formally announced a winner. … Cepeda told supporters that his campaign considers the count ‘unofficial and non-binding’ and that his team will challenge results from more than 30,000 voting stations.” (06/22/26)
