“Tropical Depression Two is expected to strengthen into Tropical Storm Bertha later Monday in the eastern Gulf, which would become the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Tropical Depression Two formed in the eastern Gulf on Sunday and is expected to bring days of heavy rainfall to parts of the Southeast. Tropical Depression Two was located about 100 miles south of the eastern Florida Panhandle Monday morning, with maximum sustained winds increasing to 35 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). … According to the NHC, Tropical Depression Two is currently forecast to move slowly northwest along the northern Gulf Coast over the next several days.” (07/20/26)
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Andre Pagliarini
“[T]here’s a reason Washington’s tariffs and the Brazilian presidential race have become inseparable. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of the convicted former president and Lula’s likely opponent in the October election, visited Trump, Rubio, and other senior officials in Washington in May. He returned to lobby USTR directly again in July, this time asking for a 180-day delay so the tariffs wouldn’t land before Brazilians voted. His argument was candid about the politics involved: imposing the tariffs now, he told American officials, would hand Lula ‘precisely the political victory’ the president’s campaign has been ‘engineering.’ Lula, for his part, has accused the senator, whose brother advocated for Trump’s trade war against Brazil last year, of committing ‘yet another act of treason against the Fatherland.'” (07/20/26)
“Boris Nadezhdin, a Russian anti-war politician who had hoped to stand in parliamentary elections later this year, has announced he is ending his role in opposition politics for now, blaming what he said were politically-motivated legal setbacks. Nadezhdin, 63, a former liberal lawmaker, has been an outspoken critic of Moscow’s war in Ukraine …. In a statement, Nadezhdin said he had ran out of political road however, after a series of setbacks. He received a small fine on Friday for displaying ‘extremist symbols’ and was this month designated a ‘foreign agent’ by the justice ministry. Both rulings disqualified him from running for the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, in September elections, his statement – issued on Sunday – said. He said he had also been banned from leaving Russia.” (07/20/26)
“Was 10/7 a false flag event? And, more importantly, what evidence can be presented to reliably inform such an assessment? Strap in and get ready, folks. Today James engages in a good old-fashioned Corbett Report deep dive to get to the bottom of the spectacular attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.” (07/20/26)
“Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, 84, has been absent from Congress, hospitalized for weeks — first with no comment on his medical condition, still with very little information divulged. There should be an ethic in public service that when one is incapacitated, one hands the trust given back to the public to fill anew. Sadly, this tradition has fallen victim to … take your pick: incumbency, partisanship, lack of electoral competition, Cicero’s times/mores. History’s third-oldest U.S. Congress ‘boasts’ 23 members of the House and Senate now eighty years old or older.” (07/20/26)
“A collection of poems, some scribbled on slips of paper between food deliveries, has won Wang Jibing one of China’s top literary honours. Low Flight, inspired by the everyday challenges delivery riders face, has bagged the Lu Xun Literary Prize – named after a writer who has been referred to as the father of modern Chinese literature. … The monetary awards for recipients of the Lu Xun Literary Prize are not publicly announced – though as of 2014 it stood at 100,000 Chinese yuan ($14,800; £11,000). Born in Jiangsu province, Wang left school as a teenager due to financial hardship at home. He took on various jobs, from construction to scavenging for waste and selling things at a street stall, before becoming a food deliveryman. But his love for reading persisted, and over the last decade he has been posting his own poems and essays on social media.” (07/20/26)
