“Rescuers pulled a 43-year-old security guard alive from a collapsed basement early Thursday, ending a grueling days-long operation that became a symbol of hope after the devastation of twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela eight days earlier. Hernán Alberto Gil Flores was extracted safely after being trapped since June 24 under the rubble in the basement of the Galerías Playa Grande shopping center in the coastal town in La Guaira. Rescuers initially made contact with him over the weekend. Teams carrying flags from across the world cheered as rescuers carried Gil, wearing an oxygen mask on a stretcher covered in an orange tarp, through throngs of people into a Red Cross ambulance. A group of men in red Costa Rican Red Cross uniforms embraced and laughed in relief, while others broke out into applause. The rescue was considered a small miracle cutting through a week of tragedy.” (07/02/26)
“We’ve had a pretty good run as a country. Sure, it’s not been a millennium or anything like that, but for a republic in the modern age, the United States turning 250 years old is a pretty major accomplishment, one worth celebrating. That’s what makes it so odd that half the country not only isn’t celebrating, but they’re actively mourning our nation’s continued existence. These people are broken and deserve all the bad that comes their way. Don’t just celebrate July 4 despite them; celebrate it to spite them. Go to any antique store or mall, and you will see countless items from the bicentennial. Everything from blankets to ashtrays can be found. While it’s weird to think that just 50 years ago smoking was very common, it’s weird to think that today love of country is not. But that’s the state of Democrats today.” (07/02/26)
“Albanian police clashed with protesters Thursday as an anti-government demonstration — part of protests triggered by plans for a luxury development linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner — turned violent. Police fired tear gas and pepper spray at protesters who were pelting them with rocks, eggs and other objects. Authorities said 12 police officers were injured and 18 protesters were detained. The gathering was part of daily protests, dubbed the ‘flamingo revolution’, that began more than a month ago in opposition to plans for a luxury coastal development project linked to Kushner. While the protests stemmed from environmental issues related to the development project, they have morphed into more general political demonstrations voicing opposition against the government and Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.” (07/02/26)
“Asian supermarket chain 99 Ranch has been hit with a federal lawsuit alleging that the company racially discriminated against non-Chinese employees when it wrongfully terminated staff based on their race. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a complaint on Tuesday alleging that 99 Ranch’s parent company, Tawa Supermarket Inc., started discriminating against non-Chinese employees as early as 2016, when the employees were not promoted or were paid less than their Chinese colleagues. The lawsuit alleges that several non-Chinese employees were terminated without reason while their Chinese colleagues remained employed. Catherine Eschbach, acting general counsel for the EEOC, said in a statement that the chain’s Asian ownership did not give it an excuse to discriminate against non-Chinese workers.” (07/02/26)
“The Founding Fathers had a finely honed sense of the corroding power of corruption. They wrote prohibitions on self-enrichment and the pull of bribery directly into the Constitution on three separate occasions, banning foreign and domestic gifts, changes to presidential compensation during one’s period in office, and appointments for members of Congress that could be remunerative. They believed that someone treated well by a foreign potentate or stateside special interest would be naturally inclined to benefit them, if even unconsciously, and that a wall needed to be constructed to guard against this. That the Supreme Court has directly or indirectly nullified these one by one is a tragedy. But the court of public opinion, at least as mediated by gatekeepers of information, has also separated what counts as corruption from what counts as a political scandal.” (07/02/26)
“Pete Buttigieg and his family should never have endured a malicious false report that brought police and Child Protective Services to their home, temporarily separated him from his young children, and forced his family through a needless ordeal. Authorities quickly determined the allegations were baseless. The bipartisan condemnation that followed was appropriate. Political leaders from across the country spoke with one voice. Commentators expressed outrage. The message was unmistakable: there are lines that should never be crossed. They were right. But watching the response unfold left me asking a question I have carried since my daughter Katie was killed. Why does our political class know exactly how to respond when one of its own is harmed, yet struggle to summon the same moral urgency when ordinary Americans are actually buried?” (07/01/26)
“Among the slew of decisions being released in the days before the United States Supreme Court adjourns for the summer, two focus on the key issue of presidential or executive power. Each ruling relates specifically to a U.S. president’s ability to remove officeholders in agencies established under acts of Congress. In Trump v. Slaughter, the court ruled 6-3 that the president can fire at will the heads or staff of independent regulatory agencies (in this case, the Federal Trade Commission). In Trump v. Cook, however, the court determined 5-4 that the president could not fire a governor of the Federal Reserve Board without cause or due process. On the surface, the two rulings seem to be in opposition to each other. Yet both underscore a defining characteristic of American democracy – the delicate yet shifting equilibrium among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches that underpins the business of governing.” (06/30/26)
“President Donald Trump used red-scare rhetoric to denounce the progressive winners in New York’s Democratic primary last week as ‘godless communists’. Rather than explaining that the progressives are not communists in the vein of the Soviet Union or communist China but social democrats in the vein of Scandinavia, a group of so-called ‘moderate’ Democratic politicians piled on to Trump’s red-baiting. Two days after the primaries, this group of 15 corporate Democrats (let’s just call them what they are) attacked the winning Democrats in an open letter drafted by Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York proclaiming, ‘we are capitalist, not socialist’. In an interview with the New York Times, Suozzi added ‘that message from Tuesday is not the message that I embrace’.” (07/01/26)
“The Supreme Court ruling that upholds states’ rights to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls and women’ sports provoked wailing from the usual suspects. New York Attorney General Letitia James denounced what she called ‘cruel and discriminatory laws targeting the trans community’, and accused the court of deciding to continue on a ‘dangerous and harmful path’. Oh, please.” (06/30/26)
“Italy on Tuesday put on display one of the best known examples of Etruscan painting, panels from a tomb that it acquired for 15 million euros ($17 million) in the Culture Ministry’s buying spree of big-ticket pieces of the country’s cultural heritage. The ministry announced in May that it had acquired the fresco panels, dating from the 4th century, from members of the Torlonia family, one of Italy’s ancient noble families whose vast collection of antiquity has long been kept out of the public domain. The Francois Tomb was discovered in 1857 by the French archaeologist Alessandro Francois in Vulci, on land owned by the Torlonia family. The frescoes were detached from the necropolis in 1863 and became part of the Torlonia private collection, while the contents of the tomb were divided up among Francois, colleagues and the family.” (06/30/26)
