“As calls mounted on Monday evening for US Senate candidate Graham Platner to drop out of the race in Maine following sexual assault allegations, progressive organizers emphasized that primary voters in the state have made clear their demand for a candidate who prioritizes the needs of working people. Should Platner be replaced as the Democratic nominee, said the political action organization Our Revolution, the new candidate must be ‘one who has actually lived the fight Graham Platner ran on: a record with working people, with unions, against corporate money’. ‘To the Democratic establishment: This is not your opening,’ said Joseph Geevarghese, the group’s executive director. ‘Mainers did not vote by an overwhelming margin against Janet Mills and the [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee]’s handpicked pick just to be handed another status-quo candidate anyway.'” [editor’s note: Newsflash for these idiots, “what they voted for” was no more Gov Mills in a position of power! Platner was just what they considered “the lesser evil” – SAT] (07/07/26)
“At least two explosive devices have gone off in the Syrian capital, Damascus, as French President Emmanuel Macron visits the country. Syria’s Interior Ministry said at least 18 people, including four police officers, were wounded in the blasts, the state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday. Television footage showed plumes of smoke rising over the city and other footage shared online and verified by Al Jazeera showed a vehicle on fire. An Al Jazeera correspondent said that the blasts occurred near the Ministry of Tourism and a hotel where Macron was meant to be staying during a visit to the capital for talks with his Syrian counterpart, Ahmed al-Sharaa.” (07/07/26)
“The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an attempt by a conservative activist to obtain guardianship records in an effort to find ineligible voters in the presidential battleground state. The case has been winding its way through the courts for years and stems from attempts by conservatives to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in Wisconsin over President Donald Trump in 2020. The case tested the line between protecting personal privacy rights and ensuring that ineligible people can’t vote. Former travel executive Ron Heuer and a group he leads, the Wisconsin Voter Alliance, brought the lawsuit in 2022 alleging that the number of ineligible voters doesn’t match the count on Wisconsin’s voter registration list. The lawsuit doesn’t specify how many people could be affected.” (07/07/26)
“The daughter of Senator Mitch McConnell has deleted her X account amid widespread speculation over the former Senate majority leader’s health, following a sudden June hospitalization. It is unclear when or why Porter McConnell, a progressive-leaning political activist who previously directed the Take On Wall Street campaign, deleted her account. … McConnell was found unconscious on June 14 and received CPR after suffering an apparent heart attack in his Washington, D.C., home, according to emergency records obtained by a variety of news outlets. Little else is known about his current condition.” (07/06/26)
“A secret inquiry by MI5’s watchdog concluded the security service knew an abusive agent it defended in court was a misogynist who was ‘obsessed’ with violence, the BBC can reveal. The inquiry took place after BBC News originally exposed how MI5 had covered up for the man – a neo-Nazi informant known publicly as agent X. The government took the BBC to court in 2022 in a failed attempt to block our investigation, but it won agent X legal anonymity. That year, the BBC first reported how the MI5 spy had used his status to coercively control his girlfriend, including attacking her with a machete, before moving abroad to continue intelligence work while he was still under investigation. Following the BBC story, the office of the investigatory powers commissioner (IPCO) Sir Brian Leveson launched an inquiry, which – like much of IPCO’s work – was secret.” (07/07/26)
“Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said Monday that he has instructed his Cabinet to move toward a decision on recognizing Palestinian statehood. The move comes after the militant group Hamas announced earlier in the day that it would dissolve the body that has governed Gaza for the best part of 20 years. Hamas stepping away from power is one of Prévot’s prerequisites for Belgian recognition of Palestine.” (07/06/26)
“The Palestinian movement Hamas announced Monday that it had dissolved its governing body in the Gaza Strip after nearly 20 years in power, paving the way for a technocratic committee to administer the territory. … The dissolution of the Hamas body paves the way for the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), headed by Palestinian official Ali Shaath, to assume administrative responsibilities. The NCAG was established by the Board of Peace, which was in turn set up by US President Donald Trump when he brokered the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel last October. But it has remained based outside Gaza for months, reportedly due to Israeli objections to its entry into the war-devastated territory.” (07/06/26)
“The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to block a Texas law requiring app stores and developers to verify the age of mobile device users, and for minors to obtain parental consent, to download apps or make purchases, acting in a challenge on free speech grounds by a technology industry group and students. The justices denied requests by the challengers to lift a lower court’s decision that had allowed the law to take effect while litigation continues over whether it violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, which protects against government abridgement of free speech. … The Supreme Court last year upheld a different state law that requires age verification by pornographic websites, rejecting the adult entertainment industry’s [irrefutably true] claim that the measure violated the First Amendment rights of adults.” (07/06/26)
“A woman who previously dated Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner said he drunkenly forced her to have sex after she told him to stop, according to a Politico report released Monday, leading prominent supporters to pull their endorsements and throwing a must-win race for the party into turmoil. Platner denied the allegation, but said he would be considering next steps for his campaign. … Platner won the Democratic nomination last month, setting himself up to face Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who has beaten back previous attempts to dislodge her from the seat that she’s held for nearly three decades. Although Platner has long been controversial, the sexual allegation sparked a flight away from the candidate, who canceled a handful of town hall events.” (07/07/26)
“Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s Omsk refinery, the country’s largest and located deep in Siberia, in what would be one of the longest-ranged Ukrainian strikes since the beginning of the war, Kyiv’s military said on Monday, with local Russian authorities also confirming a strike. In a statement, Ukraine’s General Staff said that the strike had caused a fire at the Omsk refinery, which is located around 2,700 km (1,700 miles) from Ukrainian-held territory and close to Russia’s border with Kazakhstan. … Aside from Omsk, Ukraine’s military overnight hit Russia’s Ust-Luga and Vysotsk ports, which handle oil exports on the Baltic Sea, as well as targets in the Kaluga and Yaroslavl regions, local governors said. In Crimea, which Russia seized and annexed from Ukraine in 2014, one woman was killed in a strike on the port of Kerch, Russian-installed authorities said. Sevastopol, the peninsula’s largest city, suffered a blackout, they said.” (07/06/26)
