“Extraordinarily gifted legislators in the United States Senate are rare. As preconditions to their effectiveness, they must accumulate both significant seniority in the body of 100, and the respect of their ever-changing 99 colleagues. It’s a small club — the United States Senate — and everyone knows who has got the ability and the respect to guide big lifts through the (intentionally) complicated process. Maine Sen. Susan Collins is one of the handful of senators who command the respect of her Republican Conference colleagues and most of the Democratic senators who actually care about making the country run well. That is why Collins is the chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and is also one of the 17 senators on the critical Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. (Collins is also a member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.)” (06/30/26)
“It’s all very well to say that the general law allows you to speak your mind, but that doesn’t mean very much if an employer can sack you for expressing a view they happen to disagree with. And it’s easy to forget that it isn’t a matter of just a few people. Lawyers, doctors, accountants, financial professionals, architects, chartered surveyors, chemists, physiotherapists, nurses, teachers, social workers – the list of those who have to watch carefully what they say because the regulator might come down on them if they step out of line is a long one. Furthermore, regulators can use these powers fairly drastically. Alleged Islamophobia, racism and sexism expressed online, or simply matters seen as offensive or contrary to a profession’s ‘values’, are common grounds for people being hit with severe professional penalties or being drummed out entirely.” (06/30/26)
Source: Wired
by Alana Hope Levinson & Makena Kelly
“In a little over a month, Biden has amassed over 800,000 followers and materially changed his image—in part by giving hours-long, shockingly intimate interviews to independent media outlets like Channel 5, Armchair Expert, and Soft White Underbelly. He’s even talked to former foes like Candace Owens, who once called him a ‘degenerate that should be in prison.’ He’s fed the trolls—and everyone is eating.” (06/30/26)
“On June 23, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel released one of the most devastating reports ever produced by a UN investigative body on the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Its title is almost unbearable to read: The Essence of Childhood Has Been Destroyed. Behind the title lies an accusation of extraordinary gravity. The Commission concludes that Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children and that these actions amount to genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in the Gaza Strip, alongside war crimes in the occupied West Bank.” (06/30/26)
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Nick Cleveland-Stout
“This lobbyist is touting his efforts to restrict Beijing’s influence by convincing states they need to restrict land purchases by immigrants.” (06/30/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“I hold out hope because people aren’t buying the propaganda like they used to. I hold out hope because trust in the imperial media is at an all-time low while our ability to attack and discredit the official narrative is at an all-time high. I hold out hope because more and more people are realizing that capitalism simply does not work. I hold out hope because empires don’t last forever. I hold out hope because Iran just kicked the shit out of the US and Israel. … I hold out hope because Gen Z proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is morally superior to any generation which came before it with its forceful and uncompromising opposition to the genocide in Gaza.” (06/30/26)
“We are approaching the 250th anniversary of the United States’ Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. However, that same year carries a different meaning in Latin America. Rather than the beginning of a system based on limits to power and individual freedom in the United States, 1776 represented a major turning point in the opposite direction for Latin America.” (06/30/26)
“Almost every war produces the same immediate question: who won? Yet the more consequential question is whether either side can convert battlefield pressure into a political order it can sustain. The Islamabad Memorandum, signed by the United States and Iran on June 17, brings that distinction into sharp relief. It is a 60-day framework linking an end to military operations and navigation through the Strait of Hormuz to negotiations over sanctions, Iran’s nuclear program, and a broader political settlement. Its importance lies less in the document’s promises than in the reality that produced it: neither Washington nor Tehran could credibly claim that continuing the war would deliver the political outcome each sought.” (06/30/26)
“In a stunning expansion of presidential powers, the Supreme Court on Monday overruled a 90-year-old precedent and held that Congress cannot limit the president’s removal of federal agency heads. The ruling in Trump vs. Slaughter is a major diminishing of checks and balances and again shows the six conservative justices’ disregard for even long-standing precedents.” (06/30/26)
“The U.S. Senate version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, now going the U.S. House of Representatives for approval, is a mixed brew of a few good ideas and a potentially dangerous regulatory drag for local governments. Sprawling through 100 sections and 9 major titles over 381 pages of legislation, the legislation’s core intent is laudable: Fix America’s housing affordability crisis by increasing supply. But, like most federal (and state-level) initiatives, the legislation fails to grasp the localized and fundamentally decentralized nature of the solution. Policymakers have created square pegs for a playbook full of round holes.” (06/29/26)
