Source: Reason
by Damon Root
“The conservative justice pushed for greater executive authority even in cases in which Trump won.” (07/09/26)
https://reason.com/2026/07/09/clarence-thomas-doubled-down-on-presidential-power/
Source: New York Post
“For Adaleia Cross, the Supreme Court’s ruling in the West Virginia women’s sports case was not just a legal victory. It was personal. Cross, a Bridgeport High School student in West Virginia, said the ruling gave her ‘a sense of peace’ after years of speaking out about the transgender athlete at the center of the case. Cross has alleged the athlete made comments to her in the girls’ locker room that amounted to sexual harassment when both were students at Bridgeport Middle School. Fox News Digital is not naming the trans athlete because the athlete is a minor. ‘I definitely have a sense of peace about all of it,’ Cross told Fox News Digital after the ruling.” (07/09/26)
Source: Politico
“Graham Platner is out. What happens next?” (07/09/26)
Source: Antiwar.com
by Thomas S Karat
“There was a time when the arms dealer waited in the corridor. He financed the campaign, endowed the think tank, took the general to dinner, and hoped the man inside the office would remember him when the contract came up. The wall between the money and the decision was thin, often corrupt, but it was there. Someone held the public trust, and someone else tried to buy it, and you could at least tell the two apart. That wall is gone. The financier no longer waits in the corridor. He holds the office. He signs the checks. He is the buyer and the seller, the regulator and the regulated, the public interest and the private portfolio, fused into a single man in a single suit, and the arrangement is entirely legal, which is the whole problem.” (07/09/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/thomas_karat/2026/07/08/the-men-who-own-the-war-now-run-it
Source: Niskanen Center
by imberly Burnett, Rohan Aras, & Andrew Justus
“For a break with past practices on housing affordability, it’ll be hard to beat the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, newly passed by Congress with overwhelming bipartisan majorities. In a single package, the act rethinks a century-old approach to zoning that has contributed to the housing shortage; makes an offer of federal housing funds for communities actually allowing housing to be built; and strips away an outdated regulation that has put the American dream of homeownership out of reach for far too many families.” (07/08/26)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/3-reasons-the-21st-century-road-to-housing-act-matters
Source: US News & World Report
“South Korea’s Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a seven-year prison sentence for former President Yoon Suk Yeol in the first case to reach the country’s highest court from his several criminal trials related to his brief imposition of martial law in 2024. The court upheld an April ruling by the Seoul High Court that found Yoon guilty of infringing on Cabinet members’ right to deliberate before he declared martial law, falsifying the official proclamation to cover up the lapse before later destroying the document, and deploying presidential security forces to illegally resist law enforcement efforts to arrest him weeks after his impeachment.” (07/09/26)
Source: Free Talk Live
“Mark is joined by his wife Laura for a special conversation sparked by his recent interview with Lauren Noone (go check that one out) on what freedom really means, and how choice sits at the center of it. Here’s the question that started it: if you have to pay property tax, do you really own your property, or are you just a serf paying quit rents to a modern lord?” (07/08/26)
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko
“Back in 2018, when I was with the Washington Post, I put together a collection of academic studies, media reports and investigations, and other resources on racism in the criminal justice system. The idea, which the paper supported at the time, was to post all of this data in one place and keep it updated as a one-stop resource and repository. In the years since, I’ve heard from academics, journalists, policymakers, and teachers who have relied on the collection in their research, reporting, and class assignments. I’ve also received requests to take it out from behind the paywall. I was never able to convince the Post to do that. … So I’m going to reproduce it here at The Watch.” (07/08/26)
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/a-guide-to-racism-in-the-criminal
Source: American Greatness
by Lipton Matthews
“The American economy grew by 2 percent during the first three months of 2026, hardly the picture of collapse that critics of the Trump administration keep promising is just around the corner. The country has not tanked under Donald Trump, not even with tariffs in place. Trump has been accused of putting black women out of work by cutting positions in the federal government, and it is true that federal cuts have hit black women disproportionately since they have historically been overrepresented in the federal workforce. But the federal government is not, and was never meant to be, a jobs program for any single demographic, and many of the positions eliminated were not economically viable in the first place. Despite this favorable record, The Washington Post published a feature on Black America to tarnish Trump’s image.” (07/09/26)
Source: United Press International
“Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office formally accused former U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar of violating his diplomatic duties by allegedly misleading Mexican authorities about the 2024 capture of alleged Sinaloa cartel co-founder Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada. The accusation alleges that Salazar knowingly made false statements when he said U.S. agencies had not participated in the operation that led to Zambada’s capture and transfer in July 2024. The complaint followed reports by Mexican media outlets Milenio and Azteca Noticias that the FBI recently displayed the aircraft used in the operation at the War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa, N.M., describing it as an FBI success.” (07/09/26)