Source: CounterPunch
by Ron Jacobs
“In recent weeks, the misnamed US Department of Justice has indicted twenty-three activists on serious charges related to their organizing against institutional complicity in the US-Israeli genocide of Palestinians and the kidnapping of US residents by militarized federal immigration enforcers. The indictments are connected to two different cases, one in Michigan and the other in Minnesota. From my vantage point, it seems fairly clear that the indictments are, among other things, designed to deflect the media and the public attention away from the crimes against humanity being perpetrated by the government and those institutions behind the prosecutions. In fact, these indictments are purposefully political and part of a broader repression against US residents and organizations opposed to the ultra-right government of Donald Trump.” (06/22/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/22/political-repression-by-any-other-name-is-still-repression/
Source: New York Post
by Anthony D’Esposito
“A former federal inspector general has been sniping at President Donald Trump’s approach to rooting out government fraud — but his complaints sound less like a serious defense of oversight and more like a bitter kiss-off from a spurned ex-bureaucrat. ‘The watchdogs have crossed a dangerous line,’ Mark Greenblatt intoned in the Daily Beast. They’ve become lapdogs: ‘MAGA lapdogs,’ as his headline put it. He’s furious that my inspector general colleagues and I are joining the wide-ranging effort, led by Vice President JD Vance, to crack down on the fraud that’s looting our national treasury. Greenblatt’s argument rests on a flawed premise: He claims that supporting such a mission somehow prevents an inspector general from conducting independent oversight. That’s nonsense.” (06/22/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/06/22/opinion/trumps-federal-watchdogs-are-doing-the-job-past-igs-ignored/
Source: NBC News
“U.S. crude prices fell 2.7% Monday to about $74 per barrel, after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a 60-day waiver of sanctions on the purchase of Iranian oil. It was the first time crude prices had broken below $75 since early March. International Brent crude prices fell 4% to about $77 per barrel, likewise a new low since the Iran conflict began. Both prices remain above their immediate pre-war prices of $62 and $68 a barrel, respectively. In a statement published on social media Monday, Bessent said Iran had ‘committed to free and open transit in the Strait of Hormuz.'” (06/22/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/energy/oil-prices-hormuz-sanctions-waiver-rcna351144
Source: The Verge
“How Roomba started a robot revolution.” (06/21/26)
https://www.theverge.com/podcast/953275/roomba-robot-vacuum-version-history
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Dan Grazier
“As Congress debates the 2027 defense budget, members must confront an essential reality: their children and grandchildren will be left footing the bill. Many of the dollars that will be appropriated for military purposes in 2027 will be borrowed and tacked onto the ballooning national debt. But that is only part of the problem. Defense policies established today become spending obligations for future generations. If members of Congress are seriously considering $1.5 trillion in defense spending for 2027, it is in part because they must cover the expenses resulting from policy decisions made years ago by people who have long-since passed from the scene.” (06/22/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/military-spending-us/
Source: Liberal Currents
by Peter Juul
“With each passing day, it looks more and more likely that Democrats will control at least one—if not both—houses of Congress after this November’s midterm elections. Continued increases in the cost of living, a strategic quagmire in the Middle East, and President Trump’s own personal unpopularity all seem set to give Democrats an opportunity to overcome structural headwinds like partisan gerrymandering and the Senate’s rural bias that would otherwise advantage their Republican rivals. When Democrats win majorities in Congress they will need a national security agenda of their own to counter the Trump administration’s gangster-style foreign policy as best they can.” (06/22/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/national-security-strategy-for-a-democratic-congress/
Source: Associated Press
“Police found 2.7 metric tons (3 tons) of cocaine on a property on Sydney’s outskirts in Australia’s largest ever seizure of the drug, officials said on Monday. The drug was found on June 19 in plastic tubs buried in underground bunkers hidden beneath three shipping containers on a semirural property in the suburb of Londonderry on Sydney’s western edge, the Queensland Joint Organized Crime Taskforce said in a statement. The containers had false floors that provided access to the cocaine, which police estimate had a street value of 816 million Australian dollars ($572 million). Two Sydney residents, men aged 21 and 25, were arrested at the property and charged with possessing a commercial quantity of an illicit drug.” (06/22/26)
https://apnews.com/article/australia-cocaine-record-seizure-drug-sydney-314a94fa0ce6dcd15dd56915a1b5bd97
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Jeremy Todd on running for Thomas Massie’s seat in Congress.” (06/21/26)
https://rumble.com/v7bln9a-ff-461-jeremy-todd-on-running-for-thomas-massies-seat-in-congress.html
Source: The American Conservative
by Scott Greer
“Abundance liberals’ enthusiasm for growth faces a major obstacle with Democrats’ sharp turn against tech. AI and data centers are the enemy. Even though tech may be the biggest contributor to American economic growth right now, Democratic voters want it to stop. No amount of abundance rhetoric can convince them otherwise. These state and local contests offer a possible preview of what the 2028 Democratic presidential primary may look like. For all the efforts spent by Newsom and others to move to the center, they may all be forced to cater to their party’s radical elements to have any hope of winning the nomination.” (06/22/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/liberal-elites-promote-abundance-but-democratic-voters-want-socialism/
Source: SFGate
“Kenya’s Health Minister Aden Duale was found in contempt of court on Monday for failing to halt the construction of an Ebola quarantine facility intended for Americans, despite existing court orders. The High Court ordered Duale to appear on Tuesday for sentencing. Earlier this month, the minister defended the project, arguing that the facility at the Laikipia Air Base would benefit both Kenyans and international partners. The court had previously directed the government to suspend construction of the facility pending the hearing of a case filed by the Law Society of Kenya and the Katiba Institute, a constitutional watchdog. The petitioners argued that Kenya’s healthcare system is already overstretched and may be unable to manage foreign Ebola patients safely. Residents living near Laikipia Air Base reported seeing U.S. military aircraft landing after the court issued its suspension order on May 29.” (06/22/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/kenya-s-health-minister-found-in-contempt-of-22315076.php