Source: The Unpopulist
by Micahel G Holzman
“The Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran might be a military success but the deteriorating plight of the Palestinians may well produce more future conflict.” (06/30/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/can-an-israeli-state-poised-for-constant
Source: Reuters
“Russia has taken full control of Ukraine’s [sic] eastern Luhansk region, more than three years after President Vladimir Putin ordered thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian-backed head of the region told Russian state television. Luhansk, which has an area of 26,700 square km (10,308 square miles), is the first Ukrainian [sic] region to fall fully under the established control of Russian forces since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. … There was no immediate confirmation from the Russian defence ministry, or comment from Ukraine.” [editor’s note: Luhansk seceded from Ukraine in 2014 and hasn’t been part of it since; as for direct Russian control, I mistakenly thought that had been accomplished quite some time ago – TLK] (07/01/25)
Source: Law & Liberty
by Andy Smarick
“For many Gen Xers, the greatest Saturday Night Live sketch of all time is ‘Sprockets,’ a recurring piece in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It made genius use of our vague notions about the bleakness of German popular culture during the twilight of the Cold War. The sketch had black turtlenecks, celebrations of the macabre, and an inexplicable pet monkey. I remember reading that one of the sketch’s writers had never seen German television, but Sprockets is what he imagined it was like. … It’s time to admit that DOGE was the ‘Sprockets’ of government reform. Elon Musk seemed genuinely enthusiastic about cutting government, but he didn’t know a lick about governing. He took bits of information, added some uncharitable speculation, and created a caricature of policy and public leadership. In the end, what he offered America was comic theatre.” (06/30/25)
Source: Reason
“Did NYC Vote for Socialism or Against the Establishment?” (06/30/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/06/30/did-nyc-vote-for-socialism-or-against-the-establishment/
Source: Associated Press
“Thailand’s Constitutional Court suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office Tuesday pending an ethics investigation over a leaked phone call with a senior Cambodian leader. The judges voted unanimously Tuesday to take the petition accusing her of a breach of ethics, and voted 7 to 2 to suspend her from duty as a prime minister. The court gave Paetongtarn 15 days to give evidence to support her case. Paetongtarn has faced growing dissatisfaction over her handling of the latest border dispute with Cambodia, involving an armed confrontation on May 28 in which one Cambodian soldier was killed. The leaked phone call while she engaged in diplomacy with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen set off a string of complaints and public protests. Paetongtarn said after the court order that she would accept the process and would do her best to defend herself, as she had no other intentions but to protect the country and preserve peace.” (07/01/25)
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard
“‘e who saves his country violates no law,’ tweeted President Trump in February. He was echoing a line often attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte. His supporters were electrified by Trump’s tacit invocation of a right to boundless power. The Trump presidency is already spurring legal battles across the nation. It is far too soon to speculate on Trump’s final win/loss record in federal courts. But Americans should be aware of how the entire judicial process is skewed against holding officialdom liable for its crimes.” (06/30/25)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2025/06/30/the-good-intentions-license-for-tyranny/
Source: ProPublica
“In 2023, while Kristi Noem was governor of South Dakota, she supplemented her income by secretly accepting a cut of the money she raised for a nonprofit that promotes her political career, tax records show. … the nonprofit routed funds to a personal company of Noem’s that had recently been established in Delaware. The payment totaled $80,000 that year, a significant boost to her roughly $130,000 government salary. Since the nonprofit is a so-called dark money group — one that’s not required to disclose the names of its donors — the original source of the money remains unknown. Noem then failed to disclose the $80,000 payment to the public. After President Donald Trump selected Noem to be his secretary of the Department of Homeland Security …. She did not include the income from the dark money group on her disclosure form, which experts called a likely violation of federal ethics requirements.” (06/30/25)
https://www.propublica.org/article/kristi-noem-political-donations-income-dark-money-dhs-ethics
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Scott Boykin
“There are great reasons for the United States to adopt a non-interventionist foreign policy. Some of these are ethical, such as not violating the rights of other people and not supporting or engaging in aggressive conduct generally. Others are partly ethical and partly prudential, such as not wasting taxpayer’s money on foreign adventurism and limiting the influence of arms dealers and the like on our political system. But one overriding prudential reason for a non-interventionist foreign policy is to avoid becoming entangled in foreign intrigues and conflicts where we lack control over our involvement and the outcome. For all his ‘America First’ bluster, President Donald Trump seems to understand none of these, and it is the third that I will focus on here.” (06/30/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/donald-trump-doesnt-understand-international-politics
Source: Fox News
“The Trump administration is suing the city of Los Angeles, alleging that the policies interfere with federal immigration authorities from doing their jobs. ‘Sanctuary policies were the driving cause of the violence, chaos, and attacks on law enforcement that Americans recently witnessed in Los Angeles,’ Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News in an exclusive statement. ‘Jurisdictions like Los Angeles that flout federal law by prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens are undermining law enforcement at every level – it ends under President Trump,’ she added. The lawsuit says that the city is discriminating against federal authorities by treating ICE differently than other types of law enforcement. The Department of Justice argues that the Supremacy Clause in the U.S. Constitution prohibits this, so they are asking a judge to block the enforcement of the policies.” (06/30/25)
Source: The Erick Erickson Show
by Erick-Woods Erickson
“We are expected to cheer on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act because it is the Republican bill. This Republican bill adds to the deficit, adds to the debt, picks winners and losers, raises the debt ceiling beyond the $37 trillion in existing debt, and just rearranges deck chairs as the nation sinks into insolvency. It is fiscally irresponsible. Without its passage, taxes will go up. That is the only real justification for this legislation. But taxes are going to go up on everyone significantly eventually because this legislation does not seriously tackle the issues of our fiscal solvency and uses sleights of hand to suggest any real benefit. … All the savings come towards the end of the duration of the legislation, which means it is an accounting gimmick and the cuts will never actually come to be.” (06/30/25)