NPR Politics Podcast, 07/01/26
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“Gen Z democratic socialist ousts 30-year incumbent in Colorado.” (07/01/26)
Year Zero with Tommy Salmons, 07/01/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Rules for Radicals: The Genesis of Tactic Proxy w/John Weeks.” (07/01/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/rules-for-radicals-the-genesis-of-tactic-proxy-w-john-weeks/
The decline of the impeachment voter, and other midterm lessons so far
Source: Semafor
by David Weigel
“Primary season is more than halfway over, after 31 states and the District of Columbia picked their nominees. There’s a three-week pause before intra-party contests start again with Arizona. That means it’s a good time to take stock of what’s happening.” (07/01/26)
In Defense of Taking Down Rules in the House
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye
“For the second week in a row—and for the fifth time since the beginning of the 119th Congress—a faction of House Republicans voted down a rule on the House floor. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was once again forced to send Congress home. It’s an embarrassing situation for Johnson. Worse, it’s coming during an election year, as Republicans try to hold on to their already slim majority. You’ve got to remember that the House suspends the rules to pass most legislation.” (07/01/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/in-defense-of-taking-down-rules-in
Trump regime brings discrimination lawsuit against 99 Ranch
Source: SFGate
“Asian supermarket chain 99 Ranch has been hit with a federal lawsuit alleging that the company racially discriminated against non-Chinese employees when it wrongfully terminated staff based on their race. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a complaint on Tuesday alleging that 99 Ranch’s parent company, Tawa Supermarket Inc., started discriminating against non-Chinese employees as early as 2016, when the employees were not promoted or were paid less than their Chinese colleagues. The lawsuit alleges that several non-Chinese employees were terminated without reason while their Chinese colleagues remained employed. Catherine Eschbach, acting general counsel for the EEOC, said in a statement that the chain’s Asian ownership did not give it an excuse to discriminate against non-Chinese workers.” (07/02/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/99-ranch-supermarket-federal-lawsuit-22329010.php
Germany: Prosecutors charge Ukrainian suspect over Nord Stream explosions
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“German federal prosecutors have filed charges against a 50-year-old Ukrainian national over a series of explosions that destroyed two Nord Stream underwater gas pipelines linking Russia to Europe in 2022. The federal prosecutor’s office declined to comment on the specifics of the indictment on Wednesday against the accused, who is identified only as Serhii K in court documents under German privacy rules. Serhii K is accused of attacking civilian energy infrastructure, causing an explosion, and destroying structures, according to the German public broadcaster ARD. The underwater explosions damaged both the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines so severely that no gas could be transported through them, knocking out the key routes for Russian gas to Europe for months after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.” (07/02/26)
Half the Answer, episode 91
Source: Liberal Currents
“Why won’t Gregory Bovino stay gone? Why can’t Trump keep his pool clean? And how many fireworks is too many fireworks? We asked our friend and yours Amanda Moore to help us get to the bottom of these questions and more.” (07/01/26)
LPALive, episode 76
Source: LP Alliance
“Ya Got Trouble 2: Florida Edition.” (07/01/26)
Liberal Societies Need Grand Stories About Themselves
Source: The UnPopulist
by Jonathan Rauch
“Pre-liberal faiths, such as tribalism and Christianity, provided meaningful stories—sometimes for better, though often for worse. In the recent past, liberalism, too, had a story: of a grand human endeavor of progress, equality, and liberation. Yet today, the author says, mass consumerism, fragmented media, tech-driven sociopathy, and cultural nihilism have taken a wrecking ball to meaning. In its own way, careerism has been just as bad; what Avent calls the Modern Faith ‘has no guidance for people in our situation’ beyond urging that we ‘achieve professional success, make money, job done.’ If any of this sounds familiar, that might be because the charge that individualism, industrialization, and consumerization lead to anomie and nihilism has roots that go back to Plato among the ancients and Rousseau and Marx among the moderns.” (07/01/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/liberal-societies-need-grand-stories
Platner, Collins, and the Peculiar Definition of Political Scandal
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“The Founding Fathers had a finely honed sense of the corroding power of corruption. They wrote prohibitions on self-enrichment and the pull of bribery directly into the Constitution on three separate occasions, banning foreign and domestic gifts, changes to presidential compensation during one’s period in office, and appointments for members of Congress that could be remunerative. They believed that someone treated well by a foreign potentate or stateside special interest would be naturally inclined to benefit them, if even unconsciously, and that a wall needed to be constructed to guard against this. That the Supreme Court has directly or indirectly nullified these one by one is a tragedy. But the court of public opinion, at least as mediated by gatekeepers of information, has also separated what counts as corruption from what counts as a political scandal.” (07/02/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/07/02/platner-collins-peculiar-definition-of-political-scandal/