Suing Stephen Miller
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko
“It’s time to put everyone from Stephen Miller and Tom Homan to the most recent ICE hire on notice: a reckoning is coming.” (07/20/26)
Court document: US regime thugs sought phone records of journalists, relatives in effort to punish transparency
Source: Associated Press
“President Donald Trump’s administration sought phone records of several New York Times journalists and even those of some of their relatives, according to a motion unsealed Monday — an unusually aggressive attempt to unmask the confidential sources of reporters who wrote about Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet. The efforts by the Republican president’s administration to compel the identity of sources in the form of additional subpoenas come at a time when the executive branch’s relationship with the press is increasingly contentious. The efforts, described in a letter-motion filed by the Times over the weekend, were more expansive than previously known, the newspaper noted. They also covered a time frame that exceeded the news articles in question.” (07/20/26)
https://apnews.com/article/new-york-times-justice-department-trump-88f5ceca88dcdd19779e6f61abedf337
The Odyssey has transcended the culture war
Source: spiked
by Maren Thom
“Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is a commercial and artistic triumph, opening to widespread critical acclaim and collecting $264million in global ticket sales during its opening weekend. Indeed, it is reassuring that Hollywood still has some artistry and ambition left in it. But alongside the legitimate plaudits, the film’s juggernaut success has produced two other, more philistine reactions. The liberal left is relieved. After months of controversy over the supposedly woke casting, the film has received ecstatic reviews and attracted huge audiences, leading progressives to declare victory. … Much of the right is furious for precisely the same reason. Having condemned The Odyssey before seeing it, the anti-woke warriors cannot forgive it for being magnificent.” (07/20/26)
Ten killed as Russian attacks on merchant ships in Black Sea intensify
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The death toll of a Russian strike on a cargo ship off the coast of the Ukrainian city of Odesa has risen to 10. The Guinea-Bissau-flagged ship was hit by Russian cruise missiles on Sunday, the Ukrainian Air Force said, causing a fire. A search and rescue operation was launched and lasted all night. By Monday morning, Ukraine’s seaports authority said nine crew members had been killed, as well as one of its pilots. India later said four of its citizens died in the attack. In recent weeks, the Odesa region has come under sustained attack. Twenty-eight people died in Russian strikes on the region in July alone, regional head Oleh Kiper told Ukrainian TV on Monday. Russian attacks on cargo ships in the Black Sea have also increased.” (07/20/26)
Flag on the play: First Amendment problems with NIL regulation
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Amuda Balu
“NIL agreements are about more than money. They are also about expression. Student athletes earn compensation by appearing in advertisements, promoting products on social media, and publicly associating themselves with brands. These activities therefore qualify as speech, which receives First Amendment protection. Yet many of our current state and university NIL laws do not seem to withstand constitutional scrutiny. Two types of common restrictions in particular are concerning: restrictions for contracts in vice industries and those relating to institutional values.” (07/20/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/flag-play-first-amendment-problems-nil-regulation
Trump Is Ready for All-Out War in Iran. There’s Just One Catch.
Source: The New Republic
by Edith Olmsted
“Forget writing a check you can’t cash; President Donald Trump is escalating a war that the U.S. military can’t wage. Trump has made it more than clear that he’s done negotiating with Tehran, after the U.S. military launched yet another wave of strikes against Iran Saturday in retribution for the deaths of at least two U.S. military service members in Jordan. … ‘The U.S. is planning for a wider war,’ one U.S. official familiar with the matter told The Washington Post Monday. The official warned that U.S. military operations would be kneecapped by dwindling stockpiles of air defense and long-range munitions, as well as widespread damage to U.S. military bases in the Middle East. ‘We do not have enough to safely sustain operations, and I don’t think the White House is aware of that,’ the official added.” (07/20/26)
https://newrepublic.com/post/213240/donald-trump-war-iran-weapons-stockpile
NYC: Man in custody after setting off “incendiary device” outside federal building
Source: ABC News
“A man with a history of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity set off an ‘incendiary device’ outside a Manhattan federal building that houses an immigration court, authorities said. Video captured the moment the suspect poured a liquid and then ignited it outside 26 Federal Plaza, sparking a massive fire. FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle said the suspect used fireworks to set the blaze. Two people — a federal employee and a civilian — suffered minor injuries and were treated and released, officials said.” (07/20/26)
https://abcnews.com/US/man-custody-after-setting-off-incendiary-device-federal/story?id=134916208
The Kyle Anzalone Show, 07/20/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Calling it a ‘lab leak’ makes the story feel tidy, but the real scandal might be the system that makes lab-origin disasters plausible in the first place. We sit down with independent journalist Sam Husseini to unpack gain-of-function research, why ‘potentially pandemic pathogens’ are funded and defended, and how a small circle of incentives, prestige, and national security framing can turn high-risk virology into business as usual.” (07/20/26)
Fearing Justice: Rubio Gets Bolshie About the ICC
Source: CounterPunch
by Binoy Kampmark
“Why are they so afraid? The Trump administration, pathologically obsessed about the exaggerated reach of the International Criminal Court, have decided to take to the barricades. In a July 13 media note released by a spokesperson for the US State Department, something akin to a declaration of war was made against the Hague-based tribunal. … The late Henry Kissinger, who argued most stridently against the establishment of such a criminal court, would no doubt have approved. He, more than most, would have feared some eventual accounting for his own egregious crimes against international humanitarian law while serving the White House.” (07/20/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/20/fearing-justice-rubio-gets-bolshie-about-the-icc/
California’s Road to Serfdom
Source: Law & Liberty
by Marc Wheat & Mitchell Bahnsen
“Several years ago, California brothers Arron and Arthur Benedetti inherited 267 acres of farmland from their father, a turkey farmer who spent his life working that land. They were not asking for a subsidy, tax break, or any government benefit. They simply wanted to build a home on property they had lawfully inherited. The government of Marin County, however, took it upon itself to say that the brothers could have their permit, but only if they signed a covenant permanently committing the land to commercial agricultural use, farming it themselves, or contracting it out in perpetuity. … Even though the brothers have a strong incentive to take good care of the land they own, building a home and living on what their father built is, apparently, not among the options Marin County is prepared to allow.” (07/20/26)