Spy chief pick has the Trump playbook: Attack political enemies
Source: Washington Post
by David Ignatius
“Bill Pulte has no intelligence experience. But he has proved he’ll target the president’s foes.” (06/04/26)
US weekly jobless claims increase to four-month high; worker productivity revised down
Source: Reuters
“The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits increased more than expected last week, touching their highest level in four months, but the underlying trend remained consistent with a stable labor market. Economists shrugged off the rise in weekly jobless claims reported by the Labor Department on Thursday as volatility related to last Monday’s Memorial Day holiday. Claims tend to rise around public holidays. They said there were no signs yet the Middle East conflict was having a noticeable impact on the labor market, though uncertainty was growing.” (06/04/26)
NPR Politics Podcast, 06/04/26
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“Voters reject the establishment in this week’s primaries.” (06/04/26)
https://www.npr.org/2026/06/04/nx-s1-5846550/voters-reject-the-establishment-in-this-weeks-primaries
In Britain, A Tragic Murder Was Followed By Mass Confusion
Source: Persuasion
by Cathy Young
“Here’s what the case looks like without the hyperbole.” (06/04/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/in-britain-a-tragic-murder-was-followed
CA Dems dumped Porter, but Maine Dems hold onto Platner for dear life
Source: Fox News
by Hugh Hewitt
“Former Democratic Congresswoman Katie Porter got smoked in Tuesday’s ‘jungle primary’ for California’s governor’s race, the runoff for which will come in November. Right now, it looks like Steve Hilton vs. Xavier Becerra will face each other in the general election, though that won’t be certain for days — but we do know Porter won’t be in the final. She plummeted from her position as the early front-runner and darling of progressives last year after questions about her temperament surfaced and she never left. When ABC News ran headlines like this last month, readers knew her campaign was finished: ‘Katie Porter fights questions on temperament as the only woman in crowded California gubernatorial race. Experts are mixed over whether she should have raised outbursts that went viral.'” (06/04/26)
NASA’s Mars MAVEN probe is dead
Source: Engadget
“NASA has officially ended the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission, six months after it lost contact with the probe. MAVEN was the agency’s first program dedicated to studying the Martian atmosphere and its evolution. It launched in 2013 from Cape Canaveral and entered the Martian orbit nearly a year later in 2014. The probe’s primary science mission was scheduled to last one year, but it ended up spending more than 11 years in orbit, sending back data from Mars. NASA even used it as an antenna for the Mars 2020 mission, which brought the Perserance rover to the planet. The last time the agency heard from MAVEN was on December 6, 2025, before it suddenly lost signal after passing behind Mars.” (06/04/26)
https://www.engadget.com/2187315/nasa-ends-maven-mars-mission/
The Chris Hedges Report, 06/04/26
Source: The Chris Hedges Report
“Jeffrey Epstein, the Russian Mob, & the Hidden Assets of the Maxwells (w/ Moe Tkacik).” (06/04/26)
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/jeffrey-epstein-the-russian-mob-and
Commerce and Warehouse Clubs
Source: EconLog
by Art Carden
“Sol Price did not set out to change retail. He stumbled into it by accident and alertness. He was an active member of his community in San Diego and served as a lawyer for several retailers and wholesalers, including those in jewelry and liquor, who sold to a Los Angeles store called Fedco. He accompanied his clients to Los Angeles to visit a Fedco store. Fedco was a store that sold to government employees at deep discounts. Price observed that many government employees commuted from San Diego to Los Angeles, and he believed a similar store could do well in San Diego. He and his partners presented their proposal to Fedco, which rejected it. Price, however, had a warehouse in San Diego he needed to do something with, and he thought, ‘Why not do in San Diego what Fedco doesn’t want to?'” (06/04/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/commerce-and-warehouse-clubs
Roddie Edmonds and the Power of Saying No
Source: The Daily Economy
by Barry Brownstein
“Liberty depends on individuals saying no to power, especially when authority demands moral compromise, as one American officer proved behind barbed wire in World War II.” (06/04/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/roddie-edmonds-and-the-power-of-saying-no/
Trump whines over “unpatriotic” vote to shut down his illegal Iran war
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“US President Donald Trump has hit back at lawmakers who voted to send him a rebuke over the war in Iran, labelling the group ‘unpatriotic.’ On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed a measure that seeks to halt Trump from taking further military action. In a post on Truth Social, the president wrote: ‘Yesterday, in a meaningless vote, the House voted, 4 bad Republicans and all of the Dumocrats, to limit my War Powers, right in the middle of my final negotiations to end the War with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Who would do such an unpatriotic thing.'” (06/04/26)