Tuesday, July 7, 2026
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I fell asleep every summer night to the wobbling sound of a window fan — and I still do.
I grew up in a modest two-story home typical of the 1960s and 1970s — red brick on the bottom, white aluminum siding on the top. There were four bedrooms upstairs and a master bedroom downstairs (my parents’ bedroom, which they added onto the back of our house in 1972). Only one house in our neighborhood had air conditioning back then. It was locked up tighter than Fort Knox.
As I explain in my book “Misadventures of a 1970s Childhood,” most houses were wide open all summer.
What a difference political affiliation makes. Democrat Graham Platner is now on the outs with the party, not because of assaulting women, but because he is accused of assaulting a fellow Democrat. That party has lost its soul, as has the media. When Platner was accused of assaulting and abusing a conservative woman he dated, none of these people cared. “She can’t be trusted, she’s a conservative activist,” they said. The devotion to victims, the currency of victimhood, disappeared when it wasn’t one of “their team.”
Ro Khana,
Artificial intelligence--or, more accurately, what we call artificial intelligence today versus actual intelligence--is practically a buzzword these days. Numerous businesses claim to use it for whatever the hell they're doing, and it's been applied in a number of unique and beneficial ways. I like to use it to help parse data or collect resources from multiple searches at once and present it as a semi-coherent whole. I just double-check everything it says, because when I asked it to rank influential writers in a certain subject, it completely made up someone who never existed and ranked them eighth, and it's not the first bit of stupid I've seen.
As the Department of Government Efficiency, OR DOGE, officially sunsets and federal hiring accelerates, with targeted surges at critical agencies and a push to insource work, the real story may be simpler than partisan theater: Sometimes you have to cut before you can right-size and the resulting criticism from Democrats and others didn’t change the underlying need for functional government operations.
Democrats in the modern era have been proponents of a large federal workforce they say is essential to delivering government services. They decried President Donald Trump’s DOGE cuts as reckless and harmful.
Both Toyota and Honda had previously warned the Canadian government that without the USMCA they would shift production from Canada to the U.S. to avoid tariffs and secure long-term manufacturing stability. We presume a similar message was conveyed to Mexico. Earlier today Toyota announced they were moving half of their Tacoma Truck production from Mexico to an expanded facility in Texas that will now encompass 5 million square feet in San Antonio.
(Bloomberg) — Toyota Motor Corp. is moving production of its popular Tacoma midsize truck from a plant in Mexico to San Antonio as part of a $3.6 billion investment in the Texas facility.
Finally, the truth is coming out.
The Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department released over 1,000 hours of body-worn camera footage from the January 6, 2021 protests at the US Capitol — a whopping 1,630 videos in all.
And it didn’t happen because the government suddenly decided to be transparent. It happened because Judicial Watch dragged them into court and won.
According to Judicial Watch, the videos were released because of an April 2026 court ruling in a DC Freedom of Information Act case.
Critics were skeptical of President Donald Trump’s implementation of tariffs on a variety of imported products from countries like China, but the results are speaking for themselves. U.S. manufacturing reached its highest growth in four years in May and companies are promising multi-billion-dollar investments to develop critical pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, safe electrical equipment, and many more products in the United States.
According to the Institute for Supply Management’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), U.S. manufacturing rose 1.3 percentage points in May, marking the fifth consecutive month of growth and the highest recording of the index since May 2022. This is a significant healthy signal that U.S. companies are beginning to compete once again.
A new 2026 annual report, "Scapegoats: Rights Violations Against Christians in Iran," published by Article18 in partnership with Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Middle East Concern, sheds an alarming light on the persecutions of Christians in Iran.
House churches have been labeled as enemy groups. IRGC involvement in raids tends to be characterized by increased brutality.
The IRGC agents, singling out whoever was wearing a cross, tore them off and conducted body searches. After they wounded several individuals, the agents blocked emergency medical personnel who attempted to assist them.
Last month, regime security forces moved to seize Saint Peter Evangelical Church in Tehran.
It's on. The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) has launched a wave of new attacks on Iran, following the rogue nation's attacks on commercial CENTCOM reports:
U.S. Central Command forces have begun launching a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway. The U.S. strikes are in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire.
It's unclear so far just what targets in Iran were hit,shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Derek Chauvin’s attorney, Gregory Joseph, has filed a notice of appeal with the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
Joseph—who did not represent Chauvin during his initial state trial—has been representing him since November 2024 and filed the notice last week.
The filing is a notice to appeal the dismissal of a previous appeal filed last fall.
In that appeal, Joseph argued that there were several problems in the initial trial related to expert witness testimony, the video evidence presented, and the instructions to the jury, which, as Joseph pointed out, permitted the jury to consider a conviction based on an “attempt to attempt to” commit a crime.
He also raised questions about
Spencer Pratt shared a photo Tuesday showing him meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office shortly after announcing the launch of his new media organization.
The former reality television star and Los Angeles mayoral candidate was photographed sitting with three others, including what appeared to be his son and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. “I will never stop fighting for my community,” Pratt wrote in the caption of the post on X.
Pratt did not immediately provide additional details about the meeting. The California Post contacted him and the White House for comments.
The upstart candidate on Tuesday also shared details of his new WAR Foundation, which he said
The news of the days – or, rather, yesterday – is that the Democratic candidate running for the Senate from Maine named Graham Platner is alleged, again, to be a rapist.
Duty demands that I mention he denies the accusation.
In fact, he denies lots of things. He had a Nazi tattoo on his chest for some 19 years, but denies knowing that it was a Nazi tattoo. Notably, his friends deny his denial.
Before he was alleged to be a rapist, and during the time he sported a Nazi tattoo that he didn’t know was one unless you believe his friends, he pretended to be an oyster farmer.
Tuesday, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) announced their endorsement of Missouri's 1st District representative, Cori Bush, on X.
"It's time to beat AIPAC once and for all," the post read. "DSA is proud to endorse Cori Bush for Congress. Cori is taking her seat back to fight for the world St. Louisans deserve—one where our taxes pay for our communities, not war. Help elect a working-class champion with a donation today." Bush responded on X
"I’m proud to be endorsed once again by DSA as I run to return to Congress and keep fighting for everyday people," she wrote. "Together, we’ll work to abolish ICE, deliver Medicare for all, end wars
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department is developing a system that would allow Americans to take and upload passport photos from their phones or computers as part of a broader effort to modernize the passport application process and reduce wait times.
Speaking last week at a reception for the State Department’s launch of a commemorative passport marking the nation’s 250th anniversary, Rubio outlined plans to let applicants complete nearly the entire passport application online. The proposal would eliminate one of the most common hurdles for applicants: obtaining printed passport photos that meet federal requirements.
“You’ll be able to take your picture from that device and be able
On July 3, the mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani—and I don’t quite know why the mayor seems to think he speaks for the entire nation—but he wanted to give a Fourth of July speech to the nation at large. It wasn’t a speech; it was an indictment.
And what I could condense his speech [down to], it was essentially that America was ruled by white racists, and they had been very unfair in the past to everyone but themselves, including people, as he said, quote-unquote, the rest of us. He included himself in the group of people supposedly who had calloused hands, who did the work, but they
There’s a trend in public commentary to attribute young Americans’ openness to socialist or communist ideas to laziness or educational indoctrination. The point is to dismiss generational economic complaints as entitlement or a poor work ethic. However, such characterizations irresponsibly ignore the truth about what’s happening to our sons and daughters.
Data on labor market dynamics, particularly the role of H-1B visa policies in constraining white-collar job access and wages for young Americans, provide a better explanation for the shift. Gen Z and Millennials face a structurally challenging environment. Net job creation in the U.S. has been anemic, to say the least. College degrees, especially in STEM-related fields, continue to rise.
Republican Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office sent an email Tuesday that included a compilation of statements from senators and acquaintances claiming they spoke to the former majority leader for similar lengths of time and discussed related topics.
McConnell’s office provided no new details on his health despite his nearly month long hospitalization. Several of McConnell’s colleagues and acquaintances, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune and CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings, made similar statements about McConnell that McConnell’s staff later shared in an email obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“As the Senator continues to recover, we will be sure to keep you updated. Wanted to flag the following tweets
Democrat Andrew Gillum, who came within a hair of defeating a then-Florida congressman named Ron DeSantis in the race for governor of the Sunshine State in 2018, was jailed last week on drug charges.
And the arrest last week in Alabama was not Gillum’s first brush with the law since the former Tallahassee mayor lost to DeSantis nearly eight years ago.
The news was first reported by TMZ, which noted: Gillum was taken into custody Thursday night by officers in Daphne, AL, and then booked in the Baldwin County jail for possession of dangerous drugs, drug paraphernalia, and possession of marijuana, according to online police records.
The U.S. Postal Service on Sunday will raise the price of a first-class Forever stamp from 78 cents to 82 cents, the latest in a series of increases aimed at stemming the agency's mounting financial losses.
The USPS announced the increase in April, saying the higher price was intended to bolster its finances. Over the past five years, the agency has raised the price of a first-class stamp six times, increasing the cost 34% from 58 cents in 2021 to 78 cents before the hike set to kick in on July 12.
The USPS has struggled for years with high costs and shrinking mail volumes, while policy changes implemented by Congress
Report: Mitch McConnell Speaking to Others
by Phone, Discussing Iran, Platner Scandal
in Maine replies
by Phone, Discussing Iran, Platner Scandal
in Maine replies
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is alert and has taken phone calls, discussing a variety of topics, according to reports.
CNN’s Scott Jennings said he spoke with his “old friend” McConnell on Tuesday morning, asserting that they discussed a variety of topics for nearly 20 minutes.
He wrote, “I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky. He’s still recovering in the hospital. We talked for just shy of 20 minutes … about IRAN, UKRAINE, the unfolding situation in MAINE, my visit to the TR Presidential Library, and even a little bit of Senate history.”
"Warning: The exhibits in this museum were prepared by people who don't want you to love your country." (snip) Yet Anthea Hartig, director of the museum today, has other priorities, including using history as a "prime tool of social justice."
Hartig is white, but rather than punishing herself for her "privilege," she's trying to lay a guilt trip on the whole country, using taxpayer dollars to "problematize" the history she's supposed to preserve.
(snip) can the public trust that responsibility to someone like Hartig, who claims to have been "propped up ... by the cushions of whiteness and the pillows of the bourgeoisie"?
There aren’t many political mysteries from 2016 that still have the power to set the internet on fire like the unsolved murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich.The official theory is that the 27-year-old was shot near his D.C. home during a botched robbery. His family has rejected all claims that he was somehow connected to WikiLeaks or murdered because of his work at the DNC, and they’ve asked people not to politicize their son’s death.
But the questions never went away, mostly because so many details surrounding the case are
But then Julian Assange entered the chat, and things got a lot more curious…
In 1997, the United States quietly paid a former Soviet republic tens of millions of dollars to buy an entire fighter regiment — not to fly it, but to keep it away from Iran, and to take it apart. The Moldova deal is remembered as one of the Pentagon’s cleanest nonproliferation coups, and in one sense it was: the intelligence haul shaped American weapons for a decade.
On the menu today: It’s odd and disturbing. (snip)
As Will Smith says in I Robot, “You know, somehow, ‘I told you so,’ just doesn’t quite say it.” (snip) His whole campaign was built on his working-class image, but he attended an elite boarding school in Connecticut. The only customer of his oyster business was his mother’s restaurant. He bought his house with a $200,000 loan from his father, not with “support from the VA” as he had claimed.