"One month after New York Knicks owner James Dolan said his franchise 'accepted' an invitation to the White House to celebrate their NBA championship, Jalen Brunson said the team had not yet talked about a potential visit." www.nytimes.com/athletic/746...

Mike Johnson says he supports banning members of Congress from having romantic or sexual relationships with ALL Capitol Hill staff. (Current House rules prohibit sexual relationship with a Congress member's own staff) www.axios.com/2026/07/21/m...

ICE “to build additional immigration detention units in as many as 14 different locations—including the Virgin Islands and Guantanamo Bay” “currently detaining more than 60,000 people” time.com/article/2026...

New document shows ICE is considering to expand detention facilities in these 14 locations: time.com/article/2026...

New: ICE is seeking pitches from construction companies to expand its detention facilities in more than a dozen locations, including Guantanamo Bay and the Virgin Islands time.com/article/2026...

“The conventional wisdom holds that Harris was hurt in 2024 by [Trump’s] “they/them” ad…Former campaign staffers disagree and point to the advanced Republican field operation (in part funded by Elon Musk) as the more decisive factor.”

“The last time a sitting vice president became a new father was in the 1800s.” apnews.com/article/jd-u...

Ted Lasso messing up the vibe of a soccer half-time show by bringing out a mopey Justin Bieber feels like a scene from Ted Lasso, except this is real life and the people behind this thought it was a better idea than more time with the Muppets

Washington DC “announced that permits have been issued to two personal delivery device (PDD) companies, Serve Robotics and Coco Robotics. Their sidewalk robots will offer door-to-door food delivery services in the core of the District.” www.popville.com/2026/07/ddot...

In his video announcing testosterone screenings for the military, Hegseth didn’t say whether female service members would be tested or offered TRT. The Pentagon told TIME it had no information to provide beyond Hegseth’s video and a department statement that didn’t answer the question.

New: New polls are upending expectations of the Michigan Senate race Many Democrats assumed Abdul El-Sayed would gain from Mallory McMorrow dropping out. But new polls suggest Haley Stevens might gain the bulk of McMorrow’s backers.

MSNOW: House Democrats' point man on being ready for election interference from Trump is Rep. Joseph Morelle, who says his team is gaming out plans to fight “north of 100” potential scenarios

Trump still expected to hand out the World Cup trophy, which will now definitely go to a Spanish-speaking country.

We need more lavish, big-screen entertainments, made with care. But we still have a right to ask for more than THE ODYSSEY delivers. time.com/article/2026...

New: One day after ICE agents were told to no longer engage with vehicles after two deadly shootings in one week, a White House official confirms that vehicle stops are A-OK again after Trump complained

"We're talking about American influencers who are being paid by a foreign country, then trying to build momentum to change the President's view, or the views of others around him," says a senior U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity "

"Johnson admitted he can’t keep up with it all. He flashed his phone screen, which showed 1,477 unread text messages and 829 unlistened-to voicemails."

"I asked a few AI researchers whether they could name any other real-world software that scales so poorly. None of them could think of any. Even outside the world of software, it’s hard to find a comparable example"

How Graham's death and McConnell's absence could impact everything from funding the Iran War and renewing FISA to averting a shutdown before the midterms

"Trump has invoked communism 94 times in public remarks and social media posts since June 25, describing some of the party’s candidates as 'hardcore, godless communists.'. "Democrats are divided over how much attention Trump's attacks deserve."

Lovely and sad piece about Grant Wahl, the preeminent soccer journalist in the U.S. who died while covering the last World Cup. “It feels like there is a Grant-sized hole in the world right now,” says Grant's widow. “Because I know he would be going apesh-t on this.”

Of course he’s running against Democrats. That’s what leftists like him do. Democratic Senate Hopeful Abdul El-Sayed Is Running Against Both Parties

“President Donald Trump fired all three remaining members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission on Thursday, abruptly disabling the only federal agency devoted solely to election administration” (Via the indispensable @votebeat.org )

The actor who played the dying mom on The Pitt thought she deserved an Emmy nom so she went out on her own and got one. “Nobody’s got your back but yourself,” she told @davidmackau.bsky.social www.cnn.com/2026/07/09/e...

New: An inside look at how Abdul El-Sayed's campaign for Michigan Senate is upending the usual playbook for Democrats in swing states. "The establishment doesn’t quite understand how unpopular it is." On Democrats ditching calls to abolish ICE: "A lot of Democrats are weak and cowardly.”

The McDreamy dream was just that www.pressherald.com/2026/07/08/w...

New: An inside look at how Abdul El-Sayed's campaign for Michigan Senate is upending the usual playbook for Democrats in swing states. "The establishment doesn’t quite understand how unpopular it is." On Democrats ditching calls to abolish ICE: "A lot of Democrats are weak and cowardly.”

The list of potential Platner replacements: Troy Jackson, Nirav Shah, Shenna Bellows, Rep. Jared Golden, Dan Kleban, state Rep. Valli Geiger and...Patrick Dempsey? time.com/article/2026...

List of Democrats Who Might Replace Graham Platner Grows "Actor Patrick Dempsy’s name is being bandied about as an option with high name ID and zero voting history"

Sources have told the Guardian that Trump made three calls to Fifa, starting from Wednesday, to ensure that the change was made and Balogun's one-game ban was suspended. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

“It’s no exaggeration to call Monday night’s game the most important in U.S. men’s soccer history.”

8:35 pm: Rain increasing downtown DC next half hour. No severe weather in showers with some rumbles headed in. Activity weakening -- could be some light to moderate rain as it does so over the next 1-2 hours. Occasional moderate gusts. Cooler than it was with most temperatures in the 80s...

Truly an amazing performance

Ha ha I hate it here

The first American-born Pope marked his home country's 250th birthday by urging it to continue its traditions of religious freedom and "welcoming, protecting and assisting immigrants."

Google's CEO had an ad made imagining the crafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence if the founders had access to Google office products

The U.S. government is hosting two dueling events this Fourth of July: one from the bipartisan America250, the other from the Trump-led Freedom 250. The divide between the two groups is so bad that they had dueling taxpayer-backed promotions at this year’s Super Bowl More details here:

New survey of Republicans in U.S. finds 25% said they were not part of MAGA. For those under 30, that number hits 39%

So far through Trump's second term, 90% of all job growth has accrued to women. (If you want to understand the why, I dig into it here: newsletter.platypuseconomics.com/p/the-pink-c...)

“person familiar with the situation tells TIME that although Freedom 250 still sends a representative to America250’s meetings, there is no sense of collaboration between the two groups, given that America250 does not want to be affiliated with the kind of celebrations that Freedom 250 has set up…”

New NYT poll of Texas finds Talarico and Paxton tied at 47%. “That’s the best result for Democrats in nearly a decade of Times/Siena polling of Texas”

My report on the messy petty fights for hosting America's Fourth of July party: time.com/article/2026...

New: Before Trump’s return, the plan for America’s 250th birthday included a big D.C. parade with marching bands, a jubilant cultural festival organized by the Smithsonian and coast-to-coast concerts celebrating “the nation’s cultural diversity,” per a doc shown to TIME None of that is happening

New: Before Trump’s return, the plan for America’s 250th birthday included a big D.C. parade with marching bands, a jubilant cultural festival organized by the Smithsonian and coast-to-coast concerts celebrating “the nation’s cultural diversity,” per a doc shown to TIME None of that is happening

“Free expression notched a win. Within the confines of Seattle Stadium, rainbow pride gear, flags supporting the Islamic Republic of Iran, and those trumpeting the pre-Revolution dynasty, all coexisted amidst the 66,925 in the stands.”

This is apparently what new passports are going to look like

Census Bureau Quietly Scraps Plan for Improved Data Collection on Race and Ethnicity talkingpointsmemo.com/news/census-...

"Donald Trump will present the trophy to the winners of the World Cup final in New Jersey on July 19, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has confirmed."

Broken Bones, Lawsuits, and NDAs: Inside the Worker Safety Concerns at Stargate Data Center time.com/article/2026...