Smash The Bubble

News and opinion from both the left and the right, mixed together so you can break out of your filter bubble.

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Today's Headlines

Don’t Blame the Iran War for the Awful Jobs Report

Anemic job growth under Trump began around the spring of 2025, coinciding with the start of the president’s trade war with nearly every nation on earth.

Lindsey Graham's final mission to punish Putin clears Senate after yearlong fight

A sanctions bill targets Russia's oil and gas revenue with up to 500% tariffs on Russian imports and penalties on countries buying Russian energy.

Trump tries new tack against birthright citizenship after Supreme Court snub

The president signed executive orders that target children born to “alien enemies,” foreign lobbyists or tourists. The orders are certain to face legal challenges.

What happened under Trump this week

The administration approved a new flu shot but is raising fresh questions about the relationship between autism and other vaccines.

Crémieux on Fertility Collapse, Ozempic, IQ & Pit Bulls | Quillette Cetera Episode 69

Why a Victorian obscenity trial tanked the birth rate, what the wellness industry gets wrong, and the case for choosing your baby's genes — with the internet's most data-obsessed anon.

They’re Battle-Tested Democrats. Do Voters Care?

Haley Stevens and Angie Craig were celebrated by Democrats in 2018. This year, they’ve faced tough primaries.

Video shows US military tracking what appears to be mysterious object flying over Middle East in 2025

The U.S. Department of War on Friday released video of what appears to be an unidentified flying object moving through the air last year in the Middle East.

How Kyrsten Sinema's decision makes Democrats' 2024 Senate map tighter

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema decided to shake up the political world on Friday by becoming an independent. The former Democrat is still caucusing with the party in the Senate, so the Democratic caucus still has 51 members. Now, instead of 49 Democr…

CNN Political Briefing

The political news you need to know, in 10 minutes or less. Hosted by David Chalian.

Rogers opens door to Democratic voters after El-Sayed’s primary victory: ‘There is still hope’

Mike Rogers appeals to Michigan Democrats after Abdul El-Sayed's primary win, saying those who feel unrepresented have a home with his campaign.

Trump says he’ll bring ballroom fight to Supreme Court after lower court halts work

An appeals court ruled earlier Friday that construction must stop until Congress authorizes the project. The ballroom is among the president’s top priorities for this term.

Claire's Weekly Letter: Truths About Men and Women

Great Books Programs Aren’t for Everyone

Great books belong in a well-rounded education, but that doesn’t mean every student needs a great books curriculum.

Charles S. Faddis, Ex-C.I.A. Officer Who Pushed Conspiracy Theories, Dies at 68

After 20 years in the C.I.A., he emerged as an outspoken critic of the agency and as a leader of the election-denial movement in Pennsylvania.

Duke Law's alleged race-based admissions accused of defying Supreme Court ruling: DOJ

Duke Law School allegedly gave Black applicants 3.5 times higher admission chances than Asian applicants with the same credentials, the DOJ says.

Before the Fed, J.P. Morgan Was Our Central Bank

‍In October 1907, the financier J. P. Morgan was in Richmond, Virginia. He was there to attend a conference of the Episcopal Church, of which he was a senior benefactor and a church leader. But then he received word from his partners to hasten…

Socialist House nominee's radical law-and-order vision: 'What are illegals?'

Chris Rabb questioned the premise of "illegal immigrants" and claimed 99% of police work does not involve pursuing criminals in a heated exchange.

Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: Duke Law's alleged race-based admissions accused of defying Supreme Court

Stay up to date with the Fox News Campus Radicals newsletter.

The notable legal clouds that continue to hang over Donald Trump

All eyes are on former President Donald Trump, who has launched another White House bid.

Margins of Error

Look closely at almost anything and you'll find data—lots of it. But what are those numbers really saying about who we are and what we believe? Harry Enten is on a mission to find out.

Sex Differences Above the Neck

The evidence for innate sex differences has been accumulating for decades. Steve Stewart-Williams's new book is a welcome inventory.

Who Really Speaks for the Working Class?

Mike Rowe calls out the Democratic leaders who are flirting with the ‘really bad idea’ of socialism.

Glimmers of Hope in Higher Ed

Civics programs are on the rise.

A Well-Wisher Advises El-Sayed

Bill Scher of the Washington Monthly has advice.

Iran Is the One Running Out of Time

Economic strangulation threatens something much harder to survive: the regime's ability to pay the soldiers and police who keep it in power.

What Is the Point of Anthropology?

How a discipline lost interest in the people it was founded to understand.

Politicising the Humanities: Sociology as Case Study

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with University of Hawaii professor Ashley Rubin, co-author of the recently published ‘Special Commission Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities and the Humanistic Social Sciences’

Don't Deport My Sugar Baby!

That Abdul Guy Has Turned Out to Be a Great Candidate Choice, Guys

Max Miller Continues to Resist Pressure to Drop Out as Deadline Looms

The Republican House member from Ohio was accused of holding a gun to his ex-wife’s head and fracturing the collarbone of their young daughter. He has denied the accusations.

Trump's Kindergarten Diplomacy in Iran

Amid stop-and-start threats and with a divided staff, it's clear Trump has no idea how to end a war that shouldn't have begun

El-Sayed Type Candidates Are the Future for Democrats

Former political reporter Ron Fournier discusses Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on "Morning Joe," describing him as one of the most talented political campaigners he has covered.

Dark Artist

Frank Miller’s valuable new memoir explores the creative life of one of America’s most gifted writers and artists.

Bill Cassidy Will Back Todd Blanche as Attorney General, Salvaging His Confirmation

The Louisiana senator said that, despite reservations, he would back President Trump’s pick for attorney general, giving Republicans enough votes for a majority.

Unearthed clip of El-Sayed revealing his 'hate' for iconic Michigan town sparks online firestorm: 'Dark heart'

A resurfaced clip shows Abdul El-Sayed saying he "hates" Mackinac Island, sparking viral backlash as he seeks Michigan's Democratic Senate nomination.

A Beautiful Odyssey, Made Dreary By Remorse

Christopher Nolan’s creation is a big movie in every technical sense. But inside, it is diminished and faded: heroes who aren’t allowed to be heroes and gods who aren’t allowed to be gods.

Warsh Is Being Misread

Imagine that, as a result of an activist investor campaign, you are suddenly installed as the chief executive of a company that has missed its targets for five straight years and experienced a number of embarrassing operational lapses. Or imagine …

Trump says he’d ‘probably get along’ with Jeffries as House speaker

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) is likely to lead the chamber if Democrats win it back.

Why a prosecution of Anthony Fauci could face challenges in court

The Justice Department faces numerous pressures and challenges as it decides whether to prosecute Anthony Fauci following a Senate committee's contempt referral.

DOJ: Duke Law Discriminated Based on Race

Trump won’t let the Supreme Court have the last word

The president moved this week to counter legal defeats on ending birthright citizenship and firing a Fed governor, while seeking the justices’ help with his ballroom.

Everything you need to know about Biden's student loan forgiveness program

President Joe Biden's federal student loan forgiveness program, which promises to deliver up to $20,000 of debt relief for millions of borrowers, is on hold indefinitely as legal challenges work their way through the courts.

Trump's Imaginary Red Scare

Democratic socialists keep winning primary elections, and Democratic voters are trending in the same direction: Recent polling suggests that a third of Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults now identify as democratic socialists. Most recently, A…

Mary Eberstadt’s Upcoming Novel, Washington Zoo

I have it on good authority — which should not be a surprise to anyone who knows the author — that this is not a thinly veiled tell-all.

French Green Party Leader Wants to Shut Down X, Musk Responds

Former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has security clearance revoked over Air Force One disclosure

The Department of War revoked former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall’s eligibility to access classified information and hold sensitive positions.

Family of Former U.S. Marine Detained in Russia Says He Is in Serious Condition

Robert Gilman, 32, is in “dissociative stupor,” an advocacy group said, and his family members say they are afraid for his life. Mr. Gilman was arrested in Russia in 2022.

Friday's Final Word

The Axe Files with David Axelrod

Go beyond the soundbites and get to know some of the most interesting players in politics.

Don’t Eliminate the Filibuster, But . . .

This is not the same minority protection the Senate had for most of its history.

BREAKING (From February): Nepo Babytollah May Not Be Alive!

The Allegedly Awful Jobs Report

Our sense of what counts as a bad or good jobs report hasn’t kept up with population trends.

The Math Doesn't Favor Left-Wing Candidates

The clock is ticking - Republicans are already running an ad showing El-Sayed calling himself "dangerous."

Gov. Walz Has Hit the Wall

Riots, fraud and economic stagnation-Minnesota has had it rough. Brighter skies could be ahead.

Iranians Say Trump’s Promises Have Fallen by the Wayside as Iran War Drags On

As President Trump struggles to extricate the United States from the war in Iran, his promises to protesters in the country have fallen by the wayside.

The Gods of the Grid

A mostly forgotten movie of 2010 illuminates fundamental issues of artificial intelligence today.

U.S. Squeezes Cuba Even as It Searches for a New Regime Leader

Some officials warn that a more hard-line leader could emerge if the Trump administration moves forward with its plans.

Senate Passes Sanctions Bill Targeting Russia and Iran

The legislation was championed by Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican whose sudden death last month helped spur quick action on it.

Meet the woman steering Biden's bipartisan winning streak on Capitol Hill

The Biden administration managed to rack up a long list of major legislative wins in its first two years despite facing one of the most closely-divided Congresses in history. From bipartisan action on infrastructure, gun safety and same-sex marria…

US Army offering defense firms 'concierge access' to test weapons at military ranges

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll says defense companies can now book military test ranges within 30 days through a new online portal with concierge access.

Dorothy Day: Saint Radical

The incredible life and times of the Catholic who served the poor and gave hell to everyone else

Is This Why We Never Got the Full Story on Swalwell and Fang Fang?

Appeals Court Upholds Block on Trump Ballroom Construction

A federal appeals court panel backed a lower court’s ruling, and made it likely that the Supreme Court will decide the case. But the decision does not mean construction will halt immediately.

Tariffs on brass instruments come too late for unemployed Ohio factory workers

The tariff proposal was announced three days after The Post's story on the shuttered factory.

A Spurned Schumer Reaches Out to the Left

In a phone call this week, the Democratic leader told the new Michigan Senate nominee who had opposed him to just win, working to foster unity ahead of a difficult race.

How the Cult of Fauci Worked

How the legacy media and Hollywood seduced the Public Health Adviser to turn on The President and side with the Democrats.

Scientists Used AI to Create Viruses: Are We Guarding Against Dangers?

Political leaders, here and around the world, need to grapple with tech’s acute challenge to the human future.

Don Lemon Accuses Justice Dept. of Vindictive Prosecution in Church Protest Case

Lawyers for the former CNN anchor asked a judge to throw out the case, saying prosecutors had “acted on the president’s animus by filing unprecedented charges against a journalist for doing his job.”

Court deals setback to Trump’s war on wind as Pentagon is ordered to review projects

The Defense Department stopped processing national security reviews of wind projects in May, despite a law demanding they be completed in 75 days.

Capturing the ‘Odyssey’

Homer’s epic provides a window on to a strange, paradoxical, fascinating, beautiful, and terrifying world that is at once familiar and unfamiliar. 

Trump urges Jeanine Pirro to revisit dropped Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism case

President Donald Trump urged Jeanine Pirro to revisit the dropped vandalism case, sharing photos he says show knife cuts at the Reflecting Pool.

Unintended Consequences on the Filibuster

What Senate leadership intended in the 1970s and what actually resulted don’t match up.

Politics of the Day

Politics of the Day

What Do We Want Congress to Do?

Before deciding whether to change the filibuster, we should decide what we actually want Congress to do.

The Senate wants a recess. Trump doesn’t.

Before senators leave for recess, Republican leaders are trying to plow through a lengthy to-do list.

Cassidy backs Blanche for attorney general, appearing to clear way for confirmation

The Senate could hold the final vote on President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department as soon as Friday.

In Texas, the economy rather than abortion takes center stage

Senate contenders James Talarico and Ken Paxton unveil dueling economic plans as this year’s campaigns turn from the culture wars that defined the state’s 2024 vote.

The Passion of Bess McNeill

Lars von Trier’s harrowing but resplendent story of suffering and grace turns thirty this year.

The Tip of the Iceberg

The Jason Arday fiasco is a reminder why academia has developed a reputation for cowardice, careerism, and conformism in recent years.

One chart shows the backlash to gutting the Voting Rights Act

Democratic turnout for House primaries in Shelby County, Tennessee, a majority-Black county, surged to the highest level in a decade.

US Intelligence: Putin May Want to Test the Resolve of NATO

Farewell, Professor Arday--Cambridge Grift Ends

The real story is less Arday's BS than the fact that so many ostensibly clever people were sucked in by it a€” the inevitable consequence of their craven cave to the cult of BLM.

Silicon Valley Has Embraced a Strange New Faith

Those who first dreamed of artificial intelligence saw it as an instrument for the perfection of modern secular society. The IBM Pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair, where some of the earliest AI applications made their public debut, advertised a st…

Trump DOJ Has Fired Over 100 Immigration Judges So Far

Did a Wyoming Trans Activist Act in Self-Defense?

Prosecutor Sues Justice Dept. Over Dismissal After Right-Wing Influencer’s Claim

Will Rosenzweig joins a growing list of former prosecutors and federal agents who have gone to court to contest the purge of law enforcement deemed disloyal.

Trans Players Lining Up to Join WNBA; I Suggest That the WNBA and NBA Merge Instead

Three Ancient Ways of War

In a new book, Robert O’Connell situates the battlefield tactics of ancient Greek hoplites within the grand sweep of bronze-age military history.

Awkward: DC Circuit Tells Trump Not to Knock Down East Wing of the White House

GOP senator breaks with Trump over 'woke' Smithsonian history battle

Lisa Murkowski broke with Republicans to defend the Smithsonian, writing to Doug Burgum with concerns about Trump's executive order on museum signage.

The fine print of the Respect for Marriage Act

Let's start with the positive: Republicans and Democrats are coming together to protect same-sex marriage from the Supreme Court.

Biting the Hand

Artists increasingly insist that their work and their politics are indivisible. They should not be surprised when the institutions that fund them agree.

Trump says White House ballroom ruling jeopardizes lives of future presidents, vows Supreme Court appeal

Trump vows an immediate Supreme Court appeal after a federal appeals court ordered construction halted on his "massive" White House ballroom project.