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

Supreme Court Upholds Birthright Citizenship

The justices blocked President Trump’s executive order that banned birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants and some temporary foreign visitors.

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.

Plaintiff in Supreme Court Transgender Athlete Case Recently Won a State Shot Put Title

The success of Becky Pepper-Jackson, a West Virginia high school sophomore, prompted criticism from the state’s governor.

The Democratic Civil War: the Organized Crime Democrats are Losing to the Bolsheviks

Dangerous Liaisons and the #MeToo Wars

Nearly 250 years on, Laclos’s novel of seduction and treachery continues to scandalise.

Times/Siena Poll Finds Talarico and Paxton Tied in Texas Senate Race

James Talarico, a Democratic state lawmaker, is tied with Ken Paxton, the Republican state attorney general, according to a New York Times/Siena poll.

What Real Diversity Looks Like

The Becket Fund defends religious liberty for people of disparate faiths.

Trump’s Second-Year Slump

A year ago, President Trump was bulldozing his opposition. Now he’s facing setback after setback.

Here’s the latest.

Insanity: Palestinians Now Complaining That They Can't Cross Into Israel for Jobs

Trump’s massive GOP faith bloc raises red flag on Iran deal: Trust him, not his team

Evangelical leaders are divided over the Trump-Iran memorandum of understanding, with some praising military action and others warning Israel is betrayed.

Russian Lawmaker: We Still Have Enough Equipment to ‘Blow Up Half of Finland’

Irked by Finland voting to allow nuclear weapons on its soil, a Russian lawmaker declared his country could still ‘blow up half of Finland.’

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.

The Supremes’ Predictable Refusal to Review the Civil Sexual Assault Verdict Against Trump

Changes in the law to allow propensity evidence in sexual abuse cases, coupled with Trump’s decision not to testify, assured that the justices would demur.

What the Supreme Court Said About Firing Bureaucrats

On Monday, Donald Trump sealed one of the most lasting parts of his legacy.

State of Failure

Trump ignored Clausewitz, and disaster ensued.

What Makes American Architecture American?

In the beginning, there were seemingly infinite natural resources and the violent consolidation of one-third of a continent under a single flag. In the middle, there was air conditioning.

BREAKING: SCOTUS Upholds Sex-Based Restrictions in Sports - Unanimously?

GOP congressman reveals mystery illness that sidelined him from Congress for nearly four months

Rep. Tom Kean Jr. revealed the medical condition that kept him away from the House for nearly four months in an emotional speech on the floor.

Supreme Court lets stand $5 million civil verdict against Trump in Carroll case

A 2023 trial found President Donald Trump liable for allegedly sexually assaulting journalist E. Jean Carroll. The decision Monday leaves in place a ruling affirming the judgment.

Why resisting Trump has galvanized Black Democrats as the midterms approach

High primary turnout among Black voters in the South has given some in the party hope for upset wins in the region.

What SCOTUS Election Ruling Means for Trump's Tantrums

Republicans lost a bid to throw out Mississippi's three-day grace period for absentee ballots, but the president is still itching for a fight.

The States and the Supreme Court: Devine’s Intervention

A response to Donald Devine.

BMW Will Build a New Electric S.U.V. in South Carolina

The German company is doubling down on electric vehicles even as other automakers pull back after acknowledging billions of dollars in losses.

Poll shows Platner’s oyster-farmer image failing to win over working-class Maine voters

A new poll shows Graham Platner trailing Susan Collins by 21 points with non-college-educated voters despite his oyster farmer campaign pitch.

‘Mi país es su país’

Spain’s leftist government said it was going to offer illegal migrants the chance to regularize their position, saying that the amnesty was an act of justice.

Supreme Court financial disclosures reveal concert tickets from Bad Bunny's label, millions in book payments

Justice Sonia Sotomayor reported receiving concert tickets worth $4,333 during a Puerto Rico trip, according to Supreme Court financial disclosures.

Shockingly, Very Few People Want to Buy Jill Biden’s Book

It is very rare for a book that debuts at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list to fall off the list completely the following week.

Supreme Court strikes down limit on party campaign spending in coordination with candidates

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that political parties can now spend unlimited amounts in coordination with their federal candidates under the First Amendment.

Texas Is a Tossup. The Times/Siena Poll Points to How It Got There.

A major shift among Hispanic voters and a favorable candidate matchup have helped put Democrats on the doorstep of a Senate upset.

Spirit of '76 Lives, PA Rallies for Great American State Fair

After Gov. Josh Shapiro claimed there was no interest in participating in the Great American State Fair, Pennsylvanians proved him wrong.

Democrats 'Eating Their Own'?

Monday, June 29th on RealClearPolitics - Joined by the Reagan Institute's Rachel Hoff

Woman Gets Six Years for Drowning Her Infant Daughter

How American Experiment Could Last Another 250 Years

America has accomplished amazing things in the first 250 years of its nationhood. It went from being a peripheral colony to being the richest and most powerful country in the world. We are the nation of Midwestern corn and wheat fields, the automo…

Claire's Weekly Letter: Managed Decline, Unmanaged Heat

In a Bit of a Surprise, CO Supreme Court Knocks Down Dem Redistricting Plan

The Supreme Court Just Gave the G.O.P. a New Midterm Edge

The decision, which allows parties to spend more in coordination with candidates, is likely to further expand the power of big money in American politics.

Why Bill Maher Finds Himself Siding With the Right

Bill Maher is the perfect liberal, at least on paper -- yet despite his talk shows being nominated for Emmy awards more than 40 times, it's only in Donald Trump's Washington that Maher finally gets the recognition he craves.

The Great Canadian Unmarked-Graves Social Panic (2021–2026)

Mia Hughes and Stella O’Malley of the ‘Beyond Gender’ podcast interview Quillette’s Jonathan Kay about the progressive ideological manias spawned during the Justin Trudeau years.

Supreme Court expands Trump’s power over the federal bureaucracy

The justices allowed the president to fire a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission, striking down a nearly century-old precedent intended to insulate independent agencies from political influence by the executive.

How Europe Became the World Champion of Heat Deaths

The continent with the lowest number of hot days leads the world in heat mortality. Europe’s self-inflicted aversion to air conditioning betrays a deeper hostility to energy and to progress itself.

Supreme Court upholds principle that almost all born on U.S. soil are American

If the court had struck down birthright citizenship and upheld President Donald Trump’s executive order, the ruling would have had sweeping political, economic and social ramifications.

Republicans declare war on 'organized theft' with government fraud crackdown

Sen. Eric Schmitt leads nine Senate Republicans in forming an anti-fraud task force to combat government waste and abuse across federal programs.

Wong Turn: SCOTUS Denies Trump on Birthright Citizenship

Senate GOP Needs To Get Its Act Together on SAVE Act

Scott Presler's SCORCHED EARTH Message to John Thune For BANNING Him from the GOP Convention and BETRAYING the MAGA Base:

A Problem With Trump's Victory Lap on Drop in Crime

"Under President Donald J. Trump's leadership, America is safer than it has been in over a century," a White House press release declared in January, claiming the "monumental turnaround" stemmed from Trump "reversing the chaos and carnage unleashe…

U.S. Is Better Off Than It Was in 1976. Why Does It Feel Worse?

America in the summer of 1976 was not in a good place.

CNN: DSA Nominee Suuuuuure Likes Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and ...

Supreme Court in Barbara Rejects Effort to Limit Birthright Citizenship

Children born in the United States are entitled to birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment even if their parents are illegal aliens or transients.

Bay Area Pro-Life Activist Wins Legal Victory

This is a nice win for San Francisco Pro-Lifers

House GOP's SAVE Act rescue plan hits resistance from conservative holdouts

Speaker Johnson's plan to merge the SAVE America Act with the defense bill faced resistance from GOP holdouts demanding stronger Senate assurances.

Letters to the Editor

Replies to Jonathan Kay and Maarten Boudry.

Trump suffers major Supreme Court defeat as justices uphold birthright citizenship

The Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump's bid to end birthright citizenship, preserving the constitutional guarantee of automatic U.S. citizenship for most children born in the United States in a major setback for his immigration agenda.

Supreme Court, for now, blocks Trump from firing Fed board member Lisa Cook

The decision is a setback for Trump, who alleged that Cook committed mortgage fraud. She is the first Black woman to serve on the Fed board.

Energy Prices Dropping Fast, Defying Expert Predictions

The falling prices are a huge win for the president and his party, helping to blunt an easy Democratic attack line.

How Canada Jumped the Rails on ’Gender-Affirming Care’: A Quillette Investigation

The career arc of Canadian Paediatric Society president Natasha Johnson helps explain why her country has become such an outlier in the treatment of trans-identified children.

In dissents, justices decried the ruling as a ‘serious mistake’ that would aid ‘birth tourists.’

Gorsuch suggests Supreme Court's Trump ruling is opening move against administrative state

Justice Neil Gorsuch's concurrence suggests the Supreme Court's FTC ruling could lead to sweeping challenges against independent federal agencies' power.

The Crisis in the Humanities Is Not About Money

Critical theory did not merely politicise scholarship. It made scholarship easier to produce.

Agency and Adaptation

Humans have not merely been shaped by evolution—we have shaped it too, through the environments we chose to inhabit and the lives we chose to lead.

Here’s the latest.

Politics of the Day

Politics of the Day

China’s Last Moonshot

China’s ghost cities are like a mocking glimpse of the Chinese century we were told to expect, and for which we are still waiting.

Tom Kean, New Jersey Congressman, Says Depression Led to Long Absence

After months of mystery, the New Jersey representative broke his silence about the undisclosed health issue that prompted his 117-day absence.

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.

Lack of Gasoline Getting to Russians, Part Two

How Brexit Made Britain European

Keir Starmer is just the latest victim of a political reality created by Brexit—one that has, counterintuitively, turned Britain into a European country.

Supreme Court sides with GOP, loosens campaign spending rules

The decision is the latest in which the Supreme Court has weighed in on campaign finance rules.

The 1952 Law That Was Central to the Birthright Citizenship Case

When Congress passed a sweeping immigration reform measure after World War II, it included language that mirrored the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause — and perhaps even took it a step further.

Did You Buy Pro-Trans Yarn with an Anti Fat-Tax Discount?

The culture war is so pervasive that even wool has an agenda.

Supreme Court upholds bans on transgender women in female athletics

The ruling is the latest blow to the LGBTQ+ community, which has faced repeated losses at the Supreme Court in recent years.

Dem senator faces DOJ probe after allegations of spending campaign funds on luxury lifestyle

Sen. Ruben Gallego faces a DOJ investigation after allegedly using campaign donations to fund family trips to Disney, Miami and the Super Bowl.

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…

GOP infighting over Trump's voter ID bill erupts as top senator calls strategy 'fantasy'

Sens. Mike Lee and John Cornyn clash publicly on X over whether a talking filibuster strategy can force the SAVE America Act through the Senate.

Texas Supreme Court Hands Win to Pediatric Sex-Change Detransitioners

Supreme Court Allows States to Bar Transgender Athletes From Girls’ Sports

The court’s decision involving laws from West Virginia and Idaho has implications for 25 other states with similar restrictions on transgender female athletes joining women’s sports teams.

Shock poll: Talarico ties Paxton in Texas Senate race, threatening GOP stronghold

James Talarico and Ken Paxton are tied at 47% among likely voters in Texas, according to a new poll, as Democrats eye their first Senate win in decades.

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.

In Bad Faith

The US vice president’s new memoir leaves an unflattering impression of its author.

CNN Political Briefing

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

Reviewing the American Experiment’s Lab Notes

The Federalist Papers remind us that America was a leap of genius beyond the known.

The Axe Files with David Axelrod

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

Greenspan vs. Bernanke

What the late central banker got right and his successor didn’t.

Housing bill that Trump refuses to sign heads to his desk

House Speaker Mike Johnson is set to send a bipartisan housing bill to President Donald Trump’s desk Monday, but it is unclear whether he will sign it into law.

Most of a Little Town in South Dakota Just Survived 130 MPH Wind Gusts

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…

Leo’s Plea to the SSPX

I’m hoping at least for some kind of pause, and sincere talks to repair this wound in the church.

Want Air Conditioning in France? Easiest Way to Get it Is a Trip to the Morgue

Monday's Final Word