Judge in Charlie Kirk Shooting to Hear Final Arguments in September on Whether to Send Case to Trial

Tyler Robinson

The preliminary hearings in Charlie Kirk’s murder case in Utah wrapped up Friday with the judge pushing his final decision on whether to send the case to trial until September, when he is expected to hear final arguments.

Prosecutors in the case argued this week that Tyler Robinson assassinated Kirk at a rally at Utah Valley University last year, using testimony from law enforcement officials and Robinson’s roommate Lance Twiggs. Twiggs claimed Robinson told him a day after the shooting that he wished “he hadn’t” fatally shot the conservative activist.

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Commentary: The New Critical National Security Fuel Is Electricity

nuclear plant

As NATO leaders debate the alliance’s future, a quiet strategic transformation deserves attention. In the 20th century, petroleum was the indispensable fuel of military power. In the 21st century, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, and digital command systems depend on something equally fundamental: abundant, reliable electricity.

The race to build AI infrastructure is often framed as a competition for semiconductors and computing power. Yet they cannot exist without resilient electrical grids capable of supporting energy-intensive data centers, advanced manufacturing, and military command systems. Energy security has become national security.

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Music Spotlight: Spencer Hatcher

Spencer Hatcher

Out of the 43 artists I interviewed at CRS this year, one who clearly stood out to me was Spencer Hatcher. Because he has a bluegrass background, a traditional country sound, and spades of charisma, I knew Hatcher was one to keep an eye on. With his second EP, Hot Weather, Cold Beer, just being released, it was the perfect time to do a full interview with the rising entertainer.

Hailing from Virginia’s beautiful Shenandoah Valley, Hatcher comes from a musical family. His mother and grandmother played piano, his dad played guitar, and his brother, Connor, currently plays bass guitar in his band. Everyone sang in church. Hatcher learned the mandolin at age eight but started singing at age four. By the time he turned 12, he started playing the banjo, “the instrument [he] really wanted to learn.” They started a family band. Hatcher’s older brother played guitar and mandolin, his younger brother picked up the bass, and his dad played the guitar.

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Key GOP Lawmaker Seeks Vote to Restrict Birthright Citizenship as Trump Weighs Second SCOTUS Appeal

Glenn Grothman

Pushing back against the recent Supreme Court ruling that protected birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment, House Republicans are renewing a legislative push to restrict birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants in order to force the issue back before the high court.

Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., a House subcommittee chairman long influential on immigration issues, told the Just the News, No Noise TV show on Thursday that he was co-sponsoring congressional bills aimed at clarifying the scope of birthright citizenship, ensuring that it only applied to children of citizens, permanent residents, or military members. 

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Trump Administration Fires Remaining Three Members of Election Assistance Commission

Election Assistance Commission

The Trump administration has fired two members of the Election Assistance Commission, and it accepted the resignation of the final remaining member. 

President Donald Trump removed Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland — both were selected by congressional Democrats — and accepted the resignation of Republican member, Christy McCormick. The fourth member resigned last spring, the New York Times reported. 

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California Legislation Could Force Community Colleges to Hand Out Abortion Pills

Mifepristone

California community college health centers could greatly expand access to medication abortion services for students if proposed legislation is enacted, CalMatters reported Tuesday.

The legislation, Assembly Bill 2540, would mandate that community colleges with student health centers in the Golden State provide access to abortion pills beginning in 2029 if the state Legislature appropriates funds, according to CalMatters.

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Trump Declares He Will Not Sign Housing Bill To Protest Inaction On SAVE America Act

home buyers

President Donald Trump declared Friday he would not sign a major housing bill into law over the Senate’s inaction on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act.

Trump canceled the signing of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act on June 24 until the Senate passed the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship for voter registration and government-issued identification at the voting booth. He maintained he would not sign the housing bill, which is set to become law at midnight unless Trump vetoed it.

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Mamdani’s Immigrant Map Somehow Misses Three Groups That Defined NYC History

Little Italy

An Italian-American civil rights group accused New York City’s socialist mayor of “cultural erasure” after his office released an immigration map that omitted several well-known immigrant communities.

Democratic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s map of immigrant enclaves included places such as “Little Palestine” and “Little Bhod-Tibet,” but excluded communities long populated by the city’s historically significant Italian, Irish and Jewish populations, New York Post reported Wednesday. This apparent oversight sparked outrage from local Italian-Americans.

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Trump Agrees to Renewed ‘Talks’ with Iran, but Says Ceasefire Still ‘Over’

Donald Trump

President Donald Trump on Friday announced that Iran had sought to resume peace talks with the United States and that he had agreed to do so, but would not halt combat operations in the interim.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” he posted on Truth Social.

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Jack Smith’s Team May Have Exposed Classified Info While Probing Trump for Allegedly Doing the Same

Jack Smith

New documents released by Senator Chuck Grassley, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, show that employees at the Department of Justice, including those working for then-special counsel Jack Smith, may have mishandled classified information while probing Donald Trump for allegedly doing the same. 

“Messages involving personnel in Jack Smith’s Special Counsel Office (SCO) raise serious concerns about the Biden administration’s failure to properly secure classified materials,” Grassley wrote in a short letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday. 

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Commentary: We Must Have a Rebirth of Instinctive Patriotism

American barn

On the nation’s 250th anniversary, the mayor of the country’s largest city sat at a desk once used by George Washington and told Americans what was wrong with American exceptionalism.

The story of this country, he said, has too often been written by people told they did not belong. Its achievements were really won by the excluded, in spite of America. Dissent, not gratitude, he intoned, is the truest form of patriotism.

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As U.S. Runs Low on Missiles, Trump Wants to License Production to Ukraine

missiles

Despite dwindling U.S. stockpiles, President Donald Trump said that he wants to give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot interceptor missiles during his visit to Turkey on Wednesday.

Trump made the comments about Patriot missile licensing while talking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during their televised meeting at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey. Patriot missile interceptors are in short supply as they have been continuously used in the Russo-Ukrainian War and the Iran War, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

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Judge Who Helped Illegal Immigrant Evade ICE Walks Away with $5,000 Fine, No Prison Time

Hannah Dugan

A former Wisconsin judge received only a $5,000 fine after a jury found her guilty of helping illegal immigrants evade federal agents.

The jury found former Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan guilty of obstruction with the judge fining her $5,000 determined Wednesday during sentence hearing, according to Spectrum News 1.

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DOJ Warns Oregon Officials That They Could Face Criminal Charges If They Allow Noncitizens to Vote

Voting booth

The Department of Justice is warning that state election leaders in Oregon could face criminal prosecution if they knowingly allow noncitizens to vote in elections. 

The warning came in a letter sent to Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read on Tuesday from Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, the Oregonian reported. 

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Commentary: Tennessee Needs to Stop Supporting China-Linked Microvast

Microvast

In 2021, Governor Bill Lee and state officials celebrated Microvast’s announcement of a $220 million battery manufacturing facility in Clarksville, promising nearly 300 jobs and positioning the state as a leader in the electric vehicle and energy storage supply chain. The project, which received significant economic development incentives and was sold as a win for American manufacturing and clean energy jobs, has become a troubling example of how Chinese-linked companies continue to benefit from U.S. taxpayer incentives despite serious national security and human rights concerns.

Microvast Holdings, Inc. has long derived most of its revenue and assets from operations in China, previously raising $400 million in funding from state-run CITIC Securities and Chinese private equity firm CDH Investments, which holds roughly 11% through affiliated entities, with board representation. While Microvast maintains a U.S. headquarters and public listing, its supply chains and core production remain heavily dependent on China, with almost all its manufacturing capacity, a 75,000 square foot R&D center and four subsidiaries in China. These connections raise legitimate questions under evolving U.S. policy aimed at strengthening national security by reducing reliance on adversarial supply chains.

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Architect of Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order Doesn’t Think President Will Accept SCOTUS Decision

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court last week struck down President Trump’s 2025 executive order that attempted to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. However, the man who authored the first draft said Tuesday he doubts the fight is over for the president and his supporters.

The author, Theo Wold, a former assistant attorney general and White House deputy assistant for Domestic Policy under Trump who wrote the original draft, said on the John Solomon Reports podcast that neither Trump nor “other folks who have used enormous brain power on these issues will either.”

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Commentary: Don’t Lock Young Americans into Social Security

young people

The Social Security trust fund is projected to run out of money by 2032. Without legislative reforms, retirement benefits for tens of millions of Americans could face significant cuts.

As lawmakers debate how to preserve the program, most proposals focus on raising payroll tax revenue or making other budgetary adjustments. But these discussions miss a larger point: The program itself is increasingly ill-suited for younger generations. Rather than forcing Americans into a system that may not deliver on its promises, policymakers should allow young workers to opt out and prepare for retirement in their own way.

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Federal Records Expose Israel-Funded Campaign Targeting U.S. Christians

pastor

An Israeli-guided media company that documents show paid a former Trump campaign aide’s firm millions to influence public opinion is supporting an effort to propagandize American Christians at their places of worship, federal records reveal.

Havas Media, a Germany-based media company with ties to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, pays Show Faith By Works LLC to conduct a pro-Israel outreach campaign in the U.S., a Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filing from Sept. 27, 2025, shows. Show Faith By Works’ initial proposal includes farming cellphone data from churches, influencing celebrities and clergy members and hosting mobile events at churches and colleges throughout the West Coast, according to the filing.

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Trump Fan or Not, Economists Say Trump Accounts Are a Good Deal

Trump accounts

“Trump Accounts” officially launched on Monday following a July 4 opening, drawing positive feedback from economists who project the program will provide significant financial benefits for American children nationwide. 

The accounts come as part of Trump’s new tax law, the One Big Beautiful Bill, and are essentially tax-deferred investments for newborn American citizens born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028. As of today, more than six million people have signed up for the accounts.

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AI Is Making More Work for Doctors, Not Less

surgery

Using artificial intelligence for some tasks may actually be contributing to heavier workloads for some physicians, according to new research from Dartmouth.

AI tools can sometimes worsen doctors’ workloads by introducing errors and adding unnecessary details into their written messages to patients, according to Dartmouth’s study, which was presented on Tuesday at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics in San Diego, California. The report also suggests that physicians may actually spend more time editing AI-generated responses than it would take to write them without using AI tools.

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Sanders Urges Platner to Step Aside

Graham Platner

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, on Tuesday confirmed that he had spoken to Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner and asked him to step aside as the party nominee in the wake of a sexual assault allegation.

“I have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine. In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside,” Sanders said.

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Trump Panel Finds Smithsonian American History Museum Ideologically Captured, Engages in ‘Activism’

Smithsonian Museum

While President Donald Trump marked the 250th anniversary of American independence with great fanfare in the nation’s capital city, his White House quietly released a report from the Domestic Policy Council detailing the “ideological capture” and “activism” infecting the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. 

The museum was first approved by Congress in 1955 to tell the national story of the United States, to “place before” visitors “a stimulating permanent exposition that commemorates our heritage of freedom and highlights the basic elements of our way of life.”

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GOP-Controlled Congress Fails to Extend the Prohibition for Planned Parenthood to Receive Funding

As the U.S. celebrated its 250th birthday, Planned Parenthood cheered the return of hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid funding as lawmakers failed to extend the law banning its federal funding.

The Republican-controlled Congress missed the deadline to extend the prohibition of Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid funding which expired on July 4.

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Commentary: The New Socialists and What They Say About America

mamdani and sanders

In the roughly two weeks since the New York primary elections, conservatives—and other normies—have been understandably upset about the prospects of a socialist surge in American politics. Three candidates endorsed by New York City’s socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani won their congressional primaries easily, while Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-aligned candidates around the state did quite well. In short, June 23 was a good day for socialists throughout the country, leaving many observers wondering if this will be a new date that lives in infamy, the date that marks the official start of the socialist-led collapse of the world’s quintessential capitalist, democratic republic.

As I say, this concern is understandable. Avowed socialists are winning big in cities across the country, not just in New York City but also in Seattle, possibly in Los Angeles, and almost certainly in the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. It has been well over a hundred years since the United States saw such a swell in socialist-affiliated political success. And this time, it’s highly unlikely that the leader of the Democratic establishment (whoever that is now) will be able to crush the nascent movement like his predecessor did last time, when Progressive patriarch Woodrow Wilson had the head of the Socialist Party of America, Eugene V. Debs, imprisoned for the crime of giving a speech. “Socialism” and its number of adherents will continue to expand for some time, at least until both major parties figure out how to refute their claims and prove the emptiness of their promises.

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Fed Reserve Working Paper Suggests Biden’s Illegal Immigrant Wave Caused 30 Percent of Home Price Increases

home sale

A new Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas working paper estimates the record surge in illegal immigration during the Biden administration boosted employment while causing 30% of home price increases and 20% of rent increases.

The paper combined immigration court records with government administrative data to create the first ever calculation of how a wave of 7 million illegal immigrants from 2021 through 2024 affected local labor and housing markets.

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Microsoft Axes Thousands of Jobs as Reality of AI Era Sets In

microsoft

Microsoft announced Monday that it is cutting 4,800 Xbox jobs amid an era in which the rise of artificial intelligence is transforming the tech industry.

The technology giant, which Bill Gates co-founded a half century ago, is cutting 2.1% of its workers mainly within the Xbox Gaming Division. Microsoft will immediately axe 1,600 workers as the company focuses on how to deliver during a “fast changing industry,” according to a Monday memo sent out by executive vice president Amy Coleman.

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Blue States Have Higher Electricity Costs, and Net Zero Policies Are to Blame, Analysis Shows

Proponents of renewable energy often claim that wind and solar are the cheapest forms of energy and will drive down electricity rates. However, electricity costs continue to rise faster than inflation, with no sign the trend is reversing, even as the amount of wind and solar grows in the grid. 

Last December, the Always On Energy Research and the Institute for Energy Research completed an analysis of electricity rates and found that residents of blue states see higher electricity bills than those of red states. 

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Tidal Waves of Drones Coming to Battlefields Across the Globe

war drone

Manufacturers around the world are leveraging AI to create drone swarms that could change the reality of war forever.

Both defensive and offensive drone swarm systems are going to be hitting battlefields across the globe soon. As companies such as Swarm Defense create new systems that will launch tidal waves of drones at targets, other companies like XCaliber Technologies are rapidly working to build a wall of drones and other defensive systems that can defeat the new offensive threat.

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Social Security Mistakenly Reported over 12,000 Americans as Dead in 2025, and Fumbled Fixes

SSA fraud

Mark Twain once turned the premature report of his death in the 1890s into one of history’s greatest quips, but at the Social Security Administration the mistaken reporting of American’s deaths is no laughing matter.

The agency’s internal watchdog sharply rebuked SSA workers for mistakenly reporting that 12,054 Americans had died in 2025 who actually didn’t, then failing to follow the proper procedures in repairing the damage far too often.

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Analysis: ‘American Patriarch’ Tells George Washington’s Tale

George Washington

As the United States marks its semiquincentennial, a new biography reminds us why George Washington was eulogized by “Light Horse Harry” Lee in 1799 as having been “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

In “American Patriarch: The Life of George Washington,” prolific historian H.W. Brands delivers an in-depth look at the man who was driving events years before there was a United States.

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National Mall Events Suspended, Philadelphia Cancels 4th of July Parade, amid Scorching Heat Dome

Fourth of July

Philadelphia canceled its Friday’s Fourth of July parade over concerns about high temperatures, and other holiday events in other communities are being canceled or rescheduled. 

Temperatures reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Philadelphia on Friday, and the organizers of the city’s Salute to Semiquincentennial Parade said that their responsibility toward the safety of expected crowds comes first, CBS News reported. 

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Commentary: Celebrating America’s Radical Revolution

U.S. Constitution

The Democratic Socialists are right: This is no time for half measures. If the United States is to thrive for another 250 years, we must commit ourselves to a profoundly radical vision of the future.

Our present divisions, strains, and discontents are so severe, they demand nothing less than a revolutionary response – one that reimagines our relationship to each other and our government.

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First US-Born Pope Champions America’s Founding During Award by National Constitution Center

Pope Leo

With the United States on the cusp of celebrating 250 years independence, the first American pope was honored Friday by the National Constitution Center as its 2026 Liberty Medal recipient.

Awarded annually to “men and women of courage and conviction who strive to secure the blessings of liberty for people around the globe,” the 38th Liberty Medal honors Pope Leo XIV “for his lifelong work promoting religious liberty and freedom of conscience and expression around the world—ideals enshrined by America’s founders in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”

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Nearly Half of Americans, Two-Thirds of Gen Z Don’t Know What America 250 Is Celebrating: Poll

America 250

Nearly two-thirds of Gen Z and nearly half of all Americans don’t know that America 250 is a celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a national survey by the Cato Institute found. 

The question posed to the survey respondents was, “To the best of your knowledge, which of the following best describes what America’s 250th anniversary commemorates?” 

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Justice Barrett Faces Brunt of Backlash to Supreme Court Rulings on Birthright, Election Issues

Amy Coney Barrett

Conservative pundits, online commentators, and some lawmakers have cast blame on Justice Amy Coney Barrett over two high-profile cases important to the Trump administration’s political goals, including birthright citizenship and mail-in-voting. 

In one of those cases, Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court’s liberal Justices on Monday to uphold a law that allowed Mississippi to count mailed ballots after Election Day as long as they were postmarked by that date and received within five days—a blow to Republican efforts to restrict mail-in-voting ahead of the midterm elections. 

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Hegseth Reportedly Pulled Plug On Troop Cuts In Europe

Pete Hegseth

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth reportedly pulled the plug on plans to reduce U.S. troop counts in Europe, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Hegseth’s plans were cancelled shortly before he was going to make the announcement at a meeting in Brussels in June, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The proposal was reportedly nixed after it was shared with Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio and other senior White House officials.

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Deep State Strikes, as EPA Employees Who Signed Anti-Trump Letter Sue over Firing

Lee Zeldin

In another case of federal bureaucrats challenging elected leaders, seven employees of the Environmental Protection Agency who signed onto a public letter opposing President Donald Trump were eventually ousted. Now they’re suing to get their jobs back.

The terminated employees are suing with the backing of the litigation group Democracy Forward. Democrat lawyer Marc Elias is chairman of the board for Democracy Forward, which has filed numerous lawsuits advocating for the federal bureaucracy against elected leaders. Elias is best known for election litigation for Democrats, and for his role in pushing the Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy theory.

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