That Dropped Call With Customer Service? It Was on Purpose.

Endless wait times and excessive procedural fuss—it’s all part of a tactic called “sludge.”

The Atlantic

Why Factories Are Having Trouble Filling Nearly 400,000 Open Jobs

“We spent three generations telling everybody that if they didn’t go to college, they are a loser,” he said. “Now we are paying for it. We still need people to use their hands.”

The New York Times

Trump says he’ll withhold money from New York if Mamdani becomes mayor and doesn’t do ‘the right thing’

“I think he admits it … If he does get in, I’m gonna be president and he’s gonna have to do the right thing or they’re not getting any money. He’s gotta do the right thing,” the president added.

Trump claimed that Mamdani would be “very bad for New York.”

“I used to say, we will never have a socialist in this country, no, but we’ll have a communist. I mean, he’s a communist and going to be mayor of New York,” he said.

Independent

A New Trump Plan Gives DHS and the White House Greater Influence in the Fight Against Organized Crime

Internal documents and interviews show that an overhaul led by Stephen Miller would scale back prosecutors’ control over investigations.

ProPublica

The first rule in Trump’s Washington: Don’t write anything down

A new culture of secrecy in government is taking root – among career staffers and new political appointees alike.

Washington Post

Amid celebration, Pride Parade calls for resistance to federal incursions on LGBTQ+ rights

This year’s theme was “United in Pride,” as the Pride Chicago organization emphasizes community solidarity in an uncertain political time for the LGBTQ+ population in America and celebrates 10 years of legalized same-sex marriage.

Pride Month wraps up as the federal government has moved to restrict services and rights for many in the LGBTQ+ community. Earlier in June, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors and allowed parents to opt their kids out of curriculum involving LGBTQ+ themes. The Trump administration will also end the 988 suicide hotline’s specialized services for LGBTQ+ youths in mid-July.

Chicago Tribune

The US Federal Reserve’s Trump problem

The president is undermining his own desire for lower interest rates

Financial Times

Elon Musk Calls Trump’s Megabill ‘Political Suicide,’ Says ‘It Is Utterly Insane and Destructive,’ Will ‘Destroy Millions of Jobs in America’

Latest Musk referred to a poll saying, “Polls show that this bill is political suicide for the Republican Party.”

Benzinga

Trump sent ‘explicit’ threat to cut funds from University of Virginia, senator says

Mark Warner says school would face slashes to jobs and financial aid if its president did not resign over DEI practices

The Guardian

Why Nebraska’s Red Wave Isn’t Just a Phase

I wouldn’t be against the government subsidizing Nebraska corn farming if harvests actually entered the food chain. What I am against is Nebraska farmers pretending to be something they are not.

Nebraska farmers like to portray an image of hard-working, gritty independence, dispensing with government interference in their lives. Isn’t the ethos of Trumpism and DOGE a smaller, less intrusive government? Let’s unshackle the white American male from the chains of wokeism and illegal immigrants taking away their livelihood, pillaging their streets, and raping their women. These weren’t Trump’s secret campaign pledges leading up to November 2024. He was shouting them from the rooftops.

Nebraska farmers do work hard, especially for their government handout. But let’s put this in the proper context. Washington, D.C., ensures the $1 billion-plus in annual Nebraska farming subsidies will continue flowing. Bureaucrats in Washington dictate whether the Nebraska ethanol industry will live or die. Bad weather? Drought? Floods? Uncle Sam has you covered. All for a fuel past its sell-by date. Let’s be honest and call it what it is. Nebraska corn farming is a centrally planned socialist enterprise, overseen on high by Brook Rollins, the head of the U.S.D.A., and Lee Zeldin, the head of the E.P.A.

Medium

One American’s Two-Year Quest to Move His Business Out of China

Trump’s first-term tariffs were a wake-up call for Ryan Bursky’s company. Now, he’s working with his Chinese suppliers to move everything to Cambodia.

The Wall Street Journal

Streams Were Dying in West Virginia. Here’s How They’re Coming Back.

Abandoned coal mines had left waterways acidic and rusty orange. Local residents are cleaning them up, and recovering rare earths in the process.

The New York Times

‘No one is coming to save us’: Trans people are planning to move overseas rather than live in Trump’s America

Conservatives’ increasingly frenzied attacks on trans rights have made many people feel the USA is no longer safe for them — and the Court’s ruling in US v Skrmetti is just the latest ‘domino’, Io Dodds reports

Independent

America’s Incarceration Rate Is About to Fall Off a Cliff

Long sentences and recidivism kept prison populations high for decades, but prisons are now starting to empty.

The Atlantic

GOP Sen. Tillis won’t run for reelection after Trump primary threat

The senator, in a lengthy statement announcing his decision, said it was “not a hard choice” to rule out running for a third term as he was finished with “navigating the political theatre and partisan gridlock in Washington.”

ABC News

China is cracking down on young women who write gay erotica

At least 30 writers, nearly all of them women in their 20s, have been arrested across the country since February, a lawyer defending one told the BBC. Many are out on bail or awaiting trial, but some are still in custody. Another lawyer told the BBC that many more contributors were summoned for questioning.

They had published their work on Haitang Literature City, a Taiwan-hosted platform known for its “danmei”, the genre of so-called boys’ love and erotic fiction.

BBC

Intercepted call of Iranian officials downplays damage of U.S. attack

The officials were heard saying Trump’s strike on Iran proved less devastating than expected. The administration calls the intelligence insignificant.

The Washington Post

The Queens of Botswana’s Metal Scene

South African photographer Paul Shiakallis’s series Leather Skins, Unchained Hearts provides a visual alternative to the stereotypical metalhead in the popular Western imagination.

Hyperallergic

Iran crackdown deepens with speedy executions and arrests

Three Iranians were executed for alleged spying, Iran’s judiciary said.

ABC News

Pride Month photos show celebrations in communities around the world

Wrapped in multicolored flags and waving protest signs, revelers across the globe have gathered throughout June for Pride events — a monthlong celebration of the LGBTQ community that also symbolizes an ongoing fight for equal rights and inclusion.

CBS News

Alone in Tehran, a young Iranian turns to ChatGPT and video games for comfort

Roxana, a young shop manager living alone in Tehran, was panicking during the war with Israel. Her family lives outside the Iranian capital. Her boyfriend was on an Iranian base doing compulsory military service; unreachable and potentially in danger. Even her psychotherapist had fled the bombing in Tehran. So she turned to ChatGPT.

NPR

‘Proud to be gay’: K-pop star on coming out to the world

Bain was halfway through his band’s Los Angeles concert on a crisp April night when the music stopped.

In an oversized fur coat and black sunglasses, the 24-year-old K-pop star told thousands of fans: “Before I start the next song – I want to share something with you guys.”

A brief pause and then: “I’m [expletive] proud to be part of the LGBTQ community!”

The crowd erupted in applause and screams as Bain broke into Lady Gaga’s pride anthem: “Just put your paws up, ‘Cause you were born this way, baby”.

BBC

Europe Is Recruiting Academics Disenchanted With America

U.K., France, among others have set up funds to help U.S. researchers relocate to the continent

The Wall Street Journal

Defying a ban, Hungarians saved Budapest Pride and rebuked a prime minister

Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s effort to ban Pride backfired, drawing a huge throng in support of LGBTQ+ rights and hurting him and his party ahead of elections next year.

The Washington Post