A Classic Childhood Pastime Is Fading

Kids on bikes once filled the streets. Not anymore.

The Atlantic

True allyship means honoring the spaces marginalized communities carve out for themselves

There’s a difference between standing with us and standing in front of us.

LGBTQ Nation

DOGE loses control over government grants website, freeing up billions

The DOGE team’s loss of control is the latest sign of its declining influence following Elon Musk’s departure from Washington.

The Washington Post

Trump’s “Alligator Alcatraz” Is Already Flooding

The monstrous, recently constructed immigrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades, flippantly dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” literally took on water within a day of President Trump visiting the camp Tuesday to commemorate its planned Wednesday opening.

The New Republic

‘I want my vote back’: Trump-voting family stunned after Canadian mother detained over immigration status

The family of a Canadian national who supported Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportations of immigrants say they are feeling betrayed after federal agents recently detained the woman in California while she interviewed for permanent US residency – and began working to expel her from the country.

“We feel totally blindsided,” Cynthia Olivera’s husband – US citizen and self-identified Trump voter Francisco Olivera – told the California news station KGTV. “I want my vote back.”

The Guardian

Poll: Most feel democracy is threatened and political violence is a major problem

Ahead of the July Fourth holiday and the country’s 249th birthday, three-quarters of Americans say democracy is under serious threat, according to a new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll.

Nearly three-quarters also see politically motivated violence as a major problem.

NPR

The Trump Admin Isn’t a Deviation From American History. Just Ask Indigenous People

“The solution is not returning to some mythical state of pre-Trump administration American equality, but actually understanding and fixing what is broken,” argues writer Joseph Lee.

Teen Vogue

Meteorologists Say the National Weather Service Did Its Job in Texas

DOGE cut hundreds of jobs at the NWS, but experts who spoke to WIRED say the agency accurately predicted the state’s weekend flood risk.

Wired

Inside Elon Musk’s Stellar Year at the Texas Capitol

Musk wanted legislators to pass new laws that would make it faster and easier for homeowners to install backup power generators, like the kind Tesla makes, on their properties. He wanted them to create new crimes so people who fly drones or interfere with operations at his rocket company SpaceX can be arrested. And he wanted to change who controlled the highway and public beach near SpaceX’s South Texas site so he can launch his rockets according to his timeline.

Musk got them all.

ProPublica

RFK Jr.’s Autism Time Machine

The health secretary’s approach to the condition gives the impression that two decades of research simply never happened.

The Atlantic

Pete Buttigieg shows dire consequences of GOP Medicaid cuts in chat with mom who depends on it

The father of twins spoke with a mom about how cuts to the program would find her family “adrift and desperate.”

LGBTQ Nation

Trump OKs using National Guard as immigration judges at Florida detention center

Unlike federal judges, who work for the judicial branch and are independent of the President, immigration judges work under the direction of the U.S. Attorney General.

Miami Herald

‘Harvey would say, we’re on the brink’: why conservatives are coming for a gay rights hero

Emboldened by Trump, the right is trying to chip away the legacy of the trailblazing politician Harvey Milk. Activists say it’s a sign of a wider assault on the LGBTQ+ community

The Guardian

Even over the Fourth of July weekend, ICE officials didn’t stop their raids in LA: ‘Troubling reminder of federal overreach’

A man whose father was detained, who asked to remain anonymous, told NBC 4 LA that he was unsure what prompted the raids.

“He’s not a criminal,” he said. “He wasn’t doing anything he wasn’t supposed to. He came in to work on the Fourth of July.”

Independent

How Trump is using the ‘Madman Theory’ to try to change the world (and it’s working)

Political scientists call this the Madman Theory, in which a world leader seeks to persuade his adversary that he is temperamentally capable of anything, to extract concessions. Used successfully it can be a form of coercion and Trump believes it is paying dividends, getting the US’s allies where he wants them.

But is it an approach that can work against enemies? And could its flaw be that rather than being a sleight of hand designed to fool adversaries, it is in fact based on well established and clearly documented character traits, with the effect that his behaviour becomes easier to predict?

BBC

Anthony Scaramucci Wants ‘To Discuss’ New Party With Musk, Mark Cuban Offers Ballot Access Aid

Musk, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen born abroad, is ineligible to run for president but can endorse third-party candidates. On July 4, he conducted a poll asking if people desired a new party, with a majority of 65.4% respondents in favor. Subsequent to the poll, Musk declared the establishment of the America Party on X.

Notable figures such as billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban and ex-White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci have shown interest in the new party.

Benzinga

House-approved VA budget bill ends restrictions on doctors from discussing medical marijuana with veterans

Doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs for the first time would be allowed to recommend cannabis to patients in states where it is legal, according to an amendment in the House-approved VA budget bill for fiscal 2026.

Stars and Stripes

Hamas security officer says group has lost control over most of Gaza

A senior officer in Hamas’s security forces has told the BBC the Palestinian armed group has lost about 80% of its control over the Gaza Strip and that armed clans are filling the void.

BBC

Russia’s ‘anti-woke’ visa lures those fearing a moral decline in the West

A network of Kremlin-backed influencers seek to portray Russia as a bastion of traditional values in an attempt to attract those who deplore Western “liberalism.”

The Washington Post

Iran tells millions of Afghans to leave or face arrest on day of deadline

Afghans given Sunday deadline amid concerns over security after conflict with Israel, but humanitarian groups warn that mass deportations could further destabilise Afghanistan.

AlJazeera

Knives, bullets and thieves: the quest for food in Gaza

NEAR THE NETZARIM CORRIDOR, Gaza Strip —  What does it take to get food today in Gaza? It involves a perilous journey that I took myself.

I faced Israeli military fire, private U.S. contractors pointing laser beams at my forehead, crowds with knives fighting for rations, and masked thieves — to get food from a group supported by the U.S. and Israel called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF.

NPR

China Retaliates Against EU on Medical-Device Procurement

China will impose some reciprocal curbs on medical-device procurement for companies based in the European Union, adding tensions between the two major trading partners just as Beijing seeks to shore up ties while it fights a trade war with the US.

Bloomberg

Why China Isn’t a Bigger Player in the Middle East

Iran and Israel came to blows, and Beijing mostly ducked.

The Atlantic

Tony Blair’s staff took part in ‘Gaza Riviera’ project with BCG

Former UK prime minister’s institute participated in meetings on plan to turn shattered enclave into trading hub

Financial Times