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House GOP deadlocks over Trump's demands, sending lawmakers home early

(AP) As the nation celebrates its 250th birthday this weekend, the legislative branch has momentarily called it quits. The House leadership on Tuesday abruptly canceled votes and sent lawmakers home early for the holiday recess, Speaker Mike Johnson ’s majority once again ground to a standstill by a Republican revolt over their own party’s agenda.

mahatmakanejeeves

Control of the Senate Is Up for Grabs, Times/Siena Polls Find

(New York Times) Democrats face an uphill battle to win control of the Senate but have pulled within striking distance of enough Republican-held seats to put the majority in play this fall, according to new New York Times/Siena polls in six Senate battleground states. ... Republicans are hampered by the unpopularity of President Trump and his diminished standing on the economy, while most of the Democratic candidates are so far running ahead of their party's own struggling brand, the polls show.

BumRushDaShow

Lawyer for E. Jean Carroll says Trump wants to delay $5 million payment in sex abuse, defamation case

(CBS News) Lawyers for President Trump asked for writer E. Jean Carroll's consent to delay the $5 million awarded to her by a 2023 jury, and signaled they plan to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider his appeal of Carroll's sexual abuse and defamation case, according to an attorney for Carroll. Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, wrote in a court filing Tuesday that Mr. Trump's lawyer called her with the request Monday, soon after the Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal. Later Monday, Kaplan wrote, she informed Mr. Trump's team that "Carroll does not consent," and asked whether the president would agree to the immediate disbursement of the funds Carroll has waited years to receive.

Yonnie3

Mt. Olive Pickle Co. exits Great American State Fair over Confederate flag

(WNCT TV) Mt. Olive Pickle Company has withdrawn from the Great American State Fair in Washington D.C. after a Confederate flag was included in an exhibit. The company told WNCT they were invited to participate in the North Carolina exhibit. Mt. Olive Pickle Co. said, “we were unaware that an image of the Confederate flag was included in a video as part of this exhibit, and we have withdrawn our participation. Our company stands on values of human dignity, opportunity, and freedom.”

KS Toronado

Wednesday's Condensed News Cartoons & Memes

BumRushDaShow

Another New York resident says he was warned by officers after criticizing ICE

(ABC News) A second upstate New York resident said Tuesday that federal officers have served him with a warning about online activity that criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. An attorney representing David Streever, of Rochester, said Streever was on a trip to Finland when two officers showed up to his home last week and presented his wife with a warning notice informing him that an email he sent months earlier was a threat.

malaise

Trump filing shows he took in about $1.2 billion from crypto businesses last year

(AP) President Donald Trump took in nearly $1.2 billion dollars from his crypto businesses last year, a federal filing released Tuesday shows, locking in profits while his investors were socked with losses. Mere startups when he took the oath of office, the new ventures have now eclipsed in revenue much of his vast property portfolio that took him decades to accumulate. Fueling their rise were billionaire investors and Trump’s own move to quash a federal crackdown on the industry.

bmichaelh

Majority of Americans support ending private health insurance

(Common Dreams) On the heels of data revealing that millions of people have lost health insurance coverage during US President Donald Trump’s second term amid a series of GOP attacks on access to care, polling published Monday shows that a majority of Americans support eliminating private insurers. The 1,606 adult US citizens surveyed by The Economist/YouGov June 26-29 were asked: “Do you support or oppose a national health plan in which all Americans get their health insurance from the federal government and private health insurance companies are eliminated?”

DrFunkenstein

Schumer, Warren locked in battle over future of Democratic Party

(The Hill) Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is locked in a contest for influence with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) over the future of the Senate Democratic caucus as the two battle to shape the outcome in this year’s primaries. Warren, a progressive who has been outspoken in her criticism of the cryptocurrency industry, has made a big push this election cycle to help elect candidates who she says will fight harder to change the status quo in America, even if that means backing candidates who won’t support Schumer as leader.

marmar

Texas Republicans may regret mandating Bible in classes

(Salon) The decades-long Republican quest to force Christianity on those they see as unwashed heathens reached a new low on June 26, when the GOP-controlled Texas State School Board put Bible stories on mandatory reading lists for every level of public school student. The decision is disturbing on many levels, starting with the outright disinformation being used to justify this move by people in charge of educating children.

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Judge blocks US Postal Service's proposed restrictions on mail-in voting

17 min ago - July 1, 2026 4:01 PM EDT Updated 1 hour ago July 1 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the U.S. Postal Service's proposed restrictions on mail-in voting, finding that they violated a settlement with a leading civil rights group that requ ... (Reuters)

Ex-Trump Spox Says It 'Seems' He Wants to 'Tank Republicans' Chances' in Midterms

1 hr ago - Jul 1st, 2026, 12:59 pm Former White House spokesperson Sarah Matthews, who worked for President Donald Trump from June 2020 to January 2021, says it “seems” her former employer “is doing everything in his power to tank Republican cha ... (MEDIAite)

UPDATE: Sun Tran, Teamsters fail to reach contract agreement

1 hr ago - Sun Tran and Teamsters Local 104 failed to reach a contract deal. Members vote July 11-12 on the company's final offer. By: Craig Smith Posted 9:29 PM, Jun 30, 2026 and last updated 8:13 AM, Jul 01, 2026 UPDATE 07/01: Teamsters Local Union No. 104 an ... (KGUN9)

CNN's Takeover Uncertainty Spooks Star Reporter Into Leaving: Reports

1 hr ago - Jul 1, 2026, 12:27 PM EDT | Updated 4 hours ago Paula Reid is leaving CNN after citing the uncertainty of an expected corporate takeover, Variety reported Tuesday. The news network’s chief legal affairs correspondent had the opportunity to rene ... (Huff Post)

Ocean surface temperatures hit record high as world enters 'uncharted territory,' scientists warn

2 hrs ago - July 1, 2026, 7:01 AM EDT / Updated July 1, 2026, 7:36 AM EDT Temperatures on the ocean surface hit a record high in June, European scientists warned Wednesday, fueling fears of more dangerous heat waves this summer and fanning concerns over the esca ... (NBC News)

Panic at White House over Trump's July 4th plans: 'Who thought this was a good idea?'

2 hrs ago - Fresh off the embarrassment of a sparse crowd at last week's Great American Start Fair rally on the National Mall, Trump has now trained his focus on July Fourth — an event he's hyped as the "most unforgettable birthday party any country has eve ... (Raw Story/MSN)

Beauty Queen Alleges Epstein Used Trump Pageants to Recruit Women

2 hrs ago - Published Jul. 1 2026 12:58PM EDT A former beauty queen who alleges Donald Trump sexually assaulted her has claimed in an interview with PunchUp that vulnerable young women at his 1990s pageants were funneled toward Jeffrey Epstein’s sex traffi ... (Daily Beast)

How the Iran War Ignited a Clash Between Trump and the Saudi Crown Prince

3 hrs ago - President Trump and his military commanders were in a bind. They had announced the start of a new mission to help guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran had effectively closed early in the war. U.S. naval and air power would ... (NYT)

Trump declines to renew major trade deal with Canada, Mexico

3 hrs ago - 07/01/26 1:12 PM ET The Trump administration announced Wednesday it will not renew the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) in its current form. Wednesday marked the deadline to renew the trade agreement, which President Trump st ... (The Hill)

Scoop: Harris reaches out to Mamdani, pro-Palestinian activists in run-up to 2028

3 hrs ago - 9h Kamala Harris privately called New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani last week and has been holding lengthy, closed-door meetings with other prominent progressives — including pro-Palestinian activists. Why it matters: It's the latest sign the f ... (msn/Axios)

Mitch McConnell said to be 'unconscious' when rushed to the hospital: report

4 hrs ago - July 1, 2026 9:01AM ET Sen. Mitch McConnell was "unconscious" at his Washington home when he was rushed to the hospital more than two weeks ago, according to EMS radio traffic circulating online, Punchbowl News reported. Just before 9 a.m. on June 14 ... (Raw Story)

Gas plants for US data centers to be major source of climate change-linked emissions, report says

4 hrs ago - Dozens of planned gas plants to directly power data centers in the United States could emit as much greenhouse gas annually as ‌Australia or France, according to a report by an environmental group published on Wednesday. The Environmental ... (Reuters)

Ex-CIA Director John Brennan seeks court order requiring records from investigations be preserved

4 hrs ago - Updated 1:47 PM EDT, July 1, 2026 WASHINGTON (AP) — Former CIA Director John Brennan sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, demanding a court order that would require officials to preserve records from investigations that he says are target ... (AP)

California man with bipolar disorder says ChatGPT fueled delusions, led to self-harm in new lawsuit

4 hrs ago - Lines, a competitive powerlifter who suffered a traumatic brain injury before his bipolar diagnosis, said in the lawsuit that he repeatedly told the chatbot he was on medication for the disorder. Instead of flagging his clearly manic chats and ... (Reuters)

This Cell Feeds, Grows and Reproduces. And It's Manmade.

5 hrs ago - Scientists have long dreamed of discovering the alchemy by which chemicals can be turned into life. On Wednesday, a team at the University of Minnesota announced that it had taken a major step toward that vision. Blending together dozens of ingredien ... (NYT)

Trump fired the BLS chief over 'rigged' data claims. Economists say it cost the economy $20 billion

5 hrs ago - Moneywise Trump fired the BLS chief over 'rigged' data claims. Economists say it cost the economy $20 billion Joseph Zeballos-Roig Wed, July 1, 2026 at 7:00 AM EDT 5 min read {snip picture of Trump} Last year, President Donald Trump took the unpreced ... (Associated Press Moneywise via Yahoo! Finance)

Meta is adding ridiculous 'rate limits' and a soft paywall to its smart glasses

5 hrs ago - Would you pay $20 a month for access to AI hardware you already own? That appears to be one of Meta’s next bets. This week, it quietly announced that your glasses’ Conversation Focus feature will soon be limited to three hours of use per mo ... (The Verge)

Mystery revelation emerges in last-ditch Trump Kennedy Center fight

5 hrs ago - July 1, 2026 8:12AM ET Lawyers representing Donald Trump in his battle to keep his name on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts threw a new wrinkle at the court on Tuesday. According to a report from The Atlantic, Department of Justice ... (Raw Story)

Two trespassers climb to top of Empire State Building, fly banner

5 hrs ago - Two trespassers climb to top of Empire State Building, fly banner Images from NBC New York's helicopter showed two people in dark outfits holding a black flag with white lettering. The two later appeared to be making out. July 1, 2026, 12:37 PM EDT / ... (NBC News)

'I'm profiting': Trump admits he's made more than $1B investing while president but claims it's all 'blind' luck

6 hrs ago - President Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed he had nothing to do with the billion-dollar windfall reported on his financial disclosures, insisting it all comes from the work of unnamed financial advisers rather than his deliberate efforts to profit f ... (Yahoo.com/news)