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June 25, 2026
Core inflation rate hit 3.4% in May, highest since October 2023, Fed's preferred gauge shows
(CNBC) The Federal Reserve’s primary price gauge rose at its highest level since 2023, reinforcing the central bank’s recent tough talk on inflation. Excluding food and energy, the personal consumption expenditures price index showed a 3.4% annual rate after rising 0.3% for the month, both in line with Dow Jones consensus. The core reading was the highest since October 2023.
Go to discussionThe White House choreographed a victory lap. Trump veered off script.
(Politico) President Donald Trump was supposed to go to Capitol Hill on Wednesday and spike the football. Instead, he fumbled. The president abruptly scuttled plans to sign a bipartisan housing bill that would have been a boon to Republicans desperate for campaign trail affordability wins. Trump's announcement that he wouldn't sign it until the Senate passes voting overhauls that he's championed came after his own staff spent the morning taking a very public victory lap ahead of the housing bill's expected signing.
Go to discussionJudge blocks Trump order that would have let USPS refuse to deliver mail ballots
(Democracy Docket) A federal judge in Massachusetts Thursday blocked federal agencies from implementing President Donald Trump’s sweeping attack on mail voting and his attempt to create a national voter registration list before the midterm elections. District Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, found that major parts of Trump’s March 2026 anti-voting executive order were “legally void” for exceeding the president’s power and violating the separation of powers by encroaching on states’ authority to administer elections.
Go to discussionEmpty State Fair Revealed Moments Before Trump Took Stage
(Daily Beast) Numbers at President Donald Trump’s much-hyped Great American State Fair appeared underwhelming just moments before the president took the stage on Wednesday night. Reporting live from the event was CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, who spoke to Anderson Cooper from Washington D.C.’s National Mall. As O’Sullivan spoke to Cooper following Alexis Wilkins’ performance of the national anthem, a relatively sparse crowd could be seen in the background, with significant empty space directly behind O’Sullivan with slightly over twenty minutes to go before the president took the stage.
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Donald Trump's Respect Deficit
(Bennet Kelley) One constant in the Trump political playbook is to describe the nation under Democrats in almost apocalyptic terms and then pivot to claim that he has or will deliver an amazing return to greatness. In his sole 2024 debate with President Biden, he claimed "we're no longer respected as a country. ... They don't respect the United States any more. We're like a Third World nation."
Go to discussionTrump Administration Spent at Least $11 Billion Paying Federal Workers Not to Work
(Mediaite) The nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, Public Citizen, dug through publicly available data from the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and found that Elon Musk and President Donald Trump’s DOGE cuts resulted in federal employees being paid “at least $11 billion – and likely much more – not to work.”
Go to discussionIn reversal, Senate votes to block war powers resolution, delivering Trump a win
(ABC News) Hours after President Donald Trump blasted Sen. Bill Cassidy for supporting a war powers resolution that narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday, Cassidy helped to deliver Trump a victory by voting with the majority of Republicans late Wednesday to block a separate resolution aimed at reining in the president's war powers in Iran from advancing. The Senate voted 47-50-1 late Wednesday to block a war powers resolution led by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine from moving forward. The resolution, which aims to limit Trump's ability to wage war in Iran but does not have the force of law, had narrowly advanced in a previous procedural vote.
Go to discussionFederal agents track down Syracuse woman, demand she remove Instagram post about ICE
(Syracuse.com) Two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents issued a warning to a Syracuse woman Tuesday to remove a social media account they said threatens federal agents. Paigelynne Gonyea said she believes they are referring to a January post where she named the ICE agent who shot protester Renee Good. Gonyea was working as a poll worker Tuesday afternoon at the Central Library on Salina Street when agents called to meet with her. She said she invited them in. She said she did not want to meet them outside alone.
Go to discussionFlu Outbreak Worsens at Air Force Training Hub
(Political Wire) “A flu outbreak at the Air Force’s basic training hub in San Antonio is worsening, according to two sources familiar with the situation,” ABC News reports. “The outbreak is unfolding just two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the annual flu shot optional for troops, scrapping the military’s requirement for it, which dates to 1945, a move breaking with longstanding public health directives.”
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