Trump calls for revocation of ABC, NBC licenses over speech snub

President Donald Trump said TV networks that did not feature live coverage of his primetime address on election security should have their broadcast licenses revoked.

CNN, ABC and NBC opted against live coverage of the speech in which Trump claimed China illegally accessed millions of voter files as part of a broader effort to manipulate U.S. elections in 2018 and 2020.

Other outlets, including CBS, MS NOW and Fox News, chose to broadcast the speech at least in part. NBC and ABC aired Trump’s remarks on their streaming channels.

Trump called out NBC and ABC during his remarks, accusing the networks of covering up what he labeled election fraud.

“In a rare move, NBC and ABC fake news have both said that they would not cover this speech. They knew what it was about,” he said. “Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses.”

TV networks are not required to air presidential remarks in primetime. Past presidents have traditionally reserved such major addresses for national crises or critical moments. Outlets have traditionally provided live coverage, but there have been exceptions.

Multiple networks declined in 2022 to broadcast President Joe Biden’s address on threats to democracy. ABC, CBS and NBC did not air President Barack Obama’s 2014 primetime speech on immigration.

Read the rest here.

Prince of Lichtenstein Will Veto Bill Legalizing Abortion

 (ZENIT News / Guadalajara, Mexico, 07.09.2026).- In a Europe where monarchies generally retain a strictly ceremonial role, the small Principality of Liechtenstein serves as an exception. Its Prince Regent and heir, Alois of Liechtenstein, recently announced that he will veto the proposed abortion law reform if it successfully clears the parliamentary process. 

This move reignites a debate the country experienced fifteen years ago. The proposed initiative seeks to introduce a law allowing abortion within a specific timeframe, specifically, during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. Currently, Liechtenstein’s legislation permits exceptions only when there is a serious threat to the pregnant woman’s life or health, or when the pregnancy is the result of a sexual crime. In an interview with the newspaper Liechtensteiner Vaterland, Prince Alois, a practicing Catholic, recently announced that he would not sanction the proposed reform. «The protection of unborn life represents a fundamental social and ethical value,» he stated, adding that the proposal did not sufficiently guarantee «the fundamental legal interest of protecting life.» 

This is not the first time the heir to the throne has intervened so directly in this debate. In 2011, a similar initiative proposed legalizing abortion during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy and included provisions for cases involving severe fetal disabilities. Even before the public vote took place, Prince Alois announced that he would exercise his right of veto if the reform were to pass. Ultimately, this proved unnecessary. In the referendum held in September of that year, 52.3% of voters rejected the proposal; consequently, the Prince did not have to resort to one of the prerogatives that distinguish the Liechtenstein monarchy from other European Royal Houses.Liechtenstein’s Constitution grants significant powers to the country’s Monarch, following a 2003 referendum initiated by Prince Alois’s father, Prince Hans-Adam II. These powers include the authority to veto laws passed by Parliament, dismiss the elected government, and appoint judges; consequently, although it is a constitutional monarchy in practice, it is often described as a unique absolute monarchy within Europe. This power is held by Prince Alois, who has served as Regent since 2004.

Read the rest here.

Todd Blanche Defends Trump's Blatantly Corrupt IRS 'Settlement'

"I'm his lawyer," Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, describing his relationship with President Donald Trump. Blanche quickly corrected himself: "Was his lawyer," he clarified. But the slip went to the heart of the main question that senators should be asking as they decide whether to confirm Blanche's nomination as attorney general: Would he use that position to pursue justice or to advance Trump's personal interests?

Probably the latter, judging from Blanche's central role in Trump's brazenly corrupt "settlement agreement" with the IRS, which a federal judge this week condemned as the "improper" product of blatant self-dealing. That cozy arrangement, which was predicated on a lawsuit that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams said was phony from the beginning, delivered huge favors to Trump, his family, and his followers at taxpayers' expense.

One of those favors was a $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund," which was designed to reward the president's allies and supporters by compensating them for their alleged persecution by the Biden administration. Blanche approved that scheme and repeatedly defended it. But it provoked an intense bipartisan backlash that persuaded him to ditch the plan two weeks after announcing it.

Read the rest here.

Nearly Half of House Democrats Vote to End Aid to Israel

Nearly half of House Democrats voted to cut off aid to Israel Wednesday, underscoring a seismic shift in political support for the longtime U.S. ally.

The amendment to a State Department spending bill would have eliminated $3.3 billion in funding, and thanks to strong Republican support for the Jewish state, it failed 314-104. But the vote served as a moment of reckoning for House Democrats who have had to confront years of voter outrage about Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza.

Read the rest here.

Is Russia Actually Losing?

Quote of the day...

In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we, the American People, find our account running, under date of the nineteenth century of the Christian era.--We find ourselves in the peaceful possession, of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate. We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us. We, when mounting the stage of existence, found ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them--they are a legacy bequeathed us, by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors. Their's was the task (and nobly they performed it) to possess themselves, and through themselves, us, of this goodly land; and to uprear upon its hills and its valleys, a political edifice of liberty and equal rights; 'tis ours only, to transmit these, the former, unprofaned by the foot of an invader; the latter, undecayed by the lapse of time and untorn by usurpation, to the latest generation that fate shall permit the world to know. This task of gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love for our species in general, all imperatively require us faithfully to perform.

How then shall we perform it?--At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?-- Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never!--All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide...

Read the rest here.

-Abraham Lincoln

The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions:

Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois

January 27, 1838

CATO: A Familiar Pattern: White House Self-Dealing in US Trade & Investment Policy

President Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure landed last week showing more than $2 billion in income, roughly triple 2024’s figure. Cryptocurrency alone accounted for $1.4 billion, most from meme-coin royalties and token sales tied to the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial. Read against the deals cataloged below, the filing paints a sordid picture of self-dealing within the upper echelons of the White House—or at the very least, the appearance of such.

Read the rest here.

ISW: Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, July 7, 2026

Ukraine’s intermediate-range strike campaign against a multitude of diverse targets, including Russian air defenses, petroleum product transport, other logistics, and electrical substations, is collapsing logistics in occupied Crimea. Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) Commander Major Robert “Magyar” Brovdi reported on July 7 that Ukrainian forces struck eight Russian shadow fleet tankers, including the Venera-3, Sanar-1, Sanar-17, Klimena, Teti, Alexei Savrasov, Ivan Cheremisinov, and Penelopa tankers; one dry cargo ship; and one ferry in the Sea of Azov transporting gasoline to occupied Crimea on the night of July 6 to 7.[1] Brovdi implied that the strikes against the shadow fleet vessels will inhibit Russian efforts to transport gasoline to occupied Crimea, and a local Crimea-based Telegram also reported that the tankers were ferrying gasoline to Crimea.[2] NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) data shows two heat anomalies in the Sea of Azov north of the Kerch Strait on July 7.[3] Brovdi reported on July 7 that Ukrainian forces also struck 44 electrical facilities in occupied Crimea and occupied southern Ukraine between July 1 and 7.[4] Adviser to the Ukrainian Defense Minister, Serhii Sternenko, reported on July 7 that there are fires near the Saky 110 kV and Zakhidno-Krymska 330 kV substations, near the Saky railway station, and near a known S-400 air defense system position in occupied Crimea.[5] The Ukrainian General Staff reported on July 7 that Ukrainian forces also struck two railway bridges near occupied Rozdolne (either 110 or 214 kilometers from the frontline) and Ichki (roughly 257 kilometers from the frontline) that Russian forces used for logistics.[6]

Ukrainian Presidential Office in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea provided a summary on July 6 of Ukrainian strikes against occupied Crimea in June 2026, including on over 15 Russian air defense systems and radar stations; oil terminals in occupied Feodosia; oil tanks at the Kamysh-Burun Combined Heating and Power Plan in occupied Kerch; substations and the Tavriisk Thermal Power Plant in occupied Sevastopol; the Hlibiv underground gas storage facility in occupied Tarkhankhut; the Simferopol gas distribution station; transport and bridge infrastructure, particularly along the A-291 Kerch – Simferopol – Sevastopol – Tavrida and M-14 Rostov-Crimea highways; the Crimean Titan plant in occupied Armyansk; and Russian naval targets.[7] Advisor to the Crimean occupation head Oleg Kryuchkov stated on July 7 that Ukrainian strikes caused power outages in 18 raions in northern, central, western, and eastern occupied Crimea.[8] Kherson Oblast occupation head Vladimir Saldo stated on July 6 that the entirety of occupied Kherson Oblast is suffering from partial or complete power outages and declared a state of emergency on July 7.[9] Zaporizhia Oblast occupation head Yevgeny Balitsky similarly stated on July 6 that Ukrainian strikes caused some power outages in occupied Zaporizhia Oblast.[10] Crimea-based Russian telecommunications operators introduced emergency roaming in occupied Crimea as of July 7 so subscribers can connect to other operators’ networks in the event of a complete power outage.[11] Ukrainian forces have been recently intensifying their intermediate-range strike campaign against energy infrastructure, Russian military assets, and logistics in and to occupied Crimea in recent weeks, causing Russian officials to suspend railway service and limit road traffic. These strikes are degrading Russia’s air defense umbrella, impeding its ability to defend against strikes that are increasingly interdicting logistics, depriving Russia of the ability to transport fuel to occupied Crimea, exacerbating fuel shortages, and making it difficult to live and operate in the peninsula.[12]

Read the rest here.

Liturgy for the Feast of St. John of San Francisco

Happy 4th of July

The SSPX: When negotiations are one sided

Rorate Caeli has an excellent post on this history of the dialogue and relationship between Rome and the Society of St. Pius X. It closely aligns with my own view and I strongly recommend it. See also my own post a couple spots down on the blog. Obviously I am not Catholic and so have no dog in this fight. But it would seem to me that if Rome is serious about desiring some sort of reproachment with Orthodoxy, they could start by backing off the alarming claim that the pope has the authority to unilaterally suppress the 1500 year old liturgical patrimony of the Christian West. If such power is claimed over the Latin Rite, why would this super bishop with claimed universal jurisdiction not be able to do the same thing to the liturgical rites of the Christian East? To say that said claim would be a show stopper for any kind of serious dialogue aimed at restoration of communion should be so obvious as not to require further explanation. 

Bloodier than Stalingrad: Number of casualties in Russo-Ukrainian war reaches 2 million

Russia’s decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine has now cost the country some 450,000 lives, according to a new study that estimates the war’s total casualty numbers to have surpassed 2 million.

The research by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimates Russia has suffered 1.4 million casualties, including killed, wounded and missing soldiers – a stunning number that amounts to roughly 1% of the country’s population.

The losses are not spread evenly across Russia, with poorer areas and ethnic minorities suffering significantly higher casualty rates. Stories of male populations of small remote villages being virtually wiped out are becoming more common in Russian opposition media. And according to the study, Russia is currently unable to recruit new troops at the same rate as it is losing them.

“These rates are astounding,” Seth G. Jones and Riley McCabe, the authors of the study, said. “Russian fatalities in Ukraine are more than four times greater than all US fatalities in all wars combined since World War II, and more than nine times greater than all Soviet and Russian fatalities in all wars combined since World War II.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine is estimated to have endured between 525,000 and 625,000 casualties, including 125,000 and 150,000 fatalities.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine release official casualty data, but the latest CSIS figures are broadly in line with western estimates.

Read the rest here.

See also... Putin’s economy is running on fumes after Ukrainian attacks

Vatican Declares SSPX Schismatic

No surprise. They consecrated bishops without permission and essentially dared Leo to do something about it. Making matters worse, this is a flagrant second offense after the SSPX asked Benedict XVI to lift the original excommunications. Which he did. The Holy See has made quite a few concessions to a group that since its inception has basically set itself up in judgement over the pope and hierarchy of their own church. So yeah, I think Leo basically saw this as a slap in the face and decided that it was time to, in his own words, "move on." Rome is clearly not inclined to leniency at this point. The entire society including its lay followers are subject to the excommunication. And Rome has issued fairly stringent conditions for their readmission to communion, on an individual and case by case basis. Reading between the lines, this suggests that the Vatican has given up on a corporate return of the Society. 

Brexit 10 Years On

Legalized Child Murder in the Netherlands & Anglican Liturgy for Euthanasia

Netherlands does the unthinkable: euthanize a young child

Anglican Church of Canada to offer special liturgy for euthanasia deaths

This is demonic. 

HT: Dr. Tighe

On the Dangers of One Party Rule

...But what if we don’t actually have a competitive two-party system? What if our nation actually has two one-party systems, instead? And if the United States has two one-party systems, then that means that each way they turn voters are confronted with the arrogance, stagnation and corruption that almost always disfigures single-party rule.

The best illustration of this reality is found in state government “trifectas.” That’s the term for a state where one party controls the governor’s mansion and both houses of the state legislature. As of this month, there are 23 Republican trifectas and 16 Democratic ones. That leaves 11 states with divided governments.

Republicans may govern more states, but Democratic states tend to be more populous. As a result, a roughly equal percentage of Americans live under total red or blue rule. As of January, 39.1 percent of Americans lived in blue trifecta states, and 41.5 percent lived in red trifecta states, which means that less than 20 percent of the population lives in a divided state.

Combine trifecta state control with aggressive partisan gerrymanders, and you have exactly the situation in Congress that my colleague Tom Edsall described this week: “An overwhelming majority of House members run in districts that are safe in the general election, where the only threat to an incumbent is from a more ideologically extreme challenger in the primary.”

Another way of putting it is that the other side is so weak in so many states and congressional districts that politicians can build entire careers without having to appeal to voters on the other side of the aisle.

For example, even in a year of remarkable public discontent, in which the House may well change hands, the vast majority of members of Congress are completely safe. The Cook Political Report lists 186 districts as solid Republican and 182 districts as solid Democrat. There are only 18 tossup races. If you add in the 20 races that merely lean in one direction or the other, that gives you a grand total of 38 competitive races in a 435-member House of Representatives.

As a result, one-party politicians are often born in the parties’ bases and inept at reaching anyone even a few inches to their ideological right or left. In fact, the very effort to reach out to the opposition is usually interpreted as weakness, a misguided compromise against an uncompromising foe.

The art of compromise vanishes before our eyes. After all, generations of politicians now come from the roughly 80 percent of the country where compromise is almost always unnecessary. Compromises are internal only, as the party negotiates with itself. The opposition might as well not exist.

Read the rest here.

Prayers please...

There has been a catastrophic fire at an old local hotel used to house the poor and homeless. At least six people died. Many of the survivors are indigent and will have only the clothes on their backs. 

Becket Adams: CNN was right about the war, and I was wrong

Conservative media often direct a lot of ire at the “mainstream press” for getting it wrong — and they are often right. But it is only fair to acknowledge that conservative media get it wrong, too.

And when it comes to President Trump’s disastrous attempt this year at playing war chief, a whole lot of conservatives got it wrong, this author included.

Following the president’s signing last week of his “Memorandum of Understanding” with Iran — an agreement good for 60 days until Washington and Tehran strike a “final deal” — there’s nothing left except to concede that the U.S. was done in by a few mines. Iran actually forced a desperate White House to the negotiating table simply by flexing what muscles it has left over the Strait of Hormuz.

The largest, most powerful, and best-funded military in the history of the world, despite inflicting massive destruction and suffering minimal casualties, was somehow defeated by a shipping channel. Our British cousins must be having flashbacks to the Suez Canal.

The most astonishing thing about the White House’s capitulation in Iran, beyond the Islamic Republic’s victory in the face of a clear power disparity, is that the White House obviously jumped into the war with no real consideration or plan for the possibility that Iran might block the Strait of Hormuz. This despite U.S. military strategists warning for decades about this exact scenario.

Read the rest here.

A Malicious Chapter in the History of American Justice

An unusual tweet caught my eye last week.

It was from Josh Gerstein, Politico’s senior legal affairs reporter, and it said this: “NEW: Trump admin takes rare step to quell controversy over prosecutorial misconduct in dropped criminal case against Chicago-area anti-ICE protesters. Feds won’t fight defense demand to pay bill for activists’ legal fees.”

Here’s why it’s so notable. In our legal system, prosecutors rarely pay a criminal defendant’s legal fees, even when the government loses its case. Defendants tend to be reimbursed only when they can prove serious prosecutorial misconduct. It’s even rarer for prosecutors to agree to pay those fees. Experienced lawyers will read that tweet and know a single, simple truth.

Something very bad went down in Illinois.

Why, you might wonder, would I write about a criminal case in Chicagoland when the world is convulsed by so many seismic events? Last week alone, Trump capitulated to Iran, the United States cut some of its defense commitments to Europe, and Ukraine hit Moscow with what appears to be its largest drone attack of the war.

We’re living in a moment when every week seems to bring a new development of global importance.

But the Chicago case is indicative of the fight for justice in the Trump administration. For every high-profile case that goes to the Supreme Court, there are dozens of other, smaller cases in federal courts across the country in which the Trump administration lies, bends the rules, slanders innocent citizens and otherwise abuses the legal system to persecute its political opponents.

Read the rest here.

It seems highly probable that Britain is about to get its seventh prime minister in the last 10 years.

UK Prime Minister Under Pressure to Quit

LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) - Britain's Observer newspaper said Prime Minister Keir Starmer was expected to resign on Monday and set ‌out a timetable for his departure, though a government source said Starmer remained focused on getting on with the job of governing.

The threat to Starmer's position, which has been building for months, increased sharply on Friday when his rival Andy Burnham won a seat in parliament that would allow him to ​launch a formal leadership challenge.

The Observer report said Starmer was discussing the matter with his wife at his Chequers country ​residence before making a final decision, but that senior Labour figures expected a clear statement on ⁠his future as early as Monday.

However, a government source said Starmer remained focused on his job and pointed to previous statements ​he has made to that effect.

The British leader said on Friday he would fight any challenge to his leadership and urged Labour not to tear ​itself apart with infighting.

Read the rest here.

The S&P 500 is flashing a warning sign

With all of the volatility in the stock market this year, most investors probably don't realize the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) is sitting at a precarious peak. The index's cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings (CAPE) ratio now hovers near a reading of 41 -- a territory that historically signals serious trouble ahead.

The CAPE ratio captures something deeper than daily price movements: It reveals how much investors are willing to pay for every dollar of long-term earnings power. At its current level, the S&P 500 appears to be pricing in unprecedented levels of optimism while quietly laying the foundation for a painful reckoning.

The CAPE ratio was originally developed by economist Robert Shiller. The metric divides the current S&P 500 price by the average inflation-adjusted earnings per share (EPS) over the previous 10 years. By doing so, the CAPE ratio smooths out any temporary spikes or dips caused by recessions, economic booms, or one-time events. This approach gives a clearer picture of sustainable valuation across the index as a whole.

At face value, the price-to-earnings ratio can appear deceptively attractive in years of strong profitability. But the CAPE forces investors to look across full business cycles. The underlying data for the CAPE ratio stretches back to 1871 -- more than 155 years of market history.

Across that span, the long-term average CAPE has hovered between 17 and 18. As the chart indicates, when the CAPE ratio climbs well above the 25 to 30 range, it has repeatedly warned that future stock returns will be disappointing.

Read the rest here.

Graham Platner, Ken Paxton and Political Hypocrisy

If you want to know just how unprincipled — and how unabashedly hypocritical — politicians and their supporters can be, consider how Democrats would respond if Graham Platner were a Republican.

Platner, the Democrats’ nominee for U.S. Senate in Maine, has spent weeks answering questions about his past. By now, you probably know at least some of the story. During what he describes as a dark period in his life after military service, he had a Nazi tattoo emblazoned on his chest — which he maintained for nearly two decades. He has acknowledged inappropriate relationships with women. He has made insulting comments about military heroes and said things about Black Americans that, at the very least, demonstrated remarkably poor judgment.

Now ask yourself a simple question: What would Democrats be saying if Platner were a Republican?

Read the rest here.

Union Gospel Mission of Yakima Washington v. Brown

This is a significant religious liberty case that is about to be reviewed (unusually) en banc by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. I strongly suspect this is eventually going to the US Supreme Court. The Washington State law is a pernicious attack on religious freedom and should be struck down, which the the three judge panel did. 

Details here.