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I cold-called President Trump. Here’s what he told me about an oil tycoon and major donor

I cold-called President Trump. Here’s what he told me about an oil tycoon and major donor

By Alex Cuadros This story was originally published by ProPublica My family’s morning routine is usually pretty ordinary. We wake up early, drink some coffee and get our 1-year-old ready for daycare. But one Wednesday morning last month, I found myself uttering to my wife a sentence that sounded frankly surreal to both of us: “Just to let you know, I’m about to call Trump.” Then, hoping to avoid any urgent diaper events, I ducked into the next room and…

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From Hormuz to the cockpit: How warfare and criminal activity undermine GPS and the race to safeguard navigation

From Hormuz to the cockpit: How warfare and criminal activity undermine GPS and the race to safeguard navigation

The Strait of Hormuz is just one example of a busy shipping lane where GPS signals are blocked and faked. Asghar Besharati/Getty Images By Zak Kassas, The Ohio State University Few people want to get lost when traveling. But if there are places where being lost feels especially unsettling, they tend to be the sea, desert and sky. These environments share a defining feature: the absence of distinctive visual cues. Where horizons blur, landmarks disappear and every direction can look…

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The ‘little brain’ may give the aging mind a big boost

The ‘little brain’ may give the aging mind a big boost

Science News reports: The cerebellum, the wizened “little brain” nestled in the base of the skull, may help keep us sharp as we age. Regions at the back of the cerebellum that resisted shrinkage with age were tied to better mental functioning, or cognition, even in people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, researchers report June 10 in Nature Neuroscience. Though traditionally thought of as a movement control center, scientists now know the cerebellum is a key player in…

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‘Blatantly unlawful’: Federal judge blocks DOJ subpoenas aimed at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz

‘Blatantly unlawful’: Federal judge blocks DOJ subpoenas aimed at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz

Politico reports: A federal judge has thrown out Justice Department grand jury subpoenas aimed at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his allies, calling them an abusive and retaliatory process to punish Walz based on his refusal to assist President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. In a blistering ruling, U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz said there was “no doubt” that the subpoenas were issued to damage Walz — part of what he said was a pattern of Trump administration efforts to use…

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‘I’m out’: Tucker Carlson says he’s done with the GOP

‘I’m out’: Tucker Carlson says he’s done with the GOP

Axios reports: Conservative pundit Tucker Carlson says he’s “out” of the Republican Party moving forward, arguing the GOP no longer reflects his views. Why it matters: The public split underscores growing fractures inside the broad MAGA coalition President Trump built, as his Iran war and handling of the economy continue to divide Republicans. What they’re saying: “I’m out,” Carlson said on an episode of the “Can’t Be Censored” podcast that aired Thursday but gained traction online Monday. “And if I’m out, then I think a lot of other people are out.” “I…

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Federal judge blocks Trump admin’s database of Americans’ Social Security numbers and citizenship status

Federal judge blocks Trump admin’s database of Americans’ Social Security numbers and citizenship status

Politico reports: A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from creating a database of millions of Americans’ private information — including Social Security numbers and citizenship status — saying the administration has fed knowingly inaccurate data to states that are now “actively” and “haphazardly” purging purported non-citizens from voter rolls. “The federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote,” U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan wrote…

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‘A huge grab of power’: Trump is defying Congress on foreign aid

‘A huge grab of power’: Trump is defying Congress on foreign aid

By Anna Maria Barry-Jester This story was originally published by ProPublica After the Trump administration upended the world’s largest foreign aid provider last year, terminating thousands of programs and firing nearly all of its staff, its plan for the agency was clear: Eliminate it entirely. But because it is a congressionally created agency, President Donald Trump needed lawmakers’ permission to do so. So this year, Trump officials asked Congress for permission to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development and…

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Who is Andy Burnham, the ‘man of the people’ likely to be next UK prime minister?

Who is Andy Burnham, the ‘man of the people’ likely to be next UK prime minister?

Daniel Boffey writes: In the story that Andy Burnham tells about himself, “the turning point” in his political life came in 2009 when he was booed at a football ground in the north-west of England. He had been an ideologically reliable middle-ranking minister under Tony Blair, the centrist New Labour prime minister between 1997 and 2007, and had gone on to be appointed as secretary of state for culture, media and sport under Blair’s successor, Gordon Brown. On the 20th…

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Zhuangzi and the case against meritocracy

Zhuangzi and the case against meritocracy

Christine Abigail L Tan writes: Deeply embedded in the ideals of justice and fairness is the idea that we ought to get what we deserve. Deservingness is thus an intuitively compelling concept, because we want the world to be intelligible. If the good suffer and the wicked flourish, then the world not only becomes a painful place to live in, it also becomes a place of moral chaos. Even if the world is bountifully unjust, it remains a necessary illusion…

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A dark dimension could link two of the universe’s great unknowns

A dark dimension could link two of the universe’s great unknowns

Steve Nadis writes: For those who see the world as a dark place, the universe seems to offer little solace. According to current estimates, approximately 70% of the stuff that makes up the cosmos consists of dark energy, an unknown force that pushes space to expand. And another 25% consists of dark matter, a mysterious material that holds galaxies together. But semantically speaking, dark energy and dark matter are not so much “dark” as they are invisible. They do not…

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Tulsi Gabbard, the Manchurian DNI

Tulsi Gabbard, the Manchurian DNI

Reporting for the Washington Post, Jon Swaine writes: [Rebecca] Saltzburg [former staffer for Tulsi Gabbard and former member of a breakaway Hare Krishna group to which Gabbard also belonged] told me [Chris] Butler [founder of the Science of Identity Foundation (SIF)] did not use a computer. Instead, he delivered his advice for Gabbard verbally, she said, sometimes to her directly over the phone and other times to his secretaries or other followers. The secretaries transcribed his remarks and turned them…

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Trump imagines that if Iran regime can’t be dislodged by force, maybe it can be bribed

Trump imagines that if Iran regime can’t be dislodged by force, maybe it can be bribed

Karim Sadjadpour writes: Donald Trump’s war against Iran began with one gamble and ended with another. Initially, the president bet that he could stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions by bombing Iran’s revolutionary regime out of existence. So he spent tens of billions of dollars, and upended the global economy, only to sign a memorandum of understanding undoubtedly weaker than any deal he could have struck before the war. Embedded in this document is a new gamble: that if Iran’s revolutionaries can’t…

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For cash-strapped farmers, deal that might end Iran war comes too late

For cash-strapped farmers, deal that might end Iran war comes too late

The Washington Post reports: The possible end of the Iran war will not cure the drought that has stunted the wheat crop. It won’t secure soybean export orders caught in the U.S.-China trade war. And it will do nothing to promote competition in agriculture, which would help farmers like Jeff Tyson earn a living. Like other growers, Tyson, 55, has seen costs outrun sales this year as the rain grew scarce and government policies added to his burdens. Now, the…

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Syria rules out intervening in Lebanon after Trump again suggests it fight Hezbollah

Syria rules out intervening in Lebanon after Trump again suggests it fight Hezbollah

The Times of Israel reports: Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday ruled out intervening militarily in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon, after US President Donald Trump again suggested Damascus could get involved and expressed frustration with Israel’s fight against the Iran-backed terror group. Trump’s comments to Fox News on Sunday came as the conflict in Lebanon has threatened to derail US-Iranian negotiations underway in Switzerland. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on the Israeli military’s need to maintain…

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