"President Trump said Wednesday that he believes his memorandum of understanding with Iran is dead after he ordered overnight airstrikes on 80 targets in response to Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

"'I don't like them at all. And frankly, I think we wasted a lot of time with them, I think we should just do our business,' Trump said in his first public remarks after ordering the airstrikes.

"When asked by a reporter if the preliminary peace deal, which Trump signed at the Palace of Versailles in France June 17, was dead, the president replied: 'To me, I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore. They're scum.'"

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"A woman who previously dated Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner said he drunkenly forced her to have sex after she told him to stop, according to a Politico report, leading prominent supporters to pull their endorsements and throwing a must-win race for the party into turmoil.

"Platner denied the allegation on Monday, but said he would be considering next steps for his campaign. ...

"'Graham Platner needs to immediately withdraw as the Democratic nominee for Senate and allow Maine Democrats the opportunity to choose a new candidate who can defeat Susan Collins,' Kirsten Gillibrand, chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, said in a joint statement.

"The Democratic National Committee sent out an email soliciting money for Senate races hours after the Politico report posted, but Maine was not one of them. Ken Martin, the party chair, said, 'Maine Democrats should select a new nominee.'"

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"On Tuesday night, Democrats in Colorado's First Congressional District nominated Melat Kiros -- a socialist who cheered the departure of employers like Palantir and Lockheed Martin from her state and suggested the 9/11 terrorist attacks were the 'inevitable' consequence of American foreign policy -- over 15-term incumbent Diana DeGette, a mainstream progressive. Kiros's victory came just one week after similarly radical socialist firebrands Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez, and Brad Lander defeated more traditional Democrats in New York's congressional primaries.

"Together, these results should end the comforting fiction that democratic socialism is merely a slogan, a protest movement, or the product of a few charismatic candidates. The Democratic Socialists of America have built out a disciplined political infrastructure that appears poised to continue its gradual capture of the Democratic Party."

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Remember and Reflect: USA 250

"American climatologist Dr. Judith Curry on Tuesday announced that she would no longer maintain her influential blog, 'Climate Etc.'

'It's time to declare victory against climate stupidity and move on,' said in her final post. The reelection of President Donald Trump came with an overall shift in the political landscape regarding climate and energy issues. Since then, major media outlets shut down their climate desks, corporations are easing back on emission-reduction targets, and polls consistently show the public rates climate change low on their list of priorities.

Some figures like Curry who disputed the 'climate crisis' narrative -- often in the face of vitriol from those who support it -- are now saying their efforts paid off and an era of climate hysteria is coming to an end."

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"This is the age of the YOLO candidate. Are you a terrible person with a clear record of awfulness? You would be perfect for the U.S. Senate! Democrats have found just that sort of guy in Maine; Republicans have found one in Texas. Both would be perfect additions to the large and growing cast of bloviators, morons, and preening hacks that constitute what was once known as the world's most deliberative body.

"Both sides justify these candidates along similar lines: '[Institution or policy] has failed [interest or faction that sees its demands as indistinguishable from the national interest]. Our only response is to elect [person of bad character that we like]. And anyway, the other side has done worse!'

"These arguments often have a ring of partial truth to them. Lots of policies are not working, our system of government stubbornly resists change, and people are unhappy about the status quo. Still, a little perspective is called for. Our current state of the union could certainly be better, but it is not like it is 1929, or 1941, or even 1968, for that matter. Inflation is still running a little hot. Education and healthcare in particular are too expensive. But the wheels are not coming off.

"And even if they were, do we the people really have the right to elect any random jackass to office? Sure, we have the power, in the sense that our system of government is premised on the principle of majority rule. If half plus one of Maine voters elect the guy with the Nazi tattoo to the Senate, he gets to go. But we the people have a duty to at least try to elect good people to government."

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"An investigation by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee has found that 571,000 federal employees and retirees have failed to pay their share of income taxes, depriving the U.S. Treasury of more than $6.3 billion in revenues.

The number of tax scofflaws working for Uncle Sam is continuing to surge, with tax debt among federal workers growing 32% since 2021.

And the number of current and former government employees who aren't paying taxes has increased by 43% in three years, according to House Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who serves as chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The committee announced its investigation launch on Wednesday."

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"The tentative 'memorandum of understanding' with Iran has caused glee on the Left and furor among many on the Right. The Left might welcome 'peace,' but surely not as much as it enjoys infighting on the Right over the details.

If last week Democrats were calling Trump a fascist warmonger, now they deride his peace efforts as those of a Neville Chamberlain patsy. Within 24 hours, the Left's talking points shifted from a mad bomber-style Curtis LeMay in the White House to an impotent appeaser.

A week ago, some Republicans were arguing that not one of the prior seven presidents had dared to use force to stop Iran's nuclear program. Now some of them are deriding him as an Iranian enabler.

There are legitimate concerns about the tentative memorandum, including the idea of third-party cash infusions to the regime and claims that violence in Lebanon is somehow Israel's fault. In truth, history shows that Hezbollah, with Iranian financial support, consistently instigates the killing and then whines when Israel -- or the U.S. in past conflicts -- responds disproportionately.

That said, much of the current hysteria assumes a radical change in Trump's strategy rather than a continuity that has brought us to the current denouement. It also does not consider the wider strategic context of the memorandum, the critical role of domestic public opinion in shaping how wars are conducted, or the broader strategy of isolating and weakening the regime."

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"By the end of this year, there could be 10 socialist mayors in the U.S. That's the most since the 1910s, when socialism was the shiny new object embraced by educated elites.

But what excuse do Democrats have today -- after 100 years of socialism's miserable, murderous failures -- for embracing this toxic ideology?

Back in 1911, according to one historical count, members of the Socialist Party of America won office in 74 towns and cities, and another 32 in 1913.

Fast forward to today. As NBC News put it, 'Democratic socialists are on the rise in Trump-era mayoral races ... fueled by a backlash to Trump policies, economic strain and fatigue with the Democratic establishment.'"

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"Democrats take great offense at being accused of being unpatriotic -- but the data don't lie.

"A new NBC News poll captured the partisan gap over pride in America.

"Overall, 56% of Americans are extremely or very proud of the country, but only 29% of Democrats, compared to 90% of Republicans.

"That's a yawning gap, and about a matter that really shouldn't be controversial."

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