"Starbucks is closing 16 of its stores nationwide, including one in Washington, D.C ., after store managers reported an increase in drug use among customers in major cities across the United States.

Six of the stores will be closed in Los Angeles, six in the coffee giant's hometown of Seattle , two in Portland, Oregon, one in Washington, D.C., and one in Philadelphia by the end of the month. The employees of the affected stores will be reassigned to other stores in the area.

Although the company is only closing 16 out of its nearly 9,000 stores nationwide, the closures come as employees report feeling unsafe in the stores because employees say they are witnessing an increase in drug use, thefts, and assaults, according to the Wall Street Journal."

"In June 2021, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism asked people in 46 countries how much they trust their nation's media. The results were devastating for American journalism -- the United States came in last place.

"American media are the least trusted in the world. Only 29% of the American people trust the media, the survey found, the very bottom of the international barrel. (Finland is in first place, with 65% saying they trust their media. Canadian media, for comparison's sake, enjoy a 45% level of trust.)

"Most reporters when they hear this will think, 'There's something wrong with the American people.' Most Americans will think, 'There's something wrong with the media.'"

Read the entire article here.

"Where is the line between protest and harassment, intimidation and law-breaking?

"A few days ago, activists assailed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh while he dined at Morton's steakhouse in DC.

"Protests at restaurants are crass, and cross a line in civil society, but they're nothing new. The left's new low is targeting judges instead of politicians this way.

"Asked about the incident, terminally unprepared White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded, 'People have a right to protest. This is what a democracy is.'

"Well, no. Federal Statute 18 USC 1507 outlaws protesting 'in or near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge, juror, witness, or court officer' with the 'intent of influencing' those people."

Read the entire article here.

"The Biden administration sold roughly one million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to a Chinese state-controlled gas giant that continues to purchase Russian oil, a move the Energy Department said would 'support American consumers' and combat 'Putin's price hike.'

"Biden's Energy Department in April announced the sale of 950,000 Strategic Petroleum Reserve barrels to Unipec, the trading arm of the China Petrochemical Corporation. That company, which is commonly known as Sinopec, is wholly owned by the Chinese government. The Biden administration claimed the move would 'address the pain Americans are feeling at the pump' and 'help lower energy costs.' More than five million barrels of oil released from the U.S. emergency reserves, however, were sent overseas last month, according to a Wednesday Reuters report. At least one shipment of American crude went to China, the report said.

"The Biden administration also claimed the Unipec sale would 'support American consumers and the global economy in response to Vladimir Putin's war of choice against Ukraine' and combat 'Putin's price hike.' But as the war rages on, Unipec has continued to purchase Russian oil. In May, for example, the company 'significantly increased the number of hired tankers to ship a key crude from eastern Russia,' Bloomberg reported. That decision came roughly one month after Unipec said it would purchase 'no more Russian oil going forward' once 'shipments that have arrived in March and due to arrive in April' were fulfilled."

Read the entire article here.

"When it comes to inflation, the direction elected officials take regarding federal spending is vitally important. Overspending has been a major factor behind inflation, as Capitol Hill and the Federal Reserve have dumped trillions upon trillions of dollars into the economy and sparked the inflationary fire. Yet, astonishingly enough, there are plans to add even more monetary gasoline.

From March 2020 through June 2022, the federal government added $7 trillion in debt.

To put that in perspective, the federal debt reached a total of $7 trillion in 2004, covering a span from George Washington to the first term of George W. Bush.

That means the federal government has racked up 215 years' worth of debt in just 27 months."

Read the entire article here.

"The U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that the Second Amendment guarantees law-abiding citizens the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense, both in their homes and in public. On Friday, New York responded that it didn't care.

"New York Gov. Kathy Hochul ushered in the long Independence Day weekend on Friday by signing into law legislation crafted in response to the Supreme Court's recent decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen. Just more than a week earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court in Bruen had declared that New York's prior 'may issue' gun licensing scheme, which prohibited individuals from carrying concealed handguns unless they 'demonstrate[d] a special need for self-protection distinguishable from that of the general community,' violated the Second Amendment. In reaching that conclusion, the high court stressed that the right to 'bear arms,' by necessity, applies outside the home.

"The New York legislature responded by calling an extraordinary session and then passing the bill Hochul signed into law on Friday. That hastily passed statute established detailed regulations governing a citizen's right to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon and added restrictive limits to where such concealed weapons could be carried. Both aspects of the New York legislation run headlong into the Supreme Court's analysis in Bruen -- and potentially First Amendment jurisprudence."

Read the entire article here.

"Ouch. Inflation is far too important a problem for the White House to keep making statements like this. It's either straight ahead misdirection or a deep misunderstanding of basic market dynamics."

"Happy Independence Day! Have a Safe and Happy Holiday Weekend!"

"The Madisonian democracy is based on the premise that, despite our factional divisions, the Constitution creates an interest in all groups in preserving the system. While the Constitution does not guarantee that your views will prevail in Congress or the courts, it has proven the most stable and successful democratic system in history. We are all invested in that system which has achieved transformative changes over time in our laws and our society.

The Constitution is neither poetic nor pretentious in its language. It was written by the ultimate wonk in Madison. It has only one thing to recommend it: we are still here. We have survived periods of war, economic collapse, and social discord that broke other systems.

Politicians and the press have thrived under this system and have historically defended its legitimacy even when demanding major changes in our laws. We are now witnessing a crisis of faith with the political and media establishment declaring the highest court to be illegitimate. All because they disagree with a constitutional interpretation adopted by the majority of its members."

Read the entire article here.

"America's politicians aren't winning many popularity contests lately, and a survey doesn't like the job they're doing running our cities either! In a study of how efficiently the country's biggest metropolitan areas are operating, the nation's biggest and most famous cities finish at the bottom of the list.

"According to a recent WalletHub study, Washington, D.C. ranks as the worst-run big city in the entire country. The nation's capital finished dead last in the analysis of 150 big cities -- measuring the quality of their city services and the total budget they have available per resident.

"San Francisco, California and New York City ranked as the second and third-worst, respectively. All three finished at the bottom of the list in terms of total budget per capita, while also tying for the largest amount of long-term outstanding debt per capita.

"In Washington, high school graduation rates are now the fourth-lowest in the country, finishing only ahead of Columbia, South Carolina, Toledo, Ohio, and Richmond, Virginia. Meanwhile, in a city that's home to America's most important elected officials, Washington only ranks 73rd in terms of safety. Its local economy is doing even worse, ranking 131st."

Read the entire article here.