Wednesday, July 8, 2026
US appeals court strikes down key part of Florida law restricting campus race and gender discussions
A federal appeals panel struck down a significant chunk of Ron DeSantis’s so-called Stop Woke Act on Tuesday, delivering another rebuff to the Republican Florida governor’s efforts to stifle free speech in higher education.
In a scathing order, judges of the 11th circuit court of appeal said by a 2-1 majority that the higher education component of the law – which prevented college and university professors teaching or sharing thoughts on concepts of race and gender – breached the free expression rights guaranteed under the US constitution’s first amendment. I
t accused the state of “puppeteering”: making the educators their mouthpieces by controlling what they can say or teach...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/07/stop-woke-act-appeal-florida-desantis
Air pollution may cause childhood obesity by disrupting impulse control, study finds
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/06/air-pollution-childhood-obesity-study
The shadowy movement behind ‘Trump accounts’
On the Fourth of July, the Trump administration's new savings accounts for children went live. These ‘Trump accounts’, created as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, are ostensibly supposed to help families pay for college and other expenses.
But Guardian columnist Moira Donegan says these accounts are really the work of the pronatalist movement, which wants women to have as many babies as possible – and is backed by powerful rightwingers such as JD Vance and Elon Musk. Moira speaks with Carter Sherman about the strange bedfellows who make up the movement, including its ties to the racist conspiracy theory known as the ‘great replacement'…
Pastor Doug Wilson on his Christian theocracy vision and ties to Pete Hegseth : NPR's Newsmakers : NPR
https://www.npr.org/2026/07/06/nx-s1-5822558/pastor-doug-wilson-interview-pete-hegseth
Lawmakers: Hegseth “Defunded and Impeded” Civilian Protection Efforts — ProPublica
https://www.propublica.org/article/hegseth-trump-war-civilian-casualties-elizabeth-warren-pentagon
Why does JD Vance keep saying loony things?
Vance is sending a clear message to Trump’s dedicated base that he’s just as good at stirring up hate and grievance as the man they elected twice as president. Better at it than the more moderate Marco Rubio, the secretary of state who is his most likely competitor for the 2028 Republican nomination.
In essence, he’s saying something like this: I might have written serious books and have a law degree from Yale but don’t worry, I hate the same people you do. And governmental malfeasance doesn’t rattle me.
As former labor secretary Robert Reich wrote recently, “Vance resembles Trump in every way – he lies effortlessly, he’s utterly without principle, and he’s intent on gaining power – except that he’s smarter and more ruthless than Trump.” Thus, a more dangerous demagogue...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/07/jd-vance-rhetoric
Red scare revived as Trump leads push to attack Democrats as ‘communists’
But while Trump has ramped up his attacks against communism, the self-styled business mogul president has overseen the most significant extension of government control over private industry since the start of the cold war, if not before.
The United States government has a 9.9% stake in Intel Corporation and is the storied chip maker’s largest single shareholder. Trump redirected money from the Chips Act to rescue the firm. The government has warrants allowing it to purchase another 5% of the private company.
It is only one of dozens of nationalized state investments since the start of Trump’s second term...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/07/trump-democrats-communists
Overcrowded and underfunded: Trump’s cuts to national parks threaten the US’s ‘best idea’
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/04/trump-national-parks
Watchdog warns of risks to patients as private equity’s stake in US healthcare grows
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/06/us-private-equity-healthcare-joint-ventures
Lake Powell, a vital reservoir, plunges toward unprecedented low levels as water crisis deepens in US west
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/07/lake-powell-water-crisis
Calls grow for Graham Platner to drop out after sexual assault allegation
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/06/graham-platner-assault-allegation
US launches strikes against Iran after attacks on vessels in strait of Hormuz
The US military launched a series of “powerful” strikes against Iran, it announced on Tuesday night, in response to what it said were “unwarranted, dangerous” Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels in the strait of Hormuz…
Iran blamed the US for the incident on Tuesday, saying Washington’s efforts to open up new routes through the strait constituted a breach of the memorandum of understanding the two parties had signed…
Trump again demands Greenland as NATO unveils military projects worth billions to prove its firepower | PBS News
Russian cities feel the pinch amid worsening fuel shortages
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/07/russia-cities-feel-pinch-amid-worsening-fuel-shortages
Air pollution linked to DNA changes in sperm, research shows
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jul/07/air-pollution-dna-changes-sperm-men
Idaho woman who said infant twins died from vaccines charged with murder
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/06/idaho-woman-deaths-children
John James, Republican running for governor, relates Dearborn religious procession to extremism
“Mr. James is literally labeling the First Amendment, constitutionally protected right of freedom of assembly, as somehow un-American and attached to extremism,” CAIR Michigan’s executive director Dawud Walid told Michigan Public. “We find this to be highly problematic especially from an individual who is a veteran defending the rights of Americans.”…
“The irony of it is that the same people that [James] criticized in Dearborn as extremists have family members displaced or killed” in Iraq due to the war, he said…
Trump launches America’s 250th birthday celebrations with partisan attack
How America's Foundation was Built on Propaganda
Half of Americans struggle to afford groceries and gas, exclusive poll finds
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/07/cost-of-living-poll-groceries-gas
Israeli officer shown throwing stun grenade into car during West Bank raid
The officer is heard shouting: “Shut your mouth. Who are you talking to like that?” Moments later, the grenade detonates, filling the area with smoke.
The two passengers scramble out through the opposite side of the vehicle and the officer appears to fire his rifle as they duck for cover...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/07/israeli-officer-stun-grenade-car-west-bank
‘Why take those jobs away?’: the unionized workers decrying Trump’s war on wind
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/06/workers-unions-trump-wind-energy
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