“With his typical bravado, Mr. Hegseth said the cartel-busting coalition’s motto would be, ‘We do bad things to bad people.'”

“Ship-tracking data shows that just 14 vessels on Tuesday crossed a waterway that routinely handled more than 130 a day before the war. Eleven of those ships took the route administered by Iran. Traffic was slow throughout July, with an average of 26 crossings a day, and in June, with 33 a day, as renewed Iranian attacks on ships cut short a deal to open the strait.”

“The disconnect shows how Tehran has managed to squelch traffic through the crucial energy chokepoint with relatively little military force, only a handful of drone and missile attacks on ships. Iran doesn’t need to defeat the U.S. Navy. It just needs shipping companies, captains and insurers to fear that defying it could put their ships at risk.”

“Kamala Harris carried Lawler’s district in 2024, but some Democrats are privately wary of spending the small fortune it would take to oust one of the GOP’s most bipartisan — and electorally savvy — members.”

Said one senior House Democrat: “I don’t think Lawler is beatable.”

“It also serves as the latest reminder that the continuing debate over the Democratic Party’s identity is still raging.”

“But it pales in comparison to the secrecy surrounding President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, whose activity is shrouded in so much mystery that journalists have tried to track it by assessing the wilting of his office plants.”

“That is the method some reporters resorted to this year as they worked to ascertain whether the Russian leader’s televised meetings took place when the Kremlin said they did. The apparent reversal of the leaf decay seen in Mr. Putin’s plants suggested that the meetings actually took place in a different order and on different days.”

“The ballots and bills are largely coming in Republican-led states, in some cases as part of political platforms in state-level races. The rollbacks are generating pushback from local government officials who say they will lose vital revenue needed for everything from schools to paying firefighters.”

“The assassination threat was relayed by the Israeli government to the CIA, where analysts did not view the intelligence as compelling and relayed that skepticism to Trump administration officials.”

“What’s more, separate vaccines for measles, mumps or rubella have not been available in the United States for many years. Vaccine manufacturers said it would take a minimum of five to 10 years for them to be tested and made available.”

The news media loves a simple story about the Democratic Party: the socialists are taking over.

The primary results so far tell a much more complicated story.

“Warren partnered with Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina to overwhelmingly pass a bill aimed at increasing the country’s housing supply, authored an op-ed alongside Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno on the future of social security and introduced a measure with Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley to limit stock buybacks by defense contractors.”

“Instead of providing medical benefits directly, more than 20,000 companies entered Health Reimbursement Arrangements in 2026. That’s an increase of 53% from last year.”

“Under the HRA model, companies give their employees a stipend to purchase health insurance for themselves and their dependents on the Affordable Care Act marketplace or another exchange.”

Said Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC): “By going with El-Sayed, you’re talking about socialism, Marxism, communism, and someone who seems to just not like America. The only thing he’s not against, Hamas. He’s for Hamas, but he’s against America.”

President Trump announced the move in a social-media post, saying Leavitt wanted to spend more time with her family.

“It’s assistance that some Democratic secretaries of state said should have never gone away.”

“The reality of that new level of exposure became apparent on Tuesday night after a reporter for Puck and TMZ reported that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez had split with Mr. Roberts… Her relationship status was not new, but public disclosure of it all but broke the internet.”