Hey America! Happy 250th Birthday, darling! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Wishing you the brightest Independence Day yet.
May the next 250 years shine even brighter.
Cheers today 🥂
4th of July, 2026. pic.twitter.com/VMuP3a7Ano
— Muse (@xmuse_) July 4, 2026
20 animals that look like nothing else on Earth Quartz
American Colonists in 1776 Lived With Pain Every Day and Their Medical Tools Show How Brutal Life Was ZME Science
Astronomers Spot an Extremely Rare Galaxy Mega-Merger Universe Today
College Students Are Testing at the Level of 10-Year-Olds Futurism
COVID-19/Pandemics
Diabetes worsens long Covid complications Healthcare in Europe
Ebola cases in DR Congo jump to over 1,500, death toll rises to 473 Andolu Agency
Climate/Environment
The Heat Is the Story—Climate Change Is the Cause Scheerpost
The cooling divide: how air conditioning is creating a new climate inequality The Conversation
South of the Border
Venezuela: The Tortuous Road After the June Earthquakes Fair Observer
Once a source of national pride, Cuba’s healthcare system declines as energy shortages deepen crisis AP
Keiko Fujimori declared winner of Peru’s presidential election weeks after vote BBC
China?
🇨🇳🔥Esta es una fábrica de plantas en China, un sistema de cultivo vertical totalmente en interiores.
Las estanterías de varios niveles, que ahorran espacio, permiten una producción de alto rendimiento en una superficie reducida.#China pic.twitter.com/GfpfGSRKb7— Hermosa China（Beautiful China） (@90Hercost) July 3, 2026
China’s Latest Satellite Engine Sets Global Record: High Performance Allows For Larger, Faster and More Manoeuvrable Spacecraft Military Watch MagazineChina’s express delivery volume tops 100 billion parcels by end June CGTN
China’s military promotes 2 new generals after anti-corruption purge thins ranks AP
Beijing sends new coastguard force into waters east of Taiwan SCMP
India
Skyroot Aerospace targets July launch window for India’s first private orbital rocket Cryptopolitan
India, Japan deepen business ties Semafor
‘Fearmongers wallowing in depths of despair after India successfully navigated energy crisis’: PM Modi Deccan Herald
Africa
The Deadliest War You’re Not Hearing About Fair Observer
Africa’s Security at a Crossroads: A Continent Confronts a Changing World In Depth News
South Africa deploys troops as anti-migrant protests escalate Africa News
European Disunion
European Commission attempts to spur EU defence teamwork with five new major projects Euronews
EU moves to block retail investors from explosive boom of multibillion-dollar prediction markets CoinDesk
Von der Leyen admits ‘technical problems’ with new EU airport border checks Politico
Old Blighty
Celtic nations begin to plan for breakup of UK in event of Reform election win The Guardian
Andy Burnham should take a taxi Prospect Magazine
Israel v. Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iran
Breaking 🚨 Israel has once again launched a blind, tempest-like assault on Lebanon, reducing homes and walls to heaps of rubble. The footage clearly reveals that, after such widespread carnage, Israel is finally bent on total destruction. pic.twitter.com/n2nl6z9LqU
— Asif Ali (@AsifAli_Haider) July 4, 2026
Lebanon-Israel deal betrays ‘victims of war crimes’, rights groups say Al JazeeraIsraeli strike kills Palestinian in Gaza as army continues demolitions Andolu Agency
This Week in Palestine: 1,000 Days of Genocide, as Israel Continues to Kill Kids Zeteeo
250 Candles, One Funeral: How Iran Turned July 4th Into a Judgment Day Think BRICS substack
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia claims taking control of 5 settlements in eastern, northeastern Ukraine Andolu Agency
Brief Frontline Report – July 3rd, 2026 Marat Khairullin substack
Ukraine hits major oil terminal in Russia’s St Petersburg BBC
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
“Invisible Cameras” Reshaping Daily Life—Privacy Concerns Mount as Smart AI Glasses Proliferate Finance BigGo
Imperial Collapse Watch
Trump 2.0
Trump launches America’s 250th birthday celebrations with partisan attack The Guardian
How Trump became the president of Washington, DC Semafor
Trump’s $600M memecoin income revives ethics fight over Senate crypto bill Cryptopolitan
Musk Matters
Tesla sales roar back to life after backlash over Musk’s political adventures This Is Money
DOGE self-deletes on July 4th. The grand experiment fell apart long before that. Politico
Elon Musk’s X Money — New Details On Bank Killer Super App Benzinga
Elon Musk literally sat down for a 45-minute talk with Y Combinator that explains how to build world-changing companies better than any business school on earth. This is the advice he gave a room full of young founders:
1. Don’t try to build something great. Try to build… pic.twitter.com/7ecpzklwmK
— Lewis 🏴 (@WaldronLewis) July 2, 2026
Democrat Death Watch
James Carville warns radical democratic socialists’ victories signal ‘end of the two-party system’ NY Post
Democratic Infighting Threatens Party’s Bid To Reclaim House Majority Foreign Policy Journal
Immigration
Trump Border Wall and ICE Expansion Illustrate Long-Term Shift in U.S. Immigration Enforcement Davis Vanguard
Appeals court rules ICE must allow bond hearings after 90 days of detention Fox News
Our No Longer Free Press
A.G. Sulzberger: On Independence Day, we must remember the free press’ role in our freedom Dallas Morning News
Mr. Market Is Moody
America In Focus: consumers still gloomy about economy; US hiring falls in June AP
3 Reasons the Trump Bull Market Can Implode in the Second Half of 2026 The Motley Fool
Cleveland Fed president says AI spending is fueling inflation — and warns of interest rate hikes Quartz
AI
Alibaba’s DAMO Academy AI Autonomously Discovers 4 New Superconducting Materials, Verified by Experiment Finanace BigGo
ByteDance discovers new scaling law that could sustain the AI boom past its current limits Crypto Briefing
AI is Driving Utilities to Spend a Record $240 Billion in 2026. Buy These Stocks to Capitalize on the Power Surge. The Motley Fool
The Bezzle
OMB says fraud losses ‘in the hundreds of billions’ annually The Center Square
Guillotine Watch
The richest people in the world (1987-2025), created by ‘TopDataChart’
Sources: Forbes, Fortune, Bloomberg
— Science girl (@sciencegirl) February 7, 2026
Top 10 Richest Families in the World:
1. 🇺🇸 Walton family – $513.5 Billion
2. 🇦🇪 Al Nahyan family – $335.9 Billion
3. 🇸🇦 Al Saud family – $213.6 Billion
4. 🇶🇦 Al Thani family – $199.5 Billion
5. 🇫🇷 Hermès family – $184.5 Billion
6. 🇺🇸 Koch family – $150.5 Billion
7. 🇺🇸 Mars… pic.twitter.com/jfWAbJhFt8— Global Statistics (@Globalstats11) January 30, 2026
Antidote du jour (via)
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
“Trump shares strong hints he’s about to add HIS face to Mount Rushmore as White House sends message supporting his inclusion on iconic monument’
Yeah, I can’t see that happening. In that proposed rendition, Trump is the most prominent face there because of course he is. But if you look at the geology of Mt. Rushmore, the rock face is not there to support such a carving. If it was done, he would be recessed to the left & back of Lincoln which he would not like at all-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rushmore#/media/File:Mount_Rushmore_detail_view_(100MP).jpg
Same problem if he was at the other end of those carvings. The rock is simply not there. I suppose that one of those four Presidents could have their faces re-carved in Trump’s image but which one would be lost?
Naval shipbuilding article
That’s a damned shame. I guess we’ll have to give up the “belated” (meaning needed) great power military competition. As the neolibs like to say, every “crisis” an opportunity.
This issue must be killing them in Washington. I mean, where are you going to recruit a disciplined, experienced and qualified workforce that will be willing to work for McDonalds wages and will not join a union? Pay them high wages you say? But as Trump would say, that is Communism.
“where are you going to recruit a disciplined, experienced and qualified workforce that will be willing to work for McDonalds wages and will not join a union?”
China ticks all the boxes.
Oh, wait…
College students’ testing decline–
This is a continuation of a long process. They had to reset SAT scoring in the mid-90s because the median scores had fallen so far below 500.
I found it very interesting that the worst-performing nation appeared to be not the USA–we were close–but those tech-whizzes in Israel. It must be noted, however, that Israeli college students did rank first in one category: number of Palestinian babies killed.
I do hope Trump keeps up his verbal attacks on us Reds. He’s preaching to a choir of Fox News Boomers who are dying off while making the Trump-hating youngsters Red-curious at the least.