Investigation Continues into Motive Behind Attempted Trump Assassination

Federal investigators continue to piece together the motives behind the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. Despite extensive investigative efforts, including over 200 interviews and a thorough review of Crooks’s digital footprint, his exact motivations remain unknown.

Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, has been described as an intelligent yet unassuming loner with an interest in guns. He did not openly express strong political views, leading investigators to speculate whether his motives were political. Crooks may have been targeting high-profile figures, with Trump being the most accessible target due to the rally’s proximity to Crooks’s home.

Crooks had visited the rally location twice before the day of the attack and had images of both Trump and President Joe Biden on his phone. His search history included dates for the Democratic National Convention and future Trump events, providing some evidence that he was looking for high-profile opportunities to target.

 

Kamala Harris Launches Campaign GOP Retools Their Strategy

Vice President Kamala Harris has launched her campaign for the White House following President Joe Biden’s stunning withdrawal from the race on July 21. With the political landscape dramatically altered, with both the Democratic and Republican parties scrambling to adjust their strategies and messaging.

Harris wasted no time in capitalizing on the momentum generated by Biden’s endorsement, with her campaign announcing a record-breaking fundraising haul of $200 million in the 10 days after Biden’s withdrawal. This massive influx of support, much of it coming from new donors, has energized the party’s base and signaled a potential resurgence of enthusiasm among voters who had previously expressed dissatisfaction with a Biden candidacy.

Harris does face headwinds, however, as she currently polls below Trump in general election polling, according to the RealClearPolitics polling aggregate. Harris’s supporters counter that the polling has not yet taken into account shifting voters’ attitudes now that she is the likely Democratic nominee, and they argue that she will overtake Trump as the campaign continues.

On the Republican side, former President Donald Trump and his newly minted running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, are recalibrating their approach. Trump’s recent rallies have signaled a departure from unity message that followed his assassination attempt two weeks ago, with the former president reverting to his more combative style as they seek to highlight Harris’s 2020 positions on crime and immigration. The GOP is eyeing traditionally Democratic strongholds, hoping to expand the electoral map in their favor.

Democrats are also adopting a new line of attack against the Republican ticket, characterizing Trump and Vance’s policies, as well as the men themselves, as “weird.” Harris herself has echoed this sentiment, describing Republican policies as “just plain weird” during a recent rally in Atlanta. Republicans have countered that this strategy distracts from real policy disagreements between the two candidates and from Harris’s record as vice president.

Harris has not yet selected a running mate, with possible contenders being PA Gov. Josh Shapiro, KY Gov. Andy Beshear, MN Gov. Tim Walz, and AZ Sen. Mark Kelly.

 

Supreme Court Rulings Target Federal Regulatory Apparatus

The Supreme Court issued several rulings this past week that curtails the federal regulatory system, attracting praise from conservatives and condemnation from progressives.

The most impactful decision was to overturn the Chevron deference doctrine in 6-3 decision along ideological lines, which required the federal judiciary to defer to the interpretation of regulatory agencies when interpreting ambiguous language in federal regulatory statutes passed by Congress, as long as their interpretation are reasonable.

The Chevron deference doctrine had been in force since a 1984 decision and has since been cited in thousands of cases. The Supreme Court in its majority ruling said that those case decision can stand, though the judiciary can no longer simply defer to the agencies’ interpretations in future cases and must interpret ambiguous statutes independently.

Critics of the decision says this ruling will lead to expertise being overruled by ideologically driven judges as well as leading to more regulatory uncertainty as agencies can later be overruled by judicial decisions.

Proponents of the decision dismiss the uncertainty argument, saying that regulatory interpretations are already changed as new administrations take office and that this will force Congress to use less ambiguous and tighter language when writing legislation.

The Supreme Court also ruled against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in another 6-3 decision, ruling that targets of civil enforcement can have their cases heard by a jury trial rather than by agency adjudication bodies. While in-house a judication had Congress’s approval, the majority opinion ruled that it violated the Seventh Amendment’s protection of right to trial by jury. Critics claim this ruling will stymie regulatory efforts, given the expense and length of jury trials.

 

Attempted Bolivia Coup Ends with General’s Arrest

Bolivia avoided a coup attempt last Wednesday that would have overthrown President Luis Arce, who has faced a political crisis within his ruling left-wing party and a looming financial crisis.

The Bolivian Army’s chief general, Juan Jose Zuniga, failed to take control of the government even as his troops took control of several government buildings in the capital La Paz. Arce confronted Zuniga, ordering him to stand down, while also calling for street demonstrations to stand against the coup attempt. Zuniga’s troops began to stand down, and Zuniga was taken into custody.

Zuniga accused Arce of ordering him to plot a fake coup to boost his popularity, a charge Arce denies. Bolivia’s geostrategic importance has been heightened recently because of its massive lithium deposits, a key resource in the electric energy transition because of its role in high-capacity batteries.

 

Legendary Baseball Player Willie Mays Dies at 93

Willie Mays, the baseball great who captured the attention of millions for his strong batting and outfield abilities, died June 18th in Palo Alto, California, at 93. Known as ‘The Say Hey Kid,’ his cheerful demeanor and theatrics on the field delighted fans for his two decades of play in the major leagues.

Mays was born in 1931 in Westfield, Alabama. He began playing baseball as a young boy and started his professional career in the Negro Leagues, playing for the Chattanooga Choo-Choos and the Birmingham Barons.

In 1951, he joined the New York Giants, becoming National League Rookie of the Year. After being drafted to fight in the Korean War, he returned in 1954, helping the Giants win the World Series, most notably through the most famous play in his career, the ‘The Catch,’ in Game 1.

He went on to play until 1973, staying with the Giants when they moved to San Francisco in 1958 until his trade to the New York Mets in 1972, retiring as third in career home runs. He would make regular appearances at Giants games in his retirement.

 

Julian Assange Pleads Guilty as US Ends Legal Fight

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange pled guilty last Wednesday to one count of violating the Espionage Act at a US federal courthouse in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, capping a years-long fight against legal charges that threatened to send him to prison for decades. In exchange for the plea, Assange was sentenced to time served, crediting his time spent in a British prison awaiting extradition.

Assange, who launched Wikileaks in 2006, was accused of conspiring with hackers to steal US state secrets to publish on the site. Defenders of Assange called the charges attacks on the rights of journalists. Materials made public on Wikileaks over the years included video of US servicemembers killing Reuters journalists in Iraq and hacked DNC emails during the 2016 election.

After pleading guilty, Assange travelled to his home country of Australia. Assange had faced the threat of arrest and prison since 2010, first over sexual assault charges in Sweden. While those were dropped in 2019, the US charged him with Espionage Act violations in 2018. He had taken refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London from 2012 until 2019, when he was expelled and quickly arrested by British authorities.

 

Hurricane Beryl Becomes Earliest-Forming Category 4 in Atlantic Basin

Hurricane Beryl, only the second storm of what has been predicted to be a highly active Atlantic hurricane season, has become the earliest forming major hurricane in the Atlantic basin as well as the earliest forming category four storm in the basin, beating the record set by Hurricane Dennis in July 2007. Beryl, which only became a tropical storm on June 28th, rapidly intensified into a major hurricane, reaching category 4 status on Sunday.

The storm has the potential to reach category 5 strength, which would displace Hurricane Emily in 2005 as the earliest forming category 5 in the Atlantic.

Beryl will move through the Windward Islands this coming week, with major impacts expected in St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, and Tobago. Afterwards, the storm will head towards the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, where it faces an uncertain path forward through the Gulf of Mexico. The European model has Beryl heading into Mexico south of Tampico, while the US model takes Beryl on a more northerly path towards Corpus Christi, Texas.