Tag: news

Trump Trolls Times reporter again fishing for sources

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 8.2.2026 UPDATED

The Hill – 8.2.2026

For a President who is so media savvy and friendly when it suits him the blogger can only continue to look on with dismay as Donald Trump assaults the First Amendment and crush the right to publish.

During his second term Trump’s Department of Justice has already issued subpoenas against The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

Does Trump seriously believe these mainstream media giants are standing idly by while its reporters are harassed by his DOJ? Thank goodness these publications are having none of it.

Excerpted from The New York Times 8.1.2026

Previously undisclosed subpoena, involving reporting on a failed 2019 SEAL Team 6 mission in North Korea, reflects the Trump’s expanding campaign to investigate leaks of what Trump labels secrets.

A freelance reporter has been fighting a subpoena from the Trump administration seeking to force him to reveal his sources for a New York Times article about a failed top secret mission in North Korea, according to people familiar with the matter.

Charlie Stadtlander, a spokesman for The Times, said in a statement that the subpoena to Matthew Cole was “part of the government’s escalating attacks on journalists, which should concern all Americans.” He added that the demand to disclose Mr. Cole’s sources “is another brazen and illegal attack from the administration designed to deny the public information of vital importance.”

The subpoena, which has not been previously disclosed, reflects the administration’s intensifying campaign to investigate leaks of government secrets by pressuring reporters to divulge their sources. Until President Trump began his second term, federal subpoenas to reporters were exceedingly rare.

In February, F.B.I. agents showed up at the New York home of the reporter, Matthew Cole, to deliver the grand jury subpoena, which was issued by prosecutors in Newport News, Va., according to the people familiar with the matter, who described the private conversations on the condition of anonymity.

The Times is providing a legal defense to Mr. Cole.

Trump jabs the media on Air Force One

The investigators are seeking his testimony about two years’ worth of information about Mr. Cole’s contacts and conversations, as they try to identify his sources for the article about the operation in North Korea, the people familiar with the matter said. It is unclear if the administration has also sought Mr. Cole’s phone and email data, as it has done in other cases.

Last fall, Mr. Cole, along with a staff reporter for The Times, Dave Philipps, revealed the details of a Navy SEAL Team 6 mission in 2019 that went awry. The article described how the SEAL members killed two or three unarmed North Koreans who appeared to have stumbled upon the mission, a classified operation to plant a secret eavesdropping device near the country’s coastline. The Times’s account, published in September, drew on interviews with two dozen people.

The article also noted that the Trump administration did not notify key members of Congress who oversee intelligence operations, before or after the mission, an omission that may have violated the law.

The Justice Department has not subpoenaed Mr. Philipps, according to people familiar with the matter. He declined to comment.

Mr. Cole disclosed more details of his reporting on his Substack newsletter, stating that despite learning about the mission in 2023, he waited for months before making calls to find out more given the sensitive nature of the reporting.

Top graphic by: Dave Whamond

Using sweeping subpoenas Obama DOJ went after reporters

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 7.25.2026

The blogger was shocked, saddened and surprised to learn that President Barack Obama unleashed the Department of Justice to obtain “cellular, office and home telephone records of individual reporters and an editor” in 2013.

It’s of little consequence which Administration tries to stifle the Press. The fact of the matter is that the First Amendment is the bedrock of American democracy.

Excerpted from The Washington Post – May 13, 2013

https://wapo.st/4fBWmbm

Under sweeping subpoenas, Justice Department obtained AP phone records in leak investigation

In a sweeping and unusual move, the Justice Department secretly obtained two months’ worth of telephone records of journalists working for the Associated Press as part of a year-long investigation into the disclosure of classified information about a failed al-Qaeda plot last year.

The AP’s president said Monday that federal authorities obtained cellular, office and home telephone records of individual reporters and an editor; AP general office numbers in Washington, New York and Hartford, Conn.; and the main number for AP reporters covering Congress. He called the Justice Department’s actions a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into newsgathering activities.

Six officials have been prosecuted, more than under all previous administrations combined.

The aggressive investigation into the possible disclosure of classified information to the AP is part of a pattern in which the Obama administration has pursued current and former government officials suspected of releasing secret material. Six officials have been prosecuted, more than under all previous administrations combined.

In a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., the AP’s president and chief executive, Gary B. Pruitt, said that the Justice Department sought information beyond what could be justified by any specific probe and demanded that the government return the phone records and destroy all copies.

“There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters,” Pruitt wrote to Holder. “These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP’s newsgathering operations, and disclose information about AP’s activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know.”

Obama administration was marked by lack of transparency, access.

Attacks on the Press in 2013: United States – Committee to Protect Journalists

As part of its investigations into earlier leaks, the Justice Department revealed it had secretly subpoenaed the phone records of nearly two dozen Associated Press telephone lines and the emails and phone records of Fox News reporter James Rosen. The two cases, and language in the Rosen subpoena that suggested the journalist could be criminally charged for receiving the information, provoked widespread criticism. The backlash resulted in the drafting of revised Justice Department guidelines on press subpoenas and a renewed debate in the Senate of a federal shield law that would allow journalists greater protection for their sources. As the debate moved forward in the Senate, a federal appeals court rejected an appeal by New York Times reporter James Risen in his long-term effort to protect a confidential source, setting up a likely Supreme Court showdown. 

Angry Prez 1st Amendment attack on nemesis NY Times

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 7.23.2026 UPDATED

THE FIRST AMENDMENT SURVIVES!!!

Daily Beast 7.23.2026
The First Amendment survives
Wall Street Journal – 7.23.2026
Wall Street Journal – 7.20.2026

Donald Trump lives in America in 2026. His attitude and actions are akin to Germany in the 1930’s.

While Trump is precluded from going as far as 1930’s Germany he is using his Department of Justice to intimidate and bully the media for exercising its First Amendment rights to publish.

This is a chilling assault on the foundation of 🇺🇸 American democracy

One of the first things the National Socialists did after assuming power in early 1933 was quash the free press. This action was followed by a series of book burnings.

The  Nazi book burnings  were a campaign conducted by the  German Student Union  (German:  Deutsche Studentenschaft,  DSt) to ceremonially  burn books  in  Nazi Germany  and  Austria  in the 1930s. The books targeted for burning were those viewed as being subversive or as representing ideologies opposed to  Nazism. These included books written by  Jewish,  half-Jewish,  communist,  socialist,  anarchist,  liberal,  pacifist, and  sexologist  authors among others.[1]  The initial books burned were those of  Karl Marx  and  Karl Kautsky,[2]&n bsp;but the burned books came to include other authors, including the works of  Albert Einstein,  Helen Keller,  H.G. Wells, and effectively any book incompatible with Nazi ideology. The first burning consisted mainly of LGBTQ books from the Institute of Sexual Research (Institut für Sexualwissenschaft)  founded by the pioneering Jewish sexologist  Magnus Hirschfeld  as the first medical center devoted to the study of gender and sexuality.[3]  In a campaign of  cultural genocide, books were also burned  en masse&n bsp;by the Nazis in  occupied territories  as well,  such as in Poland.[4] Nazi book burnings – Wikipedia

Donald Trump Is Tearing Up The First Amendment

The president is waging an across-the-board war against the First Amendment and its legal interpretations from the mid-20th century to today. – Huffington Post 3.13.2025

Excerpted from The New York Times – 7.20.2026

The Trump administration sought the phone records of several New York Times journalists and their relatives — including one reporter’s mother — in its effort to unmask the confidential sources who had provided information for articles about the security capabilities of President Trump’s new Air Force One jet.

The Justice Department told The Times late last week that it had issued subpoenas to third-party phone service providers seeking several journalists’ phone and text messaging records. That effort was in addition to the subpoenas issued on July 10  that sought to compel reporters  to testify before a federal grand jury.

The government’s actions amount to an extraordinarily aggressive and unorthodox attempt by the Trump administration to unearth the confidential sources of independent journalists whose reporting  had angered the president.

The additional subpoenas — which also sought information about calls and messages on the phones of two of the reporters’ spouses — were described in a  motion  filed on Saturday by lawyers for The Times, which is  seeking to quash the requests. The motion was unsealed on Monday morning by Judge Arun Subramanian of U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The  First Amendment  (Amendment I) to the  United States Constitution&nbs p;prevents  Congress  from making laws respecting an  establishment of religion; prohibiting the  free exercise of religion; or abridging the  freedom of speech, the  freedom of the press, the  freedom of peaceable assembly  and the  right to petition  the government for redress of  grievances.[1]  It was adopted on December 15, 1791, as one of the ten amendments that constitute the  Bill of Rights. In the original draft of the Bill of Rights, what is now the First Amendment occupied third place. The first two articles were not ratified by the states, so the article on disestablishment and free speech ended up being first.[2][3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Top drawing: Herblock in Washington Post June 1971 during Pentagon Papers First Amendment battle. The Nixon administration tried to enjoin the New York Times from publishing the history of the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court upheld the Times right to publish.

“A little bit of courage is all we lack. So, catch me if you can I’m going back.” The Byrds

Angry fans humiliate Trump off the pitch at World Cup finale

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 7.20.2026 UPDATED

‘With a permissive referee running the show..” The Argentina 🇦🇷 “intimidation” was ultimately thwarted…Wall Street Journal – 7.20.2026
San Francisco Chronicle – Ann Killion – 7.20.2026

Spain won its second World Cup in a extremely physical match with defending World Cup champion Argentina and Lionel Messi.

FIFA boss Gianni Infantino had to push Trump off the Victory stage – 7.19.2026

But how many will remember the game when, as is often the case, the Audience of One Donald Trump tried to steal the show.

Fortunately thousands of fans in attendance let Trump know what they thought of his party crashing obnoxious appearance.

Excerpted from NJ.com 7.19.2026

A coalition of artists, organizers and advocacy organizations was set to distribute 50,000 red cards to fans headed to MetLife Stadium for the World Cup final on Sunday to stage an in-stadium protest of FIFA and President Donald Trump.

The plan was for fans to hold up the red cards following the Spain-Argentina match when Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino presented the championship trophy to the winning team.

The red card protest was organized by SoundsGood Presents, along with several activist groups, including Contra-ICE, Make the Road New Jersey, 50501, People vs. The Machine, Way to Win and Movement Voter Project. Other local groups and U.S. Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-11th Dist.) were also part of the coalition.

Excerpted from Yahoo Sports!/Athlon 7.19.2026

Trump demands another World Cup in United States ‘immediately’

Donald Trump has declared that the World Cup should return to the United States “immediately” and claimed he would ask Fifa president Gianni Infantino to help stage another tournament during his presidency.

The hosting rights for next two World Cup have already been decided. The 2030 edition will take place in Morocco, Portugal and Spain, following opening matches in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay to mark the tournament’s centenary, while the 2034 tournament will be held in Saudi Arabia.

Donald Trump’s close friendship with Gianni Infantino and apparent influence over the FIFA president has received backlash, including from within U.S. Soccer as well as from other countries. And after Trump took credit for overturning a suspension on USMNT striker Folarin Balogun, Belgium trolled both the U.S. team and Trump himself following a win over the USMNT in the Round of 16.

Will anyone ever know what Lionel Messi was thinking as he shook hands with Trump?

Top photo: Donald Trump and his entourage do the helicopter flyover at Met Life Stadium

Bully Donald Trump escalates his war on the First Amendment.

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 7.15.2026 UPDATED

New York Times – 7.15.2026
Washington Post – 7.11.2026

Donald Trump wants nothing more than to stamp out the First Amendment.

This wannabe dictator will use his final 925 days in the White House unleashing the Department of Justice and abusing the levers of presidential power to stifle, harass and prosecute his political enemies by any means necessary.

First it was former national security advisor John Bolton who published “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir.” Bolton plead guilty to one charge against him and is looking at a 2.5M fine and five years prison time.

Trump uses his DOJ to get his Revenge six years later

Now Trump is going after The New York Times

The media world needs to rise up and defend the right to free speech without being intimidated and bullied.

Prior Restraint by Government – Herblock in the Washington Post 1971 Pentagon Papers – Wikipedia

Excerpted from The New York Times 7.10.2026

The Trump administration issued subpoenas on Friday to several journalists for The New York Times, after the news outlet reported this week on security concerns involving President Trump’s new Qatari-donated Air Force One.

The smirking bully Trump

The Times journalists who received subpoenas included Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt, who reported on Wednesday that Mr. Trump had departed Turkey on the old Air Force One as a security precaution at the urging of the Secret Service. On Thursday, The Times reported that the new Air Force One, a Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8, lacked some of the advanced security features of the older aircraft, including antimissile capabilities. Both articles cited sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security issues.

The subpoenas — which seek to force the reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday — were an extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations.

In some cases, the subpoenas were delivered by federal agents who showed up at reporters’ homes.

The Times denounced the administration’s actions.

“The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects,” said David McCraw, The Times’s top newsroom lawyer, in a statement on Friday evening.

The sordid politics of the FIFA World Cup eclipse Team USA

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 7.15.11 2026 UPDATED

VARgentina and Spain in World Cup finale

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 7.1.2026

The blogger has been watching the World Cup since Day One on June 11th and is thrilled that the United States men’s team has moved to the group of 16 and will meet Belgium on Monday, July 6th in Seattle.

Despite all the joy of the game there is most definitely a political element. Deutsche Welle and The New Yorker have broken down and dissected the problems afflicting what is euphemistically titled The Beautiful Game.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 7.1.2026

US President Donald Trump was front and center when Chelsea lifted last year’s Club World Cup trophy

The eyes of the world are, once again, glued to the World Cup. Overwhelmingly, they are on Lionel Messi’s goal-scoring record, a Cape Verdean goalkeeper who shot to fame or viral clips of fans.

It’s a familiar and understandable diversion of attention from the issues that dominated the buildup. Many Argentine fans were denied visas to attend the tournament and see Messi make history, Vozinha’s mother was only granted a visa bond waiver to the country after her son’s heroics for Cape Verde, and those fans seen on TV are often the lucky few rich enough to afford outrageous ticket prices.

The decision to award US President Donald Trump FIFA’s inaugural Peace Prize last December, shortly before Trump started a war with tournament participant Iran, was reportedly a  unilateral move by FIFA President  Gianni Infantino and has further eroded trust both within and outside the organization.

https://www.dw.com/en/does-football-need-fifa-and-its-world-cup/a-77677338

Excerpted from The New Yorker POWER MOVE – Sam Knight – 6.8.2026

Gianni Infantino is both absolutely in control and strangely ill at ease. “He doesn’t trust many people,” a former official said. “His circle is very small.” Patrick Oberli, the Swiss journalist, has interviewed him four times. (Infantino declined to speak with me.) “In every case, I was faced with someone who was fearful,” Oberli said. “It was a peculiar feeling. It was as if he were sitting an exam.” In 2023, when Infantino was reëlected, unopposed, for a second full term as president, he opened a rare news conference with a rebuke for the waiting reporters. “I don’t understand why some of you are so mean,” he said. “Why? Why? I don’t get it.”

World Cup tracker – 7 15 2026

Infantino—now the president of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, which governs global soccer and owns the World Cup—was twelve years old and living in Brig, a small town in the Swiss Alps. Infantino’s parents were Italian migrants: his father worked on the night trains that ran under the mountains and across Europe, and his mother managed a kiosk at the railway station. Working-class Italians suffered discrimination in Switzerland during Infantino’s childhood. But the triumph of the Azzurri, the Italian men’s national team, in the World Cup helped to change that. It “allowed us to grow,” Infantino said in a speech, in 2021. “For me personally, I think that the 1982 World Cup was definitely the moment when the football virus  .  .  . became part of my life and my body.”

Swiss Italians of Infantino’s generation have described the mounting euphoria of that summer as a feeling of riscatto—redemption and release. Brig is only a few miles from the Italian border. (Infantino calls his personality a combination of Italian creativity and Swiss precision.) After one match, he and his family crossed the border to the town of Domodossola to celebrate. There were no Italian flags on sale anywhere, so Infantino’s mother bought strips of red, white, and green fabric and sewed them together herself.

Brig is in the Upper Valais, a gaunt and conservative place where the inhabitants speak Walliser German, an Alpine dialect that many Swiss people find unintelligible. Six miles along the valley is Visp, the birthplace of Sepp Blatter, Infantino’s predecessor at FIFA, who, until Infantino entered the picture, was the most infamous soccer administrator of all time.

Gianni Infantino is both absolutely in control and strangely ill at ease.

Infantino will be unavoidable this summer. During the previous World Cup, in Qatar, directors of the official tournament feed were reportedly instructed to show him in the crowd once per match and not while he was looking at his phone. The geography of this year’s World Cup means that he won’t be physically omnipresent, but his imprint will be everywhere. “It’s safe to say that there’s no major decision that’s being made at this tournament without the direct involvement of Gianni,” a former high-ranking FIFA official told me. FIFA has staged two men’s World Cups under Infantino, but the 2026 edition is the first to be awarded and delivered during his tenure, and thus fully shaped in his image. He has already declared it to be the greatest of all time. Infantino’s messaging is as relentless as a 3-D printer’s. He is fond of the number eleven, which is the number of players on a soccer team. Most things are iconic. He likes to describe FIFA as “the official happiness provider to humanity.”

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/06/08/the-world-cup-according-to-gianni-infantino

Top photo: American star striker Folarin Balogun will miss the round of 16 in Seattle after he was assessed a controversial Red Card in the USMNT win over Bosna-Herzegovina

RED, WHITE & SCREWED – California Post 7.3.2026

San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan on the precipice of power

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 6.17.2026

Connie Chan’s political opponents unfairly label her a “Progressive.” She is more than that deceptive label implies.

Connie Chan (politician) – Wikipedia

A label which is unfair to Connie. If fighting for the working class, affordable housing and health care as Chair of the Board of Supervisors budget committee then we should all be labeled “Progressives.”

Connie is a practical political policy driven operative who, during her nearly six years as a San Francisco Supervisor, has fought for practical solutions to everyday problems.

Connie Chan has come a long way since she eked out a 125 vote victory to be elected a San Francisco Supervisor in 2020.

Six years later congressional candidate Connie is on the precipice of power having finished second in the June 2nd election. Defeating self funded centimillionaire Saikat Chakrabarti who spent nearly 10M of his own money.

Now, Saikat has endorsed Connie and committed himself, along with his bankroll and campaign staff, to push Connie’s effort. She will need all the help available because her opponent, State Senator Scott Wiener, is the errand guy for the deep pockets real estate industry.

San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan speaks flanked by Mayor Daniel Lurie to her right at a press event in front of San Francisco City Hall on Oct. 29, 2025.

Excerpted from The San Francisco Examiner 6.17.2026

In a potential boon to San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan’s congressional campaign, centimillionaire Saikat Chakrabarti has endorsed her candidacy and is converting his campaign committee to support her against state Sen. Scott Wiener in the race to succeed U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a Chakrabarti spokesperson said.

Chakrabarti — who finished behind Chan in the June 2 primary election despite having loaned or contributed nearly $10 million of his own money to his campaign — changed the name of his election campaign committee to the SF Solidarity PAC, an independent-expenditure committee, according to federal filings.

The former candidate had made offers to about 220 campaign employees who could work on Chan’s behalf as part of the independent effort, said spokesperson Nate Albee.

With almost all of the ballots from the election counted Monday, Wiener — a former San Francisco supervisor and a state legislator of nearly 10 years — won first place, with 95,720 votes, or 40.73%. Pelosi’s 11th Congressional District covers all but a southern chunk of The City.

Chan — who got Pelosi’s coveted endorsement on May 18, late in the primary race — came in second place with 69,823 votes, or 29.71%. Chakrabarti came in third with 41,990 votes, or 17.87%.

The results showed Wiener was dominant in most of The City, but Chan was particularly strong in the heavily Asian American Richmond and Sunset districts, according to data on the website Election Map.

Centimillionaire Chakrabarti to fund operation backing Chan | Politics | sfexaminer.com

Supervisor Chan and supporters at a reelection rally in 2024

In addition to the Chakrabarti endorsement Connie Chan recently announced she has hired a powerful Union organizer as her campaign director, Rudy Gonzalez.

Rudy Gonzalez’s Endorsement of Connie Chan

Rudy Gonzalez, secretary-treasurer of the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council (SFBCTC), publicly backed Connie Chan in her campaign for the U.S. House seat vacated by Nancy Pelosi heritagereview.com.

Gonzalez’s endorsement came in the context of a high-stakes Democratic primary race in San Francisco’s 1st district, where Chan was competing against state Sen. Scott Wiener and tech entrepreneur Saikat Chakrabarti. While the California Democratic Party had endorsed Wiener, Chan secured backing from a wide coalition, including labor unions, former mayors, and other community organizations Mission Local.

When asked about the endorsement, Gonzalez did not frame it as the result of a public feud between Pelosi and Wiener, but he did note that “I don’t know if they have a relationship to speak of,” implying a lack of personal connection between the two heritagereview.com. This comment underscored the political dynamics at play — Pelosi had bypassed her own party’s front-runner to choose Chan, and Gonzalez’s support aligned with the broader labor and progressive base that had rallied behind her.

Gonzalez’s role as head of the SFBCTC, one of the largest and most influential unions in San Francisco, gave his endorsement significant weight. His backing reinforced Chan’s position as a candidate with strong labor support, which has been a cornerstone of her campaign messaging occupysf.net.

In sum, Rudy Gonzalez’s endorsement of Connie Chan was both a labor union endorsement and a strategic political move, adding to Chan’s coalition of support in a competitive race.

Top photo: Connie Chan cited by San Francisco Police at a May Day 2026 protest at San Francisco International Airport

If Trump gets his way Team USA will not be enjoying the World Cup

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 6.15.2026

Trump’s anti-immigrant crusade may snag its biggest prize. The current star of the American soccer world.

Team USA stunned its fans and media pundits when it soundly defeated Paraguay4-1 in its opening World Cup match last Friday in SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The most goals ever scored by America in a World Cup game.

The man responsible for this feat is Folarin Balogun, the 24 year old Nigerian who earned “Birthright Citizenship” when his pregnant mother was obliged to stay in New York City during her pregnancy. Medical authorities told her it was unsafe to return to Nigeria. Folarin was born on July 23, 2001 and became an American citizen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folarin_Balogun

Now Donald Trump is attempting to take away Birthright Citizenship which was deemed legal in 1898. The Supreme Court heard arguments months ago and will soon issue its Decision. United States v. Wong Kim Ark – Wikipedia

United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898), is a landmark decision[3] of the Supreme Court of the United States which held that “a child born in the United States, of parents of Chinese descent, who, at the time of his birth, are subjects of the Emperor of China, but have a permanent domicile and residence in the United States, and are there carrying on business, and are not employed in any diplomatic or official capacity under the Emperor of China” became “at the time of his birth a citizen of the United States by virtue of the first clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.”[1]

Wong Kim Ark was the first Supreme Court case to decide on the status of children born in the United States to alien parents. This decision established an important precedent in its interpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.[3]

Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco, had been denied re-entry to the United States after a trip abroad, under the Chinese Exclusion Act, a law banning virtually all Chinese immigration and prohibiting Chinese immigrants from becoming naturalized U.S. citizens. He challenged the government’s refusal to recognize his citizenship, and the Supreme Court ruled in his favor, holding that the Citizenship Clause should be interpreted “in light of the common law”.

Excerpted from The Hill 6.15.2026

U.S. men’s soccer striker Folarin Balogun scored two goals in the Americans’ victorious opener of the FIFA World Cup on Friday, a performance that would not have occurred had his mother not traveled to the U.S. just before he was born. 

Folarin Balogun scores for Team USA in the World Cup in Los Angeles – 6.12.2026

The performance has also put President Trump’s push to end birthright citizenship back in the spotlight. A challenge to Trump’s executive order ending the policy is before the Supreme Court. 

Balogun’s mother, Florence Balogun, traveled to New York while she was seven months pregnant with the future soccer star in 2001. Florence Balogun and her husband, Ben Balogun, were born in Nigeria and lived in London at the time. 

While Florence Balogun was at the airport to head back to England, airline employees refused to allow her to fly — saying she was too pregnant, according to an ESPN profile of her son from 2023.

As a result, she stayed with her sister-in-law in Brooklyn and gave birth to Folarin in America on July 3, 2001, ESPN reported. Nearly 22 years later, and despite coming up in the Arsenal academy and playing for England’s under-17, under-18 and under-21 teams, Folarin Balogun decided to play for the U.S. senior national team.

That decision paid off on his World Cup debut, as the 24-year-old scored the second and third goals of the Americans’ 4-1 victory over Paraguay on Friday. The win marked the most goals the U.S. has ever scored in a single World Cup game, and it’s one more than the three goals it netted in the entire 2022 tournament.

But if the Supreme Court were to rule in favor of the president on birthright citizenship, Folarin Balogun may not be able to play for the U.S. 

The president’s executive order, which he signed on his first day back in office, stated that the 14th Amendment “has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.” 

US soccer star’s 2 World Cup goals thrust Trump birthright citizenship push into spotlight

Netanyahu needs to stop his whining and kvetching.

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 6.15.2026

Netanyahu needs to stop his whining and kvetching. Much of the World is totally disgusted with what this Guy is doing to the historic reputation of Israel.

Excerpted from The Wall Street Journal 6.15.2026

Israel Is Alarmed by Trump’s Deal With Iran

A man waves a Hezbollah flag in Tehran on Sunday. Vahid Salemi/Associated Press

Critics say the deal eases pressure on Tehran too soon, while others say it shows the war was a mistake

TEL AVIV—President Trump’s deal to wind down the war with Iran set off alarm bells in Israel, where top officials are wrestling with the consequences of easing the pressure on Tehran and the risks of opening a rift with the U.S. over the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

It is a harsh comedown from Israeli hopes that the war would bring fundamental change to the region by toppling or crippling the Iranian regime and paving the way to diplomatic relations with more of Israel’s Arab regional counterparts under an American security umbrella, said Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington.

The tension has been heightened by the lack of certainty about what exactly Trump has agreed to in the deal, which is expected to be signed later this week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was urgently trying to set up a meeting with the president to sort out the competing issues, a person familiar with the matter said. 

An Israeli strike over the weekend on Beirut in response to Hezbollah attacks on Israel almost derailed the agreement and set off a last-minute scramble by the White House and mediators to keep the deal on track.

Trump criticized the strike in an interview with The Wall Street Journal and said on social media that Israel had to stop its attacks across Lebanon. That was at odds with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement earlier in June that only required Israel to end the fighting if Hezbollah also stopped. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the U.S. was on the hook to end Israel’s attacks and aggression in Lebanon, state media reported.

Defying those claims, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military would hold its so-called security zone in Lebanon indefinitely, saying it was needed to protect communities in northern Israel. He also said Israel would act independently to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons if necessary. 

Israel is concerned that Trump has agreed to a deal that could provide Tehran with the financial relief it needs to rebuild its shattered economy but doesn’t include a commitment to turn over its enriched uranium.

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-iran-deal-lebanon-581695ac?st=ohKSwx&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Trump’s 80th birthday ‘Cage Fight’ as G7 protesters police clash in Geneva

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 6.14.2026

It figures that the G7 would be postponed for a day to accommodate Donald Trump’s 80th birthday 60M cage fight match in front of the White House.

The 52nd G7 Summit is a scheduled annual summit of the G7 to be held from 15 to 17 June 2026 in Évian-les-Bains, Haute-Savoie, France.[1][2]

The summit had initially been announced for 14-16 June 2026, but was later moved by one day to 15-17 June, to avoid a clash with US president Donald Trump‘s birthday.[5]

Évian-les-Bains previously hosted the 29th G8 summit in 2003. The 2026 summit will therefore make Évian the first French town to host a G7 or G8 leaders’ summit twice.[2][3]

Background

The summit is being held on the French shore of Lake Geneva, close to the border with Switzerland. As several delegations are expected to arrive through Geneva Airport, the event requires security coordination between France, Switzerland and the Swiss cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Valais.[4]

French president Emmanuel Macron made the reduction of global economic imbalances a priority for France’s G7 presidency, citing industrial overcapacity, underinvestment, excessive debt, deregulation and low private investment in developing countries among the threats to economic stability.[6]

Deutsche Welle 6.14.2026

52nd G7 summit – Wikipedia

Protesters in Geneva clashed with police, set a car on fire and smashed the windows of a bank to show their opposition to the G7 G7 – Wikipedia summit taking place across the border in France.

Clashes broke out between protesters and police near the United Nations (UN) building in Geneva on Sunday on the eve of the G7 summit in the nearby French resort town of Evian.

Leaders from the Group of Seven wealthy nations, including US President Donald Trump, are set to gather in Evian on Monday for a three-day meeting.

The demonstration was taking place in Geneva because France refused to issue permits for protests near the G7 summit venue, the Geneva city government said.

Macron and Trump. Who’s the puppet?

Demonstrators threw bottles, stones and firecrackers at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons.

Witnesses cited by the AFP and Reuters news agencies said protesters targeted the offices of the UN’s telecommunication building and threw flares as police tried to clear them from the site.

Thousands of security personnel were deployed in Geneva, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of Evian, ahead of the protest organized by an anti-G7 coalition. 

G7 protest not allowed in France

Some 20,000 people gathered for a march that began peacefully in the early afternoon before violence broke out.

Some protesters tore down the plywood panels fitted to protect shopfronts and smashed windows, pelted projectiles at police, and set a Tesla on fire.

Protests are common at G7 gatherings, with demonstrators at the summits often voicing anger over capitalism, globalization, inequality and other issues.

The agenda is expected to be dominated by wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

https://www.dw.com/en/police-fire-tear-gas-at-anti-g7-protesters-in-geneva/a-77548464