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Border-Stalkers · Jul 24, 2026

Weekly News Roundup - 7/24/26

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Jon Ward · Border-Stalkers

It was a busy (in a very good way) May and June: a high-school graduation, international travel, a trip to Wilco’s Solid Sound festival, and wrapping up the school year. July has been about catching up, slowing down, and being quiet. I thought very seriously about ending this newsletter, mostly because it felt like it was getting to be too much. But Matt Labash’s line — “It’s healthy to avoid doomscrolling - less healthy to avoid reality” — convinced me to keep going. Happy summer. - Jon

In the era of artificial intelligence, when human dignity is threatened by new forms of dehumanization, ours is the pressing duty to remain profoundly human. - Pope Leo

“We often owe more to our enemies than to the applause of friends.” - Tomas Halik

To affirm the view of the world that Christianity seeks to replace—a world of cruelty, hierarchy, and might makes right—is to be an anti-Christian. - Damon Linker

We should treat highly distracting digital garbage like junk food – something we largely avoid – and purposefully schedule a non-trivial amount of time each day to read, write, and self-reflect, just as we now dedicate time to walking, jogging, and weight lifting. - Cal Newport

It’s healthy to avoid doomscrolling -- less healthy to avoid reality. - Matt Labash

Thanks in large part to Vatican II, Catholicism has grown enormously, more than doubling from 653 million members in 1970 to 1.4 billion today. The vast majority of that growth has come in the Southern Hemisphere. Catholicism is far more African, more Asian, more Latin American than it is European. - David Gibson

The Mother Ukraine Monument is illuminated in the colors of the U.S. flag in honor of the American 250th Independence Day, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Saturday, June 13

  • President Trump prepares to depart for the G7 summit in France after signaling that a tentative Iran ceasefire and trade disputes will dominate talks with allied leaders.

  • The Kennedy Center removes President Trump’s name from its Opera House.

Sunday, June 14

  • Trump hosts a cage fighting match on the White House lawn to celebrate his 80th birthday.

  • The Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war surpasses 73,000 people.

Monday, June 15

  • A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber crashes in the Mojave desert during a training flight, killing all eight service members on board.

  • Republican lawmakers express skepticism about an announced peace deal between the U.S. and Iran.

  • California Gov. Gavin Newsom says the Justice Department has opened a politically motivated investigation into him as he weighs a bid for president in 2028.

Tuesday, June 16

  • Iran’s soccer coach says that the U.S. told his team they must leave the country and return to their training center in Mexico immediately after their Monday night game versus New Zealand in Los Angeles.

  • The Justice Department asks a judge to halt the first reparations program in U.S. history, in Evanston, Illinois. The program has been giving $25,000 payments to descendants of those “who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969 and suffered housing discrimination because of city ordinances, policies or practices.”

  • Vice President J.D. Vance appears for an hour on “The View” to promote his new book.

  • National Park Service workers struggle to contain an algae bloom in the Reflecting Pool after Trump’s more than $14 million renovation.

Wednesday, June 17

  • Trump signs a deal with Iran to end fighting. The agreement “calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and waives U.S.-backed sanctions on the country, immediately allowing Iran to sell its oil freely in a major concession from Washington, according to details released by both countries,” the AP reports.

Thursday, June 18

  • The price of gas falls below $4 a gallon on average for the first time since March, even as Americans are paying about $1 more per gallon than they were before Trump’s decision to launch airstrikes on Iran.

  • Former President Barack Obama formally opens his presidential center in Chicago with a large celebration

Friday, June 19

  • An AP poll shows 65% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the Iran war.

  • Iran delays talks with Vice President J.D. Vance out of protest for continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

Saturday, June 20

  • Trump says police have made “multiple arrests” of people who touched or meddled with the Reflecting Pool in D.C., as he tries to deflect blame for growing algae blooms and cracking paint on the bottom of the pool weeks after a $14 million renovation.

Sunday, June 21

  • Vance and a U.S. team begin talks in Switzerland with a team of Iranian leaders.

  • France and other parts of Europe bake in a heat wave that pushes temperatures above 100 degrees.

Monday, June 22

  • The U.S. and Iran conclude two days of talks. Vance says a “good foundation” has been laid for an end to fighting.

  • The U.S. Senate passes a bipartisan housing deal that the AP reports to be “one of the most sweeping efforts in recent decades to increase supply and bring down prices.” The bill heads to the House.

  • British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he will resign after two years in the post. His replacement will become the seventh British PM in a decade.

Tuesday, June 23

  • Three Democratic candidates for Congress in New York win primaries after being endorsed by New York City Zohran Mamdani, pushing the party’s congressional delegation in that state further to the left and signaling a rising tide of progressive energy in the party at large.

  • The Senate, for the first time, approves a symbolic war powers resolution to block U.S. military action against Iran, during a morning vote. Trump attends a lunch with Republican senators, which descends into a yelling match. Senate Republican leaders hold another symbolic vote late that evening on the war powers question, and enough Republicans vote against it to reverse their vote from earlier in the day.

Wednesday, June 24

  • A pair of massive earthquakes rock Venezuela, killing over 5,000 people and injuring more than 16,000 people. Tens of thousands of people remain missing.

  • Trump cancels plans to sign the bipartisan housing bill at the last minute, saying he wants a bill to clamp down on voting rights to be passed.

  • After a flu outbreak sickens more than 300 U.S. service members at an Air Force base, the Pentagon reinstates mandatory vaccination against the flu for new recruits, following War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s suspension of the requirement in April.

Thursday, June 25

  • The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, allows “the Trump administration to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disaster in Haiti and Syria, exposing hundreds of thousands more people to potential deportation,” the AP reports.

  • A federal judge blocks a Trump executive order to create a federal voting list, an idea that Republicans have fiercely opposed in the past.

Friday, June 26

  • Economic data shows the U.S. GDP grew buy 2.1% during the first quarter of 2026, a surprisingly strong result. Inflation data from May shows the highest increase in three years due to gas price increases and demand for computer parts involve in the AI explosion.

Saturday, June 27

  • The U.S. launches attacks on Iran in retaliation for an Iran attack on a maritime vessel. Iran launches strikes on Bahrain and Kuwait.

Sunday, June 28

  • ICE arrests a 56-year old Catholic nun, wearing her habit and walking one-block to mass, in South Texas. She is released later that day after federal lawmakers get involved. The local diocese calls the federal government’s actions “wildly disturbing.”

Monday, June 29

Tuesday, June 30

  • The U.S. Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship, rejecting the Trump adminstration’s efforts to end citizenship for those born in the U.S. to non-citizen parents.

  • Trump has made over $1 billion on the sale of cryptocurrency while president, federal disclosure forms show, part of the doubling of his net worth to over $6 billion since he was reelected president in 2024. The cryptocurrency assets have plunged in value since they were sold to investors.

Wednesday, July 1

  • U.S. and Iranian negotiators in Quatar meet separately from one another with representatives from Quatar and Pakistan.

Thursday, July 2

  • A former Olympic canoe racer is indicted in federal court in Washington, D.C., on a felony charge of property destruction in and accused of “forcefully and violently” pulling on a piece of the sealant on the bottom of the Reflecting Pool, as the pool’s condition continues to deteriorate. David Hearn, the accused, says he simply touched the pool’s coating out of curiosity and stopped when told to do so.

Friday, July 3

  • A huge swath of the U.S., from the Great Plains to the East Coast, swelters under an extreme heat wave that breaks numerous records.

Saturday, July 4

  • Americans around the world celebrate the 250th birthday of their nation.

Sunday, July 5

  • The U.S. Men’s soccer team is embroiled in controversy ahead of their round of 16 knockout match against Belgium in the World Cup, as star forward Folarin Balogun is reinstated to play and Trump claims credit for intervening with FIFA, the governing body. European soccer body UEFA says FIFA “crossed a red line” and calls the decision “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable.” Norwegian coach Stale Solbakken says: “It’s a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad decision that will hurt the World Cup.”

  • A Tennessee man is fatally shot by National Guard members in Memphis.

Monday, July 6

  • Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Graham Platner, a progressive darling, is accused of rape by a former girlfriend. Platner loses support from key Democratic allies and lawmakers.

  • The U.S. men’s team loses to Belgium, 4-1. “Overturn this,” Belgium’s social media account says afterward.

Tuesday, July 7

  • A 37-story building in Manhattan is evacuated after fire officials find evidence of instability and warn that the building could collapse. The building is stabilized by the end of the day.

Wednesday, July 8

  • The U.S. launches new airstrikes against Iran, and Iran strikes Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar in response. Trump says the fragile ceasefire is over. Oil prices rise and stocks fall.

  • The U.S. agrees to help Ukraine make Patriot air defense systems, after years of requests from Kyiv.

  • At a NATO summit, Trump again says the U.S. needs to take control of Greenland.

  • Trump departs the NATO summit in an older version of the Air Force One plane, after security concerns are raised with the Qatari-provided upgrade.

  • Graham Platner drops his bid for the U.S. Senate seat in Maine.

  • Another person is killed by a federal task force member in Memphis.

Thursday, July 9

  • Eight men are indicted for making plans to conduct an attack on the June 14 UFC fight at the White House, involving drones and snipers. Their plan was foiled when the mother of one alleged plotter, a 19-year old Ohio man, called police four days before the event to warn them about her son’s purchases of weapons and plans to go to Washington, D.C.

  • Fighting between the U.S. and Iran intensifies.

Friday, July 10

  • The Justice Department serves subpoenas to New York Times reporters who wrote about security concerns related to the Qatari-gifted Air Force One, seeking to compel testimony the following week.

  • Trump says he will allow the bipartisan housing bill to become law without his signature.

Saturday, July 11

Sunday, July 12

Monday, July 13

  • A federal immigration officer shoots and kills a man in his vehicle in Biddeford, Maine. The government says the officer shot in self-defense but then changes its story to say the officer shot the man when he began to flee, to protect public safety. It is the ninth killing of a person in the U.S. “during immigration operations since the start of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign,” the AP reports.

  • Oil prices begin to rise again after a weekend of continued fighting in Iran and constriction of shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

  • “President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over his leaked tax returns was filed for an “improper purpose,” a judge said Monday as she referred one of his lawyers for potential disciplinary action and characterized the $10 billion complaint as an exercise in self-dealing,” the AP reports.

Tuesday, July 14

  • Iran and the U.S. continue to exchange missile strikes and Trump says the U.S. is reinstating a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and will now charge ships a toll for passage.

  • A man fleeing federal agents in Florida is struck by a tractor trailer and killed, the third death in a week involving ICE officers.

  • The Trump administration orders ICE to cease conducting most vehicle stops after two deadly shootings in a week.

Wednesday, July 15

  • Trump says he thinks ICE should continue making traffic stops.

  • Canadian wildfires send large amounts of smoke across eastern Canada and the U.S., making air quality unhealthy for many.

  • The Reflecting Pool, drained again, has turned gray.

  • The ebola outbreak in Congo continues to grow, exceeding 2,000 cases and 800 deaths, as the health response is complicated by attacks on health workers.

Thursday, July 16

  • U.S. strikes against Iran begin to hit areas around the capital city Tehran, and Iran says recent strikes have killed at least 35 people in that country.

  • Trump gives a prime time address from the White House to once again air unfounded claims that the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden, was rigged against him, and talks about unnamed threats to the next election.

  • Trump’s social media company, Truth Social, says it will sell access to messages to Wall Street traders before others see them to give them an opportunity to make trades on the information. “It’s yet more brazen corruption. Trump can line his pockets by selling access,” says Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert at Washington University School of Law.

  • Flooding in Texas hill country kills at least two people.

  • The Centers for Disease Control says lettuce served at Taco Bell has been a source of a large outbreak of the diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora.

Friday, July 17

  • An Iranian missile strike on a U.S. military base in Jordan kills three U.S. service members and injures several others, bringing the total death toll in the conflict to 18 U.S. soldiers.

  • Relatives, including an ex-wife, of the ICE officer who fatally shot a Columbian man in Maine earlier that week say the officer has a long history of mental health issues and violent behavior.

Saturday, July 18

  • A seventh straight night of U.S. air strikes on Iran begins to target critical infrastructure such as bridges. Iranian missiles are fired at multiple U.S. allies in the region including Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain.

  • Misogynist influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate are arrested in Miami as Britain seeks their extradition on rape and sex trafficking charges.

Sunday, July 19

  • Maine Democrats unite around a replacement for Graham Platner, choosing former state Senate president Troy Jackson to run against Sen. Susan Collins in the fall.

  • Spain defeats Argentina, 1-0, in the World Cup final.

Monday, July 20

  • The U.S. conducts a ninth consecutive night of airstrikes on Iran as the two countries move closer to all out war.

  • Trump says he will place 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods.

  • Gas prices move back above $4 a gallon on average as a result of renewed fighting in Iran.

Tuesday, July 21

  • War Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. war in Iran has cost $37 billion so far, as the Pentagon requests another $70 billion for operations. Hegseth faces tough questions from U.S. senators on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

  • The Trump administration defers $1 billion in Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota, states with Democratic governance.

  • The House passes a government funding shortgap.

  • “ChatGPT maker OpenAI said Tuesday that its artificial intelligence system hacked into another AI company on its own in what the company called an “unprecedented cyber incident,” the AP reports.

Wednesday, July 22

  • The U.S. conducts a 12th night of consecutive strikes on Iran. Trump threatens to destroy bridges and power plants in retaliation for attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Thursday, July 23

  • The U.S. House passes, for the second time, a resolution to halt the U.S. war in Iran, showing dwindling support in Congress for the president’s war.

  • Government lawyers withdraw subpoenas seeking to compel testimony from New York Times reporters.

Friday, July 24

  • Trump extends tariffs on much of the world, imposing “taxes of 10% to 12.5% on imports from 60 trading partners accounting for 99% of U.S. imports.”

Read the original on jonward.substack.com ↗

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