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Republicans' Maine offensive Republicans are preparing to welcome a potential Graham Platner replacement in Maine's Senate race with $8 million in negative ads, aiming to introduce the new Democratic nominee to voters on their own terms before Democrats can. Why it matters: Republicans are doing something Democrats wish they could: Move on from Platner. The progressive candidate, who said yesterday he is taking time to "reflect" on his next steps, remains officially in the race and is looking to leverage his status as the Democratic nominee to influence who could replace him. Republicans, meanwhile, see an opening: three weeks to prepare a campaign against a Democratic nominee who will have little time to introduce themselves to voters. 🚗 Driving the news: Pine Tree Results, the super PAC backing Republican Sen. Susan Collins, raised $10.5 million during the first half of the year — matching what it raised during the same period in 2025, according to a person familiar with the matter. The group pulled its anti-Platner ads today and has $8 million in cash on hand to define a likely fresh Democratic nominee for voters during a compressed campaign. Among the donors to the pro-Collins super PAC is Blackstone president Jon Gray, a longtime Democratic donor. He contributed $250,000 well before Politico and CNN reported sexual assault allegations against Platner. 📢 What we're hearing: Platner appears to be using whatever sway he might still have to try to choose his successor. "Graham still has to make the decision to leave the ballot. And folks are pretending that he has. And he has not," a person familiar with the campaign's internal discussions said this morning. "[It's] very clear that he cares about the movement more than the party." Another person close to Platner's adviser, Morris Katz, said Katz has discussed suspending the campaign with Platner and planned to meet him in Maine today to tell him it's not a question of whether he drops out, but when. The same person said Platner has told his team he built a movement and won a record-breaking number of votes, and he does not want his successor to be a "corporate" Democrat. 🤔 Between the lines: There have been conflicting accounts of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering. The New York Post reported today that a source said Katz is "still recommending Platner stay in the race." Katz responded on X that "no one in campaign deliberations or familiar with my thinking is talking to" the Post. Zoom out: Platner's implosion in Maine is scrambling the spending calculus for both parties, with consequences that could stretch as far as Alaska. Senate Majority PAC, the Democratic super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, has publicly paused its spending in Maine to pressure Platner to exit the race. If Platner stays on the ballot, the $33 million the super PAC has reserved for Maine would likely be redirected to emerging Democratic pick-up opportunities, including Iowa, Ohio and Alaska. 💰 The intrigue: That shift could benefit Senate candidates such as former Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio and former Rep. Mary Peltola in Alaska. Progressive energy is also likely to flow toward Abdul El-Sayed's Senate campaign in Michigan, where he is in a high-stakes showdown with Rep. Haley Stevens for the Democratic Senate nomination. The bottom line: Platner's indecision is fueling anxiety throughout the Democratic Party and exposing a divide between progressives and the party establishment that leaders had hoped to bridge before November. — Hans Nichols and Holly Otterbein

Trump Rips Female Ally He Thirsted After for Rejecting Him After lashing out at NATO and renewing his claim that the U.S. should control Greenland, the president took aim at Italy’s right-wing prime minister. Donald Trump has escalated his public spat with Italy’s prime minister, complaining she “just wasn’t there for us” as he sought to justify a bizarre post suggesting that she needed a restraining order. After landing in Turkey ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump continued to test the 77-year-old alliance with members—even renewing his claim that Greenland “should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark.” He also hit out at NATO members more broadly, including Italy and its right-wing leader Giorgia Meloni. Weeks after claiming Meloni had “begged” him for a photo at the G7 summit in France last month, Trump on Sunday reposted a meme of Meloni looking up at him, as though she was eager for his attention. “Restraining Order Needed,” the caption said. Asked by reporters on Tuesday to explain the post, Trump insisted Meloni was “a nice person,” but their relationship took a turn after she refused to throw her country’s weight behind his war in Iran. “I didn’t put a heavy press on her, but she refused to get involved,” he lamented, sitting alongside Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “So it soured my relationship with her a little bit. But I like her, I think she’s a nice person, actually. But I think she made a mistake… She just wasn’t there for us, and I wasn’t happy about that.” The swipe marks the latest twist in an increasingly strange relationship between two leaders who were once held up as ideological allies. Meloni, one of Europe’s most prominent right-wing leaders, has maintained cordial relations with Trump since his return to office. She visited the White House earlier this year, has praised his efforts to end the war in Ukraine, and has largely avoided publicly criticizing his administration. But Italy stopped well short of endorsing Trump’s decision to launch military strikes against Iran, instead pushing for diplomacy alongside other European allies rather than publicly backing the U.S. operation. Trump’s frustration spilled over after the G7 summit when he claimed that Meloni “begged” him to pose for a photo. Within minutes, Meloni took to her socials with a strong denial and a reminder to the president that “Italy and I do not beg.” Soon after, Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani pulled out of a planned trip to Washington, raging that Trump had offended all of Italy. As revealed by The Daily Beast’s newsletter The Swamp, the diplomatic spat also left administration officials and global diplomats seething privately after a U.S.-Italy business and innovation forum scheduled for Miami collapsed in the wake of the feud. The June 22 event was set to be held at the prestigious Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio slated to headline alongside a roster of corporate heavyweights, government officials and diplomats from both countries. “The president couldn’t keep his mouth shut,” one exasperated source complained, summing up the mood inside parts of the administration. The latest post about Meloni came as he also took aim at America’s broader alliance with Europe. Discussing NATO, Trump questioned the value of allies who failed to support U.S. military action against Iran. “We’ve invested trillions of dollars in NATO, and I say that’s fine, but you’d think that they would be very willing to do something to help us, and they really didn’t,” he said. “We didn’t need any help at all, and in a way, I was testing people, I was testing to see whether or not they’d be there, because I’ve long said that we helped them, but I’m not sure that they’d be there for us,” he added. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-rips-female-ally-he-thirsted-after-for-rejecting-him/? ps:What a pathetic little man!!

Trump Hit With Devastating Poll as Republicans Lose Faith As the midterms loom, Republicans don’t need reminding that it’s the economy, stupid. Even more Republicans now think the economy is headed in the wrong direction. An affordability crisis is now in effect, according to 95 percent of Americans, as high gas and grocery prices hammer people’s wallets. The new Harris Poll revealed that just 27 percent of Republicans think the economy is traveling in a positive direction, down from 49 percent in February. In February, just 22 percent of Republicans thought the economy was getting worse, but that number has now shot up 16 points to 38 percent in the latest poll, conducted for The Guardian. Democrats have become further entrenched in their belief that the economy is not moving in the right direction, up to 71 percent from 62 percent in February. Independents, meanwhile, aligned far more closely with Democrats than Republicans, swinging 10 points since February up to 63 percent. The drop in confidence comes after President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, which had massive knock-on effects for the global economy. At the center of the catastrophe is the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran successfully closed. It tied up about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply, driving gas prices up toward $5 a gallon at the pump nationwide. It also led to fertilizer shortages, which have and are expected to continue to have knock-on effects for the cost of farming, and ultimately groceries. Meanwhile, 49 percent of Republicans said that the cost-of-living crisis will not be solved by the federal government. Overall, two-thirds of Americans felt the same way. Despite some positive economic signs, such as a strong stock market and a stable labor market, Americans in rural areas said it had become increasingly difficult to find work, the new study found. Some 41 percent of people in rural areas thought job opportunities were disappearing, compared with just 28 percent in urban areas. Meanwhile, the U.S. only added 57,000 jobs in June, half of the 115,000 forecast, according to the latest jobs report. The drop in confidence in the economy—often cited as the single most important factor in deciding elections—comes just months before the midterms. The GOP is clinging to narrow margins in both the House and the Senate, and most predictions suggest that the Democrats are likely to make gains. Republicans are beleaguered, too, by a historically unpopular president in Trump. The 80-year-old has sunk to astonishing lows in his approval ratings. CNN’s poll of polls pitched his mid-June approval at just 37 percent. In a statement to the Daily Beast, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said: “With oil and gas prices plummeting following President Trump’s [memorandum of understanding] with Iran, overall inflation is set to fall and real wages are set to rise.” “As trillions in investments continue pouring into American industry and the Administration’s broader agenda of tax cuts and deregulation continues taking effect, Americans can rest assured that the best is yet to come,” Desai added. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-hit-with-devastating-poll-as-republicans-lose-faith/? ps:Even if his approval ratings are going down, it shouldn't bother the elections, the gerrymandering that has been unleashed will probably offset trumps bad approval ratings!! Besides he's not running!!!

Well that didnt take long, looks like 'Peace' on one side then 'War' burst out again on the other side of the Middle East... "Trump threatens Iran and says truce is over, as Iranian minister warns of 'fearless' response" https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c17y1vnn2qxt

Yes, my guys tended to do that, but then you have a hard time with getting support for any issues. It works but its like changing from Samsung Android phone to Apple IPhone IOS, takes a while to learn the ropes.

"We are loud, we are proud and we know that we are on the right side of history. God is walking with us each step of the way. For more info on the Adventist queer community who is not apologizing for being genuine, contact me at: info@sdakinship.org" Kinship spokesman Loud, proud, unapologetic-- the attitude of homosexuals who should be beating their chests and asking for mercy. If the church at the individual, local church, and administrative level doesn't take action against these people, they won't stop until their goals are achieved. One of those goals is involving SDA youth in alternative sexual expression.

Years ago [1990s], I started working in the West Hollywood gay community as an infusion R.N. At that time, there were a few gay organizations working to draw attention the AIDS problem as well as serve those afflicted. There was AIDS Project Los Angeles [APLA], AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power [ACTUP] Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation [GLAAD], and others. These groups included militant, activists as well as more professional public relations types. Some of the methods they devised in those days to draw attention to homosexuals in the world are now being brought into Adventism to normalize homosexuality in the denomination. Kinship is especially active in this endeavor. They are no longer simply a support group. Their agenda has become more militant, openly advocating/promoting homosexuality. In addition to lobbying for SDA youth to be introduced to the gay agenda, a more recent post on Spectrum issued an open challenge to the church and heterosexual community to "do something" about the gay agenda in Adventism: "The Seventh-day Adventist church is what it is only because of the queer, LGBTQIA+ members that helped shape it. We are here. We are queer. We will always be here. The church can try to ignore us, but we comprise more than 10% of the membership. Heterosexual members continue to pump out queer babies… gay, trans, and non-binary. Thank-you. Erton Köhlner should ask to speak with SDA Kinship 2 so he can better understand what he is refusing to deal with. We are not invisible and we will not be silent to make Erton and others more comfortable. We are loud, we are proud and we know that we are on the right side of history. God is walking with us each step of the way. For more info on the Adventist queer community who is not apologizing for being genuine, contact me at: info@sdakinship.org" The SDA church was not shaped by queer members. Church members are not "pumping out" queer, trans, and non-binary babies. In church, we shouldn't be comfortable with men/women who perform unspeakable acts upon one another as long as they remain unrepentant. Charming or not, homosexuality is "unclean." "We are here, We are queer, We will always be here" is a modification of an activist slogan which stated "We are here. We are queer. We are coming for your children." What is going on now in the denomination is right from the gay playbook on normalizing homosexuality in the world. The SDA church has now become a target. The militant homosexual types, campaigning for the normalization of the gay/lesbian agenda should be banned from the congregations. They shouldn't "always be here" if "here" refers to the church.

There was never, in the history of ancient Israel, a question of IF God would save, the only question was "when", when would this happen.

Zero harm or distress here my friend.

Of course He did. God came to save us - God didn't come to "try" to save us. I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me where Scripture teaches that God put Himself on probation to slog it out with Lucifer with the outcome being undetermined. This concept is alien to Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism. It's only present in Islam and Restorationist groups such as the Christadelphians, Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventists. Granted that Arius (famous for Arianism) believed this.

🚀 Musk's market Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images Wall Street analysts published a slew of bullish reports on SpaceX today as Elon Musk's rocket, communications and AI conglomerate joins the Nasdaq-100 Index. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase all issued "buy" or equivalent ratings on the space behemoth, Bloomberg reports. At the same time, analysts acknowledge the company could spend more than it takes in for years to come. 📈 Why it matters: SpaceX joining the Nasdaq-100 should be a boost for the stock because of the large number of funds that track the benchmark. 🔮 While Wall Street sets eye-popping price targets on the stock, analysts don't have crystal balls. Plus, sell-side analysts often skew bullish. But SpaceX shares kept falling today and are now just under the $150 price where shares started trading last month. Bloomberg gift link.

AI safety retreat Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios Even as AI models grow more powerful, the companies behind them are weakening key safety commitments, Axios' Ina Fried reports from a Future of Life Institute report. "AI companies are sprinting toward a cliff," FLI chair Max Tegmark said in the institute's release. "Despite acknowledging the great risks of artificial superintelligence, they continue racing to build it." 🚧 The reviewers said Anthropic, OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Meta had weakened earlier commitments to pause development if the systems neared certain danger thresholds. 📊 The rankings: Anthropic took the lead in the Institute's latest AI Safety Index — but received only a C+ overall. OpenAI and Google DeepMind both scored Cs. At the bottom were xAI, DeepSeek and Mistral, all receiving failing grades. ⚠️ Companies are weakest on existential safety, per the report. It comes a day after UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued a blunt warning: "We may be the last generation able to set the terms on which humanity and machines coexist." The fine print: The grades are based largely on public policies, research, reporting and company disclosures. The institute has long advocated aggressive action against catastrophic AI risk. 👀 What we're watching: How the recent attention toward Anthropic's Mythos and OpenAI's GPT-5.6 impacts the conversation around safety practices. Read the report ...

Judge rejects Justice Department attempt to get names of 2020 election workers in Fulton County ATLANTA (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice cannot have the names and personal contact information for every person who worked during the 2020 election in Georgia’s Fulton County, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. https://apnews.com/article/2020-georgia-election-workers-trump-justice-department-22ed0f675d7793a272c9acb6048a4417?

35 Hidden Windows 11 Features Microsoft Never Told You About Stop settling for the default Windows experience. These 35 hidden features unlock smarter workflows, better customization, and surprisingly useful tools already built into Windows 11. https://www.pcmag.com/explainers/35-hidden-windows-11-features-microsoft-never-told-you-about?

Lionel Messi leads Argentina to 3-2 comeback victory over Egypt and spot in World Cup quarterfinals ATLANTA (AP) — It was another World Cup epic from an Argentina team that simply doesn’t know when it’s beaten. https://apnews.com/article/argentina-egypt-world-cup-score-5129f0693b78e1ca7efeee87c46cc4cb?

IOC eases path toward Russia returning with full team at 2028 LA Olympics GENEVA (AP) — Russia moved closer Tuesday toward having a full team with its national flag and anthem at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. https://apnews.com/article/ioc-olympics-russia-2028-822fc74919e9092d551f0c575408bf8d?

Reform UK’s Farage says he’ll quit as lawmaker and seek reelection amid donation allegations LONDON (AP) — Reform UK leader Nigel Farage announced Tuesday that he will quit his seat in Parliament and seek reelection in an effort to clear his name over financial allegations linked to millions of dollars’ worth of donations. https://apnews.com/article/nigel-farage-reform-uk-future-donations-scandal-5875dcf037074b013117833f35ab17a3?

👋 Good morning! Welcome back. In today's edition: The USMNT's unceremonious exit, Wimbledon quarterfinalists, MLB All-Stars, a historic and star-studded Golden Boot race, DPD (Dollars Per Dog), and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports...     ⚽️ ELIMINATED END OF THE ROAD FOR THE USMNT (Jamie Squire/Getty Images) Despite showering in the glory of topping the group and winning a knockout game in front of an adoring and electric home crowd, the U.S. journey ends in the same place as it did in its last three attempts: the Round of 16. Red, white, and bruised: A calamitous American defensive performance, married with a mostly toothless attack, granted Belgium a 4-1 win on Monday in Seattle, sending the Red Devils into the quarterfinals and relegating the red-card drama of the previous 36 hours to a historical footnote. There was exactly one highlight for the Stars and Stripes, as Malik Tillman's 31st-minute free kick tied the game at one goal apiece and made him the first player in over 40 years to score on two direct free kicks in a single World Cup. But the joy was (extremely) short lived. Belgium regained the lead two minutes later on a goal that, like their first one, exposed more about the Americans' deficiencies than Belgium's talent. The third goal, on a disastrous sequence by goalkeeper Matt Freese, effectively ended the game before the fourth put it on ice. What they're saying: "We were not the same team that during the tournament showed quality — a very bad day," said coach Mauricio Pochettino. "It was unlike any other performances we've had this summer, to be honest," added left back Antonee Robinson. "It's hard to say where it went wrong." Complicated legacy: At its best, this American contingent reached heights of quality rarely seen in U.S. Soccer history. And yet, the ultimate result was unchanged, underscoring the size of the gap that they've only partially closed to date. This USMNT rallied a nation behind their footballing cause with bravery; but, in their unceremonious exit, failed to show the same swashbuckling confidence that previously suggested times had changed. Unlike the gallant underdog effort of a 2014 USMNT woefully deficient in talent against a superior Belgium side, this was a game that, based on form, appeared tantalizingly winnable. That the U.S. never came close to doing so leaves a bitter aftertaste from an otherwise sweet experience. The result also exposed a simple truth, succinctly stated by Yahoo Sports' Steven Goff: "The U.S. is a good team, but it's not a really good team." Take me home: The next time the U.S. is eligible to host the World Cup is in 2038, 12 long years away. Perhaps a new generation will rise, inspired by this one, to lift the trophy on American soil. Like many before them, though, the legacy of this USMNT awaits definition by those who will follow in a trail they helped to blaze. (Yahoo Sports) More from Monday: Spain have yet to concede a goal in this year's tournament, as a stoppage time winner from Mikel Merino clinched a 1-0 victory over Portugal and a place in the quarterfinals for La Roja. They'll join France, Morocco, Belgium, Norway, and England, with the two remaining spots to be decided in today's Round-of-16 action. Siuuu you later: Portugal's defeat ended 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo's accomplished but ultimately unfulfilled World Cup career. Though Ronaldo never captured the elusive title that finally found his chief rival in 2022, he recorded his share of history, appearing in six World Cups and scoring in all of them. Happy trails, CR7…   🎾 WIMBLEDON AND THEN THERE WERE EIGHT (Matthias Hangst/Getty Images) The quarterfinals are (nearly) set at the All England Club, where nine men and eight women remain in contention for the Wimbledon Championships. Men: No. 1 Jannik Sinner vs. Jan-Lennard Struff; No. 3 Félix Auger-Aliassime vs. No. 7 Novak Djokovic; No. 9 Flavio Cobolli vs. Arthur Fery*; No. 6 Taylor Fritz vs. No. 2 Alexander Zverev or No. 13 Jiri Lehecka (Zverev was up two sets when play was suspended on Monday due to darkness). Women: No. 4 Jess Pegula vs. No. 7 Coco Gauff; No. 10 Karolína Muchová vs. No. 14 Naomi Osaka; No. 12 Marta Kostyuk vs. No. 13 Jasmine Paolini; No. 9 Linda Nosková vs. No. 25 Elise Mertens. Goliaths bare their teeth: As you can see above, just two unseeded players are still alive, both on the men's side (Struff and Fery). Indeed, this is the first time since 2007 that all eight women's quarterfinalists are seeded. Having said that, one of those women did pull off a pretty major upset… Naomi Osaka reacts after clinching her biggest victory in years. (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images) Here comes Osaka: Osaka stunned top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets on Sunday to reach her first-ever Wimbledon quarterfinal, earning her first win over a world No. 1 since 2019. It was probably her biggest victory since coming back from maternity leave at the start of the 2024 season, and it came with an added measure of revenge, too. Sabalenka had eliminated Osaka in the Round of 16 three times this year, including last month at Roland Garros, before she finally flipped the script on Sunday with her own Round of 16 victory over the Belarusian. And today the four-time major champion will get a chance for a little more revenge, facing the 10th-seeded Muchová less than two weeks after the Czech defeated her via walkover in the final at Bad Homburg. The other side: Sabalenka's loss snapped not only her streak of reaching 14 straight major quarterfinals, but also her arguably even more impressive streak of winning at least one set in 121 consecutive Grand Slam matches. That is by far the best mark by any player this century, man or woman (Roger Federer is second, at 99). Speaking of Federer… The Swiss legend's record for the most matches won by a man at Wimbledon (105) was broken on Sunday by Djokovic (106). If the Serb can win three more, he'll equal Federer's record of eight Wimbledon titles and, of course, break a tie with Margaret Court for the most Grand Slams ever won (25). *Hometown hero: Fery, a 23-year-old Wimbledon local, is the first British wildcard (man or woman) to reach the quarterfinal of any major in the Open Era. The world No. 114 has already guaranteed himself a payout ($480K) worth more than half of his career earnings to date ($868K).   ⚾️ MIDSUMMER CLASSIC MLB ALL-STAR ROSTERS REVEALED (Joseph Raines/Yahoo Sports) The rosters for the 96th MLB All-Star Game were revealed on Saturday ahead of the Midsummer Classic, which will take place at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park a week from today. AL starters: C Shea Langeliers (ATH), 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr.* (TOR), 2B Ernie Clement (TOR), 3B Junior Caminero (TB), SS Bobby Witt Jr. (KC), OF Mike Trout (LAA), OF Aaron Judge (NYY), OF Byron Buxton (MIN), DH Yordan Alvarez (HOU) NL starters: C Drake Baldwin (ATL), 1B Freddie Freeman (LAD), 2B Ozzie Albies (ATL), 3B Max Muncy (LAD), SS CJ Abrams (WSH), OF Brandon Marsh (PHI), OF Juan Soto (NYM), OF Andy Pages (LAD), DH Shohei Ohtani (LAD) Notes: The reserves and pitchers were also announced on Saturday, yielding a crop of 65 All-Stars who got the nod for next week's game. Team-by-team breakdown: The Dodgers, Braves and Phillies led the way with five All-Stars each, followed by the Yankees (4), Rays (4), Blue Jays (4), Guardians (3) and Tigers (3). Ten other teams had two All-Stars, and 12 had just one apiece. Most appearances: Trout leads all players with 12 All-Star nods, followed by Freeman (10), Chris Sale (10), Aroldis Chapman (9), Bryce Harper (9) and Judge (8). Fewest appearances: There are 26 first-timers, including five starters (Langeliers, Clement, Baldwin, Marsh, Pages) and four rookies (Detroit INF Kevin McGonigle, Cincinnati INF Sal Stewart and Cleveland's LHP Parker Messick and 2B Travis Bazzana). Bryce's "Legendary"status: Harper's selection came via commissioner Rob Manfred's "Legend Pick." The host team's most famous player didn't otherwise earn the spot, but was certainly deserving, as he's top 10 in the NL in HR (20), RBI (57), BB (57) and OPS (.895). *Vladdy sits out: Vlad Jr., voted as a starter despite being mired in a career-worst season (4 HR, .693 OPS), has opted to skip the game to recuperate from a lower back issue. A's 1B Nick Kurtz, crushing the ball to the tune of 20 HR and a .928 OPS, will replace him as a starter. (Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo Sports) Further reading: Contreras, Turang and Wheeler headline All-Snub Team (Jordan Shusterman, Yahoo Sports)   💯 STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring his first of two goals in Sunday’s victory over Brazil. (Al Bello/Getty Images) ⚽️ 7 goals Argentina's Lionel Messi, France's Kylian Mbappé and Norway's Erling Haaland are tied for the lead with seven goals apiece at the 2026 World Cup, marking the first time in the tournament's history that three different players have scored at least seven goals. And all three have at least one game left to add to their tallies! Embarrassment of riches: What a treat this World Cup has been, giving us a Golden Boot race led by arguably the three best players in the world, all of whom have led their teams deep into the tournament. And it's not just the trio above: English superstar Harry Kane is right behind them with six goals, and France's Ousmane Dembélé, the reigning Ballon d'Or winner, has four. ⛳️ 5 wins Just three golfers have won at least five times on the PGA Tour since the start of 2024: Scottie Scheffler (14 wins), Rory McIlroy (6) and Chris Gotterup, whose fifth victory came on Sunday at the John Deere Classic, where he overcame a five-stroke deficit with a scorching 9-under 62 to finish one stroke ahead (-20) of Max Homa (-19). Rapid rise: The 26-year-old Maryland native turned pro in 2022 and earned his first win in 2024, but he was still ranked just 191st at the end of that year. In the past 12 months he's leveled up in a huge way with 10 top-five finishes and four wins — including three this year — to climb to No. 7 in the world. Next up, he'll look to defend his Scottish Open title this weekend. Chapman salutes the dugout after breaking the record. (William Liang/AP Photo) ⚾️ 1,364 strikeouts Aroldis Chapman fanned his 1,364th career batter on Friday, breaking a tie with Hoyt Wilhelm for the most strikeouts by a reliever in MLB history. Boston's 38-year-old closer has continued the career resurgence that saw him finish seventh for the Cy Young last season, as he's currently sporting a 2.36 ERA with 18 saves (in 20 chances) for the Sox. Speaking of dominant southpaws: Atlanta's Chris Sale made some history of his own over the weekend, becoming the 10th pitcher to strike out at least 500 batters with three different teams (White Sox, Red Sox). The other nine: Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Bert Blyleven, Gaylord Perry, Curt Schilling, Dennis Eckersley, Zack Greinke, A.J. Burnett and Gerrit Cole. 🏊‍♀️ 2:01.65 Summer McIntosh broke the longest-standing individual world record in women's swimming on Sunday at the Canadian trials, posting a time of 2:01.65 in the 200m butterfly to eclipse the previous record of 2:01.81 set by China's Liu Zige back in 2009. The 19-year-old superstar, a four-time medalist at the 2024 Olympics, now holds four long-course world records. End of an era: This was the last women's record standing from swimming's short-lived "super-suit" era in the late-2000s, when high-tech polyurethane swimsuits yielded a surge of record-breaking performances before being banned in 2009. Consider this: 98% of all swimming medals won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics — and 23 of the 25 world records broken there — were by athletes wearing those super suits.   📺 VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: TUESDAY, JULY 7 Messi has scored in a World Cup record eight consecutive games. Will he make it nine today against Egypt? (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images) ⚽️ World Cup, Round of 16 The quarterfinals will be set this evening after Argentina takes on Egypt in Atlanta (12pm ET, Fox) and Switzerland faces Colombia in Vancouver (4pm, Fox). Fresh blood: Argentina — the defending and three-time champion — is the only team playing today that has made regular trips to the World Cup quarterfinals. Egypt has never reached the last eight, Colombia has reached once (2014) and Switzerland hasn't been there since 1954. 🎾 Wimbledon, Quarterfinals The quarterfinals begin today at the All England Club, where No. 1 Jannik Sinner and Jan-Lennard Struff get things started on Court 1 (8am, ESPN2) and No. 4 Jess Pegula takes on No. 7 Coco Gauff in an all-American clash on Center Court (8:30am, ESPN). Up next: No. 10 Karolína Muchová and No. 14 Naomi Osaka play on Court 1 following the Sinner-Struff match, and No. 3 Félix Auger-Aliassime faces No. 7 Novak Djokovic on Center Court following the Pegula-Gauff match. More to watch: ⚾️ MLB: Yankees at Rays (6:40pm, TBS) … Tampa (52-36) has taken a 3-game lead over New York (50-40) atop the AL East as the Yankees have lost nine of their last 11. 🏀 WNBA: Wings at Liberty (8pm, ESPN) … Fourth-place Dallas and fifth-place New York have the same 13-8 record. 🚴 Tour de France: Stage 4 (7:10am, NBCSN/Peacock) … The first stage to both start and end in France will go 113 miles from Carcassone to Foix on the southern tip of the country. Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city.   ⚾ ALL-STARS MLB TRIVIA Trout rounds the bases after hitting a home run last month. (Melina Pizano/Getty Images) Mike Trout is just the third player in American League history to be elected as an All-Star starter by the fans at least 11 times. Question: Can you name the other two? Hint: Orioles, Royals Answer at the bottom.   🌭 DOLLARS PER DOG CHESTNUT KEEPS THE CROWN (Anna Connors/AP Photo) Joey Chestnut won his record-extending 18th Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4 in Brooklyn's Coney Island, consuming 66 dogs to retain the Mustard Belt by a healthy margin — perhaps the only healthy thing about the event. Full belly, full wallet: Chestnut earned $10,000 for the victory, or $151 per dog. That only slightly outpaced his career DPD (dollars per dog) of $149, earned after pocketing $180,000 and consuming 1,206.5 hot dogs across his 18 victories. This story originally appeared in Monday's edition of Yahoo Sports Biz. Subscribe here to receive our new newsletter in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.   Trivia answer: Cal Ripken Jr. (17 fan-vote elections) and George Brett (11)

Le Pen says she’ll run for French presidency next year despite court-ordered monitor PARIS (AP) — Far-right leader Marine Le Pen says she’ll run for the French presidency next year despite being sentenced Tuesday to wear a court-ordered electronic monitor for embezzlement. https://apnews.com/article/france-le-pen-macron-bardella-verdict-election-dcd2a305d01a87f13f1d7c81dffeee90?

A proud history and a cloudy future: Congressional Black Caucus hit by Supreme Court ruling WASHINGTON — The long, often agonizing struggle for Black political clout in Washington faces a new, uncertain and potentially troublesome chapter. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/07/07/repub/a-proud-history-and-a-cloudy-future-congressional-black-caucus-hit-by-supreme-court-ruling/?

Florida suit against college accreditation process dismissed again A federal appeals court affirmed Monday dismissal of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2023 challenge to the college accrediting process, which he believes enforces diversity and related interests he considers “woke.” https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/07/06/florida-suit-against-college-accreditation-process-dismissed-again/?

Why Trump’s Jaw-Dropping World Cup Fix Is Only the Corruption Iceberg’s Tip Trump’s World Cup intervention is just one layer of a system that rewards power, money, and self-interest. It is tempting to think that just because Donald Trump is by far the most corrupt public official in the history of the United States, and his administration is unquestionably the most corrupt ever, that somehow the corruption problem in Washington begins and ends with them. That would be a huge mistake. I have lived in Washington for 33 years. My first job in D.C. was even before I moved here, when, for a couple of years during the Carter administration, I was the press secretary for a congressman. I came to D.C. an idealist. My idealism was fostered by the wholesale swallowing of jingoistic propaganda from my school years and from my immigrant father. The idealism was then, in turn, wrapped in a protective coating of naivete and further buffered by a remarkable degree of ignorance. So much for the East Coast cynicism of which I’ve always been so proud. But here’s the deal: After decades in Washington, it is crystal clear to me that what distinguishes the city and defines its culture more than any other trait, and now does so to a greater and greater degree yearly, is its corruption. Washington is, at its core, a machine in which power is recycled into money. Power is made into money, money is then translated into more power, which in turn becomes more money. It is the formula that keeps the ecosystem of Washington alive, and ensures that it serves fewer and fewer of us at the expense of more and more of us. But the corruption is about more than money. It is about placing the self-interests of the powerful ahead of judgment, ethics, morality, decency, and all the other qualities that we ought to expect in public servants. It is about placing serving self-interests ahead of public service. Much of the corruption is, however, invisible. Indeed, it has been institutionalized to such a degree that it is not just normalized, it’s mechanized, routinized, baked into the cake. Appropriations processes, the way officials are recruited for jobs, and even how think tanks operate, rationalizing the unthinkable in exchange for donations, are all part of these corrupt processes. In fact, baked in the cake is not a bad metaphor, as corruption in Washington is, as it turns out, perhaps a 700-layer cake ranging from straight-on grift of the free airplane type to hard-to-see chicanery of the crypto kind, to respectable forms of thievery like the budget process, to lobbying to think tanks, to the various forms of self-interested hobnobbery going on at Georgetown cocktail parties. What’s more, the very fact that the corruption is endemic‚ embedded in the culture and the processes of Washington, means that it functions as a kind of defense system. Everything is normalized by actually being normal. People are numb to it because it is part of the air they breathe and their daily rituals: corruption in who you know and chat with in the car pool line at your kids’ private school, corruption playing golf, corruption as S.O.P. in every moneymaking business in town, corruption as the way our campaign finance system works, corruption as the rationale behind who secrets are shared with, and who are left out in the cold because they can’t be trusted. You may think I am exaggerating. If anything, I’m understating the scope, depth, pervasiveness, and perniciousness of the problem. It just takes a quick scan of the headlines to reveal that virtually every story about Washington today contains a corrupt subtext. That may be obvious when our felon president—convicted of fraud, a pathological liar—gets on the horn with the head of one of the world’s most corrupt organizations, FIFA, to fiddle the rules around a red card in the World Cup. It’s pretty transparent in that case; more so if you remember FIFA head Gianni Infantino gave Trump the ridiculous FIFA Peace Prize. Or if you know the history of corruption inquiries into FIFA, or you remember that FIFA is a tenant, for no apparent reason, at Trump Tower in New York. It’s also obvious when Trump touts, publicly—as he did on Monday—all that he has done for the crypto business, even as revelations swirl about the billions he has made off of crypto, and the billions investors in his crypto ventures have lost, and all the crypto-friendly regulations he has passed. Trump is really the godfather of the crypto boom in the U.S. and I use the term primarily in the Mario Puzo sense. It’s a huge con and our president is rigging the rules, firing crypto investigators, doing all he can to cash in on the highly suspect form of finance. And we probably don’t know the half of it. What international and domestic side deals has the president struck in crypto? We’ll probably never know.You see corruption when Trump flies around on Grift Force One. When entities his family owns benefit from a UFC fight night on the South Lawn or off the 250th birthday celebration of America or from Pentagon or foreign contracts (like the recent Kazakh tungsten mine revelations). Trump family members getting a sweet deal on land for a resort in Albania? So corrupt that people turn out in the streets to protest. The fact that other members of his administration are also cashing in is a further illustration of the problem. But so too are what we learn about who is giving gifts to Supreme Court members or about the pervasiveness of insider trading from Congress to Trump (trading millions in the hours before he changes trade policy, for example). But, again, there are more layers to the corrupt culture of D.C. Trump barely works and spends many millions golfing on the public’s dime. He allocates funds for his pet D.C. projects outside of legal channels. But what about how the GOP is protecting members of Congress who make up its slim margin of control when they are clearly guilty of ethics violations or even crimes? Or when they, like New Jersey Rep. Tom Kean, just don’t show up for work for half a year? Or when you have a prominent Republican like Mitch McConnell whose staff feels no compulsion to let his constituents know whether, say, he is even still alive. Democrats can be guilty, too. They’ve got plenty of insider trading stories on their records. But they also have contributed to the culture of corruption by trying to cover up or downplay obvious, egregious ethical problems with candidates like Graham Platner, the Maine Senate wannabe whose candidacy is now circling the drain. Good people lent him their reputations and then, when it became clear he was abusing their trust, were slow to call him out because of how it might have reflected on them. And I’ll tell you, for me, another level of the corruption was found in this fairly innocuous social media post by the staid and respected Center for Strategic and International Studies. They published a report and a long social media thread assessing U.S. defense spending. The social media post began by saying: “At about 4.6% of GDP, the budget request of $1.5 trillion for FY 2027 marks a notable increase in defense spending. But a state of wartime footing also demands an ecosystem of competitive, innovative firms that can quickly field & sustain military systems in large quantities.” Pretty bland stuff. It then goes through a variety of points about what is needed to put the United States industrial base on a “wartime footing.” It talks about what might ensure we can produce the weapons we “need.” It then concludes by saying: “Defense spending is rising, munitions production agreements are being signed at historic scale, and novel public-private investment structures are taking shape, but the U.S. industrial base has a long way to go to achieve resilience.” Measured tones. Formal analytical language. But nowhere does it point out that we have no reason to have an industrial base on a “wartime footing,” that no other country in the world takes this approach, and that even in the long history of obscene U.S. defense budgets, this $1.5 trillion budget request is egregiously over-the-top insanely wasteful and unjustifiable—many multiples of every other country, multiples of all major powers added together. It does not note that such spending is crazy as deficits skyrocket or cuts are being made in social spending to provide more benefits to billionaires. It does not mention that what this budget is proposing is obscene, reckless and a threat to every American. No. It normalizes it. It whitewashes the administration’s bats–t crazy defense request and validates it. It even suggests, ludicrously, that the administration’s plans may not go far enough. That is corruption, too. It will cost Americans more than the stealing of even master criminals like the Trump Crime Family. It looks like a fact-based academic assessment, but it is paid for by corporate and personal donations from entities that benefit from its recommendations. (As often happens with think tank reports.) That includes Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and General Atomics. The people who write the report are part of an information and career ecosystem in which they benefit from doing what has been done since Dwight Eisenhower first warned of the military industrial complex in 1961. Some of these forms of corruption are visible. Others come to light periodically, when there are scandals or people see laws are being rewritten to serve billionaires and corporations at the expense of the majority of Americans. We are inured to others and barely notice. Some are intentionally invisible but just as damaging to our national interests. Periodically, the corruption in D.C. grows so extreme that change is called for. Think of Teddy Roosevelt and the trustbusters at the end of the period of the robber barons. Or more recently, think of post-Watergate, post-Vietnam, when people were so eager for a big change they elected a president few had heard of before 1976. That was a Georgia farmer, Sunday school teacher, former naval officer, and governor who seemed like the perfect anti-Washingtonian, anti-Nixon. A man of faith and ethics. Jimmy Carter. My sense is that given the extremes of visible corruption today, we are reaching another such inflection point and that as a consequence, we will be seeking a next president who is seen as not part of the D.C.’s corrupted culture; someone who is rather distinguished by his or her character, ethics, and values in much the same way that Trump is known for his absence of all those things. We need someone to clean house. Not a charlatan fake “common man” who, upon examination, has all the sleazoid traits we despise about D.C. like Platner. But someone who appears capable of recognizing and calling out the problem, holding offenders accountable, and overseeing meaningful reforms. Whomever she or he is, the odds are that, like in 1976, we don’t know their name right now. But one thing is certain: it is ever more likely that they are another of the usual suspects, another creature inside the Beltway swamp that the slime monster who is our president has only made many quantum levels worse. https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-trumps-jaw-dropping-world-cup-fix-is-only-the-corruption-icebergs-tip/?