Sure, you may be hoping to see fireworks or a drone show over the July 4 weekend, but nature may be gearing up to give you its own colorful nighttime display.
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson invoked 'the dark stain of slavery' in an explosive reprimand of fellow Justice Clarence Thomas on Tuesday.
The following is a lightly edited transcript of the July 1 episode of the Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here.Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network. I’m your host, Greg Sargent.Donald Trump lost a big one when the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship in a blockbuster ruling on Tuesday. But the way the ruling came down strongly suggests we’re heading into a much longer battle over this going forward. In that regard, MAGA’s furious reaction to the ruling was deeply unnerving. As many pointed out on social media, getting rid of birthright citizenship is going to become akin to Roe v. Wade for the right, especially the MAGA right. How should liberals and Democrats proceed?We’re talking about all of it with Raul Pinto, deputy legal director at the American Immigration Council. Raul, good to have you on.Raul Pinto: Thanks, Greg. Good to be on. Quite a day.Sargent: So the Supreme Court ruled by six to three against Trump’s executive order ending automatic citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil. Five justices upheld the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of birthright citizenship. Brett Kavanaugh voted with them, but not on the constitutional argument—he effectively said Congress can theoretically change this with legislation. So only five justices are with us on the constitutional argument. Good, but not good enough. Raul, what’s your immediate reaction to how this happened?Pinto: Yeah, I would put it as a five-four decision, because it’s a razor-thin margin, right? And as you’re saying, five justices actually said that this was enshrined in the Constitution, that birthright citizenship is actually part of the Fourteenth Amendment. And it’s very discouraging to see that four other justices didn’t agree with that, and that at the end of the day, we may have to battle this again.Sargent: So Trump and MAGA absolutely exploded in rage over this. Trump said that Congress can now act to end birthright citizenship, which is false, since five justices say it’s protected by the Constitution. But I want to read what MAGA personality Matt Walsh said: “Now that SCOTUS has opened the floodgates for foreign invaders to flock across our borders and spawn, the only choice we have is to triple down on immigration enforcement, militarize the border, mass deportations, round every illegal up. Don’t pull back when the lesbian activists start screeching about it. Use whatever force is necessary.”Whatever force is necessary—Raul, that’s a straight-up threat of mass violence, is it not?Pinto: Yeah. And I do think that the concept of birthright citizenship as established in the Constitution—it’s historical. The decision today was based on historical principles and how the Fourteenth Amendment came about. And so I do find that those views are very extreme, and hopefully cooler heads prevail. But we know that that hasn’t always been the case—i.e., January 6.Sargent: Right. I think Matt Walsh is essentially saying pretty explicitly that MAGA doesn’t give a shit about the Constitution, and especially the Fourteenth Amendment. They really have special disdain for the Fourteenth Amendment for all sorts of reasons. He’s essentially saying, screw the Constitution, let’s just use mass violence to, quote-unquote, protect the country against invaders.Pinto: It’s sad that it’s being approached in this particular way. The decision today is rooted in historical precedent as to how the Fourteenth Amendment was drafted, as well as trying to correct some of America’s darkest periods, like the Dred Scott decision. It allowed—the descendants of slaves to become U.S. citizens, as well as Wong Kim Ark, the decision which allowed a descendant of Chinese immigrants to become a U.S. citizen as well.Sargent: Well, here’s Stephen Miller: “One of the most destructive and outrageous decisions in the long history of the Supreme Court. American citizenship is not the birthright of the world. It belongs only and solely to Americans. No provision of the Constitution can be read to require our national self-obliteration.”Let’s talk about how deranged that is. Immigrants are not obliterating us. He treats that as a given. It’s complete fantasy. How does he think people become Americans? He personally is descended from people who immigrated here and were attacked with very similar language. But, Raul, most important, I think this sets the stage for drastic action. Remember, Miller was already urging Trump to defy the courts if this situation is tantamount to national self-destruction. Surely Miller will expect Trump to do that here, yes?Pinto: I don’t want to get into Stephen Miller’s head. I really don’t. But what I can say, right, is that immigrants are definitely not ruining the United States. And as a matter of fact, birthright citizenship was still a thing in the first Trump administration and the world didn’t end.
A political analyst lamented the "dark moment" that is President Donald Trump's Great American State Fair, a 16-day festival at the National Mall organized by a Trump-linked entity called "Freedom 250," during a new podcast interview on Sunday. Jon Lovett, co-host of "Pod Save America" and a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, discussed the state fair on a new episode of "The Daily Beast Podcast" with host Joanna Coles. He noted that attendance is low amid a heatwave across the East Coast and that several attractions at the event aren't working as advertised. While those issues were almost expected, Lovett noted that the event itself also casts a shadow over the nation's upcoming 250th birthday. "It’s a rare moment where you could have actually had a beautiful, like American patriotic celebration. I’ll be cringe and say that I’m sad that we don’t get to have that,” Lovett said. “But instead, we have this ridiculous, incompetent boob.”Lovett also pointed out that several attractions at the state fair were in poor condition. “The Ferris wheel isn’t working. The Reflecting Pool is green, the ice cream is melting, and nobody’s showing up. States feel like they should cancel, and they’re right to do so. Nobody wants to be associated with this guy. And it’s just a big bummer," he said. "I know it’s just a party, and we've got bigger fish to fry, but I do think it’s okay to take a moment and say, you know what? Like this is a dark moment, and it is a shame that we have fallen so low that this is what it would look like to forever, for how we marked an important milestone in the history of the country,” Lovett added.
The U.S. government is allowing Anthropic to deploy its Mythos 5 model to a select group of customers and partners, according to a letter from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to Anthropic that was seen by NBC News
