Trump gets Navy Commander KILLED in escalating war

The U.S. launched new airstrikes on Iran early Thursday, including an airport runway, missile launchers, and — for the first time since April — bridges, one of them on the route where Iran planned to bury Ayatollah Khamenei.

Tehran responded by targeting Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar — three Gulf states that host American military assets. Trump had already declared the ceasefire "over" and said he doesn't want a deal anymore. A U.S. Navy commander has been declared dead. The cost of this war has already blown past $100 billion.

This is the war Trump launched with U.S. and Israeli attacks in February, and it is getting bigger, not smaller. A fifth of the world's traded oil and gas moved through the Strait of Hormuz before the war — virtually none does now, and prices on basic goods including food have spiked globally as a result.

Trump, posting strike footage to his social media site after leaving the NATO summit in Turkey, wrote: "If it happens again, it will get much worse."

At the NATO summit in Turkey Wednesday, an 80-year-old President Trump told reporters that "the Islamic Republic of Japan" had fired 111 missiles at a U.S. aircraft carrier — inventing a country, confusing two real ones, and getting the missile count wrong, all in one sentence.

Minutes later, sitting next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and pointing directly at him, Trump asked the press if anyone had "a question for President Putin." When reporters laughed and tried to correct him, Trump doubled down — insisting he meant Putin, while still pointing at Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy, who needs U.S. military aid and can't afford to embarrass Trump, let it go. He did get in a very good dig at Russia, though, after Trump asked him if he would go to Moscow.

Trump then flew home on the actual Air Force one — abandoning the Qatari-gifted jet he arrived in, with no credible explanation offered. Former CIA Director Leon Panetta publicly called Trump's explanation for the plane swap a "cover story."

Officials are citing security concerns — who could’ve guessed?

A federal judge ordered the release of $5.8 million Trump owes E. Jean Carroll, with accrued interest, after the Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal on June 29. Before the ruling, Trump's lawyers argued the petition was still "pending" before the Supreme Court — a claim the court itself contradicted.

Carroll's lawyers say she'll receive roughly $5.8 million total. Trump has been fighting this payment since a jury found he sexually abused and defamed her — a finding that predates his return to the presidency and that no amount of executive power has managed to erase. He begged the judge to stop it. The judge said no.

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Houston Tuesday morning while driving co-workers to a construction site. He had lived in the US for more than 30 years and was in the process of getting his work permit.

Neither ICE nor local officials told his family. His son Ronaldo found out from news reports — even after going to the shooting site himself looking for answers.

DHS claimed Salgado weaponized his vehicle against an ICE officer. That's the same exact language DHS used to justify the January killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis — before video emerged casting serious doubt on their account.

LULAC national president Roman Palomares said it plainly: "ICE has not earned that trust from the American people.”

ACA insurers are proposing a median premium hike of 14% for 2027, according to a KFF analysis of early rate filings — on top of last year's median increase of 20%.

Insurers blame rising healthcare costs, a sicker remaining enrollee pool, and the expiration of pandemic-era subsidies that Trump let die in January. When those subsidies vanished, 2.5 million people left the ACA marketplace — leaving behind the sickest patients, which drives costs up for everyone who stayed.

Middle-income households at or above 400% of the poverty line — roughly $63,000 a year for a single person — get no subsidies to cushion the blow. They eat the full increase.

Congress has no comprehensive fix with enough votes to pass. The donor class got its tax cuts. Everyone else gets a bigger bill.

Democrat Graham Platner has withdrawn from Maine's U.S. Senate race after a woman who dated him accused him of sexual assault. Bernie Sanders had called for him to step aside. Before dropping out, Platner was accused by fellow Democrats of trying to put his "thumb on the scale" of the process to replace him.

The Maine seat is considered a critical pickup opportunity for Democrats trying to retake the Senate in the midterms — and the meltdown has analysts warning the party is in "grave danger" of blowing it. Patrick Dempsey — yes, McDreamy — is reportedly being floated as a replacement.

Troy Jackson, a progressive former candidate for governor who was an ally of Graham Platner during his campaign, formally launched a bid to succeed him last night.

“I’ve been fighting for that movement my whole life — and I’m sure as hell not backing down now, when this fight is needed most,” Jackson posted.