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If Prince Harry gets face time with King Charles during his latest drama-filled U.K. trip, don’t expect a warm family reunion — palace aides are reportedly expected to tightly script every second to shield the monarch and the crown.”Every interaction will need to be managed, even to the minute, by courtiers and those whose job it is to protect the monarchy,” British royal expert Hilary Fordwich told Fox News Digital. “Merely polite meetings are more plausible.””They are far more concerned with the overall institution and continuity than the feelings of any one family member,” Fordwich said. “This has been the case for generations. Harry should know better.”KING CHARLES HOPES TO REUNITE WITH PRINCE HARRY, BUT QUEEN CAMILLA IS DRAWING ONE FIRM LINE: EXPERTSFordwich’s comments came after Kinsey Schofield, host of YouTube’s “Kinsey Schofield Unfiltered,” told

As more Americans look to increase their protein intake, picking up a prime rib roast at the grocery store may seem like an appealing option.The varying sizes of this cut of meat make it notoriously tricky to cook, however. Some experts, though, say home chefs can master the process and produce great prime rib.”There is absolutely no reason prime rib cooked at home can’t be as good, even better, than anything you can get at a restaurant,” Chicago-based chef “Meathead” Goldwyn, author of “Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling” and a member of the Barbecue Hall of Fame, told Fox News Digital.MEAT-ONLY DIET FOLLOWERS CLAIM DISEASE REVERSAL AS EXPERT SAYS AMERICANS ARE ‘THE SICKEST’Professionally prepared prime rib tastes better than homemade for many reasons, according to Tasting Table. Restaurants typically have more access to higher-end equipment and higher-quality meat, Tasting Table reported.But Jess Pryles, the Texas-based creator of the Hardcore Carnivore line of meat seasonings and tools and a judge on Food Network’s forthcoming series, “Pitmasters,” told Fox News Digital that USDA Prime cuts are “readily accessible to the public.”A 2025 Beef Magazine article reported that the availability of higher-grade meats has increased. USDA Prime, the top grade of beef, which shows “an abundance of marbling — the amount of fat interspersed in the lean meat,” is up from 3 to 4% in the early 2000s to 10 to 12% in recent years.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER”It all starts with the quality of the meat,” Goldwyn said, adding that top-quality beef can be found at the grocery store.”Most [grocers] don’t stock top-quality prime rib because it is expensive, and it doesn’t sell rapidly,” he added. “But most [grocery stores] can special order anything you want and have it in for you in a few days. You can also order top-quality [beef] online from many suppliers.”Restaurants also often cook a whole roast and serve it in slices, whereas a home cook is more likely to opt for buying less-expensive individual steaks, which are technically ribeyes, not prime rib, Tasting Table reported. Restaurants also usually use more seasonings, dry-aging and prep time than the average home cook, Tasting Table reported.”If you submerge your beef in a wet brine, you’re making corned beef,” Pryles countered. “And your meat is going to turn pale and unappealing in shade.”CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE STORIESOnce someone chooses a superior cut of meat, everything that comes after is “a matter of technique,” Goldwyn said.”We are specialists in barbecue and grilling, but the methods we recommend work perfectly in indoor ovens,” Goldwyn said. “Grills are just outdoor ovens with lousy thermostats.”Pryles’ advice for nailing prime rib at home includes buying the best quality meat you can afford and seasoning it well in advance.”Season it well in advance, ideally the day before, and let it sit uncovered in the fridge so the surface dries out,” she said. “That helps you get better browning.”TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZShe also recommends cooking the roast on a rack, “so the airflow can surround the entire piece.””Start things at a lower temp for more even doneness edge to edge, then [finish with] a hot blast at the end if you want to build a crust,” she said. “And, most importantly, pull it before it hits your final temperature, because carryover cooking is real, especially on a large roast. A thermometer is your best friend.”

With just under four months to go until this year’s midterm elections, a top Senate Republican remains confident of the GOP’s chances.Sen. Tim Scott, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, recently told Fox News Digital this spring that he’s “incredibly optimistic” the GOP can not only hold but expand its current 53–47 majority in the upper chamber.But his counterpart at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, is equally confident her party can flip control of the Senate, telling Fox News Digital earlier this year she sees “all the makings of a blue wave” heading into November.CRUCIAL SENATE BATTLE ROCKED AFTER MAJOR PLAYER DROPS OUT OF RACERepublicans — as the party currently in power — were already up against traditional political headwinds that lead to a loss of congressional seats during midterm election years. Add to that the challenging climate fueled by persistent inflation, high gas prices tied to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran and President Donald Trump’s underwater approval ratings. It’s all a perfect storm that spells unfavorable outcomes for the GOP.But Democrats have problems of their own as they try to win back control of the Senate, including a party brand that public opinion polling indicates is extremely unpopular.Add to that high profile victories in this spring and summer by left-wing and socialist candidates over establishment rivals in Democratic primaries that is giving Republicans extra ammunition to portray all Democrats as extremists, or as Trump calls them, “communists.”Here’s a look at a dozen competitive Senate seats in play that could potentially flip the balance of power in the chamber.Republicans are defending an open seat in the southeast battleground state, with GOP Sen. Thom Tillis retiring at the end of this year.DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUBThe GOP is rallying around former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley, who has Trump’s backing after serving alongside the president’s daughter-in-law and Fox News host Lara Trump in the lead up to the 2024 election.Democrats, meanwhile, landed their top recruit when former two-term Gov. Roy Cooper launched a Senate campaign last summer. Cooper enjoys tons of name recognition in North Carolina and is 6-0 when it comes to running statewide races.North Carolina voted for Trump for his second term, but the top nonpartisan political handicapper, Cook Political Report, rates the race Lean Democrat, with Inside Elections ranking it as a toss up.Moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins is running for re-election for a sixth six-year term in blue-leaning Maine.Collins is the only Republican senator running for re-election this year in a state that then-Vice President Kamala Harris carried in her 2024 presidential election bid against Trump. And Collins has seen a deterioration of her poll numbers among Mainers from her last re-election six years ago.But the longtime senator, who has been a top DSCC target for multiple election cycles, has proven tough to beat.But she could prevail again as her Democratic challenger, Graham Platner continues to face controversy over his past actions and comments.The Marine Corps veteran and oyster farmer is backed by progressive champions Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.Republican groups supporting Collins have been blasting Platner over controversial comments he made over a decade ago on a now deleted Reddit account, a well-publicized Nazi-linked tattoo on his chest, infidelity and allegations of sexual misconduct.The GOP’s also aiming to flip an open seat in battleground state of Michigan, where Democrat Sen. Gary Peters is retiring.Former Rep. Mike Rogers, who won the 2024 GOP Senate nomination in Michigan but narrowly lost to Rep. Elissa Slotkin, is making a second straight bid and is the all-but-certain Republican nominee.Democrats are dealing with a titanic two-way fight between center-left Rep. Haley Stevens, who is backed by Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and former Wayne County Health Department Director Abdul El-Sayed, a left-wing candidate endorsed by Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.The primary battle, which until Sunday also included progressive state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, has already exposed numerous Democratic Party divisions and provided Rogers, who is backed by Trump, with plenty of ammunition.Michigan’s primary will be held on August 4.Democrats scored a major recruiting victory last year when former Sen. Sherrod Brown announced he would challenge Republican Sen. Jon Husted.A former lieutenant governor, Husted was appointed to the Senate a year ago after then-Sen. JD Vance stepped down to serve as vice president to Trump.Ohio, once a premier general election battleground, has turned solidly red over the past decade, and Democrats view Brown as their only competitive candidate in the race to serve the remaining two years of Vance’s term.Brown lost re-election in 2024 by roughly four points while Trump carried Ohio by 11 points.The Cook Report and fellow nonpartisan ranker Sabato’s Crystal Ball rate the race as a toss up, with Inside Elections ranking it as tilt Republican.Republicans see another flip opportunity in New Hampshire, where a long-held Democratic Senate seat in New England’s only swing state is opening thanks to the retirement of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who is the first woman in U.S. history to be elected governor and senator.Four-term Rep. Chris Pappas is expected to capture the Democratic Senate nomination in the state’s early September primary.There’s a primary race on the Republican side between two former senators seeking a return to Capitol Hill.Former Sen. John E. Sununu, an older brother to former Gov. Chris Sununu, has the backing of the president and has a double-digit lead in public polling. But Trump’s first-term ambassador to New Zealand, former Sen. Scott Brown, remains in the race.Democrats were given a big boost in the red-leaning state when former Rep. Mary Peltola announced in February that she would challenge GOP incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan.Peltola lost re-election in 2024 in the at-large district that covers the entire state by three points, while Trump carried Alaska by 11 points.Meanwhile, there’s a court battle ongoing over the Senate bid by another Dan Sullivan, a former teacher who announced his campaign in May and recently registered as a Republican.Republicans view first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff as the most vulnerable Democrat seeking re-election in 2026.The Peach State is a true battleground swing state.Georgians voted for Joe Biden to be president in the 2020 elections, but then swung red to vote in Trump for a second term in 2024. FRom 2005 until 2020, the state had two Republicans representing them in the U.S. Senate before electing two Democrats to go to Washington, D.C. when Trump’s first term ended.Ossoff, first elected in that 2020 race, built a massive war chest while the GOP faced a nasty three-way primary battle for its nomination in the crucial sunbelt battleground state.In November’s midterms, Ossoff will face Republican Rep. Mike Collins, who was backed by Trump days ahead of last month’s GOP primary runoff election.While a recent Fox News poll indicated Ossoff holding a double digit lead, Republicans plan to run an aggressive campaign against the senator.Republicans are defending an open seat in Iowa, a onetime swing state that’s shifted to the right over the past decade.But the GOP rallied around Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is backed by Trump, in the race to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Joni Ernst.Hinson, a former local TV news anchor who flipped a Democratic-held seat in 2020, is seen as a rising star in the party.State Rep. Josh Turek, a Paralympian, won a contested and expensive Democratic primary over more progressive state Sen. Zach Wahls.State Rep. James Talarico is hoping to become the first Democrat since 1988 to win a U.S. Senate election in right-leaning Texas.Talarico, who hauled in an eye-popping $27 million in fundraising the first three months of this year, defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the March primary to secure the Democratic nomination.The Democrat will face off in November against Trump-backed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The MAGA firebrand, carrying plenty of political baggage, ousted longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas in an expensive and combustible GOP nomination battle that went into overtime.The retirement of Democratic Sen. Tina Smith is giving the GOP hopes they can flip the seat in the blue-leaning state.And Republicans landed what they say is a top-tier recruit in former NBC sports reporter turned conservative pundit and activist Michele Tafoya, who is part of a crowded GOP field in next month’s primary.Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a progressive, is facing off against more moderate Democratic Rep. Angie Craig in the race for their party’s nomination.Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, who as Florida’s attorney general was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year to fill the seat once held by now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is on a glide path to the GOP nomination in next month’s primary.Moody will likely face off in November against Democratic challenger Alex Vindman, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, whistleblower in the 2019 Trump-Ukraine controversy and brother of Rep. Eugene Vindman.SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTERPolling in recent months suggests a competitive race between Moody and Vindman in right-leaning Florida.Republican incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts, a former governor, is seeking a full six-year term in the Senate representing red-leaning Nebraska.He’ll face off in the midterms with former union leader Dan Osborn, an independent candidate who is making his second straight run for the Senate.Democratic nominee and former pharmacy technician Cindy Burbank is likely to drop out of the race and support Osborn in the general election.

Coffee Shorts Get Roasted As Arabica Stages Biggest Jump Since Dot-Com

Arabica coffee futures jumped the most since the Dot Com era as worsening weather in Brazil and shrinking exchange-managed warehouses intensified concerns about near-term supply. This comes as El Niño threats rise across critical agricultural belts worldwide.

New York prices jumped as much as 18.5% on Monday to $3.57 a pound, the highest since January. This was the largest single-session gain since July 18, 2000.

Context on the squeeze: Traders had been expecting a large Brazilian crop, but rains have slowed the harvest, and growers are holding back sales in hopes of better prices.

Bloomberg noted: 

Technical factors also were at play. The Intercontinental Exchange last week raised margin requirements as prices increased, making it costlier for traders to maintain positions and potentially pushing some out of the market, said Judy Ganes, president at J. Ganes Consulting.

“This move is just one of those fear days and people covering,” Ganes said. But it’s hard to justify it fundamentally.”

Bloomberg quoted Rural Clima meteorologist Marco Antonio dos Santos as saying that rain is forecast for a large part of Brazil in mid-July, which will be “detrimental” to crops, including coffee. “This is directly linked to El Niño, which has been gaining strength week after week,” he added.

The rally adds to a broader El Niño-driven surge across soft commodities, with sugar, rice, and cocoa also rising.

Latest El Niño coverage:

El Niño Heat Wave Fuels HVAC Boom: Goldman Maps The Trade
Super El Niño: Famine Follows War?
Arabica inventories in exchange-monitored warehouses are at their lowest levels since March 2024.

Tyler Durden
Tue, 07/07/2026 – 05:45

Brent and U.S. crude futures rose after a report of an Iranian attack on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Democrats swiftly turned on Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner on Monday after a rape allegation triggered a full-on revolt among his most prominent supporters, with calls pouring in from across the party for him to suspend his campaign.The mounting defections came after Maine resident Jenny Racicot, 41, accused Platner of rape in interviews with Politico and CNN, alleging the Senate hopeful entered her home uninvited while intoxicated nearly five years ago and forced himself on her despite repeated attempts to get him to stop.Racicot, who was seeing Platner on and off at the time, told Politico she immediately cut ties with him after he forced her to engage in unprotected sex, saying, “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.’”She also told CNN that the alleged encounter was the “dictionary definition” of rape.PLATNER’S LATEST ACCUSER CLAIMS THE DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE ‘ABSOLUTELY’ RAPED HERPlatner immediately issued a statement denying Racicot’s account and said he was “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward” for his imploding campaign.The vast majority of Democrats signaled Monday they were unwilling to give Platner that opportunity, with many lawmakers racing to issue statements calling on the Senate hopeful to immediately end his campaign.The pleas stretched from Platner’s most fervent progressive champions to the party’s establishment wing, most of whom had only recently rallied behind Platner after he won the Democratic primary nomination in June.”There can be no tolerance for sexual assault,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., one of Platner’s most prominent supporters, said in a statement rescinding her endorsement. “With so much at stake, the best path forward is for Graham Platner to step aside as the Democratic nominee and address these serious allegations outside this Senate race.”Meanwhile, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who had closely aligned himself with Platner, also withdrew his endorsement and called on him to exit the race after news of the rape allegation circulated.Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., also pulled their support Monday, with Gallego stopping short of calling on Platner to suspend his campaign.FOX NEWS POLL: MAINE SENATE RACE IS TIGHT, WITH CONCERNS ABOUT BOTH CANDIDATESThe progressive lawmakers continued to support Platner after Lyndsey Fifield, a former Platner girlfriend, accused the Maine Democrat of abuse in June — an allegation Platner has repeatedly denied as false and politically motivated.Khanna notably traveled to Maine to campaign with Platner the following day after The New York Times first reported Fifield’s accusation.Khanna previously said in multiple interviews that he would disavow Platner if a sexual assault allegation emerged, but told Fox News Digital that the Senate hopeful was “taking accountability” for his past and argued Platner was deserving of redemption.The reaction among establishment Democrats was equally swift, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., publicly demanding that Platner “immediately” suspend his campaign to give the party time to put forward a new nominee.The senior Democrats had only recently endorsed Platner following his June primary win after their preferred pick, Gov. Janet Mills, D-Maine, ended her campaign amid fundraising struggles.”The DSCC will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot,” the pair wrote in a joint statement Monday.The Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC, a top outside spending group focused on electing Democrats to the Senate, also said Monday that it would redirect resources away from Maine as long as Platner remained in the race.TOP PLATNER ALLY TURNS ON HIM AFTER BOMBSHELL RAPE ALLEGATION ROCKS CAMPAIGN: ‘RED LINE’The warning comes as Democrats are up against a fast-approaching deadline to replace Platner as the party’s nominee. Under Maine law, Platner can be replaced on the ballot if he withdraws by 5 p.m. on July 13, with the state party allowed to put forward a replacement by July 27.Democrats view Maine as a top flip opportunity to retake Senate control during November’s midterm elections, but Platner’s rapidly unraveling campaign could derail those plans.His plethora of scandals — from a former Nazi-linked tattoo to infidelity during his marriage — has sharply divided Democrats as the party seeks to unseat longtime Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.Collins on Monday issued a statement calling the rape accusation “appalling” but declined to weigh in on whether Platner should continue in the race.DEM SENATE HOPEFUL UNDER FIRE FOR RESURFACED COMMENTS CALLING COPS ‘OPPORTUNISTIC COWARDS’Other lawmakers hailing from the party’s centrist flank, including Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., also publicly urged Platner to end his campaign. Neither had formally endorsed Platner before Monday’s rape allegation broke.Many prominent Maine Democrats also called on Platner to drop his Senate bid on Monday, including Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine and her daughter, former State House Speaker Hannah Pingree, D-Maine, who is the Democratic gubernatorial nominee to succeed Mills.Former Maine public health official Nirav Shah and State Sen. Troy Jackson, D-Maine, who both ran for the open gubernatorial seat and have been floated as potential Platner replacements, also said Monday that he should withdraw his candidacy. Jackson, who campaigned with Platner, was among the candidates that the Senate hopeful endorsed to succeed Mills.A vast swath of left-wing organizations also pulled their support of Platner on Monday.”The allegations reported today are profoundly disturbing and disqualifying,” Tiffany Muller, president of the Democratic-affiliated group End Citizen United, said in a statement. “The conduct described is fundamentally inconsistent with the standards we expect from the candidates we support.”VoteVets, an organization that works to elect Democratic veterans, also withdrew its endorsement of Platner, who served in multiple overseas deployments. Meanwhile, Our Revolution, a leftist organization founded by former Sanders campaign staffers, called on Platner to leave the race while demanding that his successor share his far-left policy views.Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., one of Platner’s few remaining progressive supporters, had not weighed in on the sexual assault allegation as of late Monday evening.A spokesperson for Sanders did not respond to a request for comment.Far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker also broke with Platner on Monday, saying “the accusations — they are as credible as it is going to get.””This is beyond red flags. This is irredeemable,” Piker added during his livestream.

Teaching Constitutional Law is a joy, not a job — except for the 11th Amendment and the “Dormant Commerce Clause” cases and materials. The law school classroom is also a great vantage point from which to recognize that American constitutional law moves at a very gradual pace — and that this pace is a very good thing for the enduring “rule of law” that Americans enjoy.Every semester since 1996, my students hear that Con Law ought to be their most interesting class of their three years of law school. Every law student is different, of course, and the “Uniform Commercial Cod might float some boats and “Trusts and Estates” can be pretty shocking —people do in fact “throw grandma from the train”— but Con Law impacts every citizen’s life and thus law students ought to care about it as citizens if not as lawyers. In fact, only a relatively small percentage of lawyers will run into issues that relate to the Constitution in the course of their careers. Fewer still will “practice” in the field and only a handful will argue a case involving the country’s highest law before even its lowest courts, much less before the United States Supreme Court.Still, there are many reasons why, come every June or at latest early July, most of the nation’s news media focuses on the decisions flowing out of One First Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. As a republic of laws, the nation’s highest court makes decisions impacting every American as we are equal before the law. The most difficult cases it accepts and decides matter to our 330 millions. The news media — legacy and “new” alike — love the storylines.DEMOCRATIC SENATOR CLAIMS GOP ‘STOLE’ TWO SCOTUS SEATS IN 2016, 2020, CALLS FOR EXPANSION”SCOTUSblog” has thus become an extremely useful gathering place for Court watchers of all sorts, but especially for non-lawyers trying to make sense of the end-of-term rush of decisions. That goes double for laymen trying to figure out if the Court is shifting hard-right or hard-left on many issues or even some.”By several measures, this term was more ideologically divided than the last one,” Jake Truscott and Adam Feldman wrote for the SCOTUSblog platform on the first day of this month. “Last term, 15.2% of the court’s decisions were decided by a 6-3 vote, and 9% of all decisions were 6-3 ideological splits. This term, those figures rose significantly, to 28.8% and 22.7%, respectively.”So the Court has shifted “rightward” a bit, but of all of its cases resulting in opinions, only a little more than a fifth are decided along the divide of “originalists” v. “living Constitutionalists.” (The “originalists” are Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Of those six, Roberts, Barrett and Kavanaugh are often grouped together as “moderates.” The “liberal” justices are Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.)NPR RETRACTS FALSE REPORT CLAIMING JUSTICE SAMUEL ALITO IS RETIRING FROM THE SUPREME COURTThe Court issued 67 majority opinions this term, though it actually makes hundreds of smaller decisions throughout the Court year that begins in October and ends (usually) as June closes.”The justice-level data reinforces this picture of a court still organized around a conservative center, but not operating in a purely ideological pattern in every major case,” Truscott and Feldman wrote. “Roberts and Kavanaugh were in the majority most often this term, each at 95%. Barrett followed at 92%.””[Justice] Jackson remained the justice least often in the majority,” they continued. “She was in the majority 67% of the time overall this term and 41% of the time in non-unanimous cases.”SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN LIMIT ON PARTY CAMPAIGN SPENDING IN COORDINATION WITH CANDIDATESSo the justice widely regarded as the most ideological and the most left-wing was still in the majority in two out of three major cases. That should reassure the non-lawyer that there is no revolution by the robes underway. Because quite a few district court judges issue bolts-from-out-of-the-blue on a regular basis, there is a growing perception of a judiciary that is politicized and highly ideological. That is true of some lower courts. Our highest court, however, is an enormous force for stability in the country that just turned 250 years old.Con Law students learn that the Court generally moves slowly and when it doesn’t — as with the radical Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 which declared unconstitutional every anti-abortion law in the land — it cannot expect the country as a whole to shrug and follow along. The Court will sometimes be a bit ahead of public opinion, but rarely, if ever, can it change the course of politics. When it tries, it opens and/or exacerbates rather than closes deep divisions among the citizenry.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONThis year’s most controversial decisions are not actually anywhere near as divisive as Roe or the “Obamacare” decision (2012’s National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius) or Bush v. Gore which effectively decided that election by ending the (seemingly) endless recounting —correctly, by the way, as post-election “audit” after post-election “audit” showed. The most significant of this term’s cases may turn out to be National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission, which held that the provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act restricting the amount of money a party can spend in direct coordination with a candidate’s campaign were unconstitutional, thus breathing much-needed life into the two major political parties which need the lift.The “birthright citizenship” case, Trump v. Barbara, drew lots of attention but very little genuine surprise among the population at large. Find me anyone outside of academia and a few think tanks who even knew there was a question about the citizenship of any baby born in America before the abandonment of border enforcement in the Biden years, and I’d be surprised if that person knew the underlying text, history and tradition of the arguments. Like most “big cases,” the “importance” of the case will fade even as policy arguments about the actual issue of rational immigration policy continues.Which is itself a triumph for the rule of law. Americans generally accept the Court’s rulings and move on. Contrary to the overheated and indeed absurd “Trump is a fascist” rhetoric, President Trump has always complied with every court decision, even those with which he deeply and loudly disagrees. Such is the authority of the Supreme Court. The Court gets the final say on the “cases and controversies” that divide the country. It has been that way since the Civil War, and we will all be blessed if it stays that way.So push away the alarmists. Ignore the doomsayers. The Supreme Court has gone about its work successfully — again — and will be back at it in October (or earlier if need be.) The “republic of laws not men” carries on. Con Law is still the most interesting course in law school, but its textbooks change very little from year to year. And that is a very, very good thing.Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor and host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show” heard weekday afternoons from 3 PM to 6 PM ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh drives Americans home on the East Coast and to lunch on the West Coast on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable, hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcasting. This column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM HUGH HEWITT

Last week, my friend Senator John Fetterman and I stood on a court at the 6th Man Center — a Philadelphia Youth Basketball facility in North Philly — watching dozens of children crowd around their phones grinning. They weren’t watching a video or playing a game. They were looking for investment accounts in their own names — accounts that give them a real stake in America’s future and become available on July 4.Parents can celebrate Independence Day knowing that their children are eligible for a Trump Account: a $1,000 Treasury seed for every child born between 2025 and 2028, and another $250 for children ten and under in lower-income communities, funded not by Washington but by philanthropy.These accounts were created a year ago as part of President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts Act, for which I cast the deciding vote in the Senate. Alongside no tax on tips or overtime and new tax credits for school choice and childcare, these measures are a down payment on the American Dream. They are also proof that we can share American prosperity without sacrificing the free markets and individual liberty on which this country was founded.’THE VIEW’ CO-HOST SUNNY HOSTIN PRAISES TRUMP FOR ‘GOOD POLICIES’ ON FERTILITY CARE AND CHILD SAVINGS ACCOUNTSCapitalism is the greatest engine of prosperity and human flourishing the world has ever known. No economic system has lifted more people out of poverty, rewarded more work and innovation, or created more opportunity for ordinary people to build better lives. But to preserve that system — and the prosperity it makes possible — more Americans must have a real stake in its success.Today, too many Americans are helping build this country’s future without sharing meaningfully in its upside. Since the global financial crisis, the top one percent’s share of the nation’s wealth has climbed from about 27 percent to 32 percent. That same one percent now owns roughly half of all the stock in America; the bottom half of households owns about one percent. As artificial intelligence and other new technologies transform our economy, this trend will only worsen — it’s both indefensible and politically unsustainable.For decades, Washington’s answer to this dilemma was always the same: stand up a new agency, build a bureaucracy to run it, and redistribute hard-earned money through a system riddled with waste and fraud. It deepened dependence on government, and still the American Dream slipped further out of reach.The Working Families Tax Cuts Act — signed into law last July 4 — chose another road: not redistribution from above, but incentives for Americans to invest directly in one another. A $1,000 seed fund is the first rung of a ladder every American child can climb — and gives parents, family and friends, employers, and philanthropists a vehicle to invest directly in the next generation.That is the magic of tax-advantaged compounding: a $1,000 investment at birth, combined with just $10 added to the account each week, could grow to nearly $400,000 by the time that child reaches my age of 60.Michael and Susan Dell have shown what private investment in the next generation can look like. Their $6.25 billion pledge — enough to seed accounts for 25 million children — is patriotism made concrete: private generosity expanding ownership, opportunity, and a stake in America’s future for millions of children. Many wealthy and patriotic Americans are following suit.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONAcross the country, six million children have been signed up, but more must follow, including the 1.4 million eligible kids in Pennsylvania.But Trump Accounts are only one part of a larger effort to revitalize the American Dream on our nation’s 250th birthday. The Working Family Tax Cuts Act is also bringing more jobs, more investment, and more opportunity to families across the country. The school-choice scholarship credit, for example, lets Americans direct their own dollars to a child’s education, so families can choose the school that best fits their child’s needs.Abraham Lincoln called us to be dedicated to the unfinished work of liberty. That work continues in every generation. On July 4, as Trump Accounts launch nationwide, we will help make the American Dream more than just an inheritance of words for the next generation, but also a concrete stake in America’s promise. And they give the rest of us a chance to invest in the future of America’s next generation.More will need to be done. But programs such as these — voluntary, guided by incentives, circumventing government bureaucracy, and which provide opportunity, not entitlement — are an excellent starting point.

President Donald Trump is arriving at the Turkey-held NATO summit with fresh frustration toward several European allies for their responses to the U.S.-led operations against Iran, opening a new front in his long-running campaign to pressure the alliance over burden-sharing.The summit, which takes place Tuesday and Wednesday in Ankara, Turkey, is expected to focus on defense spending, Ukraine and NATO’s long-term strategy toward Russia. But it will bring Trump face to face with some of his biggest foes in NATO, including Spain, whose Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called the U.S. war in Iran “illegal, absurd and cruel.”U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said Wednesday that Trump remains “disappointed” by allies that declined to allow U.S. forces to use military bases or overflight rights during the operation, as well as by political statements criticizing the strikes.WHY NATO’S DEFENSE SPENDING IMBALANCE LASTED FOR DECADES”The president has expressed disappointment in both a couple of our allies’ unwillingness to support us using our bases in their countries,” Whitaker said. “And, as importantly, he’s also incredibly disappointed in the political statements that came out around the time of the launch of Epic Fury.” The disagreements are expected to loom over a summit where Trump will once again press allies to increase defense spending, while also raising broader questions about whether NATO members are prepared to back the United States during conflicts beyond the alliance’s traditional focus on Europe.Trump’s frustration has been evident publicly as well. Ahead of the summit, he said he was attending largely because of his relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, while again criticizing some NATO allies over defense spending and questioning their commitment to the alliance.”Except for the fact that it was being held in Turkey by President Erdogan, I don’t think I would have gone to it,” Trump told reporters at the White House June 24.During the same appearance, he renewed criticism of Spain and other NATO allies over their refusal to support U.S. operations against Iran, declaring, “There’s a problem with Spain.”Whitaker said the operation also highlighted disparities in military capabilities across the alliance, noting that while some NATO members possess “exquisite capabilities,” others lack the capacity to contribute meaningfully to a large-scale U.S.-led military operation.The administration’s frustration stems from a series of decisions by European allies during Operation Epic Fury. The United Kingdom initially declined to allow U.S. forces to launch strikes against Iran from British bases before later reversing course after Iranian attacks escalated. Spain denied the use of its territory and airspace for combat operations while Sánchez publicly criticized the U.S.-led campaign.Italy also sought to distance itself from the operation, insisting U.S. flights from bases on Italian soil were limited to logistical support rather than combat missions, while Germany served as a key logistics hub but stopped short of publicly endorsing the military campaign.European governments defended their positions by citing domestic legal constraints and concerns about being drawn into a wider Middle East conflict. Britain later allowed U.S. strikes after initially withholding approval, while Spain continued opposing the campaign, Italy restricted its support to noncombat operations and Germany limited its role to logistics.EUROPE’S $116B FIGHTER JET ‘FAILURE’ RAISES FRESH DOUBTS ABOUT ABILITY TO DEFEND ITSELF WITHOUT USSeveral allies later agreed to support maritime security operations aimed at restoring commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, but administration officials say the initial reluctance to back the U.S. campaign continues to shape Trump’s view heading into the summit.While the Middle East is not expected to dominate the formal agenda, they underscore broader questions Trump is bringing to Turkey about burden-sharing and whether NATO allies are prepared to back the United States beyond the alliance’s traditional focus on Europe.The tensions over Iran build on years of Trump’s criticism of NATO, which he has repeatedly accused of relying too heavily on the U.S. During both his first and second terms, Trump has questioned whether Washington should continue defending allies that fail to meet spending commitments and has at times floated withdrawing from the alliance altogether.”If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them,” Trump said March 6. “If the United States was in trouble and we called them … you think they’re going to come and protect us? They’re supposed to. I’m not so sure.”Trump is expected to use the summit to press allies to meet NATO’s new benchmark of spending 5% of GDP on defense.”The United States spends more money on NATO than any other country, by far, to protect them, without getting any benefit from so doing,” he wrote on Truth Social Thursday.Whitaker suggested the administration increasingly views burden-sharing as extending beyond defense budgets alone.”We believe that those that are doing more should get benefits from doing more,” he said.Whitaker confirmed the administration was considering countermeasures for allies that don’t meet defense spending goals. He added that countries contributing more could receive advantages ranging from priority in defense procurement to greater engagement with U.S. leaders.While the summit is expected to focus publicly on defense spending, Ukraine and NATO’s long-term strategy toward Russia, analysts say the fallout from Operation Epic Fury is likely to shape private conversations between Trump and several European leaders.Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Ian Brzezinski said during a press briefing the recent conflict has created “two scorecards on the table” for the summit— NATO’s traditional priorities of strengthening deterrence against Russia and Trump’s assessment of which allies proved most supportive of the United States during the Iran conflict.”We have low expectations because of the issues not on the agenda, but that are driving the atmospherics,” Torey Taussig, director of the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, said.