“As much of the world now knows, Vermont is under water. The rains that swept the state in the past week have been nothing less than biblical. Massive flooding has turned our sweet capital city, Montpelier, into a lake where cars are buried, with water reaching to the second story in many buildings.” (Jay Parini/CNN)
“Thanks in part to the El Niño weather pattern—but also thanks to greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere—our world is currently experiencing what could be the hottest year since recordkeeping began. Last week may have been the hottest week on record. The most horrific part is that these jaw-dropping records are just the beginning.” (Molly Taft/TNR)
“The Belarusian defence ministry said that fighters from Russia’s Wagner Group are training soldiers in Belarus. The ministry said the training was taking place near Osipovichi, about 90km (56 miles) south of Minsk. ‘(Wagner) fighters acted as instructors in a number of military disciplines,’ the ministry said.” (Al Jazeera)
“It's a bitter realization: The Ukrainians have thus far fallen far short of the goals they set for their counteroffensive. They don't have the equipment they need for a rapid breakthrough in the southeast – they lack rocket launchers, howitzers, munitions and, especially, air defense systems and modern fighter jets. It turns out it isn't going to be easy to push out the Russian invaders.” (Thore Schröder /Der Spiegel)
“What has changed? Primarily, the relationship between Putin and the Russian elites. He now fears them no less than they fear him. He fears less their voice than their exit. Many of his closest collaborators blame him personally for the current state of affairs. It was Putin’s decision to instrumentalise the competition between Wagner and the defence ministry that ultimately led to Wagner’s march towards Moscow.” (Ivan Krastev/FT)
“But Swift herself once said that nothing safe is worth the drive, and my sister had done her due diligence. On TikTok, she told me, a whisper network of unticketed Swifties were documenting their journeys to whichever city Swift was playing that night, scooping up the remaining tickets at 5 or 6 P.M., when scalpers realized they could not sell them for $2,500 a pop. Not unjustifiably, Swifties get a bad rap. They are defensive and belligerent, boastful about streaming numbers and record sales and tour profits, which is a function of Swift’s own valedictorian disposition. But they are also funny, resourceful, canny creatures of the internet whose parasocial hungers Swift not only treasures but responds to, like a benevolent monarch.” (The Paris Review)
“A New York architect is in custody for the Gilgo Beach murders, an unsolved case tied to at least 10 sets of human remains discovered since 2010 in suburban Long Island, according to two law enforcement sources. This is the first arrest in the long-dormant case, which sparked conflicting theories about whether a serial killer was responsible.” (CNN)
“All five women are angry with the police. They don’t want to alienate them, but they can’t help but be upset by how slowly the case seems to be progressing. Gilbert lost her patience when the police asked her not to be interviewed on TV. “I said, ‘If you’re not going to do anything, I’m going to talk.’” Now, she says, the police don’t call her anymore. To one degree or another, all of the women have taken on the role of amateur homicide investigator.” (Robert Kolker/NYMag)
"In a joint statement published Wednesday, the executives — Preston Padden, Ken Solomon, and Bill Reyner — expressed profound regret for their roles helping Murdoch build Fox in its early days. ... ‘We never envisioned, and would not knowingly have enabled, the disinformation machine that, in our opinion, Fox has become,’ they added." (Reliable Sources)
“But there is one group of shadowy miscreants that do operate under a code of omertà designed to ensure that almost all misdeeds will be forgiven, forgotten, and shielded from punishment: the American foreign policy establishment. Once you’re an accredited member of the cozy club of Washington policy warlords, you need never worry about having to face the consequences of your actions.” (Jeet Heer/The Nation)
“She hated the title ‘First Lady,’ preferring to be known by the name on her calling cards: Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. But for some months at the end of 1919 and beginning of 1920, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson held the most political power of any First Lady in history." (Digital Party)
“Prigozhin, a one-time convict and hot-dog seller who rose in the ranks of Russia’s oligarchy under Putin, became stratospherically wealthy in large part thanks to his mercenary group’s operations on the continent. In the CAR, a country rich in gold and diamonds, the company co-opted already-existing businesses to siphon off hundreds of millions and perhaps even billions, according to the pan-African news magazine Jeune Afrique.” (Nicholas Niarchos/The Nation)
“The Kremlin is willing to let Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group keep some of its extensive operations in Africa, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions, as Russia scrambles to retain its influence in the resource-rich continent in the aftermath of his attempted mutiny.” (Bloomberg)
“Milan Kundera, who died yesterday at 94, found himself on the verge of such a shift. For decades, Kundera had been living invisibly in Paris. Having disappeared from public life decades ago, after swearing to never give an interview again, he was one of the most hermetic authors of our time.” (Jared Marcel Pollen/TNR)
“While Threads is enjoying something of a media honeymoon, however, not everyone seems convinced by it just yet. While myriad journalists (Ingram included) have set up a Threads account, many of them have also remained on Twitter, reports of whose demise—at least as a tool for journalists to gather and share news—might yet prove exaggerated.” (Jon Allsop/CJR)
“Finland becoming the 31st member of NATO brings with it highly capable armed forces with, for example, a larger force of more modern main battle tanks than the British Army, orders for the fifth generation F-35 aircraft that exceed those of the UK, and an army that when mobilized is more than twice the size of the British Army.” (Chatham House)
“With SAG-AFTRA moving to strike on Thursday, all film and television production in the U.S. will effectively end, marking the first time that actors and writers have simultaneously engaged in work stoppages since 1960.” (Reliable Sources)
“On July 13, SAG-AFTRA, led by president Fran Drescher, called the union’s first strike against film and television companies in 43 years. Combined with Hollywood writers ongoing strike, the work stoppage — applying to 160,000 members, from actors to singers to dancers — marks the first simultaneous strike by the two unions since 1960, in a sign of an industry in tumult.” (THR)
“So Wham! was huge in England. But it took a while for them to cross over to America and MTV. This was before the channel was a worldwide phenomenon. Today you can make it from anywhere. Who knew Latin was gonna be this big? Other genres from other countries will come down the pike. Back then, especially as the eighties played out, you were either on MTV or you weren’t, you were either a hit act or marginal. That was the power of MTV. Nobody has that power today.” (Bob Lefsetz)
"In a recent lawsuit, Noelle Dunphy alleges that her former employer, Rudolph Giuliani, offered himself as an intermediary in a scheme to buy presidential pardons. In the words of the complaint, Giuliani ‘asked Ms. Dunphy if she knew anyone in need of a pardon, telling her that he was selling pardons for $2 million, which he and President Trump would split.’ We do not know the truth of these allegations, which remain in legal dispute. We do know that such a scheme is sadly plausible." (Daniel Carpenter and Harrold Pollack/Democracy)
“The Trump campaign’s interest in (Mike) Tyson’s podcast is part of a broader strategic outreach to non-traditional media outlets, specifically those affiliated with male audiences with an interest in contact and combat sports. This week, days after making an appearance at an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight in Las Vegas, the ex-president is expected to be featured on the popular podcast ‘UFC Unfiltered.’ This spring he recorded an interview on ‘Full Send,’ a podcast hosted by the ‘Nelk Boys,’ a comedian and prankster trio. There have also been talks about Trump doing an interview on Barstool Sports, a sports and pop culture behemoth especially popular among young men.” (Politico)