The Wall Street Journal reports: With an overnight tripling of its annual budget and intensifying pressure to increase deportations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is racing to expand its detention space with temporary tentlike structures, despite safety warnings. Trump administration officials have identified limited detention space as one of the major chokepoints preventing them from stepping up deportations as quickly …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump filed a libel lawsuit against the publisher of the Wall Street Journal and reporters who wrote a story about a collection of letters gifted to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003, including a note bearing Trump’s name and an outline of a naked woman. The lawsuit, which seeks at least $20 billion, is …

“POTUS made clear that his administration will hold accountable foreign nationals who are responsible for censorship of protected expression in the United States. “Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes’s political witch hunt against Jair Bolsonaro created a persecution and censorship complex so sweeping that it not only violates basic rights of Brazilians, but also extends beyond Brazil’s shores …

The Hill reports: Tourists, international students and business travelers may be required to pay a $250 fee when visiting the United States on a non-immigrant visa. No formal start date has been announced to begin the collection of the “visa integrity fee.” Starting in 2026, the $250 price could increase to accommodate inflation. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will be …

Reuters reports: A federal judge blocked on Friday the enforcement of U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting those who work with the International Criminal Court. The ruling follows an April lawsuit by two human rights advocates challenging Trump’s February 6 order authorizing potentially far-reaching economic and travel sanctions on people who work on ICC investigations of U.S. citizens or …

NBC News reports: Elon Musk’s health tech company Neuralink labeled itself a “small disadvantaged business” in a federal filing with the U.S. Small Business Administration, shortly before a financing round valued the company at $9 billion. Neuralink is developing a brain-computer interface (BCI) system, with an initial aim to help people with severe paralysis regain some independence. BCI technology broadly …

Peter Montgomery reports at Right Wing Watch: Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Education Ryan Walters is enlisting PragerU propagandists to devise an “assessment” that Walters says would protect students from “woke” teachers moving into the state from places with more progressive education policies like California or New York. It’s the latest Fox News bait from Walters, a Christian nationalist zealot and ardent …

“Your car air freshener is turning you gay. It is depleting your testosterone. It is wrecking your hormones. I was just in an Uber and the Uber driver had like a pack of trees, a pack of car fragrance trees. It’s disgusting, right? They need to be banned. So I told the Uber driver, ‘Do you realize that those are …

Variety reports: Just hours before “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” was canceled at CBS, Jon Stewart opened up about the uncertain future of “The Daily Show” if the proposed Skydance–Paramount merger goes through. David Ellison’s Skydance Media is in the process of buying Paramount, which is the parent company of CBS and Stewart’s network Comedy Central. On Thursday’s episode …

“I’m not so sure Donald Trump has fully thought this one through, Jake, because you showed at the beginning of the show his very recent social media post where he said, ‘Oh, I look forward to deposing Rupert Murdoch under oath. That should be fascinating.’ “Well, guess who else is going to have to testify under oath at a deposition? …

The New York Times reports: The Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday that it would eliminate its scientific research arm and begin firing hundreds of chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists, after denying for months that it intended to do so. The move underscores how the Trump administration is forging ahead with efforts to slash the federal work force and …

Politico reports: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called for several Obama administration officials to face criminal prosecution for participating in a “treasonous conspiracy” surrounding the 2016 election on Friday afternoon, the latest example of the Trump administration targeting critics of the president. In a newly declassified report, Gabbard on Friday alleged the officials “manipulated and withheld” key intelligence from …

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration said Friday that it would release $1.3 billion in frozen federal funding for after-school programs across the country, after facing growing bipartisan pressure. The Trump administration, which wants to slash spending and reduce the federal government’s role in education, had abruptly withheld the money, along with billions in other education dollars. It …

The New York Times reports: The Justice Department asked a federal judge on Friday to unseal grand jury testimony from the prosecution of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein as President Trump seeks to dispel a storm of criticism and conspiracy theories coming from many of his supporters. The request was filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, where Mr. Epstein …

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump on Friday followed through on his threat to sue media mogul Rupert Murdoch after his Wall Street Journal published an article saying that Trump sent Jeffrey Epstein a “bawdy” letter for Epstein’s 50th birthday, courts records show. Court records show that Trump filed a lawsuit alleging libel against Murdoch, the Journal’s publisher, Dow Jones, and …

Gothamist reports: New York state will pay $450,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a former executive assistant to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo who accused him of groping her while on the job. The agreement between Brittany Commisso, the former aide, and current Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office is the state’s second settlement of that amount with an employee who accused …

CNN reports: As the Department of Homeland Security scrambles to meet the Trump administration’s quotas for increased arrest and deportation of undocumented immigrants, officials are pleading with former ICE agents to return to service, according to an email obtained by CNN that was sent to numerous former agents. It comes with a bonus of up to $50,000. “You served the …

Reuters reports: Donald Trump cannot pursue his nearly $50 million lawsuit against the journalist Bob Woodward for publishing tapes from interviews for his 2020 best-seller “Rage” as an audiobook, a federal judge ruled on Friday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan is a victory for Woodward, his publisher Simon & Schuster and its former owner Paramount …

Just in via press release: The following is a statement from the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) and Writers Guild of America West (WGAW): On July 2nd, Paramount agreed to settle a baseless lawsuit brought against 60 Minutes and CBS News by President Trump for $16 million. On July 15, during a regular show of The Late Show with …

REPORTER: “ICE operations are taking place predominately in Latino communities-” ICE BARBIE: “I wouldn’t say that’s true, I would say that the media has highlighted operations like that, but we have operations ongoing throughout the country every single day in communities everywhere, so I would not say that anyone could show that they’re highlighted in Hispanic communities. That is absolutely …