Tom Nichols: “Nostalgia is usually an unproductive emotion. Our memories can deceive us, especially as we get older. But every so often, nostalgia can remind us of something important. As we celebrate another Fourth of July, I find myself wistful about the patriotism that was once common in America—and keenly aware of how much I miss it.”

“And here’s the thing. Whether you’re talking about Adolf Hitler, whether you’re talking about Chairman Mao, whether you’re talking about Stalin, whether you’re talking about Pol Pot, whether you’re talking about Castro in Cuba, or whether you’re about a dozen other despots all around the globe, it is time for us to get back and start reading some of those quotes.”

— North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R), speaking to the “Moms for Liberty.”

“Lowell P. Weicker Jr., who swaggered through three terms as Connecticut’s last Republican senator, challenging Richard Nixon over Watergate and the GOP’s rightward shift under Ronald Reagan, then willed the state’s income tax into existence in a second act as a third-party governor, died Wednesday. He was 92.” the Connecticut Mirror reports.

Hartford Courant: “Blunt and feisty, loved and hated, Weicker stood out in Connecticut politics for decades as a do-it-my-way figure who won political races at the local, state and federal levels in a long career that stretched four decades from the 1960s into the 1990s. Praised by his supporters as a one-of-a-kind maverick, Weicker was also blasted by his detractors as a bombastic iconoclast who had his own political agenda and was too liberal for the Republican Party.”

Reuters: “Among 536 members of the last sitting Congress, Reuters determined at least 100 descend from slaveholders. Of that group, more than a quarter of the Senate – 28 members – can trace their families to at least one slaveholder.”

“In addition, President Joe Biden and every living former U.S. president – except Donald Trump – are direct descendants of slaveholders: Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and – through his white mother’s side – Barack Obama. Trump’s ancestors came to America after slavery was abolished.”

“Two of the nine sitting U.S. Supreme Court justices – Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch – also have direct ancestors who enslaved people.”

“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

— Bolshevik revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, referring to the rapid collapse of tsarist Russia in 1917.

“Daniel Ellsberg, a former military analyst and anti-war activist whose disclosure of the so-called Pentagon Papers revealed systemic US government deception about the Vietnam War, has died… He was 92,” CNN reports.

“Pat Robertson, a Baptist minister with a passion for politics who marshaled Christian conservatives into a powerful constituency that helped Republicans capture both houses of Congress in 1994, died on Thursday at his home in Virginia Beach,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Robertson built an entrepreneurial empire based on his Christian faith, encompassing a university, a law school, a cable channel with broad reach, and more.”

Washington Post: “The money poured in as he solicited donations, his influence soared, and when he moved directly into politics by seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 1988, he brought a huge following with him.”

Peter Turchin: “All human societies experience recurrent waves of political crisis, such as the one we face today. My research team built a database of hundreds of societies across 10,000 years to try to find out what causes them. We examined dozens of variables, including population numbers, measures of well-being, forms of governance, and the frequency with which rulers are overthrown. We found that the precise mix of events that leads to crisis varies, but two drivers of instability loom large. The first is popular immiseration—when the economic fortunes of broad swaths of a population decline. The second, and more significant, is elite overproduction—when a society produces too many superrich and ultra-educated people, and not enough elite positions to satisfy their ambitions.”

“These forces have played a key role in our current crisis. In the past 50 years, despite overall economic growth, the quality of life for most Americans has declined. The wealthy have become wealthier, while the incomes and wages of the median American family have stagnated. As a result, our social pyramid has become top-heavy. At the same time, the U.S. began overproducing graduates with advanced degrees. More and more people aspiring to positions of power began fighting over a relatively fixed number of spots. The competition among them has corroded the social norms and institutions that govern society.”

“The U.S. has gone through this twice before. The first time ended in civil war. But the second led to a period of unusually broad-based prosperity. Both offer lessons about today’s dysfunction and, more important, how to fix it.”

Seth Masket: “A key thing to note about presidential rematches is that they’re pretty rare. There’s been only one in the past hundred years, and just six overall. But those can be instructive.”

“The 1956 one, of course, was between President Dwight Eisenhower and former Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson. Ike had beaten Stevenson 55-44 in the popular vote in 1952. Four years later, Ike actually improved slightly on his previous performance for a 57-42 win. This shines a light on a few things. First, there is an incumbency effect, which has been detected in many different elections; incumbents tend to do a bit better than challengers. Second, fundamentals matter! The economy was a bit weak in 1952 and the Korean War was in full tilt — this hurt the Democrat Stevenson as the incumbent party’s candidate (Truman had declined to run). By 1956, the economy was stronger, the war was over, and Eisenhower benefited from that.”

“North Carolina’s Fort Bragg will become Fort Liberty, with the US Army on Friday set to redesignate one of the largest military installations in the world,” CNN reports.

“The change follows a branch-wide push to rename bases that bear the name of Confederate leaders. It is currently named after Gen. Braxton Bragg, an unpopular Confederate general who garnered a lot of criticism for his hot temper, combative personality and often subpar performance on the field.”

“Donald Trump’s latest idea to enshrine American greatness is to throw the country ‘the most spectacular’ birthday bash — one that will last all year,” Politico reports.

“In 2026, the U.S. will celebrate the semiquincentennial: the quarter millennial since its declaration of independence. To commemorate the anniversary, Trump is proposing a blowout, 12-month-long ‘Salute to America 250’ celebration.”

“The biggest part of Trump’s yearlong party plans is a massive fair — like a modern world’s fair — showcasing each state.”

Rosalynn Carter, the former first lady of the United States and wife of former President Jimmy Carter, has dementia, CNN reports.

A new trove of documents uncovered by the Wall Street Journal show that CIA Director William Burns met with Jeffrey Epstein at his New York townhouse in 2014, years after he had become a convicted sex offender.

“Richard Riordan, the take-charge venture capitalist who as mayor shepherded Los Angeles’ rebound from the 1992 riots, expanded its Police Department and masterminded its recovery from the Northridge earthquake, has died at his Brentwood home,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

Numerous right-wing pundits who blasted Donald Trump’s indictment were happy to see former Sen. John Edwards criminally charged for similar conduct, Popular Information reports.

Former Texas Lieutenant Governor Ben Barnes, compelled by the news of President Jimmy Carter entering hospice care, has told the New York Times that there was, in fact, a secret GOP effort in 1980 to prevent Iran from releasing 53 American hostages until after that year’s presidential election.

Barnes said that in the summer of 1980, he accompanied former Texas governor John Connally, on a trip to the Middle East during which Connally asked Arab leaders to communicate to Iranian officials that they should not release the hostages before Election Day because if they waited, Ronald Reagan would offer them a better deal.