Think More: Wednesday, July 15, 2026
Jack Smith read 44 lawmakers' texts, Rubio vows to end the ICC, fentanyl deaths fall, foreign cash floods U.S. colleges.
Lead · The Justice Department Changes Sides
Jack Smith’s Team Secretly Read the Texts of 44 Members of Congress
Christina Park | Just the News
Records released by Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson show that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team obtained and reviewed the private text messages of 44 members of Congress, 40 Republicans and four Democrats, during the Arctic Frost probe, bypassing the filter team meant to shield privileged material. The Speech or Debate Clause exists to prevent exactly this. Grassley now wants Smith back under oath.
The Latest from the Justice Department
The Trump DOJ Moves to Join Judicial Watch’s Suit Over 873,000 Stale California Registrations
Judicial Watch | judicialwatch.org
Judicial Watch sued California Secretary of State Shirley Weber for leaving 873,092 registrations inactive across at least three federal elections, some dating before 2016, in violation of the National Voter Registration Act. Twenty counties removed just 218 names in two years. The Justice Department has now moved to intervene on Judicial Watch’s side.
The Border and the Bloodstream
ICE’s Harlingen Office Sets a Single-Day Record With 238 Arrests in the Rio Grande Valley
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement | ice.gov
ICE’s Harlingen field office arrested 238 illegal aliens on June 18, its highest single-day total, in a joint operation across the Rio Grande Valley. Among them were people convicted of attempted kidnapping, sexual battery, and drug offenses, along with an alleged Paisas gang member. Field Office Director Juan Agudelo called it routine enforcement.
The Administration Credits Its Cartel Crackdown as Fentanyl Deaths Fall 22%
The White House | whitehouse.gov
The White House convened its first Fentanyl Free America Summit as it touted a reversal in overdose deaths. Citing CDC figures, it reported synthetic-opioid deaths falling from 48,913 in 2024 to 38,084 in 2025, and DEA testing finding that 29% of seized pills carry a lethal dose, down from 76% two years earlier.
Fentanyl’s retreat: CDC provisional mortality data, 2024 to 2025
22%
Drop in synthetic opioid deaths
38,084
Fentanyl deaths in 2025, from 48,913
29%
Seized pills with a lethal dose, from 76%
The Foreign Reach
Rubio Vows to Dismantle the International Criminal Court “Brick by Brick”
Marco Rubio | The Wall Street Journal
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged to dismantle the International Criminal Court “brick by brick, if necessary,” calling it an unaccountable tribunal that claims power to prosecute American soldiers, agents, and officials who never consented to its jurisdiction. He cast the court as a standing threat to sovereignty.
Jim Jordan Warns That Foreign Digital Laws Are Exporting Censorship Into America
Christina Park | Just the News
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan argues that European and South Korean digital rules force platforms to police American speech. A committee report flagged Seoul’s $410 million fine on Coupang, and the E.U.’s Digital Services Act, under which X was fined $140 million. Because firms keep single content policies, foreign mandates reach into the First Amendment.
A New Federal Portal Puts $72 Billion in Foreign Money to U.S. Colleges on Display
Campus Reform | campusreform.org
The Education Department’s Section 117 portal shows American universities have reported more than $72.1 billion in foreign gifts and contracts, including $5.2 billion in 2025. Cornell, Harvard, and MIT rank among the largest recipients, with donors ranging from the Qatar Foundation to Huawei and Saudi Aramco. Republicans call the disclosures a national-security and transparency reckoning.
The Left’s Standing Army
A Pro-Cuba Coalition Drafts a Plan to Flood the Streets Within 24 Hours of Any Strike
The National Network on Cuba has circulated a blueprint directing activists to picket ICE offices, military bases, and recruiting centers within 24 hours of any U.S. attack on Cuba, aiming to make war “politically and materially costly.” The coalition ties to a Cuban state body that Washington sanctioned in June.
The DSA and Its Allies Turn Data Centers Into the Left’s Newest Target
Stu Smith traces how the Democratic Socialists of America, anti-ICE organizers, and self-styled anti-imperialists have converged on data centers, casting general-purpose infrastructure as surveillance and Big Tech power. Data Center Watch counts $130 billion in projects blocked or delayed by early 2026. Some activists have drifted from moratoria toward calls to burn the facilities down.
Strategy and Succession
Heritage Urges the Navy to Make the South China Sea and Arabian Sea Its Decisive Theaters
Brent Sadler | The Heritage Foundation
Updating a 2020 framework, Brent Sadler argues the Navy should concentrate on two maritime theaters, the South China Sea and the Arabian Sea, to deter China and squeeze its energy lifelines. With Maduro toppled, Assad gone, and dark-fleet tankers under interdiction, he says Beijing faces a Hormuz dilemma over a quarter of world energy shipments.
Lindsey Graham’s Death Leaves Four Committee Vacancies and a Fight Over Reconciliation
James Wallner maps the scramble after Lindsey Graham’s sudden death, which empties his Budget chairmanship and seats on Appropriations, Judiciary, and Environment and Public Works. The Budget gavel matters most: it unlocks the reconciliation process Republicans need to pass the SAVE America Act. Seniority points to Ron Johnson, with Mike Lee likely rising atop Judiciary.
Incentives and the Common Good
Michael Kochin Makes the Case for Civilian Control of Federally Funded Science
Michael S. Kochin | The American Mind
Michael Kochin defends a proposed rule letting agency heads, not anonymous peer reviewers, decide which research the national interest still warrants. Peer review, he argues, funds derivative work at colossal expense while enforcing consensus. Eighty years after Vannevar Bush, he sees no proof that favoring “basic research” over applied science has sped fundamental progress.
John Hinderaker Blames Incentives for the Surge in Americans Claiming Disability
John Hinderaker argues that disability claims have climbed even as workplace injuries and hard labor decline, pointing to money rather than medicine. He dates the surge to a flood of pandemic-era federal income under the Biden administration and cites a longtime contrast between Scandinavian neighbors, where looser rules alone produced far higher disability rolls.
