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Carson Benge cleared the fence in the eighth inning Wednesday, ensuring the Mets wouldn’t conclude their trip to Canada by getting shut out.

Supreme Court Justice Thomas Says Birthright Citizenship Ruling 'Devalues' US Citizenship

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas issued a lengthy dissent criticizing the high court's majority ruling against President Donald Trump's executive order restricting birthright citizenship, saying the decision would effectively devalue American citizenship as it was understood by those who created the Constitution's 14th Amendment.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas poses for an official portrait at the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court building in Washington on Oct. 7, 2022. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Thomas said the majority is attempting to repurpose the 14th Amendment "to protect its own set of preferred rights that the Reconstruction Congress never contemplated and that cannot find support in its text," referring to the post-Civil War era of the mid-to-late 19th century.

Further, he argued that the June 30 ruling denigrates the idea of U.S. citizenship, saying that it has been used by "foreign birth tourists and illegal aliens."

"I am not sure that today's opinion will stand the test of time," Thomas wrote. "The Citizenship Clause 'added greatly to the dignity and glory of American citizenship.' Today's opinion devalues that citizenship."

The order issued by Trump aimed to exclude children of illegal immigrants and temporary visitors from gaining automatic birthright citizenship. In 1898, the high court delivered the landmark birthright citizenship ruling in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which effectively stated that any child born in the United States to immigrants is granted citizenship regardless of the nationality of the child's parents.

In addition to Thomas, Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented and indicated that they would allow Trump's executive order to stand. Justice Brett Kavanaugh partially concurred with the majority in saying that he thinks the Trump administration's executive order does violate a federal statute but that the constitutionality of birthright citizenship is an open question and that the executive order doesn't violate the 14th Amendment.

"The Court today takes the extraordinary step of holding facially unconstitutional the President's Order excluding from citizenship the children of foreign temporary visitors and illegal aliens," Thomas said in the 91-page dissent, which is significantly longer than the majority's opinion.

Thomas indicated that he sided with the Trump administration's arguments that the 14th Amendment, ratified three years after the end of the Civil War in 1868, was intended to give citizenship to black people who were freed from slavery rather than automatically giving it to the children of immigrants.

"In doing so, the Court adds to the sad history of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was designed and understood to secure equal rights for the freed blacks but has instead been repurposed for political projects that the Reconstruction Congress did not support," he said.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion and was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

"Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights - to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to 'every free-born person in this land,'" Roberts wrote, citing congressional debate over the 14th Amendment. "We keep that promise today."

Multiple lower courts have blocked the executive order, signed by Trump early in his presidential term last year, and it has not taken effect anywhere in the United States. The high court ruled on the president's appeal of a lower-court ruling from New Hampshire that struck down the birthright citizenship restrictions.

Birthright citizenship was the first Trump administration immigration-related issue to reach the Supreme Court for a final ruling. Since he took office, Trump has rolled out policies designed to deport large numbers of illegal immigrants, namely those with criminal records.

He has also canceled temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of people living in the United States, bolstered U.S. border security, initiated policies encouraging illegal aliens to self-deport, and issued other rules.

In response to the June 30 ruling, Trump said, "[The ruling is] too bad for our Country, but we can easily make it up in Congress through Legislation."

"Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship," he wrote on Truth Social. "They will have my Complete and Total Support!"

In a previous post, he argued that "dumb judges and justices" allow wealthy women from China and elsewhere to come to the United States with the sole purpose of giving birth so that their children will be American citizens. He noted that few other countries have such a policy.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) hailed the majority opinion, saying that the "decision reaffirms a fundamental American promise - if you are born here, you are a citizen."

"A president cannot change the Constitution by executive fiat," ACLU National Legal Director Cecillia Wang said in a statement. "Our brave clients and our legal team stand with millions of people around our country who spoke up for one of our most cherished rights. The Constitution's guarantee of birthright citizenship stands strong."

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 23:30

In a series of moves on the first day of free agency Wednesday, president and general manager Chris Drury revamped the Blueshirts blue line.

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FAA Moves To Lift 50-Year Ban On Overland Supersonic Flights

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday moved to end the more than 50-year ban on civilian supersonic flights over the continental United States, proposing rules that would allow aircraft to exceed the speed of sound provided they don’t produce a sonic boom.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced on June 30 that the FAA has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would replace the more than 50-year-old prohibition on overland civil supersonic flight with a regulatory framework focused on limiting noise rather than speed.

As Tom Ozimek reports for The Epoch Times, the proposal marks a key step in implementing President Donald Trump’s executive order signed last month directing the FAA to repeal regulations that the administration says have unnecessarily constrained U.S. aerospace innovation.

“For more than 50 years, outdated and overly restrictive regulations have grounded the promise of supersonic flight over land, stifling American ingenuity, weakening our global competitiveness, and ceding leadership to foreign adversaries,” Trump said in the order.

If finalized, the rule would clear the way for what the DOT described as a new generation of commercial supersonic aircraft capable of dramatically reducing travel times while minimizing the noise impacts that led regulators to ban such flights in the early 1970s.

“Restoring supersonic flight over land isn’t just about speed, it’s about unleashing American innovation and ushering in a Golden Age of Travel,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.

Current regulations prohibit civilian aircraft from flying faster than Mach 1 over U.S. land except under special flight authorizations for research and testing in isolated test areas.

The FAA aims to finalize the rule by mid-2027.

Shift From Speed Limits to Noise Limits

Under the proposed rule, that blanket speed restriction would be replaced with a noise-based operating standard.

Aircraft operators would instead have to prove through FAA-approved measurement, modeling, or other methods that their aircraft can prevent excess levels of sonic boom overpressure at the ground.

By adopting a performance-based regulatory framework, the proposal would usher in what the FAA described as a clear pathway for “safe, efficient, and commercially viable operation of civil supersonic aircraft in the United States.”

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said that innovative technologies have made it possible for the agency to rethink regulations adopted decades ago.

“Advances in aerospace engineering, materials science, noise reduction, and new operational concepts will eliminate the old sonic boom,” Bedford said in a statement. “This means we can ultimately repeal the ban from the 1970s on supersonic flight over U.S. territory while minimizing noise impacts to residents in communities along the route and near airports.”

Tuesday’s proposal follows Trump’s executive order directing the FAA to repeal the overland supersonic flight ban within 180 days and establish interim noise-based certification standards before developing permanent regulations.

The proposal will be open for public comment for 45 days after publication in the Federal Register.

The Transportation Department said that, in addition to this first proposed rule, the FAA plans to put forward another one later this year that would establish landing and takeoff noise standards for supersonic aircraft.

“We are working at lightning speed to safely enable the next quantum leap in aviation technology and deliver an exciting new way to fly to the American flying public,” Duffy said in a statement.

The FAA cited Boom Supersonic’s February 2025 XB-1 test flight and NASA’s Farfield Investigation of No-boom Thresholds (FaINT) research as evidence that advances in technology have made a blanket ban on overland civilian supersonic flight obsolete.

Boom Supersonic founder and CEO Blake Scholl welcomed Tuesday’s announcement, saying in a post on X that “legalizing supersonic flight is a great way to celebrate America’s 250!”

“Boomless supersonic flight is technically feasible,” he said.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 23:00

The Zach Werenski-Blue Jackets saga has taken another twist.

The child stars declined to participate in Netflix's "Full House" revival, "Fuller House."

The child stars declined to participate in Netflix's "Full House" revival, "Fuller House."

Trump Takes Maiden Flight On New Air Force One Jet

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times,

Ahead of a trip to North Dakota on July 1 to honor the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, President Donald Trump officially debuted a refurbished Boeing 747-8 luxury jet that will serve as the interim Air Force One.

President Donald Trump pumps his fist after touring the inside of the newest aircraft in the presidential fleet at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., on June 19, 2026. The Qatari royal family gifted the $400 million, Boeing 747-8 to be used as the new Air Force One. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Set to open on Saturday in Medora, North Dakota, the 96,000-square-foot facility is carved out of local soil and overlooks the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, among the rugged Badlands where the former president spent many of his formative years.

Trump is honoring Roosevelt ahead of the nation's 250th anniversary on July 4, and Wednesday's trip marks the new plane's inaugural flight as the interim Air Force One.

The Qatari government gifted the $400 million Boeing 747-8 luxury jet to the federal government last year, and it is one of the largest gifts Washington has ever received.

At the time, the gift drew scrutiny from across the political spectrum, including among some of the president's base.

When the Air Force first unveiled the plane earlier this month, it said the modified jet was up to the military's security standards.

"We're very proud of this. The country is very proud of it, and you can do two things: you can low-key it, or you can show it," Trump told reporters on the tarmac before departing for North Dakota on Wednesday.

When asked how much taxpayer money was required to refurbish and upgrade the plane to meet security standards, Trump said, "very little relative to what it would cost if we did it a different way."

"Frankly, we couldn't build a plane like this because we wouldn't be willing to spend the kind of money necessary. [Qatar] spent top dollars," Trump said.

"I went to Qatar and said, 'I'd like to use it for a period of time,' because the other ones, as you know, are under construction; they'll be here in two years, and because you know the [former Air Force One] is 35 years old."

The three new Boeing 747-8 jets that will serve as the new Air Force One fleet under the VC-25B program are still being prepared and are not expected to be flight-ready until mid-2028.

While built on the 747-8 airframe, the VC-25B jets come with critical upgrades, including advanced technology and "increased capacity and further enhanced capabilities for presidential travel," according to Boeing.

Jackson Richman and Reuters contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 22:30

Minnesota officials, including Democrat Gov. Tim Walz, last month pardoned an illegal immigrant who was previously convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl and who was slated to be deported.

Alleged killer Andrea Shaw, 23, appeared on a podcast hosted by anti-vax nonprofit Children's Health Defense with her husband, Nathaniel, to claim her twins died from vaccine-related injuries.

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"There may not be much of a body to present. Khamenei was killed by a bunker-penetration strike, and others killed with him were recovered weeks later and identified by DNA."