Dirty Hands

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe is backing rules to limit citizen ballot initiatives while his own income tax amendment is funded by nearly $2 million from a Delaware nonprofit that hides donors. Voters face two competing changes and a question about who really pays.

In 1979 Iranian students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, holding 52 Americans for 444 days. A failed U.S. rescue, long Cold War resentments and election timing turned the ordeal into a political and diplomatic watershed.

Dirty Hands

A New York photo of Manuel Adorni with his wife ballooned into Argentina’s biggest political crisis for President Javier Milei. Investigations allege $245,000 in cash renovations, nearly $500,000 omitted from asset declarations and luxury travel despite a $2,000 monthly salary. Adorni resigned after 100 days and polls plunged.

Football Gods

Brazil enters the World Cup knockout as five-time champions and heavy favorites. Japan arrives as an adaptable dark horse that beat Brazil last year and could shift the tournament and youth culture with an upset.

Imperialists

The U.S. froze more than $2 billion in Latin America aid and will end USAID implementation on July 1, 2026. The cuts threaten coca eradication in Peru, Amazon protections in Brazil and Venezuelans abroad.

Ruling Class

A $1.6 billion U.S.-Kazakhstan tungsten deal has raised conflict questions after Donald Trump, his sons and allies took linked stakes. The timing, family ties and strategic stakes in tungsten have sparked calls for oversight and alarm in Washington.

Fool’s Court

Bill Maher accepted the Mark Twain Prize at a Kennedy Center ceremony where comedians repeatedly targeted President Trump. The center’s controversial branding with Trump’s name had been covered by a tarp after a judge ruled the board acted improperly.

Nature’s Wrath

After twin earthquakes on June 24, 2026, Venezuela faces at least 2,295 dead and more than 11,000 injured. Aid teams and 900 U.S. troops arrived, but crowded shelters, no toilets and broken hospitals risk a widening health crisis.

Venezuela's oil wealth became a trap. Decades of nationalization, price controls and mismanagement shrank GDP, pushed millions into poverty and sparked one of the largest migrations in the Americas.

History's Teeth

In April 1961 a CIA-backed force of about 1,400 Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs. The invasion failed within days, boosting Fidel Castro and embarrassing the U.S. government.

History's Teeth

A powerful earthquake in March 1812 shattered Caracas, killed and burned hundreds, and gave conservative clergy and royalist commanders the opening they needed to crush Venezuela’s fragile First Republic. The quake reshaped the war for independence and left wounds that lasted through Bolívar’s long fight to 1824.

Dirty Hands

Federal records show FBI Director Kash Patel bought MicroStrategy shares on Nov. 21 and did not disclose the $100,001 to $250,000 trade until May 26, six months later. The late filing has ignited ethics questions and political fallout for the nation’s top lawman.