Required reading from around the web of the best, most interesting, or most though provoking things we’ve read:
Chapman: Pompeo: Trump Administration Sounding ‘Clarion Call for Religious Freedom Around the World’
“In anticipation of next week’s Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Washington Watch today that the Trump administration is sounding the ‘clarion call for religious freedom around the world’ and that many foreign officials, religious leaders, rights advocates, and NGOs will be attending the event July 24-26 at the State Department in Washington, D.C.”
John Solomon: Opinion: One FBI text message in Russia probe that should alarm every American
“It is no longer in dispute that they held animus for Donald Trump , who was a subject of their Russia probe, or that they openly discussed using the powers of their office to ‘stop’ Trump from becoming president. […] For any American who wants an answer sooner, there are just five words, among the thousands of suggestive texts Page and Strzok exchanged, that you should read. That passage was transmitted on May 19, 2017. ‘There’s no big there there,’ Strzok texted. […] That sort of multifaceted allegation machine, which can be traced back to a single source, is known in spy craft as ‘circular intelligence reporting,’ and it’s the sort of bad product that professional spooks are trained to spot and reject. But Team Strzok kept pushing it through the system, causing a major escalation of a probe for which, by his own words, he knew had ‘no big there there.'”
Radnovitch: Anti-sanctuary state initiative qualifies for November ballot
“The Secretary of State certified that Initiative Petition 22 had 97,762 valid signatures — 86 percent of the signatures submitted and more than the 88,184 required to qualify for the general election.The initiative aims to remove a 31-year-old statute prohibiting Oregon law enforcement agencies from arresting individuals whose only crime is violating federal immigration law.”