BetaTesting

Big day for Pulisic. He will get fouled often, harshly and early. I’m going with an goal by Angry Pulisic in the 37 minute to put us up 1-0 and we go on from there.

@SirNaziSlayer @smerconish What was that 12 days and 3 matches ago?

@downsjm @smerconish Argentina is only here because the ref lent them a hand against Egypt.

Today’s Poll: Who will win the World Cup: Argentina or Spain? Comment your thoughts below. Vote now at smerconish.com

@CNNSOTU So Israel does Israel have a right to exist? Not sure that was made clear at all. He’s running for Senate not the House, this view matters.

Does Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed think there’s room in the Democratic Party for both supporters and opponents of Israel? EL-SAYED: “There's always room in the tent for folks. And I'm for human rights. I'm for equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination. Whatever you think about the right of Israel to exist, I wonder if they have a right to our tax dollars.”

@MarkHalperin @BernieSanders @hakeemjeffries This is starting to get scary.

.@BernieSanders leads a movement and @hakeemjeffries does not.

@AlinejadMasih @jaketapper 🙏🙏🙏

While the world watches the war, the Islamic Republic of Iran hanged a 19-year-old boy today. His name is Erfan Esfandiari and he was his parents' only child. He did not kill anyone. He did not carry a weapon. His crime, according to the Islamic Republic, was opening a door. Sheltering protesters who were running from security forces. That was enough to send him to the gallows. Erfan was one of 12 young men in the Alikhani Square case in Isfahan, arrested during the January 2026 uprising. Yesterday, all 12 were moved to quarantine. Today, the Islamic Republic hanged him. This is a government that is so terrified of a generation that refuses to be silent, that it executes teenagers for the act of compassion. Say his name. Because the regime is already trying to erase him. Because his mother and father are left with nothing, not even the right to grieve loudly.

@rumireports ….and a good sign you’re not where you’re meant to be.

If you’re not having fun at work what are you doing

“I love coaches. Coaches can really change the architecture of your life. There’s also some coaches that can ruin you. And when you’re lucky enough to have one that makes a difference in your life, you never forget it,” Kevin Costner Your why is bigger than any statistic.

@smerconish Physically Argentina could run out of gas, Messi is the oldest player to ever start a WC Final but mentally this team never crumbles.

@smerconish This Argentina squad has the best mentality I’ve ever seen. For the first 60 minutes of the match it may feel like Spain is winning every ball, getting the most chances and catching every break. Argentina doesn’t care, they’ll turn it on late.

@TaylorTwellman 49ers makes sense. That’s a crowd that’s ready willing and able to pay. I guess the 21 SB I think had a COVID factor. Now expand to a global wealth market and I’m actually surprised it’s not higher.

🇪🇸 vs 🇦🇷

@SusanLiTV @McIlroyRory Other golfers I have seen commenting on this each qualified their remarks for various but very valid reasons. What does Rory do, takes liberties to disparage Bryson as performative and blame casts Bryson to the volunteers who had to stay late. Yeah, no thanks.

I wish more athletes speak as bluntly as @McIlroyRory does "I won't pretend to be up here and defend Bryson. I'm not particularly fond of him. I think a lot of it's performative. I think a lot of it's for attention.”

@flushingitgolf From the various quotes around this incident from US players there seems to be a bit of a rally around the flag moment developing. I think that’s a positive.

Open Championship leader Sam Burns played with Bryson DeChambeau today and he said the fans were very supportive of him after yesterday’s ruling. He also said he didn’t think Bryson deserved the penalty: “I thought the fans were very supportive of Bryson today. We didn't discuss it any. “In my personal opinion, I honestly feel bad for Bryson in the situation that he was in. From my perspective, I didn't feel like maybe there was enough evidence for him to deserve a penalty there. “I feel bad for him. I think he played an incredible round of golf late yesterday, and it's unfortunate to have something kind of like that where they come in after your round and tell you you're being docked two shots. “But props to him. He came out and played a really nice round of golf today, and that takes a lot of grit to be able to come out and do that. So I was impressed.” @TheOpen

@MsMelChen I can’t wait to see it in IMAX, I’m sure it will be phenomenal. I’m a simpleton, it’s entertainment, not politics.

The preemptive boycotts of Nolan’s Odyssey in the name of anti-wokeness mirror the very spirit conservatives have long opposed. For more than a decade, we’ve endured a string of disappointing movies because contemporary progressivism hardened into secular puritanism. Like earlier moral reform movements, it demanded public confessions of orthodoxy, ritual purification of “problematic” elements, and the cancellation of dissenters. In institutional Hollywood, this took the form of explicit inclusion quotas, sensitivity training, revised awards criteria, and the systematic prioritization of identity-based messaging over coherence, character, or dramatic tension. The result was formulaic, risk-averse storytelling. The consequences have been plain to see - a string of commercially and critically disappointing projects, such as the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot, which sacrificed the original’s anarchic, character-driven comedy for heavy-handed gender-reversal premises and “girl power” framing. Any deviation from the diversity agenda was treated as ideological transgression, so films devolved into exercises in ticking representational checkboxes. However, the right’s reflexive boycotts now punish perceived deviations from “correct” representation, even when they come from directors who have largely stayed outside progressive orthodoxy. The result is a narrowing of the imaginative space in which ambitious, large-scale work can even be attempted without immediate partisan judgment. The classics are not static relics sealed in amber. They are living testaments to the human imagination - palimpsests on which successive generations have inscribed their own visions while preserving continuity. Homer’s Odyssey itself stands as the fountainhead of a long tradition of bold reinterpretation. Virgil refracted its wanderings into Rome’s founding myth in the Aeneid; Dante recast Ulysses as a restless seeker damned for intellectual hubris in the Inferno; and Tennyson, in his stirring dramatic monologue “Ulysses,” transformed the hero into a Victorian emblem of indomitable will and existential longing: “to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” Mythic archetypes possess a remarkable elasticity. They can absorb new cultural dimensions, philosophical depths, and formal narrative experiments precisely because they resonate with timeless human truths - mortality, homecoming, cunning, and the boundless sea of experience. Yet when conservatism curdles into closed-mindedness, it inoculates artists against the very openness they need to engage their own moment in history with sincerity and courage. Conservatives who cling to reflexive suspicion should remember that genuine artistic greatness requires the openness they sometimes reject; pre-judging work before it is experienced only ensures the mediocrity they claim to oppose.

CENTCOM Statement on Recently Fallen, Missing U.S. Service Members TAMPA, Fla. — On July 17, two U.S. service members in Jordan were killed in action as U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. Additionally, one service member is currently missing. Four American service members were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals. They have since been discharged. Other personnel who were evaluated for minor injuries have returned to duty. Out of respect for the families, CENTCOM will withhold additional information, including the identities of the fallen warriors, until 24 hours after the next of kin have been notified.

@RealSkipBayless Yes very classy in what is supposed to be a “gentleman’s” sport.

I love the way Rory blasted Bryson. Rory spoke as golf's most respected and outspoken voice and said what so many other players were thinking.

Messi will become the oldest outfield player to ever play in a World Cup final 🔥

@smerconish Yes. Deterrence of business crimes demands it and Federal Sentencing Guidelines allowed for it.

Does Sam Bankman-Fried's 25-year sentence fit the crime?

@smerconish Yes but build a bridge. “Sorry everyone, Socialism was always meant to be a bridge to Communism and we’re not going there. What we can do is to create new taxes around the highest earners (on income & share backed loans, not wealth) to expand the programs we think are important.”

Today’s Poll: Do Democrats need a “Sister Souljah” break with democratic socialists? Comment your thoughts below. Vote now at smerconish.com

@smerconish @CNN @cnni @stavridisj Blockade 2.0 with surgical infrastructure strikes will be effective. It’s like putting plugs on a sprinkler system that you don’t want to turn off, and if you do choose to turn it off, it’s incredibly expensive to turn it back on. Need to give it a couple of months.

Send your thoughts on latest out of Iran and I will read some @CNN @cnni when @stavridisj joins me next hour the-express.com/news/us-news/2…

@OutFrontCNN @jaketapper @Phil_Mattingly The first person interviewed says she’s studying to become a nurse. Good for her, I’m rooting for her so let’s see where she’s at a few years down the road. She’s clearly making some sacrifices now. The second couple moved further out, happens every day. Looks nice!

“I wanted a yard for my kid… the normal American dream”: @Phil_Mattingly reports on the families trapped in America’s affordability crisis.