The Weekly Matterboard, 7.14.2026
We rate the importance of Lindsey Graham's death, the latest ICE mayhem, World Cup video-review controversies, and more
The Matterboard is our weekly assessment of what’s worth your attention and what isn’t. Here’s last week’s edition, here’s an overview of the project, and here’s the full archive.
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This week’s Matterboard has 11 new items, plus seven carryovers from last week. We ditched Reflecting Pool Follies and eight other items. We’re disappointed that the courageous algae in the National Mall’s reflecting pool have fallen from the headlines, and we hope they come roaring back. But other stuff has pushed them aside.
Here’s a rundown of the Matterboard, by quadrant:
WORTH PAYING ATTENTION TO:
The Iran situationship is an urgent matter once again, as both the US and Iran have resumed attacks on each other. Oil prices have jumped once more, to around $83 per barrel. This could go on for months.
Trump’s self-dealing suffered a setback on July 13 when a federal judge voided the “deal” Trump made with the IRS in May to shield himself from future tax prosecution and set up a fund to compensate allies. The judge referred Todd Blanche, acting attorney general, and another man who is Trump’s personal lawyer to their state bar associations for possible disciplinary action for ethical misconduct. Blanche is up soon for Senate confirmation hearings for the AG job, the nation’s top law-enforcement position. Perfect.
More ICE killings. Immigration agents have killed two more people, one in Maine and another in Texas. That’s at least nine people shot by immigration officials in the last two years. The immigration agency says it will temporarily stop using traffic stops to check for unauthorized migrants, since that’s how the two latest killings got started. But this rogue agency seems incapable of reforming itself.
Russia is taking a beating, as Ukraine attacks energy facilities deep inside Russia, oil tankers on the high seas, and logistical hubs deep in the battlefield’s rear. Russians have to wait hours and sometimes days for gasoline. Ukraine isn’t necessarily winning, but Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is bringing disaster on his country as the costs of the war hit home.
Job growth is middling and consumers say the job market stinks. With the midterm elections less than four months away, it matters more than usual.
CNN’s future is hazy, given that David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is due to take over CNN parent Warner Brothers Discovery by the end of September. That’s the same company that recently took over CBS and is now wreaking havoc at CBS News. But there could be a white knight coming for CNN. The attorneys general of 12 states sued to stop the merger, which the Trump administration has already approved. If the deal isn’t done by Sept. 30, Paramount has to start paying financial penalties. Maybe the 12 AGs are hoping to stop the merger simply by delaying it and making Paramount pay.
MIGHT GET SPICY:
GOP midterm cheating will stress-test the US electoral system in November. Trump’s latest effort to rig the election is the firing of all three commissioners at an agency that helps states with federal elections, leaving the agency leaderless.
World Cup video reviews risk marring the splendid tournament, after a goofy overturned call in the Argentina-Switzerland quarterfinal tilted the game toward Argentina. Mystified Americans new to soccer learned one important thing: Video reviews are as tedious in soccer as they are in American football.
The AI stock bubble hasn’t burst yet, but manic swings in semiconductor stocks suggest something crazy is afoot.
$4 gas is coming back, now that the Iran war is hot again and oil prices are surging. Trump desperately wants this to be over by November. Iran desperately wants it not to be.
E. Jean Carroll finally received $5.63 million from President Trump, three years after a jury awarded her the payout as compensation for sexual assault and defamation. Trump tried and failed to get the verdict overturned. Worth noting: Trump complied with a judge’s order to pay the money, in the end.
RESULTS MAY VARY:
The Trump tariffs are still there. His latest scheme was to place 20% tariffs on all cargo shipments leaving the Hormuz Strait, a wacky idea that barely lasted a day. Wherever there’s a problem, Trump sees a tariff.
Nearly a dozen candidates calling themselves Democratic socialists could be heading to Congress this year. It’s astonishing they can’t come up with better branding.
Trump calls it a “big yawn,” but a new housing law passed by Congress could eventually help lower costs for people who aren’t billionaires. Trump didn’t sign the law, but he didn’t veto it either. He just did nothing, and it became law by default. Trump boycotted the signing because he’s pissed Congress won’t pass a separate voting law that could make it harder to vote. We don’t get it either.
The Super Bowl-champ Seattle Seahawks are now the nation’s most valuable sports franchise, fetching a $9.6 billion bid from venture capitalist Vinod Khosla. The bubble in NFL franchises has been going on way longer than the AI bubble.
The Qatari version of Air Force One lacks the security systems of the regular Air Force version, as the New York Times reported on July 8. Trump is so embarrassed by the failures of his luxury jet that his Justice Dept. issued subpoenas to the Times reporters, trying to compel them to reveal their sources. The real villain is the vainglorious Trump, who never should have accepted the Qatari jet or spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars trying to retrofit it to presidential standards.
SAFELY IGNORE:
The death of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is sad and unfortunate, and it will make a difference in the interplay between Congress and the Trump White House. But it won’t change the balance of power in the Senate, given that South Carolina is a deep-red state that will undoubtedly replace him with another Republican. For ordinary people parsing the news, there’s not much upshot, except that one of Trump’s most vocal defenders will no longer fill the TV screen.
The share price of Elon’ Musk’s rocket company SpaceX has been sliding for nearly a month. The company went public on June 12 at $135 per share, and peaked at $202 a few days later. But it’s now at $136, basically where it started—a bit of schadenfreude for Musk’s many critics.
Trump has a primetime speech scheduled for July 16. Subject matter: TBD. This sounds like a big yawn, similar to the aimless TV speech he delivered on April 1. Back then, Trump said the US military was “getting very close” to completing its mission. 😄 Maybe the update is that it’s a little closer now.