The Hound | June 29

A House bill could raise the risk for journalists, dissidents, and whistleblowers, it's America 250 week, and more.

Hi there,

It’s Monday. A House bill aimed at protecting children through online age verification could curtail whistleblowing and raise the risk for journalists and dissidents. Donald Trump is furious at Mayor Zohran Mamdani after NYC’s Rent Guidelines Board passed a rent freeze, making good on a key promise of his mayoral campaign.

And the Gordie Howe International Bridge — a fully completed span connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, at the busiest land crossing in North America — is sitting empty and unopened because Trump doesn't want it open yet. A grand opening was scheduled for this month and canceled at the last minute after Trump intervened. The economic consequences are real and growing. And the Moroun family — owners of the rival Ambassador Bridge, which benefits financially from every day the Gordie Howe stays closed — has donated millions to Republicans in recent years, including a $1 million contribution to a Trump-aligned super PAC.

Yet too much media coverage treats this as a diplomatic oddity — another wrinkle in Trump's fraught relationship with Canada. It is not. It is a textbook corruption story: a completed piece of public infrastructure being held hostage while a politically connected family with a direct financial stake in keeping it closed showers money on the president's allies.

The public deserves reporting that follows the money and calls what it finds by its name.

Read about this, and more, with today’s stories:

Until next time,

Harry from The Hound

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