Independent News Drop

KELI From Inkwell, this is the Independent News Drop. I'm Keli, with Hast.

HAST Courts and power first. From our Ground News desk: in May, Israeli President Herzog said it is forbidden to abuse prisoners. Four days earlier, a video of what authorities called abuse had circulated. National Security Minister Ben-Gvir responded on social media that a president who calls Israeli citizens brutes is not fit to be president. Both men still hold office.

KELI Here's what the coverage missed. This was framed as a feud between two politicians. The actual story — whether detention policy changed — never got reported. Because neither man addressed it. Herzog condemned abuse in principle. Ben-Gvir defended the people doing it. Zero structural accountability emerged. The mechanism: when you reduce a policy failure to personality conflict, the policy stays intact and the officials stay in place.

HAST Watch for whether any independent investigation into detention practices moves forward in the coming weeks. If it doesn't, the counter-read holds. The drama served as closure without change.

KELI Sticking with power and courts. Byron Prophet spent nearly six years in a Texas prison based on testimony from Gerald Goines, a Houston drug detective with a well-documented history of dishonesty. Federal court records now show Goines framed at least a dozen people. Prophet's lawsuit names police supervisors, arguing they turned a blind eye for years while Goines fabricated cases. The detective has already faced criminal charges himself. Prophet is seeking damages for false imprisonment.

HAST That one's going to keep moving. Education stakes in Texas next.

KELI Greg Abbott and Democrat Gina Hinojosa are laying out competing visions for Texas schools ahead of November. Abbott has pushed for school takeovers when performance dips — moving control from local boards to state appointees. Hinojosa is framing college affordability and teacher pay as the priorities. The election will turn partly on which framing wins: state intervention or investment in existing systems. Voters should know the cost difference. Abbott hasn't released numbers on takeover implementation. Hinojosa is still working out affordability details. Both sides will sharpen those numbers in the coming weeks.

HAST Different scale, but still about access. Oregon is spending more money than ever on low-income housing construction. A state law keeps the spending details secret — project locations, developer costs, public subsidy amounts are all sealed. ProPublica found the state spent over a hundred million dollars last year with zero public accounting. Taxpayers fund it. Developers benefit. No one outside the state apparatus knows where the money goes or whether it's efficient.

KELI Overseas. A Pentagon spokesperson acknowledged the existence of a blacklist of journalists during a press briefing on Iran policy. When an Intercept reporter asked about specific military operations, the official said he would put her on a list of people to disregard. The admission was recorded. The reporter asked follow-up questions. They were not answered.

HAST Heavy next. A car was driven into a crowd in Caen, France on Friday. Two people were killed, ten injured. Police arrested a suspect following a reported fight at a nearby bar. French authorities are investigating.

KELI Before we close, a history note.

HAST On this day in 1916, Romania declared war on Austria-Hungary, entering the First World War as an Allied nation.

KELI That's the Independent News Drop. For race setups and track data, head to racer.wiki. Lawz bodycam explainers are on the channel. Full cards and shirts at inkwell.wiki slash cards, slash bible-shirts, slash art-shirts. Full script at inkwell.wiki slash news. From Inkwell.

KELI Before we close, a word from Inkwell. Gil's Intelligent Version has a new companion piece on how the Latter-day Saints read the Trinity — three distinct beings, one in purpose, rather than three persons of one substance.

HAST It's an evenhanded look at the same question, decided the other way. At inkwell dot wiki, slash godhead.