07/28 -- Trump to host Netanyahu, Zelenskyy; "Free Stuff" in Norway Still Costs Half of Average Pay
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Thomas L. Knapp
Jul 28, 2026, 6:12:27 AM (8 days ago) Jul 28
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 07/28/26
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Trump to host Netanyahu, Zelenskyy
2) Brazilian, Chinese regimes accelerate trade deal negotiations
3) Iranian regime denies seeking US negotiations, rejects Trump’s remarks
4) Trump regime asks SCOTUS to intervene to allow postal election-rigging scheme
5) US, French regimes trade barbs in fight over UN rights chief’s second term
6) US FDA approves blood test for colorectal cancer
7) France: Crowd subdues man who attacked three women with knives
8) McConnell (or someone pretending to be him) releases health update
9) Canada: Shot fired outside US Consulate in Toronto for second time this year
10) Comey moves to dismiss frivolous/vexatious political prosecution
11) Chinese chipmaker shares surge nearly 470% in blockbuster stock market debut
12) Altman says AI has entered “singularity”
13) Cracker Barrel CEO steps down after idiotic moral panic over rebrand
14) Nigeria: At Least 30 Killed in Village Attack in Kaduna State, Residents Say
15) Kazakhstan: US-Russian space crew lands safely after 8-month stint on space station
16) Brazil: Regime recalls ambassador to Argentina after Milei attacks Lula
17) Judge limits BBC from relitigating Beer Belly Putsch in Trump’s frivolous defamation suit
18) More than 600 US troops wounded in Iran war, Pentagon data show
19) Shein swings to $99 million loss as Trump tariffs on American buyers hit sales
20) Senegal: Faye launches a new party, formalising his split with Sonko
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) “Free Stuff” in Norway Still Costs Half of Average Pay
22) Hegseth’s War on Leaks Is A War on Accountability
23) The American Presidency and Perpetual War
24) No, Remote Work Is Not Making Us Miserable
25) The Economics of Status
26) Will Mamdani have the courage to stare down the teachers’ union boss?
27) This European country launched a task force to target “hate speech.” Now a journalist who insulted politicians is going to prison.
28) California Dreaming
29) The World Is Watching the United States. So Are Workers.
30) The Housewives Underground
31) America’s tipping culture has gone from rewarding service to fee insanity
32) The Worst Lady
33) Haunted by History: Lawrence’s Ghost Speaks for Himself … and to Us
34) How Net Zero Helped Bring Down British Steel
35) Moved by Meaning
36) The Full Risk–Benefit Balance Behind the First Covid-19 Vaccine
37) Nixon Goes Viral
38) Paradise Lost, Government Gained
39) The Kremlin’s Easy Money Is Gone
40) Oman is cozying up to China as US throws Mideast into disarray
41) You Sirs Are the Duplicitous Murderous Failures
42) Reading a Rising China Through the Wrong Ancient Script
43) The Meaning of Fedorov’s Firing
44) I can’t believe liberals [sic] are calling homeschooling child abuse
45) Data Centers Aren’t the Problem. Scarcity Politics Is.
46) It’s Time to Use the Strait of Hormuz to Demilitarize the Persian Gulf
47) The perils of these international law things
48) How the modern plea bargain undercuts the constitutional right to a jury trial
49) Zohran Mamdani’s New Kids on the Block
50) How Trump’s Tariffs Undermine US Trustworthiness and Credibility—and What Can Be Done to Stop it
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 07/27/26
52) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 07/27/26
53) Rising, 07/27/26
54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 07/27/26
55) EconTalk, 07/27/26
56) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 07/27/26
57) The Corbett Report, episode 506
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 07/26/26
59) Zooming In, 07/26/26
60) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 07/26/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Trump to host Netanyahu, Zelenskyy
Source: AOL
“U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday, with wars in Iran and Ukraine at critical stages and his ties with both leaders markedly different. Relations with Zelenskiy have warmed as Ukraine has blunted Russian advances, while Netanyahu arrives amid growing White House frustration over the lack of progress toward a broader settlement in the Iran conflict and criticism from some of Trump’s supporters who oppose deeper U.S. involvement in the Middle East. The two men are in Washington to attend a memorial service for Senator Lindsey Graham, a hawkish Republican who was one of Trump’s closest allies and who frequently tried to coax Trump into providing more support for Ukraine’s war.” (07/28/26)
https://www.aol.com/articles/trump-host-netanyahu-zelenskiy-ukraine-050302000.html
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2) Brazilian, Chinese regimes accelerate trade deal negotiations
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva agreed on Sunday night to accelerate negotiations for a trade agreement between China and Mercosur, a striking reversal for Brasilia, which for years led resistance to such a deal in the South American bloc. The two leaders spoke by telephone for more than an hour, according to a statement from the Brazilian presidency, and ‘coincided on the importance of speeding up the talks for a Mercosur-China agreement that contemplates the necessary flexibilities’. … The call came days after a 25 per cent tariff imposed by US President Donald Trump on [American buyers of] part of Brazil’s exports took effect.” (07/28/26)
https://archive.is/LZser
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3) Iranian regime denies seeking US negotiations, rejects Trump’s remarks
Source: WION [India]
“Iran has rejected US President Donald Trump’s claim that negotiations with Washington are underway, with the country’s Foreign Ministry insisting that no talks are currently taking place between the two sides. In a statement on Monday (July 27), the ministry said Iran was ‘not engaged in any negotiations with the United States’ and dismissed suggestions that Tehran had sought to restart dialogue, saying such an approach was ‘not in our DNA’. Instead, it claimed it was Washington that had requested talks, according to Iranian news agency Tasnim. The remarks came despite a pause in the recent military confrontation between Iran and the United States, with both sides refraining from launching fresh strikes for a second consecutive day.” (07/28/26)
https://www.wionews.com/world/not-in-our-dna-iran-denies-seeking-us-negotiations-rejects-trump-s-remarks-1785182270778
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4) Trump regime asks SCOTUS to intervene to allow postal election-rigging scheme
Source: CNBC
“The Trump administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to intervene in a legal fight over President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in voting, escalating the dispute 99 days before the November midterm elections. The emergency request came after a federal appeals court, in a 2-1 decision Saturday, left in place an order blocking key parts of Trump’s executive order issued in March that directs federal agencies to create voter eligibility lists and restrict U.S. Postal Service delivery of ballots not tied to those lists. A coalition of 23 states argue Trump lacks authority to impose federal rules on elections administered by state and local officials.” (07/27/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/27/trump-supreme-court-mail-in-voting-restrictions.html
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5) US, French regimes trade barbs in fight over UN rights chief’s second term
Source: Reuters
“The U.S. walked out as France addressed a United Nations Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Monday, accusing its longtime ally of ‘disingenuous grandstanding’ over French comments comparing the U.S. to North Korea, Russia and other authoritarian states regarding votes on human rights issues. The move followed a tense weekend exchange between the two permanent Security Council members on X in which France blasted Washington for joining Russia, North Korea and seven other countries in voting against a proposal to extend the term of Volker Turk as the U.N. rights chief for four more years. … The U.N. General Assembly on Friday voted overwhelmingly to extend the term of Turk, an outspoken critic of Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s conduct in Gaza who has also called for investigations into deaths in U.S. immigration custody. The term extension has been opposed by Russia, Israel and others, with Washington threatening to reassess its funding and engagement.” (07/27/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-france-trade-barbs-fight-over-un-rights-chiefs-second-term-2026-07-27/
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6) US FDA approves blood test for colorectal cancer
Source: Reuters
“The U.S. FDA has approved Freenome’s blood-based colorectal cancer screening test for older adults, paving the way for partner Abbott to launch it in the U.S. this fall, the companies said on Monday.
Shares of Freenome were up about 4% in morning trading. … The test, SimpleScreen CRC, detects signals linked to colorectal cancer from DNA fragments circulating in the blood. Abbott is likely to market SimpleScreen to people who do not complete or decline stool-based screening tests, Brennan said.” (07/27/26)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/fda-approves-freenomes-blood-test-colorectal-cancer-screening-2026-07-27/
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7) France: Crowd subdues man who attacked three women with knives
Source: Guardian [UK]
“A man attacked three women with knives in Paris before bystanders pinned him to the ground and an off-duty police officer detained him, the French interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, has said. The man attacked the three women, aged 19, 24 and 36, with two kitchen knives, severely wounding two of them, near Porte de Clichy on Monday, Nuñez said. A video shared on Snapchat and verified by Reuters showed a man with long black hair and wearing a cream tracksuit wielding one big knife in each hand and attempting to attack and stab a young woman. It was unclear if the woman was injured. … Another part of the video shows the same man in a tracksuit lying on the ground immobilised by bystanders, while the two knives are seen lying nearby on a pedestrian crossing. ‘It is Allah who commanded me,’ the man lying on the floor says in the video.” (07/27/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/27/off-duty-police-officer-detains-man-attacked-women-knives-paris
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8) McConnell (or someone pretending to be him) releases health update
Source: NBC News
“Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office released a health update Monday, saying he’s still not ready to return to in-person work in the Capitol after his June 14 hospitalization. ‘I’m still working hard to get back to my full schedule of work in the Senate and in Kentucky, keeping up with intense physical therapy per my doctors’ orders,’ McConnell, R-Ky. [or someone impersonating him], said in a statement. ‘Unfortunately, that means I won’t be able to make it to Fancy Farm, Kentucky this Saturday.’ … McConnell’s office did not provide a timeline for his return. He has missed the last 38 votes on the Senate floor, according to an NBC News review. The chamber is scheduled to be in session for the next two weeks before summer recess.” (07/27/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mcconnell-releases-health-update-not-ready-return-work-rcna589452
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9) Canada: Shot fired outside US Consulate in Toronto for second time this year
Source: Reuters
“At least one shot was fired outside the U.S. Consulate in downtown Toronto early on Monday but there were no injuries, police said, in what was the second such incident in the last four months. Police officers, alerted by the sound of a gunshot, said they found evidence of a weapon having been fired outside the building on University Avenue. Police said that a white sedan was seen fleeing the scene and added that no injuries were reported. On March 10, several shots were fired at the same building, following three separate incidents in which gunshots were fired at synagogues …. In June police said, without providing any more details, that young people in the Toronto area were being paid to shoot at various targets, including synagogues, Jewish schools and the U.S. Consulate. Police arrested three people in connection with the March shooting, and one police officer was killed during the operation.” (07/27/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/shot-fired-outside-us-consulate-toronto-second-time-this-year-2026-07-27/
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10) Comey moves to dismiss frivolous/vexatious political prosecution
Source: The Hill
“Former FBI Director James Comey on Monday asked the court to toss the case accusing him of threatening President Trump’s life, arguing that posting a picture of seashells spelling out ’86 47′ could not be considered a ‘true threat.’ The filing was made in the Eastern District of North Carolina where Comey visited the beach in 2025 and stumbled upon the message in the sand, which he then shared online. ‘To justify this prosecution, the indictment alleges that Mr. Comey’s ‘86 47’ post constitutes a ‘true threat’ on the President’s life. That claim is contradicted by every possible source of meaning: dictionaries, context, precedent, and common sense,’ Comey’s attorneys wrote in the filing.” (07/27/26)
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5992177-comey-trump-seashell-case-threat
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11) Chinese chipmaker shares surge nearly 470% in blockbuster stock market debut
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Shares in China’s biggest memory chip maker have soared by nearly 470% as they made their debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s tech-heavy Star Market. The surge has pushed ChangXin Memory Technologies’ (CXMT) stock market valuation to around 3.3 trillion yuan ($487bn; £365bn), making it the most valuable listed company in mainland China. The spectacular debut comes despite a sharp sell-off in technology stocks around the world this month. CXMT manufactures dynamic random-access memory (Dram) chips that power AI data centres, mobile phones, PCs, tablets and other devices. The firm, which was founded in 2016 by Chairman Zhu Yiming, is headquartered in Hefei, Anhui Province in eastern China. The company has said it plans to use most of the proceeds from the initial public offering (IPO) to boost production of memory chips and carry out more research and developments.” (07/27/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9q9w3x9qn2o
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12) Altman says AI has entered “singularity”
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The 2014 US film Transcendence follows a dying scientist who uploads his mind to a supercomputer and becomes a near‑omnipotent intelligence. A year later, Ex Machina told the story of a humanoid robot who outsmarts her human handlers and escapes into the wider world. Both of these films, like many others from the realm of science fiction, referred to what is known as ‘the singularity’, a moment in time when technology, particularly AI, surpasses human intelligence and becomes increasingly difficult to control. On Saturday, OpenAI boss Sam Altman declared that this moment has come.” (07/27/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/27/sam-altman-says-ai-has-entered-singularity-should-we-be-worried
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13) Cracker Barrel CEO steps down after idiotic moral panic over rebrand
Source: New York Post
“Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino is stepping down after the failure of her ‘woke’ [sic] rebrand last year, which was rolled back following intense backlash from loyal customers, the company announced Monday. David Deno, a restaurant exec who most recently served as CEO of Bloomin’ Brands, which owns Outback Steakhouse, will replace Masino on August 10, according to a Cracker Barrel press release. … diners revolted against the company’s attempts to modernize the Southern dining chain last August by axing its beloved mascot Uncle Herschel and revamping restaurants without its trademark tchotchkes. Following heated backlash from longtime customers and even President Trump himself, Cracker Barrel reversed the changes and leaned into its folksy charm – ultimately sending the stock up 100% so far this year.” (07/27/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/07/27/business/cracker-barrel-ceo-julie-felss-masino-steps-down-after-woke-rebrand-sparked-backlash-from-customers-and-even-trump/
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14) Nigeria: At Least 30 Killed in Village Attack in Kaduna State, Residents Say
Source: US News & World Report
“At least 30 people were killed when armed men attacked a village in Nigeria’s northwestern Kaduna state early on Monday, two residents said. Dogon Rana, secretary to the village head, said gunmen stormed the community shooting randomly and burning houses. Eight children were among the dead, while four other people sustained injuries. Violence by armed gangs and other criminal groups has become a major security challenge across parts of northwestern and north-central Nigeria, where communities are frequently targeted in deadly raids. The northeast is battling a deadly insurgency by Islamist militants Boko Haram and splinter group ISWAP. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack in Kaduna state.” (07/27/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-07-27/at-least-30-killed-in-village-attack-in-nigerias-kaduna-state-residents-say
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15) Kazakhstan: US-Russian space crew lands safely after 8-month stint on space station
Source: Boston Herald
“A U.S.-Russian space crew landed safely in the steppes of Kazakhstan on Sunday after an eight-month stint on the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Russian crewmates Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev touched down in their Soyuz MS-28 that landed smoothly by parachute in a designated area southeast of Dzhezkazgan. Their 241-day stint on the orbiting outpost was the first space mission for Williams and Mikaev and the second for Kud‑Sverchkov.” (07/27/26)
https://www.bostonherald.com/2026/07/27/us-russian-space-crew-landing-iss/
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16) Brazil: Regime recalls ambassador to Argentina after Milei attacks Lula
Source: Reuters
“Brazil has recalled its ambassador to Buenos Aires after Argentine President Javier Milei used a trip to the country to criticize its leaders and judiciary, two sources familiar with the matter said on Sunday. In his second visit to the country, Milei arrived in Brazil on Friday to throw his weight behind Senator Flavio Bolsonaro’s presidential run. The eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro on Saturday officially launched his bid to unseat Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has been extending his lead ahead of October´s elections. … The two countries have a virtually non-existent diplomatic relationship. Milei has not sought an official meeting with Lula on either trip to Brazil, nor has the Brazilian leader shown any interest in hosting him.” (07/26/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-recalls-ambassador-argentina-after-milei-attacks-lula-sources-say-2026-07-26/
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17) Judge limits BBC from relitigating Beer Belly Putsch in Trump’s frivolous defamation suit
Source: Fox News
“A federal judge last week drew a sharp line around President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC, ruling the broadcaster can probe how Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, speech was understood by the public — but cannot relitigate the riot at the U.S. Capitol itself. … Trump filed a lawsuit against the BBC in December in a personal capacity for both defamation and for a violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act for $5 billion apiece, seeking $10 billion total.” (07/26/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/media/judge-limits-bbc-from-relitigating-jan-6-trump-lawsuit-over-misleading-documentary-edit
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18) More than 600 US troops wounded in Iran war, Pentagon data show
Source: United Press International
“More than 600 U.S. service members have been wounded since the war with Iran began in February, Pentagon statistics indicate, following a quiet weekend update to a casualty database that had days earlier sharply revised the toll downward. The update follows reports last week that the Pentagon’s Defense Casualty Analysis System revised the death toll of U.S. service members killed in fighting with Iran downward from 18 to 14 and the number wounded from 482 to 420, along with other discrepancies between the database and publicly reported information, prompting Democrats to call on the Pentagon for a full accounting.” (07/27/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/07/27/pentagon-Iran-war-casualty-statistics/2441785137141/
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19) Shein swings to $99 million loss as Trump tariffs on American buyers hit sales
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Shein says it swung to a quarterly loss as its sales slowed after US President Donald Trump removed an import duty exemption on small packages. It also comes as uncertainty remains over the tit-for-tat US-China tariffs wars, which is currently paused. The fast-fashion giant, which has its headquarters in Singapore but was founded in China, said it lost $99m (£74.1m) in the first three months of the year, compared with a net income of $395m a year earlier. … The so-called de minimis exemption had allowed goods valued at $800 or less to enter the US without paying any tariffs. US consumers relied on the exemption to buy cheap goods from online commerce sites like Shein and Temu.” (07/27/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyj8v0rek8o
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20) Senegal: Faye launches a new party, formalising his split with Sonko
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has launched a new political party, formalising his split with former ally Ousmane Sonko and setting up a struggle for control of the reform movement that swept them to power in 2024. The creation of Kiiraay-The Republican Patriots on Saturday formalised the collapse of the alliance between Faye and Sonko after months of tensions over the direction of the government and Senegal’s mounting economic challenges. The new party grew out of the Diomaye President coalition, which backed Faye’s successful 2024 presidential campaign. Speaking before supporters in Dakar, Faye portrayed Kiiraay as a movement centred on institutions rather than personalities.” (07/26/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/26/senegals-faye-launches-a-new-party-formalising-his-split-with-sonko
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) “Free Stuff” in Norway Still Costs Half of Average Pay
Source: The Daily Economy
by Joakim Book
“When American politicians or intellectuals promise Nordic welfare states, most people imagine this happening automatically or by taxing the rich, and everybody benefits. That’s not the case. The real Nordic model taxes earners more (45 percent in Denmark, 40 in Norway, 41 in Sweden, compared to 25 percent in the United States) and charging flat value added tax (VAT). Broad welfare states require broad tax bases; Nordic welfare states are financed not by billionaires but by ordinary workers.” (07/27/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/free-stuff-in-norway-still-costs-half-of-average-pay/
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22) Hegseth’s War on Leaks Is A War on Accountability
Source: Independent Institute
by Abigail R Hall
“A whistleblower is an employee or a former employee who reveals information about wrongdoing inside an organization. As my coauthors and I have written, whistleblowers have played a critical role in exposing government abuses in democratic societies. Ideally, government officials act only to benefit the public. Should they act opportunistically or against the public interest, they would be punished through mechanisms like the voting booth, prosecution, or impeachment. Literature on the economics of politics, or ‘public choice,’ however, illustrates that real democratic institutions deviate from this ideal as a result of information asymmetries, in which some actors have more or better information than others, voter ignorance, and the organizational structures of politics. These imperfections are amplified in the national security state.” (07/27/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/07/27/hegseths-war-on-leaks-is-a-war-on-accountability/
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23) The American Presidency and Perpetual War
Source: Antiwar.com
by Andrew P Napolitano
“One of the defining failures of modern American government has been the steady erosion of Congress’s constitutional authority over war. The Constitution grants Congress — not the president — the power to declare war. Congress decides to go to war. The president wages it. Over the past several decades, presidents of both major parties have increasingly treated military intervention as an executive prerogative rather than a congressional requirement. The last six presidents have not reflected distinct foreign policy doctrines but a uniparty continuum of executive overreach.” (07/27/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/andrew-p-napolitano/2026/07/26/the-american-presidency-and-perpetual-war/
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24) No, Remote Work Is Not Making Us Miserable
Source: Reason
by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
“People like working from home. It lets us avoid commutes. It lets us live closer to family. It seems especially good for the parents of young children, and it could even boost birth rates. This seems like an indisputable tech success story. Thanks to a plethora of modern technologies and applications—the internet, smartphones, VPNs, video calls, instant messaging platforms like Slack, cloud-based software and documents, and so on—remote work has become a possibility for more people than ever, and that’s a good thing. But are we all kidding ourselves about the benefits of remote work? Are we suffering from false consciousness? Do we only think we like it while it’s actually making us miserable somehow?” (07/27/26)
https://reason.com/2026/07/27/no-remote-work-is-not-making-us-miserable/
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25) The Economics of Status
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“It seems obvious that, if one’s concern is status rather than real income, we are in a zero sum game, that if my status increases relative to yours, yours must have decreased relative to mine. That point of view seems to support the approach to politics that sees it mainly as a question of who gets to benefit at the expense of whom, of which side who is on. Like many things that seem obvious, this one is false. It is true that my status is relative to yours. It does not, oddly enough, follow that if my status is higher than yours, yours must be lower than mine, or that if my status increases someone else’s must decrease. Status is not, in fact, a zero sum game.” (07/27/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/the-economics-of-status
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26) Will Mamdani have the courage to stare down the teachers’ union boss?
Source: New York Post
by the Editorial Board
“City Council Speaker Julie Menin says she’s far more responsible than Mayor Zohran Mamdani; here’s his chance to prove her wrong on at least one front: the council’s obscene bid to shower $10,000 bonuses on public-school teaching assistants. United Federation of Teachers boss Mike Mulgrew threatens ‘all-out war’ if the mayor vetoes the bill to award the cash, but the mayor owes the UFT nothing — and it’s his duty to the general public to say no. No city union should ever get a raise outside the collective-bargaining process: Since City Hall can’t cut union pay in other ways, it’s robbing the taxpayers if it doesn’t make labor negotiate for any hike.” (07/27/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/07/27/opinion/will-mamdani-have-the-courage-to-stare-down-the-teachers-union-boss/
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27) This European country launched a task force to target “hate speech.” Now a journalist who insulted politicians is going to prison.
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Sarah McLaughlin
“Vakho Sanaia, a journalist with Formula TV, wrote a Facebook post in June sarcastically encouraging others not to call [Georgian] Parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and Member of Parliament Lado Bozhadze ‘dicks.’ On July 10, the Tbilisi City Court fined Sanaia around $2,300 for the post. Sanaia responded to the ruling with two more comments: ‘I wrote a post, saying ‘don’t call Papuashvili and Bozhadze d*cks’ [sic] and they fined me ₾6,000. Well, go ahead and call them that, then,’ and a joke that the decision meant the court was therefore declaring Papuashvili and Bozhadze ‘dicks.’ Sanaia soon learned the Division for Combating Hate Speech was pursuing an investigation of these two new posts, and last week he was sentenced to 14 days in prison on top of his original fine.” (07/27/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/blogs/free-speech-dispatch/european-country-launched-task-force-target-hate-speech-now
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28) California Dreaming
Source: Law & Liberty
by Christopher Calton
“We talk about the housing crisis as if it is a national problem, but housing costs vary widely between states, and California tops the list. As of March 2026, the median sale price of a California home reached a staggering $854,000, roughly double the national average. This has forced many Californians to pack their bags and search for a better—or, at least, more affordable—life elsewhere. The California exodus is a harsh reminder that there are two ways to solve the housing crisis: the state can either facilitate housing construction, or it can say goodbye to its residents. If California cannot bring prices down by adding to the supply, population flight will eventually lower prices on the demand side.” (07/27/26)
https://lawliberty.org/california-dreaming/
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29) The World Is Watching the United States. So Are Workers.
Source: Inequality.org
by Luc Triangle & Cathy Feingold
“For generations, the United States has been a global advocate for freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. Today, however, the world is calling on the United States to uphold those same principles at home.” (07/27/26)
https://inequality.org/article/the-world-is-watching-the-united-states-so-are-workers/
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30) The Housewives Underground
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“I just finished reading a new book relating to the JFK assassination entitled The Housewives Underground: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the JFK Assassination Our Most Enduring Mystery by Kaitlyn Tiffany, who is a staff writer at The Atlantic. It is a great read and, in fact, once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down. The book tells the story of three women — Sylvia Meagher, Shirley Martin, and Maggie Field — who were part of the first generation of assassination researchers who questioned the official narrative of the JFK assassination.” (07/27/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/the-housewives-underground/
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31) America’s tipping culture has gone from rewarding service to fee insanity
Source: Fox News
by Carol Roth
“I love old-school tipping; that is, letting a service provider know that you appreciate their outstanding service, whatever the realm may be, with a generous gratuity. It’s a great way for individuals to reward service providers who work hard and to signal your personal appreciation of the effort they have put in to your interaction. However, tipping has morphed from a signal of good work to something that resembles a socialist experiment or the dreaded school group project: everyone expects the same outcome, regardless of their effort or the service they deliver.” (07/27/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/americas-tipping-culture-gone-rewarding-service-fee-insanity
-----
32) The Worst Lady
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Donald Trump is a terrible president, and he’s an even worse first lady. Things are falling apart in Iran, oil has been back over $100 a barrel, inflation is still inflating, and the president is out there spending his time with … party planning and decorating. Dwight Eisenhower he is not. Never mind that he is decorating badly—doesn’t this guy have other things to do? If he is not out there acting out an aneurysm in front of the White House press corps, he’s playing interior decorator and party planner, poking around at the edges of some low-stakes cultural stuff, and being the world’s most embarrassingly failed social climber. Isn’t that the kind of thing for which presidents have, you know, wives?” (07/27/26)
https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/wanderland/trump-president-first-lady-decorating/
-----
33) Haunted by History: Lawrence’s Ghost Speaks for Himself … and to Us
Source: Informed Comment
by Eamonn Gearon
“Few figures from the First World War carry the force of Lawrence of Arabia, from the pages of Seven Pillars of Wisdom to a be-robed Peter O’Toole in David Lean’s 1962 epic. The legend swallowed the man almost as soon as the First World War ended. The shadow cast over both the historical Lawrence and the First World War in the Middle East more broadly, has, arguably, yet to be fully lifted. Examining this mix of man, myth, and movie, is a central goal of Lawrence of Arabia and ME, a solo show making its world premiere at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.” (07/27/26)
https://www.juancole.com/2026/07/haunted-history-lawrences.html
-----
34) How Net Zero Helped Bring Down British Steel
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Cláudia Ascensão Nunes
“The UK government has completed the forced nationalization of British Steel, the company that owns the Scunthorpe plant in Lincolnshire, the last facility in the United Kingdom capable of producing virgin steel in traditional blast furnaces. Celebrated by sectors on both the left and the right, this move represents a definitive transfer of risk from private shareholders to taxpayers, ignoring that many of the problems that led to it were largely created by the state itself and its aggressive green policies.” (07/27/26)
https://fee.org/articles/how-net-zero-helped-bring-down-british-steel/
-----
35) Moved by Meaning
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“A mind may be persuaded by explanation, but the will is moved by meaning.” (07/27/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/moved-by-meaning
-----
36) The Full Risk–Benefit Balance Behind the First Covid-19 Vaccine
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Yaakov Ophir
“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s recent decision to terminate the Covid-19 Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) declarations1 invites reconsideration of the evidence that launched this extraordinary regulatory chapter. The FDA’s first EUA for a Covid-19 vaccine rested on its determination that the known and potential benefits of the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine outweighed its known and potential risks. Yet the pivotal trial report did not bring those benefits and risks together within a common quantitative framework. Better late than never: more than five years later, I did—and what I found was startling.” (07/27/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-full-risk-benefit-balance-behind-the-first-covid-19-vaccine/
-----
37) Nixon Goes Viral
Source: The American Spectator
by Caroline Petersen
“The 37th president is finding an unlikely new audience as Gen Z turns ‘Nixonmaxxing’ into an internet sensation.” (07/26/26)
https://spectator.org/nixon-goes-viral/
-----
38) Paradise Lost, Government Gained
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith
“As John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail following a congressional vote for independence on July 2, 1776, ‘[This date] ought to be Solemnized with Pomp and Parade with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.’ The future father of the Alien and Sedition Acts was justifiably proud and excited. … for those who took the risk of signing the Declaration, it was the document’s affirmation of the individual over government that became the hill they would die on if necessary. Government was a necessary evil, as Paine wrote, but that wouldn’t stop them from somehow putting the people at the top of the food chain.” (07/27/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/paradise-lost-government-gained
-----
39) The Kremlin’s Easy Money Is Gone
Source: Foreign Policy
by Agathe Demarais
“Pity Russian savers. In June, the Russian Finance Ministry announced its support for draft legislation to transfer nearly $40 billion in private pension savings into government coffers. Later that month, Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov encouraged President Vladimir Putin to make the most of the almost $1.8 trillion that Russian firms and individuals hold in bank accounts to support state finances. According to Zyuganov’s calculations, ‘that is three state budgets … sitting there and enriching bankers.’ Pondering whether the Russian economy will collapse is in fashion these days—but that may be the wrong question to ask. The better question is which sources of politically affordable money the Kremlin can still tap to finance military expenses while maintaining social stability.” (07/27/26)
https://archive.is/uWJF4
-----
40) Oman is cozying up to China as US throws Mideast into disarray
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Giorgio Cafiero
“The war in Iran is pushing smaller states to diversify their great power partnerships — if Washington will let them.” (07/27/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/china-oman/
-----
41) You Sirs Are the Duplicitous Murderous Failures
Source: Common Dreams
by Abby Zimet
“To date, ‘Emperor Commodus of Covfefe’s’ illegal, disastrous, dim-witted Iran ‘excursion,’ a mangling of ‘incursion’ and global clusterfuck with no clear mission, strategy, end goal or clue, has killed over 3,500 Iranians, many of them women and children, wounded over 26,500, and razed much of that country’s infrastructure, including fresh water sources. At least 18 U.S. troops have been killed, with up to 500 wounded. A quarter of the world’s oil is held hostage across two vital straits, at least 70% of Americans oppose the war, recession-level prices here loom, and rage, especially among Muslim nations, is palpable …” (07/26/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/further/you-sirs-are-the-duplicitous-murderous-failures
-----
42) Reading a Rising China Through the Wrong Ancient Script
Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño
“Western strategists tend to read foreign powers through their own reflection. Having watched Britain, France, Germany, and their own country climb the ladder of empire through conquest and colonies, they assume any ascendant state will reach for the same rungs. Yet imputing European motives to an Asian civilization mistakes a particular history for a universal instinct. China’s rise unfolds inside a geography and a culture that make the sort of quick, broad conquest campaigns that defined European great powers extraordinarily hard to carry out.” (07/27/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/reading-a-rising-china-through-the-wrong-ancient-script
-----
43) The Meaning of Fedorov’s Firing
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider & Nicolai N Petro
“On January 14, 2026, Mykhailo Fedorov was appointed Ukraine’s minister of defense. Just six months later, he was dismissed. One of Fedorov’s principal tasks, bigger even than addressing the shortage of Patriot interceptors, had been reforming his country’s recruitment and mobilization system. But manpower shortages remain a chronic issue …. But the real reason behind his firing may be something else—namely the risk of exposing the popular myth of how Ukraine has turned the tide both in the war and in its internal fight against domestic corruption.” (07/27/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-meaning-of-fedorovs-firing/
-----
44) I can’t believe liberals [sic] are calling homeschooling child abuse
Source: USA Today
by Theresa Olohan
“Homeschooling rates have steadily risen since the COVID-19 pandemic, when the difficulties of remote learning inspired many parents to pull their kids from school. This era exposed many parents to the widespread failures of the American education system. Many were confused why skyrocketing educational spending was not reversing plummeting student achievement nationwide.” (07/26/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2026/07/26/liberal-conservative-homeschool-attacks-education/90978691007/
-----
45) Data Centers Aren’t the Problem. Scarcity Politics Is.
Source: Townhall
by Jen Springman
“The future is arriving, and America is entering a new infrastructure age. Much of the political class is succumbing to a familiar temptation: slow it down by stoking fear of the unknown and imagining worst-case scenarios without acknowledging the benefits. Nowhere is this clearer than with data centers.” (07/27/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/jen-springman/2026/07/27/data-centers-arent-the-problem-scarcity-politics-is-n2680140
-----
46) It’s Time to Use the Strait of Hormuz to Demilitarize the Persian Gulf
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“Even with much of their leadership and infrastructure decapitated over the last several months, the skeleton crew that remains of the Islamic Republic continues to maintain a slight upper hand over their colossal foes simply by using the Strait of Hormuz to create a heavy economic price for an oil-dependent globalized economy actively colluding with American imperialism and Israeli genocide. This is the only reason why Donald Trump pretends to play ceasefire on-and-off like a psychotic game of red-light-green-light. That rapist and his cuckholds in Tel Aviv are attempting to feign diplomacy just long enough to keep the world economy from imploding, at least until after the midterms, but those already desperate acts have been badly botched by an unexpected third party in the Persian Gulf named Oman.” (07/26/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/07/its-time-to-use-strait-of-hormuz-to.html
-----
47) The perils of these international law things
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall
“There are things in international law that we might not, in fact, desire to do. As we can see with this argument about Saudi Arabia and an enrichment plant. A straight reading of that international law insists that not only may they we should, in fact, be helping. There’s going to be an awful lot of smoke blowing, argument and shifty looks as people try to weasel a way out of obeying international law. Or argue that that should happen. Please note, we have no position at all on whether Saudi should gain an enrichment plant or not. Rather, if we can all decide that, y’know, this international law isn’t quite all it’s cracked up to be and we’d rather not have to obey it for practical reasons then, well, doesn’t that open up some vast number of interesting issues?” (07/26/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/the-perils-of-these-international-law-things
-----
48) How the modern plea bargain undercuts the constitutional right to a jury trial
Source: The Hill
by Matthew T Martens
“Having experienced the dangers of judge-controlled tribunals, the Founders were determined to preserve the jury as a cornerstone of American justice. But when it comes to denying Americans the right to a jury trial, King George III could not hold a candle to modern American prosecutors. Today, approximately 95 percent of criminal cases in the United States are resolved through guilty pleas rather than trials. In so-called plea bargaining, prosecutors threaten unduly severe sentences for those defendants who dare go to trial or offer unduly lenient sentences for dangerous offenders looking to avoid responsibility. The result is the virtual elimination of criminal trials of any sort, jury or judge. How did this transformation occur? The short answer is that the Supreme Court let it happen, caving to Richard Nixon’s ‘law and order’ agenda.” (07/26/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/5986854-jury-trials-plea-bargaining-crisis/
-----
49) Zohran Mamdani’s New Kids on the Block
Source: The American Prospect
by Harold Meyerson
“Not only are Black people losing political power at the hands of a hostile Supreme Court; they are also losing majority or plurality status in any number of big cities, as the in-migration of Latinos, which dwarfs that of gentrifying whites, transforms once heavily Black neighborhoods. In Los Angeles, the South-of-the-I-10-Freeway neighborhoods that for decades sent three Black representatives to the U.S. House, are now overwhelmingly Latino. For this reason, paradoxically, it may be that the kind of voting we’ve seen from the Mamdani electoral base will turn out to be the best guarantor of Black elected officials. Whatever allegations may be made against America’s new new left, they don’t include voting based on race.” (07/27/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/07/27/zohran-mamdani-black-latino-voters-carmine-desapio/
-----
50) How Trump’s Tariffs Undermine US Trustworthiness and Credibility—and What Can Be Done to Stop it
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Ilya Somin
“If complete abolition of discretionary tariffs is impossible, Congress could at least reform any remaining delegations of tariff authority to 1) confine them to a narrow set of circumstances, and 2) eliminate judicial deference to executive determinations that the required circumstances actually exist. Make the government bear the burden of proof. Even if all this were done, a malicious, ignorant, or stupid president could still try to impose illegal tariffs. But businesses and trading partners could confident that his efforts would have no legal effect, and would be swiftly invalidated by courts.” (07/26/26)
https://reason.com/volokh/2026/07/26/how-trumps-tariffs-undermine-us-trustworthiness-and-credibility-and-what-can-be-done-to-stop-it/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 07/27/26
Source: Reason
"The Democrats Have a Socialism Problem." (07/27/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/07/27/the-democrats-have-a-socialism-problem/
-----
52) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 07/27/26
Source: Freedom Works
“Rodger Friedman, Political Author/Critic ‘Democratic Socialists of America.'” (07/27/26)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2026-07-27_zfw007272026.mp3
-----
53) Rising, 07/27/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Sen. Rand Paul uncovering journal entries from Dr. Anthony Fauci from the start of the COVID pandemic.” (07/27/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/5987840-rising-july-27-2026/
-----
54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 07/27/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“As Bibi Comes Back To DC, Trump’s Out Of Options For Iran.” (07/27/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1qJDzzoqkRwKV
-----
55) EconTalk, 07/27/26
Source: EconTalk
“Savage Landscapes (with Cal Flyn).” (07/27/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/savage-landscapes-with-cal-flyn/
-----
56) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 07/27/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Poll Collapse Hits New Milestone as Leaks Reveal Fresh GOP Panic.” (07/27/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/213531/trump-poll-collapse-hits-new-milestone-leaks-reveal-fresh-gop-panic
-----
57) The Corbett Report, episode 506
Source: The Corbett Report
“We have reached the end of the Age of Reading and started our descent down the slippery slope of digital distraction toward a post-literate future. But what does this mean? What is the true value of reading? How was the Library of Alexandria lost, anyway? And can any of these questions be answered in an audio-visual podcast? Join James for this contemplative exploration of the meaning and value of the written word.” (07/27/26)
https://corbettreport.com/they-dont-want-you-to-read/
-----
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 07/26/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Pauses Attacks on Iran After 13 Nights of Bombing, Ukraine Attacks Iranian Ship, and More.” (07/26/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK8mebkQxr0
-----
59) Zooming In, 07/26/26
Source: The UnPopulist
“Dismantling the Legacies of Illiberalism Haunting the US: Zooming In With Jamelle Bouie, David French, Danielle Allen.” (07/26/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/dismantling-the-legacies-of-illiberalism
-----
60) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 07/26/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Misty Winston: Massie Sparks Democratic Civil War Over Israel, Can Anyone Win?” (07/26/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-guest-misty-winston-massie-sparks-democratic-civil-war-over-israel-can-anyone-win/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Trump to host Netanyahu, Zelenskyy
2) Brazilian, Chinese regimes accelerate trade deal negotiations
3) Iranian regime denies seeking US negotiations, rejects Trump’s remarks
4) Trump regime asks SCOTUS to intervene to allow postal election-rigging scheme
5) US, French regimes trade barbs in fight over UN rights chief’s second term
6) US FDA approves blood test for colorectal cancer
7) France: Crowd subdues man who attacked three women with knives
8) McConnell (or someone pretending to be him) releases health update
9) Canada: Shot fired outside US Consulate in Toronto for second time this year
10) Comey moves to dismiss frivolous/vexatious political prosecution
11) Chinese chipmaker shares surge nearly 470% in blockbuster stock market debut
12) Altman says AI has entered “singularity”
13) Cracker Barrel CEO steps down after idiotic moral panic over rebrand
14) Nigeria: At Least 30 Killed in Village Attack in Kaduna State, Residents Say
15) Kazakhstan: US-Russian space crew lands safely after 8-month stint on space station
16) Brazil: Regime recalls ambassador to Argentina after Milei attacks Lula
17) Judge limits BBC from relitigating Beer Belly Putsch in Trump’s frivolous defamation suit
18) More than 600 US troops wounded in Iran war, Pentagon data show
19) Shein swings to $99 million loss as Trump tariffs on American buyers hit sales
20) Senegal: Faye launches a new party, formalising his split with Sonko
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) “Free Stuff” in Norway Still Costs Half of Average Pay
22) Hegseth’s War on Leaks Is A War on Accountability
23) The American Presidency and Perpetual War
24) No, Remote Work Is Not Making Us Miserable
25) The Economics of Status
26) Will Mamdani have the courage to stare down the teachers’ union boss?
27) This European country launched a task force to target “hate speech.” Now a journalist who insulted politicians is going to prison.
28) California Dreaming
29) The World Is Watching the United States. So Are Workers.
30) The Housewives Underground
31) America’s tipping culture has gone from rewarding service to fee insanity
32) The Worst Lady
33) Haunted by History: Lawrence’s Ghost Speaks for Himself … and to Us
34) How Net Zero Helped Bring Down British Steel
35) Moved by Meaning
36) The Full Risk–Benefit Balance Behind the First Covid-19 Vaccine
37) Nixon Goes Viral
38) Paradise Lost, Government Gained
39) The Kremlin’s Easy Money Is Gone
40) Oman is cozying up to China as US throws Mideast into disarray
41) You Sirs Are the Duplicitous Murderous Failures
42) Reading a Rising China Through the Wrong Ancient Script
43) The Meaning of Fedorov’s Firing
44) I can’t believe liberals [sic] are calling homeschooling child abuse
45) Data Centers Aren’t the Problem. Scarcity Politics Is.
46) It’s Time to Use the Strait of Hormuz to Demilitarize the Persian Gulf
47) The perils of these international law things
48) How the modern plea bargain undercuts the constitutional right to a jury trial
49) Zohran Mamdani’s New Kids on the Block
50) How Trump’s Tariffs Undermine US Trustworthiness and Credibility—and What Can Be Done to Stop it
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 07/27/26
52) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 07/27/26
53) Rising, 07/27/26
54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 07/27/26
55) EconTalk, 07/27/26
56) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 07/27/26
57) The Corbett Report, episode 506
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 07/26/26
59) Zooming In, 07/26/26
60) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 07/26/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Trump to host Netanyahu, Zelenskyy
Source: AOL
“U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday, with wars in Iran and Ukraine at critical stages and his ties with both leaders markedly different. Relations with Zelenskiy have warmed as Ukraine has blunted Russian advances, while Netanyahu arrives amid growing White House frustration over the lack of progress toward a broader settlement in the Iran conflict and criticism from some of Trump’s supporters who oppose deeper U.S. involvement in the Middle East. The two men are in Washington to attend a memorial service for Senator Lindsey Graham, a hawkish Republican who was one of Trump’s closest allies and who frequently tried to coax Trump into providing more support for Ukraine’s war.” (07/28/26)
https://www.aol.com/articles/trump-host-netanyahu-zelenskiy-ukraine-050302000.html
-----
2) Brazilian, Chinese regimes accelerate trade deal negotiations
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva agreed on Sunday night to accelerate negotiations for a trade agreement between China and Mercosur, a striking reversal for Brasilia, which for years led resistance to such a deal in the South American bloc. The two leaders spoke by telephone for more than an hour, according to a statement from the Brazilian presidency, and ‘coincided on the importance of speeding up the talks for a Mercosur-China agreement that contemplates the necessary flexibilities’. … The call came days after a 25 per cent tariff imposed by US President Donald Trump on [American buyers of] part of Brazil’s exports took effect.” (07/28/26)
https://archive.is/LZser
-----
3) Iranian regime denies seeking US negotiations, rejects Trump’s remarks
Source: WION [India]
“Iran has rejected US President Donald Trump’s claim that negotiations with Washington are underway, with the country’s Foreign Ministry insisting that no talks are currently taking place between the two sides. In a statement on Monday (July 27), the ministry said Iran was ‘not engaged in any negotiations with the United States’ and dismissed suggestions that Tehran had sought to restart dialogue, saying such an approach was ‘not in our DNA’. Instead, it claimed it was Washington that had requested talks, according to Iranian news agency Tasnim. The remarks came despite a pause in the recent military confrontation between Iran and the United States, with both sides refraining from launching fresh strikes for a second consecutive day.” (07/28/26)
https://www.wionews.com/world/not-in-our-dna-iran-denies-seeking-us-negotiations-rejects-trump-s-remarks-1785182270778
-----
4) Trump regime asks SCOTUS to intervene to allow postal election-rigging scheme
Source: CNBC
“The Trump administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to intervene in a legal fight over President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in voting, escalating the dispute 99 days before the November midterm elections. The emergency request came after a federal appeals court, in a 2-1 decision Saturday, left in place an order blocking key parts of Trump’s executive order issued in March that directs federal agencies to create voter eligibility lists and restrict U.S. Postal Service delivery of ballots not tied to those lists. A coalition of 23 states argue Trump lacks authority to impose federal rules on elections administered by state and local officials.” (07/27/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/27/trump-supreme-court-mail-in-voting-restrictions.html
-----
5) US, French regimes trade barbs in fight over UN rights chief’s second term
Source: Reuters
“The U.S. walked out as France addressed a United Nations Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Monday, accusing its longtime ally of ‘disingenuous grandstanding’ over French comments comparing the U.S. to North Korea, Russia and other authoritarian states regarding votes on human rights issues. The move followed a tense weekend exchange between the two permanent Security Council members on X in which France blasted Washington for joining Russia, North Korea and seven other countries in voting against a proposal to extend the term of Volker Turk as the U.N. rights chief for four more years. … The U.N. General Assembly on Friday voted overwhelmingly to extend the term of Turk, an outspoken critic of Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s conduct in Gaza who has also called for investigations into deaths in U.S. immigration custody. The term extension has been opposed by Russia, Israel and others, with Washington threatening to reassess its funding and engagement.” (07/27/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-france-trade-barbs-fight-over-un-rights-chiefs-second-term-2026-07-27/
-----
6) US FDA approves blood test for colorectal cancer
Source: Reuters
“The U.S. FDA has approved Freenome’s blood-based colorectal cancer screening test for older adults, paving the way for partner Abbott to launch it in the U.S. this fall, the companies said on Monday.
Shares of Freenome were up about 4% in morning trading. … The test, SimpleScreen CRC, detects signals linked to colorectal cancer from DNA fragments circulating in the blood. Abbott is likely to market SimpleScreen to people who do not complete or decline stool-based screening tests, Brennan said.” (07/27/26)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/fda-approves-freenomes-blood-test-colorectal-cancer-screening-2026-07-27/
-----
7) France: Crowd subdues man who attacked three women with knives
Source: Guardian [UK]
“A man attacked three women with knives in Paris before bystanders pinned him to the ground and an off-duty police officer detained him, the French interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, has said. The man attacked the three women, aged 19, 24 and 36, with two kitchen knives, severely wounding two of them, near Porte de Clichy on Monday, Nuñez said. A video shared on Snapchat and verified by Reuters showed a man with long black hair and wearing a cream tracksuit wielding one big knife in each hand and attempting to attack and stab a young woman. It was unclear if the woman was injured. … Another part of the video shows the same man in a tracksuit lying on the ground immobilised by bystanders, while the two knives are seen lying nearby on a pedestrian crossing. ‘It is Allah who commanded me,’ the man lying on the floor says in the video.” (07/27/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/27/off-duty-police-officer-detains-man-attacked-women-knives-paris
-----
8) McConnell (or someone pretending to be him) releases health update
Source: NBC News
“Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office released a health update Monday, saying he’s still not ready to return to in-person work in the Capitol after his June 14 hospitalization. ‘I’m still working hard to get back to my full schedule of work in the Senate and in Kentucky, keeping up with intense physical therapy per my doctors’ orders,’ McConnell, R-Ky. [or someone impersonating him], said in a statement. ‘Unfortunately, that means I won’t be able to make it to Fancy Farm, Kentucky this Saturday.’ … McConnell’s office did not provide a timeline for his return. He has missed the last 38 votes on the Senate floor, according to an NBC News review. The chamber is scheduled to be in session for the next two weeks before summer recess.” (07/27/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mcconnell-releases-health-update-not-ready-return-work-rcna589452
-----
9) Canada: Shot fired outside US Consulate in Toronto for second time this year
Source: Reuters
“At least one shot was fired outside the U.S. Consulate in downtown Toronto early on Monday but there were no injuries, police said, in what was the second such incident in the last four months. Police officers, alerted by the sound of a gunshot, said they found evidence of a weapon having been fired outside the building on University Avenue. Police said that a white sedan was seen fleeing the scene and added that no injuries were reported. On March 10, several shots were fired at the same building, following three separate incidents in which gunshots were fired at synagogues …. In June police said, without providing any more details, that young people in the Toronto area were being paid to shoot at various targets, including synagogues, Jewish schools and the U.S. Consulate. Police arrested three people in connection with the March shooting, and one police officer was killed during the operation.” (07/27/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/shot-fired-outside-us-consulate-toronto-second-time-this-year-2026-07-27/
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10) Comey moves to dismiss frivolous/vexatious political prosecution
Source: The Hill
“Former FBI Director James Comey on Monday asked the court to toss the case accusing him of threatening President Trump’s life, arguing that posting a picture of seashells spelling out ’86 47′ could not be considered a ‘true threat.’ The filing was made in the Eastern District of North Carolina where Comey visited the beach in 2025 and stumbled upon the message in the sand, which he then shared online. ‘To justify this prosecution, the indictment alleges that Mr. Comey’s ‘86 47’ post constitutes a ‘true threat’ on the President’s life. That claim is contradicted by every possible source of meaning: dictionaries, context, precedent, and common sense,’ Comey’s attorneys wrote in the filing.” (07/27/26)
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5992177-comey-trump-seashell-case-threat
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11) Chinese chipmaker shares surge nearly 470% in blockbuster stock market debut
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Shares in China’s biggest memory chip maker have soared by nearly 470% as they made their debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s tech-heavy Star Market. The surge has pushed ChangXin Memory Technologies’ (CXMT) stock market valuation to around 3.3 trillion yuan ($487bn; £365bn), making it the most valuable listed company in mainland China. The spectacular debut comes despite a sharp sell-off in technology stocks around the world this month. CXMT manufactures dynamic random-access memory (Dram) chips that power AI data centres, mobile phones, PCs, tablets and other devices. The firm, which was founded in 2016 by Chairman Zhu Yiming, is headquartered in Hefei, Anhui Province in eastern China. The company has said it plans to use most of the proceeds from the initial public offering (IPO) to boost production of memory chips and carry out more research and developments.” (07/27/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9q9w3x9qn2o
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12) Altman says AI has entered “singularity”
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The 2014 US film Transcendence follows a dying scientist who uploads his mind to a supercomputer and becomes a near‑omnipotent intelligence. A year later, Ex Machina told the story of a humanoid robot who outsmarts her human handlers and escapes into the wider world. Both of these films, like many others from the realm of science fiction, referred to what is known as ‘the singularity’, a moment in time when technology, particularly AI, surpasses human intelligence and becomes increasingly difficult to control. On Saturday, OpenAI boss Sam Altman declared that this moment has come.” (07/27/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/27/sam-altman-says-ai-has-entered-singularity-should-we-be-worried
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13) Cracker Barrel CEO steps down after idiotic moral panic over rebrand
Source: New York Post
“Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino is stepping down after the failure of her ‘woke’ [sic] rebrand last year, which was rolled back following intense backlash from loyal customers, the company announced Monday. David Deno, a restaurant exec who most recently served as CEO of Bloomin’ Brands, which owns Outback Steakhouse, will replace Masino on August 10, according to a Cracker Barrel press release. … diners revolted against the company’s attempts to modernize the Southern dining chain last August by axing its beloved mascot Uncle Herschel and revamping restaurants without its trademark tchotchkes. Following heated backlash from longtime customers and even President Trump himself, Cracker Barrel reversed the changes and leaned into its folksy charm – ultimately sending the stock up 100% so far this year.” (07/27/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/07/27/business/cracker-barrel-ceo-julie-felss-masino-steps-down-after-woke-rebrand-sparked-backlash-from-customers-and-even-trump/
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14) Nigeria: At Least 30 Killed in Village Attack in Kaduna State, Residents Say
Source: US News & World Report
“At least 30 people were killed when armed men attacked a village in Nigeria’s northwestern Kaduna state early on Monday, two residents said. Dogon Rana, secretary to the village head, said gunmen stormed the community shooting randomly and burning houses. Eight children were among the dead, while four other people sustained injuries. Violence by armed gangs and other criminal groups has become a major security challenge across parts of northwestern and north-central Nigeria, where communities are frequently targeted in deadly raids. The northeast is battling a deadly insurgency by Islamist militants Boko Haram and splinter group ISWAP. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack in Kaduna state.” (07/27/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-07-27/at-least-30-killed-in-village-attack-in-nigerias-kaduna-state-residents-say
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15) Kazakhstan: US-Russian space crew lands safely after 8-month stint on space station
Source: Boston Herald
“A U.S.-Russian space crew landed safely in the steppes of Kazakhstan on Sunday after an eight-month stint on the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Russian crewmates Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev touched down in their Soyuz MS-28 that landed smoothly by parachute in a designated area southeast of Dzhezkazgan. Their 241-day stint on the orbiting outpost was the first space mission for Williams and Mikaev and the second for Kud‑Sverchkov.” (07/27/26)
https://www.bostonherald.com/2026/07/27/us-russian-space-crew-landing-iss/
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16) Brazil: Regime recalls ambassador to Argentina after Milei attacks Lula
Source: Reuters
“Brazil has recalled its ambassador to Buenos Aires after Argentine President Javier Milei used a trip to the country to criticize its leaders and judiciary, two sources familiar with the matter said on Sunday. In his second visit to the country, Milei arrived in Brazil on Friday to throw his weight behind Senator Flavio Bolsonaro’s presidential run. The eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro on Saturday officially launched his bid to unseat Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has been extending his lead ahead of October´s elections. … The two countries have a virtually non-existent diplomatic relationship. Milei has not sought an official meeting with Lula on either trip to Brazil, nor has the Brazilian leader shown any interest in hosting him.” (07/26/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-recalls-ambassador-argentina-after-milei-attacks-lula-sources-say-2026-07-26/
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17) Judge limits BBC from relitigating Beer Belly Putsch in Trump’s frivolous defamation suit
Source: Fox News
“A federal judge last week drew a sharp line around President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC, ruling the broadcaster can probe how Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, speech was understood by the public — but cannot relitigate the riot at the U.S. Capitol itself. … Trump filed a lawsuit against the BBC in December in a personal capacity for both defamation and for a violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act for $5 billion apiece, seeking $10 billion total.” (07/26/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/media/judge-limits-bbc-from-relitigating-jan-6-trump-lawsuit-over-misleading-documentary-edit
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18) More than 600 US troops wounded in Iran war, Pentagon data show
Source: United Press International
“More than 600 U.S. service members have been wounded since the war with Iran began in February, Pentagon statistics indicate, following a quiet weekend update to a casualty database that had days earlier sharply revised the toll downward. The update follows reports last week that the Pentagon’s Defense Casualty Analysis System revised the death toll of U.S. service members killed in fighting with Iran downward from 18 to 14 and the number wounded from 482 to 420, along with other discrepancies between the database and publicly reported information, prompting Democrats to call on the Pentagon for a full accounting.” (07/27/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/07/27/pentagon-Iran-war-casualty-statistics/2441785137141/
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19) Shein swings to $99 million loss as Trump tariffs on American buyers hit sales
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Shein says it swung to a quarterly loss as its sales slowed after US President Donald Trump removed an import duty exemption on small packages. It also comes as uncertainty remains over the tit-for-tat US-China tariffs wars, which is currently paused. The fast-fashion giant, which has its headquarters in Singapore but was founded in China, said it lost $99m (£74.1m) in the first three months of the year, compared with a net income of $395m a year earlier. … The so-called de minimis exemption had allowed goods valued at $800 or less to enter the US without paying any tariffs. US consumers relied on the exemption to buy cheap goods from online commerce sites like Shein and Temu.” (07/27/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyj8v0rek8o
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20) Senegal: Faye launches a new party, formalising his split with Sonko
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has launched a new political party, formalising his split with former ally Ousmane Sonko and setting up a struggle for control of the reform movement that swept them to power in 2024. The creation of Kiiraay-The Republican Patriots on Saturday formalised the collapse of the alliance between Faye and Sonko after months of tensions over the direction of the government and Senegal’s mounting economic challenges. The new party grew out of the Diomaye President coalition, which backed Faye’s successful 2024 presidential campaign. Speaking before supporters in Dakar, Faye portrayed Kiiraay as a movement centred on institutions rather than personalities.” (07/26/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/26/senegals-faye-launches-a-new-party-formalising-his-split-with-sonko
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) “Free Stuff” in Norway Still Costs Half of Average Pay
Source: The Daily Economy
by Joakim Book
“When American politicians or intellectuals promise Nordic welfare states, most people imagine this happening automatically or by taxing the rich, and everybody benefits. That’s not the case. The real Nordic model taxes earners more (45 percent in Denmark, 40 in Norway, 41 in Sweden, compared to 25 percent in the United States) and charging flat value added tax (VAT). Broad welfare states require broad tax bases; Nordic welfare states are financed not by billionaires but by ordinary workers.” (07/27/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/free-stuff-in-norway-still-costs-half-of-average-pay/
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22) Hegseth’s War on Leaks Is A War on Accountability
Source: Independent Institute
by Abigail R Hall
“A whistleblower is an employee or a former employee who reveals information about wrongdoing inside an organization. As my coauthors and I have written, whistleblowers have played a critical role in exposing government abuses in democratic societies. Ideally, government officials act only to benefit the public. Should they act opportunistically or against the public interest, they would be punished through mechanisms like the voting booth, prosecution, or impeachment. Literature on the economics of politics, or ‘public choice,’ however, illustrates that real democratic institutions deviate from this ideal as a result of information asymmetries, in which some actors have more or better information than others, voter ignorance, and the organizational structures of politics. These imperfections are amplified in the national security state.” (07/27/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/07/27/hegseths-war-on-leaks-is-a-war-on-accountability/
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23) The American Presidency and Perpetual War
Source: Antiwar.com
by Andrew P Napolitano
“One of the defining failures of modern American government has been the steady erosion of Congress’s constitutional authority over war. The Constitution grants Congress — not the president — the power to declare war. Congress decides to go to war. The president wages it. Over the past several decades, presidents of both major parties have increasingly treated military intervention as an executive prerogative rather than a congressional requirement. The last six presidents have not reflected distinct foreign policy doctrines but a uniparty continuum of executive overreach.” (07/27/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/andrew-p-napolitano/2026/07/26/the-american-presidency-and-perpetual-war/
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24) No, Remote Work Is Not Making Us Miserable
Source: Reason
by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
“People like working from home. It lets us avoid commutes. It lets us live closer to family. It seems especially good for the parents of young children, and it could even boost birth rates. This seems like an indisputable tech success story. Thanks to a plethora of modern technologies and applications—the internet, smartphones, VPNs, video calls, instant messaging platforms like Slack, cloud-based software and documents, and so on—remote work has become a possibility for more people than ever, and that’s a good thing. But are we all kidding ourselves about the benefits of remote work? Are we suffering from false consciousness? Do we only think we like it while it’s actually making us miserable somehow?” (07/27/26)
https://reason.com/2026/07/27/no-remote-work-is-not-making-us-miserable/
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25) The Economics of Status
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“It seems obvious that, if one’s concern is status rather than real income, we are in a zero sum game, that if my status increases relative to yours, yours must have decreased relative to mine. That point of view seems to support the approach to politics that sees it mainly as a question of who gets to benefit at the expense of whom, of which side who is on. Like many things that seem obvious, this one is false. It is true that my status is relative to yours. It does not, oddly enough, follow that if my status is higher than yours, yours must be lower than mine, or that if my status increases someone else’s must decrease. Status is not, in fact, a zero sum game.” (07/27/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/the-economics-of-status
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26) Will Mamdani have the courage to stare down the teachers’ union boss?
Source: New York Post
by the Editorial Board
“City Council Speaker Julie Menin says she’s far more responsible than Mayor Zohran Mamdani; here’s his chance to prove her wrong on at least one front: the council’s obscene bid to shower $10,000 bonuses on public-school teaching assistants. United Federation of Teachers boss Mike Mulgrew threatens ‘all-out war’ if the mayor vetoes the bill to award the cash, but the mayor owes the UFT nothing — and it’s his duty to the general public to say no. No city union should ever get a raise outside the collective-bargaining process: Since City Hall can’t cut union pay in other ways, it’s robbing the taxpayers if it doesn’t make labor negotiate for any hike.” (07/27/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/07/27/opinion/will-mamdani-have-the-courage-to-stare-down-the-teachers-union-boss/
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27) This European country launched a task force to target “hate speech.” Now a journalist who insulted politicians is going to prison.
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Sarah McLaughlin
“Vakho Sanaia, a journalist with Formula TV, wrote a Facebook post in June sarcastically encouraging others not to call [Georgian] Parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and Member of Parliament Lado Bozhadze ‘dicks.’ On July 10, the Tbilisi City Court fined Sanaia around $2,300 for the post. Sanaia responded to the ruling with two more comments: ‘I wrote a post, saying ‘don’t call Papuashvili and Bozhadze d*cks’ [sic] and they fined me ₾6,000. Well, go ahead and call them that, then,’ and a joke that the decision meant the court was therefore declaring Papuashvili and Bozhadze ‘dicks.’ Sanaia soon learned the Division for Combating Hate Speech was pursuing an investigation of these two new posts, and last week he was sentenced to 14 days in prison on top of his original fine.” (07/27/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/blogs/free-speech-dispatch/european-country-launched-task-force-target-hate-speech-now
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28) California Dreaming
Source: Law & Liberty
by Christopher Calton
“We talk about the housing crisis as if it is a national problem, but housing costs vary widely between states, and California tops the list. As of March 2026, the median sale price of a California home reached a staggering $854,000, roughly double the national average. This has forced many Californians to pack their bags and search for a better—or, at least, more affordable—life elsewhere. The California exodus is a harsh reminder that there are two ways to solve the housing crisis: the state can either facilitate housing construction, or it can say goodbye to its residents. If California cannot bring prices down by adding to the supply, population flight will eventually lower prices on the demand side.” (07/27/26)
https://lawliberty.org/california-dreaming/
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29) The World Is Watching the United States. So Are Workers.
Source: Inequality.org
by Luc Triangle & Cathy Feingold
“For generations, the United States has been a global advocate for freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. Today, however, the world is calling on the United States to uphold those same principles at home.” (07/27/26)
https://inequality.org/article/the-world-is-watching-the-united-states-so-are-workers/
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30) The Housewives Underground
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“I just finished reading a new book relating to the JFK assassination entitled The Housewives Underground: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the JFK Assassination Our Most Enduring Mystery by Kaitlyn Tiffany, who is a staff writer at The Atlantic. It is a great read and, in fact, once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down. The book tells the story of three women — Sylvia Meagher, Shirley Martin, and Maggie Field — who were part of the first generation of assassination researchers who questioned the official narrative of the JFK assassination.” (07/27/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/the-housewives-underground/
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31) America’s tipping culture has gone from rewarding service to fee insanity
Source: Fox News
by Carol Roth
“I love old-school tipping; that is, letting a service provider know that you appreciate their outstanding service, whatever the realm may be, with a generous gratuity. It’s a great way for individuals to reward service providers who work hard and to signal your personal appreciation of the effort they have put in to your interaction. However, tipping has morphed from a signal of good work to something that resembles a socialist experiment or the dreaded school group project: everyone expects the same outcome, regardless of their effort or the service they deliver.” (07/27/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/americas-tipping-culture-gone-rewarding-service-fee-insanity
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32) The Worst Lady
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Donald Trump is a terrible president, and he’s an even worse first lady. Things are falling apart in Iran, oil has been back over $100 a barrel, inflation is still inflating, and the president is out there spending his time with … party planning and decorating. Dwight Eisenhower he is not. Never mind that he is decorating badly—doesn’t this guy have other things to do? If he is not out there acting out an aneurysm in front of the White House press corps, he’s playing interior decorator and party planner, poking around at the edges of some low-stakes cultural stuff, and being the world’s most embarrassingly failed social climber. Isn’t that the kind of thing for which presidents have, you know, wives?” (07/27/26)
https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/wanderland/trump-president-first-lady-decorating/
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33) Haunted by History: Lawrence’s Ghost Speaks for Himself … and to Us
Source: Informed Comment
by Eamonn Gearon
“Few figures from the First World War carry the force of Lawrence of Arabia, from the pages of Seven Pillars of Wisdom to a be-robed Peter O’Toole in David Lean’s 1962 epic. The legend swallowed the man almost as soon as the First World War ended. The shadow cast over both the historical Lawrence and the First World War in the Middle East more broadly, has, arguably, yet to be fully lifted. Examining this mix of man, myth, and movie, is a central goal of Lawrence of Arabia and ME, a solo show making its world premiere at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.” (07/27/26)
https://www.juancole.com/2026/07/haunted-history-lawrences.html
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34) How Net Zero Helped Bring Down British Steel
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Cláudia Ascensão Nunes
“The UK government has completed the forced nationalization of British Steel, the company that owns the Scunthorpe plant in Lincolnshire, the last facility in the United Kingdom capable of producing virgin steel in traditional blast furnaces. Celebrated by sectors on both the left and the right, this move represents a definitive transfer of risk from private shareholders to taxpayers, ignoring that many of the problems that led to it were largely created by the state itself and its aggressive green policies.” (07/27/26)
https://fee.org/articles/how-net-zero-helped-bring-down-british-steel/
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35) Moved by Meaning
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“A mind may be persuaded by explanation, but the will is moved by meaning.” (07/27/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/moved-by-meaning
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36) The Full Risk–Benefit Balance Behind the First Covid-19 Vaccine
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Yaakov Ophir
“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s recent decision to terminate the Covid-19 Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) declarations1 invites reconsideration of the evidence that launched this extraordinary regulatory chapter. The FDA’s first EUA for a Covid-19 vaccine rested on its determination that the known and potential benefits of the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine outweighed its known and potential risks. Yet the pivotal trial report did not bring those benefits and risks together within a common quantitative framework. Better late than never: more than five years later, I did—and what I found was startling.” (07/27/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-full-risk-benefit-balance-behind-the-first-covid-19-vaccine/
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37) Nixon Goes Viral
Source: The American Spectator
by Caroline Petersen
“The 37th president is finding an unlikely new audience as Gen Z turns ‘Nixonmaxxing’ into an internet sensation.” (07/26/26)
https://spectator.org/nixon-goes-viral/
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38) Paradise Lost, Government Gained
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith
“As John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail following a congressional vote for independence on July 2, 1776, ‘[This date] ought to be Solemnized with Pomp and Parade with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.’ The future father of the Alien and Sedition Acts was justifiably proud and excited. … for those who took the risk of signing the Declaration, it was the document’s affirmation of the individual over government that became the hill they would die on if necessary. Government was a necessary evil, as Paine wrote, but that wouldn’t stop them from somehow putting the people at the top of the food chain.” (07/27/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/paradise-lost-government-gained
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39) The Kremlin’s Easy Money Is Gone
Source: Foreign Policy
by Agathe Demarais
“Pity Russian savers. In June, the Russian Finance Ministry announced its support for draft legislation to transfer nearly $40 billion in private pension savings into government coffers. Later that month, Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov encouraged President Vladimir Putin to make the most of the almost $1.8 trillion that Russian firms and individuals hold in bank accounts to support state finances. According to Zyuganov’s calculations, ‘that is three state budgets … sitting there and enriching bankers.’ Pondering whether the Russian economy will collapse is in fashion these days—but that may be the wrong question to ask. The better question is which sources of politically affordable money the Kremlin can still tap to finance military expenses while maintaining social stability.” (07/27/26)
https://archive.is/uWJF4
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40) Oman is cozying up to China as US throws Mideast into disarray
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Giorgio Cafiero
“The war in Iran is pushing smaller states to diversify their great power partnerships — if Washington will let them.” (07/27/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/china-oman/
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41) You Sirs Are the Duplicitous Murderous Failures
Source: Common Dreams
by Abby Zimet
“To date, ‘Emperor Commodus of Covfefe’s’ illegal, disastrous, dim-witted Iran ‘excursion,’ a mangling of ‘incursion’ and global clusterfuck with no clear mission, strategy, end goal or clue, has killed over 3,500 Iranians, many of them women and children, wounded over 26,500, and razed much of that country’s infrastructure, including fresh water sources. At least 18 U.S. troops have been killed, with up to 500 wounded. A quarter of the world’s oil is held hostage across two vital straits, at least 70% of Americans oppose the war, recession-level prices here loom, and rage, especially among Muslim nations, is palpable …” (07/26/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/further/you-sirs-are-the-duplicitous-murderous-failures
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42) Reading a Rising China Through the Wrong Ancient Script
Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño
“Western strategists tend to read foreign powers through their own reflection. Having watched Britain, France, Germany, and their own country climb the ladder of empire through conquest and colonies, they assume any ascendant state will reach for the same rungs. Yet imputing European motives to an Asian civilization mistakes a particular history for a universal instinct. China’s rise unfolds inside a geography and a culture that make the sort of quick, broad conquest campaigns that defined European great powers extraordinarily hard to carry out.” (07/27/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/reading-a-rising-china-through-the-wrong-ancient-script
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43) The Meaning of Fedorov’s Firing
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider & Nicolai N Petro
“On January 14, 2026, Mykhailo Fedorov was appointed Ukraine’s minister of defense. Just six months later, he was dismissed. One of Fedorov’s principal tasks, bigger even than addressing the shortage of Patriot interceptors, had been reforming his country’s recruitment and mobilization system. But manpower shortages remain a chronic issue …. But the real reason behind his firing may be something else—namely the risk of exposing the popular myth of how Ukraine has turned the tide both in the war and in its internal fight against domestic corruption.” (07/27/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-meaning-of-fedorovs-firing/
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44) I can’t believe liberals [sic] are calling homeschooling child abuse
Source: USA Today
by Theresa Olohan
“Homeschooling rates have steadily risen since the COVID-19 pandemic, when the difficulties of remote learning inspired many parents to pull their kids from school. This era exposed many parents to the widespread failures of the American education system. Many were confused why skyrocketing educational spending was not reversing plummeting student achievement nationwide.” (07/26/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2026/07/26/liberal-conservative-homeschool-attacks-education/90978691007/
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45) Data Centers Aren’t the Problem. Scarcity Politics Is.
Source: Townhall
by Jen Springman
“The future is arriving, and America is entering a new infrastructure age. Much of the political class is succumbing to a familiar temptation: slow it down by stoking fear of the unknown and imagining worst-case scenarios without acknowledging the benefits. Nowhere is this clearer than with data centers.” (07/27/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/jen-springman/2026/07/27/data-centers-arent-the-problem-scarcity-politics-is-n2680140
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46) It’s Time to Use the Strait of Hormuz to Demilitarize the Persian Gulf
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“Even with much of their leadership and infrastructure decapitated over the last several months, the skeleton crew that remains of the Islamic Republic continues to maintain a slight upper hand over their colossal foes simply by using the Strait of Hormuz to create a heavy economic price for an oil-dependent globalized economy actively colluding with American imperialism and Israeli genocide. This is the only reason why Donald Trump pretends to play ceasefire on-and-off like a psychotic game of red-light-green-light. That rapist and his cuckholds in Tel Aviv are attempting to feign diplomacy just long enough to keep the world economy from imploding, at least until after the midterms, but those already desperate acts have been badly botched by an unexpected third party in the Persian Gulf named Oman.” (07/26/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/07/its-time-to-use-strait-of-hormuz-to.html
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47) The perils of these international law things
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall
“There are things in international law that we might not, in fact, desire to do. As we can see with this argument about Saudi Arabia and an enrichment plant. A straight reading of that international law insists that not only may they we should, in fact, be helping. There’s going to be an awful lot of smoke blowing, argument and shifty looks as people try to weasel a way out of obeying international law. Or argue that that should happen. Please note, we have no position at all on whether Saudi should gain an enrichment plant or not. Rather, if we can all decide that, y’know, this international law isn’t quite all it’s cracked up to be and we’d rather not have to obey it for practical reasons then, well, doesn’t that open up some vast number of interesting issues?” (07/26/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/the-perils-of-these-international-law-things
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48) How the modern plea bargain undercuts the constitutional right to a jury trial
Source: The Hill
by Matthew T Martens
“Having experienced the dangers of judge-controlled tribunals, the Founders were determined to preserve the jury as a cornerstone of American justice. But when it comes to denying Americans the right to a jury trial, King George III could not hold a candle to modern American prosecutors. Today, approximately 95 percent of criminal cases in the United States are resolved through guilty pleas rather than trials. In so-called plea bargaining, prosecutors threaten unduly severe sentences for those defendants who dare go to trial or offer unduly lenient sentences for dangerous offenders looking to avoid responsibility. The result is the virtual elimination of criminal trials of any sort, jury or judge. How did this transformation occur? The short answer is that the Supreme Court let it happen, caving to Richard Nixon’s ‘law and order’ agenda.” (07/26/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/5986854-jury-trials-plea-bargaining-crisis/
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49) Zohran Mamdani’s New Kids on the Block
Source: The American Prospect
by Harold Meyerson
“Not only are Black people losing political power at the hands of a hostile Supreme Court; they are also losing majority or plurality status in any number of big cities, as the in-migration of Latinos, which dwarfs that of gentrifying whites, transforms once heavily Black neighborhoods. In Los Angeles, the South-of-the-I-10-Freeway neighborhoods that for decades sent three Black representatives to the U.S. House, are now overwhelmingly Latino. For this reason, paradoxically, it may be that the kind of voting we’ve seen from the Mamdani electoral base will turn out to be the best guarantor of Black elected officials. Whatever allegations may be made against America’s new new left, they don’t include voting based on race.” (07/27/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/07/27/zohran-mamdani-black-latino-voters-carmine-desapio/
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50) How Trump’s Tariffs Undermine US Trustworthiness and Credibility—and What Can Be Done to Stop it
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Ilya Somin
“If complete abolition of discretionary tariffs is impossible, Congress could at least reform any remaining delegations of tariff authority to 1) confine them to a narrow set of circumstances, and 2) eliminate judicial deference to executive determinations that the required circumstances actually exist. Make the government bear the burden of proof. Even if all this were done, a malicious, ignorant, or stupid president could still try to impose illegal tariffs. But businesses and trading partners could confident that his efforts would have no legal effect, and would be swiftly invalidated by courts.” (07/26/26)
https://reason.com/volokh/2026/07/26/how-trumps-tariffs-undermine-us-trustworthiness-and-credibility-and-what-can-be-done-to-stop-it/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 07/27/26
Source: Reason
"The Democrats Have a Socialism Problem." (07/27/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/07/27/the-democrats-have-a-socialism-problem/
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52) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 07/27/26
Source: Freedom Works
“Rodger Friedman, Political Author/Critic ‘Democratic Socialists of America.'” (07/27/26)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2026-07-27_zfw007272026.mp3
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53) Rising, 07/27/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Sen. Rand Paul uncovering journal entries from Dr. Anthony Fauci from the start of the COVID pandemic.” (07/27/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/5987840-rising-july-27-2026/
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54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 07/27/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“As Bibi Comes Back To DC, Trump’s Out Of Options For Iran.” (07/27/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1qJDzzoqkRwKV
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55) EconTalk, 07/27/26
Source: EconTalk
“Savage Landscapes (with Cal Flyn).” (07/27/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/savage-landscapes-with-cal-flyn/
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56) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 07/27/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Poll Collapse Hits New Milestone as Leaks Reveal Fresh GOP Panic.” (07/27/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/213531/trump-poll-collapse-hits-new-milestone-leaks-reveal-fresh-gop-panic
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57) The Corbett Report, episode 506
Source: The Corbett Report
“We have reached the end of the Age of Reading and started our descent down the slippery slope of digital distraction toward a post-literate future. But what does this mean? What is the true value of reading? How was the Library of Alexandria lost, anyway? And can any of these questions be answered in an audio-visual podcast? Join James for this contemplative exploration of the meaning and value of the written word.” (07/27/26)
https://corbettreport.com/they-dont-want-you-to-read/
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58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 07/26/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Pauses Attacks on Iran After 13 Nights of Bombing, Ukraine Attacks Iranian Ship, and More.” (07/26/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK8mebkQxr0
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59) Zooming In, 07/26/26
Source: The UnPopulist
“Dismantling the Legacies of Illiberalism Haunting the US: Zooming In With Jamelle Bouie, David French, Danielle Allen.” (07/26/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/dismantling-the-legacies-of-illiberalism
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60) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 07/26/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Misty Winston: Massie Sparks Democratic Civil War Over Israel, Can Anyone Win?” (07/26/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-guest-misty-winston-massie-sparks-democratic-civil-war-over-israel-can-anyone-win/
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