07/10 -- Palestine: Israeli strike on Gaza school kills at least 29; A Cosmopolitan Case against World Government
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Thomas L. Knapp
Jul 10, 2024, 6:23:16 AM (6 days ago) Jul 10
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 07/10/24
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Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Palestine: Israeli strike on Gaza school kills at least 29
2) White House releases letter from Biden’s doctor after questions about Parkinson’s specialist’s White House visits
3) Europe’s first Ariane 6 flight achieved most of its goals, but ended prematurely
4) France: Le Pen hit by shock probe into 2022 presidential campaign funding
5) Belarus: Regime troops drill with Chinese forces near Polish border
6) Appeals panel keeps 21-month sentence for Tennessee pol who tried to withdraw guilty plea
7) Spain: Court shelves Puigdemont terrorism probe
8) Russia: Court Orders Arrest of Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s Widow
9) US: At least seven dead, more than two million without power in Beryl aftermath
10) Brazil: Lula announces trade agreement with Palestine
11) Blind mystic Baba Vanga says end times will commence in 2025
12) Ticketmaster warns customers to take action after hack
13) US office vacancy rate hits record high
14) Peru: Body of American climber buried by an avalanche 22 years ago found in the ice
15) Singapore: Port congestion threatens to gum up global trade
16) Fed may tweak rule that could save biggest US banks billions
17) US regime blocks British court from British territory
18) Hungary’s Orban meets China’s Xi in mission to end Russia-Ukraine war
19) WI: Federal judge rules protesters can’t march through GOP National Convention security zone
20) CA: Homeowner shoots at burglars, wounds one
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) A Cosmopolitan Case against World Government
22) A Critique of Randy Barnett’s “Accommodating” Libertarianism
23) NATO Membership for Ukraine is a Bargaining Chip, Not an “Irreversible” Reality
24) Details That You Should Include In Your Article On How We Should Do Something About Mentally Ill Homeless People
25) Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?
26) After momentous term, SCOTUS cements Federalist Society vision as law
27) The Problem With Coronating Kamala Harris
28) Biden’s Delusion of Running the World
29) Judgment Day for America’s Worst Supreme Court Justice
30) The Return of Wasteful Competition
31) Is Putin Prepared To Compromise?
32) Media conspiracy of collusion over Biden’s health a national disgrace
33) Yes. They’d Vote For Him If He Shot Someone on 5th Ave.
34) Oh, Looks Like Bombing Hospitals Is Bad Again
35) Return of the technocrats
36) Elections Are Purely Practical
37) Case for Draining the Swamp Stronger Than Ever
38) The NYT and the Low-Wage Worker
39) Why the chaotic French election is our problem too
40) The Nutty Nineties
41) Biden-Trump Rematch Reflects a Democratic System in Terminal Decline
42) It’s Time to Call off the Trade War
43) Chevron Deference Defers to Metcalfe’s Law
44) Bringing Back Gold Clause Contracts: A Challenge to the Fed
45) Welker pushes Meet the Press even further left [sic]
46) Government stupidity on display in near-earth orbit
47) The Censorship-Industrial Complex: The Right’s New Boogeywoman
48) Machado: A Beacon of Hope in Venezuela’s Political Crisis
49) Why the Bid to Push Out Biden Is Losing
50) “Heritage Americans” Were Unassimilated Immigrants Once Too
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Rising, 07/09/24
52) Hubwonk, 07/09/24
53) Agorist Nexus Podcast, episode 151
54) Conflicts of Interest, episode 631
55) The Bryan Hyde Show, 07/09/24
56) Advisory Opinions, 07/09/24
57) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 07/09/24
58) Nonzero, 07/08/24
59) System Update, episode 293
60) Fountainhead Forum, episode 191
61) Free Talk Live, 07/08/24
62) DMZ with Bill Scher and Matt Lewis, 07/08/24
63) Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 07/08/24
64) Politics Politics Politics, 07/08/24
65) Dave DeCamp on The Scott Horton Show
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Palestine: Israeli strike on Gaza school kills at least 29
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“A deadly strike hit a school turned shelter in southern Gaza on Tuesday as Israeli forces in the war-ravaged territory’s main city pushed on with a major offensive that has again displaced Palestinians.
The Israel military said the air force had used ‘precise munition’ to strike a ‘terrorist from Hamas’[s] military wing’ near the school. ‘The incident is under review,’ the military said in a statement. The strike hit the entrance to Al-Awda school in Abasan, said a source at Nasser hospital in the nearby southern city of Khan Younis, where victims were taken, adding that 29 were killed and dozens wounded. … Three previous Israeli strikes since Saturday on schools across Gaza used by displaced Palestinians have killed a total of at least 20 people, according to officials and rescuers.” (07/10/24)
https://archive.is/I47Zg
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2) White House releases letter from Biden’s doctor after questions about Parkinson’s specialist’s White House visits
Source: CBS News
“The White House released a letter from President Biden’s doctor Monday night after press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced repeated questions at a briefing earlier in the day about Mr. Biden’s health and whether visits to the White House by a Parkinson’s disease specialist involved the president. … Monday night, the White House released a memo from the president’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, in which he said he had obtained permission from President Biden and Dr. Cannard to share more details. ‘Dr. Cannard was the neurological specialist that examined President Biden for each of his annual physicals. His findings have been made public each time I have released the results of the President’s annual physical. President Biden has not seen a neurologist outside of his annual physical,’ O’Connor wrote, noting that Cannard has been the neurology consultant to the White House Medical Unit since 2012.” (07/09/24)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-briefing-karine-jean-pierre-biden-parkinsons-doctor/
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3) Europe’s first Ariane 6 flight achieved most of its goals, but ended prematurely
Source: Ars Technica
“The first European Ariane 6 rocket fired off its launch pad at the edge of the Amazon rainforest and climbed into orbit Tuesday, an inaugural flight a decade in the making that restored Europe’s ability to put its own large satellites into space. The debut of the Ariane 6 rocket came almost exactly one year after Europe’s previous workhorse rocket, the Ariane 5, flew for the final time. Running four years late, the Ariane 6 is set to become Europe’s next flagship launcher. But delays in its development, combined with other factors, forced European governments to pay SpaceX to deliver several payloads to orbit. … the rocket deployed nine small CubeSats for US and European research institutions …. But a short time after Sion’s remarks, a malfunction on the upper stage prevented the Vinci engine from completing a third burn to steer back into Earth’s atmosphere for a targeted, destructive reentry.” (07/10/24)
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/07/europes-first-ariane-6-flight-achieved-most-of-its-goals-but-ended-prematurely/
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4) France: Le Pen hit by shock probe into 2022 presidential campaign funding
Source: Politico
“The Paris prosecutors’ office opened an investigation into the campaign financing of far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s presidential bid in 2022. The probe, which follows a preliminary inquiry, was opened last week over suspicions of embezzlement, forgery, fraud and a candidate on an election campaign accepting a loan, the Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed to POLITICO. In 2022, Le Pen — then making her third attempt to win the French presidency as National Rally leader — got 41 percent of the vote in the second round, losing to incumbent President Emmanuel Macron. … On Sunday, Le Pen’s National Rally landed 142 seats in the National Assembly after Macron called a snap legislative election last month. Though the far right now has a much larger group in parliament, their hopes of being able to form a government were dashed.” (07/09/24)
https://www.politico.eu/article/france-probe-marine-le-pen-2022-presidential-election-campaign-financing/
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5) Belarus: Regime troops drill with Chinese forces near Polish border
Source: ABC News
“Belarus is hosting Chinese troops for a joint military drill near its border with NATO member Poland, officials said Tuesday, the first such exercise reflecting growing defense ties between the two countries. The 11-day drill named Eagle Assault 2024 started on Monday at a shooting range in the Brest region close to Poland. It comes ahead of NATO’s summit in Washington that opens on Tuesday and after Belarus last week joined a regional security organization led by China and Russia.” (07/09/24)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/belarus-china-join-forces-military-drill-polish-border-111779983
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6) Appeals panel keeps 21-month sentence for Tennessee pol who tried to withdraw guilty plea
Source: Seattle Times
“A federal appeals panel is keeping a 21-month prison sentence in place for a former Tennessee state senator who tried to withdraw his guilty plea on campaign finance law violations. The ruling Monday in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals focuses on the August 2023 sentencing of former Sen. Brian Kelsey. The Republican had pleaded guilty to charges related to his attempts to funnel campaign money from his state legislative seat toward his failed 2016 congressional bid. His attorneys have argued that federal prosecutors violated Kelsey’s plea agreement when they said a harsher sentence could be applied after he attempted to withdraw his guilty plea in March 2023. Kelsey has remained out of prison during his 6th Circuit appeal under the lower court judge’s order. A defense attorney for Kelsey, Alex Little, has told news outlets he plans to appeal the latest decision.” (07/09/24)
https://archive.is/k9A2B
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7) Spain: Court shelves Puigdemont terrorism probe
Source: Politico
“Spain’s Supreme Court dropped a terrorism investigation into former Catalan President and separatist leader Carles Puigdemont on Tuesday. Puigdemont had been the subject of a probe since February over his alleged ties to a Catalan pro-independence civil disobedience group, Democratic Tsunami, which led a series of demonstrations in 2019. Supreme Court magistrate Susana Polo shelved the case on Tuesday after Spain’s National Court determined that investigating judge Manuel Garcia-Castellon had improperly extended his investigation into the group in June 2021. … The end of the terrorism probe does not, however, affect a 2017 arrest warrant for embezzlement that was issued against Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium following a failed Catalan independence referendum that same year. Last week the Supreme Court rejected a request to apply the country’s new amnesty law to Puigdemont and other Catalan independence leaders.” (07/09/24)
https://www.politico.eu/article/spanish-court-shelves-carles-puigdemont-terrorism-probe-spain-catalonia/
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8) Russia: Court Orders Arrest of Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s Widow
Source: New York Times
“A Russian court on Tuesday ordered the arrest in absentia of Yulia B. Navalnaya, the widow of Aleksei A. Navalny, who was a key figure in the country’s political opposition, accusing her of ‘participating in an extremist community.’ The court order against Ms. Navalnaya, who left Russia in 2021, comes five months after her husband died under murky circumstances in a harsh Russian penal colony. He was imprisoned after being convicted of various trumped-up charges when he returned to Russia after a near-fatal attempt to poison him in August 2020. Ms. Navalnaya has repeatedly accused President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia of murdering her husband and has vowed to continue his opposition work.” (07/09/24)
https://archive.is/uUUgB
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9) US: At least seven dead, more than two million without power in Beryl aftermath
Source: NBC News
“At least six people have died in Texas and one in Louisiana as a result of Hurricane Beryl, as a huge clean-up and restoration operation gets underway to reconnect 2.3 million energy customers who lost power during the storm’s disastrous procession through the state. … Beryl has since been downgraded to a tropical depression, but more than 21 million people from Arkansas to Michigan were under flood watches Tuesday morning as it continues to moves northeast.” (07/09/24)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/texans-still-power-hurricane-beryl-cleanup-begins-rcna160820
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10) Brazil: Lula announces trade agreement with Palestine
Source: Middle East Monitor [UK]
“Brazilian President Lula da Silva announced yesterday the ratification of the free [sic] trade agreement between the Mercosur South American trade bloc and Palestine, allowing the entry of Palestinian products without customs tariffs. According to Lula, Brazil is the first country in the bloc to ratify a free [sic] trade agreement with Palestine. He made the announcement at the 64th Summit of Mercosur heads of state in Paraguay. This came after the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) included Palestine in the common market that promotes free [sic] trade between Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay, which together make up 76 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of Latin America.” (07/09/24)
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240709-brazil-is-first-in-mercosur-trade-bloc-to-ratify-agreement-with-palestine-says-lula/
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11) Blind mystic Baba Vanga says end times will commence in 2025
Source: New York Post
“It’s the end of the world as we know it — or is it? Baba Vanga, also known as Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova, was a blind Bulgarian clairvoyant widely known for her alleged powers of precognition. The so-called Nostradamus of the Balkans, a reference to the famed French astrologer, is said to have predicted 9/11 and the war in Ukraine, per the Sun. Baba Vanga, a blind Bulgarian seer widely known for her alleged powers of precognition, reportedly claimed that the end of the world will start in 2025. The mystic healer died in 1996, but the psychic’s followers still await some of the predictions she made before her death. In fact, some reports have claimed that Vanga warned that the world would end in 2023 due to nuclear bioweapons and a solar storm.” (07/09/24)
https://nypost.com/2024/07/09/lifestyle/blind-mystic-baba-vanga-says-the-end-times-will-commence-in-2025/
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12) Ticketmaster warns customers to take action after hack
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Ticketmaster customers in North America have been sent emails warning them to take action after the company was hacked in May. Emails were sent overnight to Canadian customers, urging them to ‘be vigilant and take steps to protect against identity theft and fraud’. The company has not commented on the notification process – however similar emails have reportedly been sent to victims in the US and Mexico. The personal details of 560 million Ticketmaster customers worldwide were stolen in the hack – with cyber criminals then attempting to sell that information online. Ticketmaster has not responded to the BBC asking it why it has taken so long to warn customers of the risks they face. Previous news of the breach came from the hackers themselves, followed by a notice from Ticketmaster to its shareholders.” (07/09/24)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c729e3qr48qo
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13) US office vacancy rate hits record high
Source: Axios
“Office vacancy rates reached a record 20.1% in the second quarter — the highest since at least 1979, when Moody’s began tracking. … Long-term leases are taking a long time to unwind, says Moody’s associate economist Nick Luettke. And these vacancy rates are likely to continue to climb for the next few years, peaking at the end of 2026, per Moody’s projections. If the economy moves into a downturn, things could get even worse.” (07/09/24)
https://www.axios.com/2024/07/09/office-vacancy-rate-record-high
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14) Peru: Body of American climber buried by an avalanche 22 years ago found in the ice
Source: SFGate
“Police in Peru said Tuesday they have found the cold-preserved body of an American mountaineer who was buried by an avalanche 22 years ago as he tried to climb one of the highest peaks in the Andes. Police in the Ancash region told The Associated Press they found the body of William Stampfl on Friday near a camp 5,200 meters (17,060 feet) above sea level. The 58-year-old Stampfl had been trying to climb the 6,768-meter Mount Huascaran. Police said Stampfl’s body and clothing had been preserved by the ice and freezing temperatures. Stampfls drivers license was also found with his remains. It says he was a resident of California’s San Bernardino County. … Stampfl was with friends Matthew Richardson and Steve Erskine when they attempted the ascent in 2002. Erskine’s body was found shortly after the avalanche, but Richardson’s is still missing.” (07/09/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/the-body-of-an-american-climber-buried-by-an-19562897.php
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15) Singapore: Port congestion threatens to gum up global trade
Source: Financial Times [UK]
“The risk of higher prices for everything from cars to smartphones for the world’s consumers just got a lot higher. Congestion at Singapore’s container port, which is at its worst since the pandemic, has started spilling over to neighbouring ports, posing a risk for global supply chains. Shipping rates have risen as much as fivefold over the past year and it is only a matter of time before some of that is passed on to shoppers. Singapore is the world’s largest transshipment hub: the container port connects more than 600 ports from 123 countries and has an annual capacity of 50mn 20ft equivalent units, a measure of volume.” (07/09/24)
https://archive.is/EaB9M
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16) Fed may tweak rule that could save biggest US banks billions
Source: Reuters
“The U.S. Federal Reserve is considering a rule change that could save the country’s eight largest banks combined billions of dollars in capital, in a potential long-sought win for the industry, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. At issue is how the central bank calculates an extra layer of capital it imposes on U.S. global systemically important banks (GSIBs), known as the ‘GSIB surcharge,’ which it introduced in 2015 to boost their safety and soundness. The Fed is considering updating inputs it uses in the calculation, which it fixed in 2015, to adjust for economic growth and in turn more accurately reflect the size of the banks relative to the global economy, the people said. Updating those inputs or ‘coefficients’ would reduce the banks’ systemic scores and resulting capital surcharge, said the people who declined to be identified discussing private regulatory issues.” (07/09/24)
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/fed-considers-rule-tweak-that-could-save-biggest-us-banks-billions-capital-2024-07-09/
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17) US regime blocks British court from British territory
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The US government has blocked a British court hearing from taking place on a British territory, citing security concerns, according to official documents. The supreme court of British Indian Ocean Territory (Biot) was due to hold a hearing this week, attended by the BBC, on whether a group of migrants was being unlawfully detained on the island of Diego Garcia. The island hosts a secretive UK-US military base and access is heavily restricted. The US last week said it was ‘withdrawing its consent’ for lawyers representing the migrants and ‘members of the press’ to access the island, according to official communications we have seen. It said it would not allow participants of the hearing to board US military flights to Diego Garcia and would not provide ‘housing, transportation, and food for the visit.'” (07/09/24)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxe2v2mdg7vo
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18) Hungary’s Orban meets China’s Xi in mission to end Russia-Ukraine war
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged world powers to help Russia and Ukraine resume direct dialogue as he held talks with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who was in Beijing on a visit the European leader has branded as a ‘peace mission.’ Xi and Orban’s meeting in the Chinese capital on Tuesday came after the Hungarian leader made similar trips to Russia and Ukraine last week to discuss prospects for a peaceful settlement in the conflict, now in its third year. … Orban is widely seen as having the warmest relations with Xi and Putin among European leaders. His visit to Moscow last week drew condemnation from Ukraine and EU officials, who insisted Orban was not acting on behalf of the whole European bloc.” (07/09/24)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/9/hungarys-orban-meets-chinas-xi-in-mission-to-end-russia-ukraine-war
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19) WI: Federal judge rules protesters can’t march through GOP National Convention security zone
Source: SFGate
“A federal judge ruled Monday that protesters can’t march through a security zone at the Republican National Convention, handing a defeat to liberals who had pushed to have closer access to where delegates will be gathering next week in Milwaukee. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Coalition to March on the RNC 2024 filed a lawsuit last month against the city of Milwaukee, alleging that the city’s plans for protesters violated their free speech rights. They had asked the judge to order that the city design a protest parade route that is within sight and hearing of the Fiserv Forum where thousands of Republicans will be gathering starting Monday to nominate Donald Trump for president. U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig said in his order that protesters have a right to march in protest of the RNC, ‘but the First Amendment does not allow them to protest or parade in any way they choose.'” (07/09/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/federal-judge-rules-protesters-can-t-march-19562748.php
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20) CA: Homeowner shoots at burglars, wounds one
Source: NBC 4 Los Angeles
“A Valley Village home became the scene of a shooting investigation Monday afternoon after the homeowner fired his weapon at attempted burglars, the Los Angeles Police Department said. Investigators believe three masked men tried to break into the home on Addison Street near Colfax Avenue, but they were stopped by the property owner. The homeowner fired his weapon, injuring one of the three suspected burglars.” (07/08/24)
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/homeowner-shoots-attempted-burglar-valley-village-lapd/3454488/
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) A Cosmopolitan Case against World Government
Source: Cato Institute
by Ilya Somin
“The debate over world government and ‘global governance’ typically pits cosmopolitan supporters of globalization against nationalist champions of state sovereignty. The latter fear world government because of the threat it poses to nationalism and the autonomy of nation-states. They also typically view free trade and international migration with great suspicion. However, one need not be a nationalist to oppose world government. I am a cosmopolitan supporter of free trade and an advocate of a strong presumption in favor of open borders immigration. In addition, I am no fan of nationalism, which I consider to be one of the greatest evils of the modern world. Yet I also take a dim view of world government and other similar proposals. These positions are not contradictory. Indeed, they are mutually reinforcing.” (07/09/24)
https://www.cato.org/publications/cosmopolitan-case-against-world-government
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22) A Critique of Randy Barnett’s “Accommodating” Libertarianism
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Gary Chartier
“Randy Barnett is arguably on the short list of the libertarians most influential in American public life. His legal scholarship has informed challenges to state power in the courts; indeed, he himself has argued before the Supreme Court. He has been an active participant in intra-libertarian theoretical debates for decades. And his book The Structure of Liberty, now in its second edition, articulates a clear and appealing model of a stateless legal order that has contributed helpfully to libertarian theory over the course of a quarter-century. Thus, when Barnett urges, as he does in a new essay, that it’s time to update libertarianism, people will understandably listen. It’s not clear, however, that we ought to embrace his proposed program.” (07/09/24)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/a-critique-of-randy-barnetts-accommodating-libertarianism
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23) NATO Membership for Ukraine is a Bargaining Chip, Not an “Irreversible” Reality
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“Ukraine was, and is, never going to formally become a NATO member state. Why is that never going to happen? Because formal NATO membership requires unanimous consent from all of the current member states, because several NATO member states enjoy friendly relations with the Russian Federation, and because there’s no way at least one such member state wouldn’t exercise its veto for the purpose of maintaining and enhancing those friendly relations. That being the case, why does NATO keep dangling the prospect of membership in front of Ukraine? And why do defenders of Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine continue to pretend that the prospect is real — just as Putin himself has from the beginning of the conflict? As a bargaining chip, of course.” (07/09/24)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/18814
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24) Details That You Should Include In Your Article On How We Should Do Something About Mentally Ill Homeless People
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
“Suppose that you, an ordinary person, open your door and start choking on yellow smoke. You think ‘there should be less pollution,’ and call up your representative. The technical expert hears ‘there should be less pollution’ and immediately has dozens of questions. Do you just want to do the obvious things, like lower the detection threshold for hexamethyldecawhatever? Or do you want to ban tetraethylpentawhatever, which is vital for the baby formula food chain and would cause millions of babies to die if you banned it? … I’m not a pollution expert, but I’m a psychiatrist, and I’ve been involved in the involuntary commitment process. So when people say ‘we should do something about mentally ill homeless people,’ I naturally tend towards thinking this is meaningless unless you specify what you want to do — something most of these people never get to.” (07/09/24)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/details-that-you-should-include-in
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25) Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?
Source: Cobden Centre
by Preston Art
“The surge of cryptocurrencies has garnished an array of opinions on the matter. While some people hold a positive outlook, others see cryptocurrency as a dangerous and unstable innovation. Misconceptions largely drive the opinions of these skeptics. They fail to appreciate the true nature of cryptocurrencies, in particular Bitcoin and the positive change it will deliver.” (07/09/24)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2024/07/why-is-bitcoin-valuable/
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26) After momentous term, SCOTUS cements Federalist Society vision as law
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by Henry Gass
“In a concurring opinion he waited eight years to write, Justice Neil Gorsuch did not mince his words. ‘Today,’ he scribed, ‘the Court places a tombstone on Chevron no one can miss.’ The opinion came in one of the landmark decisions of the recent U.S. Supreme Court term. Overturning Chevron deference, a 40-year-old administrative law doctrine instructing courts to defer to federal agencies when interpreting vague statutes, was something of a personal victory for Justice Gorsuch. That victory also represented the full realization of a high court that conservative lawyers and activists have been seeking for a generation.” (07/08/24)
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2024/0708/supreme-court-gorsuch-federalist-society-chevron
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27) The Problem With Coronating Kamala Harris
Source: The Atlantic
by Jerusalem Demsas
“President Joe Biden is insisting that his reelection campaign will go on. If it doesn’t, Kamala Harris is the most likely alternate Democratic nominee. That the vice president should be next in line is nearly an article of faith for many in the party. … But an automatic coronation of Harris would be a grave mistake. The No. 2 spot has never been a guarantee of a promotion to the top job. Only six vice presidents have been elevated to the presidency via an election; 12 have run and lost. Five have even failed to get their party’s endorsement. … Primary campaigns are tests, and Harris, who ultimately dropped out before the Iowa caucus, failed hers. That doesn’t mean she can never be president. Many unsuccessful presidential candidates have performed better in a subsequent campaign. But they had to beat out other candidates.” (07/09/24)
https://archive.is/69LhM
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28) Biden’s Delusion of Running the World
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“While Biden’s critics are focusing on what appears to be some major cognitive issues for the president, very few of them, if any, have focused on the following statement in his interview with George Stephanopoulos: ‘I’m running the world.’ Running the world? Sounds pretty delusional to me. But apparently not to the mainstream press or Biden’s statist critics. To them, the notion that a president ‘runs the world’ is an normal as the notion that the president ‘runs the economy.’ It is this type of delusional mindset that comes with a worldwide military empire.” (07/09/24)
https://www.fff.org/2024/07/09/bidens-delusion-of-running-the-world/
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29) Judgment Day for America’s Worst Supreme Court Justice
Source: TomDispatch
by Ariel Dorfman
“At least I had the courage to do the deed myself. That counts for something here on the other side of death, where I wait for you, Clarence Thomas, and your sharp-toothed wife Ginni, and someday the others whose decrees and rulings from afar have aided and abetted the mayhem and the massacres. Cowards all of you, and boring and petty to boot, at such a safe distance from the volleys, the salvos, the gunfire. Oh, the names I have had to learn — Sandy Hook and Columbine and Uvalde and so many hundreds more and even more after that, while you were careful to stay at a safe distance from the children as they fell.” (07/09/24)
https://tomdispatch.com/judgment-day-for-americas-worst-supreme-court-justice/
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30) The Return of Wasteful Competition
Source: EconLog
by James Broughel
“It is a common misconception that competitive markets yield efficient outcomes. While competition can spur increased effort, that effort need not be directed toward anything productive. More competition has a dark side as well—the tendency to produce unnecessary duplication of efforts and waste. That competition can be problematic rather than efficient is an idea today sometimes associated with investor Peter Thiel, but the reality is this view is hardly new. In fact, the idea that competition is wasteful resurrects a critique made by economists more than a century ago.” (07/09/24)
https://www.econlib.org/the-return-of-wasteful-competition/
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31) Is Putin Prepared To Compromise?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
“The West has repeatedly dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offers to negotiate without even exploring them. They have repeated the claim that Putin is not serious about negotiating and that he offers only ultimatums without being willing to compromise. But former Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Oleksandr Chalyi, a former member of Ukraine’s negotiating team in Istanbul, has said that Putin ‘demonstrated a genuine effort to find a realistic compromise and achieve peace.’ There have been recent suggestions that Putin remains willing to compromise, including a willingness to compromise on territory to achieve Russia’s larger goals. Putin has, from the start, insisted that the war’s aims are not for territory but for security arrangements, including, especially, written guarantees that Ukraine will not join NATO.” (07/09/24)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_snider/2024/07/08/is-putin-prepared-to-compromise/
-----
32) Media conspiracy of collusion over Biden’s health a national disgrace
Source: New York Post
by Piers Morgan
“‘Of all the horrid, hideous notes of woe,’ wrote my favorite English poet, Lord Byron, ‘Sadder than owl-songs or the midnight blast; Is that portentous phrase, “I told you so.”‘ Or, to put those words in modern-day American vernacular: Nobody likes a smart-ass Monday morning quarterback. But sometimes, the words ‘I told you so’ need to be said to expose those who saw all the same horrid, hideous signs of woe — and failed to speak up. The US mainstream media are currently gorging on President Biden’s cognitive decline like ravenous hyenas on the freshly slain carcass of a decrepit old buffalo. In fact, since his train-wreck debate debacle, the nation’s predominantly liberal-skewed, Democrat-defending journalists have competed with each other as to who can sound the most faux shocked, horrified, appalled, and furrowed-brow-uncomprehending about the physical and mental state of their president.” (07/09/24)
https://nypost.com/2024/07/09/opinion/the-media-conspiracy-of-collusion-over-bidens-health-is-a-national-disgrace/
-----
33) Yes. They’d Vote For Him If He Shot Someone on 5th Ave.
Source: The Bulwark
by Will Saletan
“In 2016, Donald Trump joked: ‘I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.’ It’s not a joke anymore. Trump has lost almost no support since he was convicted of 34 felonies in his hush-money trial on May 30. The Republican party remains fully committed to him, and he has held his ground in polls. … It’s created a striking contrast between the two parties. While Democrats agonize over Biden’s debate performance — and many call for him to step down as their presumptive nominee — Republicans shrug off Trump’s felonies. But the rot in the GOP goes even deeper. Surveys taken since Trump’s conviction show that to excuse him, many Republicans have adjusted their morals. They’ve decided that when Trump does something bad or criminal, it’s no longer bad or criminal.” (07/09/24)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-supporters-poll-shot-fifth-avenue
-----
34) Oh, Looks Like Bombing Hospitals Is Bad Again
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“A missile struck a children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday during the heaviest Russian bombardment on Ukraine in months, which stretched across five regions and reportedly killed some forty people. Kyiv and its western allies are saying the children’s hospital was hit by Russia, while Moscow says the hospital was hit by a Ukrainian air defense missile during Russia’s attack. All that’s clear as of this writing is that the hospital was bombed either as a direct or indirect result of the Russian missile strikes, and that western leaders are responding very, very differently to this news than they have been to deliberate Israeli attacks on hospitals throughout the Gaza Strip.” (07/09/24)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2024/07/09/oh-looks-like-bombing-hospitals-is-bad-again/
-----
35) Return of the technocrats
Source: spiked
by Lauren Smith
“Rejoice, came the cries of the ‘sensible’ British commentariat, for the ‘adults’ are finally back in the room. Labour leader Keir Starmer’s ascendancy to 10 Downing Street has been met with some truly unbearable takes about the return of ‘decent,’ ‘grown-up’ – by which they seem to mean technocratic – politics. Gone are the days of the Tories’ populist-adjacent rhetoric and alleged rabble-rousing. This government will usher in a new age of wonderful, ‘expert’-led governance, we’re told. Starmer has certainly tried to create this impression with some of his appointments. Indeed, some of his ministers are not even elected members of parliament. He has had to stick them in the House of Lords so that they can serve in his government.” (07/09/24)
https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/07/09/return-of-the-technocrats/
-----
36) Elections Are Purely Practical
Source: Liberal Currents
by Jason Briggeman
“Many of us, rather than regarding voting as one more bit of annoying work that has to be done to keep our governments on track, regard voting as a singular opportunity to express ourselves. But rather than thinking the grandiose thought on Election Day that it is finally our moment to weigh in, we should instead merely put on our to-do list for that Tuesday that we gotta do the voting, and the yard work, and pick up the kids.” (07/09/24)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/elections-are-purely-practical/
-----
37) Case for Draining the Swamp Stronger Than Ever
Source: Town Hall
by Stephen Moore
“The latest official employment report finds once again that the federal government and state-local hiring spree is still in full gear. Over the past year, health care and government hiring has outpaced every private sector industry. It isn’t just the IRS bringing on thousands of new workers. The bloat is everywhere. So even though there are a lot more government workers, good luck finding them or getting them on the phone. This is because so few of them are actually physically on the job. What’s happening in the federal government (‘Club Fed’) these days borders on the absurd — or should I say the obscene. A recent Federal News Network survey of federal workers finds only 6% are working full time in the office. Thirty percent are full-time remote.” (07/09/24)
https://townhall.com/columnists/stephenmoore/2024/07/09/the-case-for-draining-the-swamp-is-stronger-than-ever-n2641581
-----
38) The NYT and the Low-Wage Worker
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“Low-wage workers have seen large real wage gains since the pandemic, so naturally as we come to the July 4th holiday the New York Times gives us a piece telling us how they are hurting. The piece is headlined, ‘America’s divided summer economy is coming to an airport or hotel near you.’ If there is any ambiguity here the subhead tells us, ‘The gulf between higher- and low-income consumers has been widening for years, but it is expected to show up clearly in this travel season.’ It’s striking that we see a widening gulf with real wages rising far more rapidly at the bottom than the top. Real wages for workers in the bottom decile have risen 12.1 percent in the last four years. For workers in the second quintile, they have risen by 5.0 percent.” (07/09/24)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/07/09/the-nyt-and-the-low-wage-worker/
-----
39) Why the chaotic French election is our problem too
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Anatol Lieven
“The French electorate and most of the political parties have ensured that — at least until the next presidential elections, due in April 2027 — France will not have a government of the radical rightist Rassemblement Nationale (National Rally) of Marine Le Pen. They have in the process opened the question of whether France can have a government at all. The prospect of the further decline of governance and political stability in one of America’s most important allies should be a matter of deep concern to the U.S. establishment; as also the possible implications for the future of the European Union and NATO.” (07/09/24)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/france-election/
-----
40) The Nutty Nineties
Source: Law & Liberty
by Katrina Gulliver
“What the hell happened in the early 1990s? That’s the question posed, and (partially) answered by John Ganz in When the Clock Broke. He sees the period as a fracture point, as the postwar cultural consensus gave way and economic chickens came home to roost. Reading this book was a reminder of just how chaotic, in retrospect, the early ’90s were.” (07/09/24)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/the-nutty-nineties/
-----
41) Biden-Trump Rematch Reflects a Democratic System in Terminal Decline
Source: Common Dreams
by Peter Bloom
“As the United States barrels towards another presidential election pitting Joe Biden against Donald Trump, a somber reality is setting in for many observers: despite the stark differences between the two men and their visions for America, their rematch represents a broader shift in how democracy functions in the 21st century. Increasingly, elections have become competitions between the ambitions and personalities of individual ‘great men’ rather than contests of ideas or visions for society. This phenomenon reflects a contemporary belief in the outsized power of elite individuals (whether CEOs, celebrities, or political leaders) to drive change and shape the world around them. It’s a worldview that has its roots in neoliberal ideology but has morphed into something more extreme: a ‘cult of personality’ that justifies massive inequality and the consolidation of wealth and power in the hands of a small oligarchic class.” (07/09/24)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-vs-biden
-----
42) It’s Time to Call off the Trade War
Source: Cato Institute
by Colin Grabow
“After decades of lowering its import barriers, U.S. trade policy has careened off course over the past several years. First ushered in by former President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, protectionism later kicked into high gear under the Trump administration with new tariffs on solar panels, washing machines, steel, and aluminum, as well as tens (eventually hundreds) of billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods. President Joe Biden has endorsed this approach by keeping the tariffs largely intact — and even adding a few more. After six years of this protectionist project, it’s worth asking what the country has to show for it. Aside from higher costs, lost jobs, increased business uncertainty, and bewildered allies, the answer is precious little. Trade wars, it turns out, are neither good nor easy to win.” (07/09/24)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/its-time-call-trade-war
-----
43) Chevron Deference Defers to Metcalfe’s Law
Source: The American Conservative
by James P Pinkerton
“These days, news about Donald Trump and Joe Biden stomps all over everything, and yet big events are happening elsewhere, and with the added infusion of innovation, they are likely to reverberate far beyond the next presidential term. Case in point: Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, in which the Supreme Court, by a 6-3 margin, reversed a 1984 decision, the so-called ‘Chevron deference.’ Under Chevron deference, courts were instructed to acquiesce to regulatory agencies’ interpretations of Congressional intent. In practice, this meant allowing bureaucrats — most notably, the green activists at the Environmental Protection Agency — to freelance their own interpretations of statute.” (07/09/24)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/chevron-deference-defers-to-metcalfes-law/
-----
44) Bringing Back Gold Clause Contracts: A Challenge to the Fed
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Mike Maharrey
“One of the ways the government maintains its fiat money system is by throwing up legal and regulatory roadblocks to those wanting to use real money. Bringing back gold clause contracts removes one of those barriers. The principle behind a gold clause contract is simple. It requires that payment must be made in a specific amount of gold or its paper equivalent. For example, a mortgage might stipulate that repayment must be in the form of 30 ounces of gold. Gold clauses protect the parties to a contract from currency debasement.” (07/08/24)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2024/07/08/bringing-back-gold-clause-contracts-a-challenge-to-the-fed/
-----
45) Welker pushes Meet the Press even further left [sic]
Source: Washington Examiner
by Paul Bedard
“This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the latest demonstration that NBC Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, in the anchor seat for less than a year, has pushed the show further left than Chuck Todd left it. This Sunday, it was Welker using her trademark practice of beating her point into the ground in demanding another Republican to ‘accept the election results,’ which she obviously believes will show President Joe Biden reelected. Her target was Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), on former President Donald Trump’s short list of running mates. ‘Can you say unequivocally, unequivocally here and now, that you will accept the results of the 2024 election no matter what they are?’ she asked …. When Vance said he’s hoping for a clean election, Welker said he was signaling that the election won’t be fair.” (07/09/24)
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/3073217/liberal-media-scream-welker-pushes-meet-the-press-even-further-left/
-----
46) Government stupidity on display in near-earth orbit
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“It’s been up there for 24 years now. Hanging over our heads. We present the International Space Station. It looks huge, right? As manmade things in space, maybe it is. But it is actually tiny: about the size of a football field (300 feet by 120 or so feet, counting sidelines). And it weighs all of 450 tons (that is the capacity of 4-5 railcars hauling gravel or coal). Woopie! What is big about it is the government boondoggle it represents and continues to do.” (07/08/24)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2024/07/08/government-stupidity-on-display-in-near-earth-orbit/
-----
47) The Censorship-Industrial Complex: The Right’s New Boogeywoman
Source: The UnPopulist
by Jonathan Rauch
“I have been in the anti-censorship business since the publication of Kindly Inquisitors in 1993, so I need no lectures about the value of open discourse and heterodox expression. I think it’s great for some social media companies and their customers to prefer relatively permissive content standards. But it’s also perfectly valid for Facebook and YouTube to set higher standards, tell us what they are, and try to enforce them consistently — even if they make mistakes, as they will. And (this should be obvious, but apparently isn’t) it’s also perfectly valid for independent scholars to identify what they think is online misinformation and report it to social media companies, the public, and, yes, government agencies. That’s free speech, too.” (07/08/24)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/the-censorship-industrial-complex
-----
48) Machado: A Beacon of Hope in Venezuela’s Political Crisis
Source: Independent Institute
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
“Politicians who talk about ‘rendezvous with history’ make me cringe. Still, it is hard to argue that the presidential elections that will take place in Venezuela on July 28 are anything but that. The opposition (or, more accurately, the resistance movement) is currently at its strongest. It is united behind one of Latin America’s most formidable leaders, Maria Corina Machado, a woman of classical liberal persuasion who enjoys approximately 70 percent popular support. Conversely, the tyrant governing the country and his entire administration have never been weaker. They have weakened to the extent that even Nicolas Maduro’s allies in Latin America, such as Brazil’s Lula da Silva and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro (in many respects a Chavista himself), have distanced themselves from Caracas’[s] attempts to rig the election weeks before the vote in various ways. These efforts have included barring Machado’s right to run for office.” (07/08/24)
https://blog.independent.org/2024/07/08/machado-a-beacon-of-hope-in-venezuelas-political-crisis/
-----
49) Why the Bid to Push Out Biden Is Losing
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“The movement to persuade Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race is failing, and it’s failing in a very predictable way. Though polling has consistently registered massive public concern with Biden’s age and his ability to withstand the rigors of a high-stakes campaign, let alone another term in office until he turns 86 years old, the loudest voices trying to force him out of the race are elites: major media columnists and wealthy donors. They lack democratic legitimacy and the public’s respect, even as they are expressing the popular will. And they have given Biden the opportunity to parry their attacks simply by employing the politics of resentment.” (07/09/24)
https://prospect.org/politics/2024-07-09-why-bid-to-push-out-biden-is-losing/
-----
50) “Heritage Americans” Were Unassimilated Immigrants Once Too
Source: Reason
by Matthew Petti
“The immigrants keep coming, and they’re not assimilating. Unlike our immigrant ancestors, who came to America and never looked back, they still maintain ties to their old country, waving their foreign flags and reading their news in another language, bringing along cousins and friends from their village. Of course I’m talking about Basque shepherds, who settled the Rocky Mountains in the 19th century and continued to welcome new arrivals into their ethnic clubs more than 100 years later. Almost everyone in this country has ancestors who came from somewhere else. So nativists are now arguing that immigration now is simply different from their ancestors’ immigration. … That’s simply not true. Since ancient times, immigrants have maintained a sense of connection to the lands they left behind.” (07/08/24)
https://reason.com/2024/07/08/heritage-americans-were-unassimilated-immigrants-once-too/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Rising, 07/09/24
Source: The Hill
“Congressional reporter at The Hill Julia Manchester weighs in on the White House’s messaging on President Joe Biden’s health.” (07/09/24)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/4761614-rising-july-9-2024/
-----
52) Hubwonk, 07/09/24
Source: Pioneer Institute
“Breaking Down Encampments: Court Finds no Right to Sleep Outdoors.” (07/09/24)
https://pioneerinstitute.org/featured/breaking-down-encampments-court-finds-no-right-to-sleep-outdoors/
-----
53) Agorist Nexus Podcast, episode 151
Source: Agorist Nexus
“Peru and the growing impact of Agorism with TechLibre.” (07/09/24)
https://www.agoristnexus.com/peru-and-the-growing-impact-of-agorism-with-techlibre-151/
-----
54) Conflicts of Interest, episode 631
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Israeli Troops Are Given Free Hand to Murder Civilians in Gaza.” (07/09/24)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-631-israeli-troops-are-given-free-hand-to-murder-civilians-in-gaza/
-----
55) The Bryan Hyde Show, 07/09/24
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos stops by to talk about the passing scene. We talk about how to stay free in spite of the latest intrigue and some fun automotive stuff as well.” (07/09/24)
https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-kcgm7-1662d84
-----
56) Advisory Opinions, 07/09/24
Source: The Dispatch
“Is ‘Text, History, and Tradition’ Alive and Well?” (07/09/24)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/is-text-history-and-tradition-alive-and-well/
-----
57) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 07/09/24
Source: Antiwar.com
“IDF Allows Soldiers To Shoot Civilians, Zelensky Wants Poland To Down Russian Missiles, and More.” (07/09/24)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDALdlSptPg
-----
58) Nonzero, 07/08/24
Source: Bloggingheads.tv
“The Biden Mess | Robert Wright & Eric Levitz.” (07/08/24)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/67788
-----
59) System Update, episode 293
Source: System Update
“Biden Cannot Be Forced Out of Race Democratically by Oligarchs; What the U.K. and French Elections Mean for Establishment Politics in Europe.” (07/08/24)
https://rumble.com/v562h0b-system-update-293.html
-----
60) Fountainhead Forum, episode 191
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Max Borders on the good and the bad things about artificial intelligence.” (07/08/24)
https://rumble.com/v55z5r1-ff-191-max-borders-on-the-good-and-the-bad-things-about-artificial-intellig.html
-----
61) Free Talk Live, 07/08/24
Source: Free Talk Live
“Biden sucks :: What can the president actually do? :: Commissary in federal prison :: Spanish porn filters :: Skeeter yells in the background while Aria and Chris talk :: Aria, porn, and the Internet of things :: Creighton weighs in on porn :: 2024-07-08 Aria, Chris.” (07/08/24)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/free-talk-live-2024-07-08
-----
62) DMZ with Bill Scher and Matt Lewis, 07/08/24
Source: Bloggingheads.tv
“Kamala or BUST?” (07/08/24)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/67794
-----
63) Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 07/08/24
Source: Freedom’s Phoenix
“Jerry Ashton, co-founder in 2014 of the highly respected Undue Medical Debt on his quest to end medical debt for veterans (EndVeteranDebt.org) (in addition to millions of Americans it has helped out so far).” (07/08/24)
https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Media/365024-2024-07-08-2024-07-08-ernest-hancock-interviews-jerry-ashton-undue-medical.htm
-----
64) Politics Politics Politics, 07/08/24
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Biden Defiant! Why His Biggest Supporter Is Calling For Him To Resign (with Bill Scher).” (07/08/24)
https://shows.acast.com/politicspoliticspolitics/episodes/biden-defiant-why-his-biggest-supporter-is-calling-for-him-t
-----
65) Dave DeCamp on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Dave DeCamp on Gaza, Biden’s Peace Plan and the Likelihood of War in Lebanon.” (07/08/24)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/7-4-24-dave-decamp-on-gaza-bidens-peace-plan-and-the-likelihood-of-war-in-lebanon/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Palestine: Israeli strike on Gaza school kills at least 29
2) White House releases letter from Biden’s doctor after questions about Parkinson’s specialist’s White House visits
3) Europe’s first Ariane 6 flight achieved most of its goals, but ended prematurely
4) France: Le Pen hit by shock probe into 2022 presidential campaign funding
5) Belarus: Regime troops drill with Chinese forces near Polish border
6) Appeals panel keeps 21-month sentence for Tennessee pol who tried to withdraw guilty plea
7) Spain: Court shelves Puigdemont terrorism probe
8) Russia: Court Orders Arrest of Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s Widow
9) US: At least seven dead, more than two million without power in Beryl aftermath
10) Brazil: Lula announces trade agreement with Palestine
11) Blind mystic Baba Vanga says end times will commence in 2025
12) Ticketmaster warns customers to take action after hack
13) US office vacancy rate hits record high
14) Peru: Body of American climber buried by an avalanche 22 years ago found in the ice
15) Singapore: Port congestion threatens to gum up global trade
16) Fed may tweak rule that could save biggest US banks billions
17) US regime blocks British court from British territory
18) Hungary’s Orban meets China’s Xi in mission to end Russia-Ukraine war
19) WI: Federal judge rules protesters can’t march through GOP National Convention security zone
20) CA: Homeowner shoots at burglars, wounds one
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) A Cosmopolitan Case against World Government
22) A Critique of Randy Barnett’s “Accommodating” Libertarianism
23) NATO Membership for Ukraine is a Bargaining Chip, Not an “Irreversible” Reality
24) Details That You Should Include In Your Article On How We Should Do Something About Mentally Ill Homeless People
25) Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?
26) After momentous term, SCOTUS cements Federalist Society vision as law
27) The Problem With Coronating Kamala Harris
28) Biden’s Delusion of Running the World
29) Judgment Day for America’s Worst Supreme Court Justice
30) The Return of Wasteful Competition
31) Is Putin Prepared To Compromise?
32) Media conspiracy of collusion over Biden’s health a national disgrace
33) Yes. They’d Vote For Him If He Shot Someone on 5th Ave.
34) Oh, Looks Like Bombing Hospitals Is Bad Again
35) Return of the technocrats
36) Elections Are Purely Practical
37) Case for Draining the Swamp Stronger Than Ever
38) The NYT and the Low-Wage Worker
39) Why the chaotic French election is our problem too
40) The Nutty Nineties
41) Biden-Trump Rematch Reflects a Democratic System in Terminal Decline
42) It’s Time to Call off the Trade War
43) Chevron Deference Defers to Metcalfe’s Law
44) Bringing Back Gold Clause Contracts: A Challenge to the Fed
45) Welker pushes Meet the Press even further left [sic]
46) Government stupidity on display in near-earth orbit
47) The Censorship-Industrial Complex: The Right’s New Boogeywoman
48) Machado: A Beacon of Hope in Venezuela’s Political Crisis
49) Why the Bid to Push Out Biden Is Losing
50) “Heritage Americans” Were Unassimilated Immigrants Once Too
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Rising, 07/09/24
52) Hubwonk, 07/09/24
53) Agorist Nexus Podcast, episode 151
54) Conflicts of Interest, episode 631
55) The Bryan Hyde Show, 07/09/24
56) Advisory Opinions, 07/09/24
57) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 07/09/24
58) Nonzero, 07/08/24
59) System Update, episode 293
60) Fountainhead Forum, episode 191
61) Free Talk Live, 07/08/24
62) DMZ with Bill Scher and Matt Lewis, 07/08/24
63) Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 07/08/24
64) Politics Politics Politics, 07/08/24
65) Dave DeCamp on The Scott Horton Show
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Palestine: Israeli strike on Gaza school kills at least 29
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“A deadly strike hit a school turned shelter in southern Gaza on Tuesday as Israeli forces in the war-ravaged territory’s main city pushed on with a major offensive that has again displaced Palestinians.
The Israel military said the air force had used ‘precise munition’ to strike a ‘terrorist from Hamas’[s] military wing’ near the school. ‘The incident is under review,’ the military said in a statement. The strike hit the entrance to Al-Awda school in Abasan, said a source at Nasser hospital in the nearby southern city of Khan Younis, where victims were taken, adding that 29 were killed and dozens wounded. … Three previous Israeli strikes since Saturday on schools across Gaza used by displaced Palestinians have killed a total of at least 20 people, according to officials and rescuers.” (07/10/24)
https://archive.is/I47Zg
-----
2) White House releases letter from Biden’s doctor after questions about Parkinson’s specialist’s White House visits
Source: CBS News
“The White House released a letter from President Biden’s doctor Monday night after press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced repeated questions at a briefing earlier in the day about Mr. Biden’s health and whether visits to the White House by a Parkinson’s disease specialist involved the president. … Monday night, the White House released a memo from the president’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, in which he said he had obtained permission from President Biden and Dr. Cannard to share more details. ‘Dr. Cannard was the neurological specialist that examined President Biden for each of his annual physicals. His findings have been made public each time I have released the results of the President’s annual physical. President Biden has not seen a neurologist outside of his annual physical,’ O’Connor wrote, noting that Cannard has been the neurology consultant to the White House Medical Unit since 2012.” (07/09/24)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-briefing-karine-jean-pierre-biden-parkinsons-doctor/
-----
3) Europe’s first Ariane 6 flight achieved most of its goals, but ended prematurely
Source: Ars Technica
“The first European Ariane 6 rocket fired off its launch pad at the edge of the Amazon rainforest and climbed into orbit Tuesday, an inaugural flight a decade in the making that restored Europe’s ability to put its own large satellites into space. The debut of the Ariane 6 rocket came almost exactly one year after Europe’s previous workhorse rocket, the Ariane 5, flew for the final time. Running four years late, the Ariane 6 is set to become Europe’s next flagship launcher. But delays in its development, combined with other factors, forced European governments to pay SpaceX to deliver several payloads to orbit. … the rocket deployed nine small CubeSats for US and European research institutions …. But a short time after Sion’s remarks, a malfunction on the upper stage prevented the Vinci engine from completing a third burn to steer back into Earth’s atmosphere for a targeted, destructive reentry.” (07/10/24)
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/07/europes-first-ariane-6-flight-achieved-most-of-its-goals-but-ended-prematurely/
-----
4) France: Le Pen hit by shock probe into 2022 presidential campaign funding
Source: Politico
“The Paris prosecutors’ office opened an investigation into the campaign financing of far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s presidential bid in 2022. The probe, which follows a preliminary inquiry, was opened last week over suspicions of embezzlement, forgery, fraud and a candidate on an election campaign accepting a loan, the Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed to POLITICO. In 2022, Le Pen — then making her third attempt to win the French presidency as National Rally leader — got 41 percent of the vote in the second round, losing to incumbent President Emmanuel Macron. … On Sunday, Le Pen’s National Rally landed 142 seats in the National Assembly after Macron called a snap legislative election last month. Though the far right now has a much larger group in parliament, their hopes of being able to form a government were dashed.” (07/09/24)
https://www.politico.eu/article/france-probe-marine-le-pen-2022-presidential-election-campaign-financing/
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5) Belarus: Regime troops drill with Chinese forces near Polish border
Source: ABC News
“Belarus is hosting Chinese troops for a joint military drill near its border with NATO member Poland, officials said Tuesday, the first such exercise reflecting growing defense ties between the two countries. The 11-day drill named Eagle Assault 2024 started on Monday at a shooting range in the Brest region close to Poland. It comes ahead of NATO’s summit in Washington that opens on Tuesday and after Belarus last week joined a regional security organization led by China and Russia.” (07/09/24)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/belarus-china-join-forces-military-drill-polish-border-111779983
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6) Appeals panel keeps 21-month sentence for Tennessee pol who tried to withdraw guilty plea
Source: Seattle Times
“A federal appeals panel is keeping a 21-month prison sentence in place for a former Tennessee state senator who tried to withdraw his guilty plea on campaign finance law violations. The ruling Monday in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals focuses on the August 2023 sentencing of former Sen. Brian Kelsey. The Republican had pleaded guilty to charges related to his attempts to funnel campaign money from his state legislative seat toward his failed 2016 congressional bid. His attorneys have argued that federal prosecutors violated Kelsey’s plea agreement when they said a harsher sentence could be applied after he attempted to withdraw his guilty plea in March 2023. Kelsey has remained out of prison during his 6th Circuit appeal under the lower court judge’s order. A defense attorney for Kelsey, Alex Little, has told news outlets he plans to appeal the latest decision.” (07/09/24)
https://archive.is/k9A2B
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7) Spain: Court shelves Puigdemont terrorism probe
Source: Politico
“Spain’s Supreme Court dropped a terrorism investigation into former Catalan President and separatist leader Carles Puigdemont on Tuesday. Puigdemont had been the subject of a probe since February over his alleged ties to a Catalan pro-independence civil disobedience group, Democratic Tsunami, which led a series of demonstrations in 2019. Supreme Court magistrate Susana Polo shelved the case on Tuesday after Spain’s National Court determined that investigating judge Manuel Garcia-Castellon had improperly extended his investigation into the group in June 2021. … The end of the terrorism probe does not, however, affect a 2017 arrest warrant for embezzlement that was issued against Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium following a failed Catalan independence referendum that same year. Last week the Supreme Court rejected a request to apply the country’s new amnesty law to Puigdemont and other Catalan independence leaders.” (07/09/24)
https://www.politico.eu/article/spanish-court-shelves-carles-puigdemont-terrorism-probe-spain-catalonia/
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8) Russia: Court Orders Arrest of Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s Widow
Source: New York Times
“A Russian court on Tuesday ordered the arrest in absentia of Yulia B. Navalnaya, the widow of Aleksei A. Navalny, who was a key figure in the country’s political opposition, accusing her of ‘participating in an extremist community.’ The court order against Ms. Navalnaya, who left Russia in 2021, comes five months after her husband died under murky circumstances in a harsh Russian penal colony. He was imprisoned after being convicted of various trumped-up charges when he returned to Russia after a near-fatal attempt to poison him in August 2020. Ms. Navalnaya has repeatedly accused President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia of murdering her husband and has vowed to continue his opposition work.” (07/09/24)
https://archive.is/uUUgB
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9) US: At least seven dead, more than two million without power in Beryl aftermath
Source: NBC News
“At least six people have died in Texas and one in Louisiana as a result of Hurricane Beryl, as a huge clean-up and restoration operation gets underway to reconnect 2.3 million energy customers who lost power during the storm’s disastrous procession through the state. … Beryl has since been downgraded to a tropical depression, but more than 21 million people from Arkansas to Michigan were under flood watches Tuesday morning as it continues to moves northeast.” (07/09/24)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/texans-still-power-hurricane-beryl-cleanup-begins-rcna160820
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10) Brazil: Lula announces trade agreement with Palestine
Source: Middle East Monitor [UK]
“Brazilian President Lula da Silva announced yesterday the ratification of the free [sic] trade agreement between the Mercosur South American trade bloc and Palestine, allowing the entry of Palestinian products without customs tariffs. According to Lula, Brazil is the first country in the bloc to ratify a free [sic] trade agreement with Palestine. He made the announcement at the 64th Summit of Mercosur heads of state in Paraguay. This came after the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) included Palestine in the common market that promotes free [sic] trade between Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay, which together make up 76 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of Latin America.” (07/09/24)
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240709-brazil-is-first-in-mercosur-trade-bloc-to-ratify-agreement-with-palestine-says-lula/
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11) Blind mystic Baba Vanga says end times will commence in 2025
Source: New York Post
“It’s the end of the world as we know it — or is it? Baba Vanga, also known as Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova, was a blind Bulgarian clairvoyant widely known for her alleged powers of precognition. The so-called Nostradamus of the Balkans, a reference to the famed French astrologer, is said to have predicted 9/11 and the war in Ukraine, per the Sun. Baba Vanga, a blind Bulgarian seer widely known for her alleged powers of precognition, reportedly claimed that the end of the world will start in 2025. The mystic healer died in 1996, but the psychic’s followers still await some of the predictions she made before her death. In fact, some reports have claimed that Vanga warned that the world would end in 2023 due to nuclear bioweapons and a solar storm.” (07/09/24)
https://nypost.com/2024/07/09/lifestyle/blind-mystic-baba-vanga-says-the-end-times-will-commence-in-2025/
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12) Ticketmaster warns customers to take action after hack
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Ticketmaster customers in North America have been sent emails warning them to take action after the company was hacked in May. Emails were sent overnight to Canadian customers, urging them to ‘be vigilant and take steps to protect against identity theft and fraud’. The company has not commented on the notification process – however similar emails have reportedly been sent to victims in the US and Mexico. The personal details of 560 million Ticketmaster customers worldwide were stolen in the hack – with cyber criminals then attempting to sell that information online. Ticketmaster has not responded to the BBC asking it why it has taken so long to warn customers of the risks they face. Previous news of the breach came from the hackers themselves, followed by a notice from Ticketmaster to its shareholders.” (07/09/24)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c729e3qr48qo
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13) US office vacancy rate hits record high
Source: Axios
“Office vacancy rates reached a record 20.1% in the second quarter — the highest since at least 1979, when Moody’s began tracking. … Long-term leases are taking a long time to unwind, says Moody’s associate economist Nick Luettke. And these vacancy rates are likely to continue to climb for the next few years, peaking at the end of 2026, per Moody’s projections. If the economy moves into a downturn, things could get even worse.” (07/09/24)
https://www.axios.com/2024/07/09/office-vacancy-rate-record-high
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14) Peru: Body of American climber buried by an avalanche 22 years ago found in the ice
Source: SFGate
“Police in Peru said Tuesday they have found the cold-preserved body of an American mountaineer who was buried by an avalanche 22 years ago as he tried to climb one of the highest peaks in the Andes. Police in the Ancash region told The Associated Press they found the body of William Stampfl on Friday near a camp 5,200 meters (17,060 feet) above sea level. The 58-year-old Stampfl had been trying to climb the 6,768-meter Mount Huascaran. Police said Stampfl’s body and clothing had been preserved by the ice and freezing temperatures. Stampfls drivers license was also found with his remains. It says he was a resident of California’s San Bernardino County. … Stampfl was with friends Matthew Richardson and Steve Erskine when they attempted the ascent in 2002. Erskine’s body was found shortly after the avalanche, but Richardson’s is still missing.” (07/09/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/the-body-of-an-american-climber-buried-by-an-19562897.php
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15) Singapore: Port congestion threatens to gum up global trade
Source: Financial Times [UK]
“The risk of higher prices for everything from cars to smartphones for the world’s consumers just got a lot higher. Congestion at Singapore’s container port, which is at its worst since the pandemic, has started spilling over to neighbouring ports, posing a risk for global supply chains. Shipping rates have risen as much as fivefold over the past year and it is only a matter of time before some of that is passed on to shoppers. Singapore is the world’s largest transshipment hub: the container port connects more than 600 ports from 123 countries and has an annual capacity of 50mn 20ft equivalent units, a measure of volume.” (07/09/24)
https://archive.is/EaB9M
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16) Fed may tweak rule that could save biggest US banks billions
Source: Reuters
“The U.S. Federal Reserve is considering a rule change that could save the country’s eight largest banks combined billions of dollars in capital, in a potential long-sought win for the industry, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. At issue is how the central bank calculates an extra layer of capital it imposes on U.S. global systemically important banks (GSIBs), known as the ‘GSIB surcharge,’ which it introduced in 2015 to boost their safety and soundness. The Fed is considering updating inputs it uses in the calculation, which it fixed in 2015, to adjust for economic growth and in turn more accurately reflect the size of the banks relative to the global economy, the people said. Updating those inputs or ‘coefficients’ would reduce the banks’ systemic scores and resulting capital surcharge, said the people who declined to be identified discussing private regulatory issues.” (07/09/24)
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/fed-considers-rule-tweak-that-could-save-biggest-us-banks-billions-capital-2024-07-09/
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17) US regime blocks British court from British territory
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The US government has blocked a British court hearing from taking place on a British territory, citing security concerns, according to official documents. The supreme court of British Indian Ocean Territory (Biot) was due to hold a hearing this week, attended by the BBC, on whether a group of migrants was being unlawfully detained on the island of Diego Garcia. The island hosts a secretive UK-US military base and access is heavily restricted. The US last week said it was ‘withdrawing its consent’ for lawyers representing the migrants and ‘members of the press’ to access the island, according to official communications we have seen. It said it would not allow participants of the hearing to board US military flights to Diego Garcia and would not provide ‘housing, transportation, and food for the visit.'” (07/09/24)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxe2v2mdg7vo
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18) Hungary’s Orban meets China’s Xi in mission to end Russia-Ukraine war
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged world powers to help Russia and Ukraine resume direct dialogue as he held talks with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who was in Beijing on a visit the European leader has branded as a ‘peace mission.’ Xi and Orban’s meeting in the Chinese capital on Tuesday came after the Hungarian leader made similar trips to Russia and Ukraine last week to discuss prospects for a peaceful settlement in the conflict, now in its third year. … Orban is widely seen as having the warmest relations with Xi and Putin among European leaders. His visit to Moscow last week drew condemnation from Ukraine and EU officials, who insisted Orban was not acting on behalf of the whole European bloc.” (07/09/24)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/9/hungarys-orban-meets-chinas-xi-in-mission-to-end-russia-ukraine-war
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19) WI: Federal judge rules protesters can’t march through GOP National Convention security zone
Source: SFGate
“A federal judge ruled Monday that protesters can’t march through a security zone at the Republican National Convention, handing a defeat to liberals who had pushed to have closer access to where delegates will be gathering next week in Milwaukee. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Coalition to March on the RNC 2024 filed a lawsuit last month against the city of Milwaukee, alleging that the city’s plans for protesters violated their free speech rights. They had asked the judge to order that the city design a protest parade route that is within sight and hearing of the Fiserv Forum where thousands of Republicans will be gathering starting Monday to nominate Donald Trump for president. U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig said in his order that protesters have a right to march in protest of the RNC, ‘but the First Amendment does not allow them to protest or parade in any way they choose.'” (07/09/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/federal-judge-rules-protesters-can-t-march-19562748.php
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20) CA: Homeowner shoots at burglars, wounds one
Source: NBC 4 Los Angeles
“A Valley Village home became the scene of a shooting investigation Monday afternoon after the homeowner fired his weapon at attempted burglars, the Los Angeles Police Department said. Investigators believe three masked men tried to break into the home on Addison Street near Colfax Avenue, but they were stopped by the property owner. The homeowner fired his weapon, injuring one of the three suspected burglars.” (07/08/24)
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/homeowner-shoots-attempted-burglar-valley-village-lapd/3454488/
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) A Cosmopolitan Case against World Government
Source: Cato Institute
by Ilya Somin
“The debate over world government and ‘global governance’ typically pits cosmopolitan supporters of globalization against nationalist champions of state sovereignty. The latter fear world government because of the threat it poses to nationalism and the autonomy of nation-states. They also typically view free trade and international migration with great suspicion. However, one need not be a nationalist to oppose world government. I am a cosmopolitan supporter of free trade and an advocate of a strong presumption in favor of open borders immigration. In addition, I am no fan of nationalism, which I consider to be one of the greatest evils of the modern world. Yet I also take a dim view of world government and other similar proposals. These positions are not contradictory. Indeed, they are mutually reinforcing.” (07/09/24)
https://www.cato.org/publications/cosmopolitan-case-against-world-government
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22) A Critique of Randy Barnett’s “Accommodating” Libertarianism
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Gary Chartier
“Randy Barnett is arguably on the short list of the libertarians most influential in American public life. His legal scholarship has informed challenges to state power in the courts; indeed, he himself has argued before the Supreme Court. He has been an active participant in intra-libertarian theoretical debates for decades. And his book The Structure of Liberty, now in its second edition, articulates a clear and appealing model of a stateless legal order that has contributed helpfully to libertarian theory over the course of a quarter-century. Thus, when Barnett urges, as he does in a new essay, that it’s time to update libertarianism, people will understandably listen. It’s not clear, however, that we ought to embrace his proposed program.” (07/09/24)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/a-critique-of-randy-barnetts-accommodating-libertarianism
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23) NATO Membership for Ukraine is a Bargaining Chip, Not an “Irreversible” Reality
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“Ukraine was, and is, never going to formally become a NATO member state. Why is that never going to happen? Because formal NATO membership requires unanimous consent from all of the current member states, because several NATO member states enjoy friendly relations with the Russian Federation, and because there’s no way at least one such member state wouldn’t exercise its veto for the purpose of maintaining and enhancing those friendly relations. That being the case, why does NATO keep dangling the prospect of membership in front of Ukraine? And why do defenders of Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine continue to pretend that the prospect is real — just as Putin himself has from the beginning of the conflict? As a bargaining chip, of course.” (07/09/24)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/18814
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24) Details That You Should Include In Your Article On How We Should Do Something About Mentally Ill Homeless People
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
“Suppose that you, an ordinary person, open your door and start choking on yellow smoke. You think ‘there should be less pollution,’ and call up your representative. The technical expert hears ‘there should be less pollution’ and immediately has dozens of questions. Do you just want to do the obvious things, like lower the detection threshold for hexamethyldecawhatever? Or do you want to ban tetraethylpentawhatever, which is vital for the baby formula food chain and would cause millions of babies to die if you banned it? … I’m not a pollution expert, but I’m a psychiatrist, and I’ve been involved in the involuntary commitment process. So when people say ‘we should do something about mentally ill homeless people,’ I naturally tend towards thinking this is meaningless unless you specify what you want to do — something most of these people never get to.” (07/09/24)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/details-that-you-should-include-in
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25) Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?
Source: Cobden Centre
by Preston Art
“The surge of cryptocurrencies has garnished an array of opinions on the matter. While some people hold a positive outlook, others see cryptocurrency as a dangerous and unstable innovation. Misconceptions largely drive the opinions of these skeptics. They fail to appreciate the true nature of cryptocurrencies, in particular Bitcoin and the positive change it will deliver.” (07/09/24)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2024/07/why-is-bitcoin-valuable/
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26) After momentous term, SCOTUS cements Federalist Society vision as law
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by Henry Gass
“In a concurring opinion he waited eight years to write, Justice Neil Gorsuch did not mince his words. ‘Today,’ he scribed, ‘the Court places a tombstone on Chevron no one can miss.’ The opinion came in one of the landmark decisions of the recent U.S. Supreme Court term. Overturning Chevron deference, a 40-year-old administrative law doctrine instructing courts to defer to federal agencies when interpreting vague statutes, was something of a personal victory for Justice Gorsuch. That victory also represented the full realization of a high court that conservative lawyers and activists have been seeking for a generation.” (07/08/24)
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2024/0708/supreme-court-gorsuch-federalist-society-chevron
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27) The Problem With Coronating Kamala Harris
Source: The Atlantic
by Jerusalem Demsas
“President Joe Biden is insisting that his reelection campaign will go on. If it doesn’t, Kamala Harris is the most likely alternate Democratic nominee. That the vice president should be next in line is nearly an article of faith for many in the party. … But an automatic coronation of Harris would be a grave mistake. The No. 2 spot has never been a guarantee of a promotion to the top job. Only six vice presidents have been elevated to the presidency via an election; 12 have run and lost. Five have even failed to get their party’s endorsement. … Primary campaigns are tests, and Harris, who ultimately dropped out before the Iowa caucus, failed hers. That doesn’t mean she can never be president. Many unsuccessful presidential candidates have performed better in a subsequent campaign. But they had to beat out other candidates.” (07/09/24)
https://archive.is/69LhM
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28) Biden’s Delusion of Running the World
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“While Biden’s critics are focusing on what appears to be some major cognitive issues for the president, very few of them, if any, have focused on the following statement in his interview with George Stephanopoulos: ‘I’m running the world.’ Running the world? Sounds pretty delusional to me. But apparently not to the mainstream press or Biden’s statist critics. To them, the notion that a president ‘runs the world’ is an normal as the notion that the president ‘runs the economy.’ It is this type of delusional mindset that comes with a worldwide military empire.” (07/09/24)
https://www.fff.org/2024/07/09/bidens-delusion-of-running-the-world/
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29) Judgment Day for America’s Worst Supreme Court Justice
Source: TomDispatch
by Ariel Dorfman
“At least I had the courage to do the deed myself. That counts for something here on the other side of death, where I wait for you, Clarence Thomas, and your sharp-toothed wife Ginni, and someday the others whose decrees and rulings from afar have aided and abetted the mayhem and the massacres. Cowards all of you, and boring and petty to boot, at such a safe distance from the volleys, the salvos, the gunfire. Oh, the names I have had to learn — Sandy Hook and Columbine and Uvalde and so many hundreds more and even more after that, while you were careful to stay at a safe distance from the children as they fell.” (07/09/24)
https://tomdispatch.com/judgment-day-for-americas-worst-supreme-court-justice/
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30) The Return of Wasteful Competition
Source: EconLog
by James Broughel
“It is a common misconception that competitive markets yield efficient outcomes. While competition can spur increased effort, that effort need not be directed toward anything productive. More competition has a dark side as well—the tendency to produce unnecessary duplication of efforts and waste. That competition can be problematic rather than efficient is an idea today sometimes associated with investor Peter Thiel, but the reality is this view is hardly new. In fact, the idea that competition is wasteful resurrects a critique made by economists more than a century ago.” (07/09/24)
https://www.econlib.org/the-return-of-wasteful-competition/
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31) Is Putin Prepared To Compromise?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
“The West has repeatedly dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offers to negotiate without even exploring them. They have repeated the claim that Putin is not serious about negotiating and that he offers only ultimatums without being willing to compromise. But former Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Oleksandr Chalyi, a former member of Ukraine’s negotiating team in Istanbul, has said that Putin ‘demonstrated a genuine effort to find a realistic compromise and achieve peace.’ There have been recent suggestions that Putin remains willing to compromise, including a willingness to compromise on territory to achieve Russia’s larger goals. Putin has, from the start, insisted that the war’s aims are not for territory but for security arrangements, including, especially, written guarantees that Ukraine will not join NATO.” (07/09/24)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_snider/2024/07/08/is-putin-prepared-to-compromise/
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32) Media conspiracy of collusion over Biden’s health a national disgrace
Source: New York Post
by Piers Morgan
“‘Of all the horrid, hideous notes of woe,’ wrote my favorite English poet, Lord Byron, ‘Sadder than owl-songs or the midnight blast; Is that portentous phrase, “I told you so.”‘ Or, to put those words in modern-day American vernacular: Nobody likes a smart-ass Monday morning quarterback. But sometimes, the words ‘I told you so’ need to be said to expose those who saw all the same horrid, hideous signs of woe — and failed to speak up. The US mainstream media are currently gorging on President Biden’s cognitive decline like ravenous hyenas on the freshly slain carcass of a decrepit old buffalo. In fact, since his train-wreck debate debacle, the nation’s predominantly liberal-skewed, Democrat-defending journalists have competed with each other as to who can sound the most faux shocked, horrified, appalled, and furrowed-brow-uncomprehending about the physical and mental state of their president.” (07/09/24)
https://nypost.com/2024/07/09/opinion/the-media-conspiracy-of-collusion-over-bidens-health-is-a-national-disgrace/
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33) Yes. They’d Vote For Him If He Shot Someone on 5th Ave.
Source: The Bulwark
by Will Saletan
“In 2016, Donald Trump joked: ‘I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.’ It’s not a joke anymore. Trump has lost almost no support since he was convicted of 34 felonies in his hush-money trial on May 30. The Republican party remains fully committed to him, and he has held his ground in polls. … It’s created a striking contrast between the two parties. While Democrats agonize over Biden’s debate performance — and many call for him to step down as their presumptive nominee — Republicans shrug off Trump’s felonies. But the rot in the GOP goes even deeper. Surveys taken since Trump’s conviction show that to excuse him, many Republicans have adjusted their morals. They’ve decided that when Trump does something bad or criminal, it’s no longer bad or criminal.” (07/09/24)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-supporters-poll-shot-fifth-avenue
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34) Oh, Looks Like Bombing Hospitals Is Bad Again
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“A missile struck a children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday during the heaviest Russian bombardment on Ukraine in months, which stretched across five regions and reportedly killed some forty people. Kyiv and its western allies are saying the children’s hospital was hit by Russia, while Moscow says the hospital was hit by a Ukrainian air defense missile during Russia’s attack. All that’s clear as of this writing is that the hospital was bombed either as a direct or indirect result of the Russian missile strikes, and that western leaders are responding very, very differently to this news than they have been to deliberate Israeli attacks on hospitals throughout the Gaza Strip.” (07/09/24)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2024/07/09/oh-looks-like-bombing-hospitals-is-bad-again/
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35) Return of the technocrats
Source: spiked
by Lauren Smith
“Rejoice, came the cries of the ‘sensible’ British commentariat, for the ‘adults’ are finally back in the room. Labour leader Keir Starmer’s ascendancy to 10 Downing Street has been met with some truly unbearable takes about the return of ‘decent,’ ‘grown-up’ – by which they seem to mean technocratic – politics. Gone are the days of the Tories’ populist-adjacent rhetoric and alleged rabble-rousing. This government will usher in a new age of wonderful, ‘expert’-led governance, we’re told. Starmer has certainly tried to create this impression with some of his appointments. Indeed, some of his ministers are not even elected members of parliament. He has had to stick them in the House of Lords so that they can serve in his government.” (07/09/24)
https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/07/09/return-of-the-technocrats/
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36) Elections Are Purely Practical
Source: Liberal Currents
by Jason Briggeman
“Many of us, rather than regarding voting as one more bit of annoying work that has to be done to keep our governments on track, regard voting as a singular opportunity to express ourselves. But rather than thinking the grandiose thought on Election Day that it is finally our moment to weigh in, we should instead merely put on our to-do list for that Tuesday that we gotta do the voting, and the yard work, and pick up the kids.” (07/09/24)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/elections-are-purely-practical/
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37) Case for Draining the Swamp Stronger Than Ever
Source: Town Hall
by Stephen Moore
“The latest official employment report finds once again that the federal government and state-local hiring spree is still in full gear. Over the past year, health care and government hiring has outpaced every private sector industry. It isn’t just the IRS bringing on thousands of new workers. The bloat is everywhere. So even though there are a lot more government workers, good luck finding them or getting them on the phone. This is because so few of them are actually physically on the job. What’s happening in the federal government (‘Club Fed’) these days borders on the absurd — or should I say the obscene. A recent Federal News Network survey of federal workers finds only 6% are working full time in the office. Thirty percent are full-time remote.” (07/09/24)
https://townhall.com/columnists/stephenmoore/2024/07/09/the-case-for-draining-the-swamp-is-stronger-than-ever-n2641581
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38) The NYT and the Low-Wage Worker
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“Low-wage workers have seen large real wage gains since the pandemic, so naturally as we come to the July 4th holiday the New York Times gives us a piece telling us how they are hurting. The piece is headlined, ‘America’s divided summer economy is coming to an airport or hotel near you.’ If there is any ambiguity here the subhead tells us, ‘The gulf between higher- and low-income consumers has been widening for years, but it is expected to show up clearly in this travel season.’ It’s striking that we see a widening gulf with real wages rising far more rapidly at the bottom than the top. Real wages for workers in the bottom decile have risen 12.1 percent in the last four years. For workers in the second quintile, they have risen by 5.0 percent.” (07/09/24)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/07/09/the-nyt-and-the-low-wage-worker/
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39) Why the chaotic French election is our problem too
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Anatol Lieven
“The French electorate and most of the political parties have ensured that — at least until the next presidential elections, due in April 2027 — France will not have a government of the radical rightist Rassemblement Nationale (National Rally) of Marine Le Pen. They have in the process opened the question of whether France can have a government at all. The prospect of the further decline of governance and political stability in one of America’s most important allies should be a matter of deep concern to the U.S. establishment; as also the possible implications for the future of the European Union and NATO.” (07/09/24)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/france-election/
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40) The Nutty Nineties
Source: Law & Liberty
by Katrina Gulliver
“What the hell happened in the early 1990s? That’s the question posed, and (partially) answered by John Ganz in When the Clock Broke. He sees the period as a fracture point, as the postwar cultural consensus gave way and economic chickens came home to roost. Reading this book was a reminder of just how chaotic, in retrospect, the early ’90s were.” (07/09/24)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/the-nutty-nineties/
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41) Biden-Trump Rematch Reflects a Democratic System in Terminal Decline
Source: Common Dreams
by Peter Bloom
“As the United States barrels towards another presidential election pitting Joe Biden against Donald Trump, a somber reality is setting in for many observers: despite the stark differences between the two men and their visions for America, their rematch represents a broader shift in how democracy functions in the 21st century. Increasingly, elections have become competitions between the ambitions and personalities of individual ‘great men’ rather than contests of ideas or visions for society. This phenomenon reflects a contemporary belief in the outsized power of elite individuals (whether CEOs, celebrities, or political leaders) to drive change and shape the world around them. It’s a worldview that has its roots in neoliberal ideology but has morphed into something more extreme: a ‘cult of personality’ that justifies massive inequality and the consolidation of wealth and power in the hands of a small oligarchic class.” (07/09/24)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-vs-biden
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42) It’s Time to Call off the Trade War
Source: Cato Institute
by Colin Grabow
“After decades of lowering its import barriers, U.S. trade policy has careened off course over the past several years. First ushered in by former President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, protectionism later kicked into high gear under the Trump administration with new tariffs on solar panels, washing machines, steel, and aluminum, as well as tens (eventually hundreds) of billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods. President Joe Biden has endorsed this approach by keeping the tariffs largely intact — and even adding a few more. After six years of this protectionist project, it’s worth asking what the country has to show for it. Aside from higher costs, lost jobs, increased business uncertainty, and bewildered allies, the answer is precious little. Trade wars, it turns out, are neither good nor easy to win.” (07/09/24)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/its-time-call-trade-war
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43) Chevron Deference Defers to Metcalfe’s Law
Source: The American Conservative
by James P Pinkerton
“These days, news about Donald Trump and Joe Biden stomps all over everything, and yet big events are happening elsewhere, and with the added infusion of innovation, they are likely to reverberate far beyond the next presidential term. Case in point: Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, in which the Supreme Court, by a 6-3 margin, reversed a 1984 decision, the so-called ‘Chevron deference.’ Under Chevron deference, courts were instructed to acquiesce to regulatory agencies’ interpretations of Congressional intent. In practice, this meant allowing bureaucrats — most notably, the green activists at the Environmental Protection Agency — to freelance their own interpretations of statute.” (07/09/24)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/chevron-deference-defers-to-metcalfes-law/
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44) Bringing Back Gold Clause Contracts: A Challenge to the Fed
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Mike Maharrey
“One of the ways the government maintains its fiat money system is by throwing up legal and regulatory roadblocks to those wanting to use real money. Bringing back gold clause contracts removes one of those barriers. The principle behind a gold clause contract is simple. It requires that payment must be made in a specific amount of gold or its paper equivalent. For example, a mortgage might stipulate that repayment must be in the form of 30 ounces of gold. Gold clauses protect the parties to a contract from currency debasement.” (07/08/24)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2024/07/08/bringing-back-gold-clause-contracts-a-challenge-to-the-fed/
-----
45) Welker pushes Meet the Press even further left [sic]
Source: Washington Examiner
by Paul Bedard
“This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the latest demonstration that NBC Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, in the anchor seat for less than a year, has pushed the show further left than Chuck Todd left it. This Sunday, it was Welker using her trademark practice of beating her point into the ground in demanding another Republican to ‘accept the election results,’ which she obviously believes will show President Joe Biden reelected. Her target was Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), on former President Donald Trump’s short list of running mates. ‘Can you say unequivocally, unequivocally here and now, that you will accept the results of the 2024 election no matter what they are?’ she asked …. When Vance said he’s hoping for a clean election, Welker said he was signaling that the election won’t be fair.” (07/09/24)
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/3073217/liberal-media-scream-welker-pushes-meet-the-press-even-further-left/
-----
46) Government stupidity on display in near-earth orbit
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“It’s been up there for 24 years now. Hanging over our heads. We present the International Space Station. It looks huge, right? As manmade things in space, maybe it is. But it is actually tiny: about the size of a football field (300 feet by 120 or so feet, counting sidelines). And it weighs all of 450 tons (that is the capacity of 4-5 railcars hauling gravel or coal). Woopie! What is big about it is the government boondoggle it represents and continues to do.” (07/08/24)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2024/07/08/government-stupidity-on-display-in-near-earth-orbit/
-----
47) The Censorship-Industrial Complex: The Right’s New Boogeywoman
Source: The UnPopulist
by Jonathan Rauch
“I have been in the anti-censorship business since the publication of Kindly Inquisitors in 1993, so I need no lectures about the value of open discourse and heterodox expression. I think it’s great for some social media companies and their customers to prefer relatively permissive content standards. But it’s also perfectly valid for Facebook and YouTube to set higher standards, tell us what they are, and try to enforce them consistently — even if they make mistakes, as they will. And (this should be obvious, but apparently isn’t) it’s also perfectly valid for independent scholars to identify what they think is online misinformation and report it to social media companies, the public, and, yes, government agencies. That’s free speech, too.” (07/08/24)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/the-censorship-industrial-complex
-----
48) Machado: A Beacon of Hope in Venezuela’s Political Crisis
Source: Independent Institute
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
“Politicians who talk about ‘rendezvous with history’ make me cringe. Still, it is hard to argue that the presidential elections that will take place in Venezuela on July 28 are anything but that. The opposition (or, more accurately, the resistance movement) is currently at its strongest. It is united behind one of Latin America’s most formidable leaders, Maria Corina Machado, a woman of classical liberal persuasion who enjoys approximately 70 percent popular support. Conversely, the tyrant governing the country and his entire administration have never been weaker. They have weakened to the extent that even Nicolas Maduro’s allies in Latin America, such as Brazil’s Lula da Silva and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro (in many respects a Chavista himself), have distanced themselves from Caracas’[s] attempts to rig the election weeks before the vote in various ways. These efforts have included barring Machado’s right to run for office.” (07/08/24)
https://blog.independent.org/2024/07/08/machado-a-beacon-of-hope-in-venezuelas-political-crisis/
-----
49) Why the Bid to Push Out Biden Is Losing
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“The movement to persuade Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race is failing, and it’s failing in a very predictable way. Though polling has consistently registered massive public concern with Biden’s age and his ability to withstand the rigors of a high-stakes campaign, let alone another term in office until he turns 86 years old, the loudest voices trying to force him out of the race are elites: major media columnists and wealthy donors. They lack democratic legitimacy and the public’s respect, even as they are expressing the popular will. And they have given Biden the opportunity to parry their attacks simply by employing the politics of resentment.” (07/09/24)
https://prospect.org/politics/2024-07-09-why-bid-to-push-out-biden-is-losing/
-----
50) “Heritage Americans” Were Unassimilated Immigrants Once Too
Source: Reason
by Matthew Petti
“The immigrants keep coming, and they’re not assimilating. Unlike our immigrant ancestors, who came to America and never looked back, they still maintain ties to their old country, waving their foreign flags and reading their news in another language, bringing along cousins and friends from their village. Of course I’m talking about Basque shepherds, who settled the Rocky Mountains in the 19th century and continued to welcome new arrivals into their ethnic clubs more than 100 years later. Almost everyone in this country has ancestors who came from somewhere else. So nativists are now arguing that immigration now is simply different from their ancestors’ immigration. … That’s simply not true. Since ancient times, immigrants have maintained a sense of connection to the lands they left behind.” (07/08/24)
https://reason.com/2024/07/08/heritage-americans-were-unassimilated-immigrants-once-too/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Rising, 07/09/24
Source: The Hill
“Congressional reporter at The Hill Julia Manchester weighs in on the White House’s messaging on President Joe Biden’s health.” (07/09/24)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/4761614-rising-july-9-2024/
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52) Hubwonk, 07/09/24
Source: Pioneer Institute
“Breaking Down Encampments: Court Finds no Right to Sleep Outdoors.” (07/09/24)
https://pioneerinstitute.org/featured/breaking-down-encampments-court-finds-no-right-to-sleep-outdoors/
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53) Agorist Nexus Podcast, episode 151
Source: Agorist Nexus
“Peru and the growing impact of Agorism with TechLibre.” (07/09/24)
https://www.agoristnexus.com/peru-and-the-growing-impact-of-agorism-with-techlibre-151/
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54) Conflicts of Interest, episode 631
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Israeli Troops Are Given Free Hand to Murder Civilians in Gaza.” (07/09/24)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-631-israeli-troops-are-given-free-hand-to-murder-civilians-in-gaza/
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55) The Bryan Hyde Show, 07/09/24
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos stops by to talk about the passing scene. We talk about how to stay free in spite of the latest intrigue and some fun automotive stuff as well.” (07/09/24)
https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-kcgm7-1662d84
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56) Advisory Opinions, 07/09/24
Source: The Dispatch
“Is ‘Text, History, and Tradition’ Alive and Well?” (07/09/24)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/is-text-history-and-tradition-alive-and-well/
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57) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 07/09/24
Source: Antiwar.com
“IDF Allows Soldiers To Shoot Civilians, Zelensky Wants Poland To Down Russian Missiles, and More.” (07/09/24)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDALdlSptPg
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58) Nonzero, 07/08/24
Source: Bloggingheads.tv
“The Biden Mess | Robert Wright & Eric Levitz.” (07/08/24)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/67788
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59) System Update, episode 293
Source: System Update
“Biden Cannot Be Forced Out of Race Democratically by Oligarchs; What the U.K. and French Elections Mean for Establishment Politics in Europe.” (07/08/24)
https://rumble.com/v562h0b-system-update-293.html
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60) Fountainhead Forum, episode 191
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Max Borders on the good and the bad things about artificial intelligence.” (07/08/24)
https://rumble.com/v55z5r1-ff-191-max-borders-on-the-good-and-the-bad-things-about-artificial-intellig.html
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61) Free Talk Live, 07/08/24
Source: Free Talk Live
“Biden sucks :: What can the president actually do? :: Commissary in federal prison :: Spanish porn filters :: Skeeter yells in the background while Aria and Chris talk :: Aria, porn, and the Internet of things :: Creighton weighs in on porn :: 2024-07-08 Aria, Chris.” (07/08/24)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/free-talk-live-2024-07-08
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62) DMZ with Bill Scher and Matt Lewis, 07/08/24
Source: Bloggingheads.tv
“Kamala or BUST?” (07/08/24)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/67794
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63) Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 07/08/24
Source: Freedom’s Phoenix
“Jerry Ashton, co-founder in 2014 of the highly respected Undue Medical Debt on his quest to end medical debt for veterans (EndVeteranDebt.org) (in addition to millions of Americans it has helped out so far).” (07/08/24)
https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Media/365024-2024-07-08-2024-07-08-ernest-hancock-interviews-jerry-ashton-undue-medical.htm
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64) Politics Politics Politics, 07/08/24
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Biden Defiant! Why His Biggest Supporter Is Calling For Him To Resign (with Bill Scher).” (07/08/24)
https://shows.acast.com/politicspoliticspolitics/episodes/biden-defiant-why-his-biggest-supporter-is-calling-for-him-t
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65) Dave DeCamp on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Dave DeCamp on Gaza, Biden’s Peace Plan and the Likelihood of War in Lebanon.” (07/08/24)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/7-4-24-dave-decamp-on-gaza-bidens-peace-plan-and-the-likelihood-of-war-in-lebanon/
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