05/18 -- Black Sea: Russian drone allegedly strikes Chinese ship; Computer "Age Verification" is About Political Control, Not Child Safety
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Thomas L. Knapp
May 18, 2026, 6:14:28 AM (7 days ago) May 18
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 05/18/26
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Black Sea: Russian drone allegedly strikes Chinese ship
2) Bitcoin slips below $77k as oil surge, rising yields hit risk appetite
3) Oil touches two-week high after drone attack on UAE nuclear power plant
4) LA: Cassidy knocked out of GOP Senate primary; Trump-backed Letlow, Fleming make runoff
5) ICC denies “inaccurate” report it is seeking new warrants against Israeli regime officials
6) Trump whines at Boebert for supporting Massie
7) The Hague: Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga dies
8) KS: Judge Blocks Law Banning Gender-Transition Treatments for Youths
9) Hamas confirms top commander killed in Israeli air strike
10) Philippines: Regime Asks Court to Deny Petition of Senator Sought by ICC
11) Venezuela: Regime says it has deported close ally of Maduro to face criminal proceedings in US
12) SCOTUS rejects bid to revive Democrats’ Virginia redistricting plan
13) WHO declares Ebola outbreak in DR Congo a global health emergency
14) UK: Tens of thousands march in London in far-right and pro-Palestine protests
15) AL: In birthplace of Civil Rights Movement, groups rally to defend discrimination
16) Investigation identifies 13 victims of US regime’s maritime murder spree
17) Protesters demand New York Times stop telling truth about Israeli regime
18) CO: Polis commutes former election clerk’s sentence
19) US Senate parliamentarian deals blow to $1 billion security proposal for White House
20) US regime takes steps to indict former Cuban ruler Raúl Castro
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Computer “Age Verification” is About Political Control, Not Child Safety
22) Hobbes’s Self-Defeating Theory
23) The Endless Search for Emergency Tariff Authority
24) Plunder, War Profiteering, and Spirit Airlines
25) Is France really poorer than Mississippi?
26) Blue state bill targets homeschoolers in latest government power grab
27) George Washington, Father of the Country, Killed by Doctors
28) The Rotten Roots of Gerrymandering
29) Mercy for good apples when they expose bad apples
30) The US Immigration-Control Death Machine
31) Why America still needs a complete accounting of the “Russiagate” conspiracy
32) Winning? Republicans support a war that’s pummeling ‘Main Street’
33) Stop Trump’s High Seas Killing Spree
34) Liberals support even illegal protest while conservatives oppose even legal protest
35) The Green Deal’s War on Polish Furniture
36) Trump Accounts and the No Economist Left Behind Test
37) The Electoral College and American Freedom
38) The Trump-Xi summit was a battle of two waning superpowers
39) Taxpayers Still on the Hook for a Gas Tax Holiday
40) Universities’ Best Defense Against Censorship in the Public Square Is Free Inquiry
41) How to Stop Mega Gerrymandering From Scrambling Democracy
42) The US Should Cut Its Losses in the Iran War
43) Should Presidential Pardon Power be More Restricted?
44) The FDA’s New Psychedelic Rules Are Groovy, but the Agency Is Still a Bad Trip
45) The “Free Trade” Tax on Americans
46) Trying Souls
47) Truth, power, and honest journalism
48) AI and Comparative Advantage
49) Trump’s Nothingburger Banquet in Beijing
50) US Trapped by Iran’s Resilience; Why the Solution Is Agreement, Not Attrition
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Mutual Exchange Radio, 05/16/26
52) Unattended Baggage, episode 340
53) Pink Flame of Liberty, 05/16/26
54) Voluntary Order, 05/16/26
55) The Good Fight Club, 05/16/26
56) The Brian Nichols Show, 05/16/26
57) Kibbe on Liberty, episode 386
58) Egalitarianism and Value-Free Economics
59) System Update, 05/15/26
60) The Evil Within, part 9
61) Reason Interview: Jacob Mchangama
62) Serious Trouble, 05/15/26
63) Reasonably Optimistic, 05/15/26
64) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2761
65) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 05/15/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Black Sea: Russian drone allegedly strikes Chinese ship
Source: Independent [UK]
“Russia has attacked a Chinese-owned cargo ship that was headed for a Ukrainian port, according to Reuters, a move which could anger one of Moscow’s most important allies in Beijing. The Russian drone struck the KSL DEYANG vessel flying under Marshall Islands flag off the coast of Ukraine early on Monday, a source told the news agency. The vessel was did not contain cargo and was bound for Ukraine’s Pivdennyi port in the Odesa region where it was to load iron ore concentrate. The vessel did not sustain significant damage, there were no casualties and the fire caused by the strike was extinguished by the crew, the source added.” (05/18/26)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-live-drone-attack-putin-zelensky-b2978363.html
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2) Bitcoin slips below $77k as oil surge, rising yields hit risk appetite
Source: Investing.com
“Bitcoin fell below $77,000 on Monday, extending weekend losses as surging global bond yields and rising oil prices linked to escalating Iran tensions weakened appetite for riskier assets. The world’s largest cryptocurrency last traded 1.5% lower at $76,946.6 by 00:54 ET (04:54 GMT), its lowest level since May 1. Bitcoin briefly climbed above $80,000 last week but failed to sustain momentum.” (05/18/26)
https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/bitcoin-slips-below-77k-as-oil-surge-rising-yields-hit-risk-appetite-4694637
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3) Oil touches two-week high after drone attack on UAE nuclear power plant
Source: Reuters
“Oil prices extended gains on Monday, driven by increasingly bleak prospects for peace in the Middle East after an attack on a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates. … Drone attacks on the UAE and Saudi Arabia and the rhetoric from the United States and Iran raised concerns of an escalation in the conflict. Saudi Arabia, which intercepted three drones that entered from Iraqi airspace, warned it would take the necessary operational measures to respond to any attempt to violate its sovereignty and security. Emirati officials, meanwhile, said they were investigating the source of the strike on the Barakah nuclear power plant, adding that the UAE had the right to respond to what it said were ‘terrorist attacks.'” (05/17/26)
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-rises-more-than-1-after-drone-attack-uae-nuclear-power-plant-2026-05-17/
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4) LA: Cassidy knocked out of GOP Senate primary; Trump-backed Letlow, Fleming make runoff
Source: SFGate
“U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow advanced to a runoff in Louisiana’s Republican Senate primary Saturday, capitalizing on the power of President Donald Trump’s endorsement in another attempt to purge his party of people he views as disloyal. State Treasurer John Fleming came in second to join her in the next round of voting. Trump supported Letlow over incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of the few Republican senators who voted to convict him during his second impeachment trial over the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Cassidy, a doctor, has also clashed with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy, though he provided crucial support to help Kennedy get confirmed.” (05/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/sen-cassidy-battles-trump-backed-challenger-in-22262012.php
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5) ICC denies “inaccurate” report it is seeking new warrants against Israeli regime officials
Source: Jerusalem Post [Jerusalem]
“The International Criminal Court (ICC) has denied that it had issued new arrest warrants for Israeli political and military officials, following a Haaretz report published on Sunday claiming the Hague has quietly sought arrest warrants against several Israeli officials. According to the Haaretz report, citing a diplomatic source, the warrants target three Israeli politicians and two IDF officials. ICC spokesperson Oriane Maillet said in a note to journalists that the report, in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, was not accurate, and the court ‘denies the issuance of new arrest warrants in the situation in the state of Palestine.'” (05/17/26)
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-896423
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6) Trump whines at Boebert for supporting Massie
Source: Fox News
“President Donald Trump on Saturday blasted Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., a longtime ally of the president, and threatened to back a primary challenger after she campaigned for one of his top Republican rivals. Trump lashed out on Truth Social against Boebert, whom he previously endorsed for reelection, just hours after she campaigned with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., one of Trump’s most vocal GOP critics in Congress. ‘Is anyone interested in running against Weak Minded Lauren Boebert in Colorado’s Fourth Congressional District?’ Trump wrote. The president criticized Boebert for supporting Massie, whose primary challenger, retired Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, has Trump’s endorsement.” (05/17/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-threatens-pull-boebert-endorsement-calls-congresswoman-weak-minded-over-massie-support
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7) The Hague: Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga dies
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“Felicien Kabuga, a suspect in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, has died in custody, a UN court said on Saturday. He was 93 years old. The court, the UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), said it had ordered an inquiry into the circumstances of his death. Kabuga was once one of the world’s most-wanted fugitives. He was accused of encouraging and bankrolling the massacres between April and June 1994, in which Hutu extremists killed more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 100 days. … Kabuga evaded arrest for more than two decades after the genocide, using a succession of false passports and aided by a network of former Rwandan allies. … Hist trial started in 20222. … Kabuga, however, was later ruled unfit to stand trial because of dementia.” (05/16/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/rwandan-genocide-suspect-felicien-kabuga-dies-in-custody/a-77184740
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8) KS: Judge Blocks Law Banning Gender-Transition Treatments for Youths
Source: New York Times
“Kansas cannot enforce its ban on nonsurgical gender-transition treatments for minors, a state judge ruled on Friday. The ruling gives supporters of transgender rights a significant, though temporary, victory after more than a year of setbacks in capitols and courtrooms across the country. … The judge, Carl Folsom III of the State District Court in Douglas County, said in granting a temporary injunction that the law had likely violated parents’ rights to make decisions for their children. Attorney General Kris W. Kobach, a Republican whose office defended the law, criticized the ruling as ‘a stark example of judicial activism,’ and vowed to appeal.” (05/16/26)
https://archive.is/B404i
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9) Hamas confirms top commander killed in Israeli air strike
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A Hamas official has confirmed to the BBC that Izz ad-Din al-Haddad, commander of the group’s armed wing, was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement that Haddad had been ‘responsible for the murder, kidnapping and injury of thousands of Israeli civilians and IDF [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers’. Israel described him as ‘one of the architects of the October 7 massacre.’ The strike is the latest launched by Israel on Gaza despite a ceasefire with Hamas. Three eyewitnesses told the BBC that a residential building known as Al-Mu’taz was struck by three missiles launched simultaneously from two separate directions, before a fleeing car was hit. The air strike, targeting the apartment block in the centre of Gaza City, sparked a large fire.” (05/16/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx21jjwz1k1o
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10) Philippines: Regime Asks Court to Deny Petition of Senator Sought by ICC
Source: Bloomberg
“The Philippine government asked the Supreme Court to deny a petition by Senator Ronald Dela Rosa to stop his arrest after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant on allegations of crimes against humanity. The government’s executive branch can enforce the ICC arrest warrant, the Office of the Solicitor General said in a comment filed to the court on Saturday and made public Sunday. … Dela Rosa was chief of police from 2016 to 2018, when ex-president Rodrigo Duterte waged a crackdown on illegal drugs that killed thousands. Dela Rosa went on to win a Senate seat in 2019 and was reelected last year. He maintains the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines.” (05/17/26)
https://archive.is/42oJc
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11) Venezuela: Regime says it has deported close ally of Maduro to face criminal proceedings in US
Source: SFGate
“Venezuela’s government said Saturday it deported a close ally of Nicolás Maduro facing several criminal investigations in the U.S. less than three years after the businessman was pardoned by President Joe Biden as part of a prisoner swap. The decision marks a stark reversal for Alex Saab, who Maduro fought tooth and nail to bring home after his previous international arrest in 2020. Now, the Colombian-born insider, long described by U.S. officials as Maduro’s ‘bag man,’ may be asked to testify against his former protector, who is awaiting trial on drug charges in Manhattan after being captured in a shock raid by the U.S. military in January.” (05/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/venezuela-says-it-deported-close-ally-of-maduro-22262638.php
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12) SCOTUS rejects bid to revive Democrats’ Virginia redistricting plan
Source: Politico
“Virginia Democrats’ last-ditch bid to revive their plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts to gain additional Democratic seats fizzled out Friday at the Supreme Court as the justices refused to restore the results of the referendum voters approved last month. Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones asked the nation’s highest court to take emergency action to block a Virginia Supreme Court ruling earlier this month that nullified the referendum after concluding that it violated the state’s constitution. The emergency appeal found no traction at the Supreme Court. A one-sentence order released shortly after Jones filed his final brief on the appeal said Chief Justice John Roberts referred the stay request to the full bench, which denied relief.” (05/15/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/15/supreme-court-democrats-virginia-redistricting-00925046
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13) WHO declares Ebola outbreak in DR Congo a global health emergency
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern Ituri province a public health emergency of international concern. The agency added that the outbreak, with around 246 suspected cases and 80 deaths reported, does not meet the criteria of pandemic emergency. WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned there are currently ‘significant uncertainties to the true number of infected persons and geographic spread’ of the outbreak. The current strain of Ebola is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, the health agency said, for which there are no approved drugs or vaccines. The WHO said there are now eight laboratory-confirmed cases of the virus, with other suspected cases and deaths across three health zones including Bunia the capital of Ituri province, and the gold-mining towns of Mongwalu and Rwampara.” (05/16/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2l2p0wwzzdo
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14) UK: Tens of thousands march in London in far-right and pro-Palestine protests
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Tens of thousands of people are marching through central London in two separate protests – one pro-Palestine demonstration a day after Nakba Day, and the other, a far-right rally staged by Tommy Robinson. Police in the British capital deployed 4,000 officers, including reinforcements from outside the city, on Saturday and pledged ‘the most assertive possible use of our powers’ in what they called their biggest public order operation in years. … In a Saturday evening update, police said officers had made 43 arrests at the twin protests, which both ended by 18:30 GMT.” (05/16/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/16/tens-of-thousands-march-in-london-in-far-right-and-pro-palestine-protests
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15) AL: In birthplace of Civil Rights Movement, groups rally to defend discrimination
Source: SFGate
“Thousands of people rallied Saturday in the city considered the crucible of the modern Civil Rights Movement to push back against conservative states’ efforts to dismantle congressional districts that helped secure Black political representation. The gathering in Montgomery, Alabama, was put together in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened the Voting Rights Act and the resulting rush by southern states to redraw lines. Speakers said they returned to the city, famous for the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march, because the fight that began there is continuing for later generations. The Rev. Bernice King, speaking near the spot where her father, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., addressed voting rights marchers in 1965, said the dedication and sacrifice of that generation changed the trajectory of the country.” (05/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/in-the-birthplace-of-civil-rights-movement-22262011.php
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16) Investigation identifies 13 victims of US regime’s maritime murder spree
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“A five-month investigation has named 13 previously unidentified victims of US attacks on boats allegedly carrying narcotics in a campaign that has [murdered] nearly 200 people in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. It is unclear if the US has ever identified any of its 194 victims before attacking them, and the names of just three had previously emerged, after their families launched legal cases against the White House. … a joint effort by 20 journalists led by the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) this week published the identities of 13 of those killed, some of whom showed no indication of involvement in drug trafficking.” (05/15/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/15/us-military-airstrikes-caribbean-pacific-victim-identities
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17) Protesters demand New York Times stop telling truth about Israeli regime
Source: Fox News
“Protesters gathered Thursday outside The New York Times building in New York City expressing outrage over an opinion piece by liberal columnist Nicholas Kristof that contained allegations of serial sexual abuse by Israelis against Palestinian detainees. The article featured the testimony of men and women who alleged ‘brutal sexual abuse at the hands of Israel’s prison guards, soldiers, settlers and interrogators.’ The article mentioned several claims, including that Palestinians ‘had their genitals yanked or were beaten on the testicles,’ ‘some men had to have their testicles amputated by doctors,’ and metal batons were used to rape men. Kristof also said a Gaza journalist claimed he was ‘mounted’ by a dog before adding that ‘[o]ther Palestinian prisoners and human rights monitors have also cited reports of police dogs being coached to rape prisoners.'” (05/16/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/media/protesters-demand-new-york-times-retract-controversial-dog-rape-article-fire-nicholas-kristof
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18) CO: Polis commutes former election clerk’s sentence
Source: Associated Press
“Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Friday commuted the sentence of election conspiracy theorist Tina Peters following pressure from President Donald Trump, the latest instance of the president using his powers to reward those who echoed his baseless claims of mass fraud as the cause of his 2020 loss. Trump has championed the case of Peters, a 70-year-old former county clerk who was sentenced to nine years behind bars after being convicted in a scheme to make a copy of her county’s election computer system. She gets released June 1. In April, a Colorado appeals court upheld her conviction but ordered Peters to be resentenced because it said the judge who sent her to prison wrongly punished her for speaking out about election fraud, a decision that Polis praised.” (05/15/26)
https://apnews.com/article/tina-peters-polis-colorado-clemency-trump-eca56e2167a72e306a54b99b847d918c
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19) US Senate parliamentarian deals blow to $1 billion security proposal for White House
Source: SFGate
“A proposal to fund $1 billion in security additions for the White House campus and the president’s new ballroom fails to meet procedural rules, according to the Senate parliamentarian, dealing a blow to Republican plans to include it as part of a bill to fund immigration enforcement agencies for the next three years. The parliamentarian’s ruling, described late Saturday by Senate Democrats, said that funding for a project as large and complex as President Donald Trump’s massive East Wing renovation is too broad to be included in the narrow GOP budget bill, which cannot be filibustered and only needs a simple majority to pass. It’s unclear if Republicans will be able to immediately salvage any part of the billion-dollar Secret Service proposal, which would fund security for Trump’s ballroom along with other parts of the White House, including a new visitor screening center, additional training for agents and extra reinforcements for large events.” (05/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/senate-parliamentarian-deals-blow-to-1-billion-22262876.php
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20) US regime takes steps to indict former Cuban ruler Raúl Castro
Source: USA Today
“The United States is moving to indict former Cuban president Raúl Castro, two sources familiar with the matter told USA TODAY. The possible charges are related to a 30-year-old case that involved the Cuban government shooting down two planes operated by a humanitarian group in 1996, the sources said. Any indictment would have to be issued by a grand jury after being presented with evidence in the case. News that the United States was looking to indict Castro came hours after CIA Director John Ratcliffe led a delegation to Havana on May 14 to deliver a message from President Donald Trump to Cuban officials and Raúl ‘Raulito’ Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, who is the elder Castro’s grandson.” (05/15/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2026/05/14/us-seeks-raul-castro-indictment-1996-cuba-plane-shootdown/90087810007/
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Computer “Age Verification” is About Political Control, Not Child Safety
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“Because California is the ‘authoritarian law idea? Hold my beer!’ state, governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation last October which requires operating system providers to collect age information on each new user account, and provide an API that lets Internet platforms and app developers access that information so as to exclude users Gavin Newsom doesn’t think should be using those platforms and apps [“for the chillllllllllldren”]. It’s almost, but not quite, funny. It’s almost funny because it won’t take the chillllllllllldren in question more than a few minutes to figure out ways around this kind of thing. ‘Age verification’ laws are, and always have been, political fantasy, as you know yourself if you were ever a 19-year-old college student who used a fake ID to get into a nightclub. It’s not quite funny because it isn’t, and never was, about ‘the chillllllllllldren.'” (05/17/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20620
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22) Hobbes’s Self-Defeating Theory
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joshua Mawhorter
“Like it or not, for several centuries now, Hobbes’s nation-state concept has been the default paradigm and context for modern people whenever they think about government. Without having ever read Hobbes, people will unknowingly repeat his assumptions, presuppositions, concerns, and arguments for the state. Yet — with some simple logic and using Hobbes’s own presuppositions — we can internally critique Hobbes’s argument and see that his proposed solution of the state solves none of the problems he presents.” (05/15/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/hobbess-self-defeating-theory
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23) The Endless Search for Emergency Tariff Authority
Source: The Daily Economy
by David Hebert
“The legal foundation for taxing every import into the US has now rested, at various points in the past year, on a 1977 emergency powers law, a 1974 statute designed for a monetary system that no longer exists, and — if the administration’s next move is what trade lawyers expect — a Depression-era provision that has never once been used to impose actual tariffs in almost a century. At some point, running out of legal justifications is a signal worth heeding.” (05/15/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-endless-search-for-emergency-tariff-authority/
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24) Plunder, War Profiteering, and Spirit Airlines
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Charles Goyette
“Someone, somewhere is making a lot of money. It’s the most brazen plunder since Hillary Clinton was trading cattle futures in Little Rock. Or since Nancy Pelosi was placing stock trades. Come to think of it, there seems to be a whole lot of plunder going on in the world of politics. It’s not just oil in the ‘Age of Trump.’ As President Ronald Reagan’s budget director and a Wall Street veteran, David Stockman is a seasoned observer of political plunder. When Donald Trump suddenly offered up the suggestion that ‘we’ (the taxpayers) buy struggling Spirit Airlines, Stockman wrote a piece called, ‘Was It You, Barron? Someone Made 3.5X On The Donald’s Spirit Airlines Socialism.’ This chart shows Spirit Holdings share price spiking when Trump started his takeover talk on April 21 (and then quickly collapsing).” (05/15/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/plunder-war-profiteering-and-spirit-airlines
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25) Is France really poorer than Mississippi?
Source: Washington Post
by Megan McArdle
“I’m not, alas, in Paris right now. But I can certainly imagine myself in a Parisian cafe, enjoying some steak frites and a glass of wine while taking in the glorious streetscape. What’s harder to imagine is soaking in all that ambiance and thinking, ‘Yeah, this place is definitely poorer than Mississippi.’ No, seriously, that’s what gross domestic product statistics suggest. In 2024, France had a per capita GDP of $46,103. Mississippi’s was $55,876. As recently as 10 years ago, French GDP was ahead ($37,024 versus $36,184), but since then U.S. GDP and productivity have grown significantly faster than Western Europe’s. This fact has caused much social media friction between smug Americans and defensive Europeans (allied with American progressives) who argue that you can’t measure what makes their way of life better.” (05/17/26)
https://archive.is/lociD
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26) Blue state bill targets homeschoolers in latest government power grab
Source: Fox News
by Corey DeAngelis
“After decades of parental rights victories, Connecticut may become the first state to go backwards on homeschool freedom in the past 50 years. The Connecticut Senate advanced a bill attacking homeschooling families by a vote of 22 to 14, mostly along party lines. Three Democrats joined all Republicans in opposition. The measure cleared the House 96-53 last week, with four Democrats crossing the aisle to stand with Republicans. Those margins fall short of the two-thirds supermajority required in both chambers to override a gubernatorial veto. Connecticut families now have only one remaining safeguard. Leadership should respect the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children and block this Orwellian legislation.” (05/15/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/blue-state-bill-targets-homeschoolers-latest-government-power-grab
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27) George Washington, Father of the Country, Killed by Doctors
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jeffrey A Tucker
“he grim circumstances behind the death of George Washington (1732-1799), America’s first president and popularly known as the Father of the Country, are not wholly unknown. The details have been reported by historians for more than two centuries. What’s strange about this dry biographical knowledge is that it is not reported with shock and alarm and hence never conveyed to popular culture with lessons for our lives. This is because Washington’s physicians were following standard protocols when they bled him to death.” (05/15/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/george-washington-father-of-the-country-killed-by-doctors/
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28) The Rotten Roots of Gerrymandering
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“Congressional redistricting — or pejoratively, gerrymandering — has dominated the headlines lately. This is a big deal in the primary-election season with an unpopular president and midterms right around the corner. Few issues provoke such animosity. Each side accuses the other of trying to stack the deck and rig the elections. … What most people refuse to understand is that if the public sees the government as a 24/7/365 bazaar offering virtually any benefit demanded of it to those with clout, then those who want what they cannot acquire through persuasion and voluntary exchange will work overtime to gain advantage from political power.” (05/15/26)
https://sheldonrichman.substack.com/p/tgif-the-rotten-roots-of-gerrymandering
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29) Mercy for good apples when they expose bad apples
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“For American executives who spot fraud and financial misconduct among workers and then quickly report it, the U.S. Justice Department has a refreshing message: Your alertness to right-doing can bring a reward – in mercy. Federal prosecutors were recently handed expanded powers to be lenient toward companies that voluntarily report wrongdoing by individual employees in a ‘timely’ manner, make amends to those wronged, and shape up internal rules – hotlines, audits, etc. – to expose white-collar crime. The accused individuals are then prosecuted, not the company, preventing a hefty fine or forfeiture. Shareholders and employees also benefit from the avoidance of some kinds of negative fallout, such as bankruptcy. Yet the biggest result so far, according to Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York – which includes Wall Street – has been faster and greater detection of fraud.” (05/15/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0515/Mercy-for-good-apples-when-they-expose-bad-apples
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30) The US Immigration-Control Death Machine
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Death has always been a central feature of America’s immigration-control system. Death has become normalized. Sure, there will be the standard laments about this tragic occurrence, there will be the standard condemnations of the immigrants themselves for violating U.S. immigration laws, and there will be the standard diatribes against human traffickers who prey on people who are simply trying to survive or improve their lives through labor. But the fact remains: Death has long been an inherent part of America’s immigration-control system. In the absence of that system, all those victims would still be alive.” (05/15/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/05/15/the-u-s-immigration-control-death-machine/
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31) Why America still needs a complete accounting of the “Russiagate” conspiracy
Source: New York Post
by staff
“It’s great that the FBI is probing former CIA Director John Brennan’s role in the Russiagate conspiracy, but the country needs a lot more than criminal investigations and prosecutions to fully air the truth about the 2016 plot to smear Donald Trump as a pawn of Vladimir Putin. The probe turns on Brennan’s apparent perjury in congressional testimony about one part of his role, namely the fact that in 2016 he ensured that the ‘Steele dossier’ would be part of an Intelligence Community Assessment that claimed to find real Trump-Russia collusion. … The dossier, you’ll recall, was a farrago of fiction (including the ‘pee tape’ lie) about Trump’s alleged connections to Russia; the Clinton campaign paid British ex-spook Christopher Steele to fabricate it as a weapon against Trump during the 2016 campaign.” [editor’s note: The Clinton campaign was Steele’s second client for the “dossier” material. The first client was a Republican news site – TLK] (05/16/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/05/16/opinion/why-america-still-needs-a-complete-accounting-of-the-russiagate-conspiracy/
-----
32) Winning? Republicans support a war that’s pummeling ‘Main Street’
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jack Hunter
“If you ask President Donald Trump, he is winning the Iran war, implementing a ‘comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict,’ and making serious progress on ending the war in Ukraine. So much winning — on Main Street, in the Persian Gulf, and everywhere else. But pollsters will tell you that Americans are largely against the war in Iran and feel the president hasn’t really explained why the U.S. is there. Moreover, 60% now have an unfavorable view of our ‘iron clad’ relations with Israel, and a majority have low trust in Trump’s decision-making regarding Ukraine and Russia. These are negatives that could obviously affect his party in the approaching midterm elections.” (05/15/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/republicans-iran-trump/
-----
33) Stop Trump’s High Seas Killing Spree
Source: OtherWords
by Farrah Hassen
“The US military has been carrying out extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean and Pacific over the past nine months with impunity. On May 8, the US military struck another boat in the eastern Pacific, killing two people and leaving one survivor. US Southern Command claimed ‘the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes’ and ‘was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.’ According to The Intercept, there have now been 58 such boat strikes since September that have killed at least 193 people. As with the May 8 attack, the names and nationalities of most of these victims remain unknown. The Trump administration has accused civilian boats of transporting narcotics to the US and says its killing ‘narco-terrorists.’ But the Pentagon has provided no evidence for these claims or any indication that the people killed posed an imminent threat” (05/16/26)
https://otherwords.org/the-u-s-must-end-its-illegal-boat-strikes/
-----
34) Liberals support even illegal protest while conservatives oppose even legal protest
Source: Expression
by Sean Stevens
“First, some good news. Almost no American surveyed, regardless of their ideological views, said that it is ever unacceptable to peacefully protest outside [a] speech. That said, significantly more liberals were accepting of peaceful protest than their moderate and conservative counterparts — but not their very conservative counterparts. If nothing else, these findings show that Lizardman’s Constant, which says about 4% of any survey will give bizarre or insincere results, is alive and well. Yet, when it comes to other protected forms of protest, very liberal and liberal Americans were significantly more supportive of their use than moderate, conservative, or very conservative Americans.” (05/15/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/liberals-support-even-illegal-protest
-----
35) The Green Deal’s War on Polish Furniture
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Cláudia Ascensão Nunes
“Poland is one of the most dynamic and promising economies in the European Union. With GDP growth of 3.6% in 2025 and forecasts pointing to 3.7% in 2026, the country continues to establish itself as one of the continent’s engines of growth. However, there is a European regulation threatening one of the sectors that contributes most to this success: the timber and furniture industry.” (05/15/26)
https://fee.org/articles/the-green-deals-war-on-polish-furniture/
-----
36) Trump Accounts and the No Economist Left Behind Test
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“Back when George W. Bush was doing his big drive to privatize Social Security, I got upset because he was using bogus numbers that grossly exaggerated what his private accounts would yield. The basic story was that his team assumed that stocks would provide the same returns they had in prior decades, even though the price-to-earnings ratios in the stock market were far higher than in the past, and projected GDP and profit growth were much lower. Given the assumptions being used on profit growth, their assumptions on returns were virtually impossible. To illustrate this point, I developed the ‘No Economist Left Behind Test.’ … If the Bush Team could get away with promising an impossible bonanza from their accounts, privatization would look much better than it actually is. It was important to set the record straight.” (05/15/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/05/15/trump-accounts-and-the-no-economist-left-behind-test/
-----
37) The Electoral College and American Freedom
Source: Town Hall
by Jerry Newcombe
“As we celebrate America at 250, there is a part of our founding in the Constitution (Article II, Section 1, Clause 2), about which some on the left gnash their teeth — the Electoral College. For example, a few days ago, a former Biden administration official asked publicly, ‘What if we selected our President by letting the person who got the most votes take the office, instead of the Electoral College?’ … Meanwhile, many blue states, including just recently Virginia, have signed on to a compact to try and effectively nullify the Electoral College.” [editor’s note: To make the EC relevant to today, they only need to follow the lead of Maine and Nebraska, and DECENTRALIZE it – SAT] (05/16/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/jerrynewcombe/2026/05/16/the-electoral-college-and-american-freedom-n2676044
-----
38) The Trump-Xi summit was a battle of two waning superpowers
Source: spiked
by James Woudhuysen
“America is in long-term decline, but it has proved more resilient than critics allow. But China too now encounters unmistakable problems. The US is growing, but saddled with burgeoning debt – and China also has trouble brewing in that domain. Of course, Trump faces domestic dissent – but so, in a very different form, does the CCP. China has long had too much housing built, is heavily indebted and is hurtling towards a demographic cliff.” (05/15/26)
https://archive.is/zZOGb
-----
39) Taxpayers Still on the Hook for a Gas Tax Holiday
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye & Eric Harrison
“Of course, Congress needs to find a way to ease the pain Americans feel at the pump. This is why it was so critical for lawmakers to exercise their constitutional and statutory powers to stop the military action against Iran, which led to higher gas prices. Unfortunately, Americans are paying the price for that military action in more ways than just higher gas prices.” (05/15/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/taxpayers-still-on-the-hook-for-a
-----
40) Universities’ Best Defense Against Censorship in the Public Square Is Free Inquiry
Source: The UnPopulist
by Jonathan Marks
“In their otherwise valuable new book, two prominent professors acknowledge the need for diverse viewpoints on campuses but don’t offer a cure for intellectual uniformity.” (05/15/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/universities-best-defense-against
-----
41) How to Stop Mega Gerrymandering From Scrambling Democracy
Source: Common Dreams
by Ralph Nader
“‘Gerrymandering’ is the historic term for politicians picking their voters by manipulating congressional and state electoral districts. Redistricting usually happens every 10 years. It is fair to say that most voters don’t want politicians rigging the system to help one party win elections. Both the Republican and Democratic parties have played this partisan gerrymandering game for years. Recently, the Republicans have become more ruthlessly partisan and have outpaced the Democrats. That is why, for example, in Pennsylvania, Democrats substantially outvote the Republicans but have fewer seats in the House of Representatives. In the past year, the gerrymandering race has run amok. It was ignited by Tyrant Trump, who told his buddy Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to break with the decennial tradition and get the GOP legislature this year to redistrict Texas to knock out four or five Democrats who are now in Congress.” (05/16/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/stop-mega-gerrymandering
-----
42) The US Should Cut Its Losses in the Iran War
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
“Presidential power is now running rogue. Congress needs to push back at its roots and use the War Powers Resolution of the 1970s to end both the Iran War and the continuing War on Terror. The president’s own party is paralyzed by congressional members’ fear that an adverse tweet from Trump will end their political careers, even though there should be strength in numbers to do the right thing. However, many should be even more frightened that the American people will fire them in November if they don’t act to end this pointless war of choice now.” (05/15/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/05/15/cut-losses-iran-war/
-----
43) Should Presidential Pardon Power be More Restricted?
Source: Cato Institute
by Dan Greenberg
“The pardon power is different from other constitutional powers. It is unchecked and absolute: There is no other branch of government that can interfere with a president’s pardons. The Constitution was created in the shadow of absolute royal power; it was designed to resist the corruption of such power. The division of government into three separate branches is meant to ensure a system of checks and balances on government power. From this perspective, the pardon power stands out: The unilateral pardon power looks like the last remaining remnant of royalism in the Constitution. … Do Donald Trump’s pardons give us good reason to change the rules of the Constitution? Is it time to put the brakes on solo pardon power? I think there are lessons to be learned from the president’s abuse of office.” (05/15/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/should-presidents-power-be-more-restricted
-----
44) The FDA’s New Psychedelic Rules Are Groovy, but the Agency Is Still a Bad Trip
Source: Reason
by Steven Greenhut
“The federal Food and Drug Administration nannies have been tormenting Americans for decades, which is no surprise given the pitfalls of putting bureaucrats in charge of such an important function as determining the safety of our food supply, and evaluating drugs and medical devices. Frankly, it’s amazing that we all haven’t starved to death or been denied basic medications, given the FDA’s Byzantine approval process. … One of the benefits, however, of the Trump administration’s Overton-Window-shifting approach toward health policy is its lighter touch toward substances that previous administrations had approached with a prohibitionist view.” (05/15/26)
https://reason.com/2026/05/15/the-fdas-new-psychedelic-rules-are-groovy-but-the-agency-is-still-a-bad-trip/
-----
45) The “Free Trade” Tax on Americans
Source: American Greatness
by Thaddeus G McCotter
“Two recent news items have spurred the return of the tariff issue to the front burner of American politics. First (at the time of writing), President Trump will attend a summit with People’s Republic of China (PRC) President Xi Jinping in May. Second, U.S. Steel has announced plans to resume operations at its Gary, Indiana, tin mill. And, again, one will hear the Free Traders shrilly bemoaning how ‘tariffs are a tax on consumers.’ If one were to honestly accept the Free Traders’ logic that a company passing off its costs of compliance with a federal statute and/or regulation on to consumers constitutes a ‘tax,’ one would then be required to declare almost every governmental decision touching upon the health, safety, and welfare of the nation a tax as well.” (05/16/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/05/16/the-free-trade-tax-on-americans/
-----
46) Trying Souls
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“‘Could this be the Antichrist?’ So wondered out loud today’s most popular conservative voice … about President Donald J. Trump. That commentator, Tucker Carlson, then answered himself: ‘Well, who knows?’ Later, speaking to Lulu Garcia-Navarro with The New York Times, Mr. Carlson denied (thrice) ever verbalizing that eschatological question. Of course, as Scott Jennings points out, Tucker contextualized the matter by asserting that the president was ‘more of a hostage’ to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in deciding to go to war against Iran. ‘Seems to me it has to be one or the other,’ offered Jennings. ‘Are you a supernatural evil being or are you some weak hostage or slave to other people?'” (05/15/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/05/15/trying-souls/
-----
47) Truth, power, and honest journalism
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko
“Garry Tan, the CEO of venture capital firm Y Combinator, accused me of unethical reporting. This is my response.” (05/15/26)
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/truth-power-and-honest-journalism
-----
48) AI and Comparative Advantage
Source: EconLog
by Valentin Boboc
“Much of the panic around AI rests on pointing out absolute advantages. LLMs can write clearly and convincingly. They summarise large documents quickly. They generate passable Python scripts in seconds. In these discrete tasks, AI is a direct competitor. If a job is merely a collection of such tasks, the human worker is in trouble. The Ricardian challenge, however, is to identify where AI has a comparative advantage and whether this manifests itself at the job level. Comparative advantage is determined by opportunity costs. For humans, the binding constraint is time. For AI, the constraint is compute. These are very different constraints, and they are different enough to keep humans in the picture.” (05/15/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/ai-and-comparative-advantage
-----
49) Trump’s Nothingburger Banquet in Beijing
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“President Trump’s much-heralded trip to Beijing, the first summit in Beijing since 2017, yielded nothing of value. The only good thing about it was that Trump evidently did not give away the store on Taiwan or on exports of sensitive technology. One concrete thing that President Xi Jinping might have done didn’t happen. Xi could have agreed to put pressure on China’s ally, Iran, to split the difference with Trump and end the war. But neither the official communiqué nor White House leaks said anything about progress on Iran. The real work, if any, will continue behind the scenes. There have been leaks that China agreed to buy more U.S. oil, agricultural products, and Boeing planes, but that has not been confirmed by the Chinese side.” (05/16/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/05/15/trumps-nothingburger-banquet-beijing-iran-taiwan-xi/
-----
50) US Trapped by Iran’s Resilience; Why the Solution Is Agreement, Not Attrition
Source: Antiwar.com
by Greg Pence
“The central question is no longer whether the United States can inflict damage on Iran. The real question is whether such pressure is actually capable of producing Washington’s desired political outcome.An increasing number of Western analyses now suggest the answer is no. The United States and its allies are gradually realizing that they are confronting a country capable of enduring pressure, reproducing internal control, managing crises, and exporting the costs of war beyond its borders. This reality has drawn Washington into what may be called ‘the trap of Iranian resilience’ – a situation in which continued pressure no longer changes Tehran’s behavior but instead exponentially raises the costs for America itself.” (05/15/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/greg_pence/2026/05/14/us-trapped-by-irans-resilience-why-the-solution-is-agreement-not-attrition/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Mutual Exchange Radio, 05/16/26
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
“Jason Lee Byas on Justice Beyond the State.” (05/16/26)
https://mutualexchangeradio.libsyn.com/jason-lee-byas-on-justice-beyond-the-state
-----
52) Unattended Baggage, episode 340
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Pooh’s your daddy?” (05/16/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-340-poohs-your-daddy
-----
53) Pink Flame of Liberty, 05/16/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Let’s Discuss the 2026 National Libertarian Party Platform Committee Report.” (05/16/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7KfCIYdYBk
-----
54) Voluntary Order, 05/16/26
Source: Voluntary Order
“The Environment Does NOT Need More Government.” (05/16/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wjBE6hMlNA
-----
55) The Good Fight Club, 05/16/26
Source: Yascha Mounk
“The Vibe Shift That Wasn’t, White Identity Politics, and ‘When They Go Low, We Go Low.'” (05/16/26)
https://writing.yaschamounk.com/p/good-fight-club-16
-----
56) The Brian Nichols Show, 05/16/26
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Is A Carbon Tax Really the ‘Free Market’ Climate Answer?” (05/16/26)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/tbns-is-a-carbon-tax-really-the-free-market-climate-answer-tbns-1081
-----
57) Kibbe on Liberty, episode 386
Source: Free the People
“The CIA Is a Lawless Agency | Guest: Sen. Rand Paul.” (05/15/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvBIhQ4tvgU
-----
58) Egalitarianism and Value-Free Economics
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
“Dr. Wanjiru Njoya argues that Rothbard’s political philosophy is not a sideshow to his economics but its essential second pillar, and that this integrated system is precisely what is needed to challenge the egalitarian premise at its root. Correcting Piketty’s spreadsheets isn’t enough; the moral case for liberty has to be made explicitly and on philosophical grounds.” (05/15/26)
https://mises.org/podcasts/rothbard-university/egalitarianism-and-value-free-economics
-----
59) System Update, 05/15/26
Source: System Update
“Q&A on ISRAEL SUING NYT, Trust in the Mainstream Media, Tucker Carlson, Ukraine & More!” (05/15/26)
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/q-and-a-on-israel-suing-nyt-trust
-----
60) The Evil Within, part 9
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Public Schooling and Conscription.” (05/15/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBQVC3YLGZQ
-----
61) Reason Interview: Jacob Mchangama
Source: Reason
“Jacob Mchangama and Jeff Kosseff discuss the global decline of free speech, why democracies are embracing censorship, and what can be done to protect open debate.” (05/15/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/05/15/the-global-war-on-free-speech/
-----
62) Serious Trouble, 05/15/26
Source: Serious Trouble
“‘Advice of Counsel’ Does Not Apply to Advice from Licensed Airboat Captains.” (05/15/26)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/advice-of-counsel-does-not-apply
-----
63) Reasonably Optimistic, 05/15/26
Source: Washington Post
“The problem with celebrity politicians.” (05/15/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/the-problem-with-celebrity-politicians
-----
64) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2761
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“How Bad Numbers Become ‘Science.'” (05/15/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2761-how-bad-numbers-become-science/
-----
65) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 05/15/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Trump Considers Restarting War, Says Iran Ceasefire on Life Support.” (05/15/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-trump-considers-restarting-war-says-iran-ceasefire-on-life-support/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Black Sea: Russian drone allegedly strikes Chinese ship
2) Bitcoin slips below $77k as oil surge, rising yields hit risk appetite
3) Oil touches two-week high after drone attack on UAE nuclear power plant
4) LA: Cassidy knocked out of GOP Senate primary; Trump-backed Letlow, Fleming make runoff
5) ICC denies “inaccurate” report it is seeking new warrants against Israeli regime officials
6) Trump whines at Boebert for supporting Massie
7) The Hague: Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga dies
8) KS: Judge Blocks Law Banning Gender-Transition Treatments for Youths
9) Hamas confirms top commander killed in Israeli air strike
10) Philippines: Regime Asks Court to Deny Petition of Senator Sought by ICC
11) Venezuela: Regime says it has deported close ally of Maduro to face criminal proceedings in US
12) SCOTUS rejects bid to revive Democrats’ Virginia redistricting plan
13) WHO declares Ebola outbreak in DR Congo a global health emergency
14) UK: Tens of thousands march in London in far-right and pro-Palestine protests
15) AL: In birthplace of Civil Rights Movement, groups rally to defend discrimination
16) Investigation identifies 13 victims of US regime’s maritime murder spree
17) Protesters demand New York Times stop telling truth about Israeli regime
18) CO: Polis commutes former election clerk’s sentence
19) US Senate parliamentarian deals blow to $1 billion security proposal for White House
20) US regime takes steps to indict former Cuban ruler Raúl Castro
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Computer “Age Verification” is About Political Control, Not Child Safety
22) Hobbes’s Self-Defeating Theory
23) The Endless Search for Emergency Tariff Authority
24) Plunder, War Profiteering, and Spirit Airlines
25) Is France really poorer than Mississippi?
26) Blue state bill targets homeschoolers in latest government power grab
27) George Washington, Father of the Country, Killed by Doctors
28) The Rotten Roots of Gerrymandering
29) Mercy for good apples when they expose bad apples
30) The US Immigration-Control Death Machine
31) Why America still needs a complete accounting of the “Russiagate” conspiracy
32) Winning? Republicans support a war that’s pummeling ‘Main Street’
33) Stop Trump’s High Seas Killing Spree
34) Liberals support even illegal protest while conservatives oppose even legal protest
35) The Green Deal’s War on Polish Furniture
36) Trump Accounts and the No Economist Left Behind Test
37) The Electoral College and American Freedom
38) The Trump-Xi summit was a battle of two waning superpowers
39) Taxpayers Still on the Hook for a Gas Tax Holiday
40) Universities’ Best Defense Against Censorship in the Public Square Is Free Inquiry
41) How to Stop Mega Gerrymandering From Scrambling Democracy
42) The US Should Cut Its Losses in the Iran War
43) Should Presidential Pardon Power be More Restricted?
44) The FDA’s New Psychedelic Rules Are Groovy, but the Agency Is Still a Bad Trip
45) The “Free Trade” Tax on Americans
46) Trying Souls
47) Truth, power, and honest journalism
48) AI and Comparative Advantage
49) Trump’s Nothingburger Banquet in Beijing
50) US Trapped by Iran’s Resilience; Why the Solution Is Agreement, Not Attrition
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Mutual Exchange Radio, 05/16/26
52) Unattended Baggage, episode 340
53) Pink Flame of Liberty, 05/16/26
54) Voluntary Order, 05/16/26
55) The Good Fight Club, 05/16/26
56) The Brian Nichols Show, 05/16/26
57) Kibbe on Liberty, episode 386
58) Egalitarianism and Value-Free Economics
59) System Update, 05/15/26
60) The Evil Within, part 9
61) Reason Interview: Jacob Mchangama
62) Serious Trouble, 05/15/26
63) Reasonably Optimistic, 05/15/26
64) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2761
65) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 05/15/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Black Sea: Russian drone allegedly strikes Chinese ship
Source: Independent [UK]
“Russia has attacked a Chinese-owned cargo ship that was headed for a Ukrainian port, according to Reuters, a move which could anger one of Moscow’s most important allies in Beijing. The Russian drone struck the KSL DEYANG vessel flying under Marshall Islands flag off the coast of Ukraine early on Monday, a source told the news agency. The vessel was did not contain cargo and was bound for Ukraine’s Pivdennyi port in the Odesa region where it was to load iron ore concentrate. The vessel did not sustain significant damage, there were no casualties and the fire caused by the strike was extinguished by the crew, the source added.” (05/18/26)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-live-drone-attack-putin-zelensky-b2978363.html
-----
2) Bitcoin slips below $77k as oil surge, rising yields hit risk appetite
Source: Investing.com
“Bitcoin fell below $77,000 on Monday, extending weekend losses as surging global bond yields and rising oil prices linked to escalating Iran tensions weakened appetite for riskier assets. The world’s largest cryptocurrency last traded 1.5% lower at $76,946.6 by 00:54 ET (04:54 GMT), its lowest level since May 1. Bitcoin briefly climbed above $80,000 last week but failed to sustain momentum.” (05/18/26)
https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/bitcoin-slips-below-77k-as-oil-surge-rising-yields-hit-risk-appetite-4694637
-----
3) Oil touches two-week high after drone attack on UAE nuclear power plant
Source: Reuters
“Oil prices extended gains on Monday, driven by increasingly bleak prospects for peace in the Middle East after an attack on a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates. … Drone attacks on the UAE and Saudi Arabia and the rhetoric from the United States and Iran raised concerns of an escalation in the conflict. Saudi Arabia, which intercepted three drones that entered from Iraqi airspace, warned it would take the necessary operational measures to respond to any attempt to violate its sovereignty and security. Emirati officials, meanwhile, said they were investigating the source of the strike on the Barakah nuclear power plant, adding that the UAE had the right to respond to what it said were ‘terrorist attacks.'” (05/17/26)
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-rises-more-than-1-after-drone-attack-uae-nuclear-power-plant-2026-05-17/
-----
4) LA: Cassidy knocked out of GOP Senate primary; Trump-backed Letlow, Fleming make runoff
Source: SFGate
“U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow advanced to a runoff in Louisiana’s Republican Senate primary Saturday, capitalizing on the power of President Donald Trump’s endorsement in another attempt to purge his party of people he views as disloyal. State Treasurer John Fleming came in second to join her in the next round of voting. Trump supported Letlow over incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of the few Republican senators who voted to convict him during his second impeachment trial over the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Cassidy, a doctor, has also clashed with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy, though he provided crucial support to help Kennedy get confirmed.” (05/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/sen-cassidy-battles-trump-backed-challenger-in-22262012.php
-----
5) ICC denies “inaccurate” report it is seeking new warrants against Israeli regime officials
Source: Jerusalem Post [Jerusalem]
“The International Criminal Court (ICC) has denied that it had issued new arrest warrants for Israeli political and military officials, following a Haaretz report published on Sunday claiming the Hague has quietly sought arrest warrants against several Israeli officials. According to the Haaretz report, citing a diplomatic source, the warrants target three Israeli politicians and two IDF officials. ICC spokesperson Oriane Maillet said in a note to journalists that the report, in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, was not accurate, and the court ‘denies the issuance of new arrest warrants in the situation in the state of Palestine.'” (05/17/26)
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-896423
-----
6) Trump whines at Boebert for supporting Massie
Source: Fox News
“President Donald Trump on Saturday blasted Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., a longtime ally of the president, and threatened to back a primary challenger after she campaigned for one of his top Republican rivals. Trump lashed out on Truth Social against Boebert, whom he previously endorsed for reelection, just hours after she campaigned with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., one of Trump’s most vocal GOP critics in Congress. ‘Is anyone interested in running against Weak Minded Lauren Boebert in Colorado’s Fourth Congressional District?’ Trump wrote. The president criticized Boebert for supporting Massie, whose primary challenger, retired Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, has Trump’s endorsement.” (05/17/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-threatens-pull-boebert-endorsement-calls-congresswoman-weak-minded-over-massie-support
-----
7) The Hague: Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga dies
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“Felicien Kabuga, a suspect in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, has died in custody, a UN court said on Saturday. He was 93 years old. The court, the UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), said it had ordered an inquiry into the circumstances of his death. Kabuga was once one of the world’s most-wanted fugitives. He was accused of encouraging and bankrolling the massacres between April and June 1994, in which Hutu extremists killed more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 100 days. … Kabuga evaded arrest for more than two decades after the genocide, using a succession of false passports and aided by a network of former Rwandan allies. … Hist trial started in 20222. … Kabuga, however, was later ruled unfit to stand trial because of dementia.” (05/16/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/rwandan-genocide-suspect-felicien-kabuga-dies-in-custody/a-77184740
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8) KS: Judge Blocks Law Banning Gender-Transition Treatments for Youths
Source: New York Times
“Kansas cannot enforce its ban on nonsurgical gender-transition treatments for minors, a state judge ruled on Friday. The ruling gives supporters of transgender rights a significant, though temporary, victory after more than a year of setbacks in capitols and courtrooms across the country. … The judge, Carl Folsom III of the State District Court in Douglas County, said in granting a temporary injunction that the law had likely violated parents’ rights to make decisions for their children. Attorney General Kris W. Kobach, a Republican whose office defended the law, criticized the ruling as ‘a stark example of judicial activism,’ and vowed to appeal.” (05/16/26)
https://archive.is/B404i
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9) Hamas confirms top commander killed in Israeli air strike
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A Hamas official has confirmed to the BBC that Izz ad-Din al-Haddad, commander of the group’s armed wing, was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement that Haddad had been ‘responsible for the murder, kidnapping and injury of thousands of Israeli civilians and IDF [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers’. Israel described him as ‘one of the architects of the October 7 massacre.’ The strike is the latest launched by Israel on Gaza despite a ceasefire with Hamas. Three eyewitnesses told the BBC that a residential building known as Al-Mu’taz was struck by three missiles launched simultaneously from two separate directions, before a fleeing car was hit. The air strike, targeting the apartment block in the centre of Gaza City, sparked a large fire.” (05/16/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx21jjwz1k1o
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10) Philippines: Regime Asks Court to Deny Petition of Senator Sought by ICC
Source: Bloomberg
“The Philippine government asked the Supreme Court to deny a petition by Senator Ronald Dela Rosa to stop his arrest after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant on allegations of crimes against humanity. The government’s executive branch can enforce the ICC arrest warrant, the Office of the Solicitor General said in a comment filed to the court on Saturday and made public Sunday. … Dela Rosa was chief of police from 2016 to 2018, when ex-president Rodrigo Duterte waged a crackdown on illegal drugs that killed thousands. Dela Rosa went on to win a Senate seat in 2019 and was reelected last year. He maintains the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines.” (05/17/26)
https://archive.is/42oJc
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11) Venezuela: Regime says it has deported close ally of Maduro to face criminal proceedings in US
Source: SFGate
“Venezuela’s government said Saturday it deported a close ally of Nicolás Maduro facing several criminal investigations in the U.S. less than three years after the businessman was pardoned by President Joe Biden as part of a prisoner swap. The decision marks a stark reversal for Alex Saab, who Maduro fought tooth and nail to bring home after his previous international arrest in 2020. Now, the Colombian-born insider, long described by U.S. officials as Maduro’s ‘bag man,’ may be asked to testify against his former protector, who is awaiting trial on drug charges in Manhattan after being captured in a shock raid by the U.S. military in January.” (05/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/venezuela-says-it-deported-close-ally-of-maduro-22262638.php
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12) SCOTUS rejects bid to revive Democrats’ Virginia redistricting plan
Source: Politico
“Virginia Democrats’ last-ditch bid to revive their plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts to gain additional Democratic seats fizzled out Friday at the Supreme Court as the justices refused to restore the results of the referendum voters approved last month. Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones asked the nation’s highest court to take emergency action to block a Virginia Supreme Court ruling earlier this month that nullified the referendum after concluding that it violated the state’s constitution. The emergency appeal found no traction at the Supreme Court. A one-sentence order released shortly after Jones filed his final brief on the appeal said Chief Justice John Roberts referred the stay request to the full bench, which denied relief.” (05/15/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/15/supreme-court-democrats-virginia-redistricting-00925046
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13) WHO declares Ebola outbreak in DR Congo a global health emergency
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern Ituri province a public health emergency of international concern. The agency added that the outbreak, with around 246 suspected cases and 80 deaths reported, does not meet the criteria of pandemic emergency. WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned there are currently ‘significant uncertainties to the true number of infected persons and geographic spread’ of the outbreak. The current strain of Ebola is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, the health agency said, for which there are no approved drugs or vaccines. The WHO said there are now eight laboratory-confirmed cases of the virus, with other suspected cases and deaths across three health zones including Bunia the capital of Ituri province, and the gold-mining towns of Mongwalu and Rwampara.” (05/16/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2l2p0wwzzdo
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14) UK: Tens of thousands march in London in far-right and pro-Palestine protests
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Tens of thousands of people are marching through central London in two separate protests – one pro-Palestine demonstration a day after Nakba Day, and the other, a far-right rally staged by Tommy Robinson. Police in the British capital deployed 4,000 officers, including reinforcements from outside the city, on Saturday and pledged ‘the most assertive possible use of our powers’ in what they called their biggest public order operation in years. … In a Saturday evening update, police said officers had made 43 arrests at the twin protests, which both ended by 18:30 GMT.” (05/16/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/16/tens-of-thousands-march-in-london-in-far-right-and-pro-palestine-protests
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15) AL: In birthplace of Civil Rights Movement, groups rally to defend discrimination
Source: SFGate
“Thousands of people rallied Saturday in the city considered the crucible of the modern Civil Rights Movement to push back against conservative states’ efforts to dismantle congressional districts that helped secure Black political representation. The gathering in Montgomery, Alabama, was put together in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened the Voting Rights Act and the resulting rush by southern states to redraw lines. Speakers said they returned to the city, famous for the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march, because the fight that began there is continuing for later generations. The Rev. Bernice King, speaking near the spot where her father, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., addressed voting rights marchers in 1965, said the dedication and sacrifice of that generation changed the trajectory of the country.” (05/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/in-the-birthplace-of-civil-rights-movement-22262011.php
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16) Investigation identifies 13 victims of US regime’s maritime murder spree
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“A five-month investigation has named 13 previously unidentified victims of US attacks on boats allegedly carrying narcotics in a campaign that has [murdered] nearly 200 people in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. It is unclear if the US has ever identified any of its 194 victims before attacking them, and the names of just three had previously emerged, after their families launched legal cases against the White House. … a joint effort by 20 journalists led by the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) this week published the identities of 13 of those killed, some of whom showed no indication of involvement in drug trafficking.” (05/15/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/15/us-military-airstrikes-caribbean-pacific-victim-identities
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17) Protesters demand New York Times stop telling truth about Israeli regime
Source: Fox News
“Protesters gathered Thursday outside The New York Times building in New York City expressing outrage over an opinion piece by liberal columnist Nicholas Kristof that contained allegations of serial sexual abuse by Israelis against Palestinian detainees. The article featured the testimony of men and women who alleged ‘brutal sexual abuse at the hands of Israel’s prison guards, soldiers, settlers and interrogators.’ The article mentioned several claims, including that Palestinians ‘had their genitals yanked or were beaten on the testicles,’ ‘some men had to have their testicles amputated by doctors,’ and metal batons were used to rape men. Kristof also said a Gaza journalist claimed he was ‘mounted’ by a dog before adding that ‘[o]ther Palestinian prisoners and human rights monitors have also cited reports of police dogs being coached to rape prisoners.'” (05/16/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/media/protesters-demand-new-york-times-retract-controversial-dog-rape-article-fire-nicholas-kristof
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18) CO: Polis commutes former election clerk’s sentence
Source: Associated Press
“Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Friday commuted the sentence of election conspiracy theorist Tina Peters following pressure from President Donald Trump, the latest instance of the president using his powers to reward those who echoed his baseless claims of mass fraud as the cause of his 2020 loss. Trump has championed the case of Peters, a 70-year-old former county clerk who was sentenced to nine years behind bars after being convicted in a scheme to make a copy of her county’s election computer system. She gets released June 1. In April, a Colorado appeals court upheld her conviction but ordered Peters to be resentenced because it said the judge who sent her to prison wrongly punished her for speaking out about election fraud, a decision that Polis praised.” (05/15/26)
https://apnews.com/article/tina-peters-polis-colorado-clemency-trump-eca56e2167a72e306a54b99b847d918c
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19) US Senate parliamentarian deals blow to $1 billion security proposal for White House
Source: SFGate
“A proposal to fund $1 billion in security additions for the White House campus and the president’s new ballroom fails to meet procedural rules, according to the Senate parliamentarian, dealing a blow to Republican plans to include it as part of a bill to fund immigration enforcement agencies for the next three years. The parliamentarian’s ruling, described late Saturday by Senate Democrats, said that funding for a project as large and complex as President Donald Trump’s massive East Wing renovation is too broad to be included in the narrow GOP budget bill, which cannot be filibustered and only needs a simple majority to pass. It’s unclear if Republicans will be able to immediately salvage any part of the billion-dollar Secret Service proposal, which would fund security for Trump’s ballroom along with other parts of the White House, including a new visitor screening center, additional training for agents and extra reinforcements for large events.” (05/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/senate-parliamentarian-deals-blow-to-1-billion-22262876.php
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20) US regime takes steps to indict former Cuban ruler Raúl Castro
Source: USA Today
“The United States is moving to indict former Cuban president Raúl Castro, two sources familiar with the matter told USA TODAY. The possible charges are related to a 30-year-old case that involved the Cuban government shooting down two planes operated by a humanitarian group in 1996, the sources said. Any indictment would have to be issued by a grand jury after being presented with evidence in the case. News that the United States was looking to indict Castro came hours after CIA Director John Ratcliffe led a delegation to Havana on May 14 to deliver a message from President Donald Trump to Cuban officials and Raúl ‘Raulito’ Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, who is the elder Castro’s grandson.” (05/15/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2026/05/14/us-seeks-raul-castro-indictment-1996-cuba-plane-shootdown/90087810007/
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Computer “Age Verification” is About Political Control, Not Child Safety
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“Because California is the ‘authoritarian law idea? Hold my beer!’ state, governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation last October which requires operating system providers to collect age information on each new user account, and provide an API that lets Internet platforms and app developers access that information so as to exclude users Gavin Newsom doesn’t think should be using those platforms and apps [“for the chillllllllllldren”]. It’s almost, but not quite, funny. It’s almost funny because it won’t take the chillllllllllldren in question more than a few minutes to figure out ways around this kind of thing. ‘Age verification’ laws are, and always have been, political fantasy, as you know yourself if you were ever a 19-year-old college student who used a fake ID to get into a nightclub. It’s not quite funny because it isn’t, and never was, about ‘the chillllllllllldren.'” (05/17/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20620
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22) Hobbes’s Self-Defeating Theory
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joshua Mawhorter
“Like it or not, for several centuries now, Hobbes’s nation-state concept has been the default paradigm and context for modern people whenever they think about government. Without having ever read Hobbes, people will unknowingly repeat his assumptions, presuppositions, concerns, and arguments for the state. Yet — with some simple logic and using Hobbes’s own presuppositions — we can internally critique Hobbes’s argument and see that his proposed solution of the state solves none of the problems he presents.” (05/15/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/hobbess-self-defeating-theory
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23) The Endless Search for Emergency Tariff Authority
Source: The Daily Economy
by David Hebert
“The legal foundation for taxing every import into the US has now rested, at various points in the past year, on a 1977 emergency powers law, a 1974 statute designed for a monetary system that no longer exists, and — if the administration’s next move is what trade lawyers expect — a Depression-era provision that has never once been used to impose actual tariffs in almost a century. At some point, running out of legal justifications is a signal worth heeding.” (05/15/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-endless-search-for-emergency-tariff-authority/
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24) Plunder, War Profiteering, and Spirit Airlines
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Charles Goyette
“Someone, somewhere is making a lot of money. It’s the most brazen plunder since Hillary Clinton was trading cattle futures in Little Rock. Or since Nancy Pelosi was placing stock trades. Come to think of it, there seems to be a whole lot of plunder going on in the world of politics. It’s not just oil in the ‘Age of Trump.’ As President Ronald Reagan’s budget director and a Wall Street veteran, David Stockman is a seasoned observer of political plunder. When Donald Trump suddenly offered up the suggestion that ‘we’ (the taxpayers) buy struggling Spirit Airlines, Stockman wrote a piece called, ‘Was It You, Barron? Someone Made 3.5X On The Donald’s Spirit Airlines Socialism.’ This chart shows Spirit Holdings share price spiking when Trump started his takeover talk on April 21 (and then quickly collapsing).” (05/15/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/plunder-war-profiteering-and-spirit-airlines
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25) Is France really poorer than Mississippi?
Source: Washington Post
by Megan McArdle
“I’m not, alas, in Paris right now. But I can certainly imagine myself in a Parisian cafe, enjoying some steak frites and a glass of wine while taking in the glorious streetscape. What’s harder to imagine is soaking in all that ambiance and thinking, ‘Yeah, this place is definitely poorer than Mississippi.’ No, seriously, that’s what gross domestic product statistics suggest. In 2024, France had a per capita GDP of $46,103. Mississippi’s was $55,876. As recently as 10 years ago, French GDP was ahead ($37,024 versus $36,184), but since then U.S. GDP and productivity have grown significantly faster than Western Europe’s. This fact has caused much social media friction between smug Americans and defensive Europeans (allied with American progressives) who argue that you can’t measure what makes their way of life better.” (05/17/26)
https://archive.is/lociD
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26) Blue state bill targets homeschoolers in latest government power grab
Source: Fox News
by Corey DeAngelis
“After decades of parental rights victories, Connecticut may become the first state to go backwards on homeschool freedom in the past 50 years. The Connecticut Senate advanced a bill attacking homeschooling families by a vote of 22 to 14, mostly along party lines. Three Democrats joined all Republicans in opposition. The measure cleared the House 96-53 last week, with four Democrats crossing the aisle to stand with Republicans. Those margins fall short of the two-thirds supermajority required in both chambers to override a gubernatorial veto. Connecticut families now have only one remaining safeguard. Leadership should respect the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children and block this Orwellian legislation.” (05/15/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/blue-state-bill-targets-homeschoolers-latest-government-power-grab
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27) George Washington, Father of the Country, Killed by Doctors
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jeffrey A Tucker
“he grim circumstances behind the death of George Washington (1732-1799), America’s first president and popularly known as the Father of the Country, are not wholly unknown. The details have been reported by historians for more than two centuries. What’s strange about this dry biographical knowledge is that it is not reported with shock and alarm and hence never conveyed to popular culture with lessons for our lives. This is because Washington’s physicians were following standard protocols when they bled him to death.” (05/15/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/george-washington-father-of-the-country-killed-by-doctors/
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28) The Rotten Roots of Gerrymandering
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“Congressional redistricting — or pejoratively, gerrymandering — has dominated the headlines lately. This is a big deal in the primary-election season with an unpopular president and midterms right around the corner. Few issues provoke such animosity. Each side accuses the other of trying to stack the deck and rig the elections. … What most people refuse to understand is that if the public sees the government as a 24/7/365 bazaar offering virtually any benefit demanded of it to those with clout, then those who want what they cannot acquire through persuasion and voluntary exchange will work overtime to gain advantage from political power.” (05/15/26)
https://sheldonrichman.substack.com/p/tgif-the-rotten-roots-of-gerrymandering
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29) Mercy for good apples when they expose bad apples
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“For American executives who spot fraud and financial misconduct among workers and then quickly report it, the U.S. Justice Department has a refreshing message: Your alertness to right-doing can bring a reward – in mercy. Federal prosecutors were recently handed expanded powers to be lenient toward companies that voluntarily report wrongdoing by individual employees in a ‘timely’ manner, make amends to those wronged, and shape up internal rules – hotlines, audits, etc. – to expose white-collar crime. The accused individuals are then prosecuted, not the company, preventing a hefty fine or forfeiture. Shareholders and employees also benefit from the avoidance of some kinds of negative fallout, such as bankruptcy. Yet the biggest result so far, according to Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York – which includes Wall Street – has been faster and greater detection of fraud.” (05/15/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0515/Mercy-for-good-apples-when-they-expose-bad-apples
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30) The US Immigration-Control Death Machine
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Death has always been a central feature of America’s immigration-control system. Death has become normalized. Sure, there will be the standard laments about this tragic occurrence, there will be the standard condemnations of the immigrants themselves for violating U.S. immigration laws, and there will be the standard diatribes against human traffickers who prey on people who are simply trying to survive or improve their lives through labor. But the fact remains: Death has long been an inherent part of America’s immigration-control system. In the absence of that system, all those victims would still be alive.” (05/15/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/05/15/the-u-s-immigration-control-death-machine/
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31) Why America still needs a complete accounting of the “Russiagate” conspiracy
Source: New York Post
by staff
“It’s great that the FBI is probing former CIA Director John Brennan’s role in the Russiagate conspiracy, but the country needs a lot more than criminal investigations and prosecutions to fully air the truth about the 2016 plot to smear Donald Trump as a pawn of Vladimir Putin. The probe turns on Brennan’s apparent perjury in congressional testimony about one part of his role, namely the fact that in 2016 he ensured that the ‘Steele dossier’ would be part of an Intelligence Community Assessment that claimed to find real Trump-Russia collusion. … The dossier, you’ll recall, was a farrago of fiction (including the ‘pee tape’ lie) about Trump’s alleged connections to Russia; the Clinton campaign paid British ex-spook Christopher Steele to fabricate it as a weapon against Trump during the 2016 campaign.” [editor’s note: The Clinton campaign was Steele’s second client for the “dossier” material. The first client was a Republican news site – TLK] (05/16/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/05/16/opinion/why-america-still-needs-a-complete-accounting-of-the-russiagate-conspiracy/
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32) Winning? Republicans support a war that’s pummeling ‘Main Street’
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jack Hunter
“If you ask President Donald Trump, he is winning the Iran war, implementing a ‘comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict,’ and making serious progress on ending the war in Ukraine. So much winning — on Main Street, in the Persian Gulf, and everywhere else. But pollsters will tell you that Americans are largely against the war in Iran and feel the president hasn’t really explained why the U.S. is there. Moreover, 60% now have an unfavorable view of our ‘iron clad’ relations with Israel, and a majority have low trust in Trump’s decision-making regarding Ukraine and Russia. These are negatives that could obviously affect his party in the approaching midterm elections.” (05/15/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/republicans-iran-trump/
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33) Stop Trump’s High Seas Killing Spree
Source: OtherWords
by Farrah Hassen
“The US military has been carrying out extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean and Pacific over the past nine months with impunity. On May 8, the US military struck another boat in the eastern Pacific, killing two people and leaving one survivor. US Southern Command claimed ‘the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes’ and ‘was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.’ According to The Intercept, there have now been 58 such boat strikes since September that have killed at least 193 people. As with the May 8 attack, the names and nationalities of most of these victims remain unknown. The Trump administration has accused civilian boats of transporting narcotics to the US and says its killing ‘narco-terrorists.’ But the Pentagon has provided no evidence for these claims or any indication that the people killed posed an imminent threat” (05/16/26)
https://otherwords.org/the-u-s-must-end-its-illegal-boat-strikes/
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34) Liberals support even illegal protest while conservatives oppose even legal protest
Source: Expression
by Sean Stevens
“First, some good news. Almost no American surveyed, regardless of their ideological views, said that it is ever unacceptable to peacefully protest outside [a] speech. That said, significantly more liberals were accepting of peaceful protest than their moderate and conservative counterparts — but not their very conservative counterparts. If nothing else, these findings show that Lizardman’s Constant, which says about 4% of any survey will give bizarre or insincere results, is alive and well. Yet, when it comes to other protected forms of protest, very liberal and liberal Americans were significantly more supportive of their use than moderate, conservative, or very conservative Americans.” (05/15/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/liberals-support-even-illegal-protest
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35) The Green Deal’s War on Polish Furniture
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Cláudia Ascensão Nunes
“Poland is one of the most dynamic and promising economies in the European Union. With GDP growth of 3.6% in 2025 and forecasts pointing to 3.7% in 2026, the country continues to establish itself as one of the continent’s engines of growth. However, there is a European regulation threatening one of the sectors that contributes most to this success: the timber and furniture industry.” (05/15/26)
https://fee.org/articles/the-green-deals-war-on-polish-furniture/
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36) Trump Accounts and the No Economist Left Behind Test
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“Back when George W. Bush was doing his big drive to privatize Social Security, I got upset because he was using bogus numbers that grossly exaggerated what his private accounts would yield. The basic story was that his team assumed that stocks would provide the same returns they had in prior decades, even though the price-to-earnings ratios in the stock market were far higher than in the past, and projected GDP and profit growth were much lower. Given the assumptions being used on profit growth, their assumptions on returns were virtually impossible. To illustrate this point, I developed the ‘No Economist Left Behind Test.’ … If the Bush Team could get away with promising an impossible bonanza from their accounts, privatization would look much better than it actually is. It was important to set the record straight.” (05/15/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/05/15/trump-accounts-and-the-no-economist-left-behind-test/
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37) The Electoral College and American Freedom
Source: Town Hall
by Jerry Newcombe
“As we celebrate America at 250, there is a part of our founding in the Constitution (Article II, Section 1, Clause 2), about which some on the left gnash their teeth — the Electoral College. For example, a few days ago, a former Biden administration official asked publicly, ‘What if we selected our President by letting the person who got the most votes take the office, instead of the Electoral College?’ … Meanwhile, many blue states, including just recently Virginia, have signed on to a compact to try and effectively nullify the Electoral College.” [editor’s note: To make the EC relevant to today, they only need to follow the lead of Maine and Nebraska, and DECENTRALIZE it – SAT] (05/16/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/jerrynewcombe/2026/05/16/the-electoral-college-and-american-freedom-n2676044
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38) The Trump-Xi summit was a battle of two waning superpowers
Source: spiked
by James Woudhuysen
“America is in long-term decline, but it has proved more resilient than critics allow. But China too now encounters unmistakable problems. The US is growing, but saddled with burgeoning debt – and China also has trouble brewing in that domain. Of course, Trump faces domestic dissent – but so, in a very different form, does the CCP. China has long had too much housing built, is heavily indebted and is hurtling towards a demographic cliff.” (05/15/26)
https://archive.is/zZOGb
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39) Taxpayers Still on the Hook for a Gas Tax Holiday
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye & Eric Harrison
“Of course, Congress needs to find a way to ease the pain Americans feel at the pump. This is why it was so critical for lawmakers to exercise their constitutional and statutory powers to stop the military action against Iran, which led to higher gas prices. Unfortunately, Americans are paying the price for that military action in more ways than just higher gas prices.” (05/15/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/taxpayers-still-on-the-hook-for-a
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40) Universities’ Best Defense Against Censorship in the Public Square Is Free Inquiry
Source: The UnPopulist
by Jonathan Marks
“In their otherwise valuable new book, two prominent professors acknowledge the need for diverse viewpoints on campuses but don’t offer a cure for intellectual uniformity.” (05/15/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/universities-best-defense-against
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41) How to Stop Mega Gerrymandering From Scrambling Democracy
Source: Common Dreams
by Ralph Nader
“‘Gerrymandering’ is the historic term for politicians picking their voters by manipulating congressional and state electoral districts. Redistricting usually happens every 10 years. It is fair to say that most voters don’t want politicians rigging the system to help one party win elections. Both the Republican and Democratic parties have played this partisan gerrymandering game for years. Recently, the Republicans have become more ruthlessly partisan and have outpaced the Democrats. That is why, for example, in Pennsylvania, Democrats substantially outvote the Republicans but have fewer seats in the House of Representatives. In the past year, the gerrymandering race has run amok. It was ignited by Tyrant Trump, who told his buddy Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to break with the decennial tradition and get the GOP legislature this year to redistrict Texas to knock out four or five Democrats who are now in Congress.” (05/16/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/stop-mega-gerrymandering
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42) The US Should Cut Its Losses in the Iran War
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
“Presidential power is now running rogue. Congress needs to push back at its roots and use the War Powers Resolution of the 1970s to end both the Iran War and the continuing War on Terror. The president’s own party is paralyzed by congressional members’ fear that an adverse tweet from Trump will end their political careers, even though there should be strength in numbers to do the right thing. However, many should be even more frightened that the American people will fire them in November if they don’t act to end this pointless war of choice now.” (05/15/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/05/15/cut-losses-iran-war/
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43) Should Presidential Pardon Power be More Restricted?
Source: Cato Institute
by Dan Greenberg
“The pardon power is different from other constitutional powers. It is unchecked and absolute: There is no other branch of government that can interfere with a president’s pardons. The Constitution was created in the shadow of absolute royal power; it was designed to resist the corruption of such power. The division of government into three separate branches is meant to ensure a system of checks and balances on government power. From this perspective, the pardon power stands out: The unilateral pardon power looks like the last remaining remnant of royalism in the Constitution. … Do Donald Trump’s pardons give us good reason to change the rules of the Constitution? Is it time to put the brakes on solo pardon power? I think there are lessons to be learned from the president’s abuse of office.” (05/15/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/should-presidents-power-be-more-restricted
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44) The FDA’s New Psychedelic Rules Are Groovy, but the Agency Is Still a Bad Trip
Source: Reason
by Steven Greenhut
“The federal Food and Drug Administration nannies have been tormenting Americans for decades, which is no surprise given the pitfalls of putting bureaucrats in charge of such an important function as determining the safety of our food supply, and evaluating drugs and medical devices. Frankly, it’s amazing that we all haven’t starved to death or been denied basic medications, given the FDA’s Byzantine approval process. … One of the benefits, however, of the Trump administration’s Overton-Window-shifting approach toward health policy is its lighter touch toward substances that previous administrations had approached with a prohibitionist view.” (05/15/26)
https://reason.com/2026/05/15/the-fdas-new-psychedelic-rules-are-groovy-but-the-agency-is-still-a-bad-trip/
-----
45) The “Free Trade” Tax on Americans
Source: American Greatness
by Thaddeus G McCotter
“Two recent news items have spurred the return of the tariff issue to the front burner of American politics. First (at the time of writing), President Trump will attend a summit with People’s Republic of China (PRC) President Xi Jinping in May. Second, U.S. Steel has announced plans to resume operations at its Gary, Indiana, tin mill. And, again, one will hear the Free Traders shrilly bemoaning how ‘tariffs are a tax on consumers.’ If one were to honestly accept the Free Traders’ logic that a company passing off its costs of compliance with a federal statute and/or regulation on to consumers constitutes a ‘tax,’ one would then be required to declare almost every governmental decision touching upon the health, safety, and welfare of the nation a tax as well.” (05/16/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/05/16/the-free-trade-tax-on-americans/
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46) Trying Souls
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“‘Could this be the Antichrist?’ So wondered out loud today’s most popular conservative voice … about President Donald J. Trump. That commentator, Tucker Carlson, then answered himself: ‘Well, who knows?’ Later, speaking to Lulu Garcia-Navarro with The New York Times, Mr. Carlson denied (thrice) ever verbalizing that eschatological question. Of course, as Scott Jennings points out, Tucker contextualized the matter by asserting that the president was ‘more of a hostage’ to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in deciding to go to war against Iran. ‘Seems to me it has to be one or the other,’ offered Jennings. ‘Are you a supernatural evil being or are you some weak hostage or slave to other people?'” (05/15/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/05/15/trying-souls/
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47) Truth, power, and honest journalism
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko
“Garry Tan, the CEO of venture capital firm Y Combinator, accused me of unethical reporting. This is my response.” (05/15/26)
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/truth-power-and-honest-journalism
-----
48) AI and Comparative Advantage
Source: EconLog
by Valentin Boboc
“Much of the panic around AI rests on pointing out absolute advantages. LLMs can write clearly and convincingly. They summarise large documents quickly. They generate passable Python scripts in seconds. In these discrete tasks, AI is a direct competitor. If a job is merely a collection of such tasks, the human worker is in trouble. The Ricardian challenge, however, is to identify where AI has a comparative advantage and whether this manifests itself at the job level. Comparative advantage is determined by opportunity costs. For humans, the binding constraint is time. For AI, the constraint is compute. These are very different constraints, and they are different enough to keep humans in the picture.” (05/15/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/ai-and-comparative-advantage
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49) Trump’s Nothingburger Banquet in Beijing
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“President Trump’s much-heralded trip to Beijing, the first summit in Beijing since 2017, yielded nothing of value. The only good thing about it was that Trump evidently did not give away the store on Taiwan or on exports of sensitive technology. One concrete thing that President Xi Jinping might have done didn’t happen. Xi could have agreed to put pressure on China’s ally, Iran, to split the difference with Trump and end the war. But neither the official communiqué nor White House leaks said anything about progress on Iran. The real work, if any, will continue behind the scenes. There have been leaks that China agreed to buy more U.S. oil, agricultural products, and Boeing planes, but that has not been confirmed by the Chinese side.” (05/16/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/05/15/trumps-nothingburger-banquet-beijing-iran-taiwan-xi/
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50) US Trapped by Iran’s Resilience; Why the Solution Is Agreement, Not Attrition
Source: Antiwar.com
by Greg Pence
“The central question is no longer whether the United States can inflict damage on Iran. The real question is whether such pressure is actually capable of producing Washington’s desired political outcome.An increasing number of Western analyses now suggest the answer is no. The United States and its allies are gradually realizing that they are confronting a country capable of enduring pressure, reproducing internal control, managing crises, and exporting the costs of war beyond its borders. This reality has drawn Washington into what may be called ‘the trap of Iranian resilience’ – a situation in which continued pressure no longer changes Tehran’s behavior but instead exponentially raises the costs for America itself.” (05/15/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/greg_pence/2026/05/14/us-trapped-by-irans-resilience-why-the-solution-is-agreement-not-attrition/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Mutual Exchange Radio, 05/16/26
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
“Jason Lee Byas on Justice Beyond the State.” (05/16/26)
https://mutualexchangeradio.libsyn.com/jason-lee-byas-on-justice-beyond-the-state
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52) Unattended Baggage, episode 340
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Pooh’s your daddy?” (05/16/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-340-poohs-your-daddy
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53) Pink Flame of Liberty, 05/16/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Let’s Discuss the 2026 National Libertarian Party Platform Committee Report.” (05/16/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7KfCIYdYBk
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54) Voluntary Order, 05/16/26
Source: Voluntary Order
“The Environment Does NOT Need More Government.” (05/16/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wjBE6hMlNA
-----
55) The Good Fight Club, 05/16/26
Source: Yascha Mounk
“The Vibe Shift That Wasn’t, White Identity Politics, and ‘When They Go Low, We Go Low.'” (05/16/26)
https://writing.yaschamounk.com/p/good-fight-club-16
-----
56) The Brian Nichols Show, 05/16/26
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Is A Carbon Tax Really the ‘Free Market’ Climate Answer?” (05/16/26)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/tbns-is-a-carbon-tax-really-the-free-market-climate-answer-tbns-1081
-----
57) Kibbe on Liberty, episode 386
Source: Free the People
“The CIA Is a Lawless Agency | Guest: Sen. Rand Paul.” (05/15/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvBIhQ4tvgU
-----
58) Egalitarianism and Value-Free Economics
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
“Dr. Wanjiru Njoya argues that Rothbard’s political philosophy is not a sideshow to his economics but its essential second pillar, and that this integrated system is precisely what is needed to challenge the egalitarian premise at its root. Correcting Piketty’s spreadsheets isn’t enough; the moral case for liberty has to be made explicitly and on philosophical grounds.” (05/15/26)
https://mises.org/podcasts/rothbard-university/egalitarianism-and-value-free-economics
-----
59) System Update, 05/15/26
Source: System Update
“Q&A on ISRAEL SUING NYT, Trust in the Mainstream Media, Tucker Carlson, Ukraine & More!” (05/15/26)
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/q-and-a-on-israel-suing-nyt-trust
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60) The Evil Within, part 9
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Public Schooling and Conscription.” (05/15/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBQVC3YLGZQ
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61) Reason Interview: Jacob Mchangama
Source: Reason
“Jacob Mchangama and Jeff Kosseff discuss the global decline of free speech, why democracies are embracing censorship, and what can be done to protect open debate.” (05/15/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/05/15/the-global-war-on-free-speech/
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62) Serious Trouble, 05/15/26
Source: Serious Trouble
“‘Advice of Counsel’ Does Not Apply to Advice from Licensed Airboat Captains.” (05/15/26)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/advice-of-counsel-does-not-apply
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63) Reasonably Optimistic, 05/15/26
Source: Washington Post
“The problem with celebrity politicians.” (05/15/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/the-problem-with-celebrity-politicians
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64) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2761
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“How Bad Numbers Become ‘Science.'” (05/15/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2761-how-bad-numbers-become-science/
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65) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 05/15/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Trump Considers Restarting War, Says Iran Ceasefire on Life Support.” (05/15/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-trump-considers-restarting-war-says-iran-ceasefire-on-life-support/
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