05/08 -- US, Iranian regimes launch attacks amid supposed ceasefire; One Cheer for Trump's Germany Troop Withdrawal
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Thomas L. Knapp
May 8, 2026, 6:08:26 AMMay 8
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 05/08/26
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Today's Freedom News:
1) US, Iranian regimes launch attacks amid supposed ceasefire
2) US trade court rules against Trump’s 10% global tariffs
3) Russian, Ukrainian regimes fight on despite WW2 celebration ceasefire proposal
4) Bitcoin slips to $79,000, DOGE leads majors losses as negative funding rates set 10-year record
5) NY: State budget deal includes anti-gang provisions
6) ECMWF predicts 100% chance of “super El Niño”
7) More than a dozen former NFL players join sex abuse lawsuits against Ohio State University
8) Clarence Thomas becomes second longest-serving SCOTUS justice in American history
9) WHO: Hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship not start of pandemic
10) US Initial Jobless Claims Rise, Surpassing Forecasts
11) CO: Man pleads guilty to murder, other charges, for firebomb attack on demonstrators
12) China: Two former defence ministers sentenced to death with reprieve
13) Actress sues Avatar director for “theft” of facial features for character
14) Rubio meets with Pope Leo after Trump’s criticism over Iran war
15) MS: Tornadoes cut across state as severe storms damage 500 homes
16) South Korea: Court reduces prison sentence for ex-prime minister in martial law case
17) Three women linked to Islamic State arrested in Australia on return from Syria
18) TX: Father shoots, kills man attempting to carjack sedan with family inside
19) Nigerian army says it rescued some children abducted from an orphanage last month
20) France: Sarkozy escapes second ankle tag sentence
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) One Cheer for Trump’s Germany Troop Withdrawal
22) The Populism of Bicentennial Commercialism
23) America's Immigration Prohibitionism Breeds Cartel Violence, Not Undocumented Immigrants
24) Defenders of the Jones Act Have Lost
25) Trump’s blockade is an act of war, not the end of war
26) A Few More Thoughts On AI And Consciousness
27) Is Economics Finally Becoming Trustworthy?
28) Israel’s “permanent security” quest is a policy with sinister implications
29) Why the US Tax Code Isn’t Truly Progressive [sic]
30) The New Property-Tax Revolts
31) GOP Wants to Put Workers Under AI’s Thumb: Shorter Work Week Is Better Answer
32) Where California Went Wrong
33) Canada Is Quietly Putting War Into Your Portfolio
34) Counter-Intuitive Econ
35) The false choice between creating abundance and constraining autocracy
36) Cruising Toward Enslavement
37) A push for patient investing over easy money
38) There Is No Evidence the Trump Assassination Attempts Were Staged. People Still Believe They Were
39) South Sudan, A Case Study in State Failure
40) Obliteration Ecocide from Gaza to Lebanon and Beyond
41) Oliver Larkin vs. the Epstein State
42) A Symphony of Scandal
43) Church Report to FISA: Why Won’t Congress Stop the Surveillance State?
44) Washington Is Still Chasing the Perfect War
45) The Democratic Party Is Dead, Long Live the Jacobins!
46) Reflecting on Ted Turner’s Crowded Life
47) Liberty not subject to majority rule
48) The uniparty media’s pro-war twins
49) A Dream Deferred for the Jackson Faction
50) The Personal Panopticon
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) The Libertarian Angle, 05/07/26
52) Underthrow Podcast, 05/07/26
53) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 05/07/26
54) Try Liberty, episode 1
55) The Fifth Column, episode 556
56) Max Rangeley Speech on Robotics, AI, and the Future of War
57) Kibbe on Liberty, episode 384
58) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 05/06/26
59) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2758
60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/06/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) US, Iranian regimes launch attacks amid supposed ceasefire
Source: Politico
“U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged strikes on land and at sea Thursday as President Donald Trump pursues a comprehensive deal to end the war. Central Command said U.S. forces were responding with ‘self-defense strikes’ in the country after Iranian forces launched missiles, drones and small boats at three Navy destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz …. Trump confirmed the attacks in a social media post, describing Iranian drones as getting ‘incinerated while in the air’ before being ‘dropped ever so beautifully down to the Ocean, very much like a butterfly dropping to its grave.’ He told ABC News that the U.S. strikes were a ‘love tap’ and that the ceasefire remains in effect. … Iran said the U.S. strikes amounted to a violation of the ceasefire, and said the U.S. targeted an Iranian oil tanker travelling through the strait, according to an Iranian statement carried by state media.” (05/07/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/07/us-iran-trade-fire-amid-ceasefire-00911016
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2) US trade court rules against Trump’s 10% global tariffs
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“The US trade court on Thursday ruled against Donald Trump’s latest 10% global tariffs, finding across-the-board tariffs were not justified under a 1970s trade law. The US court of international trade ruled in favor of small businesses that challenged the tariffs, which took effect on 24 February. The ruling was 2-1, with one judge saying it was premature to grant victory to the small business plaintiffs. The small businesses had argued the new tariffs were an attempt to sidestep a landmark US supreme court decision that struck down the Republican president’s 2025 tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.” (05/07/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/07/trump-global-tariffs-trade-court-ruling
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3) Russian, Ukrainian regimes fight on despite WW2 celebration ceasefire proposal
Source: Reuters
“Russia and Ukraine accused each other on Friday of violating a unilateral two-day ceasefire announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin to cover the anniversary celebrations of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany. … With no victory yet in sight for either side in a gruelling war of attrition, Putin announced a May 8-9 ceasefire to cover the celebrations of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany – Russia’s most revered national holiday. Kyiv responded that a ceasefire just for the holiday was inappropriate and called instead for an indefinite truce to begin two days earlier, which Moscow ignored. The Russian Defence Ministry said 264 Ukrainian drones had been downed in the early hours of Friday …. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces continued to strike Ukrainian positions during the night on Friday, which he said showed Russia has not made ‘even a token attempt to cease fire on the front.'” (05/08/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-ukraine-accuse-each-other-violating-ceasefire-2026-05-08/
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4) Bitcoin slips to $79,000, DOGE leads majors losses as negative funding rates set 10-year record
Source: CoinDesk
“Bitcoin has pulled back from a midweek high above $81,000 amid renewed U.S.-Iran tensions, but it remains higher on the week alongside mostly resilient global risk assets. … Ether dropped 2% to $2,278, dogecoin slid 3.8% to $0.1063, XRP fell 1.7% to $1.38, and BNB shed 0.7% to $638. Solana and TRON held in green territory at $88.14 and $0.3474 respectively. Dogecoin is the only major coin in the red on the seven-day tape.” (05/08/26)
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/05/08/bitcoin-slips-to-usd79-000-doge-leads-majors-losses-as-negative-funding-rates-set-10-year-record
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5) NY: State budget deal includes anti-gang provisions
Source: New York Times
“Four months after masked federal agents [murdered] Renee Good and Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis, New York leaders announced a plan to implement some of the strictest rules for immigration officials of any state in the country. The package, which was included in the state budget deal announced on Thursday, prohibits state and local officials from entering into formal or informal cooperation agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and forbids law enforcement agents from wearing masks. The rules also prohibit ICE from using local jails to house [abductees] and from searching New Yorkers’ homes, hospitals, churches and schools without a warrant signed by a judge. … Days before the measures were finalized, Tom Homan, President Trump’s border czar, threatened to respond with force if they were approved.” (05/07/26)
https://archive.is/dTP4A
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6) ECMWF predicts 100% chance of “super El Niño”
Source: New York Post
“The latest long-range European forecast shows there’s a 100% chance of a super El Niño, potentially suppressing hurricane activity and making for a wetter fall and winter in the southern U.S. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) issued their May long-range forecast model, which ups the chances of the strongest El Niño ever hitting by November. … Typically, a strong El Niño like this one would mean suppressed hurricane activity in the Atlantic, and increased activity in the Eastern Pacific. However, the ECMWF isn’t yet showing a strong decrease in hurricane forecast numbers for the season, making it possible that the strongest El Niño effects may not be felt until later into the season.” (05/07/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/05/07/science/2026-el-nino-intensity-forecast-explained-what-to-know/
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7) More than a dozen former NFL players join sex abuse lawsuits against Ohio State University
Source: NBC News
“Thirty former Ohio State University football players, including more than a dozen who went on to play in the NFL, signed on to the class action lawsuit brought by other ex-OSU students who say they were sexually abused decades ago by campus doctor Richard Strauss. … NBC News has reached out to OSU for comment about the 30 men joining the lawsuit but didn’t immediately receive a response. The university and its former president have previously publicly apologized ‘to each person who endured’ abuse at the hands of Strauss. Ohio State has been battling Strauss-related lawsuits in the Southern District of Ohio since 2018.” (05/07/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dozen-former-nfl-players-join-sex-abuse-lawsuits-ohio-state-university-rcna343547
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8) Clarence Thomas becomes second longest-serving SCOTUS justice in American history
Source: SFGate
“The first baby boomer on the Supreme Court hit a milestone on Thursday, becoming the second-longest serving justice in history at a time when his influence has never seemed greater. Once an outlier on the nation’s highest court, Justice Clarence Thomas has become a towering figure in the conservative legal movement over the last decade as he helped secure landmark rulings on abortion, voting and Second Amendment rights. The only justice with a longer tenure is liberal William O. Douglas. Thomas would overtake Douglas in 2028 if he remains on the court, and there is no sign he plans to retire anytime soon.” (05/07/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/clarence-thomas-becomes-the-second-22246568.php
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9) WHO: Hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship not start of pandemic
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“An outbreak of hantavirus on board a cruise ship is not the start of a pandemic, the UN health agency has said. Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the World Health Organization (WHO), told a news briefing that it was not the same situation as six years ago with Covid-19, because hantavirus spreads through ‘close, intimate contact’. Health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who have recently disembarked from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius. On Thursday, the WHO said that overall, five of eight suspected cases of hantavirus had been confirmed. Three people have died, including a 69-year-old Dutch woman, who had the virus. Her Dutch husband and a German woman also died, and their cases are being investigated. Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents – but in the latest outbreak the transmission between people was documented for the first time, the WHO said.” (05/07/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnvpzgn26edo
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10) US Initial Jobless Claims Rise, Surpassing Forecasts
Source: Investing.com
“In a recent release of economic data, U.S. initial jobless claims have shown a modest increase, signaling potential shifts in the labor market. The actual number of initial jobless claims filed was 200,000, according to the latest figures. This number is slightly above the forecasted figure of 205,000, indicating a tighter-than-expected labor market scenario. The initial jobless claims measure the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time during the past week.” (05/07/26)
https://www.investing.com/news/economic-indicators/us-initial-jobless-claims-rise-surpassing-forecasts-93CH-4667694
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11) CO: Man pleads guilty to murder, other charges, for firebomb attack on demonstrators
Source: SFGate
“A man accused of a firebomb attack that killed one person and injured a dozen others while they were demonstrating in Boulder, Colorado, in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza has pleaded guilty to murder and other charges. Mohamed Sabry Soliman entered the pleas Thursday in Boulder County District Court. He now faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the attack in downtown Boulder last June 1. Soliman’s attorneys revealed he would plead guilty in a Sunday court filing in a related federal case. Soliman has meanwhile pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges. Prosecutors are weighing whether to seek the death penalty in the federal case, according to his attorneys.” (05/07/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/man-charged-in-colorado-firebomb-attack-on-22246209.php
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12) China: Two former defence ministers sentenced to death with reprieve
SOurce: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Two former Chinese defence ministers, Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu, have been sentenced to death with reprieve on corruption charges, according to Xinhua. A military court found Wei guilty of accepting bribery, while Li was deemed guilty of both accepting and offering bribes, according to a two-paragraph statement released late on Thursday afternoon by Xinhua.” ()5/07/26)
https://archive.is/G0fVI
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13) Actress sues Avatar director for “theft” of facial features for character
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Film-maker James Cameron and Disney are being sued by an actress who has accused the director of using her likeness as the basis for one of the lead characters in his hit film series Avatar. German-born US actress Q’orianka Kilcher, who is of indigenous Peruvian descent, alleged that in 2005 – when she was 14 – Cameron ‘extracted her facial features’ from a photograph of her portraying Pocahontas in another film, The New World. In court documents filed on Tuesday in California, her team claimed Cameron ‘directed his design team to use it as the foundation for the character of Neytiri,’ depicted on screen by Zoe Saldaña. BBC News has contacted Cameron and Disney for a comment. The Avatar movies contain a hybrid of live-action performance mixed with computer-generated characters.” (05/07/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93xnvng93vo
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14) Rubio meets with Pope Leo after Trump’s criticism over Iran war
Source: NBC News
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the Middle East with Pope Leo at the Vatican on Thursday, at an audience that follows President Donald Trump’s criticism of the first American pontiff over the Iran war. The closed-door meeting, which lasted 45 minutes, was the first between the head of the Catholic Church and a Trump cabinet official in nearly a year. It comes at a fraught time between Washington and the Holy See, with relations at a low after weeks of presidential attacks on Leo and the Chicago-born pope’s outspoken responses.” (05/07/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/pope-leo-xiv/marco-rubio-meets-pope-leo-trump-criticism-iran-war-vatican-rcna343991
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15) MS: Tornadoes cut across state as severe storms damage 500 homes
Source: SFGate
“Powerful storms that spawned at least three tornadoes tore through several Mississippi counties, damaging around 500 homes, uprooting trees and injuring at least 17 people, authorities said Thursday. There were no reports of deaths after the tornadoes cut across the state’s southwest late Wednesday evening, said Scott Simmons, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. He said 12 of those hurt were transported from a hard-hit trailer park in the small community of Bogue Chitto, about an hour’s drive south of the state capital in rural Lincoln County. Most of the two dozen homes at Gene’s Mobile Home Supply were flattened into heaps of splintered boards and twisted metal. People picked through the debris Thursday morning under cloudy skies as a chain saw buzzed in the background.” (05/07/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/hundreds-of-homes-damaged-in-mississippi-storms-22246503.php
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16) South Korea: Court reduces prison sentence for ex-prime minister in martial law case
Source: ABC News
“An South Korean appeals court has reduced the prison sentence of a former prime minister convicted of rebellion for his role in then President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ill-fated imposition of martial law in December 2024. Ex-Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, a Yoon appointee, was sentenced to 23 years by a Seoul court in January. Yoon was sentenced to life in prison for rebellion the next month. On Thursday, the Seoul High Court upheld most of Han’s convictions, but reduced his sentence to 15 years. It upheld charges including that Han tried to create the appearance of legitimacy for Yoon’s illegal decree by getting it endorsed at a Cabinet meeting and discussing plans to cut off of water and electricity to critical media agencies. The court also affirmed convictions for falsifying the martial law proclamation, for destroying it and for lying under oath.” (05/07/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/south-korean-court-reduces-prison-sentence-prime-minister-132734163
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17) Three women linked to Islamic State arrested in Australia on return from Syria
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Three women with links to the jihadist Islamic State (IS) group have been arrested on returning home to Australia following years in detention in Syria. All are Australian citizens. Police said they arrested two of them – Kawsar Abbas, 53, and Zeinab Ahmed, 31 – on arrival in Melbourne. Janai Safar, 32, was arrested after landing in Sydney. A fourth woman in the party, which includes nine children, was not arrested. The group are the subject of heated political debate in Australia, with the government saying it would give them no help to return. The children – thought to be aged from about six to their mid-teens – are to get psychological support and be assessed for possible radicalisation. Australia is one of a number of countries grappling with how to deal with the return of citizens – and their children – from Syria after the so-called Islamic State caliphate was destroyed in 2019.” (05/07/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czj2emlv2kjo
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18) TX: Father shoots, kills man attempting to carjack sedan with family inside
Source: KOMO News
“A Texas father shot and killed a man who allegedly attempted to carjack his sedan with his family still inside. On Sunday afternoon, the father and his relatives were sitting in a parking lot in Garland, Texas, near a gas station off Highway 66, when a man approached the driver’s side door and attempted to get in, according to surveillance video obtained by Fox 4. The unidentified father got out of the sedan and attempted to keep the man from entering it, while the rest of his family fled the vehicle. The father and the man struggled as the alleged carjacker managed to get inside the driver’s seat. Eventually, the father went around to the passenger’s side front door, where he allegedly fired more than ten rounds at the alleged carjacker.” (05/06/26)
https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/texas-father-shoots-kills-man-attempting-to-carjack-sedan-with-family-inside-police-surveillance-video
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19) Nigerian army says it rescued some children abducted from an orphanage last month
Source: SFGate
“Seven children and two women abducted by gunmen at an orphanage last month in the north-central region of Nigeria have been rescued by troops, the country’s army said on Wednesday. Authorities in Kogi state said gunmen attacked an Islamic orphanage that was operating illegally and abducted 23 pupils in an ‘isolated area’ of Lokoja, capital of Kogi State, on April 26. Fifteen of those abducted were immediately rescued. The troops intercepted and recovered the victims within a forest area in the state, army spokesman Hassan Abdullahi said in a statement. ‘The rescued victims comprised five boys, two girls, and two adult females, believed to be the wives of the proprietor of the orphanage,’ Abdullahi said. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Armed groups attack schools and abduct students because they are seen as strategic in drawing attention and exacting huge ransoms, according to analysts.” (05/07/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/nigerian-army-says-it-rescued-some-children-22246499.php
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20) France: Sarkozy escapes second ankle tag sentence
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will not serve time with an electronic ankle tag as punishment for illegal funding of his 2012 re-election bid, an informed source said Wednesday. Sarkozy, 71, has faced a raft of accusations since leaving office after a single term from 2007 to 2012. He has denied all allegations in all cases. Last year, he became modern France’s first-ever president to go to jail, serving 20 days in a case related to alleged Libyan funding in his 2007 election campaign. His appeal trial in the case is ongoing. … a court on Tuesday decided Sarkozy would not have to wear the tracker due to his advanced age, the source with knowledge of the case told AFP, requesting anonymity.” (05/07/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20260507-nicolas-sarkozy-escapes-ankle-tag-in-re-election-campaign-financing-case
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) One Cheer for Trump’s Germany Troop Withdrawal
Source: The American Conservative
by Doug Bandow
“Like a mad king of old, President Donald Trump spends hours wandering his palace, developing plans to better display his wealth and glory to an increasingly skeptical and antagonistic world. Occasionally he remembers his royal responsibilities and implements the right policy, though even then often for the wrong reason. Such as reducing the number of U.S. troops in Germany. At least it’s a start, though resulting from a fit of pique, since Berlin, like virtually every other government on earth, criticized his lawless, reckless attack on Iran, which is disrupting the global economy. He is threatening to do the same to Italy and Spain, whose political leaders also have denounced Trump’s bungled aggression, openly conducted on behalf of the Israeli government rather than the American people.” (05/07/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/one-cheer-for-trumps-germany-troop-withdrawal/
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22) The Populism of Bicentennial Commercialism
Source: Garrison Center
by Joel Schlosberg
"In the months leading up to the USA’s 250th birthday party, some debris from its 200th is making headlines. <em>The New York Times</em>‘s Jennifer Schuessler finds conspicuously 'much less investment and enthusiasm overall' for this year’s semiquincentennial anniversary of the Declaration of Independence than the 1976 bicentennial, itself diminished by jaded jeers charging that '‘Buy-centennial’ huckersterism had sold out the true radical spirit of ’76' ('How a Historian Saved the Schlock of ’76,' May 5). Schuessler chronicles plenty of 'hats, mugs, playing cards and pickleball paddles' currently being hawked under the aegis of Donald Trump, but compared to such bicentennial-branded excrescences of 'unapologetic 1976-style schlock' as toilet paper, diapers and condoms, even the output of a coauthor of Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life can be described on the pages of the Gray Lady as 'tasteful.'" (05/07/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20570
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23) America's Immigration Prohibitionism Breeds Cartel Violence, Not Undocumented Immigrants
Source: The UnPopulist
by Nathan Goodman and Molly Rovinski
"When legal pathways to immigration are closed, migrants don’t stop coming -- they turn to smugglers. Smugglers must pay cartels to move people through their territory. The more aggressively the United States restricts legal entry and patrols traditional crossing routes, the more dangerous those crossings become, and the more indispensable smugglers -- and the cartels behind them -- become. The result is a perverse inversion of the stated goal: the harder Trump and Miller push to seal the border, the more they enrich the organizations they claim to be fighting." (05/07/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/americas-immigration-prohibitionism
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24) Defenders of the Jones Act Have Lost
Source: Cato Institute
by Scott Lincicome
“For more than a century, the Jones Act has survived on purported economic and security grounds. Its waiver by the Trump administration for Operation Epic Fury reveals serious flaws in both rationales. Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, as it’s formally known, requires that goods shipped between US ports travel on vessels that are US-built, US-flagged, US-owned, and crewed predominantly by US citizens. Because of this legally-enforced domestic shipping monopoly, building and operating ships in America today costs far more than doing so abroad, and domestic coastwise shipping is effectively non-existent outside the few places that have no choice, such as Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Rather than bolstering US commercial shipping capacity and the merchant marine, the Jones Act has presided over the steady degradation of both.” (05/07/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/defenders-jones-act-have-lost
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25) Trump’s blockade is an act of war, not the end of war
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Jon Duffy
“President Trump recently described the U.S. naval blockade of Iran as ‘a very friendly blockade.’ There is no such thing. A blockade is an act of war, using armed forces to restrict another nation’s movement, commerce and access to the sea. It does not become peaceful because no one challenges it on a particular day. Trump’s administration says the ceasefire with Iran means he no longer has to seek congressional authorization to continue the war beyond 60 days, even though federal law requires it. A ceasefire may pause the shooting. It does not make an ongoing act of war disappear. The president can argue that the blockade is necessary. He cannot honestly argue that the war is effectively over while keeping the blockade in place. More dangerous than Trump’s word choice is Congress’[s] silence.” (05/07/26)
https://archive.is/KvzlJ
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26) A Few More Thoughts On AI And Consciousness
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Richard Dawkins is currently the subject of much laughter and ridicule over his recent article for UnHerd admitting that a highly sycophantic chatbot had convinced him that it might be conscious. I’m seeing the question ‘How can you be confident that AIs aren’t conscious?’ pop up a lot in response to the controversy. Speaking for myself, I would say I am confident the chatbots aren’t conscious in the same way I’m confident the animatronics at Disneyland aren’t conscious. I know humans constructed them to mimic the behavior of a sentient person. We know this for a fact. Nobody’s pretending otherwise. I am infinitely more likely to believe an animal is conscious than that an LLM is, because nobody programmed them to respond to things like pain and social stimulus in ways that are similar to humans.” (05/07/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/05/07/a-few-more-thoughts-on-ai-and-consciousness/
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27) Is Economics Finally Becoming Trustworthy?
Source: EconLog
by James B Bailey
“A core premise of science is that research should be replicable. If one scientist creates an experiment to measure a physical constant like the speed of light, and they document their experiment well enough, other scientists should be able to perform the same experiment and find the same result. If one lab’s results can’t be replicated anywhere else, then like cold fusion, they probably aren’t real. Outside of hard sciences like physics we don’t expect to get the same precision. Perhaps one trial finds a drug reduces heart attacks by 17%, while another finds 14%. But for research to usefully inform our actions, it needs to be at least somewhat replicable.” (05/07/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/economics-finally-trustworthy
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28) Israel’s “permanent security” quest is a policy with sinister implications
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Martin Di Caro
“The goal of eliminating any potential or future threats, real or imaginary, will all but inevitably dehumanize and create new enemies.” (05/07/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/israel-permanent-war/
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29) Why the US Tax Code Isn’t Truly Progressive [sic]
Source: Inequality.org
by Reyanna James
“A recent analysis from the Tax Foundation argues that the US federal income tax system remains solidly progressive. Citing new Internal Revenue Service data for tax year 2023, the group is emphasizing that high-income taxpayers pay the highest average tax rates and account for a large share of total income taxes paid. On its face, that claim sounds reassuring—a sign that our tax code must surely be doing its job. But this framing leaves out a critical part of the story. Yes, the wealthy pay more in taxes than everyone else. The real question: whether they’re paying enough, their fair share relative to their rapidly growing share of our nation’s income and wealth. By that measure, the answer must be a clear no. The US tax system, the underlying data show, remains far less progressive than it once was — and far less effective at counteracting inequality than it needs to be.” (05/07/26)
https://inequality.org/article/who-pays-federal-income-taxes/
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30) The New Property-Tax Revolts
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Decades after a famous revolt by California homeowners led to the relief provided by Proposition 13, taxpayers acting to resist sky-high property taxes are making waves throughout the country.” (05/07/6)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/05/07/the-new-property-tax-revolts/
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31) GOP Wants to Put Workers Under AI’s Thumb: Shorter Work Week Is Better Answer
Source: Beat the Press
by Dean Baker
“Productivity growth is an old concept; we’ve been seeing it at a substantial pace for more than 200 years. Nonetheless, many elite intellectual types like to claim they know nothing about it when they talk about AI. It’s far from clear how much of a productivity boom we will see with AI. For people who are lost with my reference to productivity growth, the story that AI will take all the jobs is a story of a massive productivity boom. If that happens, it will mean that the people who are still working will be hugely more productive, since we will be producing the same or more goods and services as we do at present, with many fewer people working. FWIW, virtually no major forecaster or forecasting agency is projecting anything like this productivity boom. For example, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that productivity growth will average 1.5 percent over the next decade.” (05/07/26)
https://cepr.net/publications/april-2026-jobs-preview/
----
32) Where California Went Wrong
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by William L Anderson
“When I was a child, California was really the Promised Land, something cemented in my mind when we came here on vacation in 1961. We saw mountains, Lake Tahoe, the bridges of San Francisco, the spectacular California Pacific coast, and, of course, we went to Disneyland. As a young adult, I ran track for the University of Tennessee and one of the annual highlights of the season was our dual meet with UCLA at Drake Stadium on the university’s campus. (I ran very well against UCLA’s runners, thank you). There really was no place that compared with California, a vast land of so many spectacular things. Unfortunately, there is still a vastness of things here, but many of them are spectacularly negative.” (05/07/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/where-california-went-wrong
----
33) Canada Is Quietly Putting War Into Your Portfolio
Source: Common Dreams
by Umer Azad
“Canada is set to host the headquarters of the proposed Defence, Security, and Resilience Bank, or DSRB, a new multinational institution designed to mobilize tens of billions in financing for military and security projects among allied nations. In short, what we are seeing is the quiet normalization of something far more consequential: the permanent financialization of war. The structure being envisioned for DSRB closely resembles other multilateral financial institutions. It would raise capital on global markets, issue bonds, and extend loans to governments and defense companies. That means funding for military supply chains, weapons systems, and defense infrastructure would increasingly flow through financial markets rather than direct public expenditure. In doing so, war itself risks being transformed from a political decision subject to public scrutiny into a financial product embedded in portfolios.” (05/07/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/canada-war-portfolio
----
34) Counter-Intuitive Econ
Source: Bet On It
by Alexander Craig
“I want to defend the idea that economics has some counter-intuitive propositions to offer. It does depend on what ‘intuitive’ means, though. I think it’s fair to say that something is intuitive if someone without formal training in the area can think it through on their own. If it takes an economist re-framing the issue to show the answer makes sense, it’s not necessarily intuitive. In other words, economics can be made intuitive, but it takes effort and skill.” (05/07/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/counter-intuitive-econ
----
35) The false choice between creating abundance and constraining autocracy
Source: Niskanen Center
by Alexander Mechanick
“Policy discourse in the United States today has a split personality. Many condemn how procedural rules thwart not only efforts to build — housing, energy, and more — but more generally keep presidents from achieving their policy ambitions and worsen our ‘vetocracy.’ Yet others lament how presidents are left too free to pursue their policy aims lawlessly or abusively. These concerns are often raised by the same commentators. Even though these discourses are largely about the same topic—the administrative procedures that constrain government action and govern judicial challenges to it — the two have proceeded almost entirely in parallel. The result is a bizarre discourse superposition, where the executive branch is simultaneously excessively and insufficiently constrained.” (05/07/26)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/the-false-choice-between-creating-abundance-and-constraining-autocracy/
----
36) Cruising Toward Enslavement
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Steven Goldsmith
“Much ink has been spilled, much podcast time expended on the machinations of the elite globalist class who war against our autonomy, who strive to enslave us through control of our health and financial assets and to depopulate us. All true. But we commoners cannot control what they try to do, cannot temper their sociopathy. What we can do is look at ourselves in the mirror and recognize how we have been disempowering ourselves, allowing our autonomy to be up for grabs; how we have been surrendering that which differentiates us from other animals — free will.” (05/07/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/cruising-toward-enslavement/
----
37) A push for patient investing over easy money
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“Back in 2018, during his first term as president, Donald Trump called for a curb on a federal requirement that publicly traded firms report their performance every three months. The idea is to nudge both investors and corporations toward longer-term perspectives and focus less on a fluctuating stock price. This week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) unveiled a plan that will allow such companies to provide reports every six months. In the intervening eight years, ever-faster algorithms have enabled warp-speed stock trading, inflating shareholder impatience and expectations of instantaneous information and returns. In 2021, a Cornell University study confirmed that ‘firms were actually becoming more short-term oriented across the market’ – a trend linked to the growing demand for more data and short-term projections for the investing public and markets.” (05/06/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0506/A-push-for-patient-investing-over-easy-money
----
38) There Is No Evidence the Trump Assassination Attempts Were Staged. People Still Believe They Were
Source: Wired
by David Gilbert
“WIRED has looked at the main claims that conspiracy theorists point to when claiming both the Butler and Correspondents’ Dinner shootings were staged, and why none of the claims stand up to scrutiny.” (05/07/26)
https://archive.is/ILMvm
----
39) South Sudan, A Case Study in State Failure
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“In 2011, the world welcomed its newest country. Fifteen years later, South Sudan is less a symbol of self-determination than a case study in state failure. Its politics remain dominated by factional strongmen, its economy is almost entirely dependent on oil, and the threat of renewed large-scale violence never quite recedes. For most Americans, it barely registers — just another distant tragedy filed away under ‘Africa.’ But South Sudan did not simply emerge from the mists of post-colonial history. It was, in no small part, a project of Washington.” (05/07/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/south-sudan-a-case-study-in-state-failure
----
40) Obliteration Ecocide from Gaza to Lebanon and Beyond
Source: Antiwar.com
by Dan Steinbock
“Modern warfare in Gaza is no longer just counterinsurgency but systems-level destruction of the environmental and infrastructural substrate of life – water, soil, agriculture, energy, and urban continuity.” (05/07/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/dan_steinbock/2026/05/06/obliteration-ecocide-from-gaza-to-lebanon-and-beyond/
----
41) Oliver Larkin vs. the Epstein State
Source: The American Prospect
by Maureen Tkacik
“Oliver Larkin spent most of the 2024 election season spamming out ‘I’ll be blunt’ emails on behalf of Adam Schiff: ‘We had a massive fundraising list from the Trump impeachment, and I was up until 3 in the morning sending emails and texts. And in those first 24 hours, we raised like $1.6 or $1.7 million.’ Chained to his computer screens in a Deerfield Beach bungalow 3,000 miles from Schiff’s campaign headquarters, he began to feel disconnected from man’s innate feedback loops of longing and satisfaction. ‘Trump loved to single him out, he was attacking Schiff all the fucking time, every week, calling him ‘Pencil Neck’ or ‘Watermelon Head’ or ‘Shifty Schiff,’ and every time something like that happened it was like, this could raise ten thousand dollars, this could raise twenty thousand dollars,’ the candidate told the Prospect.” (05/07/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/05/07/oliver-larkin-jared-moskowitz-jeffrey-epstein-ron-desantis-florida/
----
42) A Symphony of Scandal
Source: Law & Liberty
by George Hawley
“Honest politicians are all alike; every crook is crooked in his own fashion.” (05/07/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/a-symphony-of-scandal/
----
43) Church Report to FISA: Why Won’t Congress Stop the Surveillance State?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Jeffery L Degner
“The Church Committee exposed sweeping abuses by America’s intelligence agencies 50 years ago. Section 702’s recent reauthorization suggests lawmakers are increasingly comfortable with expansive spying on American citizens.” (05/07/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/church-report-to-fisa-why-wont-congress-stop-the-surveillance-state/
----
44) Washington Is Still Chasing the Perfect War
Source: Foreign Policy
by Adam Weinstein
“The United States’[s] leaders are still chasing the fantasy of a perfect war—one in which Washington’s technological and logistical might leads to a clear, swift victory. It’s a misconception rooted in what U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal called the ‘three great seductions’ of modern warfare: covert action, surgical special operations raids, and airpower. Together, they sustain the illusion that war can be precise and controlled.” (05/06/26)
https://archive.is/a9EBz
----
45) The Democratic Party Is Dead, Long Live the Jacobins!
Source: Town Hall
by Victor Davis Hanson
“For the past century, the agendas of the Democratic Party were predictable. They professed concern for working Americans and supported blue-collar unions. Unemployment insurance, a 40-hour work week, disability insurance, and Social Security were their trademarks — often rapidly achieved by growing government bureaucracies and continually raising taxes. Still, many Democrats were socially conservative. By the 1970s, Democrats still deplored antisemitism. Party officials had rejected their own segregationists to champion civil rights. Presidents like Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F. Kennedy all supported strong defense and military deterrence. All that is now passe. The only vestigial Democrat left in Congress is Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, himself roundly despised by Democrat leaders. Today, supporting Israel and calling for campuses to stop their institutionalized antisemitism is Democratic political suicide.” (05/07/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2026/05/07/the-democratic-party-is-dead-long-live-the-jacobins-n2675694
----
46) Reflecting on Ted Turner’s Crowded Life
Source: Property and Environment Research Center
by Brian Yablonski
“Theodore Roosevelt coined the term ‘crowded hour’ about his moments of battle in the Spanish-American War. When I think of Ted Turner’s life, the bigger term ‘crowded life’ comes to mind. His impact on how we communicate and take our news today all starts with his founding of CNN. And who hasn’t pulled up an old film on Turner Classic Movies as late-night comfort food? Speaking of comfort food, he almost single handedly reintroduced the bison at scale to the West and bison meat to the world through his Ted’s Montana Grill restaurants. But these episodes in a crowded life are not Ted’s most consequential impact. His true lasting impact will have been on the larger natural world.” (05/06/26)
https://www.perc.org/2026/05/06/reflecting-on-ted-turners-crowded-life/
----
47) Liberty not subject to majority rule
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal
“In exercising their liberty, some people will do things that offend you. Many people want you to believe if they’ve been offended, they’ve been violated somehow. They haven’t. Being offended isn’t the same as having your life, liberty, or property violated, even though weak people who want to control others often use this ploy. Don’t play along.” (05/06/26)
https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2026/05/06/voices/opinion-liberty-not-subject-to-majority-rule/233357.html
-----
48) The uniparty media’s pro-war twins
Source: UnHerd
by Nikos Mohammadi
“America boasts the world’s largest media market, and even in this age of shrinking attention spans, strained ad budgets, and declining circulation, it offers something for everyone. But does this diversity extend to the nation’s prestige outlets? On the surface, the answer would seem to be yes. The New York Times plays to the post-woke-but-still-kinda-woke establishment Left, while The Washington Post editorial page, under Jeff Bezos’s increasingly heavy-handed leadership, is going for Trump-friendly free-market conservatism. The contrast is exemplified by two of the papers’ most prominent writers: the Times’[s] Russian-born columnist Masha Gessen … couldn’t be more different from the Post’s Marc Thiessen, who’s gaining a lot of attention these days as President Trump’s favorite print columnist. … The two should be at odds, and in some ways, they are. But when it comes to foreign policy, they sing almost exactly the same hawkish, pro-empire song, albeit in slightly different keys.” (05/06/26)
https://archive.is/B8m5Y
----
49) A Dream Deferred for the Jackson Faction
Source: In These Times
by staff
“The Rev. Jesse Jackson died February 17 at age 84. In 1984 and 1988, the civil rights activist ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, becoming the first Black man to wage a major national campaign for the White House. In his 1988 speech at the Democratic National Convention, Jackson emphasized, ’Politics can be a moral arena where people come together to find a common ground.’ Salim Muwakkil, in coverage for In These Times, made a similar assessment, writing that while many of Jackson’s followers ’are more comfortable agitating or deriding conventional political wisdom’, Jackson ’managed to harmonize most of those discordant notes.’ Almost 40 years later, as once-outsider politicians like Zohran Mamdani — now the first Muslim mayor of New York City — attempt to carve out space within the political mainstream, we return to Muwakkil’s words on the costs and opportunities of movement institutionalization and ‘“political maturity.'” (05/07/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/jesse-jackson-for-president-democrat-operation-push
----
50) The Personal Panopticon
Source: Independent Institute
by Sam Jenson
“Meta Inc., previously known as Facebook Inc., intends to implement facial recognition technology in its smart glasses, which are produced in collaboration with Ray-Ban and currently sold without this capability. The proposed feature would facilitate real-time translation and allow users to ask on-demand questions. However, the integration of facial recognition technology introduces significant privacy and legal concerns for individuals in public spaces.” (05/06/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/05/06/personal-panopticon-smart-glasses/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) The Libertarian Angle, 05/07/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Jacob, Richard, and special guest Jim Bovard discuss why America continues to move in a bad direction.” (05/07/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdOeTNzeuN4
----
52) Underthrow Podcast, 05/07/26
Source: Underthrow
“The Only Way to Win is Not to Play.” (05/07/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qctZutLdMsg
----
53) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 05/07/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“The Staggering Cost Of The Iran War.” (05/07/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1jxXgeOdzDjJZ
----
54) Try Liberty, episode 1
Source: Try Liberty
“Liberland: The freest nation on Earth?” (05/07/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GASCAtqXYUg
----
55) The Fifth Column, episode 556
Source: The Fifth Column
“In Which the 1% Protests the 1%, Mamdani Builds a Grocery Store, California Searches for a Governor, and Iran Has Questions.” (05/07/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/masquerade-of-morons-episode-556
----
56) Max Rangeley Speech on Robotics, AI, and the Future of War
Source: Cobden Centre
“[E]ven with the developments in Ukraine and elsewhere, most people in the military underestimate the importance of robotics and AI. In the very near future, any military that does not have these technologies fully integrated will resemble those that attempted cavalry charges against machine guns in the early twentieth century.” (05/07/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/05/speech-in-tirana-on-robotics-ai-and-the-future-of-war/
----
57) Kibbe on Liberty, episode 384
Source: Free the People
“It’s Time to Give Privacy Rights an Update | Guest: Naomi Brockwell.” (05/06/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9xtokGL3DE
----
58) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 05/06/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Larry Johnson: Midterm, Markets, and Missiles.” (05/06/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-with-larry-johnson-midterm-markets-and-missiles/
----
59) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2758
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“The Secret History of Gold.” (05/06/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2758-the-secret-history-of-gold/
-----
60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/06/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Attacks and Disables Iranian Oil Tanker, Trump Threatens Iran With Higher Level Bombing, and More.” (05/06/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euSyNALyTl4
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Today's Freedom News:
1) US, Iranian regimes launch attacks amid supposed ceasefire
2) US trade court rules against Trump’s 10% global tariffs
3) Russian, Ukrainian regimes fight on despite WW2 celebration ceasefire proposal
4) Bitcoin slips to $79,000, DOGE leads majors losses as negative funding rates set 10-year record
5) NY: State budget deal includes anti-gang provisions
6) ECMWF predicts 100% chance of “super El Niño”
7) More than a dozen former NFL players join sex abuse lawsuits against Ohio State University
8) Clarence Thomas becomes second longest-serving SCOTUS justice in American history
9) WHO: Hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship not start of pandemic
10) US Initial Jobless Claims Rise, Surpassing Forecasts
11) CO: Man pleads guilty to murder, other charges, for firebomb attack on demonstrators
12) China: Two former defence ministers sentenced to death with reprieve
13) Actress sues Avatar director for “theft” of facial features for character
14) Rubio meets with Pope Leo after Trump’s criticism over Iran war
15) MS: Tornadoes cut across state as severe storms damage 500 homes
16) South Korea: Court reduces prison sentence for ex-prime minister in martial law case
17) Three women linked to Islamic State arrested in Australia on return from Syria
18) TX: Father shoots, kills man attempting to carjack sedan with family inside
19) Nigerian army says it rescued some children abducted from an orphanage last month
20) France: Sarkozy escapes second ankle tag sentence
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) One Cheer for Trump’s Germany Troop Withdrawal
22) The Populism of Bicentennial Commercialism
23) America's Immigration Prohibitionism Breeds Cartel Violence, Not Undocumented Immigrants
24) Defenders of the Jones Act Have Lost
25) Trump’s blockade is an act of war, not the end of war
26) A Few More Thoughts On AI And Consciousness
27) Is Economics Finally Becoming Trustworthy?
28) Israel’s “permanent security” quest is a policy with sinister implications
29) Why the US Tax Code Isn’t Truly Progressive [sic]
30) The New Property-Tax Revolts
31) GOP Wants to Put Workers Under AI’s Thumb: Shorter Work Week Is Better Answer
32) Where California Went Wrong
33) Canada Is Quietly Putting War Into Your Portfolio
34) Counter-Intuitive Econ
35) The false choice between creating abundance and constraining autocracy
36) Cruising Toward Enslavement
37) A push for patient investing over easy money
38) There Is No Evidence the Trump Assassination Attempts Were Staged. People Still Believe They Were
39) South Sudan, A Case Study in State Failure
40) Obliteration Ecocide from Gaza to Lebanon and Beyond
41) Oliver Larkin vs. the Epstein State
42) A Symphony of Scandal
43) Church Report to FISA: Why Won’t Congress Stop the Surveillance State?
44) Washington Is Still Chasing the Perfect War
45) The Democratic Party Is Dead, Long Live the Jacobins!
46) Reflecting on Ted Turner’s Crowded Life
47) Liberty not subject to majority rule
48) The uniparty media’s pro-war twins
49) A Dream Deferred for the Jackson Faction
50) The Personal Panopticon
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) The Libertarian Angle, 05/07/26
52) Underthrow Podcast, 05/07/26
53) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 05/07/26
54) Try Liberty, episode 1
55) The Fifth Column, episode 556
56) Max Rangeley Speech on Robotics, AI, and the Future of War
57) Kibbe on Liberty, episode 384
58) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 05/06/26
59) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2758
60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/06/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) US, Iranian regimes launch attacks amid supposed ceasefire
Source: Politico
“U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged strikes on land and at sea Thursday as President Donald Trump pursues a comprehensive deal to end the war. Central Command said U.S. forces were responding with ‘self-defense strikes’ in the country after Iranian forces launched missiles, drones and small boats at three Navy destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz …. Trump confirmed the attacks in a social media post, describing Iranian drones as getting ‘incinerated while in the air’ before being ‘dropped ever so beautifully down to the Ocean, very much like a butterfly dropping to its grave.’ He told ABC News that the U.S. strikes were a ‘love tap’ and that the ceasefire remains in effect. … Iran said the U.S. strikes amounted to a violation of the ceasefire, and said the U.S. targeted an Iranian oil tanker travelling through the strait, according to an Iranian statement carried by state media.” (05/07/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/07/us-iran-trade-fire-amid-ceasefire-00911016
-----
2) US trade court rules against Trump’s 10% global tariffs
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“The US trade court on Thursday ruled against Donald Trump’s latest 10% global tariffs, finding across-the-board tariffs were not justified under a 1970s trade law. The US court of international trade ruled in favor of small businesses that challenged the tariffs, which took effect on 24 February. The ruling was 2-1, with one judge saying it was premature to grant victory to the small business plaintiffs. The small businesses had argued the new tariffs were an attempt to sidestep a landmark US supreme court decision that struck down the Republican president’s 2025 tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.” (05/07/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/07/trump-global-tariffs-trade-court-ruling
-----
3) Russian, Ukrainian regimes fight on despite WW2 celebration ceasefire proposal
Source: Reuters
“Russia and Ukraine accused each other on Friday of violating a unilateral two-day ceasefire announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin to cover the anniversary celebrations of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany. … With no victory yet in sight for either side in a gruelling war of attrition, Putin announced a May 8-9 ceasefire to cover the celebrations of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany – Russia’s most revered national holiday. Kyiv responded that a ceasefire just for the holiday was inappropriate and called instead for an indefinite truce to begin two days earlier, which Moscow ignored. The Russian Defence Ministry said 264 Ukrainian drones had been downed in the early hours of Friday …. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces continued to strike Ukrainian positions during the night on Friday, which he said showed Russia has not made ‘even a token attempt to cease fire on the front.'” (05/08/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-ukraine-accuse-each-other-violating-ceasefire-2026-05-08/
-----
4) Bitcoin slips to $79,000, DOGE leads majors losses as negative funding rates set 10-year record
Source: CoinDesk
“Bitcoin has pulled back from a midweek high above $81,000 amid renewed U.S.-Iran tensions, but it remains higher on the week alongside mostly resilient global risk assets. … Ether dropped 2% to $2,278, dogecoin slid 3.8% to $0.1063, XRP fell 1.7% to $1.38, and BNB shed 0.7% to $638. Solana and TRON held in green territory at $88.14 and $0.3474 respectively. Dogecoin is the only major coin in the red on the seven-day tape.” (05/08/26)
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/05/08/bitcoin-slips-to-usd79-000-doge-leads-majors-losses-as-negative-funding-rates-set-10-year-record
-----
5) NY: State budget deal includes anti-gang provisions
Source: New York Times
“Four months after masked federal agents [murdered] Renee Good and Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis, New York leaders announced a plan to implement some of the strictest rules for immigration officials of any state in the country. The package, which was included in the state budget deal announced on Thursday, prohibits state and local officials from entering into formal or informal cooperation agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and forbids law enforcement agents from wearing masks. The rules also prohibit ICE from using local jails to house [abductees] and from searching New Yorkers’ homes, hospitals, churches and schools without a warrant signed by a judge. … Days before the measures were finalized, Tom Homan, President Trump’s border czar, threatened to respond with force if they were approved.” (05/07/26)
https://archive.is/dTP4A
-----
6) ECMWF predicts 100% chance of “super El Niño”
Source: New York Post
“The latest long-range European forecast shows there’s a 100% chance of a super El Niño, potentially suppressing hurricane activity and making for a wetter fall and winter in the southern U.S. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) issued their May long-range forecast model, which ups the chances of the strongest El Niño ever hitting by November. … Typically, a strong El Niño like this one would mean suppressed hurricane activity in the Atlantic, and increased activity in the Eastern Pacific. However, the ECMWF isn’t yet showing a strong decrease in hurricane forecast numbers for the season, making it possible that the strongest El Niño effects may not be felt until later into the season.” (05/07/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/05/07/science/2026-el-nino-intensity-forecast-explained-what-to-know/
----
7) More than a dozen former NFL players join sex abuse lawsuits against Ohio State University
Source: NBC News
“Thirty former Ohio State University football players, including more than a dozen who went on to play in the NFL, signed on to the class action lawsuit brought by other ex-OSU students who say they were sexually abused decades ago by campus doctor Richard Strauss. … NBC News has reached out to OSU for comment about the 30 men joining the lawsuit but didn’t immediately receive a response. The university and its former president have previously publicly apologized ‘to each person who endured’ abuse at the hands of Strauss. Ohio State has been battling Strauss-related lawsuits in the Southern District of Ohio since 2018.” (05/07/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dozen-former-nfl-players-join-sex-abuse-lawsuits-ohio-state-university-rcna343547
----
8) Clarence Thomas becomes second longest-serving SCOTUS justice in American history
Source: SFGate
“The first baby boomer on the Supreme Court hit a milestone on Thursday, becoming the second-longest serving justice in history at a time when his influence has never seemed greater. Once an outlier on the nation’s highest court, Justice Clarence Thomas has become a towering figure in the conservative legal movement over the last decade as he helped secure landmark rulings on abortion, voting and Second Amendment rights. The only justice with a longer tenure is liberal William O. Douglas. Thomas would overtake Douglas in 2028 if he remains on the court, and there is no sign he plans to retire anytime soon.” (05/07/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/clarence-thomas-becomes-the-second-22246568.php
----
9) WHO: Hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship not start of pandemic
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“An outbreak of hantavirus on board a cruise ship is not the start of a pandemic, the UN health agency has said. Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the World Health Organization (WHO), told a news briefing that it was not the same situation as six years ago with Covid-19, because hantavirus spreads through ‘close, intimate contact’. Health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who have recently disembarked from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius. On Thursday, the WHO said that overall, five of eight suspected cases of hantavirus had been confirmed. Three people have died, including a 69-year-old Dutch woman, who had the virus. Her Dutch husband and a German woman also died, and their cases are being investigated. Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents – but in the latest outbreak the transmission between people was documented for the first time, the WHO said.” (05/07/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnvpzgn26edo
----
10) US Initial Jobless Claims Rise, Surpassing Forecasts
Source: Investing.com
“In a recent release of economic data, U.S. initial jobless claims have shown a modest increase, signaling potential shifts in the labor market. The actual number of initial jobless claims filed was 200,000, according to the latest figures. This number is slightly above the forecasted figure of 205,000, indicating a tighter-than-expected labor market scenario. The initial jobless claims measure the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time during the past week.” (05/07/26)
https://www.investing.com/news/economic-indicators/us-initial-jobless-claims-rise-surpassing-forecasts-93CH-4667694
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11) CO: Man pleads guilty to murder, other charges, for firebomb attack on demonstrators
Source: SFGate
“A man accused of a firebomb attack that killed one person and injured a dozen others while they were demonstrating in Boulder, Colorado, in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza has pleaded guilty to murder and other charges. Mohamed Sabry Soliman entered the pleas Thursday in Boulder County District Court. He now faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the attack in downtown Boulder last June 1. Soliman’s attorneys revealed he would plead guilty in a Sunday court filing in a related federal case. Soliman has meanwhile pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges. Prosecutors are weighing whether to seek the death penalty in the federal case, according to his attorneys.” (05/07/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/man-charged-in-colorado-firebomb-attack-on-22246209.php
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12) China: Two former defence ministers sentenced to death with reprieve
SOurce: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Two former Chinese defence ministers, Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu, have been sentenced to death with reprieve on corruption charges, according to Xinhua. A military court found Wei guilty of accepting bribery, while Li was deemed guilty of both accepting and offering bribes, according to a two-paragraph statement released late on Thursday afternoon by Xinhua.” ()5/07/26)
https://archive.is/G0fVI
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13) Actress sues Avatar director for “theft” of facial features for character
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Film-maker James Cameron and Disney are being sued by an actress who has accused the director of using her likeness as the basis for one of the lead characters in his hit film series Avatar. German-born US actress Q’orianka Kilcher, who is of indigenous Peruvian descent, alleged that in 2005 – when she was 14 – Cameron ‘extracted her facial features’ from a photograph of her portraying Pocahontas in another film, The New World. In court documents filed on Tuesday in California, her team claimed Cameron ‘directed his design team to use it as the foundation for the character of Neytiri,’ depicted on screen by Zoe Saldaña. BBC News has contacted Cameron and Disney for a comment. The Avatar movies contain a hybrid of live-action performance mixed with computer-generated characters.” (05/07/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93xnvng93vo
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14) Rubio meets with Pope Leo after Trump’s criticism over Iran war
Source: NBC News
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the Middle East with Pope Leo at the Vatican on Thursday, at an audience that follows President Donald Trump’s criticism of the first American pontiff over the Iran war. The closed-door meeting, which lasted 45 minutes, was the first between the head of the Catholic Church and a Trump cabinet official in nearly a year. It comes at a fraught time between Washington and the Holy See, with relations at a low after weeks of presidential attacks on Leo and the Chicago-born pope’s outspoken responses.” (05/07/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/pope-leo-xiv/marco-rubio-meets-pope-leo-trump-criticism-iran-war-vatican-rcna343991
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15) MS: Tornadoes cut across state as severe storms damage 500 homes
Source: SFGate
“Powerful storms that spawned at least three tornadoes tore through several Mississippi counties, damaging around 500 homes, uprooting trees and injuring at least 17 people, authorities said Thursday. There were no reports of deaths after the tornadoes cut across the state’s southwest late Wednesday evening, said Scott Simmons, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. He said 12 of those hurt were transported from a hard-hit trailer park in the small community of Bogue Chitto, about an hour’s drive south of the state capital in rural Lincoln County. Most of the two dozen homes at Gene’s Mobile Home Supply were flattened into heaps of splintered boards and twisted metal. People picked through the debris Thursday morning under cloudy skies as a chain saw buzzed in the background.” (05/07/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/hundreds-of-homes-damaged-in-mississippi-storms-22246503.php
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16) South Korea: Court reduces prison sentence for ex-prime minister in martial law case
Source: ABC News
“An South Korean appeals court has reduced the prison sentence of a former prime minister convicted of rebellion for his role in then President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ill-fated imposition of martial law in December 2024. Ex-Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, a Yoon appointee, was sentenced to 23 years by a Seoul court in January. Yoon was sentenced to life in prison for rebellion the next month. On Thursday, the Seoul High Court upheld most of Han’s convictions, but reduced his sentence to 15 years. It upheld charges including that Han tried to create the appearance of legitimacy for Yoon’s illegal decree by getting it endorsed at a Cabinet meeting and discussing plans to cut off of water and electricity to critical media agencies. The court also affirmed convictions for falsifying the martial law proclamation, for destroying it and for lying under oath.” (05/07/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/south-korean-court-reduces-prison-sentence-prime-minister-132734163
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17) Three women linked to Islamic State arrested in Australia on return from Syria
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Three women with links to the jihadist Islamic State (IS) group have been arrested on returning home to Australia following years in detention in Syria. All are Australian citizens. Police said they arrested two of them – Kawsar Abbas, 53, and Zeinab Ahmed, 31 – on arrival in Melbourne. Janai Safar, 32, was arrested after landing in Sydney. A fourth woman in the party, which includes nine children, was not arrested. The group are the subject of heated political debate in Australia, with the government saying it would give them no help to return. The children – thought to be aged from about six to their mid-teens – are to get psychological support and be assessed for possible radicalisation. Australia is one of a number of countries grappling with how to deal with the return of citizens – and their children – from Syria after the so-called Islamic State caliphate was destroyed in 2019.” (05/07/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czj2emlv2kjo
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18) TX: Father shoots, kills man attempting to carjack sedan with family inside
Source: KOMO News
“A Texas father shot and killed a man who allegedly attempted to carjack his sedan with his family still inside. On Sunday afternoon, the father and his relatives were sitting in a parking lot in Garland, Texas, near a gas station off Highway 66, when a man approached the driver’s side door and attempted to get in, according to surveillance video obtained by Fox 4. The unidentified father got out of the sedan and attempted to keep the man from entering it, while the rest of his family fled the vehicle. The father and the man struggled as the alleged carjacker managed to get inside the driver’s seat. Eventually, the father went around to the passenger’s side front door, where he allegedly fired more than ten rounds at the alleged carjacker.” (05/06/26)
https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/texas-father-shoots-kills-man-attempting-to-carjack-sedan-with-family-inside-police-surveillance-video
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19) Nigerian army says it rescued some children abducted from an orphanage last month
Source: SFGate
“Seven children and two women abducted by gunmen at an orphanage last month in the north-central region of Nigeria have been rescued by troops, the country’s army said on Wednesday. Authorities in Kogi state said gunmen attacked an Islamic orphanage that was operating illegally and abducted 23 pupils in an ‘isolated area’ of Lokoja, capital of Kogi State, on April 26. Fifteen of those abducted were immediately rescued. The troops intercepted and recovered the victims within a forest area in the state, army spokesman Hassan Abdullahi said in a statement. ‘The rescued victims comprised five boys, two girls, and two adult females, believed to be the wives of the proprietor of the orphanage,’ Abdullahi said. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Armed groups attack schools and abduct students because they are seen as strategic in drawing attention and exacting huge ransoms, according to analysts.” (05/07/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/nigerian-army-says-it-rescued-some-children-22246499.php
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20) France: Sarkozy escapes second ankle tag sentence
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will not serve time with an electronic ankle tag as punishment for illegal funding of his 2012 re-election bid, an informed source said Wednesday. Sarkozy, 71, has faced a raft of accusations since leaving office after a single term from 2007 to 2012. He has denied all allegations in all cases. Last year, he became modern France’s first-ever president to go to jail, serving 20 days in a case related to alleged Libyan funding in his 2007 election campaign. His appeal trial in the case is ongoing. … a court on Tuesday decided Sarkozy would not have to wear the tracker due to his advanced age, the source with knowledge of the case told AFP, requesting anonymity.” (05/07/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20260507-nicolas-sarkozy-escapes-ankle-tag-in-re-election-campaign-financing-case
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) One Cheer for Trump’s Germany Troop Withdrawal
Source: The American Conservative
by Doug Bandow
“Like a mad king of old, President Donald Trump spends hours wandering his palace, developing plans to better display his wealth and glory to an increasingly skeptical and antagonistic world. Occasionally he remembers his royal responsibilities and implements the right policy, though even then often for the wrong reason. Such as reducing the number of U.S. troops in Germany. At least it’s a start, though resulting from a fit of pique, since Berlin, like virtually every other government on earth, criticized his lawless, reckless attack on Iran, which is disrupting the global economy. He is threatening to do the same to Italy and Spain, whose political leaders also have denounced Trump’s bungled aggression, openly conducted on behalf of the Israeli government rather than the American people.” (05/07/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/one-cheer-for-trumps-germany-troop-withdrawal/
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22) The Populism of Bicentennial Commercialism
Source: Garrison Center
by Joel Schlosberg
"In the months leading up to the USA’s 250th birthday party, some debris from its 200th is making headlines. <em>The New York Times</em>‘s Jennifer Schuessler finds conspicuously 'much less investment and enthusiasm overall' for this year’s semiquincentennial anniversary of the Declaration of Independence than the 1976 bicentennial, itself diminished by jaded jeers charging that '‘Buy-centennial’ huckersterism had sold out the true radical spirit of ’76' ('How a Historian Saved the Schlock of ’76,' May 5). Schuessler chronicles plenty of 'hats, mugs, playing cards and pickleball paddles' currently being hawked under the aegis of Donald Trump, but compared to such bicentennial-branded excrescences of 'unapologetic 1976-style schlock' as toilet paper, diapers and condoms, even the output of a coauthor of Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life can be described on the pages of the Gray Lady as 'tasteful.'" (05/07/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20570
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23) America's Immigration Prohibitionism Breeds Cartel Violence, Not Undocumented Immigrants
Source: The UnPopulist
by Nathan Goodman and Molly Rovinski
"When legal pathways to immigration are closed, migrants don’t stop coming -- they turn to smugglers. Smugglers must pay cartels to move people through their territory. The more aggressively the United States restricts legal entry and patrols traditional crossing routes, the more dangerous those crossings become, and the more indispensable smugglers -- and the cartels behind them -- become. The result is a perverse inversion of the stated goal: the harder Trump and Miller push to seal the border, the more they enrich the organizations they claim to be fighting." (05/07/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/americas-immigration-prohibitionism
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24) Defenders of the Jones Act Have Lost
Source: Cato Institute
by Scott Lincicome
“For more than a century, the Jones Act has survived on purported economic and security grounds. Its waiver by the Trump administration for Operation Epic Fury reveals serious flaws in both rationales. Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, as it’s formally known, requires that goods shipped between US ports travel on vessels that are US-built, US-flagged, US-owned, and crewed predominantly by US citizens. Because of this legally-enforced domestic shipping monopoly, building and operating ships in America today costs far more than doing so abroad, and domestic coastwise shipping is effectively non-existent outside the few places that have no choice, such as Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Rather than bolstering US commercial shipping capacity and the merchant marine, the Jones Act has presided over the steady degradation of both.” (05/07/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/defenders-jones-act-have-lost
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25) Trump’s blockade is an act of war, not the end of war
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Jon Duffy
“President Trump recently described the U.S. naval blockade of Iran as ‘a very friendly blockade.’ There is no such thing. A blockade is an act of war, using armed forces to restrict another nation’s movement, commerce and access to the sea. It does not become peaceful because no one challenges it on a particular day. Trump’s administration says the ceasefire with Iran means he no longer has to seek congressional authorization to continue the war beyond 60 days, even though federal law requires it. A ceasefire may pause the shooting. It does not make an ongoing act of war disappear. The president can argue that the blockade is necessary. He cannot honestly argue that the war is effectively over while keeping the blockade in place. More dangerous than Trump’s word choice is Congress’[s] silence.” (05/07/26)
https://archive.is/KvzlJ
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26) A Few More Thoughts On AI And Consciousness
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Richard Dawkins is currently the subject of much laughter and ridicule over his recent article for UnHerd admitting that a highly sycophantic chatbot had convinced him that it might be conscious. I’m seeing the question ‘How can you be confident that AIs aren’t conscious?’ pop up a lot in response to the controversy. Speaking for myself, I would say I am confident the chatbots aren’t conscious in the same way I’m confident the animatronics at Disneyland aren’t conscious. I know humans constructed them to mimic the behavior of a sentient person. We know this for a fact. Nobody’s pretending otherwise. I am infinitely more likely to believe an animal is conscious than that an LLM is, because nobody programmed them to respond to things like pain and social stimulus in ways that are similar to humans.” (05/07/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/05/07/a-few-more-thoughts-on-ai-and-consciousness/
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27) Is Economics Finally Becoming Trustworthy?
Source: EconLog
by James B Bailey
“A core premise of science is that research should be replicable. If one scientist creates an experiment to measure a physical constant like the speed of light, and they document their experiment well enough, other scientists should be able to perform the same experiment and find the same result. If one lab’s results can’t be replicated anywhere else, then like cold fusion, they probably aren’t real. Outside of hard sciences like physics we don’t expect to get the same precision. Perhaps one trial finds a drug reduces heart attacks by 17%, while another finds 14%. But for research to usefully inform our actions, it needs to be at least somewhat replicable.” (05/07/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/economics-finally-trustworthy
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28) Israel’s “permanent security” quest is a policy with sinister implications
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Martin Di Caro
“The goal of eliminating any potential or future threats, real or imaginary, will all but inevitably dehumanize and create new enemies.” (05/07/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/israel-permanent-war/
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29) Why the US Tax Code Isn’t Truly Progressive [sic]
Source: Inequality.org
by Reyanna James
“A recent analysis from the Tax Foundation argues that the US federal income tax system remains solidly progressive. Citing new Internal Revenue Service data for tax year 2023, the group is emphasizing that high-income taxpayers pay the highest average tax rates and account for a large share of total income taxes paid. On its face, that claim sounds reassuring—a sign that our tax code must surely be doing its job. But this framing leaves out a critical part of the story. Yes, the wealthy pay more in taxes than everyone else. The real question: whether they’re paying enough, their fair share relative to their rapidly growing share of our nation’s income and wealth. By that measure, the answer must be a clear no. The US tax system, the underlying data show, remains far less progressive than it once was — and far less effective at counteracting inequality than it needs to be.” (05/07/26)
https://inequality.org/article/who-pays-federal-income-taxes/
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30) The New Property-Tax Revolts
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Decades after a famous revolt by California homeowners led to the relief provided by Proposition 13, taxpayers acting to resist sky-high property taxes are making waves throughout the country.” (05/07/6)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/05/07/the-new-property-tax-revolts/
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31) GOP Wants to Put Workers Under AI’s Thumb: Shorter Work Week Is Better Answer
Source: Beat the Press
by Dean Baker
“Productivity growth is an old concept; we’ve been seeing it at a substantial pace for more than 200 years. Nonetheless, many elite intellectual types like to claim they know nothing about it when they talk about AI. It’s far from clear how much of a productivity boom we will see with AI. For people who are lost with my reference to productivity growth, the story that AI will take all the jobs is a story of a massive productivity boom. If that happens, it will mean that the people who are still working will be hugely more productive, since we will be producing the same or more goods and services as we do at present, with many fewer people working. FWIW, virtually no major forecaster or forecasting agency is projecting anything like this productivity boom. For example, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that productivity growth will average 1.5 percent over the next decade.” (05/07/26)
https://cepr.net/publications/april-2026-jobs-preview/
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32) Where California Went Wrong
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by William L Anderson
“When I was a child, California was really the Promised Land, something cemented in my mind when we came here on vacation in 1961. We saw mountains, Lake Tahoe, the bridges of San Francisco, the spectacular California Pacific coast, and, of course, we went to Disneyland. As a young adult, I ran track for the University of Tennessee and one of the annual highlights of the season was our dual meet with UCLA at Drake Stadium on the university’s campus. (I ran very well against UCLA’s runners, thank you). There really was no place that compared with California, a vast land of so many spectacular things. Unfortunately, there is still a vastness of things here, but many of them are spectacularly negative.” (05/07/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/where-california-went-wrong
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33) Canada Is Quietly Putting War Into Your Portfolio
Source: Common Dreams
by Umer Azad
“Canada is set to host the headquarters of the proposed Defence, Security, and Resilience Bank, or DSRB, a new multinational institution designed to mobilize tens of billions in financing for military and security projects among allied nations. In short, what we are seeing is the quiet normalization of something far more consequential: the permanent financialization of war. The structure being envisioned for DSRB closely resembles other multilateral financial institutions. It would raise capital on global markets, issue bonds, and extend loans to governments and defense companies. That means funding for military supply chains, weapons systems, and defense infrastructure would increasingly flow through financial markets rather than direct public expenditure. In doing so, war itself risks being transformed from a political decision subject to public scrutiny into a financial product embedded in portfolios.” (05/07/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/canada-war-portfolio
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34) Counter-Intuitive Econ
Source: Bet On It
by Alexander Craig
“I want to defend the idea that economics has some counter-intuitive propositions to offer. It does depend on what ‘intuitive’ means, though. I think it’s fair to say that something is intuitive if someone without formal training in the area can think it through on their own. If it takes an economist re-framing the issue to show the answer makes sense, it’s not necessarily intuitive. In other words, economics can be made intuitive, but it takes effort and skill.” (05/07/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/counter-intuitive-econ
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35) The false choice between creating abundance and constraining autocracy
Source: Niskanen Center
by Alexander Mechanick
“Policy discourse in the United States today has a split personality. Many condemn how procedural rules thwart not only efforts to build — housing, energy, and more — but more generally keep presidents from achieving their policy ambitions and worsen our ‘vetocracy.’ Yet others lament how presidents are left too free to pursue their policy aims lawlessly or abusively. These concerns are often raised by the same commentators. Even though these discourses are largely about the same topic—the administrative procedures that constrain government action and govern judicial challenges to it — the two have proceeded almost entirely in parallel. The result is a bizarre discourse superposition, where the executive branch is simultaneously excessively and insufficiently constrained.” (05/07/26)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/the-false-choice-between-creating-abundance-and-constraining-autocracy/
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36) Cruising Toward Enslavement
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Steven Goldsmith
“Much ink has been spilled, much podcast time expended on the machinations of the elite globalist class who war against our autonomy, who strive to enslave us through control of our health and financial assets and to depopulate us. All true. But we commoners cannot control what they try to do, cannot temper their sociopathy. What we can do is look at ourselves in the mirror and recognize how we have been disempowering ourselves, allowing our autonomy to be up for grabs; how we have been surrendering that which differentiates us from other animals — free will.” (05/07/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/cruising-toward-enslavement/
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37) A push for patient investing over easy money
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“Back in 2018, during his first term as president, Donald Trump called for a curb on a federal requirement that publicly traded firms report their performance every three months. The idea is to nudge both investors and corporations toward longer-term perspectives and focus less on a fluctuating stock price. This week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) unveiled a plan that will allow such companies to provide reports every six months. In the intervening eight years, ever-faster algorithms have enabled warp-speed stock trading, inflating shareholder impatience and expectations of instantaneous information and returns. In 2021, a Cornell University study confirmed that ‘firms were actually becoming more short-term oriented across the market’ – a trend linked to the growing demand for more data and short-term projections for the investing public and markets.” (05/06/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0506/A-push-for-patient-investing-over-easy-money
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38) There Is No Evidence the Trump Assassination Attempts Were Staged. People Still Believe They Were
Source: Wired
by David Gilbert
“WIRED has looked at the main claims that conspiracy theorists point to when claiming both the Butler and Correspondents’ Dinner shootings were staged, and why none of the claims stand up to scrutiny.” (05/07/26)
https://archive.is/ILMvm
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39) South Sudan, A Case Study in State Failure
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“In 2011, the world welcomed its newest country. Fifteen years later, South Sudan is less a symbol of self-determination than a case study in state failure. Its politics remain dominated by factional strongmen, its economy is almost entirely dependent on oil, and the threat of renewed large-scale violence never quite recedes. For most Americans, it barely registers — just another distant tragedy filed away under ‘Africa.’ But South Sudan did not simply emerge from the mists of post-colonial history. It was, in no small part, a project of Washington.” (05/07/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/south-sudan-a-case-study-in-state-failure
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40) Obliteration Ecocide from Gaza to Lebanon and Beyond
Source: Antiwar.com
by Dan Steinbock
“Modern warfare in Gaza is no longer just counterinsurgency but systems-level destruction of the environmental and infrastructural substrate of life – water, soil, agriculture, energy, and urban continuity.” (05/07/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/dan_steinbock/2026/05/06/obliteration-ecocide-from-gaza-to-lebanon-and-beyond/
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41) Oliver Larkin vs. the Epstein State
Source: The American Prospect
by Maureen Tkacik
“Oliver Larkin spent most of the 2024 election season spamming out ‘I’ll be blunt’ emails on behalf of Adam Schiff: ‘We had a massive fundraising list from the Trump impeachment, and I was up until 3 in the morning sending emails and texts. And in those first 24 hours, we raised like $1.6 or $1.7 million.’ Chained to his computer screens in a Deerfield Beach bungalow 3,000 miles from Schiff’s campaign headquarters, he began to feel disconnected from man’s innate feedback loops of longing and satisfaction. ‘Trump loved to single him out, he was attacking Schiff all the fucking time, every week, calling him ‘Pencil Neck’ or ‘Watermelon Head’ or ‘Shifty Schiff,’ and every time something like that happened it was like, this could raise ten thousand dollars, this could raise twenty thousand dollars,’ the candidate told the Prospect.” (05/07/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/05/07/oliver-larkin-jared-moskowitz-jeffrey-epstein-ron-desantis-florida/
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42) A Symphony of Scandal
Source: Law & Liberty
by George Hawley
“Honest politicians are all alike; every crook is crooked in his own fashion.” (05/07/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/a-symphony-of-scandal/
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43) Church Report to FISA: Why Won’t Congress Stop the Surveillance State?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Jeffery L Degner
“The Church Committee exposed sweeping abuses by America’s intelligence agencies 50 years ago. Section 702’s recent reauthorization suggests lawmakers are increasingly comfortable with expansive spying on American citizens.” (05/07/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/church-report-to-fisa-why-wont-congress-stop-the-surveillance-state/
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44) Washington Is Still Chasing the Perfect War
Source: Foreign Policy
by Adam Weinstein
“The United States’[s] leaders are still chasing the fantasy of a perfect war—one in which Washington’s technological and logistical might leads to a clear, swift victory. It’s a misconception rooted in what U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal called the ‘three great seductions’ of modern warfare: covert action, surgical special operations raids, and airpower. Together, they sustain the illusion that war can be precise and controlled.” (05/06/26)
https://archive.is/a9EBz
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45) The Democratic Party Is Dead, Long Live the Jacobins!
Source: Town Hall
by Victor Davis Hanson
“For the past century, the agendas of the Democratic Party were predictable. They professed concern for working Americans and supported blue-collar unions. Unemployment insurance, a 40-hour work week, disability insurance, and Social Security were their trademarks — often rapidly achieved by growing government bureaucracies and continually raising taxes. Still, many Democrats were socially conservative. By the 1970s, Democrats still deplored antisemitism. Party officials had rejected their own segregationists to champion civil rights. Presidents like Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F. Kennedy all supported strong defense and military deterrence. All that is now passe. The only vestigial Democrat left in Congress is Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, himself roundly despised by Democrat leaders. Today, supporting Israel and calling for campuses to stop their institutionalized antisemitism is Democratic political suicide.” (05/07/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2026/05/07/the-democratic-party-is-dead-long-live-the-jacobins-n2675694
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46) Reflecting on Ted Turner’s Crowded Life
Source: Property and Environment Research Center
by Brian Yablonski
“Theodore Roosevelt coined the term ‘crowded hour’ about his moments of battle in the Spanish-American War. When I think of Ted Turner’s life, the bigger term ‘crowded life’ comes to mind. His impact on how we communicate and take our news today all starts with his founding of CNN. And who hasn’t pulled up an old film on Turner Classic Movies as late-night comfort food? Speaking of comfort food, he almost single handedly reintroduced the bison at scale to the West and bison meat to the world through his Ted’s Montana Grill restaurants. But these episodes in a crowded life are not Ted’s most consequential impact. His true lasting impact will have been on the larger natural world.” (05/06/26)
https://www.perc.org/2026/05/06/reflecting-on-ted-turners-crowded-life/
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47) Liberty not subject to majority rule
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal
“In exercising their liberty, some people will do things that offend you. Many people want you to believe if they’ve been offended, they’ve been violated somehow. They haven’t. Being offended isn’t the same as having your life, liberty, or property violated, even though weak people who want to control others often use this ploy. Don’t play along.” (05/06/26)
https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2026/05/06/voices/opinion-liberty-not-subject-to-majority-rule/233357.html
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48) The uniparty media’s pro-war twins
Source: UnHerd
by Nikos Mohammadi
“America boasts the world’s largest media market, and even in this age of shrinking attention spans, strained ad budgets, and declining circulation, it offers something for everyone. But does this diversity extend to the nation’s prestige outlets? On the surface, the answer would seem to be yes. The New York Times plays to the post-woke-but-still-kinda-woke establishment Left, while The Washington Post editorial page, under Jeff Bezos’s increasingly heavy-handed leadership, is going for Trump-friendly free-market conservatism. The contrast is exemplified by two of the papers’ most prominent writers: the Times’[s] Russian-born columnist Masha Gessen … couldn’t be more different from the Post’s Marc Thiessen, who’s gaining a lot of attention these days as President Trump’s favorite print columnist. … The two should be at odds, and in some ways, they are. But when it comes to foreign policy, they sing almost exactly the same hawkish, pro-empire song, albeit in slightly different keys.” (05/06/26)
https://archive.is/B8m5Y
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49) A Dream Deferred for the Jackson Faction
Source: In These Times
by staff
“The Rev. Jesse Jackson died February 17 at age 84. In 1984 and 1988, the civil rights activist ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, becoming the first Black man to wage a major national campaign for the White House. In his 1988 speech at the Democratic National Convention, Jackson emphasized, ’Politics can be a moral arena where people come together to find a common ground.’ Salim Muwakkil, in coverage for In These Times, made a similar assessment, writing that while many of Jackson’s followers ’are more comfortable agitating or deriding conventional political wisdom’, Jackson ’managed to harmonize most of those discordant notes.’ Almost 40 years later, as once-outsider politicians like Zohran Mamdani — now the first Muslim mayor of New York City — attempt to carve out space within the political mainstream, we return to Muwakkil’s words on the costs and opportunities of movement institutionalization and ‘“political maturity.'” (05/07/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/jesse-jackson-for-president-democrat-operation-push
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50) The Personal Panopticon
Source: Independent Institute
by Sam Jenson
“Meta Inc., previously known as Facebook Inc., intends to implement facial recognition technology in its smart glasses, which are produced in collaboration with Ray-Ban and currently sold without this capability. The proposed feature would facilitate real-time translation and allow users to ask on-demand questions. However, the integration of facial recognition technology introduces significant privacy and legal concerns for individuals in public spaces.” (05/06/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/05/06/personal-panopticon-smart-glasses/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) The Libertarian Angle, 05/07/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Jacob, Richard, and special guest Jim Bovard discuss why America continues to move in a bad direction.” (05/07/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdOeTNzeuN4
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52) Underthrow Podcast, 05/07/26
Source: Underthrow
“The Only Way to Win is Not to Play.” (05/07/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qctZutLdMsg
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53) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 05/07/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“The Staggering Cost Of The Iran War.” (05/07/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1jxXgeOdzDjJZ
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54) Try Liberty, episode 1
Source: Try Liberty
“Liberland: The freest nation on Earth?” (05/07/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GASCAtqXYUg
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55) The Fifth Column, episode 556
Source: The Fifth Column
“In Which the 1% Protests the 1%, Mamdani Builds a Grocery Store, California Searches for a Governor, and Iran Has Questions.” (05/07/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/masquerade-of-morons-episode-556
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56) Max Rangeley Speech on Robotics, AI, and the Future of War
Source: Cobden Centre
“[E]ven with the developments in Ukraine and elsewhere, most people in the military underestimate the importance of robotics and AI. In the very near future, any military that does not have these technologies fully integrated will resemble those that attempted cavalry charges against machine guns in the early twentieth century.” (05/07/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/05/speech-in-tirana-on-robotics-ai-and-the-future-of-war/
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57) Kibbe on Liberty, episode 384
Source: Free the People
“It’s Time to Give Privacy Rights an Update | Guest: Naomi Brockwell.” (05/06/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9xtokGL3DE
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58) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 05/06/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Larry Johnson: Midterm, Markets, and Missiles.” (05/06/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-with-larry-johnson-midterm-markets-and-missiles/
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59) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2758
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“The Secret History of Gold.” (05/06/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2758-the-secret-history-of-gold/
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60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/06/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Attacks and Disables Iranian Oil Tanker, Trump Threatens Iran With Higher Level Bombing, and More.” (05/06/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euSyNALyTl4
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