06/02 -- Ukraine war: Russian forces launch large drone, missile attack; Trump Isn't Just After Undocumented Immigrants -- He Wants 100 Million Americans Purged, Too
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Thomas L. Knapp
Jun 2, 2026, 6:19:58 AMJun 2
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 06/02/26
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Ukraine war: Russian forces launch large drone, missile attack
2) Trump reins in Netanyahu over Lebanon after Iranian regime threatens to quit talks
3) UK: Regime releases second batch of files on Epstein pal’s appointment as US ambassador
4) US court upholds injunction against Trump policy banning transgender troops
5) US DOJ, amid uproar, says it will abide by court ruling that temporarily paused “Anti-Weaponization Fund”
6) Nigeria: Obi to run for president again after opposition split
7) Strategy Sells Bitcoin For First Time In Four Years
8) UK: Disruptive passengers could be banned from all flights under regime plan
9) FL: Idiot pol files frivolous lawsuit vs. OpenAI
10) Hungary: Magyar threatens to amend constitution to oust president
11) IL: Politicians pass record tax-and-spend budget
12) Nicaragua: Political prisoner dies
13) US regime publicly confesses to three more maritime murders
14) MI: American Axle employees on strike, say wages have barely increased in 18 years
15) Lebanon: Israeli regime orders strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs
16) French pirates steal tanker, Macron says
17) Nvidia announces new AI chip for personal computers
18) Powell uses JFK award speech to warn against political pressure on Fed, courts and schools
19) CO: Peters released from prison after governor commutes sentence
20) Myanmar: Blast at building storing explosives kills 45
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Trump Isn’t Just After Undocumented Immigrants — He Wants 100 Million Americans Purged, Too
22) Trump’s Cotton Bailout Is Another Sign His Tariffs Aren’t Working
23) Financial Surveillance Is Expanding Before Our Eyes
24) Lists, Damn Lists, and Critical Correctness
25) Who Should Set Prices?
26) The impending Republican collapse
27) It’s Ideology, Stupid
28) Major problems where advanced technology holds real promise
29) Establishment Dems turn on Graham Platner, but it’s way too late
30) Tom Steyer Assails “Trump’s Tax Loophole” — But It’s Just Prop. 13
31) DOJ’s anti-weaponization fund has precedent and purpose
32) We were going to bury 20 tons of nuclear fuel. Finally, we have a way to use it instead.
33) Endings and Beginnings: About That Arc of the Moral Universe
34) The Federal Reserve is Why the People are Unhappy
35) From the Fourth Estate to Digital Fragmentation
36) The Razor’s Edge of Progress: How King Gillette Built an Abundance Revolution
37) Decline Is a Choice; Success Isn’t Inevitable
38) DoD not allowed to fix most of its own stuff. Guess who’s cashing in?
39) The Recipe for an Iran Nuclear Deal Hasn’t Changed
40) Massie’s Detractors Still Pretend the Israel Lobby Doesn’t Exist
41) The UK Is Getting Even Crazier In Defense Of Israel
42) Democratic primaries get an even bigger AIPAC problem
43) Israeli Claims About an Iran “Threat” Were Always a Lie. Now We Have Proof
44) The Patient Anarchist
45) American Decentralization: History and Future?
46) Questions for Abundance Liberals
47) The real Palantir scandal
48) An Anarchist Defense of the Cuban Revolution
49) Corporations and the Crisis of Care
50) Detours and Missteps on the Road to Medical Advances
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 06/01/26
52) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 06/01/26
53) Get Lit With Matt and Brad, episode 1
54) Rising, 06/01/26
55) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 06/01/26
56) EconTalk, 06/01/26
57) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 06/01/26
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/31/26
59) Zooming In, 05/31/26
60) Dangerous History Podcast, episode 287
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Ukraine war: Russian forces launch large drone, missile attack
Source: Reuters
“Russian drones and missiles pounded the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other cities early on Tuesday. At least 11 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in the assault which also hit Dnipro and Kharkiv, authorities said. Last week, the Kremlin warned that it intended ‘systematic strikes’ on targets in Kyiv in response to a drone attack on a dormitory in Ukraine’s Russian-held region of Luhansk, which killed 21. Ukraine denied the attack. … Russian regions also came under attack. The Ilsky oil refinery, in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar, caught fire after a drone attack, local authorities said on Telegram on Tuesday.” (06/02/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-war-live-major-new-russian-attacks-hit-kyiv-other-cities-2026-06-02/
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2) Trump reins in Netanyahu over Lebanon after Iranian regime threatens to quit talks
Source: Axios
“President Trump on Monday hit the brakes on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to bomb Hezbollah targets in Beirut after Iran threatened to abandon its negotiations with the U.S. over Israel’s actions in Lebanon. An Israeli official told Axios the planned strikes on Beirut would not be happening. … Iranian officials told the semi-official Tasnim News Agency that no talks with the U.S. would take place until Israel stopped its attacks in Lebanon, and threatened retaliation in the Strait of Hormuz and possibly ‘other fronts.’ Hours later, Trump spoke with Netanyahu. He released a Truth Social post afterward claiming Israel and Hezbollah would stop attacking each other.” (06/01/26)
https://www.axios.com/2026/06/01/trump-netanyahu-lebanon-israel-bomb-beirut
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3) UK: Regime releases second batch of files on Epstein pal’s appointment as US ambassador
Source: The Hindu [India]
“The U.K. Government released a vast trove of documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as U.S. Ambassador, in a move that threatens to cause fresh damage to Keir Starmer’s faltering premiership. More than 1,500 pages of documentation were published on the British government’s website just after 2 p.m. local time. They include emails, text messages and other exchanges between government ministers, aides and Mr. Mandelson in the run-up to his appointment as U.S. Envoy, a post he held from February to September 2025. The release resurfaces a saga that has weakened and embarrassed Mr. Starmer over the nine months since Bloomberg News exposed the extent of Mr. Mandelson’s ties with the late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.” (06/01/26)
https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/peter-mandelson-epstein-siles-appointment-us-ambassador-keir-starmer-june-1-2026/article71048868.ece
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4) US court upholds injunction against Trump policy banning transgender troops
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A United States court of appeals has ruled that a policy under President Donald Trump to expel transgender troops from the military was a violation of the Constitution. But Monday’s decision was a split one among the three-judge panel of the US appeals court for the District of Columbia. One judge, Robert Wilkins, an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama, upheld a lower court ruling rejecting the Trump administration’s policy as it pertains to already enlisted service members. A second judge – Judith Rogers, who was picked by former Democratic President Bill Clinton – agreed with his opinion, but only in part. She felt it should extend to those who seek to enlist, too. And the third judge, Trump pick Justin Walker, issued a dissent questioning the court’s ability to second-guess US military policy.” (06/01/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/1/us-court-upholds-injunction-against-trump-policy-banning-transgender-troops
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5) US DOJ, amid uproar, says it will abide by court ruling that temporarily paused “Anti-Weaponization Fund”
Source: ABC News
“The Justice Department issued a statement Monday saying it will abide by a district judge’s ruling last week that ordered the temporary freezing of the Trump administration’s $1.8 billion ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund.’ The statement came amid reports that the administration was backing away from the controversial fund. … Both Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday that they not only want the White House to drop the fund, but also provide assurances that it won’t be revived later. … The judge in the Eastern District of Virginia had only ordered the department to temporarily freeze the fund, and barred it from making any payments while the judge considered legal arguments in a lawsuit brought against the fund. President Donald Trump, speaking with ABC News'[s] Jonathan Karl on Monday, said he will respect the court’s ruling.” (06/01/26)
https://abcnews.com/US/doj-abide-court-ruling-temporarily-paused-anti-weaponization/story?id=133493215
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6) Nigeria: Obi to run for president again after opposition split
Source: Reuters
“Nigerian politician Peter Obi said he would run for president again in January after winning his party’s nomination, setting up another contest between incumbent Bola Tinubu and a divided opposition. Obi was declared winner of the Nigeria Democratic Congress primary on Sunday, less than a month after quitting an alliance that had tried to set up a single opposition challenger. The acceptance from Obi — who came third in the last election after galvanizing young voters — hit hopes among some opposition backers that he might return to the coalition. It prepares the ground for a re-run of 2023’s three-way contest that is likely to test whether public anger over rising living costs and insecurity can translate into votes against Tinubu, or whether the anti-government vote will once again be split.” (06/01/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigerias-obi-run-president-again-after-opposition-split-2026-06-01/
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7) Strategy Sells Bitcoin For First Time In Four Years
Source: Yahoo! Finance
“Strategy has sold some of its Bitcoin holdings. It marks the first time that the crypto treasury firm led by Executive Chairman Michael Saylor has sold any Bitcoin in four years. A regulatory disclosure shows that Strategy sold 32 Bitcoin over the past week for proceeds of $2.5 million U.S. The amount is small considering that Strategy owns more than 840,000 Bitcoin but is still significant as it suggests potentially larger sales in coming weeks and months. Strategy is under pressure to fund dividend payments on its high-yielding preferred stoc, which currently yields 11.5%. Already sinking, Bitcoin fell below $72,000 U.S. on news of Strategy’s sale.” (06/01/26)
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/strategy-sells-bitcoin-first-time-130500239.html
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8) UK: Disruptive passengers could be banned from all flights under regime plan
Source: Sky News [UK]
“Disruptive plane passengers could find themselves banned from flying by all airlines under a new UK government proposal. It is understood that a scheme for carriers to share information on unruly travellers is being developed by officials at the Department for Transport and the Home Office. The proposal, which is still at the concept stage, could lead to airlines being required to notify the government of a disruptive passenger. A participating airline could then be alerted when the same marked person checked in for a subsequent flight. It would then be up to that airline to determine how to respond, but they would have the option of refusing to carry them.” [editor’s note: Sounds like the kind of thing that could easily be done with zero government involvement … and therefore SHOULD be done that way if it’s done at all – TLK] (06/01/26)
https://news.sky.com/story/disruptive-passengers-could-be-banned-from-all-flights-under-uk-government-plan-13549760
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9) FL: Idiot pol files frivolous lawsuit vs. OpenAI
Source: NBC News
“Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Monday, accusing the company of putting profit over safety, fueling violence and pushing a product it knew could harm users. … The wide-ranging lawsuit accuses OpenAI of four counts of deceptive and unfair trade practices, two counts of negligence, two counts of violating product liability laws, and one count each of fraudulent misrepresentation and causing a public nuisance. The suit claims that OpenAI’s systems present a ‘great danger of addiction, cognitive decline, suicide, violence, and related harms’ to users.” (06/01/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/florida-sues-openai-sam-altman-saying-put-profit-safety-rcna347602
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10) Hungary: Magyar threatens to amend constitution to oust president
Source: Politico
“Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar on Monday threatened to amend the country’s constitution to oust President Tamás Sulyok. Magyar said his government would attempt to use all available legal tools to remove Hungary’s head of state, an ally of former prime minister Viktor Orbán, and even change the country’s fundamental law to force his exit. ‘This process will take about a month, we are trying to adopt the necessary legislation as quickly as possible, and yes, there will be talk of removing all puppets,’ Magyar told reporters.” (06/01/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-peter-magyar-amend-constitution-oust-president-tamas-sulyok/
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11) IL: Politicians pass record tax-and-spend budget
Source: Fox 2 News
“Illinois lawmakers passed a nearly $56 billion state budget early Monday morning after the spring legislative session stretched several hours past its deadline. The $55.9 billion spending plan is the largest state budget in Illinois history. The House passed the budget just after 4 a.m. by a vote of 76 to 39. The plan now heads to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk, who said he plans to sign it. The budget includes more than $800 million in new tax revenue, including new taxes tied to digital advertising revenue, prediction markets, cryptocurrency and large social media companies. It also extends a cap on corporate operating losses, which is expected to generate about $300 million in state revenue.” (06/01/26)
https://fox2now.com/news/illinois/illinois-lawmakers-pass-record-56b-budget-with-new-taxes-spending/
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12) Nicaragua: Political prisoner dies
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“Nicaraguan Indigenous leader and activist Brooklyn Rivera died from health complications after nearly three years in detention, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday. Last week, the Nicaraguan government’s confirmed that he had been detained since 2023. UN representatives, the US government and Rivera’s family have demanded proof that he was still alive. ‘We regret to confirm that he has sadly passed away,’ the health ministry said in a statement on state-run media outlets. … The 73-year-old was a renowned leader of the Miskito People and a former member of Nicaragua’s Congress. He was arrested in 2023 by the left-wing authoritarian government of President Daniel Ortega on undisclosed charges.” (06/01/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/nicaragua-indigenous-leader-brooklyn-rivera-dies-in-detention/a-77369132
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13) US regime publicly confesses to three more maritime murders
Source: Fox News
“The U.S. military conducted a deadly strike against a vessel in the Pacific on Saturday, killing several alleged ‘narco-terrorists,’ according to U.S. Southern Command. That attack, which killed three men, was one of four such military strikes announced by SOUTHCOM last week. … ‘On May 30, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed,’ the post on X noted.” (06/01/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fourth-us-drug-boat-strike-week-kills-3-narco-terrorists
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14) MI: American Axle employees on strike, say wages have barely increased in 18 years
Source: WWMT News
“United Auto Workers (UAW) members are on strike as of Monday at midnight. Nearly 1,000 employees at Dauch Corporation, formerly American Axle, are walking out on the job after months of failed labor negotiations. United Auto Workers Local 2093 members say it’s been 18 years since they’ve been fairly paid, and they’re done making concessions. They’ve been negotiating a new contract with Dauch since March. The auto parts company’s a major axle supplier for General Motors, and its largest Michigan factory is in Three Rivers. UAW’s bargaining chairman Josh Jager says workers’ paychecks were cut in half during the Great Recession and have never fully recovered.” (06/01/26)
https://wwmt.com/news/local/three-rivers-strike-american-axle-auto-workers-union-wages-pay-dauch-corporation-labor-negotiations-contract-benefits-general-motors-manufacturing-picket-western-michigan
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15) Lebanon: Israeli regime orders strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs
Source: SFGate
“Israel’s government ordered strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Monday, a day after its ground forces reached their deepest point in Lebanon in 26 years and as Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, including the outskirts of the coastal city of Haifa. A joint statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the orders to attack targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs followed what they called repeated violations of the ceasefire by Hezbollah and ‘attacks against our cities and citizens.’ Hezbollah agreed to halt attacks on Israel when the ceasefire was signed in mid-April, but the militant group resumed the assaults after Israeli strikes in Lebanon that Israel characterized as self-defense. After Monday’s warning, large numbers of people were seen fleeing the area known in Arabic as Dahiyeh, jamming roads leading out of the suburb, where Hezbollah enjoys wide support.” (06/01/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/israel-orders-strikes-on-beirut-s-southern-22285577.php
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16) French pirates steal tanker, Macron says
Source: NBC News
“The French Navy on Sunday boarded an oil tanker, named the Tagor, which was subject to international sanctions and sailing from Russia, French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X. ‘This operation took place in the Atlantic Ocean, on the high seas, with the support of several partners, including the United Kingdom, in strict compliance with the law of the sea,’ he said. … The Maritime Prefecture of the Atlantic said in a separate statement on Monday that the French Navy had intervened on an oil tanker more than 400 nautical miles west of the tip of Brittany, coming from Murmansk, Russia.” (06/01/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia/france-seizes-russia-linked-oil-tanker-high-seas-macron-says-rcna347817
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17) Nvidia announces new AI chip for personal computers
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Nvidia has announced a new chip for PCs as it moves into the consumer market for devices integrated with AI technology. ‘This reinvention of the computer is as big of a deal as the reinvention of the phone into what we now know as the smartphone,’ Nvidia’s chief executive Jensen Huang said as he unveiled the RTX Spark chip. Huang made the announcement on Monday as he delivered a keynote speech ahead of the opening of the Computex technology show in Taipei, Taiwan. Separately on Sunday, the US tightened its rules on selling Nvidia’s most advanced chips to Chinese firms. The RTX Spark is ‘a new superchip … for the era of personal AI agents – offering a new class of computer that moves from tool to teammate,’ Nvidia said on its website.” (06/01/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmp9mppvzro
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18) Powell uses JFK award speech to warn against political pressure on Fed, courts and schools
Source: Politico
“Former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell used one of his first major public appearances since leaving office to defend independent institutions while accepting an award Sunday honoring his efforts to preserve the central bank’s independence. Speaking at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library overlooking Boston Harbor, Powell called universities, courts, Congress and the central bank ‘the foundation and the embodiment of our democracy’ and argued that the Fed’s independence was a ‘priceless asset’ that must be protected. It was one of his most direct defenses of Fed independence, warning that a single administration’s decision to remove bank officials over policy differences would open the way for future elected officials to follow suit, ultimately undermining the credibility that the Fed has spent decades building.” (05/31/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/31/jerome-powell-profile-courage-award-jfk-00943963
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19) CO: Peters released from prison after governor commutes sentence
Source: SFGate
“Tina Peters, the former clerk convicted of participating in a scheme to chase election conspiracy theories promulgated by President Donald Trump, was released from prison Monday after the president successfully pressured Colorado’s Democratic governor into commuting her sentence. Peters’ release was confirmed by the Colorado Department of Corrections. The state agency said it would have no more information about the 70-year-old inmate. Her sentence was shortened by Gov. Jared Polis last month after Trump waged a lengthy pressure campaign against the governor an d his state. Peters served less than a quarter of her nine-year sentence. Peters was the first local election official to be charged with breaching security after the 2020 election. She snuck in an outside computer expert affiliated with My Pillow Chief Executive Mike Lindell — who himself denied that Trump lost the White House in 2020 — and the person copied the county’s Dominion Voting Systems computer server as it was updated in 2021.” (06/01/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/colorado-elections-clerk-set-to-be-released-from-22285435.php
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20) Myanmar: Blast at building storing explosives kills 45
Source: Associated Press
“A blast on Sunday at a building in northeastern Myanmar said to have been storing explosives for mining has killed more than 45 people, according to rescue workers and independent media reports. About 70 other people were injured in the explosion that took place around noon in the village of Kaungtup, in Namhkam township. The area, located about 3 kilometers (2 miles) south of the Chinese border, is under the control of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, an ethnic armed group which has engaged in sporadic fighting against Myanmar’s [junta].” (05/31/26)
https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-deadly-explosion-5946c95f92ca91472fb30a57438234ec
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Trump Isn’t Just After Undocumented Immigrants — He Wants 100 Million Americans Purged, Too
Source: The UnPopulist
by David J Bier
“The Supreme Court will soon rule in a case that will decide the future of birthright citizenship. The case has become more significant than ever because some officials are now openly advocating for ethnic cleansin — —mass removals of tens of millions of U.S.-born Americans based on their ancestry. In barely a year, the right has moved from the already controversial mass deportation of all undocumented immigrants to mass deportation of Americans. The 14th Amendment, drafted in part to prevent ethnic cleansing, should stop it. Whether it will is now up to the Supreme Court.” (06/01/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trump-isnt-just-after-undocumented
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22) Trump’s Cotton Bailout Is Another Sign His Tariffs Aren’t Working
Source: Reason
by Tosin Akintola
“On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the Great American Cotton Plan, a protectionist initiative to subsidize American cotton farmers. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says the plan is necessary to help domestic growers who are being ‘crushed by rising costs, unfair foreign competition, and a flood of cheap synthetic products.’ … Given the government’s penchant for propping up struggling sectors, it’s no surprise that the industry is receiving this bailout. But it’s not ‘unfair foreign competition’ or ‘trade distortions’ that are causing America’s cotton industry to falter. Over the past decade, 84 percent of domestically produced cotton has been exported on average, which suggests that trade is going well for farmers. Instead, it’s the president’s own policies.” (06/01/26)
https://reason.com/2026/06/01/trumps-cotton-bailout-is-another-sign-his-tariffs-arent-working/
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23) Financial Surveillance Is Expanding Before Our Eyes
Source: Cato Institute
by Nicholas Anthony
“Most Americans have felt the pain of inflation in recent years. However, what they don’t often see is that inflation also erodes financial privacy. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) adjusts its penalties for inflation, but it does not adjust reporting thresholds. In the most egregious case, the $10,000 reporting threshold now used for currency transaction reports (CTRs) has not been changed since the number was first established in 1945 by an executive order. That’s equal to around $180,000 today. When the Bank Secrecy Act was ultimately passed in 1970, you could buy two new Corvettes for $10,000. Today, you could spend all of that on just the engine. In practice, that means the Bank Secrecy Act regime is swallowing up more transactions every year as inflation decreases the value of the dollar. No bills are passed; no regulations are open to the public. Yet, the wheel is turning, and financial surveillance increases without any checks or balances.” (06/01/26)
https://www.cato.org/blog/financial-surveillance-expanding-our-eyes
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24) Lists, Damn Lists, and Critical Correctness
Source: Quillette
by Dave Thompson
“Love them or hate them, lists are now firmly established — along with cats and porn — among the apex predators of the modern internet.” (06/01/26)
https://quillette.com/2026/06/01/lists-damn-lists-and-critical-correctness-rolling-stone-punk-rock-list/
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25) Who Should Set Prices?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Walter Block
“If you are in sync with meddlesome government bureaucrats, you probably believe that price gouging is profoundly evil. That charging higher prices than normal, especially during emergencies, is an economic abomination. That any seller who does this is taking advantage of people who are in precarious economic circumstances. When a storm hits, or a flood, or a tornado, heavy snow, ice, the closing of the Hormuz Strait, many of us will be without gas for our car, food, medical help, or other such necessities. Yet we face jacked-up prices to fulfill these needs. Just when we need them the most, these things are more expensive. To anyone who doesn’t understand basic economics, this seems outrageous and unfair. But to those who do understand supply and demand, it makes sense.” (06/01/26)
https://fee.org/articles/who-should-set-prices/
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26) The impending Republican collapse
Source: Washington Examiner
by Timothy P Carney
“Republicans are on the verge of collapse, and it’s mostly President Donald Trump dragging them down. This may surprise the observer who just watched Trump knock off a handful of dissidents in Indiana’s Republican primaries and Sen. John Cornyn in Texas. But Trump is less popular with voters than he has ever been. Why? Part of the problem is standard mid-term woes, especially for a second-term president. Part of the problem is Trump’s ill-considered war in Iran and the subsequent increase in gas prices. Trump family self-enrichment probably pays a role, too. What does it mean for the GOP? It likely means a tsunami election in the 2026 midterm elections, with Democrats taking the U.S. House and gaining seats in the U.S. Senate while also winning state-level elections. … Republicans should also be worried about today’s bad vibes carrying over to 2028.” (06/01/26)
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/in_focus/4587763/the-impending-republican-collapse/#google_vignette
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27) It’s Ideology, Stupid
Source: Persuasion
by Matt Johnson
“Why Huntington’s clash of civilizations thesis is even more wrong today than it was in 1993.” (06/01/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/samuel-huntington-is-still-wrong
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28) Major problems where advanced technology holds real promise
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie
“The common thread is that the hardest problems, those involving scale, complexity, or speed beyond human capacity, are exactly those where computation, AI, sensors, and biotech tend to have the most leverage.” (06/01/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/major-problems-where-advanced-technology-holds-real-promise
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29) Establishment Dems turn on Graham Platner, but it’s way too late
Source: Fox News Forum
by David Marcus
“The world learned this week that Graham Platner, the Maine Democrat all but set to win his party’s Senate primary next month, has been sexting up to 12 women in the past few years while married. For Platner, this just added to his Cadillac Mountain of scandals. You are likely familiar with the fact that the so-called oyster farmer has a Nazi tattoo that he covered up only after lying about knowing its meaning. He also has a long history off-color Reddit posts, including remarks blaming women for being raped. What was most telling about these sordid new sexting revelations wasn’t that it exposed Platner as a creep. We already knew that. It was that the leak came from a fellow Democrat. The party may be starting to realize they have created a Marxist monster they can’t control.” (05/31/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-establishment-dems-turn-graham-platner-way-late
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30) Tom Steyer Assails “Trump’s Tax Loophole” — But It’s Just Prop. 13
Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley
“‘California’s ‘Trump Tax Loophole’ is a billionaire-friendly tax break that lets the wealthiest commercial property owners avoid paying taxes based on what their properties are actually worth,’ proclaims Tom Steyer, candidate for governor of California, on his website. Steyer has described this ‘loophole’ in debates as if it is a special benefit for corporations, a ‘corporate real estate tax loophole.’ In the gubernatorial debate on CNN, for example, he declared: ‘I will on the first day [in office] call a special election to close a corporate real estate tax loophole that’s worth over $20 billion. … California government needs more money.’ But Steyer’s website admits: The ‘loophole’ is actually Proposition 13, the popular constitutional amendment that protects ordinary homeowners across the Golden State.” (06/01/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/06/01/tom-steyer-assails-trumps-tax-loophole-but-its-just-prop-13/
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31) DOJ’s anti-weaponization fund has precedent and purpose
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine
“The rollout of the DOJ’s ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ may have been botched, but the fund remains a good idea, and the hysteria from Democrats like the hypocritical Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden and allied media is absurd. It’s not unprecedented or corrupt or President Trump’s personal ‘slush fund,’ no matter how loudly they shriek. It’s just a rebranding of an existing legal settlement fund Congress authorized decades ago, as Washington lawyer and veteran Senate oversight investigator Jason Foster points out. Administrations of both parties have repeatedly used the DOJ’s Judgment Fund to settle legal claims against the federal government, and Democratic administrations have used it for far more questionable payouts than the Trump administration’s proposal to compensate genuine victims of lawfare.” (05/31/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/05/31/opinion/dems-can-cry-corruption-all-they-want-the-dojs-anti-weaponization-fund-has-precedent-and-purpose/
----
32) We were going to bury 20 tons of nuclear fuel. Finally, we have a way to use it instead.
Source: The Hill
by Guido Núñez-Mujica
“For most of this century, the U.S. has run roughly one-fifth of its electricity on fuel it must import. Russia has long been the single largest foreign supplier of enriched uranium to U.S. nuclear plants. Remarkably, it still held that position as recently as last year, providing 20 percent of the enriched uranium in America’s commercial reactors even after a U.S. import ban became law. We have spent years scrambling to unwind that dependence — a chokepoint that constrains today’s reactors and the pending advanced ones. And this month, the Department of Energy took a step toward loosening that chokepoint. … The real choice is not between a risky program and a safe, free status quo. It is between spending $20 billion to bury energy-dense material, or having private companies pay to turn that same material into electricity.” (06/01/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/5899786-plutonium-fuel-advanced-reactors/
----
33) Endings and Beginnings: About That Arc of the Moral Universe
Source: TomDispatch
by Rebecca Gordon
“This is my last article for TomDispatch. For over a decade, Tom Engelhardt has given me a platform to write about pretty much anything that grabs my — I’ll admit it, easily attracted — attention. It’s been a wonderful partnership for me, offering not just a place to publish, but a chance to think, talk, and often argue with the best editor I’ve ever worked with. A rarity in the age of Internet insta-publishing, TomDispatch subjects every article to the scrutiny of three separate proofreaders. Not for Tom the misplaced apostrophe or the confusion between ‘their’ and ‘they’re.’ Unlike the New York Times in a May 12, 2026 headline, no article appearing in TomDispatch would ever go rogue and ask the question, ‘Did the Fifth Circuit Go Rouge With Its Abortion Pills Ruling?'” (05/31/26)
https://tomdispatch.com/about-that-arc-of-the-moral-universe/
----
34) The Federal Reserve is Why the People are Unhappy
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul
“With inflation rising more than incomes, many Americans have suffered a loss of purchasing power even though their nominal income increased. The erosion of Americans’ purchasing power has led to a debt-based economy. This has created a number of bubbles that likely will soon burst. According to an analysis of Federal Reserve data by economist Mike Shedlock, total car, credit card, and student loan debts are now higher, measured in real dollars, than nearly 20 years ago during the Great Recession. Of course, the greatest debtor is the US government. The Federal Reserve’s practice of buying government debt in order to pump more money into the economy enables maintaining the largest government in history.” (06/01/26)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/the-federal-reserve-is-why-the-people-are-unhappy
----
35) From the Fourth Estate to Digital Fragmentation
Source: Law & Liberty
by Itxu Diaz
“Media once played an important role in the management of modern democracies. The Digital Revolution, however, left it divided and confused.” (06/01/26)
https://lawliberty.org/from-the-fourth-estate-to-digital-fragmentation/
----
36) The Razor’s Edge of Progress: How King Gillette Built an Abundance Revolution
Source: The Daily Economy
by Gale Pooley
“One morning in Boston in 1895, as K. C. Gillette stood before the mirror, a brilliant idea flashed across his mind. ‘As I stood there with the razor in my hand, my eyes resting on it as lightly as a bird settling down on its nest — the Gillette razor was born. I saw it all in a moment, and in that same moment many unvoiced questions were asked and answered more with the rapidity of a dream than by the slow process of reasoning. I stood there before that mirror in a trance of joy at what I saw.’ He quickly wrote a letter to his wife, ‘I have got it; our fortune is made.’ Simple ideas often appear obvious in retrospect, but simplicity is usually the far edge of genius.” (06/01/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-razors-edge-of-progress/
----
37) Decline Is a Choice; Success Isn’t Inevitable
Source: Town Hall
by Arthur Schaper
“Decline is a choice. President Trump could not have said it better. Two years ago, everyone was talking about the Roman Empire, musing over its tragic decline. Would the United States fade the same way, with relentless clashes among different demographics fighting for a diminishing share of the government pie? Was Pat Buchanan right? The Republic is over, and the days of Empire have hastened the end of this once glorious experiment, he claimed. Historians note that democratic systems don’t last longer than 250 years. Yet the United States will celebrate its semiquincentennial. President Trump will be in office until 2029. Even if a Democrat follows him, the United States will have endured past the expected expiration date.” (06/01/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/arthurschaper/2026/06/01/decline-is-a-choice-success-isnt-inevitable-n2676970
----
38) DoD not allowed to fix most of its own stuff. Guess who’s cashing in?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Stavroula Pabst
“Because defense contracts often prevent the military from repairing its own equipment, critics say weapons companies are price-gouging the Pentagon at every turn. As experts and observers tell RS, the military’s lack of a ‘right to repair’ doesn’t just allow defense contractors to charge thousands of dollars, for fixes that could be done for free or very cheaply. Rather, the Pentagon’s dependence on weapons makers for maintenance undermines military readiness. Namely, contractors’ extensive repair delays and sweeping decisions about whether to service gear routinely leave warfighters without critical equipment and weapons systems — even while deployed.” (06/01/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/military-repairs/
----
39) The Recipe for an Iran Nuclear Deal Hasn’t Changed
Source: The American Conservative
by Anik Joshi
“Recent reporting from Axios suggests that President Donald Trump is considering a new nuclear deal with Iran as a way to turn the temporary ceasefire into something longer-term and more sustainable. It also suggests that the Iranian regime is interested in playing ball. The reporting is light on details, but suggests that the deal will have the same core ingredients as the one negotiated by President Barack Obama and signed in 2015 that the U.S. later left — some kind of financial/sanctions relief in exchange for verification of promises not to pursue a weapons program.” (06/01/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-recipe-for-an-iran-nuclear-deal-hasnt-changed/
----
40) Massie’s Detractors Still Pretend the Israel Lobby Doesn’t Exist
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Jack Hunter
“Yes, millions of dollars were poured into the Kentucky primary of Rep. Thomas Massie to defeat him by a collective entity that can fairly be referred to as the Israel lobby, and that lobby succeeded in its mission. Massie lost and that foreign interest group is the primary reason why. It’s a fact of history.” (06/01/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/massies-detractors-still-pretend-the-israel-lobby-doesnt-exist/
----
41) The UK Is Getting Even Crazier In Defense Of Israel
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The UK is getting crazier and crazier in its defense of Israel. Now they’re canceling the visas of mainstream normie political pundits for criticizing the state of Israel, and investigating people for antisemitic hate crimes when they denounce Zionists who aren’t even Jewish. American progressive commentator Cenk Uygur and his nephew Hasan Piker have both been denied visas by the British government, saying they were blocked from entering the country because of their criticism of Israel. ‘I’ve been banned from the UK,’ Uygur said in a tweet. ‘I tried to get on a flight to London to attend SXSW London and give a speech at Oxford. I’ve been banned for criticizing Israel. Are we free anymore? This is oppression of Western citizens by our own governments on behalf of a different country!'” (06/01/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/06/01/the-uk-is-getting-even-crazier-in-defense-of-israel/
----
42) Democratic primaries get an even bigger AIPAC problem
Source: Semafor
by David Weigel
“Anti-AIPAC sentiment is helping to swing Democratic primaries across the country. In Michigan, the pro-Israel group’s support for Rep. Haley Stevens has become somewhat of an anchor weighing down her Senate bid. In Philadelphia, a liberal group that had received some support from AIPAC’s network just once found that the association was now toxic, hurting its ability to help a candidate. And in the race to replace Hoyer, Boafo got condemned by other Democrats for his support from AIPAC’s best-known campaign committee. … As progressive Democrats use weariness of war in Iran and skepticism of big money to keep driving voters away from AIPAC, however, other sectors of the party are getting dragged down.” (06/01/26)
https://www.semafor.com/article/06/01/2026/democratic-primaries-get-an-even-bigger-aipac-problem
----
43) Israeli Claims About an Iran “Threat” Were Always a Lie. Now We Have Proof
Source: Antiwar.com
by Jonathan Cook
“Could it be that Israel’s 30-year narrative about Iran – one that persuaded US President Donald Trump to wage a criminal and disastrous war of aggression – was always a fiction, an invention cooked up in Tel Aviv? Far from Tehran posing an existential danger to Israel, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed for decades, might Israel’s real fear be that a stronger Iran would undermine its unique leverage over Washington, threatening its status as the region’s sole – and unmonitored – nuclear power? Might large parts of the globe be facing economic meltdown simply so that Israel can remain the Middle East’s top dog – an unaccountable apartheid state committing genocide against the Palestinian people and ethnically cleansing southern Lebanon? We got a definitive answer last week, care of the New York Times. It is an uncompromising yes to all of these questions.” (06/01/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/cook/2026/05/31/israeli-claims-about-an-iran-threat-were-always-a-lie-now-we-have-proof/
----
44) The Patient Anarchist
Source: The Findings Substack
by Paul Rosenberg
“Impatient anarchists are very often looking for someone to blame, for something to steal, or for some type of recognition. The world will someday leave rulers behind, but only once most people are ready for it, and that time must come organically, not by force. The necessary recognition and fortitude must grow into place.” (05/31/26)
https://thefindings.substack.com/p/the-patient-anarchist
----
45) American Decentralization: History and Future?
Source: American Greatness
by Stephen Soukup
“Throughout most of human history, commerce and government have been intricately linked, at least geographically. Hubs of trade and business have almost always also been the seats of government. As cities grew and flourished, as commerce grew and flourished, and as both expanded into surrounding areas, governance became necessary and, thus, inevitable. And as cities preceded ‘countries’ or empires by decades, if not centuries, those cities that tended to fare the best at enduring and growing were also the ones that were most successful at enabling commerce, creating wealth, conquering neighbors and their lands, etc. All of which is to say that the governments of the richest and most productive cities evolved into regional governments and into imperial governments and national governments, etc.” (06/01/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/06/01/american-decentralization-history-and-future/
----
46) Questions for Abundance Liberals
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“Commenters on my previous posts argued that I was overestimating how much abundance liberals had in common with libertarians, that my view might be correct for a few of the most libertarian members of the faction but not for most of them and, in particular, not for Yglesias. My view was based partly on his Substack post, which endorsed Ilya Somin’s proposal that libertarians attempt ‘to build bridges with the abundance camp on the center-left,’ partly on a few relatively libertarian Democrats of my acquaintance. What does ‘build bridges with’ mean in this context? Libertarians have limited political power on the right, Abundance Democrats even less on the left. What I am imagining is not a political alliance but an intellectual one.” (05/31/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/questions-for-abundance-liberals
----
47) The real Palantir scandal
Source: spiked
by Andrew Orloski
“Palantir, a data-analytics and logistics company, poses a challenge for its critics. ‘We make public services better,’ it argues. ‘They become more efficient and productive with our technology. Which means the taxpayer’s pound is being better spent. What exactly is your problem with that?’ … The temptation to see Palantir as a force for good is strong. However, politicians are strangely reluctant to take a gift horse to the veterinary dentist before accepting it. There are costs to any relationship, and some of these are quite subtle.” (05/31/26)
https://archive.is/taoqi
----
48) An Anarchist Defense of the Cuban Revolution
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“After nabbing Cuba from a collapsing Spanish Empire around the turn of the twentieth century, America reigned over that island for over fifty years, using a mix of fascist strongmen and direct military occupation. The last bastard we propped up there was a bloodthirsty thug named Fulgencio Batista who is believed to be responsible for as many as 20,000 deaths in less than a decade. None of which seemed to bother the opportunistic democracy enthusiasts back in Washington and Wall Street, not so long as Batista gave them free access to Cuba’s sugar, tobacco, and railroads that is. It was only after Fidel Castro kicked Batista out of Havana in 1959 and made it clear that Cuba’s resources no longer belonged to Yankee conquistadors that America began its long war for ‘democracy’ in Cuba and it was a war defined by what can only be described as craven acts of barely covert terrorism.” (05/31/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/05/an-anarchist-defense-of-cuban-revolution.html
----
49) Corporations and the Crisis of Care
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“Primary care physicians—internists, general practitioners, family doctors, and pediatricians—are the key point of patient contact with the medical system. They have been leaving the medical profession in droves because their conditions of practice have become intolerable. These doctors are being pressured to see more patients in shorter appointments despite ever more complex cases and treatment options, even as they are required to spend more time at computer terminals entering patient data. One recent paper in the Journal of General Internal Medicine calculates that primary care doctors, to meet all of their clinical and clerical obligations, would literally need to work 26.7 hours a day.” (06/01/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/06/01/corporations-and-crisis-of-care-primary-doctors-corporations/
----
50) Detours and Missteps on the Road to Medical Advances
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Steven Kritz
“My dad died suddenly in 1969 at age 42 from what was found on autopsy to be his third myocardial infarction. While he was known to have severe hypertension, based on the few times that he allowed his blood pressure to be taken, he was never treated; the irony being that while he wanted me to become a doctor, he never trusted them. His mom, who was known to have severe hypertension, may have been on a diuretic when she died suddenly in 1954 at age 56 from a hemorrhagic stroke. I will turn 75 in a few months, and while I have evidence of heart disease, I have no physical disability from it. I have no doubt that good blood pressure control has been an important factor in that outcome, as it has for millions upon millions of people over the past 30-40 years.” (05/31/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/detours-and-missteps-on-the-road-to-medical-advances/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 06/01/26
Source: Reason
"Why Socialism Won't Deliver Government Efficiency." (06/01/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/06/01/why-socialism-wont-deliver-government-efficiency/
-----
52) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 06/01/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
"Trump Continues to Test Limits of Iran Ceasefire, How Will Tehran Respond?" (06/01/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/trump-continues-to-test-limits-of-iran-ceasefire-how-will-tehran-respond/
-----
53) Get Lit With Matt and Brad, episode 1
Source: Racket News
“A new all-books, all-the-time show.” (06/01/26)
https://rumble.com/v7aofh2-episode-one-of-get-lit-with-matt-and-brad..html
----
54) Rising, 06/01/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner getting implicated in another controversy, after reports broke that he exchanged sexually explicit text messages with women outside his marriage.” (06/01/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/5903627-rising-june-1-2026/
----
55) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 06/01/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Epstein Leaks Worsen as MAGA Cracks Up: ‘He Lame-Ducked Himself.'” (06/01/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/211155/trump-epstein-leaks-worsen-maga-cracks-up-he-lame-ducked-himself
----
56) EconTalk, 06/01/26
Source: EconTalk
“Making Your 80,000 Hours Count (with Benjamin Todd).” (06/01/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/making-your-80000-hours-count-with-benjamin-todd/
----
57) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 06/01/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“NDAA Shocker: Congress Seeks To Merge US/Israeli Militaries!” (06/01/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1XxyggzOVpbGM
-----
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/31/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Fires Hellfire Missile at Cargo Ship Near Iran, Boat Strikes Kill More Than 200 People, and More.” (05/31/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qizYDg4HqN0
----
59) Zooming In, 05/31/26
Source: The UnPopulist
“The Disarray of Protestant Churches Is Bad News for American Liberal Democracy: A Conversation with Raymond R. Roberts.” (05/31/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/the-disarray-of-protestant-churches
----
60) Dangerous History Podcast, episode 287
Source: Libertarian Institute
“‘The Mad Dream of Conquest,’ Pt I.” (05/31/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/dangerous-history-podcast/dhp287/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Ukraine war: Russian forces launch large drone, missile attack
2) Trump reins in Netanyahu over Lebanon after Iranian regime threatens to quit talks
3) UK: Regime releases second batch of files on Epstein pal’s appointment as US ambassador
4) US court upholds injunction against Trump policy banning transgender troops
5) US DOJ, amid uproar, says it will abide by court ruling that temporarily paused “Anti-Weaponization Fund”
6) Nigeria: Obi to run for president again after opposition split
7) Strategy Sells Bitcoin For First Time In Four Years
8) UK: Disruptive passengers could be banned from all flights under regime plan
9) FL: Idiot pol files frivolous lawsuit vs. OpenAI
10) Hungary: Magyar threatens to amend constitution to oust president
11) IL: Politicians pass record tax-and-spend budget
12) Nicaragua: Political prisoner dies
13) US regime publicly confesses to three more maritime murders
14) MI: American Axle employees on strike, say wages have barely increased in 18 years
15) Lebanon: Israeli regime orders strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs
16) French pirates steal tanker, Macron says
17) Nvidia announces new AI chip for personal computers
18) Powell uses JFK award speech to warn against political pressure on Fed, courts and schools
19) CO: Peters released from prison after governor commutes sentence
20) Myanmar: Blast at building storing explosives kills 45
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Trump Isn’t Just After Undocumented Immigrants — He Wants 100 Million Americans Purged, Too
22) Trump’s Cotton Bailout Is Another Sign His Tariffs Aren’t Working
23) Financial Surveillance Is Expanding Before Our Eyes
24) Lists, Damn Lists, and Critical Correctness
25) Who Should Set Prices?
26) The impending Republican collapse
27) It’s Ideology, Stupid
28) Major problems where advanced technology holds real promise
29) Establishment Dems turn on Graham Platner, but it’s way too late
30) Tom Steyer Assails “Trump’s Tax Loophole” — But It’s Just Prop. 13
31) DOJ’s anti-weaponization fund has precedent and purpose
32) We were going to bury 20 tons of nuclear fuel. Finally, we have a way to use it instead.
33) Endings and Beginnings: About That Arc of the Moral Universe
34) The Federal Reserve is Why the People are Unhappy
35) From the Fourth Estate to Digital Fragmentation
36) The Razor’s Edge of Progress: How King Gillette Built an Abundance Revolution
37) Decline Is a Choice; Success Isn’t Inevitable
38) DoD not allowed to fix most of its own stuff. Guess who’s cashing in?
39) The Recipe for an Iran Nuclear Deal Hasn’t Changed
40) Massie’s Detractors Still Pretend the Israel Lobby Doesn’t Exist
41) The UK Is Getting Even Crazier In Defense Of Israel
42) Democratic primaries get an even bigger AIPAC problem
43) Israeli Claims About an Iran “Threat” Were Always a Lie. Now We Have Proof
44) The Patient Anarchist
45) American Decentralization: History and Future?
46) Questions for Abundance Liberals
47) The real Palantir scandal
48) An Anarchist Defense of the Cuban Revolution
49) Corporations and the Crisis of Care
50) Detours and Missteps on the Road to Medical Advances
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 06/01/26
52) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 06/01/26
53) Get Lit With Matt and Brad, episode 1
54) Rising, 06/01/26
55) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 06/01/26
56) EconTalk, 06/01/26
57) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 06/01/26
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/31/26
59) Zooming In, 05/31/26
60) Dangerous History Podcast, episode 287
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Ukraine war: Russian forces launch large drone, missile attack
Source: Reuters
“Russian drones and missiles pounded the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other cities early on Tuesday. At least 11 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in the assault which also hit Dnipro and Kharkiv, authorities said. Last week, the Kremlin warned that it intended ‘systematic strikes’ on targets in Kyiv in response to a drone attack on a dormitory in Ukraine’s Russian-held region of Luhansk, which killed 21. Ukraine denied the attack. … Russian regions also came under attack. The Ilsky oil refinery, in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar, caught fire after a drone attack, local authorities said on Telegram on Tuesday.” (06/02/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-war-live-major-new-russian-attacks-hit-kyiv-other-cities-2026-06-02/
-----
2) Trump reins in Netanyahu over Lebanon after Iranian regime threatens to quit talks
Source: Axios
“President Trump on Monday hit the brakes on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to bomb Hezbollah targets in Beirut after Iran threatened to abandon its negotiations with the U.S. over Israel’s actions in Lebanon. An Israeli official told Axios the planned strikes on Beirut would not be happening. … Iranian officials told the semi-official Tasnim News Agency that no talks with the U.S. would take place until Israel stopped its attacks in Lebanon, and threatened retaliation in the Strait of Hormuz and possibly ‘other fronts.’ Hours later, Trump spoke with Netanyahu. He released a Truth Social post afterward claiming Israel and Hezbollah would stop attacking each other.” (06/01/26)
https://www.axios.com/2026/06/01/trump-netanyahu-lebanon-israel-bomb-beirut
-----
3) UK: Regime releases second batch of files on Epstein pal’s appointment as US ambassador
Source: The Hindu [India]
“The U.K. Government released a vast trove of documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as U.S. Ambassador, in a move that threatens to cause fresh damage to Keir Starmer’s faltering premiership. More than 1,500 pages of documentation were published on the British government’s website just after 2 p.m. local time. They include emails, text messages and other exchanges between government ministers, aides and Mr. Mandelson in the run-up to his appointment as U.S. Envoy, a post he held from February to September 2025. The release resurfaces a saga that has weakened and embarrassed Mr. Starmer over the nine months since Bloomberg News exposed the extent of Mr. Mandelson’s ties with the late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.” (06/01/26)
https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/peter-mandelson-epstein-siles-appointment-us-ambassador-keir-starmer-june-1-2026/article71048868.ece
-----
4) US court upholds injunction against Trump policy banning transgender troops
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A United States court of appeals has ruled that a policy under President Donald Trump to expel transgender troops from the military was a violation of the Constitution. But Monday’s decision was a split one among the three-judge panel of the US appeals court for the District of Columbia. One judge, Robert Wilkins, an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama, upheld a lower court ruling rejecting the Trump administration’s policy as it pertains to already enlisted service members. A second judge – Judith Rogers, who was picked by former Democratic President Bill Clinton – agreed with his opinion, but only in part. She felt it should extend to those who seek to enlist, too. And the third judge, Trump pick Justin Walker, issued a dissent questioning the court’s ability to second-guess US military policy.” (06/01/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/1/us-court-upholds-injunction-against-trump-policy-banning-transgender-troops
-----
5) US DOJ, amid uproar, says it will abide by court ruling that temporarily paused “Anti-Weaponization Fund”
Source: ABC News
“The Justice Department issued a statement Monday saying it will abide by a district judge’s ruling last week that ordered the temporary freezing of the Trump administration’s $1.8 billion ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund.’ The statement came amid reports that the administration was backing away from the controversial fund. … Both Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday that they not only want the White House to drop the fund, but also provide assurances that it won’t be revived later. … The judge in the Eastern District of Virginia had only ordered the department to temporarily freeze the fund, and barred it from making any payments while the judge considered legal arguments in a lawsuit brought against the fund. President Donald Trump, speaking with ABC News'[s] Jonathan Karl on Monday, said he will respect the court’s ruling.” (06/01/26)
https://abcnews.com/US/doj-abide-court-ruling-temporarily-paused-anti-weaponization/story?id=133493215
-----
6) Nigeria: Obi to run for president again after opposition split
Source: Reuters
“Nigerian politician Peter Obi said he would run for president again in January after winning his party’s nomination, setting up another contest between incumbent Bola Tinubu and a divided opposition. Obi was declared winner of the Nigeria Democratic Congress primary on Sunday, less than a month after quitting an alliance that had tried to set up a single opposition challenger. The acceptance from Obi — who came third in the last election after galvanizing young voters — hit hopes among some opposition backers that he might return to the coalition. It prepares the ground for a re-run of 2023’s three-way contest that is likely to test whether public anger over rising living costs and insecurity can translate into votes against Tinubu, or whether the anti-government vote will once again be split.” (06/01/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigerias-obi-run-president-again-after-opposition-split-2026-06-01/
----
7) Strategy Sells Bitcoin For First Time In Four Years
Source: Yahoo! Finance
“Strategy has sold some of its Bitcoin holdings. It marks the first time that the crypto treasury firm led by Executive Chairman Michael Saylor has sold any Bitcoin in four years. A regulatory disclosure shows that Strategy sold 32 Bitcoin over the past week for proceeds of $2.5 million U.S. The amount is small considering that Strategy owns more than 840,000 Bitcoin but is still significant as it suggests potentially larger sales in coming weeks and months. Strategy is under pressure to fund dividend payments on its high-yielding preferred stoc, which currently yields 11.5%. Already sinking, Bitcoin fell below $72,000 U.S. on news of Strategy’s sale.” (06/01/26)
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/strategy-sells-bitcoin-first-time-130500239.html
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8) UK: Disruptive passengers could be banned from all flights under regime plan
Source: Sky News [UK]
“Disruptive plane passengers could find themselves banned from flying by all airlines under a new UK government proposal. It is understood that a scheme for carriers to share information on unruly travellers is being developed by officials at the Department for Transport and the Home Office. The proposal, which is still at the concept stage, could lead to airlines being required to notify the government of a disruptive passenger. A participating airline could then be alerted when the same marked person checked in for a subsequent flight. It would then be up to that airline to determine how to respond, but they would have the option of refusing to carry them.” [editor’s note: Sounds like the kind of thing that could easily be done with zero government involvement … and therefore SHOULD be done that way if it’s done at all – TLK] (06/01/26)
https://news.sky.com/story/disruptive-passengers-could-be-banned-from-all-flights-under-uk-government-plan-13549760
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9) FL: Idiot pol files frivolous lawsuit vs. OpenAI
Source: NBC News
“Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Monday, accusing the company of putting profit over safety, fueling violence and pushing a product it knew could harm users. … The wide-ranging lawsuit accuses OpenAI of four counts of deceptive and unfair trade practices, two counts of negligence, two counts of violating product liability laws, and one count each of fraudulent misrepresentation and causing a public nuisance. The suit claims that OpenAI’s systems present a ‘great danger of addiction, cognitive decline, suicide, violence, and related harms’ to users.” (06/01/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/florida-sues-openai-sam-altman-saying-put-profit-safety-rcna347602
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10) Hungary: Magyar threatens to amend constitution to oust president
Source: Politico
“Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar on Monday threatened to amend the country’s constitution to oust President Tamás Sulyok. Magyar said his government would attempt to use all available legal tools to remove Hungary’s head of state, an ally of former prime minister Viktor Orbán, and even change the country’s fundamental law to force his exit. ‘This process will take about a month, we are trying to adopt the necessary legislation as quickly as possible, and yes, there will be talk of removing all puppets,’ Magyar told reporters.” (06/01/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-peter-magyar-amend-constitution-oust-president-tamas-sulyok/
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11) IL: Politicians pass record tax-and-spend budget
Source: Fox 2 News
“Illinois lawmakers passed a nearly $56 billion state budget early Monday morning after the spring legislative session stretched several hours past its deadline. The $55.9 billion spending plan is the largest state budget in Illinois history. The House passed the budget just after 4 a.m. by a vote of 76 to 39. The plan now heads to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk, who said he plans to sign it. The budget includes more than $800 million in new tax revenue, including new taxes tied to digital advertising revenue, prediction markets, cryptocurrency and large social media companies. It also extends a cap on corporate operating losses, which is expected to generate about $300 million in state revenue.” (06/01/26)
https://fox2now.com/news/illinois/illinois-lawmakers-pass-record-56b-budget-with-new-taxes-spending/
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12) Nicaragua: Political prisoner dies
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“Nicaraguan Indigenous leader and activist Brooklyn Rivera died from health complications after nearly three years in detention, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday. Last week, the Nicaraguan government’s confirmed that he had been detained since 2023. UN representatives, the US government and Rivera’s family have demanded proof that he was still alive. ‘We regret to confirm that he has sadly passed away,’ the health ministry said in a statement on state-run media outlets. … The 73-year-old was a renowned leader of the Miskito People and a former member of Nicaragua’s Congress. He was arrested in 2023 by the left-wing authoritarian government of President Daniel Ortega on undisclosed charges.” (06/01/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/nicaragua-indigenous-leader-brooklyn-rivera-dies-in-detention/a-77369132
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13) US regime publicly confesses to three more maritime murders
Source: Fox News
“The U.S. military conducted a deadly strike against a vessel in the Pacific on Saturday, killing several alleged ‘narco-terrorists,’ according to U.S. Southern Command. That attack, which killed three men, was one of four such military strikes announced by SOUTHCOM last week. … ‘On May 30, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed,’ the post on X noted.” (06/01/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fourth-us-drug-boat-strike-week-kills-3-narco-terrorists
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14) MI: American Axle employees on strike, say wages have barely increased in 18 years
Source: WWMT News
“United Auto Workers (UAW) members are on strike as of Monday at midnight. Nearly 1,000 employees at Dauch Corporation, formerly American Axle, are walking out on the job after months of failed labor negotiations. United Auto Workers Local 2093 members say it’s been 18 years since they’ve been fairly paid, and they’re done making concessions. They’ve been negotiating a new contract with Dauch since March. The auto parts company’s a major axle supplier for General Motors, and its largest Michigan factory is in Three Rivers. UAW’s bargaining chairman Josh Jager says workers’ paychecks were cut in half during the Great Recession and have never fully recovered.” (06/01/26)
https://wwmt.com/news/local/three-rivers-strike-american-axle-auto-workers-union-wages-pay-dauch-corporation-labor-negotiations-contract-benefits-general-motors-manufacturing-picket-western-michigan
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15) Lebanon: Israeli regime orders strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs
Source: SFGate
“Israel’s government ordered strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Monday, a day after its ground forces reached their deepest point in Lebanon in 26 years and as Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, including the outskirts of the coastal city of Haifa. A joint statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the orders to attack targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs followed what they called repeated violations of the ceasefire by Hezbollah and ‘attacks against our cities and citizens.’ Hezbollah agreed to halt attacks on Israel when the ceasefire was signed in mid-April, but the militant group resumed the assaults after Israeli strikes in Lebanon that Israel characterized as self-defense. After Monday’s warning, large numbers of people were seen fleeing the area known in Arabic as Dahiyeh, jamming roads leading out of the suburb, where Hezbollah enjoys wide support.” (06/01/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/israel-orders-strikes-on-beirut-s-southern-22285577.php
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16) French pirates steal tanker, Macron says
Source: NBC News
“The French Navy on Sunday boarded an oil tanker, named the Tagor, which was subject to international sanctions and sailing from Russia, French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X. ‘This operation took place in the Atlantic Ocean, on the high seas, with the support of several partners, including the United Kingdom, in strict compliance with the law of the sea,’ he said. … The Maritime Prefecture of the Atlantic said in a separate statement on Monday that the French Navy had intervened on an oil tanker more than 400 nautical miles west of the tip of Brittany, coming from Murmansk, Russia.” (06/01/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia/france-seizes-russia-linked-oil-tanker-high-seas-macron-says-rcna347817
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17) Nvidia announces new AI chip for personal computers
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Nvidia has announced a new chip for PCs as it moves into the consumer market for devices integrated with AI technology. ‘This reinvention of the computer is as big of a deal as the reinvention of the phone into what we now know as the smartphone,’ Nvidia’s chief executive Jensen Huang said as he unveiled the RTX Spark chip. Huang made the announcement on Monday as he delivered a keynote speech ahead of the opening of the Computex technology show in Taipei, Taiwan. Separately on Sunday, the US tightened its rules on selling Nvidia’s most advanced chips to Chinese firms. The RTX Spark is ‘a new superchip … for the era of personal AI agents – offering a new class of computer that moves from tool to teammate,’ Nvidia said on its website.” (06/01/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmp9mppvzro
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18) Powell uses JFK award speech to warn against political pressure on Fed, courts and schools
Source: Politico
“Former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell used one of his first major public appearances since leaving office to defend independent institutions while accepting an award Sunday honoring his efforts to preserve the central bank’s independence. Speaking at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library overlooking Boston Harbor, Powell called universities, courts, Congress and the central bank ‘the foundation and the embodiment of our democracy’ and argued that the Fed’s independence was a ‘priceless asset’ that must be protected. It was one of his most direct defenses of Fed independence, warning that a single administration’s decision to remove bank officials over policy differences would open the way for future elected officials to follow suit, ultimately undermining the credibility that the Fed has spent decades building.” (05/31/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/31/jerome-powell-profile-courage-award-jfk-00943963
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19) CO: Peters released from prison after governor commutes sentence
Source: SFGate
“Tina Peters, the former clerk convicted of participating in a scheme to chase election conspiracy theories promulgated by President Donald Trump, was released from prison Monday after the president successfully pressured Colorado’s Democratic governor into commuting her sentence. Peters’ release was confirmed by the Colorado Department of Corrections. The state agency said it would have no more information about the 70-year-old inmate. Her sentence was shortened by Gov. Jared Polis last month after Trump waged a lengthy pressure campaign against the governor an d his state. Peters served less than a quarter of her nine-year sentence. Peters was the first local election official to be charged with breaching security after the 2020 election. She snuck in an outside computer expert affiliated with My Pillow Chief Executive Mike Lindell — who himself denied that Trump lost the White House in 2020 — and the person copied the county’s Dominion Voting Systems computer server as it was updated in 2021.” (06/01/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/colorado-elections-clerk-set-to-be-released-from-22285435.php
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20) Myanmar: Blast at building storing explosives kills 45
Source: Associated Press
“A blast on Sunday at a building in northeastern Myanmar said to have been storing explosives for mining has killed more than 45 people, according to rescue workers and independent media reports. About 70 other people were injured in the explosion that took place around noon in the village of Kaungtup, in Namhkam township. The area, located about 3 kilometers (2 miles) south of the Chinese border, is under the control of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, an ethnic armed group which has engaged in sporadic fighting against Myanmar’s [junta].” (05/31/26)
https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-deadly-explosion-5946c95f92ca91472fb30a57438234ec
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Trump Isn’t Just After Undocumented Immigrants — He Wants 100 Million Americans Purged, Too
Source: The UnPopulist
by David J Bier
“The Supreme Court will soon rule in a case that will decide the future of birthright citizenship. The case has become more significant than ever because some officials are now openly advocating for ethnic cleansin — —mass removals of tens of millions of U.S.-born Americans based on their ancestry. In barely a year, the right has moved from the already controversial mass deportation of all undocumented immigrants to mass deportation of Americans. The 14th Amendment, drafted in part to prevent ethnic cleansing, should stop it. Whether it will is now up to the Supreme Court.” (06/01/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trump-isnt-just-after-undocumented
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22) Trump’s Cotton Bailout Is Another Sign His Tariffs Aren’t Working
Source: Reason
by Tosin Akintola
“On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the Great American Cotton Plan, a protectionist initiative to subsidize American cotton farmers. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says the plan is necessary to help domestic growers who are being ‘crushed by rising costs, unfair foreign competition, and a flood of cheap synthetic products.’ … Given the government’s penchant for propping up struggling sectors, it’s no surprise that the industry is receiving this bailout. But it’s not ‘unfair foreign competition’ or ‘trade distortions’ that are causing America’s cotton industry to falter. Over the past decade, 84 percent of domestically produced cotton has been exported on average, which suggests that trade is going well for farmers. Instead, it’s the president’s own policies.” (06/01/26)
https://reason.com/2026/06/01/trumps-cotton-bailout-is-another-sign-his-tariffs-arent-working/
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23) Financial Surveillance Is Expanding Before Our Eyes
Source: Cato Institute
by Nicholas Anthony
“Most Americans have felt the pain of inflation in recent years. However, what they don’t often see is that inflation also erodes financial privacy. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) adjusts its penalties for inflation, but it does not adjust reporting thresholds. In the most egregious case, the $10,000 reporting threshold now used for currency transaction reports (CTRs) has not been changed since the number was first established in 1945 by an executive order. That’s equal to around $180,000 today. When the Bank Secrecy Act was ultimately passed in 1970, you could buy two new Corvettes for $10,000. Today, you could spend all of that on just the engine. In practice, that means the Bank Secrecy Act regime is swallowing up more transactions every year as inflation decreases the value of the dollar. No bills are passed; no regulations are open to the public. Yet, the wheel is turning, and financial surveillance increases without any checks or balances.” (06/01/26)
https://www.cato.org/blog/financial-surveillance-expanding-our-eyes
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24) Lists, Damn Lists, and Critical Correctness
Source: Quillette
by Dave Thompson
“Love them or hate them, lists are now firmly established — along with cats and porn — among the apex predators of the modern internet.” (06/01/26)
https://quillette.com/2026/06/01/lists-damn-lists-and-critical-correctness-rolling-stone-punk-rock-list/
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25) Who Should Set Prices?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Walter Block
“If you are in sync with meddlesome government bureaucrats, you probably believe that price gouging is profoundly evil. That charging higher prices than normal, especially during emergencies, is an economic abomination. That any seller who does this is taking advantage of people who are in precarious economic circumstances. When a storm hits, or a flood, or a tornado, heavy snow, ice, the closing of the Hormuz Strait, many of us will be without gas for our car, food, medical help, or other such necessities. Yet we face jacked-up prices to fulfill these needs. Just when we need them the most, these things are more expensive. To anyone who doesn’t understand basic economics, this seems outrageous and unfair. But to those who do understand supply and demand, it makes sense.” (06/01/26)
https://fee.org/articles/who-should-set-prices/
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26) The impending Republican collapse
Source: Washington Examiner
by Timothy P Carney
“Republicans are on the verge of collapse, and it’s mostly President Donald Trump dragging them down. This may surprise the observer who just watched Trump knock off a handful of dissidents in Indiana’s Republican primaries and Sen. John Cornyn in Texas. But Trump is less popular with voters than he has ever been. Why? Part of the problem is standard mid-term woes, especially for a second-term president. Part of the problem is Trump’s ill-considered war in Iran and the subsequent increase in gas prices. Trump family self-enrichment probably pays a role, too. What does it mean for the GOP? It likely means a tsunami election in the 2026 midterm elections, with Democrats taking the U.S. House and gaining seats in the U.S. Senate while also winning state-level elections. … Republicans should also be worried about today’s bad vibes carrying over to 2028.” (06/01/26)
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/in_focus/4587763/the-impending-republican-collapse/#google_vignette
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27) It’s Ideology, Stupid
Source: Persuasion
by Matt Johnson
“Why Huntington’s clash of civilizations thesis is even more wrong today than it was in 1993.” (06/01/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/samuel-huntington-is-still-wrong
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28) Major problems where advanced technology holds real promise
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie
“The common thread is that the hardest problems, those involving scale, complexity, or speed beyond human capacity, are exactly those where computation, AI, sensors, and biotech tend to have the most leverage.” (06/01/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/major-problems-where-advanced-technology-holds-real-promise
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29) Establishment Dems turn on Graham Platner, but it’s way too late
Source: Fox News Forum
by David Marcus
“The world learned this week that Graham Platner, the Maine Democrat all but set to win his party’s Senate primary next month, has been sexting up to 12 women in the past few years while married. For Platner, this just added to his Cadillac Mountain of scandals. You are likely familiar with the fact that the so-called oyster farmer has a Nazi tattoo that he covered up only after lying about knowing its meaning. He also has a long history off-color Reddit posts, including remarks blaming women for being raped. What was most telling about these sordid new sexting revelations wasn’t that it exposed Platner as a creep. We already knew that. It was that the leak came from a fellow Democrat. The party may be starting to realize they have created a Marxist monster they can’t control.” (05/31/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-establishment-dems-turn-graham-platner-way-late
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30) Tom Steyer Assails “Trump’s Tax Loophole” — But It’s Just Prop. 13
Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley
“‘California’s ‘Trump Tax Loophole’ is a billionaire-friendly tax break that lets the wealthiest commercial property owners avoid paying taxes based on what their properties are actually worth,’ proclaims Tom Steyer, candidate for governor of California, on his website. Steyer has described this ‘loophole’ in debates as if it is a special benefit for corporations, a ‘corporate real estate tax loophole.’ In the gubernatorial debate on CNN, for example, he declared: ‘I will on the first day [in office] call a special election to close a corporate real estate tax loophole that’s worth over $20 billion. … California government needs more money.’ But Steyer’s website admits: The ‘loophole’ is actually Proposition 13, the popular constitutional amendment that protects ordinary homeowners across the Golden State.” (06/01/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/06/01/tom-steyer-assails-trumps-tax-loophole-but-its-just-prop-13/
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31) DOJ’s anti-weaponization fund has precedent and purpose
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine
“The rollout of the DOJ’s ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ may have been botched, but the fund remains a good idea, and the hysteria from Democrats like the hypocritical Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden and allied media is absurd. It’s not unprecedented or corrupt or President Trump’s personal ‘slush fund,’ no matter how loudly they shriek. It’s just a rebranding of an existing legal settlement fund Congress authorized decades ago, as Washington lawyer and veteran Senate oversight investigator Jason Foster points out. Administrations of both parties have repeatedly used the DOJ’s Judgment Fund to settle legal claims against the federal government, and Democratic administrations have used it for far more questionable payouts than the Trump administration’s proposal to compensate genuine victims of lawfare.” (05/31/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/05/31/opinion/dems-can-cry-corruption-all-they-want-the-dojs-anti-weaponization-fund-has-precedent-and-purpose/
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32) We were going to bury 20 tons of nuclear fuel. Finally, we have a way to use it instead.
Source: The Hill
by Guido Núñez-Mujica
“For most of this century, the U.S. has run roughly one-fifth of its electricity on fuel it must import. Russia has long been the single largest foreign supplier of enriched uranium to U.S. nuclear plants. Remarkably, it still held that position as recently as last year, providing 20 percent of the enriched uranium in America’s commercial reactors even after a U.S. import ban became law. We have spent years scrambling to unwind that dependence — a chokepoint that constrains today’s reactors and the pending advanced ones. And this month, the Department of Energy took a step toward loosening that chokepoint. … The real choice is not between a risky program and a safe, free status quo. It is between spending $20 billion to bury energy-dense material, or having private companies pay to turn that same material into electricity.” (06/01/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/5899786-plutonium-fuel-advanced-reactors/
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33) Endings and Beginnings: About That Arc of the Moral Universe
Source: TomDispatch
by Rebecca Gordon
“This is my last article for TomDispatch. For over a decade, Tom Engelhardt has given me a platform to write about pretty much anything that grabs my — I’ll admit it, easily attracted — attention. It’s been a wonderful partnership for me, offering not just a place to publish, but a chance to think, talk, and often argue with the best editor I’ve ever worked with. A rarity in the age of Internet insta-publishing, TomDispatch subjects every article to the scrutiny of three separate proofreaders. Not for Tom the misplaced apostrophe or the confusion between ‘their’ and ‘they’re.’ Unlike the New York Times in a May 12, 2026 headline, no article appearing in TomDispatch would ever go rogue and ask the question, ‘Did the Fifth Circuit Go Rouge With Its Abortion Pills Ruling?'” (05/31/26)
https://tomdispatch.com/about-that-arc-of-the-moral-universe/
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34) The Federal Reserve is Why the People are Unhappy
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul
“With inflation rising more than incomes, many Americans have suffered a loss of purchasing power even though their nominal income increased. The erosion of Americans’ purchasing power has led to a debt-based economy. This has created a number of bubbles that likely will soon burst. According to an analysis of Federal Reserve data by economist Mike Shedlock, total car, credit card, and student loan debts are now higher, measured in real dollars, than nearly 20 years ago during the Great Recession. Of course, the greatest debtor is the US government. The Federal Reserve’s practice of buying government debt in order to pump more money into the economy enables maintaining the largest government in history.” (06/01/26)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/the-federal-reserve-is-why-the-people-are-unhappy
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35) From the Fourth Estate to Digital Fragmentation
Source: Law & Liberty
by Itxu Diaz
“Media once played an important role in the management of modern democracies. The Digital Revolution, however, left it divided and confused.” (06/01/26)
https://lawliberty.org/from-the-fourth-estate-to-digital-fragmentation/
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36) The Razor’s Edge of Progress: How King Gillette Built an Abundance Revolution
Source: The Daily Economy
by Gale Pooley
“One morning in Boston in 1895, as K. C. Gillette stood before the mirror, a brilliant idea flashed across his mind. ‘As I stood there with the razor in my hand, my eyes resting on it as lightly as a bird settling down on its nest — the Gillette razor was born. I saw it all in a moment, and in that same moment many unvoiced questions were asked and answered more with the rapidity of a dream than by the slow process of reasoning. I stood there before that mirror in a trance of joy at what I saw.’ He quickly wrote a letter to his wife, ‘I have got it; our fortune is made.’ Simple ideas often appear obvious in retrospect, but simplicity is usually the far edge of genius.” (06/01/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-razors-edge-of-progress/
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37) Decline Is a Choice; Success Isn’t Inevitable
Source: Town Hall
by Arthur Schaper
“Decline is a choice. President Trump could not have said it better. Two years ago, everyone was talking about the Roman Empire, musing over its tragic decline. Would the United States fade the same way, with relentless clashes among different demographics fighting for a diminishing share of the government pie? Was Pat Buchanan right? The Republic is over, and the days of Empire have hastened the end of this once glorious experiment, he claimed. Historians note that democratic systems don’t last longer than 250 years. Yet the United States will celebrate its semiquincentennial. President Trump will be in office until 2029. Even if a Democrat follows him, the United States will have endured past the expected expiration date.” (06/01/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/arthurschaper/2026/06/01/decline-is-a-choice-success-isnt-inevitable-n2676970
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38) DoD not allowed to fix most of its own stuff. Guess who’s cashing in?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Stavroula Pabst
“Because defense contracts often prevent the military from repairing its own equipment, critics say weapons companies are price-gouging the Pentagon at every turn. As experts and observers tell RS, the military’s lack of a ‘right to repair’ doesn’t just allow defense contractors to charge thousands of dollars, for fixes that could be done for free or very cheaply. Rather, the Pentagon’s dependence on weapons makers for maintenance undermines military readiness. Namely, contractors’ extensive repair delays and sweeping decisions about whether to service gear routinely leave warfighters without critical equipment and weapons systems — even while deployed.” (06/01/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/military-repairs/
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39) The Recipe for an Iran Nuclear Deal Hasn’t Changed
Source: The American Conservative
by Anik Joshi
“Recent reporting from Axios suggests that President Donald Trump is considering a new nuclear deal with Iran as a way to turn the temporary ceasefire into something longer-term and more sustainable. It also suggests that the Iranian regime is interested in playing ball. The reporting is light on details, but suggests that the deal will have the same core ingredients as the one negotiated by President Barack Obama and signed in 2015 that the U.S. later left — some kind of financial/sanctions relief in exchange for verification of promises not to pursue a weapons program.” (06/01/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-recipe-for-an-iran-nuclear-deal-hasnt-changed/
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40) Massie’s Detractors Still Pretend the Israel Lobby Doesn’t Exist
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Jack Hunter
“Yes, millions of dollars were poured into the Kentucky primary of Rep. Thomas Massie to defeat him by a collective entity that can fairly be referred to as the Israel lobby, and that lobby succeeded in its mission. Massie lost and that foreign interest group is the primary reason why. It’s a fact of history.” (06/01/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/massies-detractors-still-pretend-the-israel-lobby-doesnt-exist/
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41) The UK Is Getting Even Crazier In Defense Of Israel
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The UK is getting crazier and crazier in its defense of Israel. Now they’re canceling the visas of mainstream normie political pundits for criticizing the state of Israel, and investigating people for antisemitic hate crimes when they denounce Zionists who aren’t even Jewish. American progressive commentator Cenk Uygur and his nephew Hasan Piker have both been denied visas by the British government, saying they were blocked from entering the country because of their criticism of Israel. ‘I’ve been banned from the UK,’ Uygur said in a tweet. ‘I tried to get on a flight to London to attend SXSW London and give a speech at Oxford. I’ve been banned for criticizing Israel. Are we free anymore? This is oppression of Western citizens by our own governments on behalf of a different country!'” (06/01/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/06/01/the-uk-is-getting-even-crazier-in-defense-of-israel/
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42) Democratic primaries get an even bigger AIPAC problem
Source: Semafor
by David Weigel
“Anti-AIPAC sentiment is helping to swing Democratic primaries across the country. In Michigan, the pro-Israel group’s support for Rep. Haley Stevens has become somewhat of an anchor weighing down her Senate bid. In Philadelphia, a liberal group that had received some support from AIPAC’s network just once found that the association was now toxic, hurting its ability to help a candidate. And in the race to replace Hoyer, Boafo got condemned by other Democrats for his support from AIPAC’s best-known campaign committee. … As progressive Democrats use weariness of war in Iran and skepticism of big money to keep driving voters away from AIPAC, however, other sectors of the party are getting dragged down.” (06/01/26)
https://www.semafor.com/article/06/01/2026/democratic-primaries-get-an-even-bigger-aipac-problem
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43) Israeli Claims About an Iran “Threat” Were Always a Lie. Now We Have Proof
Source: Antiwar.com
by Jonathan Cook
“Could it be that Israel’s 30-year narrative about Iran – one that persuaded US President Donald Trump to wage a criminal and disastrous war of aggression – was always a fiction, an invention cooked up in Tel Aviv? Far from Tehran posing an existential danger to Israel, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed for decades, might Israel’s real fear be that a stronger Iran would undermine its unique leverage over Washington, threatening its status as the region’s sole – and unmonitored – nuclear power? Might large parts of the globe be facing economic meltdown simply so that Israel can remain the Middle East’s top dog – an unaccountable apartheid state committing genocide against the Palestinian people and ethnically cleansing southern Lebanon? We got a definitive answer last week, care of the New York Times. It is an uncompromising yes to all of these questions.” (06/01/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/cook/2026/05/31/israeli-claims-about-an-iran-threat-were-always-a-lie-now-we-have-proof/
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44) The Patient Anarchist
Source: The Findings Substack
by Paul Rosenberg
“Impatient anarchists are very often looking for someone to blame, for something to steal, or for some type of recognition. The world will someday leave rulers behind, but only once most people are ready for it, and that time must come organically, not by force. The necessary recognition and fortitude must grow into place.” (05/31/26)
https://thefindings.substack.com/p/the-patient-anarchist
----
45) American Decentralization: History and Future?
Source: American Greatness
by Stephen Soukup
“Throughout most of human history, commerce and government have been intricately linked, at least geographically. Hubs of trade and business have almost always also been the seats of government. As cities grew and flourished, as commerce grew and flourished, and as both expanded into surrounding areas, governance became necessary and, thus, inevitable. And as cities preceded ‘countries’ or empires by decades, if not centuries, those cities that tended to fare the best at enduring and growing were also the ones that were most successful at enabling commerce, creating wealth, conquering neighbors and their lands, etc. All of which is to say that the governments of the richest and most productive cities evolved into regional governments and into imperial governments and national governments, etc.” (06/01/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/06/01/american-decentralization-history-and-future/
----
46) Questions for Abundance Liberals
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“Commenters on my previous posts argued that I was overestimating how much abundance liberals had in common with libertarians, that my view might be correct for a few of the most libertarian members of the faction but not for most of them and, in particular, not for Yglesias. My view was based partly on his Substack post, which endorsed Ilya Somin’s proposal that libertarians attempt ‘to build bridges with the abundance camp on the center-left,’ partly on a few relatively libertarian Democrats of my acquaintance. What does ‘build bridges with’ mean in this context? Libertarians have limited political power on the right, Abundance Democrats even less on the left. What I am imagining is not a political alliance but an intellectual one.” (05/31/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/questions-for-abundance-liberals
----
47) The real Palantir scandal
Source: spiked
by Andrew Orloski
“Palantir, a data-analytics and logistics company, poses a challenge for its critics. ‘We make public services better,’ it argues. ‘They become more efficient and productive with our technology. Which means the taxpayer’s pound is being better spent. What exactly is your problem with that?’ … The temptation to see Palantir as a force for good is strong. However, politicians are strangely reluctant to take a gift horse to the veterinary dentist before accepting it. There are costs to any relationship, and some of these are quite subtle.” (05/31/26)
https://archive.is/taoqi
----
48) An Anarchist Defense of the Cuban Revolution
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“After nabbing Cuba from a collapsing Spanish Empire around the turn of the twentieth century, America reigned over that island for over fifty years, using a mix of fascist strongmen and direct military occupation. The last bastard we propped up there was a bloodthirsty thug named Fulgencio Batista who is believed to be responsible for as many as 20,000 deaths in less than a decade. None of which seemed to bother the opportunistic democracy enthusiasts back in Washington and Wall Street, not so long as Batista gave them free access to Cuba’s sugar, tobacco, and railroads that is. It was only after Fidel Castro kicked Batista out of Havana in 1959 and made it clear that Cuba’s resources no longer belonged to Yankee conquistadors that America began its long war for ‘democracy’ in Cuba and it was a war defined by what can only be described as craven acts of barely covert terrorism.” (05/31/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/05/an-anarchist-defense-of-cuban-revolution.html
----
49) Corporations and the Crisis of Care
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“Primary care physicians—internists, general practitioners, family doctors, and pediatricians—are the key point of patient contact with the medical system. They have been leaving the medical profession in droves because their conditions of practice have become intolerable. These doctors are being pressured to see more patients in shorter appointments despite ever more complex cases and treatment options, even as they are required to spend more time at computer terminals entering patient data. One recent paper in the Journal of General Internal Medicine calculates that primary care doctors, to meet all of their clinical and clerical obligations, would literally need to work 26.7 hours a day.” (06/01/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/06/01/corporations-and-crisis-of-care-primary-doctors-corporations/
----
50) Detours and Missteps on the Road to Medical Advances
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Steven Kritz
“My dad died suddenly in 1969 at age 42 from what was found on autopsy to be his third myocardial infarction. While he was known to have severe hypertension, based on the few times that he allowed his blood pressure to be taken, he was never treated; the irony being that while he wanted me to become a doctor, he never trusted them. His mom, who was known to have severe hypertension, may have been on a diuretic when she died suddenly in 1954 at age 56 from a hemorrhagic stroke. I will turn 75 in a few months, and while I have evidence of heart disease, I have no physical disability from it. I have no doubt that good blood pressure control has been an important factor in that outcome, as it has for millions upon millions of people over the past 30-40 years.” (05/31/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/detours-and-missteps-on-the-road-to-medical-advances/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 06/01/26
Source: Reason
"Why Socialism Won't Deliver Government Efficiency." (06/01/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/06/01/why-socialism-wont-deliver-government-efficiency/
-----
52) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 06/01/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
"Trump Continues to Test Limits of Iran Ceasefire, How Will Tehran Respond?" (06/01/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/trump-continues-to-test-limits-of-iran-ceasefire-how-will-tehran-respond/
-----
53) Get Lit With Matt and Brad, episode 1
Source: Racket News
“A new all-books, all-the-time show.” (06/01/26)
https://rumble.com/v7aofh2-episode-one-of-get-lit-with-matt-and-brad..html
----
54) Rising, 06/01/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner getting implicated in another controversy, after reports broke that he exchanged sexually explicit text messages with women outside his marriage.” (06/01/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/5903627-rising-june-1-2026/
----
55) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 06/01/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Epstein Leaks Worsen as MAGA Cracks Up: ‘He Lame-Ducked Himself.'” (06/01/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/211155/trump-epstein-leaks-worsen-maga-cracks-up-he-lame-ducked-himself
----
56) EconTalk, 06/01/26
Source: EconTalk
“Making Your 80,000 Hours Count (with Benjamin Todd).” (06/01/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/making-your-80000-hours-count-with-benjamin-todd/
----
57) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 06/01/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“NDAA Shocker: Congress Seeks To Merge US/Israeli Militaries!” (06/01/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1XxyggzOVpbGM
-----
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/31/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Fires Hellfire Missile at Cargo Ship Near Iran, Boat Strikes Kill More Than 200 People, and More.” (05/31/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qizYDg4HqN0
----
59) Zooming In, 05/31/26
Source: The UnPopulist
“The Disarray of Protestant Churches Is Bad News for American Liberal Democracy: A Conversation with Raymond R. Roberts.” (05/31/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/the-disarray-of-protestant-churches
----
60) Dangerous History Podcast, episode 287
Source: Libertarian Institute
“‘The Mad Dream of Conquest,’ Pt I.” (05/31/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/dangerous-history-podcast/dhp287/
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