07/21 -- US regime strikes Iran for tenth consecutive night, Iranians attack tanker; Dying for Nothing
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Thomas L. Knapp
Jul 21, 2026, 6:10:52 AM (6 days ago) Jul 21
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 07/21/26
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Today's Freedom News:
1) US regime strikes Iran for tenth consecutive night, Iranians attack tanker
2) Trump announces latest scheme to raise Americans’ taxes
3) Hamas names Khalil Al-Hayya as new overall leader
4) Court document: US regime thugs sought phone records of journalists, relatives in effort to punish transparency
5) Ten killed as Russian attacks on merchant ships in Black Sea intensify
6) NYC: Man in custody after setting off “incendiary device” outside federal building
7) Pentagon Withheld Dozens of US Military Injuries in Iran War
8) Yemen: Houthis declare naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, widening threat to global oil supplies
9) Tipster charged with murder after police say anonymous call helped solve 30-year disappearance
10) Mali: Insurgents Ambush Army Convoy, Source Says More Than 50 Killed
11) Judge puts temporary pause on Paramount-Warner Bros. merger
12) EU hits China’s Alibaba with €550M record bribe demand
13) Tropical Depression Two expected to become Tropical Storm Bertha later Monday as rain targets the Southeast US
14) Russia: Anti-War Politician Ends Run for Parliament, Citing Legal Setbacks
15) Food delivery rider wins China’s top literary prize
16) Congo: Known Ebola death toll passes 930
17) US FDA says Taylor Farms Cyclospora lettuce test was a false positive
18) India: Police clash with “cockroaches” marching to protest exam irregularities
19) US Coast Guard medevacs Carnival cruise ship passenger off California coast
20) US gas again tops $4 per gallon as Iran fighting persist
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Dying for Nothing
22) Is It Really Socialism?
23) Suing Stephen Miller
24) The Odyssey has transcended the culture war
25) Flag on the play: First Amendment problems with NIL regulation
26) Trump Is Ready for All-Out War in Iran. There’s Just One Catch.
27) Fearing Justice: Rubio Gets Bolshie About the ICC
28) California’s Road to Serfdom
29) Privacy-Minded Fashion Aims To Baffle Facial Recognition
30) The everyday injustices of the plea bargain
31) Robin Hood in Reverse: How the Pentagon Makes Us Poorer
32) Zhuangzi and the Original Case Against the State
33) Revolutionary Optimism Takes Practice
34) Trump Uses NATO Summit to Reinforce Mercantilist Policy
35) America’s Addiction to Drone Warfare Must End
36) Just Pick a Time Already!
37) Alan Greenspan’s Deceitful Legacy
38) Brazil’s Fiscal Reckoning Has Arrived
39) Trump’s War and the Decay of the American Soul
40) Trump’s Brazil tariffs could boomerang on Flavio Bolsonaro
41) The Kleptocrat Nesting Dolls Behind Trump’s Potemkin Gas Stations
42) Terminal Representation
43) The GOP’s Freak Streak Could Boost Democratic Socialists
44) The Liberal Origins of the War Against the Deep State
45) Data-center debate has one winning argument: Sheer panic — and it will backfire
46) Trump Continues to Relitigate the 2020 Election
47) Red States Are Winning the Prosperity Race
48) Zionism is a White Occupied Cult
49) Trump’s War on International Justice
50) Cycles of Enthusiasm, Reversal, and Revival in Medical Practice
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 07/20/26
52) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 07/20/26
53) Rising, 07/20/26
54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 07/20/26
55) EconTalk, 07/20/26
56) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 07/20/26
57) Questions For Corbett, 07/20/26
58) The Chris Hedges Report, 07/19/26
59) Pink Flame of Liberty, 07/19/26
60) John Mearsheimer on The Scott Horton Show
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) US regime strikes Iran for tenth consecutive night, Iranians attack tanker
Source: Boston Globe
“Iran attacked a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz early Tuesday, forcing its crew to abandon the ship, while the United States conducted yet another round of airstrikes targeting the Islamic Republic as they struggle over control of the key waterway. The 10 consecutive nights of U.S. airstrikes haven’t compelled Tehran to loosen its grip on the strait, through which about a fifth of all crude oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime.” (07/21/26)
https://archive.is/oKYuf
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2) Trump announces latest scheme to raise Americans’ taxes
Source: Austin American-Statesman
“President Donald Trump on Monday imposed 50% tariffs on [American buyers of] most Canadian goods, declaring that Canada has unfairly discriminated against American autos, alcohol and dairy products. … The new 50% tariffs would exclude energy products, potash, fish and critical minerals, but they would include goods that had previously been protected from import taxes by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. That 2020 trade pact was not renewed by the U.S., triggering a new set of negotiations that could run until 2036. The White House said in a fact sheet that the tariffs would go into effect in 30 days, meaning there is time for negotiations as Trump has not always followed through on his announced tax hikes on [American buyers of] imports.” (07/21/26)
https://www.statesman.com/news/politics/article/trump-imposes-50-tariff-on-canadian-goods-22352984.php
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3) Hamas names Khalil Al-Hayya as new overall leader
Source: Reuters
“Hamas has named Khalil Al-Hayya as its overall leader, according to a statement from the Palestinian militant group on Monday, in a move an analyst says could signal a tougher stance by the group towards disarmament calls. Hayya replaces Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in combat with Israeli forces in October 2024 as Hamas fought a full-scale, two-year war with Israel in the Gaza Strip. Hayya, the group’s exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator, has become an increasingly central figure in the leadership of Hamas since the deaths of Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran in July 2024. He is seen as more hardline than Khaled Meshaal, the head of the group’s office in exile and the other frontrunner for the leadership.” (07/20/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-names-khalil-al-hayya-new-leader-statement-says-2026-07-20/
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4) Court document: US regime thugs sought phone records of journalists, relatives in effort to punish transparency
Source: Associated Press
“President Donald Trump’s administration sought phone records of several New York Times journalists and even those of some of their relatives, according to a motion unsealed Monday — an unusually aggressive attempt to unmask the confidential sources of reporters who wrote about Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet. The efforts by the Republican president’s administration to compel the identity of sources in the form of additional subpoenas come at a time when the executive branch’s relationship with the press is increasingly contentious. The efforts, described in a letter-motion filed by the Times over the weekend, were more expansive than previously known, the newspaper noted. They also covered a time frame that exceeded the news articles in question.” (07/20/26)
https://apnews.com/article/new-york-times-justice-department-trump-88f5ceca88dcdd19779e6f61abedf337
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5) Ten killed as Russian attacks on merchant ships in Black Sea intensify
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The death toll of a Russian strike on a cargo ship off the coast of the Ukrainian city of Odesa has risen to 10. The Guinea-Bissau-flagged ship was hit by Russian cruise missiles on Sunday, the Ukrainian Air Force said, causing a fire. A search and rescue operation was launched and lasted all night. By Monday morning, Ukraine’s seaports authority said nine crew members had been killed, as well as one of its pilots. India later said four of its citizens died in the attack. In recent weeks, the Odesa region has come under sustained attack. Twenty-eight people died in Russian strikes on the region in July alone, regional head Oleh Kiper told Ukrainian TV on Monday. Russian attacks on cargo ships in the Black Sea have also increased.” (07/20/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gvpv3ewv2o
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6) NYC: Man in custody after setting off “incendiary device” outside federal building
Source: ABC News
“A man with a history of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity set off an ‘incendiary device’ outside a Manhattan federal building that houses an immigration court, authorities said. Video captured the moment the suspect poured a liquid and then ignited it outside 26 Federal Plaza, sparking a massive fire. FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle said the suspect used fireworks to set the blaze. Two people — a federal employee and a civilian — suffered minor injuries and were treated and released, officials said.” (07/20/26)
https://abcnews.com/US/man-custody-after-setting-off-incendiary-device-federal/story?id=134916208
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7) Pentagon Withheld Dozens of US Military Injuries in Iran War
Source: New York Times
“In the week leading up to the Iranian attack on Friday that killed two U.S. soldiers and left one service member missing in Jordan, Iran carried out three other strikes against U.S. forces in the country. Those attacks injured dozens of U.S. service members and damaged several helicopters, according to several U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. But the Pentagon did not disclose the earlier strikes, nor the casualties and damage they inflicted. … Central Command is not required to release information about injured service members, especially when they quickly return to duty, a U.S. military official said. Moreover, another U.S. military official added, why would the Pentagon divulge information that could help Iran zero in on its deadly ballistic missiles and drone attacks …. Central Command has also stopped announcing how many sites in Iran it hits each day for the same reason, U.S. officials say.” (07/20/26)
https://archive.is/ssVcj
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8) Yemen: Houthis declare naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, widening threat to global oil supplies
Source: NBC News
“Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, a move that opens a new front against the United States in its war on Iran and widens the threat to global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf. Iran had pressed the Houthis to close the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea if the U.S. continued to attack Iranian power infrastructure. … The full closure of the Bab el-Mandeb strait would reduce global oil supply by 7% as it would leave most of Saudi oil exports unable to leave the region. The disruption would add to the massive cut to global oil flows from the war in the Gulf, which has already reduced shipments by 10% of global supply.” (07/20/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/middle-east/yemen-houthis-maritime-embargo-saudi-arabia-oil-rcna588345
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9) Tipster charged with murder after police say anonymous call helped solve 30-year disappearance
Source: Fox News
“More than 30 years after an Alaska man vanished without a trace, an anonymous confession breathed new life into the cold case and ultimately led investigators to the alleged killer. Christopher Popps, 54, of Michigan, was arrested after Alaska State Troopers said they traced the confession back to him, accusing him of fatally shooting his former co-worker, Patrick Orville Dearth, in 1993 before dumping his body inside a barrel off a remote highway. … The breakthrough came on Jan. 22, 2025, when Alaska State Troopers received an anonymous tip from someone claiming to have committed a murder in the Fairbanks area in 1993, according to the agency. … they found human remains inside a barrel down a steep embankment near Mile 47 of the Steese Highway. The Alaska State Medical Examiner’s Office later identified the remains as Dearth and ruled his death a homicide. As investigators dug deeper, they identified the anonymous tipster as Popps.” (07/20/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/us/tipster-charged-murder-after-police-say-anonymous-call-helped-solve-30-year-disappearance
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10) Mali: Insurgents Ambush Army Convoy, Source Says More Than 50 Killed
Source: US News & World Report
“Militants linked to al Qaeda and a Tuareg-led separatist group ambushed a military convoy in northern Mali over the weekend, and a source close to the rebels said more than 50 soldiers and allied Russian fighters were killed and others taken hostage. The attack marked the latest in a series of escalating assaults by the two groups, which joined forces for nationwide attacks in April that killed the defence minister and hit the airport in the capital Bamako, and launched a second wave this month aimed at seizing the town of Anefis.” (07/20/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-07-20/mali-insurgents-ambush-army-convoy-source-says-more-than-50-killed
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11) Judge puts temporary pause on Paramount-Warner Bros. merger
Source: NBC News
“Paramount Skydance’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery hit a roadblock Monday after a federal judge temporarily paused the proposed merger, granting a request from a coalition of 12 state attorneys general who sued to thwart the $110 billion deal. U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the Northern District of California issued a temporary restraining order barring Paramount from closing the transaction, a corporate tie-up that would unite two movie studios, two streaming platforms and two news organizations under the control of David Ellison, the son of billionaire technology tycoon Larry Ellison. … The states argue the deal would reduce competition in three areas: wide-release theatrical film distribution, anticipated top-grossing movie distribution, and the market for distributing basic cable channels to cable and satellite providers.” (07/20/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/media/judge-puts-temporary-pause-paramount-warner-bros-merger-rcna587804
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12) EU hits China’s Alibaba with €550M record bribe demand
Source: Politico
“The European Commission slapped Chinese e-commerce giant AliExpress with a record €550 million fine on Monday for failing to stop the sale of illegal and harmful products on its platform. ‘There were a lot of counterfeit products, unsafe toys and dangerous cosmetics which stayed online for a very long time,’ the EU’s tech chief Henna Virkkunen told reporters ahead of the announcement. ‘Products were still being recommended and advertised on the platform … even after it was already known that they did not meet the standards.’ The penalty is the biggest ever imposed by the EU executive under the bloc’s rulebook policing online platforms, the Digital Services Act, which requires very large platforms, including AliExpress — owned by China’s tech giant Alibaba — to assess and mitigate the risks associated with the spread of illegal content and goods on their systems.” (07/20/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-hits-chinas-alibaba-with-record-fine-of-e550m-over-illegal-products/
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13) Tropical Depression Two expected to become Tropical Storm Bertha later Monday as rain targets the Southeast US
Source: Fox Weather
“Tropical Depression Two is expected to strengthen into Tropical Storm Bertha later Monday in the eastern Gulf, which would become the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Tropical Depression Two formed in the eastern Gulf on Sunday and is expected to bring days of heavy rainfall to parts of the Southeast. Tropical Depression Two was located about 100 miles south of the eastern Florida Panhandle Monday morning, with maximum sustained winds increasing to 35 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). … According to the NHC, Tropical Depression Two is currently forecast to move slowly northwest along the northern Gulf Coast over the next several days.” (07/20/26)
https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/tropical-depression-forms-tropical-storm-bertha-rain-southeast
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14) Russia: Anti-War Politician Ends Run for Parliament, Citing Legal Setbacks
Source: US News & World Report
“Boris Nadezhdin, a Russian anti-war politician who had hoped to stand in parliamentary elections later this year, has announced he is ending his role in opposition politics for now, blaming what he said were politically-motivated legal setbacks. Nadezhdin, 63, a former liberal lawmaker, has been an outspoken critic of Moscow’s war in Ukraine …. In a statement, Nadezhdin said he had ran out of political road however, after a series of setbacks. He received a small fine on Friday for displaying ‘extremist symbols’ and was this month designated a ‘foreign agent’ by the justice ministry. Both rulings disqualified him from running for the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, in September elections, his statement – issued on Sunday – said. He said he had also been banned from leaving Russia.” (07/20/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-07-20/russian-anti-war-politician-ends-run-for-parliament-citing-legal-setbacks
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15) Food delivery rider wins China’s top literary prize
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A collection of poems, some scribbled on slips of paper between food deliveries, has won Wang Jibing one of China’s top literary honours. Low Flight, inspired by the everyday challenges delivery riders face, has bagged the Lu Xun Literary Prize – named after a writer who has been referred to as the father of modern Chinese literature. … The monetary awards for recipients of the Lu Xun Literary Prize are not publicly announced – though as of 2014 it stood at 100,000 Chinese yuan ($14,800; £11,000). Born in Jiangsu province, Wang left school as a teenager due to financial hardship at home. He took on various jobs, from construction to scavenging for waste and selling things at a street stall, before becoming a food deliveryman. But his love for reading persisted, and over the last decade he has been posting his own poems and essays on social media.” (07/20/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ydr3xd0kvo
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16) Congo: Known Ebola death toll passes 930
Source: Seattle Times
“At least 930 people have died in Congo’s Ebola outbreak, the country’s Ministry of Health said Monday, with 37 new deaths recorded in a 24-hour span Friday into Saturday, one of the highest totals. The deaths were recorded out of the 2,344 cases confirmed as of Saturday, the health ministry said. The Ebola outbreak that was declared in eastern Congo on May 15 is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record. The Bundibugyo virus responsible for the outbreak is less common than others that cause Ebola disease, and there is no approved vaccine or treatment.” (07/20/26)
https://archive.is/I3t8A
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17) US FDA says Taylor Farms Cyclospora lettuce test was a false positive
Source: Fox News
“The Food and Drug Administration said Sunday that a Taylor Farms lettuce sample initially reported as positive for Cyclospora should be considered a false positive following an additional laboratory review. ‘Due to the complexity in detection of Cyclospora, FDA laboratory experts re-reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive,’ the agency said. The FDA said no product samples had produced a confirmed positive result for Cyclospora as of Sunday.” [editor’s note: I predict that FDA will eventually just announce what we already knew — explosive diarrhea is a frequent and long-known side effect of eating food from Taco Bell – TLK] (07/20/26)
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/taylor-farms-cyclospora-test-false-positive
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18) India: Police clash with “cockroaches” marching to protest exam irregularities
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“India’s riot police baton-charged protesters in New Delhi as they tried to march to parliament on Monday, escalating a protest over irregularities in major examinations. Protesters ran for cover as police in blue riot gear charged at them near the Jantar Mantar protest site. The protesters are demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the irregularities, including question paper leaks and technical glitches.” (07/20/26)
https://archive.is/5AAYX
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19) US Coast Guard medevacs Carnival cruise ship passenger off California coast
Source: SFGate
“A woman was medevaced off a Carnival cruise ship last week after she showed signs of having a stroke, the Coast Guard said. … A MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew flew 45 miles off Humboldt Bay to reach the vessel. Video taken by the crew shows Coast Guard members lowered from the helicopter onto the deck of the Luminosa. … The medevac was conducted ‘despite 8- to 10-foot seas and 40-mph winds,’ the Coast Guard said in a news release.” (07/19/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/carnival-medevac-california-22351225.php
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20) US gas again tops $4 per gallon as Iran fighting persists
Source: Axios
“Drivers can expect pump shock déjà vu as the national average gas price again climbed over $4 per gallon today, as President Trump appears poised to escalate the war in Iran. … The national average is now $4.00 a gallon, per AAA. Last month, prices slipped back below $4 per gallon, giving some relief following months of pain at the pump.” (07/20/26)
https://archive.is/Cb3VI
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Dying for Nothing
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Seventeen military personnel have died in President Trump’s war on Iran. Compared to the 58,200 military personnel who were killed in the Vietnam War, that’s not a large number … well, unless one happens to be among those 17 or among their friends or family members. In that case, 17 becomes an extremely large number. But there is one thing in common between those 58,200 military personnel who died in the Vietnam War and those 17 military personnel who have died in Trump’s war on Iran: They all died for nothing. No, they didn’t died for their country. No, they didn’t die defending our freedom. No, they didn’t die to make the world safe for democracy. They died for nothing.” (07/20/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/07/20/dying-for-nothing/
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22) Is It Really Socialism?
Source: Liberalism.org
by Matt Zwolinski
“So socialism is back, and the commentary has arranged itself in the usual formation. On the right, alarm: the reds are at the gates. On the left, a banner: the future has arrived. What is striking is how little of the excitement and the horror attaches to anything the new mayors actually propose. The same rent freeze, the same municipal grocery, would pass almost unnoticed under another name. It is the word that thrills the one side and frightens the other, and so the question everyone hurries to argue is a question about the word. Is this really socialism, or just New Deal liberalism with sharper slogans? Does a city-owned grocery store cross the line, or is it ordinary municipal housekeeping? The fixation is a mistake, and an instructive one.” (07/20/26)
https://www.liberalism.org/p/is-it-really-socialism
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23) Suing Stephen Miller
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko
“It’s time to put everyone from Stephen Miller and Tom Homan to the most recent ICE hire on notice: a reckoning is coming.” (07/20/26)
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/suing-stephen-miller
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24) The Odyssey has transcended the culture war
Source: spiked
by Maren Thom
“Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is a commercial and artistic triumph, opening to widespread critical acclaim and collecting $264million in global ticket sales during its opening weekend. Indeed, it is reassuring that Hollywood still has some artistry and ambition left in it. But alongside the legitimate plaudits, the film’s juggernaut success has produced two other, more philistine reactions. The liberal left is relieved. After months of controversy over the supposedly woke casting, the film has received ecstatic reviews and attracted huge audiences, leading progressives to declare victory. … Much of the right is furious for precisely the same reason. Having condemned The Odyssey before seeing it, the anti-woke warriors cannot forgive it for being magnificent.” (07/20/26)
https://archive.is/n9eXj
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25) Flag on the play: First Amendment problems with NIL regulation
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Amuda Balu
“NIL agreements are about more than money. They are also about expression. Student athletes earn compensation by appearing in advertisements, promoting products on social media, and publicly associating themselves with brands. These activities therefore qualify as speech, which receives First Amendment protection. Yet many of our current state and university NIL laws do not seem to withstand constitutional scrutiny. Two types of common restrictions in particular are concerning: restrictions for contracts in vice industries and those relating to institutional values.” (07/20/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/flag-play-first-amendment-problems-nil-regulation
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26) Trump Is Ready for All-Out War in Iran. There’s Just One Catch.
Source: The New Republic
by Edith Olmsted
“Forget writing a check you can’t cash; President Donald Trump is escalating a war that the U.S. military can’t wage. Trump has made it more than clear that he’s done negotiating with Tehran, after the U.S. military launched yet another wave of strikes against Iran Saturday in retribution for the deaths of at least two U.S. military service members in Jordan. … ‘The U.S. is planning for a wider war,’ one U.S. official familiar with the matter told The Washington Post Monday. The official warned that U.S. military operations would be kneecapped by dwindling stockpiles of air defense and long-range munitions, as well as widespread damage to U.S. military bases in the Middle East. ‘We do not have enough to safely sustain operations, and I don’t think the White House is aware of that,’ the official added.” (07/20/26)
https://newrepublic.com/post/213240/donald-trump-war-iran-weapons-stockpile
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27) Fearing Justice: Rubio Gets Bolshie About the ICC
Source: CounterPunch
by Binoy Kampmark
“Why are they so afraid? The Trump administration, pathologically obsessed about the exaggerated reach of the International Criminal Court, have decided to take to the barricades. In a July 13 media note released by a spokesperson for the US State Department, something akin to a declaration of war was made against the Hague-based tribunal. … The late Henry Kissinger, who argued most stridently against the establishment of such a criminal court, would no doubt have approved. He, more than most, would have feared some eventual accounting for his own egregious crimes against international humanitarian law while serving the White House.” (07/20/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/20/fearing-justice-rubio-gets-bolshie-about-the-icc/
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28) California’s Road to Serfdom
Source: Law & Liberty
by Marc Wheat & Mitchell Bahnsen
“Several years ago, California brothers Arron and Arthur Benedetti inherited 267 acres of farmland from their father, a turkey farmer who spent his life working that land. They were not asking for a subsidy, tax break, or any government benefit. They simply wanted to build a home on property they had lawfully inherited. The government of Marin County, however, took it upon itself to say that the brothers could have their permit, but only if they signed a covenant permanently committing the land to commercial agricultural use, farming it themselves, or contracting it out in perpetuity. … Even though the brothers have a strong incentive to take good care of the land they own, building a home and living on what their father built is, apparently, not among the options Marin County is prepared to allow.” (07/20/26)
https://lawliberty.org/californias-road-to-serfdom/
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29) Privacy-Minded Fashion Aims To Baffle Facial Recognition
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“With shoplifting a serious concern, and given the declining cost of security equipment, it’s no surprise that grocery stores in California are rolling out facial recognition technology to identify known thieves when they step through the door. Software-backed cameras that match people’s faces to their names are increasingly ubiquitous at airports, stores, and on the street, spelling the potential end to anonymity in public places. The end, that is, unless people take advantage of gear and tactics designed to confuse facial recognition tech.” (07/20/26)
https://reason.com/2026/07/20/privacy-minded-fashion-aims-to-baffle-facial-recognition/
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30) The everyday injustices of the plea bargain
Source: The Hill
by Austin Sarat
“Plea deals, in which defendantsagrees to give up their right to a trial and other rights in exchange for a reduction in charges or a sentence, are the grease that keeps the wheels of justice turning in the American legal system. The American Bar Association’s Plea-Bargaining Task Force explains that ‘some jurisdictions have not had a criminal trial in many years.’ But it wasn’t always this way. The explosion of plea bargaining in this country has been facilitated by a series of Supreme Court decisions that have given prosecutors wide latitude to offer inducements and make threats to get defendants to waive their right to trial. This year, on June 18, the court took a step to curb one of the most serious injustices in the plea-bargaining system, while ignoring its everyday injustices and the damage it does.” (07/20/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/supreme-court/5975151-scotus-hunter-v-united-states/
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31) Robin Hood in Reverse: How the Pentagon Makes Us Poorer
Source: Inequality.org
by Danaka Katovich
“In an era of high prices for fuel, food, and housing, an extra $4,000 could make a life-saving difference for many families. But instead, that’s what the average household had to shell out for the Pentagon last year. That’s right: The average U.S. taxpayer in 2025 had over $4,000 taken out of their paychecks to fund the Pentagon, according to the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. In the coming years, that amount is set to rise as Congress considers a $1.5 trillion war budget for 2027. For the growing number of working poor in the United States, that money can mean the difference between making rent or falling behind, or between being able to afford an emergency trip to the doctor or going without care.” (07/20/26)
https://inequality.org/article/robin-hood-in-reverse-how-the-pentagon-makes-us-poorer/
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32) Zhuangzi and the Original Case Against the State
Source: Students For Liberty
by Hein Htet Kyaw
“Zhuangzi, sometimes referred as Zhuang Zhou, remains one of history’s most fundamentally subversive thinkers. As a writer in the chaotic period of Warring States of ancient China around the 4th century, Zhuangzi positioned himself not as a revolutionary for the improvement of government but as an opponent to the idea of such an entity altogether. Instead of giving his opinion on how the governing body could be improved, he tore apart the legitimacy of its authority by means of sarcastic criticism aimed primarily at Confucianism. He maintained that the desire to rule is the main evil of mankind, which destroys the whole hierarchy of power within the ruling elite. The other philosophers of his era attempted to offer advice to the kings on how to manage their states, but Zhuangzi considered the rulers themselves to be one of the major sources of chaos in the world.” (07/20/26)
https://studentsforliberty.org/blog/zhuangzi-and-the-original-case-against-the-state/
-----
33) Revolutionary Optimism Takes Practice
Source: Caitlin Johnstone
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Revolutionary optimism is a skill that you learn over time. Like any other skill, it takes practice to get good at it. Like any other skill, it can seem very difficult when you first start trying.” (07/20/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/07/20/revolutionary-optimism-takes-practice/
-----
34) Trump Uses NATO Summit to Reinforce Mercantilist Policy
Source: The Daily Economy
by Doug Bandow
“NATO members are finally taking more responsibility for their own defense. Using those security commitments to squeeze trading partners threatens markets and undermines diplomacy.” (07/20/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/trump-uses-nato-summit-to-reinforce-mercantilist-policy/
-----
35) America’s Addiction to Drone Warfare Must End
Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño
“Drone warfare does not make American foreign policy right. It merely offers another venue for politicians to cause instability abroad without facing domestic consequences. The technology that promised precision has instead produced permanent war waged in shadows. The United States must return to a non-interventionist foreign policy that focuses on internal affairs rather than constantly stoking tensions across the globe. Twenty years of drone strikes have not made America safer. They have rendered war invisible and accountability impossible.” (07/20/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/americas-addiction-to-drone-warfare-must-end
-----
36) Just Pick a Time Already!
Source: Townhall
by Arthur Schaper
“Americans have endured 50 years of this springing forward and falling back. I’m sick of it. It’s like some old relic, all coming from wartime, an anachronism proving yet again that government intervention knows no bounds. Times have changed, agricultural methods have improved, and everyone has technology to light their way, whether driving to work or getting to school. The United States has never been more energy dominant and independent, so concerns about fuel costs and availability don’t matter anymore. To go with Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time is now a matter of preference. Lots of interest groups are going to be happy or unhappy either way, so let’s put aside their discomforts.” (07/20/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/arthurschaper/2026/07/20/just-pick-a-time-already-n2679595
-----
37) Alan Greenspan’s Deceitful Legacy
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith
“When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton reportedly said, ‘Because that’s where the money is.’ That wasn’t necessarily a wisecrack, and Sutton denied having said it, though late in life he admitted, if he had been asked, that likely would be his reply. Success for some is measured by the amount of money they have, and banks are known to have lots of it. For a bank robber, it’s a matter of switching ownership of it through a threatened act of violence. Sutton, though, was not a violent man and never killed anyone. … You can rob a bank and take ownership of the money you take. Or you can control a central bank and steal the money’s purchasing power from under our noses. Willie Sutton was a thief. And Alan Greenspan?” (07/20/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/alan-greenspans-deceitful-legacy
-----
38) Brazil’s Fiscal Reckoning Has Arrived
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Scott
‘At the end of June 2026, Brazil’s National Treasury published a document forecasting the nation’s fiscal future, though it read more like a confession of failure than anything else. The eighth edition of the Fiscal Projections Report, first issued just over three years ago, was phrased in the usually dry government statements of routine transparency: reference scenarios for fiscal projections, sensitivity exercises on macroeconomic parameters like interest rates and inflation, a box on how oil prices are predicted to hit federal revenue, and so on. The headline fact, however, was clear: the government’s own fiscal targets are unreachable beginning in 2028. The government’s arithmetic shows that it is no longer able to reach these goals, and what makes matters worse is that there is no permissible measure capable of closing the fiscal gap that yawns beneath the target.” (07/20/26)
https://fee.org/articles/brazils-fiscal-reckoning-has-arrived/
-----
39) Trump’s War and the Decay of the American Soul
Source: Antiwar.com
by Nolan Denaro
“One thing that is always thrown by the wayside in times of war is the maintenance of the national soul. When faced with the inherent brutality of war, the emotions of the moment can overshadow the values we seek to uphold. When the job of maintaining this national soul is left to the state, – a group Murray Rothbard labeled a ‘centralized, regularized organization of theft’ – more enticing projects tend to arise. Often those projects directly harm the citizens of the nation, as by the state’s very nature, they tend to involve aggression, theft, murder or coercion. Despite the lack of care given by the government to our nation’s soul, it is nonetheless a core pillar of a cohesive country. It defines the virtues our country intends to project to the world.” (07/20/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/nolan_denaro/2026/07/19/trumps-war-and-the-decay-of-the-american-soul/
-----
40) Trump’s Brazil tariffs could boomerang on Flavio Bolsonaro
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Andre Pagliarini
“[T]here’s a reason Washington’s tariffs and the Brazilian presidential race have become inseparable. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of the convicted former president and Lula’s likely opponent in the October election, visited Trump, Rubio, and other senior officials in Washington in May. He returned to lobby USTR directly again in July, this time asking for a 180-day delay so the tariffs wouldn’t land before Brazilians voted. His argument was candid about the politics involved: imposing the tariffs now, he told American officials, would hand Lula ‘precisely the political victory’ the president’s campaign has been ‘engineering.’ Lula, for his part, has accused the senator, whose brother advocated for Trump’s trade war against Brazil last year, of committing ‘yet another act of treason against the Fatherland.'” (07/20/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-brazil-tariffs/
-----
41) The Kleptocrat Nesting Dolls Behind Trump’s Potemkin Gas Stations
Source: The American Prospect
by Maureen Tkacik
“How can Freedom Fuel afford to sell gas for $3.47 a gallon? That’s the wrong question to ask.” (07/20/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/07/20/kleptocrat-nesting-dolls-behind-trumps-potemkin-gas-stations-freedom-fuel/
-----
42) Terminal Representation
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, 84, has been absent from Congress, hospitalized for weeks — first with no comment on his medical condition, still with very little information divulged. There should be an ethic in public service that when one is incapacitated, one hands the trust given back to the public to fill anew. Sadly, this tradition has fallen victim to … take your pick: incumbency, partisanship, lack of electoral competition, Cicero’s times/mores. History’s third-oldest U.S. Congress ‘boasts’ 23 members of the House and Senate now eighty years old or older.” (07/20/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/07/20/terminal-representation/
-----
43) The GOP’s Freak Streak Could Boost Democratic Socialists
Source: The American Conservative
by Scott Greer
“Marx looms over the American political landscape. Victor Marx, that is. As Democrats continue to embrace anti-white socialists, Colorado Republicans nominate a strange outsider for governor. … Marx claims to be a high-risk humanitarian who rescues women from dangerous circumstances. He told an interviewer he helped kill a man when he was seven. He frequently talks about engaging in exorcisms and battling demons. These comments and others would make him a hit on the podcast circuit, but aren’t ideal for a gubernatorial candidate. … DSA candidates have a discernible ideology. Marx and other ‘Insane Clown Party’ figures do not. … The DSA can actually take power and implement a radical agenda. The ICP can only lose races and create headlines for liberal reporters.” (07/20/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-gops-freak-streak-could-boost-democratic-socialists/
-----
44) The Liberal Origins of the War Against the Deep State
Source: Foreign Policy
by Julian E Zelizer
“Fifty years ago, liberals were attacking what today is called the deep state—that is, the unelected members of the federal government. At the center of this liberal coalition was Idaho Sen. Frank Church, who in 1975 and 1976 headed high-profile hearings into the national security apparatus that had been created at the start of the Cold War in the late 1940s, but which seemed to be pursuing interests very different from what elected officials were telling voters.” (07/20/26)
https://archive.is/45oFD
-----
45) Data-center debate has one winning argument: Sheer panic — and it will backfire
Source: New York Post
by David Harsanyi
“The economic case for data centers is indisputable: A single hyperscale facility brings in billions in capital investment, creates a slew of high-paying jobs from construction to engineering and ensures local governments are flush with tax revenue. Big Tech bogeymen such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta upgrade local infrastructure and create secondary economies, often in struggling areas. Long term, these companies offer self-sustaining economic activity that the magical ‘green’ industry never did or could.” (07/19/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/07/19/opinion/data-center-debate-has-one-winning-argument-sheer-panic-and-it-will-backfire/
-----
46) Trump Continues to Relitigate the 2020 Election
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye
“Perhaps the most telling aspect of Trump’s address wasn’t what he said. It was what he didn’t say. At no point did he identify a single state where vote totals were changed. He didn’t claim that a voting machine actually switched votes. He didn’t allege that tabulation reports were manipulated or that election databases were corrupted. He didn’t present evidence that any jurisdiction reported vote totals it knew to be false. He relied on the viewer to infer those claims without stating them explicitly. Instead, the speech relied on familiar patterns, such as discussions of foreign cyber capabilities, intelligence reporting, and potential vulnerabilities. Each of these was presented as proof that the election itself had been manipulated.” (07/19/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/trump-continues-to-relitigate-th
-----
47) Red States Are Winning the Prosperity Race
Source: Independent Institute
by Richard K Vedder & Nicholas Jadwisienczak
“Republicans disheartened by growing fears of electoral losses at the federal level this fall can take some solace in evidence from a new, soon-to-be-released study that we coauthored for Unleash Prosperity, a group focused on promoting pro-growth policies. The graph below shows the results from that study, revealing that in this century economic growth has been substantially greater in the Republican Red states. The new study focuses on the more recent years 2020-2024, using modern statistical techniques to show that even after other factors impacting economic change—like climate, the proportion of the population working in manufacturing or producing oil, or the degree of urbanization—are taken into account, Republican-dominated states grew sharply faster than Democratic oriented ones.” (07/19/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/07/19/red-states-are-winning-the-prosperity-race/
-----
48) Zionism is a White Occupied Cult
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“It seems to be a tried-and-true trope even if it is a bit of a tired one for a seasoned Oliver Stone-style conspiracy enthusiast such as myself. The dreaded Zionist Occupied Government (or ZOG if your nasty) is really just a very nineties take on the ancient notion of the Jews secretly controlling everything from the banks to the claw machine at your local Chuck E. Cheese. Naturally, all racism aside, I’ve always found the notion a tad bit hard to swallow. … Gross story short; as much as I may despise Zionism along with every other school of racial supremacy, the notion of said Zionists calling the shots at the country club has always felt a bit like the tentacle wagging the Cthulhu to me, that is until recently when October 7th seemed to collide with the second Trump Administration like a wayward meteorite.” (07/19/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/07/zionism-is-white-occupied-cult.html
-----
49) Trump’s War on International Justice
Source: Informed Comment
by Jenny Williams
“There is something revealing about the way Washington talks about international law. When the law moves against an adversary, it becomes the language of civilisation. When the same law approaches the United States or Israel, it suddenly becomes an assault on sovereignty. … The United States wants a world in which law flows downward, never upward. It wants courts that can frighten weaker states, isolate rival leaders and decorate speeches about a rules-based order, but not institutions that can ask uncomfortable questions about Gaza, Afghanistan or American military operations abroad. That is not the rule of law. It is the management of impunity.” (07/20/26)
https://www.juancole.com/2026/07/trumps-international-justice.html
-----
50) Cycles of Enthusiasm, Reversal, and Revival in Medical Practice
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Alan Cassels
“Remember that thing that we said was good for you, then we changed our minds telling you it’s now bad for you. And now? We’re changing our minds again…umm, maybe it is good for you again. Medicine that claims to be ‘evidence-based’ is never static. It changes. Sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly and so too do our doctor’s suggestions about what they think is right to keep us healthy. In that light, sometimes medical recommendations around screening, surgery, or treatments like drugs or vaccines follow a certain pattern: widespread Enthusiasm based on promising early evidence, a Reversal when rigorous trials reveal limited benefits or unexpected harms, and then a Revival driven by new interpretations, technological tweaks, manufacturer greed, or good old advocacy.” (07/19/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/cycles-of-enthusiasm-reversal-and-revival-in-medical-practice/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 07/20/26
Source: Reason
"Is the War in Iran Spiraling Out of Control?" (07/20/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/07/20/is-the-war-in-iran-spiraling-out-of-control/
-----
52) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 07/20/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Calling it a ‘lab leak’ makes the story feel tidy, but the real scandal might be the system that makes lab-origin disasters plausible in the first place. We sit down with independent journalist Sam Husseini to unpack gain-of-function research, why ‘potentially pandemic pathogens’ are funded and defended, and how a small circle of incentives, prestige, and national security framing can turn high-risk virology into business as usual.” (07/20/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-sam-husseini-gabbard-reveals-fauci-covered-by-covid-origins/
-----
53) Rising, 07/20/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on NYC DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo suggesting that government-run grocery stores may be a better alternative to small businesses.” (07/20/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/5978049-rising-july-20-2026/
-----
54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 07/20/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Trump Escalates Iran War As More Soldiers Die.” (07/20/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1pJkOOzwvRZJj
-----
55) EconTalk, 07/20/26
Source: EconLog
“Dwayne Betts on the Iliad.” (07/20/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/dwayne-betts-on-the-iliad/
-----
56) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 07/20/26
Source: The Dispatch
“The Development Paradox | Interview: Ronald Bailey.” (07/20/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/the-development-paradox-interview-ronald-bailey/
-----
57) Questions For Corbett, 07/20/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“Was 10/7 a false flag event? And, more importantly, what evidence can be presented to reliably inform such an assessment? Strap in and get ready, folks. Today James engages in a good old-fashioned Corbett Report deep dive to get to the bottom of the spectacular attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.” (07/20/26)
https://corbettreport.com/was-10-7-a-false-flag/
-----
58) The Chris Hedges Report, 07/19/26
Source: The Chris Hedges Report
“Is Iran Becoming Another ‘Forever War’? (w/ John Mearsheimer).” (07/19/26)
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/is-iran-becoming-another-foreve
-----
59) Pink Flame of Liberty, 07/19/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“PART TWO: Let’s Examine the JC Filings: Appeal of the Disaffiliation of the Libertarian Party of NH.” (07/19/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdGPRWppTKw
-----
60) John Mearsheimer on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“John Mearsheimer on Iran, Ukraine and the Future of American Power.” (07/19/26)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/7-17-26-john-mearsheimer-on-iran-ukraine-and-the-future-of-american-power/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) US regime strikes Iran for tenth consecutive night, Iranians attack tanker
2) Trump announces latest scheme to raise Americans’ taxes
3) Hamas names Khalil Al-Hayya as new overall leader
4) Court document: US regime thugs sought phone records of journalists, relatives in effort to punish transparency
5) Ten killed as Russian attacks on merchant ships in Black Sea intensify
6) NYC: Man in custody after setting off “incendiary device” outside federal building
7) Pentagon Withheld Dozens of US Military Injuries in Iran War
8) Yemen: Houthis declare naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, widening threat to global oil supplies
9) Tipster charged with murder after police say anonymous call helped solve 30-year disappearance
10) Mali: Insurgents Ambush Army Convoy, Source Says More Than 50 Killed
11) Judge puts temporary pause on Paramount-Warner Bros. merger
12) EU hits China’s Alibaba with €550M record bribe demand
13) Tropical Depression Two expected to become Tropical Storm Bertha later Monday as rain targets the Southeast US
14) Russia: Anti-War Politician Ends Run for Parliament, Citing Legal Setbacks
15) Food delivery rider wins China’s top literary prize
16) Congo: Known Ebola death toll passes 930
17) US FDA says Taylor Farms Cyclospora lettuce test was a false positive
18) India: Police clash with “cockroaches” marching to protest exam irregularities
19) US Coast Guard medevacs Carnival cruise ship passenger off California coast
20) US gas again tops $4 per gallon as Iran fighting persist
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Dying for Nothing
22) Is It Really Socialism?
23) Suing Stephen Miller
24) The Odyssey has transcended the culture war
25) Flag on the play: First Amendment problems with NIL regulation
26) Trump Is Ready for All-Out War in Iran. There’s Just One Catch.
27) Fearing Justice: Rubio Gets Bolshie About the ICC
28) California’s Road to Serfdom
29) Privacy-Minded Fashion Aims To Baffle Facial Recognition
30) The everyday injustices of the plea bargain
31) Robin Hood in Reverse: How the Pentagon Makes Us Poorer
32) Zhuangzi and the Original Case Against the State
33) Revolutionary Optimism Takes Practice
34) Trump Uses NATO Summit to Reinforce Mercantilist Policy
35) America’s Addiction to Drone Warfare Must End
36) Just Pick a Time Already!
37) Alan Greenspan’s Deceitful Legacy
38) Brazil’s Fiscal Reckoning Has Arrived
39) Trump’s War and the Decay of the American Soul
40) Trump’s Brazil tariffs could boomerang on Flavio Bolsonaro
41) The Kleptocrat Nesting Dolls Behind Trump’s Potemkin Gas Stations
42) Terminal Representation
43) The GOP’s Freak Streak Could Boost Democratic Socialists
44) The Liberal Origins of the War Against the Deep State
45) Data-center debate has one winning argument: Sheer panic — and it will backfire
46) Trump Continues to Relitigate the 2020 Election
47) Red States Are Winning the Prosperity Race
48) Zionism is a White Occupied Cult
49) Trump’s War on International Justice
50) Cycles of Enthusiasm, Reversal, and Revival in Medical Practice
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 07/20/26
52) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 07/20/26
53) Rising, 07/20/26
54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 07/20/26
55) EconTalk, 07/20/26
56) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 07/20/26
57) Questions For Corbett, 07/20/26
58) The Chris Hedges Report, 07/19/26
59) Pink Flame of Liberty, 07/19/26
60) John Mearsheimer on The Scott Horton Show
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) US regime strikes Iran for tenth consecutive night, Iranians attack tanker
Source: Boston Globe
“Iran attacked a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz early Tuesday, forcing its crew to abandon the ship, while the United States conducted yet another round of airstrikes targeting the Islamic Republic as they struggle over control of the key waterway. The 10 consecutive nights of U.S. airstrikes haven’t compelled Tehran to loosen its grip on the strait, through which about a fifth of all crude oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime.” (07/21/26)
https://archive.is/oKYuf
-----
2) Trump announces latest scheme to raise Americans’ taxes
Source: Austin American-Statesman
“President Donald Trump on Monday imposed 50% tariffs on [American buyers of] most Canadian goods, declaring that Canada has unfairly discriminated against American autos, alcohol and dairy products. … The new 50% tariffs would exclude energy products, potash, fish and critical minerals, but they would include goods that had previously been protected from import taxes by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. That 2020 trade pact was not renewed by the U.S., triggering a new set of negotiations that could run until 2036. The White House said in a fact sheet that the tariffs would go into effect in 30 days, meaning there is time for negotiations as Trump has not always followed through on his announced tax hikes on [American buyers of] imports.” (07/21/26)
https://www.statesman.com/news/politics/article/trump-imposes-50-tariff-on-canadian-goods-22352984.php
-----
3) Hamas names Khalil Al-Hayya as new overall leader
Source: Reuters
“Hamas has named Khalil Al-Hayya as its overall leader, according to a statement from the Palestinian militant group on Monday, in a move an analyst says could signal a tougher stance by the group towards disarmament calls. Hayya replaces Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in combat with Israeli forces in October 2024 as Hamas fought a full-scale, two-year war with Israel in the Gaza Strip. Hayya, the group’s exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator, has become an increasingly central figure in the leadership of Hamas since the deaths of Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran in July 2024. He is seen as more hardline than Khaled Meshaal, the head of the group’s office in exile and the other frontrunner for the leadership.” (07/20/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-names-khalil-al-hayya-new-leader-statement-says-2026-07-20/
-----
4) Court document: US regime thugs sought phone records of journalists, relatives in effort to punish transparency
Source: Associated Press
“President Donald Trump’s administration sought phone records of several New York Times journalists and even those of some of their relatives, according to a motion unsealed Monday — an unusually aggressive attempt to unmask the confidential sources of reporters who wrote about Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet. The efforts by the Republican president’s administration to compel the identity of sources in the form of additional subpoenas come at a time when the executive branch’s relationship with the press is increasingly contentious. The efforts, described in a letter-motion filed by the Times over the weekend, were more expansive than previously known, the newspaper noted. They also covered a time frame that exceeded the news articles in question.” (07/20/26)
https://apnews.com/article/new-york-times-justice-department-trump-88f5ceca88dcdd19779e6f61abedf337
-----
5) Ten killed as Russian attacks on merchant ships in Black Sea intensify
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The death toll of a Russian strike on a cargo ship off the coast of the Ukrainian city of Odesa has risen to 10. The Guinea-Bissau-flagged ship was hit by Russian cruise missiles on Sunday, the Ukrainian Air Force said, causing a fire. A search and rescue operation was launched and lasted all night. By Monday morning, Ukraine’s seaports authority said nine crew members had been killed, as well as one of its pilots. India later said four of its citizens died in the attack. In recent weeks, the Odesa region has come under sustained attack. Twenty-eight people died in Russian strikes on the region in July alone, regional head Oleh Kiper told Ukrainian TV on Monday. Russian attacks on cargo ships in the Black Sea have also increased.” (07/20/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gvpv3ewv2o
-----
6) NYC: Man in custody after setting off “incendiary device” outside federal building
Source: ABC News
“A man with a history of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity set off an ‘incendiary device’ outside a Manhattan federal building that houses an immigration court, authorities said. Video captured the moment the suspect poured a liquid and then ignited it outside 26 Federal Plaza, sparking a massive fire. FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle said the suspect used fireworks to set the blaze. Two people — a federal employee and a civilian — suffered minor injuries and were treated and released, officials said.” (07/20/26)
https://abcnews.com/US/man-custody-after-setting-off-incendiary-device-federal/story?id=134916208
-----
7) Pentagon Withheld Dozens of US Military Injuries in Iran War
Source: New York Times
“In the week leading up to the Iranian attack on Friday that killed two U.S. soldiers and left one service member missing in Jordan, Iran carried out three other strikes against U.S. forces in the country. Those attacks injured dozens of U.S. service members and damaged several helicopters, according to several U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. But the Pentagon did not disclose the earlier strikes, nor the casualties and damage they inflicted. … Central Command is not required to release information about injured service members, especially when they quickly return to duty, a U.S. military official said. Moreover, another U.S. military official added, why would the Pentagon divulge information that could help Iran zero in on its deadly ballistic missiles and drone attacks …. Central Command has also stopped announcing how many sites in Iran it hits each day for the same reason, U.S. officials say.” (07/20/26)
https://archive.is/ssVcj
-----
8) Yemen: Houthis declare naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, widening threat to global oil supplies
Source: NBC News
“Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, a move that opens a new front against the United States in its war on Iran and widens the threat to global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf. Iran had pressed the Houthis to close the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea if the U.S. continued to attack Iranian power infrastructure. … The full closure of the Bab el-Mandeb strait would reduce global oil supply by 7% as it would leave most of Saudi oil exports unable to leave the region. The disruption would add to the massive cut to global oil flows from the war in the Gulf, which has already reduced shipments by 10% of global supply.” (07/20/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/middle-east/yemen-houthis-maritime-embargo-saudi-arabia-oil-rcna588345
-----
9) Tipster charged with murder after police say anonymous call helped solve 30-year disappearance
Source: Fox News
“More than 30 years after an Alaska man vanished without a trace, an anonymous confession breathed new life into the cold case and ultimately led investigators to the alleged killer. Christopher Popps, 54, of Michigan, was arrested after Alaska State Troopers said they traced the confession back to him, accusing him of fatally shooting his former co-worker, Patrick Orville Dearth, in 1993 before dumping his body inside a barrel off a remote highway. … The breakthrough came on Jan. 22, 2025, when Alaska State Troopers received an anonymous tip from someone claiming to have committed a murder in the Fairbanks area in 1993, according to the agency. … they found human remains inside a barrel down a steep embankment near Mile 47 of the Steese Highway. The Alaska State Medical Examiner’s Office later identified the remains as Dearth and ruled his death a homicide. As investigators dug deeper, they identified the anonymous tipster as Popps.” (07/20/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/us/tipster-charged-murder-after-police-say-anonymous-call-helped-solve-30-year-disappearance
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10) Mali: Insurgents Ambush Army Convoy, Source Says More Than 50 Killed
Source: US News & World Report
“Militants linked to al Qaeda and a Tuareg-led separatist group ambushed a military convoy in northern Mali over the weekend, and a source close to the rebels said more than 50 soldiers and allied Russian fighters were killed and others taken hostage. The attack marked the latest in a series of escalating assaults by the two groups, which joined forces for nationwide attacks in April that killed the defence minister and hit the airport in the capital Bamako, and launched a second wave this month aimed at seizing the town of Anefis.” (07/20/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-07-20/mali-insurgents-ambush-army-convoy-source-says-more-than-50-killed
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11) Judge puts temporary pause on Paramount-Warner Bros. merger
Source: NBC News
“Paramount Skydance’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery hit a roadblock Monday after a federal judge temporarily paused the proposed merger, granting a request from a coalition of 12 state attorneys general who sued to thwart the $110 billion deal. U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the Northern District of California issued a temporary restraining order barring Paramount from closing the transaction, a corporate tie-up that would unite two movie studios, two streaming platforms and two news organizations under the control of David Ellison, the son of billionaire technology tycoon Larry Ellison. … The states argue the deal would reduce competition in three areas: wide-release theatrical film distribution, anticipated top-grossing movie distribution, and the market for distributing basic cable channels to cable and satellite providers.” (07/20/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/media/judge-puts-temporary-pause-paramount-warner-bros-merger-rcna587804
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12) EU hits China’s Alibaba with €550M record bribe demand
Source: Politico
“The European Commission slapped Chinese e-commerce giant AliExpress with a record €550 million fine on Monday for failing to stop the sale of illegal and harmful products on its platform. ‘There were a lot of counterfeit products, unsafe toys and dangerous cosmetics which stayed online for a very long time,’ the EU’s tech chief Henna Virkkunen told reporters ahead of the announcement. ‘Products were still being recommended and advertised on the platform … even after it was already known that they did not meet the standards.’ The penalty is the biggest ever imposed by the EU executive under the bloc’s rulebook policing online platforms, the Digital Services Act, which requires very large platforms, including AliExpress — owned by China’s tech giant Alibaba — to assess and mitigate the risks associated with the spread of illegal content and goods on their systems.” (07/20/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-hits-chinas-alibaba-with-record-fine-of-e550m-over-illegal-products/
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13) Tropical Depression Two expected to become Tropical Storm Bertha later Monday as rain targets the Southeast US
Source: Fox Weather
“Tropical Depression Two is expected to strengthen into Tropical Storm Bertha later Monday in the eastern Gulf, which would become the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Tropical Depression Two formed in the eastern Gulf on Sunday and is expected to bring days of heavy rainfall to parts of the Southeast. Tropical Depression Two was located about 100 miles south of the eastern Florida Panhandle Monday morning, with maximum sustained winds increasing to 35 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). … According to the NHC, Tropical Depression Two is currently forecast to move slowly northwest along the northern Gulf Coast over the next several days.” (07/20/26)
https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/tropical-depression-forms-tropical-storm-bertha-rain-southeast
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14) Russia: Anti-War Politician Ends Run for Parliament, Citing Legal Setbacks
Source: US News & World Report
“Boris Nadezhdin, a Russian anti-war politician who had hoped to stand in parliamentary elections later this year, has announced he is ending his role in opposition politics for now, blaming what he said were politically-motivated legal setbacks. Nadezhdin, 63, a former liberal lawmaker, has been an outspoken critic of Moscow’s war in Ukraine …. In a statement, Nadezhdin said he had ran out of political road however, after a series of setbacks. He received a small fine on Friday for displaying ‘extremist symbols’ and was this month designated a ‘foreign agent’ by the justice ministry. Both rulings disqualified him from running for the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, in September elections, his statement – issued on Sunday – said. He said he had also been banned from leaving Russia.” (07/20/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-07-20/russian-anti-war-politician-ends-run-for-parliament-citing-legal-setbacks
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15) Food delivery rider wins China’s top literary prize
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A collection of poems, some scribbled on slips of paper between food deliveries, has won Wang Jibing one of China’s top literary honours. Low Flight, inspired by the everyday challenges delivery riders face, has bagged the Lu Xun Literary Prize – named after a writer who has been referred to as the father of modern Chinese literature. … The monetary awards for recipients of the Lu Xun Literary Prize are not publicly announced – though as of 2014 it stood at 100,000 Chinese yuan ($14,800; £11,000). Born in Jiangsu province, Wang left school as a teenager due to financial hardship at home. He took on various jobs, from construction to scavenging for waste and selling things at a street stall, before becoming a food deliveryman. But his love for reading persisted, and over the last decade he has been posting his own poems and essays on social media.” (07/20/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ydr3xd0kvo
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16) Congo: Known Ebola death toll passes 930
Source: Seattle Times
“At least 930 people have died in Congo’s Ebola outbreak, the country’s Ministry of Health said Monday, with 37 new deaths recorded in a 24-hour span Friday into Saturday, one of the highest totals. The deaths were recorded out of the 2,344 cases confirmed as of Saturday, the health ministry said. The Ebola outbreak that was declared in eastern Congo on May 15 is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record. The Bundibugyo virus responsible for the outbreak is less common than others that cause Ebola disease, and there is no approved vaccine or treatment.” (07/20/26)
https://archive.is/I3t8A
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17) US FDA says Taylor Farms Cyclospora lettuce test was a false positive
Source: Fox News
“The Food and Drug Administration said Sunday that a Taylor Farms lettuce sample initially reported as positive for Cyclospora should be considered a false positive following an additional laboratory review. ‘Due to the complexity in detection of Cyclospora, FDA laboratory experts re-reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive,’ the agency said. The FDA said no product samples had produced a confirmed positive result for Cyclospora as of Sunday.” [editor’s note: I predict that FDA will eventually just announce what we already knew — explosive diarrhea is a frequent and long-known side effect of eating food from Taco Bell – TLK] (07/20/26)
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/taylor-farms-cyclospora-test-false-positive
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18) India: Police clash with “cockroaches” marching to protest exam irregularities
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“India’s riot police baton-charged protesters in New Delhi as they tried to march to parliament on Monday, escalating a protest over irregularities in major examinations. Protesters ran for cover as police in blue riot gear charged at them near the Jantar Mantar protest site. The protesters are demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the irregularities, including question paper leaks and technical glitches.” (07/20/26)
https://archive.is/5AAYX
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19) US Coast Guard medevacs Carnival cruise ship passenger off California coast
Source: SFGate
“A woman was medevaced off a Carnival cruise ship last week after she showed signs of having a stroke, the Coast Guard said. … A MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew flew 45 miles off Humboldt Bay to reach the vessel. Video taken by the crew shows Coast Guard members lowered from the helicopter onto the deck of the Luminosa. … The medevac was conducted ‘despite 8- to 10-foot seas and 40-mph winds,’ the Coast Guard said in a news release.” (07/19/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/carnival-medevac-california-22351225.php
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20) US gas again tops $4 per gallon as Iran fighting persists
Source: Axios
“Drivers can expect pump shock déjà vu as the national average gas price again climbed over $4 per gallon today, as President Trump appears poised to escalate the war in Iran. … The national average is now $4.00 a gallon, per AAA. Last month, prices slipped back below $4 per gallon, giving some relief following months of pain at the pump.” (07/20/26)
https://archive.is/Cb3VI
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Dying for Nothing
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Seventeen military personnel have died in President Trump’s war on Iran. Compared to the 58,200 military personnel who were killed in the Vietnam War, that’s not a large number … well, unless one happens to be among those 17 or among their friends or family members. In that case, 17 becomes an extremely large number. But there is one thing in common between those 58,200 military personnel who died in the Vietnam War and those 17 military personnel who have died in Trump’s war on Iran: They all died for nothing. No, they didn’t died for their country. No, they didn’t die defending our freedom. No, they didn’t die to make the world safe for democracy. They died for nothing.” (07/20/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/07/20/dying-for-nothing/
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22) Is It Really Socialism?
Source: Liberalism.org
by Matt Zwolinski
“So socialism is back, and the commentary has arranged itself in the usual formation. On the right, alarm: the reds are at the gates. On the left, a banner: the future has arrived. What is striking is how little of the excitement and the horror attaches to anything the new mayors actually propose. The same rent freeze, the same municipal grocery, would pass almost unnoticed under another name. It is the word that thrills the one side and frightens the other, and so the question everyone hurries to argue is a question about the word. Is this really socialism, or just New Deal liberalism with sharper slogans? Does a city-owned grocery store cross the line, or is it ordinary municipal housekeeping? The fixation is a mistake, and an instructive one.” (07/20/26)
https://www.liberalism.org/p/is-it-really-socialism
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23) Suing Stephen Miller
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko
“It’s time to put everyone from Stephen Miller and Tom Homan to the most recent ICE hire on notice: a reckoning is coming.” (07/20/26)
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/suing-stephen-miller
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24) The Odyssey has transcended the culture war
Source: spiked
by Maren Thom
“Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is a commercial and artistic triumph, opening to widespread critical acclaim and collecting $264million in global ticket sales during its opening weekend. Indeed, it is reassuring that Hollywood still has some artistry and ambition left in it. But alongside the legitimate plaudits, the film’s juggernaut success has produced two other, more philistine reactions. The liberal left is relieved. After months of controversy over the supposedly woke casting, the film has received ecstatic reviews and attracted huge audiences, leading progressives to declare victory. … Much of the right is furious for precisely the same reason. Having condemned The Odyssey before seeing it, the anti-woke warriors cannot forgive it for being magnificent.” (07/20/26)
https://archive.is/n9eXj
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25) Flag on the play: First Amendment problems with NIL regulation
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Amuda Balu
“NIL agreements are about more than money. They are also about expression. Student athletes earn compensation by appearing in advertisements, promoting products on social media, and publicly associating themselves with brands. These activities therefore qualify as speech, which receives First Amendment protection. Yet many of our current state and university NIL laws do not seem to withstand constitutional scrutiny. Two types of common restrictions in particular are concerning: restrictions for contracts in vice industries and those relating to institutional values.” (07/20/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/flag-play-first-amendment-problems-nil-regulation
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26) Trump Is Ready for All-Out War in Iran. There’s Just One Catch.
Source: The New Republic
by Edith Olmsted
“Forget writing a check you can’t cash; President Donald Trump is escalating a war that the U.S. military can’t wage. Trump has made it more than clear that he’s done negotiating with Tehran, after the U.S. military launched yet another wave of strikes against Iran Saturday in retribution for the deaths of at least two U.S. military service members in Jordan. … ‘The U.S. is planning for a wider war,’ one U.S. official familiar with the matter told The Washington Post Monday. The official warned that U.S. military operations would be kneecapped by dwindling stockpiles of air defense and long-range munitions, as well as widespread damage to U.S. military bases in the Middle East. ‘We do not have enough to safely sustain operations, and I don’t think the White House is aware of that,’ the official added.” (07/20/26)
https://newrepublic.com/post/213240/donald-trump-war-iran-weapons-stockpile
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27) Fearing Justice: Rubio Gets Bolshie About the ICC
Source: CounterPunch
by Binoy Kampmark
“Why are they so afraid? The Trump administration, pathologically obsessed about the exaggerated reach of the International Criminal Court, have decided to take to the barricades. In a July 13 media note released by a spokesperson for the US State Department, something akin to a declaration of war was made against the Hague-based tribunal. … The late Henry Kissinger, who argued most stridently against the establishment of such a criminal court, would no doubt have approved. He, more than most, would have feared some eventual accounting for his own egregious crimes against international humanitarian law while serving the White House.” (07/20/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/20/fearing-justice-rubio-gets-bolshie-about-the-icc/
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28) California’s Road to Serfdom
Source: Law & Liberty
by Marc Wheat & Mitchell Bahnsen
“Several years ago, California brothers Arron and Arthur Benedetti inherited 267 acres of farmland from their father, a turkey farmer who spent his life working that land. They were not asking for a subsidy, tax break, or any government benefit. They simply wanted to build a home on property they had lawfully inherited. The government of Marin County, however, took it upon itself to say that the brothers could have their permit, but only if they signed a covenant permanently committing the land to commercial agricultural use, farming it themselves, or contracting it out in perpetuity. … Even though the brothers have a strong incentive to take good care of the land they own, building a home and living on what their father built is, apparently, not among the options Marin County is prepared to allow.” (07/20/26)
https://lawliberty.org/californias-road-to-serfdom/
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29) Privacy-Minded Fashion Aims To Baffle Facial Recognition
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“With shoplifting a serious concern, and given the declining cost of security equipment, it’s no surprise that grocery stores in California are rolling out facial recognition technology to identify known thieves when they step through the door. Software-backed cameras that match people’s faces to their names are increasingly ubiquitous at airports, stores, and on the street, spelling the potential end to anonymity in public places. The end, that is, unless people take advantage of gear and tactics designed to confuse facial recognition tech.” (07/20/26)
https://reason.com/2026/07/20/privacy-minded-fashion-aims-to-baffle-facial-recognition/
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30) The everyday injustices of the plea bargain
Source: The Hill
by Austin Sarat
“Plea deals, in which defendantsagrees to give up their right to a trial and other rights in exchange for a reduction in charges or a sentence, are the grease that keeps the wheels of justice turning in the American legal system. The American Bar Association’s Plea-Bargaining Task Force explains that ‘some jurisdictions have not had a criminal trial in many years.’ But it wasn’t always this way. The explosion of plea bargaining in this country has been facilitated by a series of Supreme Court decisions that have given prosecutors wide latitude to offer inducements and make threats to get defendants to waive their right to trial. This year, on June 18, the court took a step to curb one of the most serious injustices in the plea-bargaining system, while ignoring its everyday injustices and the damage it does.” (07/20/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/supreme-court/5975151-scotus-hunter-v-united-states/
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31) Robin Hood in Reverse: How the Pentagon Makes Us Poorer
Source: Inequality.org
by Danaka Katovich
“In an era of high prices for fuel, food, and housing, an extra $4,000 could make a life-saving difference for many families. But instead, that’s what the average household had to shell out for the Pentagon last year. That’s right: The average U.S. taxpayer in 2025 had over $4,000 taken out of their paychecks to fund the Pentagon, according to the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. In the coming years, that amount is set to rise as Congress considers a $1.5 trillion war budget for 2027. For the growing number of working poor in the United States, that money can mean the difference between making rent or falling behind, or between being able to afford an emergency trip to the doctor or going without care.” (07/20/26)
https://inequality.org/article/robin-hood-in-reverse-how-the-pentagon-makes-us-poorer/
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32) Zhuangzi and the Original Case Against the State
Source: Students For Liberty
by Hein Htet Kyaw
“Zhuangzi, sometimes referred as Zhuang Zhou, remains one of history’s most fundamentally subversive thinkers. As a writer in the chaotic period of Warring States of ancient China around the 4th century, Zhuangzi positioned himself not as a revolutionary for the improvement of government but as an opponent to the idea of such an entity altogether. Instead of giving his opinion on how the governing body could be improved, he tore apart the legitimacy of its authority by means of sarcastic criticism aimed primarily at Confucianism. He maintained that the desire to rule is the main evil of mankind, which destroys the whole hierarchy of power within the ruling elite. The other philosophers of his era attempted to offer advice to the kings on how to manage their states, but Zhuangzi considered the rulers themselves to be one of the major sources of chaos in the world.” (07/20/26)
https://studentsforliberty.org/blog/zhuangzi-and-the-original-case-against-the-state/
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33) Revolutionary Optimism Takes Practice
Source: Caitlin Johnstone
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Revolutionary optimism is a skill that you learn over time. Like any other skill, it takes practice to get good at it. Like any other skill, it can seem very difficult when you first start trying.” (07/20/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/07/20/revolutionary-optimism-takes-practice/
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34) Trump Uses NATO Summit to Reinforce Mercantilist Policy
Source: The Daily Economy
by Doug Bandow
“NATO members are finally taking more responsibility for their own defense. Using those security commitments to squeeze trading partners threatens markets and undermines diplomacy.” (07/20/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/trump-uses-nato-summit-to-reinforce-mercantilist-policy/
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35) America’s Addiction to Drone Warfare Must End
Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño
“Drone warfare does not make American foreign policy right. It merely offers another venue for politicians to cause instability abroad without facing domestic consequences. The technology that promised precision has instead produced permanent war waged in shadows. The United States must return to a non-interventionist foreign policy that focuses on internal affairs rather than constantly stoking tensions across the globe. Twenty years of drone strikes have not made America safer. They have rendered war invisible and accountability impossible.” (07/20/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/americas-addiction-to-drone-warfare-must-end
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36) Just Pick a Time Already!
Source: Townhall
by Arthur Schaper
“Americans have endured 50 years of this springing forward and falling back. I’m sick of it. It’s like some old relic, all coming from wartime, an anachronism proving yet again that government intervention knows no bounds. Times have changed, agricultural methods have improved, and everyone has technology to light their way, whether driving to work or getting to school. The United States has never been more energy dominant and independent, so concerns about fuel costs and availability don’t matter anymore. To go with Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time is now a matter of preference. Lots of interest groups are going to be happy or unhappy either way, so let’s put aside their discomforts.” (07/20/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/arthurschaper/2026/07/20/just-pick-a-time-already-n2679595
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37) Alan Greenspan’s Deceitful Legacy
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith
“When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton reportedly said, ‘Because that’s where the money is.’ That wasn’t necessarily a wisecrack, and Sutton denied having said it, though late in life he admitted, if he had been asked, that likely would be his reply. Success for some is measured by the amount of money they have, and banks are known to have lots of it. For a bank robber, it’s a matter of switching ownership of it through a threatened act of violence. Sutton, though, was not a violent man and never killed anyone. … You can rob a bank and take ownership of the money you take. Or you can control a central bank and steal the money’s purchasing power from under our noses. Willie Sutton was a thief. And Alan Greenspan?” (07/20/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/alan-greenspans-deceitful-legacy
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38) Brazil’s Fiscal Reckoning Has Arrived
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Scott
‘At the end of June 2026, Brazil’s National Treasury published a document forecasting the nation’s fiscal future, though it read more like a confession of failure than anything else. The eighth edition of the Fiscal Projections Report, first issued just over three years ago, was phrased in the usually dry government statements of routine transparency: reference scenarios for fiscal projections, sensitivity exercises on macroeconomic parameters like interest rates and inflation, a box on how oil prices are predicted to hit federal revenue, and so on. The headline fact, however, was clear: the government’s own fiscal targets are unreachable beginning in 2028. The government’s arithmetic shows that it is no longer able to reach these goals, and what makes matters worse is that there is no permissible measure capable of closing the fiscal gap that yawns beneath the target.” (07/20/26)
https://fee.org/articles/brazils-fiscal-reckoning-has-arrived/
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39) Trump’s War and the Decay of the American Soul
Source: Antiwar.com
by Nolan Denaro
“One thing that is always thrown by the wayside in times of war is the maintenance of the national soul. When faced with the inherent brutality of war, the emotions of the moment can overshadow the values we seek to uphold. When the job of maintaining this national soul is left to the state, – a group Murray Rothbard labeled a ‘centralized, regularized organization of theft’ – more enticing projects tend to arise. Often those projects directly harm the citizens of the nation, as by the state’s very nature, they tend to involve aggression, theft, murder or coercion. Despite the lack of care given by the government to our nation’s soul, it is nonetheless a core pillar of a cohesive country. It defines the virtues our country intends to project to the world.” (07/20/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/nolan_denaro/2026/07/19/trumps-war-and-the-decay-of-the-american-soul/
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40) Trump’s Brazil tariffs could boomerang on Flavio Bolsonaro
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Andre Pagliarini
“[T]here’s a reason Washington’s tariffs and the Brazilian presidential race have become inseparable. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of the convicted former president and Lula’s likely opponent in the October election, visited Trump, Rubio, and other senior officials in Washington in May. He returned to lobby USTR directly again in July, this time asking for a 180-day delay so the tariffs wouldn’t land before Brazilians voted. His argument was candid about the politics involved: imposing the tariffs now, he told American officials, would hand Lula ‘precisely the political victory’ the president’s campaign has been ‘engineering.’ Lula, for his part, has accused the senator, whose brother advocated for Trump’s trade war against Brazil last year, of committing ‘yet another act of treason against the Fatherland.'” (07/20/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-brazil-tariffs/
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41) The Kleptocrat Nesting Dolls Behind Trump’s Potemkin Gas Stations
Source: The American Prospect
by Maureen Tkacik
“How can Freedom Fuel afford to sell gas for $3.47 a gallon? That’s the wrong question to ask.” (07/20/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/07/20/kleptocrat-nesting-dolls-behind-trumps-potemkin-gas-stations-freedom-fuel/
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42) Terminal Representation
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, 84, has been absent from Congress, hospitalized for weeks — first with no comment on his medical condition, still with very little information divulged. There should be an ethic in public service that when one is incapacitated, one hands the trust given back to the public to fill anew. Sadly, this tradition has fallen victim to … take your pick: incumbency, partisanship, lack of electoral competition, Cicero’s times/mores. History’s third-oldest U.S. Congress ‘boasts’ 23 members of the House and Senate now eighty years old or older.” (07/20/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/07/20/terminal-representation/
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43) The GOP’s Freak Streak Could Boost Democratic Socialists
Source: The American Conservative
by Scott Greer
“Marx looms over the American political landscape. Victor Marx, that is. As Democrats continue to embrace anti-white socialists, Colorado Republicans nominate a strange outsider for governor. … Marx claims to be a high-risk humanitarian who rescues women from dangerous circumstances. He told an interviewer he helped kill a man when he was seven. He frequently talks about engaging in exorcisms and battling demons. These comments and others would make him a hit on the podcast circuit, but aren’t ideal for a gubernatorial candidate. … DSA candidates have a discernible ideology. Marx and other ‘Insane Clown Party’ figures do not. … The DSA can actually take power and implement a radical agenda. The ICP can only lose races and create headlines for liberal reporters.” (07/20/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-gops-freak-streak-could-boost-democratic-socialists/
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44) The Liberal Origins of the War Against the Deep State
Source: Foreign Policy
by Julian E Zelizer
“Fifty years ago, liberals were attacking what today is called the deep state—that is, the unelected members of the federal government. At the center of this liberal coalition was Idaho Sen. Frank Church, who in 1975 and 1976 headed high-profile hearings into the national security apparatus that had been created at the start of the Cold War in the late 1940s, but which seemed to be pursuing interests very different from what elected officials were telling voters.” (07/20/26)
https://archive.is/45oFD
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45) Data-center debate has one winning argument: Sheer panic — and it will backfire
Source: New York Post
by David Harsanyi
“The economic case for data centers is indisputable: A single hyperscale facility brings in billions in capital investment, creates a slew of high-paying jobs from construction to engineering and ensures local governments are flush with tax revenue. Big Tech bogeymen such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta upgrade local infrastructure and create secondary economies, often in struggling areas. Long term, these companies offer self-sustaining economic activity that the magical ‘green’ industry never did or could.” (07/19/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/07/19/opinion/data-center-debate-has-one-winning-argument-sheer-panic-and-it-will-backfire/
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46) Trump Continues to Relitigate the 2020 Election
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye
“Perhaps the most telling aspect of Trump’s address wasn’t what he said. It was what he didn’t say. At no point did he identify a single state where vote totals were changed. He didn’t claim that a voting machine actually switched votes. He didn’t allege that tabulation reports were manipulated or that election databases were corrupted. He didn’t present evidence that any jurisdiction reported vote totals it knew to be false. He relied on the viewer to infer those claims without stating them explicitly. Instead, the speech relied on familiar patterns, such as discussions of foreign cyber capabilities, intelligence reporting, and potential vulnerabilities. Each of these was presented as proof that the election itself had been manipulated.” (07/19/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/trump-continues-to-relitigate-th
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47) Red States Are Winning the Prosperity Race
Source: Independent Institute
by Richard K Vedder & Nicholas Jadwisienczak
“Republicans disheartened by growing fears of electoral losses at the federal level this fall can take some solace in evidence from a new, soon-to-be-released study that we coauthored for Unleash Prosperity, a group focused on promoting pro-growth policies. The graph below shows the results from that study, revealing that in this century economic growth has been substantially greater in the Republican Red states. The new study focuses on the more recent years 2020-2024, using modern statistical techniques to show that even after other factors impacting economic change—like climate, the proportion of the population working in manufacturing or producing oil, or the degree of urbanization—are taken into account, Republican-dominated states grew sharply faster than Democratic oriented ones.” (07/19/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/07/19/red-states-are-winning-the-prosperity-race/
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48) Zionism is a White Occupied Cult
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“It seems to be a tried-and-true trope even if it is a bit of a tired one for a seasoned Oliver Stone-style conspiracy enthusiast such as myself. The dreaded Zionist Occupied Government (or ZOG if your nasty) is really just a very nineties take on the ancient notion of the Jews secretly controlling everything from the banks to the claw machine at your local Chuck E. Cheese. Naturally, all racism aside, I’ve always found the notion a tad bit hard to swallow. … Gross story short; as much as I may despise Zionism along with every other school of racial supremacy, the notion of said Zionists calling the shots at the country club has always felt a bit like the tentacle wagging the Cthulhu to me, that is until recently when October 7th seemed to collide with the second Trump Administration like a wayward meteorite.” (07/19/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/07/zionism-is-white-occupied-cult.html
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49) Trump’s War on International Justice
Source: Informed Comment
by Jenny Williams
“There is something revealing about the way Washington talks about international law. When the law moves against an adversary, it becomes the language of civilisation. When the same law approaches the United States or Israel, it suddenly becomes an assault on sovereignty. … The United States wants a world in which law flows downward, never upward. It wants courts that can frighten weaker states, isolate rival leaders and decorate speeches about a rules-based order, but not institutions that can ask uncomfortable questions about Gaza, Afghanistan or American military operations abroad. That is not the rule of law. It is the management of impunity.” (07/20/26)
https://www.juancole.com/2026/07/trumps-international-justice.html
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50) Cycles of Enthusiasm, Reversal, and Revival in Medical Practice
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Alan Cassels
“Remember that thing that we said was good for you, then we changed our minds telling you it’s now bad for you. And now? We’re changing our minds again…umm, maybe it is good for you again. Medicine that claims to be ‘evidence-based’ is never static. It changes. Sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly and so too do our doctor’s suggestions about what they think is right to keep us healthy. In that light, sometimes medical recommendations around screening, surgery, or treatments like drugs or vaccines follow a certain pattern: widespread Enthusiasm based on promising early evidence, a Reversal when rigorous trials reveal limited benefits or unexpected harms, and then a Revival driven by new interpretations, technological tweaks, manufacturer greed, or good old advocacy.” (07/19/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/cycles-of-enthusiasm-reversal-and-revival-in-medical-practice/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 07/20/26
Source: Reason
"Is the War in Iran Spiraling Out of Control?" (07/20/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/07/20/is-the-war-in-iran-spiraling-out-of-control/
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52) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 07/20/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Calling it a ‘lab leak’ makes the story feel tidy, but the real scandal might be the system that makes lab-origin disasters plausible in the first place. We sit down with independent journalist Sam Husseini to unpack gain-of-function research, why ‘potentially pandemic pathogens’ are funded and defended, and how a small circle of incentives, prestige, and national security framing can turn high-risk virology into business as usual.” (07/20/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-sam-husseini-gabbard-reveals-fauci-covered-by-covid-origins/
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53) Rising, 07/20/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on NYC DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo suggesting that government-run grocery stores may be a better alternative to small businesses.” (07/20/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/5978049-rising-july-20-2026/
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54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 07/20/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Trump Escalates Iran War As More Soldiers Die.” (07/20/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1pJkOOzwvRZJj
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55) EconTalk, 07/20/26
Source: EconLog
“Dwayne Betts on the Iliad.” (07/20/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/dwayne-betts-on-the-iliad/
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56) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 07/20/26
Source: The Dispatch
“The Development Paradox | Interview: Ronald Bailey.” (07/20/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/the-development-paradox-interview-ronald-bailey/
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57) Questions For Corbett, 07/20/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“Was 10/7 a false flag event? And, more importantly, what evidence can be presented to reliably inform such an assessment? Strap in and get ready, folks. Today James engages in a good old-fashioned Corbett Report deep dive to get to the bottom of the spectacular attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.” (07/20/26)
https://corbettreport.com/was-10-7-a-false-flag/
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58) The Chris Hedges Report, 07/19/26
Source: The Chris Hedges Report
“Is Iran Becoming Another ‘Forever War’? (w/ John Mearsheimer).” (07/19/26)
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/is-iran-becoming-another-foreve
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59) Pink Flame of Liberty, 07/19/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“PART TWO: Let’s Examine the JC Filings: Appeal of the Disaffiliation of the Libertarian Party of NH.” (07/19/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdGPRWppTKw
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60) John Mearsheimer on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“John Mearsheimer on Iran, Ukraine and the Future of American Power.” (07/19/26)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/7-17-26-john-mearsheimer-on-iran-ukraine-and-the-future-of-american-power/
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