08/13 -- DC: National Guard begins deploying on streets after Trump police takeover; Trump Replaces Manager of Jobs Data Massage Parlor
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Thomas L. Knapp
Aug 13, 2025, 6:19:17 AMAug 13
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 08/13/25
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Today's Freedom News:
1) DC: National Guard begins deploying on streets after Trump police takeover
2) World’s largest wealth fund rolls back Israeli investments over West Bank, Gaza concerns
3) US inflation unexpectedly held steady at 2.7% in July
4) Mexico: Regime extradites 26 inmates wanted over cartel links to US
5) Steak ‘n Shake thanks Bitcoiners as same-store sales rise 11% in Q2
6) TX: Woman sues abortion pill supplier, says ex tricked her into ending pregnancy
7) YouTube to Begin Testing a New AI-Powered Age Verification System in the US
8) Charges dropped against teen pilot detained in Antarctica
9) India: Supreme Court Tells New Delhi Regime to Round Up Stray Dogs
10) South Korea: Court orders arrest of impeached former president’s wife
11) Thai regime accuses Cambodian regime of planting landmines after soldier injured
12) 133-year old Kodak says it might have to cease operations
13) Unearthed emails reveal White House nixed Biden visiting ship because of “how many steps were involved”
14) Sudan: RSF allegedly murders 40 in North Darfur displacement camp attack
15) TX: Republicans plan another special session to gerrymander congressional districts
16) Trump says gold will not be tariffed
17) Whistleblower: Schiff authorized classified intel leaks to smear Trump during Russiagate
18) North Korea: Regime holds artillery drills ahead of US-South. Korea joint exercise
19) Switzerland: Driver faces up to $110,000 in fines for speeding on street
20) Trump names Antoni to lead future cooking of jobs numbers
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Trump Replaces Manager of Jobs Data Massage Parlor
22) Trump’s tariffs will be harder to get rid of than you think
23) Saving lives and money by incentivizing living organ donation
24) Trump and Putin are Ready to Talk. What’s Different?
25) How We Got the Internet All Wrong
26) Tariffs inspire bad ideas, bad arguments
27) From Tea Party Patriotism to Economic Nationalism: How the Right Gave Up on Small Government
28) Liberalism for the 21st Century
29) When the going gets tough, the tough give
30) The Meaning of Coercion in Hayekian Philosophy
31) Hiroshima Remains an Open Wound in Our Imperiled World
32) Trump’s War on Immigrants Is a Trojan Horse to Normalize Domestic Use of the Military
33) Speak Out Now Against Netanyahu’s Final Solution for Gaza
34) Doing good by doing well
35) The Future of Art with AI
36) Is there any reason to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell except to buy her silence?
37) Washington, DC, has only itself to blame for Trump’s law-and-order takeover
38) Letters from World War II, part 1
39) Trouble in Russian economy means Putin really needs Alaska talks too
40) A Defense of AI Parenting
41) Plenty of Room for Lawmakers to Profit Under Proposed Stock Ban
42) Debanking Disallowed
43) The Perils of America’s New Caucasus Entanglement
44) Trump’s Trial Run for a Police State
45) Lock Him Up! Lock Her Up! Lock All Of Them Up!
46) “Burn it all”: Progressives meet in the Trump-era wilderness
47) Murder most foul
48) Trump’s Farcical DC Crackdown
49) Zohran’s Political Revolution
50) On Life and Death in Gaza
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Trump Watch, 08/12/25
52) Rising, 08/12/25
53) Advisory Opinions, 08/12/25
54) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 08/12/25
55) Washington Monthly Podcast, 08/11/25
56) Pink Flame of Liberty, 08/11/25
57) Politics Politics Politics, 08/11/25
58) Finding Freedom, 08/11/25
59) System Update, episode 501
60) Vital Dissent, episode 287
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) DC: National Guard begins deploying on streets after Trump police takeover
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“The Washington DC national guard will begin deploying on the city’s streets on Tuesday night, a day after Donald Trump ordered their arrival and took control of the city’s police force, calling Washington DC a ‘lawless’ city, despite official crime statistics saying otherwise, a White House official confirmed. … About 850 officers and agents took part in a ‘massive law enforcement surge’ across Washington DC on Monday night and made nearly two dozen arrests, the White House has said. … Trump’s intervention has been widely condemned as an authoritarian power grab that undermines the autonomy of Washington’s DC local government and seeks to distract attention from political problems such as the Jeffrey Epstein files.” (08/12/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/12/mayor-national-guard-washington-dc
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2) World’s largest wealth fund rolls back Israeli investments over West Bank, Gaza concerns
Source: Times of Israel [Jerusalem]
“Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, said Monday that it was selling off its stakes in some Israeli companies and terminating all contracts with Israeli asset managers handling investments over the situation in Gaza and the West Bank. ‘We are invested in companies that operate in a country at war, and conditions in the West Bank and Gaza have recently worsened. In response, we will further strengthen our due diligence,’ the fund’s CEO Nicolai Tangen said in a statement. Norges Bank Investment Management, the body managing the fund, said it is divesting itself of 11 Israeli companies, out of 61, which are not included in an equity benchmark index created by Norway’s Finance Ministry. The fund said the 11 were excluded ‘due to unacceptable risk of contribution to serious norm violations associated with business operations in the West Bank.'” (08/12/25)
https://www.timesofisrael.com/worlds-largest-wealth-fund-rolls-back-israeli-investments-over-west-bank-gaza-concerns/
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3) US inflation unexpectedly held steady at 2.7% in July
Source: Financial Times [UK]
“US inflation held steady at 2.7 per cent in July, confounding economists’ expectations of an acceleration driven by the tariffs Donald Trump has slapped on US trading partners. Tuesday’s annual consumer price index figure was in line with June’s reading and below expectations of 2.8 per cent among analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Trump has sought to use tariffs to reshape the US’s trading relationship with the world, prompting warnings of a jump in domestic prices. Inflation ticked up in June in what economists cautioned were the first signs of the trade war seeping through to consumers.” (08/12/25)
https://archive.is/a2Rb7
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4) Mexico: Regime extradites 26 inmates wanted over cartel links to US
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Mexico has sent 26 inmates suspected of playing high-profile roles in some of the country’s most powerful drug cartels to the US, the second transfer of its kind this year. US officials said the individuals extradited included ‘key operatives’ of major drugs gangs, and have been charged with violent offences or links to organised crime in American courts. … Mexican officials said they had agreed the inmates could be sent to the US as long as none were considered eligible for the death penalty, a condition successive governments have insisted on when considering extraditions.” (08/12/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4wyy4wl94o
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5) Steak ‘n Shake thanks Bitcoiners as same-store sales rise 11% in Q2
Source: CoinTelegraph
“US fast-food chain Steak ‘n Shake tipped its hat to Bitcoiners after reporting a 10.7% quarter-on-quarter same-store sales increase in Q2, outpacing America’s top food chains. ‘Bitcoin has been a game changer,’ Steak ‘n Shake posted to X on Friday, thanking Bitcoiners for their contributions since May 16, when the fast food chain started accepting Bitcoin as payment. … The fast food chain started accepting Bitcoin as payment on May 16 in all of its locations where permitted by law, including in France, Monaco and Spain, in addition to the US.” (08/12/25)
https://cointelegraph.com/news/steak-n-shake-attributes-11-percent-sales-rise-bitcoiners
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6) TX: Woman sues abortion pill supplier, says ex tricked her into ending pregnancy
Source: Washington Post
“A Texas woman is suing a major supplier of abortion pills by mail and a former sexual partner, who she alleges terminated her pregnancy by lacing her drink with medication he obtained from the group. In the complaint, filed Monday in Texas federal court by a prominent antiabortion attorney, the woman alleges that her ex-partner bought the pills from Aid Access, a nonprofit based in Europe, then pressured her to take them for weeks in the spring, even though she told him she did not want an abortion. … The wrongful-death lawsuit alleges that Aid Access violated the federal Comstock Act, an 1873 law that bans the mailing of ‘obscene’ materials, including those related to abortion.” [editor’s note: Apparently the ex doesn’t have much money and she thinks she can pick someone else’s pocket for his misdeeds – TLK] (08/12/25)
https://archive.is/DM6ga
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7) YouTube to Begin Testing a New AI-Powered Age Verification System in the US
Source: US News & World Report
“YouTube on Wednesday will begin testing a new age-verification system in the U.S. that relies on artificial intelligence to differentiate between adults and minors, based on the kinds of videos that they have been watching. The tests initially will only affect a sliver of YouTube’s audience in the U.S., but it will likely become more pervasive if the system works as well at guessing viewers’ ages as it does in other parts of the world. The system will only work when viewers are logged into their accounts, and it will make its age assessments regardless of the birth date a user might have entered upon signing up. If the system flags a logged-in viewer as being under 18, YouTube will impose the normal controls and restrictions that the site already uses as a way to prevent minors from watching videos and engaging in other behavior deemed inappropriate for that age.” (08/12/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2025-08-12/youtube-to-begin-testing-a-new-ai-powered-age-verification-system-in-the-u-s
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8) Charges dropped against teen pilot detained in Antarctica
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Charges against an American influencer and teen pilot who has been stranded on a remote island in the Antarctic since June have been dropped. Ethan Guo, 19, is alleged to have illegally landed his plane in Chilean territory after embarking on a solo trip to all seven continents to raise money for cancer research, according to local authorities. They accused him of providing false flight plan information to officials who detained him and opened an investigation. A judge has ordered him to leave the area, pay a $30,000 (£22,332) donation to a children’s cancer foundation and is banned from re-entering Chilean territory for three years.” (08/12/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04rql923kdo
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9) India: Supreme Court Tells New Delhi Regime to Round Up Stray Dogs
Source: New York Times
“As hundreds of thousands of dogs ranged as usual around the back streets of India’s capital on Tuesday morning, it was the city’s humans, dog lovers in particular, who were howling. On Monday, the Supreme Court of India, with its offices in the center of New Delhi, ruled that the current legal practices for taking care of the city’s stray dog population were inadequate. Within eight weeks, the court declared, all strays must be rounded up and detained permanently in shelters. The judges were responding to the menace of dogs that form packs and attack people. … The court’s order seemed to contradict the Animal Birth Control law, which requires strays to be vaccinated, sterilized and then returned to the places where they had been picked up. But that strategy has not worked, the court found.” (08/12/25)
https://archive.is/xrPMI
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10) South Korea: Court orders arrest of impeached former president’s wife
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“A South Korean court on Tuesday ordered the arrest of Kim Keon Hee, the wife of the impeached former president Yoon Suk Yeol, making her the first former first lady to be arrested in the country’s history. The Seoul central district court ruling creates an unprecedented situation in which both members of a former presidential couple are simultaneously in custody. Yoon Suk Yeol was sent back into detention in July as prosecutors investigate his failed attempt to impose martial law in December last year. … Prosecutors allege she made over 800 million won (£428,000) through manipulating the stock prices of Deutsch Motors, a local BMW dealership, between 2009 and 2012, by conspiring with others to artificially inflate shares. She is also accused of receiving over 270 million won worth of illegal political funding through free opinion polling services, and using this to influence candidate selections for the conservative People Power party in the country’s 2022 byelections.” (08/12/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/12/south-korean-court-orders-arrest-of-impeached-former-president-wife-kim-keon-hee
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11) Thai regime accuses Cambodian regime of planting landmines after soldier injured
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A Thai soldier has been seriously injured by a landmine near the Cambodian border, days after both countries agreed to a ceasefire following last month’s deadly border clashes. The soldier’s left ankle was badly damaged on Tuesday after he stepped on the device while patrolling about 1km (0.6 miles) from the Ta Moan Thom Temple in Thailand’s Surin province, the army said. He is receiving treatment in hospital. Thai army spokesperson Major General Winthai Suvaree said the incident proved Cambodia had breached the truce and violated international agreements, including the Ottawa Convention banning landmines. … Phnom Penh dismissed the accusation, insisting it has not laid new mines.” (08/12/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/12/thailand-accuses-cambodia-of-planting-landmines-after-soldier-injured
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12) 133-year old Kodak says it might have to cease operations
Source: CNN
“Eastman Kodak, the 133-year-old photography company, is warning investors thats it might not survive much longer. In its earnings report Monday, the company warned that it doesn’t have ‘committed financing or available liquidity’ to pay its roughly $500 million in upcoming debt obligations. ‘These conditions raise substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,’ Kodak said in a filing. Kodak aims to conjure up cash by ceasing payments for its retirement pension plan. It also said that it doesn’t expect tariffs to have ‘material impacts’ on its business because it manufactures its many of its products, includings cameras, inks and film in the United States. … The Eastman Kodak Company incorporated in 1892, but the company traces its roots back to 1879, when George Eastman obtained hist first patent for a plate-coating machine. In 1888, Eastman sold the first Kodak camera for $25.” (08/12/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/12/business/kodak-survival-warning
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13) Unearthed emails reveal White House nixed Biden visiting ship because of “how many steps were involved”
Source: Fox News
“Unearthed emails as part of a FOIA request show Biden administration agencies scrapping a plan to visit a vessel at an event because it would have required then-President Joe Biden to take too many steps. Records show, as part of a FOIA request by Protect the Public’s Trust obtained by Fox News Digital, that Biden was set to visit a National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) while touring a Philadelphia shipyard in July 2023. However, according to the emails, that visit to the vessel was scrapped because of ‘how many steps were involved to get on the ship.’ The emails show that the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) was engaged in a major project at the Philadelphia shipyard at the time that Biden was planning to visit to tout offshore wind and clean energy jobs.” (08/12/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/unearthed-emails-reveal-white-house-nixed-biden-visiting-ship-because-how-many-steps-were-involved
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14) Sudan: RSF allegedly murders 40 in North Darfur displacement camp attack
Source: ABC News
“Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces launched attacks Monday in a famine-stricken displacement camp outside of el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province, killing 40 people, local rights groups said. The Emergency Response Rooms group working at the Abu Shouk displacement camp said in a statement on Facebook that the RSF — which is at war with the Sudanese military — raided parts of the camp targeting citizens inside their homes. The community activist group, which provides assistance across Sudan, said at least 19 people were also injured. The Abu Shouk displacement camp outside of el-Fasher, which houses around 450,000 displaced people, has been repeatedly attacked over the course of the war. The Sudanese military has control over el-Fasher despite frequent strikes by the RSF.” (08/12/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sudans-rapid-support-forces-kill-40-people-north-124559479
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15) TX: Republicans plan another special session to gerrymander congressional districts
Source: SFGate
“Texas Republican leaders said Tuesday that they were prepared to end their stalemated special session and immediately begin another standoff with Democrats in the GOP’s efforts to redraw congressional maps as directed by President Donald Trump. It’s the latest indication that Trump’s push to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections will become an extended standoff that promises to reach multiple statehouses controlled by both major parties. Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows confirmed the plans during a brief session Tuesday morning that marked another failure to meet the required attendance standards to conduct official business because dozens of Democrats have left the state to stymie the GOP’s partisan gerrymandering attempts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.” (08/12/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/texas-republicans-plan-another-special-session-to-20814047.php
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16) Trump says gold will not be tariffed
Source: CNBC
“President Donald Trump said Monday that gold will not face tariffs, knocking down a ruling by U.S. customs officials that bars of the precious metal imported from Switzerland would face duties. ‘Gold will not be Tariffed!’ Trump said in a Truth Social post. Gold futures closed 2.48% lower at $3,404.70 per ounce after the announcement. The precious metal hit a record high Friday, after U.S. Customs and Border Protection ruled that 1 kilogram and 100 ounce gold cast bars from Switzerland were subject to Trump’s 39% tariffs on imports from the country.” (08/11/25)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/11/trump-gold-tariffs-futures.html
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17) Whistleblower: Schiff authorized classified intel leaks to smear Trump during Russiagate
Source: New York Post
“A seasoned intelligence officer who aided Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee repeatedly alleged to the FBI that then-Rep. Adam Schiff approved leaking classified information to tarnish President Trump’s image during the Russiagate probe, shocking, newly released documents reveal. Now-Sen. Schiff [D-CA] then the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, openly discussed plans to reveal sensitive information about the Trump-Russia collusion probe starting soon after the 45th president’s inauguration in 2017, the unidentified male whistleblower alleged.” (08/12/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/08/12/us-news/adam-schiff-authorized-classified-intel-leaks-to-smear-trump-during-russiagate-whistleblower-claims/
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18) North Korea: Regime holds artillery drills ahead of US-South. Korea joint exercise
Source: United Press International
“North Korea conducted artillery firing drills to boost combat readiness, state-run media reported Tuesday, as the United States and South Korea prepare to kick off a large-scale joint military exercise. A firing practice contest of tactical artillery sub-units was held on Monday under a ‘combat drill plan of the [Korean People’s Army] General Staff for perfecting the capability to fight a war and battle readiness of the entire army,’ the official Korean Central News Agency reported.” (08/12/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/08/12/North-Korea-artillery-firing-drills-Ulchi-Freedom-Shield-joint-exercise/5061754988046/
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19) Switzerland: Driver faces up to $110,000 in fines for speeding on street
Source: SFGate
“The driver was clocked going 27 kilometers per hour (17 mph) over the speed limit on a street in the Swiss city of Lausanne, and now he’s facing up to 90,000 Swiss francs (over $110,000) in fines as a result. But he can afford it. Why the eye-popping penalty? Because the speedster, a repeat offender, is one of Switzerland’s wealthiest people, and the Vaud canton, or region, serves up fines based on factors like income, fortune or general family financial situation. The Swiss are not alone. Germany, France, Austria and the Nordic countries all issue punishments based on a person’s wealth. The recent fine isn’t even a record in Switzerland. In 2010, a millionaire Ferrari driver got a ticket equal to about $290,000 for speeding in the eastern canton of St. Gallen.” (08/12/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/a-driver-faces-up-to-110-000-in-fines-for-20814005.php
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20) Trump names Antoni to lead future cooking of jobs numbers
Source: Axios
“President Trump on Monday said he will nominate Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists worry that Trump aims to [alter the elements of politicization in] the agency, which publishes [the regime’s preferred conclusions about] crucial, market-moving data on employment and inflation. Expect Antoni to face huge questions about how he will handle economic data that displeases Trump — a situation that caused the president to fire former BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer in early August.” (08/11/25)
https://archive.is/a6bXy
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Trump Replaces Manager of Jobs Data Massage Parlor
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“‘There are three kinds of lies,’ Mark Twain wrote in 1907, echoing several prior formulations and (apparently incorrectly) crediting Benjamin Disraeli as the quote’s originator: ‘Lies, damned lies, and statistics.’ I’m far from the first commentator to modify that final bit to ‘government statistics.’ The job of the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics is to make the current administration look good, even if that requires putting lipstick on a pig. … Government manipulation of data starts with deciding what information to gather, how to gather it, and who to gather it from. Then that information gets massaged to tell the story that the masseuse or masseur wants you to hear.” (08/12/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/19868
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22) Trump’s tariffs will be harder to get rid of than you think
Source: Washington Post
by Eric Boehm
“At the height of a brief trade war with Europe in the 1960s, President Lyndon B. Johnson imposed a 25 percent tariff on imported passenger trucks and vans. It was a retaliatory measure aimed at punishing European countries — France and West Germany, mostly — for tariffs they had slapped on American chicken. That trade war ended long ago, but that 25 percent tariff on pickup trucks and cargo vans remains to this day. … Tariffs are not only costly and distortionary. They also tend to be quite sticky. Economists offer a variety of overlapping explanations for why tariffs, once imposed, have a propensity to outlive the political circumstances that brought them about. Often, that happens because domestic constituencies that benefit from tariffs will fight to keep them around.” (08/12/25)
https://archive.is/uFnVE
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23) Saving lives and money by incentivizing living organ donation
Source: Niskanen Center
by Lawson Mansell & Cecilia Esterline
“In the U.S., an average of 13 people die every day awaiting an organ transplant. Of the more than 105,000 Americans waiting for organs, over 86 percent are awaiting a kidney. While many Americans are willing to donate their organs after death, only three in 1,000 people die in such a way that their organs can be used for posthumous donation under the strict medical criteria. Increasing donor registration to close the gap between the number of people who support organ donation and those who are actually signed up to donate after death could provide modest benefits. But living donation, when possible, is the better alternative, and encouraging it, for both the lifesaving and budgetary savings benefits, should be a major policy priority.” (08/12/25)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/saving-lives-and-money-by-incentivizing-living-organ-donation
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24) Trump and Putin are Ready to Talk. What’s Different?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
“Putin’s message remains unchanged. He has been listing the same conditions since the Istanbul peace talks in the first weeks of the war, and most of those were unchanged since his proposed talks with the U.S. in the weeks before the war. So why are Trump and Putin meeting now? What’s different? Five important things may have changed recently. The first may be an important concession by Putin. Putin has offered a complete ceasefire if Ukraine withdraws its troops from the Donbas region [formerly] of eastern Ukraine and the Russian annexation of those regions is recognized, including the small area that Russia does not yet control, as well as Crimea.” [editor’s note: Putin’s offer in April 2022 included complete Russian withdrawal from the Donbas. How is his current position a “concession?” – TLK] (08/12/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_snider/2025/08/11/trump-and-putin-are-ready-to-talk-whats-different/
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25) How We Got the Internet All Wrong
Source: The Dispatch
by Yascha Mounk
“The World Wide Web was supposed to connect us to people near and far. Instead, it has turned us into tribalist, neurotic homebodies.” (08/12/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/social-media-children-dating-neurotic/
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26) Tariffs inspire bad ideas, bad arguments
Source: Orange County Register
by the editorial board
“‘We call a tariff a protective measure. It does protect; it protects the consumer very well against one thing. It protects the consumer against low prices,’ explained the great economist Milton Friedman in 1978. Tariffs, after all, are not complicated to understand. They are taxes. When a country imposes tariffs on imports, they are imposing taxes on their own population. Accordingly, the tariff-spree currently being undertaken by President Donald Trump is a massive tax increase on the American people. … The cost of tariffs, of course, will be paid by the American people. It’s a lesson conservatives and Republicans seem to understand when it comes to tax increases proposed by Democrats.” (08/12/25)
https://archive.is/DQmRY
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27) From Tea Party Patriotism to Economic Nationalism: How the Right Gave Up on Small Government
Source: The Daily Economy
by Stefan Bartl
“The Republican Party once preached a creed of limited government and balanced budgets. With state control, tariffs, and deficits all rising, that ethical restraint appears to be long gone.” (08/12/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/from-tea-party-patriotism-to-economic-nationalism-how-the-right-gave-up-on-small-government/
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28) Liberalism for the 21st Century
Source: Liberal Currents
by Paul Crider
“Liberals need enemies. The problem with liberals today is we don’t know who our real enemies are. We get confused, fighting old fights and chasing phantasms. But our enemies are clear. They are MAGA, white supremacists, antifeminists, and oligarchs. When we ask what it means to be a liberal in the 21st century, we should ask what it has meant to be a liberal in the past. Liberalism has never been any one thing, but has taken different forms in different times and places, based on what the most pressing threats to freedom are in each context.” (08/12/25)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/liberalism-for-the-21st-century/
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29) When the going gets tough, the tough give
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“America’s historic spirit of generosity just keeps on finding fresh openings. Take, for example, a surge in private donations to public broadcasting after recent federal cuts. About 120,000 Americans have so far given some $20 million to national and local public media. ‘We’re relying enthusiastically on the support from our community,’ Jenn Gordon, head of WTVP in Peoria, Illinois, told Crain’s Chicago Business. ‘We’re looking to the community, and we’re just very grateful.’ Such a surge fits recent patterns in donations. Last year, individual giving, which is by far the largest portion, rose 5%, according to the most recent Giving USA report. Private giving to charities went up 3.3% over the previous year, after adjusting for inflation. ‘People are ready to give if they’re invited,’ Woodrow Rosenbaum, chief data officer of GivingTuesday, told The NonProfit Times. Total giving reached a record $592.5 billion, or about 2% of gross national product.” (08/11/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0811/When-the-going-gets-tough-the-tough-give
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30) The Meaning of Coercion in Hayekian Philosophy
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“The literal meaning of coercion is of little philosophical use, as it could mean anything that anyone feels under pressure to do against his will. The word ‘force’ is often used conversationally in that broad sense — ‘they ran out of the style I wanted, so I was forced to buy a different style.’ During the covid lockdowns there were heated debates over whether people had been ‘coerced’ into complying with the vaccination mandates as, predictably, those who enforced the mandates later claimed that no one was ‘forced’ to comply. … In The Constitution of Liberty, Friedrich von Hayek saw liberty as the highest value …. But he was, at the same time, keen not ‘to remain always on the plane of high ideals,’ quibbling fruitlessly about the meaning of words.” (08/12/25)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/meaning-coercion-hayekian-philosophy
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31) Hiroshima Remains an Open Wound in Our Imperiled World
Source: TomDispatch
by Eric Ross
“On August 6, 2025, the world marked the 80th anniversary of the American destruction of Hiroshima. As in decades past, Hiroshima Day served to honor the first victims of atomic warfare and to reaffirm the enduring promise that their suffering would not be in vain, that they and the residents of Nagasaki, devastated three days later in 1945, would be the last places to endure such a fate. Within that commemorative framework, Hiroshima has been effectively rendered an abstraction and reduced to a cautionary tale. With the involuntary sacrifice of that city and its inhabitants, humanity was offered a profound lesson. In the ruins of Hiroshima, the world confronted a vision of nothing less than its own potential end. And awareness of that apocalyptic possibility emerged almost immediately.” (08/12/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/what-do-we-forget-when-we-remember-hiroshima/
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32) Trump’s War on Immigrants Is a Trojan Horse to Normalize Domestic Use of the Military
Source: CounterPunch
by Sam Carliner
“While Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) faces growing scrutiny for its role in brutally carrying out Trump’s mass-deportation agenda, another institution’s involvement has received less attention: the U.S. military. Trump’s use of the military in the war on immigrants garnered some mainstream backlash when he provocatively deployed thousands of National Guard soldiers and Marines to the streets of Los Angeles. Now, people are again becoming aware of domestic militarization as Trump threatens to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops and other federal forces to DC. But these headline-grabbing moves in LA and DC must be understood in the context of a larger, growing domestic use of the military against immigrant communities, which has largely developed without mainstream scrutiny.” (08/12/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/12/trumps-war-on-immigrants-is-a-trojan-horse-to-normalize-domestic-use-of-the-military/
-----
33) Speak Out Now Against Netanyahu’s Final Solution for Gaza
Source: Common Dreams
by Steve Minkin
“The world is asking why major Jewish organizations, and congregations around the country, aren’t speaking out about genocide. It can’t be hidden. The failure to condemn Israel’s crimes against humanity is a glaring breakdown of moral responsibility, casting a dark shadow and is a growing source of antisemitism. I have overheard neighbors, who are not political, talking about what Israel is doing in Gaza. An acquaintance during a conversation suddenly asked, ‘Are you Jewish?’ A Christian friend asked me, ‘Why aren’t the Rabbis speaking out?’ Gaza has more children missing limbs per capita than any other place in the world. Contemplate this fact as children are preciously guided through Jewish education culminating in the Bat Mitzvah for girls and Bar Mitzvah for boys. As new adults they will grow up with a history different from their parents, grandparents, and great grandparents.” (08/12/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/speak-out-now-gaza
-----
34) Doing good by doing well
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kimberlle Josephson
“As a business professor, I strive to teach sound principles and practices, focusing on the benefits of productivity and value creation. I want my students pursuing business careers to be proud of their chosen profession. While business ethics is a topic worthy of classroom coverage and discussion, I do not view my role as one of reforming students’ values or beliefs. They are individuals, each with their own capabilities and aspirations. I teach fundamentals, not fundamentalism. If a student wants to manage a bar, I don’t scorn them for promoting alcohol consumption. If a student wants to open a tattoo parlor, I don’t consider that work less worthy. If anything, I enjoy a good craft beer, and I have a tattoo myself.” (08/12/25)
https://fee.org/articles/doing-good-by-doing-well/
-----
35) The Future of Art with AI
Source: EconLog
by Jon Murphy
“Among artists (by which I mean both those who generate art for art’s sake and those who generate art professionally, like graphic designers), AI is hotly controversial. Professional artists understandably fear that AI will take their jobs. Let’s use the ‘economic way of thinking’ to analyze those fears and see what is most likely.” (08/12/25)
https://www.econlib.org/the-future-of-art-with-ai
-----
36) Is there any reason to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell except to buy her silence?
Source: The Hill
by James D Zirin
“Jeffrey Epstein was perhaps the most conspicuous pimp since the Marquis de Sade, and he did so on a grand scale. His associates included bankers, princes, CEOs, governors and past and future presidents. One of Epstein’s friends was President Trump. Their relationship lasted 15 years. We don’t know how their friendship got started, and we don’t know the exact details of why it persisted or ended. We do know that it has become an albatross for Trump in his second term. … has the time come for a quid pro quo with [Ghislaine] Maxwell?” (08/12/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/5447317-is-there-any-reason-to-pardon-ghislaine-maxwell-except-to-buy-her-silence/
-----
37) Washington, DC, has only itself to blame for Trump’s law-and-order takeover
Source: New York Post
by Rich Lowry
“At its best, Washington, DC, is a city of grandeur, of iconic monuments and world historical centers of power. At its worst, it’s a harrowing place where a 14-year-old could steal your Hyundai. The confluence of these two truths in the terrible early-morning beating of the DOGE employee Edward Coristine (known by his sobriquet ‘Big Balls’) has prompted President Trump to federalize the DC police and deploy the National Guard. The software engineer played a significant role in the frenetic push to reform the federal government that dominated the beginning of Trump’s second term and, by virtue of being in the wrong place at the wrong time (and protecting a young woman), was violently attacked by teenagers within two miles of the White House.” (08/11/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/08/11/opinion/washington-dc-has-itself-to-blame-for-trumps-police-takeover/
-----
38) Letters from World War II, part 1
Source: Chris Matthew Sciabarra
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
“The Second World War had a profound impact on my family. From countless conversations that I’d had over the years with uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends, I knew that the war experience had been brutal on so many levels, both at home and abroad. I knew that some had paid the ultimate price in key battles of that war, while others returned home to families that were changed forever. I had even formally interviewed one of my uncles for a school project that illuminated the difficulties of military service …. And yet, nothing quite prepared me for the education I’d receive upon discovering and reading scores of letters, which my mother had saved, written during the war — transporting me back to a time and place that enabled me to feel the daily trials and tribulations of a generation in ways that I could never have imagined.” (08/12/25)
https://medium.com/@cms10_7549/letters-from-world-war-ii-1-38a8b5bdc8c8
-----
39) Trouble in Russian economy means Putin really needs Alaska talks too
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Michael Corbin
“Russia’s economy is at a critical juncture. It is not an understatement to say that Moscow needs these Alaska peace talks with the Trump administration on Friday to end the Ukraine war as much as Kyiv does. Mixed indicators in June signal that the overall economy seems relatively stable for the near term, but recession may be on the horizon. It may be trying to hide it, but Moscow can no longer obscure the true costs of the war, which are in part to blame for current conditions. After the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Kremlin initially used budget spending, counter-sanctions measures, and credit growth to boost investment, which were largely successful as the economy grew near 4 percent in 2023 and 2024. However, in late 2024, the measures used to secure a war economy led to economic overheating, wage growth, and rampant inflation.” (08/12/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/russia-economy-war/
-----
40) A Defense of AI Parenting
Source: Law & Liberty
by Rachel Lu
“As a conservative, I have a natural suspicion of techno-optimists. Large language models are the big newcomer, and they do raise many new concerns. Everyone appreciates this in the abstract, but talking with fellow conservatives (both older and younger), I don’t always find it easy to make common cause. Many seem inclined to shun AI and other new technologies, to ‘just say no’ or at least encourage everyone to use them as little as possible. I understand, but to me that feels like dereliction, a refusal to face up to the task at hand.” (08/12/25)
https://lawliberty.org/a-defense-of-ai-parenting/
-----
41) Plenty of Room for Lawmakers to Profit Under Proposed Stock Ban
Source: The American Prospect
by Whitney Curry Wimbish
“Certain rich lawmakers are losing their minds over a proposed congressional stock-trading ban that a bipartisan group of senators advanced last month. They argue that forbidding them from using their inside knowledge to play the market will make public office ‘unattractive’ and drive those who serve into poverty. ‘Anybody want to be poor?’ asked Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), one of the richest people in Congress, whose health care company defrauded Medicare and Medicaid in the ’90s when he was its chief executive. ‘I don’t.’ But Wall Street insiders said Scott and his fellow wealthy electeds have little cause to worry. The proposal leaves plenty of room to profit off insider information, so much so that they described it as inadequate and ‘stupid,’ and called carve-outs that can be traded under the terms of the bill, including corporate bonds, ‘insane.'” (08/12/25)
https://prospect.org/power/2025-08-12-lawmakers-profit-proposed-stock-ban-insider-trading/
-----
42) Debanking Disallowed
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“President Trump has issued an executive order telling banking regulators to cut it out already. The order, ‘Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans,’ takes aim at Biden-era regulations that pushed banks to ‘debank’ clients who had the ‘wrong’ political viewpoints: supporters of the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, or whatever aspect of individual rights and freedom the Biden administration was most insistently opposed to. … Overall, the order represents a welcome 180 turnabout in very recent policy. The one problem I see, though, is that no clear attempt is made to distinguish between banks that were gung ho about clobbering politically unhip account holders and those that went no further than what they were pushed by Biden regulators to do.” (08/12/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/08/11/debanking-disallowed/
-----
43) The Perils of America’s New Caucasus Entanglement
Source: The American Conservative
by Eldar Mamedov
“Before applauding President Donald Trump’s meeting with Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders in Washington on August 8, one should ask: Why is America involved at all in a centuries-old conflict 6,000 miles away in a place that offers the U.S. little strategic value? The White House meeting was heralded as a historic breakthrough, but the resulting ‘Joint Declaration’ achieves little beyond creating new potential headaches for American foreign policy. The declaration’s seven points contain only four substantive provisions, none of which meaningfully advance peace.” (08/12/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-perils-of-americas-new-caucasus-entanglement/
-----
44) Trump’s Trial Run for a Police State
Source: The Intercept
by Radley Balko
“The Justice Department announced in January that violent crime in D.C. hit a 30-year low in 2024. So far this year, it’s down 26 percent from that. This, in other words, is a curious time for the president to declare that the nation’s capital is a violent cesspool that demands the sort of crime-fighting expertise that only a 79-year-old man who fetishizes dictators and whose entire worldview is perpetually stuck in the 1980s can provide. The motivation for Donald Trump’s plan to ‘federalize’ Washington, D.C., is same as his motivation for sending active-duty troops into Los Angeles … and nearly every other authoritarian overreach of the last six months. He is testing the limits of his power — and, by extension, of our democracy. He’s feeling out what the Supreme Court, Congress, and the public will let him get away with. And so far, he’s been able to do what he pleases.” (08/11/25)
https://theintercept.com/2025/08/11/trump-washington-dc-federalization-national-guard-troops/
-----
45) Lock Him Up! Lock Her Up! Lock All Of Them Up!
Source: Town Hall
by Kevin McCullough
“Adam Schiff has always had that smug ‘I know something you don’t know’ smirk. Turns out what he allegedly knew was how to weaponize classified information for political gain — and then act shocked anyone would call it illegal. This week, a Democratic whistleblower (someone who worked in Schiff’s own House orbit for more than a decade) told the FBI that Schiff personally approved leaking classified material in order to smear Donald Trump. Not a rumor. Not a guess. Not ‘I heard it from a guy’. The whistleblower alleges Schiff gave the order in a general staff meeting. Translation: he wanted an audience for his treachery. The whistleblower didn’t mince words either, calling the act ‘treasonous,’ ‘illegal’ and ‘unethical.’ And frankly, that’s generous. … But why stop at Schiff? Hillary Clinton handed him the playbook.” (08/12/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/kevinmccullough/2025/08/12/lock-him-up-lock-her-up-lock-all-of-them-up-n2661721
-----
46) “Burn it all”: Progressives meet in the Trump-era wilderness
Source: Semafor
by David Weigel
“For 20 years, progressives have gathered at annual Netroots Nation conferences to share strategies and plan for the next election. In New Orleans, this year’s 3,000 attendees were not so sure that there would be a ‘next election.’ At one session, after organizers described the tactics of an ‘authoritarian state,’ they considered whether they’d even be allowed to win in 2026. … The mood at the three-day conference — which began as a political blogger meetup and grew into a stop on the presidential primary circuit — was nervous and grim, despite the karaoke and pickleball.” (08/11/25)
https://www.semafor.com/article/08/11/2025/burn-it-all-progressives-meet-in-the-trump-era-wilderness
-----
47) Murder most foul
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“One of the many recent (21 July 2025) revelations from the FedGov’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reveals yet another evil way in which the FedGov (and State and local governments and Big Pharma and other Big Business) treat humans from conception to death (and their castoffs beyond that!). We know many medical care providers understand and practice good medical ethics. But that is not the case among government and ‘private’ entities that control the systems. Once again, RFK Jr. has delivered a blow against the medical establishment. This one strikes at the very heart of morality.” (08/11/25)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2025/08/11/murder-most-foul/
-----
48) Trump’s Farcical DC Crackdown
Source: The Atlantic
by Quinta Jurecic
“In the summer of 2020, as demonstrators gathered in Washington, D.C., to protest against the murder of George Floyd, President Donald Trump directed the National Guard and officers from various federal law-enforcement agencies to patrol the streets of the nation’s capital. The results were a disaster from the perspective of crowd control but a delight to a wannabe authoritarian obsessed with good TV …. Now, five years later, Trump has once again decided to impose his idea of law and order upon Washington. This time, however, the city is quiet, and he’s not responding to any protests. He’s sending in the troops because he can …. This ostensible show of strength is more like an admission of weakness. It is the behavior of a bully: very bad for the people it touches, but not a likely prelude to full authoritarian takeover.” (08/11/25)
https://archive.is/I3tKG
-----
49) Zohran’s Political Revolution
Source: In These Times
by Miles Kampf-Lassin
“When Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders launched his run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2015, he called for a ’political revolution’ against ‘the billionaire class.’ He didn’t win the presidency the next year, or in 2020, but he did plant seeds for a new kind of left electoral movement. When Zohran Mamdani — a 33-year-old Muslim democratic socialist and state assemblymember — swept the Democratic primary for New York City mayor in late June, echoes of Sanders’ runs and the promise of a revived political revolution came with it. Mamdani didn’t just upend conventional wisdom about who could win the race; he flung open the doors of mainstream U.S. politics and kicked the establishment to the curb. Disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a conservative Democrat, was favored to win, but he conceded well before all of the votes had even been counted.” (08/12/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/zohran-mamdani-bernie-sanders-democrats-left-populism-new-york
-----
50) On Life and Death in Gaza
Source: Persuasion
by Abdelkareem Alsalqawi
“My name is Abdelkareem Alsalqawi. I’m 32 years old. I was born in Gaza, in Deir al-Balah city. Deir al-Balah is a small city by the beach in the middle of the Gaza Strip, famous for its palm trees. I’m not married. I live with my parents, my sister, and two of my married brothers in the same house in Deir al-Balah. As a doctor, I was working until recently in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where I had been doing 24-hour shifts every two days since the beginning of this war on October 7, 2023. But four or five months ago I started working at Nasser Medical Complex in the city of Khan Younis, to continue my orthopedic residency. At Nasser, I also work a 24-hour shift every two days.” (08/11/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/on-life-and-death-in-gaza
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Trump Watch, 08/12/25
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Jacob discusses the ramifications of President Trump’s increasing militarization of American society.” (08/12/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WSYm6rFM4o
-----
52) Rising, 08/12/25
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave delivers radar on President Trump announcing federal control of Washington, D.C.’s, police department and deploying National Guard troops to the nation’s capital, citing a public safety emergency.” (08/12/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5447865-rising-august-12-2025/
-----
53) Advisory Opinions, 08/12/25
Source: The Dispatch
“Abraham Lincoln, Originalist | Interview: Akhil Amar.” (08/12/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/abraham-lincoln-originalist-interview-akhil-amar/
-----
54) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 08/12/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump Suggests Israel Should Ramp Up Gaza Ops, US Launches Series of Airstrikes in Somalia, and More.” (08/12/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP31XHdGxgw
-----
55) Washington Monthly Podcast, 08/11/25
Source: Washington Monthly
“Trump’s Increasingly Creative Authoritarianism.” (08/11/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/08/11/trumps-increasingly-creative-authoritarianism/
-----
56) Pink Flame of Liberty, 08/11/25
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Becoming the Defendant: The Macrons’ Defamation Case Against Candace Owens.” (08/11/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxF3jXVUCrA
-----
57) Politics Politics Politics, 08/11/25
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“The 2025 News Stories that Just Won’t Die (with Kevin Ryan).” (08/11/25)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/the-2025-news-stories-that-just-wont
-----
58) Finding Freedom, 08/11/25
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Dismantling the Administrative State with Jeffrey Tucker.” (08/11/25)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/dismantling-the-administrative-state-with-jeffrey-tucker
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49) System Update, episode 501
Source: System Update
“Trump’s DC Takeover: Is it Legal? Israel Kills More Journalists, Including Anas al-Sharif; Glenn Reacts to Pete Buttigieg and JD Vance on Israel.” (08/11/25)
https://rumble.com/v6xgf5y-trumps-dc-takeover-is-it-legal-israel-kills-more-journalists-including-anas.html
-----
60) Vital Dissent, episode 287
Source: Libertarian Institute
“‘Gang Weed Conservatism’ ft. Marcel Dumas.” (08/11/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/patrick/gang-weed-conservatism-ft-marcel-dumas-ep-287
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Today's Freedom News:
1) DC: National Guard begins deploying on streets after Trump police takeover
2) World’s largest wealth fund rolls back Israeli investments over West Bank, Gaza concerns
3) US inflation unexpectedly held steady at 2.7% in July
4) Mexico: Regime extradites 26 inmates wanted over cartel links to US
5) Steak ‘n Shake thanks Bitcoiners as same-store sales rise 11% in Q2
6) TX: Woman sues abortion pill supplier, says ex tricked her into ending pregnancy
7) YouTube to Begin Testing a New AI-Powered Age Verification System in the US
8) Charges dropped against teen pilot detained in Antarctica
9) India: Supreme Court Tells New Delhi Regime to Round Up Stray Dogs
10) South Korea: Court orders arrest of impeached former president’s wife
11) Thai regime accuses Cambodian regime of planting landmines after soldier injured
12) 133-year old Kodak says it might have to cease operations
13) Unearthed emails reveal White House nixed Biden visiting ship because of “how many steps were involved”
14) Sudan: RSF allegedly murders 40 in North Darfur displacement camp attack
15) TX: Republicans plan another special session to gerrymander congressional districts
16) Trump says gold will not be tariffed
17) Whistleblower: Schiff authorized classified intel leaks to smear Trump during Russiagate
18) North Korea: Regime holds artillery drills ahead of US-South. Korea joint exercise
19) Switzerland: Driver faces up to $110,000 in fines for speeding on street
20) Trump names Antoni to lead future cooking of jobs numbers
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Trump Replaces Manager of Jobs Data Massage Parlor
22) Trump’s tariffs will be harder to get rid of than you think
23) Saving lives and money by incentivizing living organ donation
24) Trump and Putin are Ready to Talk. What’s Different?
25) How We Got the Internet All Wrong
26) Tariffs inspire bad ideas, bad arguments
27) From Tea Party Patriotism to Economic Nationalism: How the Right Gave Up on Small Government
28) Liberalism for the 21st Century
29) When the going gets tough, the tough give
30) The Meaning of Coercion in Hayekian Philosophy
31) Hiroshima Remains an Open Wound in Our Imperiled World
32) Trump’s War on Immigrants Is a Trojan Horse to Normalize Domestic Use of the Military
33) Speak Out Now Against Netanyahu’s Final Solution for Gaza
34) Doing good by doing well
35) The Future of Art with AI
36) Is there any reason to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell except to buy her silence?
37) Washington, DC, has only itself to blame for Trump’s law-and-order takeover
38) Letters from World War II, part 1
39) Trouble in Russian economy means Putin really needs Alaska talks too
40) A Defense of AI Parenting
41) Plenty of Room for Lawmakers to Profit Under Proposed Stock Ban
42) Debanking Disallowed
43) The Perils of America’s New Caucasus Entanglement
44) Trump’s Trial Run for a Police State
45) Lock Him Up! Lock Her Up! Lock All Of Them Up!
46) “Burn it all”: Progressives meet in the Trump-era wilderness
47) Murder most foul
48) Trump’s Farcical DC Crackdown
49) Zohran’s Political Revolution
50) On Life and Death in Gaza
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Trump Watch, 08/12/25
52) Rising, 08/12/25
53) Advisory Opinions, 08/12/25
54) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 08/12/25
55) Washington Monthly Podcast, 08/11/25
56) Pink Flame of Liberty, 08/11/25
57) Politics Politics Politics, 08/11/25
58) Finding Freedom, 08/11/25
59) System Update, episode 501
60) Vital Dissent, episode 287
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) DC: National Guard begins deploying on streets after Trump police takeover
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“The Washington DC national guard will begin deploying on the city’s streets on Tuesday night, a day after Donald Trump ordered their arrival and took control of the city’s police force, calling Washington DC a ‘lawless’ city, despite official crime statistics saying otherwise, a White House official confirmed. … About 850 officers and agents took part in a ‘massive law enforcement surge’ across Washington DC on Monday night and made nearly two dozen arrests, the White House has said. … Trump’s intervention has been widely condemned as an authoritarian power grab that undermines the autonomy of Washington’s DC local government and seeks to distract attention from political problems such as the Jeffrey Epstein files.” (08/12/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/12/mayor-national-guard-washington-dc
-----
2) World’s largest wealth fund rolls back Israeli investments over West Bank, Gaza concerns
Source: Times of Israel [Jerusalem]
“Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, said Monday that it was selling off its stakes in some Israeli companies and terminating all contracts with Israeli asset managers handling investments over the situation in Gaza and the West Bank. ‘We are invested in companies that operate in a country at war, and conditions in the West Bank and Gaza have recently worsened. In response, we will further strengthen our due diligence,’ the fund’s CEO Nicolai Tangen said in a statement. Norges Bank Investment Management, the body managing the fund, said it is divesting itself of 11 Israeli companies, out of 61, which are not included in an equity benchmark index created by Norway’s Finance Ministry. The fund said the 11 were excluded ‘due to unacceptable risk of contribution to serious norm violations associated with business operations in the West Bank.'” (08/12/25)
https://www.timesofisrael.com/worlds-largest-wealth-fund-rolls-back-israeli-investments-over-west-bank-gaza-concerns/
-----
3) US inflation unexpectedly held steady at 2.7% in July
Source: Financial Times [UK]
“US inflation held steady at 2.7 per cent in July, confounding economists’ expectations of an acceleration driven by the tariffs Donald Trump has slapped on US trading partners. Tuesday’s annual consumer price index figure was in line with June’s reading and below expectations of 2.8 per cent among analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Trump has sought to use tariffs to reshape the US’s trading relationship with the world, prompting warnings of a jump in domestic prices. Inflation ticked up in June in what economists cautioned were the first signs of the trade war seeping through to consumers.” (08/12/25)
https://archive.is/a2Rb7
-----
4) Mexico: Regime extradites 26 inmates wanted over cartel links to US
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Mexico has sent 26 inmates suspected of playing high-profile roles in some of the country’s most powerful drug cartels to the US, the second transfer of its kind this year. US officials said the individuals extradited included ‘key operatives’ of major drugs gangs, and have been charged with violent offences or links to organised crime in American courts. … Mexican officials said they had agreed the inmates could be sent to the US as long as none were considered eligible for the death penalty, a condition successive governments have insisted on when considering extraditions.” (08/12/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4wyy4wl94o
-----
5) Steak ‘n Shake thanks Bitcoiners as same-store sales rise 11% in Q2
Source: CoinTelegraph
“US fast-food chain Steak ‘n Shake tipped its hat to Bitcoiners after reporting a 10.7% quarter-on-quarter same-store sales increase in Q2, outpacing America’s top food chains. ‘Bitcoin has been a game changer,’ Steak ‘n Shake posted to X on Friday, thanking Bitcoiners for their contributions since May 16, when the fast food chain started accepting Bitcoin as payment. … The fast food chain started accepting Bitcoin as payment on May 16 in all of its locations where permitted by law, including in France, Monaco and Spain, in addition to the US.” (08/12/25)
https://cointelegraph.com/news/steak-n-shake-attributes-11-percent-sales-rise-bitcoiners
-----
6) TX: Woman sues abortion pill supplier, says ex tricked her into ending pregnancy
Source: Washington Post
“A Texas woman is suing a major supplier of abortion pills by mail and a former sexual partner, who she alleges terminated her pregnancy by lacing her drink with medication he obtained from the group. In the complaint, filed Monday in Texas federal court by a prominent antiabortion attorney, the woman alleges that her ex-partner bought the pills from Aid Access, a nonprofit based in Europe, then pressured her to take them for weeks in the spring, even though she told him she did not want an abortion. … The wrongful-death lawsuit alleges that Aid Access violated the federal Comstock Act, an 1873 law that bans the mailing of ‘obscene’ materials, including those related to abortion.” [editor’s note: Apparently the ex doesn’t have much money and she thinks she can pick someone else’s pocket for his misdeeds – TLK] (08/12/25)
https://archive.is/DM6ga
-----
7) YouTube to Begin Testing a New AI-Powered Age Verification System in the US
Source: US News & World Report
“YouTube on Wednesday will begin testing a new age-verification system in the U.S. that relies on artificial intelligence to differentiate between adults and minors, based on the kinds of videos that they have been watching. The tests initially will only affect a sliver of YouTube’s audience in the U.S., but it will likely become more pervasive if the system works as well at guessing viewers’ ages as it does in other parts of the world. The system will only work when viewers are logged into their accounts, and it will make its age assessments regardless of the birth date a user might have entered upon signing up. If the system flags a logged-in viewer as being under 18, YouTube will impose the normal controls and restrictions that the site already uses as a way to prevent minors from watching videos and engaging in other behavior deemed inappropriate for that age.” (08/12/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2025-08-12/youtube-to-begin-testing-a-new-ai-powered-age-verification-system-in-the-u-s
-----
8) Charges dropped against teen pilot detained in Antarctica
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Charges against an American influencer and teen pilot who has been stranded on a remote island in the Antarctic since June have been dropped. Ethan Guo, 19, is alleged to have illegally landed his plane in Chilean territory after embarking on a solo trip to all seven continents to raise money for cancer research, according to local authorities. They accused him of providing false flight plan information to officials who detained him and opened an investigation. A judge has ordered him to leave the area, pay a $30,000 (£22,332) donation to a children’s cancer foundation and is banned from re-entering Chilean territory for three years.” (08/12/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04rql923kdo
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9) India: Supreme Court Tells New Delhi Regime to Round Up Stray Dogs
Source: New York Times
“As hundreds of thousands of dogs ranged as usual around the back streets of India’s capital on Tuesday morning, it was the city’s humans, dog lovers in particular, who were howling. On Monday, the Supreme Court of India, with its offices in the center of New Delhi, ruled that the current legal practices for taking care of the city’s stray dog population were inadequate. Within eight weeks, the court declared, all strays must be rounded up and detained permanently in shelters. The judges were responding to the menace of dogs that form packs and attack people. … The court’s order seemed to contradict the Animal Birth Control law, which requires strays to be vaccinated, sterilized and then returned to the places where they had been picked up. But that strategy has not worked, the court found.” (08/12/25)
https://archive.is/xrPMI
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10) South Korea: Court orders arrest of impeached former president’s wife
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“A South Korean court on Tuesday ordered the arrest of Kim Keon Hee, the wife of the impeached former president Yoon Suk Yeol, making her the first former first lady to be arrested in the country’s history. The Seoul central district court ruling creates an unprecedented situation in which both members of a former presidential couple are simultaneously in custody. Yoon Suk Yeol was sent back into detention in July as prosecutors investigate his failed attempt to impose martial law in December last year. … Prosecutors allege she made over 800 million won (£428,000) through manipulating the stock prices of Deutsch Motors, a local BMW dealership, between 2009 and 2012, by conspiring with others to artificially inflate shares. She is also accused of receiving over 270 million won worth of illegal political funding through free opinion polling services, and using this to influence candidate selections for the conservative People Power party in the country’s 2022 byelections.” (08/12/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/12/south-korean-court-orders-arrest-of-impeached-former-president-wife-kim-keon-hee
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11) Thai regime accuses Cambodian regime of planting landmines after soldier injured
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A Thai soldier has been seriously injured by a landmine near the Cambodian border, days after both countries agreed to a ceasefire following last month’s deadly border clashes. The soldier’s left ankle was badly damaged on Tuesday after he stepped on the device while patrolling about 1km (0.6 miles) from the Ta Moan Thom Temple in Thailand’s Surin province, the army said. He is receiving treatment in hospital. Thai army spokesperson Major General Winthai Suvaree said the incident proved Cambodia had breached the truce and violated international agreements, including the Ottawa Convention banning landmines. … Phnom Penh dismissed the accusation, insisting it has not laid new mines.” (08/12/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/12/thailand-accuses-cambodia-of-planting-landmines-after-soldier-injured
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12) 133-year old Kodak says it might have to cease operations
Source: CNN
“Eastman Kodak, the 133-year-old photography company, is warning investors thats it might not survive much longer. In its earnings report Monday, the company warned that it doesn’t have ‘committed financing or available liquidity’ to pay its roughly $500 million in upcoming debt obligations. ‘These conditions raise substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,’ Kodak said in a filing. Kodak aims to conjure up cash by ceasing payments for its retirement pension plan. It also said that it doesn’t expect tariffs to have ‘material impacts’ on its business because it manufactures its many of its products, includings cameras, inks and film in the United States. … The Eastman Kodak Company incorporated in 1892, but the company traces its roots back to 1879, when George Eastman obtained hist first patent for a plate-coating machine. In 1888, Eastman sold the first Kodak camera for $25.” (08/12/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/12/business/kodak-survival-warning
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13) Unearthed emails reveal White House nixed Biden visiting ship because of “how many steps were involved”
Source: Fox News
“Unearthed emails as part of a FOIA request show Biden administration agencies scrapping a plan to visit a vessel at an event because it would have required then-President Joe Biden to take too many steps. Records show, as part of a FOIA request by Protect the Public’s Trust obtained by Fox News Digital, that Biden was set to visit a National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) while touring a Philadelphia shipyard in July 2023. However, according to the emails, that visit to the vessel was scrapped because of ‘how many steps were involved to get on the ship.’ The emails show that the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) was engaged in a major project at the Philadelphia shipyard at the time that Biden was planning to visit to tout offshore wind and clean energy jobs.” (08/12/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/unearthed-emails-reveal-white-house-nixed-biden-visiting-ship-because-how-many-steps-were-involved
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14) Sudan: RSF allegedly murders 40 in North Darfur displacement camp attack
Source: ABC News
“Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces launched attacks Monday in a famine-stricken displacement camp outside of el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province, killing 40 people, local rights groups said. The Emergency Response Rooms group working at the Abu Shouk displacement camp said in a statement on Facebook that the RSF — which is at war with the Sudanese military — raided parts of the camp targeting citizens inside their homes. The community activist group, which provides assistance across Sudan, said at least 19 people were also injured. The Abu Shouk displacement camp outside of el-Fasher, which houses around 450,000 displaced people, has been repeatedly attacked over the course of the war. The Sudanese military has control over el-Fasher despite frequent strikes by the RSF.” (08/12/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sudans-rapid-support-forces-kill-40-people-north-124559479
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15) TX: Republicans plan another special session to gerrymander congressional districts
Source: SFGate
“Texas Republican leaders said Tuesday that they were prepared to end their stalemated special session and immediately begin another standoff with Democrats in the GOP’s efforts to redraw congressional maps as directed by President Donald Trump. It’s the latest indication that Trump’s push to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections will become an extended standoff that promises to reach multiple statehouses controlled by both major parties. Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows confirmed the plans during a brief session Tuesday morning that marked another failure to meet the required attendance standards to conduct official business because dozens of Democrats have left the state to stymie the GOP’s partisan gerrymandering attempts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.” (08/12/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/texas-republicans-plan-another-special-session-to-20814047.php
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16) Trump says gold will not be tariffed
Source: CNBC
“President Donald Trump said Monday that gold will not face tariffs, knocking down a ruling by U.S. customs officials that bars of the precious metal imported from Switzerland would face duties. ‘Gold will not be Tariffed!’ Trump said in a Truth Social post. Gold futures closed 2.48% lower at $3,404.70 per ounce after the announcement. The precious metal hit a record high Friday, after U.S. Customs and Border Protection ruled that 1 kilogram and 100 ounce gold cast bars from Switzerland were subject to Trump’s 39% tariffs on imports from the country.” (08/11/25)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/11/trump-gold-tariffs-futures.html
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17) Whistleblower: Schiff authorized classified intel leaks to smear Trump during Russiagate
Source: New York Post
“A seasoned intelligence officer who aided Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee repeatedly alleged to the FBI that then-Rep. Adam Schiff approved leaking classified information to tarnish President Trump’s image during the Russiagate probe, shocking, newly released documents reveal. Now-Sen. Schiff [D-CA] then the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, openly discussed plans to reveal sensitive information about the Trump-Russia collusion probe starting soon after the 45th president’s inauguration in 2017, the unidentified male whistleblower alleged.” (08/12/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/08/12/us-news/adam-schiff-authorized-classified-intel-leaks-to-smear-trump-during-russiagate-whistleblower-claims/
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18) North Korea: Regime holds artillery drills ahead of US-South. Korea joint exercise
Source: United Press International
“North Korea conducted artillery firing drills to boost combat readiness, state-run media reported Tuesday, as the United States and South Korea prepare to kick off a large-scale joint military exercise. A firing practice contest of tactical artillery sub-units was held on Monday under a ‘combat drill plan of the [Korean People’s Army] General Staff for perfecting the capability to fight a war and battle readiness of the entire army,’ the official Korean Central News Agency reported.” (08/12/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/08/12/North-Korea-artillery-firing-drills-Ulchi-Freedom-Shield-joint-exercise/5061754988046/
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19) Switzerland: Driver faces up to $110,000 in fines for speeding on street
Source: SFGate
“The driver was clocked going 27 kilometers per hour (17 mph) over the speed limit on a street in the Swiss city of Lausanne, and now he’s facing up to 90,000 Swiss francs (over $110,000) in fines as a result. But he can afford it. Why the eye-popping penalty? Because the speedster, a repeat offender, is one of Switzerland’s wealthiest people, and the Vaud canton, or region, serves up fines based on factors like income, fortune or general family financial situation. The Swiss are not alone. Germany, France, Austria and the Nordic countries all issue punishments based on a person’s wealth. The recent fine isn’t even a record in Switzerland. In 2010, a millionaire Ferrari driver got a ticket equal to about $290,000 for speeding in the eastern canton of St. Gallen.” (08/12/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/a-driver-faces-up-to-110-000-in-fines-for-20814005.php
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20) Trump names Antoni to lead future cooking of jobs numbers
Source: Axios
“President Trump on Monday said he will nominate Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists worry that Trump aims to [alter the elements of politicization in] the agency, which publishes [the regime’s preferred conclusions about] crucial, market-moving data on employment and inflation. Expect Antoni to face huge questions about how he will handle economic data that displeases Trump — a situation that caused the president to fire former BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer in early August.” (08/11/25)
https://archive.is/a6bXy
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Trump Replaces Manager of Jobs Data Massage Parlor
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“‘There are three kinds of lies,’ Mark Twain wrote in 1907, echoing several prior formulations and (apparently incorrectly) crediting Benjamin Disraeli as the quote’s originator: ‘Lies, damned lies, and statistics.’ I’m far from the first commentator to modify that final bit to ‘government statistics.’ The job of the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics is to make the current administration look good, even if that requires putting lipstick on a pig. … Government manipulation of data starts with deciding what information to gather, how to gather it, and who to gather it from. Then that information gets massaged to tell the story that the masseuse or masseur wants you to hear.” (08/12/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/19868
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22) Trump’s tariffs will be harder to get rid of than you think
Source: Washington Post
by Eric Boehm
“At the height of a brief trade war with Europe in the 1960s, President Lyndon B. Johnson imposed a 25 percent tariff on imported passenger trucks and vans. It was a retaliatory measure aimed at punishing European countries — France and West Germany, mostly — for tariffs they had slapped on American chicken. That trade war ended long ago, but that 25 percent tariff on pickup trucks and cargo vans remains to this day. … Tariffs are not only costly and distortionary. They also tend to be quite sticky. Economists offer a variety of overlapping explanations for why tariffs, once imposed, have a propensity to outlive the political circumstances that brought them about. Often, that happens because domestic constituencies that benefit from tariffs will fight to keep them around.” (08/12/25)
https://archive.is/uFnVE
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23) Saving lives and money by incentivizing living organ donation
Source: Niskanen Center
by Lawson Mansell & Cecilia Esterline
“In the U.S., an average of 13 people die every day awaiting an organ transplant. Of the more than 105,000 Americans waiting for organs, over 86 percent are awaiting a kidney. While many Americans are willing to donate their organs after death, only three in 1,000 people die in such a way that their organs can be used for posthumous donation under the strict medical criteria. Increasing donor registration to close the gap between the number of people who support organ donation and those who are actually signed up to donate after death could provide modest benefits. But living donation, when possible, is the better alternative, and encouraging it, for both the lifesaving and budgetary savings benefits, should be a major policy priority.” (08/12/25)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/saving-lives-and-money-by-incentivizing-living-organ-donation
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24) Trump and Putin are Ready to Talk. What’s Different?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
“Putin’s message remains unchanged. He has been listing the same conditions since the Istanbul peace talks in the first weeks of the war, and most of those were unchanged since his proposed talks with the U.S. in the weeks before the war. So why are Trump and Putin meeting now? What’s different? Five important things may have changed recently. The first may be an important concession by Putin. Putin has offered a complete ceasefire if Ukraine withdraws its troops from the Donbas region [formerly] of eastern Ukraine and the Russian annexation of those regions is recognized, including the small area that Russia does not yet control, as well as Crimea.” [editor’s note: Putin’s offer in April 2022 included complete Russian withdrawal from the Donbas. How is his current position a “concession?” – TLK] (08/12/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_snider/2025/08/11/trump-and-putin-are-ready-to-talk-whats-different/
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25) How We Got the Internet All Wrong
Source: The Dispatch
by Yascha Mounk
“The World Wide Web was supposed to connect us to people near and far. Instead, it has turned us into tribalist, neurotic homebodies.” (08/12/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/social-media-children-dating-neurotic/
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26) Tariffs inspire bad ideas, bad arguments
Source: Orange County Register
by the editorial board
“‘We call a tariff a protective measure. It does protect; it protects the consumer very well against one thing. It protects the consumer against low prices,’ explained the great economist Milton Friedman in 1978. Tariffs, after all, are not complicated to understand. They are taxes. When a country imposes tariffs on imports, they are imposing taxes on their own population. Accordingly, the tariff-spree currently being undertaken by President Donald Trump is a massive tax increase on the American people. … The cost of tariffs, of course, will be paid by the American people. It’s a lesson conservatives and Republicans seem to understand when it comes to tax increases proposed by Democrats.” (08/12/25)
https://archive.is/DQmRY
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27) From Tea Party Patriotism to Economic Nationalism: How the Right Gave Up on Small Government
Source: The Daily Economy
by Stefan Bartl
“The Republican Party once preached a creed of limited government and balanced budgets. With state control, tariffs, and deficits all rising, that ethical restraint appears to be long gone.” (08/12/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/from-tea-party-patriotism-to-economic-nationalism-how-the-right-gave-up-on-small-government/
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28) Liberalism for the 21st Century
Source: Liberal Currents
by Paul Crider
“Liberals need enemies. The problem with liberals today is we don’t know who our real enemies are. We get confused, fighting old fights and chasing phantasms. But our enemies are clear. They are MAGA, white supremacists, antifeminists, and oligarchs. When we ask what it means to be a liberal in the 21st century, we should ask what it has meant to be a liberal in the past. Liberalism has never been any one thing, but has taken different forms in different times and places, based on what the most pressing threats to freedom are in each context.” (08/12/25)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/liberalism-for-the-21st-century/
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29) When the going gets tough, the tough give
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“America’s historic spirit of generosity just keeps on finding fresh openings. Take, for example, a surge in private donations to public broadcasting after recent federal cuts. About 120,000 Americans have so far given some $20 million to national and local public media. ‘We’re relying enthusiastically on the support from our community,’ Jenn Gordon, head of WTVP in Peoria, Illinois, told Crain’s Chicago Business. ‘We’re looking to the community, and we’re just very grateful.’ Such a surge fits recent patterns in donations. Last year, individual giving, which is by far the largest portion, rose 5%, according to the most recent Giving USA report. Private giving to charities went up 3.3% over the previous year, after adjusting for inflation. ‘People are ready to give if they’re invited,’ Woodrow Rosenbaum, chief data officer of GivingTuesday, told The NonProfit Times. Total giving reached a record $592.5 billion, or about 2% of gross national product.” (08/11/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0811/When-the-going-gets-tough-the-tough-give
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30) The Meaning of Coercion in Hayekian Philosophy
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“The literal meaning of coercion is of little philosophical use, as it could mean anything that anyone feels under pressure to do against his will. The word ‘force’ is often used conversationally in that broad sense — ‘they ran out of the style I wanted, so I was forced to buy a different style.’ During the covid lockdowns there were heated debates over whether people had been ‘coerced’ into complying with the vaccination mandates as, predictably, those who enforced the mandates later claimed that no one was ‘forced’ to comply. … In The Constitution of Liberty, Friedrich von Hayek saw liberty as the highest value …. But he was, at the same time, keen not ‘to remain always on the plane of high ideals,’ quibbling fruitlessly about the meaning of words.” (08/12/25)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/meaning-coercion-hayekian-philosophy
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31) Hiroshima Remains an Open Wound in Our Imperiled World
Source: TomDispatch
by Eric Ross
“On August 6, 2025, the world marked the 80th anniversary of the American destruction of Hiroshima. As in decades past, Hiroshima Day served to honor the first victims of atomic warfare and to reaffirm the enduring promise that their suffering would not be in vain, that they and the residents of Nagasaki, devastated three days later in 1945, would be the last places to endure such a fate. Within that commemorative framework, Hiroshima has been effectively rendered an abstraction and reduced to a cautionary tale. With the involuntary sacrifice of that city and its inhabitants, humanity was offered a profound lesson. In the ruins of Hiroshima, the world confronted a vision of nothing less than its own potential end. And awareness of that apocalyptic possibility emerged almost immediately.” (08/12/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/what-do-we-forget-when-we-remember-hiroshima/
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32) Trump’s War on Immigrants Is a Trojan Horse to Normalize Domestic Use of the Military
Source: CounterPunch
by Sam Carliner
“While Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) faces growing scrutiny for its role in brutally carrying out Trump’s mass-deportation agenda, another institution’s involvement has received less attention: the U.S. military. Trump’s use of the military in the war on immigrants garnered some mainstream backlash when he provocatively deployed thousands of National Guard soldiers and Marines to the streets of Los Angeles. Now, people are again becoming aware of domestic militarization as Trump threatens to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops and other federal forces to DC. But these headline-grabbing moves in LA and DC must be understood in the context of a larger, growing domestic use of the military against immigrant communities, which has largely developed without mainstream scrutiny.” (08/12/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/12/trumps-war-on-immigrants-is-a-trojan-horse-to-normalize-domestic-use-of-the-military/
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33) Speak Out Now Against Netanyahu’s Final Solution for Gaza
Source: Common Dreams
by Steve Minkin
“The world is asking why major Jewish organizations, and congregations around the country, aren’t speaking out about genocide. It can’t be hidden. The failure to condemn Israel’s crimes against humanity is a glaring breakdown of moral responsibility, casting a dark shadow and is a growing source of antisemitism. I have overheard neighbors, who are not political, talking about what Israel is doing in Gaza. An acquaintance during a conversation suddenly asked, ‘Are you Jewish?’ A Christian friend asked me, ‘Why aren’t the Rabbis speaking out?’ Gaza has more children missing limbs per capita than any other place in the world. Contemplate this fact as children are preciously guided through Jewish education culminating in the Bat Mitzvah for girls and Bar Mitzvah for boys. As new adults they will grow up with a history different from their parents, grandparents, and great grandparents.” (08/12/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/speak-out-now-gaza
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34) Doing good by doing well
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kimberlle Josephson
“As a business professor, I strive to teach sound principles and practices, focusing on the benefits of productivity and value creation. I want my students pursuing business careers to be proud of their chosen profession. While business ethics is a topic worthy of classroom coverage and discussion, I do not view my role as one of reforming students’ values or beliefs. They are individuals, each with their own capabilities and aspirations. I teach fundamentals, not fundamentalism. If a student wants to manage a bar, I don’t scorn them for promoting alcohol consumption. If a student wants to open a tattoo parlor, I don’t consider that work less worthy. If anything, I enjoy a good craft beer, and I have a tattoo myself.” (08/12/25)
https://fee.org/articles/doing-good-by-doing-well/
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35) The Future of Art with AI
Source: EconLog
by Jon Murphy
“Among artists (by which I mean both those who generate art for art’s sake and those who generate art professionally, like graphic designers), AI is hotly controversial. Professional artists understandably fear that AI will take their jobs. Let’s use the ‘economic way of thinking’ to analyze those fears and see what is most likely.” (08/12/25)
https://www.econlib.org/the-future-of-art-with-ai
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36) Is there any reason to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell except to buy her silence?
Source: The Hill
by James D Zirin
“Jeffrey Epstein was perhaps the most conspicuous pimp since the Marquis de Sade, and he did so on a grand scale. His associates included bankers, princes, CEOs, governors and past and future presidents. One of Epstein’s friends was President Trump. Their relationship lasted 15 years. We don’t know how their friendship got started, and we don’t know the exact details of why it persisted or ended. We do know that it has become an albatross for Trump in his second term. … has the time come for a quid pro quo with [Ghislaine] Maxwell?” (08/12/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/5447317-is-there-any-reason-to-pardon-ghislaine-maxwell-except-to-buy-her-silence/
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37) Washington, DC, has only itself to blame for Trump’s law-and-order takeover
Source: New York Post
by Rich Lowry
“At its best, Washington, DC, is a city of grandeur, of iconic monuments and world historical centers of power. At its worst, it’s a harrowing place where a 14-year-old could steal your Hyundai. The confluence of these two truths in the terrible early-morning beating of the DOGE employee Edward Coristine (known by his sobriquet ‘Big Balls’) has prompted President Trump to federalize the DC police and deploy the National Guard. The software engineer played a significant role in the frenetic push to reform the federal government that dominated the beginning of Trump’s second term and, by virtue of being in the wrong place at the wrong time (and protecting a young woman), was violently attacked by teenagers within two miles of the White House.” (08/11/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/08/11/opinion/washington-dc-has-itself-to-blame-for-trumps-police-takeover/
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38) Letters from World War II, part 1
Source: Chris Matthew Sciabarra
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
“The Second World War had a profound impact on my family. From countless conversations that I’d had over the years with uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends, I knew that the war experience had been brutal on so many levels, both at home and abroad. I knew that some had paid the ultimate price in key battles of that war, while others returned home to families that were changed forever. I had even formally interviewed one of my uncles for a school project that illuminated the difficulties of military service …. And yet, nothing quite prepared me for the education I’d receive upon discovering and reading scores of letters, which my mother had saved, written during the war — transporting me back to a time and place that enabled me to feel the daily trials and tribulations of a generation in ways that I could never have imagined.” (08/12/25)
https://medium.com/@cms10_7549/letters-from-world-war-ii-1-38a8b5bdc8c8
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39) Trouble in Russian economy means Putin really needs Alaska talks too
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Michael Corbin
“Russia’s economy is at a critical juncture. It is not an understatement to say that Moscow needs these Alaska peace talks with the Trump administration on Friday to end the Ukraine war as much as Kyiv does. Mixed indicators in June signal that the overall economy seems relatively stable for the near term, but recession may be on the horizon. It may be trying to hide it, but Moscow can no longer obscure the true costs of the war, which are in part to blame for current conditions. After the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Kremlin initially used budget spending, counter-sanctions measures, and credit growth to boost investment, which were largely successful as the economy grew near 4 percent in 2023 and 2024. However, in late 2024, the measures used to secure a war economy led to economic overheating, wage growth, and rampant inflation.” (08/12/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/russia-economy-war/
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40) A Defense of AI Parenting
Source: Law & Liberty
by Rachel Lu
“As a conservative, I have a natural suspicion of techno-optimists. Large language models are the big newcomer, and they do raise many new concerns. Everyone appreciates this in the abstract, but talking with fellow conservatives (both older and younger), I don’t always find it easy to make common cause. Many seem inclined to shun AI and other new technologies, to ‘just say no’ or at least encourage everyone to use them as little as possible. I understand, but to me that feels like dereliction, a refusal to face up to the task at hand.” (08/12/25)
https://lawliberty.org/a-defense-of-ai-parenting/
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41) Plenty of Room for Lawmakers to Profit Under Proposed Stock Ban
Source: The American Prospect
by Whitney Curry Wimbish
“Certain rich lawmakers are losing their minds over a proposed congressional stock-trading ban that a bipartisan group of senators advanced last month. They argue that forbidding them from using their inside knowledge to play the market will make public office ‘unattractive’ and drive those who serve into poverty. ‘Anybody want to be poor?’ asked Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), one of the richest people in Congress, whose health care company defrauded Medicare and Medicaid in the ’90s when he was its chief executive. ‘I don’t.’ But Wall Street insiders said Scott and his fellow wealthy electeds have little cause to worry. The proposal leaves plenty of room to profit off insider information, so much so that they described it as inadequate and ‘stupid,’ and called carve-outs that can be traded under the terms of the bill, including corporate bonds, ‘insane.'” (08/12/25)
https://prospect.org/power/2025-08-12-lawmakers-profit-proposed-stock-ban-insider-trading/
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42) Debanking Disallowed
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“President Trump has issued an executive order telling banking regulators to cut it out already. The order, ‘Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans,’ takes aim at Biden-era regulations that pushed banks to ‘debank’ clients who had the ‘wrong’ political viewpoints: supporters of the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, or whatever aspect of individual rights and freedom the Biden administration was most insistently opposed to. … Overall, the order represents a welcome 180 turnabout in very recent policy. The one problem I see, though, is that no clear attempt is made to distinguish between banks that were gung ho about clobbering politically unhip account holders and those that went no further than what they were pushed by Biden regulators to do.” (08/12/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/08/11/debanking-disallowed/
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43) The Perils of America’s New Caucasus Entanglement
Source: The American Conservative
by Eldar Mamedov
“Before applauding President Donald Trump’s meeting with Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders in Washington on August 8, one should ask: Why is America involved at all in a centuries-old conflict 6,000 miles away in a place that offers the U.S. little strategic value? The White House meeting was heralded as a historic breakthrough, but the resulting ‘Joint Declaration’ achieves little beyond creating new potential headaches for American foreign policy. The declaration’s seven points contain only four substantive provisions, none of which meaningfully advance peace.” (08/12/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-perils-of-americas-new-caucasus-entanglement/
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44) Trump’s Trial Run for a Police State
Source: The Intercept
by Radley Balko
“The Justice Department announced in January that violent crime in D.C. hit a 30-year low in 2024. So far this year, it’s down 26 percent from that. This, in other words, is a curious time for the president to declare that the nation’s capital is a violent cesspool that demands the sort of crime-fighting expertise that only a 79-year-old man who fetishizes dictators and whose entire worldview is perpetually stuck in the 1980s can provide. The motivation for Donald Trump’s plan to ‘federalize’ Washington, D.C., is same as his motivation for sending active-duty troops into Los Angeles … and nearly every other authoritarian overreach of the last six months. He is testing the limits of his power — and, by extension, of our democracy. He’s feeling out what the Supreme Court, Congress, and the public will let him get away with. And so far, he’s been able to do what he pleases.” (08/11/25)
https://theintercept.com/2025/08/11/trump-washington-dc-federalization-national-guard-troops/
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45) Lock Him Up! Lock Her Up! Lock All Of Them Up!
Source: Town Hall
by Kevin McCullough
“Adam Schiff has always had that smug ‘I know something you don’t know’ smirk. Turns out what he allegedly knew was how to weaponize classified information for political gain — and then act shocked anyone would call it illegal. This week, a Democratic whistleblower (someone who worked in Schiff’s own House orbit for more than a decade) told the FBI that Schiff personally approved leaking classified material in order to smear Donald Trump. Not a rumor. Not a guess. Not ‘I heard it from a guy’. The whistleblower alleges Schiff gave the order in a general staff meeting. Translation: he wanted an audience for his treachery. The whistleblower didn’t mince words either, calling the act ‘treasonous,’ ‘illegal’ and ‘unethical.’ And frankly, that’s generous. … But why stop at Schiff? Hillary Clinton handed him the playbook.” (08/12/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/kevinmccullough/2025/08/12/lock-him-up-lock-her-up-lock-all-of-them-up-n2661721
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46) “Burn it all”: Progressives meet in the Trump-era wilderness
Source: Semafor
by David Weigel
“For 20 years, progressives have gathered at annual Netroots Nation conferences to share strategies and plan for the next election. In New Orleans, this year’s 3,000 attendees were not so sure that there would be a ‘next election.’ At one session, after organizers described the tactics of an ‘authoritarian state,’ they considered whether they’d even be allowed to win in 2026. … The mood at the three-day conference — which began as a political blogger meetup and grew into a stop on the presidential primary circuit — was nervous and grim, despite the karaoke and pickleball.” (08/11/25)
https://www.semafor.com/article/08/11/2025/burn-it-all-progressives-meet-in-the-trump-era-wilderness
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47) Murder most foul
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“One of the many recent (21 July 2025) revelations from the FedGov’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reveals yet another evil way in which the FedGov (and State and local governments and Big Pharma and other Big Business) treat humans from conception to death (and their castoffs beyond that!). We know many medical care providers understand and practice good medical ethics. But that is not the case among government and ‘private’ entities that control the systems. Once again, RFK Jr. has delivered a blow against the medical establishment. This one strikes at the very heart of morality.” (08/11/25)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2025/08/11/murder-most-foul/
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48) Trump’s Farcical DC Crackdown
Source: The Atlantic
by Quinta Jurecic
“In the summer of 2020, as demonstrators gathered in Washington, D.C., to protest against the murder of George Floyd, President Donald Trump directed the National Guard and officers from various federal law-enforcement agencies to patrol the streets of the nation’s capital. The results were a disaster from the perspective of crowd control but a delight to a wannabe authoritarian obsessed with good TV …. Now, five years later, Trump has once again decided to impose his idea of law and order upon Washington. This time, however, the city is quiet, and he’s not responding to any protests. He’s sending in the troops because he can …. This ostensible show of strength is more like an admission of weakness. It is the behavior of a bully: very bad for the people it touches, but not a likely prelude to full authoritarian takeover.” (08/11/25)
https://archive.is/I3tKG
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49) Zohran’s Political Revolution
Source: In These Times
by Miles Kampf-Lassin
“When Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders launched his run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2015, he called for a ’political revolution’ against ‘the billionaire class.’ He didn’t win the presidency the next year, or in 2020, but he did plant seeds for a new kind of left electoral movement. When Zohran Mamdani — a 33-year-old Muslim democratic socialist and state assemblymember — swept the Democratic primary for New York City mayor in late June, echoes of Sanders’ runs and the promise of a revived political revolution came with it. Mamdani didn’t just upend conventional wisdom about who could win the race; he flung open the doors of mainstream U.S. politics and kicked the establishment to the curb. Disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a conservative Democrat, was favored to win, but he conceded well before all of the votes had even been counted.” (08/12/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/zohran-mamdani-bernie-sanders-democrats-left-populism-new-york
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50) On Life and Death in Gaza
Source: Persuasion
by Abdelkareem Alsalqawi
“My name is Abdelkareem Alsalqawi. I’m 32 years old. I was born in Gaza, in Deir al-Balah city. Deir al-Balah is a small city by the beach in the middle of the Gaza Strip, famous for its palm trees. I’m not married. I live with my parents, my sister, and two of my married brothers in the same house in Deir al-Balah. As a doctor, I was working until recently in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where I had been doing 24-hour shifts every two days since the beginning of this war on October 7, 2023. But four or five months ago I started working at Nasser Medical Complex in the city of Khan Younis, to continue my orthopedic residency. At Nasser, I also work a 24-hour shift every two days.” (08/11/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/on-life-and-death-in-gaza
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Trump Watch, 08/12/25
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Jacob discusses the ramifications of President Trump’s increasing militarization of American society.” (08/12/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WSYm6rFM4o
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52) Rising, 08/12/25
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave delivers radar on President Trump announcing federal control of Washington, D.C.’s, police department and deploying National Guard troops to the nation’s capital, citing a public safety emergency.” (08/12/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5447865-rising-august-12-2025/
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53) Advisory Opinions, 08/12/25
Source: The Dispatch
“Abraham Lincoln, Originalist | Interview: Akhil Amar.” (08/12/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/abraham-lincoln-originalist-interview-akhil-amar/
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54) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 08/12/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump Suggests Israel Should Ramp Up Gaza Ops, US Launches Series of Airstrikes in Somalia, and More.” (08/12/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP31XHdGxgw
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55) Washington Monthly Podcast, 08/11/25
Source: Washington Monthly
“Trump’s Increasingly Creative Authoritarianism.” (08/11/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/08/11/trumps-increasingly-creative-authoritarianism/
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56) Pink Flame of Liberty, 08/11/25
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Becoming the Defendant: The Macrons’ Defamation Case Against Candace Owens.” (08/11/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxF3jXVUCrA
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57) Politics Politics Politics, 08/11/25
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“The 2025 News Stories that Just Won’t Die (with Kevin Ryan).” (08/11/25)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/the-2025-news-stories-that-just-wont
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58) Finding Freedom, 08/11/25
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Dismantling the Administrative State with Jeffrey Tucker.” (08/11/25)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/dismantling-the-administrative-state-with-jeffrey-tucker
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49) System Update, episode 501
Source: System Update
“Trump’s DC Takeover: Is it Legal? Israel Kills More Journalists, Including Anas al-Sharif; Glenn Reacts to Pete Buttigieg and JD Vance on Israel.” (08/11/25)
https://rumble.com/v6xgf5y-trumps-dc-takeover-is-it-legal-israel-kills-more-journalists-including-anas.html
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60) Vital Dissent, episode 287
Source: Libertarian Institute
“‘Gang Weed Conservatism’ ft. Marcel Dumas.” (08/11/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/patrick/gang-weed-conservatism-ft-marcel-dumas-ep-287
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