09/01 -- Turkey pushes for new grain deal between Russia and Ukraine; Trump's Iran War Has Succeeded on No Stated Count and Failed on Many Unstated Ones
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Thomas L. Knapp
Sep 1, 2026, 6:10:09 AMSep 1
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 09/01/26
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Turkey pushes for new grain deal between Russia and Ukraine
2) Jury convicts Duane “Keffe D” Davis of first-degree murder in orchestrating killing of Tupac Shakur
3) Chinese regime whining weighs on Pacific summit
4) Army Secretary submits resignation after tensions with Pete Hegseth
5) SCOTUS rules White House ballroom construction may proceed
6) Report: Pentagon covertly puts conservative military influencers into regime positions
7) Congo: Regime reports more than 6,000 confirmed Ebola cases and nearly 3,000 deaths
8) House Republicans Launch Investigation Into DEA Tactic That Allowed [sic] Fentanyl to Hit Streets
9) Japan: Defense Ministry requests record $55.6 billion to fund “new ways of fighting”
10) Experts, lawyers puzzled over US-Venezuela oil deal, call for contract transparency
11) The billionaire tax is breaking the California Democratic Party
12) India: Modi meets with Iran’s Pezeshkian
13) Russian strikes destroy 12 million books ahead of Ukraine’s first week back at school
14) TX: Final witness to ICE gang murder released from concentration camp, attorney says
15) Convicted cab driver rapist Gurmeet Singh stripped of US citizenship 15 years after assaulting passenger
16) North Korea: Regime rejects Trump overtures, vows to expand nuclear arsenal
17) “Like fighting a dinosaur”: Sydney woman recalls how she punched shark during attack
18) US House returns for shutdown theater performance
19) Kalshi bans ex-Congressman George Santos for life, after concluding he likely was insider trading
20) Niger: Junta regains control of key airbase after soldiers mutiny
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Trump’s Iran War Has Succeeded on No Stated Count and Failed on Many Unstated Ones
22) The multifaceted stupidity of Trump’s Canadian trade war
23) My Libertarian Solution for the $40 Trillion Federal Debt
24) Trump’s Broken Deals Make Foreign Policy Difficult
25) Anthropic Win Reaffirms Private Sector’s Right To Put Conditions on Government Dealings
26) Anti-Tribute to Milo Yiannopoulos
27) The Molecule at the End of Politics
28) Trump Has Peaked
29) Why Higher Education Is Likely Doomed
30) High Agency is High Variance
31) Clyburn Calls for Packing the Court with “Baker’s Dozen” to Flip Cases
32) Trump Puffs Up Engagement With North Korea, But Can We Trust Him?
33) Americans search for a nonpartisan politics
34) “Tax the Billionaires” Cannot Fund the DSA’s $200 Trillion Platform
35) Godless and Providential?
36) Newsom Celebrates a Higher Minimum Wage as California Jobs Struggle
37) Data center fight could decide next president, and cost America the AI race
38) Global Empire as Domestic Policy
39) Trump designates protesters terrorists. How far will it go?
40) The Fallacy of Stable Prices
41) Opioid Settlement Funds Belong to the Public: Communities Want Healing, Not Punishment
42) Fauci Didn’t Create Faucism. He Exposed It
43) Baiting Turkey: Israel’s Strategy in Syria
44) Twilight’s Last Gleaming
45) AG Letitia James turns evil eye on Trump, and blind eye to NY crime
46) Ethnic Cleansing, Other Horrors, and the Racial IQ Controversy
47) Guardrails for Democracy: How Congress Can Reinforce Privacy Rights and Independent Oversight
48) This is Not Real Life
49) Big Tech Crashes Headlong Into American Democracy
50) The Herd Immunity Fallacy
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 08/31/26
52) Sal and Mark, episode 18
53) Trump Censorship Machine Bashed in Federal Court
54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/31/26
55) Rising, 08/31/26
56) The Brian Nichols Show, 08/31/26
57) EconTalk, 08/31/26
58) Pink Flame of Liberty, 08/30/26
59) Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 08/30/26
60) Free Talk Live, 08/30/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Turkey pushes for new grain deal between Russia and Ukraine
Source: Yahoo! News
“Turkey is pushing for a new agreement between Russia and Ukraine concerning grain exports via the Black Sea, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told journalists in Istanbul on Monday. Fidan said that Turkey was in contact with both Kiev and Moscow on this matter. ‘We are working on a further agreement, similar to the grain deal,’ the minister explained. Such an agreement had already been in place after the war began in 2022. However, it expired in 2023.” (08/31/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/turkey-pushes-grain-deal-between-163349678.html
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2) Jury convicts Duane “Keffe D” Davis of first-degree murder in orchestrating killing of Tupac Shakur
Source: Associated Press
“A jury has found Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis guilty of orchestrating the killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, marking the first conviction in a case that has gripped hip-hop fans for decades. The 63-year-old Davis was convicted Monday of murder with the use of a deadly weapon and could be sentenced to life in prison. The jury deliberated for 3 hours after a weekslong trial in Las Vegas. The night of his murder, Shakur was in a BMW with music mogul Marion ‘Suge’ Knight when a white Cadillac pulled up at a red light. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later, while Knight survived. The confrontation was rooted in a long-running feud between the Mob Piru Bloods, a gang Shakur and Knight were affiliated with, and the South Side Compton Crips, for whom Davis was a prominent leader.” (08/31/26)
https://apnews.com/live/tupac-murder-trial-duane-davis-08-31-2026
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3) Chinese regime whining weighs on Pacific summit
Source: Reuters
“China on Tuesday objected to Taiwan’s presence at the Pacific Islands Forum saying the democratically ruled island was not qualified to attend the summit, but Australia and New Zealand said the Pacific bloc would decide the guest list. China [pretends Taiwan is] its own territory, and tensions between both have featured prominently at the annual meeting of the 18-member group that counts Australia, New Zealand and Pacific island nations as members. … China’s special envoy for Pacific island affairs Qian Bo said on Monday that Taiwan’s presence would have consequences — without specifying what they would be.” (08/31/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-warns-consequences-over-taiwans-attendance-pacific-leaders-meeting-2026-09-01/
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4) Army Secretary submits resignation after tensions with Pete Hegseth
Source: NBC News
“Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is expected to step down in the coming days after the White House accepted his resignation, according to a person familiar with the matter and a White House official. NBC News reported last week that Driscoll had told close associates that he wanted to leave the administration by Labor Day. Driscoll visited the White House last week to discuss his future, according to three U.S. officials, but it wasn’t clear what came of the meeting. … Driscoll is the latest high-profile official at the Defense Department to depart; Navy Secretary John Phelan and the Army chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, were pushed out this spring. … Driscoll had differed over a number of issues with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who removed George, Phelan and other high-ranking Pentagon officials. He has also blocked the promotions of several senior Army officers.” (08/31/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/army-secretary-dan-driscoll-submits-resignation-white-house-rcna595437
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5) SCOTUS rules White House ballroom construction may proceed
Source: The Hill
“The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Monday that construction of the White House ballroom can continue, lifting a block on above-ground work as President Trump asserts the project is necessary for national security. It halts a lower court ruling that would’ve restricted construction until Congress provided additional approvals. Five of the court’s conservative [sic] justices, including all three of Trump’s appointees — Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — sided with the president. They ruled a preservationist group likely has no right to sue over one of its members’ concerns about the project. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s three liberal [sic] justices in dissent.” (08/21/26)
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/6061878-trump-wins-ballroom-construction-lawsuit/
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6) Report: Pentagon covertly puts conservative military influencers into regime positions
Source: Jerusalem Post [Jerusalem]
“Senior US military influencers were discreetly placed in government positions as part of a covert Pentagon operation, The Washington Post reported on Monday, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter and corroborating material. According to the report, the influencers in question have worked to push against criticism of the Trump administration while advancing the positions of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, being assigned as ‘special government employees (SGE)’ or ‘highly qualified experts (HQE).’ The report noted that HQEs are permitted to work either part-time or full-time with no compensation limitations, whereas SGEs may work up to 130 days per year. The sources, which named two of the influencers as US Air Force Col. (ret.) Rob Maness and US Army Col. (ret.) Kurt Schlichter, told the Washington Post that several of the veterans are in positions powerful enough to potentially influence policy changes.” (08/31/26)
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-907137
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7) Congo: Regime reports more than 6,000 confirmed Ebola cases and nearly 3,000 deaths
Source: New Haven Register
“Congo’s authorities said Monday that the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history has topped 6,000 cases with 2,911 deaths. More than 1,360 people have recovered from the virus, in what authorities said was an ‘encouraging’ development. The outbreak in eastern Congo is spreading under extremely difficult conditions, fueled by insecurity, displacement, a health workers’ strike and intense population movements. The situation is particularly concerning at displacement sites, where residents already live in extremely precarious conditions. Last week, the virus spilled into two new health zones in the region. The World Health Organization has said that it remains out of control and is on track to surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak, the deadliest on record, which killed more than 11,000 people, primarily in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.” (08/31/26)
https://www.nhregister.com/news/world/article/congo-authorities-report-more-than-6-000-22410629.php
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8) House Republicans Launch Investigation Into DEA Tactic That Allowed [sic] Fentanyl to Hit Streets
Source: US News & World Report
“Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have launched an investigation into a controversial policing tactic that permitted staggering amounts of deadly fentanyl to reach the streets as federal authorities sought to build bigger drug cases. The committee’s chairman, Rep. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, sent a letter Monday to Attorney General Todd Blanche requesting records related to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s controversial strategy of monitoring — yet not seizing — major fentanyl shipments. The request echoes concerns raised by officials in New Mexico, the epicenter of the fentanyl crisis and where DEA whistleblowers recently reported being ordered to stand down rather than seize hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills in possible violation of Justice Department rules intended to safeguard communities.” [editor’s note: In the war on drugs, drugs will always win. That war created the demand for fentanyl, and there’s no way it, or duplicate shipments, wouldn’t have “reached the streets” – TLK] (08/31/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/florida/articles/2026-08-31/house-republicans-launch-investigation-into-dea-tactic-that-allowed-fentanyl-to-hit-streets
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9) Japan: Defense Ministry requests record $55.6 billion to fund “new ways of fighting”
Source: Stars and Stripes [US state media]
“Japan’s Defense Ministry on Monday asked for a record-high 8.9 trillion yen for the coming fiscal year, about $55.6 billion, with the cost of about 100 items left blank. The proposed spending plan — the 15th consecutive increase in as many years — seeks an outlay for ‘new ways of fighting,’ including artificial intelligence, unmanned vehicles and further spending on standoff missiles. The request focuses on three main pillars of Japan’s deterrence and response capabilities for the coming fiscal year, which begins in April. Along with AI, unmanned systems and missiles, the budget aims to build sustained response capabilities for prolonged conflicts and a stronger base for defense equipment acquisition and support.” (08/31/26)
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2026-08-31/japan-defense-budget-request-22687506.html
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10) Experts, lawyers puzzled over US-Venezuela oil deal, call for contract transparency
Source: Reuters
“A massive long-term oil deal expected to grant the U.S. access to a fifth of Venezuela’s crude reserves has energy experts and lawyers questioning its legality and eventual execution, while calling on both governments for contract transparency. The unprecedented pact, announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday and confirmed by Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez, will put a whopping 65 billion barrels of recoverable oil under Washington’s control, a volume that surpasses total U.S. proved oil reserves of 46 billion barrels. The agreement did not pass through a competitive process, and its negotiation remained a secret until last week, even amid a sweeping reform of Venezuela’s primary hydrocarbons law and the migration of dozens of joint ventures and contracts to new terms, which authorities and operators have not completed.” (08/31/26)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/experts-lawyers-puzzled-over-us-venezuela-oil-deal-call-contract-transparency-2026-08-31/
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11) The billionaire tax is breaking the California Democratic Party
Source: SFGate
“California’s billionaire tax proposal is splintering the state’s Democratic Party, with party leaders opposing the wealth tax even as voters, and especially young voters, appear eager to increase taxes on the rich. The latest division appeared last week when the San Francisco Democratic Party voted to oppose Proposition 40, the controversial wealth tax on the November ballot. The decision goes against the state party, which endorsed the plan earlier in the month. Michael Nguyen, a candidate for the SF Board of Supervisors, said the local party’s rejection of the state party’s position on the tax was unprecedented, and he called out local Democrats for supporting the ultrawealthy. … Polling shows that Democrats overwhelmingly support the measure, which would impose a one-time 5% wealth tax on any resident who was worth more than $1 billion and be implemented next year.” (08/31/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/billionaire-tax-san-francisco-democrats-22406495.php
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12) India: Modi meets with Iran’s Pezeshkian
Source: min [India]
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for the first time since war broke out in the Gulf following US and Israeli attacks on Tehran. PM Modi met Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. In a post on X, Modi shared pictures from the meeting and said the two leaders discussed the prevailing situation in the region. He added that India would continue to support all efforts aimed at ensuring lasting peace in the region.” (08/31/26)
https://www.livemint.com/news/world/pm-modi-meets-iran-president-pezeshkian-for-first-time-since-gulf-war-what-was-discussed-11788173299384.html
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13) Russian strikes destroy 12 million books ahead of Ukraine’s first week back at school
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Viktoria Haidai surveys the mangled remains of the printing press, which should have been busy churning out textbooks ready for the new school year. The plant, on the edge of Kyiv, was hit during the night by a Russian missile, just as production was ramping up to deliver 1.3 million books – 10% of Ukraine’s schoolbooks. In the ashes there is a charred page from an English language textbook: ‘My name is William, I’m from the UK. My grandmother lives in Nottingham. It’s a beautiful city.’ Russia has hit printing presses and publishing houses across Ukraine in a series of recent attacks, destroying 12 million books and damaging other icons of Ukrainian history and culture. Local media report that Russia has destroyed one third of all the books printed in Ukraine this year.” (08/31/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly5v8qmy64o
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14) TX: Final witness to ICE gang murder released from concentration camp, attorney says
Source: ABC 13 Eyewitness News
“The third and final witness to the [murder] of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston’s Magnolia Park in July has been released from ICE custody, according to Attorney Ruby Powers. Powers shared the news with ABC13’s Daniela Hurtado on Sunday evening. Victor Salgado was [abducted] after an ICE agent shot and killed his brother, Lorenzo, on July 7, 2026. His nephew, Ronaldo Salgado, released a statement on social media confirming that his uncle was released Sunday morning.” (08/30/26)
https://abc13.com/post/final-witness-fatal-ice-shooting-houston-released-detention-center-attorney-says/19766690/
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15) Convicted cab driver rapist Gurmeet Singh stripped of US citizenship 15 years after assaulting passenger
Source: New York Post
“An India-born cab driver sentenced to 20 years behind bars for kidnapping and raping a woman at knifepoint in 2011 has had his citizenship revoked, the Justice Department confirmed Monday. Gurmeet Singh, now 55, was convicted in 2014 of the violent sexual assault of his young female passenger, who fell asleep as he drove her to her East Village apartment after picking her up from Williamsburg in May 2011, weeks before he filed his naturalization application. According to a victim impact statement read by prosecutors at Singh’s sentencing, the woman woke up to find the cabbie on top of her and holding a knife against her throat, asking her if she wanted to live.” (08/31/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/08/31/us-news/convicted-cabdriver-rapist-gurmeet-singh-stripped-of-us-citizenship-15-years-after-assaulting-passenger/
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16) North Korea: Regime rejects Trump overtures, vows to expand nuclear arsenal
Source: Yahoo! News
“North Korea has reaffirmed its hardline stance towards the US and defended the further expansion of its nuclear weapons programme, a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Pyongyang said on Monday. The spokesman accused the US government of having failed to change its hostile policy, pointing to Washington’s continued insistence on the complete nuclear disarmament of North Korea as evidence. He also noted that the US was planning to hold a military exercise with South Korea and Japan the following week.” (08/31/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/north-korea-rejects-trump-overtures-081829149.html
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17) “Like fighting a dinosaur”: Sydney woman recalls how she punched shark during attack
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A Sydney woman who survived a shark attack has described the moment she came face-to-face with a 4m great white before repeatedly punching it. Leah Stewart, 34, was dragged under the water at Coogee Beach in June as the shark bit into her thigh and arms, leaving her with extreme blood loss and injuries so severe that doctors had to amputate her left arm. In an interview which aired on Sunday, the mother-of-one said she was determined to live for the sake of her baby daughter. ‘In my head, I was like, … ‘You are not taking me away from my daughter’, and I twisted myself around and I just started punching it over and over and over again – it was like fighting a dinosaur’. Moments earlier, Stewart had just finished her regular Saturday morning swim and was heading back to shore when she was alerted to danger.” (08/31/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3v4px7yv6xo
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18) US House returns for shutdown theater performance
Source: CBS News
“The House returns Monday from its five-week recess, with approving a short-term funding bill to head off a government shutdown topping its to-do list. Funding is set to lapse Sept. 30 without a deal, and lawmakers are planning to take another weeklong break for Labor Day. In July, the House passed a GOP-led bill to punt government funding past the November midterm elections. But the House measure, which would have extended funding at current levels until Dec. 4, met resistance in the Senate.” (08/31/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-returns-government-shutdown/
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19) Kalshi bans ex-Congressman George Santos for life, after concluding he likely was insider trading
Source: SFGate
“The online prediction market platform Kalshi said Monday that it has permanently banned former U.S. Rep. George Santos after concluding the former Republican congressman likely engaged in insider trading when he bet against his attendance at the State of the Union address. The company announced the ban after saying its compliance department had established reasonable cause to believe Santos engaged in insider trading over his attendance at the address, when he turned a $17,839 profit on his trading activity. The convicted ex-congressman had repeatedly discussed his intention to attend the State of the Union …. On the eve of Trump’s speech, Kalshi put the odds of Santos attending at close to 75%. Then, minutes into the speech, Santos posted on X that he had been waylaid at the airport. Immediately, several social media users accused him of running another scheme.” (08/31/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/kalshi-bans-ex-congressman-george-santos-for-life-22410918.php
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20) Niger: Junta regains control of key airbase after soldiers mutiny
Source: Reuters
“Niger’s army, backed by Russian paramilitary forces, regained control of a key military airbase on Sunday after it was attacked by mutinous soldiers a day earlier, the latest challenge to military ruler Abdourahamane Tiani as his government struggles to contain a jihadist insurgency. The attack highlighted tensions within Niger’s armed forces, which have suffered repeated battlefield losses while fighting West Africa’s al Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates. Tiani took power in a coup in 2023 vowing to turn the tide against the jihadists, but both affiliates have staged high-profile attacks in the capital earlier this year. … Residents said the capital appeared calm on Sunday and Monday, while aircraft circled overhead on Sunday and authorities dismantled roadblocks erected during the unrest.” (08/31/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/niger-says-it-regains-control-airbase-after-soldiers-mutiny-2026-08-30/
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Trump’s Iran War Has Succeeded on No Stated Count and Failed on Many Unstated Ones
Source: The UnPopulist
by Steve Chapman
“In America’s recent experience, the first six months of a war are the best ones. Six months after the invasion of Iraq, the U.S. was setting up a provisional government in Baghdad and hunting down Saddam Hussein. Six months after the invasion of Afghanistan, with the Taliban shattered and Osama bin Laden on the run, combat was winding down. Six months after the 1991 Gulf War, U.S. troops had withdrawn, victorious, from Iraq. Even the Vietnam War looked eminently winnable six months after U.S. Marines landed at Da Nang. But the war with Iran is different. … [Donald Trump] began the war, egged on by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, assuming it would be a simple duplicate of the U.S. strike that toppled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and installed a puppet government in Caracas. But the Iranian regime is a far more formidable adversary.” (08/31/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trumps-iran-war-has-succeeded-on
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22) The multifaceted stupidity of Trump’s Canadian trade war
Source: Washington Post
by Ramesh Ponnuru
“The editors of the Wall Street Journal continue to describe President Donald Trump’s campaign against Canada as ‘the dumbest trade war in history,’ but there’s stiff competition for that title. Americans are still paying a 25 percent tax on imported light trucks in retaliation for European taxes on our chickens in the 1960s. The stupidity of Trump’s recent escalation is certainly impressive, though, and it contains as many layers as a Canuck walking to Tim Hortons in January. Consider these six.” (08/31/26)
https://archive.is/pWd1y
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23) My Libertarian Solution for the $40 Trillion Federal Debt
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Why save and reform immoral, dysfunctional, and destructive systems that have obviously failed to achieve their purported ends and, in the process, have served to destroy the liberty of the American people? The question is especially pertinent to libertarians, given that genuine libertarianism is about freedom, not attaining some sort of warmed-over, improved serfdom. Here is my libertarian solution to the massive amount of federal spending that undergirds the federal government’s rapidly growing $40 trillion debt that now hangs over the American people like a sword of Damocles …” (08/31/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/08/31/my-libertarian-solution-for-the-40-trillion-federal-debt/
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24) Trump’s Broken Deals Make Foreign Policy Difficult
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider
“Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney took to the airwaves on August 22 to explain in a speech and Q&A why he walked away from trade negotiations with the United States and thereby opened Canada to economy-crushing tariffs from the country once considered its closest friend. … the U.S., at the last minute, had rewritten items already agreed to: ‘The U.S. proposed new terms that were uneconomic, unfair, and undermined the net benefits to Canada.’ That, he said, called into question ‘the reliability of any deal.’ The Trump administration’s unreliability, the prime minister explained, was not a new problem or one likely to go away soon. … Other U.S. partners, namely Saudi Arabia and Ukraine, have made similar complaints in recent weeks. … Though Trump boasts of the art of the deal, there is a historical pattern that suggests, instead, the art of the broken deal.” (08/31/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trumps-broken-deals-make-foreign-policy-difficult/
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25) Anthropic Win Reaffirms Private Sector’s Right To Put Conditions on Government Dealings
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“In a court victory the Trump administration effectively handed to the plaintiff, a federal judge cited First Amendment concerns in slapping down the federal government’s designation of AI company Anthropic as a ‘supply chain risk to national security.’ The company also won a due process claim. President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made clear their intent to punish the company for its ethical limitations on how its technology can be used when they banned federal agencies and contractors from doing business with Anthropic. The White House has been reminded that government officials can’t do that in the U.S.” (08/31/26)
https://reason.com/2026/08/31/anthropic-win-reaffirms-private-sectors-right-to-put-conditions-on-government-dealings/
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26) Anti-Tribute to Milo Yiannopoulos
Source: Town Hall
by Arthur Schaper
“Milo Yiannopoulos, the Gamergate reporter who exposed the Left’s attempt to push feminism, LGBT and diversity into gaming; the Breitbart enfant terrible who called himself a ‘virtuous troll’ among corporate media types; the bête noire of campus lecturers, the jokester who mocked the wokesters before becoming a woke joke himself; the gay ‘conservative’ who became a straight far-right (?) influencer; the celebrity-turned-obscurity who turned everyone off, the wannabe podcaster who grifted where he could; the flimsy buddy to white nationalists who betrayed them when their association stopped paying the bills; Kanye West’s former PR guy who failed at his own PR, the guy who was ‘super-hot back in 2015, 2016 and… kind of disappeared’ according to Ben Shapiro; the male version of Sue Mengers, bad taste but lacking class, connections, common decency, or relevance; and a chief cheerleader for deporting all illegal aliens (and the above-mentioned Shapiro, disturbingly enough), has been deported.” (08/31/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/arthurschaper/2026/08/31/anti-tribute-to-milo-yiannopoulos-n2682147
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27) The Molecule at the End of Politics
Source: Underthrow
by Max Politics
“Administered in responsible therapeutic settings, entheogens could be a path to reckoning with the profound changes ahead. Indeed, when we realize that personality is one of the strongest determinants of cultural values, we might conclude that psychedelics could be yet another technology for the coming era—whether in preparing for or catalyzing it. We needn’t belabor this idea, though. The point is that it will be important to open our minds, consider new perspectives, and embrace new values even if it means going against the grain a little.” (08/31/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/the-molecule-at-the-end-of-politics
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28) Trump Has Peaked
Source: Foreign Policy
by Ravi Agrawal
“The president himself will remain a disruptive—and potentially destructive—presence on the world stage. He still has more than two years left in office and powerful economic tools to wield as cudgels against allies and adversaries alike. Yet countries and companies will learn that he has peaked. His coercive capacity, so potent last year, seems lessened from overuse. This realization will alter the very nature of Trump’s power—and the discussions about a world order to come.” (08/31/26)
https://archive.is/aI3dZ
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29) Why Higher Education Is Likely Doomed
Source: American Greatness
by Stephen Soukup
“On the one side, conservatives are frustrated because, to them, the Arday case is emblematic: universities today are overwhelmingly leftist; leftists dominate the humanities and liberal arts faculties, and leftists are rewarded for poor or even fraudulent scholarship simply because it reinforces the preexisting beliefs of their contemporaries and superiors. On the other side, progressives and other leftists insist that the pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment is definitionally a left-leaning enterprise, at least in contemporary society. Of course, leftists are overrepresented in academia; leftists seek awareness and understanding, while conservatives are simply less inquisitive and less interested in attaining knowledge, both temperamentally and practically, the latter for fear of learning that what they perceive as fairness and equality is, in reality, prejudice and discrimination.” (08/31/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/08/31/why-higher-education-is-likely-doomed/
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30) High Agency is High Variance
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“Cate Hall’s You Can Just Do Things: How High-Agency People Get What They Want Out of Life sounds like a book designed to tell me what I want to hear. I’ve long believed in: 1. Literal free will. … 2. Widespread overestimation of constraints relative to preferences. … 3. Most humans are deeply conformist. … Nevertheless, reading Hall’s book starkly reminded me of the dangers of high agency.” (08/31/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/high-agency-is-high-variance
-----
31) Clyburn Calls for Packing the Court with “Baker’s Dozen” to Flip Cases
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley
“On NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,’ Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) added his voice to expand the Supreme Court to a ‘baker’s dozen’, or thirteen members to allow Democrats to add justices who agree with him and Democratic members on how the law must be interpreted. In the meantime, as discussed earlier, court packing is being pushed as the new litmus test for any Democratic candidates. Clyburn’s ‘baker’s dozen’ is a telling description of an effort to bake in partisan views on a Court expanded to create an instant liberal majority. In defending this hostile takeover of the Court, Clyburn bizarrely insisted that the failure to do so might lead to a return to antebellum conditions when blacks were being given fewer rights than whites.” (08/31/26)
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/08/31/clyburn-calls-for-packing-the-court-with-bakers-dozen-to-flip-cases/
-----
32) Trump Puffs Up Engagement With North Korea, But Can We Trust Him?
Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño
“Count the decades. Seventy-five years of confrontation, and Washington cannot point to a single durable peace agreement with North Korea. Diplomacy alone will not close that gap. The United States must pursue the only strategy that has never been tried, a full withdrawal from the Korean peninsula and the complete repeal of every sanction it has imposed on the North. The Cold War is finished. North Korea poses no threat to Americans. The Pacific Ocean serves as a moat no army has ever crossed, and the American nuclear stockpile outmatches Pyongyang’s many times over. The idea that North Korea threatens the American mainland is risible. Let the sleeping dog lie and let a new era of peace begin.” (08/31/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/trump-puffs-up-engagement-with-north-korea-but-can-we-trust-him/
-----
33) Americans search for a nonpartisan politics
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“A full 45% of American adults identify as political independents. That’s far higher than the share – 27% each – who say they are either Democrats or Republicans, according to a 2026 report by Gallup. Nationally, according to another source, one-fifth of voters ‘are so independent that they do not vote consistently for one party or the other.’ Yet only three out of 535 members of Congress are independents – two senators (one each from Maine and Vermont) and one representative (from California). This growing gap between public preference and the composition of Congress has prompted a retired senator, Joe Manchin, and his daughter Heather to launch an initiative to spur more election bids by candidates not tied to a party. The aim of their Independent Leadership Council is to mentor, fund, and otherwise support independent candidates for Congress.” (08/27/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0827/Americans-search-for-a-nonpartisan-politics
-----
34) “Tax the Billionaires” Cannot Fund the DSA’s $200 Trillion Platform
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey
“Is it just me, or have the Democratic Socialists (DSA) buried themselves in such a fantastical fairyland that they have no sense of reality? A recent study of the DSA’s ‘Workers Deserve More’ program would cost around $200 trillion in new federal spending over the next decade, on top of our current spending. And people are supporting and voting for these people to represent them. Voters are being sold a platform whose cost is higher than the wealth it claims it wants to seize. Make the math work! Every time I see an interview with DSA leadership, it makes clear they only have hate for billionaires and no realistic plan to help better the lives of the working class, even though capitalism has been the best system to better their lives.” (08/31/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/tax-the-billionaires-cannot-fund
-----
35) Godless and Providential?
Source: Law & Liberty
by Mark Tooley
“The Godless Constitution and the Providential Nation by Steven D. Smith is timely reading for America’s 250th birthday, especially amid increasing debates over Christian Nationalism. Even as American religious practice has declined over several decades, more religious voices are paradoxically clamoring to legally establish their preferred form of religion. Integralists want a Catholic confessional state. Some Calvinists who self-identify as Christian Nationalists believe civil magistrates should repress blasphemy and apostasy, among other spiritual duties. Smith rightly sees this clamoring for more religion in governance as a reaction against the decline of providentialism and civil religion.” (08/31/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/godless-and-providential/
-----
36) Newsom Celebrates a Higher Minimum Wage as California Jobs Struggle
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kerry Jackson
“California law now provides for an annual adjustment to the statewide minimum wage for inflation. On Jan. 1, 2027, it will jump from $16.90 per hour to $17.40, higher than any statewide minimum wage currently in effect. (In a few cities, the minimum wage is already $20 an hour and in many others it’s dangerously close to that mark.) It is a wage, said Newsom, ‘that rewards work, grows the economy, and puts working families first. We believe if you work hard, you deserve a decent paycheck.’ Put aside for the moment that government is in no position to decide what a ‘decent paycheck’ is and let’s look at the employment numbers and marvel at why advocates don’t see the destructive nature of government-instituted wage floors.” (08/31/26)
https://fee.org/articles/newsom-celebrates-a-higher-minimum-wage-as-california-jobs-struggle/
-----
37) Data center fight could decide next president, and cost America the AI race
Source: Fox News
by Len Khodorkovsky
“It’s the fall of 2028. A debate moderator turns to two presidential nominees who spent their governorships fighting over data centers. ‘China’s AI lead is now a fact,’ she says. ‘In 2026, you decided to restrict data-center construction, and the machinist in Youngstown, Ohio, watched his job follow the servers to the Gulf. What do you tell him? Which of your policies would you take back?’ That reckoning is two years away, but the choices that will decide it are being made now. Rising electric bills deserve a real fix, but not one rushed for political expediency that leaves the people it’s meant to help worse off down the road. The pressure to do something is building.” (08/31/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/data-center-fight-could-decide-next-president-cost-america-ai-race
-----
38) Global Empire as Domestic Policy
Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato
“We rarely consider the domestic political implications of Washington’s globe-spanning empire, yet government spending on war and empire functions as the de facto national industrial policy of the United States, largely determining which cutting-edge technologies receive the most investment, which companies will enjoy massive state-guaranteed markets, and which physical objects will be the focus of the country’s industrial production capacity. Through the military empire, the state becomes both the architect of and primary consumer for a huge industrial sector. And while it has grabbed more headlines this year due to the parlous speculative bubble surrounding AI, the political consequences of the connection between the global military empire and the private sector tech industry remain woefully under-discussed in the mainstream discourse.” (08/31/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/31/global-empire-as-domestic-policy/
-----
39) Trump designates protesters terrorists. How far will it go?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Elizabeth Beavers
“Protesting is terrorism. At least, that is the message that the Trump administration has communicated in a series of recent actions, culminating last week in its designation of the U.K.-based Palestine Action as a terrorist group. … Separately from financial transactions, it also means that all U.S. persons are prohibited from vaguely-defined interactions with the group that amount to “material support” or ‘services.’ Anyone violating this prohibition could be subjected to civil or criminal penalties, or could themselves be placed on the SDGT list. The question of exactly what illegal ‘support’ for Palestine Action could now mean is a troubling one.” (08/31/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/palestine-action-terrorists/
-----
40) The Fallacy of Stable Prices
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith
“Though Herbert Hoover was a pioneer among presidents in getting the government to ‘do something’ about a depression, he was no maverick. He had the support of distinguished court economists who promoted the idea that stable prices were the key to lasting prosperity. Common sense tells us that if we walk into a store and find prices consistently lower than they had been, we are better off, other things equal, because our money buys more. As Rothbard wrote, ‘Increased productivity tends to lower prices (and costs) and thereby distribute the fruits of free enterprise to all the public, raising the standard of living of all consumers. Forcible propping up of the price level prevents this spread of higher living standards.’ While the concept ‘stable price level’ may not sound menacing, the mechanism for achieving it was.” (08/31/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/fallacy-stable-prices
-----
41) Opioid Settlement Funds Belong to the Public: Communities Want Healing, Not Punishment
Source: Common Dreams
by Kasia Malinawska-Sempruch
“Nearly $58 billion is now flowing into states and local governments after the recent settlement with Purdue Pharma and other companies whose actions fueled the overdose epidemic, one of the deadliest public health crises in American history. For the first time in a generation, local communities have a critical opportunity to decide how this money is spent and allocate funding to build systems on their own terms, systems that actually save lives and provide care rooted in dignity. The question is whether state, county, and municipal officials will actually take that chance. The settlement money belongs to the people that paid the price. It is restitution for those lives lost, for families devastated, and for communities harmed not only by addiction and overdose, but by decades of failed punitive policies that criminalized suffering instead of treating it. It doesn’t belong to politicians, hospital systems, police departments, or consultants.” (08/31/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/opioid-settlement-funds-community
-----
42) Fauci Didn’t Create Faucism. He Exposed It
Source: The Daily Economy
by Barry Brownstein
“The deeper threat to liberty isn’t one powerful expert, but a society willing to surrender its judgment to prevailing opinion.” (08/31/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/fauci-didnt-create-faucism-he-exposed-it/
-----
43) Baiting Turkey: Israel’s Strategy in Syria
Source: Antiwar.com
by Thomas S Karat
“Turkey wants a single Syrian state under Ahmed al-Sharaa, its Kurdish militias folded into a national army, its refugees sent home, its northern border shut. Israel wants Syria kept weak and split, its minorities shielded from Damascus, its south left open to Israeli entry. The foreign minister in Jerusalem has been clear that Turkish radar and air defense and aircraft would close skies that Israeli jets now cross at will, and would make a future strike on Iran harder to fly. Al-Sharaa, pressed from both sides, takes Turkish training and reconstruction while quietly thinning the Turkish-shaped units inside his own army, unwilling to become anyone’s client. Syria is not where the rivalry is happening. Syria is what it is over.” (08/31/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/thomas_karat/2026/08/30/baiting-turkey
-----
44) Twilight’s Last Gleaming
Source: Tenth Amendment
by Andrew P. Napolitano
“There is a point in the decline of republics when the problem is no longer that government breaks its own laws. Governments will always behave unlawfully. The deeper problem comes when the constitutional machinery designed to prevent those acts stops functioning — when spending becomes detached from arithmetic, presidential power becomes detached from law, and Congress and the courts become detached from the Constitution. That’s where America is today.” (08/30/26)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2026/08/30/twilights-last-gleaming/
-----
45) AG Letitia James turns evil eye on Trump, and blind eye to NY crime
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine
“We know Trump-deranged New York Attorney General Letitia James campaigned on jailing the president, but an explosive all-staff email from one of her star prosecutors Friday claims her office explicitly directed him to ‘find and pursue crimes’ to pin on Donald Trump and his allies, according to the Albany Times- Union. In a bridge-burning email to 2,000 colleagues at 10 a.m. Friday, Assistant Attorney General Daniel Wiesenfeld claimed that he had been instructed by his supervisor ‘to find and pursue crimes committed by specific individuals and organizations affiliated with Donald Trump’. ” (08/30/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/08/30/opinion/miranda-devine-ag-letitia-james-evil-eye-on-trump-and-blind-eye-to-ny-crime/
-----
46) Ethnic Cleansing, Other Horrors, and the Racial IQ Controversy
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“‘It is never too much to remember how much ethnic cleansing was made in the past based on ‘scientific evidence’ that some races were ‘not as intelligent as ours’ … (Comment on my blog) … Claims of this sort, about genocide, slavery, or ethnic cleansing, are offered as a reason not to talk about group differences. The implicit argument is that even if the average IQ of Africans is lower than that of Europeans or fewer women than men are talented at mathematics it is better not to say so, better to pretend it isn’t true. People making the argument rarely put it that way but it is pretty clearly what they believe. This raises three questions.” (08/30/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/ethnic-cleansing-other-horrors-and-a42
-----
47) Guardrails for Democracy: How Congress Can Reinforce Privacy Rights and Independent Oversight
Source: Liberal Currents
by Judith Starr
“The Privacy Act of 1974 is the most important bulwark against federal government misuse of the enormous amount of personal data it collects. This applies to information that can be used to confirm an individual’s identity, either alone or when combined with other information linkable to a specific individual. The Privacy Act limits access to and disclosure of such information to those with a need to know regarding the performance of their duties. Individuals harmed by unlawful disclosure may sue the agency in federal court, but only for actual damages. … When officials override agency safeguards, Privacy Act remedies have been insufficient to stop ongoing harms or provide complete relief to a harmed individual. Recent events involving investigation of the President’s political enemies demonstrate the holes in the remedial framework.” (08/30/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/guardrails-for-democracy-how-congress-can-reinforce-privacy-rights-and-independent-oversight/
-----
48) This is Not Real Life
Source: The Jolly Libertarian
by Marco den Ouden
“Truth, the old saying goes, is stranger than fiction. Which may be why I like biographies. They’re the stories of real people. They tell us about real heroes. Role models. Inspirations. But the most interesting and inspiring of such stories are often autobiographies. Autobiographies go a step beyond the biography. They give us a glimpse into a person’s soul. They reveal personal struggles in a visceral way.” (08/30/26)
https://jollylibertarian.blogspot.com/2026/08/this-is-not-real-life.html
-----
49) Big Tech Crashes Headlong Into American Democracy
Source: The American Prospect
by Ryan Cooper
“The data, as it were, are in: The American people really, really, really hate data centers. A poll conducted by Heatmap News finds that over the course of a year, opinion has gone from 43 percent net support and 42 percent net opposition to 75 percent net opposition and 15 percent net support—a swing of 61 points. Fully 61 percent of Americans now say they strongly oppose the facilities. Dozens of them have been canceled. In every demographic you can think of—urban or rural, young or old, even Democrat or Republican—huge majorities of respondents register disapproval. Brothers, sisters, come together! This has Republican politicians scrambling to memory-hole their very recent history of being fanatically pro-AI and pro–data center. And one piece of legislation in particular is going to haunt nearly all of them in Congress.” (08/31/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/08/31/data-centers-ai-republicans-big-tech-american-democracy/
-----
50) The Herd Immunity Fallacy
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jennifer Smith
“Public health discussions often emphasize vaccination because it can increase immunity without requiring large numbers of people to become ill at the same time. Proponents of vaccines believe that without vaccination, immunity would build more gradually through infection, which can allow ongoing transmission and lead to higher levels of illness and complications. For this reason, the concept of herd immunity is more complex than simple visual models suggest and depends on timing, population dynamics, and the characteristics of the disease itself. It’s also important to recognize that herd immunity is not permanent.” (08/30/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-herd-immunity-fallacy/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 08/31/26
Source: Reason
“Trump Wants the FCC To Punish His Enemies.” (08/31/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/08/31/trump-wants-the-fcc-to-punish-his-enemies/
-----
52) Sal and Mark, episode 18
Source: Free Talk Live
“Vin Armani joins from Saipan, what Mark calls the freest place in America, to talk about life on this unique piece of American soil, what it actually looks like to raise a family outside the reach of the American mind virus, and his new book The Vineyard and the Vessel: Leadership at the End of the Empire. The guys also cover Florida’s new stable coin laws and the agorist workarounds, the ongoing persecution of Roman Storm and the Samurai Wallet developers by Trump’s DOJ, the Flock camera resistance movement including a journalist who got banned from Flock’s convention and set up a drone and surveillance operation outside, and the explosive discovery that a Minnesota Senator is on Flock’s payroll.” (08/31/26)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/samep18
-----
53) Trump Censorship Machine Bashed in Federal Court
Source: JimBovard.com
Jim Bovard on the Trump censorship-by-deportation scheme. (08/31/26)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2026/08/31/video-on-trump-censorship-machine-bashed-in-federal-court/
-----
54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/31/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“This Is Where We Are? Kidnapping Foreign Leaders & Trying To Take Their Oil.” (08/31/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1pKkOXpRlMrKj
-----
55) Rising, 08/31/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed repeatedly downplaying his association with leftist streamer Hasan Piker.” (08/31/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/6043120-rising-august-31-2026/
-----
56) The Brian Nichols Show, 08/31/26
Source: Lions of Liberty
“2028 Poll Shocker, Lindsay Clancy Backlash, AI Job Panic.” (08/31/26)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tbns-2028-poll-shocker-lindsay-clancy-backlash-ai-job-panic/id1647011410?i=1000786894809
-----
57) EconTalk, 08/31/26
Source: EconTalk
“Hamas and the Future of Gaza (with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib).” (08/31/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/hamas-and-the-future-of-gaza-with-ahmed-fouad-alkhatib/
-----
58) Pink Flame of Liberty, 08/30/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Fractures in the Country, Fractures in the Democrats.” (08/30/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb00ZQSsMtg
-----
59) Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 08/30/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JG Michael
“The Great Pretense: A Tour Through the Boneyard of the CIA’s War for Drugs w/ Bill Conroy.” (08/30/26)
https://parallaxviews.podbean.com/e/bconroy8-30-26/
-----
60) Free Talk Live, 08/30/26
Source: Free Talk Live
“Boomer potheads causing a stink for their neighbors :: Smoking in public talk :: Ricky has a problem with non-smokers :: Is it racist to say black people smoke menthols? :: Big Beautiful Bill regulated THC drinks :: Penguin says curry stinks… racist?? :: NO CREAMY GARLIC NOODLES FOR PENGUIN! :: Which states have fewer women? :: Nihilism, taking your dog for a walk and what to do with your life :: Meta paying $18 billion to these 48 states :: Lazy parents say ‘paren my kid for me’ :: David crashes out :: 2026-08-30 :: Hosts: Bonnie, Kahuna, Penguin, Mark Edge.” (08/30/26)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/ftl2026-08-30
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Turkey pushes for new grain deal between Russia and Ukraine
2) Jury convicts Duane “Keffe D” Davis of first-degree murder in orchestrating killing of Tupac Shakur
3) Chinese regime whining weighs on Pacific summit
4) Army Secretary submits resignation after tensions with Pete Hegseth
5) SCOTUS rules White House ballroom construction may proceed
6) Report: Pentagon covertly puts conservative military influencers into regime positions
7) Congo: Regime reports more than 6,000 confirmed Ebola cases and nearly 3,000 deaths
8) House Republicans Launch Investigation Into DEA Tactic That Allowed [sic] Fentanyl to Hit Streets
9) Japan: Defense Ministry requests record $55.6 billion to fund “new ways of fighting”
10) Experts, lawyers puzzled over US-Venezuela oil deal, call for contract transparency
11) The billionaire tax is breaking the California Democratic Party
12) India: Modi meets with Iran’s Pezeshkian
13) Russian strikes destroy 12 million books ahead of Ukraine’s first week back at school
14) TX: Final witness to ICE gang murder released from concentration camp, attorney says
15) Convicted cab driver rapist Gurmeet Singh stripped of US citizenship 15 years after assaulting passenger
16) North Korea: Regime rejects Trump overtures, vows to expand nuclear arsenal
17) “Like fighting a dinosaur”: Sydney woman recalls how she punched shark during attack
18) US House returns for shutdown theater performance
19) Kalshi bans ex-Congressman George Santos for life, after concluding he likely was insider trading
20) Niger: Junta regains control of key airbase after soldiers mutiny
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Trump’s Iran War Has Succeeded on No Stated Count and Failed on Many Unstated Ones
22) The multifaceted stupidity of Trump’s Canadian trade war
23) My Libertarian Solution for the $40 Trillion Federal Debt
24) Trump’s Broken Deals Make Foreign Policy Difficult
25) Anthropic Win Reaffirms Private Sector’s Right To Put Conditions on Government Dealings
26) Anti-Tribute to Milo Yiannopoulos
27) The Molecule at the End of Politics
28) Trump Has Peaked
29) Why Higher Education Is Likely Doomed
30) High Agency is High Variance
31) Clyburn Calls for Packing the Court with “Baker’s Dozen” to Flip Cases
32) Trump Puffs Up Engagement With North Korea, But Can We Trust Him?
33) Americans search for a nonpartisan politics
34) “Tax the Billionaires” Cannot Fund the DSA’s $200 Trillion Platform
35) Godless and Providential?
36) Newsom Celebrates a Higher Minimum Wage as California Jobs Struggle
37) Data center fight could decide next president, and cost America the AI race
38) Global Empire as Domestic Policy
39) Trump designates protesters terrorists. How far will it go?
40) The Fallacy of Stable Prices
41) Opioid Settlement Funds Belong to the Public: Communities Want Healing, Not Punishment
42) Fauci Didn’t Create Faucism. He Exposed It
43) Baiting Turkey: Israel’s Strategy in Syria
44) Twilight’s Last Gleaming
45) AG Letitia James turns evil eye on Trump, and blind eye to NY crime
46) Ethnic Cleansing, Other Horrors, and the Racial IQ Controversy
47) Guardrails for Democracy: How Congress Can Reinforce Privacy Rights and Independent Oversight
48) This is Not Real Life
49) Big Tech Crashes Headlong Into American Democracy
50) The Herd Immunity Fallacy
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 08/31/26
52) Sal and Mark, episode 18
53) Trump Censorship Machine Bashed in Federal Court
54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/31/26
55) Rising, 08/31/26
56) The Brian Nichols Show, 08/31/26
57) EconTalk, 08/31/26
58) Pink Flame of Liberty, 08/30/26
59) Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 08/30/26
60) Free Talk Live, 08/30/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Turkey pushes for new grain deal between Russia and Ukraine
Source: Yahoo! News
“Turkey is pushing for a new agreement between Russia and Ukraine concerning grain exports via the Black Sea, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told journalists in Istanbul on Monday. Fidan said that Turkey was in contact with both Kiev and Moscow on this matter. ‘We are working on a further agreement, similar to the grain deal,’ the minister explained. Such an agreement had already been in place after the war began in 2022. However, it expired in 2023.” (08/31/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/turkey-pushes-grain-deal-between-163349678.html
-----
2) Jury convicts Duane “Keffe D” Davis of first-degree murder in orchestrating killing of Tupac Shakur
Source: Associated Press
“A jury has found Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis guilty of orchestrating the killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, marking the first conviction in a case that has gripped hip-hop fans for decades. The 63-year-old Davis was convicted Monday of murder with the use of a deadly weapon and could be sentenced to life in prison. The jury deliberated for 3 hours after a weekslong trial in Las Vegas. The night of his murder, Shakur was in a BMW with music mogul Marion ‘Suge’ Knight when a white Cadillac pulled up at a red light. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later, while Knight survived. The confrontation was rooted in a long-running feud between the Mob Piru Bloods, a gang Shakur and Knight were affiliated with, and the South Side Compton Crips, for whom Davis was a prominent leader.” (08/31/26)
https://apnews.com/live/tupac-murder-trial-duane-davis-08-31-2026
-----
3) Chinese regime whining weighs on Pacific summit
Source: Reuters
“China on Tuesday objected to Taiwan’s presence at the Pacific Islands Forum saying the democratically ruled island was not qualified to attend the summit, but Australia and New Zealand said the Pacific bloc would decide the guest list. China [pretends Taiwan is] its own territory, and tensions between both have featured prominently at the annual meeting of the 18-member group that counts Australia, New Zealand and Pacific island nations as members. … China’s special envoy for Pacific island affairs Qian Bo said on Monday that Taiwan’s presence would have consequences — without specifying what they would be.” (08/31/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-warns-consequences-over-taiwans-attendance-pacific-leaders-meeting-2026-09-01/
-----
4) Army Secretary submits resignation after tensions with Pete Hegseth
Source: NBC News
“Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is expected to step down in the coming days after the White House accepted his resignation, according to a person familiar with the matter and a White House official. NBC News reported last week that Driscoll had told close associates that he wanted to leave the administration by Labor Day. Driscoll visited the White House last week to discuss his future, according to three U.S. officials, but it wasn’t clear what came of the meeting. … Driscoll is the latest high-profile official at the Defense Department to depart; Navy Secretary John Phelan and the Army chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, were pushed out this spring. … Driscoll had differed over a number of issues with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who removed George, Phelan and other high-ranking Pentagon officials. He has also blocked the promotions of several senior Army officers.” (08/31/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/army-secretary-dan-driscoll-submits-resignation-white-house-rcna595437
-----
5) SCOTUS rules White House ballroom construction may proceed
Source: The Hill
“The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Monday that construction of the White House ballroom can continue, lifting a block on above-ground work as President Trump asserts the project is necessary for national security. It halts a lower court ruling that would’ve restricted construction until Congress provided additional approvals. Five of the court’s conservative [sic] justices, including all three of Trump’s appointees — Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — sided with the president. They ruled a preservationist group likely has no right to sue over one of its members’ concerns about the project. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s three liberal [sic] justices in dissent.” (08/21/26)
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/6061878-trump-wins-ballroom-construction-lawsuit/
-----
6) Report: Pentagon covertly puts conservative military influencers into regime positions
Source: Jerusalem Post [Jerusalem]
“Senior US military influencers were discreetly placed in government positions as part of a covert Pentagon operation, The Washington Post reported on Monday, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter and corroborating material. According to the report, the influencers in question have worked to push against criticism of the Trump administration while advancing the positions of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, being assigned as ‘special government employees (SGE)’ or ‘highly qualified experts (HQE).’ The report noted that HQEs are permitted to work either part-time or full-time with no compensation limitations, whereas SGEs may work up to 130 days per year. The sources, which named two of the influencers as US Air Force Col. (ret.) Rob Maness and US Army Col. (ret.) Kurt Schlichter, told the Washington Post that several of the veterans are in positions powerful enough to potentially influence policy changes.” (08/31/26)
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-907137
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7) Congo: Regime reports more than 6,000 confirmed Ebola cases and nearly 3,000 deaths
Source: New Haven Register
“Congo’s authorities said Monday that the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history has topped 6,000 cases with 2,911 deaths. More than 1,360 people have recovered from the virus, in what authorities said was an ‘encouraging’ development. The outbreak in eastern Congo is spreading under extremely difficult conditions, fueled by insecurity, displacement, a health workers’ strike and intense population movements. The situation is particularly concerning at displacement sites, where residents already live in extremely precarious conditions. Last week, the virus spilled into two new health zones in the region. The World Health Organization has said that it remains out of control and is on track to surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak, the deadliest on record, which killed more than 11,000 people, primarily in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.” (08/31/26)
https://www.nhregister.com/news/world/article/congo-authorities-report-more-than-6-000-22410629.php
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8) House Republicans Launch Investigation Into DEA Tactic That Allowed [sic] Fentanyl to Hit Streets
Source: US News & World Report
“Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have launched an investigation into a controversial policing tactic that permitted staggering amounts of deadly fentanyl to reach the streets as federal authorities sought to build bigger drug cases. The committee’s chairman, Rep. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, sent a letter Monday to Attorney General Todd Blanche requesting records related to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s controversial strategy of monitoring — yet not seizing — major fentanyl shipments. The request echoes concerns raised by officials in New Mexico, the epicenter of the fentanyl crisis and where DEA whistleblowers recently reported being ordered to stand down rather than seize hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills in possible violation of Justice Department rules intended to safeguard communities.” [editor’s note: In the war on drugs, drugs will always win. That war created the demand for fentanyl, and there’s no way it, or duplicate shipments, wouldn’t have “reached the streets” – TLK] (08/31/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/florida/articles/2026-08-31/house-republicans-launch-investigation-into-dea-tactic-that-allowed-fentanyl-to-hit-streets
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9) Japan: Defense Ministry requests record $55.6 billion to fund “new ways of fighting”
Source: Stars and Stripes [US state media]
“Japan’s Defense Ministry on Monday asked for a record-high 8.9 trillion yen for the coming fiscal year, about $55.6 billion, with the cost of about 100 items left blank. The proposed spending plan — the 15th consecutive increase in as many years — seeks an outlay for ‘new ways of fighting,’ including artificial intelligence, unmanned vehicles and further spending on standoff missiles. The request focuses on three main pillars of Japan’s deterrence and response capabilities for the coming fiscal year, which begins in April. Along with AI, unmanned systems and missiles, the budget aims to build sustained response capabilities for prolonged conflicts and a stronger base for defense equipment acquisition and support.” (08/31/26)
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2026-08-31/japan-defense-budget-request-22687506.html
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10) Experts, lawyers puzzled over US-Venezuela oil deal, call for contract transparency
Source: Reuters
“A massive long-term oil deal expected to grant the U.S. access to a fifth of Venezuela’s crude reserves has energy experts and lawyers questioning its legality and eventual execution, while calling on both governments for contract transparency. The unprecedented pact, announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday and confirmed by Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez, will put a whopping 65 billion barrels of recoverable oil under Washington’s control, a volume that surpasses total U.S. proved oil reserves of 46 billion barrels. The agreement did not pass through a competitive process, and its negotiation remained a secret until last week, even amid a sweeping reform of Venezuela’s primary hydrocarbons law and the migration of dozens of joint ventures and contracts to new terms, which authorities and operators have not completed.” (08/31/26)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/experts-lawyers-puzzled-over-us-venezuela-oil-deal-call-contract-transparency-2026-08-31/
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11) The billionaire tax is breaking the California Democratic Party
Source: SFGate
“California’s billionaire tax proposal is splintering the state’s Democratic Party, with party leaders opposing the wealth tax even as voters, and especially young voters, appear eager to increase taxes on the rich. The latest division appeared last week when the San Francisco Democratic Party voted to oppose Proposition 40, the controversial wealth tax on the November ballot. The decision goes against the state party, which endorsed the plan earlier in the month. Michael Nguyen, a candidate for the SF Board of Supervisors, said the local party’s rejection of the state party’s position on the tax was unprecedented, and he called out local Democrats for supporting the ultrawealthy. … Polling shows that Democrats overwhelmingly support the measure, which would impose a one-time 5% wealth tax on any resident who was worth more than $1 billion and be implemented next year.” (08/31/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/billionaire-tax-san-francisco-democrats-22406495.php
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12) India: Modi meets with Iran’s Pezeshkian
Source: min [India]
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for the first time since war broke out in the Gulf following US and Israeli attacks on Tehran. PM Modi met Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. In a post on X, Modi shared pictures from the meeting and said the two leaders discussed the prevailing situation in the region. He added that India would continue to support all efforts aimed at ensuring lasting peace in the region.” (08/31/26)
https://www.livemint.com/news/world/pm-modi-meets-iran-president-pezeshkian-for-first-time-since-gulf-war-what-was-discussed-11788173299384.html
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13) Russian strikes destroy 12 million books ahead of Ukraine’s first week back at school
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Viktoria Haidai surveys the mangled remains of the printing press, which should have been busy churning out textbooks ready for the new school year. The plant, on the edge of Kyiv, was hit during the night by a Russian missile, just as production was ramping up to deliver 1.3 million books – 10% of Ukraine’s schoolbooks. In the ashes there is a charred page from an English language textbook: ‘My name is William, I’m from the UK. My grandmother lives in Nottingham. It’s a beautiful city.’ Russia has hit printing presses and publishing houses across Ukraine in a series of recent attacks, destroying 12 million books and damaging other icons of Ukrainian history and culture. Local media report that Russia has destroyed one third of all the books printed in Ukraine this year.” (08/31/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly5v8qmy64o
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14) TX: Final witness to ICE gang murder released from concentration camp, attorney says
Source: ABC 13 Eyewitness News
“The third and final witness to the [murder] of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston’s Magnolia Park in July has been released from ICE custody, according to Attorney Ruby Powers. Powers shared the news with ABC13’s Daniela Hurtado on Sunday evening. Victor Salgado was [abducted] after an ICE agent shot and killed his brother, Lorenzo, on July 7, 2026. His nephew, Ronaldo Salgado, released a statement on social media confirming that his uncle was released Sunday morning.” (08/30/26)
https://abc13.com/post/final-witness-fatal-ice-shooting-houston-released-detention-center-attorney-says/19766690/
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15) Convicted cab driver rapist Gurmeet Singh stripped of US citizenship 15 years after assaulting passenger
Source: New York Post
“An India-born cab driver sentenced to 20 years behind bars for kidnapping and raping a woman at knifepoint in 2011 has had his citizenship revoked, the Justice Department confirmed Monday. Gurmeet Singh, now 55, was convicted in 2014 of the violent sexual assault of his young female passenger, who fell asleep as he drove her to her East Village apartment after picking her up from Williamsburg in May 2011, weeks before he filed his naturalization application. According to a victim impact statement read by prosecutors at Singh’s sentencing, the woman woke up to find the cabbie on top of her and holding a knife against her throat, asking her if she wanted to live.” (08/31/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/08/31/us-news/convicted-cabdriver-rapist-gurmeet-singh-stripped-of-us-citizenship-15-years-after-assaulting-passenger/
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16) North Korea: Regime rejects Trump overtures, vows to expand nuclear arsenal
Source: Yahoo! News
“North Korea has reaffirmed its hardline stance towards the US and defended the further expansion of its nuclear weapons programme, a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Pyongyang said on Monday. The spokesman accused the US government of having failed to change its hostile policy, pointing to Washington’s continued insistence on the complete nuclear disarmament of North Korea as evidence. He also noted that the US was planning to hold a military exercise with South Korea and Japan the following week.” (08/31/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/north-korea-rejects-trump-overtures-081829149.html
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17) “Like fighting a dinosaur”: Sydney woman recalls how she punched shark during attack
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A Sydney woman who survived a shark attack has described the moment she came face-to-face with a 4m great white before repeatedly punching it. Leah Stewart, 34, was dragged under the water at Coogee Beach in June as the shark bit into her thigh and arms, leaving her with extreme blood loss and injuries so severe that doctors had to amputate her left arm. In an interview which aired on Sunday, the mother-of-one said she was determined to live for the sake of her baby daughter. ‘In my head, I was like, … ‘You are not taking me away from my daughter’, and I twisted myself around and I just started punching it over and over and over again – it was like fighting a dinosaur’. Moments earlier, Stewart had just finished her regular Saturday morning swim and was heading back to shore when she was alerted to danger.” (08/31/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3v4px7yv6xo
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18) US House returns for shutdown theater performance
Source: CBS News
“The House returns Monday from its five-week recess, with approving a short-term funding bill to head off a government shutdown topping its to-do list. Funding is set to lapse Sept. 30 without a deal, and lawmakers are planning to take another weeklong break for Labor Day. In July, the House passed a GOP-led bill to punt government funding past the November midterm elections. But the House measure, which would have extended funding at current levels until Dec. 4, met resistance in the Senate.” (08/31/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-returns-government-shutdown/
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19) Kalshi bans ex-Congressman George Santos for life, after concluding he likely was insider trading
Source: SFGate
“The online prediction market platform Kalshi said Monday that it has permanently banned former U.S. Rep. George Santos after concluding the former Republican congressman likely engaged in insider trading when he bet against his attendance at the State of the Union address. The company announced the ban after saying its compliance department had established reasonable cause to believe Santos engaged in insider trading over his attendance at the address, when he turned a $17,839 profit on his trading activity. The convicted ex-congressman had repeatedly discussed his intention to attend the State of the Union …. On the eve of Trump’s speech, Kalshi put the odds of Santos attending at close to 75%. Then, minutes into the speech, Santos posted on X that he had been waylaid at the airport. Immediately, several social media users accused him of running another scheme.” (08/31/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/kalshi-bans-ex-congressman-george-santos-for-life-22410918.php
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20) Niger: Junta regains control of key airbase after soldiers mutiny
Source: Reuters
“Niger’s army, backed by Russian paramilitary forces, regained control of a key military airbase on Sunday after it was attacked by mutinous soldiers a day earlier, the latest challenge to military ruler Abdourahamane Tiani as his government struggles to contain a jihadist insurgency. The attack highlighted tensions within Niger’s armed forces, which have suffered repeated battlefield losses while fighting West Africa’s al Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates. Tiani took power in a coup in 2023 vowing to turn the tide against the jihadists, but both affiliates have staged high-profile attacks in the capital earlier this year. … Residents said the capital appeared calm on Sunday and Monday, while aircraft circled overhead on Sunday and authorities dismantled roadblocks erected during the unrest.” (08/31/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/niger-says-it-regains-control-airbase-after-soldiers-mutiny-2026-08-30/
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Trump’s Iran War Has Succeeded on No Stated Count and Failed on Many Unstated Ones
Source: The UnPopulist
by Steve Chapman
“In America’s recent experience, the first six months of a war are the best ones. Six months after the invasion of Iraq, the U.S. was setting up a provisional government in Baghdad and hunting down Saddam Hussein. Six months after the invasion of Afghanistan, with the Taliban shattered and Osama bin Laden on the run, combat was winding down. Six months after the 1991 Gulf War, U.S. troops had withdrawn, victorious, from Iraq. Even the Vietnam War looked eminently winnable six months after U.S. Marines landed at Da Nang. But the war with Iran is different. … [Donald Trump] began the war, egged on by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, assuming it would be a simple duplicate of the U.S. strike that toppled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and installed a puppet government in Caracas. But the Iranian regime is a far more formidable adversary.” (08/31/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trumps-iran-war-has-succeeded-on
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22) The multifaceted stupidity of Trump’s Canadian trade war
Source: Washington Post
by Ramesh Ponnuru
“The editors of the Wall Street Journal continue to describe President Donald Trump’s campaign against Canada as ‘the dumbest trade war in history,’ but there’s stiff competition for that title. Americans are still paying a 25 percent tax on imported light trucks in retaliation for European taxes on our chickens in the 1960s. The stupidity of Trump’s recent escalation is certainly impressive, though, and it contains as many layers as a Canuck walking to Tim Hortons in January. Consider these six.” (08/31/26)
https://archive.is/pWd1y
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23) My Libertarian Solution for the $40 Trillion Federal Debt
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Why save and reform immoral, dysfunctional, and destructive systems that have obviously failed to achieve their purported ends and, in the process, have served to destroy the liberty of the American people? The question is especially pertinent to libertarians, given that genuine libertarianism is about freedom, not attaining some sort of warmed-over, improved serfdom. Here is my libertarian solution to the massive amount of federal spending that undergirds the federal government’s rapidly growing $40 trillion debt that now hangs over the American people like a sword of Damocles …” (08/31/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/08/31/my-libertarian-solution-for-the-40-trillion-federal-debt/
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24) Trump’s Broken Deals Make Foreign Policy Difficult
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider
“Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney took to the airwaves on August 22 to explain in a speech and Q&A why he walked away from trade negotiations with the United States and thereby opened Canada to economy-crushing tariffs from the country once considered its closest friend. … the U.S., at the last minute, had rewritten items already agreed to: ‘The U.S. proposed new terms that were uneconomic, unfair, and undermined the net benefits to Canada.’ That, he said, called into question ‘the reliability of any deal.’ The Trump administration’s unreliability, the prime minister explained, was not a new problem or one likely to go away soon. … Other U.S. partners, namely Saudi Arabia and Ukraine, have made similar complaints in recent weeks. … Though Trump boasts of the art of the deal, there is a historical pattern that suggests, instead, the art of the broken deal.” (08/31/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trumps-broken-deals-make-foreign-policy-difficult/
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25) Anthropic Win Reaffirms Private Sector’s Right To Put Conditions on Government Dealings
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“In a court victory the Trump administration effectively handed to the plaintiff, a federal judge cited First Amendment concerns in slapping down the federal government’s designation of AI company Anthropic as a ‘supply chain risk to national security.’ The company also won a due process claim. President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made clear their intent to punish the company for its ethical limitations on how its technology can be used when they banned federal agencies and contractors from doing business with Anthropic. The White House has been reminded that government officials can’t do that in the U.S.” (08/31/26)
https://reason.com/2026/08/31/anthropic-win-reaffirms-private-sectors-right-to-put-conditions-on-government-dealings/
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26) Anti-Tribute to Milo Yiannopoulos
Source: Town Hall
by Arthur Schaper
“Milo Yiannopoulos, the Gamergate reporter who exposed the Left’s attempt to push feminism, LGBT and diversity into gaming; the Breitbart enfant terrible who called himself a ‘virtuous troll’ among corporate media types; the bête noire of campus lecturers, the jokester who mocked the wokesters before becoming a woke joke himself; the gay ‘conservative’ who became a straight far-right (?) influencer; the celebrity-turned-obscurity who turned everyone off, the wannabe podcaster who grifted where he could; the flimsy buddy to white nationalists who betrayed them when their association stopped paying the bills; Kanye West’s former PR guy who failed at his own PR, the guy who was ‘super-hot back in 2015, 2016 and… kind of disappeared’ according to Ben Shapiro; the male version of Sue Mengers, bad taste but lacking class, connections, common decency, or relevance; and a chief cheerleader for deporting all illegal aliens (and the above-mentioned Shapiro, disturbingly enough), has been deported.” (08/31/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/arthurschaper/2026/08/31/anti-tribute-to-milo-yiannopoulos-n2682147
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27) The Molecule at the End of Politics
Source: Underthrow
by Max Politics
“Administered in responsible therapeutic settings, entheogens could be a path to reckoning with the profound changes ahead. Indeed, when we realize that personality is one of the strongest determinants of cultural values, we might conclude that psychedelics could be yet another technology for the coming era—whether in preparing for or catalyzing it. We needn’t belabor this idea, though. The point is that it will be important to open our minds, consider new perspectives, and embrace new values even if it means going against the grain a little.” (08/31/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/the-molecule-at-the-end-of-politics
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28) Trump Has Peaked
Source: Foreign Policy
by Ravi Agrawal
“The president himself will remain a disruptive—and potentially destructive—presence on the world stage. He still has more than two years left in office and powerful economic tools to wield as cudgels against allies and adversaries alike. Yet countries and companies will learn that he has peaked. His coercive capacity, so potent last year, seems lessened from overuse. This realization will alter the very nature of Trump’s power—and the discussions about a world order to come.” (08/31/26)
https://archive.is/aI3dZ
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29) Why Higher Education Is Likely Doomed
Source: American Greatness
by Stephen Soukup
“On the one side, conservatives are frustrated because, to them, the Arday case is emblematic: universities today are overwhelmingly leftist; leftists dominate the humanities and liberal arts faculties, and leftists are rewarded for poor or even fraudulent scholarship simply because it reinforces the preexisting beliefs of their contemporaries and superiors. On the other side, progressives and other leftists insist that the pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment is definitionally a left-leaning enterprise, at least in contemporary society. Of course, leftists are overrepresented in academia; leftists seek awareness and understanding, while conservatives are simply less inquisitive and less interested in attaining knowledge, both temperamentally and practically, the latter for fear of learning that what they perceive as fairness and equality is, in reality, prejudice and discrimination.” (08/31/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/08/31/why-higher-education-is-likely-doomed/
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30) High Agency is High Variance
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“Cate Hall’s You Can Just Do Things: How High-Agency People Get What They Want Out of Life sounds like a book designed to tell me what I want to hear. I’ve long believed in: 1. Literal free will. … 2. Widespread overestimation of constraints relative to preferences. … 3. Most humans are deeply conformist. … Nevertheless, reading Hall’s book starkly reminded me of the dangers of high agency.” (08/31/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/high-agency-is-high-variance
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31) Clyburn Calls for Packing the Court with “Baker’s Dozen” to Flip Cases
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley
“On NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,’ Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) added his voice to expand the Supreme Court to a ‘baker’s dozen’, or thirteen members to allow Democrats to add justices who agree with him and Democratic members on how the law must be interpreted. In the meantime, as discussed earlier, court packing is being pushed as the new litmus test for any Democratic candidates. Clyburn’s ‘baker’s dozen’ is a telling description of an effort to bake in partisan views on a Court expanded to create an instant liberal majority. In defending this hostile takeover of the Court, Clyburn bizarrely insisted that the failure to do so might lead to a return to antebellum conditions when blacks were being given fewer rights than whites.” (08/31/26)
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/08/31/clyburn-calls-for-packing-the-court-with-bakers-dozen-to-flip-cases/
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32) Trump Puffs Up Engagement With North Korea, But Can We Trust Him?
Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño
“Count the decades. Seventy-five years of confrontation, and Washington cannot point to a single durable peace agreement with North Korea. Diplomacy alone will not close that gap. The United States must pursue the only strategy that has never been tried, a full withdrawal from the Korean peninsula and the complete repeal of every sanction it has imposed on the North. The Cold War is finished. North Korea poses no threat to Americans. The Pacific Ocean serves as a moat no army has ever crossed, and the American nuclear stockpile outmatches Pyongyang’s many times over. The idea that North Korea threatens the American mainland is risible. Let the sleeping dog lie and let a new era of peace begin.” (08/31/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/trump-puffs-up-engagement-with-north-korea-but-can-we-trust-him/
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33) Americans search for a nonpartisan politics
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“A full 45% of American adults identify as political independents. That’s far higher than the share – 27% each – who say they are either Democrats or Republicans, according to a 2026 report by Gallup. Nationally, according to another source, one-fifth of voters ‘are so independent that they do not vote consistently for one party or the other.’ Yet only three out of 535 members of Congress are independents – two senators (one each from Maine and Vermont) and one representative (from California). This growing gap between public preference and the composition of Congress has prompted a retired senator, Joe Manchin, and his daughter Heather to launch an initiative to spur more election bids by candidates not tied to a party. The aim of their Independent Leadership Council is to mentor, fund, and otherwise support independent candidates for Congress.” (08/27/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0827/Americans-search-for-a-nonpartisan-politics
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34) “Tax the Billionaires” Cannot Fund the DSA’s $200 Trillion Platform
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey
“Is it just me, or have the Democratic Socialists (DSA) buried themselves in such a fantastical fairyland that they have no sense of reality? A recent study of the DSA’s ‘Workers Deserve More’ program would cost around $200 trillion in new federal spending over the next decade, on top of our current spending. And people are supporting and voting for these people to represent them. Voters are being sold a platform whose cost is higher than the wealth it claims it wants to seize. Make the math work! Every time I see an interview with DSA leadership, it makes clear they only have hate for billionaires and no realistic plan to help better the lives of the working class, even though capitalism has been the best system to better their lives.” (08/31/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/tax-the-billionaires-cannot-fund
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35) Godless and Providential?
Source: Law & Liberty
by Mark Tooley
“The Godless Constitution and the Providential Nation by Steven D. Smith is timely reading for America’s 250th birthday, especially amid increasing debates over Christian Nationalism. Even as American religious practice has declined over several decades, more religious voices are paradoxically clamoring to legally establish their preferred form of religion. Integralists want a Catholic confessional state. Some Calvinists who self-identify as Christian Nationalists believe civil magistrates should repress blasphemy and apostasy, among other spiritual duties. Smith rightly sees this clamoring for more religion in governance as a reaction against the decline of providentialism and civil religion.” (08/31/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/godless-and-providential/
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36) Newsom Celebrates a Higher Minimum Wage as California Jobs Struggle
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kerry Jackson
“California law now provides for an annual adjustment to the statewide minimum wage for inflation. On Jan. 1, 2027, it will jump from $16.90 per hour to $17.40, higher than any statewide minimum wage currently in effect. (In a few cities, the minimum wage is already $20 an hour and in many others it’s dangerously close to that mark.) It is a wage, said Newsom, ‘that rewards work, grows the economy, and puts working families first. We believe if you work hard, you deserve a decent paycheck.’ Put aside for the moment that government is in no position to decide what a ‘decent paycheck’ is and let’s look at the employment numbers and marvel at why advocates don’t see the destructive nature of government-instituted wage floors.” (08/31/26)
https://fee.org/articles/newsom-celebrates-a-higher-minimum-wage-as-california-jobs-struggle/
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37) Data center fight could decide next president, and cost America the AI race
Source: Fox News
by Len Khodorkovsky
“It’s the fall of 2028. A debate moderator turns to two presidential nominees who spent their governorships fighting over data centers. ‘China’s AI lead is now a fact,’ she says. ‘In 2026, you decided to restrict data-center construction, and the machinist in Youngstown, Ohio, watched his job follow the servers to the Gulf. What do you tell him? Which of your policies would you take back?’ That reckoning is two years away, but the choices that will decide it are being made now. Rising electric bills deserve a real fix, but not one rushed for political expediency that leaves the people it’s meant to help worse off down the road. The pressure to do something is building.” (08/31/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/data-center-fight-could-decide-next-president-cost-america-ai-race
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38) Global Empire as Domestic Policy
Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato
“We rarely consider the domestic political implications of Washington’s globe-spanning empire, yet government spending on war and empire functions as the de facto national industrial policy of the United States, largely determining which cutting-edge technologies receive the most investment, which companies will enjoy massive state-guaranteed markets, and which physical objects will be the focus of the country’s industrial production capacity. Through the military empire, the state becomes both the architect of and primary consumer for a huge industrial sector. And while it has grabbed more headlines this year due to the parlous speculative bubble surrounding AI, the political consequences of the connection between the global military empire and the private sector tech industry remain woefully under-discussed in the mainstream discourse.” (08/31/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/31/global-empire-as-domestic-policy/
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39) Trump designates protesters terrorists. How far will it go?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Elizabeth Beavers
“Protesting is terrorism. At least, that is the message that the Trump administration has communicated in a series of recent actions, culminating last week in its designation of the U.K.-based Palestine Action as a terrorist group. … Separately from financial transactions, it also means that all U.S. persons are prohibited from vaguely-defined interactions with the group that amount to “material support” or ‘services.’ Anyone violating this prohibition could be subjected to civil or criminal penalties, or could themselves be placed on the SDGT list. The question of exactly what illegal ‘support’ for Palestine Action could now mean is a troubling one.” (08/31/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/palestine-action-terrorists/
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40) The Fallacy of Stable Prices
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith
“Though Herbert Hoover was a pioneer among presidents in getting the government to ‘do something’ about a depression, he was no maverick. He had the support of distinguished court economists who promoted the idea that stable prices were the key to lasting prosperity. Common sense tells us that if we walk into a store and find prices consistently lower than they had been, we are better off, other things equal, because our money buys more. As Rothbard wrote, ‘Increased productivity tends to lower prices (and costs) and thereby distribute the fruits of free enterprise to all the public, raising the standard of living of all consumers. Forcible propping up of the price level prevents this spread of higher living standards.’ While the concept ‘stable price level’ may not sound menacing, the mechanism for achieving it was.” (08/31/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/fallacy-stable-prices
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41) Opioid Settlement Funds Belong to the Public: Communities Want Healing, Not Punishment
Source: Common Dreams
by Kasia Malinawska-Sempruch
“Nearly $58 billion is now flowing into states and local governments after the recent settlement with Purdue Pharma and other companies whose actions fueled the overdose epidemic, one of the deadliest public health crises in American history. For the first time in a generation, local communities have a critical opportunity to decide how this money is spent and allocate funding to build systems on their own terms, systems that actually save lives and provide care rooted in dignity. The question is whether state, county, and municipal officials will actually take that chance. The settlement money belongs to the people that paid the price. It is restitution for those lives lost, for families devastated, and for communities harmed not only by addiction and overdose, but by decades of failed punitive policies that criminalized suffering instead of treating it. It doesn’t belong to politicians, hospital systems, police departments, or consultants.” (08/31/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/opioid-settlement-funds-community
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42) Fauci Didn’t Create Faucism. He Exposed It
Source: The Daily Economy
by Barry Brownstein
“The deeper threat to liberty isn’t one powerful expert, but a society willing to surrender its judgment to prevailing opinion.” (08/31/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/fauci-didnt-create-faucism-he-exposed-it/
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43) Baiting Turkey: Israel’s Strategy in Syria
Source: Antiwar.com
by Thomas S Karat
“Turkey wants a single Syrian state under Ahmed al-Sharaa, its Kurdish militias folded into a national army, its refugees sent home, its northern border shut. Israel wants Syria kept weak and split, its minorities shielded from Damascus, its south left open to Israeli entry. The foreign minister in Jerusalem has been clear that Turkish radar and air defense and aircraft would close skies that Israeli jets now cross at will, and would make a future strike on Iran harder to fly. Al-Sharaa, pressed from both sides, takes Turkish training and reconstruction while quietly thinning the Turkish-shaped units inside his own army, unwilling to become anyone’s client. Syria is not where the rivalry is happening. Syria is what it is over.” (08/31/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/thomas_karat/2026/08/30/baiting-turkey
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44) Twilight’s Last Gleaming
Source: Tenth Amendment
by Andrew P. Napolitano
“There is a point in the decline of republics when the problem is no longer that government breaks its own laws. Governments will always behave unlawfully. The deeper problem comes when the constitutional machinery designed to prevent those acts stops functioning — when spending becomes detached from arithmetic, presidential power becomes detached from law, and Congress and the courts become detached from the Constitution. That’s where America is today.” (08/30/26)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2026/08/30/twilights-last-gleaming/
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45) AG Letitia James turns evil eye on Trump, and blind eye to NY crime
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine
“We know Trump-deranged New York Attorney General Letitia James campaigned on jailing the president, but an explosive all-staff email from one of her star prosecutors Friday claims her office explicitly directed him to ‘find and pursue crimes’ to pin on Donald Trump and his allies, according to the Albany Times- Union. In a bridge-burning email to 2,000 colleagues at 10 a.m. Friday, Assistant Attorney General Daniel Wiesenfeld claimed that he had been instructed by his supervisor ‘to find and pursue crimes committed by specific individuals and organizations affiliated with Donald Trump’. ” (08/30/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/08/30/opinion/miranda-devine-ag-letitia-james-evil-eye-on-trump-and-blind-eye-to-ny-crime/
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46) Ethnic Cleansing, Other Horrors, and the Racial IQ Controversy
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“‘It is never too much to remember how much ethnic cleansing was made in the past based on ‘scientific evidence’ that some races were ‘not as intelligent as ours’ … (Comment on my blog) … Claims of this sort, about genocide, slavery, or ethnic cleansing, are offered as a reason not to talk about group differences. The implicit argument is that even if the average IQ of Africans is lower than that of Europeans or fewer women than men are talented at mathematics it is better not to say so, better to pretend it isn’t true. People making the argument rarely put it that way but it is pretty clearly what they believe. This raises three questions.” (08/30/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/ethnic-cleansing-other-horrors-and-a42
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47) Guardrails for Democracy: How Congress Can Reinforce Privacy Rights and Independent Oversight
Source: Liberal Currents
by Judith Starr
“The Privacy Act of 1974 is the most important bulwark against federal government misuse of the enormous amount of personal data it collects. This applies to information that can be used to confirm an individual’s identity, either alone or when combined with other information linkable to a specific individual. The Privacy Act limits access to and disclosure of such information to those with a need to know regarding the performance of their duties. Individuals harmed by unlawful disclosure may sue the agency in federal court, but only for actual damages. … When officials override agency safeguards, Privacy Act remedies have been insufficient to stop ongoing harms or provide complete relief to a harmed individual. Recent events involving investigation of the President’s political enemies demonstrate the holes in the remedial framework.” (08/30/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/guardrails-for-democracy-how-congress-can-reinforce-privacy-rights-and-independent-oversight/
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48) This is Not Real Life
Source: The Jolly Libertarian
by Marco den Ouden
“Truth, the old saying goes, is stranger than fiction. Which may be why I like biographies. They’re the stories of real people. They tell us about real heroes. Role models. Inspirations. But the most interesting and inspiring of such stories are often autobiographies. Autobiographies go a step beyond the biography. They give us a glimpse into a person’s soul. They reveal personal struggles in a visceral way.” (08/30/26)
https://jollylibertarian.blogspot.com/2026/08/this-is-not-real-life.html
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49) Big Tech Crashes Headlong Into American Democracy
Source: The American Prospect
by Ryan Cooper
“The data, as it were, are in: The American people really, really, really hate data centers. A poll conducted by Heatmap News finds that over the course of a year, opinion has gone from 43 percent net support and 42 percent net opposition to 75 percent net opposition and 15 percent net support—a swing of 61 points. Fully 61 percent of Americans now say they strongly oppose the facilities. Dozens of them have been canceled. In every demographic you can think of—urban or rural, young or old, even Democrat or Republican—huge majorities of respondents register disapproval. Brothers, sisters, come together! This has Republican politicians scrambling to memory-hole their very recent history of being fanatically pro-AI and pro–data center. And one piece of legislation in particular is going to haunt nearly all of them in Congress.” (08/31/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/08/31/data-centers-ai-republicans-big-tech-american-democracy/
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50) The Herd Immunity Fallacy
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jennifer Smith
“Public health discussions often emphasize vaccination because it can increase immunity without requiring large numbers of people to become ill at the same time. Proponents of vaccines believe that without vaccination, immunity would build more gradually through infection, which can allow ongoing transmission and lead to higher levels of illness and complications. For this reason, the concept of herd immunity is more complex than simple visual models suggest and depends on timing, population dynamics, and the characteristics of the disease itself. It’s also important to recognize that herd immunity is not permanent.” (08/30/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-herd-immunity-fallacy/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 08/31/26
Source: Reason
“Trump Wants the FCC To Punish His Enemies.” (08/31/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/08/31/trump-wants-the-fcc-to-punish-his-enemies/
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52) Sal and Mark, episode 18
Source: Free Talk Live
“Vin Armani joins from Saipan, what Mark calls the freest place in America, to talk about life on this unique piece of American soil, what it actually looks like to raise a family outside the reach of the American mind virus, and his new book The Vineyard and the Vessel: Leadership at the End of the Empire. The guys also cover Florida’s new stable coin laws and the agorist workarounds, the ongoing persecution of Roman Storm and the Samurai Wallet developers by Trump’s DOJ, the Flock camera resistance movement including a journalist who got banned from Flock’s convention and set up a drone and surveillance operation outside, and the explosive discovery that a Minnesota Senator is on Flock’s payroll.” (08/31/26)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/samep18
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53) Trump Censorship Machine Bashed in Federal Court
Source: JimBovard.com
Jim Bovard on the Trump censorship-by-deportation scheme. (08/31/26)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2026/08/31/video-on-trump-censorship-machine-bashed-in-federal-court/
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54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/31/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“This Is Where We Are? Kidnapping Foreign Leaders & Trying To Take Their Oil.” (08/31/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1pKkOXpRlMrKj
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55) Rising, 08/31/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed repeatedly downplaying his association with leftist streamer Hasan Piker.” (08/31/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/6043120-rising-august-31-2026/
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56) The Brian Nichols Show, 08/31/26
Source: Lions of Liberty
“2028 Poll Shocker, Lindsay Clancy Backlash, AI Job Panic.” (08/31/26)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tbns-2028-poll-shocker-lindsay-clancy-backlash-ai-job-panic/id1647011410?i=1000786894809
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57) EconTalk, 08/31/26
Source: EconTalk
“Hamas and the Future of Gaza (with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib).” (08/31/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/hamas-and-the-future-of-gaza-with-ahmed-fouad-alkhatib/
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58) Pink Flame of Liberty, 08/30/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Fractures in the Country, Fractures in the Democrats.” (08/30/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb00ZQSsMtg
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59) Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 08/30/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JG Michael
“The Great Pretense: A Tour Through the Boneyard of the CIA’s War for Drugs w/ Bill Conroy.” (08/30/26)
https://parallaxviews.podbean.com/e/bconroy8-30-26/
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60) Free Talk Live, 08/30/26
Source: Free Talk Live
“Boomer potheads causing a stink for their neighbors :: Smoking in public talk :: Ricky has a problem with non-smokers :: Is it racist to say black people smoke menthols? :: Big Beautiful Bill regulated THC drinks :: Penguin says curry stinks… racist?? :: NO CREAMY GARLIC NOODLES FOR PENGUIN! :: Which states have fewer women? :: Nihilism, taking your dog for a walk and what to do with your life :: Meta paying $18 billion to these 48 states :: Lazy parents say ‘paren my kid for me’ :: David crashes out :: 2026-08-30 :: Hosts: Bonnie, Kahuna, Penguin, Mark Edge.” (08/30/26)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/ftl2026-08-30
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