02/12 -- US House votes to override Trump’s Canada tariffs; Liberate Education from the State
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Thomas L. Knapp
Feb 12, 2026, 6:11:15 AMFeb 12
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 02/12/26
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Today's Freedom News:
1) US House votes to override Trump’s Canada tariffs
2) El Paso airspace panic: Party balloon mistaken for drone
3) Kosovo: Parliament elects Kurti as PM, ending year-long political deadlock
4) Sri Lanka: Court sentences 12 men to death over killing of lawmaker during 2022 protests
5) US unexpectedly adds 130,000 jobs in January after a weak 2025
6) Pope Leo XIV sends generators, medical supplies to Ukraine
7) Russia: Regime says again that it will stick to limits on nuclear weapons in expired New START treaty, if US regime does
8) NATO launches Arctic Sentry military effort as it seeks to move on from Greenland dispute
9) NY: Mamdani asks lawmakers for 2% tax hike on wealthy
10) Lufthansa hit by “short notice” strike by pilots and cabin crews
11) France: As Le Pen’s appeal trial ends, her presidential bid is at stake
12) Yemen: Several killed and wounded as crowd linked with STC storms regime building
13) ICE gang shot-caller refuses to resign under pressure from Swalwell not to “side with killers”
14) FAA abruptly closes, quickly reopens El Paso airspace
15) Canada: Victim disarmament laws include ban on “assault-style” firearms & freeze on handgun sales
16) US FDA won’t review Moderna application for first mRNA-based flu vaccine
17) Canada: Ten dead after shooter opens fire at high school in rare massacre
18) Venezuela: Regime figure rules out real presidential election
19) CA: SF crypto company Archblock, plagued with fraud accusations, files for bankruptcy
20) Federal Judge Dismisses Attempt to Obtain Michigan Voter Data in Latest Rejection of DOJ
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Liberate Education from the State
22) The So-called “SAVE America Act” Is What Republicans Once Opposed
23) It’s easy to reduce corruption — cut government
24) Abolition, Amnesty, Decriminalization, Open Borders
25) Association must be voluntary, by mutual consent
26) Democrats now see the danger of concentrating power. Welcome!
27) Defending the freedom to read is not radical — it’s American
28) The Bank of Big Medicine
29) Americans Must Reject War with Iran
30) Trump has reversed the Biden-made manufacturing decline
31) The Banality of MAGA Evil
32) “Carte Blanche for Ruthlessness”
33) Americans are tough graders on Trump’s economy
34) Demystifying Islam’s Golden Age
35) To Save Social Security, Stop Subsidizing Wealthy Retirees
36) NY Times columnist sinks to sick new low mocking JD Vance’s mom
37) Trump Should Revive the JCPOA To Prevent War With Iran
38) Trump vs. his China hawks
39) When the Oligarchs Don’t Need You Anymore
40) Our Leaders Couldn’t Fix Our Problems, Even If They Wanted To
41) The Heavy Pot Taxes Favored by The New York Times Would Undermine Legalization
42) Political Backflow From Europe
43) War and “Covert Action” Are Not How to Deal With Iran
44) Sensitive Places Require Government-Provided Armed Security
45) Trump’s about to cancel Obama’s most outrageous power grab
46) Iran and the Art of the Retread
47) In Spite of What Zionists Say, It’s a Good Thing to Criticize Governments
48) Open Letter to Tech Companies: Protect Your Users From Lawless DHS Subpoenas
49) Suffocating an Island: What the US Blockade Is Doing to the People of Cuba
50) Amazon’s Creepy Normalizing of the Surveillance State
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) The Political Orphanage, 02/11/26
52) System Update, 02/11/26
53) The Briefing Podcast with Michael Waldman, 02/11/26
54) The David Frum Show, 02/11/26
55) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 02/11/26
56) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 02/11/26
57) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 02/11/26
58) SolutionsWatch, 02/11/26
59) Reasonably Optimistic, 02/11/26
60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 02/11/26
61) Fountainhead Forum, episode 421
62) The Bulwark Podcast, 02/10/26
63) Parallax Views w/ JK Michael, 02/10/26
64) LPALive, episode 60
65) Cato Daily Podcast, 02/10/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) US House votes to override Trump’s Canada tariffs
Source: CNBC
“The House on Wednesday passed a resolution disapproving of President Donald Trump’s tariffs against Canada, a blow to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and a rare Republican rebuke of the president’s signature economic policy. The resolution cleared the House 219-211, with several Republicans crossing the aisle to support it. One Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, voted against the measure. The tariff resolution, introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., was considered a day after a procedural vote on a rule that would have barred House challenges to Trump’s tariffs failed with the support of three Republican members. Trump warned Republicans during the vote that there would be consequences for overriding him on tariffs. ‘Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!’ Trump posted to his TRUTH social account during the vote.” (02/11/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/11/gop-trump-tariffs-canada.html
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2) El Paso airspace panic: Party balloon mistaken for drone
Source: Fox News
“A U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that the U.S. military earlier this week shot down what was later determined to be a party balloon near El Paso, Texas, after initially assessing it as a possible foreign drone. The misidentification eventually led to a total shutdown of airspace around the El Paso airport. A separate U.S. administration official had told Fox News that Mexican cartel drones breached U.S. airspace near El Paso and that counter-drone measures were taken to disable them. The Pentagon has been testing out new counter-drone technology, including a high-energy laser, near the Army base at Fort Bliss, Texas. That laser was used to shoot down what appeared to be foreign drones — and was later identified as a balloon — prompting the airspace closure by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), an official told Fox.” (02/11/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/us-military-shot-down-party-balloon-near-el-paso-after-suspecting-drone-official-says
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3) Kosovo: Parliament elects Kurti as PM, ending year-long political deadlock
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Kosovo’s parliament elected Albin Kurti as prime minister on Wednesday, securing his third term and ending a year-long political stalemate. Kurti, who had served in a caretaker role, won 66 votes in the 120-seat assembly after his Vetevendosje party topped December’s snap election, prompting applause from supporters. … A general election a year ago had left Kurti without the majority needed to form a government – leading to months of parliamentary stasis. Deeply divided lawmakers eventually forced a December snap poll, which Kurti’s party won with over 51 per cent of the vote, securing 57 seats.” (02/11/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20260212-kosovo-parliament-elects-albin-kurti-pm
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4) Sri Lanka: Court sentences 12 men to death over killing of lawmaker during 2022 protests
Source: Newsday
“A Sri Lankan court on Wednesday sentenced 12 men to death for the killing of a lawmaker and his bodyguard in May 2022 during violence that erupted at the height of the island nation’s economic crisis. The Gampaha High Court convicted the men for unlawful assembly, assault and the deaths of Amarakeerthi Athukorale and his bodyguard, who was a police officer, said senior state counsel Oswald Perera. Athukorale, who was a ruling party lawmaker, and his guard were attacked and killed in Nittambuwa, about 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) north of the capital, Colombo, after the car they were travelling in was intercepted by a crowd. Police at the time said Athukorale or his bodyguard had fired gunshots at the protestors who later chased them and trapped them inside a building where their battered bodies were later recovered by police.” (02/11/26)
https://www.newsday.com/news/nation/sri-lanka-court-death-penalty-protests-f12690
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5) US unexpectedly adds 130,000 jobs in January after a weak 2025
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“Hiring grew a little warmer last month after a chilly year in 2025. A report from the Labor Department on Wednesday showed U.S. employers added a better-than-expected 130,000 jobs in January — but an annual update shows hiring last year was much weaker than initially reported. The news comes amid worries that the nation’s jobs engine has been sputtering. Employment gains for November and December were revised down by a total of 17,000 jobs. Once a year, the Labor Department updates its jobs tally with more accurate but less timely information drawn from unemployment tax records. Wednesday’s revision shows there were nearly 900,000 fewer jobs in the economy last March than originally counted.” (02/11/26)
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/11/nx-s1-5708807/jobs-labor-unemployment-economy
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6) Pope Leo XIV sends generators, medical supplies to Ukraine
Source: The Hill
“Pope Leo XIV has sent 80 generators and medical supplies to Ukraine to support the country’s civilians as its war against Russia and cold winter weather continue. The aid comes as bishops talked about how Russia’s attacks have put a strain on the country’s energy infrastructure. The deliveries came Monday to the cities of Kyiv and Fastiv, which have seen the brunt of the war. Medical supplies, including thousands of antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, supplements and melatonin, also followed. According to local outlet Kyiv Independent, Vatican officials said melatonin was in high demand because Ukrainians have struggled with sleep deprivation.” (02/11/26)
https://thehill.com/policy/international/5732442-pope-leo-xiv-generators-supplies-ukraine/
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7) Russia: Regime says again that it will stick to limits on nuclear weapons in expired New START treaty, if US regime does
Source: CBS News
“Russia will continue to observe the limits set under the recently-expired New START nuclear arms reduction treaty if the United States does the same, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday. … The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) was signed in 2010 between the U.S. and Russia. It limited the number of strategic nuclear warheads that both countries could have deployed to 1,550, and included verification measures such as on-site inspections and data exchanges designed to ensure compliance. The pact was originally set to expire in February 2021, but it was extended for five years by former President Joe Biden, keeping it in force until February 2026.” (02/11/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-nuclear-weapons-treaty-us-new-start-latest-putin-trump/
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8) NATO launches Arctic Sentry military effort as it seeks to move on from Greenland dispute
Source: ABC News
“NATO on Wednesday launched a new military effort dubbed Arctic Sentry aimed at improving security in the High North, a month after U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up tensions within the alliance over his threats to annex Greenland. Initially, Arctic Sentry will be the NATO label for national military exercises in the region, such as Denmark’s Arctic Endurance — which angered Trump so much that he threatened to slap tariffs on allies taking part — and Norway’s Cold Response drills. Arctic Sentry does not involve the permanent or even long-term deployment of troops to the region under a NATO banner. NATO’s role in this series of military activities, which will be coordinated through its U.S. headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, is aimed at countering Russian and Chinese influence in the High North, which includes Greenland.” (02/11/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/nato-launches-arctic-sentry-military-effort-seeks-move-130059114
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9) NY: Mamdani asks lawmakers for 2% tax hike on wealthy
Source: New York Post
“Mayor Zohran Mamdani told state lawmakers on Wednesday that the only way out of the city’s $12 billion budget gap is to raise taxes on the wealthy. Hizzoner, during his first Tin Cup Day in Albany, formally called on the state Legislature to raise income taxes on people making more than $1 million by 2%. ‘I’m asking for a 2% raise in personal income taxes on the most affluent New Yorkers, someone earning $1 million a year. The top 1% of New York City can afford to contribute $20,000 more in taxes,’ the young mayor said. ‘That 2% tax alone would resolve nearly half of our budget deficit. I will continue to advocate for these policies not only because they offer the most direct route out of this budget crisis, but because they will also transform what is possible in our state.'” (02/11/25)
https://nypost.com/2026/02/11/us-news/zohran-mamdani-asks-nys-lawmakers-for-2-tax-hike-on-wealthy/
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10) Lufthansa hit by “short notice” strike by pilots and cabin crews
Source: Politico
“Lufthansa announced Wednesday it expects a strike announced “at short notice” for Thursday to impact its flight schedule. The industrial action was called by the flight attendants’ union UFO and the pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), Lufthansa said. Cabin crew union UFO said the strike notice was introduced after ‘the management has refused to enter into negotiations with us at all’ regarding working conditions and pensions. … According to the German news agency DW, the strike could affect all German airports, including the major international hubs of Frankfurt and Munich.” (02/11/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/lufthansa-hit-by-short-notice-strike-by-pilots-and-cabin-crews
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11) France: As Le Pen’s appeal trial ends, her presidential bid is at stake
Source: SFGate
“A Paris appeals court set a verdict date of July 7 for Marine Le Pen in her European Union misuse of funds case, a crucial decision that could derail the far-right leader’s presidential bid. The trial ended Wednesday with one question looming above all others — whether Le Pen will be able to run for president next year. Le Pen, 57, is challenging a March 2025 verdict that found her and other members of her National Rally party guilty of misusing European Parliament funds in the hiring of aides from 2004 to 2016. She denies accusations that she was at the center of a fraudulent system meant to siphon off EU funds. Asked by the court whether she’d like to say anything in conclusion, Le Pen declined to speak. She quickly left the courthouse without stopping in front of a crowd of reporters.” (02/11/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/as-far-right-leader-marine-le-pen-s-appeal-trial-21346723.php
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12) Yemen: Several killed and wounded as crowd linked with STC storms regime building
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A crowd linked to Yemen’s separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) has attempted to storm a local government building in the southeastern Yemeni city of Ataq, leaving several dead, according to local authorities and sources. The security committee in Shabwah governorate said armed fighters assaulted security and military personnel and fired live ammunition during Wednesday’s attack, resulting in casualties as official forces intervened. … Rami Lamlas, deputy head of the Shabwah General Hospital Authority, told Al Jazeera that five people were killed and 39 wounded when security and military forces dispersed demonstrators affiliated with the STC.” (02/11/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/11/five-killed-in-yemen-as-crowd-linked-with-stc-in-south-storm-govt-building
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13) ICE gang shot-caller refuses to resign under pressure from Swalwell not to “side with killers”
Source: Fox News
“Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons refused to resign under pressure from Rep. Eric Swalwell [D-CA] who offered him the ultimatum to do so, or ‘side with the killers.’ The heated exchange during Tuesday’s House Homeland Security Committee hearing isn’t the first time Swalwell has confronted ICE over its mass deportation operations. … Swalwell told Lyons that continuing to lead ICE is a ‘choice’ and highlighted his preceding decorated military and law enforcement career. ‘You are what I would call ‘otherwise employable.’ I think most people would agree this is not the only job that you can get. But since you’ve been on this job, women have been dragged by their hair through streets. A 6-year-old child battling stage-four cancer has been deported. And it turns out he was a U.S. citizen,’ Swalwell claimed.” (02/11/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ice-director-refuses-resign-under-pressure-from-eric-swalwell-not-side-killers
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14) FAA abruptly closes, quickly reopens El Paso airspace
Source: Associated Press
“A Trump administration official said the airspace over El Paso was closed after Mexican cartel drones breached the airspace, but said that the Defense Department took action to disable the drones. Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the Defense Department have determined there is no threat to commercial travel, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a national security issue. The official did not say how many drones were involved or what specifically was done to disable them. The Federal Aviation Administration reopened the airspace around El Paso International Airport in Texas on Wednesday morning, just hours after it announced a 10-day closure that would have grounded all flights to and from the airport.” [editor’s note: I suspect this was security theater that will be ramped up then used as the justification for US strikes on Mexico – TLK] (02/11/26)
https://apnews.com/article/faa-el-paso-texas-air-space-closed-1f774bdfd46f5986ff0e7003df709caa
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15) Canada: Victim disarmament laws include ban on “assault-style” firearms & freeze on handgun sales
Source: SFGate
“Canada’s strict gun laws include a ban on assault-style firearms and a national freeze on the sale, purchase and transfer of handguns. The Canadian government has banned more than 2,500 makes and models of assault-style firearms in recent years. Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an immediate ban of more than 1,500 models on May 1, 2020, two weeks after a gunman killed 22 people in Nova Scotia. The ban included two weapons used by that gunman as well as the AR-15 and other weapons that have been used in a number of mass shootings in the United States. ‘Canadians need more than thoughts and prayers,’ he said at the time. More than 12,000 guns were collected and destroyed as part of a compensation program for businesses that ran between November 2024 and April 2025. A similar program for individuals opened last month …. Those who do not participate must dispose of or permanently deactivate their prohibited guns before an amnesty period ends Oct. 30.” (02/11/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/canada-s-strict-gun-laws-include-banning-21347533.php
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16) US FDA won’t review Moderna application for first mRNA-based flu vaccine
Source: Washington Post
“The Food and Drug Administration has declined to review Moderna’s application for the first mRNA-based flu vaccine, a decision that shocked the company and that comes as the agency plans to tighten federal vaccine approvals. The nation’s top vaccine regulator, Vinay Prasad, told Moderna that it lacked an ‘adequate and well-controlled’ study, the company said in a news release Tuesday. In a large clinical trial, the vaccine was compared with Fluarix, an approved standard-dose flu vaccine. Prasad’s letter did not detail concerns with the safety or efficacy of the vaccine, which Moderna was aiming to target for adults ages 50 and older. Moderna President Stephen Hoge said that the company had previously engaged with the FDA on the trial design and that the agency earlier indicated it would be acceptable.” (02/10/26)
https://archive.is/LvWSC
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17) Canada: Ten dead after shooter opens fire at high school in rare massacre
Source: Reuters
“Ten people including the shooter are dead after an assailant opened fire at a high school in western Canada on Tuesday in one of the country’s deadliest mass casualty events in recent history. The attack brought to Canada the type of mass shooting more common in the neighboring United States, and was carried out by a shooter described as female, police said. Six people were found dead inside a high school in the town of Tumbler Ridge, in British Columbia, two more people were found dead at a residence believed to be connected to the incident, and another person died on the way to hospital, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.” (02/11/25)
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ten-dead-after-shooting-canadian-province-british-columbia-cbc-news-reports-2026-02-11/
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18) Venezuela: Regime figure rules out real presidential election
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Venezuela’s National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez has said that the country will not hold presidential elections in the immediate future, emphasising that the government’s current focus is on national stability. His comments came late on Monday in an interview published with the conservative outlet Newsmax in the United States. Presidential terms run for six years in Venezuela, and the last election was [stolen by the regime] in 2024. Newsmax host Rob Schmitt asked if that meant another election would not happen for another five years. ‘The only thing I could say is that there will not be an election in this immediate period of time where the stabilisation has to be achieved,’ Rodriguez replied.” (02/10/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/10/venezuelas-national-assembly-chief-rules-out-new-presidential-election
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19) CA: SF crypto company Archblock, plagued with fraud accusations, files for bankruptcy
Source: SFGate
“The San Francisco cryptocurrency startup Archblock just filed for bankruptcy, throwing millions of dollars into question and continuing a slog of legal woes. Archblock has been plagued with legal trouble over the past few years, facing fraud allegations from the Securities and Exchange Commission and in a civil lawsuit from another crypto company. On Friday, Archblock and its subsidiaries filed a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which lets a company reorganize its debts. The company’s filing makes its financials look dire: It estimates that its assets are worth between $1 million to $10 million, against liabilities between $100 million to $500 million. But one subsidiary, TrustToken, claims in its own filing to have $100 million to $500 million in assets against just $10 million to $50 million in debt. The other subsidiaries tack on millions more for each column — it’s as yet unclear how the overall company will aim to reorganize in this bankruptcy process.” (02/11/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/crypto-bankruptcy-archblock-21343919.php
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20) Federal Judge Dismisses Attempt to Obtain Michigan Voter Data in Latest Rejection of DOJ
Source: US News & World Report
“A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from the Department of Justice that sought to obtain Michigan’s voter rolls, marking the latest judicial rejection in President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging attempts to gain access to voter data from states. The Justice Department has sued at least 23 states and the District of Columbia in its effort to obtain detailed voter information. In an opinion issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Hala Y. Jarbou, a Trump nominee, said the laws cited by the Justice Department in its complaint, including the Civil Rights Act of 1960, do not require the disclosure of the records it sought.” (02/10/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/michigan/articles/2026-02-10/federal-judge-dismisses-attempt-to-obtain-michigan-voter-data-in-latest-rejection-of-doj
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Liberate Education from the State
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Angelo Monaco
“While we see in some states a move to allow greater choice among public schools it generally does not resolve the failings of public education. The promotion of school vouchers still involves government collection and redistribution of wealth and keeps the government-school system in existence. We need to go well beyond that idea. Entirely dismantling the tax-supported government K-12 school system would not only eliminate the immense overhead and regulatory costs associated with public schools, it would also improve the overall quality of education through free-market competition, especially for those in underserved communities. As for our colleges and universities, what will make things better is to withdraw all government support, which would force each school to shed the protections that are provided through politics and lobbying.” (02/11/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/liberate-education-from-the-state/
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22) The So-called “SAVE America Act” Is What Republicans Once Opposed
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye
“Conservatives should oppose the SAVE America Act for the same reason many of us spent years opposing Democratic efforts to nationalize election administration: because elections in the United States are run by the states. That principle didn’t disappear just because Republicans are now the ones pushing the bill. If anything, this is exactly the kind of legislation conservatives used to warn about — federal mandates, national standards, and Washington inserting itself into decisions that have traditionally been made at the state and local level. For years, conservatives argued — correctly — that sweeping federal election laws undermine federalism, weaken local accountability, and create tools that will inevitably be abused by a future administration.” (02/10/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/the-so-called-save-america-act-is
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23) It’s easy to reduce corruption — cut government
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall
“The more economic democracy we have then the more it is politics that determines who is allowed to do what. Access to that decision making process thus has a higher value, more cash is offered for it. More simply, the more politicians decide the more valuable paying politicians is. Humans do more of things that are more valuable — economic democracy thus means more political corruption. The method of beating this is to make bribing — sorry, paying cash for access to — politicians not worth the game. Less politics in economic decision making that is.” (02/11/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/its-easy-to-reduce-corruption-cut-government
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24) Abolition, Amnesty, Decriminalization, Open Borders
Source: Liberal Currents
by Paul Crider
“I could defend open borders by appealing to economics, pointing to trillion dollar bills on the sidewalk. We need immigrants to fill jobs native-born Americans cannot or will no longer perform. Or I could talk about how immigrants contribute to economic growth and contribute more over time to the public fisc than they take out. I could fixate on the terrible plight of refugees, and how it’s a humanitarian imperative to take in the needy stranger. … These are all true, and they are solid reasons to favor liberal immigration. But for my part, we should welcome the foreigner, and embrace them as a friend and potential American for the simple reason that migration is the pursuit of freedom and happiness by one’s own lights.” (02/11/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/abolition-amnesty-decriminalization-open-borders/
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25) Association must be voluntary, by mutual consent
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal
“If you believe the best solution to any problem, real or imagined, is to give government more control, you’re off base. The government-created issue of ‘immigration’ illustrates this perfectly. … Typically, you have people on one side who want government to ignore the Constitution and ‘control immigration’ pitted against people on the other side who want government to import every basket case from every third-world country, and then support them for the rest of their lives on tax money stolen from the productive residents. I want government out of the game altogether. Live where you want; make it on your own.” (02/11/26)
https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2026/02/11/voices/opinion-association-must-be-voluntary-by-mutual-consent/232744.html
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26) Democrats now see the danger of concentrating power. Welcome!
Source: USA Today
by Dace Potas
“President Donald Trump’s call to nationalize elections ahead of November has rightfully garnered plenty of opposition from Democrats, with many sounding the alarm for an authoritarian plot aimed at artificially boosting Republicans’ prospects. Democrats are rightly concerned with the federal government administering elections, which are a constitutional responsibility of the states. Thankfully, it won’t likely happen, but the response reveals something about this debate. Trump has wreaked havoc on the separation of powers and abused the power of his office. This is exacerbated by an increasingly powerful federal government and presidency. So I want to ask Democrats, progressives and anyone else to my left who have criticized the conservative views of limited government, federalism and separation of powers for years: Are you convinced yet?” (02/11/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/02/11/trump-nationalize-elections-midterms-state-rights/88585077007/
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27) Defending the freedom to read is not radical — it’s American
Source: The Hill
by Kim A Snyder & Audrey Wilson-Youngblood
“Political strategists and commentators are looking at Democrat Taylor Rehmet’s stunning special election victory in Texas state Senate District 9 to forecast electoral shifts ahead of 2026’s midterms. But those trying to understand this election’s surprise outcome also need to consider the local politics at play. Rehmet’s opponent was Republican Leigh Wambsganss, chief communications officer of conservative media company Patriot Mobile. She has been a primary architect behind the movement to populate North Texas school boards with candidates willing to orchestrate an extreme, right-wing takeover of public schools. These school board takeovers resulted in unprecedented book bans and attacks on residents’ right to read.” (02/11/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/education/5731506-defending-the-freedom-to-read-is-not-radical-its-american/
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28) The Bank of Big Medicine
Source: The American Prospect
by Olivia Webb Kosloff & Emma Freer
“During back-to-back congressional hearings last month, lawmakers grilled the CEOs of five major health insurers about their vertically integrated business models. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called for breakup legislation modeled on the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which structurally separated commercial and investment banking. The idea of bank-style regulation for health insurers isn’t as far off as it sounds. As Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-OR) pointed out, insurance companies take in premiums and invest that money (known as ‘float’) before having to pay it out in claims. ‘That, of course, is what leads to people calling insurers banks, doing a side business as health care,’ Bentz explained. ‘[Y]ou charge the premium, you collect the money, you put the money in the bank, it earns interest, and then you pay it out.'” (02/11/25)
https://prospect.org/2026/02/11/bank-medicine-health-insurers-united-health-optum-financial/
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29) Americans Must Reject War with Iran
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“Can you imagine any American leader agreeing to gutting the country’s defensive capabilities because a foreign government and its client demanded that we give it up or face an attack? Even if the governments threatening us were much more powerful and had already proven their willingness to attack us without cause, our leaders would rightly refuse to give in. They would understand that making concessions on these issues would just invite further aggression. The U.S. should not attack Iran, and it certainly shouldn’t do it to serve Netanyahu’s aggressive agenda.” (02/11/26)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/americans-must-reject-war-with-iran
-----
30) Trump has reversed the Biden-made manufacturing decline
Source: Washington Times
by Peter Navarro
“As the Trump economy begins to boom even as inflation moderates, Democrats and the anti-Trump media are desperate for a spin that might discredit Trumponomics. Their latest Hail Mary: pushing a counterfactual narrative that President Trump’s tariffs are hurting, rather than stimulating, a manufacturing revival for blue-collar America. The latest manufacturing data obliterates that lie. In January, the ISM Manufacturing Index jumped 4.7 points to 52.6. That wasn’t just an estimate beat; it was a blowout, and an important one. The ISM Manufacturing Index is the most widely followed survey of factory activity worldwide. When it moves above 50, the manufacturing economy is expanding. When it jumps nearly 5 points in a single month to decisively push past 50, something fundamental has changed. That ‘something’ is Trumponomics finally overpowering the wreckage left behind by Bidenomics.” [editor’s note: Hooray! It’s only five points lower than it was a year into Biden’s term — and smidge higher than it was three years into Trump’s first term! Outside of COVID lows, it’s about average for the last five years – TLK] (02/10/25)
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/feb/10/trump-reversed-biden-made-manufacturing-decline/
-----
31) The Banality of MAGA Evil
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman
“There’s a longstanding tradition in American politics of what Richard Hofstadter famously called the paranoid style – a way of thinking that sees conspiracies lurking everywhere. MAGA-world is particularly riddled with conspiracy thinking – from George Soros and Jewish space lasers, QAnon and the Great Replacement Theory, to Italian satellites hacking into voting machines to deliver the 2020 election to Joe Biden. But these are far-fetched fantasies. The truth is far more banal and shocking. There are people in positions of great power in the U.S. government engaged in evil conspiracies against everything that is good and decent. Their conspiracies are far more extensive and damaging than almost anyone imagined. But there are no evil masterminds behind this. Only amoral, stupid grifters like Howard Lutnick.” (02/11/26)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-banality-of-maga-evil
-----
32) “Carte Blanche for Ruthlessness”
Source: In These Times
by Kathryn Joyce
“On February 4, former FOX News host Tucker Carlson delivered what, in other times, would be a shocking assessment: that the future of the Republican Party is a 31-year-old, long-shot candidate in Florida’s gubernatorial race with a string of financial and sexual misconduct allegations but a marked talent for attention-getting provocations. Over the course of James Fishback’s still-young candidacy, he has ostentatiously courted the followers of extreme far-right commentator Nick Fuentes and referred to his Black primary opponent, frontrunner Rep. Byron Donalds, as a ’slave’ (to his donors) who would make Florida ‘a Section 8 ghetto.’ He called for raising tuition for foreign university students to $1 million per year, pledged to expel ‘“every illegal immigrant child’ from the state’s K-12 schools and told a white supremacist social media influencer that ’the great replacement and white genocide’ were the most important political issues other Republicans ignore.” (02/10/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/laura-field-interview-right-wing-fascism-trump-maga
-----
33) Americans are tough graders on Trump’s economy
Source: Washington Post
by Ramesh Ponnuru
“The economy is growing. Unemployment is low. Wages, for most people, are rising faster than prices. Stocks are rising. Yet the public keeps giving the economy a thumbs-way-down. Gallup finds that only 21 percent of Americans give it an ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ rating. That’s roughly the same as the percentage that felt positively about the economy in April 2013, during the painfully slow recovery from the Great Recession, when the unemployment rate was 7.5 percent instead of the current 4.4. At first glance, the dissatisfaction looks disproportionate to the statistics.” (02/11/26)
https://archive.is/AXqqu
-----
34) Demystifying Islam’s Golden Age
Source: Law & Liberty
by Jonathan Leaf
“Many in the Islamic world continue to believe that the answer to their struggles is the restoration of the old caliphate system. Hamas, for instance, called for this in its founding charter. This was also the impassioned dream of Osama bin Laden. Spurring these beliefs are a series of widely-held notions about the past. Given the powerful present-day interest, attraction, and obsession with the idea, we need to arrive at an accurate estimate of the caliphates.” (02/11/26)
https://lawliberty.org/demystifying-islams-golden-age/
-----
35) To Save Social Security, Stop Subsidizing Wealthy Retirees
Source: The Daily Economy
by Romina Boccia
“Social Security is drifting toward a cliff, and Congress keeps pretending the shortfall will fix itself. It won’t. Absent reform, benefits will be cut across the board by roughly 23 percent within six years. That outcome would harm retirees who depend on Social Security the most — while barely affecting the living standards of those who do not need financial support in old age. There is a better option: reduce distributions to the wealthiest retirees, preserving them for those most dependent on benefits.” (02/11/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/to-save-social-security-stop-subsidizing-wealthy-retirees/
-----
36) NY Times columnist sinks to sick new low mocking JD Vance’s mom
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley
“In a post on Bluesky, [Jamelle] Bouie mocked the addiction of the mother of Vice President JD Vance, saying that she should have sold her son for drugs. Bouie used Bluesky — a digital safe zone for viewpoint intolerance on the left — to post one of the most reprehensible attacks on Vance, [writing] that ‘this is a wicked man who knows he is being wicked and does it anyway.’ That is hardly notable on today’s rage scale. However, he then decided to use the painful addiction history of Vance’s mother, Beverly Aikins, against her son: ‘No wonder his mom tried to sell him for Percocets. I can’t imagine a parent who wouldn’t sell little JD for Percocet if they knew he would turn out like this.'” [editor’s note: Not a very nice thing to say about Vance’s mom, but he certainly described Vance accurately – TLK] (02/11/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-ny-times-columnist-sinks-sick-new-low-mocking-jd-vances-mom
-----
37) Trump Should Revive the JCPOA To Prevent War With Iran
Source: Antiwar.com
by JD Hester
“One of the biggest criticisms of those who opposed the JCPOA is that it did not meaningfully prevent Iran from supporting its regional proxies: the Yemeni Houthis, the Lebanese Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Hamas. While these proxy groups threaten Israel, they do not constitute a threat to the United States. The second Trump administration must not make the same mistake as the Biden administration: prioritizing foreign nations over stopping nuclear proliferation. Reviving the JCPOA is not idealism; it is a pragmatic solution to the threat of nuclear proliferation.” (02/11/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/jd_hester/2026/02/10/trump-should-revive-the-jcpoa-to-prevent-war-with-iran/
-----
38) Trump vs. his China hawks
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Connor Echols
“The president ushered in a bipartisan push for confrontation with Beijing in his first term. Is he now trying to usher it out?” (02/11/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-china-hawks/
-----
39) When the Oligarchs Don’t Need You Anymore
Source: CounterPunch
by Kathleen Wallace
“We have a group of men who are actively preparing themselves for a societal collapse. In fact, by their own writings, they invite it. They build bunkers to hurriedly protect themselves from the fallout of their own actions. They seem to only want enough humans around to serve them in ways that AI cannot and even that looks to be an infinitesimally small number. … In a nation flush with cash, but not for you, millions are cast off on Medicaid, in what can only be considered a premeditated murder of the masses. But you see, they don’t care. It’s not an unfortunate side effect or a required austerity measure in a time of crisis. It is a class of individuals who do not see themselves as one of us.” (02/11/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/02/11/when-the-oligarchs-dont-need-you-anymore/
-----
40) Our Leaders Couldn’t Fix Our Problems, Even If They Wanted To
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Our leaders are not going to fix the worst problems in our world. They couldn’t if they wanted to. And they don’t want to. [They] are not wise or insightful. They’re not even particularly intelligent. Our society is led by plutocrats who only know how to make more money, by unelected empire managers who only know how to dominate and control, and by elected politicians who only know how to say the right words and make the right bargains in order to get themselves elected. … Even if they weren’t a bunch of evil sociopaths who are only in the positions they’re in because of their willingness to collaborate with the agendas of oligarchy, war, militarism, imperialism, ecocide, exploitation, oppression and planetary domination, they don’t even have the personal characteristics necessary to do things like end poverty, rescue our biosphere, bring about world peace or give rise to human thriving.” (02/11/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/02/11/our-leaders-couldnt-fix-our-problems-if-they-wanted-to-and-they-dont-want-to/
-----
41) The Heavy Pot Taxes Favored by The New York Times Would Undermine Legalization
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum
“The newspaper’s plan to address marijuana abuse would compound the disadvantages that state-licensed suppliers face in competing with the black market.” (02/11/26)
https://reason.com/2026/02/11/the-heavy-pot-taxes-favored-by-the-new-york-times-would-undermine-legalization/
-----
42) Political Backflow From Europe
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
“The European discourse can be — for lack of a better term — America-brained. We hear stories of Black Lives Matter marches in countries without significant black populations, or defendants demanding their First Amendment rights in countries without constitutions. Why shouldn’t the opposite phenomenon exist? Europe is more populous than the US, and looms large in the American imagination. Why shouldn’t we find ourselves accidentally absorbing European ideas that don’t make sense in the American context?” (02/11/26)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/political-backflow-from-europe
-----
43) War and “Covert Action” Are Not How to Deal With Iran
Source: The American Conservative
by Jakob Brown
“The prospect of President Donald Trump pursuing regime change in Iran has animated the most hawkish voices in the establishment. But American war-weariness has forced the usual suspects to refine the art of apologetics. Rather than calling for ‘boots on the ground’ to liberate the Iranian people, many now argue the same result can be achieved through covert methods. Some assert, without a shred of evidence, that a large-scale strike can topple Tehran’s rulers without American troops ever setting foot in the country. Others avoid the question of what regime change would look like altogether, fearful that Americans will not be pleased with the answer.” (02/11/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/war-and-covert-action-are-not-how-to-deal-with-iran/
-----
44) Sensitive Places Require Government-Provided Armed Security
Source: Independent Institute
by Stephen P Halbrook
“History teaches that government must provide security if serious about a mandatory ‘gun-free zone.'” [editor’s note: As if government “security” should ever be trusted – TLK] (02/11/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/02/11/sensitive-places-require-government-provided-armed-security/
-----
45) Trump’s about to cancel Obama’s most outrageous power grab
Source: New York Post
by Judge Glock
“President Trump is on the brink of ordering a massive policy shakeup — ‘the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States,’ says Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin. When Trump’s EPA orders the end of a 2009 finding that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are a threat to public health, it will halt 16 years of federal efforts to mandate vast changes in American life without legal justification. The so-called Endangerment Finding led to a host of regulations whose estimated costs exceeded a trillion dollars. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Washington. Early in his administration, President Barack Obama tried to get Congress to pass an expansive climate change law. When the bill stalled, Obama charged ahead with executive action. The EPA’s December 2009 Endangerment Finding said greenhouse gases should be regulated under the Clean Air Act.” (02/10/25)
https://nypost.com/2026/02/10/opinion/trumps-about-to-cancel-obamas-most-outrageous-power-grab/
-----
46) Iran and the Art of the Retread
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
“The upcoming negotiations between the United States and Iran may be the only way to avoid military conflict between the two countries. President Donald Trump, assuming that recent large public anti-regime protests have weakened the Iranian government, has taken what he sees as an opportunity to pressure the Iranians over their nuclear and ballistic missile programs and assistance to foreign groups in the Middle East. … The Iranians already seem willing to negotiate a deal similar to the one negotiated by Barack Obama in 2015 but loudly scrapped by the incoming Trump administration: Iran severely limits its enrichment of nuclear material and sends its stockpile of such material to a third country. It would not be the first time that Trump has made threats and then settled for a ‘for-show’ agreement similar to the one he could have gotten without the blustering.” (02/10/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/02/10/iran-art-retread/
-----
47) In Spite of What Zionists Say, It’s a Good Thing to Criticize Governments
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Ryan McMaken
“In spite of the religious claims made by some Zionists, no state on earth was created by God, and there is no moral principle or natural law that mandates support for any state. Nor is there any moral principle or natural law that prohibits delegitimizing any state. States are simply organizations, created by human beings, that carry out the agenda of the governing elite in each state. There is no mandate from heaven. There isn’t even any such thing as ‘the will of the people.’ In this, the State of Israel is no different from any other state.” (02/10/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/spite-what-zionists-say-its-good-thing-criticize-governments
-----
48) Open Letter to Tech Companies: Protect Your Users From Lawless DHS Subpoenas
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Mario Trujillo
“In the past year, DHS has consistently targeted people engaged in First Amendment activity. Among other things, the agency has issued subpoenas to technology companies to unmask or locate people who have documented ICE’s activities in their community, criticized the government, or attended protests. These subpoenas are unlawful, and the government knows it. When a handful of users challenged a few of them in court with the help of ACLU affiliates in Northern California and Pennsylvania, DHS withdrew them rather than waiting for a decision. But it is difficult for the average user to fight back on their own. … That is why we, joined by the ACLU of Northern California, have asked several large tech platforms to do more to protect their users …” (02/10/26)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/02/open-letter-tech-companies-protect-your-users-lawless-dhs-subpoenas
-----
49) Suffocating an Island: What the US Blockade Is Doing to the People of Cuba
Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin
“Marta Jiménez, a hairdresser in Cuba’s eastern city of Holguín, covered her face with her hands and broke down crying when I asked her about Trump’s blockade of the island—especially now that the U.S. is choking off oil shipments. ‘You can’t imagine how it touches every part of our lives,’ she sobbed. ‘It’s a vicious, all-encompassing spiral downward. With no gasoline, buses don’t run, so we can’t get to work. We have electricity only three to six hours a day. There’s no gas for cooking, so we’re burning wood and charcoal in our apartments. It’s like going back 100 years. The blockade is suffocating us, especially single mothers,’ she said crying into her hands, ‘and no one is stopping these demons: Trump and Marco Rubio.'” (02/11/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/cuba-suffers-under-oil-embargo
-----
50) Amazon’s Creepy Normalizing of the Surveillance State
Source: Coyote Blog
by Warren Meyer
“You don’t sell surveillance out of the gate with a system that tracks down a person in the neighborhood behind on taxes or child support. No, you sell it as a system to find that adorable lost dog (notice not even generic pets or certainly not cats because dogs are the new children for this generation). They can fight all the backlash by saying, ‘Oh come on, who can be against finding lost dogs?’ Then, months or years later, the terms and conditions have morphed and broader search capabilities are enabled without the user even knowing …. When it really gets scary, they are not even going to tell you about it. I do not believe this is just a marketing mistake — Ring appears to have adopted neighborhood surveillance as their core business model.” (02/10/26)
https://coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2026/02/amazons-creepy-normalizing-of-the-surveillance-state.html
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) The Political Orphanage, 02/11/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“Jeff Flake Alone on an Island with a Knife.” (02/11/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/jeff-flake-alone-on-an-island-with-a-knife
-----
52) System Update, 02/11/26
Source: System Update
“Howard Lutnick’s Blatant Lies About Epstein Ties.” (02/11/26)
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/howard-lutnicks-blatant-lies-about
-----
53) The Briefing Podcast with Michael Waldman, 02/11/26
Source: Brennan Center for Justice
“How the Justice Department Came to Threaten Elections (with Eileen O’Connor and Chris Berger).” (02/11/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWkvc93VGFM
-----
54) The David Frum Show, 02/11/26
Source: The Atlantic
“How Trump Could Break the 2026 Elections.” (02/11/26)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2026/02/david-frum-show-stephen-richer-2026-elections/685960/
-----
55) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 02/11/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“War Is Not Peace.” (02/11/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1BRJjgmYjlBxw
-----
56) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 02/11/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Black Box ‘Realism’ | Interview: Elliott Abrams.” (02/11/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/black-box-realism-interview-elliott-abrams/
-----
57) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 02/11/26
Source: The New Republic
“Krugman: Trump’s Own Adviser Just Admitted to the Scam at MAGA’s Core.” (02/11/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/206443/krugman-trump-adviser-just-admitted-scam-maga-core
-----
58) SolutionsWatch, 02/11/26
Source: Corbett Report
“The Great Reject is Upon Us!” (02/11/26)
https://corbettreport.com/the-great-reject-is-upon-us-solutionswatch/
-----
59) Reasonably Optimistic, 02/11/26
Source: Washington Post
“An economist explains why he’s still ‘bullish on America’ — AI and all.” (02/11/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/an-economist-explains-why-hes-still-bullish-on-america–ai-and-all/
-----
60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 02/11/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump May Send Another Aircraft Carrier to Mideast, US To Send 200 Troops to Nigeria, and More.” (02/11/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa48Lrwnqg0
-----
61) Fountainhead Forum, episode 421
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Mollie Engelhart on how government regulates food to favor lobbyists.” (02/10/26)
https://rumble.com/v75la7m-ff-421-mollie-engelhart-on-how-government-regulates-food-to-favor-lobbyists.html
-----
62) The Bulwark Podcast, 02/10/26
Source: The Bulwark
“The Epstein Revelations Keep Getting Worse (w/ Jane Coaston).” (02/10/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sYMZ6CluTg
-----
63) Parallax Views w/ JK Michael, 02/10/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JK Michael
“Is the World Order Really Dead?: Anti-Politics, Trump, & Davos w/ Joseph Sciortino & Grant Gallagher.” (02/10/26)
https://parallaxviews.podbean.com/e/rreport2-10-26/
-----
64) LPALive, episode 60
Source: LP Alliance
“LNC Meeting February 10, 2026.” (02/10/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnsgaERrnLQ
-----
65) Cato Daily Podcast, 02/10/26
Source: Cato Institute
“Why Globalization Wins on the Field.” (02/10/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/why-globalization-wins-field
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Today's Freedom News:
1) US House votes to override Trump’s Canada tariffs
2) El Paso airspace panic: Party balloon mistaken for drone
3) Kosovo: Parliament elects Kurti as PM, ending year-long political deadlock
4) Sri Lanka: Court sentences 12 men to death over killing of lawmaker during 2022 protests
5) US unexpectedly adds 130,000 jobs in January after a weak 2025
6) Pope Leo XIV sends generators, medical supplies to Ukraine
7) Russia: Regime says again that it will stick to limits on nuclear weapons in expired New START treaty, if US regime does
8) NATO launches Arctic Sentry military effort as it seeks to move on from Greenland dispute
9) NY: Mamdani asks lawmakers for 2% tax hike on wealthy
10) Lufthansa hit by “short notice” strike by pilots and cabin crews
11) France: As Le Pen’s appeal trial ends, her presidential bid is at stake
12) Yemen: Several killed and wounded as crowd linked with STC storms regime building
13) ICE gang shot-caller refuses to resign under pressure from Swalwell not to “side with killers”
14) FAA abruptly closes, quickly reopens El Paso airspace
15) Canada: Victim disarmament laws include ban on “assault-style” firearms & freeze on handgun sales
16) US FDA won’t review Moderna application for first mRNA-based flu vaccine
17) Canada: Ten dead after shooter opens fire at high school in rare massacre
18) Venezuela: Regime figure rules out real presidential election
19) CA: SF crypto company Archblock, plagued with fraud accusations, files for bankruptcy
20) Federal Judge Dismisses Attempt to Obtain Michigan Voter Data in Latest Rejection of DOJ
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Liberate Education from the State
22) The So-called “SAVE America Act” Is What Republicans Once Opposed
23) It’s easy to reduce corruption — cut government
24) Abolition, Amnesty, Decriminalization, Open Borders
25) Association must be voluntary, by mutual consent
26) Democrats now see the danger of concentrating power. Welcome!
27) Defending the freedom to read is not radical — it’s American
28) The Bank of Big Medicine
29) Americans Must Reject War with Iran
30) Trump has reversed the Biden-made manufacturing decline
31) The Banality of MAGA Evil
32) “Carte Blanche for Ruthlessness”
33) Americans are tough graders on Trump’s economy
34) Demystifying Islam’s Golden Age
35) To Save Social Security, Stop Subsidizing Wealthy Retirees
36) NY Times columnist sinks to sick new low mocking JD Vance’s mom
37) Trump Should Revive the JCPOA To Prevent War With Iran
38) Trump vs. his China hawks
39) When the Oligarchs Don’t Need You Anymore
40) Our Leaders Couldn’t Fix Our Problems, Even If They Wanted To
41) The Heavy Pot Taxes Favored by The New York Times Would Undermine Legalization
42) Political Backflow From Europe
43) War and “Covert Action” Are Not How to Deal With Iran
44) Sensitive Places Require Government-Provided Armed Security
45) Trump’s about to cancel Obama’s most outrageous power grab
46) Iran and the Art of the Retread
47) In Spite of What Zionists Say, It’s a Good Thing to Criticize Governments
48) Open Letter to Tech Companies: Protect Your Users From Lawless DHS Subpoenas
49) Suffocating an Island: What the US Blockade Is Doing to the People of Cuba
50) Amazon’s Creepy Normalizing of the Surveillance State
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) The Political Orphanage, 02/11/26
52) System Update, 02/11/26
53) The Briefing Podcast with Michael Waldman, 02/11/26
54) The David Frum Show, 02/11/26
55) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 02/11/26
56) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 02/11/26
57) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 02/11/26
58) SolutionsWatch, 02/11/26
59) Reasonably Optimistic, 02/11/26
60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 02/11/26
61) Fountainhead Forum, episode 421
62) The Bulwark Podcast, 02/10/26
63) Parallax Views w/ JK Michael, 02/10/26
64) LPALive, episode 60
65) Cato Daily Podcast, 02/10/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) US House votes to override Trump’s Canada tariffs
Source: CNBC
“The House on Wednesday passed a resolution disapproving of President Donald Trump’s tariffs against Canada, a blow to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and a rare Republican rebuke of the president’s signature economic policy. The resolution cleared the House 219-211, with several Republicans crossing the aisle to support it. One Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, voted against the measure. The tariff resolution, introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., was considered a day after a procedural vote on a rule that would have barred House challenges to Trump’s tariffs failed with the support of three Republican members. Trump warned Republicans during the vote that there would be consequences for overriding him on tariffs. ‘Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!’ Trump posted to his TRUTH social account during the vote.” (02/11/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/11/gop-trump-tariffs-canada.html
-----
2) El Paso airspace panic: Party balloon mistaken for drone
Source: Fox News
“A U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that the U.S. military earlier this week shot down what was later determined to be a party balloon near El Paso, Texas, after initially assessing it as a possible foreign drone. The misidentification eventually led to a total shutdown of airspace around the El Paso airport. A separate U.S. administration official had told Fox News that Mexican cartel drones breached U.S. airspace near El Paso and that counter-drone measures were taken to disable them. The Pentagon has been testing out new counter-drone technology, including a high-energy laser, near the Army base at Fort Bliss, Texas. That laser was used to shoot down what appeared to be foreign drones — and was later identified as a balloon — prompting the airspace closure by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), an official told Fox.” (02/11/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/us-military-shot-down-party-balloon-near-el-paso-after-suspecting-drone-official-says
-----
3) Kosovo: Parliament elects Kurti as PM, ending year-long political deadlock
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Kosovo’s parliament elected Albin Kurti as prime minister on Wednesday, securing his third term and ending a year-long political stalemate. Kurti, who had served in a caretaker role, won 66 votes in the 120-seat assembly after his Vetevendosje party topped December’s snap election, prompting applause from supporters. … A general election a year ago had left Kurti without the majority needed to form a government – leading to months of parliamentary stasis. Deeply divided lawmakers eventually forced a December snap poll, which Kurti’s party won with over 51 per cent of the vote, securing 57 seats.” (02/11/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20260212-kosovo-parliament-elects-albin-kurti-pm
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4) Sri Lanka: Court sentences 12 men to death over killing of lawmaker during 2022 protests
Source: Newsday
“A Sri Lankan court on Wednesday sentenced 12 men to death for the killing of a lawmaker and his bodyguard in May 2022 during violence that erupted at the height of the island nation’s economic crisis. The Gampaha High Court convicted the men for unlawful assembly, assault and the deaths of Amarakeerthi Athukorale and his bodyguard, who was a police officer, said senior state counsel Oswald Perera. Athukorale, who was a ruling party lawmaker, and his guard were attacked and killed in Nittambuwa, about 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) north of the capital, Colombo, after the car they were travelling in was intercepted by a crowd. Police at the time said Athukorale or his bodyguard had fired gunshots at the protestors who later chased them and trapped them inside a building where their battered bodies were later recovered by police.” (02/11/26)
https://www.newsday.com/news/nation/sri-lanka-court-death-penalty-protests-f12690
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5) US unexpectedly adds 130,000 jobs in January after a weak 2025
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“Hiring grew a little warmer last month after a chilly year in 2025. A report from the Labor Department on Wednesday showed U.S. employers added a better-than-expected 130,000 jobs in January — but an annual update shows hiring last year was much weaker than initially reported. The news comes amid worries that the nation’s jobs engine has been sputtering. Employment gains for November and December were revised down by a total of 17,000 jobs. Once a year, the Labor Department updates its jobs tally with more accurate but less timely information drawn from unemployment tax records. Wednesday’s revision shows there were nearly 900,000 fewer jobs in the economy last March than originally counted.” (02/11/26)
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/11/nx-s1-5708807/jobs-labor-unemployment-economy
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6) Pope Leo XIV sends generators, medical supplies to Ukraine
Source: The Hill
“Pope Leo XIV has sent 80 generators and medical supplies to Ukraine to support the country’s civilians as its war against Russia and cold winter weather continue. The aid comes as bishops talked about how Russia’s attacks have put a strain on the country’s energy infrastructure. The deliveries came Monday to the cities of Kyiv and Fastiv, which have seen the brunt of the war. Medical supplies, including thousands of antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, supplements and melatonin, also followed. According to local outlet Kyiv Independent, Vatican officials said melatonin was in high demand because Ukrainians have struggled with sleep deprivation.” (02/11/26)
https://thehill.com/policy/international/5732442-pope-leo-xiv-generators-supplies-ukraine/
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7) Russia: Regime says again that it will stick to limits on nuclear weapons in expired New START treaty, if US regime does
Source: CBS News
“Russia will continue to observe the limits set under the recently-expired New START nuclear arms reduction treaty if the United States does the same, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday. … The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) was signed in 2010 between the U.S. and Russia. It limited the number of strategic nuclear warheads that both countries could have deployed to 1,550, and included verification measures such as on-site inspections and data exchanges designed to ensure compliance. The pact was originally set to expire in February 2021, but it was extended for five years by former President Joe Biden, keeping it in force until February 2026.” (02/11/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-nuclear-weapons-treaty-us-new-start-latest-putin-trump/
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8) NATO launches Arctic Sentry military effort as it seeks to move on from Greenland dispute
Source: ABC News
“NATO on Wednesday launched a new military effort dubbed Arctic Sentry aimed at improving security in the High North, a month after U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up tensions within the alliance over his threats to annex Greenland. Initially, Arctic Sentry will be the NATO label for national military exercises in the region, such as Denmark’s Arctic Endurance — which angered Trump so much that he threatened to slap tariffs on allies taking part — and Norway’s Cold Response drills. Arctic Sentry does not involve the permanent or even long-term deployment of troops to the region under a NATO banner. NATO’s role in this series of military activities, which will be coordinated through its U.S. headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, is aimed at countering Russian and Chinese influence in the High North, which includes Greenland.” (02/11/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/nato-launches-arctic-sentry-military-effort-seeks-move-130059114
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9) NY: Mamdani asks lawmakers for 2% tax hike on wealthy
Source: New York Post
“Mayor Zohran Mamdani told state lawmakers on Wednesday that the only way out of the city’s $12 billion budget gap is to raise taxes on the wealthy. Hizzoner, during his first Tin Cup Day in Albany, formally called on the state Legislature to raise income taxes on people making more than $1 million by 2%. ‘I’m asking for a 2% raise in personal income taxes on the most affluent New Yorkers, someone earning $1 million a year. The top 1% of New York City can afford to contribute $20,000 more in taxes,’ the young mayor said. ‘That 2% tax alone would resolve nearly half of our budget deficit. I will continue to advocate for these policies not only because they offer the most direct route out of this budget crisis, but because they will also transform what is possible in our state.'” (02/11/25)
https://nypost.com/2026/02/11/us-news/zohran-mamdani-asks-nys-lawmakers-for-2-tax-hike-on-wealthy/
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10) Lufthansa hit by “short notice” strike by pilots and cabin crews
Source: Politico
“Lufthansa announced Wednesday it expects a strike announced “at short notice” for Thursday to impact its flight schedule. The industrial action was called by the flight attendants’ union UFO and the pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), Lufthansa said. Cabin crew union UFO said the strike notice was introduced after ‘the management has refused to enter into negotiations with us at all’ regarding working conditions and pensions. … According to the German news agency DW, the strike could affect all German airports, including the major international hubs of Frankfurt and Munich.” (02/11/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/lufthansa-hit-by-short-notice-strike-by-pilots-and-cabin-crews
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11) France: As Le Pen’s appeal trial ends, her presidential bid is at stake
Source: SFGate
“A Paris appeals court set a verdict date of July 7 for Marine Le Pen in her European Union misuse of funds case, a crucial decision that could derail the far-right leader’s presidential bid. The trial ended Wednesday with one question looming above all others — whether Le Pen will be able to run for president next year. Le Pen, 57, is challenging a March 2025 verdict that found her and other members of her National Rally party guilty of misusing European Parliament funds in the hiring of aides from 2004 to 2016. She denies accusations that she was at the center of a fraudulent system meant to siphon off EU funds. Asked by the court whether she’d like to say anything in conclusion, Le Pen declined to speak. She quickly left the courthouse without stopping in front of a crowd of reporters.” (02/11/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/as-far-right-leader-marine-le-pen-s-appeal-trial-21346723.php
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12) Yemen: Several killed and wounded as crowd linked with STC storms regime building
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A crowd linked to Yemen’s separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) has attempted to storm a local government building in the southeastern Yemeni city of Ataq, leaving several dead, according to local authorities and sources. The security committee in Shabwah governorate said armed fighters assaulted security and military personnel and fired live ammunition during Wednesday’s attack, resulting in casualties as official forces intervened. … Rami Lamlas, deputy head of the Shabwah General Hospital Authority, told Al Jazeera that five people were killed and 39 wounded when security and military forces dispersed demonstrators affiliated with the STC.” (02/11/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/11/five-killed-in-yemen-as-crowd-linked-with-stc-in-south-storm-govt-building
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13) ICE gang shot-caller refuses to resign under pressure from Swalwell not to “side with killers”
Source: Fox News
“Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons refused to resign under pressure from Rep. Eric Swalwell [D-CA] who offered him the ultimatum to do so, or ‘side with the killers.’ The heated exchange during Tuesday’s House Homeland Security Committee hearing isn’t the first time Swalwell has confronted ICE over its mass deportation operations. … Swalwell told Lyons that continuing to lead ICE is a ‘choice’ and highlighted his preceding decorated military and law enforcement career. ‘You are what I would call ‘otherwise employable.’ I think most people would agree this is not the only job that you can get. But since you’ve been on this job, women have been dragged by their hair through streets. A 6-year-old child battling stage-four cancer has been deported. And it turns out he was a U.S. citizen,’ Swalwell claimed.” (02/11/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ice-director-refuses-resign-under-pressure-from-eric-swalwell-not-side-killers
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14) FAA abruptly closes, quickly reopens El Paso airspace
Source: Associated Press
“A Trump administration official said the airspace over El Paso was closed after Mexican cartel drones breached the airspace, but said that the Defense Department took action to disable the drones. Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the Defense Department have determined there is no threat to commercial travel, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a national security issue. The official did not say how many drones were involved or what specifically was done to disable them. The Federal Aviation Administration reopened the airspace around El Paso International Airport in Texas on Wednesday morning, just hours after it announced a 10-day closure that would have grounded all flights to and from the airport.” [editor’s note: I suspect this was security theater that will be ramped up then used as the justification for US strikes on Mexico – TLK] (02/11/26)
https://apnews.com/article/faa-el-paso-texas-air-space-closed-1f774bdfd46f5986ff0e7003df709caa
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15) Canada: Victim disarmament laws include ban on “assault-style” firearms & freeze on handgun sales
Source: SFGate
“Canada’s strict gun laws include a ban on assault-style firearms and a national freeze on the sale, purchase and transfer of handguns. The Canadian government has banned more than 2,500 makes and models of assault-style firearms in recent years. Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an immediate ban of more than 1,500 models on May 1, 2020, two weeks after a gunman killed 22 people in Nova Scotia. The ban included two weapons used by that gunman as well as the AR-15 and other weapons that have been used in a number of mass shootings in the United States. ‘Canadians need more than thoughts and prayers,’ he said at the time. More than 12,000 guns were collected and destroyed as part of a compensation program for businesses that ran between November 2024 and April 2025. A similar program for individuals opened last month …. Those who do not participate must dispose of or permanently deactivate their prohibited guns before an amnesty period ends Oct. 30.” (02/11/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/canada-s-strict-gun-laws-include-banning-21347533.php
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16) US FDA won’t review Moderna application for first mRNA-based flu vaccine
Source: Washington Post
“The Food and Drug Administration has declined to review Moderna’s application for the first mRNA-based flu vaccine, a decision that shocked the company and that comes as the agency plans to tighten federal vaccine approvals. The nation’s top vaccine regulator, Vinay Prasad, told Moderna that it lacked an ‘adequate and well-controlled’ study, the company said in a news release Tuesday. In a large clinical trial, the vaccine was compared with Fluarix, an approved standard-dose flu vaccine. Prasad’s letter did not detail concerns with the safety or efficacy of the vaccine, which Moderna was aiming to target for adults ages 50 and older. Moderna President Stephen Hoge said that the company had previously engaged with the FDA on the trial design and that the agency earlier indicated it would be acceptable.” (02/10/26)
https://archive.is/LvWSC
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17) Canada: Ten dead after shooter opens fire at high school in rare massacre
Source: Reuters
“Ten people including the shooter are dead after an assailant opened fire at a high school in western Canada on Tuesday in one of the country’s deadliest mass casualty events in recent history. The attack brought to Canada the type of mass shooting more common in the neighboring United States, and was carried out by a shooter described as female, police said. Six people were found dead inside a high school in the town of Tumbler Ridge, in British Columbia, two more people were found dead at a residence believed to be connected to the incident, and another person died on the way to hospital, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.” (02/11/25)
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ten-dead-after-shooting-canadian-province-british-columbia-cbc-news-reports-2026-02-11/
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18) Venezuela: Regime figure rules out real presidential election
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Venezuela’s National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez has said that the country will not hold presidential elections in the immediate future, emphasising that the government’s current focus is on national stability. His comments came late on Monday in an interview published with the conservative outlet Newsmax in the United States. Presidential terms run for six years in Venezuela, and the last election was [stolen by the regime] in 2024. Newsmax host Rob Schmitt asked if that meant another election would not happen for another five years. ‘The only thing I could say is that there will not be an election in this immediate period of time where the stabilisation has to be achieved,’ Rodriguez replied.” (02/10/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/10/venezuelas-national-assembly-chief-rules-out-new-presidential-election
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19) CA: SF crypto company Archblock, plagued with fraud accusations, files for bankruptcy
Source: SFGate
“The San Francisco cryptocurrency startup Archblock just filed for bankruptcy, throwing millions of dollars into question and continuing a slog of legal woes. Archblock has been plagued with legal trouble over the past few years, facing fraud allegations from the Securities and Exchange Commission and in a civil lawsuit from another crypto company. On Friday, Archblock and its subsidiaries filed a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which lets a company reorganize its debts. The company’s filing makes its financials look dire: It estimates that its assets are worth between $1 million to $10 million, against liabilities between $100 million to $500 million. But one subsidiary, TrustToken, claims in its own filing to have $100 million to $500 million in assets against just $10 million to $50 million in debt. The other subsidiaries tack on millions more for each column — it’s as yet unclear how the overall company will aim to reorganize in this bankruptcy process.” (02/11/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/crypto-bankruptcy-archblock-21343919.php
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20) Federal Judge Dismisses Attempt to Obtain Michigan Voter Data in Latest Rejection of DOJ
Source: US News & World Report
“A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from the Department of Justice that sought to obtain Michigan’s voter rolls, marking the latest judicial rejection in President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging attempts to gain access to voter data from states. The Justice Department has sued at least 23 states and the District of Columbia in its effort to obtain detailed voter information. In an opinion issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Hala Y. Jarbou, a Trump nominee, said the laws cited by the Justice Department in its complaint, including the Civil Rights Act of 1960, do not require the disclosure of the records it sought.” (02/10/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/michigan/articles/2026-02-10/federal-judge-dismisses-attempt-to-obtain-michigan-voter-data-in-latest-rejection-of-doj
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Liberate Education from the State
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Angelo Monaco
“While we see in some states a move to allow greater choice among public schools it generally does not resolve the failings of public education. The promotion of school vouchers still involves government collection and redistribution of wealth and keeps the government-school system in existence. We need to go well beyond that idea. Entirely dismantling the tax-supported government K-12 school system would not only eliminate the immense overhead and regulatory costs associated with public schools, it would also improve the overall quality of education through free-market competition, especially for those in underserved communities. As for our colleges and universities, what will make things better is to withdraw all government support, which would force each school to shed the protections that are provided through politics and lobbying.” (02/11/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/liberate-education-from-the-state/
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22) The So-called “SAVE America Act” Is What Republicans Once Opposed
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye
“Conservatives should oppose the SAVE America Act for the same reason many of us spent years opposing Democratic efforts to nationalize election administration: because elections in the United States are run by the states. That principle didn’t disappear just because Republicans are now the ones pushing the bill. If anything, this is exactly the kind of legislation conservatives used to warn about — federal mandates, national standards, and Washington inserting itself into decisions that have traditionally been made at the state and local level. For years, conservatives argued — correctly — that sweeping federal election laws undermine federalism, weaken local accountability, and create tools that will inevitably be abused by a future administration.” (02/10/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/the-so-called-save-america-act-is
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23) It’s easy to reduce corruption — cut government
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall
“The more economic democracy we have then the more it is politics that determines who is allowed to do what. Access to that decision making process thus has a higher value, more cash is offered for it. More simply, the more politicians decide the more valuable paying politicians is. Humans do more of things that are more valuable — economic democracy thus means more political corruption. The method of beating this is to make bribing — sorry, paying cash for access to — politicians not worth the game. Less politics in economic decision making that is.” (02/11/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/its-easy-to-reduce-corruption-cut-government
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24) Abolition, Amnesty, Decriminalization, Open Borders
Source: Liberal Currents
by Paul Crider
“I could defend open borders by appealing to economics, pointing to trillion dollar bills on the sidewalk. We need immigrants to fill jobs native-born Americans cannot or will no longer perform. Or I could talk about how immigrants contribute to economic growth and contribute more over time to the public fisc than they take out. I could fixate on the terrible plight of refugees, and how it’s a humanitarian imperative to take in the needy stranger. … These are all true, and they are solid reasons to favor liberal immigration. But for my part, we should welcome the foreigner, and embrace them as a friend and potential American for the simple reason that migration is the pursuit of freedom and happiness by one’s own lights.” (02/11/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/abolition-amnesty-decriminalization-open-borders/
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25) Association must be voluntary, by mutual consent
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal
“If you believe the best solution to any problem, real or imagined, is to give government more control, you’re off base. The government-created issue of ‘immigration’ illustrates this perfectly. … Typically, you have people on one side who want government to ignore the Constitution and ‘control immigration’ pitted against people on the other side who want government to import every basket case from every third-world country, and then support them for the rest of their lives on tax money stolen from the productive residents. I want government out of the game altogether. Live where you want; make it on your own.” (02/11/26)
https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2026/02/11/voices/opinion-association-must-be-voluntary-by-mutual-consent/232744.html
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26) Democrats now see the danger of concentrating power. Welcome!
Source: USA Today
by Dace Potas
“President Donald Trump’s call to nationalize elections ahead of November has rightfully garnered plenty of opposition from Democrats, with many sounding the alarm for an authoritarian plot aimed at artificially boosting Republicans’ prospects. Democrats are rightly concerned with the federal government administering elections, which are a constitutional responsibility of the states. Thankfully, it won’t likely happen, but the response reveals something about this debate. Trump has wreaked havoc on the separation of powers and abused the power of his office. This is exacerbated by an increasingly powerful federal government and presidency. So I want to ask Democrats, progressives and anyone else to my left who have criticized the conservative views of limited government, federalism and separation of powers for years: Are you convinced yet?” (02/11/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/02/11/trump-nationalize-elections-midterms-state-rights/88585077007/
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27) Defending the freedom to read is not radical — it’s American
Source: The Hill
by Kim A Snyder & Audrey Wilson-Youngblood
“Political strategists and commentators are looking at Democrat Taylor Rehmet’s stunning special election victory in Texas state Senate District 9 to forecast electoral shifts ahead of 2026’s midterms. But those trying to understand this election’s surprise outcome also need to consider the local politics at play. Rehmet’s opponent was Republican Leigh Wambsganss, chief communications officer of conservative media company Patriot Mobile. She has been a primary architect behind the movement to populate North Texas school boards with candidates willing to orchestrate an extreme, right-wing takeover of public schools. These school board takeovers resulted in unprecedented book bans and attacks on residents’ right to read.” (02/11/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/education/5731506-defending-the-freedom-to-read-is-not-radical-its-american/
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28) The Bank of Big Medicine
Source: The American Prospect
by Olivia Webb Kosloff & Emma Freer
“During back-to-back congressional hearings last month, lawmakers grilled the CEOs of five major health insurers about their vertically integrated business models. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called for breakup legislation modeled on the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which structurally separated commercial and investment banking. The idea of bank-style regulation for health insurers isn’t as far off as it sounds. As Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-OR) pointed out, insurance companies take in premiums and invest that money (known as ‘float’) before having to pay it out in claims. ‘That, of course, is what leads to people calling insurers banks, doing a side business as health care,’ Bentz explained. ‘[Y]ou charge the premium, you collect the money, you put the money in the bank, it earns interest, and then you pay it out.'” (02/11/25)
https://prospect.org/2026/02/11/bank-medicine-health-insurers-united-health-optum-financial/
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29) Americans Must Reject War with Iran
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“Can you imagine any American leader agreeing to gutting the country’s defensive capabilities because a foreign government and its client demanded that we give it up or face an attack? Even if the governments threatening us were much more powerful and had already proven their willingness to attack us without cause, our leaders would rightly refuse to give in. They would understand that making concessions on these issues would just invite further aggression. The U.S. should not attack Iran, and it certainly shouldn’t do it to serve Netanyahu’s aggressive agenda.” (02/11/26)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/americans-must-reject-war-with-iran
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30) Trump has reversed the Biden-made manufacturing decline
Source: Washington Times
by Peter Navarro
“As the Trump economy begins to boom even as inflation moderates, Democrats and the anti-Trump media are desperate for a spin that might discredit Trumponomics. Their latest Hail Mary: pushing a counterfactual narrative that President Trump’s tariffs are hurting, rather than stimulating, a manufacturing revival for blue-collar America. The latest manufacturing data obliterates that lie. In January, the ISM Manufacturing Index jumped 4.7 points to 52.6. That wasn’t just an estimate beat; it was a blowout, and an important one. The ISM Manufacturing Index is the most widely followed survey of factory activity worldwide. When it moves above 50, the manufacturing economy is expanding. When it jumps nearly 5 points in a single month to decisively push past 50, something fundamental has changed. That ‘something’ is Trumponomics finally overpowering the wreckage left behind by Bidenomics.” [editor’s note: Hooray! It’s only five points lower than it was a year into Biden’s term — and smidge higher than it was three years into Trump’s first term! Outside of COVID lows, it’s about average for the last five years – TLK] (02/10/25)
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/feb/10/trump-reversed-biden-made-manufacturing-decline/
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31) The Banality of MAGA Evil
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman
“There’s a longstanding tradition in American politics of what Richard Hofstadter famously called the paranoid style – a way of thinking that sees conspiracies lurking everywhere. MAGA-world is particularly riddled with conspiracy thinking – from George Soros and Jewish space lasers, QAnon and the Great Replacement Theory, to Italian satellites hacking into voting machines to deliver the 2020 election to Joe Biden. But these are far-fetched fantasies. The truth is far more banal and shocking. There are people in positions of great power in the U.S. government engaged in evil conspiracies against everything that is good and decent. Their conspiracies are far more extensive and damaging than almost anyone imagined. But there are no evil masterminds behind this. Only amoral, stupid grifters like Howard Lutnick.” (02/11/26)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-banality-of-maga-evil
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32) “Carte Blanche for Ruthlessness”
Source: In These Times
by Kathryn Joyce
“On February 4, former FOX News host Tucker Carlson delivered what, in other times, would be a shocking assessment: that the future of the Republican Party is a 31-year-old, long-shot candidate in Florida’s gubernatorial race with a string of financial and sexual misconduct allegations but a marked talent for attention-getting provocations. Over the course of James Fishback’s still-young candidacy, he has ostentatiously courted the followers of extreme far-right commentator Nick Fuentes and referred to his Black primary opponent, frontrunner Rep. Byron Donalds, as a ’slave’ (to his donors) who would make Florida ‘a Section 8 ghetto.’ He called for raising tuition for foreign university students to $1 million per year, pledged to expel ‘“every illegal immigrant child’ from the state’s K-12 schools and told a white supremacist social media influencer that ’the great replacement and white genocide’ were the most important political issues other Republicans ignore.” (02/10/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/laura-field-interview-right-wing-fascism-trump-maga
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33) Americans are tough graders on Trump’s economy
Source: Washington Post
by Ramesh Ponnuru
“The economy is growing. Unemployment is low. Wages, for most people, are rising faster than prices. Stocks are rising. Yet the public keeps giving the economy a thumbs-way-down. Gallup finds that only 21 percent of Americans give it an ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ rating. That’s roughly the same as the percentage that felt positively about the economy in April 2013, during the painfully slow recovery from the Great Recession, when the unemployment rate was 7.5 percent instead of the current 4.4. At first glance, the dissatisfaction looks disproportionate to the statistics.” (02/11/26)
https://archive.is/AXqqu
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34) Demystifying Islam’s Golden Age
Source: Law & Liberty
by Jonathan Leaf
“Many in the Islamic world continue to believe that the answer to their struggles is the restoration of the old caliphate system. Hamas, for instance, called for this in its founding charter. This was also the impassioned dream of Osama bin Laden. Spurring these beliefs are a series of widely-held notions about the past. Given the powerful present-day interest, attraction, and obsession with the idea, we need to arrive at an accurate estimate of the caliphates.” (02/11/26)
https://lawliberty.org/demystifying-islams-golden-age/
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35) To Save Social Security, Stop Subsidizing Wealthy Retirees
Source: The Daily Economy
by Romina Boccia
“Social Security is drifting toward a cliff, and Congress keeps pretending the shortfall will fix itself. It won’t. Absent reform, benefits will be cut across the board by roughly 23 percent within six years. That outcome would harm retirees who depend on Social Security the most — while barely affecting the living standards of those who do not need financial support in old age. There is a better option: reduce distributions to the wealthiest retirees, preserving them for those most dependent on benefits.” (02/11/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/to-save-social-security-stop-subsidizing-wealthy-retirees/
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36) NY Times columnist sinks to sick new low mocking JD Vance’s mom
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley
“In a post on Bluesky, [Jamelle] Bouie mocked the addiction of the mother of Vice President JD Vance, saying that she should have sold her son for drugs. Bouie used Bluesky — a digital safe zone for viewpoint intolerance on the left — to post one of the most reprehensible attacks on Vance, [writing] that ‘this is a wicked man who knows he is being wicked and does it anyway.’ That is hardly notable on today’s rage scale. However, he then decided to use the painful addiction history of Vance’s mother, Beverly Aikins, against her son: ‘No wonder his mom tried to sell him for Percocets. I can’t imagine a parent who wouldn’t sell little JD for Percocet if they knew he would turn out like this.'” [editor’s note: Not a very nice thing to say about Vance’s mom, but he certainly described Vance accurately – TLK] (02/11/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-ny-times-columnist-sinks-sick-new-low-mocking-jd-vances-mom
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37) Trump Should Revive the JCPOA To Prevent War With Iran
Source: Antiwar.com
by JD Hester
“One of the biggest criticisms of those who opposed the JCPOA is that it did not meaningfully prevent Iran from supporting its regional proxies: the Yemeni Houthis, the Lebanese Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Hamas. While these proxy groups threaten Israel, they do not constitute a threat to the United States. The second Trump administration must not make the same mistake as the Biden administration: prioritizing foreign nations over stopping nuclear proliferation. Reviving the JCPOA is not idealism; it is a pragmatic solution to the threat of nuclear proliferation.” (02/11/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/jd_hester/2026/02/10/trump-should-revive-the-jcpoa-to-prevent-war-with-iran/
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38) Trump vs. his China hawks
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Connor Echols
“The president ushered in a bipartisan push for confrontation with Beijing in his first term. Is he now trying to usher it out?” (02/11/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-china-hawks/
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39) When the Oligarchs Don’t Need You Anymore
Source: CounterPunch
by Kathleen Wallace
“We have a group of men who are actively preparing themselves for a societal collapse. In fact, by their own writings, they invite it. They build bunkers to hurriedly protect themselves from the fallout of their own actions. They seem to only want enough humans around to serve them in ways that AI cannot and even that looks to be an infinitesimally small number. … In a nation flush with cash, but not for you, millions are cast off on Medicaid, in what can only be considered a premeditated murder of the masses. But you see, they don’t care. It’s not an unfortunate side effect or a required austerity measure in a time of crisis. It is a class of individuals who do not see themselves as one of us.” (02/11/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/02/11/when-the-oligarchs-dont-need-you-anymore/
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40) Our Leaders Couldn’t Fix Our Problems, Even If They Wanted To
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Our leaders are not going to fix the worst problems in our world. They couldn’t if they wanted to. And they don’t want to. [They] are not wise or insightful. They’re not even particularly intelligent. Our society is led by plutocrats who only know how to make more money, by unelected empire managers who only know how to dominate and control, and by elected politicians who only know how to say the right words and make the right bargains in order to get themselves elected. … Even if they weren’t a bunch of evil sociopaths who are only in the positions they’re in because of their willingness to collaborate with the agendas of oligarchy, war, militarism, imperialism, ecocide, exploitation, oppression and planetary domination, they don’t even have the personal characteristics necessary to do things like end poverty, rescue our biosphere, bring about world peace or give rise to human thriving.” (02/11/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/02/11/our-leaders-couldnt-fix-our-problems-if-they-wanted-to-and-they-dont-want-to/
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41) The Heavy Pot Taxes Favored by The New York Times Would Undermine Legalization
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum
“The newspaper’s plan to address marijuana abuse would compound the disadvantages that state-licensed suppliers face in competing with the black market.” (02/11/26)
https://reason.com/2026/02/11/the-heavy-pot-taxes-favored-by-the-new-york-times-would-undermine-legalization/
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42) Political Backflow From Europe
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
“The European discourse can be — for lack of a better term — America-brained. We hear stories of Black Lives Matter marches in countries without significant black populations, or defendants demanding their First Amendment rights in countries without constitutions. Why shouldn’t the opposite phenomenon exist? Europe is more populous than the US, and looms large in the American imagination. Why shouldn’t we find ourselves accidentally absorbing European ideas that don’t make sense in the American context?” (02/11/26)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/political-backflow-from-europe
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43) War and “Covert Action” Are Not How to Deal With Iran
Source: The American Conservative
by Jakob Brown
“The prospect of President Donald Trump pursuing regime change in Iran has animated the most hawkish voices in the establishment. But American war-weariness has forced the usual suspects to refine the art of apologetics. Rather than calling for ‘boots on the ground’ to liberate the Iranian people, many now argue the same result can be achieved through covert methods. Some assert, without a shred of evidence, that a large-scale strike can topple Tehran’s rulers without American troops ever setting foot in the country. Others avoid the question of what regime change would look like altogether, fearful that Americans will not be pleased with the answer.” (02/11/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/war-and-covert-action-are-not-how-to-deal-with-iran/
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44) Sensitive Places Require Government-Provided Armed Security
Source: Independent Institute
by Stephen P Halbrook
“History teaches that government must provide security if serious about a mandatory ‘gun-free zone.'” [editor’s note: As if government “security” should ever be trusted – TLK] (02/11/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/02/11/sensitive-places-require-government-provided-armed-security/
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45) Trump’s about to cancel Obama’s most outrageous power grab
Source: New York Post
by Judge Glock
“President Trump is on the brink of ordering a massive policy shakeup — ‘the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States,’ says Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin. When Trump’s EPA orders the end of a 2009 finding that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are a threat to public health, it will halt 16 years of federal efforts to mandate vast changes in American life without legal justification. The so-called Endangerment Finding led to a host of regulations whose estimated costs exceeded a trillion dollars. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Washington. Early in his administration, President Barack Obama tried to get Congress to pass an expansive climate change law. When the bill stalled, Obama charged ahead with executive action. The EPA’s December 2009 Endangerment Finding said greenhouse gases should be regulated under the Clean Air Act.” (02/10/25)
https://nypost.com/2026/02/10/opinion/trumps-about-to-cancel-obamas-most-outrageous-power-grab/
-----
46) Iran and the Art of the Retread
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
“The upcoming negotiations between the United States and Iran may be the only way to avoid military conflict between the two countries. President Donald Trump, assuming that recent large public anti-regime protests have weakened the Iranian government, has taken what he sees as an opportunity to pressure the Iranians over their nuclear and ballistic missile programs and assistance to foreign groups in the Middle East. … The Iranians already seem willing to negotiate a deal similar to the one negotiated by Barack Obama in 2015 but loudly scrapped by the incoming Trump administration: Iran severely limits its enrichment of nuclear material and sends its stockpile of such material to a third country. It would not be the first time that Trump has made threats and then settled for a ‘for-show’ agreement similar to the one he could have gotten without the blustering.” (02/10/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/02/10/iran-art-retread/
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47) In Spite of What Zionists Say, It’s a Good Thing to Criticize Governments
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Ryan McMaken
“In spite of the religious claims made by some Zionists, no state on earth was created by God, and there is no moral principle or natural law that mandates support for any state. Nor is there any moral principle or natural law that prohibits delegitimizing any state. States are simply organizations, created by human beings, that carry out the agenda of the governing elite in each state. There is no mandate from heaven. There isn’t even any such thing as ‘the will of the people.’ In this, the State of Israel is no different from any other state.” (02/10/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/spite-what-zionists-say-its-good-thing-criticize-governments
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48) Open Letter to Tech Companies: Protect Your Users From Lawless DHS Subpoenas
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Mario Trujillo
“In the past year, DHS has consistently targeted people engaged in First Amendment activity. Among other things, the agency has issued subpoenas to technology companies to unmask or locate people who have documented ICE’s activities in their community, criticized the government, or attended protests. These subpoenas are unlawful, and the government knows it. When a handful of users challenged a few of them in court with the help of ACLU affiliates in Northern California and Pennsylvania, DHS withdrew them rather than waiting for a decision. But it is difficult for the average user to fight back on their own. … That is why we, joined by the ACLU of Northern California, have asked several large tech platforms to do more to protect their users …” (02/10/26)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/02/open-letter-tech-companies-protect-your-users-lawless-dhs-subpoenas
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49) Suffocating an Island: What the US Blockade Is Doing to the People of Cuba
Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin
“Marta Jiménez, a hairdresser in Cuba’s eastern city of Holguín, covered her face with her hands and broke down crying when I asked her about Trump’s blockade of the island—especially now that the U.S. is choking off oil shipments. ‘You can’t imagine how it touches every part of our lives,’ she sobbed. ‘It’s a vicious, all-encompassing spiral downward. With no gasoline, buses don’t run, so we can’t get to work. We have electricity only three to six hours a day. There’s no gas for cooking, so we’re burning wood and charcoal in our apartments. It’s like going back 100 years. The blockade is suffocating us, especially single mothers,’ she said crying into her hands, ‘and no one is stopping these demons: Trump and Marco Rubio.'” (02/11/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/cuba-suffers-under-oil-embargo
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50) Amazon’s Creepy Normalizing of the Surveillance State
Source: Coyote Blog
by Warren Meyer
“You don’t sell surveillance out of the gate with a system that tracks down a person in the neighborhood behind on taxes or child support. No, you sell it as a system to find that adorable lost dog (notice not even generic pets or certainly not cats because dogs are the new children for this generation). They can fight all the backlash by saying, ‘Oh come on, who can be against finding lost dogs?’ Then, months or years later, the terms and conditions have morphed and broader search capabilities are enabled without the user even knowing …. When it really gets scary, they are not even going to tell you about it. I do not believe this is just a marketing mistake — Ring appears to have adopted neighborhood surveillance as their core business model.” (02/10/26)
https://coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2026/02/amazons-creepy-normalizing-of-the-surveillance-state.html
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) The Political Orphanage, 02/11/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“Jeff Flake Alone on an Island with a Knife.” (02/11/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/jeff-flake-alone-on-an-island-with-a-knife
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52) System Update, 02/11/26
Source: System Update
“Howard Lutnick’s Blatant Lies About Epstein Ties.” (02/11/26)
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/howard-lutnicks-blatant-lies-about
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53) The Briefing Podcast with Michael Waldman, 02/11/26
Source: Brennan Center for Justice
“How the Justice Department Came to Threaten Elections (with Eileen O’Connor and Chris Berger).” (02/11/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWkvc93VGFM
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54) The David Frum Show, 02/11/26
Source: The Atlantic
“How Trump Could Break the 2026 Elections.” (02/11/26)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2026/02/david-frum-show-stephen-richer-2026-elections/685960/
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55) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 02/11/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“War Is Not Peace.” (02/11/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1BRJjgmYjlBxw
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56) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 02/11/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Black Box ‘Realism’ | Interview: Elliott Abrams.” (02/11/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/black-box-realism-interview-elliott-abrams/
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57) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 02/11/26
Source: The New Republic
“Krugman: Trump’s Own Adviser Just Admitted to the Scam at MAGA’s Core.” (02/11/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/206443/krugman-trump-adviser-just-admitted-scam-maga-core
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58) SolutionsWatch, 02/11/26
Source: Corbett Report
“The Great Reject is Upon Us!” (02/11/26)
https://corbettreport.com/the-great-reject-is-upon-us-solutionswatch/
-----
59) Reasonably Optimistic, 02/11/26
Source: Washington Post
“An economist explains why he’s still ‘bullish on America’ — AI and all.” (02/11/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/an-economist-explains-why-hes-still-bullish-on-america–ai-and-all/
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60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 02/11/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump May Send Another Aircraft Carrier to Mideast, US To Send 200 Troops to Nigeria, and More.” (02/11/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa48Lrwnqg0
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61) Fountainhead Forum, episode 421
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Mollie Engelhart on how government regulates food to favor lobbyists.” (02/10/26)
https://rumble.com/v75la7m-ff-421-mollie-engelhart-on-how-government-regulates-food-to-favor-lobbyists.html
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62) The Bulwark Podcast, 02/10/26
Source: The Bulwark
“The Epstein Revelations Keep Getting Worse (w/ Jane Coaston).” (02/10/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sYMZ6CluTg
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63) Parallax Views w/ JK Michael, 02/10/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JK Michael
“Is the World Order Really Dead?: Anti-Politics, Trump, & Davos w/ Joseph Sciortino & Grant Gallagher.” (02/10/26)
https://parallaxviews.podbean.com/e/rreport2-10-26/
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64) LPALive, episode 60
Source: LP Alliance
“LNC Meeting February 10, 2026.” (02/10/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnsgaERrnLQ
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65) Cato Daily Podcast, 02/10/26
Source: Cato Institute
“Why Globalization Wins on the Field.” (02/10/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/why-globalization-wins-field
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