08/20 -- Trump: No US troops for Ukraine; Ukraine War: Let Trump Be Trump!
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Thomas L. Knapp
Aug 20, 2025, 6:16:28 AMAug 20
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 08/20/25
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Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Trump: No US troops for Ukraine
2) Israel: Protests calling for Gaza peace deal shut main Tel Aviv freeway
3) Indian, Chinese regimes agree to resume direct flights, boost business links
4) UK: Regime drops demand for backdoor into Apple encryption
5) Venezuela: Maduro says he’s deploying 4.5 million militia members in response to “outlandish threats” by US regime
6) Bessent takes up India/Russia oil whining hand-off from Navarro
7) Google bets on non-water-cooled nuclear reactors for data centers
8) IL: Chicago residents blast “monstrosity” Obama Presidential Center
9) TX: Police “escort” Democrats to prevent new redistricting walkout
10) “The Oligarchy Is the Enemy”: Maine Oyster Farmer Launches Senate Bid to Oust Susan Collins
11) North Korea: Kim pledges to accelerate nuclear build-up
12) Colombia: Indigenous groups demand action from South American pols at Amazon summit
13) US Air Force chief of staff resigns early
14) Bessent: Tariff revenue could help pay down regime’s $37.2 trillion debt
15) Veterans’ voices shape report on Afghanistan War’s lessons and impact
16) FBI adds Bailey as FBI co-deputy director
17) MA: Boston’s Wu fires back at Bondi, citing Revolution
18) Air Canada and Striking Flight Attendants’ Union Reach Tentative Deal
19) NASA’s Webb telescope finds a new tiny moon around Uranus
20) IL: Mom hides baby in closet, kills burglar
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Ukraine War: Let Trump Be Trump!
22) Dark Lessons of Prewar Protectionism: From Tariff Wars to Global Fragmentation
23) Freedom as a Loophole
24) HL Mencken Knew Politicians: “Merchants of Delusion”
25) The Cartel War Is About to Start
26) Federal Agents Are the New Proud Boys
27) What’s really behind state bans on lab-grown meat?
28) Another Reason to Ban Tik-Tok?
29) Do Democrats Hate Their Families Or Do Their Families Hate Them?
30) What If Fewer Americans Drinking Is a Bad Thing?
31) A balancing act in the Andes
32) Europe’s Free-Speech Problem
33) On Seeing the Future Too Clearly
34) Ludwig von Mises on Reducing the Size and Scope of Government
35) Entrepreneurs transform entire industries, including education
36) Letters from World War II
37) Israel Is So Evil That It Has A Military Unit Dedicated To Excusing Atrocities
38) The Bloodless Logic of Empire
39) Why Collectivism Is Surging
40) Church of War: Our faith that lethality has the power to heal
41) Trump’s Desperate, Anti-Democratic Quest to Retain Power
42) Rethinking What Safety Means
43) Trump Demands: Ditch Vote-By-Mail. Republicans Shouldn’t
44) To Get Peace in Ukraine, Trump Should Play the Nuclear Card
45) Positive signs for peace, but Trump still must pressure Putin
46) Appeasing an Aggressor Never Leads to Peace
47) From Book Bans to Internet Bans: Wyoming Lets Parents Control the Whole State’s Access to The Internet
48) From Fiat Everything to Real Everything
49) What the Economy Really Looks Like
50) Now it is the Old World’s turn to rescue the United States
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Politics Politics Politics, 08/19/25
52) Capital Record, episode 250
53) Rising, 08/19/25
54) Advisory Opinions, 08/19/25
55) Pod Save America, 08/19/25
56) The Bryan Hyde Show, 08/19/25
57) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 08/19/25
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 08/19/25
59) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 08/18/25
60) Bulkwark Takes, 08/18/25
61) Free Speech Unmuted, 08/18/25
62) System Update, episode 502
63) Reason Roundtable, 08/18/25
64) Politicks, episode 8
65) Matt Wolfson on The Scott Horton Show
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Trump: No US troops for Ukraine
Source: Associated Press
“President Donald Trump on Tuesday offered his assurances that U.S. troops would not be sent to help defend Ukraine against Russia after seeming to leave open the possibility the day before. Trump also said in a morning TV interview that Ukraine’s hopes of joining NATO and regaining the Crimean Peninsula from Russia are ‘impossible.’ … Putin, as part of any potential deal to pull his forces out of Ukraine, is looking for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as recognition of Crimea as Russian territory. Trump on Monday said that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy.” (08/19/25)
https://apnews.com/article/trump-russia-ukraine-war-defend-american-troops-85704282576324a36567798e9cb741ec
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2) Israel: Protests calling for Gaza peace deal shut main Tel Aviv freeway
Source: United Press International
“Family members of Israeli hostages demanding that the government make a deal to free them blocked a major freeway in Tel Aviv on Tuesday after Hamas signed onto a joint Egyptian-Qatari peace plan. Authorities broke up the women’s group demonstration on the Ayalon Highway after protestors, including some relatives of hostages who have been released or killed, blocked traffic and held up signs saying ‘Conquering Gaza = Sacrificing the hostages and soldiers’ and chanting ‘Their time is running out, a deal is on the table.’ The direct action came two days after a nationwide strike and demonstrations saw road blockages across the country in the largest protests so far demanding a cease-fire and a deal to release the 50 hostages still being held in Gaza, around 20 of whom are believed to be alive.” (08/19/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/08/19/protests-demanding-peace-deal/7301755603240/
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3) Indian, Chinese regimes agree to resume direct flights, boost business links
Source: Reuters
“India and China agreed on Tuesday to resume direct flights and step up trade and investment flows as the neighbours rebuild ties damaged by a 2020 border clash. The Asian giants are cautiously strengthening ties against the backdrop of U.S. President Donald Trump’s unpredictable foreign policy, staging a series of high-level bilateral visits. The latest statements came at the end of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s two-day visit to New Delhi for the 24th round of talks with Indian National Security (NSA) Advisor Ajit Doval to resolve their decades old border dispute.” (08/19/25)
https://archive.is/bcmKV
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4) UK: Regime drops demand for backdoor into Apple encryption
Source: The Verge
“The United Kingdom will no longer force Apple to provide backdoor access to secure user data protected by the company’s iCloud encryption service, according to US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. … This announcement follows the UK issuing a secret order in January this year, demanding Apple provide it with backdoor access to encrypted files uploaded by users worldwide. In response, Apple pulled the ability for new users in the UK to sign up to its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) encrypted iCloud storage offering, and challenged the order, winning the right to publicly discuss the case in April. Earlier this year, US officials started examining whether the UK order had violated the bilateral CLOUD Act agreement, which bars the UK and US from issuing demands for each other’s data.” (08/19/25)
https://www.theverge.com/news/761240/uk-apple-us-encryption-back-door-demands-dropped
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5) Venezuela: Maduro says he’s deploying 4.5 million militia members in response to “outlandish threats” by US regime
Source: CBS News
“Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro on Monday said he would deploy 4.5 million militia members in response to ‘outlandish threats’ by the United States after Washington raised the bounty for his arrest to $50 million and launched anti-drug operations in the Caribbean. ‘This week, I will activate a special plan with more than 4.5 million militiamen to ensure coverage of the entire national territory — militias that are prepared, activated and armed,’ Maduro announced on state television. Official figures say the Venezuelan militia, founded by Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez, contains about 5 million people — though the actual number is believed to be smaller. Venezuela’s total population is around 30 million. … Two sources briefed on the matter told the Reuters news agency that three U.S. destroyers will arrive off the coast of Venezuela soon.” (08/19/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/venezuela-nicolas-maduro-deploying-militia-us-threats/
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6) Bessent takes up India/Russia oil whining hand-off from Navarro
Source: Reuters
“U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday accused India of profiteering from its sharply increased purchases of Russian oil during the war in Ukraine, saying Washington viewed the situation as unacceptable. Bessent told CNBC in an interview that Russian oil now accounted for 42% of India’s total oil purchases, up from under 1% before the war, and contrasted that with longtime buyer China, whose Russian oil purchases had increased to 16% from 13%. … ‘India is just profiteering. They are reselling,’ Bessent said. ‘What I would call Indian arbitrage — buying cheap Russian oil, reselling it as product has just sprung up during the war — which is unacceptable,- he said.” [editor’s note: “Unacceptable” to whom? What business is it of DC’s where India buys and sells its oil? Presumably a different US official will be picked to whine about it each day (yesterday it was Peter Navarro – TLK] (08/19/25)
https://archive.is/ObQN9
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7) Google bets on non-water-cooled nuclear reactors for data centers
Source: Network World
“Google signed a deal to purchase electricity from a non-water-cooled nuclear reactor in Tennessee to power its data centers, marking the first commercial agreement for a new generation of nuclear technology that promises to eliminate meltdowns and slash construction costs. The agreement between Google, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and nuclear startup Kairos Power made TVA the first US utility to commit to purchasing electricity from a Generation IV reactor, a fundamentally different nuclear design that addresses safety and cost concerns that have plagued traditional nuclear power. … This design eliminated the risk of nuclear meltdown, the scenario that has driven public fear of nuclear power since accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima, according to the Kairos Power report.” (08/19/25)
https://www.networkworld.com/article/4042232/google-bets-on-non-water-cooled-nuclear-reactors-for-data-centers.html
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8) IL: Chicago residents blast “monstrosity” Obama Presidential Center
Source: New York Post
“Chicago community leaders and longtime residents say the Obama Presidential Center risks washing away the neighborhood’s fabric, warning that proposed luxury developments tied to the project could price out families who have long called the South Side home, according to a report. They also say the sprawling 19.3-acre site in historic Jackson Park, with its 225-foot-tall concrete museum, has become an eyesore that disrupts the natural landscape and all locals are getting in return for the unsightly structure is soaring rents and higher tax bills. … The Obama Foundation secured a 99-year lease for the public parcel for $10 in 2018 and promised to revitalize the area.” (08/19/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/08/19/us-news/chicago-residents-blast-monstrosity-obama-presidential-center-as-displacement-fears-grow/
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9) TX: Police “escort” Democrats to prevent new redistricting walkout
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“Texas Democrats who ended a walkout found themselves shadowed by law enforcement officers to keep them from repeating the protest that stalled Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts and fulfill President Donald Trump’s desire to reshape U.S. House maps. Republicans in the Texas House forced returning Democrats to sign what the Democrats called ‘permission slips,’ agreeing to around-the-clock surveillance by state Department of Public Safety officers to leave the floor. However, Democratic Rep. Nicole Collier, of Fort Worth, refused and remained on the House floor Monday night. The Democrats’ return to Texas puts the Republican-run Legislature in position to satisfy Trump’s demands, possibly later this week, as California Democrats advance new congressional boundaries in retaliation.” (08/19/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/08/19/texas-house-democrats-permission-slips/
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“10) The Oligarchy Is the Enemy”: Maine Oyster Farmer Launches Senate Bid to Oust Susan Collins
Source: Common Dreams
“Launching a US Senate run to unseat five-term Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, oyster farmer Graham Platner on Tuesday made clear in his inaugural ad that beating the ‘fake’ moderate also means taking on the power-hungry billionaire class that has helped keep her in power all these years. The enemy that the vast majority of Americans and Mainers have in common, said Platner, ‘is the oligarchy’. ‘It’s the billionaires who pay for it,’ he added. ‘The politicians who sell us out. And yeah, that means politicians like Susan Collins.’ Platner … spoke in the ad about how Maine has ‘become unlivable for working people.’ ‘Nobody I know around here can afford a house,’ said Platner. ‘Healthcare is a disaster, hospitals are closing. We have watched all of that get ripped away from us, and everyone’s just trying to keep it all together.'” (08/19/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/susan-collins-reelection
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11) North Korea: Kim pledges to accelerate nuclear build-up
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has threatened to accelerate the expansion of his country’s nuclear arsenal, condemning ongoing United States-South Korea military exercises as a sign of ‘hostile intent,’ according to state media. Kim, who made the remarks during a visit to a naval destroyer, called the drills ‘an obvious expression of their will to provoke war,’ according to a report published on Tuesday. He insisted North Korea must ‘rapidly expand’ its nuclear weapons programme, pointing to the inclusion of what he called ‘nuclear elements’ in the drills.” (08/19/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/19/kim-jong-un-pledges-to-speed-up-nuclear-build-up-over-us-south-korea-drills
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12) Colombia: Indigenous groups demand action from South American pols at Amazon summit
Source: SFGate
“Indigenous leaders from across the Amazon are urging South American presidents meeting in Bogota this week to turn promises to protect the region’s rainforest into concrete action, and to give indigenous groups more say in the region’s future. The Fifth Presidential Summit of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, opening Tuesday in the Colombian capital, brings together leaders alongside scientists and Indigenous representatives. The agenda includes public forums, cultural events and high-level meetings, culminating Friday with a joint declaration setting regional priorities on environmental protection and climate policy. Indigenous leaders hope to meet with national leaders face-to-face for the first time at such a summit. Indigenous groups from all eight Amazonian nations issued a statement Monday evening, calling the rainforest a global lifeline that provides about one-fifth of the world’s freshwater and acts as one of the planet’s largest carbon sinks, absorbing vast amounts of heat-trapping carbon dioxide.” (08/19/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/indigenous-leaders-demand-action-from-south-20823959.php
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13) US Air Force chief of staff resigns early
Source: United Press International
“Gen. David Allvin has announced he is retiring early as the U.S. Air Force chief of staff, making him the latest high-ranking military member to leave the armed services amid the second Trump administration. Allvin announced his plans to retire, effective Nov. 1, in a statement Monday. … Allvin is two years into his four-year term, which began on Nov. 2, 2023. He was appointed by former President Joe Biden. He is the fourth chief military officer to leave the military since Trump’s inauguration in January.” (08/19/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/08/19/David-Allvin-resigns/9181755590390/
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14) Bessent: Tariff revenue could help pay down regime’s $37.2 trillion debt
Source: Fox News
“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that the Trump administration is weighing plans to apply part of the tariff revenue toward lowering the national debt. ‘I think at a point we’re going to be able to do it,’ Bessent said during an interview with CNBC, adding that he and President Donald Trump were ‘laser-focused on paying down the debt.’ ‘I think that we’re going to bring down the deficit-to-GDP, we will start paying down debt, and then at a point that can be used as an offset for the American people,’ he said. The nation’s debt, which is the amount of money the U.S. [regime] owes its creditors, is nearing $37.2 trillion as of Aug. 18, according to the Treasury Department. The staggering figure has intensified the long-standing debate in Washington over government spending, taxation and efforts to rein in the ballooning deficit.” (08/19/25)
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/bessent-says-tariff-revenue-could-help-pay-down-nations-37-2t-debt
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15) Veterans’ voices shape report on Afghanistan War’s lessons and impact
Source: SFGate
“U.S. veterans of the war in Afghanistan are telling a commission reviewing decisions on the 20-year conflict that their experience was not only hell, but also confounding, demoralizing and at times humiliating. The bipartisan Afghanistan War Commission aims to reflect such veterans’ experiences in a report due to Congress next year, which will analyze key strategic, diplomatic, military and operational decisions made between June 2001 and the chaotic withdrawal in August 2021. The group released its second interim report on Tuesday, drawing no conclusions yet but identifying themes emerging from thousands of pages of government documents; some 160 interviews with cabinet-level officials, military commanders, diplomats, Afghan and Pakistani leaders and others; and forums with veterans like one recently held at a national Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Columbus, Ohio. ‘What can we learn from the Afghanistan War?’ asked an Aug. 12 discussion session with four of the commission’s 16 members.” (08/19/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/veterans-voices-shape-a-report-on-the-20824115.php
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16) FBI adds Bailey as FBI co-deputy director
Source: CBS News
“Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey will serve as the FBI’s co-deputy director, alongside the law enforcement agency’s current second-in-command, Dan Bongino. … Bailey has served as Missouri’s attorney general since 2023. He’s known for asking the Supreme Court to intervene on Missouri’s behalf in a criminal case against Mr. Trump brought by New York prosecutors — a longshot request that was rejected by the high court. He’s also defended his state’s restrictions on abortion and gender-affirming care for minors, and sued Starbucks over its diversity, equity and inclusion policies.” [editor’s note: Missourians will probably be relieved that the Missouri AG office is no longer the HQ of “Bailey for Governor” – TLK] (08/18/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/missouri-ag-andrew-bailey-fbi-co-deputy-director-dan-bongino-kash-patel/
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17) MA: Boston’s Wu fires back at Bondi, citing Revolution
Source: Fox News
“Boston Mayor Michelle Wu held a raucous press conference in Beantown on Tuesday, daring Attorney General Pam Bondi to follow through on her letters to blue-city leaders threatening federal action over sanctuary city policies. Wu, a Democrat, accused the Trump administration of being a party that ‘doesn’t follow the law.’ … The remarks came after the Trump administration warned it could sue or cut federal funds if cities refused to cooperate on immigration enforcement. Wu noted Bondi demanded all recipients respond by Tuesday and offered her formal response verbally: ‘Stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures.’ …. Wu then referenced Boston’s role in the Revolution, addressing Bondi once more and knocking her home state of Florida as late to the constitutional party.” (08/19/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bostons-wu-fires-back-bondi-other-cities-slam-feds-over-sanctuary-warnings
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18) Air Canada and Striking Flight Attendants’ Union Reach Tentative Deal
Source: New York Times
“The union that represents about 10,000 striking Air Canada flight attendants said in a message to its members early Tuesday morning that it had reached a tentative contract deal with the airline, raising hopes for a swift end to the walkout that has disrupted air travel across Canada and stranded thousands of travelers. The agreement, while a significant step, must still be approved by the flight attendants, who overwhelmingly supported the strike that began on Saturday and defied a back-to-work order from the government, risking fines and even jail time. Air Canada, the nation’s biggest carrier, said the walkout had upended about half a million travelers’ plans, leaving some marooned overseas or in remote parts of Canada.” (08/19/25)
https://archive.is/Lgaz6
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19) NASA’s Webb telescope finds a new tiny moon around Uranus
Source: SFGate
“The Webb Space Telescope has spotted a new tiny moon orbiting Uranus. The new member of the lunar gang, announced Tuesday by NASA, appears to be just six miles (10 kilometers) wide. It was spotted by the telescope’s near-infrared camera during observations in February. Scientists think it hid for so long — even eluding the Voyager 2 spacecraft during its flyby about 40 years ago — because of its faintness and small size. Uranus has 28 known moons that are named after characters from Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. About half are smaller and orbit the planet at closer range. This newest addition, still nameless, ups the planet’s total moon count to 29.” (08/19/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/nasa-s-webb-telescope-finds-a-new-tiny-moon-20824171.php
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20) IL: Mom hides baby in closet, kills burglar
Source: Daily Mail [UK]
“A quick-thinking mother hid her baby in a closet on realizing someone was breaking into her home … then shot and killed the intruder. The unnamed mom sprung into action after hearing the stranger enter her property in a peaceful suburb of Joliet, Illinois, around 10:30pm Friday night. She rushed her baby into a closet on the second floor of the property and hid the youngster there. Seconds later, the burglar – who was wearing gloves and wielding a screwdriver – burst into the same bedroom, ABC7 reported. The mother opened fire with a handgun she owned and shot the burglar in the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene and has since been named as serial criminal Shelby Hurd, 36. Police rushed to the scene and found the mother and her baby sheltering in an adjacent bedroom.” (08/18/25)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15010687/joliet-illinois-mother-shoots-kills-home-invader.html
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Ukraine War: Let Trump Be Trump!
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“I don’t care if Trump’s an easy mark for Putin. I don’t care if Trump’s mad as a hatter or if other world “leaders” try to placate him by pretending otherwise. I don’t care if Trump’s obsessed with cadging yet another participation trophy for his mantel. Nor do I care whether the Moscow gang or the Kyiv gang gets to treat the people damaged and displaced by this war as livestock at best, slaves as the norm, and meat for their mutual slaughterhouse project at worst. … the only thing on the table at the moment seems to be shutting down the slaughterhouse part. If Trump can help make that happen, award him all the ribbons, plaques, and trophies he craves and let him babble nonsense to his heart’s content on whatever subject he pleases.” (08/19/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/19877
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22) Dark Lessons of Prewar Protectionism: From Tariff Wars to Global Fragmentation
Source: Antiwar.com
by Dan Steinbock
“With its misguided tariff wars, the second Trump administration is not only fragmenting seven decades of globalization. It is also contributing to a kind of geopolitical climate that set the stage for the rise of fascism in the 1930s. Times are different today, but like then, globalization is no longer at crossroads. It is unraveling. The White House has opted for an ominous path with a dark historical precedent.” (08/19/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/dan_steinbock/2025/08/18/dark-lessons-of-prewar-protectionism-from-tariff-wars-to-global-fragmentation/
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23) Freedom as a Loophole
Source: EconLog
by Pierre Lemieux
“The August 29 planned abolition of the de minimis customs exemption in the United States may come as a shock to those who believe that, as the physical universe is made of visible matter and dark matter, the political world is made of Democratic and Republican stuff, ‘the Left’ and ‘the Right.’ The restriction of de minimis was launched under Democratic rule and is pursued under Republican rule. … They want, as they say in collectivist circles, to ‘close the loophole.’ The abolition of the little freedom allowed by de minimis is more significant than one may think. For the government, the exception had the benefit of keeping ‘the people’ quiet by hiding some tariffs.” (08/19/25)
https://www.econlib.org/freedom-as-a-loophole/
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24) HL Mencken Knew Politicians: “Merchants of Delusion”
Source: The Daily Economy
by Donald J Boudreaux
“Among the few honorable politicians, in Mencken’s view, was Grover Cleveland, who he described as ‘a good man in a bad trade.’ A bad trade, of course, attracts a disproportionately large number of bad people. I can think of a tiny handful of successful politicians today for whom Mencken would likely have the same respect he had for Cleveland. But not many. Mencken’s suspicion of politicians wasn’t superficial; it was rooted deeply in his liberalism – a natural-rights liberalism that was closely akin to that which motivated the American founders. As Mencken said: ‘Every right that anyone has today is based on the doctrine that government is a creature of limited powers, and that the men constituting it become criminals if they venture to exceed those powers.'” (08/19/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/mencken-knew-politicians-merchants-of-delusion/
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25) The Cartel War Is About to Start
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“A cartel war is guaranteed to fail because the illicit drug trade is not something that can be fixed by military means. It is setting the U.S. military up for another mission that is doomed from the start. Most of the discussion of a possible cartel war has focused on Mexico, but it seems that Venezuela is more likely to be the first target. Perhaps the Trump administration thinks that it would be easier to sell launching attacks in Venezuela because the country is under severe U.S. sanctions and its government has been a target of Trump’s earlier regime change policy. Venezuela hawks in the administration, including Marco Rubio, probably see a cartel war as a way to get Trump on board with some form of military intervention in the country.” (08/19/25)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/the-cartel-war-is-about-to-start
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26) Federal Agents Are the New Proud Boys
Source: The New Republic
by Melissa Gira Grant
“It used to be far-right groups who flooded cities wearing masks and military gear, looking for a fight. Now it’s anonymous federal agents who are violently attacking people on the street.” (08/19/25)
https://archive.is/WRGUN
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27) What’s really behind state bans on lab-grown meat?
Source: The Hill
by Isaac DeBlasio
“The development and sale of lab-grown meat are now banned in 7 states: Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Montana, Indiana, Texas, and Nebraska. Several more states are also considering bans, and many states will likely continue to join the anti-lab-grown meat coalition before the end of the year. Policymakers pushing for bans have argued that, without proper labelling, the product is deceptive to consumers. Yet, several states have already passed legislation for transparent labelling …. the FAIR Labels Act of 2024, which, if passed, would federally require mock meat companies to clearly label their products as ‘imitation’ or ‘lab-grown.’ … Lab-grown meat bans were never about protecting the people; rather, they represent an authoritarian overreach to control what is on people’s plates and decrease consumer choice. This will become another example of protectionism harming the economy, the people it is meant to serve and the animals who suffer.” (08/19/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/5457139-the-hidden-motive-driving-state-bans-on-lab-grown-meat/
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28) Another Reason to Ban Tik-Tok?
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul
“Those looking for evidence of how inflation is affecting Americans might want to stop looking at CPI reports and instead go on Tik-Tok and other popular social media sites. There they will find videos of parents highlighting the burden placed on the family budget by the skyrocketing price of school supplies. … The best thing Congress can do for America’s families is cut spending, thus reducing the pressure on the Fed to monetize the federal debt thus further weakening the dollar. Congress should also reform the monetary system by passing the Audit the Fed bill and repealing all laws that discourage the use of competing currencies such as precious metals and cryptocurrencies. Sadly, even Tik-Tok videos of parents struggling to afford school supplies will likely not cause Congress to take these steps. Instead, the videos are more likely to cause Congress to renew efforts to ban Tok-Tok.” (08/19/25)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/another-reason-to-ban-tik-tok
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29) Do Democrats Hate Their Families Or Do Their Families Hate Them?
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“Nancy Pelosi just won’t retire. Why? I have no idea. She’s three years older than dirt and has been in Congress since the planet cooled, yet she’s still there. It can’t be that she wants to feed her husband even more insider stock tips; unless she’s discovered a way to load her Earthly fortune onto a debit card in Hell, she won’t be able to take it with her. So why won’t she, and so many other Democrats, just go away and retire like normal people do? You really have to assume someone like Pelosi either doesn’t like her family or her family does not like her. Both options seem believable to me. But it’s not just Nancy, it’s so many of them.” [editor’s note: It’s not just Democrats. Pelosi is five years younger than Chuck Grassley – TLK] (08/19/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2025/08/19/do-democrats-hate-their-families-or-do-their-families-hate-them-n2662017
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30) What If Fewer Americans Drinking Is a Bad Thing?
Source: Reason
by Emma Camp
“Americans may be drinking less than ever before. A recent poll from Gallup found that a record-low share of Americans say they drink alcohol, the lowest in nearly 90 years of polling. Declines in drinking since 2023 in particular have been highest among women, Republicans, and both low-income and high-income Americans. And those who are drinking are drinking less …. At first, this trend seems like an obviously good thing. Alcoholism is a destructive disease, and reducing tragic deaths from alcoholism, drunk driving, or alcohol-related cancer is certainly good news. And it is probably true that moderate drinking is bad for your health. But the thing is, the decline in overall drinking hasn’t actually led to a decrease in alcohol-related deaths.” (08/19/25)
https://reason.com/2025/08/19/what-if-fewer-americans-drinking-is-a-bad-thing/
-----
31) A balancing act in the Andes
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“Cyclical swings from far left to far right and back again seem to typify voting patterns in Latin America. And elections in the Andean nation of Bolivia – ruled for nearly 20 years by an increasingly unpopular far-left party – were expected to be no different. Yet, on Sunday, voters upended predictions of a rightward swing. Centrist Rodrigo Paz Pereira won the most votes, putting him into an October runoff with a conservative former president, Jorge ‘Tuto’ Quiroga. Mr. Paz’s appeal points to a political maturing among voters for a more moderate path than the outgoing leftist government. Under the country’s first Indigenous leader, Evo Morales, poverty rates dropped from 63.5% to 33.1% between 2006 and 2018. A boom in gas and oil production supported social spending and subsidies. But Mr. Morales grew authoritarian and was ousted in 2019. Since then, gas production has fallen and inflation has soared.” (08/18/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0818/A-balancing-act-in-the-Andes
-----
32) Europe’s Free-Speech Problem
Source: The Atlantic
by Conor Friedersdorf
“American officials are waging a multifront attack on Europe’s approach to free speech. This month, a congressional delegation traveled to Dublin, Brussels, and London to probe and decry European regulations on digital speech. A State Department human-rights assessment issued last week pointed to objectionable ‘restrictions on freedom of expression’ in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. All of this follows Vice President J. D. Vance’s speech in February at the Munich Security Conference, where he accused European leaders of retreating from the continent’s ‘most fundamental values,’ including free expression. These assessments might seem untrustworthy, given the flagrant transgressions against free-speech principles from the Trump administration and its allies. But the fact is that European leaders are corroding the right to free expression, and show every sign of sliding further down a slippery slope into illiberalism.” (08/19/25)
https://archive.is/21ywF
-----
33) On Seeing the Future Too Clearly
Source: TomDispatch
by Rebecca Gordon
“I spent the summer of 1965 arguing about the Vietnam War. I was 13, and my interlocutor was my 18-year-old camp counselor in Vermont. She was headed for U.C. Berkeley in the fall, where she would, as she later described it, ‘major in history and minor in rioting.’ Meanwhile, I was headed back to junior high school. I was already convinced that our government was lying about why we were fighting in Vietnam (supposedly to protect our sworn ally, the South Vietnamese government, in response to a trumped-up ‘incident’ in the Gulf of Tonkin). I was also convinced that the war was unjustified and wrong. She seemed less certain about the war but was similarly convinced that expending energy opposing it would distract activists from supporting the Civil Rights movement. As it turned out, we were both right.” (08/19/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/for-once-in-our-lives/
-----
34) Ludwig von Mises on Reducing the Size and Scope of Government
Source: Cobden Centre
by Dr. Richard M Ebeling
“The world seems to be moving at an accelerated rate in a more collectivist direction. The potential trade wars set in motion by Donald Trump’s sky-high tariffs are simply the most glaring sign of this dangerous trend. For more than a century, various forms of government intervention, redistribution, and planning have replaced the far more free-market, classical-liberal world that existed before the First World War.What free-market liberalism offers as an ideal and as a goal of public policy, Mises declared, is an equality of individual rights for all under the rule of law, with privileges and favors for none.” (08/19/25)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2025/08/ludwig-von-mises-on-reducing-the-size-and-scope-of-government/
-----
35) Entrepreneurs transform entire industries, including education
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kerry McDonald
“When we hear the word entrepreneur, many of us think of Silicon Valley stars like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and others who have created sprawling, successful companies whose products and services seep into our everyday lives. These entrepreneurs may be household names, but they are more the exception than the rule. Everyday entrepreneurs — the ordinary people launching and leading small businesses — form the backbone of the US economy. … The education entrepreneurs I interviewed for my new book, Joyful Learning: How to Find Freedom, Happiness, and Success Beyond Conventional Schooling, are incredibly diverse, but there are several common qualities shared by most of them.” (08/19/25)
https://fee.org/articles/entrepreneurs-transform-entire-industries-including-education/
-----
36) Letters from World War II
Source: Chris Matthew Sciabarra
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
“My mother’s sister Joan married Frank J. Rubino before the U.S. entrance into the Second World War. Frank was a principled man who was ideologically committed to defeating fascism and racism — both at home and abroad. … Not even the difficulties of military training could deter Frank’s fighting spirit. In a letter from Camp Blanding, Florida, dated December 18, 1943, he described the awful experience of boot camp in a tone that might be recognizable to some of today’s recruits …” (08/19/25)
https://medium.com/@cms10_7549/letters-from-world-war-ii-2-85b8658036e0
-----
37) Israel Is So Evil That It Has A Military Unit Dedicated To Excusing Atrocities
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Israel is so fucking evil that it has a military unit dedicated to coming up with excuses for the IDF’s atrocities. +972 reports that the IDF has a special unit it calls the ‘Legitimization Cell,’ because it is tasked with finding justifications to legitimize the assassination of journalists and other war crimes for the purpose of ‘public relations.’ Probably goes without saying, but if Israel was on the side of truth and morality it would not have a military unit dedicated to manipulating the public narrative about actions which normal people would see as extremely evil. … I have never been less open to people with different opinions than I am with Gaza. I am simply correct, and if you disagree with me you are wrong and I hate you.” (08/17/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/08/17/israel-is-so-evil-that-it-has-a-military-unit-dedicated-to-excusing-atrocities/
-----
38) The Bloodless Logic of Empire
Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato
“The imperial logic is familiar. Washington successfully weaponized Ukrainian nationalism to weaken a key rival, while bearing minimal direct costs. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian casualties represent losses that are acceptable within U.S. imperial calculus, insofar as Russian power is diminished and U.S. hegemony preserved. The strategy mirrors historical imperial practices of using local populations as hapless cannon fodder in great power struggles, revealing the fundamentally exploitative nature of an American global dominance that masquerades as promoting democracy and human rights. Both the U.S. and Russia fundamentally operate as crime syndicates on a worldwide scale, pursuing power and wealth through violence, threats, and bribery.” (08/19/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/19/the-bloodless-logic-of-empire/
-----
39) Why Collectivism Is Surging
Source: Law & Liberty
by Paul Mueller
“The legacy of entitlement programs from FDR to LBJ has been largely framed in terms of charity, solidarity, and community. Many people on the left, and even some on the right, laud these programs for creating a social safety net and for contributing to the fabric of society. Some have hailed these collectivist programs for reducing poverty. But collectivism is not charity. Nor does it generate true solidarity. Nor does it constitute civil society. It pretends to be and to do all these things. Collectivism wears the mask of charity and camaraderie. Though collectivism always brings tragedy, pointing out past failures doesn’t fully unmask it. It continues to capture people’s imaginations because it feeds their desire to belong and to participate in community.” (08/19/25)
https://lawliberty.org/why-collectivism-is-surging/
-----
40) Church of War: Our faith that lethality has the power to heal
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Gregory Daddis
“Since the end of World War II, Americans crafted and then embraced a rather disjointed relationship with war, exhilarated by its possibilities to transform the world and make them safe, while also fearing wars they could not prevent or, perhaps worse, win. This tension between faith and fear has haunted Americans and led to a persistent failure to align ends and means in carrying out US foreign relations.” (08/19/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/united-states-war/
-----
41) Trump’s Desperate, Anti-Democratic Quest to Retain Power
Source: Common Dreams
by Steven Harper
“US President Donald Trump and Republicans face a daunting challenge: How to preserve power in the wake of their wildly unpopular policies? Their strategy is to intensify the GOP’s decades-long quest to limit voter participation. Selecting the voters likely to cast ballots for them is far better than letting all voters select their leaders. Trump has taken the strategy to a whole new level. And he’s doing it out of fear and desperation. During midterm elections, the president’s party loses seats in Congress. In Trump’s first term, Republicans lost 40 seats in the House in 2018. In 2010, President Barack Obama’s Democrats lost 63. The exceptions are few and far between. In the aftermath of 9/11, President George W. Bush’s GOP gained eight House seats in 2002, but then lost 30 in 2006. In 1998, President Bill Clinton’s Democrats gained five seats, but that didn’t offset the 52 seats that they had lost in 1994.” (08/19/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-quest-for-power
-----
42) Rethinking What Safety Means
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“While adding more police officers to a peaceful society won’t likely decrease crime much, a violent community is another story. People in these communities need greater safety to live their lives. Without becoming a statistic. Law enforcement that is visible on the street can surely help. But rethinking the meaning of ‘safety’ won’t. So what’s burning? Democratic hopes, maybe. We’ll see how Trump’s move to clean up the capital goes. Yet, if he tries to use the National Guard in other cities without constitutional warrant, that’d go beyond mere policing, into police-state territory.” (08/19/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/08/18/rethinking-what-safety-means/
-----
43) Trump Demands: Ditch Vote-By-Mail. Republicans Shouldn’t
Source: Washington Monthly
by Bill Scher
“Following Trump’s advice on mail-in balloting would be bad … for Republicans.” (08/19/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/08/19/trump-demands-ditch-vote-by-mail-republicans-shouldnt/
-----
44) To Get Peace in Ukraine, Trump Should Play the Nuclear Card
Source: Foreign Policy
by Matthew Kroenig
“When U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15, Putin was greeted by a flyover of an American B-2 strategic bomber. Such flyovers can be a show of respect for a visiting statesperson, but Putin’s reptilian brain likely also registered fear as the stealthy aircraft roared overhead. He knows better than anyone that the world’s most advanced nuclear bomber could end his life within seconds. This show of nuclear force followed closely on the heels of Trump’s order to reposition nuclear submarines to the ‘appropriate regions’ in response to threats against the United States made by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Some analysts have criticized Trump’s nuclear saber-rattling as dangerous. But in fact, Trump can and should ramp up nuclear threats as part of a successful negotiation strategy to bring Russia’s war in Ukraine to an end.” (08/18/25)
https://archive.is/fRJx2
-----
45) Positive signs for peace, but Trump still must pressure Putin
Source: New York Post
by staff
“President Donald Trump declared Monday a success, posting that he’d ‘had a very good meeting with distinguished guests,’ then ‘a further meeting in the Oval Office.’ After which he phoned Russia’s Vladimir Putin to start arranging a Putin sitdown with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, then ‘we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself.’ Crucially, he was caught on a hot mic earlier saying he believes Putin truly wants to reach a peace deal: ‘I think he wants to make a deal for me, you understand that? As crazy as it sounds.’ The day sure offered grounds for hope, starting with an Oval Office love-in as Trump, Zelensky and a pack of European leaders cooed at each other.” (08/18/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/08/18/opinion/positive-signs-for-peace-but-pressure-putin-if-he-doesnt-respond/
-----
46) Appeasing an Aggressor Never Leads to Peace
Source: The UnPopulist
by Vladimir Kara-Murza
“As Putin was clearly building an authoritarian state, silencing the media, rigging elections, persecuting his opponents, Western leaders continued with business as usual. American presidents of both parties looked into Putin’s soul and pushed reset buttons. European leaders rolled out royal red carpets, signed lucrative deals, launched new gas pipelines all the while, I suppose, hoping to maintain some sort of a modus operandi with Mr. Putin in the international arena, at the price of ignoring and enabling his abuses inside of Russia — an immoral policy, if there ever was one. But also, a very impractical one. Because one other clear lesson from Russian history is that internal repression and external aggression are always two sides of one coin — because a government that tramples on the rights of its own people will never respect the borders of its neighbors.” (08/18/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/appeasing-an-aggressor-never-leads
-----
47) From Book Bans to Internet Bans: Wyoming Lets Parents Control the Whole State’s Access to The Internet
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Rindala Alajaji & Jason Kelley
“HB0043 is a ‘bounty’ law that deputizes any resident with a child to file civil lawsuits against websites they believe are in violation, effectively turning anyone into a potential content cop. There is no central agency, no regulatory oversight, and no clear standard. Instead, the law invites parents in Wyoming to take enforcement for the entire state — every resident, and everyone else’s children — into their own hands by suing websites that contain a single example of objectionable content. … This is a textbook example of a ‘heckler’s veto,’ where a single person can unilaterally decide what content the public is allowed to access.” (08/18/25)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/08/book-bans-internet-bans-wyoming-lets-parents-control-whole-states-access-internet
-----
48) From Fiat Everything to Real Everything
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Josh Stylman
“The infrastructure is now visible to those willing to see it. The systematic replacement of natural systems with artificial ones has reached into every domain — money, food, health, education, information. What began as isolated changes has revealed itself as a coordinated operation: the complete substitution of reality with decree, ownership with access, competence with credentials. … As more people realize everything is bullshit and start looking for genuine answers, something interesting happens: many of the solutions are found in the past. Not because we should abandon technology or retreat from modernity, but because we discarded methods and attitudes toward life, humanity, and time itself that actually worked.” (08/18/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/from-fiat-everything-to-real-everything/
-----
49) What the Economy Really Looks Like
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“The Trump administration’s war on reality will make it meaningfully difficult to understand the health of the economy in the coming months. If data is either not being collected or is no longer reliable, now that Trump has fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics as punishment for weak jobs numbers, it’s hard not to succumb to bias or motivated reasoning, on either side of the political divide. So before we get murkier radio signals, we need to assess the numbers we have now, to inform the trends for the future. Most of this picture is mixed and influenced by a bunch of different factors. But we can say one thing definitively: Hiring has been relatively dormant since Trump took the oath of office.” (08/19/25)
https://prospect.org/economy/2025-08-19-what-us-economy-really-looks-like/
-----
50) Now it is the Old World’s turn to rescue the United States
Source: Washington Post
by George F Will
“As Trump met with European leaders on Ukraine, Churchill’s words from days long ago came to mind.” (08/18/25)
https://archive.is/Jb7MQ
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Politics Politics Politics, 08/19/25
Source: Politics Politics Politics
"What Maine's Primary Says About the Midterms. Breaking Down Energy Credits and Climate Change (with Alex Epstein)." (08/19/25)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/what-maines-primary-says-about-the
-----
52) Capital Record, episode 250
Source: National Review
“Howard Stern and the Unfree and Unvirtuous Society.” (08/19/25)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/howard-stern-and-the-unfree-and-unvirtuous-society/
-----
53) Rising, 08/19/25
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave delivers radar on how Zohran Mamdani and the left demonize wealth.” (08/19/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5459352-rising-august-19-2025/
-----
54) Advisory Opinions, 08/19/25
Source: The Dispatch
“Federalizing D.C. | Live From the Alaska Federal Bar Association.” (08/19/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/federalizing-d-c-live-from-the-alaska-bar-association/
-----
55) Pod Save America, 08/19/25
Source: Crooked Media
“Blessed are the Peacemakers (Trump and Putin).” (08/19/25)
https://stitcher.simplecastaudio.com/9aa1e238-cbed-4305-9808-c9228fc6dd4f/episodes/81fb0fa8-98b9-4cd2-9249-83b67cfe1146/audio/128/default.mp3
-----
56) The Bryan Hyde Show, 08/19/25
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“It’s my weekly check in with Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos. The world isn’t getting any less complicated but we do our best to make sense of it.” (08/19/25)
https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-p5v6h-193ae2f
-----
57) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 08/19/25
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Accidentally Lets Slip Dark Truth About His Plot to Rig Midterms.” (08/19/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/199237/trump-accidentally-lets-slip-dark-truth-plot-rig-midterms
-----
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 08/19/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump Working To Arrange Putin-Zelensky Meeting, Trump Backs Israeli Escalation in Gaza, and More.” (08/19/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYRONjZjd60
-----
59) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 08/18/25
Source: Show-Me Institute
“Faith-Based Charter Schools and the Future of School Choice with Andy Smarick.” (08/18/25)
https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/education/faith-based-charter-schools-and-the-future-of-school-choice-with-andy-smarick/
-----
60) Bulkwark Takes, 08/18/25
Source: The Bulwark
“Trump’s ‘Executive Order’ on Elections is Pure Fantasy (w/ Marc Elias).” (08/18/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGpo7F90OmM
-----
61) Free Speech Unmuted, 08/18/25
Source: Hoover Institution
“Free Speech and Doxing | Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambaue.” (08/18/25)
https://free-speech-unmuted.podbean.com/e/free-speech-and-doxing-eugene-volokh-and-jane-bambauer-hoover-institution/
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62) System Update, episode 502
Source: System Update
“Trump Tries to End War in Ukraine; U.S. is Dangerously Low on Weapons and Munitions Former Trump DoD Official Warns.” (08/18/25)
https://rumble.com/v6xrml2-system-update-show-502.html
-----
63) Reason Roundtable, 08/18/25
Source: Reason
“The Trump Economy Is Now Pay To Play.” (08/18/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/08/18/the-trump-economy-is-now-pay-to-play/
-----
64) Politicks, episode 8
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Has the UK Finally Grown a Pair of Anti-Censorship Nugs?” (08/18/25)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/politicks-ep-8-has-the-uk-finally-grown-a-pair-of-anti-censorship-nugs
-----
65) Matt Wolfson on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Matt Wolfson joins Scott to discuss an article he wrote recently that dove into the specific groups funding the campaign to oust Thomas Massie from Congress.” (08/18/25)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/8-15-25-matt-wolfson-on-the-people-funding-the-attacks-on-thomas-massie/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Trump: No US troops for Ukraine
2) Israel: Protests calling for Gaza peace deal shut main Tel Aviv freeway
3) Indian, Chinese regimes agree to resume direct flights, boost business links
4) UK: Regime drops demand for backdoor into Apple encryption
5) Venezuela: Maduro says he’s deploying 4.5 million militia members in response to “outlandish threats” by US regime
6) Bessent takes up India/Russia oil whining hand-off from Navarro
7) Google bets on non-water-cooled nuclear reactors for data centers
8) IL: Chicago residents blast “monstrosity” Obama Presidential Center
9) TX: Police “escort” Democrats to prevent new redistricting walkout
10) “The Oligarchy Is the Enemy”: Maine Oyster Farmer Launches Senate Bid to Oust Susan Collins
11) North Korea: Kim pledges to accelerate nuclear build-up
12) Colombia: Indigenous groups demand action from South American pols at Amazon summit
13) US Air Force chief of staff resigns early
14) Bessent: Tariff revenue could help pay down regime’s $37.2 trillion debt
15) Veterans’ voices shape report on Afghanistan War’s lessons and impact
16) FBI adds Bailey as FBI co-deputy director
17) MA: Boston’s Wu fires back at Bondi, citing Revolution
18) Air Canada and Striking Flight Attendants’ Union Reach Tentative Deal
19) NASA’s Webb telescope finds a new tiny moon around Uranus
20) IL: Mom hides baby in closet, kills burglar
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Ukraine War: Let Trump Be Trump!
22) Dark Lessons of Prewar Protectionism: From Tariff Wars to Global Fragmentation
23) Freedom as a Loophole
24) HL Mencken Knew Politicians: “Merchants of Delusion”
25) The Cartel War Is About to Start
26) Federal Agents Are the New Proud Boys
27) What’s really behind state bans on lab-grown meat?
28) Another Reason to Ban Tik-Tok?
29) Do Democrats Hate Their Families Or Do Their Families Hate Them?
30) What If Fewer Americans Drinking Is a Bad Thing?
31) A balancing act in the Andes
32) Europe’s Free-Speech Problem
33) On Seeing the Future Too Clearly
34) Ludwig von Mises on Reducing the Size and Scope of Government
35) Entrepreneurs transform entire industries, including education
36) Letters from World War II
37) Israel Is So Evil That It Has A Military Unit Dedicated To Excusing Atrocities
38) The Bloodless Logic of Empire
39) Why Collectivism Is Surging
40) Church of War: Our faith that lethality has the power to heal
41) Trump’s Desperate, Anti-Democratic Quest to Retain Power
42) Rethinking What Safety Means
43) Trump Demands: Ditch Vote-By-Mail. Republicans Shouldn’t
44) To Get Peace in Ukraine, Trump Should Play the Nuclear Card
45) Positive signs for peace, but Trump still must pressure Putin
46) Appeasing an Aggressor Never Leads to Peace
47) From Book Bans to Internet Bans: Wyoming Lets Parents Control the Whole State’s Access to The Internet
48) From Fiat Everything to Real Everything
49) What the Economy Really Looks Like
50) Now it is the Old World’s turn to rescue the United States
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Politics Politics Politics, 08/19/25
52) Capital Record, episode 250
53) Rising, 08/19/25
54) Advisory Opinions, 08/19/25
55) Pod Save America, 08/19/25
56) The Bryan Hyde Show, 08/19/25
57) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 08/19/25
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 08/19/25
59) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 08/18/25
60) Bulkwark Takes, 08/18/25
61) Free Speech Unmuted, 08/18/25
62) System Update, episode 502
63) Reason Roundtable, 08/18/25
64) Politicks, episode 8
65) Matt Wolfson on The Scott Horton Show
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Trump: No US troops for Ukraine
Source: Associated Press
“President Donald Trump on Tuesday offered his assurances that U.S. troops would not be sent to help defend Ukraine against Russia after seeming to leave open the possibility the day before. Trump also said in a morning TV interview that Ukraine’s hopes of joining NATO and regaining the Crimean Peninsula from Russia are ‘impossible.’ … Putin, as part of any potential deal to pull his forces out of Ukraine, is looking for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as recognition of Crimea as Russian territory. Trump on Monday said that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy.” (08/19/25)
https://apnews.com/article/trump-russia-ukraine-war-defend-american-troops-85704282576324a36567798e9cb741ec
-----
2) Israel: Protests calling for Gaza peace deal shut main Tel Aviv freeway
Source: United Press International
“Family members of Israeli hostages demanding that the government make a deal to free them blocked a major freeway in Tel Aviv on Tuesday after Hamas signed onto a joint Egyptian-Qatari peace plan. Authorities broke up the women’s group demonstration on the Ayalon Highway after protestors, including some relatives of hostages who have been released or killed, blocked traffic and held up signs saying ‘Conquering Gaza = Sacrificing the hostages and soldiers’ and chanting ‘Their time is running out, a deal is on the table.’ The direct action came two days after a nationwide strike and demonstrations saw road blockages across the country in the largest protests so far demanding a cease-fire and a deal to release the 50 hostages still being held in Gaza, around 20 of whom are believed to be alive.” (08/19/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/08/19/protests-demanding-peace-deal/7301755603240/
-----
3) Indian, Chinese regimes agree to resume direct flights, boost business links
Source: Reuters
“India and China agreed on Tuesday to resume direct flights and step up trade and investment flows as the neighbours rebuild ties damaged by a 2020 border clash. The Asian giants are cautiously strengthening ties against the backdrop of U.S. President Donald Trump’s unpredictable foreign policy, staging a series of high-level bilateral visits. The latest statements came at the end of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s two-day visit to New Delhi for the 24th round of talks with Indian National Security (NSA) Advisor Ajit Doval to resolve their decades old border dispute.” (08/19/25)
https://archive.is/bcmKV
-----
4) UK: Regime drops demand for backdoor into Apple encryption
Source: The Verge
“The United Kingdom will no longer force Apple to provide backdoor access to secure user data protected by the company’s iCloud encryption service, according to US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. … This announcement follows the UK issuing a secret order in January this year, demanding Apple provide it with backdoor access to encrypted files uploaded by users worldwide. In response, Apple pulled the ability for new users in the UK to sign up to its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) encrypted iCloud storage offering, and challenged the order, winning the right to publicly discuss the case in April. Earlier this year, US officials started examining whether the UK order had violated the bilateral CLOUD Act agreement, which bars the UK and US from issuing demands for each other’s data.” (08/19/25)
https://www.theverge.com/news/761240/uk-apple-us-encryption-back-door-demands-dropped
-----
5) Venezuela: Maduro says he’s deploying 4.5 million militia members in response to “outlandish threats” by US regime
Source: CBS News
“Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro on Monday said he would deploy 4.5 million militia members in response to ‘outlandish threats’ by the United States after Washington raised the bounty for his arrest to $50 million and launched anti-drug operations in the Caribbean. ‘This week, I will activate a special plan with more than 4.5 million militiamen to ensure coverage of the entire national territory — militias that are prepared, activated and armed,’ Maduro announced on state television. Official figures say the Venezuelan militia, founded by Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez, contains about 5 million people — though the actual number is believed to be smaller. Venezuela’s total population is around 30 million. … Two sources briefed on the matter told the Reuters news agency that three U.S. destroyers will arrive off the coast of Venezuela soon.” (08/19/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/venezuela-nicolas-maduro-deploying-militia-us-threats/
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6) Bessent takes up India/Russia oil whining hand-off from Navarro
Source: Reuters
“U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday accused India of profiteering from its sharply increased purchases of Russian oil during the war in Ukraine, saying Washington viewed the situation as unacceptable. Bessent told CNBC in an interview that Russian oil now accounted for 42% of India’s total oil purchases, up from under 1% before the war, and contrasted that with longtime buyer China, whose Russian oil purchases had increased to 16% from 13%. … ‘India is just profiteering. They are reselling,’ Bessent said. ‘What I would call Indian arbitrage — buying cheap Russian oil, reselling it as product has just sprung up during the war — which is unacceptable,- he said.” [editor’s note: “Unacceptable” to whom? What business is it of DC’s where India buys and sells its oil? Presumably a different US official will be picked to whine about it each day (yesterday it was Peter Navarro – TLK] (08/19/25)
https://archive.is/ObQN9
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7) Google bets on non-water-cooled nuclear reactors for data centers
Source: Network World
“Google signed a deal to purchase electricity from a non-water-cooled nuclear reactor in Tennessee to power its data centers, marking the first commercial agreement for a new generation of nuclear technology that promises to eliminate meltdowns and slash construction costs. The agreement between Google, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and nuclear startup Kairos Power made TVA the first US utility to commit to purchasing electricity from a Generation IV reactor, a fundamentally different nuclear design that addresses safety and cost concerns that have plagued traditional nuclear power. … This design eliminated the risk of nuclear meltdown, the scenario that has driven public fear of nuclear power since accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima, according to the Kairos Power report.” (08/19/25)
https://www.networkworld.com/article/4042232/google-bets-on-non-water-cooled-nuclear-reactors-for-data-centers.html
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8) IL: Chicago residents blast “monstrosity” Obama Presidential Center
Source: New York Post
“Chicago community leaders and longtime residents say the Obama Presidential Center risks washing away the neighborhood’s fabric, warning that proposed luxury developments tied to the project could price out families who have long called the South Side home, according to a report. They also say the sprawling 19.3-acre site in historic Jackson Park, with its 225-foot-tall concrete museum, has become an eyesore that disrupts the natural landscape and all locals are getting in return for the unsightly structure is soaring rents and higher tax bills. … The Obama Foundation secured a 99-year lease for the public parcel for $10 in 2018 and promised to revitalize the area.” (08/19/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/08/19/us-news/chicago-residents-blast-monstrosity-obama-presidential-center-as-displacement-fears-grow/
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9) TX: Police “escort” Democrats to prevent new redistricting walkout
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“Texas Democrats who ended a walkout found themselves shadowed by law enforcement officers to keep them from repeating the protest that stalled Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts and fulfill President Donald Trump’s desire to reshape U.S. House maps. Republicans in the Texas House forced returning Democrats to sign what the Democrats called ‘permission slips,’ agreeing to around-the-clock surveillance by state Department of Public Safety officers to leave the floor. However, Democratic Rep. Nicole Collier, of Fort Worth, refused and remained on the House floor Monday night. The Democrats’ return to Texas puts the Republican-run Legislature in position to satisfy Trump’s demands, possibly later this week, as California Democrats advance new congressional boundaries in retaliation.” (08/19/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/08/19/texas-house-democrats-permission-slips/
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“10) The Oligarchy Is the Enemy”: Maine Oyster Farmer Launches Senate Bid to Oust Susan Collins
Source: Common Dreams
“Launching a US Senate run to unseat five-term Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, oyster farmer Graham Platner on Tuesday made clear in his inaugural ad that beating the ‘fake’ moderate also means taking on the power-hungry billionaire class that has helped keep her in power all these years. The enemy that the vast majority of Americans and Mainers have in common, said Platner, ‘is the oligarchy’. ‘It’s the billionaires who pay for it,’ he added. ‘The politicians who sell us out. And yeah, that means politicians like Susan Collins.’ Platner … spoke in the ad about how Maine has ‘become unlivable for working people.’ ‘Nobody I know around here can afford a house,’ said Platner. ‘Healthcare is a disaster, hospitals are closing. We have watched all of that get ripped away from us, and everyone’s just trying to keep it all together.'” (08/19/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/susan-collins-reelection
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11) North Korea: Kim pledges to accelerate nuclear build-up
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has threatened to accelerate the expansion of his country’s nuclear arsenal, condemning ongoing United States-South Korea military exercises as a sign of ‘hostile intent,’ according to state media. Kim, who made the remarks during a visit to a naval destroyer, called the drills ‘an obvious expression of their will to provoke war,’ according to a report published on Tuesday. He insisted North Korea must ‘rapidly expand’ its nuclear weapons programme, pointing to the inclusion of what he called ‘nuclear elements’ in the drills.” (08/19/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/19/kim-jong-un-pledges-to-speed-up-nuclear-build-up-over-us-south-korea-drills
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12) Colombia: Indigenous groups demand action from South American pols at Amazon summit
Source: SFGate
“Indigenous leaders from across the Amazon are urging South American presidents meeting in Bogota this week to turn promises to protect the region’s rainforest into concrete action, and to give indigenous groups more say in the region’s future. The Fifth Presidential Summit of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, opening Tuesday in the Colombian capital, brings together leaders alongside scientists and Indigenous representatives. The agenda includes public forums, cultural events and high-level meetings, culminating Friday with a joint declaration setting regional priorities on environmental protection and climate policy. Indigenous leaders hope to meet with national leaders face-to-face for the first time at such a summit. Indigenous groups from all eight Amazonian nations issued a statement Monday evening, calling the rainforest a global lifeline that provides about one-fifth of the world’s freshwater and acts as one of the planet’s largest carbon sinks, absorbing vast amounts of heat-trapping carbon dioxide.” (08/19/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/indigenous-leaders-demand-action-from-south-20823959.php
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13) US Air Force chief of staff resigns early
Source: United Press International
“Gen. David Allvin has announced he is retiring early as the U.S. Air Force chief of staff, making him the latest high-ranking military member to leave the armed services amid the second Trump administration. Allvin announced his plans to retire, effective Nov. 1, in a statement Monday. … Allvin is two years into his four-year term, which began on Nov. 2, 2023. He was appointed by former President Joe Biden. He is the fourth chief military officer to leave the military since Trump’s inauguration in January.” (08/19/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/08/19/David-Allvin-resigns/9181755590390/
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14) Bessent: Tariff revenue could help pay down regime’s $37.2 trillion debt
Source: Fox News
“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that the Trump administration is weighing plans to apply part of the tariff revenue toward lowering the national debt. ‘I think at a point we’re going to be able to do it,’ Bessent said during an interview with CNBC, adding that he and President Donald Trump were ‘laser-focused on paying down the debt.’ ‘I think that we’re going to bring down the deficit-to-GDP, we will start paying down debt, and then at a point that can be used as an offset for the American people,’ he said. The nation’s debt, which is the amount of money the U.S. [regime] owes its creditors, is nearing $37.2 trillion as of Aug. 18, according to the Treasury Department. The staggering figure has intensified the long-standing debate in Washington over government spending, taxation and efforts to rein in the ballooning deficit.” (08/19/25)
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/bessent-says-tariff-revenue-could-help-pay-down-nations-37-2t-debt
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15) Veterans’ voices shape report on Afghanistan War’s lessons and impact
Source: SFGate
“U.S. veterans of the war in Afghanistan are telling a commission reviewing decisions on the 20-year conflict that their experience was not only hell, but also confounding, demoralizing and at times humiliating. The bipartisan Afghanistan War Commission aims to reflect such veterans’ experiences in a report due to Congress next year, which will analyze key strategic, diplomatic, military and operational decisions made between June 2001 and the chaotic withdrawal in August 2021. The group released its second interim report on Tuesday, drawing no conclusions yet but identifying themes emerging from thousands of pages of government documents; some 160 interviews with cabinet-level officials, military commanders, diplomats, Afghan and Pakistani leaders and others; and forums with veterans like one recently held at a national Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Columbus, Ohio. ‘What can we learn from the Afghanistan War?’ asked an Aug. 12 discussion session with four of the commission’s 16 members.” (08/19/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/veterans-voices-shape-a-report-on-the-20824115.php
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16) FBI adds Bailey as FBI co-deputy director
Source: CBS News
“Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey will serve as the FBI’s co-deputy director, alongside the law enforcement agency’s current second-in-command, Dan Bongino. … Bailey has served as Missouri’s attorney general since 2023. He’s known for asking the Supreme Court to intervene on Missouri’s behalf in a criminal case against Mr. Trump brought by New York prosecutors — a longshot request that was rejected by the high court. He’s also defended his state’s restrictions on abortion and gender-affirming care for minors, and sued Starbucks over its diversity, equity and inclusion policies.” [editor’s note: Missourians will probably be relieved that the Missouri AG office is no longer the HQ of “Bailey for Governor” – TLK] (08/18/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/missouri-ag-andrew-bailey-fbi-co-deputy-director-dan-bongino-kash-patel/
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17) MA: Boston’s Wu fires back at Bondi, citing Revolution
Source: Fox News
“Boston Mayor Michelle Wu held a raucous press conference in Beantown on Tuesday, daring Attorney General Pam Bondi to follow through on her letters to blue-city leaders threatening federal action over sanctuary city policies. Wu, a Democrat, accused the Trump administration of being a party that ‘doesn’t follow the law.’ … The remarks came after the Trump administration warned it could sue or cut federal funds if cities refused to cooperate on immigration enforcement. Wu noted Bondi demanded all recipients respond by Tuesday and offered her formal response verbally: ‘Stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures.’ …. Wu then referenced Boston’s role in the Revolution, addressing Bondi once more and knocking her home state of Florida as late to the constitutional party.” (08/19/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bostons-wu-fires-back-bondi-other-cities-slam-feds-over-sanctuary-warnings
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18) Air Canada and Striking Flight Attendants’ Union Reach Tentative Deal
Source: New York Times
“The union that represents about 10,000 striking Air Canada flight attendants said in a message to its members early Tuesday morning that it had reached a tentative contract deal with the airline, raising hopes for a swift end to the walkout that has disrupted air travel across Canada and stranded thousands of travelers. The agreement, while a significant step, must still be approved by the flight attendants, who overwhelmingly supported the strike that began on Saturday and defied a back-to-work order from the government, risking fines and even jail time. Air Canada, the nation’s biggest carrier, said the walkout had upended about half a million travelers’ plans, leaving some marooned overseas or in remote parts of Canada.” (08/19/25)
https://archive.is/Lgaz6
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19) NASA’s Webb telescope finds a new tiny moon around Uranus
Source: SFGate
“The Webb Space Telescope has spotted a new tiny moon orbiting Uranus. The new member of the lunar gang, announced Tuesday by NASA, appears to be just six miles (10 kilometers) wide. It was spotted by the telescope’s near-infrared camera during observations in February. Scientists think it hid for so long — even eluding the Voyager 2 spacecraft during its flyby about 40 years ago — because of its faintness and small size. Uranus has 28 known moons that are named after characters from Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. About half are smaller and orbit the planet at closer range. This newest addition, still nameless, ups the planet’s total moon count to 29.” (08/19/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/nasa-s-webb-telescope-finds-a-new-tiny-moon-20824171.php
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20) IL: Mom hides baby in closet, kills burglar
Source: Daily Mail [UK]
“A quick-thinking mother hid her baby in a closet on realizing someone was breaking into her home … then shot and killed the intruder. The unnamed mom sprung into action after hearing the stranger enter her property in a peaceful suburb of Joliet, Illinois, around 10:30pm Friday night. She rushed her baby into a closet on the second floor of the property and hid the youngster there. Seconds later, the burglar – who was wearing gloves and wielding a screwdriver – burst into the same bedroom, ABC7 reported. The mother opened fire with a handgun she owned and shot the burglar in the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene and has since been named as serial criminal Shelby Hurd, 36. Police rushed to the scene and found the mother and her baby sheltering in an adjacent bedroom.” (08/18/25)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15010687/joliet-illinois-mother-shoots-kills-home-invader.html
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Ukraine War: Let Trump Be Trump!
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“I don’t care if Trump’s an easy mark for Putin. I don’t care if Trump’s mad as a hatter or if other world “leaders” try to placate him by pretending otherwise. I don’t care if Trump’s obsessed with cadging yet another participation trophy for his mantel. Nor do I care whether the Moscow gang or the Kyiv gang gets to treat the people damaged and displaced by this war as livestock at best, slaves as the norm, and meat for their mutual slaughterhouse project at worst. … the only thing on the table at the moment seems to be shutting down the slaughterhouse part. If Trump can help make that happen, award him all the ribbons, plaques, and trophies he craves and let him babble nonsense to his heart’s content on whatever subject he pleases.” (08/19/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/19877
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22) Dark Lessons of Prewar Protectionism: From Tariff Wars to Global Fragmentation
Source: Antiwar.com
by Dan Steinbock
“With its misguided tariff wars, the second Trump administration is not only fragmenting seven decades of globalization. It is also contributing to a kind of geopolitical climate that set the stage for the rise of fascism in the 1930s. Times are different today, but like then, globalization is no longer at crossroads. It is unraveling. The White House has opted for an ominous path with a dark historical precedent.” (08/19/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/dan_steinbock/2025/08/18/dark-lessons-of-prewar-protectionism-from-tariff-wars-to-global-fragmentation/
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23) Freedom as a Loophole
Source: EconLog
by Pierre Lemieux
“The August 29 planned abolition of the de minimis customs exemption in the United States may come as a shock to those who believe that, as the physical universe is made of visible matter and dark matter, the political world is made of Democratic and Republican stuff, ‘the Left’ and ‘the Right.’ The restriction of de minimis was launched under Democratic rule and is pursued under Republican rule. … They want, as they say in collectivist circles, to ‘close the loophole.’ The abolition of the little freedom allowed by de minimis is more significant than one may think. For the government, the exception had the benefit of keeping ‘the people’ quiet by hiding some tariffs.” (08/19/25)
https://www.econlib.org/freedom-as-a-loophole/
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24) HL Mencken Knew Politicians: “Merchants of Delusion”
Source: The Daily Economy
by Donald J Boudreaux
“Among the few honorable politicians, in Mencken’s view, was Grover Cleveland, who he described as ‘a good man in a bad trade.’ A bad trade, of course, attracts a disproportionately large number of bad people. I can think of a tiny handful of successful politicians today for whom Mencken would likely have the same respect he had for Cleveland. But not many. Mencken’s suspicion of politicians wasn’t superficial; it was rooted deeply in his liberalism – a natural-rights liberalism that was closely akin to that which motivated the American founders. As Mencken said: ‘Every right that anyone has today is based on the doctrine that government is a creature of limited powers, and that the men constituting it become criminals if they venture to exceed those powers.'” (08/19/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/mencken-knew-politicians-merchants-of-delusion/
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25) The Cartel War Is About to Start
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“A cartel war is guaranteed to fail because the illicit drug trade is not something that can be fixed by military means. It is setting the U.S. military up for another mission that is doomed from the start. Most of the discussion of a possible cartel war has focused on Mexico, but it seems that Venezuela is more likely to be the first target. Perhaps the Trump administration thinks that it would be easier to sell launching attacks in Venezuela because the country is under severe U.S. sanctions and its government has been a target of Trump’s earlier regime change policy. Venezuela hawks in the administration, including Marco Rubio, probably see a cartel war as a way to get Trump on board with some form of military intervention in the country.” (08/19/25)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/the-cartel-war-is-about-to-start
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26) Federal Agents Are the New Proud Boys
Source: The New Republic
by Melissa Gira Grant
“It used to be far-right groups who flooded cities wearing masks and military gear, looking for a fight. Now it’s anonymous federal agents who are violently attacking people on the street.” (08/19/25)
https://archive.is/WRGUN
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27) What’s really behind state bans on lab-grown meat?
Source: The Hill
by Isaac DeBlasio
“The development and sale of lab-grown meat are now banned in 7 states: Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Montana, Indiana, Texas, and Nebraska. Several more states are also considering bans, and many states will likely continue to join the anti-lab-grown meat coalition before the end of the year. Policymakers pushing for bans have argued that, without proper labelling, the product is deceptive to consumers. Yet, several states have already passed legislation for transparent labelling …. the FAIR Labels Act of 2024, which, if passed, would federally require mock meat companies to clearly label their products as ‘imitation’ or ‘lab-grown.’ … Lab-grown meat bans were never about protecting the people; rather, they represent an authoritarian overreach to control what is on people’s plates and decrease consumer choice. This will become another example of protectionism harming the economy, the people it is meant to serve and the animals who suffer.” (08/19/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/5457139-the-hidden-motive-driving-state-bans-on-lab-grown-meat/
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28) Another Reason to Ban Tik-Tok?
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul
“Those looking for evidence of how inflation is affecting Americans might want to stop looking at CPI reports and instead go on Tik-Tok and other popular social media sites. There they will find videos of parents highlighting the burden placed on the family budget by the skyrocketing price of school supplies. … The best thing Congress can do for America’s families is cut spending, thus reducing the pressure on the Fed to monetize the federal debt thus further weakening the dollar. Congress should also reform the monetary system by passing the Audit the Fed bill and repealing all laws that discourage the use of competing currencies such as precious metals and cryptocurrencies. Sadly, even Tik-Tok videos of parents struggling to afford school supplies will likely not cause Congress to take these steps. Instead, the videos are more likely to cause Congress to renew efforts to ban Tok-Tok.” (08/19/25)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/another-reason-to-ban-tik-tok
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29) Do Democrats Hate Their Families Or Do Their Families Hate Them?
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“Nancy Pelosi just won’t retire. Why? I have no idea. She’s three years older than dirt and has been in Congress since the planet cooled, yet she’s still there. It can’t be that she wants to feed her husband even more insider stock tips; unless she’s discovered a way to load her Earthly fortune onto a debit card in Hell, she won’t be able to take it with her. So why won’t she, and so many other Democrats, just go away and retire like normal people do? You really have to assume someone like Pelosi either doesn’t like her family or her family does not like her. Both options seem believable to me. But it’s not just Nancy, it’s so many of them.” [editor’s note: It’s not just Democrats. Pelosi is five years younger than Chuck Grassley – TLK] (08/19/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2025/08/19/do-democrats-hate-their-families-or-do-their-families-hate-them-n2662017
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30) What If Fewer Americans Drinking Is a Bad Thing?
Source: Reason
by Emma Camp
“Americans may be drinking less than ever before. A recent poll from Gallup found that a record-low share of Americans say they drink alcohol, the lowest in nearly 90 years of polling. Declines in drinking since 2023 in particular have been highest among women, Republicans, and both low-income and high-income Americans. And those who are drinking are drinking less …. At first, this trend seems like an obviously good thing. Alcoholism is a destructive disease, and reducing tragic deaths from alcoholism, drunk driving, or alcohol-related cancer is certainly good news. And it is probably true that moderate drinking is bad for your health. But the thing is, the decline in overall drinking hasn’t actually led to a decrease in alcohol-related deaths.” (08/19/25)
https://reason.com/2025/08/19/what-if-fewer-americans-drinking-is-a-bad-thing/
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31) A balancing act in the Andes
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“Cyclical swings from far left to far right and back again seem to typify voting patterns in Latin America. And elections in the Andean nation of Bolivia – ruled for nearly 20 years by an increasingly unpopular far-left party – were expected to be no different. Yet, on Sunday, voters upended predictions of a rightward swing. Centrist Rodrigo Paz Pereira won the most votes, putting him into an October runoff with a conservative former president, Jorge ‘Tuto’ Quiroga. Mr. Paz’s appeal points to a political maturing among voters for a more moderate path than the outgoing leftist government. Under the country’s first Indigenous leader, Evo Morales, poverty rates dropped from 63.5% to 33.1% between 2006 and 2018. A boom in gas and oil production supported social spending and subsidies. But Mr. Morales grew authoritarian and was ousted in 2019. Since then, gas production has fallen and inflation has soared.” (08/18/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0818/A-balancing-act-in-the-Andes
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32) Europe’s Free-Speech Problem
Source: The Atlantic
by Conor Friedersdorf
“American officials are waging a multifront attack on Europe’s approach to free speech. This month, a congressional delegation traveled to Dublin, Brussels, and London to probe and decry European regulations on digital speech. A State Department human-rights assessment issued last week pointed to objectionable ‘restrictions on freedom of expression’ in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. All of this follows Vice President J. D. Vance’s speech in February at the Munich Security Conference, where he accused European leaders of retreating from the continent’s ‘most fundamental values,’ including free expression. These assessments might seem untrustworthy, given the flagrant transgressions against free-speech principles from the Trump administration and its allies. But the fact is that European leaders are corroding the right to free expression, and show every sign of sliding further down a slippery slope into illiberalism.” (08/19/25)
https://archive.is/21ywF
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33) On Seeing the Future Too Clearly
Source: TomDispatch
by Rebecca Gordon
“I spent the summer of 1965 arguing about the Vietnam War. I was 13, and my interlocutor was my 18-year-old camp counselor in Vermont. She was headed for U.C. Berkeley in the fall, where she would, as she later described it, ‘major in history and minor in rioting.’ Meanwhile, I was headed back to junior high school. I was already convinced that our government was lying about why we were fighting in Vietnam (supposedly to protect our sworn ally, the South Vietnamese government, in response to a trumped-up ‘incident’ in the Gulf of Tonkin). I was also convinced that the war was unjustified and wrong. She seemed less certain about the war but was similarly convinced that expending energy opposing it would distract activists from supporting the Civil Rights movement. As it turned out, we were both right.” (08/19/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/for-once-in-our-lives/
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34) Ludwig von Mises on Reducing the Size and Scope of Government
Source: Cobden Centre
by Dr. Richard M Ebeling
“The world seems to be moving at an accelerated rate in a more collectivist direction. The potential trade wars set in motion by Donald Trump’s sky-high tariffs are simply the most glaring sign of this dangerous trend. For more than a century, various forms of government intervention, redistribution, and planning have replaced the far more free-market, classical-liberal world that existed before the First World War.What free-market liberalism offers as an ideal and as a goal of public policy, Mises declared, is an equality of individual rights for all under the rule of law, with privileges and favors for none.” (08/19/25)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2025/08/ludwig-von-mises-on-reducing-the-size-and-scope-of-government/
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35) Entrepreneurs transform entire industries, including education
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kerry McDonald
“When we hear the word entrepreneur, many of us think of Silicon Valley stars like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and others who have created sprawling, successful companies whose products and services seep into our everyday lives. These entrepreneurs may be household names, but they are more the exception than the rule. Everyday entrepreneurs — the ordinary people launching and leading small businesses — form the backbone of the US economy. … The education entrepreneurs I interviewed for my new book, Joyful Learning: How to Find Freedom, Happiness, and Success Beyond Conventional Schooling, are incredibly diverse, but there are several common qualities shared by most of them.” (08/19/25)
https://fee.org/articles/entrepreneurs-transform-entire-industries-including-education/
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36) Letters from World War II
Source: Chris Matthew Sciabarra
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
“My mother’s sister Joan married Frank J. Rubino before the U.S. entrance into the Second World War. Frank was a principled man who was ideologically committed to defeating fascism and racism — both at home and abroad. … Not even the difficulties of military training could deter Frank’s fighting spirit. In a letter from Camp Blanding, Florida, dated December 18, 1943, he described the awful experience of boot camp in a tone that might be recognizable to some of today’s recruits …” (08/19/25)
https://medium.com/@cms10_7549/letters-from-world-war-ii-2-85b8658036e0
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37) Israel Is So Evil That It Has A Military Unit Dedicated To Excusing Atrocities
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Israel is so fucking evil that it has a military unit dedicated to coming up with excuses for the IDF’s atrocities. +972 reports that the IDF has a special unit it calls the ‘Legitimization Cell,’ because it is tasked with finding justifications to legitimize the assassination of journalists and other war crimes for the purpose of ‘public relations.’ Probably goes without saying, but if Israel was on the side of truth and morality it would not have a military unit dedicated to manipulating the public narrative about actions which normal people would see as extremely evil. … I have never been less open to people with different opinions than I am with Gaza. I am simply correct, and if you disagree with me you are wrong and I hate you.” (08/17/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/08/17/israel-is-so-evil-that-it-has-a-military-unit-dedicated-to-excusing-atrocities/
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38) The Bloodless Logic of Empire
Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato
“The imperial logic is familiar. Washington successfully weaponized Ukrainian nationalism to weaken a key rival, while bearing minimal direct costs. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian casualties represent losses that are acceptable within U.S. imperial calculus, insofar as Russian power is diminished and U.S. hegemony preserved. The strategy mirrors historical imperial practices of using local populations as hapless cannon fodder in great power struggles, revealing the fundamentally exploitative nature of an American global dominance that masquerades as promoting democracy and human rights. Both the U.S. and Russia fundamentally operate as crime syndicates on a worldwide scale, pursuing power and wealth through violence, threats, and bribery.” (08/19/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/19/the-bloodless-logic-of-empire/
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39) Why Collectivism Is Surging
Source: Law & Liberty
by Paul Mueller
“The legacy of entitlement programs from FDR to LBJ has been largely framed in terms of charity, solidarity, and community. Many people on the left, and even some on the right, laud these programs for creating a social safety net and for contributing to the fabric of society. Some have hailed these collectivist programs for reducing poverty. But collectivism is not charity. Nor does it generate true solidarity. Nor does it constitute civil society. It pretends to be and to do all these things. Collectivism wears the mask of charity and camaraderie. Though collectivism always brings tragedy, pointing out past failures doesn’t fully unmask it. It continues to capture people’s imaginations because it feeds their desire to belong and to participate in community.” (08/19/25)
https://lawliberty.org/why-collectivism-is-surging/
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40) Church of War: Our faith that lethality has the power to heal
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Gregory Daddis
“Since the end of World War II, Americans crafted and then embraced a rather disjointed relationship with war, exhilarated by its possibilities to transform the world and make them safe, while also fearing wars they could not prevent or, perhaps worse, win. This tension between faith and fear has haunted Americans and led to a persistent failure to align ends and means in carrying out US foreign relations.” (08/19/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/united-states-war/
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41) Trump’s Desperate, Anti-Democratic Quest to Retain Power
Source: Common Dreams
by Steven Harper
“US President Donald Trump and Republicans face a daunting challenge: How to preserve power in the wake of their wildly unpopular policies? Their strategy is to intensify the GOP’s decades-long quest to limit voter participation. Selecting the voters likely to cast ballots for them is far better than letting all voters select their leaders. Trump has taken the strategy to a whole new level. And he’s doing it out of fear and desperation. During midterm elections, the president’s party loses seats in Congress. In Trump’s first term, Republicans lost 40 seats in the House in 2018. In 2010, President Barack Obama’s Democrats lost 63. The exceptions are few and far between. In the aftermath of 9/11, President George W. Bush’s GOP gained eight House seats in 2002, but then lost 30 in 2006. In 1998, President Bill Clinton’s Democrats gained five seats, but that didn’t offset the 52 seats that they had lost in 1994.” (08/19/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-quest-for-power
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42) Rethinking What Safety Means
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“While adding more police officers to a peaceful society won’t likely decrease crime much, a violent community is another story. People in these communities need greater safety to live their lives. Without becoming a statistic. Law enforcement that is visible on the street can surely help. But rethinking the meaning of ‘safety’ won’t. So what’s burning? Democratic hopes, maybe. We’ll see how Trump’s move to clean up the capital goes. Yet, if he tries to use the National Guard in other cities without constitutional warrant, that’d go beyond mere policing, into police-state territory.” (08/19/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/08/18/rethinking-what-safety-means/
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43) Trump Demands: Ditch Vote-By-Mail. Republicans Shouldn’t
Source: Washington Monthly
by Bill Scher
“Following Trump’s advice on mail-in balloting would be bad … for Republicans.” (08/19/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/08/19/trump-demands-ditch-vote-by-mail-republicans-shouldnt/
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44) To Get Peace in Ukraine, Trump Should Play the Nuclear Card
Source: Foreign Policy
by Matthew Kroenig
“When U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15, Putin was greeted by a flyover of an American B-2 strategic bomber. Such flyovers can be a show of respect for a visiting statesperson, but Putin’s reptilian brain likely also registered fear as the stealthy aircraft roared overhead. He knows better than anyone that the world’s most advanced nuclear bomber could end his life within seconds. This show of nuclear force followed closely on the heels of Trump’s order to reposition nuclear submarines to the ‘appropriate regions’ in response to threats against the United States made by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Some analysts have criticized Trump’s nuclear saber-rattling as dangerous. But in fact, Trump can and should ramp up nuclear threats as part of a successful negotiation strategy to bring Russia’s war in Ukraine to an end.” (08/18/25)
https://archive.is/fRJx2
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45) Positive signs for peace, but Trump still must pressure Putin
Source: New York Post
by staff
“President Donald Trump declared Monday a success, posting that he’d ‘had a very good meeting with distinguished guests,’ then ‘a further meeting in the Oval Office.’ After which he phoned Russia’s Vladimir Putin to start arranging a Putin sitdown with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, then ‘we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself.’ Crucially, he was caught on a hot mic earlier saying he believes Putin truly wants to reach a peace deal: ‘I think he wants to make a deal for me, you understand that? As crazy as it sounds.’ The day sure offered grounds for hope, starting with an Oval Office love-in as Trump, Zelensky and a pack of European leaders cooed at each other.” (08/18/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/08/18/opinion/positive-signs-for-peace-but-pressure-putin-if-he-doesnt-respond/
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46) Appeasing an Aggressor Never Leads to Peace
Source: The UnPopulist
by Vladimir Kara-Murza
“As Putin was clearly building an authoritarian state, silencing the media, rigging elections, persecuting his opponents, Western leaders continued with business as usual. American presidents of both parties looked into Putin’s soul and pushed reset buttons. European leaders rolled out royal red carpets, signed lucrative deals, launched new gas pipelines all the while, I suppose, hoping to maintain some sort of a modus operandi with Mr. Putin in the international arena, at the price of ignoring and enabling his abuses inside of Russia — an immoral policy, if there ever was one. But also, a very impractical one. Because one other clear lesson from Russian history is that internal repression and external aggression are always two sides of one coin — because a government that tramples on the rights of its own people will never respect the borders of its neighbors.” (08/18/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/appeasing-an-aggressor-never-leads
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47) From Book Bans to Internet Bans: Wyoming Lets Parents Control the Whole State’s Access to The Internet
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Rindala Alajaji & Jason Kelley
“HB0043 is a ‘bounty’ law that deputizes any resident with a child to file civil lawsuits against websites they believe are in violation, effectively turning anyone into a potential content cop. There is no central agency, no regulatory oversight, and no clear standard. Instead, the law invites parents in Wyoming to take enforcement for the entire state — every resident, and everyone else’s children — into their own hands by suing websites that contain a single example of objectionable content. … This is a textbook example of a ‘heckler’s veto,’ where a single person can unilaterally decide what content the public is allowed to access.” (08/18/25)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/08/book-bans-internet-bans-wyoming-lets-parents-control-whole-states-access-internet
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48) From Fiat Everything to Real Everything
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Josh Stylman
“The infrastructure is now visible to those willing to see it. The systematic replacement of natural systems with artificial ones has reached into every domain — money, food, health, education, information. What began as isolated changes has revealed itself as a coordinated operation: the complete substitution of reality with decree, ownership with access, competence with credentials. … As more people realize everything is bullshit and start looking for genuine answers, something interesting happens: many of the solutions are found in the past. Not because we should abandon technology or retreat from modernity, but because we discarded methods and attitudes toward life, humanity, and time itself that actually worked.” (08/18/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/from-fiat-everything-to-real-everything/
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49) What the Economy Really Looks Like
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“The Trump administration’s war on reality will make it meaningfully difficult to understand the health of the economy in the coming months. If data is either not being collected or is no longer reliable, now that Trump has fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics as punishment for weak jobs numbers, it’s hard not to succumb to bias or motivated reasoning, on either side of the political divide. So before we get murkier radio signals, we need to assess the numbers we have now, to inform the trends for the future. Most of this picture is mixed and influenced by a bunch of different factors. But we can say one thing definitively: Hiring has been relatively dormant since Trump took the oath of office.” (08/19/25)
https://prospect.org/economy/2025-08-19-what-us-economy-really-looks-like/
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50) Now it is the Old World’s turn to rescue the United States
Source: Washington Post
by George F Will
“As Trump met with European leaders on Ukraine, Churchill’s words from days long ago came to mind.” (08/18/25)
https://archive.is/Jb7MQ
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Politics Politics Politics, 08/19/25
Source: Politics Politics Politics
"What Maine's Primary Says About the Midterms. Breaking Down Energy Credits and Climate Change (with Alex Epstein)." (08/19/25)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/what-maines-primary-says-about-the
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52) Capital Record, episode 250
Source: National Review
“Howard Stern and the Unfree and Unvirtuous Society.” (08/19/25)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/howard-stern-and-the-unfree-and-unvirtuous-society/
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53) Rising, 08/19/25
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave delivers radar on how Zohran Mamdani and the left demonize wealth.” (08/19/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5459352-rising-august-19-2025/
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54) Advisory Opinions, 08/19/25
Source: The Dispatch
“Federalizing D.C. | Live From the Alaska Federal Bar Association.” (08/19/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/federalizing-d-c-live-from-the-alaska-bar-association/
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55) Pod Save America, 08/19/25
Source: Crooked Media
“Blessed are the Peacemakers (Trump and Putin).” (08/19/25)
https://stitcher.simplecastaudio.com/9aa1e238-cbed-4305-9808-c9228fc6dd4f/episodes/81fb0fa8-98b9-4cd2-9249-83b67cfe1146/audio/128/default.mp3
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56) The Bryan Hyde Show, 08/19/25
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“It’s my weekly check in with Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos. The world isn’t getting any less complicated but we do our best to make sense of it.” (08/19/25)
https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-p5v6h-193ae2f
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57) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 08/19/25
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Accidentally Lets Slip Dark Truth About His Plot to Rig Midterms.” (08/19/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/199237/trump-accidentally-lets-slip-dark-truth-plot-rig-midterms
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58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 08/19/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump Working To Arrange Putin-Zelensky Meeting, Trump Backs Israeli Escalation in Gaza, and More.” (08/19/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYRONjZjd60
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59) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 08/18/25
Source: Show-Me Institute
“Faith-Based Charter Schools and the Future of School Choice with Andy Smarick.” (08/18/25)
https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/education/faith-based-charter-schools-and-the-future-of-school-choice-with-andy-smarick/
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60) Bulkwark Takes, 08/18/25
Source: The Bulwark
“Trump’s ‘Executive Order’ on Elections is Pure Fantasy (w/ Marc Elias).” (08/18/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGpo7F90OmM
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61) Free Speech Unmuted, 08/18/25
Source: Hoover Institution
“Free Speech and Doxing | Eugene Volokh and Jane Bambaue.” (08/18/25)
https://free-speech-unmuted.podbean.com/e/free-speech-and-doxing-eugene-volokh-and-jane-bambauer-hoover-institution/
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62) System Update, episode 502
Source: System Update
“Trump Tries to End War in Ukraine; U.S. is Dangerously Low on Weapons and Munitions Former Trump DoD Official Warns.” (08/18/25)
https://rumble.com/v6xrml2-system-update-show-502.html
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63) Reason Roundtable, 08/18/25
Source: Reason
“The Trump Economy Is Now Pay To Play.” (08/18/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/08/18/the-trump-economy-is-now-pay-to-play/
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64) Politicks, episode 8
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Has the UK Finally Grown a Pair of Anti-Censorship Nugs?” (08/18/25)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/politicks-ep-8-has-the-uk-finally-grown-a-pair-of-anti-censorship-nugs
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65) Matt Wolfson on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Matt Wolfson joins Scott to discuss an article he wrote recently that dove into the specific groups funding the campaign to oust Thomas Massie from Congress.” (08/18/25)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/8-15-25-matt-wolfson-on-the-people-funding-the-attacks-on-thomas-massie/
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