06/08 -- Israeli, Iranian regimes exchange strikes in most serious escalation since April ceasefire; We Don't Need AI to Tell Us Donald is a Red
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Thomas L. Knapp
Jun 8, 2026, 6:15:12 AMJun 8
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 06/08/26
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Israeli, Iranian regimes exchange strikes in most serious escalation since April ceasefire
2) Peru: Presidential election result close as vote counting continues
3) Bitcoin Steadies After $60,000 Breach as Saylor Hints at Buying
4) European pols ready to support ceasefire talks between Ukrainian, Russian regimes
5) US attorney’s office in California announces probe into elections
6) Eli Lilly says next-gen obesity drug curbs sleep apnea, among other benefits
7) NY: Court Pauses Default Judgment After Lawyer Argues 39,069 Bitcoin Wallets Were Not Abandoned
8) India: Mock political party for young “cockroaches” holds first street protest
9) Trump to meet with AI companies on communist nationalization scheme as soon as next week
10) FL: Miami-Dade announces plans to steal Fisher Island property
11) NYC: Councilwoman and congressional candidate Julie Won “squatted” in luxury Queens condo, landlord alleges
12) AR: Judge drops murder charge against sheriff candidate who killed a man
13) OH: Multiple people have been shot near festival in Toledo
14) US confirms second Texas screwworm case, Canada restricts livestock imports
15) Iran: Regime says staff blocked from entering US after players given World Cup visas
16) Nigeria: Army Frees 360 Abducted People
17) Spain: Pope Leo XIV acknowledges star power gap v. Bad Bunny
18) Pentagon said to raise threat level on Israeli spying to “critical”
19) Cuba: Castro makes first appearance since US charges to celebrate birthday
20) CA: Armed intruder killed after exchange of gunfire with homeowner
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) We Don’t Need AI to Tell Us Donald is a Red
22) Is Japan a Libertarian Paradise? Not Quite.
23) The Russia-China Partnership Was Made in America
24) Two Open Source Solutions for Technocratic Control
25) The Surveillance State Found Its Philosopher
26) Israel Could Solve Its PR Problem By Simply Ceasing To Be Evil
27) Civilizations Are Transaction Costs
28) A financial catastrophe is looming. America forgot to care.
29) Child’s play is more than just that
30) AI’s Facelessness Risks Soullessness — and With It Liberalism
31) The Curse of Being a Historian
32) The Myth of the K-Shaped Economy
33) Without a US-Iran Peace Deal, World Headed for Energy Crisis Apocalypse
34) Ayn Rand’s Italian Debut
35) How misology stole our humanity
36) The Shocking Damage Caused by Covid Policies
37) Henry Nowak’s murder exposes Britain’s dangerous two-tier justice system
38) How Bari Weiss’s Free Press laundered MAGA talking points about refugees
39) Why Those in Political Power Are in a Hurry
40) War, Arrogance, and the Unraveling of US Power
41) Congress Must End Ticketmaster’s Monopoly
42) Section 301 “Forced Labor” Tariffs Would Dangerously Expand Executive Power
43) Goodbye To All That
44) Bravo, Bezos!
45) Democrats’ Supreme Court threat puts the United States in mortal danger
46) The Nerve of Some People
47) It’s My Party and I’ll Die If I Want To
48) The Wages of Economic Warfare
49) Can Democrats Learn From the 2024 Loss?
50) Social Constructs and Spontaneous Order
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Serious Trouble, 06/05/26
52) Rising, 06/05/26
53) The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan, 06/05/26
54) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 06/05/26
55) Sal and Mark, episode 6
56) Fountainhead Forum, episode 455
57) The Climate Realism Show, episode 204
58) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 06/05/26
59) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 06/05/26
60) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2767
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Israeli, Iranian regimes exchange strikes in most serious escalation since April ceasefire
Source: Associated Press
“Israel and Iran traded fire early Monday in retaliatory strikes that threatened to drag the wider Middle East back into a full-scale regional war. Yemen’s Houthi rebels [sic] also fired at Israel and warned they would target Israel-affiliated ships in the Red Sea, further escalating tension. The renewed threat comes as Saudi Arabia is relying on its East-West Pipeline to export oil out through the Red Sea as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. … Tehran had warned of retaliation after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without warning earlier Sunday in defiance of Washington’s request days ago to stand down.” (06/08/26)
https://apnews.com/live/iran-war-israel-lebanon-trump-06-08-2026
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2) Peru: Presidential election result close as vote counting continues
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Peru’s presidential election is stuck in a statistical tie, according to an early tally by the pollster Ipsos, echoing previous elections that have dragged on for days or even weeks. It put the left-wing Roberto Sánchez on a marginal lead of 50.3% of the vote, compared with the right-wing Keiko Fujimori on 49.7%. While not an official count, the tally has been an accurate indicator of the final result in previous polls. Official results confirm the race is extremely tight with more than 85% of votes counted. The election pits Fujimori, a mainstay of Peruvian politics, against Sánchez, who is promising broad economic reforms. Concerns over crime and political instability have dominated the race.” (06/08/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewq151pw78o
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3) Bitcoin Steadies After $60,000 Breach as Saylor Hints at Buying
Source: Yahoo! Finance
“Bitcoin steadied in Monday trading after dropping below $60,000 late last week as Strategy Inc. Chairman Michael Saylor hinted at further purchases. The original cryptocurrency climbed as much as 3.8% to nearly $64,200 and was trading around $63,000 at 7 a.m. in London. Ether, the second-largest token, was 2% firmer at around $1,660. … Strategy’s disclosure of a small sale, its first since 2022, contributed to the token’s 18% decline last week as it undermined the narrative that the digital-asset treasury firm would never sell. A social-media post from Saylor suggesting Strategy may announce more Bitcoin buying has helped to soothe market nerves.” (06/08/26)
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/bitcoin-steadies-60-000-breach-060839854.html
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4) European pols ready to support ceasefire talks between Ukrainian, Russian regimes
Source: AOL
“The leaders [sic] of Britain, Germany and France said on Sunday they supported a proposal for talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to secure a ceasefire, and Europe would play a role. … Zelenskiy said in a post on X that he also told Starmer Ukraine needed more missiles for air defence systems, just days after he published an open letter to Putin proposing face-to-face talks about ending the war, now in its fifth year. Zelenskiy’s proposal was rebuffed by the Russian president.” (06/07/26)
https://www.aol.com/articles/zelenskiy-london-talks-starmer-macron-190153000.html
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5) US attorney’s office in California announces probe into elections
Source: Washington Post
“The Los Angeles U.S. attorney’s office said it has opened ‘multiple election fraud investigations,’ claiming the California election system has ‘serious structural vulnerabilities.’ First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, whose office is also attempting to audit the state voter rolls, confirmed the investigation late Friday and vowed to follow the evidence where it leads. The nature and status of the probes federal prosecutors might be pursuing in California was not immediately clear. Essayli did not elaborate on the nature of the investigations he said he’d launched and did not refer to any evidence suggesting that fraud had occurred.” (06/06/26)
https://archive.is/TukMg
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6) Eli Lilly says next-gen obesity drug curbs sleep apnea, among other benefits
Source: Reuters
“Drugmaker Eli Lilly presented trial results to medical professionals on Saturday showing its next-generation obesity drug retatrutide curbed sleep apnea severity in addition to boosting weight loss and helping knee pain. In a Phase 3 trial, Lilly found a weekly injection of retatrutide reduced moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea severity by 60.6% in adults with obesity. Lilly’s older drug Zepbound is approved for the condition. In the same trial, the drug reduced knee osteoarthritis pain by up to 73.1%, Lilly found. The results were presented at an American Diabetes Association conference in New Orleans.” (06/06/26)
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/eli-lilly-says-next-gen-obesity-drug-curbs-sleep-apnea-among-other-benefits-2026-06-06/
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7) NY: Court Pauses Default Judgment After Lawyer Argues 39,069 Bitcoin Wallets Were Not Abandoned
Source: Bitcoin.com
“A New York attorney intervened to stop what could have been the largest courtroom judgment in bitcoin in history, filing an amicus brief that persuaded a judge to freeze proceedings targeting nearly 40,000 dormant wallets collectively holding an estimated 3.8 million BTC. The legal battle is unfolding alongside a wave of onchain activity from some of bitcoin’s oldest addresses. On June 6, 2026, Galaxy Research flagged a transaction involving 47.26 BTC, worth approximately $2.88 million, moving out of a wallet that had been untouched since June 17, 2011, a dormancy period of more than 15 years. … Each of these movements chips away at the central premise of the lawsuit: that these wallets were abandoned.” (06/06/26)
https://news.bitcoin.com/ny-court-pauses-default-judgment-after-lawyer-argues-39069-bitcoin-wallets-were-not-abandoned/
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8) India: Mock political party for young “cockroaches” holds first street protest
Source: Associated Press
“Hundreds of supporters of the Cockroach Janata Party, an online joke that has drawn millions of followers across India, gathered for the first time in the capital on Saturday for its biggest real-world test yet. The protest near Parliament in New Delhi marked the movement’s first step into street politics after weeks of dominating social media feeds and news headlines, attracting widespread support among young Indians. … The event was an early test of whether the movement can channel its online popularity into a broader grassroots support around growing frustration among young Indians over education, jobs and economic prospects. Another challenge is how the party would navigate the kind of pushback that earlier protest movements have faced under Modi’s government.” (06/06/26)
https://apnews.com/article/india-cockroach-janata-party-2c74e5597c1a7a4ac5a49ee8ce72f1cd
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9) Trump to meet with AI companies on communist nationalization scheme as soon as next week
Source: Politico
“President Donald Trump said he will likely meet with AI companies at the White House next week to discuss what he called a federal government ‘partnership’ that would allow the American people to profit in their success. The president said Friday that the program, which could include sending company dividends to Americans, would help secure buy-in from a public that remains skeptical about long-term disruptions — including to the labor market — of the technology. ‘There’s a concept out there, there’s so much money and it’s so big that there are concepts where pieces could be given to the American public, where the American public essentially becomes a partner with the companies,’ Trump told reporters en route to an unrelated event in Wisconsin.” (06/05/26)
https://archive.is/g4f0q
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10) FL: Miami-Dade announces plans to steal Fisher Island property
Source: NBC Miami
“Miami-Dade is forcing a developer to sell property to make sure PortMiami continues to operate smoothly, the county’s mayor said Friday. Mayor Daniela Levine Cava announced the county is proceeding with an eminent domain action to acquire the fuel facility on Fisher Island, after negotiations with the property’s owner ‘concluded without an acceptable agreement.’ Eminent domain is used when private property is [allegedly] needed for [politicians’] use, forcing a sale at a [supposedly] fair market price.” (06/05/26)
https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/miami-dade-enacts-eminent-domain-on-portmiami-fuel-tank-property-on-fisher-island/3817509/
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11) NYC: Councilwoman and congressional candidate Julie Won “squatted” in luxury Queens condo, landlord alleges
Source: New York Post
“An NYC councilwoman running for Congress owes $25,000 in back rent after squatting for five months in a luxury high-rise, according to her ex-landlord and court documents. Councilwoman Julie Won (D-Queens) and her family vacated a one-bedroom condo at swanky Skyline Towers on Long Island City’s waterfront on Monday — three days after being slapped with eviction papers by the condo’s owner, Justin Chae, a top NYC political consultant and former family friend. … Won insisted to The Post that she and her political strategist husband Eugene Noh never signed any lease on the luxury pad, claiming Chae forged her name onto a bogus lease agreement.” (06/07/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/06/07/us-news/nyc-councilwoman-and-congressional-candidate-julie-won-squatted-in-luxe-queens-condo-landlord/
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12) AR: Judge drops murder charge against sheriff candidate who killed a man
Source: NBC News
“A judge has dropped the murder charge against an Arkansas sheriff candidate who killed a man accused of sexually abusing his daughter. Aaron Spencer was charged with second-degree murder in the October 2024 killing of Michael Fosler, 67, who had been charged with sexually abusing Spencer’s 13-year-old daughter. On Thursday, a judge dismissed the murder case against Spencer after ruling that the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office mishandled evidence. Law enforcement’s conduct was ‘so egregious’ that it warranted the dismissal, Special Circuit Court Judge Ralph Wilson Jr. said in his ruling. The killing happened after Spencer discovered his daughter missing from her bedroom in the early morning hours of Oct. 8 and found her in Fosler’s truck, according to court documents.” (06/06/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/murder-charge-dropped-arkansas-sheriff-candidate-killed-man-rcna348806
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13) OH: Multiple people have been shot near festival in Toledo
Source: SFGate
“Multiple people were shot Saturday near a busy community street festival in Toledo, Ohio, and a search for the suspects was ongoing as victims were taken to nearby hospitals, police said. Toledo police officers responded to a report of a person shot near the Old West End Festival at about 5:30 p.m. When they arrived, they found multiple shooting victims, the police department said in a statement. Police said ‘many victims’ were transported to medical facilities but did not provide further details on the injuries and how many people were shot. Authorities also did not provide any details on what may have set off the shooting.” (06/06/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/multiple-people-have-been-shot-near-a-festival-in-22294330.php
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14) US confirms second Texas screwworm case, Canada restricts livestock imports
Source: CNBC
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed a second case of New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite, in Texas. The latest detection was found in a one-month-old calf in Zavala County, Texas, roughly 5.6 miles from the first confirmed case announced earlier this month, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said Friday. Additional samples collected from the surrounding area have tested negative so far. New World screwworm larvae feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals, creating severe wounds that can be fatal if left untreated. The pest threatens livestock, wildlife, pets and, in rare instances, humans. The discovery has triggered cross-border restrictions. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Friday it will temporarily restrict imports of livestock, including horses, from affected areas of the U.S.” (06/06/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/06/us-confirms-second-texas-screwworm-case.html
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15) Iran: Regime says staff blocked from entering US after players given World Cup visas
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Iran has accused the US of denying visas to ‘integral’ members of its national football team’s backroom staff, hours after Washington confirmed Iranian players had been given permission to travel to the upcoming World Cup. US officials said visas had been issued to all players and ‘necessary support staff’ on Friday, 10 days before Iran’s opening fixture in Los Angeles on 15 June. They also said Iran would not be allowed to ‘abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretences.’ Iran’s embassy in Turkey accused the US of ‘politically biased interference in sport’ by denying visas to ‘a large portion of the managerial and executive staff’ and ‘technical advisers.'” (06/06/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8286nqz87o
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16) Nigeria: Army Frees 360 Abducted People
Source: US News & World Report
“The Nigerian army said Sunday it freed 360 people abducted by Boko Haram in southern Borno, in the northeastern part of the country. The operation, according to the army’s statement, was conducted in the Mandara mountains which form a part of the militant group’s stronghold. It resulted in the release of several people, including children, who had been abducted across different communities in Borno. Two infants ‘succumbed to exhaustion’ due to the challenging mountainous terrain and the hardship they endured during their prolonged captivity, an army spokesperson, Haruna Sani, said. … The insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast has killed thousands of people and displaced millions, according to the United Nations.” (06/07/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-06-07/the-nigerian-army-frees-360-abducted-people-in-northeastern-borno-state
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17) Spain: Pope Leo XIV acknowledges star power gap v. Bad Bunny
Source: Fox News
“Pope Leo XIV joked Saturday that he knows who would win if young people had to choose between seeing him or Latin pop singer Bad Bunny this weekend. The Pope, who began a weeklong visit to Spain on Saturday, acknowledged that he is competing for attention with the Puerto Rican superstar while in Madrid. Many young Spaniards, he suggested, would likely choose the Grammy-winning artist over the pontiff. ‘If they are confronted with the question ‘Do you want to go see Bad Bunny or do you want to go to see the pope?’ I think many will see Bad Bunny,’ Leo told reporters aboard the papal plane before his arrival. ‘But I think there will also be a few here to see the pope,’ he added. ‘And that says something, you know.’ … Despite his remarks, thousands of young Catholics turned out to greet the pope.” (06/07/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/world/pope-leo-xiv-jokes-young-spaniards-would-pick-bad-bunny-madrid-visit-weekend
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18) Pentagon said to raise threat level on Israeli spying to “critical”
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The Pentagon’s intelligence arm has raised the assessed threat level on Israeli spying from “high” to ‘critical’ in recent weeks, according to US media. NBC News first broke news of the change on Friday, with The New York Times issuing its own report the following day. The news outlets cited anonymous sources as saying the switch came in light of concerns over increasingly aggressive tactics related to the US-Israeli war with Iran. They said the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) had raised the alert level amid fears that Israel is increasingly attempting to surveil top US officials. The aim is allegedly to understand internal White House deliberations about ending the war. … The New York Times reported that, while Israel has been known to spy on the US, the DIA cited an uptick in activities beginning in late 2024, as the administration of US President Joe Biden increased pressure on Israel over its genocidal war in Gaza.” (06/06/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/6/pentagon-said-to-raise-threat-level-on-israel-spying-to-critical
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19) Cuba: Castro makes first appearance since US charges to celebrate birthday
Source: SFGate
“Raúl Castro, Cuba’s low-profile former president and revolutionary guerrilla, appeared in public for the first time since being indicted by the United States for his alleged role in the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft, official video released Saturday showed. Castro’s celebration of his 95th birthday with top officials and military leaders at the Ministry of Interior in Havana on late Friday offered Cuba’s socialist government an opportunity to close ranks and project defiance as the Trump administration escalates its pressure campaign on the fuel-starved island. State TV broadcast footage of Castro, clad in his olive-green military uniform, entering a packed theater to a standing ovation, followed by his grandson and bodyguard, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez, and Cuban President Miguel Diáz-Canel.” (06/06/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/cuba-ex-president-ra-l-castro-makes-first-22294113.php
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20) CA: Armed intruder killed after exchange of gunfire with homeowner
Source: KTLA 5 News
“A homeowner fatally shot an armed intruder after an exchange of gunfire inside a San Jacinto residence late Friday night, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. … According to investigators, the homeowner was visiting a neighboring residence when he heard screaming and gunfire coming from his own home. The homeowner ran back to the residence and encountered an unknown male intruder inside the house armed with a shotgun, sheriff’s officials said. Investigators said the homeowner armed himself and confronted the suspect, and during the confrontation, the suspect allegedly fired multiple rounds at the homeowner, who returned fire and struck the intruder. The suspected intruder died at the scene, officials said, and no other injuries were reported.” (06/06/26)
https://ktla.com/news/inland-empire/armed-intruder-killed-homeowner-gunfire-san-jacinto/
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) We Don’t Need AI to Tell Us Donald is a Red
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“By virtually any metric, Trump is devoted to central economic planning and government control of American industry. To, that is, socialism. What separates him from other, actually admitted, socialists like [US Senator Bernie] Sanders and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani isn’t that they’re any more or less committed to ‘socialism,’ it’s the specific TYPE of socialism.” (06/07/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20687
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22) Is Japan a Libertarian Paradise? Not Quite.
Source: Reason
by Lloyd Botway
“After a trip to Japan, tourists often return dazzled by the beauty of the land, the politeness of the people, the safety of the cities, the world-class transportation systems, and the delicious food. Many also come away with the impression that Japan enjoys a high degree of economic and personal freedom. Construction flourishes. Businesses thrive. Goods from all over the world are available, and shopping seems to be a national pastime. Homeless people are nowhere to be seen. People travel freely throughout the country. But behind Japan’s economic success lies a government and a legal system that clearly prioritize social stability and group harmony over individual rights.” (06/07/26)
https://reason.com/2026/06/07/is-japan-a-libertarian-paradise-not-quite/
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23) The Russia-China Partnership Was Made in America
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“Last month’s summit meeting between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping — during which the leaders signed over 40 cooperation agreements and deepened their nations’ strategic partnership — provides just the latest sign that diplomatic, economic, and military cooperation between Russia and China is robust and continues to rise. That trend is profoundly distressing to political and media elites in the United States, most of whom are fervent defenders of America’s fading global hegemony. But they can hardly claim that Russian–Chinese cooperation was unforeseeable, considering Washington’s own clumsy and inept policies have been its chief cause, as many warned would be the case. Hostile measures that successive, post-Cold War U.S. administrations pursued toward Moscow virtually drove Russia into Beijing’s arms.” (06/07/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-russia-china-partnership-was-made-in-america/
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24) Two Open Source Solutions for Technocratic Control
Source: Agorist Nexus
by TechLibre
“The noose tightens. Not with a bang, but with a thousand small cuts—social credit scores, ISP blacklists, library book bans, and the quiet revocation of property rights on devices you thought you owned. The technocratic state doesn’t need to kick down your door. It just needs you to keep renting your knowledge, your books, and your attention from its approved vendors. That’s where these reviews come in. I’ve tested two open source tools that let you opt out of the surveillance economy and build your own infrastructure. One is a terabyte-sized fire hose of offline knowledg — Wikipedia, Khan Academy, medical references, maps, and optional local AI. The other is a quiet, essential tool for anyone who remembers when buying a book actually meant owning it. Neither requires a subscription. Neither phones home. Neither asks permission.” (06/07/26)
https://www.agoristnexus.com/two-open-source-solutions-for-technocratic-control/
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25) The Surveillance State Found Its Philosopher
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thomas Karat
“There is a line in the Fourth Amendment that was supposed to settle this. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause. It is not a suggestion. It does not contain an exception for emergencies, for terrorism, for immigration, or for your own good. It was written by men who had watched a government treat a population as a thing to be catalogued, and who meant to draw a line that no administration could cross no matter how frightened the public could be made to feel. That line is being erased right now, not by a vote and not by an amendment, but by a software contract. And the man holding the pen spent his academic career studying exactly how this happens.” (06/05/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-surveillance-state-found-its-philosopher
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26) Israel Could Solve Its PR Problem By Simply Ceasing To Be Evil
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Israel’s +972 Magazine reports that the Israeli military establishment has launched a training program designed to ‘influence public consciousness’ around the world, with courses aimed at training hundreds of operatives per year in strategies for ‘actively disrupting or manipulating the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of target audiences.’ … It’s such a trip how Zionists just take it as a given that the only way to improve public perception of Israel is to ramp up efforts to manipulate the thoughts people think about it. They never give serious attention to the possibility that Israel would have a lot more public approval if it stopped fucking murdering innocent civilians all the time and fucking torturing people and raping captives with trained rape dogs. Israel can’t possibly be wrong; only our thoughts about Israel can be wrong.” (06/06/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/06/06/israel-could-solve-its-pr-problem-by-simply-ceasing-to-be-evil/
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27) Civilizations Are Transaction Costs
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Vladyslav Manzyuk
“A state works when its formal institutions align with and reinforce the informal order beneath it. It fails when it overrides that order. Yugoslavia assembled populations whose informal institutions — Austro-Hungarian civil law in Slovenia and Croatia, historically distinct legal traditions further east, shaped by Ottoman frameworks, distinct religious frameworks governing commercial obligation — had long created high transaction costs across the same lines the state tried to erase. Iraq assembled three distinct Ottoman administrative provinces. Borders do not erase gradients. These are not failures of tolerance or political will — and it is worth noting that no amount of well-intentioned, constitution-drafting has ever repealed an institutional gradient. They are the predictable outcome of a constructed order imposed on an incompatible spontaneous one, which pushes back through informal markets, parallel institutions, and eventually political fragmentation.” (06/06/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/civilizations-are-transaction-costs
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28) A financial catastrophe is looming. America forgot to care.
Source: Washington Post
by Matthew Lynn
“The price that the U.S. government has to pay to borrow money for 30 years has already punched through 5 percent a year, its highest level since the financial crisis of 2007. For 10-year money, the annual price is 4.6 percent and climbing. Amid all the noise about the rise of artificial intelligence and the booming space economy, something far more significant is happening in the financial markets. The cost of borrowing is being reset. And that raises some intriguing questions. Could the politics of deficit reduction stage a comeback? And are voters in any mood to pay attention if it does?” (06/05/26)
https://archive.is/AFyZt
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29) Child’s play is more than just that
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“As schools across the United States let out for summer vacation, more parents and policymakers are trying to make sure kids can get out there and just be kids – by stepping away from screens, playing in the open air, or biking to a friend’s house or the local store. And, they say, kids should be allowed to do all of this without a parent hovering over them – or that parent being held liable for not doing so. In May, the U.S. House introduced a bipartisan bill to promote ‘childhood independence and protect parents who allow their children to play outside unsupervised, get off screens, and develop social skills.’ Earlier this year, Indiana became the 13th state to pass a measure shielding parents from child neglect allegations for certain unsupervised activities.” (06/05/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0605/Child-s-play-is-more-than-just-that
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30) AI’s Facelessness Risks Soullessness — and With It Liberalism
Source: The UnPopulist
by Michal G Holzman
“Progress and technological development brought the atom bomb and death camps, too. To some extent the mid-century crisis led to an expansion of liberalism under the umbrella of U.S. global hegemony. The question of the 1940s Civil Rights Movement — ‘How can we fight for human equality overseas and then return home to Jim Crow?’ — became the philosophical underpinning for massively expanded access to the liberal project. The universal message of human dignity was on the march, literally and figuratively. It extended its reach across lines of race, religion, sex, and sexuality in ways that would have been practically unimaginable a generation before. But even as liberalism expanded it was being undercut. In response to both the perverted turn of modernity and the creeping spread of a postmodern nihilism, traditionalism grew, and people began to give up on progress and retreat into pre-modern bubbles of ritual, isolated community, and centralized authority.” (06/05/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/ais-facelessness-risks-soullessnessand
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31) The Curse of Being a Historian
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis
“I’m sorry, folks. I really, truly wish I could be an optimist. I wish I could write positive articles, telling us that America’s golden days are yet to come, that a bright and shining tomorrow awaits our nation, and the reasons are A, B, C, X, Y, Z. I sincerely wish I could do that. But I’m a historian, and as much as that, a student of the Bible. I have degrees in both subjects, have taught both for literally half a century, and have written thousands of articles in each field. I confess, such tends to make me cynical. But maybe, just maybe, America’s best days do still lie ahead of her; I’m a historian, not a prophet. Yet, to be perfectly honest with you, I don’t have a lot of hope, and history is the reason why.” (06/06/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/06/06/the-curse-of-being-a-historian-n2677332
-----
32) The Myth of the K-Shaped Economy
Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato
“The corporate press has a new obsession, the so-called K-shaped economy. This metaphor is meant to describe a system in which one group of people, represented by the top, inclining line of the K, watches their fortunes rise as the other group’s fortunes fall. The idea is that Americans who are already doing well financially are doing better, while conditions worsen for those already struggling to make ends meet. The problem is that when we use this letter K shorthand, we lose almost all of the information that’s important to analyzing the broader problem, and we therefore help an extremely concentrated ruling class hide the truth of what has happened.” (06/05/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/05/the-myth-of-the-k-shaped-economy/
-----
33) Without a US-Iran Peace Deal, World Headed for Energy Crisis Apocalypse
Source: Informed Comment
by Juan Cole
“The International Energy Agency has made its May report free to download, and the news is not good for the second and third quarters of this year, i.e. April-September. The IEA hopes things will look up in the fourth quarter, but premises that expectation on an early end to the US conflict with Iran and a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. At the moment (June 5, 2026), there does not seem much movement on that front, and in fact the US and Iran are not only skirmishing with one another but Iran is making good its threat to hurt US allies like Bahrain and Kuwait every time the US hurts Iran. One was killed and dozens injured in Kuwait on Wednesday by Iranian Shahed drone barrages that also damaged the airport. Kuwait Airlines shut down briefly but is now flying from a different terminal; it is the only carrier flying from Kuwait.” (06/05/26)
https://www.juancole.com/2026/06/operational-without-hormuz.html
-----
34) Ayn Rand’s Italian Debut
Source: Law & Liberty
by Robert Steven Mack
“If Zohran Mamdani intended to come across as an Ayn Rand villain when he pledged to ‘“replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,’ he succeeded. Unfortunately, socialism continues to appeal to young people on the left, as both parties jettison free market principles. If there is one author who has inspired young people to think differently about these big ideas, it is Ayn Rand, who is remembered as the author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. While the philosophical system she created, Objectivism, remains at the fringe of culture and academia, her moral defence of capitalism has inspired figures such as former Speaker Paul Ryan and former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan. Yet one of her lesser-known books, We the Living, deserves more attention than it gets.” (06/05/26)
https://lawliberty.org/ayn-rands-italian-debut/
-----
35) How misology stole our humanity
Source: UnHerd
by Jacob Howland
“Man, Nietzsche wrote, is ‘the unfinished animal.’ He meant that nature goes only so far in shaping human beings. We become who we are through the distinctively human capacity to produce and understand speech. That’s why Aristotle called us the animal that possesses logos, whose meanings include everything from word to speech, thought to reason, order to logic, proportion to account. This extraordinary semantic richness tries to capture the manifold articulate intelligence that makes us human — an intelligence that, in the first instance, answers to the nature and shape of things as they present themselves to our minds. But today, logos — and therefore our humanity — is under intellectual, political, technological attack. It’s not that people have stopped talking. Rather, the difference between speech and what Aristotle called ‘voice’ (phōnē) — the verbal expression not of reason, thought, and judgment, but emotion — is rapidly being effaced.” (06/05/26)
https://archive.is/axdnI
-----
36) The Shocking Damage Caused by Covid Policies
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Ian Miller
“The Covid lockdowns may not have been remotely effective, but at least they harmed millions of people and created long-lasting negative impacts that we’re still dealing with today. That’s the conclusion of a massive new body of research into the nonsensical policies promoted by the public health ‘expert’ class, promoted by their media partners, and enacted by incompetent, cowardly politicians.” (06/05/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-shocking-damage-caused-by-covid-policies/
-----
37) Henry Nowak’s murder exposes Britain’s dangerous two-tier justice system
Source: Fox News
by Simon Hankinson
“Before George Floyd, before Michael Brown, there was Trayvon Martin. Back in 2012, the 17-year-old was shot and killed during a struggle with another young man in a Florida gated community. The tragedy that day was discussed in the national media and eventually adjudicated in a court of law. When the trial was over, President Barack Obama said, ‘When Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son.’ In December, an 18-year-old college student was stabbed by another young man in Southampton, England. The victim’s name was Henry Nowak. The American press ignored the story. The British press and politicians largely did too. Like Obama, I thought, this could have been my son.” (06/06/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/henry-nowaks-killing-exposes-britains-dangerous-two-tier-justice-system
-----
38) How Bari Weiss’s Free Press laundered MAGA talking points about refugees
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko
“Of course, Weiss understands perfectly well the moment we’re in. She knows she wasn’t put in charge of CBS News because of her skeptical nature or keen journalistic eye. She was put in charge because she has shown that she can leverage a carefully crafted image as an iconoclast and teller of truths to launder MAGA propaganda so that it’s more palatable to centrists. She was put in charge because the Ellisons need Trump’s blessing for their mega merger – and if ever there was a favor tailor-made to win Trump’s approval, it’s kneecapping a major news network and toppling one of the last remaining pillars of broadcast journalism in the process. Weiss has positioned herself and her publications as bold disruptors, then leveraged that image to legitimize some of Trump’s worst rhetoric and policies. And few issues better demonstrate that pattern than immigration.” (06/05/26)
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/how-bari-weisss-free-press-laundered
-----
39) Why Those in Political Power Are in a Hurry
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Richard M Ebeling
“Those in political power always seem to be in a hurry. It is not surprising that their time horizons for ‘action’ never extend more than a few years ahead of them, though for different reasons. If it is a dictatorship, the tyrant in power can never be sure when an assassin’s bullet might cut his life short, or if some of his ‘loyal’ followers may be conspiring to overthrow him and replace him with one of their own. … why is it the case that in America today (and in most other modern democratic countries), those who hold political office seem so much in a hurry with short-term horizons guiding their actions, in their own way similar to dictatorships?” (06/05/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/why-those-in-political-power-are-in-a-hurry/
-----
40) War, Arrogance, and the Unraveling of US Power
Source: Antiwar.com
by Nii Lantey Bortey
“The United States is not approaching collapse because it lacks power. It is approaching collapse because it has too often mistaken power for wisdom. Its armed forces remain unmatched in reach, its financial system remains central to global commerce, and its technology sector continues to shape the future. Yet these advantages can conceal a more dangerous condition: the erosion of judgment. A superpower begins to decay when it treats coercion as strategy, military reach as political authority, and exemption from rules as evidence of strength. The result is not immediate collapse, but a cumulative weakening of legitimacy, fiscal discipline, institutional trust, and strategic clarity.” (06/05/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/nii_lantey_bortey/2026/06/04/war-arrogance-and-the-unraveling-of-us-power
-----
41) Congress Must End Ticketmaster’s Monopoly
Source: Common Dreams
by Joe Garcia
“If you’ve ever been to a concert or sporting event, you’ve probably dealt with Ticketmaster. And if you have, you’ve probably overpaid. Ticketmaster is the closest thing the live events industry has to a monopoly. It controls the ticketing market at most major American venues and has used that power to squeeze fans with higher prices and limit competition, ultimately making live entertainment more expensive for everyone. That is why recent legal action against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, was so encouraging. A jury ruled in April that it is an operating illegal monopoly. Remedies will follow; the question is when. Fans should not have to skip seeing their favorite band, team, or performer because a monopolistic corporation has found another way to extract money from them.” (06/06/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/congress-ticketmaster
-----
42) Section 301 “Forced Labor” Tariffs Would Dangerously Expand Executive Power
Source: The Daily Economy
by Bryan Riley
“The White House has yet another rationale for tariffs, and it’s another attack on the separation of powers.” (06/05/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/section-301-forced-labor-tariffs-would-dangerously-expand-executive-power/
-----
43) Goodbye To All That
Source: Persuasion
by Harry Cheadle
“I don’t know if anyone but me noticed, but digital media died last month. In mid-May, a media mogul named Byron Allen bought a majority stake in BuzzFeed, which has been culturally invisible and financially struggling since shutting down its news division in 2023 and pivoting to AI content. Just weeks later, Vox Media, a collection of brands including New York Magazine, sold its more valuable properties to Lupa Systems CEO James Murdoch, the younger son of Rupert Murdoch. Companies like Vice and Vox were hailed as the future of media in the 2010s, standard-bearers of a new generation of youth-focused, internet-savvy publications that would take over from the New York Times and CNN.” (06/05/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/a-requiem-for-the-digital-media-era
-----
44) Bravo, Bezos!
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“When an American businessman defends the large fortunes made — that is, earned — in the marketplace, it’s something to celebrate. Jeff Bezos, the creator and head of Amazon.com, did just that in a recent wide-ranging interview on CNBC’s Squawk Pod with host Andrew Ross Sorkin on May 20, 2026. While his remarks on political philosophy did not go far enough in defending the morality of money-making, they went farther than anything we have heard from a businessman in quite some time, if ever. In this age of rampant anti-rich bigotry — when prominent politicians, darlings of much of the old and new media, say that should not exist — Bezos’s remarks are refreshing indeed.” (06/05/26)
https://sheldonrichman.substack.com/p/tgif-bravo-bezos
-----
45) Democrats’ Supreme Court threat puts the United States in mortal danger
Source: New York Post
by Rich Lowry
“In 2016, the conservative writer Michael Anton made a galvanizing case for Donald Trump in his famous essay ‘The Flight 93 Election,’ arguing that the stakes in the presidential contest between Trump and Hillary Clinton were existential. His contention that a Clinton win would cement Democratic electoral dominance forever — such that Republicans needed to charge the cockpit or die — was implausible at the time, and seems more so in retrospect. If Hillary had won in 2016, in all likelihood she would have been gone in 2020, washed away by the pandemic just like Trump was. This time, though, really might be different. Democrats are now seriously contemplating measures that wouldn’t have occurred to Hillary Clinton circa 2016. Endorsing some version of Supreme Court packing (or ‘court reform’ as Democrats insist on calling it) is becoming orthodoxy among mainstream Democrats.” (06/05/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/06/05/opinion/democrats-supreme-court-threat-puts-the-us-in-mortal-danger/
-----
46) The Nerve of Some People
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“‘Police warn families of Tiananmen crackdown dead not to visit graves on 37th anniversary,’ reads the headline of yesterday’s story in New York’s Newsday. How rude of those families! How dare they show such utter disregard for the right of the Chinese Communist Party to ‘grind you up and crush your bones!’ Or to have your ‘heads bashed bloody,’ as CCP top Pooh Bear Xi Jinping has more recently been fond of saying. Especially after all the trouble Xi and Chinese authorities have gone to easing all this unnecessary tension by facilitating a thoughtful and therapeutic four-decade ‘campaign to erase what happened from public memory.'” (06/05/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/06/05/the-nerve-of-some-people/
-----
47) It’s My Party and I’ll Die If I Want To
Source: Quillette
by Rosalind Arden
“The most consequential weakness of philosopher and journalist Kathleen Stock’s new polemic against assisted dying is its failure to engage with the empirical record.” (06/05/26)
https://quillette.com/2026/06/05/its-my-party-and-ill-die-if-i-want-to-do-not-go-gentle-the-case-against-assisted-death-kathleen-stock-review/
-----
48) The Wages of Economic Warfare
Source: The American Conservative
by Anik Joshi
“The traditional blowback from Middle Eastern adventures has been in terms of refugee inflows and a less stable, more risky MENA region that produces knock-on effects across the European political frame. Going beyond destabilizing Europe to destabilizing the entire world as a function of Middle Eastern wars is unlikely to win converts to the Western cause, unless they share its dedication to their own destruction.” (06/05/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-wages-of-economic-warfare/
-----
49) Can Democrats Learn From the 2024 Loss?
Source: The American Prospect
by Dylan Gyauch-Lewis
“After months of speculation and anger, the Democratic National Committee finally released its autopsy of the party’s loss in the 2024 presidential election just before Memorial Day weekend. Despite pledging to release the document publicly when first elected to lead the Democratic Party’s organizational arm in early 2025, DNC Chair Ken Martin reversed course in December of last year, announcing that the report would not be published. Why? Some speculated it was merely a way for party insiders to avoid accountability for their failures; many others that it showed Kamala Harris lost because of her refusal to disavow Joe Biden’s policy toward Israel. As it turns out, the coverup was due to a much more banal and embarrassing reason: Martin’s friend whom he hired to complete the report turned in a pile of garbage.” (06/05/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/06/05/can-democrats-learn-from-2024-loss-biden-harris-dnc/
-----
50) Social Constructs and Spontaneous Order
Source: EconLog
by Max Molden
“‘Social construction’ is prominent: we are told in various places that this or that is a ‘social construct’: think of gender, race, or money. One book that played a central role in the emergence of that concept is Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann’s 1966 The Social Construction of Reality. That work can proudly claim more than 90,000 citations as of today — only in its English version, that is. Its influence within sociology, and then beyond, is thus enormous. … social constructivism shares roots with Austrian school thinking. Somewhere along the way, however, a fine but crucial distinction has been blurred within social constructivist thought.” (06/05/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/social-constructs-and-spontaneous-order
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Serious Trouble, 06/05/26
Source: Serious Trouble
“Those 35 retired judges are bending Judge Kathleen Williams’s ear; Randolph Moss 86’es the National Park Service’s 86ing of 8647 signage; is it illegal to text Shrek’s dick to a State Senator?” (06/05/26)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/this-shrek-film-was-not-in-theaters
-----
52) Rising, 06/05/26
Source: The Hill
“Lindsey Granger gives her lens on President Trump being dealt several blows this week, including from a judge who said it must remove Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center, and from the House which passed a War Powers resolution.” (06/05/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/5903633-rising-june-5-2026/
-----
53) The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan, 06/05/26
Source: The Weekly Dish
“Ben Rhodes On Iran, Israel, And America.” (06/05/26)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/ben-rhodes-on-iran-israel-and-america
-----
54) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 06/05/26
Source: Show-Me Institute
“Missouri’s Path to Eliminating the Income Tax with Elias Tsapelas.” (06/05/26)
https://showmeinstitute.org/article/economy/missouris-path-to-eliminating-the-income-tax-with-elias-tsapelas/
-----
55) Sal and Mark, episode 6
Source: Free Talk Live
“Sal and Mark are back for episode six, fresh off a month of travels — Bitcoin Vegas, Consensus Miami, and BCH Bliss in Slovenia.” (06/05/26)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/samep6
-----
56) Fountainhead Forum, episode 455
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Mark Rutherford on building a good Libertarian Party.” (06/05/26)
https://rumble.com/v7au07u-ff-455-mark-rutherford-on-building-a-good-libertarian-party.html
-----
57) The Climate Realism Show, episode 204
Source: Heartland Institute
“Summer has arrived in Europe a little early this year and alarmists in the media say it’s unprecedented, dangerous, all because of climate change. But what if it is not our fault? What if it’s not all that unusual? We will sweat the details.” (06/05/26)
https://heartland.org/podcasts/europe-boils-the-climate-realism-show-204/
-----
58) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 06/05/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“The Economic Implications of the Iran War | Phillip Patrick.” (06/05/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1RJjppokAYLKw
-----
59) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 06/05/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Rages Over Iran Setbacks as Leaks Reveal His Seething Obama Envy.” (06/05/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/211400/trump-rages-iran-setbacks-leaks-reveal-seething-obama-envy
-----
60) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2767
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“What the New Fed Chair Means for Your Pocketbook.” (06/05/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2767-what-the-new-fed-chair-means-for-your-pocketbook/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Israeli, Iranian regimes exchange strikes in most serious escalation since April ceasefire
2) Peru: Presidential election result close as vote counting continues
3) Bitcoin Steadies After $60,000 Breach as Saylor Hints at Buying
4) European pols ready to support ceasefire talks between Ukrainian, Russian regimes
5) US attorney’s office in California announces probe into elections
6) Eli Lilly says next-gen obesity drug curbs sleep apnea, among other benefits
7) NY: Court Pauses Default Judgment After Lawyer Argues 39,069 Bitcoin Wallets Were Not Abandoned
8) India: Mock political party for young “cockroaches” holds first street protest
9) Trump to meet with AI companies on communist nationalization scheme as soon as next week
10) FL: Miami-Dade announces plans to steal Fisher Island property
11) NYC: Councilwoman and congressional candidate Julie Won “squatted” in luxury Queens condo, landlord alleges
12) AR: Judge drops murder charge against sheriff candidate who killed a man
13) OH: Multiple people have been shot near festival in Toledo
14) US confirms second Texas screwworm case, Canada restricts livestock imports
15) Iran: Regime says staff blocked from entering US after players given World Cup visas
16) Nigeria: Army Frees 360 Abducted People
17) Spain: Pope Leo XIV acknowledges star power gap v. Bad Bunny
18) Pentagon said to raise threat level on Israeli spying to “critical”
19) Cuba: Castro makes first appearance since US charges to celebrate birthday
20) CA: Armed intruder killed after exchange of gunfire with homeowner
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) We Don’t Need AI to Tell Us Donald is a Red
22) Is Japan a Libertarian Paradise? Not Quite.
23) The Russia-China Partnership Was Made in America
24) Two Open Source Solutions for Technocratic Control
25) The Surveillance State Found Its Philosopher
26) Israel Could Solve Its PR Problem By Simply Ceasing To Be Evil
27) Civilizations Are Transaction Costs
28) A financial catastrophe is looming. America forgot to care.
29) Child’s play is more than just that
30) AI’s Facelessness Risks Soullessness — and With It Liberalism
31) The Curse of Being a Historian
32) The Myth of the K-Shaped Economy
33) Without a US-Iran Peace Deal, World Headed for Energy Crisis Apocalypse
34) Ayn Rand’s Italian Debut
35) How misology stole our humanity
36) The Shocking Damage Caused by Covid Policies
37) Henry Nowak’s murder exposes Britain’s dangerous two-tier justice system
38) How Bari Weiss’s Free Press laundered MAGA talking points about refugees
39) Why Those in Political Power Are in a Hurry
40) War, Arrogance, and the Unraveling of US Power
41) Congress Must End Ticketmaster’s Monopoly
42) Section 301 “Forced Labor” Tariffs Would Dangerously Expand Executive Power
43) Goodbye To All That
44) Bravo, Bezos!
45) Democrats’ Supreme Court threat puts the United States in mortal danger
46) The Nerve of Some People
47) It’s My Party and I’ll Die If I Want To
48) The Wages of Economic Warfare
49) Can Democrats Learn From the 2024 Loss?
50) Social Constructs and Spontaneous Order
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Serious Trouble, 06/05/26
52) Rising, 06/05/26
53) The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan, 06/05/26
54) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 06/05/26
55) Sal and Mark, episode 6
56) Fountainhead Forum, episode 455
57) The Climate Realism Show, episode 204
58) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 06/05/26
59) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 06/05/26
60) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2767
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Israeli, Iranian regimes exchange strikes in most serious escalation since April ceasefire
Source: Associated Press
“Israel and Iran traded fire early Monday in retaliatory strikes that threatened to drag the wider Middle East back into a full-scale regional war. Yemen’s Houthi rebels [sic] also fired at Israel and warned they would target Israel-affiliated ships in the Red Sea, further escalating tension. The renewed threat comes as Saudi Arabia is relying on its East-West Pipeline to export oil out through the Red Sea as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. … Tehran had warned of retaliation after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without warning earlier Sunday in defiance of Washington’s request days ago to stand down.” (06/08/26)
https://apnews.com/live/iran-war-israel-lebanon-trump-06-08-2026
-----
2) Peru: Presidential election result close as vote counting continues
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Peru’s presidential election is stuck in a statistical tie, according to an early tally by the pollster Ipsos, echoing previous elections that have dragged on for days or even weeks. It put the left-wing Roberto Sánchez on a marginal lead of 50.3% of the vote, compared with the right-wing Keiko Fujimori on 49.7%. While not an official count, the tally has been an accurate indicator of the final result in previous polls. Official results confirm the race is extremely tight with more than 85% of votes counted. The election pits Fujimori, a mainstay of Peruvian politics, against Sánchez, who is promising broad economic reforms. Concerns over crime and political instability have dominated the race.” (06/08/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewq151pw78o
-----
3) Bitcoin Steadies After $60,000 Breach as Saylor Hints at Buying
Source: Yahoo! Finance
“Bitcoin steadied in Monday trading after dropping below $60,000 late last week as Strategy Inc. Chairman Michael Saylor hinted at further purchases. The original cryptocurrency climbed as much as 3.8% to nearly $64,200 and was trading around $63,000 at 7 a.m. in London. Ether, the second-largest token, was 2% firmer at around $1,660. … Strategy’s disclosure of a small sale, its first since 2022, contributed to the token’s 18% decline last week as it undermined the narrative that the digital-asset treasury firm would never sell. A social-media post from Saylor suggesting Strategy may announce more Bitcoin buying has helped to soothe market nerves.” (06/08/26)
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/bitcoin-steadies-60-000-breach-060839854.html
-----
4) European pols ready to support ceasefire talks between Ukrainian, Russian regimes
Source: AOL
“The leaders [sic] of Britain, Germany and France said on Sunday they supported a proposal for talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to secure a ceasefire, and Europe would play a role. … Zelenskiy said in a post on X that he also told Starmer Ukraine needed more missiles for air defence systems, just days after he published an open letter to Putin proposing face-to-face talks about ending the war, now in its fifth year. Zelenskiy’s proposal was rebuffed by the Russian president.” (06/07/26)
https://www.aol.com/articles/zelenskiy-london-talks-starmer-macron-190153000.html
-----
5) US attorney’s office in California announces probe into elections
Source: Washington Post
“The Los Angeles U.S. attorney’s office said it has opened ‘multiple election fraud investigations,’ claiming the California election system has ‘serious structural vulnerabilities.’ First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, whose office is also attempting to audit the state voter rolls, confirmed the investigation late Friday and vowed to follow the evidence where it leads. The nature and status of the probes federal prosecutors might be pursuing in California was not immediately clear. Essayli did not elaborate on the nature of the investigations he said he’d launched and did not refer to any evidence suggesting that fraud had occurred.” (06/06/26)
https://archive.is/TukMg
-----
6) Eli Lilly says next-gen obesity drug curbs sleep apnea, among other benefits
Source: Reuters
“Drugmaker Eli Lilly presented trial results to medical professionals on Saturday showing its next-generation obesity drug retatrutide curbed sleep apnea severity in addition to boosting weight loss and helping knee pain. In a Phase 3 trial, Lilly found a weekly injection of retatrutide reduced moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea severity by 60.6% in adults with obesity. Lilly’s older drug Zepbound is approved for the condition. In the same trial, the drug reduced knee osteoarthritis pain by up to 73.1%, Lilly found. The results were presented at an American Diabetes Association conference in New Orleans.” (06/06/26)
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/eli-lilly-says-next-gen-obesity-drug-curbs-sleep-apnea-among-other-benefits-2026-06-06/
-----
7) NY: Court Pauses Default Judgment After Lawyer Argues 39,069 Bitcoin Wallets Were Not Abandoned
Source: Bitcoin.com
“A New York attorney intervened to stop what could have been the largest courtroom judgment in bitcoin in history, filing an amicus brief that persuaded a judge to freeze proceedings targeting nearly 40,000 dormant wallets collectively holding an estimated 3.8 million BTC. The legal battle is unfolding alongside a wave of onchain activity from some of bitcoin’s oldest addresses. On June 6, 2026, Galaxy Research flagged a transaction involving 47.26 BTC, worth approximately $2.88 million, moving out of a wallet that had been untouched since June 17, 2011, a dormancy period of more than 15 years. … Each of these movements chips away at the central premise of the lawsuit: that these wallets were abandoned.” (06/06/26)
https://news.bitcoin.com/ny-court-pauses-default-judgment-after-lawyer-argues-39069-bitcoin-wallets-were-not-abandoned/
-----
8) India: Mock political party for young “cockroaches” holds first street protest
Source: Associated Press
“Hundreds of supporters of the Cockroach Janata Party, an online joke that has drawn millions of followers across India, gathered for the first time in the capital on Saturday for its biggest real-world test yet. The protest near Parliament in New Delhi marked the movement’s first step into street politics after weeks of dominating social media feeds and news headlines, attracting widespread support among young Indians. … The event was an early test of whether the movement can channel its online popularity into a broader grassroots support around growing frustration among young Indians over education, jobs and economic prospects. Another challenge is how the party would navigate the kind of pushback that earlier protest movements have faced under Modi’s government.” (06/06/26)
https://apnews.com/article/india-cockroach-janata-party-2c74e5597c1a7a4ac5a49ee8ce72f1cd
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9) Trump to meet with AI companies on communist nationalization scheme as soon as next week
Source: Politico
“President Donald Trump said he will likely meet with AI companies at the White House next week to discuss what he called a federal government ‘partnership’ that would allow the American people to profit in their success. The president said Friday that the program, which could include sending company dividends to Americans, would help secure buy-in from a public that remains skeptical about long-term disruptions — including to the labor market — of the technology. ‘There’s a concept out there, there’s so much money and it’s so big that there are concepts where pieces could be given to the American public, where the American public essentially becomes a partner with the companies,’ Trump told reporters en route to an unrelated event in Wisconsin.” (06/05/26)
https://archive.is/g4f0q
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10) FL: Miami-Dade announces plans to steal Fisher Island property
Source: NBC Miami
“Miami-Dade is forcing a developer to sell property to make sure PortMiami continues to operate smoothly, the county’s mayor said Friday. Mayor Daniela Levine Cava announced the county is proceeding with an eminent domain action to acquire the fuel facility on Fisher Island, after negotiations with the property’s owner ‘concluded without an acceptable agreement.’ Eminent domain is used when private property is [allegedly] needed for [politicians’] use, forcing a sale at a [supposedly] fair market price.” (06/05/26)
https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/miami-dade-enacts-eminent-domain-on-portmiami-fuel-tank-property-on-fisher-island/3817509/
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11) NYC: Councilwoman and congressional candidate Julie Won “squatted” in luxury Queens condo, landlord alleges
Source: New York Post
“An NYC councilwoman running for Congress owes $25,000 in back rent after squatting for five months in a luxury high-rise, according to her ex-landlord and court documents. Councilwoman Julie Won (D-Queens) and her family vacated a one-bedroom condo at swanky Skyline Towers on Long Island City’s waterfront on Monday — three days after being slapped with eviction papers by the condo’s owner, Justin Chae, a top NYC political consultant and former family friend. … Won insisted to The Post that she and her political strategist husband Eugene Noh never signed any lease on the luxury pad, claiming Chae forged her name onto a bogus lease agreement.” (06/07/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/06/07/us-news/nyc-councilwoman-and-congressional-candidate-julie-won-squatted-in-luxe-queens-condo-landlord/
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12) AR: Judge drops murder charge against sheriff candidate who killed a man
Source: NBC News
“A judge has dropped the murder charge against an Arkansas sheriff candidate who killed a man accused of sexually abusing his daughter. Aaron Spencer was charged with second-degree murder in the October 2024 killing of Michael Fosler, 67, who had been charged with sexually abusing Spencer’s 13-year-old daughter. On Thursday, a judge dismissed the murder case against Spencer after ruling that the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office mishandled evidence. Law enforcement’s conduct was ‘so egregious’ that it warranted the dismissal, Special Circuit Court Judge Ralph Wilson Jr. said in his ruling. The killing happened after Spencer discovered his daughter missing from her bedroom in the early morning hours of Oct. 8 and found her in Fosler’s truck, according to court documents.” (06/06/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/murder-charge-dropped-arkansas-sheriff-candidate-killed-man-rcna348806
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13) OH: Multiple people have been shot near festival in Toledo
Source: SFGate
“Multiple people were shot Saturday near a busy community street festival in Toledo, Ohio, and a search for the suspects was ongoing as victims were taken to nearby hospitals, police said. Toledo police officers responded to a report of a person shot near the Old West End Festival at about 5:30 p.m. When they arrived, they found multiple shooting victims, the police department said in a statement. Police said ‘many victims’ were transported to medical facilities but did not provide further details on the injuries and how many people were shot. Authorities also did not provide any details on what may have set off the shooting.” (06/06/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/multiple-people-have-been-shot-near-a-festival-in-22294330.php
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14) US confirms second Texas screwworm case, Canada restricts livestock imports
Source: CNBC
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed a second case of New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite, in Texas. The latest detection was found in a one-month-old calf in Zavala County, Texas, roughly 5.6 miles from the first confirmed case announced earlier this month, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said Friday. Additional samples collected from the surrounding area have tested negative so far. New World screwworm larvae feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals, creating severe wounds that can be fatal if left untreated. The pest threatens livestock, wildlife, pets and, in rare instances, humans. The discovery has triggered cross-border restrictions. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Friday it will temporarily restrict imports of livestock, including horses, from affected areas of the U.S.” (06/06/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/06/us-confirms-second-texas-screwworm-case.html
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15) Iran: Regime says staff blocked from entering US after players given World Cup visas
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Iran has accused the US of denying visas to ‘integral’ members of its national football team’s backroom staff, hours after Washington confirmed Iranian players had been given permission to travel to the upcoming World Cup. US officials said visas had been issued to all players and ‘necessary support staff’ on Friday, 10 days before Iran’s opening fixture in Los Angeles on 15 June. They also said Iran would not be allowed to ‘abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretences.’ Iran’s embassy in Turkey accused the US of ‘politically biased interference in sport’ by denying visas to ‘a large portion of the managerial and executive staff’ and ‘technical advisers.'” (06/06/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8286nqz87o
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16) Nigeria: Army Frees 360 Abducted People
Source: US News & World Report
“The Nigerian army said Sunday it freed 360 people abducted by Boko Haram in southern Borno, in the northeastern part of the country. The operation, according to the army’s statement, was conducted in the Mandara mountains which form a part of the militant group’s stronghold. It resulted in the release of several people, including children, who had been abducted across different communities in Borno. Two infants ‘succumbed to exhaustion’ due to the challenging mountainous terrain and the hardship they endured during their prolonged captivity, an army spokesperson, Haruna Sani, said. … The insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast has killed thousands of people and displaced millions, according to the United Nations.” (06/07/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-06-07/the-nigerian-army-frees-360-abducted-people-in-northeastern-borno-state
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17) Spain: Pope Leo XIV acknowledges star power gap v. Bad Bunny
Source: Fox News
“Pope Leo XIV joked Saturday that he knows who would win if young people had to choose between seeing him or Latin pop singer Bad Bunny this weekend. The Pope, who began a weeklong visit to Spain on Saturday, acknowledged that he is competing for attention with the Puerto Rican superstar while in Madrid. Many young Spaniards, he suggested, would likely choose the Grammy-winning artist over the pontiff. ‘If they are confronted with the question ‘Do you want to go see Bad Bunny or do you want to go to see the pope?’ I think many will see Bad Bunny,’ Leo told reporters aboard the papal plane before his arrival. ‘But I think there will also be a few here to see the pope,’ he added. ‘And that says something, you know.’ … Despite his remarks, thousands of young Catholics turned out to greet the pope.” (06/07/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/world/pope-leo-xiv-jokes-young-spaniards-would-pick-bad-bunny-madrid-visit-weekend
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18) Pentagon said to raise threat level on Israeli spying to “critical”
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The Pentagon’s intelligence arm has raised the assessed threat level on Israeli spying from “high” to ‘critical’ in recent weeks, according to US media. NBC News first broke news of the change on Friday, with The New York Times issuing its own report the following day. The news outlets cited anonymous sources as saying the switch came in light of concerns over increasingly aggressive tactics related to the US-Israeli war with Iran. They said the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) had raised the alert level amid fears that Israel is increasingly attempting to surveil top US officials. The aim is allegedly to understand internal White House deliberations about ending the war. … The New York Times reported that, while Israel has been known to spy on the US, the DIA cited an uptick in activities beginning in late 2024, as the administration of US President Joe Biden increased pressure on Israel over its genocidal war in Gaza.” (06/06/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/6/pentagon-said-to-raise-threat-level-on-israel-spying-to-critical
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19) Cuba: Castro makes first appearance since US charges to celebrate birthday
Source: SFGate
“Raúl Castro, Cuba’s low-profile former president and revolutionary guerrilla, appeared in public for the first time since being indicted by the United States for his alleged role in the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft, official video released Saturday showed. Castro’s celebration of his 95th birthday with top officials and military leaders at the Ministry of Interior in Havana on late Friday offered Cuba’s socialist government an opportunity to close ranks and project defiance as the Trump administration escalates its pressure campaign on the fuel-starved island. State TV broadcast footage of Castro, clad in his olive-green military uniform, entering a packed theater to a standing ovation, followed by his grandson and bodyguard, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez, and Cuban President Miguel Diáz-Canel.” (06/06/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/cuba-ex-president-ra-l-castro-makes-first-22294113.php
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20) CA: Armed intruder killed after exchange of gunfire with homeowner
Source: KTLA 5 News
“A homeowner fatally shot an armed intruder after an exchange of gunfire inside a San Jacinto residence late Friday night, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. … According to investigators, the homeowner was visiting a neighboring residence when he heard screaming and gunfire coming from his own home. The homeowner ran back to the residence and encountered an unknown male intruder inside the house armed with a shotgun, sheriff’s officials said. Investigators said the homeowner armed himself and confronted the suspect, and during the confrontation, the suspect allegedly fired multiple rounds at the homeowner, who returned fire and struck the intruder. The suspected intruder died at the scene, officials said, and no other injuries were reported.” (06/06/26)
https://ktla.com/news/inland-empire/armed-intruder-killed-homeowner-gunfire-san-jacinto/
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) We Don’t Need AI to Tell Us Donald is a Red
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“By virtually any metric, Trump is devoted to central economic planning and government control of American industry. To, that is, socialism. What separates him from other, actually admitted, socialists like [US Senator Bernie] Sanders and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani isn’t that they’re any more or less committed to ‘socialism,’ it’s the specific TYPE of socialism.” (06/07/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20687
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22) Is Japan a Libertarian Paradise? Not Quite.
Source: Reason
by Lloyd Botway
“After a trip to Japan, tourists often return dazzled by the beauty of the land, the politeness of the people, the safety of the cities, the world-class transportation systems, and the delicious food. Many also come away with the impression that Japan enjoys a high degree of economic and personal freedom. Construction flourishes. Businesses thrive. Goods from all over the world are available, and shopping seems to be a national pastime. Homeless people are nowhere to be seen. People travel freely throughout the country. But behind Japan’s economic success lies a government and a legal system that clearly prioritize social stability and group harmony over individual rights.” (06/07/26)
https://reason.com/2026/06/07/is-japan-a-libertarian-paradise-not-quite/
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23) The Russia-China Partnership Was Made in America
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“Last month’s summit meeting between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping — during which the leaders signed over 40 cooperation agreements and deepened their nations’ strategic partnership — provides just the latest sign that diplomatic, economic, and military cooperation between Russia and China is robust and continues to rise. That trend is profoundly distressing to political and media elites in the United States, most of whom are fervent defenders of America’s fading global hegemony. But they can hardly claim that Russian–Chinese cooperation was unforeseeable, considering Washington’s own clumsy and inept policies have been its chief cause, as many warned would be the case. Hostile measures that successive, post-Cold War U.S. administrations pursued toward Moscow virtually drove Russia into Beijing’s arms.” (06/07/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-russia-china-partnership-was-made-in-america/
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24) Two Open Source Solutions for Technocratic Control
Source: Agorist Nexus
by TechLibre
“The noose tightens. Not with a bang, but with a thousand small cuts—social credit scores, ISP blacklists, library book bans, and the quiet revocation of property rights on devices you thought you owned. The technocratic state doesn’t need to kick down your door. It just needs you to keep renting your knowledge, your books, and your attention from its approved vendors. That’s where these reviews come in. I’ve tested two open source tools that let you opt out of the surveillance economy and build your own infrastructure. One is a terabyte-sized fire hose of offline knowledg — Wikipedia, Khan Academy, medical references, maps, and optional local AI. The other is a quiet, essential tool for anyone who remembers when buying a book actually meant owning it. Neither requires a subscription. Neither phones home. Neither asks permission.” (06/07/26)
https://www.agoristnexus.com/two-open-source-solutions-for-technocratic-control/
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25) The Surveillance State Found Its Philosopher
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thomas Karat
“There is a line in the Fourth Amendment that was supposed to settle this. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause. It is not a suggestion. It does not contain an exception for emergencies, for terrorism, for immigration, or for your own good. It was written by men who had watched a government treat a population as a thing to be catalogued, and who meant to draw a line that no administration could cross no matter how frightened the public could be made to feel. That line is being erased right now, not by a vote and not by an amendment, but by a software contract. And the man holding the pen spent his academic career studying exactly how this happens.” (06/05/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-surveillance-state-found-its-philosopher
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26) Israel Could Solve Its PR Problem By Simply Ceasing To Be Evil
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Israel’s +972 Magazine reports that the Israeli military establishment has launched a training program designed to ‘influence public consciousness’ around the world, with courses aimed at training hundreds of operatives per year in strategies for ‘actively disrupting or manipulating the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of target audiences.’ … It’s such a trip how Zionists just take it as a given that the only way to improve public perception of Israel is to ramp up efforts to manipulate the thoughts people think about it. They never give serious attention to the possibility that Israel would have a lot more public approval if it stopped fucking murdering innocent civilians all the time and fucking torturing people and raping captives with trained rape dogs. Israel can’t possibly be wrong; only our thoughts about Israel can be wrong.” (06/06/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/06/06/israel-could-solve-its-pr-problem-by-simply-ceasing-to-be-evil/
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27) Civilizations Are Transaction Costs
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Vladyslav Manzyuk
“A state works when its formal institutions align with and reinforce the informal order beneath it. It fails when it overrides that order. Yugoslavia assembled populations whose informal institutions — Austro-Hungarian civil law in Slovenia and Croatia, historically distinct legal traditions further east, shaped by Ottoman frameworks, distinct religious frameworks governing commercial obligation — had long created high transaction costs across the same lines the state tried to erase. Iraq assembled three distinct Ottoman administrative provinces. Borders do not erase gradients. These are not failures of tolerance or political will — and it is worth noting that no amount of well-intentioned, constitution-drafting has ever repealed an institutional gradient. They are the predictable outcome of a constructed order imposed on an incompatible spontaneous one, which pushes back through informal markets, parallel institutions, and eventually political fragmentation.” (06/06/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/civilizations-are-transaction-costs
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28) A financial catastrophe is looming. America forgot to care.
Source: Washington Post
by Matthew Lynn
“The price that the U.S. government has to pay to borrow money for 30 years has already punched through 5 percent a year, its highest level since the financial crisis of 2007. For 10-year money, the annual price is 4.6 percent and climbing. Amid all the noise about the rise of artificial intelligence and the booming space economy, something far more significant is happening in the financial markets. The cost of borrowing is being reset. And that raises some intriguing questions. Could the politics of deficit reduction stage a comeback? And are voters in any mood to pay attention if it does?” (06/05/26)
https://archive.is/AFyZt
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29) Child’s play is more than just that
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“As schools across the United States let out for summer vacation, more parents and policymakers are trying to make sure kids can get out there and just be kids – by stepping away from screens, playing in the open air, or biking to a friend’s house or the local store. And, they say, kids should be allowed to do all of this without a parent hovering over them – or that parent being held liable for not doing so. In May, the U.S. House introduced a bipartisan bill to promote ‘childhood independence and protect parents who allow their children to play outside unsupervised, get off screens, and develop social skills.’ Earlier this year, Indiana became the 13th state to pass a measure shielding parents from child neglect allegations for certain unsupervised activities.” (06/05/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0605/Child-s-play-is-more-than-just-that
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30) AI’s Facelessness Risks Soullessness — and With It Liberalism
Source: The UnPopulist
by Michal G Holzman
“Progress and technological development brought the atom bomb and death camps, too. To some extent the mid-century crisis led to an expansion of liberalism under the umbrella of U.S. global hegemony. The question of the 1940s Civil Rights Movement — ‘How can we fight for human equality overseas and then return home to Jim Crow?’ — became the philosophical underpinning for massively expanded access to the liberal project. The universal message of human dignity was on the march, literally and figuratively. It extended its reach across lines of race, religion, sex, and sexuality in ways that would have been practically unimaginable a generation before. But even as liberalism expanded it was being undercut. In response to both the perverted turn of modernity and the creeping spread of a postmodern nihilism, traditionalism grew, and people began to give up on progress and retreat into pre-modern bubbles of ritual, isolated community, and centralized authority.” (06/05/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/ais-facelessness-risks-soullessnessand
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31) The Curse of Being a Historian
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis
“I’m sorry, folks. I really, truly wish I could be an optimist. I wish I could write positive articles, telling us that America’s golden days are yet to come, that a bright and shining tomorrow awaits our nation, and the reasons are A, B, C, X, Y, Z. I sincerely wish I could do that. But I’m a historian, and as much as that, a student of the Bible. I have degrees in both subjects, have taught both for literally half a century, and have written thousands of articles in each field. I confess, such tends to make me cynical. But maybe, just maybe, America’s best days do still lie ahead of her; I’m a historian, not a prophet. Yet, to be perfectly honest with you, I don’t have a lot of hope, and history is the reason why.” (06/06/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/06/06/the-curse-of-being-a-historian-n2677332
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32) The Myth of the K-Shaped Economy
Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato
“The corporate press has a new obsession, the so-called K-shaped economy. This metaphor is meant to describe a system in which one group of people, represented by the top, inclining line of the K, watches their fortunes rise as the other group’s fortunes fall. The idea is that Americans who are already doing well financially are doing better, while conditions worsen for those already struggling to make ends meet. The problem is that when we use this letter K shorthand, we lose almost all of the information that’s important to analyzing the broader problem, and we therefore help an extremely concentrated ruling class hide the truth of what has happened.” (06/05/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/05/the-myth-of-the-k-shaped-economy/
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33) Without a US-Iran Peace Deal, World Headed for Energy Crisis Apocalypse
Source: Informed Comment
by Juan Cole
“The International Energy Agency has made its May report free to download, and the news is not good for the second and third quarters of this year, i.e. April-September. The IEA hopes things will look up in the fourth quarter, but premises that expectation on an early end to the US conflict with Iran and a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. At the moment (June 5, 2026), there does not seem much movement on that front, and in fact the US and Iran are not only skirmishing with one another but Iran is making good its threat to hurt US allies like Bahrain and Kuwait every time the US hurts Iran. One was killed and dozens injured in Kuwait on Wednesday by Iranian Shahed drone barrages that also damaged the airport. Kuwait Airlines shut down briefly but is now flying from a different terminal; it is the only carrier flying from Kuwait.” (06/05/26)
https://www.juancole.com/2026/06/operational-without-hormuz.html
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34) Ayn Rand’s Italian Debut
Source: Law & Liberty
by Robert Steven Mack
“If Zohran Mamdani intended to come across as an Ayn Rand villain when he pledged to ‘“replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,’ he succeeded. Unfortunately, socialism continues to appeal to young people on the left, as both parties jettison free market principles. If there is one author who has inspired young people to think differently about these big ideas, it is Ayn Rand, who is remembered as the author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. While the philosophical system she created, Objectivism, remains at the fringe of culture and academia, her moral defence of capitalism has inspired figures such as former Speaker Paul Ryan and former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan. Yet one of her lesser-known books, We the Living, deserves more attention than it gets.” (06/05/26)
https://lawliberty.org/ayn-rands-italian-debut/
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35) How misology stole our humanity
Source: UnHerd
by Jacob Howland
“Man, Nietzsche wrote, is ‘the unfinished animal.’ He meant that nature goes only so far in shaping human beings. We become who we are through the distinctively human capacity to produce and understand speech. That’s why Aristotle called us the animal that possesses logos, whose meanings include everything from word to speech, thought to reason, order to logic, proportion to account. This extraordinary semantic richness tries to capture the manifold articulate intelligence that makes us human — an intelligence that, in the first instance, answers to the nature and shape of things as they present themselves to our minds. But today, logos — and therefore our humanity — is under intellectual, political, technological attack. It’s not that people have stopped talking. Rather, the difference between speech and what Aristotle called ‘voice’ (phōnē) — the verbal expression not of reason, thought, and judgment, but emotion — is rapidly being effaced.” (06/05/26)
https://archive.is/axdnI
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36) The Shocking Damage Caused by Covid Policies
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Ian Miller
“The Covid lockdowns may not have been remotely effective, but at least they harmed millions of people and created long-lasting negative impacts that we’re still dealing with today. That’s the conclusion of a massive new body of research into the nonsensical policies promoted by the public health ‘expert’ class, promoted by their media partners, and enacted by incompetent, cowardly politicians.” (06/05/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-shocking-damage-caused-by-covid-policies/
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37) Henry Nowak’s murder exposes Britain’s dangerous two-tier justice system
Source: Fox News
by Simon Hankinson
“Before George Floyd, before Michael Brown, there was Trayvon Martin. Back in 2012, the 17-year-old was shot and killed during a struggle with another young man in a Florida gated community. The tragedy that day was discussed in the national media and eventually adjudicated in a court of law. When the trial was over, President Barack Obama said, ‘When Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son.’ In December, an 18-year-old college student was stabbed by another young man in Southampton, England. The victim’s name was Henry Nowak. The American press ignored the story. The British press and politicians largely did too. Like Obama, I thought, this could have been my son.” (06/06/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/henry-nowaks-killing-exposes-britains-dangerous-two-tier-justice-system
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38) How Bari Weiss’s Free Press laundered MAGA talking points about refugees
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko
“Of course, Weiss understands perfectly well the moment we’re in. She knows she wasn’t put in charge of CBS News because of her skeptical nature or keen journalistic eye. She was put in charge because she has shown that she can leverage a carefully crafted image as an iconoclast and teller of truths to launder MAGA propaganda so that it’s more palatable to centrists. She was put in charge because the Ellisons need Trump’s blessing for their mega merger – and if ever there was a favor tailor-made to win Trump’s approval, it’s kneecapping a major news network and toppling one of the last remaining pillars of broadcast journalism in the process. Weiss has positioned herself and her publications as bold disruptors, then leveraged that image to legitimize some of Trump’s worst rhetoric and policies. And few issues better demonstrate that pattern than immigration.” (06/05/26)
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/how-bari-weisss-free-press-laundered
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39) Why Those in Political Power Are in a Hurry
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Richard M Ebeling
“Those in political power always seem to be in a hurry. It is not surprising that their time horizons for ‘action’ never extend more than a few years ahead of them, though for different reasons. If it is a dictatorship, the tyrant in power can never be sure when an assassin’s bullet might cut his life short, or if some of his ‘loyal’ followers may be conspiring to overthrow him and replace him with one of their own. … why is it the case that in America today (and in most other modern democratic countries), those who hold political office seem so much in a hurry with short-term horizons guiding their actions, in their own way similar to dictatorships?” (06/05/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/why-those-in-political-power-are-in-a-hurry/
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40) War, Arrogance, and the Unraveling of US Power
Source: Antiwar.com
by Nii Lantey Bortey
“The United States is not approaching collapse because it lacks power. It is approaching collapse because it has too often mistaken power for wisdom. Its armed forces remain unmatched in reach, its financial system remains central to global commerce, and its technology sector continues to shape the future. Yet these advantages can conceal a more dangerous condition: the erosion of judgment. A superpower begins to decay when it treats coercion as strategy, military reach as political authority, and exemption from rules as evidence of strength. The result is not immediate collapse, but a cumulative weakening of legitimacy, fiscal discipline, institutional trust, and strategic clarity.” (06/05/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/nii_lantey_bortey/2026/06/04/war-arrogance-and-the-unraveling-of-us-power
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41) Congress Must End Ticketmaster’s Monopoly
Source: Common Dreams
by Joe Garcia
“If you’ve ever been to a concert or sporting event, you’ve probably dealt with Ticketmaster. And if you have, you’ve probably overpaid. Ticketmaster is the closest thing the live events industry has to a monopoly. It controls the ticketing market at most major American venues and has used that power to squeeze fans with higher prices and limit competition, ultimately making live entertainment more expensive for everyone. That is why recent legal action against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, was so encouraging. A jury ruled in April that it is an operating illegal monopoly. Remedies will follow; the question is when. Fans should not have to skip seeing their favorite band, team, or performer because a monopolistic corporation has found another way to extract money from them.” (06/06/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/congress-ticketmaster
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42) Section 301 “Forced Labor” Tariffs Would Dangerously Expand Executive Power
Source: The Daily Economy
by Bryan Riley
“The White House has yet another rationale for tariffs, and it’s another attack on the separation of powers.” (06/05/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/section-301-forced-labor-tariffs-would-dangerously-expand-executive-power/
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43) Goodbye To All That
Source: Persuasion
by Harry Cheadle
“I don’t know if anyone but me noticed, but digital media died last month. In mid-May, a media mogul named Byron Allen bought a majority stake in BuzzFeed, which has been culturally invisible and financially struggling since shutting down its news division in 2023 and pivoting to AI content. Just weeks later, Vox Media, a collection of brands including New York Magazine, sold its more valuable properties to Lupa Systems CEO James Murdoch, the younger son of Rupert Murdoch. Companies like Vice and Vox were hailed as the future of media in the 2010s, standard-bearers of a new generation of youth-focused, internet-savvy publications that would take over from the New York Times and CNN.” (06/05/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/a-requiem-for-the-digital-media-era
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44) Bravo, Bezos!
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“When an American businessman defends the large fortunes made — that is, earned — in the marketplace, it’s something to celebrate. Jeff Bezos, the creator and head of Amazon.com, did just that in a recent wide-ranging interview on CNBC’s Squawk Pod with host Andrew Ross Sorkin on May 20, 2026. While his remarks on political philosophy did not go far enough in defending the morality of money-making, they went farther than anything we have heard from a businessman in quite some time, if ever. In this age of rampant anti-rich bigotry — when prominent politicians, darlings of much of the old and new media, say that should not exist — Bezos’s remarks are refreshing indeed.” (06/05/26)
https://sheldonrichman.substack.com/p/tgif-bravo-bezos
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45) Democrats’ Supreme Court threat puts the United States in mortal danger
Source: New York Post
by Rich Lowry
“In 2016, the conservative writer Michael Anton made a galvanizing case for Donald Trump in his famous essay ‘The Flight 93 Election,’ arguing that the stakes in the presidential contest between Trump and Hillary Clinton were existential. His contention that a Clinton win would cement Democratic electoral dominance forever — such that Republicans needed to charge the cockpit or die — was implausible at the time, and seems more so in retrospect. If Hillary had won in 2016, in all likelihood she would have been gone in 2020, washed away by the pandemic just like Trump was. This time, though, really might be different. Democrats are now seriously contemplating measures that wouldn’t have occurred to Hillary Clinton circa 2016. Endorsing some version of Supreme Court packing (or ‘court reform’ as Democrats insist on calling it) is becoming orthodoxy among mainstream Democrats.” (06/05/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/06/05/opinion/democrats-supreme-court-threat-puts-the-us-in-mortal-danger/
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46) The Nerve of Some People
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“‘Police warn families of Tiananmen crackdown dead not to visit graves on 37th anniversary,’ reads the headline of yesterday’s story in New York’s Newsday. How rude of those families! How dare they show such utter disregard for the right of the Chinese Communist Party to ‘grind you up and crush your bones!’ Or to have your ‘heads bashed bloody,’ as CCP top Pooh Bear Xi Jinping has more recently been fond of saying. Especially after all the trouble Xi and Chinese authorities have gone to easing all this unnecessary tension by facilitating a thoughtful and therapeutic four-decade ‘campaign to erase what happened from public memory.'” (06/05/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/06/05/the-nerve-of-some-people/
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47) It’s My Party and I’ll Die If I Want To
Source: Quillette
by Rosalind Arden
“The most consequential weakness of philosopher and journalist Kathleen Stock’s new polemic against assisted dying is its failure to engage with the empirical record.” (06/05/26)
https://quillette.com/2026/06/05/its-my-party-and-ill-die-if-i-want-to-do-not-go-gentle-the-case-against-assisted-death-kathleen-stock-review/
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48) The Wages of Economic Warfare
Source: The American Conservative
by Anik Joshi
“The traditional blowback from Middle Eastern adventures has been in terms of refugee inflows and a less stable, more risky MENA region that produces knock-on effects across the European political frame. Going beyond destabilizing Europe to destabilizing the entire world as a function of Middle Eastern wars is unlikely to win converts to the Western cause, unless they share its dedication to their own destruction.” (06/05/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-wages-of-economic-warfare/
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49) Can Democrats Learn From the 2024 Loss?
Source: The American Prospect
by Dylan Gyauch-Lewis
“After months of speculation and anger, the Democratic National Committee finally released its autopsy of the party’s loss in the 2024 presidential election just before Memorial Day weekend. Despite pledging to release the document publicly when first elected to lead the Democratic Party’s organizational arm in early 2025, DNC Chair Ken Martin reversed course in December of last year, announcing that the report would not be published. Why? Some speculated it was merely a way for party insiders to avoid accountability for their failures; many others that it showed Kamala Harris lost because of her refusal to disavow Joe Biden’s policy toward Israel. As it turns out, the coverup was due to a much more banal and embarrassing reason: Martin’s friend whom he hired to complete the report turned in a pile of garbage.” (06/05/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/06/05/can-democrats-learn-from-2024-loss-biden-harris-dnc/
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50) Social Constructs and Spontaneous Order
Source: EconLog
by Max Molden
“‘Social construction’ is prominent: we are told in various places that this or that is a ‘social construct’: think of gender, race, or money. One book that played a central role in the emergence of that concept is Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann’s 1966 The Social Construction of Reality. That work can proudly claim more than 90,000 citations as of today — only in its English version, that is. Its influence within sociology, and then beyond, is thus enormous. … social constructivism shares roots with Austrian school thinking. Somewhere along the way, however, a fine but crucial distinction has been blurred within social constructivist thought.” (06/05/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/social-constructs-and-spontaneous-order
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Serious Trouble, 06/05/26
Source: Serious Trouble
“Those 35 retired judges are bending Judge Kathleen Williams’s ear; Randolph Moss 86’es the National Park Service’s 86ing of 8647 signage; is it illegal to text Shrek’s dick to a State Senator?” (06/05/26)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/this-shrek-film-was-not-in-theaters
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52) Rising, 06/05/26
Source: The Hill
“Lindsey Granger gives her lens on President Trump being dealt several blows this week, including from a judge who said it must remove Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center, and from the House which passed a War Powers resolution.” (06/05/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/5903633-rising-june-5-2026/
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53) The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan, 06/05/26
Source: The Weekly Dish
“Ben Rhodes On Iran, Israel, And America.” (06/05/26)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/ben-rhodes-on-iran-israel-and-america
-----
54) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 06/05/26
Source: Show-Me Institute
“Missouri’s Path to Eliminating the Income Tax with Elias Tsapelas.” (06/05/26)
https://showmeinstitute.org/article/economy/missouris-path-to-eliminating-the-income-tax-with-elias-tsapelas/
-----
55) Sal and Mark, episode 6
Source: Free Talk Live
“Sal and Mark are back for episode six, fresh off a month of travels — Bitcoin Vegas, Consensus Miami, and BCH Bliss in Slovenia.” (06/05/26)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/samep6
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56) Fountainhead Forum, episode 455
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Mark Rutherford on building a good Libertarian Party.” (06/05/26)
https://rumble.com/v7au07u-ff-455-mark-rutherford-on-building-a-good-libertarian-party.html
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57) The Climate Realism Show, episode 204
Source: Heartland Institute
“Summer has arrived in Europe a little early this year and alarmists in the media say it’s unprecedented, dangerous, all because of climate change. But what if it is not our fault? What if it’s not all that unusual? We will sweat the details.” (06/05/26)
https://heartland.org/podcasts/europe-boils-the-climate-realism-show-204/
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58) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 06/05/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“The Economic Implications of the Iran War | Phillip Patrick.” (06/05/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1RJjppokAYLKw
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59) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 06/05/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Rages Over Iran Setbacks as Leaks Reveal His Seething Obama Envy.” (06/05/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/211400/trump-rages-iran-setbacks-leaks-reveal-seething-obama-envy
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60) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2767
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“What the New Fed Chair Means for Your Pocketbook.” (06/05/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2767-what-the-new-fed-chair-means-for-your-pocketbook/
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