08/11 -- Palestine: Israeli troops murder six journalists in targeted Gaza attack; The Moral Cost of Modern Transplant Medicine
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Thomas L. Knapp
Aug 11, 2025, 6:19:51 AMAug 11
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 08/11/25
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Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Palestine: Israeli troops murder six journalists in targeted Gaza attack
2) DC: Senile golf cheater whines for eviction of homeless
3) Russia: Three killed as Ukrainian drones shot down “en route to Moscow”
4) US DOJ subpoenas New York’s James over claims she violated Trump’s civil rights
5) UK: Regime thugs abduct at least 365 for protesting Gaza genocide
6) Israel: Thousands march against Netanyahu’s plan to escalate Gaza war
7) NYC: Cuomo calls out Mamdani over rent-stabilized apartment
8) White House to hold press conference on crime in DC on Monday, Trump says
9) TX: sues to remove 13 absent Democrats from office
10) Ahead of a planned Putin-Trump summit, Russia & Ukraine hold fast to their demands
11) Portugal: Top Court Blocks Bill Restricting Immigration
12) GA: CDC shooter believed COVID vaccine made him suicidal
13) Trump regime seeks $1 billion bribe from UCLA
14) Report: Trump to consider reclassifying marijuana as less dangerous drug
15) Armenians and Azerbaijanis greet US-brokered peace deal with hope but also caution
16) Trump removes Long as IRS commissioner, nominates him as ambassador to Iceland
17) Putin gives Trump envoy award for CIA official’s son killed fighting in Ukraine
18) Uganda: Court denies bail to political prisoner
19) Trump executive order gives politicians control over all federal grants, alarming researchers
20) WV: Homeowner shoots, kills armed intruder
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) The Moral Cost of Modern Transplant Medicine
22) There’s a Cheap, Effective Way to Reduce Pedestrian Fatalities. Florida’s Government Prefers the Fatalities.
23) The Most Corrupt Government in the West
24) Trump’s 39% Tariff on Gold: Revenue Grab or Prelude to Revaluation?
25) Trump’s terms for Russia-Ukraine on the right course for peace
26) For Eurasian foes, peace over reprisal
27) Canada is trespassing on the States
28) Interesting Facts About the Cocoa Market
29) Debating Israel Supporters Is Pointless, Because They Don’t Care About Facts Or Morality
30) Gerrymandering Is Normal
31) Dershowitz takes on pierogi politics, and Leftist [sic] hypocrisy
32) The Case for China’s Strength
33) Trump’s Worst Crimes, Dangers & Destructions Are Yet to Come
34) So, About Those Big Trade Deals
35) Remembering a Nameless Warrior
36) How (Not) to Shrink the State
37) Well, 249 Years Was A Pretty Good Run …
38) Keynes Wasn’t Wrong About Everything
39) Do Americans still need [sic] public [sic] media?
40) Why Zelensky Should Fear His Own Former General
41) Private Prisons Cash In on Trump’s Mass Deportations
42) Five ways to stop the onrushing debt disaster. All long shots, alas.
43) DOGE Is Overpromising on Deregulation
44) Making the World Freer with Homemade Guns
45) Trump is right: US census is a disgrace, but rushing a new one is worse
46) Socialist Confusion
47) Heavy Machinery and Patriotic Demolition in the Service of Genocide
48) The gerrymander wars are just beginning
49) GOP Attack “Idle” Poor, But Real Freeloaders Are the Rich [sic]
50) Free Troy Lake
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Foundations of Liberty, episode 1
52) Tony Aguilar on
53) Unattended Baggage, episode 305
54) The Good Fight, 08/09/25
55) Anarcho Agenda, episode 141
56) Quillette Podcast, episode 297
57) The Fifth Column, episode 518
58) The Intercept Briefing, 08/08/25
59) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/08/25
60) The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan, 08/08/25
61) System Update, episode 500
62) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2678
63) Autocracy in America, 08/08/25
64) Freakonomics Radio, 08/08/25
65) Rising, 08/08/25
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Palestine: Israeli troops murder six journalists in targeted Gaza attack
Source: Deadline
“Five Al Jazeera journalists were killed today by an Israeli airstrike near Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital. Among them was prominent Arabic correspondent and frontline news reporter Anas al-Sharif, who — alongside Bisan Owda — received Amnesty International’s Human Rights Defender Award in December of last year. Colleague Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa were also killed, the network said. Two additional people were also killed, including a journalist from another outlet. … According to multiple media outlets, Israeli military said it targeted al-Sharif specifically, claiming he ‘served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas’ and ‘was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops.'” (08/10/25)
https://deadline.com/2025/08/five-al-jazeera-journalists-killed-israel-anas-al-sharif-1236483281/
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2) DC: Senile golf cheater whines for eviction of homeless
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“In a social media post on Sunday, Donald Trump has demanded homeless residents of Washington DC leave the country’s capital or face eviction, and again promised to use federal officers to jail criminals, even though violent crime in the city was at a 30-year low when he took office in January. ‘The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Sunday morning, shortly after being driven from the White House to his golf club in Virginia. ‘We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital.’ The post was illustrated with four photographs, all apparently taken from the president’s motorcade along the route from the White House to his golf course.” (08/10/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/10/trump-homeless-golf-course-washington-dc
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3) Russia: Three killed as Ukrainian drones shot down “en route to Moscow”
Source: Sky News [UK]
“Three people were killed in Russia by Ukrainian attacks overnight, local authorities have reported, with Russian drones also striking Ukraine. It comes ahead of Donald Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday.” (08/11/25)
https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-latest-putin-trump-meeting-alaska-summit-zelenskyy-russia-nato-missiles-talks-ceasefire-12541713
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4) US DOJ subpoenas New York’s James over claims she violated Trump’s civil rights
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The US justice department has filed a subpoena ordering New York Attorney General Letitia James to testify about her civil fraud investigation into President Donald Trump, sources have told US media. James won a civil case against Trump in 2023 – before he returned to office – that accused him of overvaluing his properties in order to take out loans with favourable terms. He is currently appealing against the judgment. No charges have been filed against James. Both her office and Trump argue the other has abused their investigative powers. James’ office has also received another subpoena regarding her investigation of the National Rifle Association, according to CBS, the BBC’s US partner. The investigation into James is being led by the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, CBS reports.” (08/09/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0qwp9n1qqo
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5) UK: Regime thugs abduct at least 365 for protesting Gaza genocide
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Police in London arrested at least 365 people Saturday for supporting Palestine Action at the latest and largest protest backing the group since the government banned it last month under anti-terror laws. The Metropolitan Police said it made the hundreds of arrests, thought to be one of the highest ever at a single protest in the UK capital, for ‘supporting a proscribed organisation.’ It also arrested seven for other offences including assaults on officers, though none were seriously injured, it added. The government outlawed Palestine Action in early July days after it took responsibility for a break-in at an air force base in southern England that caused an estimated £7 million ($9.3 million) of damage to two aircraft.” (08/09/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250809-uk-arrests-200-backing-banned-pro-palestine-group
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6) Israel: Thousands march against Netanyahu’s plan to escalate Gaza war
Source: Politico
“Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Israel to protest against the Netanyahu government’s plan to expand its military operation in the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced sharp criticism at home and abroad after announcing that the Israeli military would seize Gaza City. The full Cabinet was expected to give its approval to the escalation as soon as Sunday. Families of hostages were among the protesters amid new fears over the 50 remaining captives, with 20 of them thought to be alive, held by the militant group Hamas, according to media reports.” (08/10/25)
https://www.politico.eu/article/protesters-in-israel-march-against-netanyahus-plan-to-escalate-gaza-war/
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7) NYC: Cuomo calls out Mamdani over rent-stabilized apartment
Source: Fox News
“Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo slammed Big Apple mayoral opponent Zohran Mamdani Friday for living in a rent-stabilized apartment, despite being ‘very rich.’ ‘Somewhere last night in New York City, a single mother and her children slept at a homeless shelter because you, assemblyman [Zohran Mamdani], are occupying her rent-controlled apartment,’ Cuomo posted to X on Friday along with a video of the lawmaker saying his monthly rent totals $2,300. Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary to Mamdani but is taking him on again as an independent in the general election, called on his opponent to surrender his apartment to someone more deserving of a subsidy. He cited Mamdani’s affluent upbringing, more than six-figure income and international property ownership. Cuomo also noted Mamdani’s wife is employed — driving their household income even higher.” (08/09/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cuomo-calls-nyc-mayoral-candidate-mamdani-alleged-rent-stabilized-apartment-move-immediately
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8) White House to hold press conference on crime in DC on Monday, Trump says
Source: Reuters
“U.S. President Donald Trump said a press conference will be held at the White House on Monday to address the crime in Washington, D.C. ‘On Monday a Press Conference will be held at the White House which will, essentially, stop violent crime in Washington, D.C. It has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World,’ Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Trump said on August 6 he may use the National Guard to police the streets of Washington, D.C., the latest threat by the administration toward taking over the running the city that serves as the seat of the U.S. government.” (08/09/25)
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-hold-press-conference-crime-dc-monday-trump-says-2025-08-09/
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9) TX: sues to remove 13 absent Democrats from office
Source: Washington Post
“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) asked the state’s high court Friday to expel 13 Democratic lawmakers who fled Texas this week in an effort to prevent the GOP-controlled legislature from redrawing congressional district maps to create five new safe seats for Republicans. Paxton’s office said in a news release that he was focusing on 13 of the more than 50 Democrats who left the state because they had made ‘incriminating public statements regarding their refusal to return’ to the Texas Capitol. Democrats called the lawsuit baseless, saying Republicans were trying to undermine the will of voters by removing them from office.” (08/09/25)
https://archive.is/HBq6S
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10) Ahead of a planned Putin-Trump summit, Russia & Ukraine hold fast to their demands
Source: SFGate
“The threats, pressure and ultimatums have come and gone, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has maintained Moscow’s uncompromising demands in the war in Ukraine, raising fears he could use a planned summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska to coerce Kyiv into accepting an unfavorable deal. The maximalist demands reflect Putin’s determination to reach the goals he set when he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Putin sees a possible meeting with Trump as a chance to negotiate a broad deal that would not only cement Russia’s territorial gains but also keep Ukraine from joining NATO and hosting any Western troops, allowing Moscow to gradually pull the country back into its orbit.” (08/09/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/russia-and-ukraine-hold-fast-to-their-demands-20810621.php
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11) Portugal: Top Court Blocks Bill Restricting Immigration
Source: US News & World Report
“Portugal’s Constitutional Court has blocked a bill approved by the right-wing parliamentary majority that was designed to limit the inflow of immigrants, citing obstacles it creates for family members in joining immigrants legally resident in Portugal. Immediately after late Friday’s decision, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa sent the bill back to parliament, which is on recess until September. Last month, the president told the court to check the document for potential infringements of the principles of equality, proportionality and legal security. … The court ruled that the bill was ‘likely to lead to the separation of family members’ of foreign citizens legally resident in Portugal, which it said would be a ‘violation of the rights enshrined in the constitution.'” (08/09/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-08-09/portugals-top-court-blocks-bill-restricting-immigration
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12) GA: CDC shooter believed COVID vaccine made him suicidal
Source: SFGate
“A Georgia man who opened fire on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters, shooting dozens of rounds into the sprawling complex and killing a police officer, had blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Saturday. The 30-year-old shooter also tried to get into the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta but was stopped by guards before driving to a pharmacy across the street and opening fire late Friday afternoon, the official said. He was armed with five guns, including at least one long gun, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation. DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was mortally wounded while responding.” (08/09/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/georgia-authorities-identify-suspect-in-cdc-20810084.php
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13) Trump regime seeks $1 billion bribe from UCLA
Source: CNN
“The Trump administration is seeking a $1 billion settlement from the University of California, Los Angeles, CNN has exclusively learned, marking the latest effort by the White House to shape higher education and extract significant concessions from universities. … A draft of a proposed agreement sent to the school Friday and obtained by CNN requires UCLA to pay the federal government $1 billion over multiple installments, along with a $172 million claims fund for people impacted by violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.” (08/08/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/08/politics/ucla-trump-administration-settlement
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14) Report: Trump to consider reclassifying marijuana as less dangerous drug
Source: Fox News
“President Donald Trump is weighing whether to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, according to a report. Trump told attendees at a $1 million-a-plate fundraiser at his New Jersey golf club earlier this month he was interested in making a change to the plant’s classification, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. This comes after cannabis companies have committed millions of dollars to the president’s political groups, according to the report. The guests at Trump’s fundraiser included Kim Rivers, chief executive of Trulieve, one of the largest marijuana companies. Rivers urged the president to make the change and expand medical marijuana research, the newspaper noted. The potential move to remove marijuana from the list of Schedule I controlled substances and make it a Schedule III drug would make it significantly easier to buy and sell cannabis and make the industry more profitable.” (08/09/25)
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/trump-considers-reclassifying-marijuana-less-dangerous-drug
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15) Armenians and Azerbaijanis greet US-brokered peace deal with hope but also caution
Source: SFGate
“Residents and politicians in Armenia and Azerbaijan responded Saturday with cautious hope — and skepticism in some cases — after their leaders signed a U.S.-brokered agreement at the White House aimed at ending decades of hostilities. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed the agreement on Friday in the presence of U.S. President Donald Trump, who stood between the leaders as they shook hands — a gesture Trump reinforced by clasping their hands together. While the agreement does not constitute a formal peace treaty, it represents a significant diplomatic step toward normalization of relations. The two countries remain technically at war, and the deal does not resolve the longstanding dispute over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. It does, however, reflect the shifting power dynamics following Azerbaijan’s 2023 military victory, which forced the withdrawal of Armenian forces and ethnic Armenians from the region.” (08/09/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/armenians-and-azerbaijanis-greet-us-brokered-20810261.php
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16) Trump removes Long as IRS commissioner, nominates him as ambassador to Iceland
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“President Donald Trump has removed former U.S. Rep. Billy Long as IRS commissioner less than two months after his confirmation, a White House official said Friday. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, spoke on condition of anonymity. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will serve as acting commissioner, the official said. Long will instead serve as ambassador to Iceland, Long said in a statement on the social media site X. … Long will be the the shortest-tenured IRS commissioner confirmed by the Senate since the position was created in 1862.” (08/08/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/08/08/trump-irs-commissioner/
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17) Putin gives Trump envoy award for CIA official’s son killed fighting in Ukraine
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“President Vladimir Putin has presented US President Donald Trump’s special envoy with an award to pass on to a senior CIA official whose son was killed fighting with Russia in Ukraine. Putin gave the Order of Lenin to Steve Witkoff during his trip to Moscow this week to discuss a plan to end the Ukraine war, sources familiar with the matter told the BBC’s US partner CBS. Michael Gloss, 21, who was killed in Ukraine last year, was the son of Juliane Gallina, who is the CIA’s deputy director for digital innovation. Reports of the award emerged as it was confirmed that Trump and Putin will meet in Alaska next Friday to discuss the future of the war in Ukraine. Neither the Kremlin nor Russian foreign ministry has publicly acknowledged posthumously bestowing the Order of Lenin, a Soviet-era award recognising outstanding civilian service, on Gloss.” (08/09/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04rd19e5epo
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18) Uganda: Court denies bail to political prisoner
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A Ugandan judge has refused to grant bail to veteran opposition figure Kizza Besigye, who has been in jail for nearly nine months on treason charges. Judge Emmanuel Baguma said on Friday that the 180-day maximum period before mandatory bail is granted only began when he was remanded in the civilian court on February 21, which means he falls short by 12 days to meet the requirements to secure bail. His lawyers argued he should be automatically released on bail because he has spent more than 180 days in jail without his trial starting. The case has raised concerns among government critics, including opposition leader Bobi Wine and rights groups, about a crackdown ahead of Uganda’s national election early next year in which President Yoweri Museveni, 80, is seeking re-election.” (08/09/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/9/uganda-court-denies-bail-to-opposition-leader-kizza-besigye-in-treason-case
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19) Trump executive order gives politicians control over all federal grants, alarming researchers
Source: SFGate
“An executive order signed by President Donald Trump late Thursday aims to give political appointees power over the billions of dollars in grants awarded by federal agencies. Scientists say it threatens to undermine the process that has helped make the U.S. the world leader in research and development. The order requires all federal agencies, including FEMA, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, to appoint officials responsible for reviewing federal funding opportunities and grants, so that they ‘are consistent with agency priorities and the national interest’. It also requires agencies to make it so that current and future federal grants can be terminated at any time — including during the grant period itself. Agencies cannot announce new funding opportunities until the new protocols are in place, according to the order.” (08/08/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/trump-executive-order-gives-politicians-control-20809475.php
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20) WV: Homeowner shoots, kills armed intruder
Source: WCHS TV
“An armed man was fatally shot by a homeowner after he was found inside a home in Kanawha County on Friday, deputies said. The incident was reported just before 12:30 p.m. in the 300 block of Lick Branch Road in the Rocky Fork area, according to the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies said the homeowner was approached by the man, who was allegedly armed with a knife and a baseball bat, when he went to enter the home. A physical altercation eventually spread to the yard where the homeowner shot the man, deputies said. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.” (08/08/25)
https://wchstv.com/news/local/deputies-ems-on-scene-of-reported-shooting-in-kanawha-county
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) The Moral Cost of Modern Transplant Medicine
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Joseph Varon
“Organ transplantation is, in theory, one of the great achievements of modern medicine. When practiced ethically and transparently, it has saved countless lives. But like so many institutions corrupted by profit and policy, it has drifted far from its original mission. In 2024 alone, over 45,000 organ transplants were performed in the United States. That number should inspire hope — but instead, it invites scrutiny. A substantial portion of those organs were harvested under ethically ambiguous conditions, including donation after circulatory death (DCD) and questionable determinations of brain death. The line between patient and donor is blurrin — and not in a way that honors either.” (08/09/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-moral-cost-of-modern-transplant-medicine/
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22) There’s a Cheap, Effective Way to Reduce Pedestrian Fatalities. Florida’s Government Prefers the Fatalities.
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“On August 7, the Gainesville, Florida city commission voted to make three pedestrian crosswalks less visible, and the pedestrians using them less safe, under threat of funding cuts from Florida’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency.’ Why does Florida DOGE want to put Gainesville residents at higher risk of injury or death? If you have to ask why, the answer is usually ‘money,’ and saving money sounds like a reasonable focus for a ‘government efficiency’ project. But that’s not the case here. The costs of painting the crosswalks were borne by a local non-profit. The costs of making the crosswalks less safe will be borne by the taxpayers Florida DOGE supposedly works for. The real answer is ‘politics.'” (08/09/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/19863
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23) The Most Corrupt Government in the West
Source: Quillette
by Benny Morris
“Netanyahu launched his anti-judiciary campaign — which, in Orwellian fashion, he has dubbed ‘judicial reform’ — three years ago, following the start of his trial on charges that include bribery and fraud and that, if convicted, could land him in jail. Since the Attorney-General has the power to end the legal proceedings, by replacing Baharav-Miara with a personal stooge, Netanyahu could escape prison. Many Israelis view the behaviour of the Netanyahu family over the years, and especially since the start of the current war, as symptomatic of the corruption of the country’s norms and values. The family has spent millions of dollars of treasury money on renovations to their private residences in Jerusalem and Caesarea, citing ‘security requirements.’ And then there is the behaviour of Netanyahu’s two sons: Yair (aged 35) and Avner (aged 30).” (08/09/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/08/09/the-most-corrupt-government-in-the-west-israel-netanyahu/
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24) Trump’s 39% Tariff on Gold: Revenue Grab or Prelude to Revaluation?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Peter C Earle
“The new levy rattled global markets, but that may be just the beginning. History teaches us to be wary when the government targets gold.” (08/08/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/trumps-39-tariff-on-gold-revenue-grab-or-prelude-to-revaluation/
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25) Trump’s terms for Russia-Ukraine on the right course for peace
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Eldar Mamedov
“The Trump administration has reportedly taken an essential step towards a peace settlement in Ukraine. It has stopped calling for an unconditional early ceasefire — which the Russians have always rejected — and instead offered concrete and detailed terms to Moscow. If as reported these terms include recognition of the Russian annexation of Crimea and the Donbas, this makes excellent sense. It has been obvious since the failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in 2023 that Ukraine cannot recover these territories either by force or through negotiation.” (08/09/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-putin-alaska/
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26) For Eurasian foes, peace over reprisal
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“In one troubled region of Eurasia, the cause of peace and progress received a boost Friday. A framework for a peace deal signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House will set these longtime enemies on a path of cooperation. Under the pledge, Armenia is giving up a narrow sliver of land to create the Zangezur corridor, allowing Azerbaijan a transit link to its territory of Nakhichevan and, beyond that, to Turkey. In an unexpected twist, the United States will develop this corridor under a 99-year lease, which can help avoid the appearance of Armenia ceding territory to Azerbaijan. Yet a deeper significance than trade lies in the pact. Both of these former Soviet republics, sandwiched between Russia, Iran, and Turkey, have found common strength in trying to avoid the kind of big-power politics that have shaped their past.” (08/08/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0808/For-Eurasian-foes-peace-over-reprisal
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27) Canada is trespassing on the States
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“One principle of environmental science and engineering is that air and water pollution are a form of trespass. When you intentionally or accidentally allow contaminants in the air or water that leaves your property to cross into someone else’s property. You are committing a trespass, and can be held legally liable for the consequences. Just like you could if your dog pooped on the neighbor’s lawn, or that same dog pulled over your trash can and scattered trash into the street and your neighbor’s yards.” (08/09/25)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2025/08/09/canada-is-trespassing-on-the-states/
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28) Interesting Facts About the Cocoa Market
Source: EconLog
by Pierre Lemieux
“Two-thirds of the world supply of cocoa beans comes from [Ghana and Ivory Coast]. The official deal was to protect the farmers against price fluctuations on the world market. The real deal probably aimed to allow each state to establish a monopsony of the domestic cocoa production: it could then pay the farmers less than the world price, resell the beans on the world market, and use the difference to subsidize the urban elite. With a world price of cocoa that reached $10,000 per ton (now down to about $7,000) over the last year and a half, the price paid to farmers only crept up, with a lag, from $1,000 to between $3,000 and $5,000. An economist won’t be surprised. … In underdeveloped countries like Ghana and Ivory Coast, where farmers represent the bulk of the active population, they are typically exploited by the concentrated interests of urban and government elites.” (08/08/25)
https://www.econlib.org/interesting-facts-about-the-cocoa-market
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29) Debating Israel Supporters Is Pointless, Because They Don’t Care About Facts Or Morality
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“If you follow me on Twitter you’ve probably seen me engaging with Israel supporters to address their arguments, but please don’t take this as a suggestion that engaging with Israel supporters is a good idea generally. It isn’t. I engage Zionists online in order to make sure their hasbara damages Israel more than it helps it by using their comments to show everyone that these people always lie about everything, and to familiarize myself with the hasbara talking points of the day so that I can attack them. I do this because I’m a visible figure who writes about this stuff every day for a living, and I’ve found a very energy-efficient strategy for doing so which doesn’t consume too much of my time and focus. For most people there’s no good reason to ever engage these freaks at all.” (08/10/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/08/10/debating-israel-supporters-is-pointless-because-they-dont-care-about-facts-or-morality/
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30) Gerrymandering Is Normal
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Gerrymandering is a fact of political life in many Republican states and in many Democratic states. Democrats did not complain about it very much until Republicans had the bad manners to get good at it, in part by doing one of the most un-Republican things Republicans have ever done: embracing technological innovation and surpassing the Democrats’ efforts to apply it to their political interests. Should Texas Republicans forbear using their power to redraw the map to fortify their party’s position in the House? Maybe. And maybe those ethanol bastards shouldn’t lean on legislators to write fixed demand for their bulls–t corn juice into the law. And maybe California Democrats should organize public education in a way that puts students’ interests over those of public-sector union goons. There is a whole galaxy there in the word should.” (08/08/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/gerrymandering-redistricting-texas-democrats/
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31) Dershowitz takes on pierogi politics, and Leftist [sic] hypocrisy
Source: Fox News Forum
by Jonathan Turley
“Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz appears to be living through a remake of the Seinfeld Soup Nazi episode. However, Dershowitz is facing a new culinary menace in Martha’s Vineyard. Chef Krem Miskevich has barred the famed lawyer from buying pierogis because of his political views, and liberals are applauding him for it. Welcome to Pierogi Politics. It is the same distasteful politics that is tearing apart this country, only with an added carbo load. Dershowitz has previously described how his liberal [sic] neighbors, who were friendly when he was advancing left-wing [sic] causes, have blacklisted him in the elite community due to his defense of President Donald Trump. He is treated as a persona non grata and shunned by the wealthy community. Now the blacklisting has extended to food.” (08/09/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-dershowitz-takes-pierogi-politics-leftist-hypocrisy
-----
32) The Case for China’s Strength
Source: Yascha Mounk
by Yascha Mounk
“Any attempt to understand China, and the challenge it poses to Western values, must start with an honest enumeration of its strengths.” (08/08/25)
https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/the-case-for-chinas-strength
-----
33) Trump’s Worst Crimes, Dangers & Destructions Are Yet to Come
Source: Common Dreams
by Ralph Nader
“The worst crimes of Donald Trump and dangers to America from the unstable, monomaniacal, lying outlaw in the White House have yet to come. He is not satisfied with tearing apart our country’s social safety net for tens of millions of Americans (e.g., Medicaid and food program cuts); wrecking our scientific/medical systems, including warning people about pandemics. He is, by wrecking FEMA et al, failing to address the impact of mega-storms, wildfires, and droughts; and allowing cybersecurity threats to increase while giving harm-producing big corporations immunities from the law, more subsidies, and more tax escapes. Recall how he always adds to his attacks on powerless people that ‘This is just the beginning’. He just took the next step in his march to madness and mayhem by announcing more concentration camps holding immigrants, arrested without due process, for deportation to foreign countries that want U.S. taxpayer cash for each deportee.” (08/09/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-attacks-on-democracy-institutions
-----
34) So, About Those Big Trade Deals
Source: The Atlantic
by Rogé Karma
“If you read the fine print, the ‘concessions’ from America’s trade partners don’t add up to much.” (08/08/25)
https://archive.is/0eVFm
-----
35) Remembering a Nameless Warrior
Source: Law & Liberty
by Reema Jadeja-Reed
“The sheer horror and bleakness of trench warfare is unrivalled. The humanitarian toll of the First World War, which began in August 111 years ago, is staggering, with 10 million military deaths, close to 7 million civilian deaths, and 21 million military personnel wounded. On July 1, 1916, the Battle of the Somme saw the deadliest day in British military history to date, with 57,000 casualties, including 19,240 dead. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission files reveal that 526,816 British and Commonwealth soldiers of WWI have no known resting place. Tragically, 338,955 have never been buried, and 187,861 have unidentified graves. It is hard to fathom the scale of devastation and brutality that could render half a million families bereaved without even a tangible location in which to mourn their dearly departed. How did half a million men die in service of their country, with no known final resting place? What spurred the idea of a single tomb to commemorate these men?” (08/08/25)
-----
36) How (Not) to Shrink the State
Source: The Bleeding Heart Libertarian
by Matt Zwolinski
‘In a recent piece for The Unpopulist, I argued that being anti-state isn’t the same thing as being pro-liberty, and that libertarians should put more weight on the latter. Today I want to follow up by looking at one way anti-statism can go wrong: when the urge to cut government outpaces a plan for how to do it. Suppose you think the state should be much smaller than it is. It doesn’t follow that any cut is good, or that we should just start hacking away with a chainsaw at a stack of programs. The details matter — and they’ve rarely been thought through. Libertarians, classical liberals, and conservatives have all made the case for a smaller state. But what we still lack is a theory of how to shrink it.” (08/08/25)
https://bleedingheartlibertarian.substack.com/p/how-not-to-shrink-the-state
-----
37) Well, 249 Years Was A Pretty Good Run …
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“Democrats have been wetting themselves over the past week about the idea of Texas redistricting their Congressional seats like, well, Democrats have in the states they control. They can’t handle it; they won’t handle it. Honestly, I don’t care. As Democrats flee Texas like roaches when the light is flipped on, let them destroy it all. We had a good run, right? There comes a time when it is simply no longer worth it, doesn’t there? I mean, 249 years is a pretty good run for a republic. They’re usually destroyed by leftists looking to do things with government power long before now. We had a good run. My favorite part of the week is these leftist Democrat Governors coming out and saying how they’re going to consider gerrymandering their states beyond where they are, when doing so would be impossible.” (08/10/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2025/08/10/well-249-years-was-a-pretty-good-run-n2661618
-----
38) Keynes Wasn’t Wrong About Everything
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“Let’s give John Maynard Keynes his due: maybe he wasn’t wrong about everything. His vision for a global currency called bancor, which he proposed at the 1944 Bretton Woods conference, might have been a masterstroke. But it was thwarted by a rising hegemon. Envisioned as a neutral, supranational currency tied to a basket of stable commodities, the bancor aimed to stabilize global trade and curb economic imbalances. With the rise of BRICS, the dollar’s decline, and moving geopolitical fault lines, reviving this idea — but reimagined with distributed ledgers — could deliver a more resilient financial system.” (08/08/25)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/keynes-wasnt-wrong-about-everything
-----
39) Do Americans still need [sic] public [sic] media?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Rachel Chiu
“The federal government has financed public broadcasting for decades. Over that time, Republicans argue, this broadcasting has become increasingly biased. Taxpayers, they claim, should not be forced to fund media outlets that they disagree with. They are right — the federal government does not need to be in the news business. Subsidies shouldn’t be keeping entire segments of an industry afloat, and the argument that local newsrooms need a lifeline has been used repeatedly to justify a profusion of preferential treatment, including antitrust exemptions that would enable news companies to cartelize. If this news subsidy ever served a useful purpose, it has long outlived it, especially given the evolution of media. ” (08/08/25)
https://fee.org/articles/do-americans-still-need-public-media/
-----
40) Why Zelensky Should Fear His Own Former General
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider
“The former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces penned an article and posed for Vogue Ukraine in late July. Though the article appeared in the magazine’s 2025 Leaders edition, Valery Zaluzhny nowhere declared an intention to run for Ukraine’s leadership, nor has he declared an intention to run at any other time. But, perhaps, he did not need to. … After over a year of capably but quietly serving as ambassador in London, Zaluzhny has burst back onto the Ukrainian scene with an article and photo shoot that reintroduced him to his compatriots, not as the rough general of Ukraine, but as a relatable man of the common Ukrainian people who, unlike Zelensky, is capable of wearing a tailored suit, rather than military fatigues.” (08/08/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/why-zelensky-should-fear-his-own-former-general/
-----
41) Private Prisons Cash In on Trump’s Mass Deportations
Source: The American Prospect
by Whitney Curry Wimbish
“America’s two biggest private prison companies have made even more money from Trump’s mass deportation campaign than executives’ wildest hopes. In second-quarter earnings calls this week, executives at both GEO Group and CoreCivic announced revenue increases of over 100 percent compared to the same period last year, described buybacks of millions of dollars’ worth of stock, and outlined plans for the day after Trump achieves his goal of deporting one million immigrants this year, which they paradoxically expect will net even bigger piles of cash. Both revised their outlook for the rest of the year upwards. At GEO Group, the largest contractor for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), executives reported total revenue for the period of $636.2 million, about a 5 percent increase from the second quarter of 2024. Net income was $29.1 million for the period, compared to a net loss of $32.5 million last year.” (08/08/25)
https://prospect.org/justice/2025-08-08-private-prisons-cash-in-trumps-mass-deportations/
-----
42) Five ways to stop the onrushing debt disaster. All long shots, alas.
Source: Washington Post
by George F Will
“Successful democracies endanger their success because of the complacency success breeds. They solve problems only when lashed by necessity: Britain considered Winston Churchill a Cassandra — until the German army reached the English Channel ports. In the 1960s, Americans realized they could not have domestic tranquility without new civil rights laws. Today’s crisis of the nation’s fiscal trajectory elicits a peculiar optimism: Necessity, in the form of the exhaustion of the Social Security trust fund, will lash Congress into reforming two entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare) that are driving the nation’s indebtedness. This optimism is delusional.” (08/08/25)
https://archive.is/O942S
-----
43) DOGE Is Overpromising on Deregulation
Source: Cato Institute
by Ryan Bourne & Nathan Miller
“Given the composition of the federal budget, and without a legislative strategy to work with Congress to cut entitlement programs and defense spending, it was simply impossible for DOGE to ever eke out $1–2 trillion of financial savings from cancelling DEI grants, laying off federal employees, shuttering minor departments and agencies, and delivering various software and anti-fraud upgrades to federal services. Indeed, making such wild promises on spending arguably undermined focus on what it did help achieve: a significant reduction in federal headcount, scrapping wasteful economic development aid, and zeroing near-term public broadcasting subsidies (since codified in the rescissions package). Would DOGE 2.0 heed the lesson not to overpromise again? It appears not.” (08/08/25)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/doge-overpromising-deregulation
-----
44) Making the World Freer with Homemade Guns
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“DIY firearms aren’t just an end-run around the law; they represent a libertarian political movement.” (08/06/25)
https://reason.com/2025/08/08/making-the-world-freer-with-homemade-guns/
-----
45) Trump is right: US census is a disgrace, but rushing a new one is worse
Source: New York Post
by Rich Lowry
“President Donald Trump wants a new census. If by this he means a snap-census before the scheduled 2030 survey, he’s demanding that the federal government undertake a gargantuan task with minimal planning and no discernible source of funding. In statistical terms, it’d be like launching D-Day with a month’s lead time. If the White Queen believes six impossible things before breakfast, that the Census Bureau could pull this off would qualify as one of them. The agency couldn’t even competently conduct the last, regularly scheduled census in 2020. Given that conducting the census is a core function of the federal government — indeed, mandated by the Constitution — it is outrageous that the last survey missed so badly. It undercounted Florida and other red states (as well as Illinois) and overcounted New York and a number of blue states (plus, Ohio and Utah).” (08/08/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/08/08/opinion/trumps-right-about-the-census-but-rushing-one-is-worse/
-----
46) Socialist Confusion
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“Recent polls indicate that many people under 30 view socialism and communism favorably. (For Marx, those words were synonyms.) It seems that socialism and communism are ‘in.’ What’s going on?” (08/08/25)
https://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2025/08/tgif-socialist-confusion.html
-----
47) Heavy Machinery and Patriotic Demolition in the Service of Genocide
Source: Antiwar.com
by Anthony Fulton
“Rabbi Avraham Zarbiv is a well-respected holy man in Israel with some devoted followers. He is a dayan, a judge in the rabbinical courts of Tel Aviv, dispensing wisdom in matters of religion and Jewish law. He’s also a reservist in the Seyeret Givati brigade of the IDF and is currently serving in Gaza. There, he has earned a degree of fame for his skills as an operator of the Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer, the IDF’s tool of choice for the erasure of Palestinian homes. He claims to average more than 50 demolitions a week. According to Zarbiv, his unit has learned to ‘play the D9’ like a musical instrument. Rabbi Zarbiv is part of the wider effort to lay waste to Gaza and render it uninhabitable for Palestinians.” (08/08/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/anthony_fulton/2025/08/07/heavy-machinery-and-patriotic-demolition-in-the-service-of-genocide/
-----
48) The gerrymander wars are just beginning
Source: Semafor
by David Weigel
“Last month, at the American Legislative Exchange Council’s conference in Indianapolis, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts [proposed]: ‘When we have cities like Austin, or Nashville, or other capital cities whose local government is not representative of the will of the people, de-charter them and establish them as state municipal districts in the name of common sense.’ What do you do with cities that elect progressive Democrats, give sanctuary to illegal immigrants, and do not put enough criminals in jail? You don’t let them run themselves. You certainly don’t let them run the country.” (08/08/25)
https://www.semafor.com/article/08/08/2025/the-gerrymander-wars-are-just-beginning
-----
49) GOP Attack “Idle” Poor, But Real Freeloaders Are the Rich [sic]
Source: In These Times
by Conor Lynch
“For decades, Republicans have promoted the stereotype of the shiftless and unscrupulous poor person — along with its quasi-mythical counterpart, the self-made businessman who bootstrapped his way out of poverty — to justify their reactionary economic project. That project, which is driven by the dual aims of dismantling the ’welfare state’ and slashing taxes for the rich, has never been particularly popular with voters on its own terms. So conservatives have long cloaked it in populist rhetoric and presented it in terms that obscure class lines and turn working people against one another.” (08/07/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/big-beautiful-bill-gop-medicaid-snap-labor
-----
50) Free Troy Lake
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Colorado mechanic Troy Lake, former and (we hope) future operator of Elite Diesel, was incarcerated by the Biden administration. The 65-year-old fixed diesel vehicles. Unfortunately for him, he did so by removing EPA-mandated emissions systems that supposedly help keep the air clean. By forcing vehicles to recirculate exhaust, the systems also make it harder for them to function properly. … In December 2024, a judge sentenced Troy to 12 months in prison and fined him $52,500 for ‘conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act.'” (08/08/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/08/08/free-troy-lake/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Foundations of Liberty, episode 1
Source: We Are Libertarians
“The 8 Core Principles of Libertarian Thought.” (08/08/25)
https://www.chrisspangle.com/p/foundations-of-liberty-001-the-8
-----
52) Tony Aguilar on
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Scott interviews former Green Beret Tony Aguilar about the scenes he witnessed while working as a GHF contractor in Gaza.” (08/09/25)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/8-8-25-tony-aguilar-on-the-war-crimes-he-witnessed-in-gaza/
-----
53) Unattended Baggage, episode 305
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Yep, it’s getting weirder already.” (08/09/25)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-305-yep-its-getting-weirder
-----
54) The Good Fight, 08/09/25
Source: Yascha Mounk
“Christine Rosen on the Harms of the Digital Age.” (08/09/25)
https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/christine-rosen
-----
55) Anarcho Agenda, episode 141
Source: Anarcho Agenda
“At Porcfest 2025 Jacob Hornberger discussed Ian Freeman’s case and why he believes he’s an innocent man, and I play his speech on episode 141 of Anarcho Agenda.” (08/09/25)
https://anarchoagenda.libsyn.com/anarcho-agenda-ep-141-2025-08-09
-----
56) Quillette Podcast, episode 297
Source: Quillette
“Parsi: A Fiercely Contested Identity.” (08/08/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/08/08/podcast-297-parsi-a-fiercely-contested-identity/
-----
57) The Fifth Column, episode 518
Source: The Fifth Column
“Angry Indians, the Socialist Right, TikTok’s Propaganda War.” (08/08/25)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/518-angry-indians-the-socialist-right
-----
58) The Intercept Briefing, 08/08/25
Source: The Intercept
“‘A Purely Manmade Famine’: How Israel Is Starving Gaza.” (08/08/25)
https://theintercept.com/2025/08/08/intercept-briefing-podcast-gaza-aid-food/
-----
59) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/08/25
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Tariffs on Gold, Gambling in 401(k)’s — Signs of A Crack-Up Boom?” (08/08/25)
https://rumble.com/v6xbemc-tariffs-on-gold-gambling-in-401ks-signs-of-a-crack-up-boom.html
-----
60) The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan, 08/08/25
Source: The Weekly Dish
“Scott Anderson On The Iranian Revolution.” (08/08/25)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/scott-anderson-on-the-iranian-revolution
-----
61) System Update, episode 500
Source: System Update
“Glenn Takes Your Questions on Tucker/Candace v. Nick Fuentes, the Unabomber Manifesto, Independent Media, and More.” (08/08/25)
https://rumble.com/v6xbwbe-system-update-500.html
-----
62) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2678
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“The Covid Idiocy Refuted for Good.” (08/08/25)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2678-the-covid-idiocy-refuted-for-good/
-----
63) Autocracy in America, 08/08/25
Source: The Atlantic
“The Storm Before the Calm.” (08/08/25)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2025/08/storm-before-calm/683794/
-----
64) Freakonomics Radio, 08/08/25
Source: Freakonomics
“The First Great American Industry (Update).” (08/08/25)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-first-great-american-industry-update/
-----
65) Rising, 08/08/25
Source: The Hill
“Amber Duke and Lindsey Granger discuss reports suggesting that the Trump administration fired senior FBI agent, including the former acting director of the bureau who was involved in Jan. 6 investigation.” (08/08/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5442836-rising-august-8-2025/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Palestine: Israeli troops murder six journalists in targeted Gaza attack
2) DC: Senile golf cheater whines for eviction of homeless
3) Russia: Three killed as Ukrainian drones shot down “en route to Moscow”
4) US DOJ subpoenas New York’s James over claims she violated Trump’s civil rights
5) UK: Regime thugs abduct at least 365 for protesting Gaza genocide
6) Israel: Thousands march against Netanyahu’s plan to escalate Gaza war
7) NYC: Cuomo calls out Mamdani over rent-stabilized apartment
8) White House to hold press conference on crime in DC on Monday, Trump says
9) TX: sues to remove 13 absent Democrats from office
10) Ahead of a planned Putin-Trump summit, Russia & Ukraine hold fast to their demands
11) Portugal: Top Court Blocks Bill Restricting Immigration
12) GA: CDC shooter believed COVID vaccine made him suicidal
13) Trump regime seeks $1 billion bribe from UCLA
14) Report: Trump to consider reclassifying marijuana as less dangerous drug
15) Armenians and Azerbaijanis greet US-brokered peace deal with hope but also caution
16) Trump removes Long as IRS commissioner, nominates him as ambassador to Iceland
17) Putin gives Trump envoy award for CIA official’s son killed fighting in Ukraine
18) Uganda: Court denies bail to political prisoner
19) Trump executive order gives politicians control over all federal grants, alarming researchers
20) WV: Homeowner shoots, kills armed intruder
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) The Moral Cost of Modern Transplant Medicine
22) There’s a Cheap, Effective Way to Reduce Pedestrian Fatalities. Florida’s Government Prefers the Fatalities.
23) The Most Corrupt Government in the West
24) Trump’s 39% Tariff on Gold: Revenue Grab or Prelude to Revaluation?
25) Trump’s terms for Russia-Ukraine on the right course for peace
26) For Eurasian foes, peace over reprisal
27) Canada is trespassing on the States
28) Interesting Facts About the Cocoa Market
29) Debating Israel Supporters Is Pointless, Because They Don’t Care About Facts Or Morality
30) Gerrymandering Is Normal
31) Dershowitz takes on pierogi politics, and Leftist [sic] hypocrisy
32) The Case for China’s Strength
33) Trump’s Worst Crimes, Dangers & Destructions Are Yet to Come
34) So, About Those Big Trade Deals
35) Remembering a Nameless Warrior
36) How (Not) to Shrink the State
37) Well, 249 Years Was A Pretty Good Run …
38) Keynes Wasn’t Wrong About Everything
39) Do Americans still need [sic] public [sic] media?
40) Why Zelensky Should Fear His Own Former General
41) Private Prisons Cash In on Trump’s Mass Deportations
42) Five ways to stop the onrushing debt disaster. All long shots, alas.
43) DOGE Is Overpromising on Deregulation
44) Making the World Freer with Homemade Guns
45) Trump is right: US census is a disgrace, but rushing a new one is worse
46) Socialist Confusion
47) Heavy Machinery and Patriotic Demolition in the Service of Genocide
48) The gerrymander wars are just beginning
49) GOP Attack “Idle” Poor, But Real Freeloaders Are the Rich [sic]
50) Free Troy Lake
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Foundations of Liberty, episode 1
52) Tony Aguilar on
53) Unattended Baggage, episode 305
54) The Good Fight, 08/09/25
55) Anarcho Agenda, episode 141
56) Quillette Podcast, episode 297
57) The Fifth Column, episode 518
58) The Intercept Briefing, 08/08/25
59) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/08/25
60) The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan, 08/08/25
61) System Update, episode 500
62) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2678
63) Autocracy in America, 08/08/25
64) Freakonomics Radio, 08/08/25
65) Rising, 08/08/25
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Palestine: Israeli troops murder six journalists in targeted Gaza attack
Source: Deadline
“Five Al Jazeera journalists were killed today by an Israeli airstrike near Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital. Among them was prominent Arabic correspondent and frontline news reporter Anas al-Sharif, who — alongside Bisan Owda — received Amnesty International’s Human Rights Defender Award in December of last year. Colleague Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa were also killed, the network said. Two additional people were also killed, including a journalist from another outlet. … According to multiple media outlets, Israeli military said it targeted al-Sharif specifically, claiming he ‘served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas’ and ‘was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops.'” (08/10/25)
https://deadline.com/2025/08/five-al-jazeera-journalists-killed-israel-anas-al-sharif-1236483281/
-----
2) DC: Senile golf cheater whines for eviction of homeless
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“In a social media post on Sunday, Donald Trump has demanded homeless residents of Washington DC leave the country’s capital or face eviction, and again promised to use federal officers to jail criminals, even though violent crime in the city was at a 30-year low when he took office in January. ‘The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Sunday morning, shortly after being driven from the White House to his golf club in Virginia. ‘We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital.’ The post was illustrated with four photographs, all apparently taken from the president’s motorcade along the route from the White House to his golf course.” (08/10/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/10/trump-homeless-golf-course-washington-dc
-----
3) Russia: Three killed as Ukrainian drones shot down “en route to Moscow”
Source: Sky News [UK]
“Three people were killed in Russia by Ukrainian attacks overnight, local authorities have reported, with Russian drones also striking Ukraine. It comes ahead of Donald Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday.” (08/11/25)
https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-latest-putin-trump-meeting-alaska-summit-zelenskyy-russia-nato-missiles-talks-ceasefire-12541713
-----
4) US DOJ subpoenas New York’s James over claims she violated Trump’s civil rights
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The US justice department has filed a subpoena ordering New York Attorney General Letitia James to testify about her civil fraud investigation into President Donald Trump, sources have told US media. James won a civil case against Trump in 2023 – before he returned to office – that accused him of overvaluing his properties in order to take out loans with favourable terms. He is currently appealing against the judgment. No charges have been filed against James. Both her office and Trump argue the other has abused their investigative powers. James’ office has also received another subpoena regarding her investigation of the National Rifle Association, according to CBS, the BBC’s US partner. The investigation into James is being led by the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, CBS reports.” (08/09/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0qwp9n1qqo
-----
5) UK: Regime thugs abduct at least 365 for protesting Gaza genocide
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Police in London arrested at least 365 people Saturday for supporting Palestine Action at the latest and largest protest backing the group since the government banned it last month under anti-terror laws. The Metropolitan Police said it made the hundreds of arrests, thought to be one of the highest ever at a single protest in the UK capital, for ‘supporting a proscribed organisation.’ It also arrested seven for other offences including assaults on officers, though none were seriously injured, it added. The government outlawed Palestine Action in early July days after it took responsibility for a break-in at an air force base in southern England that caused an estimated £7 million ($9.3 million) of damage to two aircraft.” (08/09/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250809-uk-arrests-200-backing-banned-pro-palestine-group
-----
6) Israel: Thousands march against Netanyahu’s plan to escalate Gaza war
Source: Politico
“Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Israel to protest against the Netanyahu government’s plan to expand its military operation in the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced sharp criticism at home and abroad after announcing that the Israeli military would seize Gaza City. The full Cabinet was expected to give its approval to the escalation as soon as Sunday. Families of hostages were among the protesters amid new fears over the 50 remaining captives, with 20 of them thought to be alive, held by the militant group Hamas, according to media reports.” (08/10/25)
https://www.politico.eu/article/protesters-in-israel-march-against-netanyahus-plan-to-escalate-gaza-war/
-----
7) NYC: Cuomo calls out Mamdani over rent-stabilized apartment
Source: Fox News
“Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo slammed Big Apple mayoral opponent Zohran Mamdani Friday for living in a rent-stabilized apartment, despite being ‘very rich.’ ‘Somewhere last night in New York City, a single mother and her children slept at a homeless shelter because you, assemblyman [Zohran Mamdani], are occupying her rent-controlled apartment,’ Cuomo posted to X on Friday along with a video of the lawmaker saying his monthly rent totals $2,300. Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary to Mamdani but is taking him on again as an independent in the general election, called on his opponent to surrender his apartment to someone more deserving of a subsidy. He cited Mamdani’s affluent upbringing, more than six-figure income and international property ownership. Cuomo also noted Mamdani’s wife is employed — driving their household income even higher.” (08/09/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cuomo-calls-nyc-mayoral-candidate-mamdani-alleged-rent-stabilized-apartment-move-immediately
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8) White House to hold press conference on crime in DC on Monday, Trump says
Source: Reuters
“U.S. President Donald Trump said a press conference will be held at the White House on Monday to address the crime in Washington, D.C. ‘On Monday a Press Conference will be held at the White House which will, essentially, stop violent crime in Washington, D.C. It has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World,’ Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Trump said on August 6 he may use the National Guard to police the streets of Washington, D.C., the latest threat by the administration toward taking over the running the city that serves as the seat of the U.S. government.” (08/09/25)
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-hold-press-conference-crime-dc-monday-trump-says-2025-08-09/
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9) TX: sues to remove 13 absent Democrats from office
Source: Washington Post
“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) asked the state’s high court Friday to expel 13 Democratic lawmakers who fled Texas this week in an effort to prevent the GOP-controlled legislature from redrawing congressional district maps to create five new safe seats for Republicans. Paxton’s office said in a news release that he was focusing on 13 of the more than 50 Democrats who left the state because they had made ‘incriminating public statements regarding their refusal to return’ to the Texas Capitol. Democrats called the lawsuit baseless, saying Republicans were trying to undermine the will of voters by removing them from office.” (08/09/25)
https://archive.is/HBq6S
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10) Ahead of a planned Putin-Trump summit, Russia & Ukraine hold fast to their demands
Source: SFGate
“The threats, pressure and ultimatums have come and gone, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has maintained Moscow’s uncompromising demands in the war in Ukraine, raising fears he could use a planned summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska to coerce Kyiv into accepting an unfavorable deal. The maximalist demands reflect Putin’s determination to reach the goals he set when he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Putin sees a possible meeting with Trump as a chance to negotiate a broad deal that would not only cement Russia’s territorial gains but also keep Ukraine from joining NATO and hosting any Western troops, allowing Moscow to gradually pull the country back into its orbit.” (08/09/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/russia-and-ukraine-hold-fast-to-their-demands-20810621.php
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11) Portugal: Top Court Blocks Bill Restricting Immigration
Source: US News & World Report
“Portugal’s Constitutional Court has blocked a bill approved by the right-wing parliamentary majority that was designed to limit the inflow of immigrants, citing obstacles it creates for family members in joining immigrants legally resident in Portugal. Immediately after late Friday’s decision, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa sent the bill back to parliament, which is on recess until September. Last month, the president told the court to check the document for potential infringements of the principles of equality, proportionality and legal security. … The court ruled that the bill was ‘likely to lead to the separation of family members’ of foreign citizens legally resident in Portugal, which it said would be a ‘violation of the rights enshrined in the constitution.'” (08/09/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-08-09/portugals-top-court-blocks-bill-restricting-immigration
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12) GA: CDC shooter believed COVID vaccine made him suicidal
Source: SFGate
“A Georgia man who opened fire on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters, shooting dozens of rounds into the sprawling complex and killing a police officer, had blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Saturday. The 30-year-old shooter also tried to get into the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta but was stopped by guards before driving to a pharmacy across the street and opening fire late Friday afternoon, the official said. He was armed with five guns, including at least one long gun, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation. DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was mortally wounded while responding.” (08/09/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/georgia-authorities-identify-suspect-in-cdc-20810084.php
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13) Trump regime seeks $1 billion bribe from UCLA
Source: CNN
“The Trump administration is seeking a $1 billion settlement from the University of California, Los Angeles, CNN has exclusively learned, marking the latest effort by the White House to shape higher education and extract significant concessions from universities. … A draft of a proposed agreement sent to the school Friday and obtained by CNN requires UCLA to pay the federal government $1 billion over multiple installments, along with a $172 million claims fund for people impacted by violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.” (08/08/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/08/politics/ucla-trump-administration-settlement
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14) Report: Trump to consider reclassifying marijuana as less dangerous drug
Source: Fox News
“President Donald Trump is weighing whether to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, according to a report. Trump told attendees at a $1 million-a-plate fundraiser at his New Jersey golf club earlier this month he was interested in making a change to the plant’s classification, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. This comes after cannabis companies have committed millions of dollars to the president’s political groups, according to the report. The guests at Trump’s fundraiser included Kim Rivers, chief executive of Trulieve, one of the largest marijuana companies. Rivers urged the president to make the change and expand medical marijuana research, the newspaper noted. The potential move to remove marijuana from the list of Schedule I controlled substances and make it a Schedule III drug would make it significantly easier to buy and sell cannabis and make the industry more profitable.” (08/09/25)
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/trump-considers-reclassifying-marijuana-less-dangerous-drug
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15) Armenians and Azerbaijanis greet US-brokered peace deal with hope but also caution
Source: SFGate
“Residents and politicians in Armenia and Azerbaijan responded Saturday with cautious hope — and skepticism in some cases — after their leaders signed a U.S.-brokered agreement at the White House aimed at ending decades of hostilities. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed the agreement on Friday in the presence of U.S. President Donald Trump, who stood between the leaders as they shook hands — a gesture Trump reinforced by clasping their hands together. While the agreement does not constitute a formal peace treaty, it represents a significant diplomatic step toward normalization of relations. The two countries remain technically at war, and the deal does not resolve the longstanding dispute over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. It does, however, reflect the shifting power dynamics following Azerbaijan’s 2023 military victory, which forced the withdrawal of Armenian forces and ethnic Armenians from the region.” (08/09/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/armenians-and-azerbaijanis-greet-us-brokered-20810261.php
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16) Trump removes Long as IRS commissioner, nominates him as ambassador to Iceland
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“President Donald Trump has removed former U.S. Rep. Billy Long as IRS commissioner less than two months after his confirmation, a White House official said Friday. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, spoke on condition of anonymity. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will serve as acting commissioner, the official said. Long will instead serve as ambassador to Iceland, Long said in a statement on the social media site X. … Long will be the the shortest-tenured IRS commissioner confirmed by the Senate since the position was created in 1862.” (08/08/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/08/08/trump-irs-commissioner/
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17) Putin gives Trump envoy award for CIA official’s son killed fighting in Ukraine
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“President Vladimir Putin has presented US President Donald Trump’s special envoy with an award to pass on to a senior CIA official whose son was killed fighting with Russia in Ukraine. Putin gave the Order of Lenin to Steve Witkoff during his trip to Moscow this week to discuss a plan to end the Ukraine war, sources familiar with the matter told the BBC’s US partner CBS. Michael Gloss, 21, who was killed in Ukraine last year, was the son of Juliane Gallina, who is the CIA’s deputy director for digital innovation. Reports of the award emerged as it was confirmed that Trump and Putin will meet in Alaska next Friday to discuss the future of the war in Ukraine. Neither the Kremlin nor Russian foreign ministry has publicly acknowledged posthumously bestowing the Order of Lenin, a Soviet-era award recognising outstanding civilian service, on Gloss.” (08/09/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04rd19e5epo
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18) Uganda: Court denies bail to political prisoner
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A Ugandan judge has refused to grant bail to veteran opposition figure Kizza Besigye, who has been in jail for nearly nine months on treason charges. Judge Emmanuel Baguma said on Friday that the 180-day maximum period before mandatory bail is granted only began when he was remanded in the civilian court on February 21, which means he falls short by 12 days to meet the requirements to secure bail. His lawyers argued he should be automatically released on bail because he has spent more than 180 days in jail without his trial starting. The case has raised concerns among government critics, including opposition leader Bobi Wine and rights groups, about a crackdown ahead of Uganda’s national election early next year in which President Yoweri Museveni, 80, is seeking re-election.” (08/09/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/9/uganda-court-denies-bail-to-opposition-leader-kizza-besigye-in-treason-case
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19) Trump executive order gives politicians control over all federal grants, alarming researchers
Source: SFGate
“An executive order signed by President Donald Trump late Thursday aims to give political appointees power over the billions of dollars in grants awarded by federal agencies. Scientists say it threatens to undermine the process that has helped make the U.S. the world leader in research and development. The order requires all federal agencies, including FEMA, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, to appoint officials responsible for reviewing federal funding opportunities and grants, so that they ‘are consistent with agency priorities and the national interest’. It also requires agencies to make it so that current and future federal grants can be terminated at any time — including during the grant period itself. Agencies cannot announce new funding opportunities until the new protocols are in place, according to the order.” (08/08/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/trump-executive-order-gives-politicians-control-20809475.php
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20) WV: Homeowner shoots, kills armed intruder
Source: WCHS TV
“An armed man was fatally shot by a homeowner after he was found inside a home in Kanawha County on Friday, deputies said. The incident was reported just before 12:30 p.m. in the 300 block of Lick Branch Road in the Rocky Fork area, according to the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies said the homeowner was approached by the man, who was allegedly armed with a knife and a baseball bat, when he went to enter the home. A physical altercation eventually spread to the yard where the homeowner shot the man, deputies said. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.” (08/08/25)
https://wchstv.com/news/local/deputies-ems-on-scene-of-reported-shooting-in-kanawha-county
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) The Moral Cost of Modern Transplant Medicine
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Joseph Varon
“Organ transplantation is, in theory, one of the great achievements of modern medicine. When practiced ethically and transparently, it has saved countless lives. But like so many institutions corrupted by profit and policy, it has drifted far from its original mission. In 2024 alone, over 45,000 organ transplants were performed in the United States. That number should inspire hope — but instead, it invites scrutiny. A substantial portion of those organs were harvested under ethically ambiguous conditions, including donation after circulatory death (DCD) and questionable determinations of brain death. The line between patient and donor is blurrin — and not in a way that honors either.” (08/09/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-moral-cost-of-modern-transplant-medicine/
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22) There’s a Cheap, Effective Way to Reduce Pedestrian Fatalities. Florida’s Government Prefers the Fatalities.
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“On August 7, the Gainesville, Florida city commission voted to make three pedestrian crosswalks less visible, and the pedestrians using them less safe, under threat of funding cuts from Florida’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency.’ Why does Florida DOGE want to put Gainesville residents at higher risk of injury or death? If you have to ask why, the answer is usually ‘money,’ and saving money sounds like a reasonable focus for a ‘government efficiency’ project. But that’s not the case here. The costs of painting the crosswalks were borne by a local non-profit. The costs of making the crosswalks less safe will be borne by the taxpayers Florida DOGE supposedly works for. The real answer is ‘politics.'” (08/09/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/19863
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23) The Most Corrupt Government in the West
Source: Quillette
by Benny Morris
“Netanyahu launched his anti-judiciary campaign — which, in Orwellian fashion, he has dubbed ‘judicial reform’ — three years ago, following the start of his trial on charges that include bribery and fraud and that, if convicted, could land him in jail. Since the Attorney-General has the power to end the legal proceedings, by replacing Baharav-Miara with a personal stooge, Netanyahu could escape prison. Many Israelis view the behaviour of the Netanyahu family over the years, and especially since the start of the current war, as symptomatic of the corruption of the country’s norms and values. The family has spent millions of dollars of treasury money on renovations to their private residences in Jerusalem and Caesarea, citing ‘security requirements.’ And then there is the behaviour of Netanyahu’s two sons: Yair (aged 35) and Avner (aged 30).” (08/09/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/08/09/the-most-corrupt-government-in-the-west-israel-netanyahu/
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24) Trump’s 39% Tariff on Gold: Revenue Grab or Prelude to Revaluation?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Peter C Earle
“The new levy rattled global markets, but that may be just the beginning. History teaches us to be wary when the government targets gold.” (08/08/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/trumps-39-tariff-on-gold-revenue-grab-or-prelude-to-revaluation/
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25) Trump’s terms for Russia-Ukraine on the right course for peace
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Eldar Mamedov
“The Trump administration has reportedly taken an essential step towards a peace settlement in Ukraine. It has stopped calling for an unconditional early ceasefire — which the Russians have always rejected — and instead offered concrete and detailed terms to Moscow. If as reported these terms include recognition of the Russian annexation of Crimea and the Donbas, this makes excellent sense. It has been obvious since the failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in 2023 that Ukraine cannot recover these territories either by force or through negotiation.” (08/09/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-putin-alaska/
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26) For Eurasian foes, peace over reprisal
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“In one troubled region of Eurasia, the cause of peace and progress received a boost Friday. A framework for a peace deal signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House will set these longtime enemies on a path of cooperation. Under the pledge, Armenia is giving up a narrow sliver of land to create the Zangezur corridor, allowing Azerbaijan a transit link to its territory of Nakhichevan and, beyond that, to Turkey. In an unexpected twist, the United States will develop this corridor under a 99-year lease, which can help avoid the appearance of Armenia ceding territory to Azerbaijan. Yet a deeper significance than trade lies in the pact. Both of these former Soviet republics, sandwiched between Russia, Iran, and Turkey, have found common strength in trying to avoid the kind of big-power politics that have shaped their past.” (08/08/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0808/For-Eurasian-foes-peace-over-reprisal
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27) Canada is trespassing on the States
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“One principle of environmental science and engineering is that air and water pollution are a form of trespass. When you intentionally or accidentally allow contaminants in the air or water that leaves your property to cross into someone else’s property. You are committing a trespass, and can be held legally liable for the consequences. Just like you could if your dog pooped on the neighbor’s lawn, or that same dog pulled over your trash can and scattered trash into the street and your neighbor’s yards.” (08/09/25)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2025/08/09/canada-is-trespassing-on-the-states/
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28) Interesting Facts About the Cocoa Market
Source: EconLog
by Pierre Lemieux
“Two-thirds of the world supply of cocoa beans comes from [Ghana and Ivory Coast]. The official deal was to protect the farmers against price fluctuations on the world market. The real deal probably aimed to allow each state to establish a monopsony of the domestic cocoa production: it could then pay the farmers less than the world price, resell the beans on the world market, and use the difference to subsidize the urban elite. With a world price of cocoa that reached $10,000 per ton (now down to about $7,000) over the last year and a half, the price paid to farmers only crept up, with a lag, from $1,000 to between $3,000 and $5,000. An economist won’t be surprised. … In underdeveloped countries like Ghana and Ivory Coast, where farmers represent the bulk of the active population, they are typically exploited by the concentrated interests of urban and government elites.” (08/08/25)
https://www.econlib.org/interesting-facts-about-the-cocoa-market
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29) Debating Israel Supporters Is Pointless, Because They Don’t Care About Facts Or Morality
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“If you follow me on Twitter you’ve probably seen me engaging with Israel supporters to address their arguments, but please don’t take this as a suggestion that engaging with Israel supporters is a good idea generally. It isn’t. I engage Zionists online in order to make sure their hasbara damages Israel more than it helps it by using their comments to show everyone that these people always lie about everything, and to familiarize myself with the hasbara talking points of the day so that I can attack them. I do this because I’m a visible figure who writes about this stuff every day for a living, and I’ve found a very energy-efficient strategy for doing so which doesn’t consume too much of my time and focus. For most people there’s no good reason to ever engage these freaks at all.” (08/10/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/08/10/debating-israel-supporters-is-pointless-because-they-dont-care-about-facts-or-morality/
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30) Gerrymandering Is Normal
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Gerrymandering is a fact of political life in many Republican states and in many Democratic states. Democrats did not complain about it very much until Republicans had the bad manners to get good at it, in part by doing one of the most un-Republican things Republicans have ever done: embracing technological innovation and surpassing the Democrats’ efforts to apply it to their political interests. Should Texas Republicans forbear using their power to redraw the map to fortify their party’s position in the House? Maybe. And maybe those ethanol bastards shouldn’t lean on legislators to write fixed demand for their bulls–t corn juice into the law. And maybe California Democrats should organize public education in a way that puts students’ interests over those of public-sector union goons. There is a whole galaxy there in the word should.” (08/08/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/gerrymandering-redistricting-texas-democrats/
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31) Dershowitz takes on pierogi politics, and Leftist [sic] hypocrisy
Source: Fox News Forum
by Jonathan Turley
“Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz appears to be living through a remake of the Seinfeld Soup Nazi episode. However, Dershowitz is facing a new culinary menace in Martha’s Vineyard. Chef Krem Miskevich has barred the famed lawyer from buying pierogis because of his political views, and liberals are applauding him for it. Welcome to Pierogi Politics. It is the same distasteful politics that is tearing apart this country, only with an added carbo load. Dershowitz has previously described how his liberal [sic] neighbors, who were friendly when he was advancing left-wing [sic] causes, have blacklisted him in the elite community due to his defense of President Donald Trump. He is treated as a persona non grata and shunned by the wealthy community. Now the blacklisting has extended to food.” (08/09/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-dershowitz-takes-pierogi-politics-leftist-hypocrisy
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32) The Case for China’s Strength
Source: Yascha Mounk
by Yascha Mounk
“Any attempt to understand China, and the challenge it poses to Western values, must start with an honest enumeration of its strengths.” (08/08/25)
https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/the-case-for-chinas-strength
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33) Trump’s Worst Crimes, Dangers & Destructions Are Yet to Come
Source: Common Dreams
by Ralph Nader
“The worst crimes of Donald Trump and dangers to America from the unstable, monomaniacal, lying outlaw in the White House have yet to come. He is not satisfied with tearing apart our country’s social safety net for tens of millions of Americans (e.g., Medicaid and food program cuts); wrecking our scientific/medical systems, including warning people about pandemics. He is, by wrecking FEMA et al, failing to address the impact of mega-storms, wildfires, and droughts; and allowing cybersecurity threats to increase while giving harm-producing big corporations immunities from the law, more subsidies, and more tax escapes. Recall how he always adds to his attacks on powerless people that ‘This is just the beginning’. He just took the next step in his march to madness and mayhem by announcing more concentration camps holding immigrants, arrested without due process, for deportation to foreign countries that want U.S. taxpayer cash for each deportee.” (08/09/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-attacks-on-democracy-institutions
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34) So, About Those Big Trade Deals
Source: The Atlantic
by Rogé Karma
“If you read the fine print, the ‘concessions’ from America’s trade partners don’t add up to much.” (08/08/25)
https://archive.is/0eVFm
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35) Remembering a Nameless Warrior
Source: Law & Liberty
by Reema Jadeja-Reed
“The sheer horror and bleakness of trench warfare is unrivalled. The humanitarian toll of the First World War, which began in August 111 years ago, is staggering, with 10 million military deaths, close to 7 million civilian deaths, and 21 million military personnel wounded. On July 1, 1916, the Battle of the Somme saw the deadliest day in British military history to date, with 57,000 casualties, including 19,240 dead. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission files reveal that 526,816 British and Commonwealth soldiers of WWI have no known resting place. Tragically, 338,955 have never been buried, and 187,861 have unidentified graves. It is hard to fathom the scale of devastation and brutality that could render half a million families bereaved without even a tangible location in which to mourn their dearly departed. How did half a million men die in service of their country, with no known final resting place? What spurred the idea of a single tomb to commemorate these men?” (08/08/25)
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36) How (Not) to Shrink the State
Source: The Bleeding Heart Libertarian
by Matt Zwolinski
‘In a recent piece for The Unpopulist, I argued that being anti-state isn’t the same thing as being pro-liberty, and that libertarians should put more weight on the latter. Today I want to follow up by looking at one way anti-statism can go wrong: when the urge to cut government outpaces a plan for how to do it. Suppose you think the state should be much smaller than it is. It doesn’t follow that any cut is good, or that we should just start hacking away with a chainsaw at a stack of programs. The details matter — and they’ve rarely been thought through. Libertarians, classical liberals, and conservatives have all made the case for a smaller state. But what we still lack is a theory of how to shrink it.” (08/08/25)
https://bleedingheartlibertarian.substack.com/p/how-not-to-shrink-the-state
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37) Well, 249 Years Was A Pretty Good Run …
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“Democrats have been wetting themselves over the past week about the idea of Texas redistricting their Congressional seats like, well, Democrats have in the states they control. They can’t handle it; they won’t handle it. Honestly, I don’t care. As Democrats flee Texas like roaches when the light is flipped on, let them destroy it all. We had a good run, right? There comes a time when it is simply no longer worth it, doesn’t there? I mean, 249 years is a pretty good run for a republic. They’re usually destroyed by leftists looking to do things with government power long before now. We had a good run. My favorite part of the week is these leftist Democrat Governors coming out and saying how they’re going to consider gerrymandering their states beyond where they are, when doing so would be impossible.” (08/10/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2025/08/10/well-249-years-was-a-pretty-good-run-n2661618
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38) Keynes Wasn’t Wrong About Everything
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“Let’s give John Maynard Keynes his due: maybe he wasn’t wrong about everything. His vision for a global currency called bancor, which he proposed at the 1944 Bretton Woods conference, might have been a masterstroke. But it was thwarted by a rising hegemon. Envisioned as a neutral, supranational currency tied to a basket of stable commodities, the bancor aimed to stabilize global trade and curb economic imbalances. With the rise of BRICS, the dollar’s decline, and moving geopolitical fault lines, reviving this idea — but reimagined with distributed ledgers — could deliver a more resilient financial system.” (08/08/25)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/keynes-wasnt-wrong-about-everything
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39) Do Americans still need [sic] public [sic] media?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Rachel Chiu
“The federal government has financed public broadcasting for decades. Over that time, Republicans argue, this broadcasting has become increasingly biased. Taxpayers, they claim, should not be forced to fund media outlets that they disagree with. They are right — the federal government does not need to be in the news business. Subsidies shouldn’t be keeping entire segments of an industry afloat, and the argument that local newsrooms need a lifeline has been used repeatedly to justify a profusion of preferential treatment, including antitrust exemptions that would enable news companies to cartelize. If this news subsidy ever served a useful purpose, it has long outlived it, especially given the evolution of media. ” (08/08/25)
https://fee.org/articles/do-americans-still-need-public-media/
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40) Why Zelensky Should Fear His Own Former General
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider
“The former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces penned an article and posed for Vogue Ukraine in late July. Though the article appeared in the magazine’s 2025 Leaders edition, Valery Zaluzhny nowhere declared an intention to run for Ukraine’s leadership, nor has he declared an intention to run at any other time. But, perhaps, he did not need to. … After over a year of capably but quietly serving as ambassador in London, Zaluzhny has burst back onto the Ukrainian scene with an article and photo shoot that reintroduced him to his compatriots, not as the rough general of Ukraine, but as a relatable man of the common Ukrainian people who, unlike Zelensky, is capable of wearing a tailored suit, rather than military fatigues.” (08/08/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/why-zelensky-should-fear-his-own-former-general/
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41) Private Prisons Cash In on Trump’s Mass Deportations
Source: The American Prospect
by Whitney Curry Wimbish
“America’s two biggest private prison companies have made even more money from Trump’s mass deportation campaign than executives’ wildest hopes. In second-quarter earnings calls this week, executives at both GEO Group and CoreCivic announced revenue increases of over 100 percent compared to the same period last year, described buybacks of millions of dollars’ worth of stock, and outlined plans for the day after Trump achieves his goal of deporting one million immigrants this year, which they paradoxically expect will net even bigger piles of cash. Both revised their outlook for the rest of the year upwards. At GEO Group, the largest contractor for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), executives reported total revenue for the period of $636.2 million, about a 5 percent increase from the second quarter of 2024. Net income was $29.1 million for the period, compared to a net loss of $32.5 million last year.” (08/08/25)
https://prospect.org/justice/2025-08-08-private-prisons-cash-in-trumps-mass-deportations/
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42) Five ways to stop the onrushing debt disaster. All long shots, alas.
Source: Washington Post
by George F Will
“Successful democracies endanger their success because of the complacency success breeds. They solve problems only when lashed by necessity: Britain considered Winston Churchill a Cassandra — until the German army reached the English Channel ports. In the 1960s, Americans realized they could not have domestic tranquility without new civil rights laws. Today’s crisis of the nation’s fiscal trajectory elicits a peculiar optimism: Necessity, in the form of the exhaustion of the Social Security trust fund, will lash Congress into reforming two entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare) that are driving the nation’s indebtedness. This optimism is delusional.” (08/08/25)
https://archive.is/O942S
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43) DOGE Is Overpromising on Deregulation
Source: Cato Institute
by Ryan Bourne & Nathan Miller
“Given the composition of the federal budget, and without a legislative strategy to work with Congress to cut entitlement programs and defense spending, it was simply impossible for DOGE to ever eke out $1–2 trillion of financial savings from cancelling DEI grants, laying off federal employees, shuttering minor departments and agencies, and delivering various software and anti-fraud upgrades to federal services. Indeed, making such wild promises on spending arguably undermined focus on what it did help achieve: a significant reduction in federal headcount, scrapping wasteful economic development aid, and zeroing near-term public broadcasting subsidies (since codified in the rescissions package). Would DOGE 2.0 heed the lesson not to overpromise again? It appears not.” (08/08/25)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/doge-overpromising-deregulation
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44) Making the World Freer with Homemade Guns
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“DIY firearms aren’t just an end-run around the law; they represent a libertarian political movement.” (08/06/25)
https://reason.com/2025/08/08/making-the-world-freer-with-homemade-guns/
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45) Trump is right: US census is a disgrace, but rushing a new one is worse
Source: New York Post
by Rich Lowry
“President Donald Trump wants a new census. If by this he means a snap-census before the scheduled 2030 survey, he’s demanding that the federal government undertake a gargantuan task with minimal planning and no discernible source of funding. In statistical terms, it’d be like launching D-Day with a month’s lead time. If the White Queen believes six impossible things before breakfast, that the Census Bureau could pull this off would qualify as one of them. The agency couldn’t even competently conduct the last, regularly scheduled census in 2020. Given that conducting the census is a core function of the federal government — indeed, mandated by the Constitution — it is outrageous that the last survey missed so badly. It undercounted Florida and other red states (as well as Illinois) and overcounted New York and a number of blue states (plus, Ohio and Utah).” (08/08/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/08/08/opinion/trumps-right-about-the-census-but-rushing-one-is-worse/
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46) Socialist Confusion
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“Recent polls indicate that many people under 30 view socialism and communism favorably. (For Marx, those words were synonyms.) It seems that socialism and communism are ‘in.’ What’s going on?” (08/08/25)
https://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2025/08/tgif-socialist-confusion.html
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47) Heavy Machinery and Patriotic Demolition in the Service of Genocide
Source: Antiwar.com
by Anthony Fulton
“Rabbi Avraham Zarbiv is a well-respected holy man in Israel with some devoted followers. He is a dayan, a judge in the rabbinical courts of Tel Aviv, dispensing wisdom in matters of religion and Jewish law. He’s also a reservist in the Seyeret Givati brigade of the IDF and is currently serving in Gaza. There, he has earned a degree of fame for his skills as an operator of the Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer, the IDF’s tool of choice for the erasure of Palestinian homes. He claims to average more than 50 demolitions a week. According to Zarbiv, his unit has learned to ‘play the D9’ like a musical instrument. Rabbi Zarbiv is part of the wider effort to lay waste to Gaza and render it uninhabitable for Palestinians.” (08/08/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/anthony_fulton/2025/08/07/heavy-machinery-and-patriotic-demolition-in-the-service-of-genocide/
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48) The gerrymander wars are just beginning
Source: Semafor
by David Weigel
“Last month, at the American Legislative Exchange Council’s conference in Indianapolis, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts [proposed]: ‘When we have cities like Austin, or Nashville, or other capital cities whose local government is not representative of the will of the people, de-charter them and establish them as state municipal districts in the name of common sense.’ What do you do with cities that elect progressive Democrats, give sanctuary to illegal immigrants, and do not put enough criminals in jail? You don’t let them run themselves. You certainly don’t let them run the country.” (08/08/25)
https://www.semafor.com/article/08/08/2025/the-gerrymander-wars-are-just-beginning
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49) GOP Attack “Idle” Poor, But Real Freeloaders Are the Rich [sic]
Source: In These Times
by Conor Lynch
“For decades, Republicans have promoted the stereotype of the shiftless and unscrupulous poor person — along with its quasi-mythical counterpart, the self-made businessman who bootstrapped his way out of poverty — to justify their reactionary economic project. That project, which is driven by the dual aims of dismantling the ’welfare state’ and slashing taxes for the rich, has never been particularly popular with voters on its own terms. So conservatives have long cloaked it in populist rhetoric and presented it in terms that obscure class lines and turn working people against one another.” (08/07/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/big-beautiful-bill-gop-medicaid-snap-labor
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50) Free Troy Lake
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Colorado mechanic Troy Lake, former and (we hope) future operator of Elite Diesel, was incarcerated by the Biden administration. The 65-year-old fixed diesel vehicles. Unfortunately for him, he did so by removing EPA-mandated emissions systems that supposedly help keep the air clean. By forcing vehicles to recirculate exhaust, the systems also make it harder for them to function properly. … In December 2024, a judge sentenced Troy to 12 months in prison and fined him $52,500 for ‘conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act.'” (08/08/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/08/08/free-troy-lake/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Foundations of Liberty, episode 1
Source: We Are Libertarians
“The 8 Core Principles of Libertarian Thought.” (08/08/25)
https://www.chrisspangle.com/p/foundations-of-liberty-001-the-8
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52) Tony Aguilar on
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Scott interviews former Green Beret Tony Aguilar about the scenes he witnessed while working as a GHF contractor in Gaza.” (08/09/25)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/8-8-25-tony-aguilar-on-the-war-crimes-he-witnessed-in-gaza/
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53) Unattended Baggage, episode 305
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Yep, it’s getting weirder already.” (08/09/25)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-305-yep-its-getting-weirder
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54) The Good Fight, 08/09/25
Source: Yascha Mounk
“Christine Rosen on the Harms of the Digital Age.” (08/09/25)
https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/christine-rosen
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55) Anarcho Agenda, episode 141
Source: Anarcho Agenda
“At Porcfest 2025 Jacob Hornberger discussed Ian Freeman’s case and why he believes he’s an innocent man, and I play his speech on episode 141 of Anarcho Agenda.” (08/09/25)
https://anarchoagenda.libsyn.com/anarcho-agenda-ep-141-2025-08-09
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56) Quillette Podcast, episode 297
Source: Quillette
“Parsi: A Fiercely Contested Identity.” (08/08/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/08/08/podcast-297-parsi-a-fiercely-contested-identity/
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57) The Fifth Column, episode 518
Source: The Fifth Column
“Angry Indians, the Socialist Right, TikTok’s Propaganda War.” (08/08/25)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/518-angry-indians-the-socialist-right
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58) The Intercept Briefing, 08/08/25
Source: The Intercept
“‘A Purely Manmade Famine’: How Israel Is Starving Gaza.” (08/08/25)
https://theintercept.com/2025/08/08/intercept-briefing-podcast-gaza-aid-food/
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59) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/08/25
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Tariffs on Gold, Gambling in 401(k)’s — Signs of A Crack-Up Boom?” (08/08/25)
https://rumble.com/v6xbemc-tariffs-on-gold-gambling-in-401ks-signs-of-a-crack-up-boom.html
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60) The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan, 08/08/25
Source: The Weekly Dish
“Scott Anderson On The Iranian Revolution.” (08/08/25)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/scott-anderson-on-the-iranian-revolution
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61) System Update, episode 500
Source: System Update
“Glenn Takes Your Questions on Tucker/Candace v. Nick Fuentes, the Unabomber Manifesto, Independent Media, and More.” (08/08/25)
https://rumble.com/v6xbwbe-system-update-500.html
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62) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2678
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“The Covid Idiocy Refuted for Good.” (08/08/25)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2678-the-covid-idiocy-refuted-for-good/
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63) Autocracy in America, 08/08/25
Source: The Atlantic
“The Storm Before the Calm.” (08/08/25)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2025/08/storm-before-calm/683794/
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64) Freakonomics Radio, 08/08/25
Source: Freakonomics
“The First Great American Industry (Update).” (08/08/25)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-first-great-american-industry-update/
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65) Rising, 08/08/25
Source: The Hill
“Amber Duke and Lindsey Granger discuss reports suggesting that the Trump administration fired senior FBI agent, including the former acting director of the bureau who was involved in Jan. 6 investigation.” (08/08/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5442836-rising-august-8-2025/
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