08/12 -- DC: Trump imposes martial law; For Ukraine, "Losing Slowly" Might Be a Winning Strategy
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Thomas L. Knapp
Aug 12, 2025, 6:21:28 AMAug 12
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 08/12/25
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https://news.rationalreview.com/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) DC: Trump imposes martial law
2) Open source data: Russian forces make sudden thrust in Donetsk
3) Bitcoin Pulls Back to $119K as Looming Inflation Data Could Bring Price Swings
4) US, Chinese regimes extend trade truce another 90 days
5) Finland: Regime charges tanker crew members with sabotage of undersea cables
6) US Snail joins war against quitting smoking
7) Iraqi, Iranian regimes sign security pact on shared border
8) KY: Ford to invest nearly $2 billion in assembly plant to produce electric vehicles
9) Colombia: Presidential hopeful dies weeks after campaign rally shooting
10) Judge refuses Trump regime’s request to unseal Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury materials
11) Tropical Storm Erin forms in the Atlantic, expected to gain strength in coming days
12) India: Opposition parties protest against a controversial electoral roll revision
13) British man who perished in Antarctic glacier found 65 years later
14) Trial to start on whether occupation of Los Angeles violated federal law
15) PA: Explosion US Steel coking plant leaves people trapped under rubble
16) Australian regime to recognise Palestinian statehood, New Zealand’s regime may follow
17) UN condemns targeted Israeli attack that murdered five Al Jazeera journalists
18) AOL to end dial-up Internet service
19) Ahead of US-Russia summit, Europe & Ukraine leaders seek talks with Trump
20) Mali: Junta detains two dozen soldiers over alleged coup plot
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) For Ukraine, “Losing Slowly” Might Be a Winning Strategy
22) Newsflash: Governments Lie
23) The DOJ’s push to collect your data is a fishing expedition
24) In Trump’s Competition with China, China is Winning
25) Could a World Remade by Tech be Ruled by Virtue?
26) Disinformation and the Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
27) Firing the BLS head: Is America becoming Argentina?
28) Will Jamaica Become a Republic?
29) Israel Assassinates More Journalists To Hide Its Planned War Crimes
30) The Political Economy of Incompetence
31) Media are time traveling back to 2017 to find their mojo and talking points
32) Who’s Funding the Attacks on Thomas Massie — and What Networks are Backing Them?
33) Democratic [sic] Party Must Change If It Wants to Defeat Trumpism
34) Misunderstanding “Infinite Growth”
35) Give Me the Gilded Age Any Day of the Week
36) The trade war is coming for your morning cup of coffee
37) Gerrymandering, Race Pandering, and Political Meandering
38) You Can Pay Your Friends on PayPal and Venmo Again — And Not Worry About the IRS
39) The Myth of the Cracked Coder
40) US military action against drug cartels? It’ll likely fail.
41) Tariffs as War
42) Murder, Rape, and the Sexism of Sympathy
43) Should the US Recognize North Korea as a Nuclear Weapons Power?
44) Donald Trump is now officially a banana Republican
45) After years of lawfare, Trump turns tables on Democrats; time to hold them accountable
46) Trump’s Shadow War in Somalia is a War on Tribal Democracy
47) Yoram Hazony’s National Conservatism Wants to Abandon Liberal Democracy so that the Jewish People Maintain Hegemony in Israel
48) The collapse of Britain’s National Health Service
49) What the Left [sic] Must Learn from Mamdani
50) Israel Is Not an Ally — It’s a Liability
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 08/11/25
52) Rising, 08/11/25
53) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/11/25
54) Half the Answer, episode 26
55) Heartland Daily Podcast, episode 3025
56) Conflicts of Interest, episode 827
57) EconTalk, 08/11/25
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 08/11/25
59) Free Talk Live, 08/10/25
60) LPALive!, 08/10/25
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) DC: Trump imposes martial law
Source: Politico
“President Donald Trump said Monday he would place the Washington, D.C., police department under federal control and deploy the National Guard, an escalation of federal power in his campaign to tighten control over the nation’s deep-blue capital city. ‘This is liberation day in D.C. and we’re going to take our capital back,’ Trump said. Although crime in Washington hit a 30-year low last year, Trump on Monday said he was declaring a public safety emergency in the District. … Trump said he was invoking a part of the law governing D.C. that allows the president to take control of the local police department on a temporary basis in an emergency. … Trump can seize control of the District’s police for up to 48 hours without congressional approval and for up to 30 days if he sends a special notice to leaders of certain congressional committees.” (08/11/25)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/11/trump-dc-police-federal-control-00502708
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2) Open source data: Russian forces make sudden thrust in Donetsk
Source: Reuters
“Russian forces have made a sudden thrust … east of the mining town of Dobropillia in a move that Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers say could become a serious problem for Kyiv if left unchecked.
Ukraine’s authoritative DeepState war map showed on Tuesday that Russian forces had quickly advanced north in two prongs covering as much as 10 kilometres (6.2 miles), part of their drive to take full control of Ukraine’s [former, seceded] Donetsk region. DeepState said they had advanced near three villages on a section of the frontline associated with the two [formerly] Ukrainian cities of Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka.” (08/12/25)
https://archive.is/ZmrtD
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3) Bitcoin Pulls Back to $119K as Looming Inflation Data Could Bring Price Swings
Source: CoinDesk
“Bitcoin’s (BTC) overnight push towards fresh records met with profit-taking on Monday, knocking prices down to $118,500. The pullback left bitcoin 2.8% off its session high of $122,200, though the largest crypto remained up 0.4% over the past 24 hours. Ether held above $4,200, modestly up 0.8% during the same period, while major altcoins Solana’s SOL, dogecoin and Sui’s native token slipped 3%-4%. … Tuesday’s U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) report could be the week’s biggest catalyst for traders, with Producer Price Index (PPI) data following later in the week.” (08/12/25)
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/08/11/bitcoin-pulls-back-to-usd119k-as-looming-inflation-data-could-bring-price-swings
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4) US, Chinese regimes extend trade truce another 90 days
Source: Associated Press
“President Donald Trump extended a trade truce with China for another 90 days Monday, at least delaying once again a dangerous showdown between the world’s two biggest economies. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he signed the executive order for the extension, and that ‘all other elements of the Agreement will remain the same.’ Beijing at the same time also announced the extension of the tariff pause, according to the Ministry of Commerce. The previous deadline was set to expire at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Had that happened the U.S. could have ratcheted up taxes on [American buyers of] Chinese imports from an already high 30%, and Beijing could have responded by raising retaliatory levies on [Chinese buyers of] U.S. exports to China.” (08/12/25)
https://apnews.com/article/trump-trade-tariffs-china-deadline-ad2c003e9a709a1dfdfc9a9fd3798baf
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5) Finland: Regime charges tanker crew members with sabotage of undersea cables
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Finnish authorities have filed charges against members of the crew of an oil tanker suspected of damaging five undersea cables by dragging its anchor between Finland and Estonia. Finland’s deputy prosecutor general’s office said on Monday it had filed charges of aggravated sabotage and aggravated interference with telecommunications against the captain and first and second officers of the Eagle S. The Cook Islands-registered tanker is understood to be part of Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ – comprising vessels that sail under foreign flags to evade sanctions. The ship was carrying oil from Ust-Luga in Russia across the Gulf of Finland when, prosecutors allege, it dragged its anchor along the seabed for about 90km (56 miles) in December 2024. The incident was one of several suspected hybrid attacks on telecommunications services in the Nordic region at the end of last year, putting leaders on high alert and prompting accusations of infrastructure sabotage against Russia.” (08/11/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/11/finland-accuses-tanker-crew-sabotage-undersea-cables-anchor
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6) US Snail joins war against quitting smoking
Source: Reuters
“The U.S. Postal Service has cracked down on distributors of unregulated vapes using its services for business shipments, letters reviewed by Reuters show, in a blow to a multi-billion dollar industry that has dented Big Tobacco’s sales. The letters, previously unreported, show that USPS wrote to major New York-based distributor Demand Vape, blocking it from using its services after New York City’s Law Department, which represents the city’s government and officials in legal matters, provided evidence that its shipments broke laws. … Unregulated vapes lack the authorisation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that is required for them to be legally sold in the United States, the world’s largest market for smoking alternatives. … So far, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorised only 39 e-cigarette products. But unauthorised devices are widely available as authorities struggle to contain them.” (08/11/25)
https://archive.is/bIMDh
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7) Iraqi, Iranian regimes sign security pact on shared border
Source: Türkiye Today [Turkey]
“Iraq and Iran have signed a security agreement aimed at enhancing protection along their shared border, Iraqi officials said Saturday. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani met in Baghdad with Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, according to a statement from the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office. During the talks, Sudani reaffirmed Iraq’s rejection of Israeli attacks against Iran and warned against steps that could escalate regional or international conflict. He also reiterated Iraq’s support for dialogue between the United States and Iran.” (08/11/25)
https://www.turkiyetoday.com/region/iraq-iran-sign-security-pact-on-shared-border-3205317
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8) KY: Ford to invest nearly $2 billion in assembly plant to produce electric vehicles
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“Ford Motor Co. will invest nearly $2 billion retooling a Kentucky factory to produce electric vehicles that it says will be more affordable, more profitable to build, and will outcompete rival models. The automaker’s top executive unveiled the new EV strategy Monday at Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant which, after producing gas-powered vehicles for 70 years, will be converted to manufacture electric vehicles. … The Big Detroit automakers have continued to transition from internal combustion engines to EV technology even as President Donald Trump’s administration unwinds incentives for automakers to go electric. … Yet Farley and other top executives in the auto industry say that electric vehicles are the future and there is no going back.” (08/11/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/08/11/ford-us-investment-electric-vehicles/
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9) Colombia: Presidential hopeful dies weeks after campaign rally shooting
Source: CBS News
“Colombian conservative senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay died Monday, more than two months after being shot during a campaign rally in western Bogota. His wife, María Claudia Tarazona, confirmed the 39-year-old’s death early Monday. Uribe Turbay was critically wounded on June 7 during a campaign rally in the country’s capital, suffering gunshot wounds to the head and leg. He underwent emergency surgery and remained hospitalized in intensive care until his death. … A teenage suspect was arrested at the scene, and authorities have since detained several others. Last month, police arrested the alleged mastermind of the attack — Elder José Arteaga Hernández, who uses the aliases ‘Chipi’ or ‘Costeño.'” (08/11/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/miguel-uribe-turbay-dies-colombia-senator-shot-campaign-rally/
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10) Judge refuses Trump regime’s request to unseal Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury materials
Source: The Hill
“A federal judge on Monday refused the Justice Department’s request to unseal grand jury materials used to charge Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime accomplice of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Trump administration looked to break the normal secrecy of grand jury proceedings amid mounting public pressure, including from much of the president’s political base, to release more files on the case.” [editor’s note: This one was a pretty safe delay/distraction — they knew it would take a little while, they knew that the answer would be no, and they knew that there was nothing important in there anyway — but the subject doesn’t seem to have gone away during the wait as they’d hoped – TLK] (08/11/25)
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5445990-judge-refuses-unseal-maxwell-grand-jury/
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11) Tropical Storm Erin forms in the Atlantic, expected to gain strength in coming days
Source: New York Post
“Tropical Storm Erin formed Monday in the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean, just west of the Cabo Verde Islands, as Hurricane Henriette strengthened in the Pacific Ocean well away from Hawaii, forecasters said. There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect for either storm, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. Erin was about 280 miles (451 kilometers) west-northwest of the Cabo Verde Islands, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (72 kph), the NHC said. It was moving west at about 20 mph (32 kph). Gradual strengthening was forecast over the next several days.” (08/11/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/08/11/us-news/tropical-storm-erin-forms-in-the-atlantic-expected-to-gain-strength-in-coming-days/
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12) India: Opposition parties protest against a controversial electoral roll revision
Source: ABC News
“India ’s opposition parties held a protest Monday calling for the rollback of a controversial revision of the voter list in one of the country’s poorest states, where key elections are scheduled in November, and warning it could lead to voter disenfranchisement. Hundreds of lawmakers and supporters began the protest from parliament and were confronted by police, who stopped them from marching towards the election commission office in the capital, New Delhi. Police briefly detained some lawmakers, including opposition leader Rahul Gandhi. … The revision of nearly 80 million voters involves strict documentation requirements from citizens, triggering concerns it could lead to the exclusion of vulnerable groups, especially those who are unable to produce the paperwork required to prove their citizenship.” (08/11/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/indias-opposition-parties-protest-controversial-electoral-roll-revision-124535111
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13) British man who perished in Antarctic glacier found 65 years later
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The bones of a British man who died in a terrible accident in Antarctica in 1959 have been discovered in a melting glacier. The remains were found in January by a Polish Antarctic expedition, alongside a wristwatch, a radio, and a pipe. He has now been formally identified as Dennis ‘Tink’ Bell, who fell into a crevasse aged 25 when working for the organisation that became the British Antarctic Survey. … A team of scientists made up of Piotr Kittel, Paulina Borówka and Artur Ginter at University of Lodz, Dariusz Puczko at the Polish Academy of Sciences and fellow researcher Artur Adamek carefully rescued the remains in four trips.” (08/11/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g034yx4gjo
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14) Trial to start on whether occupation of Los Angeles violated federal law
Source: Seattle Times
“A federal judge in San Francisco will consider evidence and hear arguments on whether the Trump administration violated federal law when it deployed National Guard soldiers and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles following protests over immigration raids this summer. The Trump administration federalized California National Guard members and sent them to the second largest U.S. city over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom and city leaders, after protests erupted June 7 when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested people at multiple locations. California is asking Judge Charles Breyer to order the Trump administration to return control of the remaining troops to the state and to stop the federal government from using military troops in California ‘to execute or assist in the execution of federal law or any civilian law enforcement functions by any federal agent or officer.'” (08/11/25)
https://archive.is/OeJWP
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15) PA: Explosion US Steel coking plant leaves people trapped under rubble
Source: CNN
“An explosion Monday at a US Steel coking plant near Pittsburgh has left people trapped under the rubble, with emergency workers on site trying to rescue them, an official said. There are no confirmed fatalities at the Clairton Coke Works, said Abigail Gardner, director of communications for Allegheny County. … The Clairton Coke Works, a massive industrial facility along the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh, is considered the largest coking operation in North America. A coking plant processes raw coal into coke, a critical component in steelmaking.” (08/11/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/11/us/us-steel-clairton-coke-works-explosion
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16) Australian regime to recognise Palestinian statehood, New Zealand’s regime may follow
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Australia will recognise a Palestinian state in September, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced. Albanese said on Monday that his government would formally announce the move when the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meets in New York. … Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on Monday that his country’s cabinet will make a formal decision on Palestinian statehood in September.” (08/11/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/11/australia-to-recognise-palestinian-statehood-new-zealand-may-follow
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17) UN condemns targeted Israeli attack that murdered five Al Jazeera journalists
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The UN’s human rights office has condemned a targeted Israeli attack that killed six journalists in Gaza, calling it a ‘grave breach’ of international law. Five Al Jazeera journalists, including correspondent Anas al-Sharif, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday. Two others were killed, including a freelance journalist, the broadcaster said. Israel’s military said it targeted Sharif, alleging he had ‘served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas’ — something Sharif denied. Israel provided little evidence.” (08/11/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq688qz3rlro
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18) AOL to end dial-up Internet service
Source: The Verge
“AOL dial-up is ending on September 30th according to a statement posted on the company’s website. It marks the end of the service that was synonymous with the internet for many since its launch in 1991. … At last count, a 2019 US census estimated that 265,000 people in the United States were still using dial-up internet …” (08/11/25)
https://www.theverge.com/news/757194/aol-dial-up-is-dead
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19) Ahead of US-Russia summit, Europe & Ukraine leaders seek talks with Trump
Source: SFGate
“Ukraine and its European backers on Monday sought talks with U.S. President Donald Trump in an effort to protect their security interests ahead of his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this week. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has so far been excluded from the U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska on Friday, and the Europeans are unlikely to be invited. All are wary that Putin and Trump might agree, without Ukraine’s participation, to land swaps of Ukraine’s territory or other terms that might favor Russia. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz organized a series of meetings for Wednesday. He invited Trump, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Zelenskyy, NATO’s chief and several European leaders to attend. The chancellery said the talks would focus on ‘further options for action to put pressure on Russia’ as well as ‘preparations for possible peace negotiations and related issues of territorial claims and security.'” (08/11/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/europe-says-us-russia-summit-this-week-cannot-20811718.php
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20) Mali: Junta detains two dozen soldiers over alleged coup plot
Source: France 24 [French state media]
‘Malian authorities have arrested two dozen soldiers accused of plotting to overthrow the ruling junta, which itself came to power in the west African country in a coup, sources told AFP on Sunday. The arrests, which include a high-ranking general, come amid growing discontent within the army and ongoing instability in Mali.” (08/10/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20250810-mali-detains-two-dozen-soldiers-over-alleged-coup-plot-against-junta
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) For Ukraine, “Losing Slowly” Might Be a Winning Strategy
Source: Reason
by Paul Schwennesen
“Inching backward while bleeding Russia dry, Ukraine is relying on a time-tested military truth: You don’t need to outgun an invader — you just need to outlast them. … Losing as slowly as possible — husbanding one’s manpower and resources during a careful strategic retreat — is a time-tested strategy against an ostensibly superior force. From George Washington to Ho Chi Minh, commanders who embrace this inglorious yet practical approach find that it can be devastatingly effective. … Of course, the slow retreat strategy only works if the enemy eventually breaks — either militarily, economically, or politically. And this is where critics raise the most serious objection: Russia is famous, after all, for preternatural levels of endurance. ” (08/11/25)
https://reason.com/2025/08/11/for-ukraine-losing-slowly-might-be-a-winning-strategy/
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22) Newsflash: Governments Lie
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul
“Bureau of Labor Statistics head Dr. Erika McEntarfer is one of the latest persons President Trump has told ‘you’re fired.’ President Trump said this month that he fired Dr. McEntarfer because the president believed she manipulated jobs data. … President Trump is correct that BLS manipulates statistics related to the economy, but it has been doing so since long before Donald Trump moved to the White House. For example, starting in 1994, the BLS stopped including ‘discouraged’ workers who have stopped looking for work in the official unemployment figures. The BLS also includes those working part-time as employed even if the only reason they are working part-time is they cannot find full-time work.” (08/11/25)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/newsflash-governments-lie
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23) The DOJ’s push to collect your data is a fishing expedition
Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
by Mary Ellen Klas
“With his approval rating sinking lower and lower, and facing the prospect of losing control of the House to Democrats, President Donald Trump is engaged in an unprecedented attempt to manipulate the midterm elections. He’s now got Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice embarking on another insidious strategy: building a dossier of private information on every voter Trump can use for political advantage. … while states have developed strict protocols for protecting this information, the DOJ hasn’t said how it will keep the data safe from hackers and cybersecurity breaches. ” (08/11/25)
https://triblive.com/opinion/mary-ellen-klas-the-dojs-push-to-collect-your-data-is-a-fishing-expedition/
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24) In Trump’s Competition with China, China is Winning
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“Donald Trump doesn’t have much interest in numbers and the real world, but that is where the rest of us live so it is worth checking in periodically. Trump and many others — including many Democrats — are anxious to see the United States as engaged in a Cold War-type competition with China. … to my view we should not see the Cold War with the Soviet Union as a model to be emulated. But apart from my personal views, there is a fundamental difference between the Soviet Union and China. At its peak, the Soviet economy was roughly half the size of the U.S. economy. China’s economy is already one-third larger than the U.S. economy and growing far more rapidly. This was true before Donald Trump took office, but the growth gap has been even larger in the first six months of this year.” (08/11/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/11/in-trumps-competition-with-china-china-is-winning/
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25) Could a World Remade by Tech be Ruled by Virtue?
Source: Law & Liberty
by James Hankins & Artur Kluz
“The ongoing clash of the titans, President Trump and Elon Musk, is bringing into high relief the question of whether even the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth can stand up to vast private wealth allied to the power of advanced technology. Can mere political power — the checks and balances of constitutional government — ever hope to control the apparently limitless ability of technology billionaires to alter everyone’s lives? Will Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, having created entirely new digital societies, succeed in making themselves the gatekeepers of those societies? Will the new subjects of the new generation of tech builders get a democratic veto on the future being planned for us? Or will we wake up one day to be notified that installation of a brain-machine interface (BMI) is a ‘required update,’ without which we will be unable to make a phone call or access our investment account?” (08/11/25)
https://lawliberty.org/could-a-world-remade-by-tech-be-ruled-by-virtue/
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26) Disinformation and the Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
Source: American Greatness
by Victor Davis Hanson
“Legitimate disagreement about the wisdom of dropping two bombs on Japan to end World War II in 1945 persists even 80 years later, as reflected in discussions this past week. But recently, there has often been no real effort even to present the facts, much less to consider the lose-lose choices involved in using such destructive weapons. In an age of revisionist history (when Churchill is deemed a ‘terrorist,’ Germany did not really mean to starve millions of Jews and Ukrainians in summer and fall 1941, the British forced Hitler to continue the war, and World War II was not worth the cost), so too are Hiroshima and Nagasaki judged as either war crimes or colossal and unnecessary follies.” (08/11/25)
https://amgreatness.com/2025/08/11/disinformation-and-the-dropping-of-the-atomic-bombs/
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27) Firing the BLS head: Is America becoming Argentina?
Source: The Hill
by Steven Kamin
“President Trump abruptly fired Erika McEntarfer, head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in reaction to the weak July payroll report. This has triggered frightening flashbacks to the Argentina of nearly two decades ago: a populist leader whose flawed policies are ruining the economy; the firing of the head of an agency producing key economic data; mounting discrepancies between benign official statistics and downbeat independent estimates; and an erosion of trust and credibility leading to further economic deterioration. America is still a long ways from that nightmare scenario, but any attempt to follow in the footsteps of past Argentinian policies does not bode well for our economic future.” (08/11/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/5445570-firing-the-bls-head-is-america-becoming-argentina/
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28) Will Jamaica Become a Republic?
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Lipton Matthews
“Jamaica’s recent interest in removing the British monarch as its head of state has gained substantial international attention. The government has announced plans to hold a referendum by 2025 to begin the transition toward republicanism. This announcement follows global and regional trends, including Barbados’s decision to become a republic in 2021, and has prompted headlines and commentary around the world. Jamaica, with its colonial past and vibrant national identity, seems poised to follow suit. Yet beyond the sentiment that motivates this ambition, the domestic political discourse around such a transition remains remarkably thin.” (08/11/25)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/will-jamaica-become-republic
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29) Israel Assassinates More Journalists To Hide Its Planned War Crimes
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Ahead of a planned Israeli assault on Gaza City which UN officials warn will further exacerbate death and suffering for the Palestinian people, Israel has chosen to assassinate five Al Jazeera journalists who’ve been stationed there. Among those killed was Anas al-Sharif, one of the most high-profile surviving reporters in Gaza. The IDF is of course claiming that al-Sharif was Hamas …. every journalist they kill is Hamas. The journalists are Hamas, the hospitals are Hamas, the UN is Hamas, the peace activists are Hamas, the demonstrations are Hamas, telling the truth is Hamas, human empathy is Hamas, objective reality is Hamas. It’s all Hamas. That Israel would feel the need to draw attention to its depravity with this targeted strike at this time shows it has some very ugly intentions for Gaza City that it doesn’t want the world to see.” (08/11/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/08/11/israel-assassinates-more-journalists-to-hide-its-planned-war-crimes/
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30) The Political Economy of Incompetence
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman
“On Thursday [Donald Trump] held a White House briefing, together with economist Stephen Moore, in an attempt to convince the media and the public that the economy is actually doing great. … the big problem with the picture above isn’t the embarrassing misspelling of ‘median,’ or even the factual errors. It’s the fact that Trump gave a presentation about the state of the economy along with Stephen Moore — who may be the last person on the planet you’d trust to tell you the economic truth. I don’t mean that Moore is extremely right-wing, although of course he is. I don’t even mean that he’s a dishonest hack, although again of course he is. I mean that even among dishonest right-wing hacks Moore stands out for his pathological inability to get numbers and facts right.” (08/11/25)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-political-economy-of-incompetence
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31) Media are time traveling back to 2017 to find their mojo and talking points
Source: Fox News
by Dan Gainor
“President Donald Trump, the sequel, has been going gangbusters for just over six months, setting in motion a groundbreaking presidency. Even CNN called him ‘the most influential president, certainly this 21st century.’ But most of the press that covers Trump hasn’t changed a bit from when they went to war during Trump Part I. The press merely evolved from ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness’ to Doc Brown, declaring ‘Great Scott!’ from ‘Back to the Future.’ Only the media didn’t go all the way back to the 1950s, they settled on 2017. Oh, sure, the names have changed. Many Washington Post lefties fled the opinion page and their humorously titled factchecker Glenn Kessler took the buyout. Media types like Howard Stern and Stephen Colbert are also being put out to pasture, like racehorses past their prime.” (08/11/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/dan-gainor-media-time-traveling-back-2017-find-mojo-talking-points
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32) Who’s Funding the Attacks on Thomas Massie — and What Networks are Backing Them?
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Matt Wolfson
“In the past decade of political upheaval, less than a handful of successful candidates have laid down direct challenges to America’s military-industrial complex. Thomas Massie, the U.S. Congressman from Kentucky’s 4th District, is first and foremost among them. In June, President Donald Trump announced an open season on Massie, for the perceived crimes of having voted against the deficit-busting ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ and opposing Trump’s strikes on Iran because they occurred without authorization from Congress. ‘Open season’ in this case meant the formation of a MAGA Pac run by Trump’s former co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita for the sole purpose of beating Massie. LaCivita is part of a class of MAGA strategists and lobbyists who live in Washington and on airplanes but style themselves America First frontiersm[e]n.” (08/11/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/whos-funding-the-attacks-on-thomas-massie-and-what-networks-are-backing-them/
-----
33) Democratic [sic] Party Must Change If It Wants to Defeat Trumpism
Source: Common Dreams
by Max Moran
“For as long as most of us have been alive, the Democratic [sic] Party of the United States has enjoyed a rare and extraordinary luxury: basic, unquestioned stability in its nation’s laws, values, and political processes. The United States has, of course, undergone extraordinary changes in the last 80 years or so — racial integration, deindustrialization, women’s liberation, suburbanization, television and the internet. But the basic ethos of what it meant to be an American was an unquestioned consensus, pure background noise to the game of day-to-day Congressional debates and electoral campaigns. There was no serious reason to fear for the country’s small-r republican government structure, its capital-L Liberal values of individualism and political equality, or its ability to peacefully transfer power from one regime to the next. This is no longer true.” [editor’s note: The insistence on adding “ic” to the party title tells it all, as if “demoncrazy” were the premise for the party – SAT] [additional editor’s note: Actually, it’s the insistence on omitting the “ic” that’s weird – TLK] (08/11/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/how-can-democrats-defeat-trump
-----
34) Misunderstanding “Infinite Growth”
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
“Although most degrowthers are not as clear on the matter as they could be, the prevailing idea of degrowth is not a reduction in material living standards, but an end to growth in GDP and in ecological footprints (i.e. the consumption of material inputs) — the two of which are linked. GDP is a metric of the total exchange-value of all goods and services produced; other than embedded rents from artificial scarcities like intellectual property, the exchange value of goods and services is primarily a measure of the total cost of inputs. So the idea of infinite growth resulting entirely from expansion of exchange-value, with no increase in material resources consumed, is inconsistent with reality unless a major part of GDP consists of unearned monopoly rents.” (08/11/25)
https://c4ss.org/content/60607
-----
35) Give Me the Gilded Age Any Day of the Week
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“I haven’t seen the HBO series ‘The Gilded Age,’ but I do know that the finale of Season 3 has stirred up the statists, big time. The question they are asking in their op-eds and commentaries is, ‘Do we really want to go back to the Gilded Age?’ What they are referring to is the period in U.S. history from around 1870 to about 1910, which just happens to be my favorite time in American history. In fact, if I could choose any period of time in U.S. history in which to live, I’d choose the Gilded Age.” (08/11/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/08/11/give-me-the-gilded-age-any-day-of-the-week/
-----
36) The trade war is coming for your morning cup of coffee
Source: Washington Post
by Todd Carmichael
“For decades, coffee entered the country duty-free, a recognition of its foundational role in a U.S. industry that supports more than 1.7 million American jobs. That exemption is now gone. In April, the Trump administration implemented a 10 percent baseline tariff on nearly all imported coffee. This month, it raised tariffs on dozens of trading partners …. Brazil, the world’s largest producer of coffee, was slapped on Aug. 6 with a 50 percent tariff. … Many Americans support the administration’s trade policies as a way to bring back production from overseas and to pressure other countries to lower trade barriers. But tariffs on coffee make little sense on those terms compared with other goods: Because the United States can’t grow much coffee itself, all Americans get is upward pressure on prices without a boost to jobs.” (08/11/25)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/08/11/trump-trade-war-coffee-prices-tariffs/
-----
37) Gerrymandering, Race Pandering, and Political Meandering
Source: Town Hall
by Arthur Schaper
“Gerrymandering, the political practice of carving up awkward-looking legislative districts to benefit one party’s political power, has slithered into the public conversation once again. Some of us remember the history behind this political practice, starting with the Governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry. Democratic-Republicans want to shore up their new power in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Federalist opponents of the maneuver mocked one of the serpentine-like districts created by the party, christened the shape with claws, wings, and razor-sharp mouth, calling the monstrosity ‘The Gerrymander.’ Why has the discussion roared into the public consensus this time? It started with the Texas legislature’s efforts to redraw its state’s districts after a request from the Trump Administration to review the fairness of the districts.” (08/11/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/arthurschaper/2025/08/11/gerrymandering-race-pandering-and-political-meandering-n2661649
-----
38) You Can Pay Your Friends on PayPal and Venmo Again — And Not Worry About the IRS
Source: The Daily Economy
by Mike Viola
“Since the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill in early July, Democrats have devoted their summer to campaigning against the bill’s cuts to various social programs. … Amid all the panic, there are indeed some major legitimate criticisms of the bill. … But there is one obscure provision that is an unambiguous win for all Americans: the restoration of the 1099-K threshold for third-party settlement organizations (TPSOs). This threshold was reduced to $600 in total transactions per year under Biden’s American Rescue Plan, and would have impacted peer-to-peer platforms like PayPal, Venmo, and the Cash App; intermediaries that small businesses rely on like Stripe, Square, and Shopify; and even apps that facilitate side gigs like Airbnb, Uber, and Lyft. … The One Big Beautiful Bill ends that, returning the threshold to $20,000 across at least 200 transactions, as was the case prior to the Biden bill.” (08/11/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/600-reporting-threshold-scrapped-saving-millions-from-irs-headaches/
-----
39) The Myth of the Cracked Coder
Source: The Dispatch
by Jeremiah Johnson
“To be cracked is to be absurdly talented, to master the logic of programming, to transcend time and space writing code that sings, and to do so with such speed and efficiency as to defy belief. In Silicon Valley fables, these young prodigies don’t just build great software. They break through systems, leap past obstacles, and rewrite the rules of the world. How is it that some kids can build billion-dollar startups in their dorm rooms? Because they’re cracked. The legend isn’t entirely wrong. The modern world owes an enormous debt to the tech sector. … But the myth of the cracked coder goes beyond founding tech companies. It assumes that elite coders, by virtue of their raw intellect and technical prowess, can solve any problem. And this assumption, now increasingly embedded in the thinking of major tech firms and in our government, is causing immense harm.” (08/11/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/doge-elon-musk-technology-coding/
-----
40) US military action against drug cartels? It’ll likely fail.
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Dan DePetris
“In 2020, during the last year of the Trump administration’s first term, President Trump asked then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper a shocking question: why can’t the United States just attack the Mexican cartels and their infrastructure with a volley of missiles? Esper recounted the moment in his memoir, using the anecdote to illustrate just how reckless Trump was becoming as his term drew to a close. Those missiles, of course, were never launched, so the entire interaction amounted to nothing in terms of policy. Yet five years later, Trump still views the Mexican cartels as one of Washington’s principal national security threats. His urge to take offensive action inside Mexico has only grown with time.” (08/11/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-drug-cartels/
-----
41) Tariffs as War
Source: The American Prospect
by Harold Meyerson
“While there is nothing fundamentally funny about Donald Trump’s presidency, some of his policies, as Stephen Colbert and others regularly point out, register well above 9 on the Richter scale of ridiculosity. One current example of life under Trump imitating farce is his proposed 39 percent tariffs on Switzerland. The farce I have in mind is the musical comedy Strike Up the Band, with books (it had two versions, one in 1927, one in 1930) by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind (who also wrote the definitive Marx Brothers comedies) and a score by George and Ira Gershwin. It features an American cheese mogul so infuriated by Switzerland’s efforts to block U.S. tariffs on their cheese that he finances a war in which the U.S. conquers Switzerland … almost (it’s a comedy, after all).” (08/11/25)
https://prospect.org/economy/2025-08-11-trump-tariffs-as-war/
-----
42) Murder, Rape, and the Sexism of Sympathy
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“Rape is very bad, but murder is almost always much worse. This is common sense: Where there’s life, there’s hope. While rape may scar you for life, the cold, happy truth is that rape victims normally recover from the trauma by the grace of hedonic adaptation. The average human really is resilient — so you probably are, too. Not convinced that murder is much worse than rape? In economic terms, just ask yourself: If you could either be raped for sure, or murdered with probability X, what probability leaves you indifferent? 10%? 3%? .7%? Too close to home? Then ask the same probability question for anyone you care about.” (08/11/25)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/murder-rape-and-the-sexism-of-sympathy
-----
43) Should the US Recognize North Korea as a Nuclear Weapons Power?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
“The issue of North Korea’s nuclear program has long been the principal stumbling block to the normalization of U.S. relations with that country. True, Washington has endeavored to make the communist regime a pariah in the international system for a variety of reasons since the Korean War. Beginning with George H.W. Bush’s administration in the early 1990s, however, U.S. leaders have become obsessed with shutting down Pyongyang’s nuclear program. Washington has insisted that the so-called Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) abandon any ambitions to abandon ambitions to be in the exclusive global nuclear weapons club of the global nuclear weapons club. Washington should desist. The stakes – avoiding nuclear war – are much too high.” (08/11/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_galen_carpenter/2025/08/10/should-the-u-s-recognize-north-korea-as-a-nuclear-weapons-power/
-----
44) Donald Trump is now officially a banana Republican
Source: Orange County Register
by Steven Greenhut
“Trump didn’t like the latest jobs report, which showed meager jobs growth as the nation heads toward a tariff-imposed recession. ‘I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY,’ posted Trump on social media. … The New York Times quoted Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell: ‘Good data helps not just the Fed, it helps the government, but it also helps the private sector.’ Trump has indicated he’d like to replace Powell — presumably with someone who will juice interest rates to help his political goals. Any intelligent person, though, can see why good policy flows from an accurate understanding of reality. These are banana republic moves, backed by MAGA and the Banana Republican Party.” (08/10/25)
https://archive.is/tPEhd
-----
45) After years of lawfare, Trump turns tables on Democrats; time to hold them accountable
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine
“‘No one is above the law’ was the favorite refrain of Democrats as they pursued Donald Trump up hill and down dale in an effort to destroy his first presidency and ensure he could never serve again. They threw everything at him, manufacturing intelligence to frame him as a Russian stooge, weaponizing the FBI and DOJ against him, impeaching him, siccing the most unscrupulous prosecutors on him, contriving spurious civil cases against him and his family, trying to jail him and bankrupt him, all the while lying and assassinating his character. If that didn’t bring him down, two assassination attempts would have finished off a lesser mortal. But, sadly for Trump’s Democratic/deep state persecutors, they failed spectacularly. … As the saying goes: If you come for the king, you’d best not miss.” (08/10/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/08/10/opinion/miranda-devine-trump-turns-tables-on-democrats-after-years-of-lawfare-now-its-time-to-hold-them-accountable/
-----
46) Trump’s Shadow War in Somalia is a War on Tribal Democracy
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“[O]ne of the most fascinating conflicts unfolding as we speak is Trump’s adopted shadow war in Somalia and the detail that makes this raging tiff truly fascinating is the fact that this is a dirty little war that big bad America appears to be losing and losing badly.” (08/10/25)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2025/08/trumps-shadow-war-in-somalia-is-war-on.html
-----
47) Yoram Hazony’s National Conservatism Wants to Abandon Liberal Democracy so that the Jewish People Maintain Hegemony in Israel
Source: The UnPopulist
by Michael G Holzman
“He wants to give Protestant America the right to disempower other faiths and ethnic groups so that Israel can do the same.” (08/10/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/yoram-hazonys-national-conservatism
-----
48) The collapse of Britain’s National Health Service
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Scott
“The latest NHS statistics revealed that 6.23 million people are on the waiting list, meaning they have been seen by a General Practitioner (GP) and been referred for treatment of some kind. A situation in which nearly 10% of the population is facing long waits is a damning indictment of the system. Yet this is not the worst of it. The most terrifying finding from the survey is that 48% of those 6.23 million — approximately 2.99 million people — have not been seen by anyone at all. As Rachel Power of the Patients Association said, ‘The scale is staggering, as nearly half of all patients on a waiting list haven’t been seen by anyone. That’s not a healthcare service; that’s a breakdown.'” (08/10/25)
https://fee.org/articles/the-collapse-of-britains-national-health-service/
-----
49) What the Left [sic] Must Learn from Mamdani
Source: In These Times
by Alex Han
“New York City’s municipal elections aren’t normally the hinge that defines national politics. We’ve been primed to limit our focus, every four years, to a handful of swing states that decide presidential outcomes. We generally consider anything else a sideshow, including the race to lead the largest city in the country. This year is different — and unexpectedly so. Those who claim that they knew that 33-year-old open socialist and advocate for Palestinian liberation Zohran Mamdani would far surpass favored candidate Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City are likely lying. Mamdani’s campaign was widely considered well-run, and his field operation — which boasted some 50,000 volunteers — had received significant press for its size and effectiveness. But even on the eve of the election, many believed the race would end predictably, with centrist Cuomo ahead.” (08/11/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/the-left-zohran-mamdani-election-brandon-johnson-win-power
-----
50) Israel Is Not an Ally — It’s a Liability
Source: The American Conservative
by Sina Toossi
“‘My people are starting to hate Israel.’ That’s what President Donald Trump reportedly told a prominent Jewish donor recently. His remark wasn’t just a political aside; it was a warning. As images of starvation and devastation from Gaza flood American screens, even Trump has privately acknowledged the reality of ‘real starvation.’ A shift is underway, and it is reshaping the foundations of American politics and foreign policy.” (08/10/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/israel-is-not-an-ally-its-a-liability/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 08/11/25
Source: Reason
“Lower Crime Hasn’t Stopped Gun Control Push.” (08/11/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/08/11/lower-crime-hasnt-stopped-gun-control-push/
-----
52) Rising, 08/11/25
Source: The Hill
“Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman defend Joe Rogan, skewer overly-critical liberals.” (08/11/25)
https://thehill.com/video/jimmy-kimmel-sarah-silverman-defend-joe-rogan-skewer-overly-critical-liberals-rising/10970662/
-----
53) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/11/25
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Reflections On The Ron Paul Barbecue.” (08/11/25)
https://rumble.com/v6xfuqw-reflections-on-the-ron-paul-barbecue.html
-----
54) Half the Answer, episode 26
Source: Liberal Currents
“Chasing Opinion Polls or Shaping Opinions?” (08/11/25)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/half-the-a/
-----
55) Heartland Daily Podcast, episode 3025
Source: Heartland Institute
“Trump Team Crushing Media Mid-wits – The Climate Realism Show.” (08/11/25)
https://heartland.org/podcasts/trump-team-crushing-media-mid-wits-the-climate-realism-show-168/
-----
56) Conflicts of Interest, episode 827
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Will the Trump-Putin Summit Lead to an End of the War in Ukraine?” (08/11/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-827-will-the-trump-putin-summit-lead-to-an-end-of-the-war-in-ukraine
-----
57) EconTalk, 08/11/25
Source: EconTalk
“Learning to Think Like Someone Else (with David Marquet).” (08/11/25)
https://www.econtalk.org/learning-to-think-like-someone-else-with-david-marquet/
-----
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 08/11/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Israel Kills Five Al Jazeera Journalists in Gaza, Trump and Putin To Meet on August 15, and More.” (08/11/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcy5ipRC_cQ
-----
59) Free Talk Live, 08/10/25
Source: Free Talk Live
“AI alignment :: chat GPT directs man to replace salt with bromide leading to psychosis :: Skeeter tries again to make a point about something :: cyber trucks for military target practice :: crypto in 401ks :: Sarah in NM calls about improvement plan for central to accommodate pedestrians :: moon landing; hoax or not? :: playing games with the money :: Help fix Rob from Vermont’s roof :: gofund.me/721964f7 :: 2025-08-10 Hosts: Stu, Rich E. Rich.” (08/10/25)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/ftl2025-08-10
-----
60) LPALive!, 08/10/25
Source: LP Alliance
“LNC Meeting August 10, 2025.” (08/10/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qpblox3etjw
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Today's Freedom News:
1) DC: Trump imposes martial law
2) Open source data: Russian forces make sudden thrust in Donetsk
3) Bitcoin Pulls Back to $119K as Looming Inflation Data Could Bring Price Swings
4) US, Chinese regimes extend trade truce another 90 days
5) Finland: Regime charges tanker crew members with sabotage of undersea cables
6) US Snail joins war against quitting smoking
7) Iraqi, Iranian regimes sign security pact on shared border
8) KY: Ford to invest nearly $2 billion in assembly plant to produce electric vehicles
9) Colombia: Presidential hopeful dies weeks after campaign rally shooting
10) Judge refuses Trump regime’s request to unseal Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury materials
11) Tropical Storm Erin forms in the Atlantic, expected to gain strength in coming days
12) India: Opposition parties protest against a controversial electoral roll revision
13) British man who perished in Antarctic glacier found 65 years later
14) Trial to start on whether occupation of Los Angeles violated federal law
15) PA: Explosion US Steel coking plant leaves people trapped under rubble
16) Australian regime to recognise Palestinian statehood, New Zealand’s regime may follow
17) UN condemns targeted Israeli attack that murdered five Al Jazeera journalists
18) AOL to end dial-up Internet service
19) Ahead of US-Russia summit, Europe & Ukraine leaders seek talks with Trump
20) Mali: Junta detains two dozen soldiers over alleged coup plot
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) For Ukraine, “Losing Slowly” Might Be a Winning Strategy
22) Newsflash: Governments Lie
23) The DOJ’s push to collect your data is a fishing expedition
24) In Trump’s Competition with China, China is Winning
25) Could a World Remade by Tech be Ruled by Virtue?
26) Disinformation and the Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
27) Firing the BLS head: Is America becoming Argentina?
28) Will Jamaica Become a Republic?
29) Israel Assassinates More Journalists To Hide Its Planned War Crimes
30) The Political Economy of Incompetence
31) Media are time traveling back to 2017 to find their mojo and talking points
32) Who’s Funding the Attacks on Thomas Massie — and What Networks are Backing Them?
33) Democratic [sic] Party Must Change If It Wants to Defeat Trumpism
34) Misunderstanding “Infinite Growth”
35) Give Me the Gilded Age Any Day of the Week
36) The trade war is coming for your morning cup of coffee
37) Gerrymandering, Race Pandering, and Political Meandering
38) You Can Pay Your Friends on PayPal and Venmo Again — And Not Worry About the IRS
39) The Myth of the Cracked Coder
40) US military action against drug cartels? It’ll likely fail.
41) Tariffs as War
42) Murder, Rape, and the Sexism of Sympathy
43) Should the US Recognize North Korea as a Nuclear Weapons Power?
44) Donald Trump is now officially a banana Republican
45) After years of lawfare, Trump turns tables on Democrats; time to hold them accountable
46) Trump’s Shadow War in Somalia is a War on Tribal Democracy
47) Yoram Hazony’s National Conservatism Wants to Abandon Liberal Democracy so that the Jewish People Maintain Hegemony in Israel
48) The collapse of Britain’s National Health Service
49) What the Left [sic] Must Learn from Mamdani
50) Israel Is Not an Ally — It’s a Liability
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 08/11/25
52) Rising, 08/11/25
53) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/11/25
54) Half the Answer, episode 26
55) Heartland Daily Podcast, episode 3025
56) Conflicts of Interest, episode 827
57) EconTalk, 08/11/25
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 08/11/25
59) Free Talk Live, 08/10/25
60) LPALive!, 08/10/25
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) DC: Trump imposes martial law
Source: Politico
“President Donald Trump said Monday he would place the Washington, D.C., police department under federal control and deploy the National Guard, an escalation of federal power in his campaign to tighten control over the nation’s deep-blue capital city. ‘This is liberation day in D.C. and we’re going to take our capital back,’ Trump said. Although crime in Washington hit a 30-year low last year, Trump on Monday said he was declaring a public safety emergency in the District. … Trump said he was invoking a part of the law governing D.C. that allows the president to take control of the local police department on a temporary basis in an emergency. … Trump can seize control of the District’s police for up to 48 hours without congressional approval and for up to 30 days if he sends a special notice to leaders of certain congressional committees.” (08/11/25)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/11/trump-dc-police-federal-control-00502708
-----
2) Open source data: Russian forces make sudden thrust in Donetsk
Source: Reuters
“Russian forces have made a sudden thrust … east of the mining town of Dobropillia in a move that Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers say could become a serious problem for Kyiv if left unchecked.
Ukraine’s authoritative DeepState war map showed on Tuesday that Russian forces had quickly advanced north in two prongs covering as much as 10 kilometres (6.2 miles), part of their drive to take full control of Ukraine’s [former, seceded] Donetsk region. DeepState said they had advanced near three villages on a section of the frontline associated with the two [formerly] Ukrainian cities of Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka.” (08/12/25)
https://archive.is/ZmrtD
-----
3) Bitcoin Pulls Back to $119K as Looming Inflation Data Could Bring Price Swings
Source: CoinDesk
“Bitcoin’s (BTC) overnight push towards fresh records met with profit-taking on Monday, knocking prices down to $118,500. The pullback left bitcoin 2.8% off its session high of $122,200, though the largest crypto remained up 0.4% over the past 24 hours. Ether held above $4,200, modestly up 0.8% during the same period, while major altcoins Solana’s SOL, dogecoin and Sui’s native token slipped 3%-4%. … Tuesday’s U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) report could be the week’s biggest catalyst for traders, with Producer Price Index (PPI) data following later in the week.” (08/12/25)
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/08/11/bitcoin-pulls-back-to-usd119k-as-looming-inflation-data-could-bring-price-swings
-----
4) US, Chinese regimes extend trade truce another 90 days
Source: Associated Press
“President Donald Trump extended a trade truce with China for another 90 days Monday, at least delaying once again a dangerous showdown between the world’s two biggest economies. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he signed the executive order for the extension, and that ‘all other elements of the Agreement will remain the same.’ Beijing at the same time also announced the extension of the tariff pause, according to the Ministry of Commerce. The previous deadline was set to expire at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Had that happened the U.S. could have ratcheted up taxes on [American buyers of] Chinese imports from an already high 30%, and Beijing could have responded by raising retaliatory levies on [Chinese buyers of] U.S. exports to China.” (08/12/25)
https://apnews.com/article/trump-trade-tariffs-china-deadline-ad2c003e9a709a1dfdfc9a9fd3798baf
-----
5) Finland: Regime charges tanker crew members with sabotage of undersea cables
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Finnish authorities have filed charges against members of the crew of an oil tanker suspected of damaging five undersea cables by dragging its anchor between Finland and Estonia. Finland’s deputy prosecutor general’s office said on Monday it had filed charges of aggravated sabotage and aggravated interference with telecommunications against the captain and first and second officers of the Eagle S. The Cook Islands-registered tanker is understood to be part of Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ – comprising vessels that sail under foreign flags to evade sanctions. The ship was carrying oil from Ust-Luga in Russia across the Gulf of Finland when, prosecutors allege, it dragged its anchor along the seabed for about 90km (56 miles) in December 2024. The incident was one of several suspected hybrid attacks on telecommunications services in the Nordic region at the end of last year, putting leaders on high alert and prompting accusations of infrastructure sabotage against Russia.” (08/11/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/11/finland-accuses-tanker-crew-sabotage-undersea-cables-anchor
-----
6) US Snail joins war against quitting smoking
Source: Reuters
“The U.S. Postal Service has cracked down on distributors of unregulated vapes using its services for business shipments, letters reviewed by Reuters show, in a blow to a multi-billion dollar industry that has dented Big Tobacco’s sales. The letters, previously unreported, show that USPS wrote to major New York-based distributor Demand Vape, blocking it from using its services after New York City’s Law Department, which represents the city’s government and officials in legal matters, provided evidence that its shipments broke laws. … Unregulated vapes lack the authorisation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that is required for them to be legally sold in the United States, the world’s largest market for smoking alternatives. … So far, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorised only 39 e-cigarette products. But unauthorised devices are widely available as authorities struggle to contain them.” (08/11/25)
https://archive.is/bIMDh
-----
7) Iraqi, Iranian regimes sign security pact on shared border
Source: Türkiye Today [Turkey]
“Iraq and Iran have signed a security agreement aimed at enhancing protection along their shared border, Iraqi officials said Saturday. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani met in Baghdad with Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, according to a statement from the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office. During the talks, Sudani reaffirmed Iraq’s rejection of Israeli attacks against Iran and warned against steps that could escalate regional or international conflict. He also reiterated Iraq’s support for dialogue between the United States and Iran.” (08/11/25)
https://www.turkiyetoday.com/region/iraq-iran-sign-security-pact-on-shared-border-3205317
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8) KY: Ford to invest nearly $2 billion in assembly plant to produce electric vehicles
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“Ford Motor Co. will invest nearly $2 billion retooling a Kentucky factory to produce electric vehicles that it says will be more affordable, more profitable to build, and will outcompete rival models. The automaker’s top executive unveiled the new EV strategy Monday at Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant which, after producing gas-powered vehicles for 70 years, will be converted to manufacture electric vehicles. … The Big Detroit automakers have continued to transition from internal combustion engines to EV technology even as President Donald Trump’s administration unwinds incentives for automakers to go electric. … Yet Farley and other top executives in the auto industry say that electric vehicles are the future and there is no going back.” (08/11/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/08/11/ford-us-investment-electric-vehicles/
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9) Colombia: Presidential hopeful dies weeks after campaign rally shooting
Source: CBS News
“Colombian conservative senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay died Monday, more than two months after being shot during a campaign rally in western Bogota. His wife, María Claudia Tarazona, confirmed the 39-year-old’s death early Monday. Uribe Turbay was critically wounded on June 7 during a campaign rally in the country’s capital, suffering gunshot wounds to the head and leg. He underwent emergency surgery and remained hospitalized in intensive care until his death. … A teenage suspect was arrested at the scene, and authorities have since detained several others. Last month, police arrested the alleged mastermind of the attack — Elder José Arteaga Hernández, who uses the aliases ‘Chipi’ or ‘Costeño.'” (08/11/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/miguel-uribe-turbay-dies-colombia-senator-shot-campaign-rally/
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10) Judge refuses Trump regime’s request to unseal Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury materials
Source: The Hill
“A federal judge on Monday refused the Justice Department’s request to unseal grand jury materials used to charge Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime accomplice of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Trump administration looked to break the normal secrecy of grand jury proceedings amid mounting public pressure, including from much of the president’s political base, to release more files on the case.” [editor’s note: This one was a pretty safe delay/distraction — they knew it would take a little while, they knew that the answer would be no, and they knew that there was nothing important in there anyway — but the subject doesn’t seem to have gone away during the wait as they’d hoped – TLK] (08/11/25)
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5445990-judge-refuses-unseal-maxwell-grand-jury/
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11) Tropical Storm Erin forms in the Atlantic, expected to gain strength in coming days
Source: New York Post
“Tropical Storm Erin formed Monday in the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean, just west of the Cabo Verde Islands, as Hurricane Henriette strengthened in the Pacific Ocean well away from Hawaii, forecasters said. There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect for either storm, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. Erin was about 280 miles (451 kilometers) west-northwest of the Cabo Verde Islands, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (72 kph), the NHC said. It was moving west at about 20 mph (32 kph). Gradual strengthening was forecast over the next several days.” (08/11/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/08/11/us-news/tropical-storm-erin-forms-in-the-atlantic-expected-to-gain-strength-in-coming-days/
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12) India: Opposition parties protest against a controversial electoral roll revision
Source: ABC News
“India ’s opposition parties held a protest Monday calling for the rollback of a controversial revision of the voter list in one of the country’s poorest states, where key elections are scheduled in November, and warning it could lead to voter disenfranchisement. Hundreds of lawmakers and supporters began the protest from parliament and were confronted by police, who stopped them from marching towards the election commission office in the capital, New Delhi. Police briefly detained some lawmakers, including opposition leader Rahul Gandhi. … The revision of nearly 80 million voters involves strict documentation requirements from citizens, triggering concerns it could lead to the exclusion of vulnerable groups, especially those who are unable to produce the paperwork required to prove their citizenship.” (08/11/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/indias-opposition-parties-protest-controversial-electoral-roll-revision-124535111
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13) British man who perished in Antarctic glacier found 65 years later
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The bones of a British man who died in a terrible accident in Antarctica in 1959 have been discovered in a melting glacier. The remains were found in January by a Polish Antarctic expedition, alongside a wristwatch, a radio, and a pipe. He has now been formally identified as Dennis ‘Tink’ Bell, who fell into a crevasse aged 25 when working for the organisation that became the British Antarctic Survey. … A team of scientists made up of Piotr Kittel, Paulina Borówka and Artur Ginter at University of Lodz, Dariusz Puczko at the Polish Academy of Sciences and fellow researcher Artur Adamek carefully rescued the remains in four trips.” (08/11/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g034yx4gjo
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14) Trial to start on whether occupation of Los Angeles violated federal law
Source: Seattle Times
“A federal judge in San Francisco will consider evidence and hear arguments on whether the Trump administration violated federal law when it deployed National Guard soldiers and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles following protests over immigration raids this summer. The Trump administration federalized California National Guard members and sent them to the second largest U.S. city over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom and city leaders, after protests erupted June 7 when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested people at multiple locations. California is asking Judge Charles Breyer to order the Trump administration to return control of the remaining troops to the state and to stop the federal government from using military troops in California ‘to execute or assist in the execution of federal law or any civilian law enforcement functions by any federal agent or officer.'” (08/11/25)
https://archive.is/OeJWP
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15) PA: Explosion US Steel coking plant leaves people trapped under rubble
Source: CNN
“An explosion Monday at a US Steel coking plant near Pittsburgh has left people trapped under the rubble, with emergency workers on site trying to rescue them, an official said. There are no confirmed fatalities at the Clairton Coke Works, said Abigail Gardner, director of communications for Allegheny County. … The Clairton Coke Works, a massive industrial facility along the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh, is considered the largest coking operation in North America. A coking plant processes raw coal into coke, a critical component in steelmaking.” (08/11/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/11/us/us-steel-clairton-coke-works-explosion
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16) Australian regime to recognise Palestinian statehood, New Zealand’s regime may follow
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Australia will recognise a Palestinian state in September, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced. Albanese said on Monday that his government would formally announce the move when the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meets in New York. … Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on Monday that his country’s cabinet will make a formal decision on Palestinian statehood in September.” (08/11/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/11/australia-to-recognise-palestinian-statehood-new-zealand-may-follow
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17) UN condemns targeted Israeli attack that murdered five Al Jazeera journalists
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The UN’s human rights office has condemned a targeted Israeli attack that killed six journalists in Gaza, calling it a ‘grave breach’ of international law. Five Al Jazeera journalists, including correspondent Anas al-Sharif, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday. Two others were killed, including a freelance journalist, the broadcaster said. Israel’s military said it targeted Sharif, alleging he had ‘served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas’ — something Sharif denied. Israel provided little evidence.” (08/11/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq688qz3rlro
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18) AOL to end dial-up Internet service
Source: The Verge
“AOL dial-up is ending on September 30th according to a statement posted on the company’s website. It marks the end of the service that was synonymous with the internet for many since its launch in 1991. … At last count, a 2019 US census estimated that 265,000 people in the United States were still using dial-up internet …” (08/11/25)
https://www.theverge.com/news/757194/aol-dial-up-is-dead
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19) Ahead of US-Russia summit, Europe & Ukraine leaders seek talks with Trump
Source: SFGate
“Ukraine and its European backers on Monday sought talks with U.S. President Donald Trump in an effort to protect their security interests ahead of his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this week. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has so far been excluded from the U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska on Friday, and the Europeans are unlikely to be invited. All are wary that Putin and Trump might agree, without Ukraine’s participation, to land swaps of Ukraine’s territory or other terms that might favor Russia. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz organized a series of meetings for Wednesday. He invited Trump, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Zelenskyy, NATO’s chief and several European leaders to attend. The chancellery said the talks would focus on ‘further options for action to put pressure on Russia’ as well as ‘preparations for possible peace negotiations and related issues of territorial claims and security.'” (08/11/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/europe-says-us-russia-summit-this-week-cannot-20811718.php
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20) Mali: Junta detains two dozen soldiers over alleged coup plot
Source: France 24 [French state media]
‘Malian authorities have arrested two dozen soldiers accused of plotting to overthrow the ruling junta, which itself came to power in the west African country in a coup, sources told AFP on Sunday. The arrests, which include a high-ranking general, come amid growing discontent within the army and ongoing instability in Mali.” (08/10/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20250810-mali-detains-two-dozen-soldiers-over-alleged-coup-plot-against-junta
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) For Ukraine, “Losing Slowly” Might Be a Winning Strategy
Source: Reason
by Paul Schwennesen
“Inching backward while bleeding Russia dry, Ukraine is relying on a time-tested military truth: You don’t need to outgun an invader — you just need to outlast them. … Losing as slowly as possible — husbanding one’s manpower and resources during a careful strategic retreat — is a time-tested strategy against an ostensibly superior force. From George Washington to Ho Chi Minh, commanders who embrace this inglorious yet practical approach find that it can be devastatingly effective. … Of course, the slow retreat strategy only works if the enemy eventually breaks — either militarily, economically, or politically. And this is where critics raise the most serious objection: Russia is famous, after all, for preternatural levels of endurance. ” (08/11/25)
https://reason.com/2025/08/11/for-ukraine-losing-slowly-might-be-a-winning-strategy/
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22) Newsflash: Governments Lie
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul
“Bureau of Labor Statistics head Dr. Erika McEntarfer is one of the latest persons President Trump has told ‘you’re fired.’ President Trump said this month that he fired Dr. McEntarfer because the president believed she manipulated jobs data. … President Trump is correct that BLS manipulates statistics related to the economy, but it has been doing so since long before Donald Trump moved to the White House. For example, starting in 1994, the BLS stopped including ‘discouraged’ workers who have stopped looking for work in the official unemployment figures. The BLS also includes those working part-time as employed even if the only reason they are working part-time is they cannot find full-time work.” (08/11/25)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/newsflash-governments-lie
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23) The DOJ’s push to collect your data is a fishing expedition
Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
by Mary Ellen Klas
“With his approval rating sinking lower and lower, and facing the prospect of losing control of the House to Democrats, President Donald Trump is engaged in an unprecedented attempt to manipulate the midterm elections. He’s now got Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice embarking on another insidious strategy: building a dossier of private information on every voter Trump can use for political advantage. … while states have developed strict protocols for protecting this information, the DOJ hasn’t said how it will keep the data safe from hackers and cybersecurity breaches. ” (08/11/25)
https://triblive.com/opinion/mary-ellen-klas-the-dojs-push-to-collect-your-data-is-a-fishing-expedition/
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24) In Trump’s Competition with China, China is Winning
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“Donald Trump doesn’t have much interest in numbers and the real world, but that is where the rest of us live so it is worth checking in periodically. Trump and many others — including many Democrats — are anxious to see the United States as engaged in a Cold War-type competition with China. … to my view we should not see the Cold War with the Soviet Union as a model to be emulated. But apart from my personal views, there is a fundamental difference between the Soviet Union and China. At its peak, the Soviet economy was roughly half the size of the U.S. economy. China’s economy is already one-third larger than the U.S. economy and growing far more rapidly. This was true before Donald Trump took office, but the growth gap has been even larger in the first six months of this year.” (08/11/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/11/in-trumps-competition-with-china-china-is-winning/
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25) Could a World Remade by Tech be Ruled by Virtue?
Source: Law & Liberty
by James Hankins & Artur Kluz
“The ongoing clash of the titans, President Trump and Elon Musk, is bringing into high relief the question of whether even the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth can stand up to vast private wealth allied to the power of advanced technology. Can mere political power — the checks and balances of constitutional government — ever hope to control the apparently limitless ability of technology billionaires to alter everyone’s lives? Will Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, having created entirely new digital societies, succeed in making themselves the gatekeepers of those societies? Will the new subjects of the new generation of tech builders get a democratic veto on the future being planned for us? Or will we wake up one day to be notified that installation of a brain-machine interface (BMI) is a ‘required update,’ without which we will be unable to make a phone call or access our investment account?” (08/11/25)
https://lawliberty.org/could-a-world-remade-by-tech-be-ruled-by-virtue/
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26) Disinformation and the Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
Source: American Greatness
by Victor Davis Hanson
“Legitimate disagreement about the wisdom of dropping two bombs on Japan to end World War II in 1945 persists even 80 years later, as reflected in discussions this past week. But recently, there has often been no real effort even to present the facts, much less to consider the lose-lose choices involved in using such destructive weapons. In an age of revisionist history (when Churchill is deemed a ‘terrorist,’ Germany did not really mean to starve millions of Jews and Ukrainians in summer and fall 1941, the British forced Hitler to continue the war, and World War II was not worth the cost), so too are Hiroshima and Nagasaki judged as either war crimes or colossal and unnecessary follies.” (08/11/25)
https://amgreatness.com/2025/08/11/disinformation-and-the-dropping-of-the-atomic-bombs/
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27) Firing the BLS head: Is America becoming Argentina?
Source: The Hill
by Steven Kamin
“President Trump abruptly fired Erika McEntarfer, head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in reaction to the weak July payroll report. This has triggered frightening flashbacks to the Argentina of nearly two decades ago: a populist leader whose flawed policies are ruining the economy; the firing of the head of an agency producing key economic data; mounting discrepancies between benign official statistics and downbeat independent estimates; and an erosion of trust and credibility leading to further economic deterioration. America is still a long ways from that nightmare scenario, but any attempt to follow in the footsteps of past Argentinian policies does not bode well for our economic future.” (08/11/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/5445570-firing-the-bls-head-is-america-becoming-argentina/
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28) Will Jamaica Become a Republic?
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Lipton Matthews
“Jamaica’s recent interest in removing the British monarch as its head of state has gained substantial international attention. The government has announced plans to hold a referendum by 2025 to begin the transition toward republicanism. This announcement follows global and regional trends, including Barbados’s decision to become a republic in 2021, and has prompted headlines and commentary around the world. Jamaica, with its colonial past and vibrant national identity, seems poised to follow suit. Yet beyond the sentiment that motivates this ambition, the domestic political discourse around such a transition remains remarkably thin.” (08/11/25)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/will-jamaica-become-republic
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29) Israel Assassinates More Journalists To Hide Its Planned War Crimes
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Ahead of a planned Israeli assault on Gaza City which UN officials warn will further exacerbate death and suffering for the Palestinian people, Israel has chosen to assassinate five Al Jazeera journalists who’ve been stationed there. Among those killed was Anas al-Sharif, one of the most high-profile surviving reporters in Gaza. The IDF is of course claiming that al-Sharif was Hamas …. every journalist they kill is Hamas. The journalists are Hamas, the hospitals are Hamas, the UN is Hamas, the peace activists are Hamas, the demonstrations are Hamas, telling the truth is Hamas, human empathy is Hamas, objective reality is Hamas. It’s all Hamas. That Israel would feel the need to draw attention to its depravity with this targeted strike at this time shows it has some very ugly intentions for Gaza City that it doesn’t want the world to see.” (08/11/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/08/11/israel-assassinates-more-journalists-to-hide-its-planned-war-crimes/
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30) The Political Economy of Incompetence
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman
“On Thursday [Donald Trump] held a White House briefing, together with economist Stephen Moore, in an attempt to convince the media and the public that the economy is actually doing great. … the big problem with the picture above isn’t the embarrassing misspelling of ‘median,’ or even the factual errors. It’s the fact that Trump gave a presentation about the state of the economy along with Stephen Moore — who may be the last person on the planet you’d trust to tell you the economic truth. I don’t mean that Moore is extremely right-wing, although of course he is. I don’t even mean that he’s a dishonest hack, although again of course he is. I mean that even among dishonest right-wing hacks Moore stands out for his pathological inability to get numbers and facts right.” (08/11/25)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-political-economy-of-incompetence
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31) Media are time traveling back to 2017 to find their mojo and talking points
Source: Fox News
by Dan Gainor
“President Donald Trump, the sequel, has been going gangbusters for just over six months, setting in motion a groundbreaking presidency. Even CNN called him ‘the most influential president, certainly this 21st century.’ But most of the press that covers Trump hasn’t changed a bit from when they went to war during Trump Part I. The press merely evolved from ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness’ to Doc Brown, declaring ‘Great Scott!’ from ‘Back to the Future.’ Only the media didn’t go all the way back to the 1950s, they settled on 2017. Oh, sure, the names have changed. Many Washington Post lefties fled the opinion page and their humorously titled factchecker Glenn Kessler took the buyout. Media types like Howard Stern and Stephen Colbert are also being put out to pasture, like racehorses past their prime.” (08/11/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/dan-gainor-media-time-traveling-back-2017-find-mojo-talking-points
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32) Who’s Funding the Attacks on Thomas Massie — and What Networks are Backing Them?
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Matt Wolfson
“In the past decade of political upheaval, less than a handful of successful candidates have laid down direct challenges to America’s military-industrial complex. Thomas Massie, the U.S. Congressman from Kentucky’s 4th District, is first and foremost among them. In June, President Donald Trump announced an open season on Massie, for the perceived crimes of having voted against the deficit-busting ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ and opposing Trump’s strikes on Iran because they occurred without authorization from Congress. ‘Open season’ in this case meant the formation of a MAGA Pac run by Trump’s former co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita for the sole purpose of beating Massie. LaCivita is part of a class of MAGA strategists and lobbyists who live in Washington and on airplanes but style themselves America First frontiersm[e]n.” (08/11/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/whos-funding-the-attacks-on-thomas-massie-and-what-networks-are-backing-them/
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33) Democratic [sic] Party Must Change If It Wants to Defeat Trumpism
Source: Common Dreams
by Max Moran
“For as long as most of us have been alive, the Democratic [sic] Party of the United States has enjoyed a rare and extraordinary luxury: basic, unquestioned stability in its nation’s laws, values, and political processes. The United States has, of course, undergone extraordinary changes in the last 80 years or so — racial integration, deindustrialization, women’s liberation, suburbanization, television and the internet. But the basic ethos of what it meant to be an American was an unquestioned consensus, pure background noise to the game of day-to-day Congressional debates and electoral campaigns. There was no serious reason to fear for the country’s small-r republican government structure, its capital-L Liberal values of individualism and political equality, or its ability to peacefully transfer power from one regime to the next. This is no longer true.” [editor’s note: The insistence on adding “ic” to the party title tells it all, as if “demoncrazy” were the premise for the party – SAT] [additional editor’s note: Actually, it’s the insistence on omitting the “ic” that’s weird – TLK] (08/11/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/how-can-democrats-defeat-trump
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34) Misunderstanding “Infinite Growth”
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
“Although most degrowthers are not as clear on the matter as they could be, the prevailing idea of degrowth is not a reduction in material living standards, but an end to growth in GDP and in ecological footprints (i.e. the consumption of material inputs) — the two of which are linked. GDP is a metric of the total exchange-value of all goods and services produced; other than embedded rents from artificial scarcities like intellectual property, the exchange value of goods and services is primarily a measure of the total cost of inputs. So the idea of infinite growth resulting entirely from expansion of exchange-value, with no increase in material resources consumed, is inconsistent with reality unless a major part of GDP consists of unearned monopoly rents.” (08/11/25)
https://c4ss.org/content/60607
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35) Give Me the Gilded Age Any Day of the Week
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“I haven’t seen the HBO series ‘The Gilded Age,’ but I do know that the finale of Season 3 has stirred up the statists, big time. The question they are asking in their op-eds and commentaries is, ‘Do we really want to go back to the Gilded Age?’ What they are referring to is the period in U.S. history from around 1870 to about 1910, which just happens to be my favorite time in American history. In fact, if I could choose any period of time in U.S. history in which to live, I’d choose the Gilded Age.” (08/11/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/08/11/give-me-the-gilded-age-any-day-of-the-week/
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36) The trade war is coming for your morning cup of coffee
Source: Washington Post
by Todd Carmichael
“For decades, coffee entered the country duty-free, a recognition of its foundational role in a U.S. industry that supports more than 1.7 million American jobs. That exemption is now gone. In April, the Trump administration implemented a 10 percent baseline tariff on nearly all imported coffee. This month, it raised tariffs on dozens of trading partners …. Brazil, the world’s largest producer of coffee, was slapped on Aug. 6 with a 50 percent tariff. … Many Americans support the administration’s trade policies as a way to bring back production from overseas and to pressure other countries to lower trade barriers. But tariffs on coffee make little sense on those terms compared with other goods: Because the United States can’t grow much coffee itself, all Americans get is upward pressure on prices without a boost to jobs.” (08/11/25)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/08/11/trump-trade-war-coffee-prices-tariffs/
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37) Gerrymandering, Race Pandering, and Political Meandering
Source: Town Hall
by Arthur Schaper
“Gerrymandering, the political practice of carving up awkward-looking legislative districts to benefit one party’s political power, has slithered into the public conversation once again. Some of us remember the history behind this political practice, starting with the Governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry. Democratic-Republicans want to shore up their new power in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Federalist opponents of the maneuver mocked one of the serpentine-like districts created by the party, christened the shape with claws, wings, and razor-sharp mouth, calling the monstrosity ‘The Gerrymander.’ Why has the discussion roared into the public consensus this time? It started with the Texas legislature’s efforts to redraw its state’s districts after a request from the Trump Administration to review the fairness of the districts.” (08/11/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/arthurschaper/2025/08/11/gerrymandering-race-pandering-and-political-meandering-n2661649
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38) You Can Pay Your Friends on PayPal and Venmo Again — And Not Worry About the IRS
Source: The Daily Economy
by Mike Viola
“Since the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill in early July, Democrats have devoted their summer to campaigning against the bill’s cuts to various social programs. … Amid all the panic, there are indeed some major legitimate criticisms of the bill. … But there is one obscure provision that is an unambiguous win for all Americans: the restoration of the 1099-K threshold for third-party settlement organizations (TPSOs). This threshold was reduced to $600 in total transactions per year under Biden’s American Rescue Plan, and would have impacted peer-to-peer platforms like PayPal, Venmo, and the Cash App; intermediaries that small businesses rely on like Stripe, Square, and Shopify; and even apps that facilitate side gigs like Airbnb, Uber, and Lyft. … The One Big Beautiful Bill ends that, returning the threshold to $20,000 across at least 200 transactions, as was the case prior to the Biden bill.” (08/11/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/600-reporting-threshold-scrapped-saving-millions-from-irs-headaches/
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39) The Myth of the Cracked Coder
Source: The Dispatch
by Jeremiah Johnson
“To be cracked is to be absurdly talented, to master the logic of programming, to transcend time and space writing code that sings, and to do so with such speed and efficiency as to defy belief. In Silicon Valley fables, these young prodigies don’t just build great software. They break through systems, leap past obstacles, and rewrite the rules of the world. How is it that some kids can build billion-dollar startups in their dorm rooms? Because they’re cracked. The legend isn’t entirely wrong. The modern world owes an enormous debt to the tech sector. … But the myth of the cracked coder goes beyond founding tech companies. It assumes that elite coders, by virtue of their raw intellect and technical prowess, can solve any problem. And this assumption, now increasingly embedded in the thinking of major tech firms and in our government, is causing immense harm.” (08/11/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/doge-elon-musk-technology-coding/
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40) US military action against drug cartels? It’ll likely fail.
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Dan DePetris
“In 2020, during the last year of the Trump administration’s first term, President Trump asked then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper a shocking question: why can’t the United States just attack the Mexican cartels and their infrastructure with a volley of missiles? Esper recounted the moment in his memoir, using the anecdote to illustrate just how reckless Trump was becoming as his term drew to a close. Those missiles, of course, were never launched, so the entire interaction amounted to nothing in terms of policy. Yet five years later, Trump still views the Mexican cartels as one of Washington’s principal national security threats. His urge to take offensive action inside Mexico has only grown with time.” (08/11/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-drug-cartels/
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41) Tariffs as War
Source: The American Prospect
by Harold Meyerson
“While there is nothing fundamentally funny about Donald Trump’s presidency, some of his policies, as Stephen Colbert and others regularly point out, register well above 9 on the Richter scale of ridiculosity. One current example of life under Trump imitating farce is his proposed 39 percent tariffs on Switzerland. The farce I have in mind is the musical comedy Strike Up the Band, with books (it had two versions, one in 1927, one in 1930) by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind (who also wrote the definitive Marx Brothers comedies) and a score by George and Ira Gershwin. It features an American cheese mogul so infuriated by Switzerland’s efforts to block U.S. tariffs on their cheese that he finances a war in which the U.S. conquers Switzerland … almost (it’s a comedy, after all).” (08/11/25)
https://prospect.org/economy/2025-08-11-trump-tariffs-as-war/
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42) Murder, Rape, and the Sexism of Sympathy
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“Rape is very bad, but murder is almost always much worse. This is common sense: Where there’s life, there’s hope. While rape may scar you for life, the cold, happy truth is that rape victims normally recover from the trauma by the grace of hedonic adaptation. The average human really is resilient — so you probably are, too. Not convinced that murder is much worse than rape? In economic terms, just ask yourself: If you could either be raped for sure, or murdered with probability X, what probability leaves you indifferent? 10%? 3%? .7%? Too close to home? Then ask the same probability question for anyone you care about.” (08/11/25)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/murder-rape-and-the-sexism-of-sympathy
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43) Should the US Recognize North Korea as a Nuclear Weapons Power?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
“The issue of North Korea’s nuclear program has long been the principal stumbling block to the normalization of U.S. relations with that country. True, Washington has endeavored to make the communist regime a pariah in the international system for a variety of reasons since the Korean War. Beginning with George H.W. Bush’s administration in the early 1990s, however, U.S. leaders have become obsessed with shutting down Pyongyang’s nuclear program. Washington has insisted that the so-called Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) abandon any ambitions to abandon ambitions to be in the exclusive global nuclear weapons club of the global nuclear weapons club. Washington should desist. The stakes – avoiding nuclear war – are much too high.” (08/11/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_galen_carpenter/2025/08/10/should-the-u-s-recognize-north-korea-as-a-nuclear-weapons-power/
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44) Donald Trump is now officially a banana Republican
Source: Orange County Register
by Steven Greenhut
“Trump didn’t like the latest jobs report, which showed meager jobs growth as the nation heads toward a tariff-imposed recession. ‘I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY,’ posted Trump on social media. … The New York Times quoted Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell: ‘Good data helps not just the Fed, it helps the government, but it also helps the private sector.’ Trump has indicated he’d like to replace Powell — presumably with someone who will juice interest rates to help his political goals. Any intelligent person, though, can see why good policy flows from an accurate understanding of reality. These are banana republic moves, backed by MAGA and the Banana Republican Party.” (08/10/25)
https://archive.is/tPEhd
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45) After years of lawfare, Trump turns tables on Democrats; time to hold them accountable
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine
“‘No one is above the law’ was the favorite refrain of Democrats as they pursued Donald Trump up hill and down dale in an effort to destroy his first presidency and ensure he could never serve again. They threw everything at him, manufacturing intelligence to frame him as a Russian stooge, weaponizing the FBI and DOJ against him, impeaching him, siccing the most unscrupulous prosecutors on him, contriving spurious civil cases against him and his family, trying to jail him and bankrupt him, all the while lying and assassinating his character. If that didn’t bring him down, two assassination attempts would have finished off a lesser mortal. But, sadly for Trump’s Democratic/deep state persecutors, they failed spectacularly. … As the saying goes: If you come for the king, you’d best not miss.” (08/10/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/08/10/opinion/miranda-devine-trump-turns-tables-on-democrats-after-years-of-lawfare-now-its-time-to-hold-them-accountable/
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46) Trump’s Shadow War in Somalia is a War on Tribal Democracy
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“[O]ne of the most fascinating conflicts unfolding as we speak is Trump’s adopted shadow war in Somalia and the detail that makes this raging tiff truly fascinating is the fact that this is a dirty little war that big bad America appears to be losing and losing badly.” (08/10/25)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2025/08/trumps-shadow-war-in-somalia-is-war-on.html
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47) Yoram Hazony’s National Conservatism Wants to Abandon Liberal Democracy so that the Jewish People Maintain Hegemony in Israel
Source: The UnPopulist
by Michael G Holzman
“He wants to give Protestant America the right to disempower other faiths and ethnic groups so that Israel can do the same.” (08/10/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/yoram-hazonys-national-conservatism
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48) The collapse of Britain’s National Health Service
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Scott
“The latest NHS statistics revealed that 6.23 million people are on the waiting list, meaning they have been seen by a General Practitioner (GP) and been referred for treatment of some kind. A situation in which nearly 10% of the population is facing long waits is a damning indictment of the system. Yet this is not the worst of it. The most terrifying finding from the survey is that 48% of those 6.23 million — approximately 2.99 million people — have not been seen by anyone at all. As Rachel Power of the Patients Association said, ‘The scale is staggering, as nearly half of all patients on a waiting list haven’t been seen by anyone. That’s not a healthcare service; that’s a breakdown.'” (08/10/25)
https://fee.org/articles/the-collapse-of-britains-national-health-service/
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49) What the Left [sic] Must Learn from Mamdani
Source: In These Times
by Alex Han
“New York City’s municipal elections aren’t normally the hinge that defines national politics. We’ve been primed to limit our focus, every four years, to a handful of swing states that decide presidential outcomes. We generally consider anything else a sideshow, including the race to lead the largest city in the country. This year is different — and unexpectedly so. Those who claim that they knew that 33-year-old open socialist and advocate for Palestinian liberation Zohran Mamdani would far surpass favored candidate Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City are likely lying. Mamdani’s campaign was widely considered well-run, and his field operation — which boasted some 50,000 volunteers — had received significant press for its size and effectiveness. But even on the eve of the election, many believed the race would end predictably, with centrist Cuomo ahead.” (08/11/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/the-left-zohran-mamdani-election-brandon-johnson-win-power
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50) Israel Is Not an Ally — It’s a Liability
Source: The American Conservative
by Sina Toossi
“‘My people are starting to hate Israel.’ That’s what President Donald Trump reportedly told a prominent Jewish donor recently. His remark wasn’t just a political aside; it was a warning. As images of starvation and devastation from Gaza flood American screens, even Trump has privately acknowledged the reality of ‘real starvation.’ A shift is underway, and it is reshaping the foundations of American politics and foreign policy.” (08/10/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/israel-is-not-an-ally-its-a-liability/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 08/11/25
Source: Reason
“Lower Crime Hasn’t Stopped Gun Control Push.” (08/11/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/08/11/lower-crime-hasnt-stopped-gun-control-push/
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52) Rising, 08/11/25
Source: The Hill
“Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman defend Joe Rogan, skewer overly-critical liberals.” (08/11/25)
https://thehill.com/video/jimmy-kimmel-sarah-silverman-defend-joe-rogan-skewer-overly-critical-liberals-rising/10970662/
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53) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/11/25
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Reflections On The Ron Paul Barbecue.” (08/11/25)
https://rumble.com/v6xfuqw-reflections-on-the-ron-paul-barbecue.html
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54) Half the Answer, episode 26
Source: Liberal Currents
“Chasing Opinion Polls or Shaping Opinions?” (08/11/25)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/half-the-a/
-----
55) Heartland Daily Podcast, episode 3025
Source: Heartland Institute
“Trump Team Crushing Media Mid-wits – The Climate Realism Show.” (08/11/25)
https://heartland.org/podcasts/trump-team-crushing-media-mid-wits-the-climate-realism-show-168/
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56) Conflicts of Interest, episode 827
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Will the Trump-Putin Summit Lead to an End of the War in Ukraine?” (08/11/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-827-will-the-trump-putin-summit-lead-to-an-end-of-the-war-in-ukraine
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57) EconTalk, 08/11/25
Source: EconTalk
“Learning to Think Like Someone Else (with David Marquet).” (08/11/25)
https://www.econtalk.org/learning-to-think-like-someone-else-with-david-marquet/
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58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 08/11/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Israel Kills Five Al Jazeera Journalists in Gaza, Trump and Putin To Meet on August 15, and More.” (08/11/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcy5ipRC_cQ
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59) Free Talk Live, 08/10/25
Source: Free Talk Live
“AI alignment :: chat GPT directs man to replace salt with bromide leading to psychosis :: Skeeter tries again to make a point about something :: cyber trucks for military target practice :: crypto in 401ks :: Sarah in NM calls about improvement plan for central to accommodate pedestrians :: moon landing; hoax or not? :: playing games with the money :: Help fix Rob from Vermont’s roof :: gofund.me/721964f7 :: 2025-08-10 Hosts: Stu, Rich E. Rich.” (08/10/25)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/ftl2025-08-10
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60) LPALive!, 08/10/25
Source: LP Alliance
“LNC Meeting August 10, 2025.” (08/10/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qpblox3etjw
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