06/12 -- Ukraine war: Russian forces target five regions with missile, drone attacks; The Future of Liberty
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Thomas L. Knapp
Jun 12, 2024, 6:28:48 AMJun 12
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 06/12/24
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https://liberty-intl.org/
Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Ukraine war: Russian forces target five regions with missile, drone attacks
2) DE: Jury convicts Hunter Biden on unconstitutional gun charges
3) Musk withdraws lawsuit against OpenAI
4) Netherlands: Four parties say they’ve reached agreement on ministers in a new right-wing government
5) Israel: Knesset advances contentious ultra-Orthodox conscription law
6) FL: Four cops indicted for 2019 shootout that left UPS driver, passerby dead
7) UK: Assange Extradition Appeal to Be Heard Next Month
8) Biden & gun grabbers seeking to flip issue long dominated by the NRA
9) FDA advisory panel recommends new Alzheimer’s drug after scrutiny
10) Gold slips as markets eye outcome of Fed meet, CPI data
11) LA: Researchers find higher levels of dangerous chemical than expected
12) Banana giant held liable for funding paramilitaries
13) Malawi: Vice president, nine others killed in plane crash
14) UK: Animal-rights protesters attack portrait of King
15) FBI: Violent crime continues to drop across US
16) UN Human Rights Office Says IDF’s Deadly Nuseirat Raid May Amount to War Crime
17) NY: Skeleton unearthed at construction site, sparking mystery for investigators
18) Judge rejects disgraced former president’s bid to dismiss classified documents case but agrees to strike one allegation
19) CA: Nonprofit says it’s “thrilled” to be labeled hate group by SPLC
20) Venezuela: Polls say opposition candidate has 50% lead over Maduro
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) The Future of Liberty
22) Truth or Consequences? One Political Idea Checks Both Boxes
23) Democracy Demands Open Borders
24) Socialism: the Great Anti-Theft Movement
25) Government Failure in One Lesson
26) Trump Wants To Exempt Tips From Income Taxes. Why Stop There?
27) C.S. Lewis, Sci-fi, and the Normality of Peace
28) How Congress could curb the use of lawfare for partisan attacks
29) Cassandra Redux: What Did We Know, And When Did We Know It?
30) Why Libertarians Loathe Tariffs
31) Ignoring Daily Massacres In Gaza While Still Babbling About October 7
32) The US Likes Being a Factional Leader
33) The End of Affordable Internet
34) What if Democrats Called the Hunter Biden Trial “Rigged?”
35) Doctoring Malady
36) American Counter-Diplomacy on Display in Hungary
37) Biden Housing Scheme Could Ignite Another 2008 Mortgage Crisis
38) Can Our Constitutional Order be Revived?
39) My Most Successful Way To Convert Students To Free-Market Capitalism
40) Beyond Two State Solution — Why Recognizing State of Palestine Is Important
41) Defense Department Submits to Microsoft’s Profit-Taking
42) Top Economic Concerns Plague Americans Under Biden’s Policies
43) Inflation Denialism Is Hurting Media Credibility
44) Could a reformist actually win the Iranian presidential election?
45) Even a guilty verdict won’t end Hunter Biden’s entitled arrogance
46) More Firms Doesn’t (Necessarily) Mean Better Competition
47) Anti-Liberty Conservatives Want More Theft
48) How AI could make UI fraud easier
49) Safe Abortions Everywhere, Regardless of the Law
50) The Enemies of Food Freedom
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Fakertarians, episode 55
52) The Chris Spangle Show, 06/11/24
53) Conflicts of Interest, episode 612
54) There’s A Policy For That with Susan Pendergrass, 06/11/24
55) The Bryan Hyde Show, 06/11/24
56) Advisory Opinions, 06/11/24
57) The Corbett Report, episode 460
58) Pod Save America, 06/11/24
59) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 06/11/24
60) Free Talk Live, 06/10/24
61) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 06/10/24
62) The Dark Side, 06/10/24
63) Branko Marcetic on The Scott Horton Show
64) How to Know What’s Real, 06/10/24
65) Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 06/10/24
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Ukraine war: Russian forces target five regions with missile, drone attacks
Source: Independent [UK]
“Ukraine repelled a major Russian attack as an onslaught of cruise, ballistic missiles and drones targeted Kyiv and five other regions overnight. Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv city military administration, said Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed all weapons on their approach to the capital. The debris caused a fire at an industrial facility in the Kyiv region, the governor said. One resident was injured after a private residence, a garage, a gas station and a storage unit were damaged, he added. The attack came after several weeks of quiet nights in Kyiv. It also targeted parts of western Ukraine that border Nato-member Poland, and triggered air raid alerts across the whole of the war-torn country, including the Zaporizhzhia, Poltava, Kharkiv, and Vinnytsia regions.” (06/12/24)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-putin-missiles-azov-brigade-b2560989.html
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2) DE: Jury convicts Hunter Biden on unconstitutional gun charges
Source: The Hill
“A jury panel of 12 Delaware residents on Tuesday found Hunter Biden guilty of three federal gun charges, marking the first criminal conviction of a sitting president’s child. President Biden’s son was convicted after roughly three hours of deliberation of three felony counts alleging he lied about his use of illicit drugs when obtaining a gun in 2018, and then unlawfully [sic] possessed the firearm for 11 days. Hunter Biden’s trial which lasted just over a week, spotlighted his addiction to crack cocaine at the time he checked ‘no’ on a federal gun purchase form questioning whether he unlawfully used or was addicted to narcotics or other drugs. … Biden faces a maximum of 25 years in prison and $750,000 in fines, however, first-time offenders are rarely given the maximum penalty. His father, the president, said recently he would not pardon his son if convicted.” (06/11/24)
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4714501-hunter-biden-guilty-federal-gun-charges/
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3) Musk withdraws lawsuit against OpenAI
Source: Reuters
“Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Tuesday moved to dismiss his lawsuit accusing ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman of abandoning the startup’s original mission of developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity and not for profit. Attorneys for Musk asked the California state court to dismiss the lawsuit, originally filed in February, without giving a reason for the move, according to a filing in San Francisco Superior Court. … Musk dismissed his case without prejudice, which means he could refile it at another time. The lawsuit marked a culmination of Musk’s long-simmering opposition to OpenAI, a startup he co-founded and that has since become the face of generative AI through billions of dollars in funding from Microsoft.” (06/12/24)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/elon-musk-withdraws-lawsuit-against-openai-2024-06-11/
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4) Netherlands: Four parties say they’ve reached agreement on ministers in a new right-wing government
Source: ABC News
“The four parties negotiating to form a coalition government in the Netherlands have reached agreement on a new team of Cabinet ministers, far-right leader Geert Wilders said Tuesday. … Wilders, whose Party for Freedom won national elections more than six months ago, did not immediately give details. … The team of ministers will be made up of members of the four parties in the coalition and outside experts — a so-called technocratic administration. Prospective ministers will have to undergo interviews in the lower house of parliament before the new government can be sworn in by Dutch King Willem-Alexander. No dates were immediately set. Anti-Islam lawmaker Wilders convincingly won the November election but took months to cobble together an outline coalition deal. Wilders, a divisive figure who has in the past been convicted of insulting Moroccans, agreed not to become prime minister because of opposition from coalition partners.” (06/11/24)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/4-dutch-parties-reached-agreement-ministers-new-wing-111012217
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5) Israel: Knesset advances contentious ultra-Orthodox conscription law
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The Israeli Knesset has voted to revive a bill that would end exemption on military conscription for some ultra-Orthodox religious students. The 63-57 vote in the parliament late on Monday means that the legislation will now head to committee review. The return of the bill from the previous parliament has provoked anger from opponents as well as those that say it does not extend conscription sufficiently, as Israel conducts the war in Gaza and deals with expanding conflict with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and other Iran-linked forces across the region. The legislation aims to slowly ramp up conscription among the ultra-Orthodox, whose members have for decades enjoyed exemptions to study the Torah. However, it would also lower the age of exemption from mandatory military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews from 26 to 21, thereby limiting the numbers that could be called up to serve.” (06/11/24)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/11/israels-knesset-advances-contentious-ultra-orthodox-conscription-law
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6) FL: Four cops indicted for 2019 shootout that left UPS driver, passerby dead
Source: Seattle Times
“Four Florida police officers have been indicted in connection with a 2019 shootout on a busy street that left a UPS driver, the two robbers who hijacked him and a nearby driver dead, their union confirmed Tuesday. The South Florida Police Benevolent Association criticized the Broward County State Attorney’s Office for seeking the grand jury indictment of the Miami-Dade County officers. The union did not say what the officers have been charged with and their names have not been released. They are expected to turn themselves in next week. … It is highly unusual for Florida law enforcement officers to be charged for an on-duty killing — it has only happened three times in the last 40 years. Even then, only one of those officers has been convicted.” (06/11/24)
https://archive.is/qpXov
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7) UK: Assange Extradition Appeal to Be Heard Next Month
Source: US News & World Report
“WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s appeal against extradition from Britain to the United States will be heard next month, court officials in London said on Tuesday. The Australian-born Assange, 52, is fighting extradition to the U.S. where he is wanted on 18 charges, nearly all under the Espionage Act, relating to WikiLeaks’ mass release of secret U.S. documents …. That appeal will now be held on July 9-10, a spokesperson for Britain’s Judicial Office said.” (06/11/24)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2024-06-11/wikileaks-assange-extradition-appeal-to-be-heard-next-month
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8) Biden & gun grabbers seeking to flip issue long dominated by the NRA
Source: SFGate
“Groups pushing tighter gun laws have been building political muscle through multiple elections, boosted by the outcry following mass shootings at schools and other public places, in addition to the nation’s daily gun violence. Now, gun control advocates and many Democrats see additional openings created by hard-line positions of the gun lobby and their most influential champion, former President Donald Trump. They also point to controversies surrounding the National Rifle Association, which has undergone leadership shuffles and membership declines after a key former executive was found to have expensed private jet flights and accepted vacations from group vendors. ‘It is a false choice to suggest that you have to be in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away,’ Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday in Maryland, where she spoke as part of a series of White House and campaign events focused on gun violence.” (06/11/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/biden-and-gun-control-advocates-want-to-flip-an-19508038.php
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9) FDA advisory panel recommends new Alzheimer’s drug after scrutiny
Source: United Press International
“A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted unanimously on Monday to recommend that the benefits of a new drug for Alzheimer’s outweigh its harms, which can include brain swelling and bleeding. Eli Lilly’s donanemab did slow declines in thinking skills in patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s: Company data showed patients who took donanemab had a 37% lower risk of progression of the disease over 18 months compared to patients who got a placebo. The medication was first expected to be approved earlier this year, but the FDA decided in March that it would instead subject donanemab to the scrutiny of an independent advisory panel.” (06/11/24)
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2024/06/11/FDA-advisory-panel-Alzheimers-drug/9001718111223/
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10) Gold slips as markets eye outcome of Fed meet, CPI data
Source: CNBC
“Gold prices fell on Tuesday with investors awaiting key U.S. inflation data and the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting for details of the central bank’s plans to cut interest rates against its inflation target. Spot gold was down 0.3% at $2,302.89 per ounce, as of 03:17 GMT. U.S. gold futures fell 0.3% to $2,320.20. … The May consumer price index inflation report due on Wednesday will be the next major data point along with the Fed concluding their two-day meeting on the same day.” (06/11/24)
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/11/gold-slips-as-markets-eye-outcome-of-fed-meet-cpi-data.html
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11) LA: Researchers find higher levels of dangerous chemical than expected
Source: SFGate
“Researchers using high-tech air monitoring equipment rolled through an industrialized stretch of southeast Louisiana in mobile labs and found levels of a carcinogen in concentrations as much as 20 times higher than previously estimated, according to a paper published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University raises new health concerns for communities that sit among the chemical plants lining a stretch of the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans — dubbed ‘cancer alley’ by environmentalists. The Environmental Protection Agency considers long-term exposure to inhaled ethylene oxide gas a cancer risk — a stance challenged by the chemical industry. The state of California, which has its own environmental health agency, also lists the chemical as ‘known to cause cancer and reproductive toxicity’ in men and women.” (06/11/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/researchers-find-higher-levels-of-dangerous-19508347.php
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12) Banana giant held liable for funding paramilitaries
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A court in the United States has found multinational fruit company Chiquita Brands International liable for financing a Colombian paramilitary group. The group, the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), was designated by the US as a terrorist organisation at the time. Following a civil case brought by eight Colombian families whose relatives were killed by the AUC, Chiquita has been ordered to pay $38.3m (£30m) in damages to the families. Chiquita said in a statement that it intended to appeal against the jury’s verdict, arguing that there was ‘no legal basis for the claims’. The jury in the case, which was heard in a federal court in South Florida, found Chiquita responsible for the wrongful deaths of eight men killed by the AUC. The AUC engaged in widespread human rights abuses in Colombia, including murdering people it suspected of links with left-wing rebels.” (06/11/24)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6pprpd3x96o
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13) Malawi: Vice president, nine others killed in plane crash
Source: CNN
“Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima has been killed in a plane crash along with nine other passengers, the country’s President Lazarus Chakwera announced Tuesday. The aircraft went missing after it failed to land at the Mzuzu International Airport, about 380 km (240 miles) to the north of the capital Lilongwe. The wreckage of the plane has been located, Chakwera said Tuesday.” (06/11/24)
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/11/africa/malawi-vice-president-saulos-chilima-killed-intl/index.html
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14) UK: Animal-rights protesters attack portrait of King
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Animal-rights protesters have attacked a portrait of King Charles, in a London art gallery. Two protesters stuck posters on the glass covering the painting. The painting itself was unharmed, said the Philip Mould Gallery, and there were no arrests. The striking red artwork by Jonathan Yeo, unveiled last month, was the first official painting of the King since his coronation. The Animal Rising group said its supporters had stuck posters to the glass protecting the painting, in what they described as a ‘light-hearted’ action. They pasted over the royal portrait with a picture of Wallace, a character from the Wallace and Gromit animations. It was a protest message criticising the welfare standards of RSPCA ‘assured farm’ status, with King Charles a patron of the RSPCA.” (06/11/24)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cydd9ye77rmo
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15) FBI: Violent crime continues to drop across US
Source: United Press International
“Violent crime in the United States continued to drop during the first three months of the year, according to statistics released by the FBI that Attorney General Merrick Garland described as ‘historic.’ The FBI on Monday released its Quarterly Uniform Crime Report showing that violent crime across the country dropped by more than 15% between January and March compared to a year earlier. Murder experienced a drastic drop of 26.4%, it said, while rape offenses decreased by 25.7%. Robbery experienced a drop of nearly 18%, aggravated assault by 12.5% and reported property crime fell by 15.1%, it said.” (06/11/24)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/06/11/FBI-statistics-violent-crime-dropping/6561718087499/
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16) UN Human Rights Office Says IDF’s Deadly Nuseirat Raid May Amount to War Crime
Source: Common Dreams
“Citing the ‘principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution’ that international humanitarian law demands military forces obey, the United Nations’ top human rights office on Tuesday said the raid conducted at Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces over the weekend may amount to a war crime. The IDF conducted the operation at the camp in the central Gaza Strip in order to free four Israeli hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, and Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) told reporters their release was ‘clearly very good news.’ But the OHCHR, Laurence said, is ‘profoundly shocked at the impact on civilians of the Israeli forces’ operation,’ which killed at least 274 Palestinians, including 64 children and 57 women, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.” (06/11/24)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-hostage-rescue
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17) NY: Skeleton unearthed at construction site, sparking mystery for investigators
Source: New York Post
“Construction workers at a Long Island apartment complex dug up a bone-chilling discovery: human skeletal remains. The grim find Monday in Woodbury’s Eagle Rock Apartments is under investigation by Nassau County police, cops said. The complex’s management told News 12 that the remains were ‘clearly over 100 years old’, but a representative contacted by The Post would not confirm that earlier statement. Police dig through the ground. A representative for Eagle Rock Apartments couldn’t confirm if the bones were 100 years old. A medical examiner will investigate the bones, police said. Construction workers found human remains in 92 Fairhaven Boulevard, police said. ‘No comment,’ the representative said. Cops learned about the remains through a 911 call about 4 p.m., detectives said. They responded to a construction site at 92 Fairhaven Blvd. and saw skeletal remains while they dug in the ground, cops said.” (06/11/24)
https://nypost.com/2024/06/11/us-news/skeleton-unearthed-at-ny-construction-site-sparking-mystery-for-investigators/
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18) Judge rejects disgraced former president’s bid to dismiss classified documents case but agrees to strike one allegation
Source: CBS News
“The federal judge overseeing special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case against Donald Trump once again rejected requests by the former president’s legal team to dismiss the charges against him, according to an order filed Monday evening. Judge Aileen Cannon denied numerous claims by Trump’s defense attorneys and his co-defendants arguing the 2023 indictment was technically flawed, but she criticized prosecutors’ description of one incident as unnecessary to the charges and agreed to strike a single paragraph from the charging document because she said it ‘improperly contained uncharged offense allegations.’ … she ruled nearly all of the 60-page indictment would stand, except for a single paragraph in which prosecutors described a moment in 2021 when Trump allegedly showed an individual who did not hold a security clearance a classified map of a foreign nation.” (06/10/24)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-classified-documents-case-judge-cannon-rejects-request-to-dismiss/
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19) CA: Nonprofit says it’s “thrilled” to be labeled hate group by SPLC
Source: SFGate
“The president of a California nonprofit said Monday that he was ‘thrilled’ to report that his organization, the California Family Council, was recently labeled an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a legal advocacy nonprofit that specializes in civil rights. In a blog post, California Family Council President Jonathan Keller said his organization was ‘grateful for this clear slander full of blatant lies’ and quoted Matthew 5:11, in which Jesus promises that those who are persecuted for their beliefs will receive a ‘great’ reward in heaven. ‘The SPLC is criticizing CFC and our colleagues across the country for our Biblical stance against obscene educational materials and irreversible medical treatments targeting children with gender dysphoria,’ Keller wrote. ‘Why? Because we speak the truth in love and are committed to safeguarding the well-being of all children and families.'” (06/11/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/calif-nonprofit-thrilled-to-be-called-hate-group-19507807.php
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20) Venezuela: Polls say opposition candidate has 50% lead over Maduro
Source: Semafor
“Venezuela’s opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, is leading President Nicolas Maduro in the polls by about 50% ahead of the country’s upcoming national election, which is supposed to take place on July 28. Gonzalez began the campaign cycle as a political unknown — he was put forward after the former opposition leader was barred from running — and has yet to be barred himself, although Maduro could still block his candidacy and the opposition before the election is due to take place. … While the polls show opposition firmly in the lead in Venezuela, people associated with Maduro’s party have warned that doesn’t guarantee a victory for Gonzalez. And even if the opposition wins the election, Maduro is unlikely to concede a win.” (06/10/24)
https://www.semafor.com/article/06/10/2024/edmundo-gonzalez-venezuela-opposition-nicolas-maduro-poll
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) The Future of Liberty
Source: Mindset Shifts
by Barry Brownstein
“Freedom in America is objectively on the decline. Constitutional limits on government power are ignored. How do we maintain faith that liberty will prevail when confronted with the ‘brutal facts’ that an illiberal populism is capturing both political parties and will likely be the dominant force in American politics for the foreseeable future? Faith that liberty ‘will prevail in the end’ is bolstered when we understand illiberalism is at odds with reality. Illiberalism is based, in part, on the fantastical belief that it is possible to take away the rights of one group without diminishing one’s own rights.” (06/11/24)
https://mindsetshifts.substack.com/p/the-future-of-liberty
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22) Truth or Consequences? One Political Idea Checks Both Boxes
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“What differentiates libertarianism from other political ideologies isn’t just a utilitarian or consequentialist claim as to ‘what works best.’ What differentiates libertarianism from other political ideologies is a moral claim: The claim that it is wrong to initiate force. That’s a moral claim you probably grew up with as an individual. … ‘Don’t Hurt People and Don’t Take Their Stuff.’ Words to live by. Libertarians extend that moral claim to everyone and to all organizations, including government. … Libertarianism is a ‘deontological’ (morality-based) rather than ‘consequentialist’ (outcome-based) position. Happily, however, it’s not a fiat iustitia ruat caelum — ‘let justice be done though the heavens fall’ — position, because its application won’t bring the heavens down. It really DOES produce better outcomes than state edict backed by force.” (06/11/24)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/18739
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23) Democracy Demands Open Borders
Source: Liberal Currents
by Paul Crider
“In a very real sense, migration just is freedom. We move across borders to choose where we live. We move to meet and mingle with the people we’d like, to be with family and friends or to make new friends and join new families. We move to work in the jobs and careers we desire. We move to experience the culture, the cities and the natural landscapes that inhabit our dreams. In short, we migrate to live the lives we want to lead. Migration is choice, self-determination, and self-authorship. … Barring entry to a country means forcefully compelling a person to return from whence they came. Closed borders erode civil liberties even for citizens: federal border enforcement agencies have arrogated the power to search anyone within 100 miles of any US border — about two out of three people — without a warrant.” (06/11/24)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/democracy-demands-open-borders/
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24) Socialism: the Great Anti-Theft Movement
Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato
“In his 1869 essay Yours Or Mine, the radical American writer and publisher Ezra Heywood argued that capitalists had made stealing a fine art. Heywood had no problem in principle with a competitive market economy. But he saw state power as serving the interests of the capitalists, and he called the state ‘one great embodiment of speculative piracy.’ … Fifteen years later, in the pages of the famous anarchist journal Liberty, Heywood’s former assistant editor, Benjamin Tucker, borrowed Heywood’s phrase, writing, ‘Socialism, practically, is war upon usury in all its forms, the great Anti-Theft Movement of the nineteenth century … .’ … the whole criticism of capitalism advanced by nineteenth century libertarians was that it was a system of state-created legal privilege designed and used to steal labor power, to create a space of difference and monopoly in which the owners of capital could exploit workers.” (06/11/24)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/06/11/324995/
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25) Government Failure in One Lesson
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Michael Munger
“Public Choice originated as a heterodox corrective to a misguided focus on ‘market failure,’ a central concept in the welfare economics literature of the 1950s. The orthodox work compared real-world markets with the ‘ideal’ allocation of resources that would be selected by an omniscient, benevolent despot. Opponents argued that government also faces the ‘knowledge problem,’ and state employees are not immune to incentives. Real governments are neither omniscient nor benevolent, and so state action is not always better than markets. Sometimes, relying on government may make things much worse. In fact, it has been estimated that the total ‘killing by the state,’ or total death toll from democide, exceeds 250 million since 1800. Still, unless you are an anarchist, you accept that some government is necessary. But how much? Doing what?” (06/11/24)
https://www.aier.org/article/government-failure-in-one-lesson/
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26) Trump Wants To Exempt Tips From Income Taxes. Why Stop There?
Source: Reason
by Eric Boehm
“If voters send him back to the White House, former President Donald Trump has promised to stop the IRS from raiding workers’ tip jars to fund government spending. But he’s yet to identify any specific spending cuts that would offset that reduction in federal revenues. Without that, this proposal is little more than a promise to add to the federal budget deficit — or it is merely campaign trail blather. … Taxes are awful. Having to pay less in taxes sounds great. Trump may not possess the most sophisticated understanding of policymaking, but he’s certainly smart enough to grok these basic facts—and to use that knowledge to cater to a crowd that was likely heavy in working-class folks from Vegas who earn a good bit of their income via tips. Even if this is nothing more than empty pandering, it’s an idea that deserves to be taken seriously.” (06/11/24)
https://reason.com/2024/06/11/trump-wants-to-exempt-tips-from-income-taxes-why-stop-there/
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27) C.S. Lewis, Sci-fi, and the Normality of Peace
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Peter Jacobsen
“In two past articles, I’ve written about the politics of legendary writer and Christian, C.S. Lewis. In his books, Lewis famously marries a healthy love of community and nation with a skepticism towards intervention. Lewis loved community, but despised meddlers and gossips. Part of the reason Lewis is loved as a writer is his keen ability to notice when society views evil things as normal and to unmask the evil. Such is the case with his first book in his Space Trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet, where Lewis shows us that peace should be viewed as normal.” (06/11/24)
https://fee.org/articles/c-s-lewis-sci-fi-and-the-normality-of-peace/
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28) How Congress could curb the use of lawfare for partisan attacks
Source: Washington Post
by Jason Willick
“Lawfare — the distortion of the legal system to pursue political adversaries — is a growing threat to constitutional government. For Republicans, former president Donald Trump’s election-season conviction in a highly unusual case brought by a Democratic district attorney is strong evidence of the danger. For Democrats, Trump’s threats to retaliate highlight what could happen if the shoe were on the other foot: ‘Mr. Trump, if he wins the presidency again, would gain immense authority to actually carry out the kinds of legal retribution he has been promoting,’ the New York Times warned. … In a time of heightened polarization and fracturing civic norms, the temptation of lawfare grows. … Could Congress do anything to reinforce the porous separation of law and politics?” (06/11/24)
https://archive.is/YAUrg
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29) Cassandra Redux: What Did We Know, And When Did We Know It?
Source: TomDispatch
by Rebecca Gordon
“A few days ago, my partner and I went in search of packing tape. Our sojourn on an idyllic (if tick-infested) Cape Cod island was ending and it was time to ship some stuff home. We stopped at a little odds-and-ends shop and found ourselves in conversation with the woman behind the counter. She was born in Panama, where her father had served as chief engineer operating tugboats in the Panama Canal. As a child, she remembered celebrating her birthday with a trip on a tug from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, sailing under an arch of water produced by fireboats on either side. ‘But that all ended with the invasion.’ she said. ‘It was terrifying. They were bombing Panama City. The Army sent my family back to the U.S. so we wouldn’t be killed. I’ve never been back.'” (06/11/24)
https://tomdispatch.com/what-did-we-know/
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30) Why Libertarians Loathe Tariffs
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Laurence Vance
“Economists, just like politicians, come in all varieties. Yet, if there is one thing that the vast majority of economists agree on, it is opposition to tariffs. There is, in fact, practically a zero-tariff consensus among economists and a united trust in the Ricardian theory of comparative advantage. … Transactions between parties residing in two different countries should not be regarded as any different from two parties in the United States engaging in commerce. That the two parties engaged in commerce are not located in the same country has no economic significance whatsoever. Two economic fallacies emerge when trade is thought of as between countries.” (06/11/24)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/why-libertarians-loathe-tariffs
-----
31) Ignoring Daily Massacres In Gaza While Still Babbling About October 7
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“It’s a waste of breath trying to argue that it’s unjust to massacre over two hundred Palestinians rescuing four Israeli hostages; Israel supporters would have been happy if the number was over two million. They simply do not regard Palestinians as human beings. You may as well say they had to kill two hundred chickens to free four hostages. They don’t care. … We’re seeing new massacres every goddamn fucking day, but western politicians and media can’t stop babbling about one single massacre happening hundreds of days ago. … Ever since the Gaza onslaught began we’ve been seeing US officials play dumb about all the massacres and atrocities Israel has been committing, constantly telling the press ‘Yeah sorry we don’t have any further information about that incident, we’re talking to Israel, you should ask the Israelis.'” (06/11/24)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2024/06/11/ignoring-daily-massacres-in-gaza-while-still-babbling-about-october-7/
-----
32) The US Likes Being a Factional Leader
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“So long as dominance is the goal, U.S. foreign policy will be defined by worsening tensions with adversaries and a ‘with us or against us’ mentality that forces fencesitting states to take sides.” (06/11/24)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/the-us-likes-being-a-factional-leader
-----
33) The End of Affordable Internet
Source: Common Dreams
by Ro Khanna & Annie E McDaniel
“Almost four years ago, Congress established a little-known program called the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Since it was created, the program provided millions of Americans with affordable, high-quality internet. It never got much attention, but it’s impact on communities across the country including in South Carolina was enormous. Launched by the Federal Trade Commission, the program provided eligible households with a discount on internet service of up to $30 every month to bridge the digital divide. Just this year alone, 415,680 families in South Carolina relied on the program, which averaged to about one in five households in the state. In total, the program saved people in South Carolina over $12 million each month on internet service. Despite widespread support for the program, its funding expired on June 1st.” (06/11/24)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/affordable-connectivity-program
-----
34) What if Democrats Called the Hunter Biden Trial “Rigged?”
Source: The Daily Beast
by Matt Lewis
“As the Hunter Biden gun trial nears its conclusion and we await sentencing for Donald Trump’s hush money trial, it’s worth pondering a counterfactual scenario: What if Democrats treated Hunter’s trial the same way Republicans treated Trump’s? This is to say, what if Democrats insisted Hunter’s trial was rigged? What if they swore that this was a witch hunt designed to reach the president through his only living son? Never mind that such an assertion would make zero sense. After all, Joe Biden is the President of the United States. In this capacity, it’s impossible to believe that his son is being persecuted by his own administration. This theory falls apart, however, when you consider that as president, Donald Trump claimed the ‘deep state’ was persecuting him. Indeed, we are supposed to believe that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump while he was president.” (06/11/24)
https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-if-democrats-called-the-hunter-biden-trial-rigged
-----
35) Doctoring Malady
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“There is a doctor shortage. Economists who study such issues project that the shortfall will continue to grow. That is, the pool of available professionals for advanced and general practice medicine is shrinking relative to demand. A report last year at Definitive Healthcare provides a list of reasons: 1. Shifts in physician and patient populations 2. Most healthcare workers prefer not to work in rural hospitals 3. Medical school and residency programs are limited 4. Healthcare workers are burnt out. What wasn’t mentioned? The COVID response debacle.” (06/11/24)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2024/06/11/doctoring-malady/
-----
36) American Counter-Diplomacy on Display in Hungary
Source: The American Conservative
by James W Carden
“Perhaps not since 1956 (and for far different reasons) has Hungary loomed so large in the imaginations of America’s elites. The late Hungarian-American historian John Lukacs noted in 1993 that ‘America and Eastern Europe are more distant from each other than they have been throughout the historical twentieth century. To begin with, there is practically nothing about Hungary in the American newspapers, and hardly anything in any of the periodicals. (The New York Times for some years had a resident Eastern European correspondent stationed in Budapest, but no longer.)’ Yet, somewhat improbably, Hungary has over the past several years found itself the object of a steady stream of controversy in Washington, emerging as one of the primary objects of the new Cold War Culture War being waged out of Washington.” (06/11/24)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/american-counter-diplomacy-on-display-in-hungary/
-----
37) Biden Housing Scheme Could Ignite Another 2008 Mortgage Crisis
Source: Town Hall
by Stephen Moore
“Politicians in Washington have very short memories, so they repeat the same mistakes over and over. It was only 17 years ago that the ‘subprime’ mortgage crisis torpedoed the economy and sent the financial markets into the biggest tailspin since the Great Depression. Millions of Americans lost their jobs. One of the matches that lit that bonfire was Freddie Mac and its cousin, Fannie Mae, offering generous, taxpayer-guaranteed mortgage insurance to risky borrowers on loans with low down payments. It all blew up in the faces of the taxpayers even though the Washington experts said the chances of these mortgages going bust and taxpayers taking a loss was less than one in a thousand. The biggest taxpayer bailouts went not to the Wall Street banks and investment companies but to Fannie and Freddie. Here we go again.” (06/11/24)
https://townhall.com/columnists/stephenmoore/2024/06/11/biden-housing-scheme-could-ignite-another-2008-mortgage-crisis-n2640272
-----
38) Can Our Constitutional Order be Revived?
Source: Law & Liberty
by Scott Yenor
“Yuval Levin’s American Covenant depicts the lost world of American political order — and how we might recover it. Nearly all Americans lack a living memory of when the country had a functioning politics and a decent enough culture, so Levin’s elegy is a welcome way of showing Americans that things could be different. Precisely how to bring back something nearly as well functioning is not so clear.” (06/11/24)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/can-our-constitutional-order-be-revived/
-----
39) My Most Successful Way To Convert Students To Free-Market Capitalism
Source: Cobden Centre
by Mark Skousen
“Last weekend, the Libertarian National Convention invited me to give a breakfast address entitled, ‘My Most Successful Way to Convert Students to Free-Market Capitalism.’ The subject attracted a large crowd. I told them that I’ve given a speech on campuses across the country with a title that attracts young socialists of all kinds: ‘What’s Better than Democratic Socialism?’ I lure them in because they wonder, ‘What could be better than Democratic Socialism?’ In my talk, I explain why socialism has failed time and time again due to lack of incentives. I prove it logically with sound economics — what I call ‘econologic,’ based on the title of my textbook, ‘Economic Logic’ …. After demonstrating the fatal flaw in socialism, I offer an alternative because you can’t get rid of a bad idea unless you can replace it with a good idea.” (06/11/24)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2024/06/my-most-successful-way-to-convert-students-to-free-market-capitalism/
-----
40) Beyond Two State Solution — Why Recognizing State of Palestine Is Important
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ramzy Baroud
“To truly appreciate the recent decision by Ireland, Spain and Norway to recognize the state of Palestine, the subject has to be placed in proper context. On November 15, 1988, Yasser Arafat, then Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, declared Palestine as an independent state. … Soon after the Algiers Declaration, the geopolitics of the world received its greatest shock since World War II, namely the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent fragmentation of pro-Soviet states, thus the isolation of the Global South amid growing Western hegemony.” (06/11/24)
https://original.antiwar.com/ramzy-baroud/2024/06/10/beyond-two-state-solution-why-recognizing-state-of-palestine-is-important/
-----
41) Defense Department Submits to Microsoft’s Profit-Taking
Source: American Prospect
by Luke Goldstein
“Even though Microsoft is the original Big Tech monopoly and still holds the title as the largest corporation in the world by market capitalization, we sometimes forget to place it among the modern-day robber barons. Its operating systems, the Edge browser, Outlook email client, Office suite featuring Word and Excel, Teams communications platform, job-focused social network LinkedIn, Azure cloud service, and Xbox gaming products are so ubiquitous that they can go almost unnoticed, humming in the background of our digital lives. … But Microsoft’s power is still very real, and its image as the nicer tech giant is shifting because of its rapid expansion into artificial intelligence, through a partnership with OpenAI.” (06/11/24)
https://prospect.org/power/2024-06-11-defense-department-microsofts-profit-taking/
-----
42) Top Economic Concerns Plague Americans Under Biden’s Policies
Source: Palm Beach Examiner
by Karl Dickey
“Inflation, crime, and healthcare costs top the list. Election 2024 offers wide-ranging choices for voters.” (06/11/24)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/top-economic-concerns-plague-americans
-----
43) Inflation Denialism Is Hurting Media Credibility
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“From our Democratic friends, the shout arises as though in a single voice: ‘There is no inflation problem for Joe Biden!’ That’s a different argument from, say, claims that Republican critics are opportunistically exaggerating Biden’s inflation problem. Consider the curious case of Zachary D. Carter, writing in Slate, which, as we all know, employs lab monkeys escaped from federal cocaine experiments as fact-checkers. Sneering at a Washington Post editorial on inflation as ‘preposterous,’ Carter (and the guy who is in denial about inflation had to be named ‘Carter,’ didn’t he?) insists that the United States currently has lower inflation ‘than any nation in the G7.’ The problem, as with much of what you read in Slate, is that this is not true. I might be wrong — but I don’t think the OECD and the IMF probably are.” (06/11/24)
https://thedispatch.com/article/inflation-denialism-is-hurting-media-credibility/
-----
44) Could a reformist actually win the Iranian presidential election?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Muhammad Sahimi
“There is one moderate among a parade of hardliners contending to replace the late Ebrahim Raisi.” (06/11/24)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-election-2668492683/
-----
45) Even a guilty verdict won’t end Hunter Biden’s entitled arrogance
Source: New York Post
by staff
“It’s a sign of Hunter Biden’s entitled arrogance, fully supported by the first family, that he even insisted on a trial in this beyond open-and-shut case. After all, he wrote in his own book about all the drugs he was taking at the time he signed that federal gun permit form. But he plainly figured he might get off — that at least one juror in Biden-loving Delaware would be intimidated by the power appearance of first lady Jill Biden and the rest of the clan in the courtroom, or taken in by his heartbreaking story. Nor will this be the end of his chutzpah: Once sentenced (and federal sentencing guidelines suggest a good chance he won’t get prison time), he’ll likely appeal — probably by arguing that this law, passed with help from then-Sen. Joe Biden, violates the Second Amendment.” (06/11/24)
https://nypost.com/2024/06/11/opinion/hunter-biden-is-guilty-but-dont-expect-his-arrogance-to-end/
-----
46) More Firms Doesn’t (Necessarily) Mean Better Competition
Source: EconLog
by Kevin Corcoran
“Prior to the Great Depression, Canada had a largely unregulated banking system. From that system, what emerged was a relatively small number of very large banks that operated across the country. In the United States, there was a highly regulated banking system that (among other things) heavily skewed towards a ‘unit banking’ system rather than a branch banking system. That is, banks were geographically limited in how far they could expand … and were thus limited in size. From this system, what emerged was a system of tens of thousands of fairly small banks across the country. From a ‘more firms = more competition = better’ perspective, it might seem like the United States, with its vast number of banks, would be in a better situation than Canada, which was ‘dominated’ by just a few very large banks. But in practice, the opposite was true.” (06/10/24)
https://www.econlib.org/more-firms-doesnt-necessarily-mean-better-competition/
-----
47) Anti-Liberty Conservatives Want More Theft
Source: Campaign For Liberty
by Ron Paul
“American Compass, a think tank promoting a conservatism lacking even a rhetorical commitment to free markets, recently called for Republicans to support tax increases. The organization claims a GOP embrace of higher taxes will enable the uniparty’s left (Democratic) and right (Republican) wings to create a deficit reduction plan balancing tax increase with spending cuts. American Compass is correct that both parties need to prioritize deficit reduction. The 35 trillion dollars (and rising) national debt is a big threat to prosperity and liberty in America. However, history shows that any ‘bipartisan’ agreement to raise taxes and cut spending results in higher taxes and higher spending.” (06/10/24)
https://www.campaignforliberty.org/anti-liberty-conservatives-want-theft
-----
48) How AI could make UI fraud easier
Source: Niskanen Center
by Matt Darling & Milan Singh
“Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to transform various sectors, including unemployment insurance (UI) fraud. During the pandemic, expanded UI benefits led to a surge in fraudulent claims, exposing significant vulnerabilities in the system. AI may soon enable scammers to file fraudulent claims at an unprecedented scale. The government must act promptly to safeguard taxpayer funds and ensure rightful benefits reach eligible workers. Potential reforms include leveraging AI to screen claims and reinstating in-person verification processes. While advanced AI solutions are promising, low-tech approaches may offer the most immediate and reliable protection against fraud.” (06/10/24)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/how-ai-could-make-ui-fraud-easier
-----
49) Safe Abortions Everywhere, Regardless of the Law
Source: In These Times
by Naomi Briane
“In 2008 in Quito, high in the Andes Mountains, a group of young feminist activists dropped a banner from the top of an enormous statue of the Virgin Mary that towers over Ecuador’s capital city. ‘Aborto Seguro’, the banner read, alongside the number for a new hotline that offered callers information on safely using medication to end a pregnancy outside the medical system. In a country where abortion access is extremely restricted and the majority of the population is Catholic, the Ecuadorian ’safe abortion hotline’ was a bold declaration of women’s bodily autonomy. It was also the beginning of what has since become a transnational movement that is increasingly relevant far beyond the region where it was born.” (06/10/24)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/self-managed-abortion-international-feminist-global-south-dobbs
-----
50) The Enemies of Food Freedom
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Tracy Thurman
“In every war, there is necessarily an enemy force, and the war on our food supply is no exception. My previous article addressed the ongoing attacks on farmers across the globe. In today’s article, we will look at some of the culprits behind this agenda. For anyone who delved into the entities behind the tyrannical Covid policies, many names on the list below will seem quite familiar.” (06/10/24)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-enemies-of-food-freedom/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Fakertarians, episode 55
Source: Fakertarians
“Outgoing Classical Liberal Caucus Chair Jonathan Casey joins us to discuss the convention and other happenings in the Libertarian Party.” (06/11/24)
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fakertarians/episodes/Fakertarians-Episode-55-Jonathan-Casey-e2kme4q
-----
52) The Chris Spangle Show, 06/11/24
Source: We Are Libertarians
“Exploring Faith, Family, Poetry and Philosophy with Leslie Corbly.” (06/11/24)
https://www.chrisspangle.com/p/exploring-faith-family-poetry-and
-----
53) Conflicts of Interest, episode 612
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Ukraine to Store Its F-16s at NATO Bases.” (06/11/24)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-612-ukraine-to-store-its-f-16s-at-nato-bases
-----
54) There’s A Policy For That with Susan Pendergrass, 06/11/24
Source: Show-Me Institute
“The War on Prices with Ryan Bourne.” (06/11/24)
https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/economy/the-war-on-prices-with-ryan-bourne/
-----
55) The Bryan Hyde Show, 06/11/24
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“After two long weeks, it’s time to catch up with Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos. A lot has happened since we last spoke and I’m looking forward to hearing Eric’s take on all of it.” (06/11/24)
https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-gvr3q-163b7e3
-----
56) Advisory Opinions, 06/11/24
Source: The Dispatch
“Offensive T-Shirts Get Their Day in Court.” (06/11/24)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/offensive-t-shirts-get-their-day-in-court/
-----
57) The Corbett Report, episode 460
Source: The Corbett Report
“The Future of Food.” (06/11/24)
https://corbettreport.com/future-of-food/
-----
58) Pod Save America, 06/11/24
Source: Crooked Media
“MTG: Jesus Was a Felon Too.” (06/11/24)
https://stitcher.simplecastaudio.com/9aa1e238-cbed-4305-9808-c9228fc6dd4f/episodes/ae410ac5-ce69-44ba-94c2-f2552280f258/audio/128/default.mp3
-----
59) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 06/11/24
Source: Antiwar.com
“UN Security Council Passes Gaza Ceasefire Resolution, US Wants To Create Taiwan Hellscape, and More.” (06/11/24)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bId00_kZwxo
-----
60) Free Talk Live, 06/10/24
Source: Free Talk Live
“Fox News sucks :: The long reach of the ‘benevolent’ U.S. government :: The U.S. Government targeting Asians :: Rigged game is rigged :: Don’t call the police :: Love your neighbors :: The IRS sucks :: Ian in federal prison :: The silliness of federal prison :: 2024-06-10 Hosts: Aria, Mr. Penguin.” (06/10/24)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/free-talk-live-2024-06-10
-----
61) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 06/10/24
Source: Freedom Works
“Devin Watkins, Competitive Enterprise Institute ‘NRA v Vullo Supreme Court ruling.'” (06/10/24)
http://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2024-06-10_zfw06052024.mp3
-----
62) The Dark Side, 06/10/24
Source: The Bulwark
“JVL does his best to shatter Will’s optimism while he subs in for A.B., overwhelming him with pessimism around recent polling, SCOTUS, abortion and more!” (06/10/24)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/breaking-wills-spirit
-----
63) Branko Marcetic on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Branko Marcetic on the Unnecessary, Futile and Dangerous Prolongation of the War in Ukraine.” (06/10/24)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/6-6-24-branko-marcetic-on-the-unnecessary-futile-and-dangerous-prolongation-of-the-war-in-ukraine/
-----
64) How to Know What’s Real, 06/10/24
Source: The Atlantic
“Games can serve as an escape from reality — but they can also shape our understanding of trust, collaboration, and what might be possible IRL. Megan Garber talks with C. Thi Nguyen, an associate philosophy professor at the University of Utah, to better understand how games can help us safely explore our current reality and shape new realities, too.” (06/10/24)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2024/06/how-to-game-reality/678616
-----
65) Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 06/10/24
Source: Freedom’s Phoenix
“James Bovard (Libertarian Author; Writer) comes on the show to discuss his newest book, Last Rights: The Death of American Liberty.” (06/10/24)
https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Media/363725-2024-06-10-2024-06-10-ernest-interviews-james-bovard-mp3.htm
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https://news.rationalreview.com/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Ukraine war: Russian forces target five regions with missile, drone attacks
2) DE: Jury convicts Hunter Biden on unconstitutional gun charges
3) Musk withdraws lawsuit against OpenAI
4) Netherlands: Four parties say they’ve reached agreement on ministers in a new right-wing government
5) Israel: Knesset advances contentious ultra-Orthodox conscription law
6) FL: Four cops indicted for 2019 shootout that left UPS driver, passerby dead
7) UK: Assange Extradition Appeal to Be Heard Next Month
8) Biden & gun grabbers seeking to flip issue long dominated by the NRA
9) FDA advisory panel recommends new Alzheimer’s drug after scrutiny
10) Gold slips as markets eye outcome of Fed meet, CPI data
11) LA: Researchers find higher levels of dangerous chemical than expected
12) Banana giant held liable for funding paramilitaries
13) Malawi: Vice president, nine others killed in plane crash
14) UK: Animal-rights protesters attack portrait of King
15) FBI: Violent crime continues to drop across US
16) UN Human Rights Office Says IDF’s Deadly Nuseirat Raid May Amount to War Crime
17) NY: Skeleton unearthed at construction site, sparking mystery for investigators
18) Judge rejects disgraced former president’s bid to dismiss classified documents case but agrees to strike one allegation
19) CA: Nonprofit says it’s “thrilled” to be labeled hate group by SPLC
20) Venezuela: Polls say opposition candidate has 50% lead over Maduro
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) The Future of Liberty
22) Truth or Consequences? One Political Idea Checks Both Boxes
23) Democracy Demands Open Borders
24) Socialism: the Great Anti-Theft Movement
25) Government Failure in One Lesson
26) Trump Wants To Exempt Tips From Income Taxes. Why Stop There?
27) C.S. Lewis, Sci-fi, and the Normality of Peace
28) How Congress could curb the use of lawfare for partisan attacks
29) Cassandra Redux: What Did We Know, And When Did We Know It?
30) Why Libertarians Loathe Tariffs
31) Ignoring Daily Massacres In Gaza While Still Babbling About October 7
32) The US Likes Being a Factional Leader
33) The End of Affordable Internet
34) What if Democrats Called the Hunter Biden Trial “Rigged?”
35) Doctoring Malady
36) American Counter-Diplomacy on Display in Hungary
37) Biden Housing Scheme Could Ignite Another 2008 Mortgage Crisis
38) Can Our Constitutional Order be Revived?
39) My Most Successful Way To Convert Students To Free-Market Capitalism
40) Beyond Two State Solution — Why Recognizing State of Palestine Is Important
41) Defense Department Submits to Microsoft’s Profit-Taking
42) Top Economic Concerns Plague Americans Under Biden’s Policies
43) Inflation Denialism Is Hurting Media Credibility
44) Could a reformist actually win the Iranian presidential election?
45) Even a guilty verdict won’t end Hunter Biden’s entitled arrogance
46) More Firms Doesn’t (Necessarily) Mean Better Competition
47) Anti-Liberty Conservatives Want More Theft
48) How AI could make UI fraud easier
49) Safe Abortions Everywhere, Regardless of the Law
50) The Enemies of Food Freedom
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Fakertarians, episode 55
52) The Chris Spangle Show, 06/11/24
53) Conflicts of Interest, episode 612
54) There’s A Policy For That with Susan Pendergrass, 06/11/24
55) The Bryan Hyde Show, 06/11/24
56) Advisory Opinions, 06/11/24
57) The Corbett Report, episode 460
58) Pod Save America, 06/11/24
59) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 06/11/24
60) Free Talk Live, 06/10/24
61) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 06/10/24
62) The Dark Side, 06/10/24
63) Branko Marcetic on The Scott Horton Show
64) How to Know What’s Real, 06/10/24
65) Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 06/10/24
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Ukraine war: Russian forces target five regions with missile, drone attacks
Source: Independent [UK]
“Ukraine repelled a major Russian attack as an onslaught of cruise, ballistic missiles and drones targeted Kyiv and five other regions overnight. Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv city military administration, said Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed all weapons on their approach to the capital. The debris caused a fire at an industrial facility in the Kyiv region, the governor said. One resident was injured after a private residence, a garage, a gas station and a storage unit were damaged, he added. The attack came after several weeks of quiet nights in Kyiv. It also targeted parts of western Ukraine that border Nato-member Poland, and triggered air raid alerts across the whole of the war-torn country, including the Zaporizhzhia, Poltava, Kharkiv, and Vinnytsia regions.” (06/12/24)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-putin-missiles-azov-brigade-b2560989.html
-----
2) DE: Jury convicts Hunter Biden on unconstitutional gun charges
Source: The Hill
“A jury panel of 12 Delaware residents on Tuesday found Hunter Biden guilty of three federal gun charges, marking the first criminal conviction of a sitting president’s child. President Biden’s son was convicted after roughly three hours of deliberation of three felony counts alleging he lied about his use of illicit drugs when obtaining a gun in 2018, and then unlawfully [sic] possessed the firearm for 11 days. Hunter Biden’s trial which lasted just over a week, spotlighted his addiction to crack cocaine at the time he checked ‘no’ on a federal gun purchase form questioning whether he unlawfully used or was addicted to narcotics or other drugs. … Biden faces a maximum of 25 years in prison and $750,000 in fines, however, first-time offenders are rarely given the maximum penalty. His father, the president, said recently he would not pardon his son if convicted.” (06/11/24)
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4714501-hunter-biden-guilty-federal-gun-charges/
-----
3) Musk withdraws lawsuit against OpenAI
Source: Reuters
“Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Tuesday moved to dismiss his lawsuit accusing ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman of abandoning the startup’s original mission of developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity and not for profit. Attorneys for Musk asked the California state court to dismiss the lawsuit, originally filed in February, without giving a reason for the move, according to a filing in San Francisco Superior Court. … Musk dismissed his case without prejudice, which means he could refile it at another time. The lawsuit marked a culmination of Musk’s long-simmering opposition to OpenAI, a startup he co-founded and that has since become the face of generative AI through billions of dollars in funding from Microsoft.” (06/12/24)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/elon-musk-withdraws-lawsuit-against-openai-2024-06-11/
-----
4) Netherlands: Four parties say they’ve reached agreement on ministers in a new right-wing government
Source: ABC News
“The four parties negotiating to form a coalition government in the Netherlands have reached agreement on a new team of Cabinet ministers, far-right leader Geert Wilders said Tuesday. … Wilders, whose Party for Freedom won national elections more than six months ago, did not immediately give details. … The team of ministers will be made up of members of the four parties in the coalition and outside experts — a so-called technocratic administration. Prospective ministers will have to undergo interviews in the lower house of parliament before the new government can be sworn in by Dutch King Willem-Alexander. No dates were immediately set. Anti-Islam lawmaker Wilders convincingly won the November election but took months to cobble together an outline coalition deal. Wilders, a divisive figure who has in the past been convicted of insulting Moroccans, agreed not to become prime minister because of opposition from coalition partners.” (06/11/24)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/4-dutch-parties-reached-agreement-ministers-new-wing-111012217
-----
5) Israel: Knesset advances contentious ultra-Orthodox conscription law
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The Israeli Knesset has voted to revive a bill that would end exemption on military conscription for some ultra-Orthodox religious students. The 63-57 vote in the parliament late on Monday means that the legislation will now head to committee review. The return of the bill from the previous parliament has provoked anger from opponents as well as those that say it does not extend conscription sufficiently, as Israel conducts the war in Gaza and deals with expanding conflict with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and other Iran-linked forces across the region. The legislation aims to slowly ramp up conscription among the ultra-Orthodox, whose members have for decades enjoyed exemptions to study the Torah. However, it would also lower the age of exemption from mandatory military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews from 26 to 21, thereby limiting the numbers that could be called up to serve.” (06/11/24)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/11/israels-knesset-advances-contentious-ultra-orthodox-conscription-law
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6) FL: Four cops indicted for 2019 shootout that left UPS driver, passerby dead
Source: Seattle Times
“Four Florida police officers have been indicted in connection with a 2019 shootout on a busy street that left a UPS driver, the two robbers who hijacked him and a nearby driver dead, their union confirmed Tuesday. The South Florida Police Benevolent Association criticized the Broward County State Attorney’s Office for seeking the grand jury indictment of the Miami-Dade County officers. The union did not say what the officers have been charged with and their names have not been released. They are expected to turn themselves in next week. … It is highly unusual for Florida law enforcement officers to be charged for an on-duty killing — it has only happened three times in the last 40 years. Even then, only one of those officers has been convicted.” (06/11/24)
https://archive.is/qpXov
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7) UK: Assange Extradition Appeal to Be Heard Next Month
Source: US News & World Report
“WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s appeal against extradition from Britain to the United States will be heard next month, court officials in London said on Tuesday. The Australian-born Assange, 52, is fighting extradition to the U.S. where he is wanted on 18 charges, nearly all under the Espionage Act, relating to WikiLeaks’ mass release of secret U.S. documents …. That appeal will now be held on July 9-10, a spokesperson for Britain’s Judicial Office said.” (06/11/24)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2024-06-11/wikileaks-assange-extradition-appeal-to-be-heard-next-month
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8) Biden & gun grabbers seeking to flip issue long dominated by the NRA
Source: SFGate
“Groups pushing tighter gun laws have been building political muscle through multiple elections, boosted by the outcry following mass shootings at schools and other public places, in addition to the nation’s daily gun violence. Now, gun control advocates and many Democrats see additional openings created by hard-line positions of the gun lobby and their most influential champion, former President Donald Trump. They also point to controversies surrounding the National Rifle Association, which has undergone leadership shuffles and membership declines after a key former executive was found to have expensed private jet flights and accepted vacations from group vendors. ‘It is a false choice to suggest that you have to be in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away,’ Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday in Maryland, where she spoke as part of a series of White House and campaign events focused on gun violence.” (06/11/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/biden-and-gun-control-advocates-want-to-flip-an-19508038.php
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9) FDA advisory panel recommends new Alzheimer’s drug after scrutiny
Source: United Press International
“A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted unanimously on Monday to recommend that the benefits of a new drug for Alzheimer’s outweigh its harms, which can include brain swelling and bleeding. Eli Lilly’s donanemab did slow declines in thinking skills in patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s: Company data showed patients who took donanemab had a 37% lower risk of progression of the disease over 18 months compared to patients who got a placebo. The medication was first expected to be approved earlier this year, but the FDA decided in March that it would instead subject donanemab to the scrutiny of an independent advisory panel.” (06/11/24)
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2024/06/11/FDA-advisory-panel-Alzheimers-drug/9001718111223/
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10) Gold slips as markets eye outcome of Fed meet, CPI data
Source: CNBC
“Gold prices fell on Tuesday with investors awaiting key U.S. inflation data and the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting for details of the central bank’s plans to cut interest rates against its inflation target. Spot gold was down 0.3% at $2,302.89 per ounce, as of 03:17 GMT. U.S. gold futures fell 0.3% to $2,320.20. … The May consumer price index inflation report due on Wednesday will be the next major data point along with the Fed concluding their two-day meeting on the same day.” (06/11/24)
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/11/gold-slips-as-markets-eye-outcome-of-fed-meet-cpi-data.html
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11) LA: Researchers find higher levels of dangerous chemical than expected
Source: SFGate
“Researchers using high-tech air monitoring equipment rolled through an industrialized stretch of southeast Louisiana in mobile labs and found levels of a carcinogen in concentrations as much as 20 times higher than previously estimated, according to a paper published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University raises new health concerns for communities that sit among the chemical plants lining a stretch of the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans — dubbed ‘cancer alley’ by environmentalists. The Environmental Protection Agency considers long-term exposure to inhaled ethylene oxide gas a cancer risk — a stance challenged by the chemical industry. The state of California, which has its own environmental health agency, also lists the chemical as ‘known to cause cancer and reproductive toxicity’ in men and women.” (06/11/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/researchers-find-higher-levels-of-dangerous-19508347.php
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12) Banana giant held liable for funding paramilitaries
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A court in the United States has found multinational fruit company Chiquita Brands International liable for financing a Colombian paramilitary group. The group, the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), was designated by the US as a terrorist organisation at the time. Following a civil case brought by eight Colombian families whose relatives were killed by the AUC, Chiquita has been ordered to pay $38.3m (£30m) in damages to the families. Chiquita said in a statement that it intended to appeal against the jury’s verdict, arguing that there was ‘no legal basis for the claims’. The jury in the case, which was heard in a federal court in South Florida, found Chiquita responsible for the wrongful deaths of eight men killed by the AUC. The AUC engaged in widespread human rights abuses in Colombia, including murdering people it suspected of links with left-wing rebels.” (06/11/24)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6pprpd3x96o
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13) Malawi: Vice president, nine others killed in plane crash
Source: CNN
“Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima has been killed in a plane crash along with nine other passengers, the country’s President Lazarus Chakwera announced Tuesday. The aircraft went missing after it failed to land at the Mzuzu International Airport, about 380 km (240 miles) to the north of the capital Lilongwe. The wreckage of the plane has been located, Chakwera said Tuesday.” (06/11/24)
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/11/africa/malawi-vice-president-saulos-chilima-killed-intl/index.html
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14) UK: Animal-rights protesters attack portrait of King
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Animal-rights protesters have attacked a portrait of King Charles, in a London art gallery. Two protesters stuck posters on the glass covering the painting. The painting itself was unharmed, said the Philip Mould Gallery, and there were no arrests. The striking red artwork by Jonathan Yeo, unveiled last month, was the first official painting of the King since his coronation. The Animal Rising group said its supporters had stuck posters to the glass protecting the painting, in what they described as a ‘light-hearted’ action. They pasted over the royal portrait with a picture of Wallace, a character from the Wallace and Gromit animations. It was a protest message criticising the welfare standards of RSPCA ‘assured farm’ status, with King Charles a patron of the RSPCA.” (06/11/24)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cydd9ye77rmo
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15) FBI: Violent crime continues to drop across US
Source: United Press International
“Violent crime in the United States continued to drop during the first three months of the year, according to statistics released by the FBI that Attorney General Merrick Garland described as ‘historic.’ The FBI on Monday released its Quarterly Uniform Crime Report showing that violent crime across the country dropped by more than 15% between January and March compared to a year earlier. Murder experienced a drastic drop of 26.4%, it said, while rape offenses decreased by 25.7%. Robbery experienced a drop of nearly 18%, aggravated assault by 12.5% and reported property crime fell by 15.1%, it said.” (06/11/24)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/06/11/FBI-statistics-violent-crime-dropping/6561718087499/
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16) UN Human Rights Office Says IDF’s Deadly Nuseirat Raid May Amount to War Crime
Source: Common Dreams
“Citing the ‘principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution’ that international humanitarian law demands military forces obey, the United Nations’ top human rights office on Tuesday said the raid conducted at Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces over the weekend may amount to a war crime. The IDF conducted the operation at the camp in the central Gaza Strip in order to free four Israeli hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, and Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) told reporters their release was ‘clearly very good news.’ But the OHCHR, Laurence said, is ‘profoundly shocked at the impact on civilians of the Israeli forces’ operation,’ which killed at least 274 Palestinians, including 64 children and 57 women, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.” (06/11/24)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-hostage-rescue
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17) NY: Skeleton unearthed at construction site, sparking mystery for investigators
Source: New York Post
“Construction workers at a Long Island apartment complex dug up a bone-chilling discovery: human skeletal remains. The grim find Monday in Woodbury’s Eagle Rock Apartments is under investigation by Nassau County police, cops said. The complex’s management told News 12 that the remains were ‘clearly over 100 years old’, but a representative contacted by The Post would not confirm that earlier statement. Police dig through the ground. A representative for Eagle Rock Apartments couldn’t confirm if the bones were 100 years old. A medical examiner will investigate the bones, police said. Construction workers found human remains in 92 Fairhaven Boulevard, police said. ‘No comment,’ the representative said. Cops learned about the remains through a 911 call about 4 p.m., detectives said. They responded to a construction site at 92 Fairhaven Blvd. and saw skeletal remains while they dug in the ground, cops said.” (06/11/24)
https://nypost.com/2024/06/11/us-news/skeleton-unearthed-at-ny-construction-site-sparking-mystery-for-investigators/
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18) Judge rejects disgraced former president’s bid to dismiss classified documents case but agrees to strike one allegation
Source: CBS News
“The federal judge overseeing special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case against Donald Trump once again rejected requests by the former president’s legal team to dismiss the charges against him, according to an order filed Monday evening. Judge Aileen Cannon denied numerous claims by Trump’s defense attorneys and his co-defendants arguing the 2023 indictment was technically flawed, but she criticized prosecutors’ description of one incident as unnecessary to the charges and agreed to strike a single paragraph from the charging document because she said it ‘improperly contained uncharged offense allegations.’ … she ruled nearly all of the 60-page indictment would stand, except for a single paragraph in which prosecutors described a moment in 2021 when Trump allegedly showed an individual who did not hold a security clearance a classified map of a foreign nation.” (06/10/24)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-classified-documents-case-judge-cannon-rejects-request-to-dismiss/
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19) CA: Nonprofit says it’s “thrilled” to be labeled hate group by SPLC
Source: SFGate
“The president of a California nonprofit said Monday that he was ‘thrilled’ to report that his organization, the California Family Council, was recently labeled an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a legal advocacy nonprofit that specializes in civil rights. In a blog post, California Family Council President Jonathan Keller said his organization was ‘grateful for this clear slander full of blatant lies’ and quoted Matthew 5:11, in which Jesus promises that those who are persecuted for their beliefs will receive a ‘great’ reward in heaven. ‘The SPLC is criticizing CFC and our colleagues across the country for our Biblical stance against obscene educational materials and irreversible medical treatments targeting children with gender dysphoria,’ Keller wrote. ‘Why? Because we speak the truth in love and are committed to safeguarding the well-being of all children and families.'” (06/11/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/calif-nonprofit-thrilled-to-be-called-hate-group-19507807.php
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20) Venezuela: Polls say opposition candidate has 50% lead over Maduro
Source: Semafor
“Venezuela’s opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, is leading President Nicolas Maduro in the polls by about 50% ahead of the country’s upcoming national election, which is supposed to take place on July 28. Gonzalez began the campaign cycle as a political unknown — he was put forward after the former opposition leader was barred from running — and has yet to be barred himself, although Maduro could still block his candidacy and the opposition before the election is due to take place. … While the polls show opposition firmly in the lead in Venezuela, people associated with Maduro’s party have warned that doesn’t guarantee a victory for Gonzalez. And even if the opposition wins the election, Maduro is unlikely to concede a win.” (06/10/24)
https://www.semafor.com/article/06/10/2024/edmundo-gonzalez-venezuela-opposition-nicolas-maduro-poll
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) The Future of Liberty
Source: Mindset Shifts
by Barry Brownstein
“Freedom in America is objectively on the decline. Constitutional limits on government power are ignored. How do we maintain faith that liberty will prevail when confronted with the ‘brutal facts’ that an illiberal populism is capturing both political parties and will likely be the dominant force in American politics for the foreseeable future? Faith that liberty ‘will prevail in the end’ is bolstered when we understand illiberalism is at odds with reality. Illiberalism is based, in part, on the fantastical belief that it is possible to take away the rights of one group without diminishing one’s own rights.” (06/11/24)
https://mindsetshifts.substack.com/p/the-future-of-liberty
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22) Truth or Consequences? One Political Idea Checks Both Boxes
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“What differentiates libertarianism from other political ideologies isn’t just a utilitarian or consequentialist claim as to ‘what works best.’ What differentiates libertarianism from other political ideologies is a moral claim: The claim that it is wrong to initiate force. That’s a moral claim you probably grew up with as an individual. … ‘Don’t Hurt People and Don’t Take Their Stuff.’ Words to live by. Libertarians extend that moral claim to everyone and to all organizations, including government. … Libertarianism is a ‘deontological’ (morality-based) rather than ‘consequentialist’ (outcome-based) position. Happily, however, it’s not a fiat iustitia ruat caelum — ‘let justice be done though the heavens fall’ — position, because its application won’t bring the heavens down. It really DOES produce better outcomes than state edict backed by force.” (06/11/24)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/18739
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23) Democracy Demands Open Borders
Source: Liberal Currents
by Paul Crider
“In a very real sense, migration just is freedom. We move across borders to choose where we live. We move to meet and mingle with the people we’d like, to be with family and friends or to make new friends and join new families. We move to work in the jobs and careers we desire. We move to experience the culture, the cities and the natural landscapes that inhabit our dreams. In short, we migrate to live the lives we want to lead. Migration is choice, self-determination, and self-authorship. … Barring entry to a country means forcefully compelling a person to return from whence they came. Closed borders erode civil liberties even for citizens: federal border enforcement agencies have arrogated the power to search anyone within 100 miles of any US border — about two out of three people — without a warrant.” (06/11/24)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/democracy-demands-open-borders/
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24) Socialism: the Great Anti-Theft Movement
Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato
“In his 1869 essay Yours Or Mine, the radical American writer and publisher Ezra Heywood argued that capitalists had made stealing a fine art. Heywood had no problem in principle with a competitive market economy. But he saw state power as serving the interests of the capitalists, and he called the state ‘one great embodiment of speculative piracy.’ … Fifteen years later, in the pages of the famous anarchist journal Liberty, Heywood’s former assistant editor, Benjamin Tucker, borrowed Heywood’s phrase, writing, ‘Socialism, practically, is war upon usury in all its forms, the great Anti-Theft Movement of the nineteenth century … .’ … the whole criticism of capitalism advanced by nineteenth century libertarians was that it was a system of state-created legal privilege designed and used to steal labor power, to create a space of difference and monopoly in which the owners of capital could exploit workers.” (06/11/24)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/06/11/324995/
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25) Government Failure in One Lesson
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Michael Munger
“Public Choice originated as a heterodox corrective to a misguided focus on ‘market failure,’ a central concept in the welfare economics literature of the 1950s. The orthodox work compared real-world markets with the ‘ideal’ allocation of resources that would be selected by an omniscient, benevolent despot. Opponents argued that government also faces the ‘knowledge problem,’ and state employees are not immune to incentives. Real governments are neither omniscient nor benevolent, and so state action is not always better than markets. Sometimes, relying on government may make things much worse. In fact, it has been estimated that the total ‘killing by the state,’ or total death toll from democide, exceeds 250 million since 1800. Still, unless you are an anarchist, you accept that some government is necessary. But how much? Doing what?” (06/11/24)
https://www.aier.org/article/government-failure-in-one-lesson/
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26) Trump Wants To Exempt Tips From Income Taxes. Why Stop There?
Source: Reason
by Eric Boehm
“If voters send him back to the White House, former President Donald Trump has promised to stop the IRS from raiding workers’ tip jars to fund government spending. But he’s yet to identify any specific spending cuts that would offset that reduction in federal revenues. Without that, this proposal is little more than a promise to add to the federal budget deficit — or it is merely campaign trail blather. … Taxes are awful. Having to pay less in taxes sounds great. Trump may not possess the most sophisticated understanding of policymaking, but he’s certainly smart enough to grok these basic facts—and to use that knowledge to cater to a crowd that was likely heavy in working-class folks from Vegas who earn a good bit of their income via tips. Even if this is nothing more than empty pandering, it’s an idea that deserves to be taken seriously.” (06/11/24)
https://reason.com/2024/06/11/trump-wants-to-exempt-tips-from-income-taxes-why-stop-there/
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27) C.S. Lewis, Sci-fi, and the Normality of Peace
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Peter Jacobsen
“In two past articles, I’ve written about the politics of legendary writer and Christian, C.S. Lewis. In his books, Lewis famously marries a healthy love of community and nation with a skepticism towards intervention. Lewis loved community, but despised meddlers and gossips. Part of the reason Lewis is loved as a writer is his keen ability to notice when society views evil things as normal and to unmask the evil. Such is the case with his first book in his Space Trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet, where Lewis shows us that peace should be viewed as normal.” (06/11/24)
https://fee.org/articles/c-s-lewis-sci-fi-and-the-normality-of-peace/
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28) How Congress could curb the use of lawfare for partisan attacks
Source: Washington Post
by Jason Willick
“Lawfare — the distortion of the legal system to pursue political adversaries — is a growing threat to constitutional government. For Republicans, former president Donald Trump’s election-season conviction in a highly unusual case brought by a Democratic district attorney is strong evidence of the danger. For Democrats, Trump’s threats to retaliate highlight what could happen if the shoe were on the other foot: ‘Mr. Trump, if he wins the presidency again, would gain immense authority to actually carry out the kinds of legal retribution he has been promoting,’ the New York Times warned. … In a time of heightened polarization and fracturing civic norms, the temptation of lawfare grows. … Could Congress do anything to reinforce the porous separation of law and politics?” (06/11/24)
https://archive.is/YAUrg
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29) Cassandra Redux: What Did We Know, And When Did We Know It?
Source: TomDispatch
by Rebecca Gordon
“A few days ago, my partner and I went in search of packing tape. Our sojourn on an idyllic (if tick-infested) Cape Cod island was ending and it was time to ship some stuff home. We stopped at a little odds-and-ends shop and found ourselves in conversation with the woman behind the counter. She was born in Panama, where her father had served as chief engineer operating tugboats in the Panama Canal. As a child, she remembered celebrating her birthday with a trip on a tug from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, sailing under an arch of water produced by fireboats on either side. ‘But that all ended with the invasion.’ she said. ‘It was terrifying. They were bombing Panama City. The Army sent my family back to the U.S. so we wouldn’t be killed. I’ve never been back.'” (06/11/24)
https://tomdispatch.com/what-did-we-know/
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30) Why Libertarians Loathe Tariffs
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Laurence Vance
“Economists, just like politicians, come in all varieties. Yet, if there is one thing that the vast majority of economists agree on, it is opposition to tariffs. There is, in fact, practically a zero-tariff consensus among economists and a united trust in the Ricardian theory of comparative advantage. … Transactions between parties residing in two different countries should not be regarded as any different from two parties in the United States engaging in commerce. That the two parties engaged in commerce are not located in the same country has no economic significance whatsoever. Two economic fallacies emerge when trade is thought of as between countries.” (06/11/24)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/why-libertarians-loathe-tariffs
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31) Ignoring Daily Massacres In Gaza While Still Babbling About October 7
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“It’s a waste of breath trying to argue that it’s unjust to massacre over two hundred Palestinians rescuing four Israeli hostages; Israel supporters would have been happy if the number was over two million. They simply do not regard Palestinians as human beings. You may as well say they had to kill two hundred chickens to free four hostages. They don’t care. … We’re seeing new massacres every goddamn fucking day, but western politicians and media can’t stop babbling about one single massacre happening hundreds of days ago. … Ever since the Gaza onslaught began we’ve been seeing US officials play dumb about all the massacres and atrocities Israel has been committing, constantly telling the press ‘Yeah sorry we don’t have any further information about that incident, we’re talking to Israel, you should ask the Israelis.'” (06/11/24)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2024/06/11/ignoring-daily-massacres-in-gaza-while-still-babbling-about-october-7/
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32) The US Likes Being a Factional Leader
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“So long as dominance is the goal, U.S. foreign policy will be defined by worsening tensions with adversaries and a ‘with us or against us’ mentality that forces fencesitting states to take sides.” (06/11/24)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/the-us-likes-being-a-factional-leader
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33) The End of Affordable Internet
Source: Common Dreams
by Ro Khanna & Annie E McDaniel
“Almost four years ago, Congress established a little-known program called the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Since it was created, the program provided millions of Americans with affordable, high-quality internet. It never got much attention, but it’s impact on communities across the country including in South Carolina was enormous. Launched by the Federal Trade Commission, the program provided eligible households with a discount on internet service of up to $30 every month to bridge the digital divide. Just this year alone, 415,680 families in South Carolina relied on the program, which averaged to about one in five households in the state. In total, the program saved people in South Carolina over $12 million each month on internet service. Despite widespread support for the program, its funding expired on June 1st.” (06/11/24)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/affordable-connectivity-program
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34) What if Democrats Called the Hunter Biden Trial “Rigged?”
Source: The Daily Beast
by Matt Lewis
“As the Hunter Biden gun trial nears its conclusion and we await sentencing for Donald Trump’s hush money trial, it’s worth pondering a counterfactual scenario: What if Democrats treated Hunter’s trial the same way Republicans treated Trump’s? This is to say, what if Democrats insisted Hunter’s trial was rigged? What if they swore that this was a witch hunt designed to reach the president through his only living son? Never mind that such an assertion would make zero sense. After all, Joe Biden is the President of the United States. In this capacity, it’s impossible to believe that his son is being persecuted by his own administration. This theory falls apart, however, when you consider that as president, Donald Trump claimed the ‘deep state’ was persecuting him. Indeed, we are supposed to believe that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump while he was president.” (06/11/24)
https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-if-democrats-called-the-hunter-biden-trial-rigged
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35) Doctoring Malady
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“There is a doctor shortage. Economists who study such issues project that the shortfall will continue to grow. That is, the pool of available professionals for advanced and general practice medicine is shrinking relative to demand. A report last year at Definitive Healthcare provides a list of reasons: 1. Shifts in physician and patient populations 2. Most healthcare workers prefer not to work in rural hospitals 3. Medical school and residency programs are limited 4. Healthcare workers are burnt out. What wasn’t mentioned? The COVID response debacle.” (06/11/24)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2024/06/11/doctoring-malady/
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36) American Counter-Diplomacy on Display in Hungary
Source: The American Conservative
by James W Carden
“Perhaps not since 1956 (and for far different reasons) has Hungary loomed so large in the imaginations of America’s elites. The late Hungarian-American historian John Lukacs noted in 1993 that ‘America and Eastern Europe are more distant from each other than they have been throughout the historical twentieth century. To begin with, there is practically nothing about Hungary in the American newspapers, and hardly anything in any of the periodicals. (The New York Times for some years had a resident Eastern European correspondent stationed in Budapest, but no longer.)’ Yet, somewhat improbably, Hungary has over the past several years found itself the object of a steady stream of controversy in Washington, emerging as one of the primary objects of the new Cold War Culture War being waged out of Washington.” (06/11/24)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/american-counter-diplomacy-on-display-in-hungary/
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37) Biden Housing Scheme Could Ignite Another 2008 Mortgage Crisis
Source: Town Hall
by Stephen Moore
“Politicians in Washington have very short memories, so they repeat the same mistakes over and over. It was only 17 years ago that the ‘subprime’ mortgage crisis torpedoed the economy and sent the financial markets into the biggest tailspin since the Great Depression. Millions of Americans lost their jobs. One of the matches that lit that bonfire was Freddie Mac and its cousin, Fannie Mae, offering generous, taxpayer-guaranteed mortgage insurance to risky borrowers on loans with low down payments. It all blew up in the faces of the taxpayers even though the Washington experts said the chances of these mortgages going bust and taxpayers taking a loss was less than one in a thousand. The biggest taxpayer bailouts went not to the Wall Street banks and investment companies but to Fannie and Freddie. Here we go again.” (06/11/24)
https://townhall.com/columnists/stephenmoore/2024/06/11/biden-housing-scheme-could-ignite-another-2008-mortgage-crisis-n2640272
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38) Can Our Constitutional Order be Revived?
Source: Law & Liberty
by Scott Yenor
“Yuval Levin’s American Covenant depicts the lost world of American political order — and how we might recover it. Nearly all Americans lack a living memory of when the country had a functioning politics and a decent enough culture, so Levin’s elegy is a welcome way of showing Americans that things could be different. Precisely how to bring back something nearly as well functioning is not so clear.” (06/11/24)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/can-our-constitutional-order-be-revived/
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39) My Most Successful Way To Convert Students To Free-Market Capitalism
Source: Cobden Centre
by Mark Skousen
“Last weekend, the Libertarian National Convention invited me to give a breakfast address entitled, ‘My Most Successful Way to Convert Students to Free-Market Capitalism.’ The subject attracted a large crowd. I told them that I’ve given a speech on campuses across the country with a title that attracts young socialists of all kinds: ‘What’s Better than Democratic Socialism?’ I lure them in because they wonder, ‘What could be better than Democratic Socialism?’ In my talk, I explain why socialism has failed time and time again due to lack of incentives. I prove it logically with sound economics — what I call ‘econologic,’ based on the title of my textbook, ‘Economic Logic’ …. After demonstrating the fatal flaw in socialism, I offer an alternative because you can’t get rid of a bad idea unless you can replace it with a good idea.” (06/11/24)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2024/06/my-most-successful-way-to-convert-students-to-free-market-capitalism/
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40) Beyond Two State Solution — Why Recognizing State of Palestine Is Important
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ramzy Baroud
“To truly appreciate the recent decision by Ireland, Spain and Norway to recognize the state of Palestine, the subject has to be placed in proper context. On November 15, 1988, Yasser Arafat, then Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, declared Palestine as an independent state. … Soon after the Algiers Declaration, the geopolitics of the world received its greatest shock since World War II, namely the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent fragmentation of pro-Soviet states, thus the isolation of the Global South amid growing Western hegemony.” (06/11/24)
https://original.antiwar.com/ramzy-baroud/2024/06/10/beyond-two-state-solution-why-recognizing-state-of-palestine-is-important/
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41) Defense Department Submits to Microsoft’s Profit-Taking
Source: American Prospect
by Luke Goldstein
“Even though Microsoft is the original Big Tech monopoly and still holds the title as the largest corporation in the world by market capitalization, we sometimes forget to place it among the modern-day robber barons. Its operating systems, the Edge browser, Outlook email client, Office suite featuring Word and Excel, Teams communications platform, job-focused social network LinkedIn, Azure cloud service, and Xbox gaming products are so ubiquitous that they can go almost unnoticed, humming in the background of our digital lives. … But Microsoft’s power is still very real, and its image as the nicer tech giant is shifting because of its rapid expansion into artificial intelligence, through a partnership with OpenAI.” (06/11/24)
https://prospect.org/power/2024-06-11-defense-department-microsofts-profit-taking/
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42) Top Economic Concerns Plague Americans Under Biden’s Policies
Source: Palm Beach Examiner
by Karl Dickey
“Inflation, crime, and healthcare costs top the list. Election 2024 offers wide-ranging choices for voters.” (06/11/24)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/top-economic-concerns-plague-americans
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43) Inflation Denialism Is Hurting Media Credibility
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“From our Democratic friends, the shout arises as though in a single voice: ‘There is no inflation problem for Joe Biden!’ That’s a different argument from, say, claims that Republican critics are opportunistically exaggerating Biden’s inflation problem. Consider the curious case of Zachary D. Carter, writing in Slate, which, as we all know, employs lab monkeys escaped from federal cocaine experiments as fact-checkers. Sneering at a Washington Post editorial on inflation as ‘preposterous,’ Carter (and the guy who is in denial about inflation had to be named ‘Carter,’ didn’t he?) insists that the United States currently has lower inflation ‘than any nation in the G7.’ The problem, as with much of what you read in Slate, is that this is not true. I might be wrong — but I don’t think the OECD and the IMF probably are.” (06/11/24)
https://thedispatch.com/article/inflation-denialism-is-hurting-media-credibility/
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44) Could a reformist actually win the Iranian presidential election?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Muhammad Sahimi
“There is one moderate among a parade of hardliners contending to replace the late Ebrahim Raisi.” (06/11/24)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-election-2668492683/
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45) Even a guilty verdict won’t end Hunter Biden’s entitled arrogance
Source: New York Post
by staff
“It’s a sign of Hunter Biden’s entitled arrogance, fully supported by the first family, that he even insisted on a trial in this beyond open-and-shut case. After all, he wrote in his own book about all the drugs he was taking at the time he signed that federal gun permit form. But he plainly figured he might get off — that at least one juror in Biden-loving Delaware would be intimidated by the power appearance of first lady Jill Biden and the rest of the clan in the courtroom, or taken in by his heartbreaking story. Nor will this be the end of his chutzpah: Once sentenced (and federal sentencing guidelines suggest a good chance he won’t get prison time), he’ll likely appeal — probably by arguing that this law, passed with help from then-Sen. Joe Biden, violates the Second Amendment.” (06/11/24)
https://nypost.com/2024/06/11/opinion/hunter-biden-is-guilty-but-dont-expect-his-arrogance-to-end/
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46) More Firms Doesn’t (Necessarily) Mean Better Competition
Source: EconLog
by Kevin Corcoran
“Prior to the Great Depression, Canada had a largely unregulated banking system. From that system, what emerged was a relatively small number of very large banks that operated across the country. In the United States, there was a highly regulated banking system that (among other things) heavily skewed towards a ‘unit banking’ system rather than a branch banking system. That is, banks were geographically limited in how far they could expand … and were thus limited in size. From this system, what emerged was a system of tens of thousands of fairly small banks across the country. From a ‘more firms = more competition = better’ perspective, it might seem like the United States, with its vast number of banks, would be in a better situation than Canada, which was ‘dominated’ by just a few very large banks. But in practice, the opposite was true.” (06/10/24)
https://www.econlib.org/more-firms-doesnt-necessarily-mean-better-competition/
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47) Anti-Liberty Conservatives Want More Theft
Source: Campaign For Liberty
by Ron Paul
“American Compass, a think tank promoting a conservatism lacking even a rhetorical commitment to free markets, recently called for Republicans to support tax increases. The organization claims a GOP embrace of higher taxes will enable the uniparty’s left (Democratic) and right (Republican) wings to create a deficit reduction plan balancing tax increase with spending cuts. American Compass is correct that both parties need to prioritize deficit reduction. The 35 trillion dollars (and rising) national debt is a big threat to prosperity and liberty in America. However, history shows that any ‘bipartisan’ agreement to raise taxes and cut spending results in higher taxes and higher spending.” (06/10/24)
https://www.campaignforliberty.org/anti-liberty-conservatives-want-theft
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48) How AI could make UI fraud easier
Source: Niskanen Center
by Matt Darling & Milan Singh
“Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to transform various sectors, including unemployment insurance (UI) fraud. During the pandemic, expanded UI benefits led to a surge in fraudulent claims, exposing significant vulnerabilities in the system. AI may soon enable scammers to file fraudulent claims at an unprecedented scale. The government must act promptly to safeguard taxpayer funds and ensure rightful benefits reach eligible workers. Potential reforms include leveraging AI to screen claims and reinstating in-person verification processes. While advanced AI solutions are promising, low-tech approaches may offer the most immediate and reliable protection against fraud.” (06/10/24)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/how-ai-could-make-ui-fraud-easier
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49) Safe Abortions Everywhere, Regardless of the Law
Source: In These Times
by Naomi Briane
“In 2008 in Quito, high in the Andes Mountains, a group of young feminist activists dropped a banner from the top of an enormous statue of the Virgin Mary that towers over Ecuador’s capital city. ‘Aborto Seguro’, the banner read, alongside the number for a new hotline that offered callers information on safely using medication to end a pregnancy outside the medical system. In a country where abortion access is extremely restricted and the majority of the population is Catholic, the Ecuadorian ’safe abortion hotline’ was a bold declaration of women’s bodily autonomy. It was also the beginning of what has since become a transnational movement that is increasingly relevant far beyond the region where it was born.” (06/10/24)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/self-managed-abortion-international-feminist-global-south-dobbs
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50) The Enemies of Food Freedom
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Tracy Thurman
“In every war, there is necessarily an enemy force, and the war on our food supply is no exception. My previous article addressed the ongoing attacks on farmers across the globe. In today’s article, we will look at some of the culprits behind this agenda. For anyone who delved into the entities behind the tyrannical Covid policies, many names on the list below will seem quite familiar.” (06/10/24)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-enemies-of-food-freedom/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Fakertarians, episode 55
Source: Fakertarians
“Outgoing Classical Liberal Caucus Chair Jonathan Casey joins us to discuss the convention and other happenings in the Libertarian Party.” (06/11/24)
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fakertarians/episodes/Fakertarians-Episode-55-Jonathan-Casey-e2kme4q
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52) The Chris Spangle Show, 06/11/24
Source: We Are Libertarians
“Exploring Faith, Family, Poetry and Philosophy with Leslie Corbly.” (06/11/24)
https://www.chrisspangle.com/p/exploring-faith-family-poetry-and
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53) Conflicts of Interest, episode 612
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Ukraine to Store Its F-16s at NATO Bases.” (06/11/24)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-612-ukraine-to-store-its-f-16s-at-nato-bases
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54) There’s A Policy For That with Susan Pendergrass, 06/11/24
Source: Show-Me Institute
“The War on Prices with Ryan Bourne.” (06/11/24)
https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/economy/the-war-on-prices-with-ryan-bourne/
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55) The Bryan Hyde Show, 06/11/24
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“After two long weeks, it’s time to catch up with Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos. A lot has happened since we last spoke and I’m looking forward to hearing Eric’s take on all of it.” (06/11/24)
https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-gvr3q-163b7e3
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56) Advisory Opinions, 06/11/24
Source: The Dispatch
“Offensive T-Shirts Get Their Day in Court.” (06/11/24)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/offensive-t-shirts-get-their-day-in-court/
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57) The Corbett Report, episode 460
Source: The Corbett Report
“The Future of Food.” (06/11/24)
https://corbettreport.com/future-of-food/
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58) Pod Save America, 06/11/24
Source: Crooked Media
“MTG: Jesus Was a Felon Too.” (06/11/24)
https://stitcher.simplecastaudio.com/9aa1e238-cbed-4305-9808-c9228fc6dd4f/episodes/ae410ac5-ce69-44ba-94c2-f2552280f258/audio/128/default.mp3
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59) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 06/11/24
Source: Antiwar.com
“UN Security Council Passes Gaza Ceasefire Resolution, US Wants To Create Taiwan Hellscape, and More.” (06/11/24)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bId00_kZwxo
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60) Free Talk Live, 06/10/24
Source: Free Talk Live
“Fox News sucks :: The long reach of the ‘benevolent’ U.S. government :: The U.S. Government targeting Asians :: Rigged game is rigged :: Don’t call the police :: Love your neighbors :: The IRS sucks :: Ian in federal prison :: The silliness of federal prison :: 2024-06-10 Hosts: Aria, Mr. Penguin.” (06/10/24)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/free-talk-live-2024-06-10
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61) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 06/10/24
Source: Freedom Works
“Devin Watkins, Competitive Enterprise Institute ‘NRA v Vullo Supreme Court ruling.'” (06/10/24)
http://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2024-06-10_zfw06052024.mp3
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62) The Dark Side, 06/10/24
Source: The Bulwark
“JVL does his best to shatter Will’s optimism while he subs in for A.B., overwhelming him with pessimism around recent polling, SCOTUS, abortion and more!” (06/10/24)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/breaking-wills-spirit
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63) Branko Marcetic on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Branko Marcetic on the Unnecessary, Futile and Dangerous Prolongation of the War in Ukraine.” (06/10/24)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/6-6-24-branko-marcetic-on-the-unnecessary-futile-and-dangerous-prolongation-of-the-war-in-ukraine/
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64) How to Know What’s Real, 06/10/24
Source: The Atlantic
“Games can serve as an escape from reality — but they can also shape our understanding of trust, collaboration, and what might be possible IRL. Megan Garber talks with C. Thi Nguyen, an associate philosophy professor at the University of Utah, to better understand how games can help us safely explore our current reality and shape new realities, too.” (06/10/24)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2024/06/how-to-game-reality/678616
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65) Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 06/10/24
Source: Freedom’s Phoenix
“James Bovard (Libertarian Author; Writer) comes on the show to discuss his newest book, Last Rights: The Death of American Liberty.” (06/10/24)
https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Media/363725-2024-06-10-2024-06-10-ernest-interviews-james-bovard-mp3.htm
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