09/08 -- Ukraine: Russian drones strike regime building in largest air attack of war; Let's be totally honest, it should be "the Department of War"
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Thomas L. Knapp
Sep 8, 2025, 6:27:18 AM (6 days ago) Sep 8
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 09/08/25
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Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Ukraine: Russian drones strike regime building in largest air attack of war
2) China’s shipments to US plunge 33% in August as overall exports growth hits a 6-month low
3) Israel: Saar threatens unspecified “unilateral” action against regimes that recognize Palestine
4) Trump denies knowledge of SEAL mission ending in murders of civilians
5) Gang shot-caller warns sanctuary cities to “expect” atrocity surge
6) Nepal: Regime Bans 26 Social Media Platforms, Including Facebook and YouTube
7) Canada: Flight attendants overwhelmingly vote against wage offer
8) South Korean workers abducted in Georgia gang raid to be sent home
9) House GOP report: Pentagon-funded research at colleges has aided the Chinese military
10) Pope Leo declares teen millennial , known as “God’s influencer,” a saint
11) Undersea cables cut in Red Sea, disrupting internet access in Asia & the Mideast
12) Japan: Ishiba resigns as prime minister
13) LGBTQ Catholics march through St. Peter’s Basilica in Jubilee rite
14) Anthropic’s Claude restrictions put overseas AI tools backed by China in limbo
15) Mozambique embraces $6 billion electricity project, southern Africa’s biggest in 50 years
16) Adams refuses to leave NYC mayor race after reports of Trump job offer
17) West Point alumni association cancels awards ceremony for Tom Hanks
18) US DOJ wants names of two Epstein associates kept secret
19) Powerball lottery players in Missouri and Texas to split estimated $1.8 billion jackpot
20) FL: Homeowner kills intruder
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Let’s be totally honest, it should be “the Department of War”
22) The One Good Part of Trump’s War on Immigrants
23) Disinterring Graeber: The First Five Years
24) Trump Says Tariffs Make Us Richer. So, Why Are Most Countries With High Tariffs So Poor?
25) Losing India
26) The bigness of Indonesia’s little guy
27) What does the Milgram experiment tell us about human nature?
28) Mexico’s Politics of Pensions
29) ChatGPT-5 and the Limits of Machine Intelligence
30) Why Is Big Tech Using the Energy of the Past to Power the Future?
31) Facts Do Not Speak For Themselves
32) SJT and the Lacanian split subject
33) The New Blasphemy? Daring to laugh at the wrong people
34) Thomas Paine’s Forgotten Paper Money Takedown
35) Age Verification Is A Windfall for Big Tech — And A Death Sentence For Smaller Platforms
36) Poetry: Secretary Of War
37) The Spirit of Frugality
38) Trump’s Leaked Plan to Deploy the Texas National Guard Against Illinois Will Tear Apart the Union
39) “I’m Not Touching You!”
40) The Party of Losers Is Not Funny
41) Manufactured Famines in Gaza Began Almost Two Decades Ago, So Why Haven’t They Been Halted?
42) Unfairly Traded Steel
43) One big, happy, censorial family
44) Maybe Trump should ignore Russian dictator’s election advice
45) Ten Groups Who Can and Must Do More to Fight Trumpism
46) California’s $10 Million-a-Year STEM Equity Lab Fails to Deliver
47) Why Is The President Breaking Wind?
48) Fox Tossing: When Animal Cruelty Was High Society Fun
49) Why a liberal [sic] senator confuses Thomas Jefferson and Iran’s ayatollahs
50) A fearful congressional GOP could still do something, if it dares
51) Trump and the Separation of Powers
52) Rousseau’s Republic of Letters
53) Replace the State!
54) Trump and the Joy of Bullshit
55) SNAP Back to Reality
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
56) The Good Fight, 09/06/25
57) Free Talk Live, 09/06/25
58) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 09/06/25
59) Fountainhead Forum, episode 356
60) System Update, episode 509
61) Bulwark Takes, 09/05/25
62) Autocracy in America, 09/05/25
63) Reason Interview: Curtis Sliwa
64) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 09/05/25
65) Freakonomics Radio, episode 645
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Ukraine: Russian drones strike regime building in largest air attack of war
Source: Financial Times [UK]
“Russian forces launched the largest mass aerial attack on Ukraine since their full-scale invasion, firing more than 800 drones and a dozen missiles at targets across the country. A building housing the cabinet of ministers in the centre of Kyiv was struck for the first time during the war, a rare hit on a government building that foreign minister Andriy Sybiha called ‘a serious escalation.’ Two high-rise residential buildings were also damaged. The attack during the early hours of Sunday morning killed two people in Kyiv and also targeted the cities of Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia and Kremenchuk.” (09/07/25)
https://archive.is/1lHC2
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2) China’s shipments to US plunge 33% in August as overall exports growth hits a 6-month low
Source: CNBC
“China’s exports to the U.S. plunged 33% in August while overall growth slowed to its weakest in six months, weighed down in part by President Donald Trump’s crackdown on transshipments and as the impact of frontloading exports wanes. Imports from the U.S. also dropped 16% from a year ago, customs data showed. China’s overall exports climbed 4.4% in August in U.S. dollar terms from a year earlier …. China has increasingly relied on alternative markets, particularly Southeast Asia and European Union nations, Africa and Latin America, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policy has pressured U.S.-bound shipments. … The country’s shipment to the European Union bloc, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Africa surged 10.4%, 22.5% and nearly 26% in August, respectively.” (09/07/25)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/08/china-exports-growth-in-august-drops-missing-expectations-.html
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3) Israel: Saar threatens unspecified “unilateral” action against regimes that recognize Palestine
Source: Fance 24 [French state media]
“Israel’s foreign minister branded a recent international push to recognise Palestinian statehood a ‘mistake’ on Sunday and warned it could trigger an unspecified unilateral response, after reports that Israel plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. … Saar’s remarks come after Israel approved a slew of new West Bank [squats], including a major project just east of Jerusalem known as E1, which the international community has warned threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state. All Israeli [squats] in the occupied Palestinian territory are considered illegal under international law.” (09/07/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20250907-recognising-palestinian-state-could-trigger-unilateral-action-israel-warns
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4) Trump denies knowledge of SEAL mission ending in murders of civilians
Source: The Hill
“President Trump on Friday denied knowing about a Navy SEAL mission in North Korea in 2018 during his first term, following The New York Times reporting on the botched operation. Trump was asked if the administration has engaged with North Korea since it happened and responded, ‘I don’t know anything about it, no.’ … The Times reported a group of Navy SEALs went on a top secret mission, with Trump’s direct approval, to plant an electronic device to intercept North Korea leader Kim Jong Un’s communications while he was engaged in nuclear talks with the U.S. The mission unraveled, the Times reported, when SEALs opened fire on a North Korean boat and killed everyone on it, then retreated without planting the device. The Trump administration at the time reportedly did not notify members of Congress before or after the mission.” (09/05/25)
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5489177-trump-north-korea-navy-seal/
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5) Gang shot-caller warns sanctuary cities to “expect” atrocity surge
Source: Washington Post
“As Chicagoans braced for a potential activation of the National Guard in their city, President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said residents of cities with pro-immigrant policies all over the United States should also expect stepped up immigration enforcement in their neighborhoods. ‘You can expect action in sanctuary cities across the country,’ Homan told CNN on Sunday. … The comments come a day after Trump, on Truth Social, threatened Chicago with mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, sharing an edited illustration of himself as Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore from the Vietnam War film ‘Apocalypse Now.’ Alongside the image, Trump wrote, ‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning.'” (09/07/25)
https://archive.is/AD7aP
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6) Nepal: Regime Bans 26 Social Media Platforms, Including Facebook and YouTube
Source: New York Times
“Nepal’s government has banned dozens of social media platforms after they failed to comply with new registration requirements, disrupting essential communication and raising concerns over free speech.
The 26 blocked platforms include messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and WeChat, as well as websites like YouTube and LinkedIn. The ban, which went into effect on Thursday after a one-week ultimatum to the social media companies expired, has caused confusion across the country. It has ignited fears about how it could affect press freedom and the tourism industry, and particularly about how families can continue to communicate with relatives working abroad as migrant laborers.” (09/07/25)
https://archive.is/yNQAu
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7) Canada: Flight attendants overwhelmingly vote against wage offer
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“Air Canada flight attendants on Saturday overwhelmingly voted against the airline’s latest wage offer, their union said — a vote that’s expected to have no impact on flight operations. The tentative deal, which ended a strike at the airline last month, includes a 12 per cent salary increase this year for most junior flight attendants and an eight per cent bump for more senior members, followed by smaller raises in subsequent years. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) said in a statement that 99.1 per cent of members rejected the proposal, arguing flight attendants would still earn less than federal minimum wage.” (09/06/25)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/air-canada-wage-offer-flight-attendant-vote-against-1.7627196
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8) South Korean workers abducted in Georgia gang raid to be sent home
Source: CNN
“South Korean workers [abducted] during a massive immigration raid in Georgia Thursday will be returned to South Korea on a chartered flight following negotiations, an official announced Sunday. ‘Negotiations for the release of the detained workers have been concluded, after swift responses by the relevant ministries, business agencies, and companies,’ said South Korean Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik. … The workers were among 475 [abducted] Thursday during a large-scale immigration raid at the Hyundai Metaplant in Ellabell, Georgia, which houses an electric vehicle battery plant jointly operated by South Korea-based companies Hyundai and LG Energy Solution. About 300 of those [abducted] are South Korean, officials said.” (09/07/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/07/us/south-korean-detainees-negotiations-release-hnk
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9) House GOP report: Pentagon-funded research at colleges has aided the Chinese military
Source: SFGate
“Over a recent two-year period, the Pentagon funded hundreds of projects done in collaboration with universities in China and institutes linked to that nation’s defense industry, including many blacklisted by the U.S. government for working with the Chinese military, a congressional investigation has found. The report, released Friday by House Republicans on the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, argues the projects have allowed China to exploit U.S. research partnerships for military gains while the two countries are locked in a tech and arms rivalry. ‘American taxpayer dollars should be used to defend the nation — not strengthen its foremost strategic competitor,’ Republicans wrote in the report. ‘Failing to safeguard American research from hostile foreign exploitation will continue to erode U.S. technological dominance and place our national defense capabilities at risk,’ it said. The Pentagon and didn’t immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.” (09/05/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/pentagon-funded-research-at-colleges-has-aided-21032455.php
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10) Pope Leo declares teen millennial , known as “God’s influencer,” a saint
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A London-born Italian teenager, known as ‘God’s influencer,’ who was an early adopter of the internet to spread Catholic teachings, has been made the church’s first millennial saint at a ceremony led by Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. Leo canonised Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006 aged 15, in a ceremony attended by thousands on Sunday in St Peter’s Square. At the Mass, the pontiff also canonised Pier Giorgio Frassati, who died in 1924 but was widely recognised for his charitable work.” 909/07/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/7/pope-leo-declares-teen-millennial-known-as-gods-influencer-a-saint
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11) Undersea cables cut in Red Sea, disrupting internet access in Asia & the Mideast
Source: SFGate
“Undersea cable cuts in the Red Sea disrupted internet access Sunday in parts of Asia and the Middle East, experts said, though it wasn’t immediately clear what caused the incident. There has been concern about the cables being targeted in a Red Sea campaign by Yemen’s Houthi rebels [sic], which the rebels [sic] describe as an effort to pressure Israel to end its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But the Houthis have denied attacking the lines in the past. Microsoft announced via a status website that the Mideast ‘may experience increased latency due to undersea fiber cuts in the Red Sea.’ The Redmond, Washington-based firm did not immediately elaborate, though it said that internet traffic not moving through the Middle East ‘is not impacted.'” (09/06/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/undersea-cables-cut-in-the-red-sea-disrupting-21035125.php
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12) Japan: Ishiba resigns as prime minister
Source: ABC News
“Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced Sunday he will step down following growing calls from his party to take responsibility for a historic defeat in July’s parliamentary election. Ishiba, who took office in October, had resisted demands from mostly right-wing opponents within his own party for more than a month, saying such a step would cause a political vacuum when Japan faces key challenges in and outside the country. The resignation came one day before his Liberal Democratic Party was to decide whether to hold an early leadership election, a virtual no-confidence motion against him if approved.” (09/07/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/japans-prime-minister-shigeru-ishiba-resign-japanese-television-125335206
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13) LGBTQ Catholics march through St. Peter’s Basilica in Jubilee rite
Source: Fox News
“Over 1,000 LGBTQ Catholics and their families walked through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica this weekend as part of a Jubilee pilgrimage listed on the Vatican’s official Holy Year calendar. The event appeared under the neutral title ‘Pilgrimage of the Tenda di Gionata Association (Jonathan’s Tent) and other associations’ for Sept. 6, 2025 on their website. The listing marks the first time an LGBTQ pilgrimage has been included in the Vatican’s Jubilee program. Many pilgrims hailed it as a sign of welcome following Pope Francis’ 12-year papacy, while critics in Catholic media blasted the move as undermining Church tradition. Some participants wept as they entered the basilica. ‘It just felt epic, like I was able to touch the hand of God,’ Justin del Rosario told the Associated Press, who carried a crucifix across the threshold with his male partner.” (09/06/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/lgbtq-catholics-march-st-peters-basilica-jubilee-rite-vatican-calendar-entry-stirs-controversy
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14) Anthropic’s Claude restrictions put overseas AI tools backed by China in limbo
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“An abrupt decision by American artificial intelligence firm Anthropic to restrict service to Chinese-owned entities anywhere in the world has cast uncertainty over some Claude-dependent overseas tools backed by China’s tech giants. After Anthropic’s notice on Friday that it would upgrade access restrictions to entities ‘more than 50 per cent owned … by companies headquartered in unsupported regions’ such as China, regardless of where they are, Chinese users have fretted over whether they could still access the San Francisco-based firm’s industry-leading AI models. While it remains unknown how many entities could be affected and how the restrictions would be implemented, anxiety has started to spread among some users.” (09/07/25)
https://archive.is/qO1me
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15) Mozambique embraces $6 billion electricity project, southern Africa’s biggest in 50 years
Source: SFGate
“Hermínio Guambe used to cut hair in a tiny barbershop with no electricity in his village outside Mozambique’s capital. The arrival of power changed everything. The 48-year-old now uses hair dryers. The village pharmacy stocks vital medicines requiring refrigeration. More jobs were created as trading and transport picked up. ‘These are the kinds of businesses that drive economies,’ World Bank President Ajay Banga said in an interview with The Associated Press during a July visit to tour electrification projects and meet entrepreneurs like Guambe. ‘Electricity isn’t just light, it’s a chance.’ Mozambique has won World Bank backing for the $6 billion Mphanda Nkuwa hydroelectric plant, southern Africa’s biggest such project in 50 years. Mozambique, one of the world’s poorest countries by per capita income, aims to connect all of its 33 million mostly rural citizens to electricity by 2030, largely through renewable energy from hydroelectric, solar and other sources.” (09/06/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/mozambique-embraces-a-6-billion-electricity-21035029.php
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16) Adams refuses to leave NYC mayor race after reports of Trump job offer
Source: Axios
“New York City Mayor Eric Adams denied rumors Friday that he is dropping out of the city’s mayoral race. Adams had been the subject of numerous reports this week, which said he received job offers within the Trump administration in exchange for bowing out of the highly watched race. Adams had previously denied the claims and said during a Friday afternoon press conference that some reports said, ‘I’m in Washington on Monday. Those reports are wrong. I’m not.’ … Trump has called for the NYC race to be between Mamdani and just one other candidate, but he has not specified who he wants that candidate to be.” (09/05/25)
https://archive.is/RDUho
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17) West Point alumni association cancels awards ceremony for Tom Hanks
Source: Fox News
“The official West Point alumni association has canceled an awards ceremony later this month for veterans advocate Tom Hanks, according to a report. Hanks, who is known for military movies like ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘Forrest Gump,’ was also a former President Joe Biden supporter who has criticized President Donald Trump in the past. He has received backlash from Trump supporters for his recurring MAGA character Doug on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ who has appeared in ‘Black Jeopardy’ sketches. He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President Barack Obama …. Hanks had been set to receive the Sylvanus Thayer Award for ‘outstanding’ non-West Point graduates who exemplify ‘Duty, Honor, Country.’ The ceremony was scheduled to be held on Sept. 25.” (09/06/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/west-point-alumni-association-cancels-awards-ceremony-tom-hanks
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18) US DOJ wants names of two Epstein associates kept secret
Source: AOL
“The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal judge overseeing the case of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to deny a request from NBC News to unseal the names of two associates who received large payments from him in 2018, court documents show. The Justice Department cited privacy concerns expressed by the two individuals as the reason for not making their names public. The first associate received a payment of $100,000 from Epstein and the second associate received a payment of $250,000, both in 2018, days after the Miami Herald began publishing a series of investigative stories where victims criticized a plea deal he received in Florida in 2008.” (09/06/25)
https://www.aol.com/doj-says-names-two-associates-182943488.html
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19) Powerball lottery players in Missouri and Texas to split estimated $1.8 billion jackpot
Source: SFGate
“Powerball players in Missouri and Texas won the estimated $1.8 billion jackpot on Saturday, overcoming astronomical odds to end the lottery game’s three-month drought without a big winner. The winning numbers were 11, 23, 44, 61, and 62, with the Powerball number being 17. The prize, which was the second-largest U.S. lottery jackpot in history, followed 41 consecutive drawings in which no one matched all six numbers. The last drawing with a jackpot winner happened May 31. Powerball’s terrible odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to generate big jackpots, with prizes growing as they roll over when no one wins. Lottery officials note that the odds are far better for the game’s many smaller prizes. There are three drawings each week. The estimated $1.8 billion jackpot would go to a winner who opts to receive 30 payments over 29 years through an annuity. Winners almost always choose the game’s cash option, which for Saturday night’s drawing would be an estimated $826.4 million.” (09/06/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/drawing-set-for-a-powerball-jackpot-that-has-21033837.php
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20) FL: Homeowner kills intruder
Source: Here Jacksonville
“A homeowner shot and killed a man who was reportedly attempting to break into his residence in the Brentwood area of Jacksonville, Florida. The incident took place early Friday morning around 3:45 a.m., prompting a swift response from local law enforcement. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) received calls about a shooting at a home on North Pearl Street. Upon arrival, officers discovered a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department (JFRD) crews pronounced him dead at the scene after attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. According to JSO Sergeant M.W. Highfill, investigators believe that the deceased man unlawfully entered the homeowner’s property. It has been indicated that the homeowner acted in self-defense, resulting in the shooting.” (09/05/25)
https://www.herejacksonville.com/jacksonville-shooting-homeowner-kills-intruder/
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Let’s be totally honest, it should be “the Department of War”
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jack Hunter
“On face value, many observers took Trump’s pledge to mean a more hawkish posture by this administration with some on the left and right having a negative reaction to the possible change. He also appears to associate the old name with winning, like a talisman. Unfortunately, aside from Persian Gulf I, most Americans associate World War II as the last time they associate America with ‘winning’ a major war. But for others, even non-interventionists and foreign policy realists, the name change is just more honest.” (09/05/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/department-of-war/
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22) The One Good Part of Trump’s War on Immigrants
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“There is one good part of President Trump’s war on immigrants: He is proving a point I have long been making — that to win the war on immigrants, it is necessary to destroy freedom in America. Thus, with his war on immigrants, Trump is unwittingly putting Americans, including pro-immigration-control libertarians, in an interesting quandary: Should one continue to support America’s system of immigration controls even though it means forever giving up hope of living in a genuinely free society or should one instead support a system of open borders with the aim of achieving a genuinely free society?” (09/05/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/09/05/the-one-good-part-of-trumps-war-on-immigrants/
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23) Disinterring Graeber: The First Five Years
Source: Garrison Center
by Joel Schlosberg
“‘When [David] Graeber died, five years ago today, he was just about the most important public intellectual in the world’ asserts Thomas Peermohamed Lambert (‘David Graeber: the Left’s lost hero,’ UnHerd, September 2). An unlikely position for the author of tomes covering ‘some of the most mind-numbing subjects,’ from the originations of finance to managerial administration, whose defiant anti-authoritarianism apparently mapped ‘a kind of ‘road not taken’ for the political Left’ which has since veered ever more sharply into pinning all their hopes and fears on the next election.” (09/06/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/19900
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24) Trump Says Tariffs Make Us Richer. So, Why Are Most Countries With High Tariffs So Poor?
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“Trump has repeatedly linked tariffs to the country’s wealth. At the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, he insisted the U.S. was at its wealthiest relative to the rest of the world ‘from 1870 to 1913. That was our richest because we collected tariffs from foreign countries that came in and took our jobs and took our money, took our everything, but they charged tariffs.’ But if tariffs are linked to prosperity, it’s an inverse relationship, according to a recent report on America’s declining economic freedom for Canada’s Fraser Institute. … ‘In the high-tariff countries, average GDP per capita is just $9,703 per year,’ while ‘in low-tariff countries, it is $43,502 per year.'” (09/05/25)
https://reason.com/2025/09/05/trump-says-tariffs-make-us-richer-so-why-are-most-countries-with-high-tariffs-so-poor/
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25) Losing India
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider
“The U.S. has long sought to parlay India’s animosity toward China into a wedge between India and the multipolar Global South. But three recent tactics of the Trump administration have undermined that strategy. Perhaps the most consequential was the punishing tariffs the U.S. imposed on India. Starting at 25 percent as punishment for unfair trade practices, they ballooned to 50 percent after India refused to bend on the issue of Russian oil — a level that China, the largest purchaser of Russian oil, has been spared. An earlier misstep was the embarrassing attempt by the Trump administration to take credit for a ceasefire between India and Pakistan. … Another sticking point is Washington’s improving relations with India’s rival Pakistan and the plausible suspicions that the current Pakistani government came to power with U.S. assistance.” (09/05/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/losing-india/
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26) The bigness of Indonesia’s little guy
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“In countries ruled by a powerful political elite, the daily struggles of ordinary people are often overlooked. Not so in Indonesia over recent days. Street protests that began Aug. 25 in the capital against excessive perks for lawmakers spread nationwide a few days later. The cause of the new outrage: A police vehicle ran over a motorbike delivery rider caught up in one of the protests. People in the world’s fourth-most-populous nation rely heavily on nearly 3 million ride-hailing drivers to deliver packages and passengers. Known as ojol, they are visible symbols of the urban lower class. They are often seen hanging together in green jackets near roadside food stalls, waiting for their next online trip request. The reaction to the killing, in a country already distrustful of the police and the elite, was both swift and unusual.” (09/05/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0905/The-bigness-of-Indonesia-s-little-guy
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27) What does the Milgram experiment tell us about human nature?
Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Winton Bates
“I can remember feeling shocked when I first heard about the Milgram experiment. Some psychology students told me about the experiment about 60 years ago, while I was at university. At that time, the findings of the experiment caused me to question my view of human nature. I was brought up to hold the view that it is natural for humans to be kind and humane. That view is consistent with the derivation of the words, ‘kind” and “humane.’ It is also the view I hold now. The findings of the Milgram experiment seemed to suggest, however, that a less positive view of human nature might be more accurate.” (09/07/25)
https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2025/09/what-does-milgram-experiment-tell-us.html
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28) Mexico’s Politics of Pensions
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Sergio Martínez
“Like many countries with an aging population, Mexico is facing a pension crisis. In just the last five years, the universal pension for older adults quadrupled its budget. Coupled with low growth, the ever-rising cash transfers and subsidies have become a major drag on the country’s economy. Welfare payments to individuals—such as the universal pension for older adults, disability pensions, and student stipends—have grown at a pace that outstripped investment in infrastructure, education, and security. These programs are politically attractive: beneficiaries can clearly see where the money goes, while the returns of better public infrastructure, or of a more effective police force, are harder to measure. The result is a fiscal structure that privileges visible redistribution over the less glamorous but essential foundations of long-term growth.” (09/05/25)
https://fee.org/articles/mexicos-politics-of-pensions/
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29) ChatGPT-5 and the Limits of Machine Intelligence
Source: Quillette
by Hugh Brosnahan
“The disillusion produced by GPT-5 is not a technical hiccup, it’s a philosophical wake-up call.” (09/07/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/09/07/chatgpt-5-and-the-limits-of-machine-intelligence-agi/
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30) Why Is Big Tech Using the Energy of the Past to Power the Future?
Source: OtherWords
by Dan Howells & Todd Larsen
“AI is everywhere. But its powerful computing comes with a big cost to our planet, our neighborhoods, and our wallets. AI servers are so power hungry that utilities are keeping coal-fired power plants that were slated for closure running to meet the needs of massive servers. And in the South alone, there are plans for 20 gigawatts of new natural-gas power plants over the next 15 years (enough to power millions of homes) just to feed AI’s energy needs. Multibillion dollar companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta that previously committed to 100% renewable energy are going back to the Jurassic Age, using fossil fuels like coal and natural gas to meet their insatiable energy needs.” (09/06/25)
https://otherwords.org/communities-pay-the-price-for-free-ai-tools/
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31) Facts Do Not Speak For Themselves
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“In a recent online exchange, one poster claimed that Democrats were obviously better than Republicans, since blue states had a higher average income and a more educated population than red states. Another responded that it was the other way around, red states were better, since on net people were moving from blue states to red states, voting with their feet. Both factual claims could be, I think are, true. Neither implies its conclusion.” (09/06/25)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/facts-do-not-speak-for-themselves
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32) SJT and the Lacanian split subject
Source: The Peaceful Revolutionist
by David S D’Amato
“Probably unsurprisingly, it turns out that members of privileged groups get a nice little mood boost from vaunting the greatness of the political and economic status quo. The research demonstrates that membership in a high-status group pays both material and psychological dividends. And the dark side is also true in that members of low-status groups are hit with a double cost, coupling their systematic oppression with the lower self-worth that comes with embracing the status quo. For the members of low-status groups, the feelings that accompany the endorsement of system-justifying views are not so warm and fuzzy.” (09/06/25)
https://dsdamato.substack.com/p/sjt-and-the-lacanian-split-subject
-----
33) The New Blasphemy? Daring to laugh at the wrong people
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley
“In the anti-free speech community, the most intolerable form of speech often seems to be humor. For thousands of years, satire and parody have proven to be the most penetrating – and at times, irritating – forms of political speech. Even with absolute rulers, court jesters were often the few figures who could challenge a king. As Shakespeare wrote in ‘King Lear’: ‘jesters do oft prove prophets.’ In the case of comedian Graham Linehan, he has unwittingly become a prophet for the death of not just free speech but also humor in the United Kingdom.” (09/06/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-new-blasphemy-daring-laugh-wrong-people
-----
34) Thomas Paine’s Forgotten Paper Money Takedown
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin
“‘Money is Money, and Paper is Paper. All the invention of man cannot make them otherwise.‘ With those words, Thomas Paine went after what he saw as one of the greatest scams in history: governments claiming that paper is money. Through a series of devastating critiques, Paine delivered one of the most brutal takedowns of paper money ever written, systematically exposing every aspect of this fundamental fraud.” (09/05/25)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2025/09/06/thomas-paines-forgotten-paper-money-takedown/
-----
35) Age Verification Is A Windfall for Big Tech — And A Death Sentence For Smaller Platforms
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Molly Buckley
“If you live in Mississippi, you may have noticed that you are no longer able to log into your Bluesky or Dreamwidth accounts from within the state. That’s because, in a chilling early warning sign for the U.S., both social platforms decided to block all users in Mississippi from their services rather than risk hefty fines under the state’s oppressive age verification mandate. If this sounds like censorship to you, you’re right — it is. But it’s not these small platforms’ fault. This is the unfortunate result of Mississippi’s wide-sweeping age verification law …. Lawmakers often sell age-verification mandates as a silver bullet for Big Tech’s harms, but in practice, these laws do nothing to rein in the tech giants. Instead, they end up crushing smaller platforms that can’t absorb the exorbitant costs.” (09/05/25)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/09/age-verification-windfall-big-tech-and-death-sentence-smaller-platforms
-----
36) Poetry: Secretary Of War
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“He hung up a sign that said Secretary of War, / snapped a picture for the socials, shut the door, / took a swig of Jameson straight from the bottle, / then sat down and fondled the revolver in his desk drawer / like a little boy playing with his penis. / Visions of cruise missiles danced through his head, / aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines / and tiny middle eastern bodies blown to bits by glorious inventory. / Mushroom clouds flashed in his eyes / as he caressed the trigger with an index finger. / ‘They call me the Secretary of War,’ he said. ‘They call me the Secretary of War.’ / He did not feel the robins in his chest / or hear the red-winged blackbirds trilling in his hair. / The electricity of the flesh was a stranger to him. / Exuberance was a deadbeat dad who never called.” (09/06/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/09/06/secretary-of-war/
-----
37) The Spirit of Frugality
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jeffrey A Tucker
“America specializes in making trash and throwing things away. We see that as a symbol of how prosperous we are. Our ancestors did not think this way. They saw prosperity as linked with how much they could save and how little they spent unnecessarily.” (09/05/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-spirit-of-frugality/
-----
38) Trump’s Leaked Plan to Deploy the Texas National Guard Against Illinois Will Tear Apart the Union
Source: The UnPopulist
by Andy Craig
“On Tuesday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker gave an extraordinary press conference. Together with the mayor of Chicago and the president of the Cook County board of commissioners, the governor announced that President Donald Trump is hatching plans for what can only be described as the prospective invasion of his sovereign state. And not just by federal troops, but by units of the Texas National Guard. … It is not politics as usual when a state’s elected chief executive, charged with protecting his people, takes to the airwaves to warn that another state’s troops may soon be used as an instrument of occupation on his soil.” (09/05/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trumps-leaked-plan-to-deploy-the
-----
39) “I’m Not Touching You!”
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Trump is the toddler in the backseat of the Family Truckster who, when told not to touch his brother, holds an index finger an angstrom away from his sibling’s forehead while bleating, ‘I’m not touching you!’ All of us — and Trump’s apologists most of all — know exactly what Trump is doing: He is seeing what he can get away with. He believes that his supporters and sycophants will accept virtually any degree of misbehavior from him — that they will celebrate it — and that our institutions are not equipped to deal with a president who cynically abuses power in this way. And he is right on both counts.” (09/05/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/trump-supporters-legal-emergency-powers/
-----
40) The Party of Losers Is Not Funny
Source: Town Hall
by Michael Reagan
“Maybe we do need a Civil War 2.0 – with guns. Our politics has become so partisan and so nasty, using guns to settle our national political differences may soon end up being the only solution. It’s bad enough no one agrees with what the other side is saying anymore. But now when one side says something spectacularly horrible or ‘subtly’ wishes harm on their opponent (and I’m thinking specifically about the prancing governor of Minnesota), no one on their side has the common decency to criticize them for it. Tim Walz made a goofy loser of himself last fall as Kamala Harris’s VP pick. And on Labor Day, he showed why he’s still the reigning buffoon of the Democratic Party.” (09/06/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/michaelreagan/2025/09/06/the-party-of-losers-is-not-funny-n2662824
-----
41) Manufactured Famines in Gaza Began Almost Two Decades Ago, So Why Haven’t They Been Halted?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Dan Steinbock
“Recently, international media has highlighted the mass famine in Gaza. Yet, there have been effectively three waves of famine in Gaza since spring 2024. First weaponized 18 years ago in the Strip, these hunger games could have been preempted several times. Why weren’t they?” (09/05/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/dan_steinbock/2025/09/04/manufactured-famines-in-gaza-began-almost-two-decades-ago-so-why-havent-they-been-halted/
-----
42) Unfairly Traded Steel
Source: EconLog
by Pierre Lemieux
“[I]n the roaring ’60s, it was popular among the ruling establishments of underdeveloped countries, supported by the Western intelligentsia, to impose large tariffs on foreign manufactured goods in order to help domestic manufacturing. Only when, a few decades later, it was realized that such an industrial policy was a fool’s errand, were the poor people of underdeveloped countries able to jump on the bandwagon of free trade and to escape dire poverty. A basic economic reason why ‘unfairly traded steel’ or the underlying ideal of mercantilist and industrial policy is a fool’s errand is that it presupposes a central economic planner possessing what he does not and cannot possess, that is, the information of time, place, costs, and preferences that is carried by prices determined by supply and demand on free markets.” (09/05/25)
https://www.econlib.org/unfairly-traded-steel
-----
43) One big, happy, censorial family
Source: Expression
by Chapin Lenthall-Cleary
“For students uninterested in winning debates by the merits of their ideas, a popular tactic has been shouting down speakers — known as the ‘heckler’s veto’ — to prevent others from hearing. Some students have also physically blocked others from reaching speakers, and in extreme cases even used violence against speakers, though these are seemingly rarer. … Until recently, these vices primarily belonged to Democratic students, with a staggering 79% of students who identify as strong Democrats agreeing that shouting down a speaker is at least rarely acceptable. Republicans have finally, perhaps belatedly, arrived at the party, with over half of strong Republicans now saying it’s acceptable to shout down a speaker. And, in 2025, strong Republicans passed strong Democrats in support for using violence to shout down a speaker.” (09/05/25)
https://expression.fire.org/p/one-big-happy-censorious-family
-----
44) Maybe Trump should ignore Russian dictator’s election advice
Source: Orange County Register
by Steven Greenhut
“After providing his red-carpeted welcome to Vladimir Putin in Alaska last month to discuss ending the Ukraine war, President Donald Trump oddly and approvingly quoted the Russian leader’s advice for the United States. The American Nobel Peace Prize-seeker didn’t seem too concerned about the fairness of any potential deal to carve up Ukraine at Russia’s behest. But Trump was fixated on the supposed lack of fairness of U.S. elections, even though he won two of them (and claims to have won three). In an interview with Fox News, Trump echoed Putin’s words: ‘He said: ‘Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting. … It’s impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections.’ … Given that Russia stepped up its Ukraine attacks shortly after Trump boarded Air Force One, he might have realized that Putin might not be an honest broker — let alone a font of electoral wisdom.” (09/05/25)
https://archive.is/tggwi
-----
45) Ten Groups Who Can and Must Do More to Fight Trumpism
Source: Common Dreams
by Ralph Nader
“This column is a plea to our readers to help get responses from groups whose duties and rhetoric should cause them to become much more active in countering the fascistic, dictatorial actions of Tyrant Trump. All these groups have diminished themselves and their real potential to generate strong direct democratic pressures and arouse the citizenry. We can guess the answer as to why these groups are so meek, but what is needed is for these groups to answer for themselves: 1) Why aren’t the Democrats in Congress, just a few votes from a majority, much more aggressive vis-à-vis the controlling Republicans and President Donald Trump? Voters are vociferously demanding this at town meetings.” (09/06/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/do-more-to-fight-trump
-----
46) California’s $10 Million-a-Year STEM Equity Lab Fails to Deliver
Source: The Daily Economy
by Carey Wedler
“Collectivist central planning simply cannot engineer individual success. People continue to have their own preferences.” (09/05/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/californias-10-million-a-year-stem-equity-lab-fails-to-deliver-parity/
-----
47) Why Is The President Breaking Wind?
Source: The Weekly Dish
by Andrew Sullivan
“It’s not the market; not the technology; not the Congress; not the courts; not the investment money; not the environment; not the lobbyists. There is, in fact, no consistent or coherent rationale — and everyone knows it. It’s because one man didn’t like one view and couldn’t get over it. That’s arbitrary power distilled like a fine Scottish whiskey. When Trump lost his battle with Salmond and the turbines were built (a whole documentary was made about the foofaraw), the psychic toll was just too much. In one of his own [golf] courses, Trump was compelled to see proof that he did not control everything, that he was a loser in a political battle, that other interests mattered other than his. The malignant narcissist is unable to let it go.” (09/05/25)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/why-is-the-president-breaking-wind-9b1
-----
48) Fox Tossing: When Animal Cruelty Was High Society Fun
Source: Cato Institute
by Chelsea Follett
“When a New Mexico sheriff’s deputy was recently filmed grinning as he killed a rabbit by throwing it against a police vehicle, public outrage was swift. He was placed on leave and charged with extreme cruelty to animals, which is a felony. The incident was stomach-turning, yet perhaps even more shocking is how ordinary such violence used to be. For much of human history, killing small animals for fun wasn’t just tolerated, but celebrated.” (09/05/25)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/fox-tossing-when-animal-cruelty-was-high-society-fun
-----
49) Why a liberal [sic] senator confuses Thomas Jefferson and Iran’s ayatollahs
Source: New York Post
by Rich Lowry
“Tim Kaine needs to report to a remedial civics class as soon as possible. The Virginia senator and former vice-presidential candidate expressed outrage at a congressional hearing that a Trump nominee said our rights come from God, not government. Kaine suspected incipient theocracy, warning that the Iranian regime persecutes religious minorities on exactly this basis. ‘They do it,’ he explained, ‘because they believe that they understand what natural rights are from their creator.’ In searching for an example more relevant to the American experience, Kaine might cast his mind back to a fellow Virginian — a tall, sandy-haired, Charlottesville-area gentleman with an interest in architecture, a taste for fine wine and knack for writing. Ring any bells?” (09/05/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/09/05/opinion/sen-tim-kaine-shows-his-shocking-ignorance-about-americas-reliance-on-god-given-rights/
-----
50) A fearful congressional GOP could still do something, if it dares
Source: Washington Post
by George F Will
“Tanned, rested and ready, Congress has returned from the August recess. It is unclear why. The Democrats’ House and Senate minorities have no power — the ability to achieve intended effects. The Republican majorities have no power because they are not permitted intention independent of this president’s preferences. … Presidents are mistakenly accorded vast discretion in foreign policy, so Congress can do little when today’s president, for no discernible strategic reason, uses insults and economic coercion to propel the most populous nation, India, into closer collaboration with the second most populous, China. Congress could, however, inhibit this administration’s primary domestic policy.” (09/05/25)
https://archive.is/01loQ
-----
51) Trump and the Separation of Powers
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“The U.S. Court of Appeals'[s] rejection last week of the Trump administration’s global ’emergency’ tariff program was a welcome affirmation of the separation-of-powers doctrine. Next stop: the U.S. Supreme Court. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a 9-0 ruling that Trump grossly exceeded his constitutional powers. One can hope. Liberty is never secure. However, if we must have a state, the separation of powers may provide some measure of security.” (09/05/25)
https://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2025/09/tgif-trump-and-separation-of-powers.html
-----
52) Rousseau’s Republic of Letters
Source: Law & Liberty
by Jonathan Marks
“A new edition of Rousseau’s letters sheds light on the personality and thought of one of the Enlightenment’s greatest and strangest figures.” (09/05/25)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/rousseaus-republic-of-letters/
-----
53) Replace the State!
Source: CounterPunch
by Sasha Davis
“The government may be getting completely out of the business of protecting human well-being (by shredding the social safety net, decimating public education, slashing health care access and research, transferring more wealth to the ultra-rich, and supercharging its apparatuses of police surveillance and repression), but let’s face it, the state was only tangentially interested in human well-being before this year. The primary functions of this government have long been to facilitate the ability of capitalist firms to accumulate profits and to protect the unequal property relations of the class of people who set it up (i.e. not you).” (09/05/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/09/05/replace-the-state/
-----
54) Trump and the Joy of Bullshit
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“In 1986, a moral philosophy professor and student of language at Princeton University named Harry Frankfurt published an erudite and witty article in the literary quarterly Raritan, circulation 1,100. Its title was ‘On Bullshit’. Frankfurt’s point was that bullshitting was fundamentally different from lying. Liars were aware of the truth that they were trying to contradict. Bullshitters simply made stuff up, and tended to believe their own bullshit. ‘It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth,’ Frankfurt wrote. ‘Producing bullshit requires no such conviction.’ About 20 years later, during the reign of George W. Bush, when the bullshit about Iraq was flying thick and fast, an editor at Princeton University Press named Ian Malcolm rediscovered Frankfurt’s essay, and repackaged it as a book.” (09/05/25)
https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2025-09-05-trump-joy-of-bullshit/
-----
55) SNAP Back to Reality
Source: Show-Me Institute
by Elias Tsapelas
“Medicaid wasn’t the only welfare program that received significant reforms in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB). The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as food stamps, will similarly be seeing major changes very soon. For Missouri, perhaps the biggest change will be the cost of SNAP going up. Unlike Medicaid, the federal government has historically paid for 100% of the SNAP benefit, with states only on the hook for 50% of its administrative costs. The OBBB increases the share of administrative costs borne by states to 75%, and has the potential to start charging states for some program benefit costs as well.” (09/05/25)
https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/welfare/snap-back-to-reality/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
56) The Good Fight, 09/06/25
Source: Yascha Mounk
“Daron Acemoglu on How States Succeed — And Why Many Don’t.” (09/06/25)
https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/daron-acemoglu-on-how-states-succeedand
-----
57) Free Talk Live, 09/06/25
Source: Free Talk Live
“Is the Trump economy living up to Trump’s hype? :: 8 million slipped into poverty after Covid era funding stopped :: Skeeter call, Mr. Penguin attempts and partially succeeds at having a thoughtful back and forth :: French Health Ministry cautions French hospitals to prepare for major levels of casualties in the next 6 months, French sending ‘survival manuals’ to all citizens :: The US comprises 4.4% of the world’s population yet consumes 80% of the world’s opiates :: Governments role in the opioid crisis :: Sarah from NM wants to save public access channels :: Dave Ridley discusses John E. Sununu’s potential run for US Senator from NH :: Chris and Angelo reminisce about chewing tobacco in rural Oregon :: Cases of mass hysteria and law enforcement’s reaction to a communique from DC about how lethal fentanyl is :: 2025-09-06 Hosts: Chris R., Angelo, Mr. Penguin.” (09/06/25)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/ftl2025-09-06
-----
58) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 09/06/25
Source: Freedom Works
“Neil Chilson, Abundance Institute ‘Google Keeps Chrome Browser.'” (09/06/25)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2025-09-06_zfw09052025.mp3
-----
59) Fountainhead Forum, episode 356
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Daniel Donnelly on Javier Milei’s speech at CPAC 2025 in DC.” (09/06/25)
https://rumble.com/v6yktne-ff-356-daniel-donnelly-on-javier-mileis-speech-at-cpac-2025-in-dc.html
-----
60) System Update, episode 509
Source: System Update
“Glenn Takes Your Questions: Billionaires, Bari Weiss and Journalism.” (09/05/25)
https://rumble.com/v6yjpha-glenn-takes-your-questions-billionaires-bari-weiss-and-journalism-system-up.html
-----
61) Bulwark Takes, 09/05/25
Source: The Bulwark
“Cracks in the CULT? MAGA Media Starts Breaking Away from Trump.” (09/05/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPjhAiZmweg
-----
62) Autocracy in America, 09/05/25
Source: The Atlantic
“AI and the Rise of Techno-Fascism in the United States.” (09/05/25)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2025/09/ai-and-the-fight-between-democracy-and-autocracy/684095/
-----
63) Reason Interview: Curtis Sliwa
Source: Reason
“The Guardian Angels founder and New York mayoral candidate talks about crime, drugs, zoning, and what the government could learn from squatters.” (09/05/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/09/05/if-you-dont-like-socialism-or-the-establishment-curtis-sliwa-wants-your-vote/
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64) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 09/05/25
Source: The New Republic
“Fox News Coverage of RFK’s Big Meltdown Goes Awry, Backfiring on Trump.” (09/05/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/200030/fox-coverage-rfk-meltdown-hearing-goes-awry-backfiring-trump
-----
65) Freakonomics Radio, episode 645
Source: Freakonomics
“Is the Air Traffic Control System Broken?” (09/05/25)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/is-the-air-traffic-control-system-broken/
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https://news.rationalreview.com/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Ukraine: Russian drones strike regime building in largest air attack of war
2) China’s shipments to US plunge 33% in August as overall exports growth hits a 6-month low
3) Israel: Saar threatens unspecified “unilateral” action against regimes that recognize Palestine
4) Trump denies knowledge of SEAL mission ending in murders of civilians
5) Gang shot-caller warns sanctuary cities to “expect” atrocity surge
6) Nepal: Regime Bans 26 Social Media Platforms, Including Facebook and YouTube
7) Canada: Flight attendants overwhelmingly vote against wage offer
8) South Korean workers abducted in Georgia gang raid to be sent home
9) House GOP report: Pentagon-funded research at colleges has aided the Chinese military
10) Pope Leo declares teen millennial , known as “God’s influencer,” a saint
11) Undersea cables cut in Red Sea, disrupting internet access in Asia & the Mideast
12) Japan: Ishiba resigns as prime minister
13) LGBTQ Catholics march through St. Peter’s Basilica in Jubilee rite
14) Anthropic’s Claude restrictions put overseas AI tools backed by China in limbo
15) Mozambique embraces $6 billion electricity project, southern Africa’s biggest in 50 years
16) Adams refuses to leave NYC mayor race after reports of Trump job offer
17) West Point alumni association cancels awards ceremony for Tom Hanks
18) US DOJ wants names of two Epstein associates kept secret
19) Powerball lottery players in Missouri and Texas to split estimated $1.8 billion jackpot
20) FL: Homeowner kills intruder
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Let’s be totally honest, it should be “the Department of War”
22) The One Good Part of Trump’s War on Immigrants
23) Disinterring Graeber: The First Five Years
24) Trump Says Tariffs Make Us Richer. So, Why Are Most Countries With High Tariffs So Poor?
25) Losing India
26) The bigness of Indonesia’s little guy
27) What does the Milgram experiment tell us about human nature?
28) Mexico’s Politics of Pensions
29) ChatGPT-5 and the Limits of Machine Intelligence
30) Why Is Big Tech Using the Energy of the Past to Power the Future?
31) Facts Do Not Speak For Themselves
32) SJT and the Lacanian split subject
33) The New Blasphemy? Daring to laugh at the wrong people
34) Thomas Paine’s Forgotten Paper Money Takedown
35) Age Verification Is A Windfall for Big Tech — And A Death Sentence For Smaller Platforms
36) Poetry: Secretary Of War
37) The Spirit of Frugality
38) Trump’s Leaked Plan to Deploy the Texas National Guard Against Illinois Will Tear Apart the Union
39) “I’m Not Touching You!”
40) The Party of Losers Is Not Funny
41) Manufactured Famines in Gaza Began Almost Two Decades Ago, So Why Haven’t They Been Halted?
42) Unfairly Traded Steel
43) One big, happy, censorial family
44) Maybe Trump should ignore Russian dictator’s election advice
45) Ten Groups Who Can and Must Do More to Fight Trumpism
46) California’s $10 Million-a-Year STEM Equity Lab Fails to Deliver
47) Why Is The President Breaking Wind?
48) Fox Tossing: When Animal Cruelty Was High Society Fun
49) Why a liberal [sic] senator confuses Thomas Jefferson and Iran’s ayatollahs
50) A fearful congressional GOP could still do something, if it dares
51) Trump and the Separation of Powers
52) Rousseau’s Republic of Letters
53) Replace the State!
54) Trump and the Joy of Bullshit
55) SNAP Back to Reality
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
56) The Good Fight, 09/06/25
57) Free Talk Live, 09/06/25
58) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 09/06/25
59) Fountainhead Forum, episode 356
60) System Update, episode 509
61) Bulwark Takes, 09/05/25
62) Autocracy in America, 09/05/25
63) Reason Interview: Curtis Sliwa
64) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 09/05/25
65) Freakonomics Radio, episode 645
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Ukraine: Russian drones strike regime building in largest air attack of war
Source: Financial Times [UK]
“Russian forces launched the largest mass aerial attack on Ukraine since their full-scale invasion, firing more than 800 drones and a dozen missiles at targets across the country. A building housing the cabinet of ministers in the centre of Kyiv was struck for the first time during the war, a rare hit on a government building that foreign minister Andriy Sybiha called ‘a serious escalation.’ Two high-rise residential buildings were also damaged. The attack during the early hours of Sunday morning killed two people in Kyiv and also targeted the cities of Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia and Kremenchuk.” (09/07/25)
https://archive.is/1lHC2
-----
2) China’s shipments to US plunge 33% in August as overall exports growth hits a 6-month low
Source: CNBC
“China’s exports to the U.S. plunged 33% in August while overall growth slowed to its weakest in six months, weighed down in part by President Donald Trump’s crackdown on transshipments and as the impact of frontloading exports wanes. Imports from the U.S. also dropped 16% from a year ago, customs data showed. China’s overall exports climbed 4.4% in August in U.S. dollar terms from a year earlier …. China has increasingly relied on alternative markets, particularly Southeast Asia and European Union nations, Africa and Latin America, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policy has pressured U.S.-bound shipments. … The country’s shipment to the European Union bloc, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Africa surged 10.4%, 22.5% and nearly 26% in August, respectively.” (09/07/25)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/08/china-exports-growth-in-august-drops-missing-expectations-.html
-----
3) Israel: Saar threatens unspecified “unilateral” action against regimes that recognize Palestine
Source: Fance 24 [French state media]
“Israel’s foreign minister branded a recent international push to recognise Palestinian statehood a ‘mistake’ on Sunday and warned it could trigger an unspecified unilateral response, after reports that Israel plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. … Saar’s remarks come after Israel approved a slew of new West Bank [squats], including a major project just east of Jerusalem known as E1, which the international community has warned threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state. All Israeli [squats] in the occupied Palestinian territory are considered illegal under international law.” (09/07/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20250907-recognising-palestinian-state-could-trigger-unilateral-action-israel-warns
-----
4) Trump denies knowledge of SEAL mission ending in murders of civilians
Source: The Hill
“President Trump on Friday denied knowing about a Navy SEAL mission in North Korea in 2018 during his first term, following The New York Times reporting on the botched operation. Trump was asked if the administration has engaged with North Korea since it happened and responded, ‘I don’t know anything about it, no.’ … The Times reported a group of Navy SEALs went on a top secret mission, with Trump’s direct approval, to plant an electronic device to intercept North Korea leader Kim Jong Un’s communications while he was engaged in nuclear talks with the U.S. The mission unraveled, the Times reported, when SEALs opened fire on a North Korean boat and killed everyone on it, then retreated without planting the device. The Trump administration at the time reportedly did not notify members of Congress before or after the mission.” (09/05/25)
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5489177-trump-north-korea-navy-seal/
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5) Gang shot-caller warns sanctuary cities to “expect” atrocity surge
Source: Washington Post
“As Chicagoans braced for a potential activation of the National Guard in their city, President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said residents of cities with pro-immigrant policies all over the United States should also expect stepped up immigration enforcement in their neighborhoods. ‘You can expect action in sanctuary cities across the country,’ Homan told CNN on Sunday. … The comments come a day after Trump, on Truth Social, threatened Chicago with mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, sharing an edited illustration of himself as Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore from the Vietnam War film ‘Apocalypse Now.’ Alongside the image, Trump wrote, ‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning.'” (09/07/25)
https://archive.is/AD7aP
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6) Nepal: Regime Bans 26 Social Media Platforms, Including Facebook and YouTube
Source: New York Times
“Nepal’s government has banned dozens of social media platforms after they failed to comply with new registration requirements, disrupting essential communication and raising concerns over free speech.
The 26 blocked platforms include messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and WeChat, as well as websites like YouTube and LinkedIn. The ban, which went into effect on Thursday after a one-week ultimatum to the social media companies expired, has caused confusion across the country. It has ignited fears about how it could affect press freedom and the tourism industry, and particularly about how families can continue to communicate with relatives working abroad as migrant laborers.” (09/07/25)
https://archive.is/yNQAu
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7) Canada: Flight attendants overwhelmingly vote against wage offer
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“Air Canada flight attendants on Saturday overwhelmingly voted against the airline’s latest wage offer, their union said — a vote that’s expected to have no impact on flight operations. The tentative deal, which ended a strike at the airline last month, includes a 12 per cent salary increase this year for most junior flight attendants and an eight per cent bump for more senior members, followed by smaller raises in subsequent years. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) said in a statement that 99.1 per cent of members rejected the proposal, arguing flight attendants would still earn less than federal minimum wage.” (09/06/25)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/air-canada-wage-offer-flight-attendant-vote-against-1.7627196
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8) South Korean workers abducted in Georgia gang raid to be sent home
Source: CNN
“South Korean workers [abducted] during a massive immigration raid in Georgia Thursday will be returned to South Korea on a chartered flight following negotiations, an official announced Sunday. ‘Negotiations for the release of the detained workers have been concluded, after swift responses by the relevant ministries, business agencies, and companies,’ said South Korean Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik. … The workers were among 475 [abducted] Thursday during a large-scale immigration raid at the Hyundai Metaplant in Ellabell, Georgia, which houses an electric vehicle battery plant jointly operated by South Korea-based companies Hyundai and LG Energy Solution. About 300 of those [abducted] are South Korean, officials said.” (09/07/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/07/us/south-korean-detainees-negotiations-release-hnk
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9) House GOP report: Pentagon-funded research at colleges has aided the Chinese military
Source: SFGate
“Over a recent two-year period, the Pentagon funded hundreds of projects done in collaboration with universities in China and institutes linked to that nation’s defense industry, including many blacklisted by the U.S. government for working with the Chinese military, a congressional investigation has found. The report, released Friday by House Republicans on the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, argues the projects have allowed China to exploit U.S. research partnerships for military gains while the two countries are locked in a tech and arms rivalry. ‘American taxpayer dollars should be used to defend the nation — not strengthen its foremost strategic competitor,’ Republicans wrote in the report. ‘Failing to safeguard American research from hostile foreign exploitation will continue to erode U.S. technological dominance and place our national defense capabilities at risk,’ it said. The Pentagon and didn’t immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.” (09/05/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/pentagon-funded-research-at-colleges-has-aided-21032455.php
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10) Pope Leo declares teen millennial , known as “God’s influencer,” a saint
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A London-born Italian teenager, known as ‘God’s influencer,’ who was an early adopter of the internet to spread Catholic teachings, has been made the church’s first millennial saint at a ceremony led by Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. Leo canonised Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006 aged 15, in a ceremony attended by thousands on Sunday in St Peter’s Square. At the Mass, the pontiff also canonised Pier Giorgio Frassati, who died in 1924 but was widely recognised for his charitable work.” 909/07/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/7/pope-leo-declares-teen-millennial-known-as-gods-influencer-a-saint
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11) Undersea cables cut in Red Sea, disrupting internet access in Asia & the Mideast
Source: SFGate
“Undersea cable cuts in the Red Sea disrupted internet access Sunday in parts of Asia and the Middle East, experts said, though it wasn’t immediately clear what caused the incident. There has been concern about the cables being targeted in a Red Sea campaign by Yemen’s Houthi rebels [sic], which the rebels [sic] describe as an effort to pressure Israel to end its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But the Houthis have denied attacking the lines in the past. Microsoft announced via a status website that the Mideast ‘may experience increased latency due to undersea fiber cuts in the Red Sea.’ The Redmond, Washington-based firm did not immediately elaborate, though it said that internet traffic not moving through the Middle East ‘is not impacted.'” (09/06/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/undersea-cables-cut-in-the-red-sea-disrupting-21035125.php
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12) Japan: Ishiba resigns as prime minister
Source: ABC News
“Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced Sunday he will step down following growing calls from his party to take responsibility for a historic defeat in July’s parliamentary election. Ishiba, who took office in October, had resisted demands from mostly right-wing opponents within his own party for more than a month, saying such a step would cause a political vacuum when Japan faces key challenges in and outside the country. The resignation came one day before his Liberal Democratic Party was to decide whether to hold an early leadership election, a virtual no-confidence motion against him if approved.” (09/07/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/japans-prime-minister-shigeru-ishiba-resign-japanese-television-125335206
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13) LGBTQ Catholics march through St. Peter’s Basilica in Jubilee rite
Source: Fox News
“Over 1,000 LGBTQ Catholics and their families walked through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica this weekend as part of a Jubilee pilgrimage listed on the Vatican’s official Holy Year calendar. The event appeared under the neutral title ‘Pilgrimage of the Tenda di Gionata Association (Jonathan’s Tent) and other associations’ for Sept. 6, 2025 on their website. The listing marks the first time an LGBTQ pilgrimage has been included in the Vatican’s Jubilee program. Many pilgrims hailed it as a sign of welcome following Pope Francis’ 12-year papacy, while critics in Catholic media blasted the move as undermining Church tradition. Some participants wept as they entered the basilica. ‘It just felt epic, like I was able to touch the hand of God,’ Justin del Rosario told the Associated Press, who carried a crucifix across the threshold with his male partner.” (09/06/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/lgbtq-catholics-march-st-peters-basilica-jubilee-rite-vatican-calendar-entry-stirs-controversy
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14) Anthropic’s Claude restrictions put overseas AI tools backed by China in limbo
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“An abrupt decision by American artificial intelligence firm Anthropic to restrict service to Chinese-owned entities anywhere in the world has cast uncertainty over some Claude-dependent overseas tools backed by China’s tech giants. After Anthropic’s notice on Friday that it would upgrade access restrictions to entities ‘more than 50 per cent owned … by companies headquartered in unsupported regions’ such as China, regardless of where they are, Chinese users have fretted over whether they could still access the San Francisco-based firm’s industry-leading AI models. While it remains unknown how many entities could be affected and how the restrictions would be implemented, anxiety has started to spread among some users.” (09/07/25)
https://archive.is/qO1me
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15) Mozambique embraces $6 billion electricity project, southern Africa’s biggest in 50 years
Source: SFGate
“Hermínio Guambe used to cut hair in a tiny barbershop with no electricity in his village outside Mozambique’s capital. The arrival of power changed everything. The 48-year-old now uses hair dryers. The village pharmacy stocks vital medicines requiring refrigeration. More jobs were created as trading and transport picked up. ‘These are the kinds of businesses that drive economies,’ World Bank President Ajay Banga said in an interview with The Associated Press during a July visit to tour electrification projects and meet entrepreneurs like Guambe. ‘Electricity isn’t just light, it’s a chance.’ Mozambique has won World Bank backing for the $6 billion Mphanda Nkuwa hydroelectric plant, southern Africa’s biggest such project in 50 years. Mozambique, one of the world’s poorest countries by per capita income, aims to connect all of its 33 million mostly rural citizens to electricity by 2030, largely through renewable energy from hydroelectric, solar and other sources.” (09/06/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/mozambique-embraces-a-6-billion-electricity-21035029.php
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16) Adams refuses to leave NYC mayor race after reports of Trump job offer
Source: Axios
“New York City Mayor Eric Adams denied rumors Friday that he is dropping out of the city’s mayoral race. Adams had been the subject of numerous reports this week, which said he received job offers within the Trump administration in exchange for bowing out of the highly watched race. Adams had previously denied the claims and said during a Friday afternoon press conference that some reports said, ‘I’m in Washington on Monday. Those reports are wrong. I’m not.’ … Trump has called for the NYC race to be between Mamdani and just one other candidate, but he has not specified who he wants that candidate to be.” (09/05/25)
https://archive.is/RDUho
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17) West Point alumni association cancels awards ceremony for Tom Hanks
Source: Fox News
“The official West Point alumni association has canceled an awards ceremony later this month for veterans advocate Tom Hanks, according to a report. Hanks, who is known for military movies like ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘Forrest Gump,’ was also a former President Joe Biden supporter who has criticized President Donald Trump in the past. He has received backlash from Trump supporters for his recurring MAGA character Doug on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ who has appeared in ‘Black Jeopardy’ sketches. He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President Barack Obama …. Hanks had been set to receive the Sylvanus Thayer Award for ‘outstanding’ non-West Point graduates who exemplify ‘Duty, Honor, Country.’ The ceremony was scheduled to be held on Sept. 25.” (09/06/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/west-point-alumni-association-cancels-awards-ceremony-tom-hanks
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18) US DOJ wants names of two Epstein associates kept secret
Source: AOL
“The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal judge overseeing the case of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to deny a request from NBC News to unseal the names of two associates who received large payments from him in 2018, court documents show. The Justice Department cited privacy concerns expressed by the two individuals as the reason for not making their names public. The first associate received a payment of $100,000 from Epstein and the second associate received a payment of $250,000, both in 2018, days after the Miami Herald began publishing a series of investigative stories where victims criticized a plea deal he received in Florida in 2008.” (09/06/25)
https://www.aol.com/doj-says-names-two-associates-182943488.html
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19) Powerball lottery players in Missouri and Texas to split estimated $1.8 billion jackpot
Source: SFGate
“Powerball players in Missouri and Texas won the estimated $1.8 billion jackpot on Saturday, overcoming astronomical odds to end the lottery game’s three-month drought without a big winner. The winning numbers were 11, 23, 44, 61, and 62, with the Powerball number being 17. The prize, which was the second-largest U.S. lottery jackpot in history, followed 41 consecutive drawings in which no one matched all six numbers. The last drawing with a jackpot winner happened May 31. Powerball’s terrible odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to generate big jackpots, with prizes growing as they roll over when no one wins. Lottery officials note that the odds are far better for the game’s many smaller prizes. There are three drawings each week. The estimated $1.8 billion jackpot would go to a winner who opts to receive 30 payments over 29 years through an annuity. Winners almost always choose the game’s cash option, which for Saturday night’s drawing would be an estimated $826.4 million.” (09/06/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/drawing-set-for-a-powerball-jackpot-that-has-21033837.php
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20) FL: Homeowner kills intruder
Source: Here Jacksonville
“A homeowner shot and killed a man who was reportedly attempting to break into his residence in the Brentwood area of Jacksonville, Florida. The incident took place early Friday morning around 3:45 a.m., prompting a swift response from local law enforcement. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) received calls about a shooting at a home on North Pearl Street. Upon arrival, officers discovered a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department (JFRD) crews pronounced him dead at the scene after attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. According to JSO Sergeant M.W. Highfill, investigators believe that the deceased man unlawfully entered the homeowner’s property. It has been indicated that the homeowner acted in self-defense, resulting in the shooting.” (09/05/25)
https://www.herejacksonville.com/jacksonville-shooting-homeowner-kills-intruder/
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Let’s be totally honest, it should be “the Department of War”
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jack Hunter
“On face value, many observers took Trump’s pledge to mean a more hawkish posture by this administration with some on the left and right having a negative reaction to the possible change. He also appears to associate the old name with winning, like a talisman. Unfortunately, aside from Persian Gulf I, most Americans associate World War II as the last time they associate America with ‘winning’ a major war. But for others, even non-interventionists and foreign policy realists, the name change is just more honest.” (09/05/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/department-of-war/
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22) The One Good Part of Trump’s War on Immigrants
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“There is one good part of President Trump’s war on immigrants: He is proving a point I have long been making — that to win the war on immigrants, it is necessary to destroy freedom in America. Thus, with his war on immigrants, Trump is unwittingly putting Americans, including pro-immigration-control libertarians, in an interesting quandary: Should one continue to support America’s system of immigration controls even though it means forever giving up hope of living in a genuinely free society or should one instead support a system of open borders with the aim of achieving a genuinely free society?” (09/05/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/09/05/the-one-good-part-of-trumps-war-on-immigrants/
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23) Disinterring Graeber: The First Five Years
Source: Garrison Center
by Joel Schlosberg
“‘When [David] Graeber died, five years ago today, he was just about the most important public intellectual in the world’ asserts Thomas Peermohamed Lambert (‘David Graeber: the Left’s lost hero,’ UnHerd, September 2). An unlikely position for the author of tomes covering ‘some of the most mind-numbing subjects,’ from the originations of finance to managerial administration, whose defiant anti-authoritarianism apparently mapped ‘a kind of ‘road not taken’ for the political Left’ which has since veered ever more sharply into pinning all their hopes and fears on the next election.” (09/06/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/19900
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24) Trump Says Tariffs Make Us Richer. So, Why Are Most Countries With High Tariffs So Poor?
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“Trump has repeatedly linked tariffs to the country’s wealth. At the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, he insisted the U.S. was at its wealthiest relative to the rest of the world ‘from 1870 to 1913. That was our richest because we collected tariffs from foreign countries that came in and took our jobs and took our money, took our everything, but they charged tariffs.’ But if tariffs are linked to prosperity, it’s an inverse relationship, according to a recent report on America’s declining economic freedom for Canada’s Fraser Institute. … ‘In the high-tariff countries, average GDP per capita is just $9,703 per year,’ while ‘in low-tariff countries, it is $43,502 per year.'” (09/05/25)
https://reason.com/2025/09/05/trump-says-tariffs-make-us-richer-so-why-are-most-countries-with-high-tariffs-so-poor/
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25) Losing India
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider
“The U.S. has long sought to parlay India’s animosity toward China into a wedge between India and the multipolar Global South. But three recent tactics of the Trump administration have undermined that strategy. Perhaps the most consequential was the punishing tariffs the U.S. imposed on India. Starting at 25 percent as punishment for unfair trade practices, they ballooned to 50 percent after India refused to bend on the issue of Russian oil — a level that China, the largest purchaser of Russian oil, has been spared. An earlier misstep was the embarrassing attempt by the Trump administration to take credit for a ceasefire between India and Pakistan. … Another sticking point is Washington’s improving relations with India’s rival Pakistan and the plausible suspicions that the current Pakistani government came to power with U.S. assistance.” (09/05/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/losing-india/
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26) The bigness of Indonesia’s little guy
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“In countries ruled by a powerful political elite, the daily struggles of ordinary people are often overlooked. Not so in Indonesia over recent days. Street protests that began Aug. 25 in the capital against excessive perks for lawmakers spread nationwide a few days later. The cause of the new outrage: A police vehicle ran over a motorbike delivery rider caught up in one of the protests. People in the world’s fourth-most-populous nation rely heavily on nearly 3 million ride-hailing drivers to deliver packages and passengers. Known as ojol, they are visible symbols of the urban lower class. They are often seen hanging together in green jackets near roadside food stalls, waiting for their next online trip request. The reaction to the killing, in a country already distrustful of the police and the elite, was both swift and unusual.” (09/05/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0905/The-bigness-of-Indonesia-s-little-guy
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27) What does the Milgram experiment tell us about human nature?
Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Winton Bates
“I can remember feeling shocked when I first heard about the Milgram experiment. Some psychology students told me about the experiment about 60 years ago, while I was at university. At that time, the findings of the experiment caused me to question my view of human nature. I was brought up to hold the view that it is natural for humans to be kind and humane. That view is consistent with the derivation of the words, ‘kind” and “humane.’ It is also the view I hold now. The findings of the Milgram experiment seemed to suggest, however, that a less positive view of human nature might be more accurate.” (09/07/25)
https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2025/09/what-does-milgram-experiment-tell-us.html
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28) Mexico’s Politics of Pensions
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Sergio Martínez
“Like many countries with an aging population, Mexico is facing a pension crisis. In just the last five years, the universal pension for older adults quadrupled its budget. Coupled with low growth, the ever-rising cash transfers and subsidies have become a major drag on the country’s economy. Welfare payments to individuals—such as the universal pension for older adults, disability pensions, and student stipends—have grown at a pace that outstripped investment in infrastructure, education, and security. These programs are politically attractive: beneficiaries can clearly see where the money goes, while the returns of better public infrastructure, or of a more effective police force, are harder to measure. The result is a fiscal structure that privileges visible redistribution over the less glamorous but essential foundations of long-term growth.” (09/05/25)
https://fee.org/articles/mexicos-politics-of-pensions/
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29) ChatGPT-5 and the Limits of Machine Intelligence
Source: Quillette
by Hugh Brosnahan
“The disillusion produced by GPT-5 is not a technical hiccup, it’s a philosophical wake-up call.” (09/07/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/09/07/chatgpt-5-and-the-limits-of-machine-intelligence-agi/
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30) Why Is Big Tech Using the Energy of the Past to Power the Future?
Source: OtherWords
by Dan Howells & Todd Larsen
“AI is everywhere. But its powerful computing comes with a big cost to our planet, our neighborhoods, and our wallets. AI servers are so power hungry that utilities are keeping coal-fired power plants that were slated for closure running to meet the needs of massive servers. And in the South alone, there are plans for 20 gigawatts of new natural-gas power plants over the next 15 years (enough to power millions of homes) just to feed AI’s energy needs. Multibillion dollar companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta that previously committed to 100% renewable energy are going back to the Jurassic Age, using fossil fuels like coal and natural gas to meet their insatiable energy needs.” (09/06/25)
https://otherwords.org/communities-pay-the-price-for-free-ai-tools/
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31) Facts Do Not Speak For Themselves
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“In a recent online exchange, one poster claimed that Democrats were obviously better than Republicans, since blue states had a higher average income and a more educated population than red states. Another responded that it was the other way around, red states were better, since on net people were moving from blue states to red states, voting with their feet. Both factual claims could be, I think are, true. Neither implies its conclusion.” (09/06/25)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/facts-do-not-speak-for-themselves
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32) SJT and the Lacanian split subject
Source: The Peaceful Revolutionist
by David S D’Amato
“Probably unsurprisingly, it turns out that members of privileged groups get a nice little mood boost from vaunting the greatness of the political and economic status quo. The research demonstrates that membership in a high-status group pays both material and psychological dividends. And the dark side is also true in that members of low-status groups are hit with a double cost, coupling their systematic oppression with the lower self-worth that comes with embracing the status quo. For the members of low-status groups, the feelings that accompany the endorsement of system-justifying views are not so warm and fuzzy.” (09/06/25)
https://dsdamato.substack.com/p/sjt-and-the-lacanian-split-subject
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33) The New Blasphemy? Daring to laugh at the wrong people
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley
“In the anti-free speech community, the most intolerable form of speech often seems to be humor. For thousands of years, satire and parody have proven to be the most penetrating – and at times, irritating – forms of political speech. Even with absolute rulers, court jesters were often the few figures who could challenge a king. As Shakespeare wrote in ‘King Lear’: ‘jesters do oft prove prophets.’ In the case of comedian Graham Linehan, he has unwittingly become a prophet for the death of not just free speech but also humor in the United Kingdom.” (09/06/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-new-blasphemy-daring-laugh-wrong-people
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34) Thomas Paine’s Forgotten Paper Money Takedown
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin
“‘Money is Money, and Paper is Paper. All the invention of man cannot make them otherwise.‘ With those words, Thomas Paine went after what he saw as one of the greatest scams in history: governments claiming that paper is money. Through a series of devastating critiques, Paine delivered one of the most brutal takedowns of paper money ever written, systematically exposing every aspect of this fundamental fraud.” (09/05/25)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2025/09/06/thomas-paines-forgotten-paper-money-takedown/
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35) Age Verification Is A Windfall for Big Tech — And A Death Sentence For Smaller Platforms
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Molly Buckley
“If you live in Mississippi, you may have noticed that you are no longer able to log into your Bluesky or Dreamwidth accounts from within the state. That’s because, in a chilling early warning sign for the U.S., both social platforms decided to block all users in Mississippi from their services rather than risk hefty fines under the state’s oppressive age verification mandate. If this sounds like censorship to you, you’re right — it is. But it’s not these small platforms’ fault. This is the unfortunate result of Mississippi’s wide-sweeping age verification law …. Lawmakers often sell age-verification mandates as a silver bullet for Big Tech’s harms, but in practice, these laws do nothing to rein in the tech giants. Instead, they end up crushing smaller platforms that can’t absorb the exorbitant costs.” (09/05/25)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/09/age-verification-windfall-big-tech-and-death-sentence-smaller-platforms
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36) Poetry: Secretary Of War
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“He hung up a sign that said Secretary of War, / snapped a picture for the socials, shut the door, / took a swig of Jameson straight from the bottle, / then sat down and fondled the revolver in his desk drawer / like a little boy playing with his penis. / Visions of cruise missiles danced through his head, / aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines / and tiny middle eastern bodies blown to bits by glorious inventory. / Mushroom clouds flashed in his eyes / as he caressed the trigger with an index finger. / ‘They call me the Secretary of War,’ he said. ‘They call me the Secretary of War.’ / He did not feel the robins in his chest / or hear the red-winged blackbirds trilling in his hair. / The electricity of the flesh was a stranger to him. / Exuberance was a deadbeat dad who never called.” (09/06/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/09/06/secretary-of-war/
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37) The Spirit of Frugality
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jeffrey A Tucker
“America specializes in making trash and throwing things away. We see that as a symbol of how prosperous we are. Our ancestors did not think this way. They saw prosperity as linked with how much they could save and how little they spent unnecessarily.” (09/05/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-spirit-of-frugality/
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38) Trump’s Leaked Plan to Deploy the Texas National Guard Against Illinois Will Tear Apart the Union
Source: The UnPopulist
by Andy Craig
“On Tuesday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker gave an extraordinary press conference. Together with the mayor of Chicago and the president of the Cook County board of commissioners, the governor announced that President Donald Trump is hatching plans for what can only be described as the prospective invasion of his sovereign state. And not just by federal troops, but by units of the Texas National Guard. … It is not politics as usual when a state’s elected chief executive, charged with protecting his people, takes to the airwaves to warn that another state’s troops may soon be used as an instrument of occupation on his soil.” (09/05/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trumps-leaked-plan-to-deploy-the
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39) “I’m Not Touching You!”
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Trump is the toddler in the backseat of the Family Truckster who, when told not to touch his brother, holds an index finger an angstrom away from his sibling’s forehead while bleating, ‘I’m not touching you!’ All of us — and Trump’s apologists most of all — know exactly what Trump is doing: He is seeing what he can get away with. He believes that his supporters and sycophants will accept virtually any degree of misbehavior from him — that they will celebrate it — and that our institutions are not equipped to deal with a president who cynically abuses power in this way. And he is right on both counts.” (09/05/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/trump-supporters-legal-emergency-powers/
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40) The Party of Losers Is Not Funny
Source: Town Hall
by Michael Reagan
“Maybe we do need a Civil War 2.0 – with guns. Our politics has become so partisan and so nasty, using guns to settle our national political differences may soon end up being the only solution. It’s bad enough no one agrees with what the other side is saying anymore. But now when one side says something spectacularly horrible or ‘subtly’ wishes harm on their opponent (and I’m thinking specifically about the prancing governor of Minnesota), no one on their side has the common decency to criticize them for it. Tim Walz made a goofy loser of himself last fall as Kamala Harris’s VP pick. And on Labor Day, he showed why he’s still the reigning buffoon of the Democratic Party.” (09/06/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/michaelreagan/2025/09/06/the-party-of-losers-is-not-funny-n2662824
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41) Manufactured Famines in Gaza Began Almost Two Decades Ago, So Why Haven’t They Been Halted?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Dan Steinbock
“Recently, international media has highlighted the mass famine in Gaza. Yet, there have been effectively three waves of famine in Gaza since spring 2024. First weaponized 18 years ago in the Strip, these hunger games could have been preempted several times. Why weren’t they?” (09/05/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/dan_steinbock/2025/09/04/manufactured-famines-in-gaza-began-almost-two-decades-ago-so-why-havent-they-been-halted/
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42) Unfairly Traded Steel
Source: EconLog
by Pierre Lemieux
“[I]n the roaring ’60s, it was popular among the ruling establishments of underdeveloped countries, supported by the Western intelligentsia, to impose large tariffs on foreign manufactured goods in order to help domestic manufacturing. Only when, a few decades later, it was realized that such an industrial policy was a fool’s errand, were the poor people of underdeveloped countries able to jump on the bandwagon of free trade and to escape dire poverty. A basic economic reason why ‘unfairly traded steel’ or the underlying ideal of mercantilist and industrial policy is a fool’s errand is that it presupposes a central economic planner possessing what he does not and cannot possess, that is, the information of time, place, costs, and preferences that is carried by prices determined by supply and demand on free markets.” (09/05/25)
https://www.econlib.org/unfairly-traded-steel
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43) One big, happy, censorial family
Source: Expression
by Chapin Lenthall-Cleary
“For students uninterested in winning debates by the merits of their ideas, a popular tactic has been shouting down speakers — known as the ‘heckler’s veto’ — to prevent others from hearing. Some students have also physically blocked others from reaching speakers, and in extreme cases even used violence against speakers, though these are seemingly rarer. … Until recently, these vices primarily belonged to Democratic students, with a staggering 79% of students who identify as strong Democrats agreeing that shouting down a speaker is at least rarely acceptable. Republicans have finally, perhaps belatedly, arrived at the party, with over half of strong Republicans now saying it’s acceptable to shout down a speaker. And, in 2025, strong Republicans passed strong Democrats in support for using violence to shout down a speaker.” (09/05/25)
https://expression.fire.org/p/one-big-happy-censorious-family
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44) Maybe Trump should ignore Russian dictator’s election advice
Source: Orange County Register
by Steven Greenhut
“After providing his red-carpeted welcome to Vladimir Putin in Alaska last month to discuss ending the Ukraine war, President Donald Trump oddly and approvingly quoted the Russian leader’s advice for the United States. The American Nobel Peace Prize-seeker didn’t seem too concerned about the fairness of any potential deal to carve up Ukraine at Russia’s behest. But Trump was fixated on the supposed lack of fairness of U.S. elections, even though he won two of them (and claims to have won three). In an interview with Fox News, Trump echoed Putin’s words: ‘He said: ‘Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting. … It’s impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections.’ … Given that Russia stepped up its Ukraine attacks shortly after Trump boarded Air Force One, he might have realized that Putin might not be an honest broker — let alone a font of electoral wisdom.” (09/05/25)
https://archive.is/tggwi
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45) Ten Groups Who Can and Must Do More to Fight Trumpism
Source: Common Dreams
by Ralph Nader
“This column is a plea to our readers to help get responses from groups whose duties and rhetoric should cause them to become much more active in countering the fascistic, dictatorial actions of Tyrant Trump. All these groups have diminished themselves and their real potential to generate strong direct democratic pressures and arouse the citizenry. We can guess the answer as to why these groups are so meek, but what is needed is for these groups to answer for themselves: 1) Why aren’t the Democrats in Congress, just a few votes from a majority, much more aggressive vis-à-vis the controlling Republicans and President Donald Trump? Voters are vociferously demanding this at town meetings.” (09/06/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/do-more-to-fight-trump
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46) California’s $10 Million-a-Year STEM Equity Lab Fails to Deliver
Source: The Daily Economy
by Carey Wedler
“Collectivist central planning simply cannot engineer individual success. People continue to have their own preferences.” (09/05/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/californias-10-million-a-year-stem-equity-lab-fails-to-deliver-parity/
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47) Why Is The President Breaking Wind?
Source: The Weekly Dish
by Andrew Sullivan
“It’s not the market; not the technology; not the Congress; not the courts; not the investment money; not the environment; not the lobbyists. There is, in fact, no consistent or coherent rationale — and everyone knows it. It’s because one man didn’t like one view and couldn’t get over it. That’s arbitrary power distilled like a fine Scottish whiskey. When Trump lost his battle with Salmond and the turbines were built (a whole documentary was made about the foofaraw), the psychic toll was just too much. In one of his own [golf] courses, Trump was compelled to see proof that he did not control everything, that he was a loser in a political battle, that other interests mattered other than his. The malignant narcissist is unable to let it go.” (09/05/25)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/why-is-the-president-breaking-wind-9b1
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48) Fox Tossing: When Animal Cruelty Was High Society Fun
Source: Cato Institute
by Chelsea Follett
“When a New Mexico sheriff’s deputy was recently filmed grinning as he killed a rabbit by throwing it against a police vehicle, public outrage was swift. He was placed on leave and charged with extreme cruelty to animals, which is a felony. The incident was stomach-turning, yet perhaps even more shocking is how ordinary such violence used to be. For much of human history, killing small animals for fun wasn’t just tolerated, but celebrated.” (09/05/25)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/fox-tossing-when-animal-cruelty-was-high-society-fun
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49) Why a liberal [sic] senator confuses Thomas Jefferson and Iran’s ayatollahs
Source: New York Post
by Rich Lowry
“Tim Kaine needs to report to a remedial civics class as soon as possible. The Virginia senator and former vice-presidential candidate expressed outrage at a congressional hearing that a Trump nominee said our rights come from God, not government. Kaine suspected incipient theocracy, warning that the Iranian regime persecutes religious minorities on exactly this basis. ‘They do it,’ he explained, ‘because they believe that they understand what natural rights are from their creator.’ In searching for an example more relevant to the American experience, Kaine might cast his mind back to a fellow Virginian — a tall, sandy-haired, Charlottesville-area gentleman with an interest in architecture, a taste for fine wine and knack for writing. Ring any bells?” (09/05/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/09/05/opinion/sen-tim-kaine-shows-his-shocking-ignorance-about-americas-reliance-on-god-given-rights/
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50) A fearful congressional GOP could still do something, if it dares
Source: Washington Post
by George F Will
“Tanned, rested and ready, Congress has returned from the August recess. It is unclear why. The Democrats’ House and Senate minorities have no power — the ability to achieve intended effects. The Republican majorities have no power because they are not permitted intention independent of this president’s preferences. … Presidents are mistakenly accorded vast discretion in foreign policy, so Congress can do little when today’s president, for no discernible strategic reason, uses insults and economic coercion to propel the most populous nation, India, into closer collaboration with the second most populous, China. Congress could, however, inhibit this administration’s primary domestic policy.” (09/05/25)
https://archive.is/01loQ
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51) Trump and the Separation of Powers
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“The U.S. Court of Appeals'[s] rejection last week of the Trump administration’s global ’emergency’ tariff program was a welcome affirmation of the separation-of-powers doctrine. Next stop: the U.S. Supreme Court. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a 9-0 ruling that Trump grossly exceeded his constitutional powers. One can hope. Liberty is never secure. However, if we must have a state, the separation of powers may provide some measure of security.” (09/05/25)
https://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2025/09/tgif-trump-and-separation-of-powers.html
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52) Rousseau’s Republic of Letters
Source: Law & Liberty
by Jonathan Marks
“A new edition of Rousseau’s letters sheds light on the personality and thought of one of the Enlightenment’s greatest and strangest figures.” (09/05/25)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/rousseaus-republic-of-letters/
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53) Replace the State!
Source: CounterPunch
by Sasha Davis
“The government may be getting completely out of the business of protecting human well-being (by shredding the social safety net, decimating public education, slashing health care access and research, transferring more wealth to the ultra-rich, and supercharging its apparatuses of police surveillance and repression), but let’s face it, the state was only tangentially interested in human well-being before this year. The primary functions of this government have long been to facilitate the ability of capitalist firms to accumulate profits and to protect the unequal property relations of the class of people who set it up (i.e. not you).” (09/05/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/09/05/replace-the-state/
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54) Trump and the Joy of Bullshit
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“In 1986, a moral philosophy professor and student of language at Princeton University named Harry Frankfurt published an erudite and witty article in the literary quarterly Raritan, circulation 1,100. Its title was ‘On Bullshit’. Frankfurt’s point was that bullshitting was fundamentally different from lying. Liars were aware of the truth that they were trying to contradict. Bullshitters simply made stuff up, and tended to believe their own bullshit. ‘It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth,’ Frankfurt wrote. ‘Producing bullshit requires no such conviction.’ About 20 years later, during the reign of George W. Bush, when the bullshit about Iraq was flying thick and fast, an editor at Princeton University Press named Ian Malcolm rediscovered Frankfurt’s essay, and repackaged it as a book.” (09/05/25)
https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2025-09-05-trump-joy-of-bullshit/
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55) SNAP Back to Reality
Source: Show-Me Institute
by Elias Tsapelas
“Medicaid wasn’t the only welfare program that received significant reforms in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB). The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as food stamps, will similarly be seeing major changes very soon. For Missouri, perhaps the biggest change will be the cost of SNAP going up. Unlike Medicaid, the federal government has historically paid for 100% of the SNAP benefit, with states only on the hook for 50% of its administrative costs. The OBBB increases the share of administrative costs borne by states to 75%, and has the potential to start charging states for some program benefit costs as well.” (09/05/25)
https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/welfare/snap-back-to-reality/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
56) The Good Fight, 09/06/25
Source: Yascha Mounk
“Daron Acemoglu on How States Succeed — And Why Many Don’t.” (09/06/25)
https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/daron-acemoglu-on-how-states-succeedand
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57) Free Talk Live, 09/06/25
Source: Free Talk Live
“Is the Trump economy living up to Trump’s hype? :: 8 million slipped into poverty after Covid era funding stopped :: Skeeter call, Mr. Penguin attempts and partially succeeds at having a thoughtful back and forth :: French Health Ministry cautions French hospitals to prepare for major levels of casualties in the next 6 months, French sending ‘survival manuals’ to all citizens :: The US comprises 4.4% of the world’s population yet consumes 80% of the world’s opiates :: Governments role in the opioid crisis :: Sarah from NM wants to save public access channels :: Dave Ridley discusses John E. Sununu’s potential run for US Senator from NH :: Chris and Angelo reminisce about chewing tobacco in rural Oregon :: Cases of mass hysteria and law enforcement’s reaction to a communique from DC about how lethal fentanyl is :: 2025-09-06 Hosts: Chris R., Angelo, Mr. Penguin.” (09/06/25)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/ftl2025-09-06
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58) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 09/06/25
Source: Freedom Works
“Neil Chilson, Abundance Institute ‘Google Keeps Chrome Browser.'” (09/06/25)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2025-09-06_zfw09052025.mp3
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59) Fountainhead Forum, episode 356
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Daniel Donnelly on Javier Milei’s speech at CPAC 2025 in DC.” (09/06/25)
https://rumble.com/v6yktne-ff-356-daniel-donnelly-on-javier-mileis-speech-at-cpac-2025-in-dc.html
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60) System Update, episode 509
Source: System Update
“Glenn Takes Your Questions: Billionaires, Bari Weiss and Journalism.” (09/05/25)
https://rumble.com/v6yjpha-glenn-takes-your-questions-billionaires-bari-weiss-and-journalism-system-up.html
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61) Bulwark Takes, 09/05/25
Source: The Bulwark
“Cracks in the CULT? MAGA Media Starts Breaking Away from Trump.” (09/05/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPjhAiZmweg
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62) Autocracy in America, 09/05/25
Source: The Atlantic
“AI and the Rise of Techno-Fascism in the United States.” (09/05/25)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2025/09/ai-and-the-fight-between-democracy-and-autocracy/684095/
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63) Reason Interview: Curtis Sliwa
Source: Reason
“The Guardian Angels founder and New York mayoral candidate talks about crime, drugs, zoning, and what the government could learn from squatters.” (09/05/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/09/05/if-you-dont-like-socialism-or-the-establishment-curtis-sliwa-wants-your-vote/
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64) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 09/05/25
Source: The New Republic
“Fox News Coverage of RFK’s Big Meltdown Goes Awry, Backfiring on Trump.” (09/05/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/200030/fox-coverage-rfk-meltdown-hearing-goes-awry-backfiring-trump
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65) Freakonomics Radio, episode 645
Source: Freakonomics
“Is the Air Traffic Control System Broken?” (09/05/25)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/is-the-air-traffic-control-system-broken/
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