08/14 -- UK: Farage wins election in which his main rival was a trash can; Flock Cameras vs. Freedom: Welcome to the Warrantless Panopticon
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Thomas L. Knapp
Aug 14, 2026, 6:08:04 AM (4 days ago) Aug 14
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 08/14/26
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Today's Freedom News:
0) Publisher's Note: Explanation for a "Hybrid" Edition
1) UK: Farage wins election in which his main rival was a trash can
2) Ukraine "offering Russia deal to halt attacks on civilian ships in Black Sea"
3) Palestine: Israeli forces order people out of homes after squatter siege
4) Judge Dismisses Federal Government’s Antisemitism Case Against Harvard
5) Poland: Regime says it thwarted Russian plot to kill American citizen in Warsaw
6) Turkey: Regime lays out plans for defence pact with Pakistan, Saudi regimes
7) Four Canadian hockey stars remain suspended after sexual assault acquittal
9) Cuba marks Fidel Castro’s 100th birthday as his shadow still shapes a nation in crisis
10) USS Abraham Lincoln: Senate Democrats press Hegseth for answers on reports of attempted suicides
Today's Freedom Commentary:
11) Flock Cameras vs. Freedom: Welcome to the Warrantless Panopticon
12) America Suspended the Jones Act. Americans Were the Winners.
13) Congress Can't Wait to Fix Social Security
14) Why Land Will Be a Winner in the Age of AI
15) Sorry, Media, but It’s Not the Job of the Secret Service to Protect You
16) Trump Grift vs. the Biden Crime Family
17) Paper Tiger: The Failure of America’s Trillion-Dollar War Machine
18) The Answer to Fascism Can’t Be Marxism
19) Report: FBI Listed Bill Barr, Michael Pence and Other Republicans as Russian “Conduits” of Misinformation
20) The Fatal Combination of Ideology and Charisma
21) If We Could See Everything, It Would Radicalize Us All Instantly
22) Can’t Afford a House?
23) What Did Heidegger Mean by "Only a God Can Save Us?"
24) A force to reckon with: On postliberalism and its lessons
25) Who’s Been Destroying Norms?
26) Fed’s Task Force Should Fix What It Targets
27) The Quest For Caffeine You Can Have At Night
28) Mamdani’s Grocery Experiment: Big on Subsidies, Light on Economics
29) Affordability's Key Ingredient Is Union Power
30) The Pentagon’s "Missile Crisis" Distracts From Deeper Problems
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
31) The Political Orphanage, 08/13/26
32) Underthrow Podcast, 08/13/26
33) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/13/26
34) TAC Right Now, 08/13/26
35) Kinsella on Liberty, episode 495
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
0) Publisher's Note: Explanation for a "Hybrid" Edition
Hey, everyone ...
Yesterday, our web hosting service went down, completely and for many hours (and, I noticed, with enough multiple explanations to make it sound like more was going on than met the eye).
Naturally, that happened AFTER we'd entered a considerable amount of content for the freedom movement's daily newspaper -- content we couldn't recover for an "email only" edition.
Improvise, adapt, overcome, etc. We switched over to just putting content in a text file for an email only edition AND hoped that the web site would come back up in time to get all that content entered for the web edition. Which didn't happen until too late for that to be practical (I get up early in the morning to bring you RRND/FND, which means I also go to bed early after spending a little time with my family).
So, we've got 35 items in an "email only" edition, and 29 items in the web edition, with only two overlaps (the "top two" news stories, which get done first thing in the morning anyway).
The moral of the story: If you're not subscribed to one of our email editions, you should be, even if you usually only read our content on the web. Here are the URLs to do that:
https://rationalreviewnewsdigest.eo.page/jrwp6
http://groups.google.com/group/freedom-news-daily
Sorry for all the inconvenience -- we'll be back Monday. Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous weekend!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
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1) UK: Farage wins election in which his main rival was a trash can
Source: CNN
"Nigel Farage has comfortably won a by-election that he triggered, meaning he will remain as a member of parliament after a contest that all the other major British parties boycotted, leaving his main opposition as a comedian dressed as a trash can. Farage, leader of the populist hard-right Reform UK party, was ultimately re-elected by a substantial margin, winning 22,239 votes – 1,000 more votes than he won in the 2024 general election. His main opponent, Count Binface – a self-described intergalactic space warrior – won a creditable 9,455 votes, indicating the presence of a considerable anti-Farage vote, even in one of the most right-leaning areas in Britain." (08/14/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/14/uk/nigel-farage-count-binface-clacton-election-intl
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2) Ukraine "offering Russia deal to halt attacks on civilian ships in Black Sea"
Source: The Guardian [UK]
"Ukraine has proposed a deal with Russia for both sides to halt their attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea in an apparent attempt to reopen a crucial grain corridor, Reuters reports. Kyiv is said to have made the offer through a third party. Moscow has yet to respond, the news agency added. The busy waterway is a key export route for both Russia and Ukraine, used to transport grain and other vital foodstuffs worldwide. Since July Ukraine has effectively closed the route for commercial Russian shipping. Its drones have hit nearly 220 vessels in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea, including oil tankers, grain cargo ships and passenger ferries. ... During the same period, Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukraine’s southern ports, dealing a severe blow to the country’s agricultural sector." (08/13/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/13/ukraine-proposes-deal-with-russia-to-halt-attacks-on-civilian-ships-in-black-sea
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3) Palestine: Israeli forces order people out of homes after squatter siege
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
About a dozen Palestinian households in a village in the occupied West Bank were told to leave their properties during an Israeli military operation to remove Israeli settlers. The settlers had besieged residents in three homes in the area since Sunday, cutting off their power and water supplies. Qusra Mayor, Abdel Azim Wadi, told the BBC that his village had been declared a closed military zone - and Israeli forces were using some of the vacated Palestinian houses as barracks. The Israeli military said the aim was 'to protect the residents'. An Israeli spokesman told the BBC the settlers' action was 'deplorable' and 'unacceptable' and the government would investigate and arrest those responsible." (08/13/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4kppdk2qwo
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4) Judge Dismisses Federal Government’s Antisemitism Case Against Harvard
Source: New York Times
"A federal judge in Boston on Thursday dismissed the Trump administration’s antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard University, dealing a blow to the government’s efforts to force the school to make a deal. The lawsuit was part of a broader pressure campaign to force the university to comply with a variety of government demands, including how it handles antisemitism but also race in admissions and other issues. Judge Richard G. Stearns of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts granted Harvard’s motion to throw out the case, saying that the antisemitic incidents cited in the administration’s March lawsuit were “too isolated and episodic” to show that Harvard is out of compliance with the law." (08/13/26)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/13/us/harvard-antisemitism-case-dismissed.html
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5) Poland: Regime says it thwarted Russian plot to kill American citizen in Warsaw
Source: SFGate
"A Russian plot to kill a Ukrainian American citizen in Warsaw was thwarted by Poland before it could be carried out, the Polish prime minister said Thursday, marking the first time in decades that a Western leader has publicly accused Moscow of plotting to kill a U.S. citizen. Western officials have previously warned that Russia has stepped up a campaign of targeted killings since President Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, saying they have disrupted several plots across Europe. But Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said this incident was unprecedented. It was the first time that 'someone on the order of Russia' sought to attack an American citizen on the territory of another NATO country, Tusk said Thursday. " (08/13/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/poland-says-a-russian-was-arrested-after-22386684.php
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6) Turkey: Regime lays out plans for defence pact with Pakistan, Saudi regimes
Source: Reuters
"Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will group senior ministers, hold joint exercises and deepen defence industry cooperation under a military pact signed between the regional powers last week, Turkey's defence ministry said on Thursday. The three Sunni Muslim U.S. allies, alarmed by a regional conflagration that has brought Iranian missile fire onto Gulf oil exporters, signed the 'Mecca Joint Defence Agreement' on August 7. They said the accord stipulates that an armed attack against any member would be regarded as an attack on all, similar to NATO's Article 5 collective defence clause." (08/13/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/turkey-pakistan-saudi-arabia-will-form-political-military-mechanisms-coordinate-2026-08-13/
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7) Four Canadian hockey stars remain suspended after sexual assault acquittal
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"Four ice hockey players who were acquitted of sexual assault last year should remain barred from representing Canada at international level because they broke Hockey Canada's code of conduct, an independent appeals board has ruled. The board recommended that four of the five acquitted players remain suspended from all Hockey Canada-sanctioned programmes. The fifth player, Alex Formenton, was also deemed to have broken conduct rules, but is now being reinstated. The former players for Canada's under-20s junior hockey team were accused of sexual assault over an incident that took place in 2018. ... The ruling does not change the fact that all five players are eligible to play for teams that compete in the National Hockey League (NHL), which operates separately from Hockey Canada." (08/13/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj9dpdmr77do
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8) US DOJ leaves in place ruling that deregulates silencers, shotguns and certain rifles
Source: CBS News
"Some Americans can now possess short-barreled rifles, shotguns and silencers without registering them with the federal government, after the Trump administration declined to pause a Texas judge's ruling issued earlier this month that deregulated those weapons. The Aug. 5 ruling by U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas gave the Justice Department a one-week deadline to request a stay before his ruling went into effect. That deadline expired at midnight on Thursday." (08/13/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/justice-dept-silencer-shotgun-texas-ruling/
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9) Cuba marks Fidel Castro’s 100th birthday as his shadow still shapes a nation in crisis
Source: SFGate
"Fidel Castro would have turned 100 on Thursday, and his long shadow continues to loom over the island as he remains revered by some who miss him in the face of a crippling U.S. energy blockade and blamed by others who see him as the architect of the system that led to Cuba’s current crisis. This week, Cuba commemorated Castro with events including the International Book Fair, art exhibitions, concerts and gatherings of delegates from leftist organizations across the continent. Posters bearing his image hang in hospitals, while billboards displaying his slogans — including his widely-known 'Homeland or Death' — line the streets. His presence is so familiar that many Cubans refer to him simply as Fidel." (08/13/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/cuba-marks-fidel-castro-s-100th-birthday-as-his-22386374.php
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10) USS Abraham Lincoln: Senate Democrats press Hegseth for answers on reports of attempted suicides
Source: The Hill
"Senate Democrats are pressing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the Trump administration for more information about conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed since November, amid reports that sailors have attempted to jump overboard. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has written a letter to Hegseth and Hung Cao, the acting secretary of the Navy, to express 'serious concerns' about the Lincoln’s extended deployment amid reports of supply shortages, water contamination and deteriorating mental health on the aircraft carrier." (08/13/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/6027665-blumenthal-hegseth-carrier-conditions/
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
11) Flock Cameras vs. Freedom: Welcome to the Warrantless Panopticon
Source: The Daily Economy
by Tanner Turnpaugh
"Flock cameras promise easier policing by destroying the Fourth Amendment — creating a permanent, searchable, warrantless database of everywhere Americans go." (08/13/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/flock-cameras-vs-freedom-welcome-to-the-warrantless-panopticon/
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12) America Suspended the Jones Act. Americans Were the Winners.
Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy
Since March, America has been running an accidental experiment and glimpsing what the country might look like without one of its dumbest statutes. The results are in, and they embarrass a century's worth of U.S. lawmakers and defenders. The statute is the Jones Act, passed in 1920 to rebuild and protect the U.S. merchant marine fleet after World War I disrupted American shipping capabilities. It requires that any vessel moving cargo between two American ports must be built in an American shipyard, be American-owned, and be at least three-quarters American-crewed. Miss any one of these marks and the shipper is barred from carrying a single barrel of fuel from Houston to Honolulu." (08/13/26)
https://reason.com/2026/08/13/america-suspended-the-jones-act-americans-were-the-winners/
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13) Congress Can't Wait to Fix Social Security
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye
"In June, the latest iteration of the Social Security trustees’ report came out. The report provides an overview of the current finances of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) trust funds. It also provides a look at the long-term projections for the trust funds. The report projects that the OASI trust fund will be depleted in the fourth quarter of 2032. The DI trust fund is actuarially sound through 2100. However, if OASI and DI were combined, the trust funds would be depleted in the second quarter of 2034. Either way, based on the current trajectory, Congress will face some tough choices." (08/13/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/congress-cant-wait-to-fix-social
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14) Why Land Will Be a Winner in the Age of AI
Source: The Dispatch
by Adam Ozimek
"Predicting winners and losers is a tough task when an industrial revolution is underway. There is a chance we are at such an economic inflection point today with AI, which makes it natural to wonder where, exactly, we will see the winners. Will it be the AI companies in the lead today like OpenAI and Anthropic? Will it be Big Tech incumbents like Meta and Amazon that have made large AI bets? Will it be software companies like Microsoft whose work seems most supercharged by AI? Beyond the firms, what types of workers will benefit? History shows there is a massive amount of uncertainty around these questions. But I have one big idea I believe we can be confident in: Land will be a winner." (08/13/26)
https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/dispatch-markets/artificial-intelligence-winners-losers-land-housing/
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15) Sorry, Media, but It’s Not the Job of the Secret Service to Protect You
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
"No group of people loves themselves as much as the liberal media does. They create awards – new ones every year, named after themselves – to give each other. They throw elaborate dinners to honor themselves (It’s a lot more than the White House Correspondents' Association; they’re just the highest-profile narcissists) and believe their own hype. In other words, they get high on their own supply. But, despite what they think and insist to others, they are not special. ... The belief that they are is what makes the story of their outrage over President Trump being whisked off Air Force One and flown out of Turkey on a small plane to thwart a credible assassination threat all the more amusing." (08/13/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/08/13/sorry-media-but-its-not-the-job-of-the-secret-service-to-protect-you-n2681150
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16) Trump Grift vs. the Biden Crime Family
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
"Most people recognize that Donald Trump and his kids are stealing from us with both hands every day. But they are not as outraged as they should be because most have the view that everyone does it. While I will never defend the Democrats as paragons of honesty (what the hell are those crypto contributions?), they are not in the same ballpark as Trump and his crew. Part of the confusion stems from the media’s refusal to ever put big numbers in context. They all know that the vast majority of their audience is not clear on the distinction between millions, billions, and trillions, and have no idea how large the federal budget is, but they refuse to take the ten seconds and ten words that would be needed to give readers a clearer sense of what is at stake." (08/13/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/13/trump-grift-vs-the-biden-crime-family/
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17) Paper Tiger: The Failure of America’s Trillion-Dollar War Machine
Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin & Nicolas J.S. Davies
"According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, the United States spent $21 trillion on its military between 2001 and 2024, in constant 2024 dollars, equal to the combined military spending of the next 18 countries. Iran barely made that list at all, spending only 2% of what the US did, and SIPRI estimated Iran’s 2025 military budget at only $7.5 billion. So how is Iran holding its own against the multitrillion-dollar US war machine? A critical difference between the US war on Iran and previous US and allied bombing campaigns against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and now Gaza is that the US and Israel have failed to destroy Iran’s air defense system and cannot fly warplanes over Iran without risking the loss of planes and pilots to enemy fire." (08/13/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-war-machine-failure
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18) The Answer to Fascism Can’t Be Marxism
Source: The Next Move
by Garry Kasparov
Megan Romer is a buffoon. Still, anyone who knows who the current president of the United States is surely recognizes that buffoonery is no obstacle to great power and influence. Idiots can inflict a lot of damage when their views go unchallenged. Romer, according to her own retelling in the New Yorker interview, was a Hillary Clinton Democrat before 2016. A decade later, she is confidently quoting Marx as if she just walked out of a compulsory course on Scientific Communism in mid-century Moscow. ... I have made clear my deep issues with politicians like Abdul El-Sayed and Zohran Mamdani, but I also understand why people were not particularly moved to vote for their opponents. Extremism looks attractive when the establishment does not deliver. Meanwhile, traditional Democrats too often fall right in line when a DSA-style candidate wins." (08/13/26)
https://www.thenextmove.org/p/the-answer-to-fascism-cant-be-marxism
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19) Report: FBI Listed Bill Barr, Michael Pence and Other Republicans as Russian “Conduits” of Misinformation
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley
"Well, this explains why, whenever Bill Barr and I met for breakfast, he would order the Borscht with Biscuits. Various media sites are now reporting that the FBI allegedly listed Barr, Michael Pence, and other Republicans as 'Russian conduits' while listing leading Democrats as the victims or targets of Russian disinformation or misinformation. It would be comical if it were not so concerning. In addition to the absurd listing of these figures, the task force is being accused of burying a significant number of witnesses alleging influence peddling and corruption by the Biden family. Newly declassified documents from the White House transparency task force reportedly show that the FBI ran a counterintelligence operation called Round River to 'neutralize certain narratives'." (08/13/26)
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/08/13/round-river-fbi-reportedly-listed-bill-barr-michael-pence-and-other-republicans-as-russian-conduits-of-misinformation/
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20) The Fatal Combination of Ideology and Charisma
Source: The Atlantic
by James Kirchick
"In January 1977, not two years before Reverend Jim Jones would orchestrate his followers’ deaths by the hundreds, a San Francisco church bestowed its Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award on him. Jones, the founder of the Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ, had managed to become a major player in the city’s politics. No one foresaw the horrific depths to which the combination of a charismatic leader, an all-encompassing belief system, and the human need for community and redemption would soon descend. ... The phrase drinking the Kool-Aid, a metaphor for unquestioningly holding a belief, was inspired by the fatal cocktail administered at Jonestown. But dark jokes about a nearly half-century-old massacre have a way of obscuring its continuing relevance." (08/13/260
https://archive.is/5BICD
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21) If We Could See Everything, It Would Radicalize Us All Instantly
Source: Caitlin Johnstone
by Caitlin Johnstone
"It’s hard to wrap your mind around the abusiveness of the imperial status quo, partly because it’s all we’ve ever known, and partly because it’s too big to perceive all at once. The statistics don’t show you the true human impact. The personal anecdotes just show you small snapshots of individuals suffering in their own lives. A working single mother crying in her car in a TikTok video because the endless toil necessary for survival is all-consuming and overwhelming. A news report about child labor in DRC cobalt mines. An Instagram reel about a father in Gaza carrying plastic bags he’s been told contain the remains of his daughter. ... These stories are unfolding all around the world, every moment of every day, affecting the lives of billions of human beings in different ways and to varying degrees." (08/13/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/08/13/if-we-could-see-everything-it-would-radicalize-us-all-instantly/
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22) Can’t Afford a House?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by David Youngberg
"The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law last month the way bad ideas often do: quietly, and with a name that sounds like the opposite of what it does. At best, it is largely innocuous, and at worst, it will make America’s frustrating housing market even worse." (08/13/26)
https://fee.org/articles/cant-afford-a-house/
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23) What Did Heidegger Mean by "Only a God Can Save Us?"
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Bert Olivier
"When Martin Heidegger gave an interview to the German news magazine, Der Spiegel (The Mirror) in 1966, on condition that it would only be published after his death, no one could anticipate the sentence he uttered in the course of this event, which would become the title by which the interview has been known, namely, ‘Only a god can save us.’ Save us from what? And why ‘a god’ instead of ‘God?’ The answers to these questions would shock some readers and puzzle others." (08/13/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/what-did-heidegger-mean-by-only-a-god-can-save-us/
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24) A force to reckon with: On postliberalism and its lessons
Source: Niskanen Center
by Aurelian Craiutu
"The current moment offers legitimate reasons to be concerned about the future of our liberal-democratic regimes. The political and public spheres around the world are dominated by populists and nationalists, techno-anarchists, and religious traditionalists who believe that the classical tenets of liberalism have become obsolete and must be replaced with something else to save our civilization from extinction." (08/13/26)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/a-force-to-reckon-with-on-postliberalism-and-its-lessons/
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25) Who’s Been Destroying Norms?
Source: American Greatness
by Victor Davis Hanson
"One of the more surreal things about the new Democratic Party is its habit of charging Trump with legal and ethical transgressions that Democrats themselves normalized years ago. The result is a strange sort of projection, in which the Left’s charges often reveal its own prior wrongdoing. And after undermining norms, they now lament the loss of what they destroyed. ... the model came from the Democrats—and dates back to John F. Kennedy’s appointment of his own brother, Robert F. Kennedy, as attorney general and Obama Attorney General Eric Holder’s own boast: 'I’m still the president’s wingman, so I’m there with my boy'. Democrats are angry that Republican state prosecutors might find grounds under state law to indict Anthony Fauci, despite his federal pardons for federal offenses. But again, who popularized that stratagem?" (08/13/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/08/13/whos-been-destroying-norms/
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26) Fed’s Task Force Should Fix What It Targets
Source: The Daily Economy
by Nicolas Cachanosky
"A nominal spending target would spare The Fed guessing about the causes of inflation. The Chairman’s new task force could apply a rule instead." (08/13/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/feds-task-force-should-fix-what-it-targets/
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27) The Quest For Caffeine You Can Have At Night
Source Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
"Since the beginning of time, mankind has yearned to drink a cup of coffee at 5 PM and go to sleep at 10. But now there’s an entire scientific subfield and several companies pandering to this absurd fantasy." (08/13/26)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/the-quest-for-caffeine-you-can-have
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28) Mamdani’s Grocery Experiment: Big on Subsidies, Light on Economics
Source: Cato Institute
by Tad DeHaven
New York City has already declared its municipal grocery experiment a success before a single store has opened, with City Hall saying its project 'will prove' government can make food more affordable through the 'efficient use of public resources.' But while Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaigned on city-owned stores, the city now wants private grocers to operate them—and to reveal what taxpayers will spend to make its fantasyland model 'work.' Apparently, the first rule of municipal socialism is to invite profit-seeking grocers to explain how grocery stores work." (08/13/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/mamdanis-grocery-experiment-big-subsidies-light-economics
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29) Affordability's Key Ingredient Is Union Power
Source: In These Times
by Heidi Shierholz
"Affordability — or the lack thereof — has dominated the recent political debate in the U.S. And for good reason. Across the country, too many families are struggling to make ends meet. However, almost every conversation about affordability focuses entirely on prices, as if the only way to make life more affordable is to make things cheaper. But the actual driver of today’s affordability squeeze is suppressed pay — a consequence of decades of policy choices that weakened workers’ bargaining power and shifted income away from working people. Had pay for typical workers kept pace with productivity over the past 45 years, their paychecks today would be roughly 40% larger. If policymakers are serious about addressing affordability, they would champion one institution that has consistently proven capable of raising pay: unions." (08/12/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/affordabilitys-union-labor-pro-act-congress
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30) The Pentagon’s "Missile Crisis" Distracts From Deeper Problems
Source: The American Conservative
by James P Pinkerton
"Recent headlines about U.S. weapons in the Persian Gulf are somewhere between ominous and confusing. Are we running low? Or are we being manipulated? ... It will take congressional hearings and perhaps fact-finding commissions to cast legitimate light on the twinned questions of shortages and leaks. Only the passage of time will bring historical judgment. Yet in the meantime, we can consider a well-illustrated moment from military history in which munitions shortfalls were the issue. We’ll have better perspective on our current situation if we know more about how others wrestled with the same dynamics—what they did right, what they did wrong, what was to be learned." (08/13/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-pentagons-missile-crisis-distracts-from-deeper-problems/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
31) The Political Orphanage, 08/13/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
"What Does Nolan Owe The Odyssey?" (08/13/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/what-does-nolan-owe-the-odyssey
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32) Underthrow Podcast, 08/13/26
Source: Underthrow
"Pay Attention to What You Do, Not What You Say." (08/13/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R-t2ARi4Hk
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33) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/13/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
"Did Israel Pass False Intel On Trump Plane Danger?" (08/13/26)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/did-israel-pass-false-intel-on-trump-plane-danger
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34) TAC Right Now, 08/13/26
Source: The American Conservative
"Have Trump’s Tariffs Succeeded?" (08/13/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/tac-right-now-have-trumps-tariffs-succeeded/
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35) Kinsella on Liberty, episode 495
Source: StephanKinsella.com
“Rothbard’s Revolutionary Contract Theory.” (08/12/26)
https://stephankinsella.com/as_paf_podcast/kol495-rothbards-revolutionary-contract-theory-sdl-peru-2026/
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Today's Freedom News:
0) Publisher's Note: Explanation for a "Hybrid" Edition
1) UK: Farage wins election in which his main rival was a trash can
2) Ukraine "offering Russia deal to halt attacks on civilian ships in Black Sea"
3) Palestine: Israeli forces order people out of homes after squatter siege
4) Judge Dismisses Federal Government’s Antisemitism Case Against Harvard
5) Poland: Regime says it thwarted Russian plot to kill American citizen in Warsaw
6) Turkey: Regime lays out plans for defence pact with Pakistan, Saudi regimes
7) Four Canadian hockey stars remain suspended after sexual assault acquittal
9) Cuba marks Fidel Castro’s 100th birthday as his shadow still shapes a nation in crisis
10) USS Abraham Lincoln: Senate Democrats press Hegseth for answers on reports of attempted suicides
Today's Freedom Commentary:
11) Flock Cameras vs. Freedom: Welcome to the Warrantless Panopticon
12) America Suspended the Jones Act. Americans Were the Winners.
13) Congress Can't Wait to Fix Social Security
14) Why Land Will Be a Winner in the Age of AI
15) Sorry, Media, but It’s Not the Job of the Secret Service to Protect You
16) Trump Grift vs. the Biden Crime Family
17) Paper Tiger: The Failure of America’s Trillion-Dollar War Machine
18) The Answer to Fascism Can’t Be Marxism
19) Report: FBI Listed Bill Barr, Michael Pence and Other Republicans as Russian “Conduits” of Misinformation
20) The Fatal Combination of Ideology and Charisma
21) If We Could See Everything, It Would Radicalize Us All Instantly
22) Can’t Afford a House?
23) What Did Heidegger Mean by "Only a God Can Save Us?"
24) A force to reckon with: On postliberalism and its lessons
25) Who’s Been Destroying Norms?
26) Fed’s Task Force Should Fix What It Targets
27) The Quest For Caffeine You Can Have At Night
28) Mamdani’s Grocery Experiment: Big on Subsidies, Light on Economics
29) Affordability's Key Ingredient Is Union Power
30) The Pentagon’s "Missile Crisis" Distracts From Deeper Problems
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
31) The Political Orphanage, 08/13/26
32) Underthrow Podcast, 08/13/26
33) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/13/26
34) TAC Right Now, 08/13/26
35) Kinsella on Liberty, episode 495
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
0) Publisher's Note: Explanation for a "Hybrid" Edition
Hey, everyone ...
Yesterday, our web hosting service went down, completely and for many hours (and, I noticed, with enough multiple explanations to make it sound like more was going on than met the eye).
Naturally, that happened AFTER we'd entered a considerable amount of content for the freedom movement's daily newspaper -- content we couldn't recover for an "email only" edition.
Improvise, adapt, overcome, etc. We switched over to just putting content in a text file for an email only edition AND hoped that the web site would come back up in time to get all that content entered for the web edition. Which didn't happen until too late for that to be practical (I get up early in the morning to bring you RRND/FND, which means I also go to bed early after spending a little time with my family).
So, we've got 35 items in an "email only" edition, and 29 items in the web edition, with only two overlaps (the "top two" news stories, which get done first thing in the morning anyway).
The moral of the story: If you're not subscribed to one of our email editions, you should be, even if you usually only read our content on the web. Here are the URLs to do that:
https://rationalreviewnewsdigest.eo.page/jrwp6
http://groups.google.com/group/freedom-news-daily
Sorry for all the inconvenience -- we'll be back Monday. Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous weekend!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
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1) UK: Farage wins election in which his main rival was a trash can
Source: CNN
"Nigel Farage has comfortably won a by-election that he triggered, meaning he will remain as a member of parliament after a contest that all the other major British parties boycotted, leaving his main opposition as a comedian dressed as a trash can. Farage, leader of the populist hard-right Reform UK party, was ultimately re-elected by a substantial margin, winning 22,239 votes – 1,000 more votes than he won in the 2024 general election. His main opponent, Count Binface – a self-described intergalactic space warrior – won a creditable 9,455 votes, indicating the presence of a considerable anti-Farage vote, even in one of the most right-leaning areas in Britain." (08/14/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/14/uk/nigel-farage-count-binface-clacton-election-intl
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2) Ukraine "offering Russia deal to halt attacks on civilian ships in Black Sea"
Source: The Guardian [UK]
"Ukraine has proposed a deal with Russia for both sides to halt their attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea in an apparent attempt to reopen a crucial grain corridor, Reuters reports. Kyiv is said to have made the offer through a third party. Moscow has yet to respond, the news agency added. The busy waterway is a key export route for both Russia and Ukraine, used to transport grain and other vital foodstuffs worldwide. Since July Ukraine has effectively closed the route for commercial Russian shipping. Its drones have hit nearly 220 vessels in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea, including oil tankers, grain cargo ships and passenger ferries. ... During the same period, Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukraine’s southern ports, dealing a severe blow to the country’s agricultural sector." (08/13/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/13/ukraine-proposes-deal-with-russia-to-halt-attacks-on-civilian-ships-in-black-sea
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3) Palestine: Israeli forces order people out of homes after squatter siege
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
About a dozen Palestinian households in a village in the occupied West Bank were told to leave their properties during an Israeli military operation to remove Israeli settlers. The settlers had besieged residents in three homes in the area since Sunday, cutting off their power and water supplies. Qusra Mayor, Abdel Azim Wadi, told the BBC that his village had been declared a closed military zone - and Israeli forces were using some of the vacated Palestinian houses as barracks. The Israeli military said the aim was 'to protect the residents'. An Israeli spokesman told the BBC the settlers' action was 'deplorable' and 'unacceptable' and the government would investigate and arrest those responsible." (08/13/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4kppdk2qwo
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4) Judge Dismisses Federal Government’s Antisemitism Case Against Harvard
Source: New York Times
"A federal judge in Boston on Thursday dismissed the Trump administration’s antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard University, dealing a blow to the government’s efforts to force the school to make a deal. The lawsuit was part of a broader pressure campaign to force the university to comply with a variety of government demands, including how it handles antisemitism but also race in admissions and other issues. Judge Richard G. Stearns of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts granted Harvard’s motion to throw out the case, saying that the antisemitic incidents cited in the administration’s March lawsuit were “too isolated and episodic” to show that Harvard is out of compliance with the law." (08/13/26)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/13/us/harvard-antisemitism-case-dismissed.html
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5) Poland: Regime says it thwarted Russian plot to kill American citizen in Warsaw
Source: SFGate
"A Russian plot to kill a Ukrainian American citizen in Warsaw was thwarted by Poland before it could be carried out, the Polish prime minister said Thursday, marking the first time in decades that a Western leader has publicly accused Moscow of plotting to kill a U.S. citizen. Western officials have previously warned that Russia has stepped up a campaign of targeted killings since President Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, saying they have disrupted several plots across Europe. But Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said this incident was unprecedented. It was the first time that 'someone on the order of Russia' sought to attack an American citizen on the territory of another NATO country, Tusk said Thursday. " (08/13/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/poland-says-a-russian-was-arrested-after-22386684.php
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6) Turkey: Regime lays out plans for defence pact with Pakistan, Saudi regimes
Source: Reuters
"Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will group senior ministers, hold joint exercises and deepen defence industry cooperation under a military pact signed between the regional powers last week, Turkey's defence ministry said on Thursday. The three Sunni Muslim U.S. allies, alarmed by a regional conflagration that has brought Iranian missile fire onto Gulf oil exporters, signed the 'Mecca Joint Defence Agreement' on August 7. They said the accord stipulates that an armed attack against any member would be regarded as an attack on all, similar to NATO's Article 5 collective defence clause." (08/13/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/turkey-pakistan-saudi-arabia-will-form-political-military-mechanisms-coordinate-2026-08-13/
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7) Four Canadian hockey stars remain suspended after sexual assault acquittal
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"Four ice hockey players who were acquitted of sexual assault last year should remain barred from representing Canada at international level because they broke Hockey Canada's code of conduct, an independent appeals board has ruled. The board recommended that four of the five acquitted players remain suspended from all Hockey Canada-sanctioned programmes. The fifth player, Alex Formenton, was also deemed to have broken conduct rules, but is now being reinstated. The former players for Canada's under-20s junior hockey team were accused of sexual assault over an incident that took place in 2018. ... The ruling does not change the fact that all five players are eligible to play for teams that compete in the National Hockey League (NHL), which operates separately from Hockey Canada." (08/13/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj9dpdmr77do
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8) US DOJ leaves in place ruling that deregulates silencers, shotguns and certain rifles
Source: CBS News
"Some Americans can now possess short-barreled rifles, shotguns and silencers without registering them with the federal government, after the Trump administration declined to pause a Texas judge's ruling issued earlier this month that deregulated those weapons. The Aug. 5 ruling by U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas gave the Justice Department a one-week deadline to request a stay before his ruling went into effect. That deadline expired at midnight on Thursday." (08/13/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/justice-dept-silencer-shotgun-texas-ruling/
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9) Cuba marks Fidel Castro’s 100th birthday as his shadow still shapes a nation in crisis
Source: SFGate
"Fidel Castro would have turned 100 on Thursday, and his long shadow continues to loom over the island as he remains revered by some who miss him in the face of a crippling U.S. energy blockade and blamed by others who see him as the architect of the system that led to Cuba’s current crisis. This week, Cuba commemorated Castro with events including the International Book Fair, art exhibitions, concerts and gatherings of delegates from leftist organizations across the continent. Posters bearing his image hang in hospitals, while billboards displaying his slogans — including his widely-known 'Homeland or Death' — line the streets. His presence is so familiar that many Cubans refer to him simply as Fidel." (08/13/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/cuba-marks-fidel-castro-s-100th-birthday-as-his-22386374.php
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10) USS Abraham Lincoln: Senate Democrats press Hegseth for answers on reports of attempted suicides
Source: The Hill
"Senate Democrats are pressing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the Trump administration for more information about conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed since November, amid reports that sailors have attempted to jump overboard. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has written a letter to Hegseth and Hung Cao, the acting secretary of the Navy, to express 'serious concerns' about the Lincoln’s extended deployment amid reports of supply shortages, water contamination and deteriorating mental health on the aircraft carrier." (08/13/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/6027665-blumenthal-hegseth-carrier-conditions/
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
11) Flock Cameras vs. Freedom: Welcome to the Warrantless Panopticon
Source: The Daily Economy
by Tanner Turnpaugh
"Flock cameras promise easier policing by destroying the Fourth Amendment — creating a permanent, searchable, warrantless database of everywhere Americans go." (08/13/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/flock-cameras-vs-freedom-welcome-to-the-warrantless-panopticon/
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12) America Suspended the Jones Act. Americans Were the Winners.
Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy
Since March, America has been running an accidental experiment and glimpsing what the country might look like without one of its dumbest statutes. The results are in, and they embarrass a century's worth of U.S. lawmakers and defenders. The statute is the Jones Act, passed in 1920 to rebuild and protect the U.S. merchant marine fleet after World War I disrupted American shipping capabilities. It requires that any vessel moving cargo between two American ports must be built in an American shipyard, be American-owned, and be at least three-quarters American-crewed. Miss any one of these marks and the shipper is barred from carrying a single barrel of fuel from Houston to Honolulu." (08/13/26)
https://reason.com/2026/08/13/america-suspended-the-jones-act-americans-were-the-winners/
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13) Congress Can't Wait to Fix Social Security
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye
"In June, the latest iteration of the Social Security trustees’ report came out. The report provides an overview of the current finances of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) trust funds. It also provides a look at the long-term projections for the trust funds. The report projects that the OASI trust fund will be depleted in the fourth quarter of 2032. The DI trust fund is actuarially sound through 2100. However, if OASI and DI were combined, the trust funds would be depleted in the second quarter of 2034. Either way, based on the current trajectory, Congress will face some tough choices." (08/13/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/congress-cant-wait-to-fix-social
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14) Why Land Will Be a Winner in the Age of AI
Source: The Dispatch
by Adam Ozimek
"Predicting winners and losers is a tough task when an industrial revolution is underway. There is a chance we are at such an economic inflection point today with AI, which makes it natural to wonder where, exactly, we will see the winners. Will it be the AI companies in the lead today like OpenAI and Anthropic? Will it be Big Tech incumbents like Meta and Amazon that have made large AI bets? Will it be software companies like Microsoft whose work seems most supercharged by AI? Beyond the firms, what types of workers will benefit? History shows there is a massive amount of uncertainty around these questions. But I have one big idea I believe we can be confident in: Land will be a winner." (08/13/26)
https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/dispatch-markets/artificial-intelligence-winners-losers-land-housing/
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15) Sorry, Media, but It’s Not the Job of the Secret Service to Protect You
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
"No group of people loves themselves as much as the liberal media does. They create awards – new ones every year, named after themselves – to give each other. They throw elaborate dinners to honor themselves (It’s a lot more than the White House Correspondents' Association; they’re just the highest-profile narcissists) and believe their own hype. In other words, they get high on their own supply. But, despite what they think and insist to others, they are not special. ... The belief that they are is what makes the story of their outrage over President Trump being whisked off Air Force One and flown out of Turkey on a small plane to thwart a credible assassination threat all the more amusing." (08/13/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/08/13/sorry-media-but-its-not-the-job-of-the-secret-service-to-protect-you-n2681150
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16) Trump Grift vs. the Biden Crime Family
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
"Most people recognize that Donald Trump and his kids are stealing from us with both hands every day. But they are not as outraged as they should be because most have the view that everyone does it. While I will never defend the Democrats as paragons of honesty (what the hell are those crypto contributions?), they are not in the same ballpark as Trump and his crew. Part of the confusion stems from the media’s refusal to ever put big numbers in context. They all know that the vast majority of their audience is not clear on the distinction between millions, billions, and trillions, and have no idea how large the federal budget is, but they refuse to take the ten seconds and ten words that would be needed to give readers a clearer sense of what is at stake." (08/13/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/13/trump-grift-vs-the-biden-crime-family/
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17) Paper Tiger: The Failure of America’s Trillion-Dollar War Machine
Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin & Nicolas J.S. Davies
"According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, the United States spent $21 trillion on its military between 2001 and 2024, in constant 2024 dollars, equal to the combined military spending of the next 18 countries. Iran barely made that list at all, spending only 2% of what the US did, and SIPRI estimated Iran’s 2025 military budget at only $7.5 billion. So how is Iran holding its own against the multitrillion-dollar US war machine? A critical difference between the US war on Iran and previous US and allied bombing campaigns against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and now Gaza is that the US and Israel have failed to destroy Iran’s air defense system and cannot fly warplanes over Iran without risking the loss of planes and pilots to enemy fire." (08/13/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-war-machine-failure
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18) The Answer to Fascism Can’t Be Marxism
Source: The Next Move
by Garry Kasparov
Megan Romer is a buffoon. Still, anyone who knows who the current president of the United States is surely recognizes that buffoonery is no obstacle to great power and influence. Idiots can inflict a lot of damage when their views go unchallenged. Romer, according to her own retelling in the New Yorker interview, was a Hillary Clinton Democrat before 2016. A decade later, she is confidently quoting Marx as if she just walked out of a compulsory course on Scientific Communism in mid-century Moscow. ... I have made clear my deep issues with politicians like Abdul El-Sayed and Zohran Mamdani, but I also understand why people were not particularly moved to vote for their opponents. Extremism looks attractive when the establishment does not deliver. Meanwhile, traditional Democrats too often fall right in line when a DSA-style candidate wins." (08/13/26)
https://www.thenextmove.org/p/the-answer-to-fascism-cant-be-marxism
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19) Report: FBI Listed Bill Barr, Michael Pence and Other Republicans as Russian “Conduits” of Misinformation
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley
"Well, this explains why, whenever Bill Barr and I met for breakfast, he would order the Borscht with Biscuits. Various media sites are now reporting that the FBI allegedly listed Barr, Michael Pence, and other Republicans as 'Russian conduits' while listing leading Democrats as the victims or targets of Russian disinformation or misinformation. It would be comical if it were not so concerning. In addition to the absurd listing of these figures, the task force is being accused of burying a significant number of witnesses alleging influence peddling and corruption by the Biden family. Newly declassified documents from the White House transparency task force reportedly show that the FBI ran a counterintelligence operation called Round River to 'neutralize certain narratives'." (08/13/26)
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/08/13/round-river-fbi-reportedly-listed-bill-barr-michael-pence-and-other-republicans-as-russian-conduits-of-misinformation/
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20) The Fatal Combination of Ideology and Charisma
Source: The Atlantic
by James Kirchick
"In January 1977, not two years before Reverend Jim Jones would orchestrate his followers’ deaths by the hundreds, a San Francisco church bestowed its Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award on him. Jones, the founder of the Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ, had managed to become a major player in the city’s politics. No one foresaw the horrific depths to which the combination of a charismatic leader, an all-encompassing belief system, and the human need for community and redemption would soon descend. ... The phrase drinking the Kool-Aid, a metaphor for unquestioningly holding a belief, was inspired by the fatal cocktail administered at Jonestown. But dark jokes about a nearly half-century-old massacre have a way of obscuring its continuing relevance." (08/13/260
https://archive.is/5BICD
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21) If We Could See Everything, It Would Radicalize Us All Instantly
Source: Caitlin Johnstone
by Caitlin Johnstone
"It’s hard to wrap your mind around the abusiveness of the imperial status quo, partly because it’s all we’ve ever known, and partly because it’s too big to perceive all at once. The statistics don’t show you the true human impact. The personal anecdotes just show you small snapshots of individuals suffering in their own lives. A working single mother crying in her car in a TikTok video because the endless toil necessary for survival is all-consuming and overwhelming. A news report about child labor in DRC cobalt mines. An Instagram reel about a father in Gaza carrying plastic bags he’s been told contain the remains of his daughter. ... These stories are unfolding all around the world, every moment of every day, affecting the lives of billions of human beings in different ways and to varying degrees." (08/13/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/08/13/if-we-could-see-everything-it-would-radicalize-us-all-instantly/
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22) Can’t Afford a House?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by David Youngberg
"The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law last month the way bad ideas often do: quietly, and with a name that sounds like the opposite of what it does. At best, it is largely innocuous, and at worst, it will make America’s frustrating housing market even worse." (08/13/26)
https://fee.org/articles/cant-afford-a-house/
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23) What Did Heidegger Mean by "Only a God Can Save Us?"
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Bert Olivier
"When Martin Heidegger gave an interview to the German news magazine, Der Spiegel (The Mirror) in 1966, on condition that it would only be published after his death, no one could anticipate the sentence he uttered in the course of this event, which would become the title by which the interview has been known, namely, ‘Only a god can save us.’ Save us from what? And why ‘a god’ instead of ‘God?’ The answers to these questions would shock some readers and puzzle others." (08/13/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/what-did-heidegger-mean-by-only-a-god-can-save-us/
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24) A force to reckon with: On postliberalism and its lessons
Source: Niskanen Center
by Aurelian Craiutu
"The current moment offers legitimate reasons to be concerned about the future of our liberal-democratic regimes. The political and public spheres around the world are dominated by populists and nationalists, techno-anarchists, and religious traditionalists who believe that the classical tenets of liberalism have become obsolete and must be replaced with something else to save our civilization from extinction." (08/13/26)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/a-force-to-reckon-with-on-postliberalism-and-its-lessons/
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25) Who’s Been Destroying Norms?
Source: American Greatness
by Victor Davis Hanson
"One of the more surreal things about the new Democratic Party is its habit of charging Trump with legal and ethical transgressions that Democrats themselves normalized years ago. The result is a strange sort of projection, in which the Left’s charges often reveal its own prior wrongdoing. And after undermining norms, they now lament the loss of what they destroyed. ... the model came from the Democrats—and dates back to John F. Kennedy’s appointment of his own brother, Robert F. Kennedy, as attorney general and Obama Attorney General Eric Holder’s own boast: 'I’m still the president’s wingman, so I’m there with my boy'. Democrats are angry that Republican state prosecutors might find grounds under state law to indict Anthony Fauci, despite his federal pardons for federal offenses. But again, who popularized that stratagem?" (08/13/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/08/13/whos-been-destroying-norms/
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26) Fed’s Task Force Should Fix What It Targets
Source: The Daily Economy
by Nicolas Cachanosky
"A nominal spending target would spare The Fed guessing about the causes of inflation. The Chairman’s new task force could apply a rule instead." (08/13/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/feds-task-force-should-fix-what-it-targets/
-----
27) The Quest For Caffeine You Can Have At Night
Source Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
"Since the beginning of time, mankind has yearned to drink a cup of coffee at 5 PM and go to sleep at 10. But now there’s an entire scientific subfield and several companies pandering to this absurd fantasy." (08/13/26)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/the-quest-for-caffeine-you-can-have
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28) Mamdani’s Grocery Experiment: Big on Subsidies, Light on Economics
Source: Cato Institute
by Tad DeHaven
New York City has already declared its municipal grocery experiment a success before a single store has opened, with City Hall saying its project 'will prove' government can make food more affordable through the 'efficient use of public resources.' But while Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaigned on city-owned stores, the city now wants private grocers to operate them—and to reveal what taxpayers will spend to make its fantasyland model 'work.' Apparently, the first rule of municipal socialism is to invite profit-seeking grocers to explain how grocery stores work." (08/13/26)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/mamdanis-grocery-experiment-big-subsidies-light-economics
-----
29) Affordability's Key Ingredient Is Union Power
Source: In These Times
by Heidi Shierholz
"Affordability — or the lack thereof — has dominated the recent political debate in the U.S. And for good reason. Across the country, too many families are struggling to make ends meet. However, almost every conversation about affordability focuses entirely on prices, as if the only way to make life more affordable is to make things cheaper. But the actual driver of today’s affordability squeeze is suppressed pay — a consequence of decades of policy choices that weakened workers’ bargaining power and shifted income away from working people. Had pay for typical workers kept pace with productivity over the past 45 years, their paychecks today would be roughly 40% larger. If policymakers are serious about addressing affordability, they would champion one institution that has consistently proven capable of raising pay: unions." (08/12/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/affordabilitys-union-labor-pro-act-congress
-----
30) The Pentagon’s "Missile Crisis" Distracts From Deeper Problems
Source: The American Conservative
by James P Pinkerton
"Recent headlines about U.S. weapons in the Persian Gulf are somewhere between ominous and confusing. Are we running low? Or are we being manipulated? ... It will take congressional hearings and perhaps fact-finding commissions to cast legitimate light on the twinned questions of shortages and leaks. Only the passage of time will bring historical judgment. Yet in the meantime, we can consider a well-illustrated moment from military history in which munitions shortfalls were the issue. We’ll have better perspective on our current situation if we know more about how others wrestled with the same dynamics—what they did right, what they did wrong, what was to be learned." (08/13/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-pentagons-missile-crisis-distracts-from-deeper-problems/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
31) The Political Orphanage, 08/13/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
"What Does Nolan Owe The Odyssey?" (08/13/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/what-does-nolan-owe-the-odyssey
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32) Underthrow Podcast, 08/13/26
Source: Underthrow
"Pay Attention to What You Do, Not What You Say." (08/13/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R-t2ARi4Hk
-----
33) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/13/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
"Did Israel Pass False Intel On Trump Plane Danger?" (08/13/26)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/did-israel-pass-false-intel-on-trump-plane-danger
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34) TAC Right Now, 08/13/26
Source: The American Conservative
"Have Trump’s Tariffs Succeeded?" (08/13/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/tac-right-now-have-trumps-tariffs-succeeded/
-----
35) Kinsella on Liberty, episode 495
Source: StephanKinsella.com
“Rothbard’s Revolutionary Contract Theory.” (08/12/26)
https://stephankinsella.com/as_paf_podcast/kol495-rothbards-revolutionary-contract-theory-sdl-peru-2026/
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