05/20 -- KY: Forces of evil prevail in GOP congressional primary; The Feudal Economics of Modern Healthcare: How Regulation Turned Medicine into a Fiefdom
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Thomas L. Knapp
May 20, 2026, 6:05:16 AM (5 days ago) May 20
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 05/20/26
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Today's Freedom News:
1) KY: Forces of evil prevail in GOP congressional primary
2) Tankers exit Hormuz as Trump, Vance talk up prospects of US surrender in Iran war
3) EU strikes deal on US trade pact ahead of Trump deadline
4) Bitcoin Struggles Near $77k as US Bonds Hit 17-Year High
5) Putin visits China to reaffirm Russia ties, as Xi also seeks stable US relations after Trump summit
6) Trump administration proposes welcoming thousands more Afrikaners to US as refugees, citing “emergency”
7) Spotify is launching verification badges for podcasts to help listeners avoid AI slop
8) Syria: Blast outside regime building kills soldier, wounds 12 people
9) Musk deletes rant about “activist Oakland judge” after OpenAI ruling
10) Eastern Congo: Ebola Deaths Rise to 131 as Outbreak Spreads
11) UAE regime says drones that targeted Barakah nuclear power plant came from Iraqi territory
12) NYC: Federal judge bans ICE arrests at Manhattan immigration courts
13) US DOJ drops fraud charges against Indian tycoon Adani
14) Spain: Former PM Zapatero faces corruption probe
15) De-extinction company has hatched live chicks from an artificial eggshell
16) MN: ICE gang member charged in shooting
17) UK: Surrey Police investigating child sex abuse allegations after Epstein files release
18) Pakistan: Court sentences man to death in teenage TikTok influencer’s killing
19) Blanche faces questions from lawmakers over a fund to compensate Trump allies
20) US regime sanctions Cuban regime officials
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) The Feudal Economics of Modern Healthcare: How Regulation Turned Medicine into a Fiefdom
22) The Superpower of Coping with Government Stupidity
23) Randy Fine vs. “Dual Loyalty” — Pot, Kettle, Black
24) Coffee Is Good for Your Brain
25) Republicans and Democrats Are Not the Root Cause of Big Spending and Big Debt
26) Why Small Modular Nuclear Reactors Are a Dead End
27) Payback Time
28) A birthday shouldn’t dictate who gets to use AI
29) It’s Not 1950 Anymore But Democrats Are Still Racists
30) The Far-Right’s New Election Handbook Is a Recipe for Chaos in Elections
31) America’s Flight 93 Moment: Is the US Heading Toward a Hard Landing?
32) The Minerals Consortium Will Result in Malinvestment
33) America: The Real Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
34) King & Kingslayer
35) Should a Murder Victim Have Rights in the Criminal Justice Process?
36) US/Iran Energy Shock Damage Is Spreading in Asia
37) The global prompt for a reliable AI future
38) Christianity and the Founders’ Liberalism
39) The Noble Savage
40) Ibn Khaldun and the Original Case Against Big Government
41) Sanctions, Siege, and the Female Body
42) The So-Called “AI Revolution” Will Make Us Less Free
43) Asymmetric Accountability
44) Why AI Is a Train, Not a Bicycle
45) Government control of chip sales has shocking downside
46) The Devil and Tina Peters
47) More on water
48) No one can save Trump from himself this time
49) The Mifepristone Wars, and What They Mean for Black Women
50) Does Poverty Cause Crime — Or Does Crime Cause Poverty?
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Trump Watch, 05/19/26
52) Rising, 05/19/26
53) Year Zero with Tommy Salmons, 05/19/26
54) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 05/19/26
55) The Bryan Hyde Show, 05/19/26
56) Gracearchy with Jim Babka, episode 160
57) SolutionsWatch, 05/19/26
58) Cato Podcast, 05/19/26
59) Advisory Opinions, 05/19/26
60) Law & Liberty Podcast, 05/19/26
61) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/18/26
62) The Inner Life of Liberalism, episode 1
63) Sal and Mark Show, episode 2
64) The Reconstruction Agenda, 05/18/26
65) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 05/18/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) KY: Forces of evil prevail in GOP congressional primary
Source: Associated Press
“Kentucky U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie lost his Republican House primary Tuesday, becoming the latest Republican lawmaker to anger President Donald Trump and then fall to a primary challenger backed by the president. Trump handpicked and endorsed Ed Gallrein, whose victory demonstrated the president’s influence over GOP voters and growing frustration with Massie’s opposition to Trump. … He pushed for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, criticized the war in Iran and voted against the president’s signature tax legislation last year. Still, he tried to convince voters that they could be for both him and Trump. The race was the most expensive U.S. House primary in history.” (05/19/26)
https://apnews.com/article/massie-gallrein-trump-kentucky-republican-primary-03a658b1a45593ad04ebf6283a3fdb47
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2) Tankers exit Hormuz as Trump, Vance talk up prospects of US surrender in Iran war
Source: Reuters
“Two Chinese tankers laden with oil exited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, shipping data showed, brightening hopes that the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran may soon be resolved after positive comments from the U.S. president and his deputy. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the war would be over ‘very quickly’ while Vice President JD Vance talked up progress in talks with Tehran about an agreement to end hostilities. … Iranian state media said Tehran’s latest peace proposal involves ending hostilities on all fronts including Lebanon, the exit of U.S. forces from areas close to Iran, and reparations for destruction caused by the U.S.-Israeli attacks. Tehran also sought the lifting of sanctions, release of frozen funds and an end to the U.S. marine blockade, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi as cited by IRNA news agency. The terms as described in the Iranian reports appeared little changed from Iran’s previous offer, which Trump rejected last week as ‘garbage.'” (05/20/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/tankers-exit-hormuz-trump-vance-talk-up-iran-deal-prospects-2026-05-20/
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3) EU strikes deal on US trade pact ahead of Trump deadline
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“The European Union reached a late-night provisional deal on Tuesday to remove import duties on [European buyers of] US goods, a key part of the bloc’s trade pact with the United States. This kept the EU on track to meet President Donald Trump’s July 4 deadline and avoid higher US tariffs on [American buyers of] European goods. … EU lawmakers softened several demands during negotiations, including a proposal to suspend favorable [sic] tariffs for [European buyers of goods from] US exporters if Washington breached the terms of the deal. The final text also gives the US until the end of the year to remove steel surtaxes above 15%, instead of making it a precondition for the agreement.” (05/19/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/eu-strikes-deal-on-us-trade-pact-ahead-of-trump-tariff-deadline/a-77222972
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4) Bitcoin Struggles Near $77k as US Bonds Hit 17-Year High
Source: CoinMarketCap
“Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $77,000 on May 19 as surging US Treasury yields pushed investors away from risk assets. The 30-year yield reached its highest level since July 2007, adding to a difficult week for equities and commodities alike. Gold dropped below $4,500 on May 19, reaching its lowest price since late March. Silver also fell as markets recalibrated around inflation expectations and central bank rate forecasts.” (05/19/26)
https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/%20bitcoin-below-77000-bond-yields
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5) Putin visits China to reaffirm Russia ties, as Xi also seeks stable US relations after Trump summit
Source: SFGate
“Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived Tuesday night in China for meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping less than a week after U.S. President Donald Trump wrapped up his own trip to Beijing. Putin’s plane landed in Beijing, where it was greeted by an honor guard and youths in light blue shirts. Putin’s two-day visit is likely to be closely watched as Beijing seeks to maintain stable relations with the United States while also preserving strong ties with Russia. The Kremlin has said Putin and Xi plan to discuss economic cooperation between the two countries, but also ‘key international and regional issues’. The visit coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship signed in 2001. China is a key trading partner for Russia, especially after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Beijing has said it is neutral in the conflict while maintaining trade ties with the Kremlin despite economic and financial sanctions by the U.S. and Europe.” (05/19/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/putin-visits-china-to-reaffirm-russia-ties-as-xi-22265595.php
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6) Trump administration proposes welcoming thousands more Afrikaners to US as refugees, citing “emergency”
Source: CBS News
“The Trump administration is doubling down on efforts to resettle [w]hite Afrikaners from South Africa as refugees in the U.S., proposing to increase the government’s refugee cap to welcome thousands more of them, according to a State Department plan sent to Congress and obtained by CBS News. The administration has effectively closed the U.S. refugee program for most nationalities, except Afrikaners from South Africa, arguing they’re the victims of racial oppression for being [w]hite. The South African government has denied persecuting the ethnic minority, composed of descendants of European settlers, mostly from the Netherlands.” (05/19/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-thousands-more-afrikaners-refugees/
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7) Spotify is launching verification badges for podcasts to help listeners avoid AI slop
Source: Engadget
“Spotify is launching verification badges for podcasts to help ‘authenticate creator identity and likeness.’ The most obvious use case for this is to help listeners find real podcasts amidst a sea of AI slop. To that end, the platform says it will also now remove podcasts that impersonate other creators via ‘AI voice cloning or any other method.’ The ‘Verified by Spotify’ badge is accompanied by a light green checkmark icon, making real-deal podcasts much easier to spot while perusing. These badges and icons will appear on show pages and in search. The verification process takes the podcast itself into account, but also its listeners. AI-generated podcasts tend to attract a bot-driven listenership. Spotify is looking for ‘sustained listener activity, with consistent audience engagement over time.'” (05/19/26)
https://www.engadget.com/2176567/spotify-is-launching-verification-badges-for-podcasts-to-help-listeners-avoid-ai-slop/
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8) Syria: Blast outside regime building kills soldier, wounds 12 people
Source: US News & World Report
“A bomb exploded outside a Defense Ministry building in the Syrian capital on Tuesday, killing one soldier and wounding about a dozen other people, the ministry and state media reported. … The ministry said the blast occurred outside a building linked to the Defense Ministry but gave no further details. … There was no immediate claim of responsibility but such attacks in the past have been blamed on the Islamic State group.” (05/19/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-05-19/blast-outside-a-syrian-defense-ministry-building-kills-a-soldier-wounds-12-people
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9) Musk deletes rant about “activist Oakland judge” after OpenAI ruling
Source: SFGate
“After a resounding loss Monday in his $150 billion lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, Elon Musk took to his own social media network, X, to air out his grievances with the judge presiding over the case. On Monday, a jury unanimously ruled that Musk had missed his chance to sue, deciding that the statute of limitations had passed by the time the world’s richest man accused OpenAI executives of illegally turning the nonprofit into a for-profit company. … ‘This illustrates why the ruling by the terrible activist Oakland judge, who simply used the jury as a fig leaf, creates such a terrible precedent,’ Musk wrote. ‘She just handed out a free license to loot charities if you can keep the looting quiet for a few years!’ Musk vowed to appeal the ruling in a separate post that remains on the social media network.” (05/18/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/musk-judge-openai-lawsuit-22265499.php
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10) Eastern Congo: Ebola Deaths Rise to 131 as Outbreak Spreads
Source: US News & World Report
“Twenty-six more suspected Ebola deaths were recorded in 24 hours in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities said on Tuesday, and the head of the World Health Organization expressed deep concern about the outbreak’s spread. The new deaths bring to 131 the fatalities associated with the outbreak in eastern DRC. There have been 516 suspected cases and 33 confirmed cases in DRC, according to a daily bulletin published by health authorities, and two confirmed cases in neighbouring Uganda. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus a public health emergency of international concern on Saturday, the first time a WHO chief has done so before convening an emergency committee.” (05/19/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-05-19/ebola-deaths-in-eastern-congo-rise-to-131-as-outbreak-spreads
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11) UAE regime says drones that targeted Barakah nuclear power plant came from Iraqi territory
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“The drones that targeted the United Arab Emirates’ Barakah nuclear power plant all came from Iraq, the country’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday, likely signaling that Iranian-backed Shiite militias launched the assault. Such militias launched repeated drone attacks targeting Gulf Arab states after Israel and the United States began their war against Iran back on Feb. 28. Militias in the past have provided Iran a means by which to deflect blame over such attacks. There were no reported injuries or radiological release at Barakah after the attack, which Emirati officials said hit a generator on the facility’s perimeter. The UAE, which has hosted air defenses and personnel from Israel, recently accused Iran of launching drone and missile attacks even after its ceasefire with the U.S. began April 8.” (05/19/26)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/05/19/uae-drones-barakah-nuclear-power-plant-iraqi-territory/
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12) NYC: Federal judge bans ICE arrests at Manhattan immigration courts
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“A federal judge in New York has banned US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from arresting immigrants in or around three federal courthouses in lower Manhattan, where vigorous confrontations have played out since the start of Donald Trump’s second presidency. Under an order issued on Monday by P Kevin Castel, a US district judge, federal agents are no longer allowed to make arrests of immigrants except under exceptional circumstances at the sites where hearings are held before immigration judges. Castel’s ruling came in response to a lawsuit brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union, Make the Road NY and other groups.” (05/19/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/19/ice-arrests-ban-manhattan-courts-immigration
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13) US DOJ drops fraud charges against Indian tycoon Adani
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The US Department of Justice has dropped criminal fraud charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and some officials of his firm, days after he agreed to settle a separate civil case. Adani Enterprises, his group’s flagship firm, also agreed to pay $275m (£205m) to the US Treasury to settle a separate investigation into alleged violations of sanctions on Iran. Sources told the BBC that the Adani Group has now resolved all three legal cases against it in the US. This will pave the way for Adani to travel to the US without risk of legal proceedings. Media reports say the dropped charges reflect a broader move away from prosecuting foreign bribery cases under Donald Trump’s administration. Adani, 63, is one of the world’s richest people, worth $82bn according to Forbes. His Adani Group is one of India’s largest business conglomerates with interests in sectors including energy, ports and airports.” (05/19/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g7453ve6ro
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14) Spain: Former PM Zapatero faces corruption probe
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is under investigation over alleged influence peddling and related crimes in the bailout of an airline during the COVID-19 pandemic. The High Court said on Tuesday that Zapatero’s office in Madrid was searched along with three other premises. The socialist, who governed Spain from 2004 to 2011, was summoned to testify on June 2. The investigation is tied to the 2021 state rescue of Plus Ultra, which received 53 million euros ($62m) through the state holding company SEPI during the pandemic. The case escalated in late December after several arrests, including businessman Julio Martinez Martinez, known as Julito, who is considered key to understanding the links between Plus Ultra and Zapatero.” (05/19/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/19/spains-former-pm-zapatero-faces-corruption-probe
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15) De-extinction company has hatched live chicks from an artificial eggshell
Source: SFGate
“A biotech company that aims to resurrect lost creatures said Tuesday it has hatched live chicks in an artificial environment — a development that was met with mixed reviews from scientists and critics of its de-extinction mission. Twenty-six baby chickens — ranging from a few days to several months old — were born from a 3D printed lattice structure that mimics an eggshell, according to Colossal Biosciences. Colossal previously announced it had genetically engineered living animals to resemble extinct species, including mice with long hair like the woolly mammoth and wolf pups that take after dire wolves. Colossal’s CEO Ben Lamm said the artificial egg technology could one day be scaled up to genetically tweak living birds to resemble New Zealand’s extinct South Island giant moa, whose eggs are 80 times the size of a chicken’s and would be difficult for any modern bird to lay.’ Lamm said.” (05/19/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/a-de-extinction-company-has-hatched-live-chicks-22266173.php
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16) MN: ICE gang member charged in shooting
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Prosecutors in Minnesota on Monday charged a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent with assault in connection with the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis in January during US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in the city. Christian Castro, 53, was charged with four felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and a misdemeanour of falsely reporting a crime, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty told a press conference. Castro was the second federal agent to be charged by Minneapolis officials in connection with Trump’s immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis, during which Venezuelan immigrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis was shot in the leg, and two US citizens were [murdered] by federal agents.” (05/19/26)
https://archive.is/mb5gv
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17) UK: Surrey Police investigating child sex abuse allegations after Epstein files release
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Surrey Police says it is investigating two separate allegations of ‘non-recent child sexual abuse’ following the US release of the files related to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The force says that one relates to locations in Surrey and Berkshire in the mid 1990s to 2000. The other relates to the mid to late 1980s in west Surrey. No arrests have been made, it added. In a statement, police said it took ‘all reports of sexual offending seriously and will work to identify any reasonable lines of enquiry to verify information or establish corroborating evidence.’ In February, Surrey Police said it was seeking information on an allegation of human trafficking and sexual assault dating back to the mid-1990s. It said it has become aware of a redacted report which alleged ‘non-recent human trafficking and sexual assaults on a minor in Virginia Water, Surrey between 1994-1996.'” (05/19/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0k2d2pl6x0o
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18) Pakistan: Court sentences man to death in teenage TikTok influencer’s killing
Source: ABC News
“A Pakistani court on Tuesday sentenced a man to death for killing a teenage social media influencer outside her home last year when she rejected his offer of friendship. Islamabad Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka announced the conviction and verdict for Umar Hayat, who was arrested in June after the killing of 17-year-old Sana Yousuf. … Yousuf had a wide following in Pakistan. After her death, hundreds of thousands of users began following her account on TikTok, among the country’s most popular social media platforms. Originally from the scenic northern region of Chitral, she was known for promoting traditional Chitrali music and dress through her videos. She also advocated for girls’ education. Hours before her murder, she posted a photo celebrating her birthday with friends.” (05/19/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/pakistani-court-sentences-man-death-teenage-tiktok-influencers-133107549
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19) Blanche faces questions from lawmakers over a fund to compensate Trump allies
Source: SFGate
“Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is appearing on Capitol Hill for his first congressional testimony since taking the reins at the Justice Department, as the agency faces intense scrutiny over its plans to create a $1.776 billion fund to pay allies of President Donald Trump who believe they were targeted politically. … Republicans pressed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about violent crime, drug enforcement and other conventional Justice Department topics. But for the most part, they’re steering clear of the Justice Department’s creation of a new $1.776 fund created to compensate allies of President Trump who say they’ve been mistreated by the criminal justice system and Democrats. That’s in contrast to their Democratic counterparts, who routinely pressed Blanche on the fund.” (05/19/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/the-latest-blanche-will-face-questions-from-22266188.php
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20) US regime sanctions Cuban regime officials
Source: New York Times
“The Trump administration on Monday intensified its pressure campaign against Cuba’s government, issuing sanctions on three government agencies and 11 top officials. Those targeted included three generals and communist party officials associated with the Cuban security apparatus. Such sanctions, usually used against accused drug traffickers, human-rights violators and terrorists, freeze any property and bank accounts they may have in the United States. While it is unlikely that any of the Cubans targeted have U.S. assets, the move is an important escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign to force the communist government to overhaul is economic and political system.” [editor’s note: If it has no effect, how is it “important” in “forcing” anything? – TLK] (05/18/26)
https://archive.is/6muT8
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) The Feudal Economics of Modern Healthcare: How Regulation Turned Medicine into a Fiefdom
Source: The Daily Economy
by Richard Menger
“High school history curricula often portray feudalism as a quaint medieval relic — a cautionary archetype of concentrated power, conditional rights, and extractive hierarchies that suppressed human flourishing for centuries. As ever, though, the deeper lesson of history is its recurring nature: when property rights erode and rent-seeking supplants open competition, societies reliably drift back toward feudal arrangements. American medicine today offers a vivid illustration of this pattern, as government-created barriers sustain local monopolies, nonprofit hospital systems function as modern lords, and physicians relinquish professional autonomy in exchange for the illusory security of salaried fiefdoms. The result is contemporary serfs in white coats serving within tax-exempt citadels.” (05/19/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-feudal-economics-of-modern-healthcare-how-regulation-turned-medicine-into-a-fiefdom/
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22) The Superpower of Coping with Government Stupidity
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“Businesses have an unsung superpower. They aren’t just awesome at producing and marketing goods and services. They are also awesome at coping with government stupidity …. Thanks to competition, consumers ultimately pay the price of wasteful government policies. This is Econ 1: As long as prices remain free, government stupidity reduces supply and raises prices, allowing businesses to remain profitable despite their hostile economic environment. Crucially, however, the process of complying with sheer idiocy is itself competitive!” (05/19/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/the-superpower-of-coping-with-government
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23) Randy Fine vs. “Dual Loyalty” — Pot, Kettle, Black
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“‘Some men,’ an old saying has it, ‘are sent to Washington because their hometowns want them somewhere else.’ Although Melbourne Beach, Florida isn’t US Representative Randy Fine’s hometown — he was born in Arizona, raised in Kentucky, and subsequently managed to wear out his welcome in Massachusetts, Nevada, and Michigan before landing there — I have to think the remark explains his career in the state legislature and now Congress. … Sample recent tweet: ‘You CANNOT serve two masters. My bill makes it simple: Only Americans. Full allegiance to the United States and the United States alone. No more dual loyalty in Congress.’ Unfortunately for the PR angle, Fine spends a great deal of time and effort publicly demonstrating his own loyalty — not to the US, and not to his constituents, but to a foreign power.” (05/19/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20624
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24) Coffee Is Good for Your Brain
Source: Reason
by Ronald Bailey
“Caffeine is the most widely used legal psychoactive drug in the world. Nearly two-thirds of American adults get their daily doses from coffee, according to a 2025 National Coffee Association poll, and they seem to be getting more than a jolt of energy. A study published by JAMA in February tracked the brain health of 130,000 people for more than 40 years. It found that moderate daily consumption of coffee was associated with a reduced risk of dementia and slower cognitive decline. … A roundup of studies compiled by the National Center for Health Research (NCHR), a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., details the manifold other health benefits of drinking coffee. … Coffee drinkers have enjoyed the beverage’s benefits for centuries and will do so for years to come. After all, Starfleet Capt. Kathryn Janeway in the 24th century declared coffee ‘the finest organic suspension ever devised.'” (for publication 06/26)
https://reason.com/2026/05/19/coffee-is-good-for-your-brain/
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25) Republicans and Democrats Are Not the Root Cause of Big Spending and Big Debt
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Let’s face it: It doesn’t really matter whether Democrats or Republicans are in charge. The big spending and the big debt will continue to grow, whether it’s on welfare, warfare, regulation, or control. There are always projects, programs, wars, conflicts, regulations, and controls on which to spend money. As we have seen, both Republicans and Democrats always find ways to spend and borrow ever-increasing amounts of money. … But the fact is that neither Republicans nor Democrats are the root cause of America’s fiscal woes. Instead, the root cause is a systemic one — the welfare-warfare state, regulated-managed economy system, and national-security state system that have come to characterize our nation.” (05/19/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/05/19/republicans-and-democrats-are-not-the-root-cause-of-big-spending-and-big-debt/
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26) Why Small Modular Nuclear Reactors Are a Dead End
Source: Common Dreams
Richard Heinberg
“The nuclear power industry is currently promoting designs for small modular reactors, or SMRs, that will supposedly be cheaper, safer, and faster to build than older nuclear power plants. Bill Gates and Amazon are investing in the technology. Moreover, some environmentalists, including Mark Lynas and Bill McKibben, support SMRs in the hope that they can lower carbon emissions. And, according to polls, far more Americans now approve of the development of nuclear energy than was the case just a decade or two ago.” (05/19/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/smrs-dead-end
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27) Payback Time
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“Spain was the second-largest beneficiary of the EU’s Next Generation funding scheme (NGEU), rolled out in 2021 to help member states recover from pandemic-era lockdowns. Its total allocation was €163 billion ($190 billion, after Italy, which received €194 billion, or about $226 billion), enabling Socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez to unveil a record-breaking budget for 2022, boosted with the first €26 billion ($30 billion) from this historic program. Yet from the beginning, Spain’s deployment of NGEU money, access to which depends on hitting investment targets set by Brussels (most of them designed to further the EU’s green agenda), has been surrounded by controversy. The latest scandal over Madrid’s alleged misuse of these funds has highlighted one of the most contentious issues in the bloc—namely, the viability of mutual debt schemes.” (05/19/26)
https://fee.org/articles/payback-time/
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28) A birthday shouldn’t dictate who gets to use AI
Source: Washington Post
by Ruhan Gupta
“A 15-year-old opened his laptop to work on a coding project he’d been building for months. His school had assigned tools like Anthropic’s artificial intelligence model Claude to help write code, debug errors and teach concepts instructors hadn’t covered. Yet when the site loaded, he found his project history, saved conversations and every thread of work gone — replaced by a suspension notice. ‘Our team found signals that your account was used by a child,’ Anthropic explained in an email. ‘This breaks our rules, so we paused your access to Claude.’ … I’m 17. In less than a year, a number on a calendar will determine I’m old enough to access the tools that define my field. Nothing about my capabilities will change on my birthday; only my legal classification will.” (05/19/26)
https://archive.is/kucAl
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29) It’s Not 1950 Anymore But Democrats Are Still Racists
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“Cory Booker, Senator from New Jersey and child of two wealthy executives at IBM, knows struggle – he’s seen every episode of ‘Dear White People.’ The struggle is real … especially in the first two seasons. Or so it has been explained to him, as he’s led a charmed life, which would be impossible if the United States of America were half the racist hell hole he pretends it is to advance his political career. It amuses me to no end when white liberals act like they are the saviors of black people, and it’s even more amusing when black politicians who grew up just as much, if not more, ‘privileged’ than the white people they whine about don the racial hero cape. Cory Booker has wanted for nothing, except maybe hair and a non-grating personality, but he knows ‘struggle’ because, well, his skin color.” (05/19/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/05/19/its-not-1950-anymore-but-democrats-are-still-racists-n2676290
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30) The Far-Right’s New Election Handbook Is a Recipe for Chaos in Elections
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye
“The so-called ‘Election Integrity Network’ has released its ‘Model Election Laws Handbook.’ The problem with the handbook isn’t that every proposal in it is unreasonable. Many of the proposals, of course, absurd, but they tend to hide behind reasonable rhetoric …. the handbook repeatedly treats ordinary features of election administration as evidence that the system itself lacks legitimacy. I’ve seen a quote floating around online that states, ‘Everything’s a conspiracy if you don’t understand how anything works.’ The basis of the handbook is that administrative imperfections stop being problems to manage and increasingly become proof that elections can’t be trusted unless the system becomes more restrictive, more adversarial, and more procedurally rigid.” (05/19/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/the-far-rights-new-election-handbook
-----
31) America’s Flight 93 Moment: Is the US Heading Toward a Hard Landing?
Source: TomDispatch
by John Feffer
“Ever since North Korea suffered through the death of its first leader in 1994, a loss magnified by an economic collapse and a devastating famine, outside observers have likened the country to an airplane experiencing a serious malfunction. The major question they posed: in the end, would North Korea experience a soft landing or a catastrophic crash? Perhaps a reformer would come along — say, a North Korean version of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev — who could right the airship of state and guide it toward the runway of reunification with South Korea. More direly, the North Korean regime could collapse all of a sudden, like the Communist governments in Eastern Europe in 1989. Those were relatively peaceful affairs, but North Korea’s worst-case scenarios might involve violent power struggles, the return of famine, and a free-for-all scramble for the country’s loose nukes.” (05/19/26)
https://tomdispatch.com/is-the-u-s-heading-toward-a-hard-landing/
-----
32) The Minerals Consortium Will Result in Malinvestment
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“In Washington, bad ideas rarely die — they rebrand. Industrial policy — long discredited in theory and practice — has returned under the more palatable language of ‘resilience’ and ‘strategic supply chains.’ The Trump administration’s proposed minerals consortium is the latest iteration. Sold as a necessary response to dependence on China for the processing of rare earths and other critical minerals, it promises coordination, investment, and independence. What it will deliver instead is distortion, waste, and a fresh round of politically-driven malinvestment.” (05/19/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/minerals-consortium-will-result-malinvestment
-----
33) America: The Real Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Source: American Greatness
by Victor Davis Hanson
“One American view of China — now increasingly popular on the Left and the Right alike, especially among the hate-Trump crowd — is that the communist colossus will be forever ascendant, with continued astonishing levels of food production, ship construction, and industrial output. In this pessimistic view, China will soon replace America as the world’s predominant power. We are, supposedly, like an exhausted British Empire circa 1945, and China is the new version of the postwar American powerhouse. Yet even Beijing’s miraculous 30-year leap out of poverty into first-world affluence and Westernized power is hardly the same as parity with the US. In truth, Trump held almost all the cards at the current summit and will do so again when Xi Jinping visits the US this autumn.” (05/19/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/05/19/america-the-real-crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon/
-----
34) King & Kingslayer
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Two weeks ago, five incumbent Indiana state senators ‘weren’t just defeated,’ as NBC’s Steve Kornacki explained, ‘they were defeated in landslides.’ The five had bucked President Trump’s call to redraw the state’s congressional map …. On Saturday in Louisiana, Sen. Bill Cassidy, a 12-year Republican incumbent, became the first elected U.S. Senator to lose in a primary since 2012. … Cassidy was one of seven GOP Senators who found Mr. Trump guilty in his second impeachment trial, following the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. I cannot recall a president of either party ever wielding so much electoral clout within his own party — perhaps partly because other presidents did not attempt to reshape their party as aggressively as Trump has, and partly because no president has enjoyed the outsider status required to mobilize the disgruntled grassroots.” (05/19/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/05/19/king-kingslayer/
-----
35) Should a Murder Victim Have Rights in the Criminal Justice Process?
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Paul Cassell
“In every state and in the federal criminal justice system, when a crime victim is killed, the law allows a family member or other representative to step into the victim’s shoes and assert the victim’s rights. That framework has become a routine and influential feature of modern criminal justice, embedded in statutes, constitutional provisions, and everyday courtroom practice. Yet despite its centrality, the justifications for this arrangement have received relatively little sustained scholarly attention. That gap has become more apparent following Professor Lee Kovarsky’s recent article, ‘The Victims’ Rights Mismatch,’ which offers a serious and thoughtful challenge to prevailing assumptions about deceased-victim representation and calls for sharply limiting victims’ rights in such cases.” (05/19/26)
https://reason.com/volokh/2026/05/19/should-a-murder-victim-have-rights-in-the-criminal-justice-process/
-----
36) US/Iran Energy Shock Damage Is Spreading in Asia
Source: Antiwar.com
by Dan Steinbock
“The US/Iran-linked energy crisis has shifted from a commodity shock to structural geopolitics, with Asia at the epicenter due to its dependence on imported oil and LNG. Global reverberations can no longer be avoided.” (05/19/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/dan_steinbock/2026/05/18/us-iran-energy-shock-damage-is-spreading-in-asia
-----
37) The global prompt for a reliable AI future
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“Like many new technologies that hold both promise and risk, artificial intelligence might be reaching a global inflection point. Last week, for example, China and the United States agreed at a summit to start talks on defining possible guardrails for AI. Meanwhile, a global watchdog, the Financial Stability Board, has invited Anthropic to provide a briefing on how the AI firm’s latest model, Mythos, might pinpoint vulnerabilities in world financial systems. Since 2023, annual AI Safety Summits have been hosted in Asia and Europe. Even beyond such cooperation between governments, religious thinkers are stepping up to offer advice.” (05/18/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0518/The-global-prompt-for-a-reliable-AI-future
-----
38) Christianity and the Founders’ Liberalism
Source: Law & Liberty
by Alexander William Salter
“If the American founding was radical, it was in the literal sense of the word: proceeding from the root.” (05/19/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/christianity-and-the-founders-liberalism/
-----
39) The Noble Savage
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Sofia Karstens
“Eisenhower warned us: ‘Beware the military-industrial complex.’ Those words are widely remembered. Less so the companion warning: ‘Holding scientific discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific technological elite.’ That second warning may prove the more prophetic. The convergence of those two forces – the industrial machinery of power and the technological elite capable of shaping reality itself – is where we now find ourselves.” (05/19/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-noble-savage/
-----
40) Ibn Khaldun and the Original Case Against Big Government
Source: Students For Liberty
by Ilia Zhuzhunashvili
“When the state keeps taking more, it often ends up with less. The idea is usually treated as a modern insight, associated with tax curves, supply and demand, and other economic buzzwords. But Ibn Khaldun, the 14th-century North African historian and thinker, laid out the logic long before any of that language existed.” (05/19/26)
https://studentsforliberty.org/blog/ibn-khaldun-and-the-original-case-against-big-government/
-----
41) Sanctions, Siege, and the Female Body
Source: Common Dreams
by Nazaneen Shokri
“A delayed shipment of medication does not make headlines. A generator failing in a maternity ward is not breaking news. A woman rationing insulin or postponing prenatal care is not framed as political violence. And yet, from Iran to Gaza, these are the quiet consequences of policies described in distant capitals as ‘pressure,’ ‘security’ and ‘strategy.’ Whether through sanctions or siege, the mechanism is different, but the message is the same: Women’s health is negotiable. The Women, Life, Freedom movement born out of Iran has captured global attention. Women in Iran are disproportionately affected by the intensity of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, with stricter restrictions on their dress, behavior, and livelihoods. The Iran sanctions regime, beginning in 1979 following the US Embassy crisis, refers to the network of international economic, trade, and financial restrictions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran.” (05/19/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/sanctions-harm-women
-----
42) The So-Called “AI Revolution” Will Make Us Less Free
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Kym Robinson
“Social media and our relationship to the digital realm inside our screens has twisted the real world into a filtered and inhuman perception. Influencers and content creators who falsify their image turn humans with imperfections into streamlined products for a cultivated audience, with particular aesthetics and quality they are now accustomed to. In turn, LLMs and these versions of AI all seek to duplicate the human experience or perspective through devious means of humanizing machines. LLM’s are expected to provide prose filled with flowery and grandiose language, its software chatting in a way the human being on the other end feels flattered and ingratiated towards. This cognitive bias can both affirm pre-established beliefs while also satiating the human ego to the point of addiction and dependency.” (05/19/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-so-called-ai-revolution-will-make-us-less-free
-----
43) Asymmetric Accountability
Source: EconLog
by David Hebert
“For your decisions, there are three options: you can get the decision right or you can get it wrong. ‘But Dave,’ you say, ‘that’s only two options!’ In the following nuance lies the heart of this piece: there are two ways in which you can be wrong. You can act when you shouldn’t have or you can fail to act when you should have. Getting things right all the time is not possible. So which type of mistake are you more likely to guard against? It depends on which one will get you fired. In most government settings, the answer is biased in particular (and predictable) ways.” (05/19/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/asymmetric-accountability
-----
44) Why AI Is a Train, Not a Bicycle
Source: Persuasion
by Tim Requarth
“In 1981, a young Steve Jobs — bearded, bespectacled, brown corduroy blazer over an open-collared shirt — sat in front of an Apple II and explained what he thought a personal computer was for. He’d read an article in Scientific American that compared the efficiency of locomotion across species. The condor, he said, came out on top. Humans ranked about a third of the way down, ‘not too proud a showing for the crown of creation.’ But then someone had the insight to test a human on a bicycle, and the cyclist blew the condor away. … The computer, he said, was ‘a 21st century bicycle’ for the mind. In the age of AI, Jobs’ quaint bicycle has received an update from Silicon Valley. With the launch of ChatGPT, gushed Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in early 2023, ‘We went from the bicycle to the steam engine.'” (05/18/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/what-the-inuit-know-and-ai-doesnt
-----
45) Government control of chip sales has shocking downside
Source: Fox News
by Stephen Moore
“One of the goals of President Donald Trump’s trip to China is to help ensure continued American tech dominance. One worry is that China steals our technology. But sometimes we foolishly handicap our tech companies with bad policies here at home. An example is export controls, which are a threat to U.S. dominance and limit markets for American-made tech products. The politicians and bureaucrats have decided that they, and not the free market, are best equipped to manage the global semiconductor trade. It’s not going well. We’re still winning the chip war against China, but not by much. Even after years of stringent export controls that have crushed NVIDIA and AMD’s sales into China, recent tracking shows that the U.S. lead over China in AI has almost completely evaporated. Instead of slowing Beijing down, we have effectively subsidized the development of their domestic chip manufacturing by blocking and/or taxing their American competitors.” (05/19/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/stephen-moore-government-control-chip-sales-shocking-downside
-----
46) The Devil and Tina Peters
Source: The Bulwark
by Jonathan V Last
“On Friday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced that he would commute Tina Peters’s sentence. On the one hand, this is a tiny thing. Inconsequential. If we make it out of this period, then it will hardly be worth a footnote in the history of Trumpism. On the other hand, what Gov. Polis did for Peters is everything. It is the foundational question about how liberalism responds to an illiberal attack. And I’m going to swerve and tell you that I’m not really sure what I think about it. This might seem like an easy call — but it only seems that way.” (05/18/26)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-devil-and-tina-peters
-----
47) More on water
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“Environists have a mythology as rich (and wrong) as any other supposed (that is, fake) religion, when it comes to water. These myths are now embedded into school textbooks and media playbooks as much as National Socialism was ever found in schoolbooks of the Third Reich. Here are some of the myths and examples of them …” (05/18/26)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/05/18/more-on-water/
-----
48) No one can save Trump from himself this time
Source: AlterNet
by Lindsay Beyerstein
“When Donald Trump was about to miss an interest payment for his dying Trump Castle casino in 1990, his father Fred bought nearly $5 million worth of poker chips to save him from default. When Trump was indicted for inciting the January 6 insurrection, the Supreme Court ruled that he could not be charged …. As inflation spikes, gas prices surge, and the world teeters on the brink of a recession, congressional Republicans are demanding a billion dollars to build the gilded ballroom after Trump bulldozed the East Wing of the White House without collecting enough corporate bribes to cover the project. For nearly 80 years, someone has always saved Trump from himself. With the Strait of Hormuz, the president has finally created a mess so big that no one can save him. No one is coming to the rescue. NATO can’t and China won’t.” (05/18/26)
https://archive.is/xGvYZ
-----
49) The Mifepristone Wars, and What They Mean for Black Women
Source: The American Prospect
by Naomi Bethune
“Still concentrated in Southern states that ban abortion, Black women disproportionately rely on telehealth, which the Supreme Court has allowed — provisionally — to continue.” (05/19/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/05/19/mifepristone-wars-abortion-supreme-court-black-women-south/
-----
50) Does Poverty Cause Crime — Or Does Crime Cause Poverty?
Source: Independent Institute
by Scott Beyer
“The relationship between poverty and crime has been a longtime policy debate. A common narrative — particularly on the left — is that poverty drives people to crime, positing that those who live in tough neighborhoods have little choice but to survive through lawbreaking. This treats crime as a passive outcome of economic hardship — almost like a disease — rather than a choice. But a deeper look at the data, and differences across communities, suggests the opposite: that crime instead causes poverty. Irrespective of the causation order one accepts, there is certainly a relationship between the two.” (05/18/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/05/18/does-poverty-cause-crime-or-does-crime-cause-poverty/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Trump Watch, 05/19/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“The Deadly U.S. Obsession with Cuba.” (05/19/26)
https://www.fff.org/freedom-in-motion/video/trump-watch-the-deadly-u-s-obsession-with-cuba/
-----
52) Rising, 05/19/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on a viral video showing teenagers brawling at a Chipotle in Washington DC, leading to more calls for cracking down on youth violence in the city.” (05/19/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/5875552-rising-may-19-2026/
-----
53) Year Zero with Tommy Salmons, 05/19/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Rules for Radicals: Tactics pt1 w/John Weeks.” (05/19/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/rules-for-radicals-tactics-pt1-w-john-weeks
-----
54) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 05/19/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump’s $10 Billion IRS Shakedown Takes Darker Turn, Unnerving Experts.” (05/19/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/210604/trump-10-billion-irs-shakedown-takes-darker-turn-unnerving-experts
-----
55) The Bryan Hyde Show, 05/19/26
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“It’s my weekly visit with Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos. Primary election day in many states will give us plenty to discuss as well as the ongoing efforts by officialdom to separate us from our freedoms.” (05/19/26)
https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-ccvvt-1aca2b5
-----
56) Gracearchy with Jim Babka, episode 160
Source: Gracearchy with Jim Babka
“Did Libertarian Party national Chair Steven Nekhaila and Vice Chair Paul Darr call Jim Babka for a crucial LP history lesson? Did they take extraordinary action after that call? Who are these men, what makes them tick? And what will happen next, given that they’re moving on from their current positions?” (05/19/26)
https://rumble.com/v7a1e1e-160-libertarian-national-chairs-nekhaila-and-darr-gracearchy-with-jim-babka.html
-----
57) SolutionsWatch, 05/19/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“The AI uprising has begun. But what kind of uprising will it be? Will it be a Butlerian Jihad? A neo-Luddite movement? Or something else entirely? Let’s find out …” (05/19/26)
https://corbettreport.com/butlerian-jihad-when/
-----
58) Cato Podcast, 05/19/26
Source: Cato Institute
“Kicking the Can to Xi’s September Visit.” (05/19/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/kicking-can-xis-september-visit
-----
59) Advisory Opinions, 05/19/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Let’s Sue the Government.” (05/19/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/lets-sue-the-government/
-----
60) Law & Liberty Podcast, 05/19/26
Source: Law & Liberty
“The Future of Dynamism — with Virginia Postrel, hosted by G. Patrick Lynch.” (05/19/26)
https://lawliberty.org/podcast/the-future-of-dynamism/
-----
61) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/18/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump ‘Holds Off’ on Iran Attack Due To Gulf Request, US Launches Airstrikes in Nigeria, and More.” (05/18/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVzZQ76Ebhw
-----
62) The Inner Life of Liberalism, episode 1
Source: The Inner Life of Liberalism
“[A]n introduction to our Liberal Practices project, why we’re launching this show, and what you can expect from future episodes. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope that you’ll join us on this journey.” (05/18/26)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/001-liberalisms-inner-life/id1896732847?i=1000768405047
-----
63) Sal and Mark Show, episode 2
Source: Free Talk kLive
“This episode features Paul Puey of Edge Wallet and Harry Halpin of Nym on their groundbreaking MixNet integration; Captain Kickass on trusts, infinite banking, and protecting your assets from the state; plus discussions on Filecoin’s decentralized storage, Firo privacy coin updates, wrench attacks targeting crypto holders, and the ongoing war for your data.” (05/18/26)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/samsep2
-----
64) The Reconstruction Agenda, 05/18/26
Source: The UnPopulist
“A Bloated Executive and a Starved Congress Is a Bad Combination: A Conversation with Kevin Kosar.” (05/18/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/a-bloated-executive-and-a-starved
-----
65) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 05/18/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Harrison Berger Breaks Down Israel’s New Influence Strategy.” (05/18/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-harrison-berger-breaks-down-israels-new-influence-strategy/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) KY: Forces of evil prevail in GOP congressional primary
2) Tankers exit Hormuz as Trump, Vance talk up prospects of US surrender in Iran war
3) EU strikes deal on US trade pact ahead of Trump deadline
4) Bitcoin Struggles Near $77k as US Bonds Hit 17-Year High
5) Putin visits China to reaffirm Russia ties, as Xi also seeks stable US relations after Trump summit
6) Trump administration proposes welcoming thousands more Afrikaners to US as refugees, citing “emergency”
7) Spotify is launching verification badges for podcasts to help listeners avoid AI slop
8) Syria: Blast outside regime building kills soldier, wounds 12 people
9) Musk deletes rant about “activist Oakland judge” after OpenAI ruling
10) Eastern Congo: Ebola Deaths Rise to 131 as Outbreak Spreads
11) UAE regime says drones that targeted Barakah nuclear power plant came from Iraqi territory
12) NYC: Federal judge bans ICE arrests at Manhattan immigration courts
13) US DOJ drops fraud charges against Indian tycoon Adani
14) Spain: Former PM Zapatero faces corruption probe
15) De-extinction company has hatched live chicks from an artificial eggshell
16) MN: ICE gang member charged in shooting
17) UK: Surrey Police investigating child sex abuse allegations after Epstein files release
18) Pakistan: Court sentences man to death in teenage TikTok influencer’s killing
19) Blanche faces questions from lawmakers over a fund to compensate Trump allies
20) US regime sanctions Cuban regime officials
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) The Feudal Economics of Modern Healthcare: How Regulation Turned Medicine into a Fiefdom
22) The Superpower of Coping with Government Stupidity
23) Randy Fine vs. “Dual Loyalty” — Pot, Kettle, Black
24) Coffee Is Good for Your Brain
25) Republicans and Democrats Are Not the Root Cause of Big Spending and Big Debt
26) Why Small Modular Nuclear Reactors Are a Dead End
27) Payback Time
28) A birthday shouldn’t dictate who gets to use AI
29) It’s Not 1950 Anymore But Democrats Are Still Racists
30) The Far-Right’s New Election Handbook Is a Recipe for Chaos in Elections
31) America’s Flight 93 Moment: Is the US Heading Toward a Hard Landing?
32) The Minerals Consortium Will Result in Malinvestment
33) America: The Real Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
34) King & Kingslayer
35) Should a Murder Victim Have Rights in the Criminal Justice Process?
36) US/Iran Energy Shock Damage Is Spreading in Asia
37) The global prompt for a reliable AI future
38) Christianity and the Founders’ Liberalism
39) The Noble Savage
40) Ibn Khaldun and the Original Case Against Big Government
41) Sanctions, Siege, and the Female Body
42) The So-Called “AI Revolution” Will Make Us Less Free
43) Asymmetric Accountability
44) Why AI Is a Train, Not a Bicycle
45) Government control of chip sales has shocking downside
46) The Devil and Tina Peters
47) More on water
48) No one can save Trump from himself this time
49) The Mifepristone Wars, and What They Mean for Black Women
50) Does Poverty Cause Crime — Or Does Crime Cause Poverty?
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Trump Watch, 05/19/26
52) Rising, 05/19/26
53) Year Zero with Tommy Salmons, 05/19/26
54) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 05/19/26
55) The Bryan Hyde Show, 05/19/26
56) Gracearchy with Jim Babka, episode 160
57) SolutionsWatch, 05/19/26
58) Cato Podcast, 05/19/26
59) Advisory Opinions, 05/19/26
60) Law & Liberty Podcast, 05/19/26
61) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/18/26
62) The Inner Life of Liberalism, episode 1
63) Sal and Mark Show, episode 2
64) The Reconstruction Agenda, 05/18/26
65) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 05/18/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) KY: Forces of evil prevail in GOP congressional primary
Source: Associated Press
“Kentucky U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie lost his Republican House primary Tuesday, becoming the latest Republican lawmaker to anger President Donald Trump and then fall to a primary challenger backed by the president. Trump handpicked and endorsed Ed Gallrein, whose victory demonstrated the president’s influence over GOP voters and growing frustration with Massie’s opposition to Trump. … He pushed for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, criticized the war in Iran and voted against the president’s signature tax legislation last year. Still, he tried to convince voters that they could be for both him and Trump. The race was the most expensive U.S. House primary in history.” (05/19/26)
https://apnews.com/article/massie-gallrein-trump-kentucky-republican-primary-03a658b1a45593ad04ebf6283a3fdb47
-----
2) Tankers exit Hormuz as Trump, Vance talk up prospects of US surrender in Iran war
Source: Reuters
“Two Chinese tankers laden with oil exited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, shipping data showed, brightening hopes that the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran may soon be resolved after positive comments from the U.S. president and his deputy. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the war would be over ‘very quickly’ while Vice President JD Vance talked up progress in talks with Tehran about an agreement to end hostilities. … Iranian state media said Tehran’s latest peace proposal involves ending hostilities on all fronts including Lebanon, the exit of U.S. forces from areas close to Iran, and reparations for destruction caused by the U.S.-Israeli attacks. Tehran also sought the lifting of sanctions, release of frozen funds and an end to the U.S. marine blockade, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi as cited by IRNA news agency. The terms as described in the Iranian reports appeared little changed from Iran’s previous offer, which Trump rejected last week as ‘garbage.'” (05/20/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/tankers-exit-hormuz-trump-vance-talk-up-iran-deal-prospects-2026-05-20/
-----
3) EU strikes deal on US trade pact ahead of Trump deadline
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“The European Union reached a late-night provisional deal on Tuesday to remove import duties on [European buyers of] US goods, a key part of the bloc’s trade pact with the United States. This kept the EU on track to meet President Donald Trump’s July 4 deadline and avoid higher US tariffs on [American buyers of] European goods. … EU lawmakers softened several demands during negotiations, including a proposal to suspend favorable [sic] tariffs for [European buyers of goods from] US exporters if Washington breached the terms of the deal. The final text also gives the US until the end of the year to remove steel surtaxes above 15%, instead of making it a precondition for the agreement.” (05/19/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/eu-strikes-deal-on-us-trade-pact-ahead-of-trump-tariff-deadline/a-77222972
-----
4) Bitcoin Struggles Near $77k as US Bonds Hit 17-Year High
Source: CoinMarketCap
“Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $77,000 on May 19 as surging US Treasury yields pushed investors away from risk assets. The 30-year yield reached its highest level since July 2007, adding to a difficult week for equities and commodities alike. Gold dropped below $4,500 on May 19, reaching its lowest price since late March. Silver also fell as markets recalibrated around inflation expectations and central bank rate forecasts.” (05/19/26)
https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/%20bitcoin-below-77000-bond-yields
-----
5) Putin visits China to reaffirm Russia ties, as Xi also seeks stable US relations after Trump summit
Source: SFGate
“Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived Tuesday night in China for meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping less than a week after U.S. President Donald Trump wrapped up his own trip to Beijing. Putin’s plane landed in Beijing, where it was greeted by an honor guard and youths in light blue shirts. Putin’s two-day visit is likely to be closely watched as Beijing seeks to maintain stable relations with the United States while also preserving strong ties with Russia. The Kremlin has said Putin and Xi plan to discuss economic cooperation between the two countries, but also ‘key international and regional issues’. The visit coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship signed in 2001. China is a key trading partner for Russia, especially after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Beijing has said it is neutral in the conflict while maintaining trade ties with the Kremlin despite economic and financial sanctions by the U.S. and Europe.” (05/19/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/putin-visits-china-to-reaffirm-russia-ties-as-xi-22265595.php
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6) Trump administration proposes welcoming thousands more Afrikaners to US as refugees, citing “emergency”
Source: CBS News
“The Trump administration is doubling down on efforts to resettle [w]hite Afrikaners from South Africa as refugees in the U.S., proposing to increase the government’s refugee cap to welcome thousands more of them, according to a State Department plan sent to Congress and obtained by CBS News. The administration has effectively closed the U.S. refugee program for most nationalities, except Afrikaners from South Africa, arguing they’re the victims of racial oppression for being [w]hite. The South African government has denied persecuting the ethnic minority, composed of descendants of European settlers, mostly from the Netherlands.” (05/19/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-thousands-more-afrikaners-refugees/
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7) Spotify is launching verification badges for podcasts to help listeners avoid AI slop
Source: Engadget
“Spotify is launching verification badges for podcasts to help ‘authenticate creator identity and likeness.’ The most obvious use case for this is to help listeners find real podcasts amidst a sea of AI slop. To that end, the platform says it will also now remove podcasts that impersonate other creators via ‘AI voice cloning or any other method.’ The ‘Verified by Spotify’ badge is accompanied by a light green checkmark icon, making real-deal podcasts much easier to spot while perusing. These badges and icons will appear on show pages and in search. The verification process takes the podcast itself into account, but also its listeners. AI-generated podcasts tend to attract a bot-driven listenership. Spotify is looking for ‘sustained listener activity, with consistent audience engagement over time.'” (05/19/26)
https://www.engadget.com/2176567/spotify-is-launching-verification-badges-for-podcasts-to-help-listeners-avoid-ai-slop/
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8) Syria: Blast outside regime building kills soldier, wounds 12 people
Source: US News & World Report
“A bomb exploded outside a Defense Ministry building in the Syrian capital on Tuesday, killing one soldier and wounding about a dozen other people, the ministry and state media reported. … The ministry said the blast occurred outside a building linked to the Defense Ministry but gave no further details. … There was no immediate claim of responsibility but such attacks in the past have been blamed on the Islamic State group.” (05/19/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-05-19/blast-outside-a-syrian-defense-ministry-building-kills-a-soldier-wounds-12-people
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9) Musk deletes rant about “activist Oakland judge” after OpenAI ruling
Source: SFGate
“After a resounding loss Monday in his $150 billion lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, Elon Musk took to his own social media network, X, to air out his grievances with the judge presiding over the case. On Monday, a jury unanimously ruled that Musk had missed his chance to sue, deciding that the statute of limitations had passed by the time the world’s richest man accused OpenAI executives of illegally turning the nonprofit into a for-profit company. … ‘This illustrates why the ruling by the terrible activist Oakland judge, who simply used the jury as a fig leaf, creates such a terrible precedent,’ Musk wrote. ‘She just handed out a free license to loot charities if you can keep the looting quiet for a few years!’ Musk vowed to appeal the ruling in a separate post that remains on the social media network.” (05/18/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/musk-judge-openai-lawsuit-22265499.php
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10) Eastern Congo: Ebola Deaths Rise to 131 as Outbreak Spreads
Source: US News & World Report
“Twenty-six more suspected Ebola deaths were recorded in 24 hours in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities said on Tuesday, and the head of the World Health Organization expressed deep concern about the outbreak’s spread. The new deaths bring to 131 the fatalities associated with the outbreak in eastern DRC. There have been 516 suspected cases and 33 confirmed cases in DRC, according to a daily bulletin published by health authorities, and two confirmed cases in neighbouring Uganda. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus a public health emergency of international concern on Saturday, the first time a WHO chief has done so before convening an emergency committee.” (05/19/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-05-19/ebola-deaths-in-eastern-congo-rise-to-131-as-outbreak-spreads
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11) UAE regime says drones that targeted Barakah nuclear power plant came from Iraqi territory
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“The drones that targeted the United Arab Emirates’ Barakah nuclear power plant all came from Iraq, the country’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday, likely signaling that Iranian-backed Shiite militias launched the assault. Such militias launched repeated drone attacks targeting Gulf Arab states after Israel and the United States began their war against Iran back on Feb. 28. Militias in the past have provided Iran a means by which to deflect blame over such attacks. There were no reported injuries or radiological release at Barakah after the attack, which Emirati officials said hit a generator on the facility’s perimeter. The UAE, which has hosted air defenses and personnel from Israel, recently accused Iran of launching drone and missile attacks even after its ceasefire with the U.S. began April 8.” (05/19/26)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/05/19/uae-drones-barakah-nuclear-power-plant-iraqi-territory/
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12) NYC: Federal judge bans ICE arrests at Manhattan immigration courts
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“A federal judge in New York has banned US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from arresting immigrants in or around three federal courthouses in lower Manhattan, where vigorous confrontations have played out since the start of Donald Trump’s second presidency. Under an order issued on Monday by P Kevin Castel, a US district judge, federal agents are no longer allowed to make arrests of immigrants except under exceptional circumstances at the sites where hearings are held before immigration judges. Castel’s ruling came in response to a lawsuit brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union, Make the Road NY and other groups.” (05/19/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/19/ice-arrests-ban-manhattan-courts-immigration
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13) US DOJ drops fraud charges against Indian tycoon Adani
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The US Department of Justice has dropped criminal fraud charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and some officials of his firm, days after he agreed to settle a separate civil case. Adani Enterprises, his group’s flagship firm, also agreed to pay $275m (£205m) to the US Treasury to settle a separate investigation into alleged violations of sanctions on Iran. Sources told the BBC that the Adani Group has now resolved all three legal cases against it in the US. This will pave the way for Adani to travel to the US without risk of legal proceedings. Media reports say the dropped charges reflect a broader move away from prosecuting foreign bribery cases under Donald Trump’s administration. Adani, 63, is one of the world’s richest people, worth $82bn according to Forbes. His Adani Group is one of India’s largest business conglomerates with interests in sectors including energy, ports and airports.” (05/19/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g7453ve6ro
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14) Spain: Former PM Zapatero faces corruption probe
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is under investigation over alleged influence peddling and related crimes in the bailout of an airline during the COVID-19 pandemic. The High Court said on Tuesday that Zapatero’s office in Madrid was searched along with three other premises. The socialist, who governed Spain from 2004 to 2011, was summoned to testify on June 2. The investigation is tied to the 2021 state rescue of Plus Ultra, which received 53 million euros ($62m) through the state holding company SEPI during the pandemic. The case escalated in late December after several arrests, including businessman Julio Martinez Martinez, known as Julito, who is considered key to understanding the links between Plus Ultra and Zapatero.” (05/19/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/19/spains-former-pm-zapatero-faces-corruption-probe
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15) De-extinction company has hatched live chicks from an artificial eggshell
Source: SFGate
“A biotech company that aims to resurrect lost creatures said Tuesday it has hatched live chicks in an artificial environment — a development that was met with mixed reviews from scientists and critics of its de-extinction mission. Twenty-six baby chickens — ranging from a few days to several months old — were born from a 3D printed lattice structure that mimics an eggshell, according to Colossal Biosciences. Colossal previously announced it had genetically engineered living animals to resemble extinct species, including mice with long hair like the woolly mammoth and wolf pups that take after dire wolves. Colossal’s CEO Ben Lamm said the artificial egg technology could one day be scaled up to genetically tweak living birds to resemble New Zealand’s extinct South Island giant moa, whose eggs are 80 times the size of a chicken’s and would be difficult for any modern bird to lay.’ Lamm said.” (05/19/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/a-de-extinction-company-has-hatched-live-chicks-22266173.php
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16) MN: ICE gang member charged in shooting
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Prosecutors in Minnesota on Monday charged a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent with assault in connection with the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis in January during US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in the city. Christian Castro, 53, was charged with four felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and a misdemeanour of falsely reporting a crime, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty told a press conference. Castro was the second federal agent to be charged by Minneapolis officials in connection with Trump’s immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis, during which Venezuelan immigrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis was shot in the leg, and two US citizens were [murdered] by federal agents.” (05/19/26)
https://archive.is/mb5gv
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17) UK: Surrey Police investigating child sex abuse allegations after Epstein files release
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Surrey Police says it is investigating two separate allegations of ‘non-recent child sexual abuse’ following the US release of the files related to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The force says that one relates to locations in Surrey and Berkshire in the mid 1990s to 2000. The other relates to the mid to late 1980s in west Surrey. No arrests have been made, it added. In a statement, police said it took ‘all reports of sexual offending seriously and will work to identify any reasonable lines of enquiry to verify information or establish corroborating evidence.’ In February, Surrey Police said it was seeking information on an allegation of human trafficking and sexual assault dating back to the mid-1990s. It said it has become aware of a redacted report which alleged ‘non-recent human trafficking and sexual assaults on a minor in Virginia Water, Surrey between 1994-1996.'” (05/19/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0k2d2pl6x0o
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18) Pakistan: Court sentences man to death in teenage TikTok influencer’s killing
Source: ABC News
“A Pakistani court on Tuesday sentenced a man to death for killing a teenage social media influencer outside her home last year when she rejected his offer of friendship. Islamabad Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka announced the conviction and verdict for Umar Hayat, who was arrested in June after the killing of 17-year-old Sana Yousuf. … Yousuf had a wide following in Pakistan. After her death, hundreds of thousands of users began following her account on TikTok, among the country’s most popular social media platforms. Originally from the scenic northern region of Chitral, she was known for promoting traditional Chitrali music and dress through her videos. She also advocated for girls’ education. Hours before her murder, she posted a photo celebrating her birthday with friends.” (05/19/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/pakistani-court-sentences-man-death-teenage-tiktok-influencers-133107549
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19) Blanche faces questions from lawmakers over a fund to compensate Trump allies
Source: SFGate
“Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is appearing on Capitol Hill for his first congressional testimony since taking the reins at the Justice Department, as the agency faces intense scrutiny over its plans to create a $1.776 billion fund to pay allies of President Donald Trump who believe they were targeted politically. … Republicans pressed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about violent crime, drug enforcement and other conventional Justice Department topics. But for the most part, they’re steering clear of the Justice Department’s creation of a new $1.776 fund created to compensate allies of President Trump who say they’ve been mistreated by the criminal justice system and Democrats. That’s in contrast to their Democratic counterparts, who routinely pressed Blanche on the fund.” (05/19/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/the-latest-blanche-will-face-questions-from-22266188.php
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20) US regime sanctions Cuban regime officials
Source: New York Times
“The Trump administration on Monday intensified its pressure campaign against Cuba’s government, issuing sanctions on three government agencies and 11 top officials. Those targeted included three generals and communist party officials associated with the Cuban security apparatus. Such sanctions, usually used against accused drug traffickers, human-rights violators and terrorists, freeze any property and bank accounts they may have in the United States. While it is unlikely that any of the Cubans targeted have U.S. assets, the move is an important escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign to force the communist government to overhaul is economic and political system.” [editor’s note: If it has no effect, how is it “important” in “forcing” anything? – TLK] (05/18/26)
https://archive.is/6muT8
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) The Feudal Economics of Modern Healthcare: How Regulation Turned Medicine into a Fiefdom
Source: The Daily Economy
by Richard Menger
“High school history curricula often portray feudalism as a quaint medieval relic — a cautionary archetype of concentrated power, conditional rights, and extractive hierarchies that suppressed human flourishing for centuries. As ever, though, the deeper lesson of history is its recurring nature: when property rights erode and rent-seeking supplants open competition, societies reliably drift back toward feudal arrangements. American medicine today offers a vivid illustration of this pattern, as government-created barriers sustain local monopolies, nonprofit hospital systems function as modern lords, and physicians relinquish professional autonomy in exchange for the illusory security of salaried fiefdoms. The result is contemporary serfs in white coats serving within tax-exempt citadels.” (05/19/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-feudal-economics-of-modern-healthcare-how-regulation-turned-medicine-into-a-fiefdom/
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22) The Superpower of Coping with Government Stupidity
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“Businesses have an unsung superpower. They aren’t just awesome at producing and marketing goods and services. They are also awesome at coping with government stupidity …. Thanks to competition, consumers ultimately pay the price of wasteful government policies. This is Econ 1: As long as prices remain free, government stupidity reduces supply and raises prices, allowing businesses to remain profitable despite their hostile economic environment. Crucially, however, the process of complying with sheer idiocy is itself competitive!” (05/19/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/the-superpower-of-coping-with-government
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23) Randy Fine vs. “Dual Loyalty” — Pot, Kettle, Black
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“‘Some men,’ an old saying has it, ‘are sent to Washington because their hometowns want them somewhere else.’ Although Melbourne Beach, Florida isn’t US Representative Randy Fine’s hometown — he was born in Arizona, raised in Kentucky, and subsequently managed to wear out his welcome in Massachusetts, Nevada, and Michigan before landing there — I have to think the remark explains his career in the state legislature and now Congress. … Sample recent tweet: ‘You CANNOT serve two masters. My bill makes it simple: Only Americans. Full allegiance to the United States and the United States alone. No more dual loyalty in Congress.’ Unfortunately for the PR angle, Fine spends a great deal of time and effort publicly demonstrating his own loyalty — not to the US, and not to his constituents, but to a foreign power.” (05/19/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20624
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24) Coffee Is Good for Your Brain
Source: Reason
by Ronald Bailey
“Caffeine is the most widely used legal psychoactive drug in the world. Nearly two-thirds of American adults get their daily doses from coffee, according to a 2025 National Coffee Association poll, and they seem to be getting more than a jolt of energy. A study published by JAMA in February tracked the brain health of 130,000 people for more than 40 years. It found that moderate daily consumption of coffee was associated with a reduced risk of dementia and slower cognitive decline. … A roundup of studies compiled by the National Center for Health Research (NCHR), a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., details the manifold other health benefits of drinking coffee. … Coffee drinkers have enjoyed the beverage’s benefits for centuries and will do so for years to come. After all, Starfleet Capt. Kathryn Janeway in the 24th century declared coffee ‘the finest organic suspension ever devised.'” (for publication 06/26)
https://reason.com/2026/05/19/coffee-is-good-for-your-brain/
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25) Republicans and Democrats Are Not the Root Cause of Big Spending and Big Debt
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Let’s face it: It doesn’t really matter whether Democrats or Republicans are in charge. The big spending and the big debt will continue to grow, whether it’s on welfare, warfare, regulation, or control. There are always projects, programs, wars, conflicts, regulations, and controls on which to spend money. As we have seen, both Republicans and Democrats always find ways to spend and borrow ever-increasing amounts of money. … But the fact is that neither Republicans nor Democrats are the root cause of America’s fiscal woes. Instead, the root cause is a systemic one — the welfare-warfare state, regulated-managed economy system, and national-security state system that have come to characterize our nation.” (05/19/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/05/19/republicans-and-democrats-are-not-the-root-cause-of-big-spending-and-big-debt/
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26) Why Small Modular Nuclear Reactors Are a Dead End
Source: Common Dreams
Richard Heinberg
“The nuclear power industry is currently promoting designs for small modular reactors, or SMRs, that will supposedly be cheaper, safer, and faster to build than older nuclear power plants. Bill Gates and Amazon are investing in the technology. Moreover, some environmentalists, including Mark Lynas and Bill McKibben, support SMRs in the hope that they can lower carbon emissions. And, according to polls, far more Americans now approve of the development of nuclear energy than was the case just a decade or two ago.” (05/19/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/smrs-dead-end
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27) Payback Time
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“Spain was the second-largest beneficiary of the EU’s Next Generation funding scheme (NGEU), rolled out in 2021 to help member states recover from pandemic-era lockdowns. Its total allocation was €163 billion ($190 billion, after Italy, which received €194 billion, or about $226 billion), enabling Socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez to unveil a record-breaking budget for 2022, boosted with the first €26 billion ($30 billion) from this historic program. Yet from the beginning, Spain’s deployment of NGEU money, access to which depends on hitting investment targets set by Brussels (most of them designed to further the EU’s green agenda), has been surrounded by controversy. The latest scandal over Madrid’s alleged misuse of these funds has highlighted one of the most contentious issues in the bloc—namely, the viability of mutual debt schemes.” (05/19/26)
https://fee.org/articles/payback-time/
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28) A birthday shouldn’t dictate who gets to use AI
Source: Washington Post
by Ruhan Gupta
“A 15-year-old opened his laptop to work on a coding project he’d been building for months. His school had assigned tools like Anthropic’s artificial intelligence model Claude to help write code, debug errors and teach concepts instructors hadn’t covered. Yet when the site loaded, he found his project history, saved conversations and every thread of work gone — replaced by a suspension notice. ‘Our team found signals that your account was used by a child,’ Anthropic explained in an email. ‘This breaks our rules, so we paused your access to Claude.’ … I’m 17. In less than a year, a number on a calendar will determine I’m old enough to access the tools that define my field. Nothing about my capabilities will change on my birthday; only my legal classification will.” (05/19/26)
https://archive.is/kucAl
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29) It’s Not 1950 Anymore But Democrats Are Still Racists
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“Cory Booker, Senator from New Jersey and child of two wealthy executives at IBM, knows struggle – he’s seen every episode of ‘Dear White People.’ The struggle is real … especially in the first two seasons. Or so it has been explained to him, as he’s led a charmed life, which would be impossible if the United States of America were half the racist hell hole he pretends it is to advance his political career. It amuses me to no end when white liberals act like they are the saviors of black people, and it’s even more amusing when black politicians who grew up just as much, if not more, ‘privileged’ than the white people they whine about don the racial hero cape. Cory Booker has wanted for nothing, except maybe hair and a non-grating personality, but he knows ‘struggle’ because, well, his skin color.” (05/19/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/05/19/its-not-1950-anymore-but-democrats-are-still-racists-n2676290
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30) The Far-Right’s New Election Handbook Is a Recipe for Chaos in Elections
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye
“The so-called ‘Election Integrity Network’ has released its ‘Model Election Laws Handbook.’ The problem with the handbook isn’t that every proposal in it is unreasonable. Many of the proposals, of course, absurd, but they tend to hide behind reasonable rhetoric …. the handbook repeatedly treats ordinary features of election administration as evidence that the system itself lacks legitimacy. I’ve seen a quote floating around online that states, ‘Everything’s a conspiracy if you don’t understand how anything works.’ The basis of the handbook is that administrative imperfections stop being problems to manage and increasingly become proof that elections can’t be trusted unless the system becomes more restrictive, more adversarial, and more procedurally rigid.” (05/19/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/the-far-rights-new-election-handbook
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31) America’s Flight 93 Moment: Is the US Heading Toward a Hard Landing?
Source: TomDispatch
by John Feffer
“Ever since North Korea suffered through the death of its first leader in 1994, a loss magnified by an economic collapse and a devastating famine, outside observers have likened the country to an airplane experiencing a serious malfunction. The major question they posed: in the end, would North Korea experience a soft landing or a catastrophic crash? Perhaps a reformer would come along — say, a North Korean version of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev — who could right the airship of state and guide it toward the runway of reunification with South Korea. More direly, the North Korean regime could collapse all of a sudden, like the Communist governments in Eastern Europe in 1989. Those were relatively peaceful affairs, but North Korea’s worst-case scenarios might involve violent power struggles, the return of famine, and a free-for-all scramble for the country’s loose nukes.” (05/19/26)
https://tomdispatch.com/is-the-u-s-heading-toward-a-hard-landing/
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32) The Minerals Consortium Will Result in Malinvestment
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“In Washington, bad ideas rarely die — they rebrand. Industrial policy — long discredited in theory and practice — has returned under the more palatable language of ‘resilience’ and ‘strategic supply chains.’ The Trump administration’s proposed minerals consortium is the latest iteration. Sold as a necessary response to dependence on China for the processing of rare earths and other critical minerals, it promises coordination, investment, and independence. What it will deliver instead is distortion, waste, and a fresh round of politically-driven malinvestment.” (05/19/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/minerals-consortium-will-result-malinvestment
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33) America: The Real Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Source: American Greatness
by Victor Davis Hanson
“One American view of China — now increasingly popular on the Left and the Right alike, especially among the hate-Trump crowd — is that the communist colossus will be forever ascendant, with continued astonishing levels of food production, ship construction, and industrial output. In this pessimistic view, China will soon replace America as the world’s predominant power. We are, supposedly, like an exhausted British Empire circa 1945, and China is the new version of the postwar American powerhouse. Yet even Beijing’s miraculous 30-year leap out of poverty into first-world affluence and Westernized power is hardly the same as parity with the US. In truth, Trump held almost all the cards at the current summit and will do so again when Xi Jinping visits the US this autumn.” (05/19/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/05/19/america-the-real-crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon/
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34) King & Kingslayer
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Two weeks ago, five incumbent Indiana state senators ‘weren’t just defeated,’ as NBC’s Steve Kornacki explained, ‘they were defeated in landslides.’ The five had bucked President Trump’s call to redraw the state’s congressional map …. On Saturday in Louisiana, Sen. Bill Cassidy, a 12-year Republican incumbent, became the first elected U.S. Senator to lose in a primary since 2012. … Cassidy was one of seven GOP Senators who found Mr. Trump guilty in his second impeachment trial, following the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. I cannot recall a president of either party ever wielding so much electoral clout within his own party — perhaps partly because other presidents did not attempt to reshape their party as aggressively as Trump has, and partly because no president has enjoyed the outsider status required to mobilize the disgruntled grassroots.” (05/19/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/05/19/king-kingslayer/
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35) Should a Murder Victim Have Rights in the Criminal Justice Process?
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Paul Cassell
“In every state and in the federal criminal justice system, when a crime victim is killed, the law allows a family member or other representative to step into the victim’s shoes and assert the victim’s rights. That framework has become a routine and influential feature of modern criminal justice, embedded in statutes, constitutional provisions, and everyday courtroom practice. Yet despite its centrality, the justifications for this arrangement have received relatively little sustained scholarly attention. That gap has become more apparent following Professor Lee Kovarsky’s recent article, ‘The Victims’ Rights Mismatch,’ which offers a serious and thoughtful challenge to prevailing assumptions about deceased-victim representation and calls for sharply limiting victims’ rights in such cases.” (05/19/26)
https://reason.com/volokh/2026/05/19/should-a-murder-victim-have-rights-in-the-criminal-justice-process/
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36) US/Iran Energy Shock Damage Is Spreading in Asia
Source: Antiwar.com
by Dan Steinbock
“The US/Iran-linked energy crisis has shifted from a commodity shock to structural geopolitics, with Asia at the epicenter due to its dependence on imported oil and LNG. Global reverberations can no longer be avoided.” (05/19/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/dan_steinbock/2026/05/18/us-iran-energy-shock-damage-is-spreading-in-asia
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37) The global prompt for a reliable AI future
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“Like many new technologies that hold both promise and risk, artificial intelligence might be reaching a global inflection point. Last week, for example, China and the United States agreed at a summit to start talks on defining possible guardrails for AI. Meanwhile, a global watchdog, the Financial Stability Board, has invited Anthropic to provide a briefing on how the AI firm’s latest model, Mythos, might pinpoint vulnerabilities in world financial systems. Since 2023, annual AI Safety Summits have been hosted in Asia and Europe. Even beyond such cooperation between governments, religious thinkers are stepping up to offer advice.” (05/18/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0518/The-global-prompt-for-a-reliable-AI-future
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38) Christianity and the Founders’ Liberalism
Source: Law & Liberty
by Alexander William Salter
“If the American founding was radical, it was in the literal sense of the word: proceeding from the root.” (05/19/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/christianity-and-the-founders-liberalism/
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39) The Noble Savage
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Sofia Karstens
“Eisenhower warned us: ‘Beware the military-industrial complex.’ Those words are widely remembered. Less so the companion warning: ‘Holding scientific discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific technological elite.’ That second warning may prove the more prophetic. The convergence of those two forces – the industrial machinery of power and the technological elite capable of shaping reality itself – is where we now find ourselves.” (05/19/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-noble-savage/
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40) Ibn Khaldun and the Original Case Against Big Government
Source: Students For Liberty
by Ilia Zhuzhunashvili
“When the state keeps taking more, it often ends up with less. The idea is usually treated as a modern insight, associated with tax curves, supply and demand, and other economic buzzwords. But Ibn Khaldun, the 14th-century North African historian and thinker, laid out the logic long before any of that language existed.” (05/19/26)
https://studentsforliberty.org/blog/ibn-khaldun-and-the-original-case-against-big-government/
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41) Sanctions, Siege, and the Female Body
Source: Common Dreams
by Nazaneen Shokri
“A delayed shipment of medication does not make headlines. A generator failing in a maternity ward is not breaking news. A woman rationing insulin or postponing prenatal care is not framed as political violence. And yet, from Iran to Gaza, these are the quiet consequences of policies described in distant capitals as ‘pressure,’ ‘security’ and ‘strategy.’ Whether through sanctions or siege, the mechanism is different, but the message is the same: Women’s health is negotiable. The Women, Life, Freedom movement born out of Iran has captured global attention. Women in Iran are disproportionately affected by the intensity of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, with stricter restrictions on their dress, behavior, and livelihoods. The Iran sanctions regime, beginning in 1979 following the US Embassy crisis, refers to the network of international economic, trade, and financial restrictions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran.” (05/19/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/sanctions-harm-women
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42) The So-Called “AI Revolution” Will Make Us Less Free
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Kym Robinson
“Social media and our relationship to the digital realm inside our screens has twisted the real world into a filtered and inhuman perception. Influencers and content creators who falsify their image turn humans with imperfections into streamlined products for a cultivated audience, with particular aesthetics and quality they are now accustomed to. In turn, LLMs and these versions of AI all seek to duplicate the human experience or perspective through devious means of humanizing machines. LLM’s are expected to provide prose filled with flowery and grandiose language, its software chatting in a way the human being on the other end feels flattered and ingratiated towards. This cognitive bias can both affirm pre-established beliefs while also satiating the human ego to the point of addiction and dependency.” (05/19/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-so-called-ai-revolution-will-make-us-less-free
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43) Asymmetric Accountability
Source: EconLog
by David Hebert
“For your decisions, there are three options: you can get the decision right or you can get it wrong. ‘But Dave,’ you say, ‘that’s only two options!’ In the following nuance lies the heart of this piece: there are two ways in which you can be wrong. You can act when you shouldn’t have or you can fail to act when you should have. Getting things right all the time is not possible. So which type of mistake are you more likely to guard against? It depends on which one will get you fired. In most government settings, the answer is biased in particular (and predictable) ways.” (05/19/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/asymmetric-accountability
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44) Why AI Is a Train, Not a Bicycle
Source: Persuasion
by Tim Requarth
“In 1981, a young Steve Jobs — bearded, bespectacled, brown corduroy blazer over an open-collared shirt — sat in front of an Apple II and explained what he thought a personal computer was for. He’d read an article in Scientific American that compared the efficiency of locomotion across species. The condor, he said, came out on top. Humans ranked about a third of the way down, ‘not too proud a showing for the crown of creation.’ But then someone had the insight to test a human on a bicycle, and the cyclist blew the condor away. … The computer, he said, was ‘a 21st century bicycle’ for the mind. In the age of AI, Jobs’ quaint bicycle has received an update from Silicon Valley. With the launch of ChatGPT, gushed Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in early 2023, ‘We went from the bicycle to the steam engine.'” (05/18/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/what-the-inuit-know-and-ai-doesnt
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45) Government control of chip sales has shocking downside
Source: Fox News
by Stephen Moore
“One of the goals of President Donald Trump’s trip to China is to help ensure continued American tech dominance. One worry is that China steals our technology. But sometimes we foolishly handicap our tech companies with bad policies here at home. An example is export controls, which are a threat to U.S. dominance and limit markets for American-made tech products. The politicians and bureaucrats have decided that they, and not the free market, are best equipped to manage the global semiconductor trade. It’s not going well. We’re still winning the chip war against China, but not by much. Even after years of stringent export controls that have crushed NVIDIA and AMD’s sales into China, recent tracking shows that the U.S. lead over China in AI has almost completely evaporated. Instead of slowing Beijing down, we have effectively subsidized the development of their domestic chip manufacturing by blocking and/or taxing their American competitors.” (05/19/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/stephen-moore-government-control-chip-sales-shocking-downside
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46) The Devil and Tina Peters
Source: The Bulwark
by Jonathan V Last
“On Friday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced that he would commute Tina Peters’s sentence. On the one hand, this is a tiny thing. Inconsequential. If we make it out of this period, then it will hardly be worth a footnote in the history of Trumpism. On the other hand, what Gov. Polis did for Peters is everything. It is the foundational question about how liberalism responds to an illiberal attack. And I’m going to swerve and tell you that I’m not really sure what I think about it. This might seem like an easy call — but it only seems that way.” (05/18/26)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-devil-and-tina-peters
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47) More on water
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“Environists have a mythology as rich (and wrong) as any other supposed (that is, fake) religion, when it comes to water. These myths are now embedded into school textbooks and media playbooks as much as National Socialism was ever found in schoolbooks of the Third Reich. Here are some of the myths and examples of them …” (05/18/26)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/05/18/more-on-water/
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48) No one can save Trump from himself this time
Source: AlterNet
by Lindsay Beyerstein
“When Donald Trump was about to miss an interest payment for his dying Trump Castle casino in 1990, his father Fred bought nearly $5 million worth of poker chips to save him from default. When Trump was indicted for inciting the January 6 insurrection, the Supreme Court ruled that he could not be charged …. As inflation spikes, gas prices surge, and the world teeters on the brink of a recession, congressional Republicans are demanding a billion dollars to build the gilded ballroom after Trump bulldozed the East Wing of the White House without collecting enough corporate bribes to cover the project. For nearly 80 years, someone has always saved Trump from himself. With the Strait of Hormuz, the president has finally created a mess so big that no one can save him. No one is coming to the rescue. NATO can’t and China won’t.” (05/18/26)
https://archive.is/xGvYZ
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49) The Mifepristone Wars, and What They Mean for Black Women
Source: The American Prospect
by Naomi Bethune
“Still concentrated in Southern states that ban abortion, Black women disproportionately rely on telehealth, which the Supreme Court has allowed — provisionally — to continue.” (05/19/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/05/19/mifepristone-wars-abortion-supreme-court-black-women-south/
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50) Does Poverty Cause Crime — Or Does Crime Cause Poverty?
Source: Independent Institute
by Scott Beyer
“The relationship between poverty and crime has been a longtime policy debate. A common narrative — particularly on the left — is that poverty drives people to crime, positing that those who live in tough neighborhoods have little choice but to survive through lawbreaking. This treats crime as a passive outcome of economic hardship — almost like a disease — rather than a choice. But a deeper look at the data, and differences across communities, suggests the opposite: that crime instead causes poverty. Irrespective of the causation order one accepts, there is certainly a relationship between the two.” (05/18/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/05/18/does-poverty-cause-crime-or-does-crime-cause-poverty/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Trump Watch, 05/19/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“The Deadly U.S. Obsession with Cuba.” (05/19/26)
https://www.fff.org/freedom-in-motion/video/trump-watch-the-deadly-u-s-obsession-with-cuba/
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52) Rising, 05/19/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on a viral video showing teenagers brawling at a Chipotle in Washington DC, leading to more calls for cracking down on youth violence in the city.” (05/19/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/5875552-rising-may-19-2026/
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53) Year Zero with Tommy Salmons, 05/19/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Rules for Radicals: Tactics pt1 w/John Weeks.” (05/19/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/rules-for-radicals-tactics-pt1-w-john-weeks
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54) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 05/19/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump’s $10 Billion IRS Shakedown Takes Darker Turn, Unnerving Experts.” (05/19/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/210604/trump-10-billion-irs-shakedown-takes-darker-turn-unnerving-experts
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55) The Bryan Hyde Show, 05/19/26
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“It’s my weekly visit with Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos. Primary election day in many states will give us plenty to discuss as well as the ongoing efforts by officialdom to separate us from our freedoms.” (05/19/26)
https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-ccvvt-1aca2b5
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56) Gracearchy with Jim Babka, episode 160
Source: Gracearchy with Jim Babka
“Did Libertarian Party national Chair Steven Nekhaila and Vice Chair Paul Darr call Jim Babka for a crucial LP history lesson? Did they take extraordinary action after that call? Who are these men, what makes them tick? And what will happen next, given that they’re moving on from their current positions?” (05/19/26)
https://rumble.com/v7a1e1e-160-libertarian-national-chairs-nekhaila-and-darr-gracearchy-with-jim-babka.html
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57) SolutionsWatch, 05/19/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“The AI uprising has begun. But what kind of uprising will it be? Will it be a Butlerian Jihad? A neo-Luddite movement? Or something else entirely? Let’s find out …” (05/19/26)
https://corbettreport.com/butlerian-jihad-when/
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58) Cato Podcast, 05/19/26
Source: Cato Institute
“Kicking the Can to Xi’s September Visit.” (05/19/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/kicking-can-xis-september-visit
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59) Advisory Opinions, 05/19/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Let’s Sue the Government.” (05/19/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/lets-sue-the-government/
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60) Law & Liberty Podcast, 05/19/26
Source: Law & Liberty
“The Future of Dynamism — with Virginia Postrel, hosted by G. Patrick Lynch.” (05/19/26)
https://lawliberty.org/podcast/the-future-of-dynamism/
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61) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 05/18/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump ‘Holds Off’ on Iran Attack Due To Gulf Request, US Launches Airstrikes in Nigeria, and More.” (05/18/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVzZQ76Ebhw
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62) The Inner Life of Liberalism, episode 1
Source: The Inner Life of Liberalism
“[A]n introduction to our Liberal Practices project, why we’re launching this show, and what you can expect from future episodes. We’re glad you’re here, and we hope that you’ll join us on this journey.” (05/18/26)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/001-liberalisms-inner-life/id1896732847?i=1000768405047
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63) Sal and Mark Show, episode 2
Source: Free Talk kLive
“This episode features Paul Puey of Edge Wallet and Harry Halpin of Nym on their groundbreaking MixNet integration; Captain Kickass on trusts, infinite banking, and protecting your assets from the state; plus discussions on Filecoin’s decentralized storage, Firo privacy coin updates, wrench attacks targeting crypto holders, and the ongoing war for your data.” (05/18/26)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/samsep2
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64) The Reconstruction Agenda, 05/18/26
Source: The UnPopulist
“A Bloated Executive and a Starved Congress Is a Bad Combination: A Conversation with Kevin Kosar.” (05/18/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/a-bloated-executive-and-a-starved
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65) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 05/18/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Harrison Berger Breaks Down Israel’s New Influence Strategy.” (05/18/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-harrison-berger-breaks-down-israels-new-influence-strategy/
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