Hey, everyone …
It’s a web-only “FIREHOSE FRIDAY” at the freedom movement’s daily newspaper. We’ve got at least 108 (maybe more by the time you read this) news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links awaiting your perusal here at the web edition.
We’ve been moving away from “web-only” editions the last few months, instead publishing a regular 60-item email/social media edition and posting EXTRA material to the web edition. We’ve usually got at least another 20 or so posts for you on the web.
What’s different this week (and probably next week)? Steve Trinward is traveling, and I’m covering for him, so I’ve got more work to do than usual. Don’t break out the world’s smallest violin or anything. I’m not complaining (Steve covers for me when I’m traveling, too). Going “web-only” takes just a little bit of the extra work off my plate and lets me focus on the content instead of the formatting and such.
We’re a reader-supported publication. You’re a reader. I’d like nothing better than for Steve to return from his travels (he just had a birthday, too!) with a little more money waiting for him than usual (I won’t turn down my share, either). If you find our work valuable, you can show your love for us at:
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Have a great weekend, and we … er, I … will be back with the regular edition on Monday!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The US launched a wave of strikes against Iran for the sixth night in a row, its military said, as the two sides battled over control of the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command (Centcom) said the attacks were intended to ‘further degrade Iranian military capabilities’, before saying it had boarded a vessel as part of its blockade of Iranian ports. State media reported that the US had hit civilian infrastructure, including bridges, a train station and an airport. The BBC has verified an attack on one bridge to the west of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan province. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) say they have retaliated by striking US maritime surveillance radar sites in Oman as well as targets in Kuwait and Bahrain. They also claim to have attacked a US special operations command centre in Syria.” (07/17/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c151gdjwd10o
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“‘I want to stop American aid,’ Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on June 30. ‘It’s like welfare; I don’t want it.’ Usually, Netanyahu gets anything he demands from Uncle Sugar. But on July 15, the US House of Representatives voted, 314-104 against even partially granting his wish. Every Republican except Thomas Massie of Kentucky, and more than half of Democrats, voted down an amendment that would have removed $3.3 billion in ‘Foreign Military Financing’ aid from the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act. What’s up with that? … This may be the first time I’ve ever found myself in agreement with Benjamin Netanyahu on anything. Well, partial agreement, anyway. US aid to Israel isn’t ‘like welfare.’ It IS welfare.” (07/16/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20763
Source: The Anarchist Experience
“Riley in on official campaign business, so Rich E Rich Reads the News while discussing some social media interactions.” (07/16/26)
https://theanarchistexperience.wordpress.com/2026/07/17/the-anarchist-experience-589/
Source: SFGate
“Andy Burnham will officially become leader of Britain’s governing Labour Party on Friday, clearing his final hurdle to taking office as prime minister next week. The center-left party will announce the result of a leadership contest to replace departing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in which Burnham was the only contender. He had secured nominations from 379 of the 403 Labour lawmakers in the House of Commons as of Thursday night. … Starmer announced last month that he would resign after two years in office marred by missteps and judgment errors that eroded his standing with his party and the public.” (07/17/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/andy-burnham-to-become-uk-labour-leader-in-last-22349017.php
Source: Independent Institute
by Richard K Vedder
“The news is awash with reports that younger Americans are learning less than their parents did a generation ago. One in eight freshmen at the highly selective University of California, San Diego campus place below high school levels in math, leading professors to complain that declining student proficiency is imperiling their ability to provide at least a modicum of math competency. Grade inflation is also leading university students to study far less than their parents or grandparents did in college—for much higher grades. Are we becoming a nation of lazy dumbbells?” (07/16/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/07/16/ignorance-is-not-bliss-the-dumbing-down-of-america/
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Donald Trump accused China of interfering with the 2020 election in a primetime televised address that laid bare his continuing obsession with his defeat to Joe Biden, but which opponents warned was a smokescreen for him to meddle in the forthcoming congressional midterms. … As a prelude to his claims of interference by China, Trump on Thursday said he was announcing the ‘immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence, revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure’. … Several networks, including NBC, ABC and CNN, declined to air the speech on their main broadcast networks, citing concerns that the content could be politically partisan or inflammatory. The move prompted Trump to call for their broadcast licenses to be revoked.” (07/16/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/16/trump-tv-address-thursday
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“Allies and clients have frequently entangled their great power patrons in needless geopolitical crises and sometimes even bloody wars. The tragic events leading to World War I in 1914 are a classic example. Serbia helped drag Czarist Russia into that bloody maelstrom and Austria-Hungary did the same to Wilhelmine Germany. Similar dangers exist today in the international system. Two of Washington’s current most odious and dangerous ‘loose cannon’ allies are Israel and Turkey. U.S. administrations have funded and armed both countries for decades and routinely excused outrageous acts that their clients have committed. Even worse from the standpoint of America’s best interests and purported values, the respective governments have increasingly competitive political and strategic objectives.” (07/16/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/washingtons-two-rogue-allies-in-the-middle-east-face-off
Source: Twin Cities Pioneer Press
“Puerto Rico announced water rationing measures on Thursday as a drought grips the U.S. territory, worsening chronic water shortages that have forced the governor to declare a state of emergency. Thousands of people in the island’s northeast region face 48-hour rationing periods from Friday, said Luis González, executive president of the island’s water and sewer authority. … The U.S. Drought Monitor says 14% of Puerto Rico is currently under a severe drought and another 59% under a moderate drought, up from 18% in late June. Around 2.3 million people out of Puerto Rico’s 3.2 million inhabitants are currently living in a region affected by drought, it estimates.” (07/16/26)
https://www.twincities.com/2026/07/16/puerto-rico-water-shortages-rationing
Source: Persuasion
by Luke Hallam
“One of the greatest worries for the Founding Fathers was the specter of ‘standing armies’—a permanent, professional military under the direct control of the president. … Two and a half centuries later, with permanent armies and police forces very much the norm, we view such statements as a relic of the 18th century no longer applicable to the modern world. Yet the Founding Fathers were right to draw a connection between standing armies and liberty—and in this case, Madison’s comment about an ‘overgrown Executive’ is prophetic.” (07/16/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/ice-is-trumps-standing-army-now
