Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Overnight air strikes by Pakistani forces have killed at least 36 civilians and injured more than 160 others, Afghan officials said Monday, as tensions between the neighbours further escalated. Pakistani security forces carried out a ground operation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border late Sunday, followed by strikes against militant hideouts and safe havens, killing 29 fighters, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said. They said the operations were launched in response to multiple militant attacks across Pakistan. … The Pakistani security operation followed a militant attack targeting the regional headquarters of the paramilitary Rangers in Karachi that killed three soldiers. Security forces killed three attackers and arrested another assailant, whom the military identified as an Afghan national in wounded condition. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the Karachi attack.” (06/29/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20260629-dozens-of-civilians-killed-in-pakistani-air-strikes-in-afghanistan-officials-say
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Sarah McLaughlin
“Among social media commenters, columnists, and even heads of state, it’s a typical refrain: If we just rid ourselves of that pesky internet anonymity and pseudonymity, we will have a cleaner, better, happier world. Anonymity, the common sentiment goes, is the weapon of the evil and the cruel. Despite some prevalent misconceptions, anonymity is not an invention of social media, email, or the internet age. The American founding fathers, for example, took great advantage of pseudonymous and anonymous expression, as have denizens of Rome for hundreds of years on the city’s ‘talking statues.’ Opposition to anonymity is not new either — far from it. … Anonymity and pseudonymity are not weapons trained upon the vulnerable. Rather, anonymity is the protector of the vulnerable, the shield between them and consequences ranging from embarrassment to social fallout to the worst forms of government oppression.” (06/26/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/blogs/free-speech-dispatch/defense-anonymity-guard-dog-free-expression
Source: We Are Libertarians
“Trump’s Reflecting Pool Fiasco Exposes His Pattern of Leadership Failures.” (06/27/26)
https://www.chrisspangle.com/p/trumps-reflecting-pool-fiasco-exposes
Source: CoinDesk
“Crypto opened Monday flat. Bitcoin traded near $59,700, down 0.3% on the day and 6.8% on the week, as a de-escalation in the U.S.-Iran conflict lifted equity futures but left digital assets unmoved, per CoinDesk data. Ether edged up 0.3% to $1,572, Solana added 1.5%, while XRP and dogecoin continued to slide.” (06/29/26)
https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/06/29/bitcoin-dips-to-usd59-700-as-iran-de-escalation-lifts-stocks-but-not-crypto
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider
“The Trump administration is right to defend the MOU as necessary and good. But it is good because it ends the war instead of allowing it to continue on its increasingly damaging path. They are wrong to defend it as an improvement over the JCPOA or even the deal that was on the table before the U.S. and Israel attacked this February. The Islamic Republic, liberated from maximum pressure sanctions and having demonstrated its ability to close the Strait of Hormuz and withstand major attacks, will be in a stronger position than perhaps ever before. A final agreement should be signed; the war should never have been fought.” (06/27/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/blame-the-war-not-the-peace-deal-for-irans-new-leverage/
Source: CNBC
“Russian President Vladimir Putin has conceded that the country is facing fuel shortages following a barrage of long-range Ukrainian drone strikes on key energy infrastructure, although he insisted the Kremlin was dealing with them. The Russian president’s comments during an interview with a state TV reporter on Sunday mark the first time he has detailed the extent to which Ukraine’s deep-strike success has hampered Russia’s fuel production. Putin said Russia would import more fuel and expedite repairs of oil facilities to end what he described as the ‘temporary deficit,’ according to The Associated Press. … The Russian president also acknowledged the impact of Ukraine’s drone strikes during a meeting with government ministers and other officials, noting the queues at petrol stations and saying a full ban on diesel exports was under consideration.” (06/29/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/29/putin-russia-fuel-shortages-ukraine-drone-strikes.html
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“I’ve got mixed opinions on voting itself (for one thing, I’m not sure it accomplishes much), and strong opinions on mail (the government should get entirely out of the matter and let the private sector handle it), but this particular matter is about rule of law. Regardless of whether I like the laws, or how they’re made, or who gets to make them, I’m a big supporter of holding the government and its officials TO the laws they claim are so important for OUR ‘protection.'” (06/28/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20716
Source: Axios
“The U.S. and Iran agreed to stop attacking each other, according to a senior U.S. official, as the two sides plan to meet Tuesday in Qatar’s capital to work out their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz. The ceasefire is barely 11 days old and already on shaky ground with renewed strikes by both sides and President Trump’s threat to restart the war and ‘complete the job.’ The renewed fighting was sparked by competing interpretations of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) to end the war — especially its terms on the Strait of Hormuz. ‘We decided to stop all the kinetic activity,’ a senior U.S. official tells Axios, using the military’s term for strikes and other attacks.” [editor’s note: With the passage of the concurrent congressional war powers resolution, the US regime is legally obligated to unconditionally GTFO of the (already illegally anyway) war – TLK] (06/29/26)
https://archive.is/2SbAf
Source: Independent Institute
by Benjamin Powell
“Garment factories do not conscript workers when they open in Dhaka, Bangladesh, or Jakarta, Indonesia. Many would-be workers walk for hours, lie about their age, and bribe their way into getting jobs. That is not victimhood. That is how people behave when they’ve found an opportunity to improve their lives. The U.N. panjandrums never consider the alternatives to low-wage factory work in poverty-ridden countries. The reality is brutal: subsistence farming at the mercy of monsoon season, scavenging, informal day labor, and even prostitution.” (06/27/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/06/27/in-defense-of-sweatshops/
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The chief of Uganda’s military says he has ordered the closure of two of the country’s biggest media outlets. Muhoozi Kainerugaba said on Sunday that the Daily Monitor, the country’s largest independent daily newspaper, and NTV Uganda, one of the largest private broadcasters, were being shut down and would not reopen without his permission. ‘In Uganda, I do not believe in a free press!’ Kainerugaba, who is the president’s son, wrote on X. ‘From now on ALL bad stories about Uganda have to be cleared by my office!’ he said in one of a series of posts, adding that all media in Uganda would follow the rules, going forward.” (06/28/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/28/ugandas-military-chief-orders-shutdown-of-two-media-outlets
