Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The US is pausing a $14bn (£10.4bn) arms sale to Taiwan to ensure it has enough weapons for the Iran war, acting Navy secretary Hung Cao has said. Cao confirmed this at a Senate hearing, days after President Donald Trump appeared non-committal about the sale following his meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. A spokesperson for Taiwan’s presidential office told reporters on Friday that they had not received any information about ‘US adjustments to the arms sale.’ The sale of US arms to Taiwan has long irked Beijing, which [pretends] the self-governed island [i]s its territory and has not ruled out taking it by force.” (05/22/26)
https://archive.is/ZPQ0N
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Andrew Lilico
“It sounds so simple. If consumers are suffering because prices are going up, then forbid that. Who could object, beyond greedy firms profiteering by pushing prices up? … If the government caps the prices of supermarket products, that will make those products unprofitable for the supermarket to stock and also mean that consumers have to pay less for them than their economic value, the consequence being that they will sell out and not be available. Why would I, as a consumer, want key products to be unavailable in supermarkets?” (05/21/26)
https://fee.org/articles/only-a-fool-or-a-politician-would-cap-food-prices/
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
“Ryan, Connor, and Tho discuss the results of the most expensive Congressional race in American history. What does the defeat of Thomas Massie tell us? What does this mean for libertarian strategy? Should we blackpill?” (05/21/26)
https://mises.org/podcasts/power-and-market/post-massie-america
Source: Politico
“Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her United Conservative Party government will hold a referendum in October to ask Albertans if they want to remain in Canada, or start the process toward a binding separation referendum. … The announcement marks an escalation of separatist tensions in the oil-rich and staunchly conservative province, a flashpoint that will test Prime Minister Mark Carney’s leadership as Ottawa is forced to respond to a growing national unity crisis. For months, Smith been under fire from separatist groups demanding a vote on Alberta leaving Canada, a push largely driven by Stay Free Alberta, a grassroots movement that claims to have collected more than 300,000 signatures in support of a separation referendum.” (05/21/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/21/alberta-separation-referendum-00933323
Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy
“Donald Trump is now an unpopular president. Some of this dissatisfaction is due to the war in Iran. Some of it springs from the unanticipated speed, chaos, and perceived brutality of several of his administration’s actions over the past year and a half. But a significant part of his political problem has a straightforward economic explanation: Everything feels expensive, and his tariffs are a major reason why. If the president wants to help himself and his party ahead of this year’s midterm elections, the most effective thing he can do is eliminate the tariffs. The evidence in favor of this move is overwhelming, and it comes from his own tenure.” (05/21/26)
https://reason.com/2026/05/21/trumps-approval-rating-is-cratering-tariffs-are-a-big-reason-why/
Source: Yahoo! News
“Federal judges in Maine and Wisconsin on Thursday dismissed lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking to compel the states to hand over detailed voter registration information. U.S. District Judge James Pederson in Wisconsin said the state’s voter registration list is not a record that can be requested under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, as President Donald Trump’s administration argued. In Maine, Chief U.S. District Judge Lance Walker described the government’s claim as ‘half-hearted’ and granted a state motion to dismiss it. The rulings were the latest in a string of defeats for the Trump administration in its attempts to force states to turn over voter rolls. … The DOJ has sued at least 30 states and the District of Columbia seeking to force release of the detailed voter data. It includes information such as dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.” (05/21/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/judges-maine-wisconsin-dismiss-justice-211527091.html
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“I’d love to see Barack Obama charged with, tried for, and convicted of crimes that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt he’s guilty of. For example: Obama ordered the murders of at least two American citizens, Anwar al-Awlaki and his son, Abdulrahman Anwar al-Awlaki (Donald Trump later ordered the murder of eight-year-old Nawar Anwar al-Awlaki, also a US citizen). Obama also illegally took the US to war in Libya, never even seeking the constitutionally required declaration of war. For those crimes, and many others, I’d very much like to see Obama face legal consequences. But there’s a problem with the idea …” (05/21/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20627
Source: gCaptain
“Iran is discussing with Oman how to set up some form of a permanent toll system that will formalize its control of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. … ‘We’ve always said a tolling system in the strait would be unacceptable,’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Thursday when asked about Iran’s intentions. ‘No one in the world is in favor of a tolling system. It can’t happen. It would make a diplomatic deal unfeasible. It’s a threat to the world that they would try to do that, and it’s completely illegal.’ … Iran refuses to reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the US agrees to lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports.” (05/21/26)
https://gcaptain.com/iran-and-oman-discuss-hormuz-toll-regime-as-rubio-warns-it-cant-happen/
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“Critics of the May 2026 summit between President Trump and Xi Jinping, president of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), widely condemned the outcome as being long on pomp and ceremony but short on meaningful substantive results. They noted that most of the agreements reached, especially on trade and other economic issues, were either preliminary or relatively minor. There was a virtual consensus among the opinion-shaping elites that Trump had secured no major concessions on either his commercial or his security objectives. In other words, the outcome of the summit was rather bland and boring. That criticism may be true, but in international affairs boring is usually good.” (05/21/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_galen_carpenter/2026/05/20/the-boring-trump-xi-summit-boring-is-good/
Source: SFGate
“Trucks carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles rumbled over forest roads, atomic-powered submarines set sail from Arctic and Pacific ports, and crews scrambled into warplanes as Russia and neighboring Belarus held the final stage of their joint nuclear drills Thursday. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko inspected Russian short-range nuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles at a military unit involved in the drills …. The three-day drills that began Tuesday come amid a surge in Ukrainian drone strikes, including on Moscow’s suburbs that killed three people and damaged several buildings and industrial facilities. The strikes made it harder for officials in the Kremlin to cast the conflict in Ukraine — now in its fifth year — as something so distant that it doesn’t affect the daily routines of Russian civilians. Russia’s Defense Ministry said the exercise involved 64,000 troops, over 200 missile launchers, more than 140 aircraft, 73 surface warships and 13 submarines, including eight armed with nuclear-tipped ICBMs.” (05/21/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/russia-holds-nuclear-drills-on-land-sea-and-air-22270103.php
