Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Dozens of coordinated arson and incendiary attacks across Thailand’s south left at least three people wounded and government property burned, the military has said. Multiple local government offices and several vehicles were damaged or destroyed in the 51 attacks late on Saturday, according to the military’s Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC). … Since 2004, a low-level conflict has simmered in the southernmost provinces of Buddhist-majority Thailand, killing more than 7,000 people, as rebels in the Muslim-majority region battle for greater autonomy. No group has claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attacks.” (08/23/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/23/dozens-of-attacks-in-southern-thailand-wound-three-people?traffic_source=rss
Source: Freakonomics
“Is a Museum Just a Trophy Case?” (08/21/26)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/is-a-museum-just-a-trophy-case-update/
Source: Antiwar.com
by Jeffrey Robertson
“A Trump-Kim summit would be a spectacle like no other. A carnival extravaganza with the Korean Peninsula holding center stage, and every handshake, expression, seating arrangement, and stray remark dissected by troupes of North Korea pundits across the world’s news networks. But like any great traveling carnival, a few days later ticket holders will be left with an uncomfortable queasiness and a sense that they’ve somehow been cheated. Spectacle, not strategy.” (08/21/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/jeffrey_robertson/2026/08/20/another-trump-kim-carnival
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“As a charge, ‘racism’ is completely irrelevant in 2026. ‘Wolf’ has been cried so many times that even if it were a wolf crying it, no one would believe it or care. I should say ‘almost no one’. Democrats would still try to make something out of it, and Al Sharpton and Ben Crump would come to perform a little bullshit two-step for the cameras and the checks. But otherwise, no one would care because, well, it is not racist to notice things. Don’t get me wrong, racism still exists, but the most glaring way in which it exists is in the hearts and minds of leftists. It is no longer racist to judge someone by the color of their skin and treat them differently because of it; that’s half the platform of the Democrats (both the regular old kind and the Socialists of America type).” (08/22/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/08/23/it-is-not-racist-to-notice-things-its-actually-racist-to-pretend-you-dont-n2681734
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Fourteen people were killed in military air strikes at a monastery in Myanmar early on Friday, opposition fighters and a local rescue worker have said. All of those killed were elderly and a number of monks were also injured, the rescue worker told BBC Burmese, adding that the site was struck twice. … Civilians had reportedly gathered at the site for a meditation retreat to mark Buddhist Lent. Myanmar’s military has not commented.” (08/22/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqlxlvz01z1o
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Adam Goldstein
“How a Reconstruction-era law built to crush the Klan, and tested against the Mafia, ended up silencing people for journalism and memes.” (08/21/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/if-everythings-conspiracy-nothings-conspiracy
Source: US News & World Report
“President Donald Trump has urged a federal judge to reject the BBC’s request for the court’s help in securing testimony and documents from three family members in response to his $10 billion [frivolous] defamation lawsuit against the British broadcaster. The BBC is trying to gain ‘politically-driven leverage’ over Trump by serving subpoenas on daughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and son Donald Trump Jr., personal lawyers for the Republican president argued in a court filing Friday. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Kuntz in Miami did not immediately rule on the dispute.” (08/22/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2026-08-22/trump-urges-court-to-reject-bbcs-bid-to-secure-records-from-his-family-in-defamation-case
Source: The New Republic
“Trump’s Rage Darkens as MTG Drops Midterm Bombshell: GOP Is Toast.” (08/21/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/214581/trump-rage-darkens-mtg-drops-midterm-bombshell-gop-toast
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joshua Mawhorter
“Many mistakenly assume that, on a free market, high barriers to entry and start-up costs so privilege the monopolistic incumbents that it would be virtually impossible for other firms to compete. In such an environment, competition is said to either be improbable or impossible, or—where competition could presumably exist—it is said to be inconvenient or duplicative. Hopefully the reader can see the question-begging in such claims and how the conclusion is presupposed against competition—there is either said to be no competition or there is said to be too much competition. Thus, the public goods argument for ‘public utilities’ and the myth of ‘natural monopoly’ combine to argue that the state ought to provide certain services to prevent market failure and monopoly.” (08/21/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/telephone-and-brief-episode-imperfect-competition-1894-1906
Source: New York Post
“Gov. Gavin Newsom signed California’s controversial ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’ into law on Saturday, just days after a radical [sic] left-wing [sic] operative [sic] crashed the journalist’s Capitol interview and launched a crude personal attack on him. Assembly Bill 2624 expands California’s Safe at Home program to employees of nonprofits that serve people navigating the immigration system. Critics have blasted the measure as a way to intimidate people ‘trying to shine light on bad behavior.’ The law takes effect Oct. 1, 2027. … Shirley, an independent journalist and YouTuber, has made videos following immigrant workers and accusing them of fraud. … On Wednesday, Shirley was conducting a sidewalk interview outside the California State Capitol in Sacramento when Terry Schanz, chief of staff to Democratic Assemblywoman Tina McKinnor, allegedly barged into the encounter. … He held up a printed flyer and asked: ‘Did you guys hear that Nick Shirley has a small penis allegedly?'” (08/22/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/08/22/us-news/gavin-newsom-signs-controversial-stop-nick-shirley-act-into-law/
