Source: Axios
“Republican primary voters on Tuesday rejected U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, one of the Senate’s most senior GOP members, in favor of Trump-backed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. … ‘Tonight is the beginning of the fight to preserve every value we hold dear,’ Paxton told supporters, referring to his upcoming general election campaign against Democrat James Talarico. … Cornyn and his supporters warned that the outcome could complicate Republicans’ efforts to hold the seat in November against Talarico, a state representative from Austin.” [editor’s note: Paxton seems to think Texas Republicans hold fraud, bribery, and adultery “dear” as “values.” And he just may be right – TLK] (05/27/26)
https://www.axios.com/local/austin/2026/05/27/texas-senate-gop-cornyn-paxton
Source: Chris’s Substack
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
“Libertarians are not unique in their diversity or their internal squabbles. Indeed, as a friend of mine once quipped, wherever there’s an ‘ism,’ there’s a schism — whether in religion, philosophy, or political thought. For example, socialism has long been an umbrella term for a diverse and often bitterly opposed group of thinkers and traditions …. And there’s even socialist overlap with libertarianism since figures associated with the latter, such as Benjamin Tucker, have identified with the former. Indeed, many anarchists and libertarian-socialists — from Proudhon to Emma Goldman — have inspired contemporary American libertarians. Zwolinski reminds us that the very term ‘libertarian’ was introduced by the French anarcho-communist Joseph Déjacque in the 1850s. … Internal squabbles have also been found among the followers of Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism.” (05/26/26)
https://chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com/p/the-triumph-of-the-libertarian-hyphenates
Source: Reason
“Does Anyone Know What’s Happening in Iran?” (05/26/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/05/26/does-anyone-know-whats-happening-in-iran/
Source: Reuters
“Air defence units in the port of Sevastopol in Russian-occupied [sic] Crimea downed more than 20 Ukrainian drones early on Wednesday, with Ukraine also using Storm Shadow missiles, the city’s governor said on Telegram. There were no injuries, according to preliminary data, Mikhail Razvozhayev said, adding that a few buildings, including a regional office of the central bank and an eight-story apartment block, were damaged in the attack. Storm Shadow missiles are made by a Franco-British consortium. Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, has previously summoned the British and French ambassadors to protest Ukraine’s use of the weapons.” (05/27/26)
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/sevastopol-governor-says-ukraine-used-storm-shadow-missiles-attack-2026-05-27/
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“So, here we are: Instead of taking his lumps, letting the war end, and hoping for an economic upturn before the midterm elections mangle his party’s present projects and future prospects, Trump is doubling down. There are three, and only three, plausible explanations: Explanation One is that he’s evil, hates America, and is doing his damnedest to destroy the US economy. … Explanation Two is that he’s stupid — whether by nature or due to his obvious cognitive decline — and just doesn’t know what he’s doing or understand its moral, political, or economic implications. … Explanation Three is that Trump — again, possibly due to the obvious cognitive decline he’s publicly and frequently displayed since before his second inauguration — isn’t in charge; the presidency is effectively controlled by other people who happen to be evildoers.” (05/26/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20632
Source: Associated Press
“President Donald Trump will meet with his Cabinet on Wednesday at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after insisting that his administration and Tehran had ‘largely negotiated’ a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux. As he prepares to huddle with his top aides, Trump is projecting confidence that he’s closing in on a deal that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and provide him a credible argument that Iran’s nuclear capability has been diminished enough to declare victory, winding down a conflict that’s been politically unpopular for Republicans. … The emerging deal puts off many critical issues to be resolved later and has already exposed the president to fierce criticism — even from some of his own supporters — that Iran’s hardline leaders will emerge from the conflict battered but emboldened.” (05/27/26)
https://apnews.com/article/trump-iran-nuclear-cabinet-meeting-af77d581873bfeec32d7342b56841244
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ron Paul
“The pattern of media reports – based on White House leaks – that an agreement with Iran is almost completed has become predictable. Where once the markets fluctuated wildly (and some insiders made huge profits with the information), each time we hear that the deal is almost complete only to see it fall through, the markets barely move. It is dangerous to have a US Administration that no one in the US or the rest of the world believes.” (05/26/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/paul/2026/05/25/when-our-word-is-no-longer-good
Source: NBC News
“The Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out a long-shot lawsuit in which Florida sought to sue California and Washington for allegedly allowing people who entered the country illegally [sic] to obtain commercial truck driver’s licenses. Florida’s claim was filed in the aftermath of a high-profile crash in the state last year in which a truck driven by an Indian man, Harjinder Singh, was involved in an accident that left three people dead. The state, which says Singh did not have legal status in the United States, alleges he was wrongly issued licenses in both California and Washington. … The court denied the state’s appeal without comment. Conservative [sic] Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a separate opinion saying he would have heard the case. He was joined by fellow conservative [sic] Justice Samuel Alito.” (05/26/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-florida-lawsuit-drivers-licenses-undocumented-immigrants-rcna265323
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“The dead made promises on our behalf. We pay their debts, inherit their quarrels, and walk roads they laid and ruins they left. This is the ordinary condition of being alive. We arrive in a world built by the hands of the dead, which, for better or worse, is our inheritance. Some accept this fact without much thought. What we accept less readily is its mirroring — that we, too, will shape the world for others to inherit. Just as the dying left us an inheritance of gifts and debts, we will leave one, too.” (05/26/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/the-posterity-pact
Source: Bloomberg
“Bitcoin’s expected volatility has fallen to the lowest level in nine months, as subdued trading and a shift in speculative interest away from the largest cryptocurrency dampen demand for options protection. The Bitcoin Volmex Implied Volatility Index fell to 36.11 Monday in Singapore, its lowest since September last year and close to its lowest since 2023. The index reflects the market’s expected 30-day volatility in Bitcoin, derived from real-time crypto options prices.” (05/26/26)
https://archive.is/HfhT7
