Source: Reuters
“President Joe Biden will continue discussions on U.S. infrastructure legislation this week, but the White House still has not agreed with lawmakers on how to pay for such a bill, officials said on Monday.” [editor’s note: Since taxing the rich won’t work for this pork-laden scam, they’ll just have to go back to the Fed and its printing press – SAT] (06/21/21)
Source: Foreign Policy
by Jason Crabtree
“In 2020, a war in the Caucasus, invisible to most Americans, killed some 6,000 people, wounded tens of thousands, and displaced many others. From September to November, an intense series of battles between invading Azerbaijani forces and Armenia, in the mountains of the long-disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, pulled in fighter jets from Turkey and missile defense systems from Russia. … This May, Israel and Hamas engaged in a widely scrutinized and intense 20-day campaign. … These short conflicts offer some provisional lessons about the future of combat, particularly in the use of air power — F-16 fighters on loan to Azerbaijan from Turkey, a new drone fleet against an Armenian military more constrained by gravity, and Israel’s claim to have used artificial intelligence to drive targeting.” (06/21/21)
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/06/21/gaza-nagorno-karabakh-future-conflict-drones/
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Humanity is becoming more conscious. It is. This is not a popular thing to say in the more cynical and pessimistic corners of the internet, but it’s true. I’m not referring to anything ‘out there’ or ‘spiritual’ when I make this assertion. I’m talking about a mundane reality that is easily verifiable by casual observation, if you just look past all the headlines and narrative chatter to see the big picture as a whole. Humans are becoming more and more aware of what’s going on, both in our world and in ourselves, as our ability to network and share information with each other becomes greater and greater. Because of the ubiquitousness of smartphones and social media, things like police brutality and the abuse of Palestinians are no longer regarded as mere verbal assertions made by their victims but as concrete realities which must be addressed.” (06/21/21)
Source: NBC News
“The FBI director and other senior officials have consistently downplayed the intelligence value of social media posts by Trump supporters prior to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, suggesting the bureau had no “actionable” warning that the Capitol would be targeted by a mob. But according to a document entered into court records last week, an FBI agent acknowledged in a February investigative report that angry Trump supporters were talking openly in the days before the riot about bringing guns to the Capitol to start a ‘revolution.’ … The FBI document doesn’t say whether the FBI’s review of social media posts was conducted before or after Jan. 6. The language in the document, however, contrasts with how FBI Director Christopher Wray has described what experts say was a vast trove of open source intelligence, beginning in December, pointing to potential violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 …” (06/21/21)
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Say What? US Planning New Sanctions … On Russia!” [Flash video] (06/21/21)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/say-what-us-planning-new-sanctionson-russia
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Alex Aragona
“People from all ideological angles will agree that we don’t live with truly free markets in the West, or anything close to it. ‘Capitalist’ societies, or ones regarded as driven by ‘markets’ are actually mixed economies where sectors of industry and economic activity are either overtly planned and directed by the state, or at least guided and protected by it — in other words, it’s more accurate to understand these systems as state-capitalist ones. Yet, when proponents of free markets take others (who claim to also be) to task for lacking strong criticism for the status quo of modern state-capitalism, there’s often friction in the conversation, and a threshold they can’t get others to cross.” (06/21/21)
Source: New York Post
“The Stonewall Inn’s owners say they won’t serve certain beers at the famous LGBT bar during Pride weekend to protest manufacturer Anheuser-Busch’s political contributions to some politicians who have supported anti-LGBT legislation. Co-owners Stacy Lentz and Kurt Kelly said they would be instituting the ban on Friday in support of the ‘Keep Your Pride’ campaign, a recently launched effort highlighting five companies that it says advertise support during Pride but have also made contributions to anti-LGBT lawmakers. The campaign, a project of Corporate Accountability Action, used data compiled from the National Institute on Money in Politics to show that Anheuser-Busch contributed more than $35,000 to 29 legislators it described as anti-LGBT between 2015 and 2020.” (06/21/21)
https://nypost.com/2021/06/21/political-donations-lead-stonewall-inn-to-ban-some-beers/
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“There is no doubt that when it comes to freedom, the situation in America is not good. Ever since I founded FFF some 31 years ago, our lives as welfare-warfare serfs has gotten progressively worse, year after year. One option, of course, is to give up. Just surrender and accept our serfdom as a permanent condition and work to impove it. That’s what libertarian reformers have done. … That’s all fine and good in terms of possibly improving our lives as serfs. But it’s not freedom because freedom entails the elimination of infringements on liberty, not their reform. Reform keeps the infringements intact, albeit in reformed fashion.” (06/21/21)
https://www.fff.org/2021/06/21/if-we-are-going-to-achieve-freedom/
Source: Washington Post
“Taliban fighters took control of a key district in Afghanistan’s northern Kunduz province Monday and encircled the provincial capital, police said, as the insurgent group added to its string of recent victories on the battlefield. Fighting around Imam Sahib district began late Sunday and by mid-day Monday the Taliban had overrun the district headquarters and were in control of police headquarters, said Inamuddin Rahmani, provincial police spokesman said. … Dozens of districts have fallen to the Taliban since May 1, when U.S. and NATO troops began their final departure from Afghanistan. Like Imam Sahib district in northern Kunduz, their significance often lies in their proximity to roads and major cities.” (06/21/21)
Source: EconLog
“Anja Shortland on Lost Art.” [Flash audio or MP3] (06/21/21)