Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“France’s national rail operator SNCF on Friday said the country’s high-speed TGV rail network has been struck by ‘malicious acts,’ including arson attacks that have disrupted the transport system. The incidents come only hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. ‘This is a massive attack on a large scale to paralyze the TGV network,’ SNCF told the AFP news agency. The operator added that many routes would have to be canceled and the situation would last ‘at least all weekend while repairs are conducted.’ By mid-morning, the company said some 800,000 passengers were affected.” (07/26/24)
https://www.dw.com/en/france-massive-attack-on-fast-train-network/a-69771241
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“The standard defense of flag-burning, affirmed by the US Supreme Court, treats flag-burning as ‘speech’ that enjoys the protection the First Amendment. Well, OK, I get that. Whether it’s technically ‘speech’ or not it’s at least expressive conduct, and I’m all for freedom of non-violent expressive conduct. But to me, what it’s really about is property rights. If you own a piece of cloth — even a piece of cloth with a particular pattern on it that makes it into what my friend and fellow political writer Kent McManigal calls a ‘Holy Pole Quilt,’ possessing quasi-religious-relic qualities to certain cultists — it’s yours. Not Donald Trump’s. Not Kamala Harris’s. Yours. You don’t get to ride in their limousines; they don’t get to tell you what to do with your flag.” (07/25/24)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/18834
Source: Reason
“Alex Thompson: Why Did Biden Drop Out?” (07/25/24)
https://reason.com/podcast/2024/07/25/alex-thompson-why-did-biden-drop-out/
Source: Reuters
“Australia, New Zealand and Canada on Friday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and asked Israel to respond to a United Nations court which last week ruled its occupation of Palestinian territories and [squats] there were illegal. … The leaders also said Israel needed to hold extremist [squatters] accountable for ongoing acts of violence against Palestinians, reverse its [squatting] program in the West Bank and work towards a two-state solution. … Israel’s foreign ministry last week rejected the ICJ opinion as ‘fundamentally wrong’ and one-sided, and repeated its stance that a political settlement in the region can only be reached by negotiations.” (07/26/24)
https://www.reuters.com/world/leaders-australia-new-zealand-canada-call-immediate-ceasefire-gaza-2024-07-26/
Source: Washington Post
by Megan McArdle
“For one of the youngest vice-presidential candidates ever nominated, J.D. Vance sounds a little crotchety. His convention speech last week pined for an America that the 39-year-old himself never knew — a land before drugs and deindustrialization ravaged the Rust Belt, when housing was cheap and families were intact, and proud American craftsmen made the world’s best products with their own hands. Of course, there’s nothing wrong in wishing for things you don’t remember — if they were really good, as many things were during the United States’[s] manufacturing boom: There were job opportunities, families formed easily and people felt support from society. I have sympathy for Vance’s desire to ‘put people to work making real products for American families.’ The problem is that Donald Trump cannot bring those days back. And I suspect Vance is too smart to truly believe the former president could.” (07/25/24)
https://archive.is/LJ1Ci
Source: The Hill
“Former President Trump is narrowly leading Vice President Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, in several battleground states, and the two are tied in Wisconsin, according to a new set of polls. The survey released by Emerson College Polling and The Hill on Thursday found Trump leading Harris by 5 points in Arizona, 49 percent to 44 percent; by 2 points in Georgia, 48 percent to 46 percent; by 1 point in Michigan, 46 percent to 45 percent; by 2 points in Pennsylvania, 48 percent to 46 percent; and tied with her at 47 percent in Wisconsin. In every state except Arizona, the polling falls within the survey’s margin of error, meaning Trump and Harris could actually be tied in most of the battleground state match-ups.” (07/25/24)
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4790684-kamala-harris-polls-donald-trump-wisconsin/
Source: EconLog
by Edward J Lopez
“[Philip] Hamburger attributes the rise of the administrative state to an American form of classism, whereby Progressive elites foist their good intentions and faith in government on everyone else via the state’s monopoly on force. This certainly jibes with a disturbing 2023 Rasmussen poll showing stark contrasts between elite and mass opinion on economic, social, and political issues. Yet, we would be remiss to neglect the forces of populism.” (07/25/24)
https://www.econlib.org/the-administrative-state-is-leviathan-and-leviathan-is-us/
Source: PressTV [Iranian state media]
“An airbase housing the US’s occupation forces in western Iraq has come under fresh attack amid continued regional uproar against Washington’s unstinting support for the Israeli regime’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. Several rockets were launched against the Ain al-Assad Airbase, which is located in the Arab country’s Anbar Province, on Thursday, Iraqi security officials said. ‘Four rockets fell in the vicinity’ of the outpost, one security source said. Another said an attack had occurred with ‘a drone and three rockets’ that fell close to the base’s perimeter.” (07/26/24)
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/07/26/730070/United-States-airbase-Iraq-attack-rockets-drone-Israel-Gaza-war
Source: Foreign Policy
by Stephen M Walt
“At least rhetorically, both Trump and vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance reject the failed strategy of liberal hegemony that neoconservatives and liberal interventionists have promoted over the past 30-plus years. They are equally contemptuous of the foreign-policy ‘Blob’ and its stubborn adherence to outdated orthodoxies. … a few realists I know and like seem almost giddy about Vance’s inclusion and the prospect of a Trump victory. Given Vance’s views on Ukraine and a few other issues, you might think I’d be jumping on the bandwagon, too. Unfortunately, that’s where the good news ends …. The central problem is that Trump and Vance are operating with an outdated picture of America’s place in the world and its ability to get its way unilaterally. They may reject neoconservatism, but they believe the United States can do whatever it wants and that other states will simply bend to its will.” (07/24/24)
https://archive.is/NHmK0
Source: Axios
“The U.S. economy grew at a 2.8% annualized rate in the second quarter—a faster rate than economists expected as consumer spending increased and businesses built up inventories, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. The new data raises confidence the economy has achieved a ‘soft landing’ — healthy economic growth alongside cooling inflation. Economists expected an annualized growth rate of 1.9% last quarter. The economy grew at a 1.4% rate in the first three months of the year.” (07/25/24)
https://www.axios.com/2024/07/25/gdp-report-q2-us-economy
