- Epstein & Maxwell grand juries did not hear directly from victims, prosecutors tell judges
Source: SFGate
“The federal grand juries that indicted Jeffrey Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell on sex trafficking charges did not hear directly from any of the alleged victims in the case, Justice Department officials said in support of their request to unseal transcripts of the usually secret proceedings. Just two witnesses testified before the panel and both were law enforcement officials, the officials said. In a court filing late Tuesday, the officials again urged the court to release the records, citing huge public interest, but they also sought to assure the judges that making them public wouldn’t harm victims of the couple’s crimes.” (07/30/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/justice-department-says-epstein-and-maxwell-grand-20793399.php
- US Senate confirms Emil Bove to Third Circuit
Source: Politico
“Emil Bove, President Donald Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, has been confirmed to a lifetime seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals — the culmination of a tumultuous campaign from his detractors that ultimately fractured his support among the Senate GOP. The Senate voted 50-49 to confirm Bove, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska defecting from the rest of their party to join all Democrats in opposing. Bove was plagued by reports of whistleblowers alleging that he recommended the administration ignore court orders that would disrupt Trump’s aggressive immigration agenda.” (07/29/25)
- ME: Appeals court sides against mom who argued school concealed child’s gender expression
Source: Portland Press Herald
“An appeals court has upheld a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit by a Lincoln County mother who argued that her child’s school district violated her parental rights by withholding information about the student’s gender expression at school. Amber Lavigne, of Newcastle, sued the Damariscotta-based Great Salt Bay Community School Board in April 2023, arguing that the district infringed on her parental rights and violated the 14th Amendment. The suit argued that a staff member provided Lavigne’s 13-year-old child with a chest binder, and referred to them by a different name and pronouns than they had been assigned at birth, while intentionally concealing that information from Lavigne. School officials maintained that their policies followed state laws, which provide equal access to education for all students regardless of gender identity, and a right to privacy regardless of age.” (07/30/25)
- France, 14 other regimes issue “New York call” urging recognition of Palestine
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“France and 14 other Western nations called on countries worldwide to move to recognise a Palestinian state, France’s top diplomat said Wednesday. The foreign ministers of 15 countries late Tuesday issued a joint statement following a conference in New York, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, aimed at reviving a two-state solution between Israelis and the Palestinians. … The statement was signed by the foreign ministers of Andorra, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia and Spain. … Seventeen countries plus the European Union and Arab League during the conference joined calls for Hamas to disarm and end its rule of Gaza, in a bid to end the devastating war in the Palestinian territory.” (07/30/25)
- Radar satellite launched by India & NASA will track miniscule changes to Earth’s land & ice
Source: SFGate
“NASA and India paired up to launch an Earth-mapping satellite on Wednesday capable of tracking even the slightest shifts in land and ice. The $1.3 billion mission will help forecasters and first responders stay one step ahead of floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions and other disasters, according to scientists. Rocketing to orbit from India, the satellite will survey virtually all of Earth’s terrain multiple times. Its two radars — one from the U.S. and the other from India — will operate day and night, peering through clouds, rain and foliage to collect troves of data in extraordinary detail.” (07/30/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/radar-satellite-launched-by-india-and-nasa-will-20793501.php
- TX: Homeowner Shoots Intruder After Neighbor Dispute Turns Violent
Source: Greenville Chronicle
“[T]he Forney Police Department responded to a shooting …. According to the preliminary investigation, the suspect became intoxicated earlier in the day and approached a neighbor’s residence in an agitated state. Despite efforts by family members and bystanders to restrain him, the suspect forced entry into the home through a glass door and began assaulting the homeowner. The homeowner, who was armed, shot the suspect twice …. The suspect was airlifted to a hospital for treatment and will be transported to jail upon release.” (07/29/25)
- Tsunami waves reach California and Hawaii after massive earthquake triggers warnings around Pacific region
Source: Sky News [UK]
“An 8.8 magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest ever recorded, has hit off the far east of Russia, causing a tsunami — with warnings issued for Japan, China, the Philippines and parts of the US, including Hawaii, California and Alaska. … The first tsunami waves are starting to reach California. The local branch of the US National Weather Service said tide gauges off the state’s northern coast recorded the waves. NWS Eureka warned people to stay away from beaches as waves would ‘continue to build through the night’ as high tide approached. … Russia has been hit by waves as large as four metres.” (07/30/25)
- UK: Regime to Recognize Palestine State by Fall Unless Israel Stops War
Source: Bloomberg
“Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK would formally recognize a Palestinian state by the United Nations General Assembly in September if Israel does not stop its war in Gaza. ‘The UK will recognize the state of Palestine in September, before UNGA, unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, reaches a ceasefire, makes clear there will be no annexation in the West Bank, and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a two-state solution,’ Starmer’s office said in a statement following an emergency meeting of his cabinet on Tuesday afternoon. The prime minster then repeated that pledge in a televised press conference.” (07/29/25)
- Government source: There was no “missing minute” in Epstein jail video
Source: CBS News
“The ‘missing minute’ from the surveillance video at the Manhattan Metropolitan Correctional Center where Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019 may not be missing after all, CBS News has learned. When the Justice Department and FBI released nearly 11 hours of footage earlier this month, the time code on the screen jumped forward one minute just before midnight, prompting questions about the one-minute gap. The video shows part of the area near the cell where Epstein was being held the night he died in what the medical examiner ruled a suicide. A government source familiar with the investigation says the FBI, the Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Justice inspector general are all in possession of a copy of the video that does not cut from just before 11:59 p.m. to midnight of the night Epstein died by suicide in his cell.” (07/29/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-jail-video-no-missing-minute-government-source-says/
- Russia: Political prisoner sentenced to 12 years over ties to opposition group
Source: ABC News
“A Russian journalist was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison on Tuesday on charges of ‘extremism’ over her links to an opposition group, part of an unrelenting crackdown on dissent. A court in the city of Ufa in Russia’s Bashkortostan region found Olga Komleva, 46, guilty of involvement with an organization of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny that was officially branded ‘extremist.’ Following her closed-door trial, the judge also found Komleva guilty on charges of ‘spreading false information’ about the Russian military. She rejected the charges. Komleva, who has been in custody since her arrest in March 2024, had worked as a volunteer at the regional branch of Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption before it was outlawed in 2021 in a move widely seen as politically motivated. She also worked for an independent news outlet and covered protests in the region.” (07/29/25)
- Palestine: Activist, denied entry to US, murdered by squatter
Source: SFGate
“A Palestinian activist, who was denied entry to the U.S. at San Francisco International Airport last month, was shot and killed on Monday, allegedly by an Israeli [squatter], according to media reports and Bay Area politicians. Awdah Hathaleen, an English teacher and father of three who was also known as Odeh Hadalin, was shot to death in his village of Umm al-Khair in the southern West Bank, House Rep. Lateefah Simon of Oakland said in a statement. Hathaleen also worked on an Oscar-winning documentary ‘No Other Land,’ which depicted Israeli soldiers and [squatters’] violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. … In mid-June, Hathaleen and his cousin were deported from the U.S. after being detained at SFO, despite having valid visas, Rep. Lateefah Simon said in a statement.” (07/29/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/palestinian-teacher-denied-entry-sfo-killed-20792718.php
- Angola: Four killed, hundreds arrested in protests against fuel price hike
Source: US News & World Report
“At least four people were killed and hundreds were arrested during a protest against a fuel price hike in Angola’s capital, police said. The protests erupted on Monday in response to the government’s decision earlier this month to raise the price of diesel by 30 percent, which led to large hikes in fares by minibus taxis, an important method of transport for many Angolans. Gunfire could be heard in central Luanda’s Cazenga area, where people were seen taking food and other items from shops. Social media images showed clashes in the Rocha Pinto suburb near the airport, as well as in the Prenda area.” (07/29/25)
- Combs Seeks Release on $50-Million Bond Ahead of Sentencing
Source: US News & World Report
“Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs'[s] lawyers on Tuesday urged the judge who oversaw his sex crimes trial to release him from jail on a $50-million bond ahead of his October 3 sentencing, after the hip-hop mogul was found not guilty of the most serious charges he faced. In a court filing, Combs'[s] defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn were dangerous, and said defendants convicted in the past of prostitution-related charges that were similar to Combs'[s] were usually released before their sentencing. … A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, which brought the charges, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. After a six-week trial, Combs, 55, was found not guilty on July 2 of three counts of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, which carried potential life sentences. He was convicted on two lesser charges of transportation to engage in prostitution.” (07/29/25)
- Ivory Coast: Ouattara to seek fourth presidential term
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said Tuesday he will seek a fourth term in Ivory Coast’s October 25 election, as tensions rise over the exclusion of many heavyweight opposition candidates. He had been earlier officially nominated by the ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) party as its candidate, but had not yet said if he would contest. … The 83-year-old president declared his plan in a televised announcement. He won a third term in 2020 after he initially said he wasn’t going to run again. However, he changed his position following the death of his hand-picked successor, Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly. The opposition has accused the authorities of choosing their opponents by legal means, but the government insists the judiciary acts independently.” (07/29/25)
- US job openings fell to 7.4 million last month as job market continues to cool
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“Employers posted 7.4 million job vacancies last month, a sign that the American job market continues to cool. The Labor Department reported Tuesday that job openings in June were down from 7.7 million in May and were about what forecasters had expected. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed that layoffs were little changed in June. But the number of people quitting their jobs — a sign of confidence in their prospects elsewhere — dropped last month to the lowest level since December. Hiring also fell from May.” (07/29/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/07/29/us-job-openings-fall-june/
- UK: Police officers “also abused” Rotherham victims
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Five women who were exploited by grooming gangs in Rotherham as children say they were also abused by police officers in the town at the time. One says she was raped from the age of 12 by a serving South Yorkshire Police (SYP) officer in a marked police car. He would threaten to hand her back to the gang if she did not comply, she says. ‘In a world where you were being abused so much, being raped once [by a police officer] was a lot easier than multiple rapes [by the gang] and I think he knew that,’ she tells the BBC. We have seen written accounts from these women, plus testimony from 25 other victims of grooming gangs, with some of those women saying that corrupt police officers worked alongside the gangs or failed to act on child sexual exploitation.” (07/29/25)
- Iraq: Prime minister seeks closer US ties while keeping armed groups at bay
Source: SFGate
“The prime minister of Iraq has kept his country on the sidelines as military conflicts raged nearby for almost two years. This required balancing Iraq’s relations with two countries vital to his power and enemies with each other: the U.S. and Iran. The feat became especially difficult last month when war broke out between Israel, a U.S. ally, and Iran — and the U.S. struck Iranian nuclear sites. Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said he used a mix of political and military pressure to stop armed groups aligned with Iran from entering the fray. In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Al-Sudani discussed those efforts along with his intentions of keeping those groups in check going forward and — as he seeks a second term — why he wants to get closer to the Trump administration, even as he maintains strong ties to Iran-backed political parties that helped propel him to power in 2022.” (07/29/25)
- Report: India overtakes China in smartphone exports to the US as manufacturing jumps 240%
Source: CNBC
“India has overtaken China to become the top exporter of smartphones to the U.S., according to research firm Canalys, reflecting the shift in manufacturing supply chain away from Beijing amid tariff-fueled uncertainty. Smartphones assembled in India accounted for 44% of U.S. imports of those devices in the second quarter, a significant increase from just 13% in the same period last year. Total volume of smartphones made in India soared 240% from a year earlier, Canalys said. In contrast, the share of Chinese smartphone exports to the U.S. shrank to 25% in the quarter ended June, from 61% a year earlier, Canalys data released Monday showed. Vietnam’s share of smartphone exports to the U.S. was also higher than that of China at 30%.” (07/29/25)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/29/india-surpasses-chinese-smartphone-shipments-to-us.html
- NY: Gunman was targeting NFL but went to wrong office
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A gunman who killed four people when he stormed a skyscraper in the heart of New York on Monday evening left a note that appeared to blame the National Football League (NFL) for a brain injury, the city’s Mayor Eric Adams says. The attacker, 27-year-old Shane Tamura of Las Vegas, shot himself dead after opening fire in a building where the American football league has its headquarters, but went to a different part of the building after taking the wrong lift. The gunman was carrying a note in which he blamed CTE, a brain disease triggered by head trauma, for his mental illness, Adams said. Tamura played football as a teenager but did not play in the NFL, ex-teammates have told US media.” (07/29/25)
- China: Regime launches $500 annual baby subsidy in effort to boost births
Source: Financial Times [UK]
“China has launched its first nationwide programme of childcare subsidies as it steps up efforts to boost birth rates and give more spending power to households with young children. The government will give families Rmb3,600 ($503) a year for each child under the age of three, state news agency Xinhua said on Monday. The subsidy will be applied from January 2025 but families with children born between 2022 and 2024 can apply for partial handouts. The policy is expected to benefit more than 20mn families each year, Xinhua reported, citing a spokesperson from China’s National Health Commission.” (07/29/25)
- Palestinian death toll surpasses 60,000 in the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Health Ministry says
Source: SFGate
“More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed during the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Tuesday. Israeli strikes overnight killed more than two dozen people, mostly women and children, according to health officials. The Israeli offensive, launched in response to Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced around 90% of the population and fueled a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Experts warned Tuesday that the territory of about 2 million Palestinians is on the brink of famine after Israeli restrictions and a breakdown of security have made it nearly impossible to safely deliver aid. The Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, said that the death toll has climbed to 60,034, with 145,870 others wounded since the war started. The victims include 18,592 children and 9,782 women. Together, they make up nearly half the dead.” (07/29/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/over-60-000-palestinians-have-died-in-the-20791318.php
- US Education Department launches civil rights investigation into Duke
Source: United Press International
“The Department of Education has launched a civil rights investigation into Duke University amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on higher-learning institutions as it seeks to rid the private and public sector of diversity, equity and inclusion policies. The civil rights investigation was launched Monday into not only Duke but its law journal for violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by allegedly discriminating against students based on race. The investigation coincides with the departments of Education and Health and Human Services sending a joint letter to Duke University outlining their ‘shared concerns’ about its use of race in its hiring, admissions and scholarship decisions.” (07/29/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/07/29/Trump-Duke-DIE-investigation/5011753765681/
- Scotland: Trump discusses whisky tariffs and Gaza with Swinney
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Donald Trump met First Minister John Swinney to discuss whisky tariffs and the situation in Gaza as his four-day visit to Scotland drew to a close. A Scottish government source said the two leaders had a ‘very good conversation’ which lasted between 15 and 20 minutes on the US president’s Balmedie Estate earlier. Following the meeting, Swinney told BBC Scotland News that he believed the North Sea oil and gas industry was being ‘overtaxed.’ Trump opened a new course at his Aberdeenshire golf resort and called Swinney a ‘terrific guy’ during the ceremony before he left Scotland later in the afternoon. He told the opening ceremony crowd how his Lewis-born mother returned to her homeland ‘religiously’ every year after she emigrated to New York aged 18.” (07/29/25)
- Colombia: Uribe found guilty in landmark bribery trial
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has been found guilty of witness tampering and bribery in a landmark trial, becoming the country’s first ex-president to ever be found guilty at trial. Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia ruled on Monday that there was enough evidence to determine that Uribe, 73, conspired with a lawyer to coax three former members of paramilitary groups who were in prison into changing testimony they had provided to Ivan Cepeda, a left-wing senator who had launched an investigation into Uribe’s alleged ties to a paramilitary group in the 1990s. The case dates to 2012, when Uribe filed a libel suit against Cepeda with the Supreme Court. But in a twist, the high court dismissed the charges against Cepeda and began investigating Uribe in 2018.” (07/29/25)
- NIH cuts spotlight hidden crisis facing patients with experimental brain implants
Source: SFGate
“Carol Seeger finally escaped her debilitating depression with an experimental treatment that placed electrodes in her brain and a pacemaker-like device in her chest. But when its batteries stopped working, insurance wouldn’t pay to fix the problem and she sank back into a dangerous darkness. She worried for her life, asking herself: ‘Why am I putting myself through this?’ Seeger’s predicament highlights a growing problem for hundreds of people with experimental neural implants, including those for depression, quadriplegia and other conditions. Although these patients take big risks to advance science, there’s no guarantee that their devices will be maintained — particularly after they finish participating in clinical trials — and no mechanism requiring companies or insurers to do so. A research project led by Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz, a Harvard University scientist, aimed to change that by creating partnerships between players in the burgeoning implant field to overcome barriers to device access and follow-up care.” (07/29/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/living/article/nih-cuts-spotlight-a-hidden-crisis-facing-20788494.php
- Forcing Culture War Bigotry on Private Enterprise
Source: Washington Monthly
by David Atkins“As racial minorities, women, and the LGBTQ+ Americans made social advancements in the decades since World War II, the overt violence of Jim Crow gave way to more hidden structural violence and malign governmental neglect of marginalized communities. If private organizations or foundations wanted to advance social justice, then so be it, but conservatives in government would not help them. However, that is no longer true with MAGA and the second Donald Trump administration. The president and his allies are using government coercion to enforce culture-war bigotry even upon private enterprises. The rhetoric coming from federal agencies and spokespeople echoes 19th-century white supremacist propaganda.” [editor’s note: It also echoes 20th-century “anti-discrimination” and “affirmative action” propaganda – TLK] (07/30/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/07/30/forcing-culture-war-bigotry-on-private-enterprise/
- The Intensive Margin
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman“Expanding production on the intensive margin means getting more grain out of land already cultivated, expanding it on the extensive margin means getting more grain by bringing new land into cultivation. In economics, the intensive margin means writing new articles — new enough, at least, to get published — on subjects that smart people have been writing articles about for most of the past century. … The extensive margin, in contrast, is the application of the existing tools of economics, including mathematics where needed, to new subjects.” (07/29/25)
- Sydney Sweeney tantrum is all about the left’s rage at America’s rejection
Source: New York Post
By Kira Davis“Pretty much everyone wears blue jeans in modern America. Jeans have gone from workwear to high fashion over the last 150-plus years. Dress them up, dress them down … they’re as flexible as American culture. Perhaps they are so enduring because everyone can wear them. Fat or skinny, tall or short, curvy to curve-less and everything in between — jeans are the fashion of unity. But when we’re buying a pair, we’re not contemplating any of that. We want to think about what we could look like wearing them, or who might be attracted to us while we’re wearing them. I am speaking, of course, about the power of advertising, and last week the latest ad for American Eagle jeans caused extreme distress among the Very Online crowd.” (07/30/25)
- Don’t Resort to Censorship to Fight Populism
Source: Persuasion
by Jacob Mchangama“Imagine this scenario: one day, Chief Justice John Roberts announces an investigation into ‘fake news, false reports of crimes, slanderous reports, threats, and other infractions’ that ‘affect the honor and security of the Federal Supreme Court, its members, and their families.’ Roberts appoints Justice Samuel Alito to lead the probe, granting him powers to issue warrants, access private phone and messaging data, block social media accounts, and even suspend entire platforms that refuse to comply. Alito then unilaterally expands the investigation to target ‘antidemocratic’ fake news, propaganda, and illegal content more broadly. Such a scenario … would be unthinkable in the United States, or in any democracy that respects the separation of powers and the rule of law. However, in Brazil this scenario is not a hypothetical dystopia but a reality.” (07/29/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/dont-resort-to-censorship-to-fight
- Say it with a song
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Angela Erickson“Tom Lehrer never needed to shout to be heard. He just sat down at the piano, smiled sweetly, and sang about nuclear war, venereal disease, or killing pigeons. His satire wasn’t angry or bitter either. It was playful, subversive, and cheerfully delivered in a musical theater voice. Earlier this week on July 26, Lehrer passed away at the age of 97 at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As we say goodbye to this legend, we celebrate a man who reminds us that free speech isn’t just a legal concept. It’s a cultural one. One that lives or dies not just in the courts, but in our collective willingness to laugh, to listen, and to be challenged.” (07/29/25)
- Needed: Stupid Anonymous
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Steven Kritz“For many years, large segments of the American public were perfectly willing to go on Jerry Springer and admit to the world that they abused their spouses, molested their children, tortured their pets, and consumed every illicit drug they could get their hands on. Beginning with Alcoholics Anonymous, a plethora of Anonymous organizations has come on the scene to deal with these issues, along with an ever-increasing number of other social and psychological maladies. However, there is not one Anonymous chapter where a person can get in front of a supportive group and state: ‘Good evening. My name is Steve, and I’m stupid!’ Don’t believe me? Google it!” (07/29/25)
- Privatizing Veterans’ Health Care Will Be a Disaster
Source: The American Prospect
by Russell Lemle & Jasper Craven“Long before becoming secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Doug Collins’s intention to steer veterans and their health care dollars away from VA medical facilities and into private hands was well established. During his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives, Collins was a staunch ally of the Koch-backed Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), a group whose ideological North Star is privatizing VA services. He embraced three key bills the organization championed that laid the groundwork for outsourcing care for large numbers of VA patients and weakening protections for VA employees. … He has continued to spread these unconvincing assertions as VA secretary in interviews, press releases, Twitter videos, and congressional hearings, while, at the same time, swiftly advancing proposals to deeply cut VA resources and personnel and redirect the so-called ‘savings’ toward expanded outsourcing to private-sector care.” (07/30/25)
https://prospect.org/health/2025-07-30-privatizing-veterans-health-care-will-be-disaster/
- Keep Digging, Donald. You’re Keeping the Epstein Scandal Alive.
Source: The Nation
by Joan Walsh“Trump gave a long, sometimes incoherent press conference alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday. They were ostensibly meeting to discuss tariffs, but questions veered toward Epstein. Instead of slapping them down or ignoring them, as he sometimes does, Trump answered them. At length. And very strangely. Trump has maintained that he had a falling out with Epstein years ago. In 2004, they competed for the same gaudy Palm Beach property, and Trump outbid his friend and got it. (In some accounts, Epstein was the one who broke off the friendship over it.) Sounds plausible, for two scummy rich guys. Some of Trump’s communications people say Trump kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago ‘for being a creep,’ in the words of henchman Stephen Cheung. But at Monday’s press conference, Trump gave a different explanation. And a hauntingly creepy one.” (07/29/25)
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/keep-digging-donald-keeping-epstein-scandal/#
- Election 2026: Here Come The Gerrymanderers
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“We should no more draw congressional districts based on the proportion of Republicans to Democrats or the proportion of whites to blacks to Latinos, etc., than we should draw them on the proportion of plumbers to sous chefs or the proportion of Led Zeppelin fans to Swifties. Gerrymandering isn’t about representing the interests of voters, whether as individuals or members of groups. Gerrymandering is about the desires of the country’s two main political parties to maximize their power at the expense of each other’s.” (07/29/25)
- How much is shoddy, pro-Israel journalism worth? Ask Bari Weiss.
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Branko Marcetic“A thought experiment: would anyone who referred to the killing of 50 Jewish people, many of them ‘entirely innocent non-combatants, including children,’ as ‘one of the unavoidable burdens of political power, of Palestinian liberation’s dream turned into the reality of self-determination,’ ever be hired by a major television news network? Would their news outlet ever be potentially offered more than $200 million to merge with that major news network? Of course not, and for good reason. Yet that’s exactly what’s happening, only with one small but major difference: the writer and her news outlet responsible for this statement, Bari Weiss and The Free Press, were not talking about Hamas’[s] murder of Israelis, but rather about Israel’s killing of 50 Palestinians — ‘Zionism’s dream turned into the reality of self-determination,’ as Weiss described it in 2021.” (07/29/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/bari-weiss-free-press-cbs/
- Authoritarian Rulers Are Co-Opting the Sphere of the Sacred to Consolidate Control
Source: The UnPopulist
by Amal Chandra“A geopolitical struggle in Asia is unfolding — not over land or trade but spiritual authority. Earlier this month, the 14th Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual and political leader, turned 90. The Chinese Communist Party, despite being officially atheist, is intent on appointing his successor, seeking control over one of Tibetan Buddhism’s most sacred traditions: reincarnation. The CCP, in power since 1949, has designated greater Tibet as an autonomous region for the last 60 years but governs and counts it as a province within its borders, subject to its oversight. As the CCP sees it, that control extends to the theological plane — since religion is deeply interwoven into Tibetan identity. Far from a peripheral dispute, the Communist party’s attempts to dictate the spiritual lives of Tibetans reflect a global trend of authoritarian regimes capitalizing on the sacred to consolidate power, reframing spiritual legitimacy to serve political ends.” (07/29/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/authoritarian-rulers-are-co-opting
- On Immigration and Free Speech, Many Miss the Bigger Picture
Source: The Daily Economy
by Julian Adorney“The United States has tried to use its bully pulpit to encourage the rest of the world to recommit itself to the principle of free speech. Speaking in Munich in February, J.D. Vance took European leaders to task for retreating from ‘some of its [Europe’s] most fundamental values,’ including a robust commitment to freedom of speech. But it’s hard to urge global leaders to commit to a value that your own administration isn’t committed to. If the United States wants to reverse the spread of censorious policies across the globe, then it needs to lead by example.” (07/29/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/on-immigration-and-free-speech-many-miss-the-bigger-picture/
- When Scientism Meets Humanism
Source: Law & Liberty
by Graham McAleer“Descartes kicked off modernity with the epistemological problem of whether we ever know the world around us, and Kronman holds fast to verifiable knowledge: ‘the truth is preeminently what science declares it to be.’ Much of Kronman’s conservatism stems from his love of the Great Books, but nowhere does he dwell on the varieties of evidence and proof that humanism employs. The humanist’s broad theory of truth haunts Kronman’s treatment of allegiance, specifically his struggle to find a stable place for love within his reason-based political order. Kronman argues that the progressive’s skepticism towards love of family, nation, and God mutilates the spirit.” (07/29/25)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/when-scientism-meets-humanism/
- Dems Accidentally Telling the Truth About What They’re Trying to Do
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter“There are few things more enjoyable than watching a couple of Democrats talking to each other about how they’re either ‘winning’ or soon will be and how to make it happen. It’s like watching a baby giraffe try to stand up for the first time … on ice … in a tornado – they have no idea what they’re doing or how to get it done. But they’re going to try, bless their hearts, they’re going to try. Democrats aren’t really trying when it comes to winning (or losing) elections because they either A) can’t bring themselves to admit when they’ve lost (I’m old enough to remember when denying election results was ‘a threat to democracy!’) or B) believe they simply have to learn how to sell their poison positions better …” (07/29/25)
- Psychedelic Therapy Crashed and Burned. MAHA Might Bring It Back
Source: Wired
by John Semley“About this time last year, prescription MDMA looked like a sure thing. After decades of clinical research, political wrangling, and aggressive promotion, the popular underground club drug was set to be tamed and medicalized, with a stamp of approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. Then, it wasn’t. In a stark change of course, the FDA rejected the MDMA therapy it had been considering by a 10-1 vote. The decision derailed psychedelic medicine for the foreseeable future. Except for one thing — an unexpected lifeline from the Trump administration.” (07/29/25)
- Ghislaine Maxwell and Michael Townley
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“Why am I convinced that Jeffrey Epstein was part of the deep state — that is, with Mossad, the CIA, or both? Simply because of the plea bargain he received in 2008. In my opinion, there is simply no way that wealthy, prominent, influential men could have pressured a U.S. Attorney to give Epstein that plea bargain. The plea bargain was so super-sweet that there is only one entity that would have had the power to secure it — the same entity that I have long contended is actually running the federal government — the national-security establishment, which consists of the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA.” (07/29/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/07/29/ghislaine-maxwell-and-michael-townley/
- It Shouldn’t Have Taken This Much For Mainstream Voices To Start Speaking Up About Gaza
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Israel’s top human rights group B’Tselem has finally declared that Israel is committing genocide, as has the Israel-based Physicians for Human Rights. The Israeli organizations join Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, UN human rights experts, and the overwhelming majority of leading authorities on the subject of genocide in their conclusion. The debate is over. The Israel apologists lost. And we are seeing this reflected in mainstream discourse. Pop megastar Ariana Grande has started speaking out in support of Gaza, telling her social media followers that ‘starving people to death is a red line.’ This is a new threshold. Opposing Israel’s genocide is now the most mainstream as it has ever been. MSNBC just ran a piece explicitly titled ‘Israel is starving Gaza. And the U.S. is complicit,’ featuring a segment with the virulently pro-Israel Morning Joe slamming the mass atrocity.” (07/29/25)
- From Basel to Baffling: It’s Time to Simplify Bank Capital Rules
Source: Cato Institute
by Norbert Michel“This is a golden opportunity for the Trump administration to hugely improve the financial regulatory framework.” (07/29/25)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/basel-baffling-its-time-simplify-bank-capital-rules
- Has President Trump ordered the big re-think?
Source: Fox News
by Hugh Hewitt“Neither President Franklin Delano Roosevelt nor British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, nor any of their senior military or political advisors, saw the Japanese attacks of late 1941 coming. The forces of Imperial Japan achieved total surprise across the Pacific. The intelligence failures in the U.S. leading up to Pearl Harbor were catastrophic. So was Great Britain’s general underestimation of the threat from Imperial Japan. The U.K.’s fortress outpost in the Pacific at Singapore was thought to be, if not impregnable, than as close to it as possible. Almost all Americans know the disaster of December 7, 1941. The Battle of Singapore lasted seven days. The British forces surrendered Singapore on February 15, 1942. No one had thought to fortify the peninsula’s ‘back door,’ assuming the Malayan jungle to be impenetrable. It wasn’t.” (07/29/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/morning-glory-has-president-trump-ordered-big-re-think
- Does a government budget surplus contribute to national savings?
Source: Cobden Centre
by Dr. Frank Shostak“By popular thinking the budget deficit reduces national savings, whilst a budget surplus is seen as contributing to savings. National savings are defined as the sum of private savings (the after-tax income that households save) and public savings. By generating budget surpluses, so it would appear, the government generates wealth, thereby strengthening the economy’s fundamentals. This argument would be correct if government activities were of a wealth-generating nature. This is, however, not the case.” (07/29/25)
- American Politics Are [sic] in Trouble
Source: Common Dreams
by James Zogby“American political parties are in disarray. Instead of being the engines that organize and drive our politics, their roles have been supplanted by partisan social media influencers, nonprofit political groups, super PACs, and the billionaires who fund them and consultant groups they hire. A few generations ago, it was the political parties that organized politics. In many communities, there was an organic connection between the parties and their members. The parties provided structure and access and some benefits to those who belonged to and participated in their work. That is no longer the case for most Americans. Today, the parties have become ‘brands’ to which voters are asked to identify, and fundraising vehicles raising money for party operations and the consultant groups who now provide the ‘services’: message testing, voter data files, advertising, and communications.” (07/29/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/political-parties-in-the-us
- News for the “Downwardly Mobile Elite”: You’re Still Elite
Source: RealClearPolitics
by Froma Harrop“There is widespread angst over the cost of housing, and it is understandable that the downwardly mobile elite would share it. But this group does manage to put a roof over their heads. It may not match the grandeur featured in their social media feeds, but honesty demands acknowledging that in the quest for ‘affordable housing,’ they are pricing the non-elite out of theirs. The government services that some of these elites want and imagine the left can provide do cost money. The potentially bad news for them is that they have, to the outside world, rather impressive earnings.” (07/29/25)
- A license for that?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Scott“The impacts of a two-year-old law are finally being felt in Britain — and, as the United States looks to pass its own Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), it should watch the unfolding situation with fear. The Online Safety Act (2023) was passed by the previous Conservative government under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. But the legislative process began in February 2022, under Sunak’s predecessor-but-two, Boris Johnson. Implementation was delayed for an extensive period of time, largely due to controversy and logistics surrounding the law. The Office for Communications (Ofcom) laid out a roadmap for enforcement in October 2024, a full year after the law was passed. As is usually the case, a law steeped in respectable aims—protecting children from harmful content—has rapidly revealed itself as a nefarious tool of control.” (07/29/25)
- The Freedom of Information Act Is Failing Due to Government Bloat
Source: Reason
by Sophia Mandt“The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a landmark law to increase government accountability, is falling short in its aim to improve transparency with American citizens, according to a recent report from Open the Books. FOIA gives the public the freedom to request government records from federal agencies, with the exception of certain information involving the White House, congressional records, confidential financial information, national security matters, and law enforcement records. In recent years, government-caused inefficiency has increased wait times for FOIA requests, which ‘have become so long they undercut the accountability FOIA is meant to provide,’ per Open the Books. … While understaffing at federal agencies may be partially to blame, Open the Books found cases of government officials deliberately delaying FOIA requests.” 907/29/25)
https://reason.com/2025/07/29/the-freedom-of-information-act-is-failing-due-to-government-bloat/
- State vs. City: Prioritizing restoring American cities
Source: The Pamphleteer
by Davis Hunt“Save the cities, save the country … Reclaiming American cities, by whatever means necessary, needs to be a part of every candidate’s platform at the federal and state levels. Currently in Nashville, you have a state government actively working around a dysfunctional Metro government to implement things like license plate readers (supported by locals) and cut a deal with the Boring Company for a tunnel connecting downtown to the airport (more on that below). But these are shallow solutions compared to the systemic issues plaguing the city, which, without international immigration, would be shrinking. The number one way to ensure that families will stay in a Metro area like Nashville is to aggressively reform the public schools and double down on funding the police department. The state of Tennessee has made efforts to pursue both of these recently.” (07/29/25)
- When It Comes to Tariffs and Trade, Trump Is Not Playing with a Full Deck
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker“Trump often makes allusions to card playing when discussing his negotiations on various issues, but in the case of trade, it seems he is the one missing cards. He has a much worse hand than he imagines as he attempts to extort our trading partners into make concessions on various issues. Our trading partners benefit from selling us stuff, or they wouldn’t do it. Trump apparently thinks that gives us enormous leverage in negotiations. What he somehow seems unable to understand is that the United States benefits from buying things from our trading partners.” (07/29/25)
- Forced Labor and the First Amendment
Source: The American Conservative
by James R Lawrence, III“A salacious case out of California raises important questions about the state’s ability to regulate a wide variety of interpersonal relationships.” (07/29/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/forced-labor-and-the-first-amendment/
- To Build the Temple
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders“Some ideas should last a thousand years. Let them come and be reminded of the wisdom of solidarity in a compact.” (07/29/25)
- Urgent Message to Progressives: Infiltrate Your Local Dems Before It’s Too Late
Source: ThomHartmann.Com
by Thom Hartmann“What if, lacking an organized resistance to fascism like we have had in previous eras (the civil rights movement, SDS, BLM, the Wobblies), the Democratic Party itself could play the role of producing radical, positive transformation across America Sound crazy? It’s actually happened twice. The first time was in the 1930s, when Franklin Roosevelt’ New Deal literally flipped our politics and the American economy upside down, turning us from a raw, harsh capitalist system to a democratic socialist system with Social Security, legalized unions, unemployment insurance, a minimum wage, workplace safety rules, massive infrastructure construction, and millions of Americans being employed directly by the government to end poverty. It happened again in the 1960s, with Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society …” (07/28/25)
https://hartmannreport.com/p/this-is-not-a-drill-infiltrate-your
- Brazilian Censors Banned!
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“The American government — after years of nurturing a censorship agenda in the South American country — is now penalizing Brazil’s super-censor Supreme Court justice, Alexandre de Moraes, along with various colleagues, for imposing censorship demands on U.S. companies. The U.S. State Department revoked their visa privileges, preventing them from entering the United States.” (07/29/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/07/29/brazilian-censors-banned/
- Abandoning Ukraine
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider“The war with Russia is now going very badly for Ukraine. But Ukrainians must feel like the world, and not just Russia, is treating them badly.” (07/29/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_snider/2025/07/28/abandoning-ukraine/
- The Republican Disaster Relief Disaster and the Democratic Path Forward
Source: Washington Monthly
by Bill Scher“Trump had a reputation as a different Republican president: less libertarian, more authoritarian, less interested in shrinking government or cutting entitlements, more interested in using the levers of government to reward friends and punish enemies. But Trump’s approach to FEMA in his second term belies that reputation. The agency, created in 1979, is explicitly retreating from the disaster relief business and shifting the burden to already overburdened states and localities.” [editor’s note: Scher always says “libertarian” like it’s a bad thing – TLK] (07/28/25)
- Obama’s bruised ego behind corrupt plot to bring down Trump
Source: New York Post
by Martin Gurri“The Donald Trump-Russia collusion scandal that first broke in December 2016 and roared on until April 2019 has no parallel in our history — it’s not even close. As president-elect and later as sitting president, Trump was accused by the country’s intelligence and law enforcement apparatus of conspiring with a hostile power to subvert the 2016 election and sneak down a crooked path to the White House. Along the way, a damning Intelligence Community Assessment was issued, a major FBI investigation, code-named Crossfire Hurricane, targeted the president, and a special counsel, Robert Mueller, was granted a team of prosecutors and a budget of millions to bring the guilty to justice. It was the most sensational news story in history. By one estimate, more than half a million articles were written about the collusion issue, the vast majority asserting or assuming criminality on Trump’s part. A manic media competed fiercely to deliver the latest ‘bombshell.'” (07/28/25)
- The Price of Liberty: Revisited
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton“The Founding Fathers recognized unalienable rights – not rights that couldn’t be taken away. Rather, rights which it was wrong (sinful! evil!) to take away. They are God’s gift to His creations: every human being. Our headlines are filled with both examples of those rights, those liberties, being stolen away. And of people who use their liberties to do evil things. Not just to others, but even to themselves.” (07/28/25)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2025/07/28/the-price-of-liberty-revisited/
- The Modern Far Right Canon
Source: Liberal Currents
by Matthew McManus“Modern far right thinkers style themselves as an insurgent movement against power, combining a self-pitying victimhood with exaggerated fantasies of rediscovered manliness.” (07/28/25)
- System Update, episode 494
Source: System Update
“What are CBS News'[s] Billionaire Heirs Doing with Bari Weiss? With Ryan Grim on the Funding Behind It; Europe Capitulates to Trump Again.” (07/29/25)
- Capital Record, episode 244
Source: National Review
“Manufacturing Properly Understood.” (07/29/25)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/manufacturing-properly-understood/
- Politics Politics Politics, 07/29/25
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Why Trump’s Homelessness Move Matters More Than You Think. Breaking Down Democratic Party Struggles (with Dan Turrentine).” (07/29/25)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/why-trumps-homelessness-move-matters
- Aaron Maté on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Scott brings journalist Aaron Maté back on the show to review some of the new information we learned about the origins of Russiagate and why, almost a decade later, this story remains so important.” (07/29/25)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/7-25-25-aaron-mate-on-why-russiagate-matters/
- Political Theater, 07/29/25
Source: Roll Call
“Off to the redistricting races.” (07/29/25)
https://chrt.fm/track/D3F8DG/traffic.megaphone.fm/FISCAL6106771085.mp3?updated=1753823196
- Serious Trouble, 07/29/25
Source: Serious Trouble
“Ghislaine Looks for a Deal.” (07/29/25)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/ghislaine-looks-for-a-deal
- Rising, 07/29/25
Source: The Hill
“Jasmine Crockett furious with MSM, has no idea how journalism works!” (07/29/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5425208-rising-july-29-2025/
- Advisory Opinion, 07/29/25
Source: The Dispatch
“Will Ghislaine Maxwell Split the Circuits?” (07/29/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/will-ghislaine-maxwell-split-the-circuits/
- Pod Save America, 07/29/25
Source: Crooked Media
“Will Trump & Netanyahu Let Gaza Starve?.” (07/29/25)
- Trump Watch, 07/29/25
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Ghislaine Maxwell and the Jeffrey Epstein Scandal.” (07/29/25)
- The Charles C.W. Cooke Podcast, episode 92
Source: National Review
“Sedition! — with Marcus Gadson.” (07/29/25)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-charles-c-w-cooke-podcast/sedition-with-marcus-gadson/
- The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 07/29/25
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Accidentally Wrecks His Own Epstein Lie as Musk Goes for Jugular.” (07/29/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/198538/trump-accidentally-wrecks-epstein-lie-musk-goes-jugular
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 07/28/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Netanyahu To Propose Plan To Annex Gaza, Trump Says Russia Has ’10 or 12 Days’ To End War, and More.” (07/29/25)
- Iain Murray on Freedom Works with Paul Molloy
Source: Freedom Works
“Trump’s Tariff Letters – Little Rhyme or Reason.” (07/28/25)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2025-07-29_zfw007182025.mp3
- Kyle Anzalone on The Scott Horton Show
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Kyle Anzalone joins the show to discuss the latest updates coming out of Gaza, such as the lack of progress on a ceasefire, the state of Hamas, the aid distribution massacres and more.” (07/28/25)
- Reason Roundtable, 07/28/25
Source: Reason
“South Park Is Saving Free Speech!” (07/28/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/07/28/south-park-is-saving-free-speech/
- Conflicts of Interest, episode 823
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Trump Backs Israel as Gaza Starves.” (07/28/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-823-trump-backs-israel-as-gaza-starves
- Finding Freedom, episode 500
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Learning from the Past and Building for the Future with Marc Clair.” (07/28/25)
- EconTalk, 07/28/25
Source: EconTalk
“Read Like a Champion (with Doug Lemov).” (07/28/25)
https://www.econtalk.org/read-like-a-champion-with-doug-lemov/
- The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 07/28/25
Source: The New Republic
“‘Sham’: Trump Just Made Epstein Fiasco Even More Humiliating for MAGA.” (07/28/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/198480/sham-trump-just-made-epstein-fiasco-even-humiliating-maga