- Colombia: Progressive candidate concedes presidential election to Trump-endorsed outsider
Source: SFGate
“Progressive candidate Iván Cepeda on Wednesday conceded Colombia’s presidential election to Abelardo de la Espriella, a conservative outsider who was endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Election results showed de la Espriella, a businessman and lawyer who had never run for office, defeated Cepeda, a lawmaker, by 1 percentage point, or nearly 251,000 votes. ‘We assume with serenity, responsibility, and absolute resolve — and let there be no doubt about it — the role that circumstances demand of us,’ Cepeda said in an address to the nation. ‘We will exercise a democratic, vigilant and constructive opposition.’ The result effectively was an indictment of outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s government, whose policies Cepeda had promised to continue, including a largely failed effort to establish dialogue with multiple armed groups under a plan known as ‘total peace’. Electoral authorities published all but a fraction of the vote count hours after polls closed Sunday.” (06/24/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/progressive-candidate-concedes-colombian-22318679.php
- North Korea: Kim unveils 5,000-ton destroyer, touting nuclear capabilities
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“North Korea has commissioned a 5,000-ton destroyer that leader Kim Jong Un touts as a symbol of the country’s growing naval and nuclear capabilities, state media reported on Wednesday, as Pyongyang seeks to expand its ability to project military power at sea. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim told a commissioning ceremony on Tuesday at the western port of Nampo that warships such as the Choe Hyon show that the nuclear armament of his navy is progressing as planned. … After years of spurring ballistic missile development, Kim has shifted his focus more towards naval capabilities, including the ongoing construction of a nuclear-powered submarine. Naval capabilities were also a key focus when Kim outlined his five-year military goals at February’s Workers’ Party congress, which included calls for intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of underwater launches.” (06/24/26)
- Trump abruptly cancels signing of housing bill ahead of GOP Senate visit
Source: SFGate
“President Donald Trump ratcheted up tensions with Senate Republicans on Wednesday by abruptly canceling his signing of a bipartisan measure to make housing more affordable. Republicans had hoped to show voters they care about affordability ahead of the November elections. But the president blindsided them by insisting that Congress first pass a bill imposing federal rules on state-run elections. Trump had already planned to lunch Wednesday with GOP senators increasingly frustrated by his diversions from the party’s agenda and his unclear Iran war strategy. Trump also has a face-to-face Wednesday with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, two weeks ahead of the annual summit of the military alliance, as the Pentagon reviews the U.S. military footprint in Europe.” (06/24/26)
- SC: Wilson wins GOP gubernatorial primary
Source: NBC News
“State Attorney General Alan Wilson has won the Republican nomination for governor of South Carolina, NBC News projected Tuesday, after a closely watched runoff that featured President Donald Trump’s unusual double endorsement of two candidates. Wilson is now heavily favored heading into the general election in South Carolina’s first open governor’s race since 2010. Republican Gov. Henry McMaster was term-limited and could not seek re-election. Democratic candidate Jermaine Johnson won his primary this month.” (06/23/26)
- France confirms first Ebola case
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“France has confirmed its first case of Ebola – a doctor who had returned from a humanitarian mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The doctor was ‘immediately admitted to a specialised facility’ and is in a stable condition, the French health ministry said on Wednesday. DR Congo announced an Ebola outbreak last month, but experts believe the virus had been circulating for weeks previously. More than 260 people are confirmed to have died from the virus in the central African country, while 1,000 people have been infected. This is the first Ebola case to have been confirmed in Europe, although an American doctor who tested positive in DR Congo was treated at a German hospital last month. DR Congo’s neighbour, Uganda, has also confirmed Ebola cases. The World Health Organization (WHO) says 20 people are known to have been infected there and two deaths have been confirmed.” (06/24/26)
- Peru: Fujimori Secures Unbeatable Lead in Presidential Election
Source: US News & World Report
“Conservative Keiko Fujimori gained an insurmountable lead in Peru’s presidential runoff late on Tuesday, setting her on track to assume the presidency. Fujimori, a four-time presidential hopeful and the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, now has 50.11% of the votes, putting her ahead of leftist rival Roberto Sanchez by 43,386 votes. There remain only 40,213 potential votes to be counted, according to data from Peru’s ONPE electoral authority. The electoral authority has yet to officially declare a winner and plans to do so in mid-July. Fujimori’s expected victory deepens Latin America’s rightward shift, following outsider Abelardo De La Espriella’s election in Colombia on Sunday. Voters concerned about crime have flocked to hardline candidates. Earlier on Tuesday, Sanchez alleged that ‘fraud was underway,’ without providing evidence, and said he would refuse to recognize the results of the election, raising the prospect of a prolonged political crisis in Peru.” (06/24/26)
- California union warns of mass exodus with Newsom’s return to office order
Source: SFGate
“California state workers are challenging a new mandate requiring them to return to the office four days a week starting July 1, as lawmakers advance a bill to ensure telework options. A billboard off a Sacramento highway warns of future traffic jams caused by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order. State workers argue they have been working efficiently under hybrid schedules since the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘Since COVID we have been working and doing the jobs and being efficient and doing the jobs to keep California running,’ said Anica Walls, the president of SEIU Local 1000, which represents state workers in Sacramento. ‘This mandate as overarching as it does not give departments the space to bring back our workers as needed.’ It’s not clear which departments exactly are struggling with space and how the Newsom administration is handling it. A spokesman with California’s Government Operations Agency declined an interview request with California Politics 360.” (06/21/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/california-return-to-office-22314184.php
- TX: Anti-gang shooter, seven political prisoners sentenced
Source: Associated Press
“A former U.S. Marine reservist and seven others were sentenced Tuesday to decades in prison over a shooting last year that wounded a police officer during a demonstration at a Texas immigration [concentration camp]. Prosecutors called the crime an act of terrorism and said the eight were linked to the leftist militant group antifa. The defendants’ attorneys denied any antifa ties and family members expressed shock and anger over the stiff sentences. Benjamin Song, the Marine reservist who was convicted of opening fire during the July 4 demonstration outside the Prairieland [concentration camp] near Dallas, was sentenced to 100 years in prison, the maximum punishment. The seven others sentenced in Fort Worth courtrooms received prison terms ranging from 30 to 70 years.” (06/23/26)
- Congress directs Trump to end Iran war
Source: The Hill
“The Senate on Tuesday approved a House-passed resolution directing President Trump to withdraw U.S. armed forces from hostilities against Iran after four GOP senators broke ranks and voted to undercut Trump’s authority as commander in chief. The Senate voted 50 to 48 to approve the resolution, which passed the House 215-208 earlier this month. The measure came straight to the Senate floor Tuesday for an up-or-down vote on final passage. It does not need Trump’s signature because it is a concurrent resolution.” [editor’s note: Many media outlets claim that this is “symbolic” or “does not have the force of law.” The War Powers Act says it is non-symbolic, does have the force of law, and is non-optional for Trump. It’s likely to end up in court – TLK] (06/23/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5936650-iran-war-powers-senate/
- NYC: Mamdani-backed candidates sweep Democratic primaries
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Zohran Mamdani’s growing influence over the Democratic party was on show in New York City on Tuesday as three congressional candidates endorsed by New York’s democratic socialist mayor won closely watched primaries …. Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller who also ran for mayor last year before endorsing Mamdani, won his race comfortably, defeating the Democratic representative Dan Goldman. Another Mamdani ally, Claire Valdez, a state lawmaker and former union organizer, defeated Antonio Reynoso, the preferred successor of retiring Democratic Representative Nydia Velázquez in New York’s seventh district, encompassing parts of Brooklyn and Queens. And in a stunning upset, the public defense investigator Darializa Avila Chevalier toppled Representative Adriano Espaillat, the powerful five-term incumbent who chairs the Congressional Hispanic caucus, in the state’s diverse 13th congressional district, which covers Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.” (06/24/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/23/new-york-primary-results-house
- FL: Vendors told to start dismantling “Alligator Alcatraz” concentration camp
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
“Crews began dismantling a state-run immigration [concentration camp] in the Florida Everglades on Monday, signaling its closure even as state and federal officials continued to say little about the shutdown of a year-old facility that they once praised on a near-daily basis. State officials informed vendors in a call Monday morning that they could begin ‘demobilizing,’ or taking down, the tents, fences, trailers, and other structures at the [concentration camp], known as Alligator Alcatraz, according to three people familiar with the call. … The directive came days after the Department of Homeland Security said that all detainees had been transferred out of the remote center, which opened a little less than a year ago to much fanfare from President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis, his fellow Republican.” (06/23/26)
- Ukraine war: Kyiv regime says Crimea rail bridge “no longer exists” after drone strikes
Source: euronews [EU]
“Ukraine said it struck a major blow to Russia’s grip on the occupied Crimean peninsula, announcing the destruction of a key railway bridge over the North Crimean Canal in a series of strikes. The bridge is the ‘first one’ to be eliminated, Kyiv’s troops said. A railway bridge over the North Crimean Canal near the village of Rozdolne ‘no longer exists,’ Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SOF) said on Tuesday …. The strike on the bridge will further complicate Moscow’s efforts to move troops, ammunition and fuel by rail, the crucial backbone of Russia’s military logistics.” (06/23/26)
- SCOTUS backs US regime on unconstitutional immigration program
Source: Roll Call
“The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that federal border officials can use an indictment or other accusation to temporarily strip green cards from immigrants as they reenter the country. The 6-3 opinion, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, says the officials do not need to have ‘clear and convincing’ evidence of offenses at the time of the decision to suspend the status of a Lawful [sic] Permanent Resident, commonly known as a green card holder. Under federal immigration law [sic], green card holders are presumed to be able to reenter the country. But there are certain exceptions, such as when the immigrant has ‘committed’ certain offenses, or admits to doing so, within five years of receiving the green card.” [editor’s note: “Federal immigration law” is found in Article I, Section 9 and Amendment 10 of the US Constitution, and forbids the US government to regulate immigration – TLK] (06/23/26)
https://rollcall.com/2026/06/23/supreme-court-backs-us-power-to-strip-green-cards/
- Turkey: Regime uses NATO summit as excuse for mass abduction operation
Source: US News & World Report
“Turkish authorities detained 209 people in anti-terrorism operations on Tuesday, prosecutors said, a day after Ankara imposed restrictions on public gatherings ahead of next month’s NATO summit. Opposition groups said the raids were part of what they called a broader crackdown on democracy and civic freedoms in Turkey. The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said arrest warrants had been issued for 241 suspects under investigations into several militant organisations, including Islamic State and the far-left DHKP-C, MLKP and TKP/ML groups. It said 209 suspects had been detained and efforts to locate the remaining suspects were underway. … The operations came a day after the Ankara Governor’s Office announced a 13-day ban on demonstrations, press conferences, and other public gatherings from June 28 to July 10, citing security concerns related to the July 7-8 NATO summit.” (06/23/26)
- CA: Law that forbids forced outing of trans students blocked by 9th Circuit
Source: Seattle Times
“California’s effort to shield the decisions of transgender students in public schools from the eyes of prying parents remains on hold this week after the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found a state law designed to protect them was likely unconstitutional. … Passed in 2024, the California law known as Assembly Bill 1955 was intended to prevent school employees from notifying parents about a student’s gender expression without their consent. Boosters of the law [note that] it protects vulnerable students from ‘forced outing’ to families who may be hostile to their trans and nonbinary children. Opponents [pretend] it compels schools to ‘mislead’ parents about their children and leaves them ‘shut out’ of critical decisions.” (06/23/26)
- Lithuania: Regime steps down after coalition reshuffle
Source: ABC News
“Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė and her cabinet stepped down Tuesday after changes to the ruling coalition, setting the stage for the Baltic country’s third prime minister in two years and an incoming government that has pledged to pursue a more pragmatic relationship with China after years of strained ties. Ruginienė’s government collapsed after the center-left Social Democrats ended their coalition agreement earlier this month with the scandal-ridden populist Nemuno Aušra party as one of its former leaders faces allegations of antisemitic rhetoric.” (06/23/26)
- Gold and silver tumble as rate-hike fears hit precious metals
Source: CNBC
“Gold and silver tumbled on Tuesday, as a global sell-off in tech stocks stoked by fears of higher interest rates spilled over into metals. Gold futures fell 1.5% on Tuesday to $4,142 an ounce, while silver futures tumbled over 5% to $61.80 an ounce, before paring some losses to settle around $62.25. Since the outbreak of the U.S.-Iran war on Feb. 28, gold’s reputation as a safe-haven asset in times of turmoil has come under pressure as some of the drivers behind its ascendance have been called into question. An unexpectedly hawkish Fed meeting chaired by Kevin Warsh last week boosted expectations for a year-end interest rate hike, further pressuring gold prices, as the prospect of higher interest rates tend to weigh on the non-yielding precious metal.” (06/23/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/23/gold-silver-rate-hike-fears.html
- UN report: Israel’s targeting of Palestinian children establishes “genocidal intent” in Gaza
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Israel is deliberately targeting Palestinian children in what has become a key factor in an ongoing ‘genocide’ in Gaza, United Nations investigators charged on Tuesday, in a report slammed by Israel. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry said it had found evidence that ‘Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli security forces.’ This, it said, was a key factor in establishing ‘the genocidal intent of the Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the larger Palestinian group in Gaza.’ … Israel, which has long been harshly critical of the commission, slammed the report as ‘defamatory’ and a ‘libellous sham.’ It accused the investigators of ignoring ‘the brutal tactics of Hamas, which ruthlessly attacks Israeli children and uses Palestinian children as human shields.'” (06/23/26)
- SCOTUS: Rastafari man can’t sue Louisiana prison officials who cut his dreadlocks
Source: SFGate
“The Supreme Court on Tuesday barred a former Louisiana inmate from suing prison officials who cut off his dreadlocks in violation of his Rastafari religious beliefs. The justices condemned what happened to the former inmate, Damon Landor. But they ruled that a federal law designed to protect the religious rights of inmates does not permit lawsuits for money damages against individuals even when rights are violated. The high court, in a 6-3 decision, agreed with lower courts that without exception had ruled that the law, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, can’t be used to hold those who violate inmates’ rights financially responsible. The justices refused to apply the rationale from their decision in 2020 that allowed Muslim men to sue over their inclusion on the FBI’s no-fly list under a sister statute, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.” (06/23/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/supreme-court-rules-rastafari-man-can-t-sue-22316721.php
- SpaceX stock tumbles 16.4%, shaving off most IPO gains since debut
Source: Yahoo! Finance
“SpaceX stock fell before the bell on Tuesday, set to pick up on a three-day run of losses after a massive run-up following its IPO earlier this month. The company also confirmed its first-ever bond issuance in a filing. Shares in the Elon Musk-led company pulled back nearly 3% in premarket, on the cusp of dropping below $150 apiece.” (06/23/26)
- Australia: “Ballista” spider discovered that uses spring trap to capture prey
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A new species of spider which weaves a catapult-like silk trap to snare a single type of ant has been discovered in the remote rainforests of northern Australia. Researchers believe the nocturnal predator developed the unique hunting method to make meals of aggressive ants which are notoriously dangerous – and unusual – prey for arachnids. The snare’s ‘exceptionally high power’ flings the ant into a bigger web at ’15 times the most extreme g-forces experienced by jet pilots,’ said lead researcher Prof Ajay Narendra. Though it is yet to be formally named, scientists have nicknamed the tiny spider ‘ballista,’ after the ancient weapon used to hurl stones in battle. ‘The snare mechanism seems to have evolved as a highly specialised way of allowing the spider to ‘pick off’ potentially hazardous prey one at a time and transport them a safe distance away from ant trails and nests,’ researcher Dr Jonas Wolff said.” (06/23/26)
- China takes back top spot in latest supercomputer ranking
Source: Engadget
“China has taken the world’s fastest supercomputer crown for the first time since 2017. LineShine from the nation’s National Supercomputer Center hit 2.198 Exaflops of performance, beating the previous champ El Capitan (1.809 Exaflops), located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the USA. Lineshine, a previously unlisted machine, is the first supercomputer to exceed two exaflops of ‘sustained double-precision performance using CPUs only,’ according to Top500.org. China’s new machine was able to beat its US counterpart despite technology embargoes because it doesn’t rely on GPUs like other leading models. Instead, it’s designed around a custom 304-core processor, with 13.79 million cores running at 1.55GHz and linked by a proprietary interconnect. It draws around 42.2 megawatts of power, for an efficiency of 52.07 Gigaflops per watt.” (06/23/26)
https://www.engadget.com/2199608/china-lineshine-supercomputer-is-worlds-fastest/
- NY: From renter to owner, Sharpton locks in National Action Network’s Harlem foothold for the long haul
Source: SFGate
“The Rev. Al Sharpton’s staff and advisers stood around him just outside the doors of a cozy theater, where some of his most fervent supporters waited to greet him in the newly renovated headquarters of the National Action Network. When doors flung open, Sharpton entered to a standing ovation that continued until he was perched behind a lectern, on a stage decorated with a floor-to-ceiling video screen. The audience was not anticipating a call for justice. Instead, the rabble-rousing youth minister turned go-to national advocate was there to declare his organization was officially an owner, no longer a renter, in the historically [b]lack Harlem neighborhood it has called home for more than two decades. ‘I want to make something permanent,’ Sharpton said recently to the gathered crowd of NAN board members, local clergy and other allies. ‘When people see that you’ve bought a building, they say, ‘Wait a minute, they’re not going nowhere.’’ (06/23/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/from-renter-to-owner-sharpton-locks-in-national-22316653.php
- Judge scraps SNAP junk food rules, dealing a blow to MAHA
Source: Politico
“A federal judge on Monday scrapped a set of state pilot programs intended to restrict the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program money to purchase unhealthy foods. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointee, wrote in her decision that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who oversees the SNAP program, misapplied federal law in approving requests from states to allow them to impose limits on what participants can buy with funds from the nation’s largest food aid program. Her ruling applies to Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia. ‘With her solicitation and approval of the pilot projects in this case, the Secretary purports to waive not just a mere administrative or technical obstacle, but the very definition of ‘food’ as it was laid down by Congress,’ Berman wrote.” (06/22/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/22/judge-snap-junk-food-rules-maha-00970700
- Tech giant Oracle cuts 21,000 jobs as it embraces AI
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Oracle shed about 21,000 roles globally in the last year as the US technology giant reshapes its business around artificial intelligence (AI), the firm’s latest annual report shows. The software and cloud computing firm says it had around 141,000 full-time employees as of 31 May 2026, down from about 162,000 workers at the same time last year. The ‘deployment of AI technologies across our operations have resulted, and may continue to result, in reductions to our workforce’, the report says. The cuts, which amount to about 13% of Oracle’s workforce, are part of a wider trend among tech firms as they spend hundreds of billions of dollars on building AI infrastructure like data centres. Amazon and Facebook-owner Meta have cut thousands of job in recent months as they invest heavily in AI.” (06/23/26)
- From Victimhood to Agency: Understanding What is Up to Us
Source: Mindset Shifts
by Barry Brownstein“Taking responsibility has nothing to do with controlling outcomes.” (06/24/26)
https://mindsetshifts.substack.com/p/from-victimhood-to-agency-understanding
- Your Brain on Rage
Source: CounterPunch
by Tom H Hastings“I was riding my bike to work, a fun 7-mile commute in a city with bike lanes and a general respect for those who bicycle. Still, a bike vs auto or truck? No chance for the bike rider. … Sure enough, a truck veered right into my lane, the skinny bike lane only separated from auto traffic by a line of paint. I shifted to my extreme right, almost up against the curb. Another couple of inches and the truck would have ended me. In the moment I yelled and gave him a rude gesture with a middle finger. Um … I teach peace, I train deëscalation, and yet … It was the dreaded amygdala hijack, the rising up of the most primitive part of the brain, the limbic lizard brain, taking control when extreme fear activates it.” (06/24/26)
- Trump Is Winning The War on Nonprofits
Source: Common Dreams
by Phil Buchanan & Elisha Smith Arrillaga“Since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, his administration has waged war on nonprofits. Actions have included federal funding cuts to the tune of billions of dollars, targeting of specific organizations with investigations or indictments, and threats to tax-exempt status. While some efforts have been turned back by the courts, the administration has been unrelenting and, sadly, every American community will suffer as a result of this sustained attack. Presidential announcements warn of ‘anti-American NGOs’ and allege without any credible evidence that networks of nonprofits are acting as ‘domestic terrorist organizations’. Recently, the administration issued proposed regulations intended to impose sweeping new restrictions on nonprofits that receive federal funding—including that such organizations not advance diversity, equity, and inclusion or assist in voter registration.” (06/24/26)
- SCOTUS Unanimously Ruled That the Second Amendment Trumps Anti-Drug Sentiment
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum“The Supreme Court has a history of facilitating the war on drugs by whittling away at civil liberties, to the point that critics have long perceived a ‘drug exception’ to the Bill of Rights. But last week, when the justices unanimously upheld the gun rights of cannabis consumers, they made it clear that there is no drug exception to the Second Amendment.” (06/24/26)
- Capping Credit Card Fees Threatens To Hurt Consumers and Small Businesses
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille“Lawmakers can’t change the fact that expenses must be offset somewhere.” (06/24/26)
- Is Warsh His Own Man?
Source: The American Conservative
by David Brady“The Fed chair’s first meeting was largely uneventful but laid the groundwork of challenges for his tenure.” (06/24/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/is-warsh-his-own-man/
- Why Much of Manhattan Would Be Illegal to Build Today
Source: The Daily Economy
by Raymond C Niles“Zoning laws drive up housing costs and freeze cities in the past. New York City is a clear example.” (06/24/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/why-much-of-manhattan-would-be-illegal-to-build-today/
- Industrial Policies: Even Modest Intervention Creates Market Distortions
Source: Cato Institute
by Jeffrey Miron“Industrial policy — government efforts to favor certain sectors, technologies, or firms — has a long history. Far from a fringe idea, politicians across the spectrum have promoted such policies for centuries. But the results are far more problematic than its current popularity suggests.” (06/23/26)
- How Steve Hilton Can Become California’s Next Governor
Source: Town Hall
by Edward Ring“A very successful businessman (and a major contributor to Democratic Party candidates and causes) once explained to me why he talked, acted, and thought like a Republican but never considered supporting any Republican candidate, ever. ‘We’ve already got the Republicans’, he told me. This is the transactional essence behind corporate support for Democrats in California, the one-party state. Republicans have no political power, and whenever the Democrats in the state legislature are surprisingly split on a matter of concern to business interests, the handful of Republican politicians will invariably cast pro-business votes. This has been going on for a long time. Democrats have controlled both houses of the state legislature since 1997 and the governorship since 2011. A signature moment came in 2010 when Jerry Brown defeated the hapless billionaire Republican Meg Whitman to begin his second two-term stint as governor.” (06/24/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/06/24/how-steve-hilton-can-become-californias-next-governor/
- Out of war, new alliances for stability
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“The off-again, on-again hostilities and opening of the Strait of Hormuz are prompting more creative and proactive thinking about global diplomacy and global markets. Governments are using the lulls to rev up stalled economic activities. And the key fossil fuel-producing nations of the Gulf are working quickly to establish alternative infrastructures of cooperation – as well as of concrete and steel. Already, Iraq – which has had tense relations with Syria for years – has been exporting its oil overland via tanker trucks to Syrian ports. And many Gulf states have pivoted to importing tons of timber, cement, and agricultural and consumer goods through those same ports. There are efforts to collaborate on new pipelines, storage facilities, and even a multicountry rail project. As the Monitor reported last week, these moves are ‘already reshaping regional trade and cementing new Mideast alliances’ among countries such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and Syria.” (06/23/26)
- Why the Trump Administration Is Telling Us So Much About UFOs
Source: The Bulwark
by Yaniv Regev“From the self-proclaimed ‘most transparent administration in American history,’ the transparency offensive, ranging across the UAP files and the John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. records, has been celebrated by boosters as a long-overdue reckoning with governmental secrecy. And to be sure, the argument is democratically intuitive: the government hides too much; a more transparent government is a more trustworthy one; an informed citizenry is an empowered one. It’s a tidy thesis, and one I think many people would endorse. Except it’s being weaponized—and the Trump administration’s information avalanche is the clearest proof.” (06/24/26)
- Mindless Middleness Was Keir Starmer’s Undoing
Source: The UnPopulist
by Berny Belvedere“Rather than govern on the strength of his supermajority in Parliament, Starmer governed as though he had something to fear, spending his majority appeasing not the Conservatives he had beaten but a Reform he chased rightward as it climbed. Starmer had room to govern boldly. Instead, he governed in a crouch. … The bet was that the right’s goods in gentler packaging would deny the right its market. It failed twice over. The voters he hoped to hold by sounding tougher did not stay; they went to the people who meant it. The voters he might have inspired got nothing to be inspired by. He alienated the left without satisfying the right.” (06/23/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/mindless-middleness-was-keir-starmers
- The Memorandum of Understanding With Iran Reeks of Capitulation
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye“As unhappy as Israel may be about it, there appears to be a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (MOU) between the United States and Iran. The MOU isn’t a final deal. It really only functions as a framework. Of course, it’s fragile. The durability of the MOU remains uncertain given broader regional tensions, including Israeli operations in Lebanon. Negotiations for a formal agreement are underway in Switzerland, and progress has been reported. The elephant in the room is what the MOU says, specifically regarding reconstruction, economic development, and sanctions relief.” (06/23/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/the-memorandum-of-understanding-with
- What If You Eliminated Personal Property Taxes and Nobody Noticed?
Source: Show-Me Institute
by David Stokes“There is a lot of ongoing discussion about eliminating personal property taxes. There have been bills introduced to eliminate them. It’s a major topic of debate around the state, particularly in St. Charles County. Personal property taxes are the taxes levied on your car, boat, livestock, business equipment, farm equipment, and more. … if personal property taxes were eliminated, the Hancock Amendment would allow local governments to then raise real property taxes by the amount lost in personal property taxes. So, if the state eliminated all personal property taxes statewide, it would likely end up as a revenue-neutral switch where we taxed land and buildings slightly more and taxed mobile assets not at all while removing a tax that most people find particularly annoying. I think that would be a modestly beneficial switch; I just don’t want to sell it as a tax cut.” (06/23/26)
- Greenspan Was the Creator of His Own Disaster
Source: The American Prospect
by Chris Hughes“Alan Greenspan’s obituary writers want to credit him with a single, flattering flaw: that he trusted markets too much. That charge is too generous, because Greenspan never left markets to run themselves. He used the power of the Fed to cultivate and reward financial innovation, making the financial system more fragile for it. Often misunderstood as an Ayn Rand acolyte, Greenspan was not a true libertarian. His creed was not ‘leave the market alone’ as much as it was to use the tools of the government to make the market faster and more inventive — and then stand by to catch it when it falls. Those actions fueled the soaring inequality and the economic crash of 2008. Greenspan was no bystander watching markets obey some ineffable logic. His obsession with financial innovation set the stage for the crisis.” (06/24/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/06/24/alan-greenspan-creator-of-his-own-disaster/
- Who & What in LA?
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“Last week, the Los Angeles City Council voted to place a charter amendment on the November 3 ballot to facilitate giving noncitizens a vote in city elections.” [editor’s note: Presumably “noncitizen” means “noncitizen of the US,” not “noncitizen of LA.” Sort of like how, as a US citizen, I get to vote in US elections whether I’m also a citizen of France or not – TLK] (06/23/26)
- Kelo’s Legacy: 21 Years of Economic Development Failures
Source: Independent Institute
by Edward J López“This week marks the 21st anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v. City of New London. This landmark case allows local governments to take private properties by eminent domain, then transfer those properties to developers to promote economic development. Urban planners describe eminent domain, if used correctly, as a tool that can promote blight abatement, job creation, and tax base expansion. The Court did not express agreement with this in its ruling, but it said that as long as a local government’s plan for economic development was crafted through an open democratic process, then using eminent domain for economic development serves the public and is therefore legal. Taking homes and businesses by majority vote. If this strikes you as an idea ripe for unintended consequences, that’s because it is. Since Kelo, local governments across the country have advanced creative notions of public purpose.” (06/23/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/06/23/legacy-kelo-years-economic-failures/
- War Isn’t Won on “Points”
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison“Matt Kroenig has wanted the U.S. to attack Iran for more than a decade. Now that he got the war he wanted and it failed, he is reduced to arguing this: ‘To be sure, the United States did not register a knockout punch against the Islamic Republic, but to continue the boxing metaphor, it did win on points.’ War isn’t a sport, and there is no winning on ‘points.’ The ghouls that cheered this war on treat war as if it were a video game where you get more ‘points’ with every person you kill or maim. How many ‘points’ did the U.S. get from massacring the innocent schoolgirls in Minab with missiles? If the U.S. won, as Kroenig insists, what did we win? What does the U.S. have now that it didn’t have before?” (06/23/26)
- Trump’s second term is a murky, embarrassing and costly spectacle
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Jonah Goldberg“Every time I get asked by a TV anchor what I think about the drama of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, my favorite ‘historical’ headline from the Onion comes to mind: ‘World’s Largest Metaphor Hits Ice-Berg’ And every time I do, I hear from defenders of the Trump administration complaining about the disproportionate media coverage of what should be a very minor story in the grand sweep of things. They have a point. … I can think of scores of stories that deserve more attention on the merits. But there are two problems with this complaint. First, it was Trump who invited extensive scrutiny of the effort. … Second, there’s the metaphor-on-the-Mall problem. The Reflecting Pool is a microcosm of nearly everything that vexes people about the second Trump term.” (06/23/26)
- The Iran War won’t kill dollar dominance. But Washington might.
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Sam Fraser“Even if the framework agreement to end the U.S.-Israel-Iran War is successful, economic fallout from the conflict will persist at least through the end of the year. And the consequences for the global economic system — particularly the centrality of the U.S. dollar and its dominance of the oil trade — may be more far reaching. Analysts have suggested that the war may spell the end of the so-called petrodollar, or alternatively that it could bring about an era of renewed dollar dominance, or that really, the petrodollar ceased to be a meaningful driver of U.S. monetary hegemony decades ago. The latter vein of analysis is largely correct.” (06/23/26)
- When Congress Waged War on Cheap Groceries
Source: The Daily Economy
by Jeffrey L Degner“One of my earliest memories growing up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was a visit to the bakery at the A&P grocery store at 5800 Gull Road. It was one of a handful of places my parents could afford to shop at in the midst of the great stagflation of the 1970s. My mother made amazing birthday cakes for us as kids, and I presume she was there for some ideas. I had other things in mind. They gave away free ‘donut holes’ to kids who were presumably well-behaved, leading to my temporarily angelic behavior whenever we went there. Little did I know then, A&P was once regarded as a retail behemoth. A monopoly needing to be cut down to size. Their crime? Volume discounts. This allegedly nefarious practice was at the center of anti-chain-store sentiment that reached a fever pitch with the passage of the Robinson-Patman Act in 1936.” (06/23/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/when-congress-waged-war-on-cheap-groceries/
- Don’t Forget the Broader Context of the Iranian Memorandum
Source: American Greatness
by Victor Davis Hanson“The tentative ‘memorandum of understanding’ with Iran has caused glee on the Left and furor among many on the Right. The Left might welcome ‘peace,’ but surely not as much as it enjoys infighting on the Right over the details. If last week Democrats were calling Trump a fascist warmonger, now they deride his peace efforts as those of a Neville Chamberlain patsy. Within 24 hours, the Left’s talking points shifted from a mad bomber-style Curtis LeMay in the White House to an impotent appeaser. A week ago, some Republicans were arguing that not one of the prior seven presidents had dared to use force to stop Iran’s nuclear program. Now some of them are deriding him as an Iranian enabler.” [editor’s note: Poor Vic never seems to handle the failures of his approved schemes very well – TLK] (06/23/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/06/23/dont-forget-the-broader-context-of-the-iranian-memorandum/
- Interpreting Epidemic Curves: The Big Picture
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Michael Tomlinson“If there is one thing we have learned since 2020 it is the power of confirmation bias. The public health establishment has presented a mass of data and analysis to show that it was right all along about the Covid-19 pandemic and saved millions of lives. This finding has been accepted at face value and incorporated into policy, but rests on shaky foundations. We need to look at the big picture. Apologists for vaccination generally use point-to-point comparisons – they pick an arbitrary date near the peak of the epidemic curve and compare it to a later date to show that an intervention is correlated with a reduction in infections or mortality. This is open to case-counting window bias and immortal time bias – another selection of dates could yield an entirely different result.” (06/23/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/interpreting-epidemic-curves-the-big-picture/
- Thomas Massie Leads the Republican Revolt Against Trump’s Iran War
Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño“No War Powers Resolution has ever successfully survived a presidential veto in U.S. history. The vote is therefore largely symbolic but politically potent as a sign of fracturing GOP unity. And for Massie, an outgoing congressman with nothing left to lose, it represents a final stand for the constitutional principle he spent his career defending. Massie’s resolution will almost certainly die in the Senate or fall to a presidential veto, not because the constitutional argument is weak but because the bipartisan addiction to executive war-making is stronger than any single congressman’s principles.” (06/23/26)
- Colombians want security, with rule of law
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“This month has seen two tightly contested runoff elections in South America. The results from Peru’s poll, held more than two weeks ago, are still not official – but indicate a razor-thin margin of 35,000 to 40,000 votes for the conservative candidate. The count of Sunday’s vote in Colombia has been much quicker, showing a win for right-wing political outsider Abelardo de la Espriella, by a 1% margin over his rival. In the wake of highly polarizing campaign rhetoric, some observers might see the results as confirmation of a deep, irreconcilable divide within the electorate. But, viewed through a different lens, the results point to the virtually equal desire among citizens for safety and rule of law – as well as policies that offer pathways out of poverty and high economic inequality.” (06/22/26)
- The Secret Origins of “Conspiracy Theory”
Source: Reason
by Jesse Walker“A new book shows how a phrase made its way from the crime pages to our political arguments—and picked up a passel of meanings along the way.” (06/23/26)
https://reason.com/2026/06/23/the-secret-origins-of-conspiracy-theory/
- Democrats Declare War on School Choice
Source: Town Hall
by Stephen Moore“Why are Democrats and their teachers’ union masters trying to shoot down parental choice in education even when we now have so many examples of these programs working? Choice and competition are two of the hallmarks of the American economy. When stores compete, customers win. Turns out this is also true for schools. That’s an inviolable law of economics. A corollary is that monopolies tend to put customers last. This is all happening at a time when public monopoly schools are showing flat or negative performance despite more funding than ever before. This is one reason why so many states are turning to the new model of school choice, with public funds going to scholarships and charter schools, and tax incentives for charitable donations to private and Catholic schools.” (06/23/26)
- JD Vance Infuriates the Neocons
Source: The American Conservative
by Jack Hunter“The vice president is putting Israel in its place and making all the right people mad.” (06/23/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/j-d-vance-infuriates-the-neocons/
- Blaming Ordinary People For The Ecocidal Consequences Of AI
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“I just saw an article in The Conversation titled ‘Your AI habit is wasting precious resources. Here’s how to use it responsibly,’ and it pisses me off because you can already see where this is going. Neoliberalism is already doing that thing where they shift all the blame for the environmental consequences of ecocidal capitalism to the individual consumer, like how they told everyone to ride bikes and recycle instead of regulating the corporations who are actually destroying our biosphere. There are plenty of reasons why we should all avoid using AI, but the push to offload all the responsibility for the ecological consequences of data centers onto individual users instead of just regulating AI companies is typical capitalist power-serving bullshit.” [editor’s note: Is there a moral panic Johnstone WON’T jump on and ride hard? – TLK] (06/23/26)
- A Schematic History of Universities
Source: ProSocial Libertarians
by Andrew Jason Cohen“In my last post I discussed Early Twenty-First Century Universities. They involve 6 groups of participants, several of which are primarily involved because of ancillary provisions. The sort of college I favor—what I think of as the classic model—is different. To understand that, I here lay out an idealized and schematic history of the university system. In another post, I will discuss what I think universities should be.” (06/23/26)
https://prosociallibertarians.substack.com/p/a-schematic-history-of-universities
- A Healthy Constitutional Squabble
Source: Law & Liberty
by James Valvo & Ryan Mulvey“The Presidential Records Act (PRA) has lately been a source of controversy. The Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) published an opinion at the beginning of April that concluded the PRA is unconstitutional because it ‘exceeds Congress’s enumerated and implied powers’ and ‘aggrandizes the Legislative Branch at the expense of the constitutional independence and autonomy of the Executive.’ OLC’s opinion has raised eyebrows. It may even be wrong on the law. Nevertheless, it is good to see the political branches jockeying for position over the constitutionality of one another’s actions. A healthy, antifragile government requires occasional interbranch battles over the structure of our government.” (06/23/26)
- Canada – the Great Northern Threat?
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton“Here in the States, the major attention to borders and potential threats has long been the border with Mexico, and the Gulf Coast with access to the Caribbean and all its little island nations. The States’ border with Canada has long been demilitarized – indeed, for pushing 150 years. But in recent years, as Canada has gone more Woke, more Tranzi, and opened the Provinces to mass immigration from not just the Commonwealth but apparently everywhere else? Some people think we need a wall up there, too. (That disgusts us both politically and personally, even more than the idea we must fortify the border with Mexico.) But things are not good – and the Canada we once knew – even the Prairie Provinces – is long gone.” (06/22/26)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/06/22/canada-the-great-northern-threat/
- Term Limits? OK, But Here’s How To Do Them Right
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“I’m skeptical that term limits, as envisioned by their promoters, would do much to restrain or improve the quality of government, and as a political matter their opponents aren’t wrong when they point out that ‘we already have term limits, they’re called elections.’ … But if we want to give term limits a real try, I have some ideas on the matter. First, the limit should be one term. Second, the term should be fairly short — say, two years. Third, once a person has been elected to a particular office, that person becomes ineligible for election to any other office, and for employment by any branch of the government in question … ever, for life.” (06/23/26)
- Mamdani’s building a machine, and every Democrat may soon have to kiss his ring
Source: New York Post
by John Ketcham“On Tuesday, New York City’s Democratic voters will decide whether Zohran Mamdani controls the future of their party. With equal parts perfidy and chutzpah, Mamdani has broken with party leaders who supported his rapid rise in last year’s mayoral race to endorse three House candidates. Three-decade incumbent Nydia Velázquez, esteemed by progressives and Hispanic voters alike, was the first member of Congress to endorse Mamdani last April. ‘It’s just beautiful to have someone so authentic,’ she gushed in July. With Velázquez retiring from her NY-7 seat, she thought she could count on Mamdani to repay the favor for her chosen successor, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso — a union-backed progressive who isn’t part of the Democratic Socialists of America. But Mamdani, authentic to himself, failed to follow through.” (06/22/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/06/22/opinion/mamdanis-machine-means-every-dem-may-have-to-kiss-his-ring/
- We’ve had the answer for two centuries now
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall“Britain’s problems stem from no one being able to ever do anything. Therefore we’re short of things that have been done. Sorting this out so that more people can do more things seems sensible, for then we’d all enjoy more things that have been done. The New Manchesterism then suggests that government should do all those lovely long term things that markets can’t or don’t and thus will the land of milk and honey return. We do tend to think that the long term isn’t something that politics is going to look to. Not when a Prime Minister with a stonking majority gets – well, likely will – killed off by a chippy northerner after 2 years and how many days is it?” (06/23/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/weve-had-the-answer-for-two-centuries-now
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 06/24/26
Source: The New Republic
“Angry Trump Seethes at Media as Fox Drops Truly Humiliating Poll Data.” (06/24/26)
- Nonzero, 06/23/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“AI and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning | Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov.” (06/23/26)
- The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 06/24/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Who Will Lead the U.K.? | Interview: Francis Dearnley.” (06/24/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/who-will-lead-the-u-k-interview-francis-dearnley/
- Jay Noone on The Mark Edge Show
Source: Free Talk Live
“Jay Noone has built something most people only talk about: a real community of like minded families on a working farm in New Hampshire, where kids learn blacksmithing, animal butchering, diesel mechanics, and how to carry themselves as competent, self reliant people.” (06/23/26)
- NPR Politics Podcast, 06/23/26
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“Why AI groups are spending millions to influence midterms.” (06/23/26)
- Year Zero with Tommy Salmons, 06/23/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Usury and the Soul of Orthodoxy w/Fr Emmanuel Lemelson.” (06/23/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/usury-and-the-soul-of-orthodoxy-w-fr-emmanuel-lemelson/
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 06/23/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Congress Passes Iran War Powers Resolution, US Launched 68 Airstrikes in Somalia This Year, and More.” (06/23/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 06/23/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Tucker To GOP: ‘I’m Outta Here!'” (06/23/26)
- Rising, 06/23/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave delivers his radar on Elon Musk’s new trillions, and Democrats’ promises to both rein in his wealth and prosecute him once they return to power.” (06/23/26)
- Cato Podcast, 06/23/26
Source: Cato Institute
“What the Declaration Still Has to Say in 2026.” (06/23/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/what-declaration-still-has-say-2026
- Fountainhead Forum, episode 462
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Chip Joyce on teaching your kids to think and the decline of New York City.” (06/23/26)
- Trump Watch, 06/23/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Is Trump Now Free of His Iran Tar Baby?” (06/23/26)
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 06/23/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Rages Over Reflecting Pool Fiasco—and Arrests Over It Get Darker.” (06/23/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/212187/trump-rages-reflecting-pool-fiasco-and-arrests-get-darker
- Pod Save America, episode 1177
Source: Crooked Media
“Pool Me Twice, Shame On You.” (06/23/26)
https://audioboom.com/posts/8919740-pool-me-twice-shame-on-you
- The Bryan Hyde Show, 06/23/26
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“It’s my weekly chat with Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos. If you’re needing a quick reality supplement, this is an extra-strength dose, served up in less than 30 minutes.” (06/23/26)
- The Dispatch Podcast, 06/23/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Will Trump Interfere with the 2026 Midterms?” (06/23/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/dispatch-podcast/will-trump-interfere-with-the-2026-midterms/
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 06/22/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Issues Waivers for Iranian Oil Sales, US and Iran Establish Lebanon Deconfliction Cell, and More.” (06/22/26)
- Sal and Mark, episode 7
Source: Free Talk Live
“Mark is in Costa Rica, so Sal Mayweather and Free Talk Live veteran Wayne Quinn hold it down for a packed episode covering everything from the Zcash exploit to the future of financial privacy.” (06/22/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 06/22/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“US To Buy Iranian Oil – First Time In Decades!” (06/22/26)
- Reason Roundtable, 06/22/26
Source: Reason
“Why U.K. Socialism Could Soon Be America’s Problem.” (06/22/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/06/22/why-u-k-socialism-could-soon-be-americas-problem/