Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum
“Most federal appeals courts have recognized the right to record police. DHS employees nevertheless seem to view it as a crime.” (05/19/26)
Source: Engadget
“Your calls on Discord are now truly private. The social platform says it’s completed its years-long endeavor to apply end-to-end encryption in all voice and video calls. This security is applied to all calls outside of stage channels, with no need to opt into the added protection. Attitudes on end-to-end encryption have been shifting at some platforms. While many see E2EE as a critical way to keep personal conversations personal, there have been some moves away from this security option.” (05/19/26)
https://www.engadget.com/2177277/discord-now-has-end-to-end-encryption-on-all-calls/
Source: Free Talk Live
“A weekly deep-dive into crypto, privacy, and practical freedom. This episode features Stefan Kinsella on the stunning split between Hans-Hermann Hoppe and the Mises Institute; Tux from Cake Wallet on Lightning Network, Silent Payments, and the new Cupcake hardware wallet feature; plus discussions on the Hoppe-Milei controversy, tax resistance, Freedom Dollar vs. Tether, and why privacy coins are the future.” (05/19/26)
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“[I]f Smith is correct, we should have seen feudalism last longest in places poorly suited to produce export goods, well suited to produce subsistence goods. For similar reasons, we should have seen feudalism last longest in places where transport costs were high — most obviously places far from good water transport, which in the Middle Ages was typically much less costly than overland transport. The theory is, at least in principle, a testable one.” (05/19/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/testing-smiths-explanation-for-the
Source: Expression
by Graham Piro
“The shock hit Clemson before the facts had fully settled. Charlie Kirk was dead. Within minutes, the ghastly footage of his murder circulated online. For many, the initial response was horror. Others found the killing justified. Some even joked about it. At Clemson University, students gathered hours after the attack to mourn Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA. But the sadness was soon accompanied by an ominous chilling effect on speech as administrators began targeting any faculty or staff perceived to have justified or celebrated the shooting. … In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Clemson fired two professors for social media posts about Kirk’s death.” (05/19/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/how-two-clemson-professors-fought
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will not pursue President Donald Trump, his family or companies for back tax claims under an agreement announced on Tuesday by the Justice Department. Trump, his sons Eric and Donald Jr. and the Trump Organisation filed a lawsuit against the tax-collecting agency in January seeking $10 billion in damages following a leak of his tax returns. … Trump dropped the lawsuit against the IRS on Monday in exchange for the creation of a $1.7 billion fund to compensate political allies who believe that they were unfairly prosecuted under the Biden administration. … An addendum to the settlement agreement signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and released on Tuesday says the IRS is ‘forever barred’ from pursuing any tax claims against Trump, his family or his businesses that were pending as of the May 18 settlement date.” [editor’s note: Would have been nicer if the “forever barred” applied to EVERYONE – TLK] (05/19/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20260519-irs-trump-back-taxes-settlement-agreement
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“The Real Cost Of The Iran War.” (05/19/26)
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“We defend anyone’s right to speak (write, publish, record, etc.) freely on any subject. Whether right or wrong. But we defend our own God-given right to challenge, contest, disagree, and point out when what they say is wrong. Either when someone fails to tell the truth, or when they twist things around. Not just draw the wrong conclusions but claim that only they know the truth and can explain it properly. Free speech is not just a fundamental requirement for a republic, or even a ‘democracy’ but for society. As is the right to challenge when someone abuses that right. But the challenge must be appropriate to the offense. For example, teachers do not chop off a student’s hand (or even a finger!) for misspelling a word. Or writing down something that is obviously untrue.” (05/19/26)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/05/19/defending-free-speech/
Source: Associated Press
“Kentucky U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie lost his Republican House primary Tuesday, becoming the latest Republican lawmaker to anger President Donald Trump and then fall to a primary challenger backed by the president. Trump handpicked and endorsed Ed Gallrein, whose victory demonstrated the president’s influence over GOP voters and growing frustration with Massie’s opposition to Trump. … He pushed for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, criticized the war in Iran and voted against the president’s signature tax legislation last year. Still, he tried to convince voters that they could be for both him and Trump. The race was the most expensive U.S. House primary in history.” (05/19/26)
Source: The Daily Economy
by Richard Menger
“High school history curricula often portray feudalism as a quaint medieval relic — a cautionary archetype of concentrated power, conditional rights, and extractive hierarchies that suppressed human flourishing for centuries. As ever, though, the deeper lesson of history is its recurring nature: when property rights erode and rent-seeking supplants open competition, societies reliably drift back toward feudal arrangements. American medicine today offers a vivid illustration of this pattern, as government-created barriers sustain local monopolies, nonprofit hospital systems function as modern lords, and physicians relinquish professional autonomy in exchange for the illusory security of salaried fiefdoms. The result is contemporary serfs in white coats serving within tax-exempt citadels.” (05/19/26)