“On May 11, a new law went into effect in Florida, ‘allowing’ businesses to round the amounts charged for cash purchases to the nearest nickel. Really? Nothing more important than this for our masters in Tallahassee to spend their time on? Don’t get me wrong. The practice in question makes sense …. But why on Earth would merchants need a law to ‘allow’ this? … Even when framed as ‘voluntary’ — as this one is — unnecessary laws ‘allowing’ behaviors already unquestionably ‘allowed’ (by common sense and conventional morality) tend to nudge the public toward an ‘everything not required is forbidden’ mindset in which we instinctively seek permission from our rulers for every action, trivial or momentous.” (05/14/26)
“Israeli authorities will take The New York Times to court over a piece it published denouncing alleged widespread sexual abuse against Palestinian detainees, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday, May 15. Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar have ordered the ‘initiation of a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times,’ according to a joint statement issued by their offices. … The investigation, which was published on Monday as an opinion piece by Kristof, a columnist, is based on testimonies gathered in the Israeli-occupied West Bank from 14 men and women who said that they had been sexually assaulted by Israeli settlers or members of the security forces. … The New York Times responded that any legal claim over the ‘deeply reported opinion column’ lacked merit.” (05/14/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“The libertarian movement can be divided into two basic groups: libertarians who call for reforming welfare-warfare state programs and libertarians who call for dismantling welfare-warfare state programs. I fall within the latter group. Why? Because I want to be free. Reform doesn’t get me freedom. At best it gets me a better serfdom. That’s nice, but it’s not want I want for the rest of my life. I want to be free, and only by dismantling infringements on freedom can I attain genuine freedom.” (05/14/26)
“Iran’s Revolutionary Guards-linked media are pushing for Tehran to impose charges on the submarine fibre-optic cables running through the Strait of Hormuz, arguing that the waterway’s role in global digital infrastructure could generate billions of dollars and give Iran a new pressure point against the West. Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, proposed that Iran charge transit fees to the international consortia that own and operate the cables, offer maintenance services, and require companies — including Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon — to operate under Iranian regulations.” (05/15/26)
“Last week, when the Pentagon resumed its attacks on small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, the media barely noticed. The U.S. military has now destroyed 56 vessels and killed 190 persons. The killings began in September 2025 and have continued to this month. … Killing survivors is expressly prohibited by federal law as well as by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. And, of course, ordering the killing of innocents is always unlawful. So, the Pentagon made two changes. It produced more lethal strikes so as not to be burdened with the problem of survivors, and it either stopped killing survivors or stopped revealing that it killed them.” (05/14/26)
“Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks has resigned, according to a report from Fox News. Banks, who took on the role at the start of President Trump’s second term, steps down amid serious allegations. Reports from the Washington Examiner claim that Banks engaged in sex tourism, visiting countries like Colombia and Thailand to pay for sex with prostitutes. These activities reportedly occurred over a decade and were known among colleagues. The allegations have sparked controversy, especially given the Border Patrol’s mission to combat human trafficking. Banks'[s] behavior was reportedly investigated twice by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) but was closed without action.” (05/14/26)
“The United States, like most other countries, use a method of double-entry accounting to track certain aggregate statistics known as National Income Accounting. One of the statistics tracked is the balance of trade. The balance of trade reports the difference between imports and exports. … The connotations of the words ‘surplus’ and ‘deficit’ (coupled with the accounting conventions of pluses and minus) give the impression to those who do not understand the balance of trade that deficits are bad while surpluses are good. But, digging a little into the accounting shows that 1) ‘deficits’ and ‘surpluses’ are value-free and 2) referring to these as ‘trade deficits/surpluses’ is something of a misnomer.” (05/14/26)
“Dr Mary Ruwart (Chair of Liberty International and Secretary of the Foundation for a Free Society) on a Longevity & Freedom Webinar (June 13; September), Liberty International Journal, LI at Freedom Fest on Friday, July 10 in Las Vegas.” (05/14/26)
“The Justice Department on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the District of Columbia Bar over its efforts to discipline Trump administration lawyers, escalating the department’s feud with legal ethics authorities. The lawsuit defends Jeffrey Clark, a government lawyer in the first Trump administration who sought to undo the results of the 2020 presidential race, and Ed Martin, a current senior Justice Department official. The suit was filed by Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, and Stanley E. Woodward Jr., the No. 3 official at the Justice Department…. The lawsuit centers on the long-running battle over the D.C. Bar’s effort to disbar Clark, an environmental lawyer who had no formal role in investigating elections, over his push to promote Trump’s baseless assertions of fraud in Joe Biden’s electoral victory in 2020.” (05/14/26)
