Debate: Bryan Caplan v. Garett Jones on immigration
Source: Bet On It
Debate at the University of Austin. (06/16/26)
Author: Thomas L. Knapp
GA: Republican primary delivers mixed results for Trump
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Georgia Republicans have delivered mixed results for United States President Donald Trump in the state’s primary elections, opting for the president’s preferred US Senate candidate but rejecting his choice for governor. Trump’s influence is being put to the test in this year’s midterm elections as four states and the District of Columbia held primaries on Tuesday. In the Senate race, Republican Mike Collins, 58, topped former football coach Derek Dooley and advanced to face Senator Jon Ossoff, the only Senate Democrat running for re-election in a state that Trump won two years ago. … In the race for Georgia governor, healthcare tycoon Rick Jackson, 71, outpaced Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones after spending about $100m of his own money on the campaign and surpassing Jones’s backing from the president. Jackson will face Democratic nominee and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in November.” (06/17/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/17/georgia-republican-primary-delivers-mixed-results-for-trump
Libertarians Are Wrong to Support an “Ellis Island” Immigration-Control System
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“On the issue of immigration, there are two completely different positions within the libertarian movement. One position favors a government-controlled, government-managed system in which federal officials centrally plan the numbers and characteristics of immigrants that will be permitted to enter the United States. The other position is commonly known as ‘open borders.’ This position is based on the principles of economic liberty and the free market. … Some libertarians attempt to ‘straddle the fence’ by endorsing what they call an ‘Ellis Island’ type of immigration-control system. … it’s not freedom — not genuine freedom. That’s a problem for libertarians, who purport to favor freedom, especially economic liberty and free-market principles.” (06/16/26)
Warsh to face spotlight as Federal Reserve likely to leave interest rates unchanged
Source: Associated Press
“The Federal Reserve will enter the Kevin Warsh era Wednesday, as President Trump’s pick to lead the central bank oversees his first policy meeting and holds his first news conference. Yet Warsh isn’t expected to immediately usher in significant policy changes. The Fed is likely to keep its key rate unchanged Wednesday at about 3.6% for the fourth straight meeting, economists say. Fed policymakers could change their post-meeting statement so that it no longer signals the central bank’s next move will be to reduce interest rates. Such a change would suggest it could keep rates unchanged for an extended period — or even raise them if inflation stays elevated. … since the Iran war began Feb. 28, inflation has accelerated to a three-year high of 4.2%, lifted mostly by costlier gas stemming from the Iran war. The Fed typically fights higher inflation by raising its key interest rate to cool spending and growth.” (06/17/26)
Brexit’s paradoxical consequence: The unloved colossus of the City matters more than ever
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Miles Saltiel
“Ten years after Brexit, Britons must choke back an indigestible irony. Leaving the EU has been an unexpected success for those who voted against it: the prosperous Southeast, beneficiaries of the unloved colossus of London’s financial services. But it has been a disaster for those who voted for it, the left-behind of the neglected suburbs and provinces. Two reasons explain this paradox. First, the Brits let Barnier walk all over them on the backward-looking issues which dominated exit negotiations and regulate the rustbelt. Second, Brussels discovered that if it wanted to carry on its prodigal ways, it couldn’t do without London’s capital markets.” (06/16/26)
Iran’s World Cup team ordered out of US right after opener, coach says
Source: The Hill
“The coach of the Iranian soccer team said that his team had to leave the U.S. shortly after its 2-2 draw against New Zealand to open the FIFA World Cup. Amir Ghalenoei said that officials did not give his team time to ‘recover’ from the match before ordering them to return to Tijuana, Mexico. The Iranians are staying in Tijuana, which is a short flight from southern California — where the team played on Monday and will compete in its second game against Belgium on Sunday. … Ghalenoei did not say who ordered his team to depart the U.S. back to Mexico. While all 31 Iranian players and their coaches received visas, multiple members of the team’s traveling party did not.” (06/16/26)
https://thehill.com/policy/sports-gaming/5925843-iran-world-cup-travel-issues/
Iran: Another Trophy for Trump’s “First” Shelf?
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“US president Donald Trump loves being ‘first.’ Whenever something newsworthy happens, big or small, in fact or in fantasy, he reliably touts it as being unprecedented in American, possibly even world, history, and a either a personal, positive accomplishment or an unjustified persecution (‘witch hunt’). … now, he’s the first president to oversee US surrender in not one, but two, wars.” (06/16/26)
Report: Secret Service enraged at FBI Director Kash Patel after premature announcement about UFC event terror plot
Source: Independent [UK]
“Secret Service officials are reportedly angry with FBI Director Kash Patel for announcing Tuesday the FBI had intercepted an alleged plot targeting President Donald Trump’s UFC Freedom 250 event before many arrests had been made in the case. Officials ‘woke up’ Tuesday morning to find Patel had posted on X, boasting about the FBI’s work to thwart the planned attack and arrest several individuals accused of conspiring in the plot. … However, not all suspects had been arrested and the case was sealed in court at the time, angering Secret Service officials who led the investigation, sources told MSNOW. … Federal law enforcement had five people in custody Monday but identified 23 others as part of a ‘network of plotters’ who allegedly planned to use a drone equipped with an explosive to hit buildings near the event, force a mass evacuation and steer crowds toward a sniper team, officials told Fox News Digital.” [editor’s note: A 19-year-old is identified as the alleged mastermind/leader of what would have been a large operation, so I suspect the whole thing is more law enforcement hype than reality – TLK] (06/16/26)
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/secret-enraged-fbi-director-kash-201604104.html
Economic Warfare, Militarized Diplomacy Are Brutal and Malfunctioning Tools
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider
“On September 15, 1970, Richard Nixon ordered the CIA to ‘make the economy [of Chile] scream.’ (CIA Director Richard Helms’s actual note of the conversation can be seen here). But it wasn’t the economy that screamed: it was people. ‘The economy’ is an abstraction. The concrete reality of sanctions and embargos is people who are starving. Driving people to starvation has become the foreign policy of the United States.” (06/16/26)
Electric Vehicle Growth Outlook Slows As US Regime Pulls Back On Subsidies
Source: Business Today [Malaysia]
“The global outlook for electric vehicle demand has been cut for a second year in a row, with policy shifts in the United States driving a significant downgrade to long-term expectations, according to BloombergNEF. The latest forecast points to a slower pace of electrification across major automotive markets, even as overall adoption continues to rise. … EV sales are now expected to account for just 17% of [US] passenger vehicle sales by 2030, down sharply from 27% in last year’s forecast and far below earlier expectations of 48%. The revision reflects a cumulative loss of around 14 million EV sales through 2030 compared with previous projections, highlighting how quickly policy changes are reshaping the market outlook. Several policy adjustments are behind the slowdown. The $7,500 federal tax credit for EV buyers has expired, fuel economy standards have been eased, and efforts to limit California’s ability to set its own emissions rules are adding further uncertainty.” (06/16/26)