Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jack Hunter

“Friends of the national security state get slapped on the wrist while those who actually challenge the system pay the real price.” (06/10/26)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/john-bolton/

Source: CounterPunch
by Sidney Plotkin & Bill Scheurman

“Woody Guthrie proudly sang ‘This land is your land, this land is my land / From California to the New York island,’ but, in fact, the conversion of vast public resources and wealth to private property is one of the defining dynamics of American history. The political economist Thorstein Veblen called this process ‘The American Plan:’ the conversion of public resources into private hands as fast as possible.” [editor’s note: There are no “public resources and wealth” — if it’s not “private property,” it’s unowned – TLK] (06/10/26)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/10/the-american-plan-and-the-2026-elections/

Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall

“It’s the original purchases that are costing the taxpayer money …. the loss was baked in when the Bank of England bought all those bonds back when. Buying gilts with 1/2% and the like coupons just was/is going to lead to a loss. A loss that can be taken in one of two ways but a loss which is going to be taken in one of those two ways. … The loss comes from having done Quantitative Easing, not from the clean up that is Quantitative Tightening. Sorry, there is no free money.” (06/10/26)

https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/bank-of-england-bond-sales-dont-cost-taxpayers-anything

Source: Quillette
by Ron Capshaw

“British author Josh Ireland’s account of Josef Stalin’s quest to liquidate Leon Trotsky is a story of pathology and politics. Ireland doesn’t spend much time on Lenin, who makes only spectral appearances, or on the ideological quarrels between Mensheviks, Leninists, Stalinists, and Trotskyists. He is preoccupied with the two personalities at the centre of his story: Stalin the obsessive hater and the hapless and suicidally negligent Trotsky.” (06/10/26)

https://quillette.com/2026/06/10/pathology-and-politics-death-of-trotsky-josh-ireland-review-stalin/