“Smith notes that the lords, who at one time used their excess agricultural wealth to keep a multitude of knights and retainers, began to spend instead on consumption goods. Eventually, these goods became so important that the nobles had to cut their lavish lifestyles and reduce their retainers. Traders no longer relied only on the local lord, and the barons found it advantageous to shop around. The old personal feudal bonds, in this way, were slowly transformed into public, pecuniary ones. The feudal institutions were being slowly dismantled by the nobles themselves without any intention to do so on their part. For Smith, this commercial success had an additional consequence. The innovations from the broadened market spilled over into agriculture in three ways.” (07/30/26)
“Rand [Paul] and other Republicans tried to claim Fauci had no right to take the Fifth because Biden issued him a preemptive pardon that eliminated that privilege, an ongoing debate in some legal circles. What is not debated though Repubs tried to argue otherwise: Invoking the Fifth Amendment is not a confession of guilt, but a foundational right against self-incrimination as long as there exists a valid threat of prosecution. Most pointedly, the Fifth does not represent guilt but ‘the ordinary caution’ of any citizen who is dragged before a hostile panel by a vindictive chairman vowing for years to put him behind bars, and who ‘understands this hearing was never a search for information but a search for a crime – of having stood in public and told a frightened country the truth, while a president lied to it.'” (07/30/26)
“The death toll from an overnight deadly militant attack on a police post in northwestern Pakistan rose to 11 early Thursday, police and a government official said. Security forces killed 15 militants in an hourlong gunbattle after they targeted the Khazina police post in Hangu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, police official Irfan Khan said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault. Suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which has stepped up attacks on Pakistani security forces in the region in recent months.” (07/30/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by William L Anderson
“As I observe (and participate in) a few discussions on Facebook and elsewhere about socialism, I have come to a few conclusions about the nature of the arguments and the reasons why socialists remain socialists even as we see the utter failure of socialist economies throughout history. Maybe the meme that appears once in a while — ‘If socialists understood economics, they wouldn’t be socialists’ — might be true, but I doubt it. As I see it, the purpose of establishing socialism is to further promote socialism, not improve the lot of a society and certainly not to promote prosperity.” (07/30/26)
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Courtney Rawlings
“Israel is spending wads of cash on public diplomacy in a desperate attempt to reverse waning American support for the country after it stands accused of genocide in Gaza and pushing the U.S. into the Iran war. Since Oct. 7, Israel has spent over a billion dollars on global ‘hasbara’ — television appearances, social media campaigns, chat-bot training, and other efforts to influence how people think about Israel. And this ‘public diplomacy’ budget more than quadrupled in the last year alone.” (07/30/26)
“A major fault on Ghana’s national power grid has triggered widespread outages, leaving the capital, Accra, the commercial hub of Kumasi and much of north without electricity. Several power plants across the West African nation were forced to shut down in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the state-run power distribution company said. … Ghana, one of the world’s biggest producers of both gold and cocoa, has in recent years started using gas to generate electricity to help with demand as the population grows and becomes more urbanised. Most of the country’s electricity is generated by ageing hydropower plants, which have suffered from poor maintenance over years.” (07/29/26)
“The events at Prairieland on July 4, 2025, resulted in a large number of activists arrested, no national upsurge in anti-ICE sentiment, and legal and propaganda victories for the government. A tactical analysis of Prairieland is a case study in mistakes. But negative examples are nevertheless useful for future organizing.” (07/30/26)
