Source: Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
by Sarah McLaughlin
“The United Kingdom is unveiling a grand new policy it claims will protect children on social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and X. The exact rules governing the ban will be released before its launch next year, but it will use age verification tools to restrict youth access to social media and other programs. But this new ‘under-16’ policy, like many others before it, is a misnomer. Because whether you’re 15 or 55, it will affect people regardless of age — and drain away all UK citizens’ ability to speak freely and anonymously online.” (06/16/26)
“Oklahoma voters have rejected raising the state’s nation-lowest minimum wage as several states held primaries on Tuesday. The Sooner State sets its minimum at $7.25, the federal minimum wage floor, tying it with 19 other mostly Republican-led or -leaning states for the nation’s lowest. Oklahoma raised its minimum wage to $7.25 in 2009 to comply with federal law. Voters were asked in State Question 832 whether Oklahoma employers must pay employees at least $15 per hour by 2029, putting the state above the median of $11.63 an hour but still below the highest-wage states. However, voters rejected the move. … Oklahoma voters also heavily backed Rep. Kevin Hern for the Republican nomination for the Senate seat held by Markwayne Mullin until March, when he was sworn in as secretary of Homeland Security, replacing Kristi Noem. … Meanwhile, the GOP gubernatorial primary appears to be heading to a runoff.” (06/17/26)
“The US government crackdown on Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 hides a glaring truth: AI models with advanced hacking capabilities will soon be the norm.” (06/16/26)
“Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, has banned riding moped scooters, quad bikes and motorcycles at night-time, saying they sound like drone attacks and suggesting children are doing it deliberately at Kyiv’s behest. Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed governor of the … peninsula, said the ban would be in place between 8pm and 6am from Wednesday onwards. Oleg Kryuchkov, Aksyonov’s adviser, claimed separately on Telegram: ‘The enemy is recruiting your children for night-time rides … The moped noise hampers the work of defence systems. Their engines sound similar [to drones].’ … A Ukrainian drone attack started a fire at the refinery that is the largest fuel supplier to the Moscow region, and two industry sources told Reuters that it had halted operations. … Russian strikes on Ukraine killed at least eight people on Tuesday, officials said.” (06/17/26)
Source: Rutherford Institute
by John & Nisha Whitehead
“The American taxpayer has become the cleanup crew for the American Police State. We pay for the constitutional violations. We pay for the wars. We pay for the lawsuits, the settlements, the cover-ups, the damage control, the reconstruction, the overreach, the incompetence and the corruption. And when government officials are finally called to account for their misconduct, we pay for that, too. That is the dirty little secret of government accountability in America: even when the government loses, the government does not really pay. ‘We the people’ do. This is not a problem invented by Donald Trump.” (06/16/26)
“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)
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)
“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)
