“An Israeli-backed American organization that runs an aid program in the Gaza Strip said Wednesday 20 Palestinians were killed near a distribution site. This comes as Israeli strikes killed 41 others, including 11 children, according to hospital officials. The Gaza Humanitarian Fund said 19 people were trampled in a stampede and one person was fatally stabbed in the violence near a distribution hub in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The group, which rarely acknowledges trouble at its distribution sites, accused Hamas of fomenting panic and spreading misinformation that led to the violence, though it provided no evidence to support the claim. … Israeli strikes killed 22 people in northern Gaza, including 11 children, and 19 people in the city of Khan Younis.” (07/16/25)
“In 1996, The US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that ‘code is speech,’ and therefore protected by the First Amendment. In 1999, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that ruling. That PARTICULAR code COULD be used by PARTICULAR people to do PARTICULAR things is irrelevant to our absolute right to create such code. That would be true even if code wasn’t speech. A lock pick can be used by a burglar or by a locksmith; a gun can be used to defend your home or to murder your spouse; an airplane can be used to transport passengers or to kill thousands in a terror attack. None of those things are, or should, be illegal just because they can all be used to do illegal things.” (07/15/25)
“The Trump administration has declared that immigrants who [allegedly] arrived in the United States illegally [sic] are no longer eligible for a bond hearing as they fight deportation proceedings in court, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post. In a July 8 memo, Todd M. Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told officers that such immigrants should be detained ‘for the duration of their removal proceedings,’ which can take months or years. Lawyers say the policy will apply to millions of immigrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border over the past few decades, including under Biden.” [editor’s note: The Fifth Amendment requires due process; the Eighth forbids excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment (such as being held without bail prior to conviction); the 14th requires equal protection of the other two for all persons. Three strikes – TLK] (07/15/25)
“‘War,’ Randolph Bourne wrote, is ‘the health of the state.’ But war is also, it has recently and quietly become clear, the cheapest and quickest antidote when the state gets sick. This antidote, in fact, represents the most significant part of President Donald Trump’s agenda since he assumed office on January 20, after running what many supporters believed was an antiwar campaign. Instead he has presided over an infusion of war spending to stabilize America with trickle-down job creation at home and resource extraction abroad. … what is most significant about the essential Trump Administration policy, the use of defense spending to bolster the economy and placate domestic discontent, is that it is the strategy our ruling class has used to keep power for eighty years.” (07/15/25)
“Donald Trump’s request to cancel some $9.4 billion in previously approved spending was approved by Senate Republicans on Tuesday, with JD Vance casting the deciding vote. The decision gave some relief to several lawmakers about what the rescissions could mean for impoverished people around the globe and for public radio and television stations in their home states. The Senate vote was 50-50, before Vice President JD Vance broke the tie. Following Tuesday’s vote, the matter is set to be produced to the Senate for a final vote. … The Bill will then come back to the House for another round of voting before it finds its way to Trump’s desk for his signature before a deadline on Friday.” (07/16/25)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“In The Constitution of Liberty, Friedrich Hayek argued that ‘mere legality in all government action’ does not suffice as a basis for upholding the rule of law. Under a standard of mere legality, as long as a law is on the statute books, anything done in accordance with that law is legal. Mere legality also implies that as long as there is a plausible way of spinning state actions to bring them within the wording of a statute, that should suffice to make it legal. This would enable tyrants to read anything they want into the law, giving them a plausible foundation to depict all their actions as perfectly legal. Hayek warned that this would turn the law itself into a threat to individual liberty, which in his view would undermine the very purpose of the law.” (07/15/25)
“Russia continued its nightly bombardment of Ukraine overnight into Tuesday, shortly after President Donald Trump announced his decision to supply Ukraine with new military equipment and White House threats of further economic measures against Moscow. … ‘The world shuddered, expecting the consequences,’ wrote [Russian politician Dmitry] Medvedev, who during Moscow’s full-scale war on Ukraine has become known as a particularly hawkish voice within Putin’s security establishment. ‘Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn’t care.'” (07/15/25)
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
“Argentina’s self-described ‘anarcho-capitalist’ President, Javier Milei, has — to put it mildly — generated considerable enthusiasm on the libertarian right in the United States. … an executive with emergency powers ruling by decree. And draconian prison sentences for protestors who block streets. Sounds libertarian to me! … Another economic provision in the decree is a restriction on the right to strike in the case of ‘important services’ …. The former category includes ‘hospital suppliers; maritime, air, river, land, and underground transportation companies, continuous industrial activities (including steel and aluminum, chemical, and cement industries); the food industry; construction material providers; banking, hotel, and restaurant services.’ The latter includes ‘public utilities, telecommunications, fuel transportation, and public primary schools.’ It’s hard to think of anything that’s not covered.” (07/15/25)
“Consumer prices rose at a quicker rate in June, breaking a months-long streak of cooling inflation, the Labor Department said on Tuesday. … The Consumer Price Index rose 0.3% in June, while the core measure — which strips out energy and food prices — rose 0.2%. Both gauges rose by 0.1% in May. … Economists anticipate inflationary consequences from tariffs will show up in reports down the line, as businesses run down stockpiles of goods brought in before the biggest tariffs took effect.” (07/15/25)
