“Students who are not taught the history of America’s founding, including the importance of limiting government to a few well-defined functions and separating power among three branches of government and between the federal government and the states, will be less likely to support constitutional government. Similarly young people who are not taught that prosperity comes from free markets, private property, and sound money will be more likely to believe the socialist delusion that the key to prosperity is surrendering our liberty to politicians. The lack of education in basic economics is why many confuse our current economic system with the free market and thus blame capitalism for problems caused by the government.” [editor’s note: It’s also why many confuse free markets with capitalism – TLK] (07/28/26)
“The United States military says it intercepted ballistic missiles fired by Iran across the Middle East. In a statement on X on Wednesday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched multiple ballistic missiles in an ‘attempted surprise attack on US forces based in the Middle East’. … The Iranian attacks targeting US bases came as Trump was meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been pushing for war on Iran, in the White House. … On Wednesday, the IRGC said it ‘struck and stopped’ three oil tankers in Hormuz, according to Tasnim news agency.” (07/29/26)
“In eighteenth-century czarist Russia, a fake village was built by a Russian governor named Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin to deceive Catherine the Great about the condition of the peasants she ruled. ‘Potemkin Village,’ according to Time magazine, ‘signifies any deceptive or false construct, conjured often by cruel regimes, to deceive both those within the land and those peering in from outside.’ In Washington a few years ago, the media partnered with the Biden administration to concoct a Potemkin Village to deceive Americans about President Joe Biden’s faltering fitness for office. … Donald Trump is not as physically feeble as Joe Biden, though he is a shadow of his vitality in his first term. But Trump’s delusions on the Iran War seem as bad or worse than any imaginary vision that sent Biden wandering off stage at the wrong time.” (07/28/26)
“Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday that it had charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activities and had issued an international warrant for his arrest. The FSB said that the charges related to Telegram’s failure to remove material ‘used by Ukrainian special services and by terrorist and extremist organisations to prepare and coordinate acts of sabotage and terrorism, mass killings, and cyber-fraud operations within the Russian Federation.’ Soon afterwards, Telegram’s official account on X posted an image of Durov making an obscene gesture with his middle finger. … Russia has repeatedly tried to restrict Telegram’s use in recent years, promoting its own state-backed MAX messenger service. Yet state bodies including the Kremlin and the defence ministry continue to post to Telegram on a daily basis.” (07/29/26)
“[Sam Tunick] was asked for a PIN to unlock his phone for an illegal, warrantless, and unjustified search. He gave the agents a number … a ‘duress code’ which, upon use by an agent, not by Tunick, erased all data on the phone and performed a complete factory reset rather than unlocking the device. Now, Tunick finds himself facing trial on charges of violating 18 US Code §2232, ‘Destruction or removal of property to prevent seizure.’ Two problems with the charge: First, Tunick didn’t destroy or remove anything. The CBP agent who stole his phone did. Second, the law only applies to ‘authorized’ searches and seizures. Absent a warrant issued by a court ‘upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized,’ no such ‘authorization’ exists.” (07/28/26)
“South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden fended off a primary challenge from businessman and Bitcoin evangelist Toby Doeden on Tuesday, winning the first gubernatorial primary runoff in state history and advancing to the November general election. The Associated Press called the race for Rhoden within minutes of final polls closing. He had received 70.5% of the vote compared with Doeden’s 29.5% at the time it was called, with approximately 25% of the expected vote counted. The election marked the first time South Dakota voters were asked to settle a gubernatorial nomination through a primary runoff. State law requires a runoff between the two leading candidates when no contender for governor, U.S. Senate or U.S. House receives at least 35% of the primary vote.” (07/28/26)
“The FBI office in charge of maintaining the terrorist watch list is seeking an artificial intelligence system for pre-crime policing, according to procurement documents obtained by Reason. The request for information for vendors, posted by the FBI’s procurement division in March, solicits potential bidders for a project that would supercharge the Threat Screening Center (TSC) with new predictive AI capabilities—just as its focus moves from Islamist terrorism to domestic dissent. … The terrorist watch list maintained by the TSC is by its very nature a pre-crime entity—it seeks to prosecute crimes before they occur.” (07/28/36)
“Conservative leader Keiko Fujimori was sworn in as Peru’s president on Tuesday after winning the June presidential runoff by a margin of fewer than 50,000 votes, a victory that confirmed a regional shift in South America toward the conservative wing. With the ceremony, Fujimori, a four-time presidential candidate and leader of Peru’s largest political party, takes office as the country’s ninth president in a decade. The 51-year-old is hoping to stabilize Peru’s turbulent politics, reduce crime and boost economic growth. Over the past decade, only three of Peru’s presidents have been elected by popular vote. The rest have come into office after their predecessors resigned or were removed by congress amid protests or corruption scandals. Fujimori’s Popular Force party and its main ally, Popular Renovation, will hold half the Senate seats once the new legislature is installed, making it harder for opposing legislators to attempt to remove her as president.” (07/28/26)
Source: ProSocial Libertarians
by Andrew Jason Cohen
“It’s never been clear to me why anyone would think that lowering the tax burden on wealthy people is more important than lowering it on poor people. I think we should lower the burden as much as possible on everyone, consistent with maintaining a just society. … Consider the mortgage deduction: why is it good to give home owners a tax break but not good to give home renters a tax break? What justifies that deviation? I’m not offering an answer; I want us to take the question seriously.” (07/28/26)
