“During an interview with MAGA personality Wayne Allyn Root, Donald Trump appeared to suggest that a national emergency related to voting could be a possibility ahead of the midterm election. As previously mentioned, conservative attorney Cleta Mitchell floated this idea in September 2025 during an interview with former Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA). It seems that the idea has gained some legitimate traction. … Of course, Root never explains what law would actually give Trump the power to impose nationwide voter identification requirements, require documentary proof of citizenship, or restrict mail voting. Simply calling something a ‘national security emergency’ doesn’t answer that question. The administration would still have to identify a statute that authorizes what Trump wants to do.” (08/12/26)
“Russian forces have struck Ukraine’s Izmail port in southern Odesa, setting off a fire, authorities said, a day after Kyiv pounded Russia’s Novorossiysk port. In a statement on the Telegram app early on Thursday, the Izmail Regional State Administration said Russian forces struck ‘port infrastructure’, causing damage and a fire. … Izmail, close to the Romanian border, is home to Ukraine’s largest Danube port, handling grain and other commodities. The attacks came as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CNN that the country needs 5 percent of the United States’s Patriot interceptor missiles to get through the winter and 10 percent to destroy all of Russia’s ballistic projectiles.” (08/13/26)
“Flock says its network is now used by more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies and 6,000 communities, providing access to a massive and increasingly interconnected database of vehicle movements. Richard Hanania published a piece on Monday in which he rather boldly claims ‘Flock cameras likely explain the recent crime collapse.’ His theory is essentially a sort of Kalam cosmological argument for Flock. Crime fell rapidly at roughly the same time that Flock and other surveillance technologies proliferated, and Hanania treats that coincidence, combined with a plausible deterrent mechanism, as strong evidence of causation.” (08/12/26)
“US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)[gang members] may soon be equipped with gloves that can deliver electric shocks as they carry out their law enforcement duties. ICE plans to spend up to $20m (£14.8m) to buy the Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter (GLOVE), according to a note published on Monday by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The gloves can deliver up to 380 volts of electricity, roughly three times the charge of a standard US power outlet.” (08/12/26)
Source: Rutherford Institute
by John & Nisha Whitehead
“The National Guard was just the beginning. One year after President Trump deployed military troops to the nation’s capital, we find ourselves navigating a posse comitatus presidency in which the visual trappings of martial law are the norm, not the exception. The Founders warned against standing armies on American soil, fearing that the military might someday be used not to defend the people but to control them. They understood something Americans are being encouraged to forget: soldiers and police serve fundamentally different purposes.” [editor’s note: Since the first US police force wasn’t founded until 1838, I doubt the founders thought in those precise terms – TLK] (08/12/26)
“Bitcoin retreated toward $63,500 during Thursday trading, declining approximately 0.5% for the session and approaching 2% losses for the week. July’s Consumer Price Index registered a monthly increase of 0.1% with annual inflation reaching 3.4%. The core measure, excluding volatile food and energy components, advanced 0.2% monthly while moderating to 2.5% annually. … Broader cryptocurrency weakness prevailed across major tokens. Dogecoin declined approximately 3% to 7 cents. XRP surrendered more than 1% to reach $1, extending weekly losses near 5%. Solana edged lower by under 1% to $76, while Ether dropped fractionally to $1,880.” (08/13/26)
“If you count on government providing something, before long you may not have it at all. It’s the fox watching the henhouse. At the very least, government involvement doesn’t stop the inevitable. If something is not sustainable, putting government in charge won’t save the day.” (08/12/26)
“A top adviser to the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday that Iran could ‘prolong’ the war with the US until President Donald Trump is out of office. ‘We have to attain deterrence so that the enemy never dares to attack us, so we can live with security,’ Mohammad Reza Naqdi told PBS in an interview. … ‘One way is to prolong this war until we get to the next term of the presidency and cause attrition so that if anyone else wants to attack Iran, they will know there is a cost,’ he said.” (08/13/26)
“With the cost of living on every voter’s mind, an old idea is getting a new push on Capitol Hill: fixing a flaw in the tax code that makes everything more expensive. Anyone who has ever sold a home, stock, or even a collectible is familiar with it. When you sell an asset that has risen in price, the IRS taxes the gain. But that gain is measured against the price you paid, not your true cost. If you bought a stock, a bond, or a business many years ago, and its price merely kept pace with inflation, you are no richer in purchasing power than the day you bought it — yet the tax code treats the difference as income and taxes it anyway. This is especially noticeable in periods of high inflation, like the last five years. It is a tax on rising prices, dressed up as a tax on profit.” (08/12/26)
