Source: Independent Institute
by Phillip W Magness
“Marx’s conception of alienation posits that, under capitalism, workers become alienated from the products of their labor. Instead, the owner of the factory who employs them asserts control over something that was made by another’s hand and sells it for his own profit, depriving their workforce of not only its full economic value but any meaningful stake in how it is sold. Since Marxists view laborers and owners of capital as adversarial parties, alienation also reveals a disparity of economic power through which the latter exerts control over the former and reduces them to subjugation.” (08/03/26)
“There is a proposal for a $39 million tax-increment financing (TIF) district in the Midtown area of the City of St. Louis. The forces behind the TIF proposal include the area’s commercial and artistic associations. The backers are claiming that because the redirected taxes will go toward “public” items such as infrastructure improvements for sidewalks, crosswalks, and streets, that this is a responsible use of TIF. They could not be more wrong.” (08/03/26)
“Republicans are already treating the DSA as a proxy for the Democratic Party as a whole. Rather than limiting their attacks to the handful of districts where DSA-backed candidates are actually running, Republican campaigns are using those races to argue that the party itself is shifting toward democratic socialism. Whether that message resonates with swing voters remains to be seen, but it is likely to become a recurring theme in competitive House and Senate races this fall. … The same political dynamic cuts both ways. If Republicans intend to portray the Democratic Party through the lens of the DSA, they should expect Democrats to point to Donald Trump and the broader direction of today’s Republican Party.” (08/03/26)
“More than eight years after Boeing organised the maiden flight of the 737 MAX 7, US authorities announced Monday that they certified the aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced certification of the smallest version of the single-aisle MAX plane, a process that had been significantly prolonged by new requirements under federal legislation following two fatal MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. The action, which Boeing and regulators had telegraphed in recent weeks, sent Boeing shares sharply higher. The MAX 7 is Boeing’s first new aircraft to be cleared since the crashes and other problems sent the company into a multi-year slump.” (08/04/26)
“There was nothing ‘instinctive’ about Mr. Salinas[s]’ actions. He trained and trained, and he used what he taught himself and applied it. Just as anyone that has a single ounce of civic duty should. Civic duty is far more than going out and informing yourself and voting wisely, well-beyond ‘being a good citizen’ and paying your taxes and driving at the posted speed limit. One key civic duty is to be able, prepared, and above all, willing, to defend yourselves, your family and friends, your community, and even your enemies.” (08/03/26)
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Maddie Daly
“The Senate Commerce Committee is poised to consider the Youth AI Privacy Act, a bill that would require AI companies to create kids-only privacy rules and implement so-called ‘safe design features,’ which would—like three other bills under consideration this week—require more data collection and make it harder for people to access lawful speech online. While the bill is narrower than some other proposed chatbot bills, it still has massive data security implications because it protects information for only certain users.” (08/03/26)
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
“[I]n fairness to Rose, this logic fail is one he shares with virtually all right-libertarian polemicists. These people will deny that businesses whose profits result from state subsidies, protections, or artificial property rights exemplify ‘real capitalism’ — and then turn around and celebrate as an ‘accomplishment of capitalism’ a product like the iPhone, created by a corporation whose entire profit model depends on intellectual property, government subsidies, and neoliberal foreign policy. … all of the things Rose celebrates came into being because of investments from people with a ‘crap ton of money’ in the same sense that everything people consumed in the USSR came into being because of state-owned industry and Gosplan.” (08/03/26)
“A Rochester homeowner shot and killed a man who allegedly broke into his house early Monday morning. … the homeowner told police he was awakened when someone entered through the rear of the residence. The homeowner then used a legally-owned and legally-registered handgun to shoot the intruder.
The intruder was located in the kitchen and was pronounced dead at the scene …” (08/03/26)
