Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“Lovers of liberty tend to concentrate on human threats which must be countered in self-defense by having and using a firearm. But animals are also threats that must be addressed.” (07/20/26)
Source: The Bulwark
by Amanda Carpenter
“He’s made the presidency into a profitable grift. Here’s how some of his ill-gotten gains might be clawed back.” (07/21/26)
Source: SFGate
“With Valley fever cases climbing in California, physicians have struggled to treat the increasing number of patients grappling with the deadliest version of the disease. When Valley fever, or coccidioidomycosis, spreads from the lungs, it can cause infected joints, scarred lungs and even deadly meningitis. Now, researchers appear to have found a major breakthrough studying an experimental drug that helped the sickest patients, who otherwise had run out of treatment options. The study’s results, published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, looked at whether an experimental antifungal medication called olorofim could help relieve symptoms of people with disseminated Valley fever, meaning their disease has spread beyond their lungs. The team found a significant number, over 70%, of patients with the stubborn and potentially deadly form of disease were helped after taking the new drug.” (07/21/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/calif-valley-fever-drug-22349478.php
Source: Independent Institute
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
“I have visited five countries across Asia and Europe over the last few weeks. The hatred the Argentine national soccer team seems to have awakened in people around the world—due to their behavior at this World Cup—is something Argentina’s soccer authorities must take seriously. Now that they have lost to Spain, and given that Lionel Messi, the best player on the planet, is 39 and on the verge of retirement, they will have to reconstruct much of their team. … The broader issue—and what appears to make Argentina so widely disliked around the world—is that the team has learned neither how to win nor how to lose with grace in international competitions.” (07/20/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/07/20/lessons-from-argentinas-world-cup-run/
Source: The American Prospect
by Harold Meyerson
“If there’s a problem with the American economy, it’s only because some people have to work for a living. Income from investment—the primary source of income for roughly 1 percent of Americans—is soaring. The remaining 99 percent, who depend primarily on income from their work, are the laggards grousing about prices and necessities that may be out of reach.” (07/21/26)
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Italian police clashed with demonstrators in the northern city of Bologna on Monday, ANSA news agency reported, during a protest over the death of a Moroccan man who died while being forcibly restrained by police during an attempted arrest. Abderrahim Fakir, a Moroccan-born entrepreneur who ran a small removals and cleaning business, died on Sunday after police were called to deal with a man behaving aggressively and damaging a vehicle …. video showed Fakir lying face down on the ground while two officers restrained him. Fakir – who reportedly suffered from heart issues and asthma – repeatedly calls out ‘aiuto, aiuto, basta’ (‘help, help, that’s enough’) as the officers sit on him and ambulance workers look on. After he stops moving, the police bind his ankles together. Only after a moment or two do they and the ambulance workers check his vital signs, the video shows.” (07/21/26)
Source: Antiwar.com
“Yemen Announces Maritime Blockade on Saudi Arabia, Nearly 100 US Troops Injured This Month, and More.” (07/20/26)
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Ilya Somin
“‘Democratic socialists’ are a growing movement on the political left. And many of them are also prison abolitionists. But there is a deep contradiction between their socialism and their abolitionism. Socialism requires making numerous economic activities illegal, and those laws have to be enforced by some system of punishment. As the history of actual socialist states shows, serious attempts to implement socialism lead to vastly greater incarceration (and other punishment), not less. There are a number of possible ways to try to escape this contradiction. But none of them work.” (07/20/26)
https://reason.com/volokh/2026/07/20/contradictions-of-socialist-prison-abolitionism/
Source: Boston Globe
“Iran attacked a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz early Tuesday, forcing its crew to abandon the ship, while the United States conducted yet another round of airstrikes targeting the Islamic Republic as they struggle over control of the key waterway. The 10 consecutive nights of U.S. airstrikes haven’t compelled Tehran to loosen its grip on the strait, through which about a fifth of all crude oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime.” (07/21/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Seventeen military personnel have died in President Trump’s war on Iran. Compared to the 58,200 military personnel who were killed in the Vietnam War, that’s not a large number … well, unless one happens to be among those 17 or among their friends or family members. In that case, 17 becomes an extremely large number. But there is one thing in common between those 58,200 military personnel who died in the Vietnam War and those 17 military personnel who have died in Trump’s war on Iran: They all died for nothing. No, they didn’t died for their country. No, they didn’t die defending our freedom. No, they didn’t die to make the world safe for democracy. They died for nothing.” (07/20/26)