“The administration has declared that countries ranging from Cambodia and China to Norway, Japan and Australia have failed to keep products made with forced labor out of their markets, and that this failure burdens American commerce. The charge is so obviously spurious and sweeping (Sweden is as bad as Cambodia?) that it gives away the game. It was almost certainly devised because the White House needed a legal pretext to subvert the spirit of the Supreme Court ruling against Trump. This is more than ordinary political spin. The president appears to be ordering the United States government to formally certify as fact something it knows is not true. Agencies must publish findings, construct legal arguments and affix the authority of the American state to a falsehood manufactured for the apparent purpose of evading the nation’s highest court.” (07/31/26)
“Ukrainian drone strikes killed at least five people across Russia, also hitting industrial sites and a further warehouse belonging to Russia’s e-commerce giant Wildberries, local officials said. Wildberries, Russia’s largest online marketplace, is sometimes described as the country’s answer to Amazon. In under two weeks, Ukraine has struck over a dozen of the retailer’s depots, part of Kyiv’s aerial campaign aimed at undermining Moscow’s war effort, hurting its economy and making people feel the consequences of the Kremlin’s all-out invasion of Ukraine. … Meanwhile, Russia attacked Ukraine with 133 drones during the night, 24 of which hit targets, according to the Ukrainian air force. Later on Sunday, separate Russian attacks on the Ukrainian cities of Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv killed at least two people, according to local officials.” (08/02/26)
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey
“The federal government is spending $7 trillion, yet only collects $5 trillion. This $2 trillion annual deficit destroys the purchasing power of every dollar in your bank account. What is even clearer is that Washington politicians know no other way to get your vote than to buy it through reckless spending. This constant theft of your wealth is a major frustration of mine, and sadly, most Americans are too busy to take the time to understand the destructive effect on our nation’s future.” (08/02/26)
“The family of a Haitian immigrant who froze to death in early March at a bus shelter in Pittsburgh after she was dropped off in the city by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is poised to file a lawsuit this month against the United States and ‘multiple other governmental and non-governmental entities’, the Guardian has learned. Daphy Michel, 31, had been in county jail for six months after a reported mental health crisis and street incident, and then was [abducted] by ICE before being released with a ankle monitor. She was left to make her way home to Charleroi, a small community on the outskirts of Pittsburgh about 20 miles (32km) away, but was found dead three days later. In June, Pennsylvania officials said she died from hypothermia and ruled her death a homicide.” (08/02/26)
“For years, former President Joe Biden has fought to prevent the release of tapes acquired by former special counsel Robert Hur in his investigation. After those efforts collapsed this month, it became clear why Biden and his aides were so determined to keep the public from seeing the evidence. In addition to showing Biden’s mental diminution even before he was elected president, the tapes show that Biden effectively confessed to the crimes Hur would later excuse on the grounds of his mental infirmity.” (08/01/26)
“Hungary has announced it will shut down its only nuclear power plant after record-low levels on the Danube River reduced the water available for cooling its reactors. Prime Minister Peter Magyar said the Paks Nuclear Power Plant in central Hungary would be powered down on Sunday, the first full shutdown in its 44-year history. The plant supplies nearly half of Hungary’s electricity. Magyar said output had fallen to 965 megawatts on Friday and to 240 overnight, far below the normal 2,000. The Soviet-built, four-reactor plant south of Budapest siphons water from the Danube for cooling, but low river levels have impacted its pumps’ ability to draw in enough water.” (08/02/26)
“Sarah in NM calls about ‘public choice financing’ :: Dave Ridley calls about AI film festival :: venice.AI :: Dave gives a teaser for his fiction work :: socialism vs. capitalism :: U.S. troops killed in Jordan :: is history a lie? :: New CDC director says mRNA is safe and effective :: things according to Jeff Berwick :: David in NM says it’s the Jews, but you can’t talk about it :: 2026-08-01 Hosts: Stu, Angelo.” (08/01/26)
“In The Father We Never Had: Artificial Intelligence Before and After, Cristian Daniel Bolocan lays out a deeply unsettling roadmap for the future of human governance. He describes a highly automated, frictionless ‘gilded cage’ where humanity willingly trades its autonomy and intellectual capacity for the supreme safety, stability, and material comfort provided by a centralized network of collaborated artificial intelligences. … Is Bolocan’s destination dystopian, or merely uncomfortable to contemplate?” (08/01/26)
“Obviously, free-market/free-enterprise anarchists (like us at TPOL) believe we have come up with the answer to Von Mises’ ‘main political problem.’ Get rid of mandatory human government! Now, we understand that such a statement is considered ‘extremist’ and not viewed as either feasible or desirable by the general public. And certainly not by those in power. So we are condemned when we act to provide that situation, in word or deed. And that is the point of the question: when we resist human government and human governors (political rulers) are we acting in self-defense, or are we taking aggressive action against them, and those who support them? Is it extreme to take action against the system?” (08/01/26)