“A jury has found Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis guilty of orchestrating the killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, marking the first conviction in a case that has gripped hip-hop fans for decades. The 63-year-old Davis was convicted Monday of murder with the use of a deadly weapon and could be sentenced to life in prison. The jury deliberated for 3 hours after a weekslong trial in Las Vegas. The night of his murder, Shakur was in a BMW with music mogul Marion ‘Suge’ Knight when a white Cadillac pulled up at a red light. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later, while Knight survived. The confrontation was rooted in a long-running feud between the Mob Piru Bloods, a gang Shakur and Knight were affiliated with, and the South Side Compton Crips, for whom Davis was a prominent leader.” (08/31/26)
“The editors of the Wall Street Journal continue to describe President Donald Trump’s campaign against Canada as ‘the dumbest trade war in history,’ but there’s stiff competition for that title. Americans are still paying a 25 percent tax on imported light trucks in retaliation for European taxes on our chickens in the 1960s. The stupidity of Trump’s recent escalation is certainly impressive, though, and it contains as many layers as a Canuck walking to Tim Hortons in January. Consider these six.” (08/31/26)
“China on Tuesday objected to Taiwan’s presence at the Pacific Islands Forum saying the democratically ruled island was not qualified to attend the summit, but Australia and New Zealand said the Pacific bloc would decide the guest list. China [pretends Taiwan is] its own territory, and tensions between both have featured prominently at the annual meeting of the 18-member group that counts Australia, New Zealand and Pacific island nations as members. … China’s special envoy for Pacific island affairs Qian Bo said on Monday that Taiwan’s presence would have consequences — without specifying what they would be.” (08/31/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Why save and reform immoral, dysfunctional, and destructive systems that have obviously failed to achieve their purported ends and, in the process, have served to destroy the liberty of the American people? The question is especially pertinent to libertarians, given that genuine libertarianism is about freedom, not attaining some sort of warmed-over, improved serfdom. Here is my libertarian solution to the massive amount of federal spending that undergirds the federal government’s rapidly growing $40 trillion debt that now hangs over the American people like a sword of Damocles …” (08/31/26)
“Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is expected to step down in the coming days after the White House accepted his resignation, according to a person familiar with the matter and a White House official. NBC News reported last week that Driscoll had told close associates that he wanted to leave the administration by Labor Day. Driscoll visited the White House last week to discuss his future, according to three U.S. officials, but it wasn’t clear what came of the meeting. … Driscoll is the latest high-profile official at the Defense Department to depart; Navy Secretary John Phelan and the Army chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, were pushed out this spring. … Driscoll had differed over a number of issues with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who removed George, Phelan and other high-ranking Pentagon officials. He has also blocked the promotions of several senior Army officers.” (08/31/26)
“Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney took to the airwaves on August 22 to explain in a speech and Q&A why he walked away from trade negotiations with the United States and thereby opened Canada to economy-crushing tariffs from the country once considered its closest friend. … the U.S., at the last minute, had rewritten items already agreed to: ‘The U.S. proposed new terms that were uneconomic, unfair, and undermined the net benefits to Canada.’ That, he said, called into question ‘the reliability of any deal.’ The Trump administration’s unreliability, the prime minister explained, was not a new problem or one likely to go away soon. … Other U.S. partners, namely Saudi Arabia and Ukraine, have made similar complaints in recent weeks. … Though Trump boasts of the art of the deal, there is a historical pattern that suggests, instead, the art of the broken deal.” (08/31/26)
“The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Monday that construction of the White House ballroom can continue, lifting a block on above-ground work as President Trump asserts the project is necessary for national security. It halts a lower court ruling that would’ve restricted construction until Congress provided additional approvals. Five of the court’s conservative [sic] justices, including all three of Trump’s appointees — Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — sided with the president. They ruled a preservationist group likely has no right to sue over one of its members’ concerns about the project. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s three liberal [sic] justices in dissent.” (08/21/26)
“In a court victory the Trump administration effectively handed to the plaintiff, a federal judge cited First Amendment concerns in slapping down the federal government’s designation of AI company Anthropic as a ‘supply chain risk to national security.’ The company also won a due process claim. President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made clear their intent to punish the company for its ethical limitations on how its technology can be used when they banned federal agencies and contractors from doing business with Anthropic. The White House has been reminded that government officials can’t do that in the U.S.” (08/31/26)
“Senior US military influencers were discreetly placed in government positions as part of a covert Pentagon operation, The Washington Post reported on Monday, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter and corroborating material. According to the report, the influencers in question have worked to push against criticism of the Trump administration while advancing the positions of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, being assigned as ‘special government employees (SGE)’ or ‘highly qualified experts (HQE).’ The report noted that HQEs are permitted to work either part-time or full-time with no compensation limitations, whereas SGEs may work up to 130 days per year. The sources, which named two of the influencers as US Air Force Col. (ret.) Rob Maness and US Army Col. (ret.) Kurt Schlichter, told the Washington Post that several of the veterans are in positions powerful enough to potentially influence policy changes.” (08/31/26)
“Vin Armani joins from Saipan, what Mark calls the freest place in America, to talk about life on this unique piece of American soil, what it actually looks like to raise a family outside the reach of the American mind virus, and his new book The Vineyard and the Vessel: Leadership at the End of the Empire. The guys also cover Florida’s new stable coin laws and the agorist workarounds, the ongoing persecution of Roman Storm and the Samurai Wallet developers by Trump’s DOJ, the Flock camera resistance movement including a journalist who got banned from Flock’s convention and set up a drone and surveillance operation outside, and the explosive discovery that a Minnesota Senator is on Flock’s payroll.” (08/31/26)
