“After years of infighting, the Franco-German project to build a joint next-generation fighter jet has collapsed. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed last week that manufacturers Dassault and Airbus failed to resolve key disputes, officials in Berlin and Paris confirmed on Monday. The Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program, launched in 2017, aimed to build a next-generation fighter to replace Eurofighters and Rafales by around 2040. The move to scrap one of Europe’s largest defense projects comes as Western military officials warn of a mounting threat from Russia and the United States intensifies pressure on Europe to take care of its own defense.” (06/09/26)
“In his new book ‘Recession,’ economist Tyler Goodspeed argues that economic downturns are caused by real shocks, not predictable business cycles.” (06/09/26)
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Caleb O Brown, Amye L Bensenhaver, Kate Miller, & Heather Lemire
“Kentucky built its Open Records Act on a simple, powerful premise: that free and open examination of public records is in the public interest. For nearly 50 years, that premise provided a basic guarantee that Kentuckians could see what their government was doing in their name. That premise is now under a growing threat — from the legislature, and increasingly from the courts.” (06/09/26)
“U.S. small-business sentiment fell in May and the share of owners planning to raise prices over the next three months increased to the highest level in nearly four years, suggesting inflation could remain elevated for a while. The National Federation of Independent Business said on Tuesday its Small Business Optimism Index slipped 0.6 to 95.3 last month, falling further below its 52-year average of 98.0. The survey’s uncertainty index rose three points to 91. It is running well above its historical average of 68.” (06/09/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Even before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the ‘patsy,’ Lee Harvey Oswald, was a ‘Dead Man Walking.’ There was no way that the orchestrators of the assassination and the cover-up would have ever permitted him to come to trial. Silencing Oswald by killing him immediately after the assassination was always part and parcel of the assassination and its cover-up. How can we be certain of this? By examining the circumstances surrounding the fraudulent autopsy that the U.S. national-security establishment conducted on President Kennedy’s body on the very evening of the assassination.” (06/09/26)
Source: CounterPunch
by Bruce Schneier & Jon Penney
“Younger Americans have soured on the second Donald Trump presidency, but they are not protesting it. Despite an unpopular Iran war and an even more unpopular Trump administration, college campus protests nationwide have gone silent. And at many schools, student activism is virtually nonexistent. This silence comes in the wake of a relentless Trump administration war on campus speech that has involved lawsuits, arrests, deportations and expulsions. … It’s increasingly clear to us that these impacts are not incidental or ancillary to Trump administration policy. Rather, the chilling effects are the point. This is the closest thing to a consistent governing strategy in Trump’s second term.” (06/09/26)
