“This week on social media, the Trump administration touted the launch of Freedom Fuel, a network of gas stations ‘lowering the price at the pump to $3.47 for our 47th president.’ … Inevitably, this initiative produced cries of socialism and comparisons to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s sure-to-be-a-boondoggle government-run grocery store initiative. But these comparisons were misplaced, at least if the Trump administration is to be believed. According to CBS News, the Freedom Fuel network ‘is private and owns 25 filling stations across New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The spokesperson said the Trump administration is not involved with the company and is not subsidizing the gas stations.’ So this probably isn’t a case of government-run gas stations. Instead, it’s another familiar feature of Trump-era politics and media: something happening that has little to do with the White House—and Trump taking credit.” (07/09/26)
“Every American continues to pay at the gas pump and the grocery store for this idiotic, illegal war. Some Americans have paid, and more may pay, with their lives before it’s over. And when it’s over, the US will be worse off than before. End this nonsense now.” (07/09/26)
“Among liberals and moderates, there’s very little relationship between economic class and tolerance. But among conservative students, the poorer you are, the more tolerant you’re likely to be. The effect holds for both men and women, and it’s no small effect: at roughly 10 percentage points in both dimensions, the gap between rich and poor conservatives almost rivals the gender gap. Indeed, among men, poor conservatives are nearly as tolerant of left-wing speakers as liberals of all classes.” (07/09/26)
“In recent speeches, including on the Fourth of July, Trump’s utterances of ‘communist’ or ‘communism’ reached double digits each time. … ‘Our warriors did not fight communism on battlefields across the world only to have that menace rear its ugly head right back here in America,’ Trump said late on the Fourth on the National Mall Trump couples his commie-baiting with a dash of his trademark xenophobia. ‘There is now a resurgence of the communist menace in our land, including by newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life and our great success,’ he said at Mount Rushmore a day earlier. (He’s got it backward, of course: Immigrants come here for the American way of life and promise of success.) Here’s the irony: Trump’s actions in his second term make him look more like the commie. He’s projecting again.” (07/09/26)
“The core of this argument is that the American Founding set the United States on a unique path that made it one of the richest and freest places in the world. Yet, this causal connection requires a leap of faith. Few have attempted to conjure a counterfactual in which America remained a British colony or became independent in ways similar to later British Dominions (e.g., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa). Serious causal inference generally requires the use of large datasets to infer the effects of important policy changes or some large exogenous shocks. For nations, especially in the more distant past, this is even more challenging because of data paucity, limited numbers of observations, and other confounding factors. It may even be impossible. A possible alternative course is to rely on analytical narratives to construct a theory, laying out assumptions and predictions.” (07/09/26)
“Last week, millions of people around the world were subjected to record-breaking heatwaves. At least 25 deaths in the U.S. from this heat dome were reported. The French government also counted over 2,000 excess deaths during the June heatwaves. At the same time, this past weekend, a devastating super typhoon hit the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam, leaving islands like Rota, where 2,000 people live, without running water and most buildings impacted. In both cases, the people least responsible for the climate crisis are the most vulnerable to its effects. And in both cases, people’s ability to withstand crises has been made dramatically worse by militarization. Those most threatened by heatwaves are too often in neighborhoods subjected to militarized policing, economic abandonment, and the exploitation of their communities. Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are occupied by the U.S. military and subjected to environmentally destructive bases and training exercises.” (07/09/26)
“Way back in November 2022, disagreement broke out inside the Biden administration about the implications of recent military gains made by Ukraine. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advised pushing hard for a diplomatic settlement to lock in those gains. He warned that Ukraine’s battlefield position—and thus also its bargaining position—was likely to worsen in the coming months. Biden listened instead to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. They counseled against peace talks while Ukraine had the momentum and a chance to roll back the Russian invaders. … Now, nearly four years later, Western media again are saying that ‘the tide has turned’ against Russia. And the White House has again concluded that it’s therefore a bad time to push for peace. But sooner or later, the tide will turn again, and the next big wave could drown Ukraine.” (07/09/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“The recriminations and second-guessing are flying from all directions with respect to the flame-out of Democrat candidate Graham Platner’s U.S. Senate campaign in Maine. Most everyone’s commentaries are revolving out of the ramifications of the sex-abuse allegations, including rape, from old girlfriends of Platner. Some of the critics are pointing to other disturbing aspects of Platner’s life, such as a Nazi-like tattoo on his chest and crude and offensive remarks in Reddit posts. What the critics and commentators don’t do, however, is point to the core reason why this man got so screwed-up emotionally and psychologically: his four military deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. It is those four deployments that are at the core of Platner’s dysfunctional behavior and abusive relationships with women.” (07/09/26)
“Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, said her Democratic Senate primary race was ‘a racist race’ in an interview published Wednesday and argued she didn’t need to campaign with her former opponent and the party’s nominee, James Talarico. Crockett said at the Essence Festival alongside the hosts of the ‘Native Land’ podcast that the best thing she could do for former primary foe Talarico was to endorse Black candidates down ballot so more Black voters turn out in November. ‘The best thing that I can do is take down-ballot candidates who no one’s ever heard of and do my best to uplift them and increase the voter participation in a way that we did in Texas,’ she said.” [editor’s note: Okay, so this loser in a “racist race” is going to support other candidates based SOLELY on the color of their skin, not the content of their character. – SAT] (07/09/26)
“[Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona)] sent his daughter to a private school. The senator’s own background includes public schooling, but the choice he made for his child stands in contrast to the opposition he now leads to making similar options available for more families. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) graduated from the private Emma Willard School and sent both of her sons to a private school in Washington. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) sent one of her two children to private schools — and then said she did not in 2019 at an event during her presidential campaign. … The pattern is consistent. Lawmakers who benefited from private schooling or chose it for their children now work to keep these doors closed for other families.” (07/09/26)
