Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Douglas Carswell
“Perhaps it is not so much the party of those we send to Congress or to our state legislature that counts. Perhaps what matters more is that so many of the decisions about how your money is spent are made in the dark. Setting a budget is complicated. The data might exist. Some of it might even be public. But it sits squirreled away on a spreadsheet somewhere, and you would need a CPA to make sense of it. Frankly, most folk do not have the time. But what if technology could suddenly take all that data and build something that makes it easy to see? Easy to see who gets your tax dollars, and what they do with them once they have them.” (07/06/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Normal people use language to communicate and connect, while manipulative people use language to control and extract. Propagandists, hasbarists, politicians, and people with disorders which incline them toward manipulative behavior like narcissistic personality disorder or antisocial personality disorder, use language with the goal of advancing agendas rather than to convey information and connect with other people. Manipulators use their words to influence the thoughts people think about themselves, about others, and about their world. They use language to extract favors, money, resources, sex, esteem, loyalty, or submission from other people. They use it to trick people in order to ensure that life transpires in accordance with their will. For the manipulator, language is a tool you use to move people around and get them to do what you want them to do.” (07/06/26)
“Healthcare systems (insurers and other payers) only reimburse what is coded and billable. The lack of codes for all healthcare options started in 1983 when the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the American Medical Association (AMA) agreed that HHS would only use the AMAs codes to process Medicare and Medicaid claims. In 2002, HHS mandated use of the AMA’s codes for filing electronic claims. ABC codes were mentioned as an option but not adopted and the AMA currently has a monopoly on billing codes. … As a result, patients frequently experience long wait times and expensive interventions only after disease has advanced.” (07/06/26)
“Hakeem Jeffries is rolling out the welcome mat for the people who want his head mounted on their trophy wall. The House minority leader offered a hearty “welcome aboard” to state Assembly members Claire Valdez and Micah Lasher as well as congressional candidates Darializa Avila Chevalier and Brad Lander, both progressive Democrats associated with the Democratic Socialists of America. All but Lasher were backed by slick DSA kingmaker Mayor Zohran Mamdani. ‘Congratulations to our newest members of the NYC congressional delegation,’ he wrote on X. ‘From public servants to union organizers to community activists, the path is different but the work is the same. We must decisively address the affordability crisis and crush far-right extremism!’ Never mind that Dems would classify immigration enforcement and strong borders as ‘far-right extremism’.” (07/05/26)
“Endorsing individual stocks would be unusual behavior for any president, but in Trump’s case it is notable for a different reason: The president has disclosed owning shares in many of the companies he touts. But as troubling as it may seem for the president to own shares in a company, praise it and profit from the rise in price, it is almost certainly legal. Nothing the president has done rises to the level of insider trading or market manipulation, the two crimes most associated with stock trading. … That doesn’t mean retail investors should look to Trump for stock tips. Securities markets today are so efficient that, after the president says something about a stock, flash traders will act on that information in less than a second. By the time any retail investor waddles in, the stock’s price will already reflect Trump’s advice.” (07/06/26)
“We’re celebrating 250 years since the founding of the United States of America. Yes, celebrating, and I hope you did, too. I know this moment brings up so many conflicting emotions. On the one hand, this country is our home. Some of us have no other place to go. Some of us have chosen to make this our home, and some of us are still grappling with the centuries of injustice that brought us here. Whatever this landmark celebration means to you, I hope you take time to reflect, as I have, on what brought us here, and find ways to take lessons from those who found reasons to fight to build a better future in this country, across the many injustices that wound our nation’s journey. In doing so, these courageous women and men made a way for us to be here today.” (07/06/26)
“If you really want to get a European politician wound up, try suggesting that, in the 21st century, human civilization has progressed to the point that we need not be at the mercy of the elements; if the temperature outside is uncomfortable, we can adjust the climate in our homes and businesses to our taste. That will get you a stuffy lecture about the virtues of suffering for the good of the planet. Well, unless powerful people are being inconvenienced; then the air conditioning comes on.” (07/06/26)
“In ‘The Rise of Hip Capitalism,’ author Joseph de León traces how Rolling Stone fused countercultural rebellion with entrepreneurial ambition, turning cultural dissent into a media empire.” (07/06/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“How can Trump condemn socialism and communism in the run-up to the mid-terms, given that he fell in love with the brutal communist dictator of North Korea and is now partnering with the brutal socialist-communist regime in Venezuela? Or is that Trump is only prejudiced against Democratic Party socialists and communists but has nothing against foreign socialists and communists?” (07/06/26)
“Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has finally reached his Terry Malloy moment. In the classic movie ‘On the Waterfront’, the character tells his brother of losing it all; his shot to be a champion and a person of respect: ‘You don’t understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could’ve been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it.’ Shapiro decided to deliver his defining moment on MS NOW’s ‘Morning Joe’ when he abandoned all principle and decided to join other Democratic establishment leaders in offering up the Supreme Court to the radical left. Shapiro used the common coded reference to court packing, calling for ‘radical reform of the court’. The only ‘radical’ reform being seriously discussed is packing the institution with an immediate liberal majority to reverse a series of recent decisions and to greenlight an equally radical agenda for changes to our political system.” (07/05/26)
