“For more than a decade, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents have plundered passengers at airport security checkpoints on the flimsiest or most shameless pretexts. If you get stopped at an airport security checkpoint with $100 or more in cash, TSA agents can fleece you. More than 10,000 travelers have been stripped of their money by TSA agents since 2014. But the feds almost never bother filing criminal charges against the victims of asset forfeiture. TSA considers itself generous when it ‘permits the passenger to continue on to their destination’ — after taking away their money.” (05/29/26)
“If the proliferation of AI writing is a problem, it’s not because it’s terrible slop unfit for human consumption; it’s a problem because in some specific ways, it’s too good. It is the literary equivalent of fast food: convenient, cheap, hyper-consistent and relentlessly optimized to tickle our pleasure centers. Sure, AI produces some crazy metaphors and weird hallucinations, because the models have all of our text and none of our context. On the other hand, AI is really good at optimizing for readability, both stylistically and structurally. … as with fast food, what people want now isn’t necessarily good for them in the long run.” (05/31/26)
“The nostalgia for a 1950s ‘mom, dad, two kids, Chevy four-door, well-manicured lawn around a tidy cottage’ way of life is not nostalgia for ‘the old days,’ let alone for the days shortly after ‘the creation of the world.’ It’s nostalgia for post-World-War-2 Pasadena, California.” (05/31/26)
“Some of the recent legal challenges to the use of surveillance by the Department of Homeland Security upon Americans have resulted in the revelation of truly terrifying behavior by the government, in direct defiance of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. We now know that the federal government spies on innocent Americans without suspicion and without warrants.” (05/29/26)
“Over the past year, two military campaigns against Iran by the United States and Israel never triggered a popular uprising that would fell the Islamic Republic, as hoped. Instead, President Donald Trump has now reached a tentative deal with the regime to address two international concerns: ending Iran’s nuclear program and opening the vital Strait of Hormuz to shipping. Still, many Iranians, especially the millions living abroad, have been busier than usual. They are trying to unite behind new plans for what to do if the government does collapse – notably, how to ensure no violence against the regime and its followers as a way to entice defections. They are heartened by reports of a power struggle in Tehran.” (05/29/26)
“Those with long memories will recall the campaign to have a Financial Transactions Tax. Something we were vehemently opposed to no doubt because we’re neoliberals or something. The idea was to have a miserly — say, 0.1%, or 0.05%, that sort of amount — tax on every financial transaction. The claim was that this would not affect ‘real’ trade and would only reduce the amount of speculative froth in the marketplace. Which would, according to the proposers, be good. Because, well, speculative froth and all that. Just capitalists playing with money, see? Except speculative froth does have a point …” (05/31/26)
“Many of the those pushing for war over the last few decades were politicians, news editors and pundits thousands of miles from the battlefield. These ‘hawks’ continued their lives of luxury and safety within their bubbles of entitlement while young American troops became the disposable pawns to be moved about the surface of a macabre board game. … as President Trump seeks to find a lasting solution to end the war with Iran, their harsh voices can be heard screeching out their disapproval. Just the very thought of an extended ceasefire is enough to trigger some of the hawks. When is enough enough for the Iran war hawks? Naturally, they will say when Iran is no longer a threat to the U.S. or Israel. But what does ‘no longer a threat’ really mean? And what does the now ubiquitous phrase ‘finish the job’ really mean with respect to Iran?” (05/30/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Another AI atrocity propaganda project about Iran has been unleashed, this time in the form of a movie titled ‘Dreams of Violets’ at the Tribeca film festival. … The film’s trailer depicts sympathetic protagonists being brutally victimized by Iranian authorities, and concludes with the image of fighter jets soaring overhead while an English-captioned Persian voiceover says ‘If Iran gets liberated, celebrate for me. Enjoy it for us!'” (05/29/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Laurence M Vance
“There is one main problem with President Trump’s call to nationalize elections: the Constitution, which decentralizes the election process with a minor role for Congress. Article I, Section 4, of the Constitution states that ‘the Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.’ There is no provision for the president to have anything to do with elections through executive action. … Another problem with President Trump’s call to nationalize elections is that it is based on something that is largely imaginary.” (05/29/26)
