“[Bernie Sanders] proposed a one-time 50 percent tax on the largest AI companies, to be paid in shares held by a government-run sovereign wealth fund. The federal government would get voting shares, board representation, and the power to ‘block decisions’ it decides are bad for citizens. This is the worst idea Bernie Sanders has ever had, in a long and illustrious career of terrible ideas. … President Donald Trump’s economic nationalism has made federal ownership, veto rights, and backdoor nationalization feel terribly normal. His administration converted federal grants into a roughly 10 percent stake in Intel, using already-promised CHIPS Act and Secure Enclave money to make Washington one of the company’s largest shareholders. … The right calls it national security. The left calls it democracy. The results are the same: Washington wants shares, seats, vetoes, and a cut of the upside.” (for publication 08/26)
“The chief justice, writing for the court, achieved a competent version of standard originalism. Heavily relying on historical sources and historically informed amicus briefs, the chief points out—correctly—that the English common law rule that shaped the background of U.S. citizenship law treated all kinds of temporary visitors and even persons subject to expulsion as nonetheless capable of producing British children if those children were born within the territory. (Anthony Michael Kreis has recently written a comprehensive account of the development of this principle that is worth your time.) Roberts also correctly points out that the most natural reading of the word ‘jurisdiction,’ being subject to the laws of the United States, is that the framers of the Amendment meant what they said.” (07/02/26)
“While Elon Musk is being criticized for his role in slashing the budget of the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), our foreign aid programs have been killing people for more than 50 years. American food aid has sabotaged foreign farmers since the 1960s, causing waves of bankruptcies and subverting foreign nations’ ability to feed themselves. I have been hammering this program since 1984.” (07/02/26)
“Since 1776, at least 120 peoples have declared independence, echoing Jefferson’s universal claim about natural rights, self-government, and political legitimacy.” (07/02/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“As self-styled ‘democratic socialists’ make some advancements in blue states, Republicans have launched a renewed fearmongering campaign about the urgent threat of ‘communism’ — an ideology with no meaningful political existence in the United States. At a speech on Wednesday, President Trump said that ‘communism is the greatest threat to our country’ and would lead to ‘the ultimate annihilation of civilization’. This is just the latest in a string of rhetoric from the president as he tries to drum up fear about progressive Democrats to prevent massive losses in the midterms. Democratic socialist politicians are still a small minority in US politics, and conflating them with communists is absurd. Communism seeks the complete dismantling of capitalism and the imperialist world order it holds in place at gunpoint, while western ‘democratic socialists’ typically just seek a gentler, more photogenic capitalist empire where things like healthcare and public transportation are funded by taxes.” (07/02/26)
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
by M Todd Bennett & David McKean
“No Kings and other protests opposing the policies and executive overreach of the Trump administration continue to draw crowds across the country, most recently on Flag Day, June 14, which was also the president’s 80th birthday. While critics have denounced these demonstrators as un-American — House Speaker Mike Johnson called a 2025 No Kings march a ‘hate America rally’ — those voicing dissent, pushing for change and speaking truth to power are, in fact, participating in a tradition at our nation’s core. That tradition dates back to July 4, 1776, when the Continental Congress, citing a list of grievances, declared independence from the rule of a would-be despot, King George III.” (07/02/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“This week — the week in which Americans celebrate the Declaration of Independence — U.S. immigration police arrested a Catholic nun in McAllen, Texas, as she was walking to Mass. They handcuffed her, confiscated her rosary, and incarcerated her. But before anyone reacts too harshly to such misconduct, let’s keep in mind some important points. It is the responsibility of the U.S. immigration police to keep us safe. Who’s to say that woman was really a nun? She could easily have been a Muslim fanatic disguised as a nun who was invading America to establish a worldwide caliphate and Sharia law. Indeed, she could have been a terrorist, drug dealer or, even worse, both — a narco-terrorist!” (07/02/26)
“Of all that makes America—the subject of this symposium—nothing has been more crucial or consequential than our having constituted ourselves as a people on sound moral, political, and legal principles—the ‘self-evident truths’ set forth in our Declaration of Independence and then instituted through our Constitution as corrected by the Civil War Amendments—for those principles are the very foundation of our liberty. Yet many Americans today seriously misunderstand them, while still others reject even their preconditions—reason, objectivity, and free speech.” (07/02/26)
“In an era of information overload, genuinely fresh news and concepts can occasionally get obscured by the ‘slop’. But eventually, thought-expanding data and perspectives rise to the surface and into wider public attention. This appears to be the case with a Yale University study on aging in America published in an academic journal in early March. The findings of ‘Aging Redefined’, now being reported in mainstream media, defy – and can help redefine – long-held and limiting views about the United States’ older demographic. Collecting data on some 11,000 participants over a 12-year period, the researchers found that nearly half of American adults age 65 or older became physically stronger, mentally more acute, or both. ‘If this finding was extrapolated to the entire US population, it would suggest that more than 26 million older persons are experiencing [such] improvement,’ the study’s authors noted.” (07/01/26)
