Spy chief pick has the Trump playbook: Attack political enemies
Source: Washington Post
by David Ignatius
“Bill Pulte has no intelligence experience. But he has proved he’ll target the president’s foes.” (06/04/26)
Category: Opinion
In Britain, A Tragic Murder Was Followed By Mass Confusion
Source: Persuasion
by Cathy Young
“Here’s what the case looks like without the hyperbole.” (06/04/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/in-britain-a-tragic-murder-was-followed
CA Dems dumped Porter, but Maine Dems hold onto Platner for dear life
Source: Fox News
by Hugh Hewitt
“Former Democratic Congresswoman Katie Porter got smoked in Tuesday’s ‘jungle primary’ for California’s governor’s race, the runoff for which will come in November. Right now, it looks like Steve Hilton vs. Xavier Becerra will face each other in the general election, though that won’t be certain for days — but we do know Porter won’t be in the final. She plummeted from her position as the early front-runner and darling of progressives last year after questions about her temperament surfaced and she never left. When ABC News ran headlines like this last month, readers knew her campaign was finished: ‘Katie Porter fights questions on temperament as the only woman in crowded California gubernatorial race. Experts are mixed over whether she should have raised outbursts that went viral.'” (06/04/26)
Commerce and Warehouse Clubs
Source: EconLog
by Art Carden
“Sol Price did not set out to change retail. He stumbled into it by accident and alertness. He was an active member of his community in San Diego and served as a lawyer for several retailers and wholesalers, including those in jewelry and liquor, who sold to a Los Angeles store called Fedco. He accompanied his clients to Los Angeles to visit a Fedco store. Fedco was a store that sold to government employees at deep discounts. Price observed that many government employees commuted from San Diego to Los Angeles, and he believed a similar store could do well in San Diego. He and his partners presented their proposal to Fedco, which rejected it. Price, however, had a warehouse in San Diego he needed to do something with, and he thought, ‘Why not do in San Diego what Fedco doesn’t want to?'” (06/04/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/commerce-and-warehouse-clubs
Roddie Edmonds and the Power of Saying No
Source: The Daily Economy
by Barry Brownstein
“Liberty depends on individuals saying no to power, especially when authority demands moral compromise, as one American officer proved behind barbed wire in World War II.” (06/04/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/roddie-edmonds-and-the-power-of-saying-no/
It’s Time to Set Global Labor Standards for the Gig Economy
Source: Foreign Policy In Focus
by Lena Simet & Anna Bacciarelli
“Most discussion of artificial intelligence and work is about the future: which jobs may disappear, which skills may lose value, which workers may be replaced. But for millions of gig workers, who work for online platforms such as Uber, this future is already here. Algorithms set their pay, assign their tasks, monitor their performance, and determine whether they can keep working at all. … This leaves many workers with unstable pay, dangerous conditions, and little recourse when something goes wrong. But this could be about to change. From June 1 to 12 in Geneva, governments will enter a final round of negotiations at the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations agency dedicated to labor rights, over the first binding global standard for what is called platform work.” [editor’s note: The “problem” with gig workers is that they don’t answer to government bureaucrats, and lovers of government bureaucracy hate that – TLK] (06/04/26)
https://fpif.org/ai-runs-the-global-gig-economy-governments-must-respond/
The 26-Year Assault Is Over
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Gary, Indiana, initiated its action against a laundry list of gun makers, distributors and dealers in August 1999. The suit accused them of culpability for crimes committed with the weapons they had brought into the marketplace. At the time, making and marketing guns was legal; still is. So the suit was manifestly absurd from the outset. Perhaps cities contemplating litigation against baseball bat makers and steak knife vendors will accept the lesson.” (06/04/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/06/04/gun-rights-survive-26-yr/
A Free Market Approach to Healthcare: Lower Costs and Better Outcomes
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“[T]he big story that fans of free markets everywhere should be focused on is the money we pay for things like drugs and medical equipment. This year we’ll spend close to $750 billion on drugs and other pharmaceutical products. We’ll spend over $50 billion on various therapeutic devices used at home. Hospitals and other providers will spend over $130 billion on medical equipment. … Insofar as drugs or scans are expensive, it is almost certainly due to patent monopolies or related protections.” (06/04/26)
Expanding the Abraham Accords Would Help Netanyahu, Not America
Source: The American Conservative
by Doug Bandow
“[T]he so-called Abraham Accords, long touted as a major achievement from Trump’s first term, are a pious fraud. Though depicted as a kind of peace deal, they have nothing to do with peace, since none of the participants—so far Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates (Sudan signed on but fell into civil war before ratifying the agreement)—have been at war with Israel. Nor has the lack of Israeli embassies across the Persian Gulf and North Africa prevented any nation from engaging in back-channel security cooperation. … expanding the Abraham Accords would act as a Hail Mary political pass to Netanyahu, who faces a difficult reelection campaign. It would both offer a dramatic success to the Israeli prime minister and act as a de facto endorsement by the American president. Indeed, Trump appears to believe his ability to shift votes is as great in Israel as in U.S. primary contests.” (06/04/26)
Trump’s art of the deal meets Iran’s long memory of foreign exploitation
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Tanya Goudsouzian & Ibrahim Al-Marashi
“Washington may view these talks as a standard business transaction, but history has taught Tehran that a compromise with the West is a trap.” (06/04/26)