“In the USA there are roughly 220,000 commercial aircraft. By 2027, the FAA estimates there will be more than 2.7 million drones. As firefighting aircraft raced to drop retardant on a raging wildfire in Utah’s Provo Canyon last summer, some flights were grounded by a new threat. Private drones, presumably trying to capture dramatic footage of the fire, forced critical support to stand down while flames advanced. This incident was no anomaly. There were hundreds of drone sightings over wildfires in 2025. Such civilian disruptions are only the beginning. Drone warfare and prevalence has come to American soil. Cheap, loosely regulated drones have the capability to disrupt military bases, surveil the homes of Cabinet secretaries and your backyard, threaten aircraft, and even attack the president of the United States. These threats are not hypothetical. It is real, it is now, and it urgently must be addressed.” (05/13/26)
“As Congress debates proposals to allow the year-round sale of E15 gasoline — fuel blended with 15 percent corn ethanol rather than the common 10 percent blend — lawmakers are being told this is a simple win for consumers, farmers and energy security. Unfortunately, evidence shows that is not the case. In reality, ‘year-round E15’ legislation would deepen an environmentally damaging and economically inefficient policy while increasing costs for American families already struggling with inflation. And let’s be real, the proposal is not about energy independence. It is a back-door way to expand the domestic market for U.S. corn at consumers’ expense, after U.S. corn farmers and exports were shocked by the cancellation of more than 1 million tons of U.S. food aid (mostly corn) to countries with poor and undernourished children.” [editor’s note: Allow? Absolutely. Subsidize? Absolutely not. End all ethanol subsidies and let the idea succeed or fail on its own – TLK] (05/13/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Basically you have two choices: either you believe Israel is a genocidal state that is morally comparable to Nazi Germany, or you believe there’s a giant global conspiracy of mainstream western institutions and media outlets dedicated to making Israel look bad. Believing the second option is the only way to get around believing the first. That’s the only way to believe mainstream outlets like The New York Times are committing antisemitic blood libel with their reporting on the systemic sexual torture of Palestinians in Israeli prisons. It’s the only way to dismiss the fact that every relevant human rights group on earth says Israel is guilty of genocide, while zero comparable human rights groups say it isn’t. You necessarily need to espouse a wild conspiracy theory. You need to believe the conspiracy goes all the way to the top, with its tentacles in mainstream institutions all across the globe.” (05/13/26)
“For decades, Cuba has presented itself—both to its citizens and to the world—as a socialist alternative to the inequalities of global capitalism. That story still has its defenders abroad. But spend any time on the island today and it becomes clear that something else has taken its place: not socialism in any meaningful sense, but a post-ideological system run by a military-commercial elite that continues to speak the language of revolution long after the revolution itself has faded. Socialism has already fallen in Havana, even if some of the country’s intransigent foreign admirers remain staunchly ignorant of the fact. That the implacable state continues to wave a red flag is neither here nor there.” (05/13/26)
“Last year, Republicans in Congress cut Medicaid outlays and refused to extend Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidies. Yet less federal spending on health care threatened to affect a key Republican constituency: rural voters. To avoid retaliation for their actions, Republicans included $50 billion for rural health care in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, to be spent in various ways. Here is the bad news. Even before last year’s legislative actions, rural areas in the U.S. were losing doctors, hospitals and even pharmacies. That trend is likely to continue, and neither party has a realistic plan to deal with it.” (05/13/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Connor O’Keeffe
“[B]oth progressives and conservatives show a complete unwillingness or inability to distinguish between those who got rich by genuinely creating value that left society as a whole better off and those who are getting rich by expropriating wealth through force. Establishment conservatives will often agree that some businessmen and companies engage in rent-seeking or work with government regulators to protect themselves from competition. But they’ll usually write that behavior off as an isolated issue that in no way defines the economic status quo in the US. But it’s a major factor. The government has been intervening heavily in the economy on behalf of well-connected companies for at least the last century.” (05/13/26)
“After the Supreme Court clarified the constitutional test for gun control laws in 2022, many longstanding restrictions on the right to arms looked newly vulnerable. Second Amendment groups jumped at the opportunity, filing one lawsuit after another in cases that frequently pitted them against the Biden administration. Those groups now have a powerful ally in the Trump administration, which has filed several lawsuits aimed at vindicating Americans’ gun rights, including two filed last week in Colorado. But even as the Justice Department advertises its commitment to defending the Second Amendment, its position in other gun cases belies that stance.” (05/13/26)
“Mayor Zohran Mamdani boasted Tuesday that he plugged the city’s multibillion-dollar budget gap for the coming fiscal year — but it’s only ‘balanced’ with gimmicks that guarantee oceans more red ink in the years ahead. With a late assist from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s own flim-flammery, the new, $124.7 billion Mamdani spending plan relies on one-time cash infusions, postponed payments and dubious calculations of future tax windfalls and theoretical savings. The day began with Hochul boldly announcing yet another of her trademark cave-ins: After weeks of insisting she’d given the mayor as much help as she could, the gov magically found another $4 billion for him just hours before he presented his plan. Yet half the windfall comes down to new debt, much of the rest is pretty vaporous — and all of it amounts to just telling the spending addict he can keep on shooting up.” (05/13/26)
“With the introduction of the Supporting Newborn Parents Act, Reps. David Valadao (R-CA), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Blake Moore (R-UT), and Debbie Dingell (D-MI) have put forward a powerful piece of pro-family legislation. The proposed newborn credit would give nearly all families celebrating the birth of a child another reason to celebrate: a refundable tax credit of $2,000 shortly after their baby is born. This timely payment would help parents navigate the financial shocks that tend to come in baby’s first year.” (05/13/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“For decades, conservatives have condemned the socialist-communist regime in Venezuela. They have called it evil, immoral, deadly, and destructive. In fact, conservatives even came to describe the Venezuelan regime as a ‘narco-terrorist’ regime. Why, they have even supported unsuccessful regime-change efforts within the country. … What’s the situation today? It’s hard to believe. The U.S. government, led by President Trump, the Pentagon, and the CIA, is actively partnering with the very socialist-communist, narco-terrorist regime that conservatives have long criticized and condemned.” (05/13/26)
