“Fifty years ago, liberals were attacking what today is called the deep state—that is, the unelected members of the federal government. At the center of this liberal coalition was Idaho Sen. Frank Church, who in 1975 and 1976 headed high-profile hearings into the national security apparatus that had been created at the start of the Cold War in the late 1940s, but which seemed to be pursuing interests very different from what elected officials were telling voters.” (07/20/26)
“The economic case for data centers is indisputable: A single hyperscale facility brings in billions in capital investment, creates a slew of high-paying jobs from construction to engineering and ensures local governments are flush with tax revenue. Big Tech bogeymen such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta upgrade local infrastructure and create secondary economies, often in struggling areas. Long term, these companies offer self-sustaining economic activity that the magical ‘green’ industry never did or could.” (07/19/26)
“Perhaps the most telling aspect of Trump’s address wasn’t what he said. It was what he didn’t say. At no point did he identify a single state where vote totals were changed. He didn’t claim that a voting machine actually switched votes. He didn’t allege that tabulation reports were manipulated or that election databases were corrupted. He didn’t present evidence that any jurisdiction reported vote totals it knew to be false. He relied on the viewer to infer those claims without stating them explicitly. Instead, the speech relied on familiar patterns, such as discussions of foreign cyber capabilities, intelligence reporting, and potential vulnerabilities. Each of these was presented as proof that the election itself had been manipulated.” (07/19/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Richard K Vedder & Nicholas Jadwisienczak
“Republicans disheartened by growing fears of electoral losses at the federal level this fall can take some solace in evidence from a new, soon-to-be-released study that we coauthored for Unleash Prosperity, a group focused on promoting pro-growth policies. The graph below shows the results from that study, revealing that in this century economic growth has been substantially greater in the Republican Red states. The new study focuses on the more recent years 2020-2024, using modern statistical techniques to show that even after other factors impacting economic change—like climate, the proportion of the population working in manufacturing or producing oil, or the degree of urbanization—are taken into account, Republican-dominated states grew sharply faster than Democratic oriented ones.” (07/19/26)
“It seems to be a tried-and-true trope even if it is a bit of a tired one for a seasoned Oliver Stone-style conspiracy enthusiast such as myself. The dreaded Zionist Occupied Government (or ZOG if your nasty) is really just a very nineties take on the ancient notion of the Jews secretly controlling everything from the banks to the claw machine at your local Chuck E. Cheese. Naturally, all racism aside, I’ve always found the notion a tad bit hard to swallow. … Gross story short; as much as I may despise Zionism along with every other school of racial supremacy, the notion of said Zionists calling the shots at the country club has always felt a bit like the tentacle wagging the Cthulhu to me, that is until recently when October 7th seemed to collide with the second Trump Administration like a wayward meteorite.” (07/19/26)
“There is something revealing about the way Washington talks about international law. When the law moves against an adversary, it becomes the language of civilisation. When the same law approaches the United States or Israel, it suddenly becomes an assault on sovereignty. … The United States wants a world in which law flows downward, never upward. It wants courts that can frighten weaker states, isolate rival leaders and decorate speeches about a rules-based order, but not institutions that can ask uncomfortable questions about Gaza, Afghanistan or American military operations abroad. That is not the rule of law. It is the management of impunity.” (07/20/26)
“Remember that thing that we said was good for you, then we changed our minds telling you it’s now bad for you. And now? We’re changing our minds again…umm, maybe it is good for you again. Medicine that claims to be ‘evidence-based’ is never static. It changes. Sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly and so too do our doctor’s suggestions about what they think is right to keep us healthy. In that light, sometimes medical recommendations around screening, surgery, or treatments like drugs or vaccines follow a certain pattern: widespread Enthusiasm based on promising early evidence, a Reversal when rigorous trials reveal limited benefits or unexpected harms, and then a Revival driven by new interpretations, technological tweaks, manufacturer greed, or good old advocacy.” (07/19/26)
“You won’t find archomania listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, but you should. While it often manifests in the same ways as other manias (kleptomania, an irresistible urge to steal; oniomani, a compulsion to shop; etc.), archomania is a distinct disorder. Its symptoms include a compulsive urge to rule others, distress at the prospect of not being allowed to rule others, and a narcissistic belief in one’s unique qualifications to exercise such power. The colloquial term for an archomaniac is: Politician. Gerontocracy is just the result of coddling and empowering archomaniacs. Their hair grays, their gaits slow, their minds wander … but the compulsion remains, as does the grip on power seized back when muscles were stronger and hands less arthritic.” (07/19/26)
“The American Empire is the safest country in history. Among other things, we sport more than the 5,000 nuclear warheads shielded from outside inspection; a multitrillion-dollar military-industrial-security complex; nonstop surveillance of the entire population; special forces in 70–80 countries; NATO and defense pacts with Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the Philippines; a de facto alliance with Israel; and pioneering AI to optimize the lethality of weapons. Nobody goes to bed in the United States fearing an invasion or military attack. Yet we are poised to hike Pentagon spending to $1.5 trillion annually, excluding the VA budget, which approaches $500 billion. … Since the American Empire confronts zero existential threats, we summon them into being to justify a national security state that crushes liberty and the march of the mind while exalting force of arms. Thus, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has decreed that ‘antifa’—i.e., antifascism—is a global, terrorist threat.” (07/18/26)
“Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has escalated his campaign against ‘narcoterrorists,’ treating drug smuggling as an ‘armed attack’ and blurring the line between criminal enforcement and war. His administration has described foreign drug cartels and other criminal gangs as ‘non-state armed groups’ or ‘unlawful combatants,’ a term introduced during the Bush era to deny suspected terrorists protections afforded under the Geneva Conventions. In August of last year, Trump signed a secret directive authorizing military strikes on narco-terrorists. By September, U.S. forces were bombing alleged drug boats in the Caribbean. In December, the administration followed with an executive order classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction …. The narco-terrorist label keeps expanding. In May, the State Department added the PCC and Red Command to its terrorism blacklist, designating them as foreign terrorist organizations. But what has that accomplished for drug control?”
