Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith
“Thomas Paine did not sign any of the founding documents, either the Declaration or the Constitution. … He was not a member of the Continental Congress. He never held political office at any level. His only military experience was as an aide-de-camp for Major General Nathanael Greene. Thomas Paine was ‘a man who had failed as a skilled craftsman, as a teacher, as a shopkeeper, as a street preacher, as a petty customs official in the Excise, dismissed more than once and a sometime debtor and bankrupt.’ In short, a nobody. At his death in 1809 he was one of the most despised people in the country. Yet, without Thomas Paine, America might have become like Canada—a self-governing dominion under the Crown rather than an independent republic. Without Paine, we don’t get Common Sense and his clarion call for independence from England.” (07/06/26)
“The official line remains the same: The 10-month campaign of strikes on small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific has nearly stopped the flow of drugs by sea into the United States. In December, President Trump boasted about a 92 percent drop in seaborne shipments. Last month, in an apparent sign of further progress, he said the decline was up to 97.2 percent. But government officials and agencies closest to the action, at sea and on America’s streets, tell a different story. In hearings, official reports, and interviews they have all but given up the pretense that the campaign has succeeded in reducing the flow of drugs into the U.S., even as 221 people have been killed in more than 60 strikes. … street prices for cocaine in the United States have plummeted, the opposite of what would be expected if smugglers were being deterred.” (07/06/26)
“Every generation experiences the same fear: technology is going to permanently displace workers. The spinning jenny was supposed to idle England’s textile workers. The steam engine would hollow out the trades. Electricity would render physical labor unnecessary. The computer and the Internet would finish the job of ending work. Now, artificial intelligence models have assumed the role of civilization-ending technology, and the doomsayers are back at their posts. This time, however, some of the loudest alarms are coming from the inside.” (07/06/26)
“In the roughly two weeks since the New York primary elections, conservatives—and other normies—have been understandably upset about the prospects of a socialist surge in American politics. Three candidates endorsed by New York City’s socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani won their congressional primaries easily, while Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-aligned candidates around the state did quite well. In short, June 23 was a good day for socialists throughout the country, leaving many observers wondering if this will be a new date that lives in infamy, the date that marks the official start of the socialist-led collapse of the world’s quintessential capitalist, democratic republic. As I say, this concern is understandable. Avowed socialists are winning big in cities across the country, not just in New York City but also in Seattle, possibly in Los Angeles, and almost certainly in the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.” (07/06/26)
“The U.S. Constitution is our secular society’s most revered text. It is the bedrock on which the republic was built. It has generally served us well for the last 237 years. Changing it is like trying to rewrite the Ten Commandments. More than 11,000 amendments have been proposed since 1791, when the Bill of Rights was added. Only 17 have been ratified. This anniversary year is a time to celebrate how far America has come and to ask a direct question: Is the Constitution still fit for purpose?” (07/06/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Douglas Carswell
“Perhaps it is not so much the party of those we send to Congress or to our state legislature that counts. Perhaps what matters more is that so many of the decisions about how your money is spent are made in the dark. Setting a budget is complicated. The data might exist. Some of it might even be public. But it sits squirreled away on a spreadsheet somewhere, and you would need a CPA to make sense of it. Frankly, most folk do not have the time. But what if technology could suddenly take all that data and build something that makes it easy to see? Easy to see who gets your tax dollars, and what they do with them once they have them.” (07/06/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Normal people use language to communicate and connect, while manipulative people use language to control and extract. Propagandists, hasbarists, politicians, and people with disorders which incline them toward manipulative behavior like narcissistic personality disorder or antisocial personality disorder, use language with the goal of advancing agendas rather than to convey information and connect with other people. Manipulators use their words to influence the thoughts people think about themselves, about others, and about their world. They use language to extract favors, money, resources, sex, esteem, loyalty, or submission from other people. They use it to trick people in order to ensure that life transpires in accordance with their will. For the manipulator, language is a tool you use to move people around and get them to do what you want them to do.” (07/06/26)
“Healthcare systems (insurers and other payers) only reimburse what is coded and billable. The lack of codes for all healthcare options started in 1983 when the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the American Medical Association (AMA) agreed that HHS would only use the AMAs codes to process Medicare and Medicaid claims. In 2002, HHS mandated use of the AMA’s codes for filing electronic claims. ABC codes were mentioned as an option but not adopted and the AMA currently has a monopoly on billing codes. … As a result, patients frequently experience long wait times and expensive interventions only after disease has advanced.” (07/06/26)
“Hakeem Jeffries is rolling out the welcome mat for the people who want his head mounted on their trophy wall. The House minority leader offered a hearty “welcome aboard” to state Assembly members Claire Valdez and Micah Lasher as well as congressional candidates Darializa Avila Chevalier and Brad Lander, both progressive Democrats associated with the Democratic Socialists of America. All but Lasher were backed by slick DSA kingmaker Mayor Zohran Mamdani. ‘Congratulations to our newest members of the NYC congressional delegation,’ he wrote on X. ‘From public servants to union organizers to community activists, the path is different but the work is the same. We must decisively address the affordability crisis and crush far-right extremism!’ Never mind that Dems would classify immigration enforcement and strong borders as ‘far-right extremism’.” (07/05/26)
“Endorsing individual stocks would be unusual behavior for any president, but in Trump’s case it is notable for a different reason: The president has disclosed owning shares in many of the companies he touts. But as troubling as it may seem for the president to own shares in a company, praise it and profit from the rise in price, it is almost certainly legal. Nothing the president has done rises to the level of insider trading or market manipulation, the two crimes most associated with stock trading. … That doesn’t mean retail investors should look to Trump for stock tips. Securities markets today are so efficient that, after the president says something about a stock, flash traders will act on that information in less than a second. By the time any retail investor waddles in, the stock’s price will already reflect Trump’s advice.” (07/06/26)
