Source: Rutherford Institute
by John & Nisha Whitehead
“This is a year of strange anniversaries. Two hundred and fifty years ago, a band of revolutionaries declared their independence from a king. America’s founders rejected concentrated power. They denounced standing armies. They distrusted government secrecy. They risked their lives to escape a ruler who could tax without consent, wage war without accountability, and govern without meaningful restraint. Twenty-five years ago, after the attacks of September 11, 2001, America embarked on a very different journey. The federal government claimed extraordinary emergency powers. Surveillance expanded. Wars multiplied. Executive authority grew. Constitutional safeguards were weakened in the name of security. One anniversary marked a revolt against empire. The other marked the normalization of it.” (06/24/26)
Source: Liberty International
by Kozeta Çuadari Çika
“Albania is experiencing its most significant civic mobilisation since the fall of communism, fuelled by the massive anti-government demonstrations known as the ‘Flamingo Revolution.’ What began as a localised environmental protest against a multi-billion-dollar luxury resort development has escalated into a nationwide revolt. Hundreds of thousands of citizens of all ages are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama and his administration. The initial catalyst for the unrest was a development project valued at between $4.6 billion and $5.7 billion, backed by Affinity Partners — an investment firm led by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. The project targets the pristine, uninhabited Sazan Island and the environmentally sensitive Vjosa-Narta protected coastal zone near the village of Zvërnec. First of all, major transparency concerns have arisen over how coastal land titles were transferred to private entities.” (06/24/26)
“No one gets to decide what others need. As long as they aren’t stealing it, it’s none of your business. If someone earns a quadrillion dollars by giving customers what they want and by filling a niche, they aren’t a problem. It’s a positive thing for society, and only ignorant people get upset over it. It’s trendy to hate rich people. It’s also incredibly stupid. Most of the people upset over ‘excessive’ wealth — such as the tax-addicted politicians and their followers — contribute nothing. Takers envy makers. For a millionaire politician to demand that a billionaire entrepreneur hand over some percentage of his money is dishonest. The entrepreneur contributes; the politician is a parasite who only takes.” (06/24/26)
“Suppose I want commercial pineapple harvesters to enjoy good lives today. Most of them aren’t in Hawaiʻi anymore; they’re in Costa Rica. Should I import my pineapples from them? (Import pineapples? To Hawaiʻi? Surely not.) But to avoid eating imported pineapples impoverishes Costa Rican field hands. It might take away the only work they have, such as it is. When I grow at home, that’s what I’m doing, if only to a tiny degree. Buying from my neighbors, who sell at the farmers’ markets, achieves the same end; the descendants of plantation workers here in Hawaiʻi are usually much wealthier than today’s Costa Rican field hands. Yet if I were to return to the globalized market, I might just fatten some Costa Rican landlords. I want to ask: Where are the limits to any of these intuitions?” (06/24/26)
“In a constitutional republic, government may only take liberty and property pursuant to law and only from those who have consented by granting those powers to the government in the constitution that created it; and any exercise of any powers not consented to by the governed is assaultive of natural rights, is beyond the government’s moral and constitutional authority, is morally illicit and of no legal validity. In an empire, the government has no limits. It does whatever the head of state wants. It denies the enforceability of international norms, enriches itself at the people’s expense, takes property without the consent of the governed, violates natural rights, starts wars to please constituent groups, murders people without trial whom it claims have violated its laws, suppresses foreign people and tells them how to live, and even kidnaps their leaders.” (06/24/26)
“For years, I have been writing about the decline of public education in the United States. The political power of teachers[‘] unions led to bloated budgets as schools pursued ideological agendas over educational advancements. Despite massive budgets, scores of students in major cities have continued to plummet or remain at the same dismal levels. Now, Arkansas has shown what is possible if officials put education first. Scores in the state have soared after the implementation of reforms that many of us have advocated for years. It also shows that state governments, not the federal government, are critical to reversing our slide in educational performance as the administration moves toward eliminating the Department of Education. Arkansas implemented a new program and testing protocol called the ‘Arkansas Teaching, Learning and Assessment System’, or ATLAS, with a mix of higher pay for teachers, performance-based bonuses and a voucher system for families.” (06/24/26)
“Some are deluded enough to think that this is a problem: ‘About 400,000 UK children supported by baby banks, up 11% on previous year’ … This is, of course, a glory of our society. Babbies and their mothers are supported. This is achieved entirely by the efforts of society itself, the little platoons. There is no intervention by the Lanyard Class, no compulsory confiscation to pay for it all, just Britons geting together to aid Britons. How glorious it is etc. … The correct response to this is to send ‘em the occasional £50 and leave well alone. Why mess with what works?” (06/24/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Angelo Monaco
“While the Declaration of Independence is frequently lauded as a masterpiece of political philosophy, I have always held that beneath its revolutionary rhetoric lies a sophisticated blueprint for a liberal economic order. Far from a mere catalog of political grievances, the document functions as a definitive rejection of the British economic system, asserting that the ‘pursuit of happiness’ is inextricably linked to the individual’s right to self-ownership, vocation, and the unencumbered exchange of labor. By grounding the legitimacy of government in the protection of pre-political, unalienable rights — most notably the security of property against arbitrary taxation and the freedom to trade with ‘all parts of the world’ — Jefferson and the Continental Congress established the moral and legal infrastructure necessary for a spontaneous market order.” (06/24/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“There are two types of racism in the west: the kind that’s considered acceptable in polite liberal society, and the kind that’s widely frowned upon. The acceptable type of racism is the kind which considers it fine and normal to drop bombs on Muslim families overseas. The kind which sees starvation sanctions as a minor issue whose pros and cons are assessed solely on the basis of whether they will be successful or unsuccessful in achieving regime change. The kind which views imperialist extraction from the global south as the natural order of the world, with centrists and progressives squabbling only about how evenly that plunder should be distributed among westerners. The unacceptable type of racism is the kind which affects other westerners. The kind whose consequences western liberals have to see.” [editor’s note: Muslims aren’t a race – TLK] (06/24/26)
