“So now that Iran’s dream of nuclear weapons has been buried under the mountains (the result of the Trump administration’s Midnight Hammer and massive, 30,000-pound Bunker Buster bombs dropped by U.S warplanes over the last weekend) do you breathe a sigh of relief? Are you pleased that the decrepit old Supreme Leader of Iran doesn’t have his coveted nuclear weapons? Or are you of the bitter ones unable to ignore the demons of your Trump Derangement Syndrome as the latent Democrat inside you licks at your soul? Is that the same internal demon that hushed the Democrats when Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden dropped bombs on the Middle East without seeking Congressional approval?” [editor’s note: I wish that the decrepit old Supreme Leader of MAGA didn’t have his coveted nuclear weapons either! – TLK] (06/25/25)
“President Trump’s decision to spend untold billions of dollars on what appears to be not much more than a ‘symbolic’ bombing of Iran’s already-vacated nuclear facilities was no doubt made with the intention of making himself look tough. Unfortunately for him, it has had the opposite effect. He has shown the world that he was no more able to resist the demands of the neocons and warmongers than his predecessors, and in abandoning his promises to be the president that ends wars instead of starting new ones he has also abandoned the most enthusiastic part of his base.” (06/24/25)
“On Monday, a California federal judge ruled that Anthropic ‘downloaded for free millions of copyrighted books in digital form from pirate sites on the internet.’ Normally, it would be bad news for a judge to write that about your company. But the ruling is actually good news for Anthropic — and even better news for the broader AI industry. That’s because — if it’s upheld on appeal — it will give AI companies a clear blueprint for training models without running afoul of copyright. … it’s the first time a court has said it’s legal to train AI models using copyrighted content without permission from rights [sic] holders.” (06/24/25)
“Last night, President Donald Trump announced a ‘total and complete’ cease-fire between Israel and Iran. Iran’s nuclear program, Trump said, had been ‘obliterated’ and ‘totally destroyed’ …. this episode would appear to mark a major foreign-policy victory for the president. But Trump may have made a crucial mistake that could bring about the very outcome that successive American presidents have [pretended to seek] to prevent: an Iranian nuclear weapon. … If parts of the program survived, or if Iran stockpiled and hid enriched uranium in advance of the strikes, then Tehran’s next steps seem clear. It will end cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Without eyes and ears on the ground, the international community will lose the ability to monitor Iran’s program. Iran could then choose to build a bomb covertly.” (06/24/25)
“Hours after federal agents arrested New York City Comptroller Brad Lander for attempting to escort a defendant out of immigration court, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held a hearing across the street to consider extending a temporary restraining order to delay the ‘phased pause’ of Job Corps centers nationwide. Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr., who granted the initial temporary restraining order on June 4, extended the order through today, June 25, preventing the Labor Department from taking steps to kill a program that has ‘help[ed] young adults build a pathway to a better life’ for 60 years. That quote, came from the current Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who initiated the dismantling of the Job Corps.” (06/25/25)
“A lawsuit against the genomics company ‘imposes top-down restrictions’ rather than ‘establishing clear rules’ or ‘letting companies equip individuals with better tools to manage their privacy,’ says one expert.” (06/24/25)
“Humans have a tendency to obey political authorities even when it may not seem in each individual’s self-interest to do so. Nationalism is a modern manifestation of this phenomenon. After the US government’s strike on nuclear facilities of the Iranian government, there is little doubt that nationalism or tribalism will lead a large number of Americans and Iranians to rally behind their supreme leaders more blindly. … What happened on June 21 was not literally ‘a US strike on Iran’ or ‘America’s strike on Iran,’ as everybody repeats, but a strike of the US government on the assets of the Iranian government—including possibly on its claimed human assets, what is called collateral damage. Tragically, I fear, we can go a bit further: it was more a strike of Donald Trump and his minions on the claimed assets of Ali Khamenei and his minions.” (06/24/25)
“Donald Trump calls himself a ‘peace president’ abroad, even as he does his damnedest to devastate the economy at home with ruinous tariffs and an all-out attempt to deport the immigrants who constitute the backbone of American agriculture, construction, and manufacturing. The resulting dissatisfaction and unrest prompted him, earlier in June, to militarily occupy the country’s second-largest city. Donald Trump needs two things very badly right now: A distraction from the consequences of his disastrous policies going forward, and some good economic news — even if it’s entirely artificial in nature — to cover up those consequences in retrospect. His decision to order an unjustified and unprovoked June 22 attack on Iranian nuclear facilities answered that first need, at least for a moment. Will he try to leverage the matter in pursuit of the second need as well?” (06/24/25)
Source: Kent’s “Hooligan Libertarian” Blog
by Kent McManigal
“Statists will tell you people have to be governed. That people will demand to be governed. That without being governed they’ll … well, they’ll do exactly the same things they do while being governed by politicians — flawed people who do the same things the people they govern do. But who generally write rules that pretend that when they do it, it’s not bad because they have ‘authority.’ They’re insisting that not being gullible and handing your power to political criminals is ‘Utopian.’ It’s Utopian to pretend this isn’t crazy.” (06/24/25)
“The ’emergency’ on which the president claimed tariff powers from Congress is flimsy. Not only is it not an emergency, it’s not a problem.” (06/24/25)
