Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Dr. Theodore N (Ted) Pauls
“Flourishing individualism is a philosophical vision that places the rational, morally responsible individual at the center of ethics, politics, and human life. It is an ideal that affirms the dignity of the person, the objectivity of value, and the necessity of freedom — not merely as a constraint on power, but as the essential condition for human excellence.” (06/23/25)
“As of Thursday evening, the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) is no longer as big, and it never was all that beautiful. But the biggest decision, worth $3.76 trillion, could come as soon as today. The estimate of the Senate Finance Committee’s tax provisions reflect a cost of $441 billion over ten years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation’s estimate over the weekend. How, you might ask, could the Finance Committee have extended all the Trump tax cuts, expanded some of them, added a bunch of other new tax cuts, made some temporary business tax cuts permanent, and still only cost $441 billion? The trims to clean-energy tax credits and other rollbacks, you would presume, weren’t SO costly that they would nearly wipe out all of the costs! The answer, friends, is a big gimmick known as the current policy baseline.” (06/24/25)
“The U.S. launched an unprovoked, illegal attack on Iran on Saturday. The president had no authority to order this attack, and in ordering this act of criminal aggression against another country he has violated both the Constitution and the UN Charter. Trump followed through on his insane threat to bomb a country whose government had been trying to negotiate a reasonable compromise on the nuclear issue. Whatever else happens, Trump’s decision to attack will live in infamy. … The region is now much worse off than it was just a few weeks ago, and that is entirely the fault of the U.S. and Israeli governments. U.S. interests have been damaged, and the only question is how bad the damage will be. As if that weren’t bad enough, the president has done all this to benefit a reckless client state at the same time that it commits a genocide in Gaza.” (06/23/25)
“Expectations for a restrained foreign policy by a Trump administration were naïve. We now have strong evidence. Even before President Donald Trump ordered B-2 bombers to attack Iran’s nuclear sites and plunge the United States into another Middle East war, it should have been apparent that he has never been committed to a foreign policy of realism and restraint.” (06/23/25)
“On March 20, 200[3], President George W. Bush began the bombing campaign in Iraq, justifying the attack with manipulated and bogus intelligence. Twenty-three years later, history is repeating itself. The clear judgment of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) is that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and its leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has not authorized a nuclear weapons program. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the nation’s top intelligence official, said so publicly …. Now, to justify the bombing of several sites in Iran, top members of the Trump administration claim Iran is actively pursuing a nuclear weapon.” (06/23/25)
Source: SFGate
by Bassem Mrout & Stephanie Liechtenstein
“With the United States joining Israel in its attacks on Iran’s nuclear program, here is what we know about the radiation threat, and other health risks. Iran enriches uranium at two key sites, Natanz and Fordo. President Donald Trump said U.S. forces struck both sites, along with a third site, Isfahan, early Sunday, and Iran confirmed the strikes. The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a statement after the strikes that it ‘can confirm that no increase in off-site radiation levels has been reported as of this time.’ … The Islamic Republic’s leaders say their nuclear program is for the peaceful purpose of harnessing atomic energy. But highly enriched uranium — which is radioactive — is used in the manufacture of atomic weapons, and Israel is determined to prevent Iran from having them.” (06/23/25)
