“The Democratic Socialists of America are proving an old principle of politics: You can win a lot of votes by promising ‘free stuff’ — and not worrying if you could possibly deliver. Analyst Adam Michel of the free-market Cato Institute just tallied up the DSA’s agenda, and guess what: ‘The entire wealth of the richest Americans, plus every dollar of corporate profit and maximum top income tax rates’ fails to pay for the socialist program. The DSA vows to provide universal health care (cost to the government: $29.9 trillion to $75.4 trillion over the next decade), slavery reparations ($13.5 trillion to $28 trillion), jobs guarantees ($4.4 trillion to $60.4 trillion), housing for all ($3.4 trillion to $16.6 trillion) and several other big-ticket goodies. The mind-blowing total: $71.2 trillion to $211.6 trillion, spiking federal spending to 57% of GDP on the low end, and 92% on the high end.” (09/01/26)
“Amid public discontent and warnings from Pentagon leaders that the Iran War undermines military readiness, President Donald Trump has settled on a new strategy: lower the temperature on military hostilities and focus instead on strangling Iran’s economy. Middle East experts told The American Conservative that this approach won’t fundamentally change Tehran’s own military strategy, at least not in ways congenial to American interests. Moreover, in practice it is leading to skirmishes centered around the Strait of Hormuz, where the U.S. aims to blockade Iranian ports while securing free transit for allied countries. Meanwhile, ordinary Iranians face dire threats to their livelihoods, as revealed by first-hand testimonies shared with TAC.” (09/02/26)
“Labeling the anger at Flock as a reaction to ever-present surveillance in contemporary society seems accurate, but this doesn’t explain why it’s happening right now. Not only has Flock been around for some time, but ALPRs are even older. My colleague Conor Friedersdorf was sounding the alarm a decade ago. ‘Your diminished privacy is their product. And the police are their customers,’ he wrote in January 2016. Some anger focuses on governments that spend huge amounts (including money obtained through opioid settlements whose funds were earmarked for community aid) on technology during a moment of economic worry. More damaging to Flock’s reputation has been a series of cases of police officers allegedly abusing their access to the system to stalk people, typically current or former love interests.” (09/01/26)
“Whenever a natural disaster occurs anywhere in the world that can be connected in some way with the alleged climate crisis, out come the professionals to make that connection. From the federally funded NPR, ‘A melting glacier contributed to the deadly Nepal floods. We can expect more like this.’ From CBC, ‘Scientists fear Nepal’s disaster is just a glimpse of the carnage climate change could cause.’ And from BBC, ‘Nepal calls for ‘global effort’ to address climate change after devastating flash floods.’ This is just a taste of the media consensus, backed by scientists whose careers and credibility are built on perpetuating the panic. But what exactly would constitute a ‘global effort’ to address climate change? And here again, business professionals and politicians step in, and the results are laughable.” (09/02/26)
“As we write this, it technically is not a hung jury, under Massachusetts judicial procedure, though the first report by the jury that they could not come to a unanimous decision, the judge could and did send them back to deliberate more. This apparently can be done twice before it is officially a ‘hung jury.'” (09/01/26)
“When Karla Padilla started her sentence at the federal correctional institution in Dublin, Calif., in 2023, a guard singled her out. Over the next 15 months, the guard strip-searched Padilla so frequently that anyone near her risked being searched too, and other inmates began keeping their distance whenever that guard was on shift. Most prisons across the country conduct strip searches under a federal policy that requires women officers to inspect incarcerated women. The officer instructs them to remove their clothes, shake their hair, open their mouths, lift their breasts or genital area and then bend, squat and cough. On one particularly cold day in November 2023, while Padilla was cleaning the chapel, the guard demanded that Padilla strip for a search in full view of four male guards stationed there.” (09/01/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Alex Tokarev & Noel Tokarev
“After 30 painful weeks of waiting, the NFL season is back. Once again, America gets three things it can count on: Sunday night football (pastors, avoid long sermons), Monday-morning quarterbacking, and politicians pretending to be experts in stadium economics. Chicago, Kansas City, and Buffalo offer three variations on the same old scam. Corporate fat cats who own professional sports teams demand multibillion-dollar facilities. With good friends in high places, the rich are conspiring to force the taxpayers to pick up the tab.” (09/01/26)
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Abigail R Hall & Patrik S Ward
“When Shively Police Officer Asad Zahir was arrested for improperly using Flock Safety’s Automated License Plate Reader, it added yet another data point to the growing list of state and local police abusing surveillance technologies. … Zahir is accused of carrying out more than 2,000 unauthorized searches to monitor and target his ex-girlfriend. More than 240 of these searches occurred while Zahir had an active order of protection against him. … The response of the Shively Police Department and other local officials is even more troubling. While discussing the arrest, officials were quick to frame Zahir’s arrest as a triumph of internal oversight and as the direct result of individual malfeasance. … Without a doubt, the individuals who abuse these technologies deserve blame and should be prosecuted. But the ‘few bad apples’ defense conveniently shifts public attention away from much deeper problems.” (09/01/26)
