“Short version: no. … US Treasury interest rates are set in the market, not by the Federal Reserve. Like most prices (and an interest rate is a price), the rate emerges from the intersection of supply and demand. The rate is not set by the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve tries to influence rates through its monetary policy, but it does not set rates. If the Federal Reserve lowers its rates but the fundamental supply and demand in the marketplace does not change, neither will Treasury rates. It’d be like pushing on a rope: no matter how much you push, it’ll just coil in on itself.” (08/26/25)
Source: The American Conservative
by Eldar Mamedov
“The Trump administration’s deployment of more than 4,000 sailors and Marines to the southern Caribbean — reportedly to combat drug cartels — marks a dangerous escalation in its policy toward Venezuela. While President Donald Trump is right to identify transnational criminal networks as a threat to the health and safety of the American people, this militarized approach ignores strategic realities, contradicts intelligence assessments, and risks repeating the errors of past interventionist failures.” (08/26/25)
“Throughout the summer, Republican candidates and campaigns have repeatedly tried to link Democrats to decisions made and opinions aired by liberals [sic] who are nowhere near elected office. It’s all about capitalizing on the nervousness inside a party that’s increasingly concerned about being viewed by voters as over-educated culture police. For instance: No Democrat with any power criticized American Eagle for a jeans ad starring the blonde actress Sydney Sweeney, which made a pun about her genes. None endorsed a re-brand by Cracker Barrel, a restaurant chain that hired a new CEO after its stock plunged in 2023. (The Democratic National Committee’s X account, reacting to anger at the re-brand, posted that it ‘sucks.’) Yet Republicans all the way up to President Donald Trump mocked liberal [sic] posters and pundits who were offended by the Sweeney ad. The GOP also blamed left-wing culture for Cracker Barrel’s bland makeover.” (08/25/25)
Source: New York Post
by Richard Goldberg & John Hardie
“President Donald Trump wants to stop the killing in Ukraine, but Russia’s foot-dragging is making it abundantly clear that he’ll need to apply far more pressure before any serious negotiations can begin. To do so, Trump will have to squeeze Russia’s primary source of income, its oil revenues — without upending the global energy market in the process. In an interview that aired Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected US-backed security guarantees for Ukraine and balked at Trump’s push for direct talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Putin insists that Ukrainian forces withdraw from the Kyiv-controlled parts of the country’s eastern Donbas region — an idea Ukraine has rightly dismissed as a non-starter — and demands a host of other concessions aimed at making what’s left of Ukraine a vassal state.” (08/25/25)
“Punishing flag burning is misguided for reasons that extend beyond case law. The act is dramatic but non‑violent; conflating a symbolic gesture with violence collapses the distinction between protest and harm. The flag represents the ideals of liberty and equality; compelling people to revere it under threat of imprisonment turns patriotism into a coerced ritual and trivializes the flag’s meaning. History shows that suppressing dissent galvanizes opposition. Efforts to ban flag desecration during the Vietnam era, the civil‑rights movement, and the leadup to the Iraq war did not quash those protests; they underscored the protesters’ point that the government cares more about symbols than about justice.” (08/25/25)
“Almost 25% of government schools nationwide are now surveilling the mental health of students. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker recently signed a bill to bring ‘universal mental health screening’ to two million Illinois students as part of his Children’s Behavioral Health Transformation Initiative. But this rescue effort will ravage many students and is a warning shot to parents across the nation. Manhattan Institute fellow Abigail Shrier warned that the new Illinois law will mean ‘tens of thousands of Illinois kids get shoved into the mental health funnel and convinced they are sick. Many or most will be false positives.’ Many young people are left worse off thanks to schools’ mental health interventions.” (08/25/25)
“Across the political spectrum, there is growing recognition that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can be a force for good by expanding economic freedom and challenging entrenched systems. But conversations around central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, have not made the same progress. Efforts to slow or block the creation of a CBDC have received little support among congressional Democrats — even though the risks involved strike at the heart of core progressive values. Indeed, for a movement that has consistently fought against surveillance, discrimination, and the abuse of government power, CBDCs should raise especially sharp concerns.” [editor’s note: Wait, what? Democrats and “progressives” have always been huge boosters of surveillance, discrimination, and government power (which is inherently “abusive”)! – TLK] (08/25/25)
“Last night, in a letter posted to social media, President Trump tried to deliver on his threat to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook on trumped-up charges of mortgage fraud. Except that Trump doesn’t have the authority to fire a sitting governor with a term appointment, and Cook made clear that she is not going anywhere. The Supreme Court, in Trump v. Wilcox, recently indicated that it considers Fed appointees as sacrosanct, unlike other independent agencies where the Court held that a president can replace even term appointees. This is of course ludicrous: As Georgetown Law’s Josh Chafetz explains, the Roberts Court’s extreme effort to split the baby by claiming that Federal Reserve appointees hold some special status … is ‘transparent bullshit designed to simultaneously serve the conservative legal movement’s interest in deregulation via the ‘unitary executive’ and corporate interests in not crashing the economy.'” (08/26/25)
“‘The era of big government is over,’ Bill Clinton declared 29 years ago. Donald Trump never got the memo. In his second term, the president is embracing perhaps the most sweeping expansion of federal power since that of Franklin D. Roosevelt: bullying state governments, using military force if necessary; telling private institutions, including media corporations and universities, how to operate; extorting law firms into doing free work for the government; and, in the latest escalation, taking a stake in the tech firm Intel. … The debate in America is no longer about whether socialism can gain a foothold. It’s whether the socialism that dominates will be progressive or right-wing.” [editor’s note: It’s not just Intel — the US regime also has “stakes” in US Steel and other companies – TLK] (08/25/25)
“Mission-directed governance has emerged as a popular framework for tackling society’s most pressing challenges, from decarbonising the economy to achieving public health breakthroughs. Advocates like Mariana Mazzucato propose a proactive state that unifies society around ambitious missions, offering direction and stability in a world of uncertainty. Yet, while the vision appears transformative, its underlying logic conflicts with the pluralism and diversity that characterise democratic governance. Mission-directionality seeks singularity of purpose: a state-chosen mission that aligns social actors toward a shared goal. However, this focus inevitably curtails democratic processes, which thrive on debate and disagreement.” (08/25/25)
