“Recent democratic socialist victories in New York are a harbinger. Like an invasive species sent from the unproductive activist class, they have infiltrated politics at the highest levels of government. As if the creatures who have been ruling us weren’t bad enough, a fifty-year period of permitting socialist activists to take comfort in the academy is now yielding poisonous fruit. And as we celebrate the 250th birthday of America, the democratic socialists openly wipe their asses with America’s founding documents. That is, until election season, when the wolves don sheep’s clothing.” [editor’s note: The difference between a “democratic socialist” and a “mainstream American politician circa 2026” is that the former openly admit they’re socialists – TLK] (06/29/26)
“The opening weekend of the Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C., was, to put it simply, miserable. It was extremely muggy, with rain pouring down seemingly every hour. A child rolled around in the grass, crying and screaming, ‘I. WANT. TO. GO. HOME!!!’ Creed’s ‘Higher’ blared over the loudspeakers, and a sparse crowd milled about the various exhibitions. The bare-bones setup (flimsy, fake two-dimensional columns that looked like something Wile E. Coyote would run into while chasing the Road Runner) left much to be desired, as America’s 250th anniversary was celebrated with kitsch and ennui rather than grandeur and appreciation. More than anything, the event lacked energy—and people. There wasn’t any line or wait to get in. The vibe was more conference-like than celebratory, and the state exhibits varied wildly in effort and presentation.” (06/29/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith
“Ideologically, Americans went from Blackstone, to Coke, to Otis, to Paine, to the Declaration, to winning the war for independence (the latter two with Paine’s help). The undoing of this unprecedented victory for human liberty began in 1786 with the exploitation of a government-caused revolt called Shay’s Rebellion. Liberty has taken the hit ever since.” (06/29/26)
“Trump acted as though voters chose him in 2024 because they loved everything about him, rather than because they hated inflation. Since winning, he has taken a few steps that place upward pressure on prices — warring with Iran, imposing tariffs, trying to push interest rates down by intimidating the Federal Reserve — and done little to foster the impression that he cares about the public’s top concern. In Trump’s popularity decline, we are also seeing the interaction of our constitutional system and a president who is neither interested in nor adept at working through it. A determined president can make the Justice Department issue frivolous indictments. He can’t make the courts respect them.” (06/29/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Israel is still pushing for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. They keep trying different angles and rebranding it under different names, but the end goal has remained the same since October 2023: the removal of all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. From the early months of the Gaza holocaust, Israel apologists had been referring to the ethnic cleansing agenda as a plan for the ‘voluntary migration’ of Gaza’s inhabitants. This framing conveniently ignored the fact that you cannot destroy a populated area and deliberately make it uninhabitable and then say the inhabitants of that area are leaving ‘voluntarily’. According to a Haaretz report that was published last week, Israel’s new National Security Council chief convened a meeting of top national security officials to discuss the issue of ‘encouraging the voluntary emigration’ of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.” (06/29/26)
“There are good reasons for liberal pessimism. Every liberal knows the sad arc of world history since 1992, the sudden vertiginous rise of liberal hopes, the long, bumpy descent into the grim present and its populism. There are, however, older and deeper reasons for liberal pessimism which are less evident. Liberals have been far too optimistic for far too long, leaving them ripe for disappointment. In particular, they have been too optimistic about the political fruits of education and the political consequences of a growing middle class. Properly understood, however, a more pessimistic view of the world might be grounds for optimism.” (06/29/26)
“A couple of weeks ago, at the dedication ceremony for his presidential library, Barack Obama made a speech in which he addressed the Founding Fathers. ‘In forming our union,’ he said, ‘the founders fell terribly short of the Declaration’s promise, leaving slavery intact, allowing states to restrict the franchise to white men who owned property.’ Fortunately for us, however, ‘in drafting a Constitution and a Bill of Rights, they did have the foresight, the genius, to provide us with a framework that allows each generation to make our union more perfect.’ Needless to say, not everyone was thrilled with Obama’s comments. Conservatives on Twitter/X thought he had insulted or taken a ‘swipe’ at the Founders. Fox News said that he had ‘knocked’ them, noting the supposed irony of the statement coming ‘just days before America celebrates its 250th anniversary on the 4th of July.'” (06/29/26)
“Ironically, a good explanation of why fiat currency is the enemy of liberty and gold is the friend of liberty is provided in ‘Gold and Economic Freedom’ written by none other than Alan Greenspan and published in Ayn Rand’s The Objectivist newsletter in 1966. In that essay Greenspan wrote ‘Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the ‘hidden’ confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights.’ Those seeking the path to prosperity and liberty should embrace the wisdom Greenspan showed before he became the fiat money maestro.” (06/29/26)
Source: Common Dreams
by Supriya Lopez Pillai & Nwamaka Agbo
“Governance is how we hold power responsibly and equitably. Government is just one way we organize it—and what is abundantly clear is that good governance is not always done by a government. Since congressional Republicans passed the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’, 3.5 million people have lost benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). That includes more than 800,000 children who are now at risk of going hungry. It is just one of many ways in which the current administration has either actively harmed or abdicated responsibility for families and communities. This is a precarious moment, but it is not a moment for despair. In communities long abandoned by the public sector, mutual aid networks have emerged as models of resilience that show how people can govern effectively when love and care, rather than hate and scarcity, are placed at the center of how community members care for each other.” (06/29/26)
“November’s General Election being a mere formality in the Big Apple, the trio will undoubtedly be joining the next Congress. All three — State Assemblywoman Claire Valdez (NY-7), former City Comptroller Brad Lander (NY-10), and professional ‘left-wing activist’ Darializa Avila Chevalier (NY-13) — were endorsed and assisted by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. They’ll be just three out of 435 members of Congress, while the mayor is in a position to do more harm. Still, sprinkling a few Stalinists into Washington’s brew won’t help. Darializa Avila Chevalier worries me the most. Before launching her political campaign, CNN reports that she deleted ‘thousands of posts and reposts expressing support for abolishing police, prisons and borders, as well as seizing private property and nationalizing major industries and calling into question Israel’s right to exist.'” (06/29/26)
