“The ‘school choice’ movement in the US supports tax-funded ‘vouchers,’ targeted tax credits, and ‘charter’ schools, on the theory that giving parents more options on where, how, and by whom their children are taught isn’t just a good thing, but a thing that government ought to be, and can legitimately be, involved in. Unfortunately, the real effect of that kind of ‘school choice’ is to turn all the available options into carbon copies of the ‘public’ school system it supposedly helps parents and students escape.” (08/02/26)
“Stasis is a state in which opposing forces balance so precisely that nothing moves. It is a useful word because it names something real, and something increasingly common in political and social argument. There are people, and indeed whole movements, who want the world to stop where it is now, as though the present moment were a plateau to be defended rather than a point passed through on the way to somewhere else. This yearning deserves examination, because it is often mistaken for Conservatism, and the mistake matters.” (07/31/26)
“The administration has declared that countries ranging from Cambodia and China to Norway, Japan and Australia have failed to keep products made with forced labor out of their markets, and that this failure burdens American commerce. The charge is so obviously spurious and sweeping (Sweden is as bad as Cambodia?) that it gives away the game. It was almost certainly devised because the White House needed a legal pretext to subvert the spirit of the Supreme Court ruling against Trump. This is more than ordinary political spin. The president appears to be ordering the United States government to formally certify as fact something it knows is not true. Agencies must publish findings, construct legal arguments and affix the authority of the American state to a falsehood manufactured for the apparent purpose of evading the nation’s highest court.” (07/31/26)
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey
“The federal government is spending $7 trillion, yet only collects $5 trillion. This $2 trillion annual deficit destroys the purchasing power of every dollar in your bank account. What is even clearer is that Washington politicians know no other way to get your vote than to buy it through reckless spending. This constant theft of your wealth is a major frustration of mine, and sadly, most Americans are too busy to take the time to understand the destructive effect on our nation’s future.” (08/02/26)
“For years, former President Joe Biden has fought to prevent the release of tapes acquired by former special counsel Robert Hur in his investigation. After those efforts collapsed this month, it became clear why Biden and his aides were so determined to keep the public from seeing the evidence. In addition to showing Biden’s mental diminution even before he was elected president, the tapes show that Biden effectively confessed to the crimes Hur would later excuse on the grounds of his mental infirmity.” (08/01/26)
“In the 104 years that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has stood on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the event it is most closely associated with is the 1963 ‘I Have a Dream’, speech by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. But today, far from a symbol of national unity, this body of water has created a wave of anger and discontent. On Friday, United States Attorney for the District of Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro did the right thing and dropped charges against David Hearn, a former Olympic athlete who had been facing 10 years in jail for allegedly defacing the monument. Hearn was accused of pulling up pieces of the new sealant installed this year during President Donald Trump’s renovation of the pool. He claims he was just curious about the preexisting damage he saw. It may have been as annoying as chipping away at dried paint, but it wasn’t a felony.” (08/01/26)
“In The Father We Never Had: Artificial Intelligence Before and After, Cristian Daniel Bolocan lays out a deeply unsettling roadmap for the future of human governance. He describes a highly automated, frictionless ‘gilded cage’ where humanity willingly trades its autonomy and intellectual capacity for the supreme safety, stability, and material comfort provided by a centralized network of collaborated artificial intelligences. … Is Bolocan’s destination dystopian, or merely uncomfortable to contemplate?” (08/01/26)
“Obviously, free-market/free-enterprise anarchists (like us at TPOL) believe we have come up with the answer to Von Mises’ ‘main political problem.’ Get rid of mandatory human government! Now, we understand that such a statement is considered ‘extremist’ and not viewed as either feasible or desirable by the general public. And certainly not by those in power. So we are condemned when we act to provide that situation, in word or deed. And that is the point of the question: when we resist human government and human governors (political rulers) are we acting in self-defense, or are we taking aggressive action against them, and those who support them? Is it extreme to take action against the system?” (08/01/26)
“Few issues matter more to the future of societies than how we fund the systems we all depend on. Yet tax remains one of the most misunderstood and poorly communicated public issues of our time. For many people, taxation is associated with complexity, bureaucracy, and cost. Public debate often centers on what individuals or businesses are required to give up, rather than what those contributions make possible. That is the problem. Tax’s biggest challenge isn’t policy. It’s a narrative challenge that every society faces, whether in the United States, Argentina, Botswana, Thailand, or anywhere in between. Too often, tax is framed as a burden instead of a form of shared investment.” [editor’s note: I think I’ll just stick with “theft” – SAT] (08/01/26)
“Members of the Los Angeles City Council would like a word or two — to ban. Last July, the council adopted a motion to prohibit two terms — a racial epithet and a slur against women — during the legally required public comment periods of their meetings. … you may loathe the words in question and never use them yourself. You may share the council’s desire to make public comment more civil and appropriate. You may believe Harris-Dawson and the other council members’ hearts are in the right place. But make no mistake: The council is effectively claiming the authority to ban any words it decides are inappropriate or offensive in the future.” (08/01/26)
