“Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke wrote in 1977: ‘The impact of telecommunications satellites on the entire human race will be at least the same impact as the advent of the telephone in so-called developed societies.’ Today, that prediction has long been reality. Few people realize how deeply daily life already depends on space infrastructure. If all satellites suddenly failed, navigation systems would collapse. Smartphones and vehicles could no longer determine location accurately. Weather forecasts would become unavailable. Airports would descend into chaos without GPS-based time and positioning data. Traffic signals would desynchronize, leading to chaos on the roads. Supply chains that depend on satellite-supported logistics would disintegrate. Even financial transactions would grind to a halt, as precise time signals via satellites are vital for synchronizing debits and credits.” (06/27/26)
“Yes, yes, we know, paying tax is the price of partaking in civilisation. But that’s still a price, a cost. We think that people should see, up close and personal, the cost of that civilisation being built on their money. We are therefore against this: ‘Income tax will be automatically deducted from state pensions for millions of retirees under plans being considered by Labour, The Telegraph understands.’ Not because the state pension should, or should not, be taxed. But because this is easy taxation. Some to many will not really even note it. Tax should be painful so that proper consideration be given to how much is being demanded.” (06/27/26)
“‘You’re next!’ This chant, at the victory celebration of the Democratic Socialists this week, was a message not for the oligarchs or the billionaires, but for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and the Democratic establishment. They were threatening that Jeffries would be the next to lose his House seat to a socialist candidate. It was a scene that has recurred throughout history, as establishment leaders are overtaken by the very mobs they sought to use for their own purposes.” (06/27/26)
“Now that the United States and Iran have signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding ending their war (at least for now) the general public and pundits have been weighing in on who won. A CBS-YouGov survey released Sunday found that 37% of Americans think the memorandum of understanding (MOU) favors Iran, while 22% believe the United States got the better deal. Nearly half (47%) say both sides broke even. Newsweek, meanwhile, queried 10 military experts ranging from a former US Navy admiral and a former Pentagon official to five think tank scholars and two professors of international relations. Seven said Iran won the war. Two said ‘no one’. Only one thought the United States came out on top, but added, ‘Neither side will gain a complete victory.'” (06/27/26)
“Most, if not all, libertarians know the parable of the wolves and the sheep: what Hawai’i did was that very thing: supposedly, a majority of Hawaiians don’t want to be around guns. And therefore, elected a majority of conscript parents (senators) and people’s representatives that also don’t like to have guns around, either. In a democracy, anything is theoretically possible if a majority votes for it. Even if that majority, for example, consists of 5,000,001 out of 10,000,000 voters. (And since there are no quorums for voting, and so many people either don’t vote or have their votes ignored, that ten million voters would be ‘served democratically’ if only 10% of the voters turned out and the vote was 500,001 to 499,999.) The wolves (well, voters) get to enjoy their choice: veal Parmasan or veal stew, but the sheep are dead and eaten regardless.” (06/27/26)
“Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman has lost his re-election bid in New York. In the olden days (20 years ago), such an outcome was inconceivable. In the modern Democrat Party, however, the rush to socialism knows no loyalty. No matter what yesterday’s socialist or big government proponent did for the cause, that is not good enough for the current socialists, let alone tomorrow’s. In history, the run-up to class warfare/high tax/redistributionist policies we associate with socialism becomes a spiraling rush. Examples include the end of the Roman Republic and the end of the ancient Greek Athenian democracy. The same is true within the Democrat Party today. James Carville recently said the Democrat Party is ‘not a left-wing party.’ Contrary to his spin, however, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have the momentum within the Democrat Party.” (06/27/26)
Source: Washington Monthly
by Orville Vernon Burton & Armand Derfner
“The president’s challenge to birthright citizenship is more than unconstitutional, as the Supreme Court will probably hold—it’s crazy. Why? Because it would affect not just children born in the future—as it claims—but would threaten the citizenship of every living, native-born American, whether aged 25, 50, or 75. It would also mean that a U.S. birth certificate would be inadequate to prove American citizenship, thereby becoming almost useless. How can this be? It is all about two words: ‘prospective’ and ‘retrospective.’ The executive order may be ‘prospective,’ but the Constitution of the United States is not.” (06/26/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“They’re designing park benches / so that homeless people can’t sleep on them / and placing metal spikes beneath overpasses / so they can’t be used as shelter. / Jerry Seinfeld says Palestine doesn’t exist / and that sometimes socks go missing in the dryer, / wocka wocka ha ha ha / it’s funny because it’s a witty observation / about life’s everyday little goofy goofs. / Fast food wrappers blow in the wind / like the leaves used to do. / Duct-taped gargoyles with garbage bag wings / peer down at the din of civilization / as we march over the sidewalk sleepers / to our Jobs, / stepping over dead bodies / while staring at our phones / and counting the minutes / til we can go home to our sofas / and watch wocka wocka …” (06/27/26)
“So much about the technology has been draped in doomsday scenarios and Terminator movies. It’s hard sometimes to separate the impossible from the improbable. Even more difficult if you can’t tell if the technology is meant for the good of all or just aiming to be good for someone’s bottom line. Maybe, unlike in the ‘marihuana’ prohibition era, the scary warnings are valid. But now just as then, we need to separate fact from myth before setting policy.” (06/26/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Nasiyah Isra-Ul
“People often ask me how I got so involved in writing and public speaking. I’ve been a passionate writer for most of my life, starting to journal, write short stories, and willingly craft essays in my homeschool program outside of what was required in the curriculum by age 11. By the time I was a teenager, I was writing curriculum, developing language arts training for students, and starting a blog. I was also eventually writing for college, as one of the youngest in my classes, and my professors always said they loved reading my papers first because they were ‘always so engaging and well-written.’ Now, in my early twenties, I’ve written graduate-level papers, gotten published in a variety of news outlets, blog frequently, authored multiple books, and often write for the Lab. This didn’t happen overnight. It took years of encouragement, learning, and lots of peer mentorship to get to this point.” (06/26/26)
