Source: Aaron Ross Powell
by Aaron Ross Powell
“Political persuasion versus the urge to political domination.” (07/01/25)
https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/p/if-you-want-to-win-political-arguments-stop-being-an-asshole-5725
Source: Sky News
“Hamas says it is open to a ceasefire agreement with Israel but stopped short of accepting Donald Trump’s 60-day proposal. The Associated Press news agency reports that Hamas official Taher al Nunu said the militant group was ‘ready and serious regarding reaching an agreement.’ He said Hamas was ‘ready to accept any initiative that clearly leads to the complete end to the war.’ A Hamas delegation is expected to meet with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo today to discuss the proposal, according to an Egyptian official.” (07/02/25)
Source: Reason
by Katherine Mangu-Ward
“Why should a student on a J-1 visa be treated differently from a coder on an H-1B, or a tourist on a B-2, or a man fleeing violence with no papers at all? These distinctions are as artificial as the lines on a map. Yet they are enforced with a level of fervor otherwise reserved for violent crime. As this issue went to press, total bans on travel from 12 countries and heavy restrictions on seven more were abruptly announced. The result is predictable: lost potential, ruined plans, stranded lovers, wasted talent. Restrictions on the free movement of people are not just economic blunders (though they are that too); they are acts of cultural vandalism and personal cruelty. This obsession with control bleeds back into travel itself. You can feel it at the airport, in the endless security lines and biometric scans.” (for publication 08/25)
Source: The Hill
“Niall Stanage and Amber Duke discuss the reigniting tensions between Elon Musk and President Trump after Musk fiercely spoke against the ‘big, beautiful bill.'” (07/01/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5378629-rising-july-1-2025/
Source: Associated Press
“Senate Republicans hauled President Donald Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill to passage Tuesday by the narrowest of margins, pushing past opposition from Democrats and their own GOP ranks after a turbulent overnight session. The outcome capped an unusually tense weekend of work [sic] at the Capitol, the president’s signature legislative priority teetering on the edge of approval or collapse. In the end that tally was 50-50, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. Three Republican senators — Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky — joined all Democrats in voting against it. … The package now goes back to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana had warned senators not to overhaul what his chamber had already approved. But the Senate did make changes, particularly to Medicaid, risking more problems ahead.” (07/01/25)
https://apnews.com/article/congress-tax-cuts-trump-big-bill-bf3f94471b13db3e5d50f0cd1f8fe793
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“We’re going to set up a system. We’re going to make you pay for that system. We’re going to force you to put your kids into that system unless you can ALSO afford to pay for an alternative system. But then we’re going to allow a heckler’s veto on anything in that system that anyone with the money and friends to get a case before the Supreme Court may happen to dislike. Because the thing they dislike, THAT’s the problem. No, the system is the problem. The right to direct the upbringing of one’s children entails the obligation to bear the costs of bringing up one’s children. The system itself violates parents’ rights to direct the upbringing of their children AND forces them to bear the costs of that violation, making them less able to afford the costs of whatever upbringing they might prefer.” (07/01/25)
Source: Bloomberg
“The Trump administration is halting the transfer of artillery rounds and air defenses to Ukraine, depriving the country of much-needed weapons as it endures stepped-up missile and drone attacks from Russia. The White House confirmed a Politico report on the stoppage, which said the move came after a review of US munitions stockpiles and amid concerns they had fallen too low. The move was spearheaded by Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, Politico said. Colby has long argued that the US is overextended abroad militarily, and has joined Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in repeatedly saying that European allies should assume greater responsibility for the continent’s security, including the defense of Ukraine. … Among the weapons that are being paused are 155mm artillery shells, Stinger shoulder-fired missiles, Patriots and Hellfire missiles, PBS Newshour’s Nick Schiffrin reported.” (07/01/25)
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard
“On Friday, the Supreme Court clobbered perhaps America’s most aggressive and intolerant LGBTQ+ school indoctrination program. By a vote of 6 to 3 in the case of Mahmoud v.Taylor, the court upheld parents’ right to exempt their children from biased sex and gender lessons that violated their religious values. The court’s ruling is a bitter reminder that public education is the most expensive ‘gift’ that most Americans will ever receive. … The Supreme Court made the right call in upholding parents’ right to opt-out their kids. But how did government schools ever become so arrogant as to claim a right to determine what each child thought about personal, moral, and religious issues? The power of government schools remains a dire threat to parents, children, and to the future of liberty.” [editor’s note: SCOTUS didn’t strike a blow against indoctrination; it just weighed in on the PARTICULAR CONTENT of that indoctrination. Only separation of school and state accomplishes the former – TLK] (06/30/25)
Source: TradingView
“Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, has scored the highest quarterly close ever of $107,149 on the Bitstamp exchange. The BTC price was up by nearly 30% in the second quarter of the year after declining by 11.6% during the first quarter. … Last month, Bitcoin was up by a relatively modest 2.4%. This marked the third consecutive month in the green for the leading cryptocurrency. It added 14.11% and 11.11% in April and May, respectively. In May, Bitcoin reached its current all-time high of $112,000.” (07/01/25)
Source: The Hill
by Merrill Matthews
“President Trump’s economists, and sometimes Trump himself, often remind me of the late TV celebrity Art Linkletter, who used to have a segment on his television variety show called ‘Kids Say the Darndest Things.’ Linkletter would ask children questions, and some of their responses were inadvertently hilarious, which shocked Linkletter and made his audience laugh. That’s increasingly what we’re seeing from some of Trump’s economists when they try to defend the president’s tariff and trade policies. Take, for example, Stephen Miran, the head of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers. The Harvard-trained economist recently tried to explain to Politico reporter Victoria Guida why the president’s tariff policies could result in little or no price increases for U.S. consumers and businesses.” (07/01/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5378198-trump-tariffs-economists-defense/