The Pandemic Plan Needs to be Torn Up

Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jeffrey A Tucker

“The closest thing we have in this country to a pandemic plan is called the Pandemic Action Crisis Plan or PanCap. It remains the prevailing unclassified document. It posits stay-at-home orders, school closures, business shutdowns, office closures, travel restrictions, testing, track-and-trace, and the creation and distribution of countermeasures called vaccines. … This approach has no precedent in the long history of public health. The old way was to keep calm, understand the illness, treat those affected, and use rational approaches to mitigate the impacts. The new way invented in 2005 is about command and control, pretending to manage the microbial kingdom like an engineering project.” (06/24/26)

https://brownstone.org/articles/the-pandemic-plan-needs-to-be-torn-up/

Thomas L. Knapp

Starmer’s exit exposes dirty secret: UK can’t afford Ukraine War

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Ian Proud

“Sir Keir Starmer bowed to the inevitable Monday and resigned from leadership of the Labour Party and, therefore, from his role as prime minister. The resignation had been brewing for some time. While Starmer led the Labour Party to an astounding landslide election victory in July 2024, by September 2025, he was already being labeled the most unpopular prime minister since polling began; this followed a series of U-turns and poorly handled crises. After heavy losses of council seats in local elections in May, the Labour Party moved quickly to remove him. Former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is expected to become prime minister after an internal Labour Party leadership contest. (Labour maintains a majority in parliament, so it maintains the right to form a government.) Burnham will quickly find that he doesn’t have the money to fix public services, double defense spending, and continue to fund an unwinnable war in Ukraine.” (06/24/26)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/uk-burnham-starmer-ukraine/

Steve Trinward

Ex-aides win primaries to replace retiring Dem House members

Source: SFGate

“U.S. Reps. Steny Hoyer and Jerrold Nadler, two of the top Democrats in Congress, are retiring when their terms expire in January, but they will continue to make their imprints on Washington. The pair passed the torch Tuesday night to former aides who won the Democratic primaries to replace them on Capitol Hill, and because both districts are overwhelmingly blue, they are all but certain to win in November and get sworn in to replace their former bosses. Hoyer and Nadler are the latest lawmakers to successfully anoint their successors after spending decades in Congress. Among 68 members of Congress not seeking reelection this year, at least five have endorsed former staffers to replace them and more than a dozen others have, to varying degrees, worked to smooth the path to Capitol Hill for their favored replacements.” (06/24/26)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/ex-aides-win-primaries-to-replace-retiring-22318270.php

Steve Trinward

Callais Affects More Than Just Congress

Source: Liberal Currents
by Steve Kennedy

“Most attention surrounding Callais has focused on congressional maps, particularly in Louisiana and other Southern states where Black voters have successfully challenged racially discriminatory district lines since the passage of the VRA. But the decision will have effects up and down the ballot, including for races as consequential as for state supreme courts.” (06/24/26)

https://www.liberalcurrents.com/callais-affects-more-than-just-congress/

Thomas L. Knapp

Don’t blame algae for the Reflecting Pool mess

Source: Los Angeles Times
by David Helvarg

“The Reflecting Pool on the National Mall in Washington has turned pea green with algal growth — as shallow bodies of still water tend to do in summer when temperatures rise. President Trump’s $14-million no-bid ‘American flag blue’ paint job was never going to stop that. It may in fact have contributed, as being darker than the previous pool bottom it absorbs heat more readily.” (06/24/26)

https://archive.is/Yd6Zn

Thomas L. Knapp

YouTube settles with frivolous/vexatious litigant

Source: Engadget

“Following a similar lawsuit earlier this year, Google has settled with a minor known as ‘R.K.C.’ who claimed that social media platforms harmed them, Reuters reported. Terms of the settlement were confidential, the lawyers said yesterday. The same plaintiff also sued Meta, Snap and TikTok, with those trials set to proceed next month. YouTube has thousands of similar lawsuits pending, so this second case represents a test run for the many to follow. … More than 3,300 [frivolous/vexatious] lawsuits involving social media addiction [sic] are pending in California state courts, and another 2,600 were brought by people, school districts, municipalities and states in California federal court.” (06/24/26)

https://www.engadget.com/2200409/youtube-settles-early-test-case-over-social-media-harm-to-children/

Thomas L. Knapp