Source: Quillette
“Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay talks to Heterodox Academy scholar Nafees Alam about the need to challenge political orthodoxies in the field of social work.” (07/07/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/07/07/podcast-292-social-work-without-stereotypes/
Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Dr Edward W Younkins
“In Total Freedom, Chris Matthew Sciabarra offers a provocative, scholarly, and original work in social theory for the analysis of society and human liberty. The author aims to reclaim the dialectical method, the art of context keeping, in the name of liberty and from the authoritarian left in order to make it the foundation for a radical (i.e., one that goes to the root) defense of libertarianism. Sciabarra is convinced that a successful libertarian project must stress the necessity of context – the totality of systemic and dynamic connections among social problems. More specifically, the libertarian ideal cannot be isolated from the context upon which it depends and freedom cannot be defended successfully when separated from its broader requisite conditions.” (07/07/25)
https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2025/07/how-can-dialectics-help-us-to-defend.html
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“More than 200 children are being treated in hospital with lead poisoning in north-west China after school chefs used inedible paint to decorate their food. Eight people have been arrested after tests showed the food samples from a kindergarten in Tianshui City in Gansu province had lead levels that were 2,000 times over the national safety limit. In total, 233 children from Peixin Kindergarten had high levels of lead in their blood after eating steamed red date cake and sausage corn bun. The school principal asked the kitchen staff to buy the paint online, according to a police statement. But after the children fell ill, officers had to search for the supplies which had been hidden. The paint was clearly marked as inedible, the statement said. One parent told the BBC that he was worried about the long-term effects of lead poisoning on his son’s liver and digestive system.” (07/08/25)
Source: Washington Post
by Jim Geraghty
“Since 2003, more than half of the country — 56 percent on average — has agreed that the United States needs a third major political party, according to a Gallup poll in October. Americans say they want options beyond Democrat or Republican, but when presented with those options in the form of, say, the Green Party or the Libertarian Party, they shrug and pick either the Democrat or the Republican. In the 2024 presidential election, 98.2 percent of all votes were cast for either Trump or Kamala Harris. Four years earlier, 98.2 percent of votes were for Trump or Joe Biden. In 2016, 94.4 percent of votes were for Trump or Hillary Clinton. … Americans keep saying they want another option, but they don’t vote like it. That’s a pretty important detail if you want to influence government policies.” (07/07/25)
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“President Trump’s self-imposed 90-day pause before he raises ‘reciprocal’ tariffs through the roof expires on Wednesday, July 9. Only most of it may not expire at all. On Monday, Trump sent letters to a dozen countries like Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, South Africa and others, following through on a threat of imposing unilateral tariff rates … but only if no progress is made by August 1. In the meantime, Trump and his negotiators are working with major countries for various concessions in exchange for more moderate tariff hikes. For instance, Trump threatened Canada with higher tariffs, unless Canada rescinded its Digital Services Tax on Big Tech companies. On June 29, Canada caved. This was both Trump’s favor to the Big Tech platforms and an IOU he can call in.” (07/08/25)
https://prospect.org/economy/2025-07-08-magas-gift-to-china-trump-tariffs/
Source: CNN World
“At least 11 people died and more than 500 were arrested in anti-government protests across Kenya on Monday, according to the country’s National Police Service. Kenyan police used tear gas and water cannon on protesters marking the 35th anniversary of a pro-democracy rally that has stirred anti-government resentment among Kenyan youths, who were already enraged over allegations of corruption, police brutality and abductions of government critics. Some 11 civilians were injured, police said in a Monday night statement, though the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNHCR) reported that 29 people were injured. A total of 567 people were arrested, the police added.” (07/08/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/07/africa/kenya-police-prodemocracy-protests-intl
Source: System Update
“Trump DOJ: There’s Nothing to the Epstein Story; State Dept: Syria’s Al-Qaeda are No Longer ‘Terrorists;’ Trump & Lula Exchange Barbs Over Brazil.” (07/07/25)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Lika Kobeshavidze
“When millions of Americans lost their homes in the 2008 financial crash, not a single top Wall Street executive went to jail. When the World Health Organization and national governments gave conflicting advice during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people stopped listening altogether. And when mainstream news outlets increasingly framed events along partisan lines, viewers turned away in droves. These aren’t abstract failures. They are the lived reality that shaped a generation. So when Millennials and Gen Z say they trust influencers more than institutions, they are not rejecting truth. They are responding to betrayal.” (07/07/25)
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Donald Trump said on Monday that the US would resume shipments of ‘defensive weapons, primarily’ to Ukraine in a reversal of an only days-old decision to withhold their supply. Answering a reporter’s question at the White House, the US president said: ‘We’re going to send some more weapons. We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now.’ The Pentagon under Pete Hegseth last week halted already funded and promised arms shipments to Ukraine, with the defence secretary and Trump administration officials giving varying reasons – ranging from a seriously questioned claim by Hegseth of low weapons stocks, to the pause being part of a standard review of defence capabilities.” (07/08/25)
Source: Expression
by Bob Corn-Revere
“Paramount Global’s decision to pay $16 million to end President Donald Trump’s lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris was a ‘win for the American people,’ according to Trump’s lawyers. And it happened because ‘CBS and Paramount Global realized the strength of this historic case and had no choice but to settle.’ Well, not quite. The case is ‘historic’ for sure, but not in a good way or because the advocates came up with profound theories of media law. Quite to the contrary: The case is so baseless, so devoid of factual or legal support, and so diametrically opposed to basic First Amendment principles it is hard to imagine how those who filed it sleep at night. … The reason for the settlement is obvious. Paramount, the corporate parent of the CBS television network, had a gun to its head.” (07/07/25)