Source: The Guardian [UK]
“The democratic socialist Melat Kiros unseated long-serving US representative Diana DeGette in Colorado’s primary elections held on Tuesday, the latest in a string of high-profile victories for the party’s insurgent left. The Associated Press reported that Kiros had defeated DeGette for the Democratic nomination in the deep-blue first congressional district centered on Denver. … Kiros made concerns about US support for Israel prominent in her campaign. In an interview with Colorado Public Radio (CPR), Kiros accused the country of carrying out a genocide in Gaza and called for the United States to impose an arms embargo.” (07/01/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/01/melat-kiros-democrat-defeats-diana-degette-blue-state-colarado-house-primary-denver
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Wendy McElroy
“The UN is often viewed as an ineffectual bureaucracy that occasionally does some good. It is nothing so benevolent. Its origins may have been well-meaning, but the current UN has become what it claims to oppose. The US should leave the UN altogether and immediately, especially since its unjust policies are likely to get worse … and soon.” (06/30/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-us-should-exit-the-un/
Source: CNN
“Ukraine said on Tuesday it hit one of Russia’s largest satellite communication centers for the second time in just over a week, as Kyiv ramps up long-range drone attacks to pressure the Kremlin to end its four-year-old war. The Dubna Satellite Communications Centre to the north of Moscow, some 500 km (310 miles) from the Ukrainian border, is used for intelligence gathering and the coordination of Russia’s armed forces fighting in Ukraine, President Volodymr Zelensky said. Russia hasn’t confirmed the Dubna communication center was struck, but the governor of the Moscow region Andrey Vorobyov said a drone had hit an ‘administrative building’ in the town with no reported casualties. Vorobyov also said a six-month-old baby died on Tuesday after a drone crashed into a home in Yegoryevsk, southeast of Moscow, trapping people under rubble.” (06/30/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/30/europe/moscow-dubna-attack-ukraine-intl
Source: The Daily Economy
by Kevin Lavery
“Bastiat’s Petition of the Candlemakers lays bare the absurdity of protectionism. Offering preferential treatment to less efficient domestic producers artificially raises prices, restricts consumer choice, and decreases exports. Tariffs harm consumers, workers, and exporters while failing to accomplish their stated goals: they fail to meaningfully shift the balance of trade or promote domestic industry and employment, and more generally harm everyone involved, including protected industries. Given these realities, it is no surprise that a negative opinion of tariffs has been a virtual consensus among economists for centuries — just ask Adam Smith …” (06/30/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/bastiat-was-right-tariffs-make-the-world-poorer/
Source: Fox News
“A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Virginia from enforcing a new law that would prohibit federal [gang members] — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol — from wearing masks while carrying out [harassment and abduction] operations, siding with the Trump administration in a dispute over federal authority. Senior U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne granted the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request for a preliminary injunction, preventing the law from taking effect Wednesday while the legal challenge proceeds. The injunction will remain in place while the case is litigated.” (06/30/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/federal-judge-blocks-blue-states-law-prohibiting-ice-agents-wearing-masks-job
Source: Cobden Centre
by Per Bylund
“Why would anyone invest large sums of capital into creating something new of uncertain income? This question captures the core of the argument for intellectual property, or the legal protection of inventors’ ideas from being copied and put to broader use. The simple logic appears intuitive and therefore persuasive, but does not stand up to scrutiny. Why? Because it applies to all entrepreneurship, which is always an investment in something of uncertain value. Yet this does not seem to stop entrepreneurs. Or, rather, it moderates which entrepreneurial projects are undertaken so that the craziest ideas are not pursued unless they are potentially very profitable.” (06/30/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/06/intellectual-property-versus-the-unrealized/
Source: New York Post
“Iran has not received any of the $6 billion in frozen assets the US pledged to dole out in exchange for progress made implementing the US-Iran memorandum of understanding, Qatar confirmed Tuesday. While Iran has argued the funds should be delivered in a lump sum, the US intends to make small, incremental payouts — directly to vendors — as Iran progresses in key negotiation areas such as opening the Strait of Hormuz and making nuclear concessions. ‘So far, no funds have been transferred,’ Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said Tuesday. It came a day ahead of an Iranian delegation’s planned trip to Doha, where Iranian sources say Tehran intends to hammer out how to access the frozen funds.” (06/30/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/06/30/us-news/tehran-hasnt-received-us-promised-6b-in-frozen-assets-qatar-confirms-ahead-of-us-iran-technical-talks/
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Hamoon Soleimani
“Within digital-libertarian circles, there is a persistent, almost religious belief that decentralized cryptocurrencies will organically starve the state of its power by enabling parallel, untaxable counter-economies. This techno-optimistic prophecy assumes that because the state cannot break the underlying mathematics of cryptography, it is effectively disarmed. Yet, this worldview conflates economic friction with true sovereignty. Treating code as an exit strategy ignores the enduring reality that human beings reside in physical space, governed by Westphalian models of territorial jurisdiction.” (06/30/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/bitcoin-not-freedom-delusion-digital-escape
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“The song ‘Right Here, Right Now’ by Jesus Jones opens with the line, ‘A woman on the radio talks about revolution, when it’s already passed her by’. There are some people who peaked in high school and never got over it – never changing their hair or general style from when they were at the pinnacle of popularity. It’s sad, really, not that the person seems frozen in the midst of good memories from long ago, but that they haven’t continued to advance since then. Life has lapped them; passed them by and left them in the dust. In many ways, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is like that person who hasn’t moved forward, having been lapped by events and left behind by the ‘revolution’ she was the spokesmodel for.” (06/30/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/06/30/has-the-revolution-already-passed-aoc-by-n2678535
Source: Reuters
“The European Commission unveiled quotas under the new system to limit duty-free steel imports into the EU, in a move designed to protect the bloc’s steel sector and increase its capacity utilisation. Under the new rules, the European Union’s annual tariff-free import quotas are slashed by 47% to 18.3 million metric tons, while an out-of-quota duty of 50% is introduced for 26 categories of steel products imported into the EU.” (06/30/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/eu-unveils-new-steel-import-quotas-protect-its-industry-overcapacity-2026-06-30/
