LPALive!, 07/13/25
Source: LP Alliance
“LNC meeting July 13, 2025.” (07/13/25)
The Systematic Unraveling of the Administrative State
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jeffrey A Tucker
“In 1883, when the Pendleton Act was passed, creating the US civil service, it must have seemed like no big deal. The forgotten Chester A. Arthur was the president. The fear of being assassinated like his predecessor James Garfield convinced him to back the legislation. The case for passage: government needs professionals with institutional knowledge. Technicians were changing the world, so why not government too? … Through two world wars and the Great Depression, and then the Cold War, what landed on the other side was something the Constitution’s Framers never imagined. We had huge governing systems in giant bureaucracies staffed by employees who could not be fired. It was left to them to implement, but really create the operational framework for the whole of civil society. … This year, and mostly because the Trump administration decided to challenge the entire model, the machinery has begun to malfunction and melt away.” (07/13/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-systematic-unraveling-of-the-administrative-state/
Syria: More than 30 dead in clashes between Druze militias, Bedouin clans
Source: ABC News
“Clashes between local militias and clans in Syria’s Sweida province have killed more than 30 people and injured nearly 100, and government forces were being sent to the area to restore order, authorities said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least 37 people killed, including two children, in the clashes between armed groups from the Druze religious minority and Sunni Bedouin clans around the province. The U.K.-based war monitor reported that military convoys were sent to the area to reinforce security checkpoints. The observatory said the clashes had started after a series of kidnappings between both groups, which began when members of a Bedouin tribe in the area set up a checkpoint where they attacked and robbed a young Druze man.” (07/14/25)
Rip Van Linker and “Competitive Authoritarianism”
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“The whole idea of ‘fairness’ in American elections went out at the end of the 19th century with the introduction of the ‘Australian’ ballot — a government-printed ballot that replaced write-in elections (that is, all American elections prior to 1888). Naturally, once the government started printing ballots, the government got to decide which candidates could appear on those ballots. Would it shock you to learn that the two ‘major’ political parties, the Democrats and Republicans, have ever since colluded to ensure that it’s always difficult, and often impossible, for independent and ‘third party’ candidates to compete? In 1988, those two “major” parties also took over the quadrennial ritual of ‘presidential debates’ from the League of Women Voters, forming the Commission on Presidential Debates and turning those public affairs into bi-partisan — not multi-partisan — beauty contests.” (07/13/25)
Unattended Baggage, episode 301
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Nothing to see here, folks.” (07/12/25)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-301-nothing-to-see-here-folks
Bitcoin hits a fresh all-time high above $120,000
Source: Aol
“Bitcoin has breached another record level, hitting $120,000 for the first time. On Monday, bitcoin was 2.7% higher at $120,990.05 at 12:35 a.m. ET. The world’s biggest cryptocurrency has been on a winning streak after hitting record highs for three days last week. Bitcoin is now nearly 30% higher this year.” (07/14/25)
https://www.aol.com/news/bitcoin-hits-fresh-time-high-042029689.html
Deporting Millions Won’t Boost the Economy — and Chaos is Costly
Source: The Daily Economy
by Mohamed Moutii
“Over the past few weeks, scenes from Los Angeles have dominated headlines: early-morning ICE raids in Latino neighborhoods, children watching their parents being dragged away, city officials clashing with federal agents over sanctuary protections. This isn’t a drill. It’s the start of what Donald Trump has called ‘the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.’ But behind the political spectacle and the incendiary rhetoric lies a harsh reality: this campaign to deport more than 11 million undocumented immigrants isn’t just wreaking havoc on the rule of law — it’s economically suicidal.” (07/11/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/deporting-millions-wont-boost-the-economy-and-chaos-is-costly/
Palestine: Israeli troops murder children collecting water, blame “malfunction”
Source: The Business Standard [India]
“At least eight Palestinians, most of them children, were killed and more than a dozen were wounded in central Gaza when they went to collect water on Sunday, local officials said, in an Israeli strike which the military said missed its target. The Israeli military said the missile had intended to hit an Islamic Jihad fighter in the area but that a malfunction had caused it to fall ‘dozens of metres from the target.’ ‘The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians,’ it said in a statement, adding that the incident was under review. The strike hit a water distribution point in Nuseirat refugee camp, killing six children and injuring 17 others, said Ahmed Abu Saifan, an emergency physician at Al-Awda Hospital.” (07/15/25)
The Return on Investment of Isolation
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Joel Salatin
“In his iconic Brave New World, one of Aldous Huxley’s recurring themes is the desire and mandate to never be alone. The whole life is taken up with working at a pre-determined vocation and otherwise being entertained in large groups. The eventual hero, The Savage, gravitated finally to an old lighthouse and hung himself when people came to gawk at him. Although we don’t have the breeding centers and embryo development factories in that book, we appear, as a culture, to embrace the ‘never alone’ aspects. … As a full-time farmer, I spend many hours alone and find this time especially rewarding. Unplugging from the hurried-harried frenetic-frenzied life brings healing and progress on many levels. But one time in my life launched everything since.” (07/12/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-return-on-investment-of-isolation/
Air India crash: Airlines start checking fuel lock mechanism in Boeing 787
Source: Economic Times [India]
“Major airlines across the world have started checking the locking mechanism in the fuel switches of Boeing 787 aircraft following the initial findings in the investigation of an Air India aircraft which crashed last month. According to engineering work instructions reviewed by ET, Etihad Airways has asked their engineers to inspect the locking mechanism of the fuel control switches in the B787 aircraft. People aware of the development said that Singapore Airlines have also started the process. This is despite the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing telling operators of the plane that the fuel switch locks on Boeing planes are safe. … Fuel control switches for the engines of an Air India flight that crashed last month were moved from the ‘run’ to the “cutoff” position moments before impact, starving both engines of fuel, a preliminary investigation report said early Saturday.” (07/14/25)