Source: The Guardian [UK]
“A South Korean court on Tuesday ordered the arrest of Kim Keon Hee, the wife of the impeached former president Yoon Suk Yeol, making her the first former first lady to be arrested in the country’s history. The Seoul central district court ruling creates an unprecedented situation in which both members of a former presidential couple are simultaneously in custody. Yoon Suk Yeol was sent back into detention in July as prosecutors investigate his failed attempt to impose martial law in December last year. … Prosecutors allege she made over 800 million won (£428,000) through manipulating the stock prices of Deutsch Motors, a local BMW dealership, between 2009 and 2012, by conspiring with others to artificially inflate shares. She is also accused of receiving over 270 million won worth of illegal political funding through free opinion polling services, and using this to influence candidate selections for the conservative People Power party in the country’s 2022 byelections.” (08/12/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/12/south-korean-court-orders-arrest-of-impeached-former-president-wife-kim-keon-hee
Source: EconLog
by Jon Murphy
“Among artists (by which I mean both those who generate art for art’s sake and those who generate art professionally, like graphic designers), AI is hotly controversial. Professional artists understandably fear that AI will take their jobs. Let’s use the ‘economic way of thinking’ to analyze those fears and see what is most likely.” (08/12/25)
https://www.econlib.org/the-future-of-art-with-ai
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A Thai soldier has been seriously injured by a landmine near the Cambodian border, days after both countries agreed to a ceasefire following last month’s deadly border clashes. The soldier’s left ankle was badly damaged on Tuesday after he stepped on the device while patrolling about 1km (0.6 miles) from the Ta Moan Thom Temple in Thailand’s Surin province, the army said. He is receiving treatment in hospital. Thai army spokesperson Major General Winthai Suvaree said the incident proved Cambodia had breached the truce and violated international agreements, including the Ottawa Convention banning landmines. … Phnom Penh dismissed the accusation, insisting it has not laid new mines.” (08/12/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/12/thailand-accuses-cambodia-of-planting-landmines-after-soldier-injured
Source: Washington Monthly
“Trump’s Increasingly Creative Authoritarianism.” (08/11/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/08/11/trumps-increasingly-creative-authoritarianism/
Source: The Hill
by James D Zirin
“Jeffrey Epstein was perhaps the most conspicuous pimp since the Marquis de Sade, and he did so on a grand scale. His associates included bankers, princes, CEOs, governors and past and future presidents. One of Epstein’s friends was President Trump. Their relationship lasted 15 years. We don’t know how their friendship got started, and we don’t know the exact details of why it persisted or ended. We do know that it has become an albatross for Trump in his second term. … has the time come for a quid pro quo with [Ghislaine] Maxwell?” (08/12/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/5447317-is-there-any-reason-to-pardon-ghislaine-maxwell-except-to-buy-her-silence/
Source: New York Post
by Rich Lowry
“At its best, Washington, DC, is a city of grandeur, of iconic monuments and world historical centers of power. At its worst, it’s a harrowing place where a 14-year-old could steal your Hyundai. The confluence of these two truths in the terrible early-morning beating of the DOGE employee Edward Coristine (known by his sobriquet ‘Big Balls’) has prompted President Trump to federalize the DC police and deploy the National Guard. The software engineer played a significant role in the frenetic push to reform the federal government that dominated the beginning of Trump’s second term and, by virtue of being in the wrong place at the wrong time (and protecting a young woman), was violently attacked by teenagers within two miles of the White House.” (08/11/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/08/11/opinion/washington-dc-has-itself-to-blame-for-trumps-police-takeover/
Source: CNN
“Eastman Kodak, the 133-year-old photography company, is warning investors thats it might not survive much longer. In its earnings report Monday, the company warned that it doesn’t have ‘committed financing or available liquidity’ to pay its roughly $500 million in upcoming debt obligations. ‘These conditions raise substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,’ Kodak said in a filing. Kodak aims to conjure up cash by ceasing payments for its retirement pension plan. It also said that it doesn’t expect tariffs to have ‘material impacts’ on its business because it manufactures its many of its products, includings cameras, inks and film in the United States. … The Eastman Kodak Company incorporated in 1892, but the company traces its roots back to 1879, when George Eastman obtained hist first patent for a plate-coating machine. In 1888, Eastman sold the first Kodak camera for $25.” (08/12/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/12/business/kodak-survival-warning
Source: Chris Matthew Sciabarra
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
“The Second World War had a profound impact on my family. From countless conversations that I’d had over the years with uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends, I knew that the war experience had been brutal on so many levels, both at home and abroad. I knew that some had paid the ultimate price in key battles of that war, while others returned home to families that were changed forever. I had even formally interviewed one of my uncles for a school project that illuminated the difficulties of military service …. And yet, nothing quite prepared me for the education I’d receive upon discovering and reading scores of letters, which my mother had saved, written during the war — transporting me back to a time and place that enabled me to feel the daily trials and tribulations of a generation in ways that I could never have imagined.” (08/12/25)
https://medium.com/@cms10_7549/letters-from-world-war-ii-1-38a8b5bdc8c8
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Becoming the Defendant: The Macrons’ Defamation Case Against Candace Owens.” (08/11/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxF3jXVUCrA
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Michael Corbin
“Russia’s economy is at a critical juncture. It is not an understatement to say that Moscow needs these Alaska peace talks with the Trump administration on Friday to end the Ukraine war as much as Kyiv does. Mixed indicators in June signal that the overall economy seems relatively stable for the near term, but recession may be on the horizon. It may be trying to hide it, but Moscow can no longer obscure the true costs of the war, which are in part to blame for current conditions. After the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Kremlin initially used budget spending, counter-sanctions measures, and credit growth to boost investment, which were largely successful as the economy grew near 4 percent in 2023 and 2024. However, in late 2024, the measures used to secure a war economy led to economic overheating, wage growth, and rampant inflation.” (08/12/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/russia-economy-war/
