Reason Roundtable, 09/08/25
Source: Reason
“MAGA Is Wrong About AI. Trump Is Right.” (09/08/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/09/08/maga-is-wrong-about-ai-trump-is-right/
House panel releases Epstein records, including Trump “birthday book” letter
Source: CBS News
“The House Oversight Committee released more records from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s estate late Monday, including hundreds of pages from a book compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell for his 50th birthday in 2003. Hours earlier, Democrats on the panel had released a letter in the book allegedly signed by Mr. Trump. The president has denied penning the message, which is typed within what appears to be the outline of a woman’s body. … The committee subpoenaed Epstein’s estate in August, seeking documents and other materials as part of its investigation into the U.S. government’s handling of the case.” (09/08/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump-birthday-message-house-oversight/
The Only Medical Specialty That Survives on Lies
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Peter C. Gøtzsche
“Psychiatry is the only specialty I know of that causes more harm than good; in fact, vastly more harm than good. This disaster can only survive because psychiatrists constantly lie to the public about what they can achieve with their drugs. Psychiatrists also routinely violate elementary human rights about informed consent and use forced treatment even though it is harmful. The title of my most recent psychiatry book summarises the issues: ‘Is psychiatry a crime against humanity?’ As you shall see, I am not exaggerating.” (09/08/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-only-medical-specialty-that-survives-on-lies/
Jerusalem: Gunmen kill six in bus stop attack
Source: Washington Post
“At least six people were killed and roughly two dozen injured Monday after a pair of gunmen opened fire at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Israeli officials said. It is the deadliest attack on civilians in Israel [sic] since two Palestinian assailants carried out a mass shooting in Tel Aviv in October. The attackers were killed at the scene, Israeli police said, after a security officer and a civilian returned fire. Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet, identified the gunmen as Muthna Amro, 20, and Muhammad Taha, 21, both from villages in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Authority, the body that governs the Palestinian-controlled parts of the West Bank, condemned the attack and ‘any targeting of Palestinian and Israeli civilians.'” [editor’s note: Jerusalem is occupied by, not “in,” Israel. Israel’s borders were set in United Nations Resolution 181 and do not encompass it – TLK] (09/08/25)
Government as God
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“By the 1990s, there was almost universal antipathy for the TV preacher. Most were found either to be frauds, philanderers, or both. They did a good job of preying on the gullible and the desperate. They took advantage of innocent people, and yet people like my grandmother would argue that these preachers, despite their sins, ‘brought a lot of people to the Lord.’ My grandmother was no dummy, so maybe she was right. Me? I doubt God uses snake-oil salesmen as instruments of His will. … Even if you still think there are some earnest televangelists out there with good hearts, or that God can work miracles, I hope you’ll agree that when it comes to the secular religion known as politics, a lot of people have replaced God with government. Politicians are perhaps the worst form of televangelists.” (09/08/25)
Trump regime says heimatschutz has begun Chicago occupation/abduction operations
Source: New York Times
“The Trump administration said on Monday that it had begun a crackdown on illegal [sic] immigration in Chicago, though local officials and advocates for immigrants around the city said they had seen only a handful of [abductions] so far. The Department of Homeland Security issued a news release announcing the operation, which it called Operation Midway Blitz, and said it would target undocumented immigrants who had criminal records. … Hundreds of Department of Homeland Security officials were expected to stage the operation from a naval base outside Chicago.” (09/08/25)
Lower Trade Deficits and More Foreign Investment?
Source: EconLog
by Pierre Lemieux
“There is something worse than everybody wanting to come to your country: that’s if everybody tried to avoid it. America is not at this point, but there is a play about that in a theater of the absurd near you. Official figures show a significant drop in foreign tourists coming to America this year compared to the same period last year. … I suspect that many supporters of protectionism don’t realize that what foreign tourists spend in America is an American export. Just like for exports of goods, receiving tourists from abroad … uses resources belonging to American residents in order to produce goods and services for foreigners. Not surprisingly, foreign tourism in America is entered as exports in official statistics. American residents travelling abroad provide the mirror image …. A prohibition of American travel abroad would ‘save’ an estimated $248 billion in the annual balance of international trade.” (09/08/25)
https://www.econlib.org/lower-trade-deficits-and-more-foreign-investment/
Norway: “Left-wing” bloc hangs on to power as anti-immigration party surges
Source: Le Monde [France]
“Norway’s left-wing bloc led by Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store won the legislative elections on Monday, September 8, which also saw a record surge in support for the anti-immigration Progress Party. In power since 2021, Store is expected to continue to head a minority Labor government, backed up by the other four left-wing parties. The election campaign in the wealthy nation of 5.6 million people had centered largely on domestic issues but was also influenced by geopolitics, including US President Donald Trump’s policies and the war in Ukraine.” (09/09/25)
The West’s Hypocritical Opposition to Ukraine’s Forced Territorial Concessions
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has consistently ruled out making any territorial concession as part of a peace accord to end his country’s war with Russia. NATO’s European members (with the partial exceptions of Hungary and Turkey) continue to support Kyiv’s uncompromising stance. Indeed, many European leaders seem even more insistent than Zelensky himself regarding the issue. Persisting in such recalcitrance, though, guarantees that even more Ukrainians will perish in a hopeless cause. Insisting on giving no territorial concessions to Moscow ignores current and prospective battlefield realities. Like it or not, Russia is slowly but inexorably winning the grinding war of attrition.” [editor’s note: Neither side is “winning” – TLK] (09/08/25)
Democrat Lawfare Came For Me, And It Can Come For You Too
Source: The Federalist
by Peter Navarro
“I Went To Prison So You Won’t Have To is both a line from my speech that brought the house down at the Republican National Convention on the day I walked out of prison, and a cautionary tale about the new age of Democrat lawfare and weaponized justice that the Age of Trump has ushered in. If they can come for me, Steve, and President Trump (along with Jeff Clark, John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, Dan Scavino, Mark Meadows, Jenna Ellis, Peter Clark, Boris Epshteyn, and other Trump associates), they can come for you. As a matter of simple math, virtually everyone involved in putting me behind bars was a Democrat …. More than a million dollars in legal fees and deprived of four months of my freedom — all because I honored the president’s invocation of executive privilege and oath of office.” (09/08/25)
https://thefederalist.com/2025/09/08/democrat-lawfare-came-for-me-and-it-can-come-for-you-too/