Source: CounterPunch
by Sam Carliner
“While Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) faces growing scrutiny for its role in brutally carrying out Trump’s mass-deportation agenda, another institution’s involvement has received less attention: the U.S. military. Trump’s use of the military in the war on immigrants garnered some mainstream backlash when he provocatively deployed thousands of National Guard soldiers and Marines to the streets of Los Angeles. Now, people are again becoming aware of domestic militarization as Trump threatens to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops and other federal forces to DC. But these headline-grabbing moves in LA and DC must be understood in the context of a larger, growing domestic use of the military against immigrant communities, which has largely developed without mainstream scrutiny.” (08/12/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/12/trumps-war-on-immigrants-is-a-trojan-horse-to-normalize-domestic-use-of-the-military/
Source: Common Dreams
by Steve Minkin
“The world is asking why major Jewish organizations, and congregations around the country, aren’t speaking out about genocide. It can’t be hidden. The failure to condemn Israel’s crimes against humanity is a glaring breakdown of moral responsibility, casting a dark shadow and is a growing source of antisemitism. I have overheard neighbors, who are not political, talking about what Israel is doing in Gaza. An acquaintance during a conversation suddenly asked, ‘Are you Jewish?’ A Christian friend asked me, ‘Why aren’t the Rabbis speaking out?’ Gaza has more children missing limbs per capita than any other place in the world. Contemplate this fact as children are preciously guided through Jewish education culminating in the Bat Mitzvah for girls and Bar Mitzvah for boys. As new adults they will grow up with a history different from their parents, grandparents, and great grandparents.” (08/12/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/speak-out-now-gaza
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump Suggests Israel Should Ramp Up Gaza Ops, US Launches Series of Airstrikes in Somalia, and More.” (08/12/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP31XHdGxgw
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kimberlle Josephson
“As a business professor, I strive to teach sound principles and practices, focusing on the benefits of productivity and value creation. I want my students pursuing business careers to be proud of their chosen profession. While business ethics is a topic worthy of classroom coverage and discussion, I do not view my role as one of reforming students’ values or beliefs. They are individuals, each with their own capabilities and aspirations. I teach fundamentals, not fundamentalism. If a student wants to manage a bar, I don’t scorn them for promoting alcohol consumption. If a student wants to open a tattoo parlor, I don’t consider that work less worthy. If anything, I enjoy a good craft beer, and I have a tattoo myself.” (08/12/25)
https://fee.org/articles/doing-good-by-doing-well/
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/
