NY: National Retail Federation sues regime over surveillance pricing law

Source: AOL

“New York state was sued on Wednesday by the National Retail Federation over a new law requiring retailers to tell customers when their personal data are being used to set prices, known as surveillance pricing. The world’s largest retail trade group said New York’s Algorithmic Pricing Disclosure Act, which would take effect on July 8, violates many members’ First Amendment free speech rights. Governor Kathy Hochul signed the first-in-the-nation law in May, saying the practice of charging different prices based on customers’ willingness to pay was ‘opaque,’ and prevented those customers them from comparison-shopping. … According to the complaint, the law violates the U.S. Constitution by compelling a broad range of retailers to express misleading ‘government-scripted opinion’ without justification, or face potential civil fines of $1,000 per violation.” (07/02/25)

https://www.aol.com/news/york-sued-national-retail-federation-220357378.html

Thomas L. Knapp

Undemocratic Assumptions of Long(er)-Duration Sovereign Debt

Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Vishal Wilde

“Debt is a dominant feature of the global macroeconomy, upon which much else is currently underpinned or reliant. Even so, when examined, one might reasonably conjecture that significant swathes of this presuppose inherently undemocratic assumptions and the continuity of state-controlled, extraction-predicated public finance. … the length (or maturity) of sovereign debt issued, in terms of duration over which payments are due, can be as short as a few months or under a year, while running up to multiple years and even several decades. As such, in any given democratic state, while those elected may have a mandate to occupy their offices for up to, say, five or six years, with term limits on re-election or otherwise, the debt issued in that time (and periods preceding it) may be payable for up to 10, 20, 30 years or even more.” (07/02/25)

https://c4ss.org/content/60500

Thomas L. Knapp

Laid Off by DOGE and Leaving DC

Source: The American Prospect
by Charlie McGill

“The Department of Government Efficiency once captained by Elon Musk has ripped through the federal workforce, carelessly and callously firing federal workers with a Silicon Valley-esque ‘move fast and break things’ mindset. As Congress prepares to codify these layoffs into law, many of those employees are asking a question they never thought they’d have to answer: ‘What do I do next?’ One solution, to leave Washington and search for new jobs elsewhere, is a potentially calamitous outcome for the nation’s capital. Yet a flight of fired feds could be a very real possibility. Christopher House, a professor of economics at the University of Michigan, co-authored a Brookings Institute report published in March titled ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go? The Response of Labor Migration to Economic Shocks.'” (07/02/25)

https://prospect.org/politics/2025-07-01-DOGE-layoffs-DC-exodus/

Steve Trinward

File Under “Streisand Effect”: ICEBlock climbs to the top of the App Store charts after officials slam it

Source: Engadget

“US government officials have condemned ICEBlock and CNN’s recent coverage of it, leading to more people hearing about its existence and downloading it from the App Store. Now the application, which allows users to add a pin on a map to show where ICE agents have recently been spotted, has climbed to the to the top of Apple’s App Store charts. It’s currently the number one free social networking app in the US and the third most downloaded free app overall.” (07/01/25)

https://www.engadget.com/social-media/iceblock-climbs-to-the-top-of-the-app-store-charts-after-officials-slam-it-004319963.html?src=rss

Thomas L. Knapp

Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 07/02/25

Source: Freedom’s Phoenix

“Paul Puey (Edge Wallet) comes on the show to provide an update to EDGE, ZANO on Edge Wallet, DeFi (Decentralized Finance), future of cryptos, CBDC’s, etc.” (07/02/25)

https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Media/381202-2025-07-02-2025-07-02-ernest-hancock-interviews-paul-puey-edge-wallet.htm?From=News

Thomas L. Knapp

Israel’s Doomed Bid for Mideast Domination

Source: The American Conservative
by Andrew Day

“America’s vast, unconditional support for Israel is peculiar and cannot last forever. Mostly it results from the singular success of the Israel lobby, which exerts tremendous influence in the U.S., including over the Trump administration. During the Gaza war, however, a dam has burst in U.S. public opinion, as more and more Americans have grown opposed to funding Israel’s assault on the beleaguered Gazans. By extension, they’ve grown opposed to funding Israel. The trend in public opinion is not confined to any one faction or political party.” (07/02/25)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/israels-doomed-bid-for-mideast-domination/

Thomas L. Knapp