Source: CBS News
“The Texas House of Representatives gave final passage on Wednesday to House Bill 4, a controversial Republican-backed proposal to redraw the state’s congressional maps and potentially add up to five new GOP-leaning districts. Entering Wednesday, the bill needed to pass two votes in the House to advance to the Senate. Each vote passed 88-52. … The Texas Senate, which approved a similar version of the redistricting legislation earlier this week, is scheduled to take up the House-passed bill when it convenes this Thursday at 7 p.m.” (08/20/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/texas-house-special-session-redistricting-vote-today/
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Connor O’Keeffe
“We’re now in the second week of Trump’s so-called ‘takeover’ of Washington, DC, where he’s formally federalized the city’s police and mobilized national guard troops and federal agents to help crack down on crime. So far, a few hundred people have been arrested. … the establishment media frames the entire episode as Trump, for the first time in the country’s history, ushering in a federal ‘police state.’ The right, in contrast, has seemed to enjoy the optics of armed agents in tactical gear flanked by armored National Guard vehicles patrolling DC neighborhoods, arresting people, and clearing homeless encampments …. genuine or not, the president’s effort to clean up DC and any other crime-ridden cities is hampered by a misunderstanding of the true root of this blue-city crime phenomenon, which is the monopolization of the protection of person and property — arguably the most important service in society.” (08/20/25)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/trumps-dc-takeover-missing-point
Source: Yahoo! News
“Russia launched 614 air attack munitions into Ukraine overnight into Thursday, the air force in Kyiv reported, in what the country’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called a ‘massive combined air strike’ on targets around the country. The air force said Russia launched 574 drones and 40 missiles in its overnight barrage, of which 546 drones and 31 missiles were intercepted or otherwise suppressed. Impacts were reported across 11 locations, the air force said. … Russia’s latest attack was its largest since July 12, according to data published by Ukraine’s air force and analyzed by ABC News, and breaks with the trend so far in August of smaller-scale nightly barrages when compared to figures from June and July.” (08/21/25)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/russia-hits-ukraine-massive-drone-080935065.html
Source: EconLog
by Jon Murphy
“Counterfactuals are a necessary part of any scientific analysis: If X didn’t happen, then Y would have. But counterfactuals, by definition, can never be known. They never occurred, so we can never truly know if the counterfactual would have happened. … In international trade discussions these days, the focus is often on the counterfactuals … at least, after protectionists make empirical claims that are easily debunked by the data. A famous counterfactual revolves around the (oft-cited-never-read) China Shock paper. If not for China joining the WTO, protectionists claim, the US would be a thriving place, rather than the devastated hellhole it is now.” (08/20/25)
https://www.econlib.org/useful-counterfactuals-on-trade/
Source: ABC News
“Chinese leader Xi Jinping made a rare visit to Tibet on Wednesday to mark the 60th anniversary of the consolidation of Beijing’s long-contested rule over the Himalayan territory. … Communist forces occupied Tibet in 1951. In 1965, Mao Zedong’s single-party dictatorship established the Tibet autonomous region. Decades of political repression followed, including the demolition of some Buddhist monasteries and the imprisonment of monks. Recent years have seen the large-scale migration of majority Han Chinese to the high-altitude region, the virtual closure of Tibet to journalists and foreigners, the removal of Tibetan children from their families to boarding schools where they are taught in Mandarin, and the repression of all forms of political or cultural expression outside Communist Party control.” (08/20/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/chinas-xi-makes-rare-visit-tibet-mark-60-124810625
Source: The Daily Economy
by Vance Ginn
“From tariffs to student debt ‘forgiveness,’ from corporate welfare to border chaos, America’s political class — right and left — has lost its economic compass. What’s missing? Econ 101. Progressives promise government programs to create ‘equity.’ Conservatives now support tariffs and special favors for certain businesses. Both are forms of economic socialism — central planning that shifts control from the people to politicians. That’s why the US economy feels stuck: a $37 trillion national debt, a bloated Federal Reserve balance sheet, and growing doubts about the American Dream. It doesn’t have to be this way. We need a return to the basics of economic freedom.” (08/20/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/econ-101-a-compass-for-a-lost-country/
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“A panel of federal appellate judges ruled Tuesday that New Mexico’s seven-day waiting period on gun purchases likely [sic] infringes on citizens’ Second Amendment rights, putting the law on hold pending a legal challenge. The ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sends the case back to a lower court. New Mexico’s waiting period went into effect in May 2024, and does hold an exception for concealed permit holders. … Since 2019, [governor Michelle] Lujan Grisham has signed a raft of legislation restricting access to guns, including a ‘red flag’ law allowing a court to temporarily remove guns from people who [supposedly] might hurt themselves or others and restrictions on guns near polling places.” (08/19/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/08/19/gun-purchases-new-mexico/
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal
“Liberty forms the foundation of an ethical life and the basis for a worthwhile society. It isn’t just a slogan for politicians on the campaign trail; it’s the freedom to act, think, and live as you see fit, as long as you’re not harming others. Some people claim liberty is dangerous, that it leads to chaos or selfishness. They’re mistaken. When liberty is understood and respected, it’s good for everyone, no matter who they are or where they’re from.” (08/20/25)
https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2025/08/20/voices/opinion-libertys-not-dangerous-it-fuels-progress/231495.html
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by James Bovard
“Any precedent for blanket censorship will propagate like a COVID virus. Many conservatives and libertarians may shrug off [Rumeysa] Ozturk’s degradation because they have no interest in criticizing the policies of foreign governments. But the Ozturk case hinged on collective guilt — on assuming that anyone who advocates a position is culpable for any crimes committed by any other advocate with the same view. Ozturk’s persecution could be a linchpin in the Trump administration efforts to silence all protests that rile up his donors. … American history demonstrates that persecution that starts with foreigners often snowballs into targeting American citizens.” (08/20/25)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/another-federal-war-on-free-speech
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“Feeling the GPT-5 | Robert Wright & Paul Bloom.” (08/20/25)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/68955
