Conflicts of Interest, episode 819
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Israel Kills Palestinian Children Waiting for Water, Food.” (07/14/25)
Trump finds himself on the wrong side of a conspiracy theory
Source: Washington Post
by Philip Bump
“The conspiracies that take hold of the right centrally rely on the idea that Elites Are Up To No Good. In any objective context, Trump himself would be considered an elite, given his billions of dollars and his power, even before being elected president. But Trump sided with The People, meaning those beside him in the conspiratorial swamps. Because he stood against The Elites, a loosely bounded group that ostensibly controls America — meaning The People — Trump was granted a seemingly irrevocable dispensation from elitism. Now, that dispensation is suddenly looking rather wobbly. The reason? Jeffrey Epstein …” (07/14/25)
Cameroon: Biya to seek eighth term as president
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The world’s oldest head of state, Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, 92, has said he will run once more for re-election in October aiming to extend his 43 years in power. ‘Rest assured that my determination to serve you matches the urgency of the challenges we face,’ he said in a post on X. He added that his decision to go for an eighth term came after ‘numerous and insistent’ calls by people from all regions in Cameroon and the diaspora. Biya’s administration has faced criticism over allegations of corruption and embezzlement, as well as accusations of bad governance and failure to tackle security challenges. There have also been concerns about his health and ability to govern. … Biya abolished term limits in 2008, enabling him to seek the presidency indefinitely. He won the 2018 elections with more than 71% of the vote although opposition groups said there were widespread irregularities.” (07/14/25)
Bryan’s Last Crusade
Source: Law & Liberty
by Tyler Curtis
“[William Jennings] Bryan had spent years trying to prohibit the theory of evolution from being taught in public schools. Because of this, he was portrayed in his own time, as well as ours, as an ignorant, Bible-thumping fundamentalist who tried to ban science just because it wasn’t consistent with his literalist interpretation of Genesis. But if we dig further, we can see that Bryan’s arguments were more interesting and complicated than he’s commonly given credit for. By examining his motivations and actions in context, we can gain a deeper appreciation for precisely why the evolution ban was misguided, and what lessons Bryan’s story can offer us as we navigate our own cultural and academic controversies.” (07/14/25)
Fed’s Powell Asks for Inspector General Review of Project Criticized by Trump Officials
Source: US Neews & World Report
“Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has asked the U.S. central bank’s inspector general to review the costs involved in the renovation of its historic headquarters in Washington, as Trump administration officials intensify their criticism of how the Fed is being run. The request to Fed Inspector General Michael Horowitz, first reported by Axios, was made over the weekend, according to a source familiar with the matter. It follows a letter to Powell last week from Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, who wrote that President Donald Trump was ‘extremely troubled’ by cost overruns in the $2.5 billion project. In material posted to its website on Friday, the Fed described the challenges in a complete rehabilitation of the nearly 100-year-old Marriner S. Eccles building and a neighboring property on Constitution Avenue in the nation’s capital.” (07/14/25)
Rising, 07/14/25
Source: The Hill
“Donald Trump defends Pam Bondi; Bongino and Patel leaving?!” (07/14/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5399633-rising-july-14-2025/
It’s not easy, but we can all learn to think like Adam Smith
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Ryan Streeter
“Stagnation is everywhere in the news now. And with good reason. Slowing productivity, aging infrastructure, fiscal imbalances, less innovation — these and related trends make dynamism in the UK seem more like a thing of the past than the future. It is tempting to see stagnation and dynamism purely as matters of economic policy, but we do ourselves a disservice if we begin there. To truly understand what a dynamic economy requires, we would do well to recover that 18th-century sensibility and understand dynamism as a social and cultural phenomenon as much as an economic one. Putting it simply, if we want to live in a society where more people in more places are making and creating a greater number of good things, what kind of people and communities do we need?” (07/14/25)
https://fee.org/articles/its-not-easy-but-we-can-all-learn-to-think-like-adam-smith/
Shocking new poll reveals majority of deluded Dems still believe Russia collusion hoax was real
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine
“A new Rasmussen poll to be published Monday morning shows a majority of Democrats still believe the Russia collusion hoax, even though it has been debunked repeatedly. Astonishingly, 60% of Democratic voters still think ‘the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to win the 2016 election,’ according to the poll of 1,014 Likely Voters conducted on July 6-7. A whopping 69 percent of liberal [sic] voters still cling to the Russia collusion hoax, compared to 27 percent of conservatives, and 45 percent of moderates. Among all voters, more believe it unlikely (49 percent) than likely (42 percent). The fact that liberals and Democrats still believe in the hoax is likely a reflection of their preferred media outlets …” (07/13/25)
SCOTUS allows Trump to lay off nearly 1,400 Education Department employees
Source: Seattle Times
“The Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump to put his plan to dismantle the Education Department back on track — and to go through with laying off nearly 1,400 employees. With the three liberal justices in dissent, the court on Monday paused an order from U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston, who issued a preliminary injunction reversing the layoffs and calling into question the broader plan. … The high court action enables the administration to resume work on winding down the department, one of Trump’s biggest campaign promises. The court did not explain its decision in favor of Trump, as is customary in emergency appeals. But in dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor complained that her colleagues were enabling legally questionable action on the part of the administration.” (07/14/25)
What I Learned at Ukrainian Renaissance 2025
Source: Students For Liberty
by Trevor Kraus
“l learned that while global GDP is $100 trillion, only about $67 trillion of that comes from tangible assets. The rest comes from services, and governments tend to have a hard time calculating and understanding these kinds of intangible assets. (This, of course, is only one of the many things governments have a hard time with.) I learned how Europeans play beer pong: with mandatory bouncing. I learned how it feels to be woken up in the middle of the night by a roommate saying, ‘We have to go to the bomb shelter,’ and shortly thereafter I learned how it feels to ignore that warning …. I learned that once upon a time, Albanians avoided taxes on Christians by ‘converting to Islam,’ then continuing to drink alcohol and eat pork and practice Christianity like always.” (07/14/25)
https://studentsforliberty.org/blog/what-i-learned-ukrainian-renaissance-2025/