SC: National security question trips up Graham in debate

Source: SFGate

“Sen. Darline Graham stumbled in a Tuesday night debate over an elementary question about foreign policy, a signature issue of her late brother. It was a high-profile misstep a week before she faces a runoff election in her bid to hold onto the South Carolina seat to which she was appointed last month. Graham, a political novice, was asked whether the U.S. has a national security interest in Taiwan and the South China Sea — a longstanding contention of both Democratic and Republican administrations. She struggled to answer before admitting ‘national security is not my thing’. ‘I’m not that informed on national security,’ she added. Her rival in next week’s runoff for the GOP nomination, Rep. Ralph Norman, suggested the answer showed Graham was unqualified for the role. ” (08/19/26)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/national-security-question-trips-up-sen-darline-22394185.php

Steve Trinward

The Tragedy of US Debt

Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson

“‘Borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry,’ wrote the 16th-century economist William Shakespeare, who went on to advise: ‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be.’ Americans, who like to talk about their Christian faith more than study it (‘The wicked person borrows and does not repay, but the righteous one is gracious and giving’) have twice elected the self-proclaimed ‘king of debt,’ an infamous deadbeat and serial bankrupt, as president of the United States, while entrusting the national purse strings to the control of his self-abasing toadies in Congress. That’s going about as well as you would imagine.” (08/19/26)

https://thedispatch.com/article/debt-gdp-interest-rates-trump-republicans/

Thomas L. Knapp

France: Regime expels two Iranian diplomats in escalating row with Tehran

Source: Politico

“France will expel two Iranian diplomats after Tehran’s security services detained and interrogated two French Embassy staffers last month, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced Tuesday evening. The row dates back to July 19, when two French Embassy employees in Tehran — one of them the cultural attaché — were questioned for several hours and ‘beaten,’ according to Barrot. Paris accused Iranian security services of carrying out a ‘premeditated and deliberate’ act of intimidation in ‘flagrant violation’ of diplomatic protections, summoning Iran’s chargé d’affaires two days later. … Tehran disputes that account. Iran’s foreign ministry says the French diplomats violated the Vienna Convention through activities it considers interference in Iranian affairs and has since declared both persona non grata, barring them from returning to Iran after they left the country.” (08/19/26)

https://www.politico.eu/article/france-expels-2-iranian-diplomats-in-escalating-row-with-tehran/

Thomas L. Knapp

But global inequality has fallen, is falling and, as far as anyone knows, is going to continue to fall

Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall

“Global inequality of income has been falling this past forty and fifty years. No, it’s not all about China either. The poor countries have been growing faster than the rich countries – inequality is falling. As Branko Milanovic has proven, this is also true if we consider inequality directly between people, not just as national units. This is even true of capital – as Milanovic again has proven, capital incomes are becoming more equally distributed. Agreed, agreed, from a very high level but still, that direction of travel is there. So, we know how to do global inequality reduction. Exactly what we’ve been doing. The Washington Consensus stops poor country governments doing stupid things, globalisation distributes the work and the incomes and, Tadah! global inequality reduces. Great, get really neoliberal on that global economy and Bob’s your parent’s sibling of choice. The usual suspects are demanding that all of this stop of course.” (08/19/26)

https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/but-global-inequality-has-fallen-is-falling-and-as-far-as-anyone-knows-is-going-to-continue-to-fall

Thomas L. Knapp

Spain’s Poor Job Market Is Causing an Exodus

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler

“Quality of life in Spain is among the highest in the world, but that isn’t enough to prevent young Spaniards from seeking careers abroad. The country has always struggled with high unemployment rates, especially among 15–25-year-olds, almost a quarter of whom are currently out of work. As a result, many young Spaniards, especially those with a university education, seek opportunities elsewhere: according to a 2023 survey, more than half of Spanish youth plan or would like to move to a different country. Those who do remain are often wildly overqualified for the jobs available to them.” (08/19/26)

https://fee.org/articles/spains-poor-job-market-is-causing-an-exodus/

Thomas L. Knapp

Bolivia: Regime Arrests “MAGA’s Man in LatAm” for Attempted Assassination

Source: Common Dreams

“Fernando Cerimedo, an Argentine political operative who has worked on right-wing campaigns across Latin America, was arrested in Bolivia this week in connection with the attempted murder of a woman with whom he reportedly had a romantic relationship. Cerimedo was arrested Tuesday morning at Viru Viru Airport after an attack on Bolivian lawyer and activist Nadia Beller. Video footage circulating online shows two people dressed as delivery workers approaching Beller outside of a hotel in Santa Cruz de la Sierra and shooting her at close range. The 33-year-old was taken to a hospital and survived. Cerimedo has connections to Argentina’s President Javier Milei, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz. As Drop Site News pointed out, he is business partners with President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale, and The Economist has called him ‘MAGA’s man in LatAm’ for ‘forging close ties’ to the US leader’s right-wing movement.” (08/19/26)

https://www.commondreams.org/news/fernando-cerimedo

Steve Trinward