Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Is it okay to speak freely when you’re just one person but wrong when you’re organizationally cooperating with others? The latter speech is the target of a Center for American Progress ‘Plan to Beat Citizens United”’ launched in 2025. The hope is to stomp our freedom of speech when we speak as members of incorporated entities — unless the corporation is a news media company.” (06/25/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/06/24/freedom-of-organizational-speech/
Source: Rutherford Institute
by John & Nisha Whitehead
“This is a year of strange anniversaries. Two hundred and fifty years ago, a band of revolutionaries declared their independence from a king. America’s founders rejected concentrated power. They denounced standing armies. They distrusted government secrecy. They risked their lives to escape a ruler who could tax without consent, wage war without accountability, and govern without meaningful restraint. Twenty-five years ago, after the attacks of September 11, 2001, America embarked on a very different journey. The federal government claimed extraordinary emergency powers. Surveillance expanded. Wars multiplied. Executive authority grew. Constitutional safeguards were weakened in the name of security. One anniversary marked a revolt against empire. The other marked the normalization of it.” (06/24/26)
https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/empire_at_250_can_the_principles_of_1776_survive_the_american_police_state
Source: USA Today
“Massive, twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24 killed at least 32 people and injured at least 700 others as buildings collapsed across several states in the South American nation, officials said. In an early update on June 25, acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez warned that the death toll is expected to climb as rescuers continue searching through the rubble. … The first quake occurred at around 6:04 p.m. local time about 15 miles east-northeast of San Felipe, Venezuela, data from the U.S. Geological Survey showed. The temblor, initially reported as a magnitude 7.1, had a depth of about 12.6 miles, and its epicenter was west of Morón, a town located on the country’s Caribbean coast. Less than a minute later, the USGS reported a second major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5.” (06/25/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2026/06/24/venezuela-earthquake-tsunami-threats/90684878007/
Source: Liberty International
by Kozeta Çuadari Çika
“Albania is experiencing its most significant civic mobilisation since the fall of communism, fuelled by the massive anti-government demonstrations known as the ‘Flamingo Revolution.’ What began as a localised environmental protest against a multi-billion-dollar luxury resort development has escalated into a nationwide revolt. Hundreds of thousands of citizens of all ages are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama and his administration. The initial catalyst for the unrest was a development project valued at between $4.6 billion and $5.7 billion, backed by Affinity Partners — an investment firm led by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. The project targets the pristine, uninhabited Sazan Island and the environmentally sensitive Vjosa-Narta protected coastal zone near the village of Zvërnec. First of all, major transparency concerns have arisen over how coastal land titles were transferred to private entities.” (06/24/26)
https://liberty-intl.org/2026/06/24/albanias-flamingo-revolution-a-fight-for-property-liberty-and-the-right-to-stay/
Source: The Political Orphanage
“Zuby Grew up in a Company Town.” (06/24/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/zuby-grew-up-in-a-company-town
Source: Courthouse News Service
“Frozen bank accounts, canceled credit cards and blocked travel led three International Criminal Court judges to sue the Trump administration Wednesday, arguing they were punished simply for the cases they decided. In the 66-page complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the trio asks a judge to strike down President Donald Trump’s sanctions order, remove Judges Kimberly Prost, Solomy Bossa and Reine Alapini-Gansou from the U.S. sanctions list, unblock any frozen property and bar the government from enforcing the measures against them. … Trump signed Executive Order 14203 on Feb. 6, 2025, after the ICC pursued investigations involving U.S. personnel in Afghanistan and Israeli leaders over the war in Gaza. The order declared a national emergency and authorized sanctions against foreign nationals involved in ICC investigations or prosecutions targeting U.S. citizens or nationals of allied countries that do not recognize the court’s jurisdiction.” (06/24/26)
https://courthousenews.com/sanctioned-icc-judges-sue-trump-in-new-york/
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal
“No one gets to decide what others need. As long as they aren’t stealing it, it’s none of your business. If someone earns a quadrillion dollars by giving customers what they want and by filling a niche, they aren’t a problem. It’s a positive thing for society, and only ignorant people get upset over it. It’s trendy to hate rich people. It’s also incredibly stupid. Most of the people upset over ‘excessive’ wealth — such as the tax-addicted politicians and their followers — contribute nothing. Takers envy makers. For a millionaire politician to demand that a billionaire entrepreneur hand over some percentage of his money is dishonest. The entrepreneur contributes; the politician is a parasite who only takes.” (06/24/26)
https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2026/06/24/voices/opinion-rich-people-are-not-a-problem/233710.html
Source: The Hill
“The Senate late Wednesday night in a 47-50-1 vote opted not to rebuke the Trump administration a second time over its military conflict in Iran, as leaders convinced some Republican swing votes that doing so would harm the negotiations to end the war. The resolution would have been Congress’[s] way to reassert its power to declare war and directed President Trump to ‘remove the United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or a specific authorization for use of military force.’ Sen. Rand Paul, who has voted with Democrats for similar resolutions in the past, said in a statement shortly before the vote that he would vote ‘present,’ rather than ‘no,’ to avoid jeopardizing the negotiations.” (06/24/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5939699-senate-gop-gets-back-in-line-with-trump-over-the-iran-war/
Source: Liberalism.org
by Jason Kuznicki
“Suppose I want commercial pineapple harvesters to enjoy good lives today. Most of them aren’t in Hawaiʻi anymore; they’re in Costa Rica. Should I import my pineapples from them? (Import pineapples? To Hawaiʻi? Surely not.) But to avoid eating imported pineapples impoverishes Costa Rican field hands. It might take away the only work they have, such as it is. When I grow at home, that’s what I’m doing, if only to a tiny degree. Buying from my neighbors, who sell at the farmers’ markets, achieves the same end; the descendants of plantation workers here in Hawaiʻi are usually much wealthier than today’s Costa Rican field hands. Yet if I were to return to the globalized market, I might just fatten some Costa Rican landlords. I want to ask: Where are the limits to any of these intuitions?” (06/24/26)
https://www.liberalism.org/p/against-friends-against-enemies
Source: Associated Press
“Ukrainian forces struck a major natural gas processing plant and two key satellite communications centers in their latest nighttime attacks on Russia, Ukraine’s General Staff said Wednesday. The operation was part of Ukraine’s aerial campaign targeting energy facilities and military industries that has intensified as Kyiv builds bigger and better long-range weapons to ward off Russia’s full-scale invasion, now in its fifth year. In response, Moscow has ordered the redeployment of some air defense systems from Russian regions to the capital and to Crimea’s Kerch Bridge, a crucial link for supplying Russian troops, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The bridge connects the Crimean Peninsula with the Russian mainland.” (06/24/26)
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-crimea-attacks-6076b6666c3312bbf9b4b8d875a52513
