- NYC: Councilwoman and congressional candidate Julie Won “squatted” in luxury Queens condo, landlord alleges
Source: New York Post
“An NYC councilwoman running for Congress owes $25,000 in back rent after squatting for five months in a luxury high-rise, according to her ex-landlord and court documents. Councilwoman Julie Won (D-Queens) and her family vacated a one-bedroom condo at swanky Skyline Towers on Long Island City’s waterfront on Monday — three days after being slapped with eviction papers by the condo’s owner, Justin Chae, a top NYC political consultant and former family friend. … Won insisted to The Post that she and her political strategist husband Eugene Noh never signed any lease on the luxury pad, claiming Chae forged her name onto a bogus lease agreement.” (06/07/26)
- AR: Judge drops murder charge against sheriff candidate who killed a man
Source: NBC News
“A judge has dropped the murder charge against an Arkansas sheriff candidate who killed a man accused of sexually abusing his daughter. Aaron Spencer was charged with second-degree murder in the October 2024 killing of Michael Fosler, 67, who had been charged with sexually abusing Spencer’s 13-year-old daughter. On Thursday, a judge dismissed the murder case against Spencer after ruling that the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office mishandled evidence. Law enforcement’s conduct was ‘so egregious’ that it warranted the dismissal, Special Circuit Court Judge Ralph Wilson Jr. said in his ruling. The killing happened after Spencer discovered his daughter missing from her bedroom in the early morning hours of Oct. 8 and found her in Fosler’s truck, according to court documents.” (06/06/26)
- OH: Multiple people have been shot near festival in Toledo
Source: SFGate
“Multiple people were shot Saturday near a busy community street festival in Toledo, Ohio, and a search for the suspects was ongoing as victims were taken to nearby hospitals, police said. Toledo police officers responded to a report of a person shot near the Old West End Festival at about 5:30 p.m. When they arrived, they found multiple shooting victims, the police department said in a statement. Police said ‘many victims’ were transported to medical facilities but did not provide further details on the injuries and how many people were shot. Authorities also did not provide any details on what may have set off the shooting.” (06/06/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/multiple-people-have-been-shot-near-a-festival-in-22294330.php
- US confirms second Texas screwworm case, Canada restricts livestock imports
Source: CNBC
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed a second case of New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite, in Texas. The latest detection was found in a one-month-old calf in Zavala County, Texas, roughly 5.6 miles from the first confirmed case announced earlier this month, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said Friday. Additional samples collected from the surrounding area have tested negative so far. New World screwworm larvae feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals, creating severe wounds that can be fatal if left untreated. The pest threatens livestock, wildlife, pets and, in rare instances, humans. The discovery has triggered cross-border restrictions. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Friday it will temporarily restrict imports of livestock, including horses, from affected areas of the U.S.” (06/06/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/06/us-confirms-second-texas-screwworm-case.html
- Iran: Regime says staff blocked from entering US after players given World Cup visas
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Iran has accused the US of denying visas to ‘integral’ members of its national football team’s backroom staff, hours after Washington confirmed Iranian players had been given permission to travel to the upcoming World Cup. US officials said visas had been issued to all players and ‘necessary support staff’ on Friday, 10 days before Iran’s opening fixture in Los Angeles on 15 June. They also said Iran would not be allowed to ‘abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretences.’ Iran’s embassy in Turkey accused the US of ‘politically biased interference in sport’ by denying visas to ‘a large portion of the managerial and executive staff’ and ‘technical advisers.'” (06/06/26)
- Nigeria: Army Frees 360 Abducted People
Source: US News & World Report
“The Nigerian army said Sunday it freed 360 people abducted by Boko Haram in southern Borno, in the northeastern part of the country. The operation, according to the army’s statement, was conducted in the Mandara mountains which form a part of the militant group’s stronghold. It resulted in the release of several people, including children, who had been abducted across different communities in Borno. Two infants ‘succumbed to exhaustion’ due to the challenging mountainous terrain and the hardship they endured during their prolonged captivity, an army spokesperson, Haruna Sani, said. … The insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast has killed thousands of people and displaced millions, according to the United Nations.” (06/07/26)
- Spain: Pope Leo XIV acknowledges star power gap v. Bad Bunny
Source: Fox News
“Pope Leo XIV joked Saturday that he knows who would win if young people had to choose between seeing him or Latin pop singer Bad Bunny this weekend. The Pope, who began a weeklong visit to Spain on Saturday, acknowledged that he is competing for attention with the Puerto Rican superstar while in Madrid. Many young Spaniards, he suggested, would likely choose the Grammy-winning artist over the pontiff. ‘If they are confronted with the question ‘Do you want to go see Bad Bunny or do you want to go to see the pope?’ I think many will see Bad Bunny,’ Leo told reporters aboard the papal plane before his arrival. ‘But I think there will also be a few here to see the pope,’ he added. ‘And that says something, you know.’ … Despite his remarks, thousands of young Catholics turned out to greet the pope.” (06/07/26)
- Pentagon said to raise threat level on Israeli spying to “critical”
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The Pentagon’s intelligence arm has raised the assessed threat level on Israeli spying from “high” to ‘critical’ in recent weeks, according to US media. NBC News first broke news of the change on Friday, with The New York Times issuing its own report the following day. The news outlets cited anonymous sources as saying the switch came in light of concerns over increasingly aggressive tactics related to the US-Israeli war with Iran. They said the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) had raised the alert level amid fears that Israel is increasingly attempting to surveil top US officials. The aim is allegedly to understand internal White House deliberations about ending the war. … The New York Times reported that, while Israel has been known to spy on the US, the DIA cited an uptick in activities beginning in late 2024, as the administration of US President Joe Biden increased pressure on Israel over its genocidal war in Gaza.” (06/06/26)
- Cuba: Castro makes first appearance since US charges to celebrate birthday
Source: SFGate
“Raúl Castro, Cuba’s low-profile former president and revolutionary guerrilla, appeared in public for the first time since being indicted by the United States for his alleged role in the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft, official video released Saturday showed. Castro’s celebration of his 95th birthday with top officials and military leaders at the Ministry of Interior in Havana on late Friday offered Cuba’s socialist government an opportunity to close ranks and project defiance as the Trump administration escalates its pressure campaign on the fuel-starved island. State TV broadcast footage of Castro, clad in his olive-green military uniform, entering a packed theater to a standing ovation, followed by his grandson and bodyguard, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez, and Cuban President Miguel Diáz-Canel.” (06/06/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/cuba-ex-president-ra-l-castro-makes-first-22294113.php
- CA: Armed intruder killed after exchange of gunfire with homeowner
Source: KTLA 5 News
“A homeowner fatally shot an armed intruder after an exchange of gunfire inside a San Jacinto residence late Friday night, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. … According to investigators, the homeowner was visiting a neighboring residence when he heard screaming and gunfire coming from his own home. The homeowner ran back to the residence and encountered an unknown male intruder inside the house armed with a shotgun, sheriff’s officials said. Investigators said the homeowner armed himself and confronted the suspect, and during the confrontation, the suspect allegedly fired multiple rounds at the homeowner, who returned fire and struck the intruder. The suspected intruder died at the scene, officials said, and no other injuries were reported.” (06/06/26)
https://ktla.com/news/inland-empire/armed-intruder-killed-homeowner-gunfire-san-jacinto/
- FIREHOSE FRIDAY at the Freedom Movement’s Daily Newspaper!
Hey, everyone …
We don’t go “web-only” with a FIREHOSE FRIDAY — no email or social media editions, everything at the site — very often these days. A few months back we switched to putting in a LOT of content every day and just formatting 60-70 items into those other editions, only showing the rest on the web site.
Today is one of those rare other occasions. I’ll explain why, but first, I’ll let you know that we’ll probably have AT LEAST 100 news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links lined up for you here at the web edition by the time you read this.
So, why? I’m traveling (I’m in Clearwater, Florida, a couple of hours from my home, accompanying my wife to a conference and hoping we can work a mini-vacation into the schedule), and when I’m traveling I’m working on a laptop at odd hours, etc. We still get just as much content in, but I sometimes make the call to go “web-only” both because it’s easier and because it’s always possible that some travel-related event will intervene while I’m trying to mess with all that formatting. So now you know.
Of course, whenever we go FIREHOSE FRIDAY on you, I also make it a point to mention that we’re a reader-supported publication and that you’re a reader. Not to put too fine a point on it, but last month I made about $100 and Steve made about $50 for our work producing the freedom movement’s daily newspaper.
I’m not complaining … but I also wouldn’t mind a drink with a little umbrella in it on this here “mini-vacation,” at the expense of whomever might care to buy said drink. The proxy cash bar is open at:
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
Have a great weekend, and if I’m not e.g. eaten by sharks after an unwise swimming decision powered by drinks with little umbrellas in them, we will be back with the regular editions on Monday.
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily - Lebanon: Hezbollah rejects latest ceasefire agreement as Israeli strikes kill four
Source: Twin Cities Pioneer Press
“Hezbollah on Thursday rejected the latest ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government, and the militant group demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as more fighting there hampered efforts to end the Iran war. The Hezbollah announcement came as Israeli strikes killed at least four people, according to local authorities, and a U.N. peacekeeper was killed in the crossfire. An Israeli soldier was also killed in combat in southern Lebanon.” (06/04/26)
https://www.twincities.com/2026/06/04/us-iran-war-hezbollah-ceasefire/
- AZ: Prosecutors lose appeal in fake elector case, vow to present it again to grand jury
Source: Yahoo! News
“One of the three remaining criminal cases stemming from efforts by President Donald Trump’s supporters to overturn the 2020 election results appears headed back to a grand jury in Arizona. The case began in April 2024 when an indictment sought by Arizona’s Democratic attorney general charged 18 Republicans with forgery, fraud and conspiracy, accusing them of trying to undo former President Joe Biden’s victory in the state by 10,457 votes. In a decision released Thursday, the Arizona Supreme Court rejected Attorney General Kris Mayes'[s] request to avoid sending the case back to the grand jury. Mayes had hoped to continue pushing forward through the courts without having to start over at the grand jury level. … The ruling came after similar cases in Michigan and Georgia were dismissed by the courts and a special prosecutor dropped a federal case in late 2024 that charged Trump with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.” (06/04/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/arizona-supreme-court-denies-prosecutor-170640832.html
- US regime sanctions Díaz-Canel in latest move to pressure Cuban regime
Source: AOL
“The United States imposed sanctions Thursday on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, his wife and three other individuals, in the latest move by the Trump administration to pressure the island’s leadership that drew immediate condemnation from Havana. … The new penalties come as U.S. President Donald Trump has been threatening military action in Cuba since ousting Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January and then ordering an energy blockade that choked off fuel shipments to Cuba. That has led to severe blackouts, food shortages and an economic collapse across the island.” (06/04/26)
https://www.aol.com/articles/us-imposes-sanctions-cuban-president-210331000.html
- Ukraine moves closer to EU accession after Hungary deal
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“Hungary and Ukraine on Wednesday reached an agreement on the rights of Ukraine’s ethnic Hungarian minority, an issue that has long strained relations between the two countries. The deal will boost Ukraine’s longstanding bid to join the EU, with Budapest saying it would drop a veto by former Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Kyiv’s accession to the bloc if an agreement were reached. … The EU has now said it will move Ukraine, along with Moldova, to the next stage in their membership bids as it hailed the deal announced by [Hungarian Prime Minister Peter] Magyar.” (06/04/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-moves-closer-to-eu-accession-after-hungary-deal/a-77414375
- Trump’s approval rating hits another new low on 500th day back in the White House
Source: AOL
“President Donald Trump marks the 500th day of his second term in the White House Thursday, but the milestone coincides with a poll showing his approval rating at a new low. The latest survey from The Economist and YouGov places Trump’s net approval rating at -25, down 1.1 points in a week, and reveals that only 35 percent of the American public approves of the job he is doing in the Oval Office, with a massive 60 percent disapproving and the remaining 5 percent unsure. The news magazine explains that the results make the president the most unpopular U.S. commander-in-chief since it began polling in 2009. … The survey finds that Trump is still most likely to receive support in red states that voted for him in 2024 but that dissatisfaction is now ‘widespread’ and is beginning to be expressed in locations he won two years ago.” (06/04/26)
https://www.aol.com/articles/trump-approval-rating-hits-another-101252000.html
- Hong Kong: Beijing puppet regime police harass artist for trying to commemorate Tiananmen atrocities
Source: Associated Press
“A performance artist in Hong Kong tried on Wednesday to honor the victims of Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown but was quickly stopped by police, the latest sign of the city’s shrinking freedom of expression. Sanmu Chen tried to tie a symbolic red thread to a street signpost in Causeway Bay, a busy shopping district close to a park that for decades hosted an annual candlelight vigil on June 4 to commemorate those who died in the crackdown that ended student-led protests in Beijing in 1989. Police officers stopped Chen and searched his bag before letting him go. Hong Kong was for decades the only place in China where a large-scale public commemoration of the crackdown was held. The massive annual vigils were banned in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and public acts to mark the Tiananmen Square killings have become increasingly sensitive in the city in recent years.” (06/04/26)
- TX: Flesh-eating screwworm found, sparking fears for US cattle
Source: Washington Post
“A case of New World screwworm has been found in Texas six decades after the flesh-eating pest was largely eradicated in the United States, sparking an aggressive response amid fears about its potential impact on the livestock industry. The U.S. Agriculture Department confirmed the parasite was detected in the umbilical area of a 3-week-old calf in Zavala County. There have been no further cases detected, and efforts are underway to contain and eradicate it, the agency said in a statement Wednesday. New World screwworm is a parasitic fly that affects livestock, pets and wildlife, as well as people in rare cases. It lays eggs in open wounds or orifices, with the hatched maggots burrowing into and feeding on flesh. It’s typically found in South America and parts of the Caribbean but has moved north through Central America and Mexico since 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” (06/04/26)
- Senate GOP defeats amendment to ban Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund
Source: The Hill
“Senate Republicans voted on Thursday morning to defeat an amendment sponsored by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) to prohibit the Department of Justice from establishing a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund for MAGA allies, a proposal that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers this week the administration would abandon. Notably, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and John Husted (R-Ohio), who all face tough re-election races in November, voted for Schumer’s amendment. The proposal, which would have amended a $70 billion budget reconciliation package to fund immigration enforcement, still failed by a vote of 49 to 50.” (06/04/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5910245-senate-gop-amendment-anti-weaponization-fund/
- Guide missing for a week on Mount Everest found crawling to base camp: “Nothing short of a miracle”
Source: CBS News
“A Sherpa guide who went missing last week while descending Mount Everest with a client has been found alive, according to the crew that led the search for him. His survival amid treacherous conditions on the world’s tallest peak has been hailed as ‘a miracle’ by the mountaineering community in Nepal. Dawa Sherpa, 52, was located while crawling down to base camp and has since been reunited with his family, who said they had given up hope for his return. … Dawa was located by a cleaning crew Thursday morning as he was crawling down the snowy slopes around the Khumbu Icefall, just above base camp, said Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions, which coordinated the search. He was quickly carried down to safety and given food and water. A rescue helicopter flew him to HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu, where his wife and daughter, who already had begun funeral rituals for him, were waiting.” (06/04/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/guide-missing-week-mount-everest-found-alive-base-camp/
- US weekly jobless claims increase to four-month high; worker productivity revised down
Source: Reuters
“The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits increased more than expected last week, touching their highest level in four months, but the underlying trend remained consistent with a stable labor market. Economists shrugged off the rise in weekly jobless claims reported by the Labor Department on Thursday as volatility related to last Monday’s Memorial Day holiday. Claims tend to rise around public holidays. They said there were no signs yet the Middle East conflict was having a noticeable impact on the labor market, though uncertainty was growing.” (06/04/26)
- NASA’s Mars MAVEN probe is dead
Source: Engadget
“NASA has officially ended the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission, six months after it lost contact with the probe. MAVEN was the agency’s first program dedicated to studying the Martian atmosphere and its evolution. It launched in 2013 from Cape Canaveral and entered the Martian orbit nearly a year later in 2014. The probe’s primary science mission was scheduled to last one year, but it ended up spending more than 11 years in orbit, sending back data from Mars. NASA even used it as an antenna for the Mars 2020 mission, which brought the Perserance rover to the planet. The last time the agency heard from MAVEN was on December 6, 2025, before it suddenly lost signal after passing behind Mars.” (06/04/26)
https://www.engadget.com/2187315/nasa-ends-maven-mars-mission/
- Trump whines over “unpatriotic” vote to shut down his illegal Iran war
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“US President Donald Trump has hit back at lawmakers who voted to send him a rebuke over the war in Iran, labelling the group ‘unpatriotic.’ On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed a measure that seeks to halt Trump from taking further military action. In a post on Truth Social, the president wrote: ‘Yesterday, in a meaningless vote, the House voted, 4 bad Republicans and all of the Dumocrats, to limit my War Powers, right in the middle of my final negotiations to end the War with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Who would do such an unpatriotic thing.'” (06/04/26)
- Blackstone restricts flagship fund withdrawals as private asset fears reemerge
Source: CNBC
“Blackstone is restricting withdrawals from its flagship Blackstone Private Credit (BCRED) fund following a spike in investor redemption requests. The asset management giant capped investor withdrawals from the $79 billion non-traded business development company at 5% of shares, after redemption requests hit 10%, or about $4.5 billion, during the second quarter.” (06/04/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/04/blackstone-caps-withdrawals-private-credit.html
- Feds: Airport suspect packed explosive device for flight, caught with cryptic message on phone
Source: Fox News
“A California man is facing federal charges after authorities say he attempted to pass through security at Sacramento International Airport with an explosive device in his carry-on luggage while preparing to board a flight to North Carolina. Kimani Osayande Jones, also known as Kimani Osayande Jackson, 49, of Sacramento, was charged by criminal complaint with unlawfully possessing explosive material in an airport …. Authorities allege that a search of his carry-on backpack revealed an M-type explosive device, a torch lighter capable of igniting it, a knife, scissors, a scissor blade, an aerosol can and zip ties. … Federal prosecutors said Jones was also carrying five cellphones. According to the complaint, all five phones had tape covering their front-facing cameras. One phone allegedly had a 15-minute timer ready to start, while another displayed a message from an unidentified number stating, ‘we will be awaiting your call.'” (06/04/26)
- How Bari Weiss’s Free Press laundered MAGA talking points about refugees
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko“Of course, Weiss understands perfectly well the moment we’re in. She knows she wasn’t put in charge of CBS News because of her skeptical nature or keen journalistic eye. She was put in charge because she has shown that she can leverage a carefully crafted image as an iconoclast and teller of truths to launder MAGA propaganda so that it’s more palatable to centrists. She was put in charge because the Ellisons need Trump’s blessing for their mega merger – and if ever there was a favor tailor-made to win Trump’s approval, it’s kneecapping a major news network and toppling one of the last remaining pillars of broadcast journalism in the process. Weiss has positioned herself and her publications as bold disruptors, then leveraged that image to legitimize some of Trump’s worst rhetoric and policies. And few issues better demonstrate that pattern than immigration.” (06/05/26)
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/how-bari-weisss-free-press-laundered
- Have Data Centers Actually Raised Electricity Prices?
Source: Independent Institute
by Paige Lambermont“Data centers have commanded significant ire recently, as their power demand rises and ratepayers are concerned about price increases. But this is a faulty narrative. At least to this point, data centers have not been shown to have caused higher power prices.” (06/06/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/06/06/data-centers-electricity-prices/
- Why Those in Political Power Are in a Hurry
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Richard M Ebeling“Those in political power always seem to be in a hurry. It is not surprising that their time horizons for ‘action’ never extend more than a few years ahead of them, though for different reasons. If it is a dictatorship, the tyrant in power can never be sure when an assassin’s bullet might cut his life short, or if some of his ‘loyal’ followers may be conspiring to overthrow him and replace him with one of their own. … why is it the case that in America today (and in most other modern democratic countries), those who hold political office seem so much in a hurry with short-term horizons guiding their actions, in their own way similar to dictatorships?” (06/05/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/why-those-in-political-power-are-in-a-hurry/
- How Minds Might Change
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman“My recent posts dealt with the possibility of libertarians and Abundance liberals learning from each other. For that to happen members of both groups have to either alter their present views or add new ones. For a simple example of the latter, my interaction with Steve Schulhofer, described in my previous post, made me aware of problems with the criminal justice system of which I had been unaware; the two of us then worked out and proposed an approach to dealing with them. For an example in the other direction, a commenter on my post linked to a piece on problems with professional licensing. That is an issue libertarians that are very aware of that should be of interest to Abundance liberals as one of the things they might want to fix.” (06/06/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/how-minds-might-change
- War, Arrogance, and the Unraveling of US Power
Source: Antiwar.com
by Nii Lantey Bortey“The United States is not approaching collapse because it lacks power. It is approaching collapse because it has too often mistaken power for wisdom. Its armed forces remain unmatched in reach, its financial system remains central to global commerce, and its technology sector continues to shape the future. Yet these advantages can conceal a more dangerous condition: the erosion of judgment. A superpower begins to decay when it treats coercion as strategy, military reach as political authority, and exemption from rules as evidence of strength. The result is not immediate collapse, but a cumulative weakening of legitimacy, fiscal discipline, institutional trust, and strategic clarity.” (06/05/26)
- Congress Must End Ticketmaster’s Monopoly
Source: Common Dreams
by Joe Garcia“If you’ve ever been to a concert or sporting event, you’ve probably dealt with Ticketmaster. And if you have, you’ve probably overpaid. Ticketmaster is the closest thing the live events industry has to a monopoly. It controls the ticketing market at most major American venues and has used that power to squeeze fans with higher prices and limit competition, ultimately making live entertainment more expensive for everyone. That is why recent legal action against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, was so encouraging. A jury ruled in April that it is an operating illegal monopoly. Remedies will follow; the question is when. Fans should not have to skip seeing their favorite band, team, or performer because a monopolistic corporation has found another way to extract money from them.” (06/06/26)
- Section 301 “Forced Labor” Tariffs Would Dangerously Expand Executive Power
Source: The Daily Economy
by Bryan Riley“The White House has yet another rationale for tariffs, and it’s another attack on the separation of powers.” (06/05/26)
- America, the Inessential Nation
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman“Before Trump, we were also a nation almost universally regarded as essential: Nations believed that they needed access to U.S. banks to do business, access to U.S. markets to prosper, access to U.S. weapons to defend themselves. But by breaking decades’ worth of international agreements — not to mention threatening allies and betraying Ukraine — Trump quickly forfeited the world’s trust. By failing so spectacularly against Iran, a far weaker military power, Trump has dispelled much of the world’s fear. And now the fact that the world is managing economically despite Trump’s tariffs, while Ukraine is surviving despite Trump’s attempt to cut it off at the knees, has revealed that we are much less essential than everyone assumed.” (06/05/26)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/america-the-inessential-nation
- Goodbye To All That
Source: Persuasion
by Harry Cheadle“I don’t know if anyone but me noticed, but digital media died last month. In mid-May, a media mogul named Byron Allen bought a majority stake in BuzzFeed, which has been culturally invisible and financially struggling since shutting down its news division in 2023 and pivoting to AI content. Just weeks later, Vox Media, a collection of brands including New York Magazine, sold its more valuable properties to Lupa Systems CEO James Murdoch, the younger son of Rupert Murdoch. Companies like Vice and Vox were hailed as the future of media in the 2010s, standard-bearers of a new generation of youth-focused, internet-savvy publications that would take over from the New York Times and CNN.” (06/05/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/a-requiem-for-the-digital-media-era
- Why do the Republicans have the celebrity candidates?
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Matt K Lewis“Until recently, American politics operated on a simple premise: Aspiring politicians must suck up to party bosses, run for local office, earn supporters, master policy details and only then earn a shot at higher office. That model has collapsed. Today’s rising stars take a different escalator — television, social media, podcasts, activism, entertainment or the internet — that goes straight to the top.
Their chief currency is not institutional support but the attention economy. Which helps explain why Los Angeles now finds itself facing the possibility that Spencer Pratt could make a mayoral runoff.” (06/05/26) - Bravo, Bezos!
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman“When an American businessman defends the large fortunes made — that is, earned — in the marketplace, it’s something to celebrate. Jeff Bezos, the creator and head of Amazon.com, did just that in a recent wide-ranging interview on CNBC’s Squawk Pod with host Andrew Ross Sorkin on May 20, 2026. While his remarks on political philosophy did not go far enough in defending the morality of money-making, they went farther than anything we have heard from a businessman in quite some time, if ever. In this age of rampant anti-rich bigotry — when prominent politicians, darlings of much of the old and new media, say that should not exist — Bezos’s remarks are refreshing indeed.” (06/05/26)
- Democrats’ Supreme Court threat puts the United States in mortal danger
Source: New York Post
by Rich Lowry“In 2016, the conservative writer Michael Anton made a galvanizing case for Donald Trump in his famous essay ‘The Flight 93 Election,’ arguing that the stakes in the presidential contest between Trump and Hillary Clinton were existential. His contention that a Clinton win would cement Democratic electoral dominance forever — such that Republicans needed to charge the cockpit or die — was implausible at the time, and seems more so in retrospect. If Hillary had won in 2016, in all likelihood she would have been gone in 2020, washed away by the pandemic just like Trump was. This time, though, really might be different. Democrats are now seriously contemplating measures that wouldn’t have occurred to Hillary Clinton circa 2016. Endorsing some version of Supreme Court packing (or ‘court reform’ as Democrats insist on calling it) is becoming orthodoxy among mainstream Democrats.” (06/05/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/06/05/opinion/democrats-supreme-court-threat-puts-the-us-in-mortal-danger/
- The Nerve of Some People
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“‘Police warn families of Tiananmen crackdown dead not to visit graves on 37th anniversary,’ reads the headline of yesterday’s story in New York’s Newsday. How rude of those families! How dare they show such utter disregard for the right of the Chinese Communist Party to ‘grind you up and crush your bones!’ Or to have your ‘heads bashed bloody,’ as CCP top Pooh Bear Xi Jinping has more recently been fond of saying. Especially after all the trouble Xi and Chinese authorities have gone to easing all this unnecessary tension by facilitating a thoughtful and therapeutic four-decade ‘campaign to erase what happened from public memory.'” (06/05/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/06/05/the-nerve-of-some-people/
- Think of What the US Could Pay For If It Stopped Funding War
Source: National Priorities Project
by Hanna Homestead“Our country’s massive weapons budget has directly enabled the US-Israeli led war on Iran that has caused thousands of deaths and is exacerbating the nation’s affordability crisis. Even if the war on Iran ends soon, it will have cost somewhere in the range of $50 billion to $72 billion, or more. The US weapons and war budget already exceeds $1 trillion, and President Donald Trump and his cronies want even more. Trump’s Pentagon budget request for FY 2027 includes $95 billion to buy more bombs and missiles, and specifically to restock munitions used in the US-Israel war of aggression on Iran and those fueling ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine and Lebanon. The administration plans to continue to arm Israel, which the Trump National Defense Strategy identifies as ‘a model ally’ that the United States has ‘an opportunity now to further empower’. ” (06/06/26)
- It’s My Party and I’ll Die If I Want To
Source: Quillette
by Rosalind Arden“The most consequential weakness of philosopher and journalist Kathleen Stock’s new polemic against assisted dying is its failure to engage with the empirical record.” (06/05/26)
- Are OPEC’s Days of Dominance Over? Why the Cartel Is Cracking
Source: The Daily Economy
by Mohamed Moutii“Once a dominant force in global energy markets, OPEC is facing growing fragmentation from within and intensifying competition from without.” (06/05/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/are-opecs-days-of-dominance-over-why-the-cartel-is-cracking/
- The Wages of Economic Warfare
Source: The American Conservative
by Anik Joshi“The traditional blowback from Middle Eastern adventures has been in terms of refugee inflows and a less stable, more risky MENA region that produces knock-on effects across the European political frame. Going beyond destabilizing Europe to destabilizing the entire world as a function of Middle Eastern wars is unlikely to win converts to the Western cause, unless they share its dedication to their own destruction.” (06/05/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-wages-of-economic-warfare/
- Can Democrats Learn From the 2024 Loss?
Source: The American Prospect
by Dylan Gyauch-Lewis“After months of speculation and anger, the Democratic National Committee finally released its autopsy of the party’s loss in the 2024 presidential election just before Memorial Day weekend. Despite pledging to release the document publicly when first elected to lead the Democratic Party’s organizational arm in early 2025, DNC Chair Ken Martin reversed course in December of last year, announcing that the report would not be published. Why? Some speculated it was merely a way for party insiders to avoid accountability for their failures; many others that it showed Kamala Harris lost because of her refusal to disavow Joe Biden’s policy toward Israel. As it turns out, the coverup was due to a much more banal and embarrassing reason: Martin’s friend whom he hired to complete the report turned in a pile of garbage.” (06/05/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/06/05/can-democrats-learn-from-2024-loss-biden-harris-dnc/
- Social Constructs and Spontaneous Order
Source: EconLog
by Max Molden“‘Social construction’ is prominent: we are told in various places that this or that is a ‘social construct’: think of gender, race, or money. One book that played a central role in the emergence of that concept is Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann’s 1966 The Social Construction of Reality. That work can proudly claim more than 90,000 citations as of today — only in its English version, that is. Its influence within sociology, and then beyond, is thus enormous. … social constructivism shares roots with Austrian school thinking. Somewhere along the way, however, a fine but crucial distinction has been blurred within social constructivist thought.” (06/05/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/social-constructs-and-spontaneous-order
- America’s Exit Tax Is an Unconstitutional Violation of Human Rights, Part 1
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Wendy McElroy“The U.S. border and the requirements for U.S. citizenship or residency are defining issues of this decade. But almost all the attention they receive focuses on one side of the coin: namely, how to control immigration and who is entitled to citizenship or residency. The other side: how easily can Americans emigrate and renounce their citizenship? Expatriation is rare in comparison to the deluge of immigration in recent years, but the ease with which a citizen can become an expatriate is a litmus test of a government’s authoritarianism. How tight a grip does America claim to have over an individual and his wealth because of a geographical accident of birth? Exit taxes provide an answer.” (06/04/26)
- Can’t Anyone Here Not Play This Political Game?
Source: Garrison Center
by Joel Schlosberg“It may be 64 years after the New York Mets losing 120 baseball matches in their debut season led manager Casey Stengel to plead ‘Can’t anyone here play this game?’ Yet The Wall Street Journal columnist William A. Galston notes that the same question could still apply to another ‘two monumentally inept teams.’ … Galston has in mind the Democrats and Republicans, ‘Capitol Hill’s Unlovable Losers’ (May 27). Less than two full years after the 2024 presidential election, Galston has merely to nod at the former party’s abject failure to learn from their loss, and the latter’s squandering of what little momentum remains from their win.” (06/04/26)
- The Covenant
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders“Some argue that to sacralize others is not a legal contrivance, but an ontological discovery. Rights are real, some insist. Rights are a derivation, others argue. We need not settle that debate. Every tradition that has ever produced wisdom — whether Mosaic, Stoic, Vedic, or Taoist — arrives at the same conclusion: To trespass upon others without cause is not merely a crime, it is a desecration. … The very foundation of law, in every civilization that has not entirely lost its way, is an elaboration on this. One may not injure the innocent. One may not seize what is not his. One may not constrain a person without justification sufficient to meet the scrutiny of a free people who seek similar protections.” (06/04/26)
- AI Won’t Stave Off the Debt Disaster
Source: Law & LIberty
by Mitch Daniels“The evidence is persuasive that AI and related advances are already boosting the economy in the most important way possible, by raising productivity. That’s the biggest reason that GDP is surprising on the upside while job growth remains tepid. Moreover, forecasts that this favorable windage will accelerate seem highly credible. What’s not credible is the idea that even an AI-led productivity surge can suffice to offset our decades of dereliction. The Congressional Budget Office, the Federal Reserve, and other forecasters peg average future economic growth at a little under 2 percent. Assume a 70 percent boost from the AI revolution, to 3 percent or so, and it becomes possible to imagine our [sic] current debt level stabilizing, not improving but merely getting no worse. But even this daydream requires far too many improbable breaks.” [editor’s note: The US government debt isn’t “our” debt, it’s the US government’s debt. There’s a difference – TLK] (06/04/26)
- Nobody’s Perfect
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson“Progressives rallying around the troubled candidacy of Graham Platner, the habitually dishonest skirt-chasing Totenkopf enthusiast challenging that nice Maine lady for a Senate seat, have learned precisely the wrong lessons from Republicans’ experience with Donald Trump, an experience that has left the GOP morally debased and ethically discredited and—perhaps Republicans will actually care about this part—unable to get much of what it wants politically. Legitimate issues, such as immigration control and abortion regulation, have been tainted by association with Trump and Trumpism, which means dishonesty and stupidity in the formulation of policy followed by incompetence and corruption in the execution of policy. Progressives will get the same thing from such a figure as Platner.” (06/04/26)
https://thedispatch.com/article/platner-trump-morals-perfect-maine-primary/
- TDS Watch: The “Convicted Felon” Argument
Source: Town Hall
by Larry Elder“‘Trump is a convicted felon!’ Who hasn’t heard this attack line made constantly by critics of President Donald Trump? For them, Trump’s conviction settles the debate about his character and fitness for office. But consider what one prominent legal analyst — not from Fox News, Newsmax or a conservative publication — wrote about the case. The charge against Trump brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg boils down to this. Trump recorded payments connected to the Stormy Daniels matter as legal expenses. Bragg transformed that into 34 felony counts and secured a conviction in a jurisdiction where Trump remains unpopular. Elie Honig, CNN’s senior legal analyst, outlined his objections in New York Magazine. He was brutal.” (06/04/26)
- Boosting reliability: How HVDC “back to backs” improve power sharing between grids
Source: Niskanen Center
by Rachel Levine & Maggie Zhang“High-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology is widely recognized as the preferred solution for long-distance power transmission, but it also plays a critical role in ‘back to back’ connections that transfer power between neighboring grids. Electricity sharing among the nation’s three grid interconnections relies entirely on these back-to-back facilities, but most were built decades ago and have limited transfer capability. Upgrading these HVDC back-to-backs is an opportunity to help meet the nation’s rapidly rising demand for energy.” (06/04/26)
- Move Fast, Surveil Things
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Cooper Quintin“Meta has deployed facial recognition code to millions of their always-on surveillance glasses, according to new reporting by Wired. EFF’s Threat Lab was able to confirm that the facial recognition code is present through static analysis of the application. This dangerous new Meta functionality stores faceprints as a series of 2,048 numbers uniquely representing the positioning of a person’s facial features. When this feature is activated, it will convert every new face in the sightlines of the surveillance glasses into a series of numbers, and compare it to all the existing faceprints in the user’s database. Wired and EFF confirmed that the code is present and active, though not yet exposed to consumers.” (06/04/26)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/move-fast-surveil-things
- Why do students censor themselves?
Source: Expression
by Chapin Lenthall-Cleary“In our College Free Speech Rankings survey, we ask students how often they feel they cannot express their opinions. Around one in six say they self-censor fairly often or very often. What can we say about what causes this? First, self-censorship is more common on the right …. Why are conservatives, and especially conservative women, more likely to self-censor? One reason might be to hide their political beliefs from professors (who skew heavily liberal) in order to get a better grade in class …” (06/04/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/why-do-students-censor-themselves
- Congresswoman Fakes Code Pink “Assault,” And Other Notes
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Republican congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna falsely reported that antiwar activist Medea Benjamin ‘smacked’ her during a confrontation on Thursday, subsequently calling the police in an effort to get the Code Pink leader charged with assault. If you watch the video of the so-called ‘assault,’ it’s the funniest thing you’ve ever seen in your life. The 73 year-old activist barely grazes the clothing on Luna’s arm with her hand while speaking, after which the US Air Force veteran Luna collapses into a pile of blubbering victimhood. Benjamin reports that she was briefly detained by Capitol Police after the incident, but was released without charges after officers reviewed the video footage.” (06/04/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/06/04/congresswoman-fakes-code-pink-assault-and-other-notes/
- Spy chief pick has the Trump playbook: Attack political enemies
Source: Washington Post
by David Ignatius“Bill Pulte has no intelligence experience. But he has proved he’ll target the president’s foes.” (06/04/26)
- In Britain, A Tragic Murder Was Followed By Mass Confusion
Source: Persuasion
by Cathy Young“Here’s what the case looks like without the hyperbole.” (06/04/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/in-britain-a-tragic-murder-was-followed
- CA Dems dumped Porter, but Maine Dems hold onto Platner for dear life
Source: Fox News
by Hugh Hewitt“Former Democratic Congresswoman Katie Porter got smoked in Tuesday’s ‘jungle primary’ for California’s governor’s race, the runoff for which will come in November. Right now, it looks like Steve Hilton vs. Xavier Becerra will face each other in the general election, though that won’t be certain for days — but we do know Porter won’t be in the final. She plummeted from her position as the early front-runner and darling of progressives last year after questions about her temperament surfaced and she never left. When ABC News ran headlines like this last month, readers knew her campaign was finished: ‘Katie Porter fights questions on temperament as the only woman in crowded California gubernatorial race. Experts are mixed over whether she should have raised outbursts that went viral.'” (06/04/26)
- Commerce and Warehouse Clubs
Source: EconLog
by Art Carden“Sol Price did not set out to change retail. He stumbled into it by accident and alertness. He was an active member of his community in San Diego and served as a lawyer for several retailers and wholesalers, including those in jewelry and liquor, who sold to a Los Angeles store called Fedco. He accompanied his clients to Los Angeles to visit a Fedco store. Fedco was a store that sold to government employees at deep discounts. Price observed that many government employees commuted from San Diego to Los Angeles, and he believed a similar store could do well in San Diego. He and his partners presented their proposal to Fedco, which rejected it. Price, however, had a warehouse in San Diego he needed to do something with, and he thought, ‘Why not do in San Diego what Fedco doesn’t want to?'” (06/04/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/commerce-and-warehouse-clubs
- Roddie Edmonds and the Power of Saying No
Source: The Daily Economy
by Barry Brownstein“Liberty depends on individuals saying no to power, especially when authority demands moral compromise, as one American officer proved behind barbed wire in World War II.” (06/04/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/roddie-edmonds-and-the-power-of-saying-no/
- It’s Time to Set Global Labor Standards for the Gig Economy
Source: Foreign Policy In Focus
by Lena Simet & Anna Bacciarelli“Most discussion of artificial intelligence and work is about the future: which jobs may disappear, which skills may lose value, which workers may be replaced. But for millions of gig workers, who work for online platforms such as Uber, this future is already here. Algorithms set their pay, assign their tasks, monitor their performance, and determine whether they can keep working at all. … This leaves many workers with unstable pay, dangerous conditions, and little recourse when something goes wrong. But this could be about to change. From June 1 to 12 in Geneva, governments will enter a final round of negotiations at the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations agency dedicated to labor rights, over the first binding global standard for what is called platform work.” [editor’s note: The “problem” with gig workers is that they don’t answer to government bureaucrats, and lovers of government bureaucracy hate that – TLK] (06/04/26)
https://fpif.org/ai-runs-the-global-gig-economy-governments-must-respond/
- The Good Fight, 06/06/26
Source: Yascha Mounk
“Yascha Mounk and Steve Stewart-Williams examine what science reveals about biological and psychological differences between men and women.” (06/06/26)
- Fountainhead Forum, episode 455
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Mark Rutherford on building a good Libertarian Party.” (06/05/26)
https://rumble.com/v7au07u-ff-455-mark-rutherford-on-building-a-good-libertarian-party.html
- The Climate Realism Show, episode 204
Source: Heartland Institute
“Summer has arrived in Europe a little early this year and alarmists in the media say it’s unprecedented, dangerous, all because of climate change. But what if it is not our fault? What if it’s not all that unusual? We will sweat the details.” (06/05/26)
https://heartland.org/podcasts/europe-boils-the-climate-realism-show-204/
- The Focus Group, 06/06/26
Source: The Bulwark
“‘I’m Definitely Regretting It’ — Trump Voters Sound Off (w/ Amy Walter).” (06/06/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 06/05/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“The Economic Implications of the Iran War | Phillip Patrick.” (06/05/26)
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 06/05/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Rages Over Iran Setbacks as Leaks Reveal His Seething Obama Envy.” (06/05/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/211400/trump-rages-iran-setbacks-leaks-reveal-seething-obama-envy
- Reasonably Optimistic, 06/05/26
Source: Washington Post
“How weddings got so expensive.” (06/05/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/how-weddings-got-so-expensive
- The Tom Woods Show, episode 2767
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“What the New Fed Chair Means for Your Pocketbook.” (06/05/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2767-what-the-new-fed-chair-means-for-your-pocketbook/
- The Anarchist Experience, episode 583
Source: The Anarchist Experience
“Rich, Lori, and Riley wish you a Happy Heemeyer Day, and discuss Riley’s breadmaking activism, how prices adjust with changes in the money supply, and this HEADLINE: HPD officer accused of sex assault by woman he pulled over seeks dismissal of charges,” (06/04/26)
https://theanarchistexperience.wordpress.com/2026/06/05/the-anarchist-experience-583/
- The Business List, episode 46
Source: LP Alliance
“Your source for stories inside the [Libertarian Party], across the country, and around the world!” (06/04/26)
- Politics Politics Politics, 06/04/26
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“The Graham Platner Situation Gets WORSE! Texas Senate Races and DC Bar Drama (with Reese Gorman).” (06/04/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/the-graham-platner-situation-gets
- Nonzero, 06/04/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“Seeing China Clearly | Robert Wright & Tianyu Fang.” (06/04/26)
- NPR Politics Podcast, 06/04/26
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“Voters reject the establishment in this week’s primaries.” (06/04/26)
https://www.npr.org/2026/06/04/nx-s1-5846550/voters-reject-the-establishment-in-this-weeks-primaries
- The Chris Hedges Report, 06/04/26
Source: The Chris Hedges Report
“Jeffrey Epstein, the Russian Mob, & the Hidden Assets of the Maxwells (w/ Moe Tkacik).” (06/04/26)
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/jeffrey-epstein-the-russian-mob-and
- Open Tab, 06/04/26
Source: Substack
“[Joanna Coles] on the golden age of glossies, managing media decline, the Daily Beast’s next chapter, and what life looks like on the other side.” (06/04/26)
- Mark Edge Show, 06/04/26
Source: Free Talk Live
“Mark sits down with comedian and author Andrew Heaton to discuss his new book, Tribalism is Dumb: Where It Came From, How It Got So Bad, and What to Do About It …” (06/04/26)
- Radio Atlantic, 06/04/26
Source: The Atlantic
“Is the GOP Starting to Defy Trump?” (06/04/26)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2026/06/indiana-trump-republicans/687423
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 06/04/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“House Votes To End Iran War – Will Trump Ignore Congress?” (06/04/26)
- Half the Answer, episode 86
Source: Liberal Currents
“The Two American Reconstructions: An Appraisal, Reflection.” (06/04/26)
- Rising, 06/04/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on the recent anniversary of a tweet from NPR about public health experts signing a letter that supported the anti-racism protests during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.” (06/04/26)