08/02 -- Fitch downgrades US regime's long-term debt rating; The Way We Censor Now

In the News:

1) Fitch downgrades US regimes long-term debt rating
2) Poland: Regime Rushes Troops to Border, Claims Belarusian Helicopters Violated Airspace
3) Disgraced former president indicted again
4) Portugal: Pope arrives for World Youth Day visit as country grapples with clergy sexual abuse
5) Myanmar: Junta pardons political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi on some charges
6) Ford restarts electric pickup truck factory after retooling to increase output, says orders are up
7) Family of Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were taken, settle case
8) Yemen: Five Southern Transitional Council troops killed in suspected al Qaeda attack
9) Iran: Regime will close offices, banks & schools over high temperatures
10) Mortgage giant Fannie Mae says a recession is still coming at the end of the year
11) NASA picks up “heartbeat” signal from Voyager 2 after sending wrong command
12) Turkey: Shooting at Swedish consulate injures employee
13) China: Regime asks [sic] some banks to reduce or delay dollar buying to ease pressure on yuan
14) US job openings fell to more than two-year low in June
15) WI: Court that almost overturned Biden’s win flips to liberal [sic] control
16) Haiti: Aid group working to secure freedom of kidnapped American nurse, daughter
17) CA: Giant “X” sign removed from former Twitter headquarters building
18) Biden overturns Trump decision on US space command headquarters location
19) Niger crisis deepens as European nations evacuate
20) Sweden: Regime rules out sweeping changes to free speech law amid Quran burnings

Everybody Has An Opinion:

21) The Way We Censor Now
22) “Biden Crime Family”: The Difference Which Made No Difference Still Makes No Difference
23) Hiroshima and Nagasaki Were Shameful War Crimes
24) Hierarchy’s Limits: It’s the Complexity, Stupid
25) A Defense of the Supreme Court
26) Why Not Punish Families?
27) Statism and the Unmaking of Reality
28) The Forever War’s Forever Legacy: Shutting Down Gitmo Is Hardly the Last Step
29) A World Dedollarized is Gold Remonetized
30) Texas Campus Conservatives are Expanding Their Crusade to Silence Leftists and Critics
31) Ford set to lose $4.5 billion on electric vehicles this year, despite increased revenue
32) We’re all living in Art Bell’s world
33) Avoiding Scylla and Charybdis
34) WaPo Keeps Cheerleading Sending Cluster Bombs to Ukraine
35) How Lockheed’s $7.9 billion stock buyback bonanza is paid for by you
36) Our [sic] National Debt Isn’t Bad, It’s Worse
37) Here’s Why Congress Won’t Ban Members from Stock Trading
38) Don’t just drain the swamp; put age limits on politicians
39) Americans Need to Acknowledge Washington’s Wartime Atrocities
40) Giuliani Hits the Moral Bottom
41) The Black Hole of Student Loans
42) Patient Zero: Tom Scully
43) Republicans would love to impeach Biden. It would backfire on them.
44) Antitrust problems in patents and copyrights: A primer for policymakers
45) Will the Biden Administration Ban Cigars?
46) What Happens After Social Security’s Trust Fund Runs Out?
47) Room Temperature Superforecaster
48) Our personal security — some further thoughts
49) Climate Justice is a Disability Issue
50) The Great Misinformation Panic

The Sound and the Fury:

51) The Enrages, episode 25
52) Cato Daily Podcast, 08/01/23
53) Rising, 08/01/23
54) Hubwonk, 08/01/23
55) The Chris Spangle Show, 08/01/23
56) Pod Save America, 08/01/23
57) The Charles C.W. Cooke Podcast, episode 37
58) The Bryan Hyde Show, 08/01/23
59) The New Abnormal, 08/01/23
60) The Fifth Column, episode 416
61) Advisory Opinions, 08/01/23
62) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 08/01/23
63) IP … Frequently, episode 198
64) FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast, 07/31/23
65) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 07/31/23

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***** In the News *****

1) Fitch downgrades US regimes long-term debt rating
Source: CNBC

“Fitch Ratings downgraded the United States [regime’s] long-term foreign currency issuer default rating to AA+ from AAA on Tuesday, pointing to ‘expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years,’ as well as a growing general debt burden. Back in May, the agency placed the [regime]’s AAA rating on negative watch, blaming the debt ceiling fight. … ‘In Fitch’s view, there has been a steady deterioration in standards of governance over the last 20 years, including on fiscal and debt matters, notwithstanding the June bipartisan agreement to suspend the debt limit until January 2025,’ the ratings agency said. … The agency also highlighted the rising general government deficit, which it anticipates will rise to 6.3% of gross domestic product in 2023, from 3.7% in 2022.” (08/01/23)

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/01/fitch-downgrades-us-long-term-ratings-to-aa-from-aaa.html

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2) Poland: Regime Rushes Troops to Border, Claims Belarusian Helicopters Violated Airspace
Source: Antiwar.com

“Poland on Tuesday said it was rushing more troops to its border with Belarus after accusing Minsk of violating its airspace with military helicopters, a claim Belarusian officials denied. According to Reuters, Poland’s Defense Ministry said it was sending ‘additional forces and resources, including combat helicopters’ to the border. Belarus has accused Poland of making up allegations about helicopters violating its airspace to justify a further buildup on the border. ‘This statement was not backed up by data from Poland,’ The Belarusian Defense Ministry said. ‘The Belarusian Defense Ministry views it in the manner of an ‘old wives’ tale’ and notes there were no border violations by Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters,’ the ministry added. Poland has already been beefing up its border due to the presence of the Russian mercenary force Wagner Group in Belarus.” (08/01/23)

https://news.antiwar.com/2023/08/01/poland-rushes-troops-to-border-claims-belarusian-helicopters-violated-airspace/

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3) Disgraced former president indicted again
Source: The Hill

“Former President Trump has been indicted by a Washington grand jury on charges stemming from his efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election. … Trump will face charges on four counts for three different crimes including his conspiracy to deprive citizens the ‘free exercise’ of constitutional rights like voting. If convicted, offenders face a fine or up to 10 years in prison. Also included were charges for conspiracy to defraud the United States, a nod to the Trump campaign’s creation of fake electoral certificates that were submitted to Congress. The charges also include obstruction of an official proceeding, one of the charges also leveled at numerous rioters who entered the building, including members of the Oath Keepers and military and chauvinist group the Proud Boys. The inclusion of a conspiracy charge also suggests there could be other co-defendants included in the indictment.” (08/01/23)

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4131995-trump-indicted-on-jan-6-charges/

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4) Portugal: Pope arrives for World Youth Day visit as country grapples with clergy sexual abuse
Source: Aol

“Pope Francis landed in Lisbon on Wednesday for a global gathering of young Catholics taking place in the shadow of Portugal’s huge clergy sexual abuse scandal and criticism of soaring costs for the event. Hundreds of thousands of young people from around the world have descended on Lisbon to welcome Francis, whose plane, also carrying his entourage and reporters, touched down at Lisbon’s Figo Maduro military air base. His first stop will be a welcoming ceremony hosted by Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa at the presidential Belem Palace. World Youth Day was devised by the late Pope John Paul for young Catholics in their teens or early 20s and is held every two or three years in a different city. This will be the first since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” (08/02/23)

https://www.aol.com/news/pope-arrives-portugal-country-grapples-000414081.html

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5) Myanmar: Junta pardons political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi on some charges
Source: United Press International

“Myanmar’s ruling military junta on Tuesday pardoned ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi of five charges, leaving her imprisoned but reducing her sentence as part of a nationwide clemency tied to a Buddhist holiday. Suu Kyi, who was deposed in a February 2021 military coup, had counts related to incitement, violation of COVID-19 restrictions and possession of unlicensed communications equipment dropped, the junta announced. The 78-year-old Nobel Peace Prize-winning democracy activist has been convicted of 19 charges with a total sentence of 33 years, in a series of closed-door trials that supporters, rights groups and Western governments have condemned as a politically motivated sham.” (08/01/23)

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2023/08/01/myanmar-Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-pardoned-amnesty-Myanmar-military/4051690881817/

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6) Ford restarts electric pickup truck factory after retooling to increase output, says orders are up
Source: Seattle Times

“Ford is resuming production of the F-150 Lightning electric pickup after closing a factory in Dearborn, Michigan, for six weeks to triple production capacity. The move comes just two weeks after the company cut prices on all versions of the trucks, some by as much as $10,000, fueling speculation that demand had fallen. But company officials said Tuesday that they’re getting six times the orders now than before the price cuts, and Ford has an order bank big enough to take up 45 days of production at the reworked Rouge Electric Vehicle Center. The company wouldn’t give an exact number of orders. Lightning sales in the second quarter of the year were more than double the same period in 2022, but there were up only 4% from the first quarter.” (08/01/23)

https://archive.is/uMHpu

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7) Family of Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were taken, settle case
Source: BBC News [UK state media]

“The family of a black woman whose cervical cells were harvested in 1951 without her knowledge and replicated infinitely ever since have reached a settlement with a biotech company. Henrietta Lacks’ cells enabled huge advances in medical science, and the cell line is still being used in research institutes worldwide. But they were taken without consent. Ms Lacks'[s] family never received any compensation, and have fought for years to get justice for the ‘stolen’ cells. The details of the settlement reached on Monday with Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc have not been made public. Ms Lacks, a 31-year-old mother from Baltimore, Maryland, began experiencing pain in her abdomen and abnormal bleeding in 1951. She was examined by gynaecologists at Johns Hopkins Hospital, who discovered a large mass on her cervix.” (08/01/23)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66376758

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8) Yemen: Five Southern Transitional Council troops killed in suspected al Qaeda attack
Source: ABC News

“A suspected militant attack early Tuesday in southern Yemen killed at least five troops loyal to a secessionist group, in the latest such assault blamed on an affiliate of al-Qaida, a military spokesman said. The attack took place in Wadi Omran in Abyan province and also wounded four troops from the Southern Armed Forces, which is loyal to the secessionist Southern Transitional Council, spokesman Mohammed al-Naqib said in a statement. The separatist council is backed by the United Arab Emirates and controls much of Yemen’s south. It is at odds with the [Saudi invaders’ quisling regime].” (08/01/23)

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/suspected-militant-attack-yemen-kills-5-troops-loyal-101902101

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9) Iran: Regime will close offices, banks & schools over high temperatures
Source: SFGate

“Iran announced a nationwide two-day holiday because of increasing temperatures, state media reported Tuesday. Government spokesperson Ali Bahadori Jahromi said the decision to close governmental offices, banks and schools on Wednesday and Thursday came after the health ministry warned about a possible increase in cases of heat exhaustion because of high temperatures in the country, the official IRNA news agency reported. In recent days, cities and towns in Iran saw temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). The capital, Tehran, experienced 38 C (100.4 F) on Tuesday. The metrological office predicted Tehran would see temperatures of 39 C (102.2 F) over the next three days. Ahvaz, the capital of an oil-rich province in the country’s southwest, experienced 50 C (122 F) on Tuesday. In 2022, Iran registered its hottest temperature at 53 C (127.4 F) in Ahvaz.” (08/01/23)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/iran-will-close-government-offices-banks-and-18271439.php

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10) Mortgage giant Fannie Mae says a recession is still coming at the end of the year
Source: Yahoo! Finance

“Fannie Mae’s in-house analysts still see a recession coming even as recent economic data comes in more robust than expected. ‘The economy has remained more resilient than we expected earlier in the year, but we believe it is still on a decelerating path and additional drags are likely forthcoming,’ Chryssa Halley, CFO of the government-sponsored enterprise that guarantees millions of home loans, said on the company’s second quarter earnings call on Tuesday. … The reason for the ongoing recession prediction? The economy and consumers haven’t fully absorbed the effects of tighter monetary policy and stricter lending standards, with Halley maintaining that more ‘banking stress remains a possibility.'” (08/01/23)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mortgage-giant-fannie-mae-says-a-recession-is-still-coming-at-the-end-of-the-year-160110524.html

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11) NASA picks up “heartbeat” signal from Voyager 2 after sending wrong command
Source: BBC News [UK state media]

“Nasa has picked up a ‘heartbeat’ signal from its Voyager 2 probe after it lost contact with it billions of miles away from Earth, the space agency said. Last month, the spacecraft — exploring the universe since 1977 — tilted its antenna to point two degrees away from Earth after a wrong command was sent. As a result, the probe stopped receiving commands or sending data. But on Tuesday, Nasa said a signal from Voyager 2 was picked up during a regular scan of the sky. Voyager 2 is more than 12.3 billion miles (19.9 billion km) from Earth …. Since 21 July, the probe has been unable to receive commands or send back data to Nasa’s Deep Space Network — an array of giant radio antennae across the world — and the spacecraft is not receiving commands from ground controllers. However, there is hope for the probe, with contact — albeit limited — now re-established.” (08/01/23)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-66371569

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12) Turkey: Shooting at Swedish consulate injures employee
Source: The News International [Pakistan]

“Authorities on Tuesday reported that a suspect opened fire at Sweden’s honorary consulate in the western Turkish province of Izmir, seriously injuring a Turkish employee. A ‘mentally disabled’ individual, according to the local governor’s office, launched an armed assault in Izmir’s Konak neighbourhood around 09:45 GMT, according to Al-Jazeera. According to TRT, Sweden’s national broadcaster, the attack took place in front of the honorary consulate of Sweden where the injured woman worked as the diplomatic mission’s secretary and ended up in a severe condition. According to the governor’s office, Turkish officials detained the gun-wielding attacker and started an inquiry into the event.” (08/01/23)

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1096252-shooting-at-swedish-consulate-in-izmir-turkey-injures-employee

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13) China: Regime asks [sic] some banks to reduce or delay dollar buying to ease pressure on yuan
Source: Reuters

“China’s currency regulators have in recent weeks asked some commercial banks to reduce or delay their dollar purchases, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said. The informal instruction, or the so-called window guidance, was meant to slow the pace of yuan depreciation, the sources said. One source said the regulators were emphatic banks should hold off dollar purchases under their proprietary trading accounts. Chinese yuan has lost 3.6% against the U.S. dollar so far this year, hitting 7.16 per dollar on Tuesday to be one of Asia’s worst performing currencies. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comments, while the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) told Reuters that exchange rate expectations were stable and it will push for a ‘risk-neutral’ mentality’ at companies and financial institutions.” (08/01/23)

https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/china-asks-some-banks-reduce-or-delay-dollar-buying-ease-pressure-yuan-sources-2023-08-01/

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14) US job openings fell to more than two-year low in June
Source: Reuters

“U.S. job openings fell to the lowest level in more than two years in June, but remained at levels consistent with tight labor market conditions despite hefty interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve to dampen demand. Job openings, a measure of labor demand, dropped 34,000 to 9.582 million on the last day of June, the lowest level since April 2021, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday.” (08/01/23)

https://archive.is/KMSAr

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15) WI: Court that almost overturned Biden’s win flips to liberal [sic] control
Source: WSOC 9 News

“The Wisconsin Supreme Court flips to liberal control for the first time in 15 years Tuesday with the start of the term of a new justice who made abortion rights a focus of her winning campaign. Janet Protasiewicz will mark the start of her term with a swearing-in ceremony in the state Capitol Rotunda, the type of pomp and circumstance typically reserved for governors. Protasiewicz’s win carries tremendous weight in Wisconsin, a battleground where the state Supreme Court has been the last word on some of the biggest political and policy battles of the past decade-plus. The conservative-controlled court came within one vote of overturning President Joe Biden’s narrow win in the state in 2020, though Biden still would have had enough electoral votes to claim the presidency.” (08/01/23)

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/politics/wisconsin-court-that/SVBDMEWDIO2R3P6IIMWJ7BV7TM/

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16) Haiti: Aid group working to secure freedom of kidnapped American nurse, daughter
Source: Aol

“Six days since American nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter were kidnapped from the community ministry where she works in Haiti, information about their capture and whereabouts remains unclear as the aid group works with authorities and partners in the United States and Haiti to secure their freedom, it said. The effort comes amid waves of crimes and unrest across Haiti, with more than 1,000 people taken hostage for ransom there this year, according to United Nations figures. … Dorsainvil, the wife of El Roi Haiti Director Sandro Dorsainvil, and their child reportedly were abducted Thursday morning while serving at their community ministry on El Roi Haiti’s campus near the capital city Port-au-Prince, according to a statement from the non-profit. It’s not clear how old their child is.” (08/01/23)

https://www.aol.com/aid-group-working-secure-freedom-144208757.html

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17) CA: Giant “X” sign removed from former Twitter headquarters building
Source: Fox News

“While Elon Musk says the headquarters of X Corp., formerly known as Twitter, won’t leave San Francisco, the flashing ‘X’ sign on top of its Market Street building apparently has. The move comes after the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection received 24 complaints about the unpermitted structure over the weekend, including concerns regarding its structural safety and flashing light. ‘This morning, building inspectors observed the structure being dismantled,’ Patrick Hannan, the city’s Department of Building Inspection communications director, said in a statement to FOX Business on Monday. ‘A building permit is required to remove the structure but, due to safety concerns, the permit can be secured after the structure is taken down. The property owner will be assessed [extortion demands] for the unpermitted installation of the illuminated structure.'” (08/01/23)

https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/giant-x-sign-removed-from-former-twitter-headquarters-building

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18) Biden overturns Trump decision on US space command headquarters location
Source: The Guardian [UK]

“Joe Biden has decided to keep US space command headquarters in Colorado, overturning a last-ditch decision by the administration of his presidential predecessor Donald Trump to move it to Alabama while also ending months of politically fueled debate, according to senior federal officials. The officials said Biden was convinced by the head of space command, Gen James Dickinson, who argued that moving his headquarters now would jeopardize military readiness. Dickinson’s view, however, was in contrast to air force leadership, who studied the issue at length and determined that relocating to Huntsville, Alabama, was the right move. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the decision ahead of the announcement.” (08/01/23)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/01/biden-space-command-headquarters-colorado

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19) Niger crisis deepens as European nations evacuate
Source: SFGate

“France, Italy and Spain announced evacuations from Niger for their citizens and other European nationals Tuesday, concerned that they risked becoming trapped by a military coup that won backing from three other West African nations also ruled by mutinous soldiers. Two unarmed French military transport planes, which left from southern France, were on the ground at Niamey’s airport by late afternoon Tuesday, and a third was expected, according to the French Joint Defense staff. There was no immediate information on the number of evacuees they would transport. France’s Foreign Ministry cited recent violence that targeted its embassy in Niamey, the capital, as one of the reasons for its decision to offer evacuation flights to several hundred of its citizens and other Europeans. It said the closure of Niger’s airspace ‘leaves our compatriots unable to leave the country by their own means.'” (08/01/23)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/as-regional-bloc-threatens-invention-in-niger-18271213.php

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20) Sweden: Regime rules out sweeping changes to free speech law amid Quran burnings
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatar state media]

“Sweden’s government has no plans to make sweeping changes to freedom of speech laws but repeated it would look into measures that would allow police to stop the burning of holy books in public if there was a clear threat to national security. ‘We stand up for the Swedish freedom of speech,’ Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a news conference on Tuesday. … Sweden and Denmark have seen a string of protests in recent weeks in which copies of the Quran were burned, or otherwise damaged, prompting outrage in Muslim countries and demands that the Nordic governments put a stop to the incidents of burning.” (08/01/23)

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/1/sweden-rules-out-sweeping-changes-to-free-speech-law-amid-quran-burnings

***** Everybody Has An Opinion *****

21) The Way We Censor Now
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

“In China, the government now sells software to social media companies so they have the best real-time idea of what the government currently does not want people to say. The companies then perform such obliging actions as removing posts and banning users. The software serves as a self-defense system — of the social media companies. You see, if the companies fail to sufficiently prevent government-outlawed speech on their websites, they will be punished. Maybe ruinously. By the Chinese government. So who is doing the censoring here? Obviously, the government. In the U.S., the intimidatory relationship between government and social media firms is not quite so advanced or nearly so clear. But as we keep learning from documents extracted by litigation and subpoenas, for years now our federal government has been telling firms to censor things, and the firms have complied.” (08/01/23)

https://thisiscommonsense.org/2023/08/01/the-way-we-censor-now/

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22) “Biden Crime Family”: The Difference Which Made No Difference Still Makes No Difference
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp

“We may be headed for the third presidential impeachment (and likely third Senate acquittal) in four years and, as with the first two, this one is less about any alleged ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ than it is about trying to ride a scandal to victory in the next presidential election. But in the post-Nixon era, no amount of scandal ever seems to move the needle very much for either party when it comes to election results. And why should it?” (08/01/23)

https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/17859

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23) Hiroshima and Nagasaki Were Shameful War Crimes
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger

“I have not yet seen Oppenheimer but from what I gather about the film, it does not dwell on the massive death and suffering that the U.S. government inflicted on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the nuclear bombs dropped on those two cities. What the film has done is revive the popular justification for the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which is the following: That the nuclear attacks on those two cities obviated the need to invade Japan and, therefore, supposedly ended up saving many more lives than those killed in the nuclear attacks. … In war, soldiers die. That’s the just the nature of war. To sacrifice women, children, seniors, and other non-combatants as a way to save the lives of soldiers is not only a war crime, it’s also a very shameful act.” (08/01/23)

https://www.fff.org/2023/08/01/hiroshima-and-nagasaki-were-shameful-war-crimes/

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24) Hierarchy’s Limits: It’s the Complexity, Stupid
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders

“Despite eighteenth-century revolutions in France and America, hierarchy is still the dominant form of social organization throughout most of the world. That is to say, much of the world’s people are still stratified like medieval Europe or feudal Japan as compared with modern Switzerland. Even the United States — that once great beacon of freedom — now bears a striking resemblance to Imperial Rome. The American Founders had made improvements by creating institutional checks on power. Yet the checks are weak. The hierarchy has grown. The paradox here is that the hierarchy will continue to grow as checks weaken further. But as the hierarchy grows, power becomes unstable. Society is vulnerable.” (08/01/230

https://underthrow.substack.com/p/hierarchys-limits-its-the-complexity

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25) A Defense of the Supreme Court
Source: The Atlantic
by Conor Friedersdorf

“After last summer’s ruling on abortion, attacks on the Supreme Court were inevitable. The majority decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health … stoked a backlash as significant as any the Court had seen in decades. What’s striking and harder to understand is the similarly furious backlash to the Supreme Court’s most recent term, which began in October 2022 and culminated in rulings announced this summer. That term encompasses 60 cases in total. The nonpartisan National Constitution Center flagged 13 of those cases as significant. Taken together, they show a Court that is broadly in step with public opinion and whose justices form shifting coalitions across ideological lines. But left-of-center critics have advanced a wildly different interpretation of this term. They have treated center-right rulings as confirmation of the Supreme Court’s awfulness, if not its illegitimacy.” (08/01/23)

https://archive.is/YKv6Q

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26) Why Not Punish Families?
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan

“A Sikh murders a Hindi, so Hindus burn down the nearest Sikh neighborhood. The consequentialist case against such collective punishments is usually straightforward: Since the murderer is only one Sikh out of millions, his expected punishment is near-zero. In economic terms, the well-being of the Sikh community is a public good. If ‘helping the Sikh community’ is a flimsy impetus for philanthropy, ‘harming the Sikh community’ is a flimsy deterrent for crime. Indeed, collective punishment is barely more effective than punishing a random scapegoat. … Unless the relevant collective is your family.” (08/01/23)

https://betonit.substack.com/p/why-not-punish-families

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27) Statism and the Unmaking of Reality
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Jakub Bozydar Wisniewski

“The state is, first and foremost, an institution whose overarching goal is the forcible subjugation of all the people who inhabit a given territory. However, what makes the state different from other coercive entities, such as organized crime groups, is that it enjoys some form of popular legitimacy. In other words, in addition to enslaving its inhabitants physically, it needs to secure their mental servitude as well. Many forms of such servitude have been tested by rulers over the millennia, but by far the most effective among them is that of ‘representative democracy’ coupled with the ‘welfare state.'” (08/01/23)

https://mises.org/wire/statism-and-unmaking-reality

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28) The Forever War’s Forever Legacy: Shutting Down Gitmo Is Hardly the Last Step
Source: TomDispatch
by Karen J Greenberg

“There can be little question that the grim prison at GuantAnamo Bay, Cuba, which still shows no sign of closing anytime soon, is a key legacy — in the worst sense imaginable — of America’s post-9/11 forever wars. I’ve been covering the subject for decades now and that shameful legacy has never diminished. Last month, in response to a column I wrote for TomDispatch — one of dozens, I’m sad to say, that I’ve done on GuantAnamo over these endless years — I received a surprise email: an invitation to attend a meeting at the British Parliament. A group known as the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Closing the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility, formed this April, was gathering for the second time.” (08/01/23)

https://tomdispatch.com/the-forever-wars-forever-legacy/

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29) A World Dedollarized is Gold Remonetized
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Peter C Earle

“From August 22 through 24th, an extended coalition of over 40 nations which has become known as BRICS+ will meet in Johannesburg, South Africa. Among the likely topics of discussion is the feasibility of setting up a jointly-owned international financial institution. It would be funded by gold deposits, issue a currency, and extend loans tied to the spot value of gold. There are substantial reasons to doubt the workability of the growing consortium’s plan. But to dismiss it summarily, whether as bad economics or rote anti-American propaganda, is to dismiss a moment five decades in the making.” (08/01/23)

https://www.aier.org/article/a-world-dedollarized-is-gold-remonetized/

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30) Texas Campus Conservatives are Expanding Their Crusade to Silence Leftists and Critics
Source: The UnPopulist
by Steve Chapman

“They have enormous clout and are not shy of using it to ‘cancel’ and censure professors.” (08/01/23)

https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/texas-campus-conservatives-are-expanding

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31) Ford set to lose $4.5 billion on electric vehicles this year, despite increased revenue
Source: Fox News
by Andrea Vacchiano

“Ford Motor Company announced it is projected to lose a whopping $4.5 billion from electric vehicles (EVs) this year, up from the previous projected loss of $3 billion. The company released its second-quarter financial results on Thursday. The U.S.-based automaker’s EV division, called ‘Ford Model e,’ has lost $1.8 billion so far this year, according to Fortune. The projected $4.5 billion loss is over twice as much as Model e’s $2.1 billion loss in 2022. The company recently announced that the price of its electric F-150 Lightning pickup trucks will be reduced due to cheaper raw battery materials. The company touted that its low EV prices ‘establish[es] leadership ahead of industry’s next-generation EVs’ and that the Ford Model e’s revenue is up 39%. Ford is also expected to produce 600,000 EVs per year by 2024.” (08/01/23)

https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/ford-set-lose-billion-electric-vehicles-year-despite-increased-revenue

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32) We’re all living in Art Bell’s world
Source: Orange County Register
by Doug McIntyre

“David Grusch, a former national reconnaissance officer with the Pentagon’s ‘Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force,’ testified under oath before Congress that the United States is in possession of ‘non-human spacecraft.’ The hearing was chaired by Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, so cynics might dismiss his testimony as exactly what you would expect to get in a congressional hearing conducted by a Florida Republican. But hold your tinfoil hats! Senate Majority Leader, Charles Schumer of New York is also poking around decades of UFO stories, co-sponsoring a bill with fellow Democrat Kristen Gillibrand that directs the National Archives to immediately release all documents the government has related to alien spacecraft. Somewhere in the universe Art Bell must be smiling.” (08/01/23)

https://www.ocregister.com/2023/08/01/doug-mcintyre-were-all-living-in-art-bells-world/

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33) Avoiding Scylla and Charybdis
Source: Niskanen Center
by Brink Lindsey

“In recent essays I’ve been making an affirmative case for an ‘economic independence’ movement — that is, a concerted effort to empower families and communities to be less dependent on market and state provision. I’ve argued that a move toward greater independence would help to promote social inclusion, that it has important advantages over other proposals for achieving a more inclusive society, and that it could also play an important role in spurring dynamism and innovation. Here I’ll shift my perspective: instead of looking at the upsides that an economic independence movement could make possible, I’ll look at the downsides it could help us to avoid. The downsides I have in mind mark the two poles of failure in social organization: tyranny on the one hand, and chaos on the other.” (08/01/23)

https://www.niskanencenter.org/avoiding-scylla-and-charybdis

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34) WaPo Keeps Cheerleading Sending Cluster Bombs to Ukraine
Source: Common Dreams
by Brandon Warner

“The Washington Post (6/23/22) describes its opinion section as a platform for articles that ‘provide a diversity of voices and perspectives for our readers.’ Yet as the U.S. and its allies pour military aid into Ukraine, escalating the already bloody conflict with ever-more deadly new weapons, the paper’s opinion pages begin to look less like a platform for diverse voices and more like a cheerleading squad for the military-industrial complex. Post opinion journalism abounds with pieces advocating the sort of ‘light side vs. dark side’ moral rhetoric characteristic of corporate media’s war coverage (FAIR.org, 12/1/22). A consequence of this binary worldview is the tendency to present the deployment of increasingly horrific means, like President Joe Biden’s recent decision to arm Ukraine with U.S. cluster munitions, as essentially just and necessary to achieve the West’s always-noble ends.” (08/01/23)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/washington-post-cluster-bombs

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35) How Lockheed’s $7.9 billion stock buyback bonanza is paid for by you
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Brett Heinz

“The value of Lockheed Martin’s stock grew by 37 percent last year, representing an incredible financial gain for investors in the nation’s largest military contractor. This spike was hardly the result of changing market conditions, however: the S&P 500 ended the year with growth of -20 percent. Instead, this growth came from stock buybacks. In 2022, the company bought back more of its own stock than in any other year in its history: $7.9 billion, equivalent to 12 percent of its sales income. According to Lockheed’s 2022 annual report, 73.5 percent of the company’s sales last year were to the U.S. government, most of which were for the Department of Defense. In other words, if these buybacks come proportionately from the different revenue streams of the company, U.S. taxpayers underwrote $5.8 billion in Lockheed buybacks.” (08/01/23)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2023/08/01/how-lockheeds-7-9b-stock-buyback-bonanza-is-paid-for-by-you/

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36) Our [sic] National Debt Isn’t Bad, It’s Worse
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen

“Those paying attention know the so-called ‘national debt’ crossed the $30 trillion mark in late 2021 and has continued to steadily climb since. With trillion-dollar annual deficits having somehow been allowed to become the norm, less than two years later the number has passed $32.5 trillion. Growing almost $8,000 per second, or just under $29 million per hour, our individual ‘shares’ of the debt now stand at just under $100,000 apiece. Yikes. The bad news is, it’s going to get worse. And the bad, bad news is this isn’t even the ‘real’ national debt. As will be shown, Washington’s liabilities are actually several times larger than stated.” (08/01/23)

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/our-national-debt-isnt-bad-its-worse/

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37) Here’s Why Congress Won’t Ban Members from Stock Trading
Source: The Daily Beast
by Matt Lewis

“How is congressional stock trading like the weather? Everyone complains about it. Yet nobody ever does anything about it. … According to a survey conducted in May by the Program for Public Consultation (PPC) at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, 87 percent of Republicans and 88 percent of Democrats favor banning members of Congress (and their spouses and dependents) from trading individual stocks. You couldn’t get 87 or 88 percent of Republicans and Democrats to agree on Dolly Parton’s music or their favorite pizza. And this survey result is merely the latest in what is a steady drumbeat of support for banning congressional stock trading. … Shouldn’t this ban be a slam dunk for a political leader looking to score a legislative victory? Apparently not.” (08/01/23)

https://www.thedailybeast.com/heres-why-congress-wont-ban-members-from-stock-trading

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38) Don’t just drain the swamp; put age limits on politicians
Source: New York Post
by Kirsten Fleming

“Forget about draining the swamp. It’s clear we have a more pressing matter in Washington, DC: We really need to fill the retirement homes. Perhaps we should construct a pipeline that transports swamp dwellers of a certain age right to the pickleball court or golf course or hot tub, whatever Boomers get up to these days. I don’t judge. However, we need age limits for political seats — a stance I once resisted because old people are the coolest. They’re wise, unafraid to offer unvarnished truths and they’ve seen some s–t. Like real s–t, not being micro-aggressed by a barista. For the record, I aspire to be an old person one day. But there continues to be a pile up of worrying senior incidents inside the Beltway that have swayed me toward capping eligibility for elected posts at 80.” (08/01/23)

https://nypost.com/2023/07/31/we-dont-just-need-to-drain-the-swamp-we-need-to-put-age-limits-on-politicians/

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39) Americans Need to Acknowledge Washington’s Wartime Atrocities
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter

“Renewed attention on two historical episodes has revived debate about the wartime conduct of the United States. One was the release in theaters of the movie Oppenheimer, which highlights the role played by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in developing the first atomic bomb. The other episode was the 70th anniversary of the Korea Armistice, which brought a halt to the bloody conflict in that country. The reaction among both the public and the foreign policy blob underscored how too many Americans remain unwilling to confront the ugly realities of Washington’s behavior. Yet there is compelling evidence that U.S. leaders committed horrifying war crimes.” (08/01/23)

https://original.antiwar.com/ted_galen_carpenter/2023/07/31/americans-need-to-acknowledge-washingtons-wartime-atrocities/

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40) Giuliani Hits the Moral Bottom
Source: RealClearPolitics
by Froma Harrop

“The Italian poet Dante mapped out nine circles of hell, each circle representing a sin. As the circles went deeper into the inferno, the sins attached to them grew more horrible. Without much reflection, MAGA world has engaged in Dante’s three lowest sins. From less terrible to most terrible, they are violence, fraud and treachery. … Another circle should be dug for Rudolph Giuliani, who, in addition to encouraging violence, lying and treason, practiced human cruelty with no conscience whatsoever. We refer to the two innocent Georgia election workers on whom he preyed, Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss. Not only did he smear them with blatant lies, but he publicly identified them as targets knowing the monkeys would sweep down and attack.” (08/01/23)

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2023/08/01/giuliani_hits_the_moral_bottom_149567.html

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41) The Black Hole of Student Loans
Source: Law & Liberty
by Reuven Brenner

“What is the value of debt forgiveness? One answer might be electoral: The higher education debt relief struck down by the Supreme Court in June was to be beneficial to about 40 million people, with about half of those having all their debt wiped out. There are about 170 million registered voters, who might, for present purposes, assume to be taxpayers. … But let us put aside this cynical take on the proposed policy. If the disguised rationale was not increasing the chances of electoral success, could there be good policy arguments in favor of generalized debt relief? Well — no.” (08/01/23)

https://lawliberty.org/the-black-hole-of-student-loans/

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42) Patient Zero: Tom Scully
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen

“It was late 2002, and Tom Scully, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), was at a U.S. News and World Report forum, relating a tale of hospital skullduggery. Under CMS rules, Medicare reserved 5.1 percent of its budget to compensate hospitals that treated ‘outlier’ high-cost patients. Scully, a youthful-looking man with a pile of slightly graying hair who talked a mile a minute, explained that Tenet and several other hospital systems, without the regulators knowing, had for years randomly jacked up prices on individual patients to access the set-aside. This deprived other hospitals that actually had sick patients from getting a higher share of the funds; the dishonest actors were costing the honest ones money. Scully didn’t blame hospital deception, but the policy framework he was hired to manage.” (08/01/23)

https://prospect.org/health/2023-08-01-patient-zero-tom-scully/

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43) Republicans would love to impeach Biden. It would backfire on them.
Source: Washington Post
by Paul Waldman

“The dream of impeachment is alive in Congress. House Republicans have filed resolutions to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Vice President Harris and — of course — President Biden. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) hasn’t given his go-ahead to any of them, but he is toying with the idea. Yet despite their obsession with impeachment, Republicans fundamentally misunderstand it. What makes impeachment unique is also what would make it such a disaster for them.” (08/01/23)

https://archive.is/tTe1X

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44) Antitrust problems in patents and copyrights: A primer for policymakers
Source: Niskanen Center
by Benjamin McMaster

“Antitrust is having its moment. Skepticism about corporate power, a desire to revive state capacity, and a general sense that something is wrong with the current state of American capitalism have revived interest in curbing monopoly across ideological battle lines. Policymakers looking for a way into these debates should consider an important angle that too often goes overlooked: the role of intellectual property. When policymakers hear about IP at all, it is generally from misleading viewpoints that can be placed between two extremes. At one end is the notion that intellectual property anywhere and everywhere creates monopoly. At the other is a ‘nothing to see here’ approach that treats market concentration and market power as rare exceptions in the IP world. In reality, the interplay between grants of exclusive rights and competition is complicated and evades simple classification.” (07/31/23)

https://www.niskanencenter.org/antitrust-problems-in-patents-and-copyrights-a-primer-for-policymakers

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45) Will the Biden Administration Ban Cigars?
Source: Town Hall
by Stephen Moore

“What is it with the Left that they want to ban nearly everything that is fun or convenient? Gas stoves, dishwashers, plastic straws, gas cars, snowmobiles and diving boards. And now the health busybodies want to ban certain cigars. Recently, a gang of senators led by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) wrote a letter to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf urging the agency to ban (or heavily regulate) flavored cigar sales. Under pressure from the health lobby, the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products said it’s primed to take action in the weeks ahead. They say underage teenagers are smoking these cigars and are at risk of becoming addicted. This makes as much sense as banning scotch because kids might smuggle a bottle from Dad’s liquor cabinet, or outlawing R-rated movies because 14-year-olds occasionally sneak into the theater.” (08/01/23)

https://townhall.com/columnists/stephenmoore/2023/08/01/will-the-biden-administration-ban-cigars-n2626439

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46) What Happens After Social Security’s Trust Fund Runs Out?
Source: Independent Institute
by Craig Eyermann

“Earlier this year, Social Security’s Trustees reported that the trust fund, which supports about one-fifth of today’s Social Security payments, will run out of money at the end of 2033. When that happens, they say that every American who receives retirement or disability benefits will see them reduced by 20%. The program will still be able to pay out 80% of its benefits using what it collects through its payroll taxes. That will happen because the program has been running in the red. Since 2009, the program has paid out more benefits than it takes in through payroll taxes. It has taken money out of its Old Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance trust funds to make up the difference. But in 2034, that will come to an end because the trust funds will be depleted.” (07/31/23)

https://blog.independent.org/2023/07/31/social-security-trust-fund-run-out-money/

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47) Room Temperature Superforecaster
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander

“Kalshi is a legal prediction market trying to comply with regulations. They asked their regulator, the CFTC, for permission to make prediction markets about the upcoming elections. In grand regulatory tradition, CFTC has drawn this out into an excruciating yearlong process that has aggravated everyone involved. … Most comments seemed to be anti-Kalshi. Some big anti-market and anti-gambling organizations urged their audiences to participate, especially a group called Better Markets. Most of these people’s talking points involved gambling on elections being a threat to democracy: what if it incentivized people to rig elections? Is this a realistic fear? There are already so many people who have very very very strong opinions about who should win US elections that adding some gamblers to the mix won’t matter much.” (07/31/23)

https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/mantic-monday-73123-room-temperature

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48) Our personal security — some further thoughts
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton

“In recent weeks, we’ve discussed the Fourth Article of the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution. It is pretty simple: ‘The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.’ We generally view this as a ‘negative’ — prohibiting the FedGov from doing something that governments have done for millennia. … But we suggested — an idea triggered by Rob Morse and one of his commenters — that we turn this sideways and look at it again.” (07/31/23)

https://thepriceofliberty.org/2023/07/31/our-personal-security-some-further-thoughts/

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49) Climate Justice is a Disability Issue
Source: In These Times
by Jessica Kutz

“In September 2019, a youth-led climate strike took place in cities around the world. Millions marched on the streets, including in New York City. Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg traveled emissions-free by boat to New York in late August and spoke at Battery Park, where the march culminated. Daphne Frias, 21 years old at the time, was working with Zero Hour, a youth-led climate action group, as an official spokesperson for the NYC event. She had been an activist for years, working on gun violence prevention, and had become increasingly concerned over the climate crisis. Frias, who uses a wheelchair, said the rally was supposed to have a barricaded section toward the front of the stage reserved for people with disabilities, but it was never set up.” (07/31/23)

https://inthesetimes.com/article/climate-environment-activists-disabilities-disabled-disability-barriers-accessibility-strike

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50) The Great Misinformation Panic
Source: Quillette
by Dara Macdonald

“By going to war against ‘misinformation’ governments are merely diverting finite resources from addressing real harm to people and property, which purportedly justifies the panic in the first place.” (07/31/23)

https://quillette.com/2023/07/31/the-misinformation-panic/

***** The Sound and the Fury *****

51) The Enrages, episode 25
Source: Center for a Stateless Society

“Anarchism 101 with Cory Massimino.” (08/01/23)

https://c4ss.org/content/58887

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52) Cato Daily Podcast, 08/01/23
Source: Cato Institute

“Some in Congress Have Regulatory Knives Out for Crypto.” (08/01/23)

https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-daily-podcast/some-congress-have-regulatory-knives-out-crypto

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53) Rising, 08/01/23
Source: The Hill

“Tulsi Gabbard torches Bidenomics as ‘fascism;’ Trump and Biden tied: Poll.” (08/01/23)

https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/4130883-rising-august-1-2023/

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54) Hubwonk, 08/01/23
Source: Pioneer Institute

“Sabotaging Strategic Success: How Price Controls Could Imperil U.S. Pharma Industry.” (08/01/23)

https://pioneerinstitute.org/news/sabotaging-strategic-success-how-price-controls-could-imperil-u-s-pharma-industry/

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55) The Chris Spangle Show, 08/01/23
Source: We Are Libertarians

“Lessen Your Anxiety About Current Events By Discovering Your First Principles.” (08/01/23)

https://www.chrisspangle.com/p/lessen-your-anxiety-about-current

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56) Pod Save America, 08/01/23
Source: Crooked Media

“Mar-a-Lago’s Funniest Home Videos.” (08/01/23)

https://stitcher.simplecastaudio.com/9aa1e238-cbed-4305-9808-c9228fc6dd4f/episodes/79fffb83-a069-44fb-9d94-046599406f15/audio/128/default.mp3

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57) The Charles C.W. Cooke Podcast, episode 37
Source: National Review

“Masters of Our Fate.” (08/01/23)

https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-charles-c-w-cooke-podcast/masters-of-our-fate/

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58) The Bryan Hyde Show, 08/01/23
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show

“My friend and fellow freedom conspirator Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos joins me for a quick rundown of current events and discussion of how to claim your freedom.” (08/01/23)

https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-ry3mq-146d606

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59) The New Abnormal, 08/01/23
Source: The New Abnormal

“Ayn Rand Would Probably Loathe Elon Musk’s Support of Trump.” (08/01/23)

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ayn-rand-would-probably-loathe-elon-musks-support-of-trump

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60) The Fifth Column, episode 416
Source: The Fifth Column

“A Sloppy Summer Pod, Recovered.” (08/01/23)

https://wethefifth.substack.com/p/416-a-sloppy-summer-pod-recovered

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61) Advisory Opinions, 08/01/23
Source: The Dispatch

“The Alito Burn Book.” (08/01/23)