Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The US military has confirmed that the first aid shipment via a temporary pier off Gaza has gone ashore. US Central Command confirmed in a post on X that the aid trucks began moving ashore at about 0900 local time (0700 BST). The US began building the floating base weeks ago to facilitate the delivery of aid to Gaza as Israel continues its military campaign against Hamas. The announcement comes after it was reported on Wednesday, hundreds of tonnes of aid had arrived in Cyprus, where screening takes place before being loaded on to commercial ships for delivery to the pier.” (05/17/24)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz96d3dn9jro
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Michael Munger
“The Stiglitzian formulation is tendentious: government, or ungoverned — choose! But in fact there are many forms of rule-based systems of governance that do not involve government in any direct way. How would such a system emerge? That question has been answered, since at least the time of the Scottish Enlightenment, by two words: Spontaneous order. Spontaneous orders are emergent patterns which quickly become rules, because it is widely recognized that such rules — think stoplights — are obviously good ideas. Enforcement of these emergent rules can be accomplished largely by what Adam Smith called ‘propriety,’ rather than by armed employees of the state.” (05/16/24)
https://www.aier.org/article/private-governance-will-make-you-free/
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Jacob and Richard discuss which monetary policy would be better — a gold standard or the separation of money and the state.” (05/16/24)
https://libertarianangle.libsyn.com/a-gold-standard-vs-the-denationalization-of-money
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Governor Greg Abbott of Texas issued a full pardon on Thursday to a former US army sergeant convicted of murder for fatally shooting an armed demonstrator in 2020 during nationwide protests against police violence and racial injustice. … A jury in Austin had convicted Perry of murder in the death of 28-year-old Garrett Foster, an air force veteran who had been legally carrying an AK-47 while marching in a Black Lives Matter protest. Perry was working as a ride-share driver in July 2020, when he turned his car on to a street crowded with demonstrators and shot Foster before driving off.” (05/16/24)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/16/texas-greg-abbott-pardons-daniel-perry
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“RFK Jr. himself claims — fairly, it seems to me — that ‘Presidents Trump and Biden are colluding to lock America into a head-to-head match-up that 70% say they do not want.’ He also claims that they’re doing so ‘because they are afraid I would win.’ Probably not. RFK Jr. has a slightly better chance of becoming president than you or me, but that’s like saying someone who buys two lottery tickets has a better chance of winning the billion-dollar jackpot than the guy who just buys one. The real fear for Biden and Trump isn’t that RFK Jr. might win the election. Rather, it’s that small but decisive numbers of voters might abandon one, the other, or both of them for a third option, with an unpredictable impact on which of the two ‘big players’ wins. Their ‘collusive’ response, right out of The Naked Gun: ‘Alright, move on, nothing to see here.'” (05/16/24)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/18615
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Russia intercepted more than 100 Ukrainian drones overnight in the south of the country and over annexed Crimea and the Black Sea, Moscow’s defence ministry said on Friday. Fifty-one drones were destroyed over Crimea, 44 over the Krasnodar region, six over the Belgorod region, six over the Black Sea and one over the Kursk region, the defence ministry said in a statement. The offensive was one of the largest overnight drone attacks by Ukraine and comes as Russian forces advance along the front line, making their biggest territorial gains in 18 months.” (05/17/24)
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240517-russia-intercepted-more-than-100-ukrainian-drones-overnight-moscow-says
Source: The Hill
“The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced a measure to hold in contempt Attorney General Merrick Garland in an 18-15 party line vote, a step Republicans on the House Oversight panel are also expected to take later this evening. A last-minute move from President Biden to claim executive privilege over audio recordings from his interview with special counsel Robert Hur did not dissuade the GOP from proceeding, even as Garland said those asserting the privilege ‘cannot be prosecuted for criminal contempt of Congress.’ Republicans already have the transcript of Hur’s conversation with Biden, but they argue the audio recordings will be more revealing, suggesting pauses could speak to Hur’s commentary about the president’s cognitive functions of show a hesitancy to ask questions. To Democrats, the only rationale for seeking the tapes is so the GOP can use them in campaign commercials, arguing they are misusing power purely for political gain.” (05/16/24)
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4668654-house-judiciary-votes-to-hold-garland-in-contempt/
Source: EconLog
by Scott Sumner
“Some people on the right worry that immigration will cause America’s white population to be largely replaced by non-whites. This hypothesis is sometimes referred to as ‘The Great Replacement.’ There is a great replacement occurring, but these worriers have things exactly backwards. … In 100 years, the descendants of Asians and Hispanics will be viewed as being just as white as Italian-Americans, Jewish-Americans and Irish-American people are viewed today. … What changes over time is our concept of what it means to be white. This category will be continually redefined in such a way as to keep whites in the majority.” (05/16/24)
https://www.econlib.org/the-actual-great-replacement/
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“South Africa on Thursday urged the UN’s top court to order an end to Israel’s assault on Rafah, accusing Israel of intensifying what it calls ‘genocide’ in Gaza. The hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague is part of South Africa’s broader case accusing Israel of committing ‘acts of genocide’ against Palestinians in Gaza. ‘South Africa had hoped, when we last appeared before this court, to halt this genocidal process to preserve Palestine and its people,’ Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands, told the ICJ. ‘Instead, Israel’s genocide has continued apace and has just reached a new and horrific stage,’ he added. Israel will respond on Friday, the second and final scheduled day of the preliminary hearing.” (05/16/24)
https://www.dw.com/en/south-africa-asks-icj-to-halt-israels-rafah-offensive/a-69092025
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“One of the things that has long fascinated me about Social Security is how its proponents portray themselves as ‘caring and compassionate’ for favoring this socialist program. Social Security, like all other welfare-state programs, uses the coercive apparatus of the federal government — specifically taxation on income — to take money from younger people to give it to older people. There is nothing voluntary about taxation. If you refuse to pay your federal income taxes, the IRS and Justice Department will come after you with a vengeance with audits, liens, attachments, garnishments, harassment, arrest, prosecution, incarceration, and fines. How can a system that is based on the initiation of force (i.e., taxation) entail care and compassion? Don’t care and compassion come from the willing and voluntary heart of individuals rather than from an IRS gun pointed at taxpayers?” (05/16/24)
https://www.fff.org/2024/05/16/where-is-the-compassion-in-social-security/
