Source: CNBC
“The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor said Monday he would seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, as well as for other senior Israeli and Palestinian figures who have played key roles in the ongoing war in Gaza. Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan said in a statement that he was ‘filing applications for warrants of arrest before Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court in the Situation in the State of Palestine.’ While the court will likely have a difficult time prosecuting Israeli leaders, the arrest warrants could make it difficult for officials to travel abroad and a trial in the court could also be deeply embarrassing to the Israeli government.” (05/20/24)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/netanyahu-arrest-warrant-israel-hamas-war-icc-rcna149743
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Jon Miltimore
“In 2017, late-night host Stephen Colbert told his audience that it was ‘a sad day’ because the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had voted to repeal Net Neutrality, an Obama-era rule that required Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to offer ‘equal access’ and speeds to all lawful websites and content regardless of their source, and prohibiting ‘fast lanes’ for certain content. … Repeal of these regulations didn’t just portend the death of the Internet. It marked the triumph of Russia, Colbert suggested …. Anyone reading this article can see the Internet didn’t die (hooray!). But few may realize just how much the Internet has improved since Net Neutrality was repealed.” (05/20/24)
https://www.aier.org/article/proof-that-net-neutrality-was-never-about-saving-the-internet/
Source: Reason
“Death of an Authoritarian.” (05/20/24)
https://reason.com/podcast/2024/05/20/death-of-an-authoritarian/
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Julian Assange has won a victory in his ongoing battle against extradition from the UK after judges at the high court in London granted him leave to appeal. … Assange had been granted permission to appeal only if the Biden administration was unable to provide the court with suitable assurances ‘that the applicant [Assange] is permitted to rely on the first amendment, that the applicant is not prejudiced at trial, including sentence, by reason of his nationality, that he is afforded the same first amendment [free speech] protections as a United States citizen, and that the death penalty is not imposed.’ Legal argument on Monday focused on the issue of whether Assange would be allowed first amendment protections.” (05/20/24)
https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/may/20/julian-assange-wins-high-court-victory-in-case-against-extradition-to-us
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“The presidency is powerful — entirely too powerful. Through mission creep, popular acclaim, and abandonment of responsibility by the legislative branch, the nation’s chief executive has gained near-unilateral authority to wage war and is rapidly acquiring similarly monarchical say over domestic policy. But the office is still elected. The American people are entitled to job interviews with hopeful candidates. Unfortunately, presidential ‘debates’ barely fill that role, least of all the choreographed kabuki meet-ups between Joe Biden and Donald Trump scheduled for this summer. … This year’s strange, rule-bound ‘debates’ are the inevitable culmination of a long process of making the meetups as easy as possible for Democratic and Republican standard-bearers.” (05/20/24)
https://reason.com/2024/05/20/presidential-debates-should-be-more-frequent-and-tougher-on-candidates/
Source: Chicago Tribune
“Donald Trump’s lawyers on Monday pressed the judge overseeing his hush money trial to stop the case from going to the jury and throw out the charges after prosecutors concluded their presentation of evidence. Judge Juan M. Merchan did not immediately rule on the defense request, which came at the end of a busy day that included the judge briefly kicking reporters out of the courtroom after admonishing a defense witness for his behavior on the stand. … After jurors left for the day, defense attorney Todd Blanche told the judge that prosecutors failed to prove their case and that it should be thrown out immediately.” (05/20/24)
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/05/20/trump-hush-money-trial-michael-cohen-cross-examination-2/
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard
“President Joe Biden is campaigning for re-election by denouncing corporations for crucifying consumers on a grocery store rack of Snickers bars. According to Biden, ‘shrinkflation’ — adjusting for inflation by selling smaller products for the same price — is a worse crime than anything his administration inflicted on the American people. And Snickers bars are Exhibit #1 of corporate perfidy in America. Last Wednesday, the latest Consumer Price Index report showed that inflation slowed slightly in April, but prices continued to rise nearly 4% per year. President Biden took his 23rd victory lap on this issue, proclaiming that ‘fighting inflation and lowering costs is my top economic priority.’ But how should people judge a victory proclamation by a general that had pointlessly lost 20% of his army?” (05/20/24)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2024/05/20/bidens-sham-snickers-salvation-shtick/
Source: US News & World Report
“The United States said Monday that Russia last week launched a satellite that could be part of weaponizing space, a possible future global trend that members of the United Nations Security Council condemned even as they failed to pass a measure against it. The Security Council resolution drafted by Russia rivaled one backed by the U.S. and Japan that failed last month. The rival drafts focused on different types of weapons, with the U.S. and Japan specifying weapons of mass destruction. The Russian draft discussed all types of weapons. The U.S. and its allies said the language that the 15-member council debated on Monday was simply meant to distract the world from Russia’s true intention: weaponizing space.” (05/20/24)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2024-05-20/un-security-council-rejects-russia-backed-resolution-on-banning-weapons-in-space
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“It is bizarre to call something a ‘luxury belief’ when everyone, no matter how poor or humble, can easily afford it. People don’t buy their political beliefs at exclusive restaurants. They get them gratis at all-you-can-eat buffets. [Rob] Henderson is correct, of course, to claim that pro-crime policies are objectively much worse for the poor than they are for the rich. Even if bad policies doubled victimization rates for all groups, doubling a high rate is much more harmful than doubling a low rate. But to calculate the personal cost of support for pro-crime policies, you have to multiply the cost to you if such policies prevail by the probability that you personally cause such policies to prevail. Since the latter probability is almost always zero, the selfish cost of support is almost always zero regardless of income.” (05/20/24)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/whats-really-wrong-with-luxury-beliefs
Source: United Press International
“The cargo ship that crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge was successfully refloated and towed away from the rubble of the collapse on Monday. As of about 7 a.m. EDT, the 948-foot cargo ship Dali was being moved from the Fort McHenry channel by a stream of tugboats ‘under favorable environmental conditions,’ the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers in Baltimore reported as the site became clear for the first time since the crash and ensuing collapse of the bridge that killed six construction workers. The Dali was finally freed of the wreckage days ago by precision explosives that dismantled the span of bridge that fell on top of the container ship.” (05/21/24)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/05/20/Francis-Scott-Key-Baltimore-bridge-Army-Corps-Dali/9051716213960/
