Trump accepts [sic] Putin’s denials [sic] of election meddling, prompting lawmaker [sic] outrage
Source: USA Today
“President Donald Trump accepted denials by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow interfered with the 2016 U.S. election Monday, bringing swift condemnation from members of Congress from both parties. In siding with Putin, Trump took the word of a former KGB agent over the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies under two administrations and the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee. ‘I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,’ Trump said at a press conference concluding their summit in Helsinki. ‘I have President Putin; he just said it’s not Russia,’ Trump said. ‘I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.'” [editor’s note: I looked hard to find a non-biased “news” story on this; this is as close as I could get – SAT] (07/16/18)
Mr. President, you can slash drug prices without destroying life-saving innovation
Source: Mary Ruwart’s Blog
By Mary Ruwart
“On July 9, President Trump lashed out at Pfizer for increasing prices of 41 drugs and lowering prices for 5. According to a Trump tweet, ‘Pfizer and others should be ashamed that they have raised drugs prices for no reason. They are merely taking advantage of the poor … We will respond!’ … The FDA has kept life-saving drugs off the U.S. market to teach companies that criticize it a devastating lesson. Lowering drug prices by fiat will destroy pharmaceutical innovation by decreasing the amount of money available for research and development. No matter how much money someone has, they can’t buy a cure that hasn’t been invented. People who might have been saved by that cure will die without knowing that their premature death was totally avoidable. However, there is a way to slash drug prices, virtually overnight, by removing the waste from the regulatory red tape.” (07/16/18)
UK: May caves on Brexiteer amendments to head off rebellion
Source: Politico
“Theresa May has moved to head off a Tory rebellion on a key piece of Brexit legislation by accepting a series of amendments put forward by Brexiteer MPs designed to limit the scope of any withdrawal agreement with the European Union. A spokesman for the prime minister said Monday the U.K. government would accept all four amendments to the customs bill — officially known as the Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Bill — put forward by MPs in Jacob Rees-Mogg’s hardline European Research Group of backbench Euroskeptics, despite claims they undermined May’s latest proposal to the EU, agreed at Chequers barely a week ago. Opposition to the prime minister’s new Brexit proposal has mounted over the last week. Nine members of the government have now resigned rather than support the plan in the House of Commons, including former Brexit Secretary David Davis and former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.” (07/16/18)
https://www.politico.eu/article/theresa-may-caves-in-on-brexiteer-amendments-to-head-off-rebellion/
How the gig economy empowers unschoolers
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kerry McDonald
“The increasing popularity and feasibility of gig work create more opportunities for work/life balance, particularly for parents who are often juggling employment and child-rearing responsibilities. The flexibility that independent contract work can offer opens up possibilities for parents who may be dissatisfied with conventional schooling options for their children. Some of these parents are turning to unschooling either as homeschoolers who embrace a self-directed, interest-based approach to education or by sending their children part-time to a self-directed learning center or ‘unschooling school.’ Or both. These parents see the gig economy as the future of work in the same way they view unschooling as the future of learning.” (07/16/18)
https://fee.org/articles/how-the-gig-economy-empowers-unschoolers/
Trump-Putin summit saboteurs fire their next shot with arrest of Russian gun activist
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“A Russian national with alleged ties to a top Russian official was charged in federal court in Washington on Monday with conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian Federation, and was ordered held without bond. Maria Butina, 29, was arrested on Sunday in Washington and made her first appearance in US District Court before Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson. Her lawyer, Robert Neil Driscoll, told the judge that Butina’s residence was searched by the FBI in April, that she had testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed session several months ago, and that ‘we have been offering to cooperate with the government the entire time.’ … Butina is accused of developing relationships with American politicians and a ‘gun rights organization,’ none of which are named in the affidavit supporting the criminal complaint. FBI Special Agent Kevin Helson wrote that Butina was attempting to ‘establish a ‘back channel’ communication for representatives of the Government of Russia.'” (07/16/18)
The Mueller indictments and the Trump-Putin summit: Triumph of the Deep State?
Source: Campaign For Liberty
by Ron Paul
“[A]fter more than a year of investigations which have publicly revealed zero collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, why drop this bombshell of an allegation at the end of the news cycle on the last business day before the historic Trump/Putin meeting in Helsinki? The indictment could not have been announced a month ago or in two weeks? Is it not suspicious that now no one is talking about reducing tensions with Russia but is all of a sudden — thanks to Special Counsel Robert Mueller — talking about increasing tensions? Unfortunately most Americans don’t seem to understand that indictments are not evidence. In fact they are often evidence-free, as is this indictment.” (07/16/18)
http://www.campaignforliberty.org/mueller-indictments-trump-putin-summit-triumph-deep-state
IL: Man murdered by Chicago cops because “he reached for his waist”
Source: Yahoo! News
“A man killed by Chicago police had a gun in a holster at his hip and was shot multiple times as he ran away, spun around and reached toward his waist, footage released Sunday from an officer’s body-worn camera shows. … On Saturday, patrol chief Fred Waller said officers patrolling on foot tried to question Augustus over a ‘bulge around his waistband’ that suggested he was armed. The video, which lacks sound, shows four officers approaching Augustus … An officer points to Augustus’ waist and he backs away. Three officers try to grab his arms and he tries to get away, backing into a police cruiser as his shirt flies up, showing the gun. … Augustus then runs away and into the street as a police SUV drives up. He spins and darts between the SUV and the police cruiser as he reaches toward his waist. Augustus did not fire his weapon and the footage does not show him pulling the gun out of its holster.” [editor’s note: In other words, they attacked him over something that’s not a crime, then killed him for trying to get away from their assault – TLK] (07/15/18)
The gun in the room
Source: The Honest Courtesan
by Maggie McNeill
“I’ve written on many occasions about how government is at best a necessary evil, and how modern governments of large countries are so powerful that they couldn’t help harming people by the millions even if they wanted to, which they don’t. The reason they don’t is quite simple, yet somehow most people are either unable or unwilling to see it: the only actual power government has is to inflict violence. Government is a non-producer; like any parasite it is wholly dependent on its host for sustenance. And so the only way it can accomplish anything is to force others to do it by the threat of violence.” (07/16/18)
https://maggiemcneill.wordpress.com/2018/07/16/the-gun-in-the-room/
Report: FBI official overseeing “Russian election meddling task” force leaves agency
Source: The Hill
“Senior FBI official Jeffrey Tricoli has left his position overseeing a government task force that’s been looking into Russian interference in U.S. elections, according to The Wall Street Journal. Tricoli, who had been at the FBI for 18 years, reportedly left last month to take a job with Charles Schwab Corp. His departure raises questions about how the government plans to address the issue of election meddling, particularly with the midterm elections less than four months away. Tricoli did not respond to requests for comment by the Journal. News of his exit comes just days after special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 Russian intelligence officials for allegedly conspiring to influence the 2016 presidential election by hacking U.S. systems.” (07/16/18)
National defense is not an exception to the case for free trade
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Donald J Boudreaux
“Pleas for protectionism spring overwhelmingly from the desire to save businesses and jobs in industries that compete with imports. These pleas are economic ones. Those who offer them allege that free trade, by damaging these domestic industries, damages the entire domestic economy. But pleas for protectionism often are bolstered by a subsidiary, non-economic claim — namely, that the industries for which protection is sought are vital to the national defense. If industry lobbyists can convince voters and their representatives that the shrinking of a domestic industry will impair the government’s ability to carry out its military obligations, support for protecting that industry with trade restrictions will intensify. Economists have repeatedly exposed economic arguments for protectionism as deeply flawed. Assessing the validity of the so-called national-defense exception to the case for free trade, however, is more challenging.” (07/16/18)
https://www.aier.org/article/national-defense-not-exception-case-free-trade
