Author: nick

Today, the Supreme Court issued a terrible Takings Clause decision in Pung v. Isabella County. It’s the worst Supreme Court takings decision in a long time, and perpetuates the Court’s tradition of issuing awful property rights decisions on June 23 (which is the anniversary of Kelo v. City of New London). The ruling is unanimous, albeit with a concurring opinion by Justice Thomas, joined by Gorsuch, which is really more of a dissent. Isabella County, Michigan seized the late Timothy Pung’s house because he supposedly failed to pay some $2200 in taxes and fees (his estate claims he didn’t actually…

Israel is turning on its last important ally in an act of suicidal hubris. When Jewish Upon a Star – by Mr. Fish. By Chris HedgesScheerPost Israel is sabotaging the negotiations with Iran and alienating its last important ally by refusing to halt its attacks on Lebanon and withdraw from its occupation of the south. It is determined to reignite a regional conflagration that could see Iran perpetually close the Strait of Hormuz and plunge the global economy into a global depression. And it continues its genocide in Gaza. Israel is contaminated by racism and genocidal violence. It is blinded by a repugnant moral superiority. It is corrupted by a…

A member of the metal band GWAR says the band was contacted by the Secret Service after it performed a mock execution of President Donald Trump onstage. GWAR has been known for decades for its comically violent and over-the-top live shows, which involve dousing the audience in gallons of fake blood and other bodily fluids, as well as performing faux executions of various world leaders and other famous people. Reason’s Christian Britschgi wrote in a 2022 review of a GWAR concert that the show included “beheading a rambling Joe Biden, dismembering a MAGA hat–wearing January 6 conspiracist, performing an onstage…

A recent investigation by The Wall Street Journal found that the prediction market Polymarket paid social media creators and influencers to promote $1.9 million in fake positions as part of its marketing strategy to lure American users to the platform. To fool viewers, Polymarket built copies of its website with domain names like “poiymarket.com,” where paid promoters could create ads of fabricated trades that the company’s marketing partner then disseminated. Promoters were selected based on the size of their U.S. audience, with Polymarket providing “bullet-point guidance” on content, according to the Journal. In 118 of the 1,105 videos reviewed by…

University students protest against the new EU Migration and Asylum Pact in Utrecht, NL. Photo by the author. Europe likes to see itself as a moral power. From Brussels to Strasbourg, European leaders regularly invoke human rights, international law and democratic values as the foundations of the European project. Yet when it comes to the new migration and asylum pact, the gap between rhetoric and reality has become increasingly difficult to ignore. A pact built on control, not protection On paper, the EU’s new Migration and Asylum Pact is advertised as a pragmatic compromise among the different member states and…

Nothing Moderate About Spanberger Going Soft on Crime Source link

It’s amazing to think Keir Starmer was sold to us Brits as Mr. Sensible. Source link

Hello and welcome to another edition of Free Agent! Be careful where you jump a fence this week, or you might face federal charges. So a country with a bad government is in the World Cup. Should you root for them, stay away, or maybe it’s not that simple? We’ll dive into the situation with Iran’s men’s soccer team, then move on to what might be the worst new thing about this World Cup (not hydration breaks, sorry!), and close with five thoughts about golf’s U.S. Open. Don’t miss sports coverage from Jason Russell and Reason. Congratulations to Giannis Antetokounmpo…

Contradiction has struck East Asia: the countries most deeply integrated into China’s vibrant economic system are also drawn into military preparations to confront it.  (Via Tricontinental Institute) By Vijay PrashadTricontinental: Institute for Social Research The Okinawan artist Kinjo Minoru is haunted by the tragedy of the 1945 Battle of Okinawa and the military occupation that has marked the island ever since. His art is informed by that sensibility; his sculptures seem to emerge from the earth itself. Human figures struggle outwardly through stone and concrete, their bodies marked by war, occupation and memory.  Kinjo works with the same materials today being poured…

The Supreme Court will soon decide Trump v. Barbara, in which the president seeks by executive order to overturn the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment. The amendment as currently interpreted says almost any child born on U.S. soil is automatically and forever an American citizen. The court will most likely reflect long precedent to allow birthright citizenship as it exists today to stand unaltered. But its decision will have profound secondary effects, not the least of which is determining the future of birthright citizenship tourism and its possible effect on national security. The question of whether most children born…