+ Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars - Propaganda Breakdown & Review by a Prepper-Survivalist
Dear Subscribers,
I made the Top Story my review of Ridley Scott’s new societal-collapse thriller, The Dog Stars, which opened in Italy two days before the US release today. Julie and I took a train from Padua to Venice to catch the only English-language showing in this part of Italy on Wednesday night. Such a disappointment… I thought Ridley Scott had graduated from having to make “the Virus-is-going-to-wipe-out-humanity-better-take-your-vaccine-propaganda”, but evidently not. I did some research, and 98% of Hollywood’s societal collapse movies are viruses, climate change, or nuclear war designed to drive the weak-minded to the safety and security of the “government.” Only 1-2% address realistic scenarios of a societal collapse and breakdown: monetary collapse, and out of 117 movies with a societal collapse, only one, 1981’s Rollover, has a realistic scenario for a societal collapse, and even that isn’t the MOST LIKELY, which I break down in the article.
The scene from 1981’s Rollover when the Saudi’s yank all their Investments from the US and tank the global economy. While the most realistic scenario Hollywood has ever produced for a societal collapse, it’s NOT the most likely, and it’s conveniently blamed on the Saudis vs. the likely culprits will be the banks and “government” that are stealing the value out of everyone’s money through inflation caused by fractional reserve banking and “government” counterfeiting/money creation.
Meta to Pay Up to $17.1 Billion in Landmark Settlement Over Social Media Addiction Claims While Other Crimes Go Unaddressed
I have a New Book Coming Out - Organized Crime Theory (OCT) – The Surprisingly Scholarly and Well-Evidenced Thesis that “Government” is Organized Crime.
What started out as a chapter in our upcoming book: Voluntaryism – How the Only “ISM” Fair for Everyone Leads to Harmony, Prosperity and Good Karma for All, turned into a book-length treatment. Unlike “Government” – The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed!, which made the case BUT did do with speculation in a format that was easy to dismiss, Organized Crime Theory (OCT) makes the case in a scholarly way designed to give any college political science professor or high school civics teacher promoting “government” an intellectual curb stomping!
We could use some help getting the book out and I am happy to share a preview copy with any heavy hitters that could help us with the initial print run and marketing campaign. E-mail me at Etienne (at) ArtOfLiberty.org if you are interested.
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Top Stories of the Week
The Dog Stars - Propaganda Breakdown & Review by a Prepper-Survivalist
Ridley Scott Embarrasses Himself with Cartoonish Propaganda, Lame Premise, & Unlikely Scenarios
The new Ridley Scott film, The Dog Stars, starring Josh Brolin and Jacob Elordi, opened in Italy on Wednesday, two days before its theatrical release in the United States. As a long-time prepper-survivalist (and editor of the Survival Retreat Operations Manual), societal collapse and dystopian future are among my favorite genres, so my fiancé and I caught a 30-minute train from Padua to Venice for the only English-language version in the area.
It was a huge disappointment on so many fronts.
1st – The premise – A societal collapse based on a contagious flu (Coronavirus wasn’t mentioned but implied) made it seem like it was teed up for the predictive programming of “The Covid” era but got shelved for some reason until today, OR the organized crime “government” is getting ready for Covid 2.0. Either way, I felt sad for Ridley Scott…
Etienne Note: Using behavior psychology to make their platform more addictive to kids is only one of Meta/Facebook’s numerous crimes. We make the case in our article: The REAL Story Behind CIA Contractor Peter Thiel’s Dialog Society - Weaponized Inflation, Media Control & AI Kill Drones, that Facebook is likely a DARPA program called Lifelog that exploits behavior psychology (humans’ innate, psychological predisposition to pay attention to attractive members of the opposite sex and higher-status individuals as two examples) to widely control perception by algorithmically promoting and censoring certain information on its platform. In my book To See the Cage is to Leave It – 25 Techniques the Few Use to Control the Many, I feature an example of “paid-for patriotism” where Facebook has “Suggested for me” an “emotional performance” where “Chris Stapleton keeps the National Anthem Simple, Bringing Many to Tears” and another example where Facebook was pumping me to follow Joe Biden’s Facebook pages as a couple of examples. Let’s not forget that Facebook has already admitted to censoring information during “The Covid” including true information on the harmfulness of vaccines because it might have caused “vaccine hesitancy.” Finally, if Facebook is a DARPA project to widely control information under the guise of national security or influencing the Russkies or some other limited hangout propaganda reason, it has served to personally enrich DARPA insiders who have benefited from their research into both the Internet (where Facebook had a headstart, over-investment, patent protection, etc.) and behavior psychology, etc. to create a platform that took intellectual property created on the tax-payer nickel and privatized the profits for defense industry insiders who are living large on multi-million dollar yachts while Facebook corrupts your kids using behavior psychology to keep them addicted to their phones/platform so they can be effectively propagandized cause that is what Facebook is REALLY all about!
By Cecilia Kang and Eli Tan, The New York Times
Meta on Wednesday reached a landmark settlement with 47 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, agreeing to pay up to $17.1 billion in penalties and make major changes to its products over claims it endangered children with addictive social media platforms.
In a dramatic capitulation, the owner of Facebook and Instagram agreed to the financial penalties for violating federal child privacy and states’ consumer protection laws, the states announced.
Videos of the Week
Bessent could tap near $1 trillion Treasury General Account to fund bond buybacks, sources said
The Treasury could use its General Account to help fund purchases of government bonds, according to two senior Treasury officials.
By Steve Liesman, CNBC
The Treasury could use its General Account to help fund purchases of government bonds, according to two senior Treasury officials.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has built up the TGA to around $950 billion currently.
The Treasury surprised markets last week by doubling the size of bond buybacks, but the impact on yields was short-lived because of skepticism over the firepower available to Bessent.
The Dumbest Trade War in History
Trump will impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico for no good reason.
By The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal
President Trump will fire his first tariff salvo on Saturday against those notorious American adversaries . . . Mexico and Canada. They’ll get hit with a 25% border tax, while China, a real adversary, will endure 10%. This reminds us of the old Bernard Lewis joke that it’s risky to be America’s enemy but it can be fatal to be its friend.
Global View: The power that a rising and expanding America would inevitably acquire will be seen in Beijing and Moscow—and not only there—as a threat. Photo: Ju Peng/Alexander Kazakov/Associated Press/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Leaving China aside, Mr. Trump’s justification for this economic assault on the neighbors makes no sense. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says they’ve “enabled illegal drugs to pour into America.” But drugs have flowed into the U.S. for decades, and will continue to do so as long as Americans keep using them. Neither country can stop it.
Glacier Wall Collapse May Have Sparked Deadly Flash Flood That Swallowed Nepal-Tibet Border Crossing
Glacier Collapse May Have Sparked Nepal Flash Flood
By Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge
Summary:
Glacier Collapse May Have Sparked Nepal Flash Flood
100 Dead, 300 Missing, according to Nepal’s government (54 Americans among hundreds missing)
Experts Say Glacier Collapse Sparked Deadly Flooding
Reuters reports that the massive, “Day After Tomorrow”-like flash flood along Nepal’s border with Tibet, which completely wiped out a border crossing, could have been triggered by a massive glacier collapse.
Planet Labs satellite imagery reviewed by scientists showed that the lower section of a glacier broke away at an elevation of roughly 5,200 meters before plunging about 1,200 meters onto the valley floor.
Voluntaryist Charity of the Week
“Government”, Media and Academia
Criminality Exposed
Etienne Note: These articles also appears in “Government”, Media and Academia Criminality Exposed, A digest of HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of articles exposing and suggesting inter-generational organized crime’s control of the “Government,” Media and Academia by the Art of Liberty Foundation. You can view the other articles or subscribe on Telegram: https://t.me/Government_Scams
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Is Financing Her Re-election Campaign with Taxpayer Dollars
By Daily Wire (vía Need To Know)
It is legal for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who botched the LA fires, to use taxpayer funds for her campaign for re-election.
The “Super Match Program,” overhauled by the L.A. city council in 2019, deems any candidate running for mayor, city attorney, city controller, or city council eligible to participate in the program. Every qualified donation from Los Angeles Residents may be matched six to one by the city. For example, a $5 donation turns into $35, and the city turns a $25 donation into $175.
Boss of Trump Jr-backed start-up donated to Republicans after winning US contract
Companies connected to investment firm of US president’s son have benefited from lucrative government business deals
By Joe Miller, George Hammond, and George Steer, Financial Times
The boss of a defence manufacturing start-up backed by Donald Trump Jr’s investment firm donated almost $450,000 to Republican causes just months after winning a $900mn contract from the US government.
Hadrian chief executive Chris Power gave the maximum individual donation allowed to a number of Republican National Committee entities in July, after Trump Jr’s firm increased its investment in the company as part of a $1.4bn funding round.
How wind projects got replaced by a $900 million payday to a Trump donor’s firm
The Trump administration’s latest deal to cancel offshore wind projects and boost fossil fuel energy development instead is generating a huge payday for one of the president’s million-dollar donors.
By Evan Halper, The Washington Post
The Trump administration’s latest deal to cancel offshore wind projects and boost fossil fuel energy development instead is generating a huge payday for one of the president’s million-dollar donors.
Behind the windfall is a settlement stipulating that German energy giant RWE will receive $1.2 billion from a federal fund on the condition that it gives up its offshore wind leases in New York, California and Louisiana and invests in unspecified oil, gas or nuclear “conventional energy” projects.
The Art of Liberty Foundation... in Spanish!
We are adding a new section to Five Meme Friday to promote our new Substack, Telegram group, Instagram, and translations of To See the Cage is to Leave It - 25 Techniques the Few Use to Control the Many in Spanish. Please tell your Spanish speaking friends! “Go Paid” on our Spanish Substack to support getting voluntaryist ideas, books, and memes translated into Spanish AND get a free paperback copy of To See the Cage is To Leave It in Latin American Spanish.
La VERDADERA historia detrás de Dialog Society, la organización de Peter Thiel (contratista de la CIA): Inflación instrumentalizada, control de medios y drones de matanza con IA
Factor común: Son las mismas personas que están robando el valor de nuestro dinero mientras censuran algorítmicamente la información en el Internet de DARPA y construyen robots y drones tipo Terminato
Antes de profundizar en los detalles sobre Dialog Society, la organización secreta de Peter Thiel (contratista de la CIA) que ha sido descubierta organizando reuniones secretas con participantes de Wall Street, la Reserva Federal, funcionarios de agencias de inteligencia del gobierno de EE. UU. y los directores de medios de comunicación y empresas de IA que censuran información algorítmicamente en el Internet de DARPA (¡y que están construyendo robots y drones tipo Terminator!), es importante que los no iniciados entiendan el fraude del “gobierno”.
Es igualmente importante entender cómo los bancos y los intereses del crimen organizado detrás del “gobierno” (y de Dialog Society de la CIA) están robando el valor del dinero de todos, obligándolos a pedir prestado (¡o a pedir aún más prestado!) a interés a esos mismos bancos, haciendo que la vivienda, la atención médica y la educación sean inaccesibles. Si ya entiendes el fraude del “gobierno”, la banca de reserva fraccionaria y cómo le están robando $1.40 millones de dólares al trabajador promedio (un salario anual de $60 mil dólares a lo largo de una carrera de 40 años + 20 años de jubilación), puedes saltar directamente a los detalles sobre Dialog Society
“Daily News of The Week”
Islam’s Best Leaders Imprisoned, Tortured, Assassinated
Those who make reform impossible make revolution inevitable
By Al-Andalus Tribune
Jumuah Mubarak,
The West-based global Epstein class is systematically liquidating the Islamic world’s best leaders through torture, imprisonment, and assassination. Any God-fearing Muslim who aspires to political leadership finds himself in the crosshairs of the demonic forces behind Western bankster capitalism and the genocidal entity occupying Palestine.
It doesn’t matter whether an honest, virtuous Muslim leader vows to work peacefully within the system, like Imran Khan and Rached Ghannouchi, or spearheads militant resistance to genocide, like Ali Khamenei, Yahya Sinwar, Hassan Nasrallah, Qasem Soleimani, Ebrahim Raisi, and so many other courageous and heroic martyrs. Either way, the Epstein class works overtime to destroy them.
“Iran Is Losing Its Grip On Hormuz”: Strait Traffic Explodes Nearly 400%
Nearly 200 Ships Navigated Strait Last Week, Up From 150 the Previous Week
By Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge
Summary:
- Nearly 200 Ships Navigated Strait Last Week, Up From 150 the Previous Week
- Trump Views Hormuz As “an American Territory“
- Axios: 40 Tankers Transited Hormuz Friday Night, But Real Crisis Is Diesel
Hormuz Commercial Traffic Surges
Shortly after President Trump declared the Strait of Hormuz “an American territory“ on Friday evening, the New York Post published a new report citing UK Maritime Trade Operations data showing that commercial traffic through the critical waterway has rebounded sharply as more vessels use a US-backed route along Oman’s coast.
Apple’s next-gen AirPods shown in leaked video, sporting cameras and Visual Intelligence
After years of rumours, Apple’s camera-infused AirPods have broken cover
By Rik Henderson, T3
Apple’s AirPods with cameras have allegedly appeared in a demo video found in an official release candidate version of macOS 26.7.
It shows one of the AI features that could be unlocked by AirPods being able to see your surroundings.
Apple has long been rumoured to be working on next generation AirPods that house cameras to see the world around them. This will allow the wearer to engage Visual Intelligence features – much like the cameras on smart glasses, like the Ray-Ban Metas.
The Fed Owns Over 50% Of All Bonds Maturing Between 10 And 15 Years From Now
By Peter Tchir (Academy Securities), via ZeroHedge
Let’s start with Treasuries. We laid out the approach we would take if we were Warsh last weekend in Warsh’s Mark Antony Moment (a play on coming to “bury” inflation, yet having quite the opposite effect, at least in terms of interest rate policy).
After Bessent’s “attempt” to drive bond yields lower, we analyzed the possibilities in Treasury, Treasuries, The Fed, and Iran. The primary focus was on bonds, though we had to toss in the “possibility” of Economic Armageddon for Iran.
On Monday we discussed the Fed on Fox Business, but they picked up our theme on Tuesday where Academy was the chyron on Varney & Co. Academy had the pleasure of spending the first half hour on Bloomberg TV on Thursday where we covered rates, Iran, energy, Global ProSec, and maybe even Situational Awareness (it all becomes a bit of a blur).
How Trump’s Crypto Push Is Linked to Bessent’s Treasury Moves
Stablecoins could drive demand for Treasury bills
By Telis Demos, The Wall Street Journal
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s mission to tame the bond market could get help from another Trump administration push: crypto legislation.
Last week, the U.S. Treasury announced larger buybacks of longer-term bonds. That can be funded by increasing issuance of shorter-term Treasury bills, or what Bessent, speaking on CNBC, called a Treasury twist. In that context, it is notable that Bessent has in the past talked about a big potential new source of demand for Treasury bills: stablecoins.
The connection is that under the Genius Act—the crypto regulatory law passed last year—stablecoins issued in the U.S. that aim to stay fixed to the value of the dollar can back that promise only with certain assets, including Treasurys that mature within 93 days.
AI In Your Backyard: The Water and the Wires
Artificial intelligence is the topic of the day. It seems everyone has an opinion but not much actual factual knowledge.
Etienne Note: Until about six years ago I lived in Ashburn, VA, the data center capital of the planet. A place with 200+ football field-sized, mostly multi-story, world class data centers. Before I became an author and freedom fighter, I worked in the Internet business for global ISPs and Internet backbone providers, and ran a gladiator academy for commission-driven mercenaries who sold networks to Wall Street for market data and trading-floor technology. That is my fancy way of saying I ran a sales organization selling networks to Wall Street, but since the global networking business was located in Northern Virginia, conveniently right down the road from the CIA and NSA, I ended up living in the data center capital of the planet. I am illustrating the story with a picture of an Amazon (A Mason) AWS data center in Ashburn... You can see my neighborhood in the background. I have been in more data centers and know more about them than 99.9% of the people you hear expounding on them. There is nothing inherently wrong with data centers. Yes. A tiny percentage are located in places where they pull from low water tables and/or compete for water with homeowners and other businesses. Yes. A small percentage can’t get the power they need from the local grid, so they deploy relatively dirty turbines on a temporary to semi-temporary basis, like XAi’s Colossus data center in Memphis, until the local grid operator (or micro-nuclear) arrives to meet their needs more permanently. Evidently, some tiny, tiny percentage emit loud, weird noises, but I never encountered or heard of this in 20 years of living in Ashburn, VA around 200+ data centers. Ashburn, VA sits in Loudoun County, Virginia (the wealthiest county in the US) and has a superb quality of life. The real problem with AI hyperscale data centers is that they will be used to lie and propagandize the population in more sophisticated ways that the tell-a-vision networks could only dream of... they will be used to track and trace the population through Palantir, Google, and Flock... they will be used automate human jobs and create sky-net... the applications are what people need to be focused on... not the infrastructure... We also covered this in the story: The Water Economics Of Data Centers Vs. Almond Farms & Golf Courses
By John Mauldin, Mauldin Economics
The Water Math Doesn’t Support the Panic
The Grid Problem Is Real — But It Isn’t What You’ve Been Told
Here Is How Much AIPAC Has Given to Every Member of Congress This Cycle
The pro-Israel group’s enormous conduit operation has routed millions to lawmakers, with giving focused on key defense and spending committees.
Etienne Note: Don’t forget AIPAC just brought TENS OF MILLIONS into a single Kentucky primary to get rid of one of the most popular Congressmen in recent history: Thomas Massie. See my article: Thomas Massie’s Loss to AIPAC Funded “CIA Republican” Ed Gallrein Proves Elections Rigged & “Government” A Scam, for the details!
By David Moore, Sludge
The pro-Israel group’s enormous conduit operation has routed millions to lawmakers, with giving focused on key defense and spending committees.
The PAC of pro-Israel group AIPAC has funneled $45.9 million to members of Congress, their caucus PACs, and federal candidates this election cycle, according to a Sludge review of its most recent FEC filing, covering activity through July 31.
By Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge
China put its humanoid robotics industry on full display last week with a series of technological, commercial, and capital-markets milestones. Beijing first hosted the 2026 World Robot Conference, followed by the five-day World Humanoid Robot Games, while Unitree capped the week with a blockbuster IPO.
Bank of America analyst Ming Hsun Lee attended last week’s 2026 World Robot Conference and provided feedback to clients, noting that China’s humanoid-robot industry has shifted from research demonstrations to commercial deployment, with logistics emerging as the first real-world use case.
Welcome to China, and welcome to the future!
Maybe we will soon witness humanoid robot formation in China’s military parade.@WHRGFUN ©️@boosterobotics pic.twitter.com/dVqkVRGghu
AI Data Centers and Grid Harmonics: Power Quality Impacts Extending Miles Beyond Facilities
The rapid growth of AI data centers is degrading power quality and increasing harmonics, electromagnetic interference, and electrical pollution in communities nationwide.
Etienne Note: In an article, AI In Your Backyard: The Water and the Wires, I made the comment in an Etienne Note that: “There is nothing inherently wrong with data centers.” One of our readers sent me this article breaking down the power impact, including measurements for Data Center Alley in Northern Virginia where I used to live. Very eye-opening.
By Environmental Health Sciences
In addition to the air, water, soil, and other environmental pollution associated with the rapid expansion of AI data centers, this infrastructure is contributing to measurable harmonic distortion (often referred to as “dirty electricity”), degrading power quality for millions of U.S. households, and thus increasing electromagnetic field (EMF) exposures in homes.
A blockbuster Bloomberg report analysing measurements from 770,000 residential sensors across the US found that data center harmonics can extend for miles outside the facility. Three-fourths of the most highly distorted power readings occurred within 50 miles of large data center activity. More than half of the households experiencing the worst distortions were located within 20 miles of significant data center activity.
Nonprofits Toxin Free USA (TFUSA), Organic Consumers Association (OCA), and Beyond Pesticides (BP) filed a consumer protection lawsuit alleging deceptive marketing.
By GMO, Toxin Free USA
WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Nonprofits Toxin Free USA (TFUSA), Organic Consumers Association (OCA), and Beyond Pesticides (BP) filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Driscoll’s Inc. alleging deceptive marketing of its berries.
Driscoll’s is the world’s largest producer and marketer of blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries and claims its growing practices are “in harmony with the environment.” The company also advertises that its berries “aren’t produced in a factory; they’re grown outside in a dynamic biological environment” and are “good for you and the planet.”
Driscoll’s is headquartered in Watsonville, California, where it has operations throughout the city. The majority of its production fields are sited adjacent and extremely close to elementary and middle schools. State records show at least 12 different carcinogenic pesticides are used at Driscoll’s operations, including malathion and the fumigant 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D), banned in 34 countries including those in the EU. A state air monitor inside one school detected 1,3-D air concentration levels far above the state’s official Prop 65 cancer risk threshold.
Simplicius : CIA Director’s Mystery Moscow Trip Sparks Wild Speculations
Things are afoot, as evidenced by CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s sudden surprise visit to Moscow via C-17 military cargo plane.
By Simplicius
Things are afoot, as evidenced by CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s sudden surprise visit to Moscow via C-17 military cargo plane.
The commentariat is aswirl with rumor as to what his trip could signify. But let us first contextualize with a reminder that this is the first visit to Russia by a CIA director since the fateful November 2021 arrival of CIA Director William Burns, which was marked by the US’s last attempt to thwart Russia from launching its invasion just over two months later.
As such, many have rightfully attributed great consequence to this latest meeting.
Study’s Alarming Finding: At Least 1 in 4 N.F.L. Players Gets Brain Disease
The actual prevalence, researchers said, may be much higher.
By John Branch, The New York Times
Since the degenerative brain disease known as C.T.E. was first scientifically linked to football about 20 years ago, and as hundreds of former professional football players have been diagnosed with the disease after their deaths, a haunting question has lingered:
Just how many N.F.L. players will end up with C.T.E.?
New data provides a sobering indication: At least one in four of all the people who have played in the N.F.L. might expect to end up with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, according to a study of hundreds of cases over a recent six-year period.
Who Funds the People Who Decide What Is True?
Social Media Censorship, Part 10
By Demi Pietchell, The Advocates
Somewhere in the last several years, a peculiar new authority entered public life. It did not run for office. Nobody voted for it. It has no constituents, no term limits, and no process by which it can be removed. And yet it now decides, on a rolling and largely invisible basis, which claims are true enough to circulate and which claims get a small red flag attached that quietly throttles their reach, buries them in search, or triggers an account-level strike.
The fact-checking industry positions itself as neutral. Independent. A kind of referee standing above the fray, calling balls and strikes with no stake in who wins. I want to take that claim seriously enough to actually check it, because as far as I can tell, nobody rating claims for a living has ever rated their own institution’s neutrality, and the omission makes it suspect.
The earlier pieces in this series (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) covered how platforms suppress reach, shadowban accounts, and manufacture Overton windows through algorithmic sorting and siloing. This one covers the specific mechanism that triggers a lot of that suppression in the first place. It’s a third-party rating system whose funding sources rarely make it into the byline.
This Is The Income A Family Needs To Live Comfortably In Every US State
Etienne Note: Pretty soon it will be $1,000,000+ because the organized crime banks and “government” are stealing the value out of everyone’s money ArtOfLiberty.org/Inflation
by Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge
Here’s the short version of what it takes for a family of four to live comfortably in 2026 by state:
In Massachusetts, you’d need nearly $330,000 a year - the highest figure in the entire country. Only three states clear the $300,000 mark: Massachusetts, Hawaii, and California. At the other end of the spectrum, Mississippi is the most affordable at about $188,000. That’s a full $142,000 less than what you’d need in Massachusetts.
So… how much does a family of four need in your state?
Canada Retaliates, Slaps $20 Billion In Tariffs On 700 US Goods
Canada hits back with 50% retaliatory tariffs on $20 billion in US goods, days after Trump’s own tariffs and threats to hit cars and steel.
Etienne Note: See the article we carried by the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board: The Dumbest Trade War in History - Trump will impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico for no good reason, for more details on our latest Trump-inflicted wound…
by Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge
Days after the US hit Canada with a 50% tariff on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods amid a collapse in trade talks - and a Monday threat to include cars, trucks, auto parts and steel, Canada hit back on Tuesday - announcing retaliatory tariffs as high as 50% on $20 billion worth of American products.
Canada will begin collecting tariffs of 50, 25, and 15 percent on roughly 700 products beginning on Sept. 8. Most notably is the doubling of tariffs on American steel and aluminum to 50%. In addition to tit-for-tat tariffs on things like tools, clothing and forestry products, Canada is also targeting consumer products like home appliances.
The retaliation was expected following warnings by Prime Minister Mark Carney - a former central banker, who said that Canada would match US tariffs “dollar for dollar,” though he admitted that the move “will raise costs and reduce choice for Canadians,” NYT reports.
Pitch for defense treaty and moving US military to Israel is insane
The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) is pushing a plan that would also include expanded integration and a new $38 billion MOU
By Jennifer Kavanagh, Responsible Statecraft
On August 18, Israel bombed a non-operational Syrian air base, reportedly to derail Turkish plans to deploy military forces to the installation. The move drew swift condemnation from the United States, which did not receive prior notification despite its growing support for Syria, its alliance with Turkey, and the presence of thousands of U.S. military personnel based nearby, in Jordan and other parts of the region.
Is this the behavior of a “model ally“? The Jewish Institute for National Security of America seems to think so.
The group, which promotes “strategic cooperation” between the United States and Israel, tries to defend this position in its new report, “Shifting the Center of Gravity: Transforming the U.S.-Israel Security Partnership.” It also lays out an ambitious set of proposals JINSA hopes will be part of a renewed 10-year U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding (the current one expires in 2028). JINSA wants this “final” direct aid package to include $38 billion total and be “paired with new, mostly non-monetary initiatives that deepen and expand the U.S.-Israel partnership.”
Is Florida Really Ending All Vaccine Mandates?
Not all — and not yet. But what happened on August 20, 2026 is the biggest step any state has ever taken, and it was a decade in the making. Here what changed, what didn’t, and how we got here
By Sayer Ji
View and share the X post dedicated to this thread here.
On August 20, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo approved a Florida Department of Health rule that removes four immunizations — hepatitis B, varicella (chickenpox), Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and pneumococcal conjugate — from the entry requirements for Florida’s public and private schools, pre‑K through 12th grade. The rule does two other things that have received less attention but matter just as much to families: it expands the religious exemption to include moral and ethical beliefs, and it allows parents and college students to opt out of having their records included in the state vaccine database. The rule now sits in a 21‑day public comment window — reported to run through September 14 — before final adoption.
Getting the scope exactly right matters, because our credibility depends on it. This rule does not end every school vaccine requirement in Florida. Seven immunization requirements — including measles‑mumps‑rubella, polio, diphtheria, and tetanus — are written into state statute, not agency rule, and can only be changed by the Legislature. No bill to repeal them has passed. What changed this week is what the health department has lawful authority to change on its own. That is the true story: not a stroke‑of‑the‑pen abolition, but the furthest any state has ever gone toward voluntary childhood vaccination — reached the slow way, through rulemaking, public hearings, and a decade of organizing.
Who Gets to Decide Who Can Work?
A libertarian response to socialism and economic regulation
By Marc Friedman, Advocates for Self-Government
The libertarian response to economic regulation is that peaceful work and voluntary exchange should not require prior government permission. Libertarians favor competition, contracts, liability, reputation, and consumer choice. Legal action should address demonstrable harm rather than protect established businesses from new competitors.
A few years ago, two women in Missouri, Joba Niang and Tameka Stigers, were operating African-style hair-braiding studios they had built through years of practice. Their loyal clients provided a steady stream of business, offering the kind of market validation most entrepreneurs work hard to earn.
Yet their experience, reputations, and satisfied customers were not enough in the eyes of the state. Missouri confronted the women with a major regulatory barrier: they would have to complete 1,500 hours of cosmetology education that did not include African-style hair braiding. Instead, they would have to invest considerable time and money learning about chemical relaxers, shampoo techniques, and other practices unrelated to their work.
Your Phone Data Can Become Part of a Kill Chain
Part 1 of 2: How governments turn everyday metadata into surveillance kill chains.
By Sterlin Lujan, Advocates for Self-Government
In 2014, former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden uttered these words with a straight face. He was not being apologetic but rather bragging about his agency’s capabilities. His comment admits a difficult truth about why governments upgrade their surveillance apparatus. They seek to spy on their population, but the ability to kill “enemies of the state” is the ultimate expression of all surveillance.
Most people do not understand how metadata—”data about data”—is used in government “kill chains,” nor do most realize how much that capability is growing. Though such technology is putatively for foreign threats, these kill chains can eventually be turned against any domestic population.
With this threat escalating, we need solutions that invalidate it, which the crypto and cypherpunk communities are already deploying. But before looking at them, we must understand how the US government and military exploit metadata analysis not only to spy but also to develop these kill chains for targeted assassination. Then, we can determine what countermeasures we can muster to defend ourselves and secure a better future with a new kind of “oblivious“ institution.
US Special Forces Conducting Operations Inside Ecuador Target the Wrong Farm
An Ecuadorian official said the US soldiers were conducting anti-cartel missions
Etienne Note: The danger is that the organized crime “government” uses the military to target cartels not paying their cut to the CIA and/or competing cartels “cowboys” as was alleged in the DEA’s “Plan Columbia” operations and CIA support for the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico… Oh yeah… “military intelligence,” the text book definition of an oxymoron, frequently makes mistakes: “However, The New York Times reported that the target of the operation was a dairy farm, not a drug lab. “The military strike appears to have destroyed a cattle and dairy farm, not a drug trafficking compound, according to interviews with the farm’s owner, four of its workers, human rights lawyers, and residents and leaders in San Martín,” the outlet explains.”
By Kyle Anzalone, Antiwar.com
An Ecuadorian official confirmed that US Green Berets were engaged in anti-cartel operations. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump formed a coalition, dubbed Shield of the Americas, that was aimed at combating cartels in Latin and South America.
A local official told AFP and UPI that US special forces have been conducting direct operations against suspected cartels in the Esmeraldas province. “We are with the 7th (Special Forces) Group of the US Army. We are working together in the fight against narcoterrorism,” Esmeraldas Provincial governor Juan Jaramillo said last week.
Claude will now watermark all content generated using its tools
Roughly three-quarters of newly published web pages now carry some machine-written text, according to a 2025 Ahrefs analysis of around 900,000 pages.
By Etiido Uko, New Atlas
Roughly three-quarters of newly published web pages now carry some machine-written text, according to a 2025 Ahrefs analysis of around 900,000 pages. This figure doesn’t account for offline documents. It also only covers text. Generative AI now produces music, illustrations, software, photographs and increasingly convincing video. The problem is that much of it is becoming difficult to distinguish from human-created work, raising transparency and security concerns.
The European Union’s answer to these concerns is regulation. Under Article 50(2) of the EU AI Act, providers of generative AI systems are required to make all generated content detectable as artificially generated or manipulated.
Anthropic, the company behind Claude, has signed the bloc’s Code of Practice on Transparency of AI-Generated Content, one of around 190 signatories, and now plans to watermark Claude’s output across its ecosystem. According to the company, text will carry an invisible statistical watermark, while supported visual formats (such as PNG, JPG, or SVG) will receive signed metadata noting that Claude was involved.
The Surprising Mental-Health Benefits of Getting Away
Forget the staycation. Research reveals that travel can build stress resilience, sharpen cognitive health and ward off depression far better than staying home
By Heidi Mitchell, The Wall Street Journal
The next time you book a trip to some faraway city, don’t think of it as just a vacation.
Think of it as preventive medicine. A growing body of research suggests travel is more than a luxury or an escape. It may be a legitimate tool for improving mental health, one whose effects scientists are only beginning to understand.
Researchers say travel away from our usual environments exposes the brain to novel experiences that require greater mental engagement than during our everyday routines. At home, the brain is essentially on cruise control. We passively pick out something to wear, we follow the same commute, we work alongside the same people in the same office, and make relatively few new decisions.
Can A 10-Minute Jog Improve Mood And Focus?
A new study finds that even an extremely easy 10-minute jog — slow enough to almost be a walk — can meaningfully shift mood, focus, and brain activity.
By Brady Holmer, Marathon Handbook
Not every run has to be long, fast, or even particularly impressive to change how you feel.
In a new study, 24 healthy young adults completed 10 minutes of seated rest on one day and 10 minutes of very slow treadmill running on another. The run was set at 35% of VO2 peak—a pace so slow it could have been walked. Average speed was 3.4 miles per hour/5.5 kilometers per hour for men and 2.3 miles per hour/3.8 kilometers per hour for women. Heart rate was roughly 105 to 107 beats per minute, and perceived exertion stayed below 9 on the 6-to-20 scale.1
Five minutes after the jog, participants completed a Stroop task, which tests the ability to suppress an automatic response (in other words, your “inhibitory control).
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Truth Music of the Week
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Author of: To See the Cage is to Leave It & “Government” The Biggest Scam in History ... Exposed!!
