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general freedom ideological culture social media voluntary cooperation

World Loving Cup

World Cup, America, patriotism, National Pride, American Dream, American People

“I am loving that the World Cup has brought to our shores all these people,” comedian Bill Maher told his Real Time audience on Friday, “who are doing Americans the service of reminding us — just when we needed it on our big 250 birthday — that actually this place is kind of awesome.”

What Maher celebrated could be seen on social media, mostly. One German fan — and the first many American X users have encountered — is @FreddyLA7; his success is instructive, saying that he hasn’t “met a single unfriendly person.” If you follow his account, or many others like his, you’ll see a lot of stadium shots and talk of soccer wins and losses, but the real gems are among the many about American culture, vistas, and (of course) the food. 

And because the World Cup is being held in 16 cities across the continent, Freddy and his fellow across-the-water fans have seen a lot.

“I’m absolutely in love with small town America,” he says in a post about “Island Pond in Vermont. They have a population of 750 people but there was quite a lot going on. They had a flea market, a nice deli, and a beautiful lake with people out on their boats.”

His enthusiasm has hit the television news shows, too, one quoting his ten-out-of-ten rating of Waffle House, and his pledge to return.

Maher shared numerous stories from foreign visitors, including one Australian man who complained, “I feel like I’ve been lied to my entire life about America . . . if you log onto the news everything’s bad, everything’s terrible. It’s not. It’s absolutely f*cking amazing.”

Yes, the “news” is a problem — especially the national sources, biggest stations and papers. But bracket out politics. Then what you see is a diversity of geography, still-vibrant markets, and friendly people in cities, towns, and rural communities all over. 

And the sneaking idea that America is still great.

Again.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Thought

Aeschines

εὖ δ᾿ ἴστε, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, ὅτι τὰ μὲν τῶν δημοκρατουμένων σώματα καὶ τὴν πολιτείαν οἱ νόμοι σῴζουσι, τὰ δὲ τῶν τυράννων καὶ ὀλιγαρχικῶν ἀπιστία καὶ ἡ μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων φρουρά.

Be assured, fellow citizens, that in a democracy it is the laws that guard the person of the citizen and the constitution of the state, whereas the despot and the oligarch find their protection in suspicion and in armed guards.

Aeschines, Against Timarchus (346/5 BC), I.5.

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Today

An Assassin Hanged

Charles Julius Guiteau met his death on June 30, 1882, at the end of a rope (as was commonly said at the time), three days shy of a year after shooting newly elected President James A. Garfield.

Guiteau was a member of the “Stalwart” faction of the Republican Party, devoted to the continuation of the kind of job-seeking corruption that Garfield, the reformer, opposed on principle. Despite being on the opposite team, so to speak, Guiteau was an ardent supporter of Garfield in the election campaign, and expected a diplomatic position in return. Failing to gain such a position in the new administration, Guiteau decided upon a sort of mad revenge as the apt response to Garfield’s “betrayal.”

While it took a year to finalize Guiteau’s execution, it took much less time — if itself an excruciatingly long time — for Garfield to die of the wound and the subsequent doctoring, on September 19th, 1881.

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ideological culture national politics & policies political challengers

The Kill Western Civilization Caucus

democrat, socialism, communism, democratic party, elections, democracy

“These are not social democrats,” President Trump declared on Truth Social. “These are hardcore, godless communists.”

Unfortunately, the president is on target. 

He was referring to the three members of the Democratic Socialists of America who won Democratic Party primaries last week in deep-blue New York City congressional districts.

November’s General Election being a mere formality in the Big Apple, the trio will undoubtedly be joining the next Congress. All three — State Assemblywoman Claire Valdez (NY-7), former City Comptroller Brad Lander (NY-10), and professional “left-wing activist” Darializa Avila Chevalier (NY-13) — were endorsed and assisted by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

They’ll be just three out of 435 members of Congress, while the mayor is in a position to do more harm. Still, sprinkling a few Stalinists into Washington’s brew won’t help. 

Darializa Avila Chevalier worries me the most. Before launching her political campaign, CNN reports that she deleted “thousands of posts and reposts expressing support for abolishing police, prisons and borders, as well as seizing private property and nationalizing major industries and calling into question Israel’s right to exist.”

Her pursuit of a surely democratic-no-doubt-benevolent dictatorship of the proletariat to, you know, seize the means of production is . . . mighty concerning. What’s worse, however, is her hatred. 

Of America. 

In a 2019 tweet, Chevalier posted a smiley face emoji to say loud and proud: “I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me.” 

“We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization,” explained a group she co-founded, Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD). 

Shouldn’t we take them at their word?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Common Sense

John Randolph of Roanoke

We ought to observe that practice which is the hardest of all — especially for young physicians — we ought to throw in no medicine at all — to abstain — to observe a wise and masterly inactivity.

Rep. John Randolph, Register of Debates in Congress (January 25, 1828), vol. 4, col. 1170.
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Today

Great War ab ovo

On June 29, 1914, the day after the shooting of the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, Austrian interrogations confirmed — to the satisfaction of Gavril Princip’s interrogators and their government, anyway — that the Serbian state was behind the assassination. Serbia denied involvement.

Thus continued the series of events that led to “The Great War,” now known as “World War I.”

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government transparency Update

Public Surveillance Forced to Become Transparent

“Just like humans may err in recognizing faces, facial recognition technology (FRT) is not without its flaws,” writes Meagan O’Rourke at Reason. “Multiple defendants have blamed the technology for wrongful arrests as more and more law enforcement agencies rely on the technology to identify suspects.”

Ms. O’Rourke goes on to expand on the ruling, reporting that in “State v. Tybear Miles, New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors must disclose how FRT was used to identify defendant Tybear Miles, who had been charged with ‘first-degree murder and weapons offenses.’”

While this new transparency is being induced by a state court, states “including Maryland, Montana, and Washington,” have legislated requirements that “law enforcement agencies to disclose the use of FRT to defendants before trial.”

It is worth remembering that there is another route to secure your privacy and public anonymity from surveillance hardware and facial recognition software: technological innovation. A serial killer in the TV series Dexter Resurrection found a way, with lights inside his “camera-shy hoodie.” But there are many more ways. And more will be developed. Prying creates its own counter-measures. Even among the law-abiding.

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Thought

Aeschines

ὁμολογοῦνται γὰρ τρεῖς εἶναι πολιτεῖαι παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, τυραννὶς καὶ ὀλιγαρχία καὶ δημοκρατία· διοικοῦνται δ᾿ αἱ μὲν τυραννίδες καὶ ὀλιγαρχίαι τοῖς τρόποις τῶν ἐφεστηκότων, αἱ δὲ πόλεις αἱ δημοκρατούμεναι τοῖς νόμοις τοῖς κειμένοις.

It is acknowledged, namely, that there are in the world three forms of government, autocracy, oligarchy, and democracy: autocracies and oligarchies are administered according to the tempers of their lords, but democratic states according to established laws.

Aeschines, Against Timarchus (346/5 BC), I.4.

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Today

The Archduke Shot!

On the 28th of June in 1914, 19-year-old Gavril Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, and the Archduke’s wife Sophie. The Archduke had earlier missed a bomb thrown at his car, which necessitated a change in the motorcade route, which the driver forgot, which is why the car paused at the precise intersection in which Princip fired his fatal shots.

The shooting began a series of events that led to “The Great War,” now known as “World War I.”

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Update

Do They Know What They’re Doing?

A year ago, on June 24, 2025, a resolution was introduced into Congress to once again impeach President Donald Trump. But that was not the most interesting Trump-related story of the day. The president, walking towards Marine One (the name of the helicopter when in service of the president) was accosted by reporters who asked about Iran and the country’s commitment to peace:

The subject was Iran, but Trump brought up Israel’s breaking of the peace, and stated that Israel and Iran “have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.” Trump’s expletive-laden remarks followed an incident where Israel reported intercepting a missile launched by Iran, shortly after he had celebrated an “epic ceasefire” between the two nations.

On the same day, Trump also posted on Truth Social, urging Israel not to launch further attacks on Iran, specifically writing: “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!”

Since then, the president has sided with Israel’s desire to escalate a regime-change war with Iran. This has not proven successful, by most observers’ judgments, and the president has tried repeatedly to obtain some lasting peace. This has been a less-than-coherent peace process, however. Exactly a year after his “they don’t know what the” comment, Trump expressed chagrin at what he said was an Iranian attack on a cargo ship. Then followed retaliation:

U.S. forces launched strikes on Iran on June 26 in response to a drone strike on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said later the same day that it targeted American positions in the region in response to the U.S. attack, but did not clarify what those positions were. The United States has not issued any statements on Iran’s latest action.

Ryan Morgan, “U.S. Strikes Iran in Response to Attack on Cargo Ship,” The Epoch Times (June 26, 2026).

The political reaction has been pointed, from the White House:

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday called Iran’s attack a violation of the ceasefire reached by the two countries.

Vice President JD Vance followed up in a post on X, saying “violence will be met with violence.”

“Iran signed a ceasefire agreement,” Vance also wrote. “We have honored it. If they have disagreements about how the [memorandum of understanding] is being applied, they can pick up the phone.”

The Epoch Times, ibid.