Reasonably Optimistic, 06/17/26
Source: Washington Post
“Is there such a thing as too much empathy?” (06/17/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/is-there-such-a-thing-as-too-much-empathy/
Taxing the rich won’t save Social Security
Source: Washington Post
by Ramesh Ponnuru
“Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) greeted the news that Elon Musk had become a trillionaire by — what else? — touting a plan to raise federal spending and taxes. Musk ‘pays the same amount into Social Security as someone making $184,500,’ Sanders tweeted. He said his bill would ‘end that absurdity,’ eliminate the program’s shortfall for 75 years and pay for an expansion of Social Security benefits. … Sanders’s idea is terrible. It would be a much larger and more harmful tax increase than its supporters let on and would further warp the federal government’s already perverse spending priorities. … The tax cap is there to keep benefits related to contributions. Musk won’t pay any more than someone making $184,500, but he also won’t get a bigger check than that person.” (06/17/26)
Florida House Blocks DeSantis AI Bill of Rights
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey
“Not many people paid attention, but the 2026 Florida legislative session took an unusual turn with regard to AI regulation. The main issue isn’t whether AI should be regulated, but whether that should happen at the state or national level, or not at all. In Florida, lawmakers rejected Governor DeSantis’[s] ‘AI Bill of Rights.’ The Florida Senate supported DeSantis, but the House did not. When it comes to the Internet, how can a state control how its citizens use certain websites, especially when people can easily circumvent the rules? And I would posit that, even if one were in favor of regulating AI, we do not even know which regulation would be most prudent without inhibiting its positive impact on society. So far, it seems most regulatory proposals I have seen around the country, including in Florida, have been alarmist, reactionary, and driven by emotion rather than objective reasoning.” (06/17/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/florida-house-blocks-desantis-ai
How the Left Convinced Young People That Wealth Is Taken, Not Earned
Source: The Daily Economy
by Holly Jean Soto
“Frustration with high costs has made younger generations more receptive to claims that wealth requires exploitation. But envy-driven attacks only limit our future opportunities.” (06/17/26)
Somaliland: No Talks to Establish Israeli Military Base, Defence Minister Says
Source: US News & World Report
“There is no Israeli military presence in Somaliland and no talks about Israel opening a base there, Somaliland’s Defence Minister Mohamed Yusuf Ali told Reuters on Wednesday. Speaking on the sidelines of a business conference in Tel Aviv, he said Israel was training Somaliland’s military and police, but dismissed reports that Israel was in negotiations to establish a military base in the territory as ‘rumours.’ Michael Lotem, Israel’s ambassador to Somaliland, declined to comment. … Israel recognised Somaliland as an independent state last December, the first country to formally do so, in a move Somalia rejected and termed a ‘deliberate attack’ on its sovereignty.” (06/17/26)
The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 06/17/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trumpworld Quietly Shivs JD Vance as Damning Leaks Discredit Iran Deal.” (06/17/26)
Finding American Integrity
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Joe Murphy
“Last week, Dr. Steven Quay published recommendations to improve the integrity of the nation’s biosecurity research following the Covid-19 crisis. Dr. Quay is a prominent figure in the resistance to the Covid-19 origins coverup in addition to his medical and academic pedigrees. His recommendations complement those of James Erdman, an Office of the Director of National Intelligence and CIA professional, who articulated before Congress in April that the government’s biosecurity apparatus is convoluted, clumsy, and unaccountable. I echoed similar comments in a prior piece from my perspective as a military officer also involved in countering the coverup. In the vein of Dr. Quay and Mr. Erdman’s recommendations, I offer further comments towards America’s Covid-19 post-mortem.” (06/17/26)
Trump reindustrialization agenda faces its biggest hurdle: Americans
Source: Fox News
by Chris Johnson
“Americans say they want to bring back industry. President Donald Trump ran on reindustrialization and won. But when it comes to actual building, mining, and developing, people too often shut it down. Build, they say, just not in my backyard. Peter Thiel put his finger on this pathology over a decade ago. ‘We wanted flying cars,’ he wrote, ‘instead we got 140 characters.’ His point wasn’t merely about venture capital timidity. It was about a society that stopped building physical things, retreating into digital abstraction while factories closed, supply chains migrated to China, and infrastructure crumbled. Now, we are making the same mistake again, in real time, with higher stakes.” [editor’s note: Actually, the US builds more “physical things” than it ever has before — it just doesn’t use as much human labor to do so – TLK] (06/17/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/trumps-reindustrialization-agenda-faces-biggest-hurdle
Japan: Regime raids ice cream giants over price-fixing allegations
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Japan’s competition watchdog has raided some of the country’s biggest ice cream makers for allegedly forming a cartel to raise the price of their products. Some of the firms, including Meiji and Pocky maker Ezaki Glico, said this week that they have been subject to an “on-site inspection” by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) over suspicions that they fixed the prices of frozen desserts. The JFTC said it is not releasing a statement regarding the investigation. The companies are suspected of inflating ice cream prices beyond increases in the cost of raw materials, even as the country faces a hot summer with record high temperatures.” (06/17/26)
More doctors where they’re needed: Reforming Medicare’s GME formula
Source: Niskanen Center
by Lawson Mansell & David Schwartzman
“At more than $21 billion annually, Medicare’s Graduate Medical Education (GME) payments are the federal government’s single largest investment in physician training, but the nearly 40-year-old formula for determining payments has not been meaningfully adjusted to address the growing mismatch between where doctors are needed and where they practice.” (06/17/26)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/more-doctors-where-theyre-needed-reforming-medicares-gme-formula/