Source: Antiwar.com
by Trita Parsi
“If you’ve followed my interviews, you know I’ve been warning about the high likelihood of a third round of the war – one that would almost certainly be far more intense than the previous two. I’ve also argued that, given Trump’s erroneous reading of the current balance, perhaps the only diplomatic wildcard that could pull us back from this looming disaster is Beijing deciding to step in and force a settlement. I discussed precisely this with Glenn Diesen on his show just yesterday. Hours later, President Xi Jinping declared China’s willingness to use its diplomatic clout to help end the war.” (09/14/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/trita-parsi/2026/09/13/china-to-the-rescue-why-only-beijing-may-be-able-to-end-the-iran-war/
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Polls closed on Monday across an autonomous Muslim region of the Philippines that waited decades to choose its own leaders, with officials praising a successful election despite sporadic violence. The parliamentary election was the culmination of a sometimes-bumpy peace process that began in the late 1990s and established the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the country’s far south. More than two million voters were eligible to vote for 80 parliament seats that had previously been filled by appointees. … Gunfire erupted outside a polling station at a Cotabato school before polls opened, killing three people and wounding 15 others.” (09/14/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260914-philippine-muslim-enclave-heads-to-polls-after-deadly-shooting
Source: EconTalk
“Incentives Are for Losers (with Adam Mastroianni).” (09/14/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/incentives-are-for-losers-with-adam-mastroianni/
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jennie Jones
“I spent my whole day today trying to save a $200 Chromebook. When I think about the hourly rate, it really wasn’t the best use of my time. School starts in less than a week, and I had many other things on my to-do list. But alas, Gemini made me feel like I could solve it, so I kept troubleshooting, and before I knew it, it was 5:00. This is an ironic pattern I have noticed lately as I use chatbots more and more for work. It makes me feel like I can do anything. Things I wouldn’t have ever considered even attempting (read: most tech-related projects), I suddenly feel like trying because there is no harm in asking. And when it works, it does feel so good. ‘I did it myself!’ I cry out like a small child learning to tie her shoes. But there have been a few times now where I realized that just because ChatGPT makes me feel like I could doesn’t always mean that I should.” (09/14/26)
https://fee.org/articles/what-is-worth-learning-in-an-ai-world/
Source: Fox News
“New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is suing President Donald Trump’s administration over plans to expand federal authority to deny visa and green card applications based on welfare status. The lawsuit, filed jointly with NY Attorney General Letitia James, targets the Trump administration’s plan to expand the ‘public charge’ rule, which allows the federal government to deny visa applications based on the likelihood that the applicant will receive public benefits. Trump’s administration seeks to expand the list of benefits that apply under the rule, with the change taking effect Sept. 18. ‘If you are a citizen, or an individual seeking humanitarian relief like asylum, these changes will not affect you,’ Mamdani said at a press conference Monday. ‘The new public charge rule not only sweeps aside more than a century of established law, it is intentionally vague as a means of creating uncertainty and fear to isolate immigrant New Yorkers.'” (09/14/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mamdani-letitia-james-sue-block-trump-admin-from-refusing-immigrants-over-welfare-status
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Harrison Berger
“With few good options available, the US has left little hope for peace in the Middle East any time soon.” (09/14/260
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-forever-war/
Source: Common Dreams
by John Ripton
“Donald Trump is an instrument of this age, a force propelling capitalism and the global economy into a critical stage of their historical development. Since the beginning of village life some 10,000 years ago, commerce among villages and rural economies intensified as cities emerged and over centuries forged trade networks across regions into a global system of commerce. At the same time, from the beginning of markets, traders, merchants, industries, and governments engaged in the struggle for control of local, regional, and inter-regional markets. Today this struggle continues, but now with devastating consequences: the concentration of wealth on a global scale; the vast productive power and technological innovation; the multiplying flow of market-related information, and the explosive potential of artificial intelligence. Each of these factors is channeling private and public resources to elites, and spurring worldwide trade wars, technological dependency, and military confrontations that threaten humanity’s survival.” (09/14/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-tool-of-the-age
Source: CNBC
“Artificial intelligence stocks dropped on Monday after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a slowdown of the development of AI capabilities, and other major tech figures backed the proposal. Investors are concerned that an industry-wide slowdown in AI development could have ripple effects for companies across the sector and curb adoption. Chipmaking and hardware stock heavily tied to the AI buildout dropped on Monday. … The sell-off comes amid the growing debate over the risks posed by rapidly improving AI model capabilities that hit a crescendo last week after Jacob Coxon, a researcher at Anthropic who also previously worked at OpenAI, said he resigned out of concern that Anthropic and OpenAI are ‘gambling with our lives.'” (09/14/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/14/ai-stocks-slowdown-amodei-altman.html
Source: The UnPopulist
“Liberals Need to Loosen Up to Play the Social Media Game Against Authoritarians: A Conversation with Renée DiResta.” (09/14/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/liberals-need-to-loosen-up-to-play
Source: Libertaran Institute
by Thomas Eddlem
“For all the Republican fear-mongering over Democratic Party socialism, the Democrats have had a non-existent record of getting their much-touted socialist schemes enacted; even when President Barack Obama had an electoral mandate for a ‘public option’ on health care and a majority in both the U.S. House and Senate, Democrats couldn’t get it passed. But President Donald Trump’s copying of China’s ‘golden share’ concept via executive order by taking shares in private companies is, unfortunately, a much more real, damaging, and sustainable form of socialism.” (09/14/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-reality-of-republican-socialism