Source: The American Conservative
“Andrew Day and Harrison Berger talk to geopolitical analyst Brandon Weichert about the Iran war, President Trump’s visit to China, and the Russian thinker urging Vladimir Putin to escalate against Europe.” (05/14/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/tac-right-now-will-china-push-trump-to-end-iran-war/
Source: The Contrarian
by Jennifer Rubin
“Democrats’ prospects are actually improving with time.” (05/14/26)
https://www.contrariannews.org/p/republicans-cannot-gerrymander-senate
Source: hypertext
by Geoff Kabaservice
“There was a time when Silicon Valley and the tech industry seemed — not cool, exactly, but vaguely countercultural and brashly anti-establishment. That was the point of Mark Zuckerberg wearing pajamas to an investor pitch, or tech execs spurning coats and ties: to emphasize that they were unlike traditional elites in every way. They consciously presented themselves as rebels whose products would liberate humanity from the old constraints of authority and tradition. Back in the early 2000s, it would have seemed far-fetched to imagine that these former outsiders would become an elite themselves.” (05/14/26)
https://hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/what-silicon-valley-can-learn-from
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“There is widespread concern that AI will lead to mass unemployment in the years ahead. As I and others have pointed out, we have yet to see any evidence of this in the data on job growth or productivity. But maybe we just have to wait a bit longer. But the idea that AI will eliminate all the jobs ignores the ways that creative entrepreneurs can develop new industries that require hundreds of thousands, or even millions of employees. These new industries may contribute nothing to well-being, but they create jobs. The best example of this sort of waste is the financial industry.” (05/14/26)
Source: New York Post
by Elaine Dezenski & Max Meizlish
“A bombshell report this week laid bare a startling truth: Hong Kong is the lifeline for the Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies. Hong Kong-registered shell companies are funneling billions of dollars in illicit oil revenue, along with weapons technology and surveillance tools, to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, fueling Tehran’s repressive military machine. But more than two months into the war, not one of Iran’s most important financial enablers — in Hong Kong or anywhere else in China — has been taken offline. Donald Trump and Xi Jinping shaking hands, with the US and Chinese flags behind them. It’s a glaring loophole in President Trump’s ‘Economic Fury’ and ‘Maximum Pressure’ campaigns that he’s promised will break the regime. So this week, as the president meets with Xi Jinping in Beijing, he should present the Chinese Communist Party with the bill for its continued support of Tehran’s terror.” (05/13/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/05/13/opinion/china-summit-is-trumps-chance-to-choke-irans-terror-cash/
Source: Reuters
“The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits increased moderately last week, pointing to a stable labor market even as rising energy prices from the war with Iran drive up inflation. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 211,000 for the week ended May 9, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 205,000 claims for the latest week. … The government reported on Wednesday that producer prices recorded their biggest increase in four years in April. There are concerns that shortages and rising inflation could cause layoffs in some industries.” (05/13/26)
Source: The Hill
“Fauci buried lab leak evidence, CIA analyst reveals!” (05/14/26)
Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy
“Central planning from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, President Donald Trump, and others reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes private markets work.” (05/14/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley
“The contest for California’s biggest disaster may soon be decided.” (05/14/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/05/14/bullet-train-or-bay-bridge/
Source: Common Dreams
by Robert C Koehler
“It’s hard to avoid noticing, and internally screaming over, the Trump administration’s proposed military budget upgrade to $1.5 trillion annually, as though the present trillion-dollar annual gift to the end of the world weren’t enough. It’s not just the proposed taxpayer bleed. It’s the collective assumption that ‘self-defense’ requires an ever-present readiness to kill lots of people, and beyond that the utter certainty that we have soulless enemies out there who want what we have, hate our freedoms, and will take what they can the moment we relax. This is just the way it is. No questions allowed. And our enemies aren’t pussycats. One of them, for instance, is China. … Nothing holds a country together like a good enemy.” (05/14/26)