Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith
“Apple builds and sells iPhones. I happen to own one of the older models, for the same reason I own a last-legs older model car. What if Apple could skip the build part and sell only the phone? The money saved would be an enormous boost to its bottom line. And if Apple passed the savings onto customers I could conceivably afford to upgrade. Where would the phones come from? From a bookkeeping entry, of course. Unfortunately, Apple’s customers are very demanding and want the real things, so the build operations will have to stay. Perhaps their executives looked upon another business and envied their ability to sell loans without drawing down their savings. Customer with good credit wants a loan? Create the amount with a few taps on a keyboard and send him on his way.” (08/24/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Abigail R Hall & Michael Coon
“Excitement abounds as college students prepare to return to campus. Some students will begin their college experience. Others will begin the countdown to graduation. But for international students, fall is likely to bring significant anxiety. On Sept. 15, new rules for student visas will place them in a bind, harm universities and impose high costs on one of the country’s strongest service exports: education.” (08/24/26)
“California Attorney General Rob Bonta has canceled planned settlement talks with Paramount over the state’s lawsuit seeking to block David Ellison‘s proposed $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, accusing Paramount of acting in bad faith, according to The New York Times. Bonta is leading a coalition of 12 states in challenging the proposed merger and asking the court to block the deal, arguing the merger would give the company too much power across cable television and movie production. The two sides had been due to meet Monday for preliminary discussions for a possible settlement, but Bonta called off the meeting late Sunday, after accusing Paramount of misrepresenting details of an earlier meeting held on Friday.” (08/24/26)
“Last week was the 28th anniversary of the U.S. government’s bombing of a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan. Scott Horton, director of the Libertarian Institute, observed last week that that wanton assault by the Clinton administration ‘helped make a folk hero out of bin Laden, drove up recruitment for Al Qaeda and made it more difficult for the Taliban to give him up.’ Operation Infinite Reach was a farce of the first order—and may have helped pave the way to the September 11 attacks. That carnage resulted in a federal court ruling that practically gave presidents a license to kill any time that they claimed to have good intentions.” (08/24/26)
“Last week, Trump announced that the U.S. will, for 90 days, admit up to 300,000 metric tons of ground-beef product without the normal out-of-quota tariff, and that he has obtained a ‘commitment’ that the beef will be sold 25% below current market prices. This comes on top of February’s much smaller measure allocating an extra 80,000 metric tons of tariff-free lean beef specifically to Argentina. … My immediate reaction to this was, ‘That sounds like some Third World shit.’ A little research would bear this intuition out: this is something like a practice of developing nations. For example, Nigeria during the oil boom of the 1970s.” (08/24/26)
“Sean Grayson, the former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy who was convicted of killing Sonya Massey, has died. Daniel Fultz, one of Grayson’s defense attorneys, confirmed with Nexstar’s WCIA that Grayson died on Sunday. Grayson, 32, was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Sonya Massey in October of 2025. Massey, a [b]lack woman, had called 911 to report she believed someone was trying to break into her home. Grayson and another deputy responded to the call at 12:50 a.m. on July 6, 2024. Massey was shot by Grayson about 30 minutes later, and was pronounced dead by 1:47 a.m. At the beginning of this year, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Recently, Grayson requested early release from prison on medical grounds. He had been battling colon cancer for years, and in July, WCIA reported the cancer had progressed to Stage 4 and spread to Grayson’s rectum, liver and lungs.” (08/24/26)
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jennifer Kavanagh
“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).” (08/24/26)
