“Some people seem to think the Constitution’s framers simply made the whole thing up. ‘Why should we pay attention to what 55 dead white guys wrote 239 years ago?’ they ask. But the framers did not make it all up. The ideas behind the Constitution had been discussed and tested for a very long time. Illustrating this is a document written nearly 20 years before the framers met in Philadelphia—a document that proclaims concepts later incorporated into the Constitution.” (09/20/26)
“Germany’s far-left party Die Linke (the Left) has taken first place in a state election in Berlin, while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won the most votes in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. … Following the results, the AfD’s national co-leader, Tino Chrupalla, called on the German chancellor [Friedrich Merz] to resign. … Pressure on Merz has been mounting after the far-right AfD delivered a significant defeat to his CDU party two weeks ago in the key state of Saxony-Anhalt. … After just 16 months in power, Merz’s approval ratings have plunged to about 14 percent, the latest polls suggest, as he struggles to push through promised economic and social welfare reforms with his centre-left coalition partner, the SPD, raising doubts among fellow party members about whether he can continue to lead.” (09/20/26)
“When ‘industry leaders’ start advocating for government regulation — or even, initially, for industry-internal ‘standards’ bodies leading to such regulation — they’re not riding to the rescue of humankind, they’re looking out for their own bottom lines.” (09/20/26)
“The Department of Justice announced Sept. 18 that it considers a federal ban on handgun sales to adults under 21 to be unconstitutional. The DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel opinion cited multiple Second Amendment Supreme Court cases expanding the right to carry handguns for self-defense as their primary rationale for declaring the prohibition unconstitutional. Specifically, they determined 18 to 20-year-olds are part of ‘the people’ the Second Amendment protects. The DOJ’s decision is legally binding on federal agencies but it does not bind federal courts and Congress. It also does not create any precedent and can be overturned by the Supreme Court, which has not yet weighed in on the issue.” [editor’s note: The Second Amendment is at least SUPPOSEDLY binding on Congress and the courts. The question is whether they abide by the “supreme law of the land” or not – TLK] (09/18/26)
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“Although the relatively new venue of social media adds a wrinkle, the tactic of the White House or the federal bureaucracy using ostensibly independent analysts to validate the national security state’s propaganda is not. That approach routinely polluted news coverage in the so-called mainstream media throughout the Cold War and has continued to this day. Indeed, the latest scheme is marginally less insidious than many of its predecessors. At least this time the paid influencers are listed on official records as government employees.” (09/19/26)
“Ukraine launched hundreds of drones at Moscow on Sunday, killing two people on the final day of a Russian parliamentary election that President Vladimir Putin has cast as a test of support for the war in Ukraine. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram: ‘In the Moscow region tonight, our long-range responses hit very noticeably. One of the key enterprises of Russia’s oil industry and an aggressor logistics facility were struck.’ He did not specifically mention the ongoing State Duma election, but added that Moscow could ‘end its brutal war and choose peace” if there is “political will’ to do so. An oil refinery was damaged in the strike, with videos showing smoke billowing out across the city.” (09/20/26)
“Trade deficits are an accounting fiction. We all run trade deficits with our local grocery store—to each of our great advantage. Republicans are obsessed with halting immigration, yet what better way to reduce the pressure for job seekers to immigrate to the United States than encouraging the construction of job-producing factories in Mexico and elsewhere and then just simply trading with them? Free trade boosts consumer choice and economic growth. It reduces prices and makes for freer lives. Unfortunately, the president is doubling down rather than learning the right lesson.” (09/18/26)
“An Immigration and Customs Enforcement [gang member] shot and wounded a man from Venezuela who was working as a DoorDash driver Sunday in Texas’[s] capital, city officials confirmed, with protests erupting at the scene against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Federal authorities have not said what led up to the shooting, which came as the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement operations across the country and just two months after ICE [gang members murdered] a Mexican man during a traffic stop in Houston. The man shot Sunday in Austin was identified as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, by Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, an immigration lawyer who said she is representing his family.” (09/20/26)
“The freedom of speech and of the press is not a gift bestowed by a president, Congress or a federal agency. It is a natural right of all persons. The First Amendment does not create that right; it prohibits the government from infringing upon it. The ability to think, speak, write, criticize, ridicule, persuade, offend, dissent and challenge those in government is among the most fundamental preconditions of the exercise of human liberty. It is also indispensable to personal happiness.” (09/18/26)
