“A Chinese artist was sentenced to three years in prison on Tuesday for ‘infringing upon the reputation of heroes’ through satirical works of art, including statues of the country’s former leader Mao Zedong. The US-based Gao Zhen, who was part of an artistic duo known as the Gao Brothers, was arrested while visiting family in China in August 2024. He has been in custody ever since. He was sentenced by the Sanhei People’s Court court in northern Hebei province, according to his wife Zhao Yaliang. The charges against Gao relate to artistic works that China considers insulting to revolutionary figures. One such piece of work is a 2009 statue called Mao’s Guilt which shows the founder of modern China kneeling in repentance. Another is the Miss Mao series of caricatures depicting Mao with breasts and an engorged nose.” (08/26/26)
“President Donald Trump has been threatening to yank the licenses of broadcasters who irk him since his first term. But this time around, the FCC’s Trump-appointed chairman, Brendan Carr, seems eager to act on that vindictive impulse. Carr portrays the ABC review as a response to ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ programs that may qualify as ‘unlawful discrimination.’ But he has made it clear that the FCC also is considering the broader question of whether ABC’s stations are serving ‘the public interest,’ a vague statutory mandate that he views as a license to override freedom of the press.” (08/26/26)
“An inquest opened Wednesday into the sudden death earlier this month of Jason Arday, a Cambridge University professor who faced a storm of plagiarism accusations. Arday, 41, who became Cambridge’s youngest [b]lack professor in 2023, was found dead at an address in south London on Aug. 13, days after he resigned his post as professor of sociology of education following intense media scrutiny of his credentials and many of the other claims he had made about his accomplishments outside of academia. The inquest opened with a short hearing at London Inner South Coroner’s Court. Any deaths in the U.K. that are deemed to exhibit uncertainties of one form or another are investigated by a coroner.” (08/26/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Connor O’Keeffe
“In total, the Trump family is estimated to have made over $2 billion since Trump returned to office. … It is understandable why most Americans find this upsetting, especially after Trump launched a war that predictably raised gas prices for a population already struggling with a years-long inflation crisis. … Trump is visibly using his power to make his own family richer while his policies leave most American families worse off. But the key word there is visibly. Because the truth is that, despite what establishment Trump critics want us to think, Trump did not bring this kind of ‘corruption’ to the White House; he’s just not trying as hard to hide it. This is what states do. And it’s what they have always done.” (08/26/26)
“Mortgage interest rates moved even higher last week, causing demand for loans to weaken yet again. Total mortgage application volume dropped 1% from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances of up to $832,750 increased last week to 6.78% from 6.77% the prior week, with points rising to 0.66 from 0.65, including the origination fee, for loans with a 20% down payment. That is the highest level in three weeks. Applications to refinance a home loan, which are most sensitive to weekly rate moves, fell 2% for the week. They were 17% lower than the same week one year ago, when rates were 9 basis points lower.” (08/26/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Stephen Weese
“You probably haven’t heard of too many examples of successful data center developments, and that’s partly because ‘something worked; everything is just fine’ is not a common news story. However, CNN recently reported on exactly that: Quincy, Washington, is home to over 30 data centers and has experienced an incredible boom as a result. The data centers now cover an estimated 57% of Quincy’s property tax revenue, funding a wave of public infrastructure projects: a $15 million aquatic center, a 143,000-square-foot indoor sports complex, a $120 million high school, a new hospital, library, police and fire stations, paved sidewalks, sewage systems, and a wastewater treatment plant. Residential electricity rates in the county rose 3.5% last year, while large industrial users, such as the data centers themselves, absorbed a 9.1% increase. The data centers there are paying for their own added infrastructure and generation costs rather than spreading those costs to households.” (08/26/26)
“Now the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and BMI, threatening to strike you down in your healthy middle age unless you submit to the testing, treating (ie: medications and lifestyle changes), and a retesting paradigm which can lead many to become obsessed by the numbers. By the way, these four measures have one thing in common: They are typically treated with a prescribing pen that has been carefully guided in your doctor’s expert hands by the helpful people in the pharmaceutical industry. Just saying …” (08/26/26)
“The midterm election is a little more than two months away, and voters who spent the summer tuning out politics are beginning to pay attention. Campaign advertising is picking up, candidates are settling into their general-election messages, and the small number of voters who haven’t already chosen a side are starting to take a closer look at the people asking for their votes. They don’t particularly like what they see. Nearly two-thirds of voters believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. Trump’s approval rating remains underwater, Democrats hold a roughly 6-point advantage on the generic congressional ballot, and Republicans are now defending Senate seats in states that shouldn’t be competitive.” (08/26/26)
