Reason Roundtable, 08/17/26
Source: Reason
“Who Pays for Medicare for All?” (08/17/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/08/17/who-pays-for-medicare-for-all/
Author: Thomas L. Knapp
Ship attacked during Strait of Hormuz transit
Source: Associated Press
“A ship was hit by a projectile early Tuesday as it was sailing out of the Strait of Hormuz, according to the British military’s UK Maritime Trade Operations center. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attack highlights the ongoing danger of attempting to transit the waterway as Iran continues to throttle shipping traffic, even as it finalizes negotiations with Oman on a plan to manage the critical passage. … With negotiations between the U.S. and Iran stalled, Iran has been holding separate talks with Oman on a plan to manage ships transiting the strait, and said Monday it was in the process of finalizing details for a joint statement. U.S. President Donald Trump [whined like a spoiled three-year-old], reportedly threatening to Fox News reporter Trey Yingst in a telephone interview that the U.S. would bomb Oman if it ‘gets in the way.'” (08/18/26)
Has Trump’s War on Immigrants Made America Great Again?
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Upon being elected president, both the first time and the second time, President Trump vowed to make America great again. That’s what his MAGA movement has been all about. Central to Trump’s vow has been his war on immigrants, which I think most everyone would describe as ruthless and brutal. … Has all this immigration police-state mayhem made America great again? It sure doesn’t seem so to me. In fact, all I see is things getting worse and worse, especially from the standpoint of liberty, peace, prosperity, and harmony.” (08/17/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/08/17/has-trumps-war-on-immigrants-made-america-great-again/
US Regime Pauses Berlin Wall Replica Construction in Texas’s Big Bend National Park
Source: US News & World Report
“The Trump administration says it is temporarily pausing construction of a controversial border construction project in the Big Bend National Park while the head of the agency tasked with building the wall visits Texas to do an ‘on-the-ground evaluation.’ The project through the national park in southern Texas has faced fierce bipartisan opposition by critics who say it is marring a pristine environmental area and that the region’s rugged and remote terrain already serves as a deterrent to migrants and smugglers.” (08/17/26)
Campus hecklers are silencing pro-Israel speakers. Speech codes are not the fix.
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Max Friedman
“There is no First Amendment privilege to prevent someone else from speaking in reserved spaces. Blocking others from expressing viewpoints that may be uncommon or unpopular on campus frustrates the marketplace of ideas: It interferes with others’ right to listen and leaves the campus community with an incomplete understanding of the debate. This principle applies equally to all speakers, including those expressing pro-Israel viewpoints. Universities have the tools they need to respond to these incidents. For example, they can prohibit students from intentionally, materially, and substantially disrupting others’ expressive activities in reserved spaces, and they can discipline students who violate that prohibition. … What these institutions — and the state — should not do is respond to illiberal actions by proposing illiberal remedies, such as incorporating the vague and viewpoint-discriminatory IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism into campus harassment policies.” (08/17/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/campus-hecklers-are-silencing-pro-israel-speakers-speech-codes-are-not-fix
Netanyahu, Kushner agree US general to verify Hamas disarmament before Israel withdraws from Gaza
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US envoy Jared Kushner agreed on Monday that an American general would verify Hamas’s disarmament, an Israeli official said, as the premier insisted there would be no pullout from Gaza until then. The understanding marks a new attempt by President Donald Trump’s administration to satisfy Israel after Netanyahu, facing a tough re-election fight, publicly rejected the latest part of a US plan aimed at ending the devastating Gaza war. Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a longtime family friend of Netanyahu, met the Israeli leader in Jerusalem a day after holding rare direct talks in Egypt with Hamas, which has publicly committed itself to the plan.” (08/17/26)
How a Self-help Book Resolved a Philosophical Conundrum Part 1
Source: The Jolly Libertarian
by Marco den Ouden
“I was undecided on what to call this essay and had thought about Reconciling David Hume and Ayn Rand. I even thought about having AI generate a graphic for it. Ayn and David duking it out in a boxing ring. Ayn and David engaged in a sword fight but using giant pens instead of swords. Or maybe a referee holding up both their gloved hands and ruling the match a draw. I hadn’t thought much about Hume since university in the late 60s and early 70s. But I was intrigued when I read Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. … Haidt reintroduced me to Hume. In particular, Hume’s maxim that ‘reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey.'” (08/17/26)
https://jollylibertarian.blogspot.com/2026/08/how-self-help-book-resolved.html
US House ethics panel says it’s investigating California’s Gomez over allegation of “sexual misconduct”
Source: NBC News
“The House Ethics Committee said Monday it’s reviewing allegations that Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., ‘may have engaged in sexual misconduct in violation of the Code of Official Conduct,’ including ‘engaging in inappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer.’ … The married Gomez, who formed a Congressional Dads Caucus back in 2023, said in a statement that he had ‘made personal mistakes outside my marriage’ and would cooperate with the probe. ‘Although my actions were consensual in nature and haven’t violated the law or House Ethics rules, that doesn’t diminish the impact that these mistakes have made on those I care about the most,’ the statement said.” (08/17/26)
A Special Kind of Person
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“A special kind of person walks among us. Under the right institutional conditions, she is capable of assembling people and resources to serve others sustainably. If she fails to serve others—say, if enough of them are unhappy with the product or service she offers—she will be unable to continue her efforts. So, her efforts come with great risk, and some risks have clear odds. Hers? Not so much. An insurer will price the chance that her business burns down because businesses have burned down before. Yet no one will sell her a policy against her failure to serve others well. … She, the entrepreneur, also has to serve others sustainably despite the presence of interlopers.” (08/17/26)
Uber aims for 1 million daily drone deliveries with Zipline partnership
Source: Engadget
“You could soon get your Uber Eats order delivered by a Zipline drone thanks to the latest partnership between the two companies. As detailed in an Uber press release, the company is targeting a goal of one million drone deliveries each day by end of 2029. The partnering companies also announced that the first deployments are scheduled for later this year, with drone deliveries first becoming available in Zipline’s existing US markets, including Pea Ridge, Ark. and the Dallas-Fort Worth metro, before expanding to dozens of more cities. On top of the combination of Uber’s network and Zipline’s drone fleet, Uber made a strategic investment into Zipline but didn’t disclose the financial details.” (08/17/26)