Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen

“Since the end of the Cold War, Somalia has been a textbook case of the perils of foreign meddling. Once a pawn in superpower rivalry, it descended into state collapse, warlordism, and radical insurgency. Successive U.S. administrations, driven by shifting strategic obsessions—from anti-communism to counterterrorism—have repeatedly intervened, each time exacerbating the very problems they claimed to solve. The result? A fractured state, persistent extremism, and record U.S. bombings under the second Trump administration, which is on pace to shatter its own previously set record for strikes in a single year. Far from stabilizing the Horn of Africa, Washington’s actions have entrenched instability, empowered radicals, and imposed costs on both Somalis and American taxpayers.” (07/23/26)

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/how-washingtons-interventions-fuel-somalias-cycle-of-chaos/

Source: Independent Institute
by Christopher J Calton

“Socialism is the abolition of private property rights, with control of property absorbed by the state. Democracy, of course, is mob rule, with private decisions being socialized across the wider populace. Under democratic socialism, then, private property rights must be outsourced to the community, with the state acting as the enforcer of the collective will. In California, it has become common practice to involve the broader community in property rights questions, such as whether a developer should be permitted to build a two-story home on land it owns. … The consequence of this democratic socialism has been an unprecedented housing shortage in one of the country’s wealthiest states.” (07/23/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/07/23/how-democratic-socialism-created-californias-housing-crisis/

Source: The Bulwark
by Will Saletan

“Donald Trump gets away with lying most of the time. But sometimes reality is so stark and serious that he can’t escape it. That’s what happened in his first term, when he pretended that COVID would quickly disappear. Now it’s happening in the Persian Gulf. Trump’s phony deal with Iran has dissolved. Missile and drone attacks have resumed. Ships are under fire in the Strait of Hormuz. Oil traffic has slowed. Gas prices are going back up. More American troops have been injured, and some have died. Trump is trying to fake his way through this fiasco. It’s not working.” (07/23/26)

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-cant-stop-pretending-the-iran-war-is-over

Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by William L Anderson

“There is no doubt that people who identify as democratic socialists are making large gains in the Democratic Party. They control mayoral offices in major cities like New York and Seattle and are going to be a force in the next Congress, having seen enormous success in the Democratic Party congressional primaries. However, there is much disagreement over the extent of how far this current batch of socialists want to push social, political, and economic changes. Most claim that they just want to turn the US into Denmark or Sweden, and that they are democratic, not autocratic. Yet, despite their claims, there is good reason to believe that this latest movement of ‘democratic’ socialists is far from benign, and if they gain the kind of power they want, the US will be permanently changed—and not for the better.” (07/23/26)

https://mises.org/mises-wire/yes-democratic-socialists-want-soviet-style-control-capital

Source: Informed Comment
by Ramona Wadi

“Normalising genocide was a way to normalise colonial expansion in Gaza. Only three weeks after Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich revealed plans for three Israeli settlements, the Nachala settler group organised a march last Sunday, in which settlers and ministers, including Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Economy Minister Nir Barakat and other Likud politicians, marched to a closed military zone, bypassing the Israeli military’s roadblocks to reach the border with Gaza. The call was for rebuilding the former settlements of Elei Sinai, Dugit and Nisanit which were evacuated in 2005 under the Disengagement Plan by then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.” (07/23/26)

https://www.juancole.com/2026/07/normalising-colonial-expansion.html