Source: The Daily Economy
by Laura Williams
“Postwar subsidies paid American cities to bulldoze walkable live-work centers. Now average folk pay $13,000/year to own cars, and ‘walkable communities’ became a profitable luxury.” (09/16/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-hidden-13k-tax-did-the-government-make-you-buy-a-car/
Source: ABC News
“The U.S. special envoy for Belarus said Wednesday that the country’s authorities have agreed to release 25 prisoners as part of a deal that includes the lifting of U.S. sanctions against some Belarusian companies. John Coale, President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Belarus, made the statement a day after meeting Belarus'[s] authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who pushed for the remaining U.S. sanctions against his country to be lifted. … Since Trump returned to the White House for his second term, Lukashenko has released hundreds of political prisoners in a series of U.S.-mediated deals that also lifted some U.S. sanctions.” (09/16/26)
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“President Donald Trump may have discovered a new opportunity to provoke a NATO ally. Last year, the White House created a brouhaha with Denmark (and other European countries) by insisting that Copenhagen sell Greenland to the United States. This time, Washington’s agitation involves a chain of islands off the east coast of Argentina that Great Britain claims and administers. Those islands, called the Falklands by Britain and most other countries, but claimed and referred to as the Malvinas by Argentina, has been a major source of contention before. London has had a presence in the Falklands since 1699, fending off rival claims over the decades by other European colonial powers as well as Argentina. On August 31, 2026, Trump stated that he was reviewing Washington’s official position regarding the islands.” (09/16/26)
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Officials from the US met Houthi leaders over the weekend at the country’s embassy in Muscat, Oman, it has been confirmed, leading to the US decision not to intervene to help Saudi Arabia drive back a Houthi advance inside Yemen. The Iran-backed militant group reassured the US that the ceasefire agreement between the two sides struck in 2025 still held and the movement had no intention of attacking US shipping in the Red Sea. Only Saudi-linked shipping was regarded as a target owing to its blockade of Yemen, the Houthis confirmed. … In a lightning offensive last week, the Houthis seized control of large swathes of western Yemen along the Red Sea coast.” (09/16/26)
Source: Aaron Ross Powell
by Aaron Ross Powell
“So much of being online is constructing and performing identity. You present yourself as something to people listening to, reading, or watching what you choose to put online, and that “something” isn’t who you really are. … This sounds grim: You’re just a brand you’ve constructed. My Marxist friends would say it’s another example of the late capitalism draining us of humanity. But let me push back. Because there’s something amazing and optimistic and encouraging about this. Online, you get to be who you want, or who you can figure out how to present. And you can be that thing consistently. You can, in other words, go all-in on your obsessions. … Except. The other thing about the online world, as it is now in its major structures, even if not as it always used to be, is that there are metrics. And metrics interfere with, smooth out, and dissipate obsessions.” (09/16/26)
Source: Independent Political Report
“The Libertarian National Committee has voted to recognize the Granite State Libertarian Party as its new affiliate in New Hampshire, selecting the organization over a competing group also seeking recognition under the name of the previous state affiliate. … the LNC voted in May to disaffiliate the previous Libertarian Party of New Hampshire over its support of Republican Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential election and claims that it promoted ‘anti-libertarian positions.’ The national party’s Judicial Committee later upheld that decision in a unanimous vote.” (09/16/26)
Source: Reason
“Psychologist Peter Gray discusses why kids need more unstructured play, how schools are fueling childhood anxiety, and why smartphones aren’t to blame.” (09/16/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/09/16/why-kids-need-more-freedom/
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Lilly Rossi
“Out of nearly 6,900 bills in Illinois that proposed changes to laws, programs, projects and personnel, lawmakers provided the estimated cost to taxpayers of a mere 32—fewer than half of 1%. Only those 32 bills in the 104th General Assembly came with ‘fiscal notes,’ which estimate the financial effects of proposed legislation, giving lawmakers and taxpayers information about its potential cost. While such estimates are required in many other states, Illinois law allows a bill’s sponsor to determine whether it needs a fiscal note. If the sponsor decides it does not, a lawmaker who disagrees must gain the support of a majority of members to require a fiscal note.” (09/16/26)
https://fee.org/articles/more-than-10000-bills-only-32-provided-a-cost-estimate/
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Call him ‘The Rock.’ That’s what John Kennedy, Louisiana’s wittiest U.S. senator, dubbed Mitch McConnell, yesterday. Why? From the Wall Street Journal’s write-up, it must be the Kentucky’s senator’s fortitude and resilience that qualify him as hard and stony. The 84-year-old lame duck solon was rolled into the Capitol after a three-month absence, and it appears that everyone was nice to the wheelchair-bound octogenarian. … McConnell should step … roll … aside. Let someone else do the job. But, as it is, he serves as a stark reminder of the gerontocracy.” (09/16/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/09/16/2be-a-rock-and-not2roll/
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
‘A Kosovo war crimes tribunal on Wednesday found former President Hashim Thaci guilty of war crimes committed during the 1998-1999 war for independence from Serbia. Thaci, a former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commander, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for crimes including murder, torture and illegal detention. He was tried along with three other former KLA guerrilla leaders in The Hague. The tribunal said Thaci was guilty of the murder of of 96 political opponents and perceived collaborators with Serbian security forces at the hands of the KLA during the conflict. He was also convicted for the illegal detention of 385 people and torturing more than 300 people.” (09/16/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/kosovo-ex-president-thaci-sentenced-to-25-years-for-war-crimes/a-79286344