“The 25-year-old William F. Buckley Jr. wrote God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of ‘Academic Freedom’ with an appreciation of the contributions made by leading universities in the United States, Great Britain, and elsewhere in the building of our civilization. His special concern was with the civic order, and the role of institutions of higher education in forming citizens of a constitutional democratic republic. As James Madison said, a ‘well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people.’ But is there not a tension between two ideals: that of education for citizenship (especially in a republic—that is, a regime in which government is not only of and for the people, but also by the people themselves), and that of liberal education: the unrestricted pursuit of truth, understood not as a means to other ends, but as an end-in-itself?” (10/01/26)
“Bolivian police arrested Attorney General Roger Mariaca on Wednesday, two days after the United States revoked his visa over alleged links to drug trafficking, a government source told AFP. ‘The arrest of Prosecutor Mariaca has been confirmed,’ said a source from the Ministry of Government, who requested anonymity. Santa Cruz prosecutor Alberto Zeballos, who has likewise been sanctioned by Washington, was also arrested, according to local media. Both were among the nearly 20 people from Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador whom the U.S. State Department accused this week of corruption, links to drug trafficking, or conspiring against their respective governments.” (10/01/26)
“Something curious has happened to the young, a new government report suggests: ‘the number of high school students who use marijuana has decreased by almost half — 44 percent — since states started enacting adult-use legalization.’ … a standard argument against marijuana legalization: If marijuana is readily available, kids will increase usage of the ‘pernicious weed.’ Hasn’t happened! But why?” (10/01/26)
“The Trump administration has told Germany and France to draw down emergency diesel inventories to help to ease global fuel prices or face a potential US diesel export ban, said three people close to the discussions. The warning marks an escalation of pressure on Europe as US President Donald Trump considers a potential diesel export ban to bring down US fuel prices ahead of November’s midterm elections.” (10/01/26)
Source: The American Conservative
by Iuliia Mendel
“It is time to talk about victory in the Russia–Ukraine War. Politicians and the media regularly use the word, yet it has come to signify nothing. In Ukraine, a political battle is breaking out over which narrative of victory will be accepted by the people. For some, a 10-year-old dancer with a prosthetic leg is a living advertisement for Ukraine’s ‘unbreakability.’ But a growing number of Ukrainians are done participating in that story. Incessant preaching about ‘resilience’ while the situation on the ground only worsens has exhausted their patience.” (10/01/26)
“The Trump administration is excluding several major allies from a gathering of NATO members next month — after previous threats to deploy a ‘naughty and nice list’ against governments that have run afoul of the president’s priorities. The planned meeting in Poland, which Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby has spearheaded, is essentially a working group focused on NATO’s future, according to six diplomats familiar with the planning. But many of the countries who didn’t receive an invite — such as the United Kingdom, France and the Baltic countries — are big defense spenders and play key roles in the alliance, leaving their diplomats wondering why they’re being frozen out.” (09/30/26)
