Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley
“As Hinckley returns to the spotlight, his release raises questions about justice and the consequences of political violence.” (08/19/26)
Source: CBS News
“The Israeli military has ordered a criminal investigation into the killing by its forces of 5-year-old Hind Rajab, a Palestinian girl whose death in Gaza sparked international outrage after a recording of her final, heart-wrenching moments speaking to paramedics was heard around the world. In a statement Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces acknowledged for the first time that troops opened fire on the vehicle carrying Rajab’s family in January 2024, having previously said no forces were in the area at the time. … The military said it was also ordering a criminal investigation into the March 2025 killing of 15 Gazans, including rescue workers. The investigations will be conducted by Israeli military police.” (08/19/26)
Source: The Fifth Column
“Clip Roulette w/ Dictators, Demons and Democracy.” (08/19/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/clip-roulette-w-dictators-demons
Source: EconLog
by Leonidas Zelmanovitz
“In 1988, when I was 27 years old, I read Ayn Rand for the first time. It was her novel Atlas Shrugged, in its just-released Portuguese edition. At that time, I already considered myself a sort of classical liberal, but my superficial knowledge of political philosophy, among many other gaps in my education, made my convictions not very convincing. It was only after reading her that I gained the libertarian worldview I more or less hold to this day. Mind you, I was already in business and volunteering in the classical liberal movement in Brazil, but that was more of an irreflective reaction to being raised under a military dictatorship and then being governed by a left-leaning populist than the result of any deep thought.” (08/19/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/atlas-shrugged-and-interventionism
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Connor O’Keeffe
“In a year as chaotic, violent, and economically destructive as this one has been, it is interesting that, to many Americans, the great villain of 2026 is turning out to be a traffic camera. But, indeed, we are seeing visceral, cross-partisan opposition to so-called Flock cameras—named after the leading manufacturer of these automated license plate readers—take hold in communities across the country. And that opposition is, to be sure, entirely legitimate.” (08/19/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/flock-camera-backlash-very-good-sign
Source: Third Party Watch
“After deliberation in executive session, the Judicial Committee rose at 9:57PM on August 17, 2026 (last night) to consider the question in the matter of the disaffiliation of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire. The vote was conducted as a roll call vote. Shall the National Committee’s revocation of affiliate party status of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire be affirmed, or shall the Judicial Committee order reinstatement of the affiliate party? The vote was 7-0-0 to affirm the decision of the LNC. … All written opinions are due to be published no later than Sept 11, 2026.” (08/18/26)
Source: The Dispatch
“Not Losing the Iran War | Interview: Hal Brands.” (09/19/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/not-losing-the-iran-war-interview-hal-brands/
Source: The American Conservative
by George D O’Neill Jr.
“Now that the lofty 250th-anniversary rhetoric about the greatness of our country has faded, it is time to face the reality of our country’s actual behavior. The U.S. fashions itself as a generous and benevolent world leader enforcing the ‘rules-based order’—a deceptive construct used by globalist elites to bully other countries. The rules are arbitrarily changed to suit the bullies and are regularly fashioned into pretexts for military action against uncooperative nations. In short, it is a hoax, untethered from the principles and ideals of our founders.” (08/19/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/some-shattering-illusions-of-our-declining-empire/
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“‘Borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry,’ wrote the 16th-century economist William Shakespeare, who went on to advise: ‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be.’ Americans, who like to talk about their Christian faith more than study it (‘The wicked person borrows and does not repay, but the righteous one is gracious and giving’) have twice elected the self-proclaimed ‘king of debt,’ an infamous deadbeat and serial bankrupt, as president of the United States, while entrusting the national purse strings to the control of his self-abasing toadies in Congress. That’s going about as well as you would imagine.” (08/19/26)
https://thedispatch.com/article/debt-gdp-interest-rates-trump-republicans/
Source: The Daily Economy
by Kimberlee Josephson
“Businesses are increasingly judged by ethical scorecards. But when virtue becomes a target, firms learn to optimize the metric — crowding out what actually matters.” (08/19/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-corporate-virtue-trap/