Source: Quillette
by Paul Boghossian
“The norms governing scholarship now often serve to protect a rigid orthodoxy on certain politically charged issues—with ideological tests substituted for proper academic standards.” (07/16/26)
https://quillette.com/2026/07/16/a-crisis-in-the-humanities/
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Sarah McLaughlin
“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing on teen social media bans. The bans are everywhere, and more are coming. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced this week that the EU will seek some form of a youth social media ban across Europe. … Over in Australia, the landmark under-16 ban has been missing the mark. It simply has not worked to keep kids off of social media. So officials are doubling down.” (07/16/26)
Source: NBC News
“The Food and Drug Administration is investigating iceberg lettuce supplied to Taco Bells by Taylor Farms as a possible source in an escalating outbreak of cyclosporiasis in four Midwestern states, a stomach bug that causes weeks of severe diarrhea, according to a person familiar with the investigation. Nationwide, nearly 7,000 people nationwide may have been sickened, with 1,645 of those cases confirmed and more than 5,100 still under investigation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. No deaths have been reported. Earlier this week, the CDC announced an investigation into more than 400 cases in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.” (07/16/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-names-source-cyclosporiasis-outbreak-rcna587899
Source: Show-Me Institute
by Cory Koedel
“While it is unfortunate that the federal budget is off the rails, it is hard to get too worked up about this program when (a) it is a drop in the bucket compared to our broader fiscal problems, and (b) so much of our debt-financed spending benefits older Americans. If we’re going to keep borrowing, why not direct at least a small share toward expanding opportunities for children?” (07/16/26)
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Five years ago, revelations of Israeli-made spyware Pegasus, purchased by Morocco, was being used to spy on various high-ranking French officials, including the then defence minister, Sébastien Lecornu. Now Prime Minister, Lecornu is on an official visit to Morocco, where new revelations related to the scandal have come to light. Investigative outlet Forbidden Stories reports a group of representatives of Israeli company NSO spending 10 days in a villa in central Rabat in 2017, long before the two countries had normalised bilateral relations. They wowed Moroccan officials with what Pegasus could do: remotely activating cameras and microphones and extracting text messages or data with a single click. Nearly a decade after, a consortium of 15 news outlets have secured the rare testimony of a whistleblower who was formerly employed by the Moroccan secret services.” (07/16/26)
Source: The Blessings of Liberty with Jeffrey Rosen
“The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People’s Constitution.” (07/16/26)
https://rosenjeffrey.substack.com/p/the-lost-founder-james-wilson-and
Source: The Bulwark
by Matt McManus
“For all its claims to represent the interests of the People, the far right sure doesn’t appear to like a lot of them. The movement’s list of enemies is so capacious it would put Richard Nixon’s to shame. Some days, it seems as though it encompasses most of the human race. You might wonder how to square this with the right’s commitment to tradition and order. How can a society be justly ordered if it has been set up to exclude most people? The answer is that much of the far right’s social vision is fundamentally volkisch: Homogeneity and unity are goals that override democratic inclusion, and this is where the movement’s resentful agonism comes from. ‘Resentful’ is a key term here: Anyone who has read or listened to the movement’s leading figures is familiar with the tone of endless aggrievement.” (07/16/26)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/whos-to-blame-ask-the-far-right-they-have-list
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Jackie Calmes
“There are plenteous reasons not to confirm [US attorney general nominee Todd] Blanche, as I’ve written. He’s the man behind the Epstein files cover-up, vindictive prosecutions of Trump enemies and Trump’s $10-billion lawsuit against the IRS, litigation that was purportedly ‘settled’ in exchange for a $1.8-billion slush fund for Jan. 6 rioters and tax immunity for the Trump family. This week a federal judge skewered that suit as having been filed for ‘improper purpose’: the president’s self-dealing.
On top of that sorry record, Blanche is the architect of Trump’s ICE impunity. … Conventional wisdom says that Republicans won’t vote against a man so close to Trump. But that’s exactly why Blanche should not lead the Justice Department. The people’s representatives in the Senate could see that he doesn’t.” (07/16/26)
Source: CNN
“President Donald Trump fired the new top US prosecutor in Seattle on Wednesday less than an hour after the attorney was unanimously appointed by the federal judges in the district, highlighting tensions between the courts and the president over the powerful positions. Roger Rogoff, a former judge and veteran state and federal prosecutor, was sworn in as US attorney before 8 a.m. at the courthouse in downtown Seattle. In a phone interview, he said he then went to the US Attorney’s Office and asked to meet with Charles Neil Floyd, whose 120-day interim term in the position ended in February. As he waited in a lobby, Rogoff said, he received an email from the Trump administration informing him he’d been removed. He is consulting with other lawyers about suing over his firing, he said.” (07/16/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/16/politics/roger-rogoff-trump-administration-dismissal-prosecutor
Source: The Dispatch
“A Bucket Full of Trump Bait.” (07/16/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/a-bucket-full-of-trump-bait/