Source: Law & Liberty
by John O McGinnis & Mike Rappaport
“Originalism today is predominant yet divided. Courts regularly invoke original meaning, but originalist scholars still debate what interpretation itself requires. At the center of that division is the interpretation-construction distinction. Interpretation is the process of determining the meaning of a constitutional provision. Construction begins only when that meaning is deemed indeterminate—that is, when it is thought to run out—and the decision must be made on grounds other than the provision’s original meaning.” (08/13/26)
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey
“While yes, others are competing in the Democratic and Republican Party primaries, it is clear Byron Donalds will be Florida’s next governor. Sadly, he and most of his competitors represent expansion of government power rather than expanding individual freedoms for Floridians and tourists visiting our state. This leaves principled voters looking for a genuine alternative—good luck. So, unless the insider trading and other allegations bear fruit, Donalds is the frontrunner to be Florida’s next governor, though I’d prefer to see a more freedom-based Floridian in the governor’s mansion. Donalds is no free market capitalist, regardless of his rhetoric.” (08/13/26)
“An Australian jury on Thursday convicted a former Catholic bishop renowned for hosting alcohol-fueled house parties of sexually abusing two young Indigenous men. The District Court of Western Australia jury convicted Christopher Saunders, 76, of 13 out of 19 charges of sexual abuse that allegedly occurred between 2008 and 2019 in his sprawling diocese on the country’s tropical northwest coast. Prosecutors alleged he lured young Indigenous men to his church-owned house in the tourist town of Broome with free alcohol and cigarettes paid for with church funds. … The convictions included one count of sexual penetration without consent and a dozen indecent assaults.” (08/13/26)
“David Lat and Zachary Shemtob return as guest hosts and are joined by Adam Feldman, author of the blog Empirical SCOTUS and the Substack Legalytics, to discuss an update on birthright citizenship, some new polling about SCOTUS, and the criminal justice system’s newest heartthrob, Luigi Mangione, who will soon be tried for the murder of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson.” (08/13/26)
“When you run out of munitions, start launching threats. That’s obviously President Donald Trump’s latest strategy (to misuse the word) as his promised short war against Iran drags into its sixth month. It’s The Bunker’s grim mission to note where the U.S. military is falling short. Much of that is due to the military itself, but just as large a share is the responsibility of the institutional factors that fund it, enable it, and order it into action. Bottom line: Focusing on fixing an airplane in hopes that it can fly right won’t work if you only tinker with those ailerons trailing off its wings, while ignoring the fuselage, engines, and crew.” (08/13/26)
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“Mali remains in chaos. Al-Qaeda-linked militants and Tuareg separatists have recently demonstrated an ability to coordinate attacks against the Malian military, while the country’s Russian-backed junta struggles to maintain control over territory far beyond the capital. Violence has spread across the Sahel, and Mali remains one of the epicenters of the region’s seemingly endless war against jihadist insurgencies. Washington’s answer, as usual, is to ask what more it can do. That is the wrong question. The more important question is what Washington has already done.” (08/13/26)
“U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has convened a special grand jury in Washington, D.C., amid a clash with President Donald Trump, according to a report. A special grand jury is a rare legal body that can release a potentially critical report about the subject of an investigation if there is a ‘preponderance of evidence’ of wrongdoing, regardless of whether there is enough evidence to bring the person to trial. … The special grand jury has reportedly been convened as Trump has pressured Pirro to deliver on cases he wants prosecuted. Since Pirro has been in office, she has failed to successfully prosecute a man who allegedly threw a Subway sandwich at a federal agent; six Democratic lawmakers who released a video advising military members to reject illegal orders; and [Jerome] Powell, whom Trump claimed had mishandled a Federal Reserve renovation project.” (08/12/26)
“Ever since the sanctions onto Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, combined with real domestic economic anxieties of the post-pandemic era and declining institutional trust, a handful of libertarians and a mix of anti-war conservatives and the far-left have been announcing that de-dollarization was inevitable, prompted by BRICS’s desire to pursue a gold-backed currency.” (08/13/26)
“CNN reported this weekend that Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has privately urged senior Trump administration officials to look for an ‘off-ramp’ from the war with Iran. According to three sources familiar with the discussions, Caine has warned that further escalation could backfire and that airpower alone is unlikely to achieve President Donald Trump’s stated objectives. His team declined to discuss confidential conversations, and the White House emphasized that Caine provides the president with options rather than policy prescriptions. That distinction matters. Caine is the president’s senior military adviser, not the official who decides where the war should end. But the report exposes the question Washington can no longer avoid: not whether the United States has enough power to continue fighting, but how much of its future power it should spend on a mission whose political endpoint remains uncertain.” (08/13/26)
