Source: ProSocial Libertarians
by Andrew Jason Cohen
“Last week I spent several days in Philadelphia at the Braver Angels National Convention. During one session, it occurred to me that the anti-polarization work they and others do responds to three problems of modern society and only the first, polarization, is obvious. Two others are perhaps less obvious but also important—both on their own and because they are intertwined with polarization. Let me take each in turn.” (07/06/26)
Source: The American Conservative
by Spencer Neale
“Against the wishes of his doctors, Rep. Tom Kean (R-NJ) returned to Congress on Tuesday, his first appearance there in more than 100 days. Addressing the House floor, Kean began by noting that he is a ‘private person’ before explaining his multi-month absence from his duties in Washington, DC. ‘Several months ago, due to health concerns, I entered the hospital for some testing,’ said the 57-year-old Kean. ‘I was given the diagnosis of depression.’ It was a stark admission for a politician whose critics have long questioned his absence but were met with silence. Though depression is not disqualifying in and of itself, the lack of transparency from a person who was elected to provide it is worrying. Furthermore, if a disability keeps you off the job for four months …. then the job likely isn’t compatible with the disability Kean is currently navigating.” (07/06/26)
“Monetary policy deserves insulation from politics, but regulation and emergency lending powers may not. Can Congress and the Courts differentiate?” (07/06/26)
“The Israeli government threatened on Sunday to disregard an order by Israel’s highest court, escalating a long-running clash between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a judiciary whose authority he has vowed to weaken. … On Sunday, the members of Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet passed a resolution attacking the court over a decision issued last month in a case involving Israel’s broadcast regulator. In apparent defiance of the decision, they said they would not recognize actions taken by the regulator for the time being and would use ‘every legal means’ to annul it. … At the heart of the latest legal dispute is Israel’s broadcast regulator, known as the Second Authority. The agency is still staffed by a board of commissioners from the previous government, which was run by Mr. Netanyahu’s opponents.” (07/05/26)
“Samantha and guest Allyson Shortle, professor at the University of Oklahoma, talk about the current state and long history of the movement which forms the hard core of Donald Trump’s support: Christian Nationalism.” (07/05/26)
“A state that invades the same neighbor across eight decades, covets its water and land, punishes its civilians as a matter of doctrine, and then defies its own superpower sponsor is not behaving like a normal nation. It is behaving like a rogue one. Washington has spent those decades underwriting the behavior, supplying the aircraft, bombs, and diplomatic cover that make each new occupation possible. The honest response to a partner that treats American requests as optional is to stop financing and eventually break ties with it. The United States should end military aid to Israel and begin economically decoupling from it, and the wider international community should treat a serial occupier the way it treats other states that seize territory by force, with isolation rather than embrace.” (07/06/26)
“The 250th anniversary of American independence is fundamentally incompatible with a foreign policy defined by overwhelming civilian casualties and global devastation. As the United States commemorates its semiquincentennial with celebratory pageantry, this milestone forces a reckoning. How can a nation built on the promise of ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ justify its role in upending and extinguishing millions of lives across the Middle East?” (07/06/26)
