Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum

“A year after launching his explosive antidrug campaign, President Donald Trump routinely rains death on alleged cocaine couriers.” (for publication 11/26)

https://reason.com/2026/09/26/how-murdering-suspected-drug-smugglers-became-the-new-normal/

Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathn Barton

“The entire AI craziness is, we believe, directly tied to the entire Data Center controversy. Whether the opposition to massive data centers is being pushed (or at least triggered) by the CCP (or Russia, or the Iranians, or ‘just’ Soros and Bill Gates) or is the latest tactic by the Woke, environists, and Luddites, it is clearly now a significant issue in thousands of communities. As well as an incredible display of cognitive or mental dissonance. You use AI, you use your smart phone, you spend all your time on social media and streaming movies and television series, but you are totally against the infrastructure and consumption of power and water necessary to furnish you those wonderful things. Of course, this is again (as with so many things) not new.” (09/25/26)

https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/09/25/easier-and-more-convenient/

Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jeffrey A Tucker

“As incredible as it seems, many people today haven’t thought at all about food production, any more than driving gives us consciousness of car factories or wearing clothes makes us aware of cotton fields and robotic looms. When asked, people just assume food as we know it comes from some factory out there somewhere and who cares anyway? … an entire way of life – a way toward health, well-being, and happiness – has been stolen from us. Not neglected, not outcompeted, but literally forced out of existence. This happened not by market forces as such, not by some impersonal mind of history, but by a labyrinth of regulations, mandates, taxes, controls, subsidies, and monopoly-creating controls, all conspiring to keep the way of life of our ancestors from returning.” (09/26/26)

https://brownstone.org/articles/the-why-of-food-emancipation/

Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato

“As Hannah Hartley writes this month for the Rumi Forum’s Center for Faith Identity & Globalization, ‘Christianity is not growing among Gen Z in any meaningful aggregate sense. It is consolidating, becoming smaller in total membership, more male, more politically conservative, and more legible as a vehicle for political identity.’ The clickbait mirage of religious revival has obscured these very real trends for years, forestalling a more relevant and important conversation about the role Christianity plays in American politics and culture. And that conversation is worth having for several reasons, not least of which is that it underscores the deep ambivalence and ambiguity of Jesus as a figure in our cultural history.” (09/25/26)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/09/25/american-jesus-christian-revival-and-casinofication/

Source: Los Angeles Times
by LZ Granderson

“‘Daddy’s back,’ is what Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds proudly said in January 2025. Which is why removing the president’s picture from the Donalds gubernatorial campaign website, as he reportedly did earlier this month, won’t remove the smell of Trumpism. Not mentioning the president’s name in television ads or suddenly being against the war in Iran that Trump started — which is what Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers is attempting to do in Michigan — will not get Trump’s thiols off of his skin. Nor will deleting the phrase ‘Trump-endorsed candidate’ from your social media bio …. those men were endorsed by the president. Each of them knew what he smelled like. Each of them agreed to smell like him … when it was politically advantageous. Now they can’t get the Trump stink off of them fast enough no matter how many times they lather, rinse and repeat.” (09/25/26)

https://archive.is/6VDsl