Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton

“Who are you to say? is a way of saying that you (or I) have no right to judge other people, nor to judge actions. As it is applied today, especially if the people whose actions you are judging are of a different ethnicity, ‘race’ (skin color), cultural background, nation, or even sex. It ties back to a statement by Jesus the Christ. It is perhaps the most twisted of any of His quotes: ‘Judge not, lest ye be judged.’ (King James version) It is taken out of context to make judging other people, their actions, and their character a sin. In context, it is clear that He is teaching teaching something else.” (02/18/26)

https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/02/18/relativism-in-todays-world/

Source: USA Today
by Dace Potas

“The Trump administration is struggling in court, failing to secure indictments and convictions against a growing list of the president’s enemies. Most recently, against six members of Congress for making a video telling members of the military they do not have to follow illegal orders. It is embarrassing for our Department of Justice to sink resources into such obviously frivolous cases, and this only further contributes to the general sense that President Donald Trump’s administration has the wrong priorities. But that’s not the worst of it. Trump’s DOJ’s lackluster record when it comes to securing indictments and convictions is eroding the prestige of the Justice Department as a core American institution and only deepening the toxic cycle of lawfare in this country.” (02/18/26)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/02/18/trump-justice-department-indictments-bondi/88714118007/

Source: Racket News
by Emily Kopp

“For years the Food and Drug Administration has handed down shocking decision after shocking decision, always in the same direction: The approval of Alzheimer’s drugs that are balanced precariously on a mountain of fraudulent papers and that sometimes make your brain explode; the approval of OxyContin for 11-year-olds; the approval of COVID-19 booster shots in healthy young people in order to please the political science majors in the White House. But there’s a new sheriff in town, and he’s made a lot of powerful enemies already reining in a lawless pharmaceutical industry.” (02/18/26)

https://www.racket.news/p/fdas-straight-shooter-dont-bring

Source: Niskanen Center
by Gabe Menchaca

“You’d never know it from the cavalcade of federally focused headlines this past year, but most public servants in the United States don’t work for the federal government. They work for states and localities, the ‘laboratories of democracy’ that staff our schools, maintain our roads, manage our prisons, and administer our social safety net. And yet when it comes to understanding how these governments work — how they hire, pay, evaluate, and retain the people who do this work — we all operate largely in the dark. The Niskanen Center partnered with the National Academy of Public Administration to change that and bring Americans closer to understanding their government.” (02/19/26)

https://www.niskanencenter.org/how-do-states-manage-their-workforces-anyway/

Source: Persuasion
by Francis Fukuyama

“We used to build things. Today, the state is hampered by red tape and veto points.” (02/18/26)

https://www.persuasion.community/p/why-american-governments-cant-get