“If you pay attention to public policy discussions, you know that people have proposed a Basic Income Guarantee or a Universal Basic Income as one option among many to deal with technological unemployment or the distributional consequences of new technologies like generative AI. You might not know that the idea of a Basic Income is nothing new, and it has a long and interesting history. That’s what the historian Anton Jäger and the historical sociologist Daniel Zamora explore in Welfare for Markets: A Global History of Basic Income.” (07/02/25)
“What does Washington’s dominant ‘America First’ mood mean for BRICS? As its leaders gather in Rio de Janeiro this weekend, the omens are not propitious. U.S. President Donald Trump has taken direct aim at the 10-nation grouping, threatening to impose a 100 percent tariff on its member states should they try to dethrone the U.S. dollar from its globally dominant role. Washington has also stepped up a trade and tariff war across the world, including against almost all BRICS states. And a BRICS member state, Iran, recently came under a ferocious military assault from the United States. Can BRICS survive this onslaught, and what must it do to stay relevant in a new world?” (07/02/25)
“Three years ago, I remember exactly where I was when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. My stomach sank. As an OB/GYN PA with more than a decade in reproductive care, I knew this wasn’t just devastating—it was going to reshape the healthcare landscape completely. The conversations I’d been having with patients for years (about abortion, birth control, miscarriage, pregnancy loss, pain) were about to get harder, more complicated, and more dangerous. I had the honor of joining over 100 incredible storytellers in Washington, D.C. for the Our Voices, Our Stories, Our Future: Free & Just Storyteller Summit, to mark three years since the deadly Dobbs decision. In emergencies, minutes matter. I’ve been in those rooms. And I can tell you: When someone is crashing in front of you, the last thing you should be doing is calling legal.” (07/02/25)
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jennifer Kavanagh
“Last week, Russian military forces seized a valuable lithium field in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the latest success of Moscow’s grinding summer offensive. The lithium deposit in question is considered rather small by industry analysts, but is said to be a desirable prize nonetheless due to the concentration and high-quality of its ore. In other words, it is just the kind of asset that the Trump administration seemed eager to exploit when it signed its much heralded minerals agreement with Ukraine earlier this year. The response from Washington? Crickets.” (07/02/25)
“As Steven Wilson argues in his new book, The Lost Decade: Returning to the Fight for Better Schools in America, ‘central to a liberal education is the pursuit of truth, however elusive.’ Indeed, the quest for truth, and knowledge of it, is enshrined in the slogans of most universities, including my own — the University of Chicago — as a reminder of our purpose. For scientists, that purpose is scientific truth, knowledge of the natural world. For historians, it’s historical truth, an accurate account of history. By definition, every academic discipline, and every scholar and student, presupposes the existence of some objective truth worth pursuing. It seems absurd to suggest otherwise, to propose educating students in anything but rationality, logic, and ultimately, truth — at least to Wilson.” (07/02/25)
“Most Americans now disapprove of Donald Trump’s erratic, authoritarian and incompetent leadership, which has transformed the Republican Party into a cult of personality that rejects traditional Republican policies. Our country is suffering because of Trump’s failures. … The president has made big government even bigger by stretching the power of the executive branch to control our economy, interfere in our lives and limit our freedom of speech and other rights.” (07/02/25)
“‘The thing that will bankrupt this country more than any other policy is flooding the country with illegal immigration and then giving those migrants generous benefits. The OBBB fixes this problem. And therefore it must pass.’ Vance’s claim is factually wrong …. Vance understands this. He also understands that the facts don’t really matter when conservatives are talking about immigration within their own tribe.” (07/02/25)
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“Practically everyone at Porcfest was a libertarian as were many of the rationalists at Less Online but the cultural feel of the two events was different, hippy/conservative at Porcfest, Bay Area grey tribe at Less Online. Many rationalists are gay, some trans; I expect most Free Staters, being libertarians, are opposed to legal restrictions on both, but I saw nobody at Por[c]fest who was obviously either. Many rationalists believe in, some practice, polyamory; the dominant mating pattern visible at Porcfest was monogamy, a large fraction of the adults married couples with children, sometimes lots of children. The Rationalists had more elite educations, higher status jobs, more abstract intellectual interests but felt less likely to know how to fix a car or cook a simple meal — although some are cooking enthusiasts, many felt like the kind of college students who have to be taught how to boil an egg — still less how to slaughter a pig.” (07/02/25)
“Donald Trump has never made a promise he has not broken. He has never encountered a trust he did not violate. He has never had a close relationship that he did not betray. Ask his wives. Ask his business partners. Ask his children. For many of us, it comes as no surprise when he lies or steals or violates his oath of office. … During the 2024 elections, just over 77 million Americans ignored this president’s flawed character and miserable track record. Now, less than six months after they helped him re-take the presidency, they are the ones who are discovering what happens when Donald Trump has used you and no longer feels he needs you.” (07/02/25)
