“Throughout this election cycle, big-money super PACs, like AIPAC affiliate United Democracy Project and Democratic Majority for Israel, have laundered their political spending by transferring millions of dollars to other PACs that run independent expenditure ads in primaries. This way, voters see support for candidates from neutral-sounding groups, often on totally unrelated topics, rather than pro-Israel organizations that have become toxic to Democratic voters. Those secondary PACs have other priorities, of course. BOLD America, which has taken $1.55 million from United Democracy Project this cycle, supports Hispanic candidates. Women Vote, the super PAC affiliated with EMILYs List that has received $650,000 from Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) this cycle, backs pro-choice Democratic women. 3.14 Action, which ran into controversy in 2024 as a pass-through for AIPAC donors to support Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-OR), was set up to uplift Democratic scientists and doctors.” (08/10/26)
“nthony Fauci is now facing intense scrutiny. His diaries, emails, and testimony have raised fundamental questions about what he knew, what he told the public, and how he exercised authority during the pandemic. Many outside academia describe this as his fall from grace, while universities and medical institutions continue to celebrate him as a heroic public servant and scientific authority. That contradiction is the starting point for this essay. Fauci matters not only because of his individual conduct, but because he exposes the institutions that produced, empowered, and continue to protect him.” (08/09/26)
“For much of American history, presidents have steadily accumulated the power to wage war while Congress has gradually surrendered the constitutional authority that the Framers explicitly entrusted to it. This transformation has weakened constitutional checks and balances, expanded executive power beyond its constitutional limits, claimed millions of lives, cost trillions of dollars, and repeatedly drawn the United States into conflicts that had little or nothing to do with defending America. The Constitution is remarkably clear on the question of war. Article I grants Congress — not the president — the power to declare war. The president, under Article II, wages war, but only after Congress has authorized it.” (08/07/26)
“Yes, things cost more than they used to. That’s always the case, but it’s been MORE the case over the last few years. While there are various reasons for that, the biggest one is taxes, and the most pernicious, if not always the largest annual, tax is inflation.” (08/09/26)
“The redistribution of wealth has once again become a central demand of American progressivism. Figures such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren argue that extreme concentrations of wealth should not merely be taxed to finance government programs but actively reduced through policies such as annual wealth taxes. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Zohran Mamdani have advanced similar arguments in favor of shifting resources from the wealthy toward public services, income supports, and social programs. Behind these proposals lies a broader moral claim: the state is justified in redistributing concentrations of private wealth for public purposes. The deepest objection to these policies is not economic but political and moral.” (08/07/26)
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Gabrielle Rifkind & Tom Pickering
“For more than two decades, endless wars have destabilized the Middle East, creating huge amounts of human suffering, displacement and trauma. The region is exhausted, with little faith in the possibility of peace and few structures to enable it. The region is now at an inflection point; it can continue endless violence or undertake serious mediation and conflict resolution. The war with Iran has exposed the limits of U.S. military power, leaving only one practical option on the table: pursuing negotiations that recognize the balance of power in the region and the security concerns of all parties. This requires very careful engagement and mediation.” (08/07/26)
“A financial journalist once offered simple advice: ‘Lie to people who want to be lied to, and you’ll get rich … Tell the truth to those who want to be lied to, and you’ll go broke.’ That axiom appears to have been taken to heart by radical Democratic candidates who this week issued transparent denials of past outrageous comments. Their calculus is clearly that the last thing that voters want to hear is the truth about their past views. Certain cultural touchstones are considered inviolate in some states, such as beef in Texas. … Texas Democratic Senatorial candidate James Talarico was roasted after a video surfaced of his calling to reduce meat consumption and ‘I am proud to say that our campaign has officially become a non-meat campaign. We are only buying vegan products from our local vegan businesses’.” (08/08/26)
“Much can be said – and we’ve said much of it over the decades – about nationalisation. How taking an organisation out of the bracing rigour of competitive markets and into the sloth of the bureaucracy tends not to increase efficiency. Say and as an example. Or that government never will invest for the long term as there’s always some more immediate purchase of votes to be done with whatever funds might be available. But just to nod to one more point: ‘At the same time, British Steel’s physical assets – including property, plant and equipment – have been deemed largely worthless after an audit review.’ … Two billion, plus or minus a bit of change, to buy something worth nothing. On the basis, we assume, that some still have the hots for the sort of industry where manly men do manly things in girt big factories.” (08/08/26)
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
“Since this seems to be go-time for defending billionaires, you might as well jump on the bandwagon, too. I can’t guarantee you’ll get picked up by The Atlantic and appear alongside the Jonathans Rauch, Chait, and Haidt, or Ross Douthat — but it’s worth a shot. That’s why I’ve gone through an enormous body of hand-wringing literature by some of the most irritating people alive, scanned it for the points they share in common, and compiled this list of helpful hints for would-be bootlickers.” (08/08/26)
