Undoing Trump’s Golden Age of Corruption
Source: The Bulwark
by Amanda Carpenter
“He’s made the presidency into a profitable grift. Here’s how some of his ill-gotten gains might be clawed back.” (07/21/26)
Category: Opinion
Lessons from Argentina’s World Cup Run
Source: Independent Institute
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
“I have visited five countries across Asia and Europe over the last few weeks. The hatred the Argentine national soccer team seems to have awakened in people around the world—due to their behavior at this World Cup—is something Argentina’s soccer authorities must take seriously. Now that they have lost to Spain, and given that Lionel Messi, the best player on the planet, is 39 and on the verge of retirement, they will have to reconstruct much of their team. … The broader issue—and what appears to make Argentina so widely disliked around the world—is that the team has learned neither how to win nor how to lose with grace in international competitions.” (07/20/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/07/20/lessons-from-argentinas-world-cup-run/
A Great Economy Unless You Have to Work for a Living
Source: The American Prospect
by Harold Meyerson
“If there’s a problem with the American economy, it’s only because some people have to work for a living. Income from investment—the primary source of income for roughly 1 percent of Americans—is soaring. The remaining 99 percent, who depend primarily on income from their work, are the laggards grousing about prices and necessities that may be out of reach.” (07/21/26)
Contradictions of Socialist Prison Abolitionism
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Ilya Somin
“‘Democratic socialists’ are a growing movement on the political left. And many of them are also prison abolitionists. But there is a deep contradiction between their socialism and their abolitionism. Socialism requires making numerous economic activities illegal, and those laws have to be enforced by some system of punishment. As the history of actual socialist states shows, serious attempts to implement socialism lead to vastly greater incarceration (and other punishment), not less. There are a number of possible ways to try to escape this contradiction. But none of them work.” (07/20/26)
https://reason.com/volokh/2026/07/20/contradictions-of-socialist-prison-abolitionism/
Dying for Nothing
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Seventeen military personnel have died in President Trump’s war on Iran. Compared to the 58,200 military personnel who were killed in the Vietnam War, that’s not a large number … well, unless one happens to be among those 17 or among their friends or family members. In that case, 17 becomes an extremely large number. But there is one thing in common between those 58,200 military personnel who died in the Vietnam War and those 17 military personnel who have died in Trump’s war on Iran: They all died for nothing. No, they didn’t died for their country. No, they didn’t die defending our freedom. No, they didn’t die to make the world safe for democracy. They died for nothing.” (07/20/26)
Is It Really Socialism?
Source: Liberalism.org
by Matt Zwolinski
“So socialism is back, and the commentary has arranged itself in the usual formation. On the right, alarm: the reds are at the gates. On the left, a banner: the future has arrived. What is striking is how little of the excitement and the horror attaches to anything the new mayors actually propose. The same rent freeze, the same municipal grocery, would pass almost unnoticed under another name. It is the word that thrills the one side and frightens the other, and so the question everyone hurries to argue is a question about the word. Is this really socialism, or just New Deal liberalism with sharper slogans? Does a city-owned grocery store cross the line, or is it ordinary municipal housekeeping? The fixation is a mistake, and an instructive one.” (07/20/26)
Suing Stephen Miller
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko
“It’s time to put everyone from Stephen Miller and Tom Homan to the most recent ICE hire on notice: a reckoning is coming.” (07/20/26)
The Odyssey has transcended the culture war
Source: spiked
by Maren Thom
“Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is a commercial and artistic triumph, opening to widespread critical acclaim and collecting $264million in global ticket sales during its opening weekend. Indeed, it is reassuring that Hollywood still has some artistry and ambition left in it. But alongside the legitimate plaudits, the film’s juggernaut success has produced two other, more philistine reactions. The liberal left is relieved. After months of controversy over the supposedly woke casting, the film has received ecstatic reviews and attracted huge audiences, leading progressives to declare victory. … Much of the right is furious for precisely the same reason. Having condemned The Odyssey before seeing it, the anti-woke warriors cannot forgive it for being magnificent.” (07/20/26)
Flag on the play: First Amendment problems with NIL regulation
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Amuda Balu
“NIL agreements are about more than money. They are also about expression. Student athletes earn compensation by appearing in advertisements, promoting products on social media, and publicly associating themselves with brands. These activities therefore qualify as speech, which receives First Amendment protection. Yet many of our current state and university NIL laws do not seem to withstand constitutional scrutiny. Two types of common restrictions in particular are concerning: restrictions for contracts in vice industries and those relating to institutional values.” (07/20/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/flag-play-first-amendment-problems-nil-regulation
Trump Is Ready for All-Out War in Iran. There’s Just One Catch.
Source: The New Republic
by Edith Olmsted
“Forget writing a check you can’t cash; President Donald Trump is escalating a war that the U.S. military can’t wage. Trump has made it more than clear that he’s done negotiating with Tehran, after the U.S. military launched yet another wave of strikes against Iran Saturday in retribution for the deaths of at least two U.S. military service members in Jordan. … ‘The U.S. is planning for a wider war,’ one U.S. official familiar with the matter told The Washington Post Monday. The official warned that U.S. military operations would be kneecapped by dwindling stockpiles of air defense and long-range munitions, as well as widespread damage to U.S. military bases in the Middle East. ‘We do not have enough to safely sustain operations, and I don’t think the White House is aware of that,’ the official added.” (07/20/26)
https://newrepublic.com/post/213240/donald-trump-war-iran-weapons-stockpile