Source: The Daily Economy
by Alexander W Salter
“The Roberts Court restored presidential authority over executive agencies while shielding the Federal Reserve from the same rule.” (06/29/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/trump-v-cook-carve-out-leaves-the-fed-above-the-law/
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“As our nations (the Fifty States) approach the 250th birthday of the Union, the mood is surprisingly gloomy across much of our land. A recent survey from Pew Research, for instance, found that just 17% of Americans believe the federal government can be trusted to do the right thing … most of the time. (We note that some of us might be surprised to see how high this is: almost 1 in 5?) Only about one-quarter say they feel optimistic about the country’s future, and many Americans believe the United States is more divided than united.” (06/29/26)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/06/29/are-you-a-gloomy-gus-about-the-states/
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“On Saturday, The Guardian published a leaked draft memo that would give Trump’s so-called ‘Board of Peace’ and its contractors in Gaza blanket legal immunity from any charges of wrongdoing. The draft language would also let the organization obtain public property in Gaza ‘free of charge’. This is only the latest example of the crass power grab in Trump’s Gaza peace plan, which U.S. representatives strong-armed the U.N. Security Council into endorsing back in November 2025. Meanwhile, on June 18, Hillary Rodham Clinton published an absolutely bizarre op-ed piece in the Financial Times endorsing Trump’s Board of Peace and its grand plans for Gaza. The op-ed was titled ‘The World May Not Like Trump’s Gaza Plan, but There Is No Alternative’. Neither article has gotten much attention in U.S. media.” (06/30/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/06/30/hillary-clinton-trump-board-of-peace-gaza/
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Rob Natelson
“During the 18th century, an official declaration was an announcement of a particular event, often after the event had occurred. In addition to the announcement, a declaration might explain the event or justify the action being taken. For example, in cases of offensive war, a government issued a declaration announcing the commencement of hostilities and presenting its justification for fighting. During the summer of 1775, the Second Continental Congress issued a ‘Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking Up Arms.’ This document explained why armed resistance against Britain had arisen and why it was necessary. … The Declaration of Independence was also an announcement. When it was approved (July 4, 1776) and released to the public (July 8), Congress had already voted for Independence (July 2). The Declaration did not create a new legal situation; it explained why it had arisen.” (06/29/26)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2026/06/29/what-is-the-declaration-of-independence/
Source: Expression
by Carolyn Iodice & John Coleman
“For decades, Americans have enjoyed broad freedom to build tools to communicate with each other on the internet. From the smallest message board to the biggest social media platform, the First Amendment protects our right to freely design and use platforms to talk and share content with each other online. The government can go after wrongdoers that use online platforms for illegal activity, but it does not get to decide how a platform is designed and operated in the first place. The KIDS Act would fundamentally overturn this status quo by allowing the government to decide how platforms can be built and imposing restrictions that will censor the speech of adults and minors alike.” (06/29/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/the-kids-act-would-put-washington
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“Qualitative history lends itself to confirmation bias. Even when you have some quantitative measures of economic policy, it’s easy to put extra weight on the measures that deliver the answer you’re looking for. I’m not immune to motivated reasoning. I loathe and despise both socialism and Nazism, so it’s pleasant for me to equate them. I freely admit it. What to do? I could spend a year reading more about this topic. I could even spend a few years getting to the research frontier so I could credibly publish on the question, ‘How socialist was Germany under National Socialism?’ But while this is a fascinating issue, the opportunity cost of seriously deepening my understanding is just too high. Or to be more precise, the opportunity cost was too high. AI has drastically slashed the costs of quantification — and simultaneously drastically increased the credibility of quick quantification.” (06/29/26)
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“Taiwan President Lai Ching-te (William Lai) appears to be missing signs from multiple sources that he lacks both international and domestic support for pursuing a more assertive policy regarding the island’s de facto independence. Taipei heavily depends on two protectors, Japan and the United States, for firm political support against Beijing’s periodic bullying tactics. In the event of a military crisis, Taiwan would be even more reliant on those two powers for armed defense. However, Tokyo and Washington seem to be moving in opposite directions with respect to their longstanding, albeit informal, security commitment to Taipei.” (06/29/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Angelo Monaco
“I recently submitted an article to The Future of Freedom Foundation that predicted a recession at the end of 2026. It was rejected because FFF’s editor, Jacob Hornberger, said ‘One of my beefs with economists is that they love making predictions but most often the predictions don’t pan out.’ I should have been incensed with the fact that after my decades of education and training as an economist and careful research and review of historical and present-day data, my forecast could be so easily dismissed. However, I remained basically un-phased. I suppose the reason I did not get angry is because I knew that he was right. Economists’ predictions are often wrong and any of their predictions that involve a glimpse too far into the future are statistically very close to being always wrong.” (06/29/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/the-fallacy-of-economic-predicting/
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“Recent democratic socialist victories in New York are a harbinger. Like an invasive species sent from the unproductive activist class, they have infiltrated politics at the highest levels of government. As if the creatures who have been ruling us weren’t bad enough, a fifty-year period of permitting socialist activists to take comfort in the academy is now yielding poisonous fruit. And as we celebrate the 250th birthday of America, the democratic socialists openly wipe their asses with America’s founding documents. That is, until election season, when the wolves don sheep’s clothing.” [editor’s note: The difference between a “democratic socialist” and a “mainstream American politician circa 2026” is that the former openly admit they’re socialists – TLK] (06/29/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/the-poisonous-fruit-has-ripened/comments
Source: The New Republic
by Malcolm Ferguson
“The opening weekend of the Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C., was, to put it simply, miserable. It was extremely muggy, with rain pouring down seemingly every hour. A child rolled around in the grass, crying and screaming, ‘I. WANT. TO. GO. HOME!!!’ Creed’s ‘Higher’ blared over the loudspeakers, and a sparse crowd milled about the various exhibitions. The bare-bones setup (flimsy, fake two-dimensional columns that looked like something Wile E. Coyote would run into while chasing the Road Runner) left much to be desired, as America’s 250th anniversary was celebrated with kitsch and ennui rather than grandeur and appreciation. More than anything, the event lacked energy—and people. There wasn’t any line or wait to get in. The vibe was more conference-like than celebratory, and the state exhibits varied wildly in effort and presentation.” (06/29/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/212455/trump-great-american-state-fair-review