Source: Common Dreams
by Judy Albert, Claire M Cohen, Ed Grystar, Ana Malinow, Julie Noh-Smith, & Kay Tillow
“On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass addressed the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society with an oration called, ‘What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?’ In 1852, the United States was a young country, only 76 years old, and given its youth, Douglass held out hope for the country that put him and 3 million Black men, women, and children in chains. He called Congress and judges ‘inhuman, disgraceful, and scandalous’. He accused the church of being the ‘bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters’. Still, he held out hope.” [editor’s note: SIX co-writers? I know all too well how song cowriting by committee turns out, most of the time – SAT] (08/15/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Rachel Chiu
“As Jimmy Lai’s imprisonment shows, a country’s economic prosperity means very little if it fails to preserve civil liberties. … Lai, a self-made entrepreneur and billionaire, had the opportunity to flee before his arrest, but chose to stay to encourage millions of Hong Kongers to keep fighting for the freedom and autonomy that the region has had for decades. His plight resonates strongly with me because of my family’s experiences during the Chinese Communist Revolution, but it should be just as meaningful for every American who believes in the virtues of economic and social freedoms.” (08/14/26)
“Between April 2021 and February 2026, the small city of Sedalia paid a single law firm, Lauber Municipal Law, just shy of $2 million—nearly one invoice per business day, according to reporting by Genevieve Smith and Annie Goldman of the Columbia Missourian. Sedalia’s population is a little over 20,000. Out of its $35 million budget for fiscal year 2026, the city set aside $500,000 for legal fees. Residents are asking why. The answer, at least in part, is Missouri’s Sunshine Law.” (08/14/26)
“In the 1960s, MIT introduced a ‘Pass or No Record’ system for the first semester of freshman year. The idea? Help students adjust to greater workloads and ‘variations in academic preparation and teaching methods.’ You’d think that letter grades themselves would help students adjust by providing information about how well they are learning and adjusting — assuming that the grades are at least a roughly objective indication of mastery not yet rendered useless by grade inflation. Some universities let first-semester freshmen convert a poor letter grade into a pass/no credit ‘grade.’ Only a few have sweepingly replaced letter grades with the pass/no credit system in the first semester. Now University of Michigan has joined those few. One reason: to ‘curb the mental health crisis unfolding.'” (08/14/26)
Source: American Greatness
by Thaddeus G. McCotter
“At first blush, it may appear the nation’s two preeminent populist movements, the Right’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) and the Left’s Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), have nothing in common. And it is true, of course, there exist numerous differences in the political views and aims of these movements. (These will be looked at in depth in Part Two of this series.) Yet, while rarely if ever recognized, let alone mentioned, by each movement’s members, there exist similarities between MAGA and the DSA. Naturally, the fundamental basis of any populist movement has spurred the creation of both organizations: namely, the members believe a powerful, unaccountable entity or entities are unfairly exploiting them and obstructing their personal pursuit of happiness. Further, they believe their exploitation is facilitated and exacerbated by collusion between the powerful entities and similarly powerful organizations.” (08/15/26)
“Should we be comforted because Zohran Mamdani & Co. sugarcoat the word ‘socialism’ with the qualifier ‘democratic’? I suggest not. Hayek spelled out why. Mamdani can quote Hayek dismissively, but has the mayor read the relevant book, published 47 years before his birth? He shows no signs of having done so. … Hayek explained that democracy cannot withstand the requirements that would be imposed on it by the very nature of comprehensive central economic planning (socialism, whether national and international). This criticism did not refer to the fatal Mises-Hayek calculation/knowledge problem with socialism or the public-choice incentive problem. It concerned rather the political incoherence of democratic socialism.” (08/14/26)
“Closed administrative courts with no impartial reviewers were overruled in SEC v. Jarkesy. Strangely, FCC procedures won’t get the same scrutiny.” (08/14/26)
“In the early months following Israel’s brutal war on Gaza, Latin American leaders emerged as some of the world’s sharpest critics of the military campaign. Then-Colombian President Gustavo Petro was among the first world leaders to call Israel’s actions a ‘genocide.’ Chile and Honduras recalled their ambassadors from Tel Aviv, and Belize and Bolivia severed diplomatic ties with Israel. But just two years later, across the region, governments that had distanced themselves from Israel are now moving quickly to repair ties. Not surprisingly they are the same leaders who have rushed to ingratiate themselves with the Donald Trump administration in Washington.” (08/14/26)
