“Americans, for all their complaints about the health care system, generally dread the prospect of Washington disrupting their insurance. Many surveys have found that most people are satisfied with what they have. When Bill Clinton proposed a more government-run system a generation ago, the most potent attack against it was that it threatened that coverage. Barack Obama, having learned from Clinton’s failure to enact his legislation, made ‘if you like your plan, you can keep your plan’ a central promise of his own health policy. The lowest political moment for Obamacare was when that promise didn’t bear out for 4 million people who saw their plans canceled. … Medicare-for-all would impose more radical disruptions on the health care system than any of these earlier proposals and laws.” (08/17/26)
“The Trump administration chose this war, launched it without congressional authorization, has repeatedly changed its definition of success and has failed to define an achievable political end. It owns the strategic failure. But bad strategy does not absolve military leaders of responsibility for how military force has been employed.” (08/17/26)
“Growing up, I never cared for Mathematics. It was too logical, bland, boring, difficult, and when contrasted against the stories, battles, wars, glory, destruction, growth, and exploration that was History, I never gave it a fair chance. So it was one of the little ironies of life, that I came to do Mathematics for a living. Focused study softened the difficulty, and armed with growing knowledge, bland and boring transformed to mildly charming. With new perspective, I discovered what has since become my favorite toy, a Galton Board. The toy is a small window into our experience over the last several years in which our free and independent lives have clashed broadly against arcane, top-down rules conceived by bureaucrats.” (08/17/26)
“When COVID hit in March 2020, I was living in Los Angeles. What I saw there changed the course of my life. It became clear almost immediately that local officials in California weren’t following the science. They were following the politics. Every decision, every mandate, every shutdown got filtered through one lens: how do we use this crisis to fight back against Trump and Republicans? Californians paid for that calculation. Businesses shuttered. Kids lost years of school. Families lost everything they’d built. I watched it happen in real time. Florida went a different way. Governor Ron DeSantis stood firm.” [editor’s note: DeSantis did his best impression of Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer having a secret love child until he realized Floridians were ignoring and/or laughing at him. Then he did his best impression of Mel Gibson yelling “FREEEEEEDOOOMMMM!” in Braveheart – TLK] (08/17/26)
“The disappointing alchemy of algorithmic advertising brought me a pitch for a magazine called Field Ethos, co-founded by the lowest of the Trump scions. It’s a publication for men who fancy themselves performers of the sort of masculinity typified by the victim in a Sherlock Holmes story who it turns out was murdered because he stole a jewel while doing colonialist things in the Indian subcontinent. What caught my eye, though, was the word showing up twice in the ad’s copy. ‘The premier lifestyle publication for the unapologetic man is here. Enjoy a mix of modern adventure, historical context, and perspectives forged through global travel while staying current with the latest products that elevate an unapologetic life.’ Now, ‘unapologetic’ is an odd trait to boast of.” (08/17/26)
Source: The American Conservative
by Chris McCallion & Daniel R DePetris
“Even as the Trump administration doubles down on its failed Iran war, it’s also laying the groundwork for military action much closer to home, in Cuba. The Trump administration claims Cuba is a nefarious presence in the Western Hemisphere and a local proxy for Russia and China. Now it seems intent on toppling the Havana government. … There’s a better alternative to Washington’s failed hardline policy. The United States could normalize relations with Cuba, an act that would increase trade, strengthen tourism, and open up Cuba to further liberalization and internal reform. This is precisely what the Obama administration began pursuing in its second term, a process aborted in President Donald Trump’s first year in office in favor of the kind of ‘maximum pressure’ policy he pursued against Iran. We know how well that turned out.” (08/17/26)
“German industrial icon Volkswagen has watched global rivals outpace it. EU mandates increasingly require automakers to prioritize bureaucrats targets over consumers.” (08/17/26)
“Western media coverage is full of horror stories about the alleged repressive treatment by the Chinese leadership of Muslim Uyghurs in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang. It is rife with allegations, speculation, and accusations. But who really knows anything about the situation on the ground and is aware of where this slander originates, whether there are evidentiary sources for it, and what purpose it truly serves?” (08/17/26)
“This week marks the beginning of Brazil’s presidential campaign, with the two front-runners—current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro—officially launching their campaigns. After visiting Brazil and talking with politicians, activists, journalists, and ordinary citizens, I came away with the conviction that this is one of the most consequential presidential elections in Brazil’s recent history. The outcome on October 4 will shape not only Brazil’s future but also the political direction of Latin America. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, now 80 years old, is seeking a fourth presidential term. Brazil’s Constitution allows presidents to serve only two consecutive terms, but they may run again after sitting out at least one term. That is how Lula returned to office in 2023 after governing from 2003 to 2010.” (08/17/26)
