“On June 8, 1789, James Madison announced the batch of proposed constitutional amendments that would eventually become enshrined as the Bill of Rights. One of Madison’s would-be amendments, however, did not make the final cut, as it failed in the Senate after passing the House of Representatives. Here is what that lost Madisonian amendment to the Constitution would have said: ‘No state shall violate the equal rights of conscience, or the freedom of the press, or the trial by jury in criminal cases.’ Put differently, Madison wanted several parts of the Bill of Rights to apply equally against the federal government and the states. Why? ‘Because it must be admitted, on all hands,’ Madison said, ‘that the state governments are as liable to attack these invaluable privileges as the general [national] government is, and therefore ought to be as cautiously guarded against.'” (08/06/26)
“Only 25 years after the September 11 attacks on the United States, a major political party has fallen in with people who view that attack as deserved and the attackers as righteous. If it were parody, no one would accept it because good parody is based in truth and the truth is this fall of the Democratic Party is not believable. Sure, they’ve expressed sympathies for enemies of the United States before, but always for political advantage only; now they appear to mean it or are so afraid of it they won’t say anything to the contrary. Democrats have gone from being wrong to being an existential threat to the country. I have not seen a single Democrat candidate for office this election cycle praise the United States or even say anything that could be perceived as positive about it. Seriously, have you?” (08/06/26)
“Rio 2016, like many ambitious projects, combined political cronyism and weak market discipline. Ordinary Brazilians are still paying the bill.” (08/06/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Angelo Monaco
“The classic virtue of thrift — once celebrated as a moral cornerstone of self-reliance, discipline, and stewardship — has largely been cast aside by a modern economic system designed to punish it. For centuries, saving was viewed as a quiet duty to one’s family and future, a practice that paired material restraint with ethical responsibility. Today, however, our financial architecture actively undermines this morality. Persistent inflation erodes the purchasing power of uninvested savings, while hyper-financialization and record-low interest rates reduce traditional thrift to a losing strategy. In a culture driven by immediate gratification and an economic engine fueled by perpetual consumer debt, the deliberate act of saving is no longer a protected path to security, but rather a virtue systematically penalized by the very system that once relied on it.” (08/06/26)
“‘Today I am the most famous and talked-about person in the country’. Those words from the diary of Dr. Anthony Fauci will certainly be true today as the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs moves forward with holding him in contempt for refusing to answer over a hundred questions about his past conduct and statements as the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The contempt vote will start a process that is fraught with political and legal challenges. Even putting aside the objections to the direct referral from the Committee to the Justice Department (rather than submit the matter to a full Senate vote), there remain serious questions about whether Fauci can be held in contempt after invoking his right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment.” (08/06/26)
“Many classical liberals see themselves as myth busters. In particular, they take aim at those myths that erroneously link a big state and collectivist action with welfare and prosperity. No thinker is too prominent or a theory too grand to be undermined by proper and sound classical liberal analysis. And rightly so. Yet many classical liberals are blind to their own myth, which is the idea that trade or commerce fosters, or leads to, peace. Admittedly, they share this misconception with some of the great names in the wider liberal tradition, such as Mill, Cobden, Kant, and Montesquieu. Yet they were erroneous nonetheless.” (08/06/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“With the soaring popularity and electoral success of democratic socialists, the question naturally arises: Will the CIA employ its power of assassination to rectify this problem?” (08/06/26)
“The law of diminishing marginal utility is one of the foundational principles of economics, but its significance extends far beyond the marketplace. The principle states that as a person acquires additional units of a good, the satisfaction gained from each successive unit tends to decline. The first glass of water relieves intense thirst, the second provides comfort, and the third offers only modest enjoyment. While economists developed this concept to explain value and choice, it also reveals a deeper truth about human existence.” (08/06/26)
“He was saving the bond market. Or laying the groundwork for a new currency system. Or rescuing a major bank from imminent collapse. The internet has plenty of wild theories about why Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent intervened in currency markets to prop up the value of the Japanese yen on Friday after it hit a 40-year low. Yet the real explanation is probably a lot simpler — and, unfortunately, a lot more worrying. … Bessent is a hedge fund guy. More specifically, he is a Soros Fund Management guy. He worked there through the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, and the firm’s bet against the British pound earned $1 billion a few years earlier. Big currency bets are what he does best. In effect, he is playing the currency market because, well, that is what you do.” (08/06/26)
“As the war in Iran has reached its fifth month, progress fails to be made and opposition continues to mount. And while President Donald Trump certainly deserves his fair share of the blame, the playbook he’s using is in no way his own. Since the Cold War, the United States has become the preeminent world power, utilizing its heavily budgeted and expansive military to enforce its hegemony across the globe. During the later years of the 20th century especially, this has primarily taken the form of strategic bombing and overwhelming air power. … The Iran War not only illustrated the defense establishment’s affinity for aerial bombardment, but it also greatly exposed the problematic nature of this framework as official DoD strategy.” (08/06/26)
