“During the first-ever Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas last week, there was a lot of talk about ‘the common sense revolution’. It was familiar territory to me because every night on my evening newscast, ‘Fox News @ Night’, we join the common sense revolution — you could say we started the common sense revolution more than four years ago. We like to call it ‘The Fox News @ Night Common Sense Department.’ Common sense gives us a chance to take a deeper and sometimes snarkier take on one of the day’s big topics. The goal of the Common Sense Department is not to accuse Americans of not having common sense, but to remind Americans that we share a great deal of common sense. And when somebody or some group steps outside the boundaries of what we consider societal norms, we love to point out exactly why those boundaries exist.” (09/16/26)
“Knowing what’s in your food or whether what you’re about to eat comports with a medically prescribed diet can be difficult. There’s no reason why the government should make it harder. But that’s exactly what the United States Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration are doing when they prohibit companies from conveying information about FODMAP content on food labels. Although not inherently harmful to most people, FODMAPs are a broad category of short-chain carbohydrates and sugar alcohols believed to trigger gastrointestinal symptoms in individuals living with irritable bowel syndrome and possibly several other functional gastrointestinal disorders. … as one US company learned, even if one of the world’s leading FODMAP research facilities tells you your food is low in FODMAPs, this isn’t exactly the kind of thing you can just put on a label in the United States.” (09/16/26)
“‘How can I be of service?’ That was the phone message Gloria Steinem kept leaving at the office of the African National Congress Parliamentary Women’s Caucus in Cape Town, South Africa in 1997. I had arrived in the country a year earlier, working as a young staffer for some of the first women elected to lead South Africa’s new democracy. When they asked if I wanted to call that American woman back, I jumped at the chance. Soon Gloria was on her way to Cape Town, and I was assigned to pick her up at the airport. As this global icon (something she hated to be called) stepped into my rusted car, the first thing I remember is asking her to keep her head near the window as exhaust crept in through a hole in the floor. (She didn’t flinch.)” (09/16/26)
“Holly [Mathnerd] warns that social media magnifies tribal hatred. Having written many essays on the horrors of tribalism, I think she is spot on. We can go further. We won’t get to the roots of tribal hatred if we don’t assess cause and effect. Our inner decision to cherish our tribal beast creates the demand to express our hatred on social media. No matter what political or social side we are on, Holly’s observation applies: ‘You cannot defend the individual by changing which collective gets put in the defendant’s chair.'” (09/16/26)
“In the last two days, a pair of government reports confirmed what many outside analysts have claimed: the Iran war has been extraordinarily costly for the U.S. military and for the American public. … arlier this month, Trump claimed on Truth Social that the military has ‘virtually unlimited amounts of Mid to High Grade Ammunition.’ He called those who reported there were shortfalls ‘treasonous.'” (09/16/26)
“Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking at the Constitution Day event at James Madison University about ‘Rage and the Republic’. and various constitutional issues. During the event, organized by the James Madison Center on Civic Engagement, one student asked me what I would change about the U.S. Constitution. I said that I would amend the Constitution to eliminate birthright citizenship, as have other nations who once followed this ill-considered practice. Well, Sen. Rand Paul (R., Kentucky) has wasted no time. He just reintroduced his bill to ban birthright citizenship. I have previously written about the possible need for such an amendment after the decision in Trump v. Barbara. With that decision, the matter now rests not with the court but with the country.” (09/16/26)
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Greg Gonzalez
“Last week, Rep. Glenn Grothman introduced H.R. 10335, the Restoring Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Act of 2026. The bill would make it easier for Americans who successfully vindicate their civil rights in court to recover the cost of doing so. The bill is scheduled for a committee vote today, and FIRE is urging lawmakers to support it. … litigation is expensive. In America, each side generally pays its own attorney’s fees, regardless of who wins. This creates a problem: people who cannot afford substantial legal fees are less able to find attorneys to represent them. This is especially true in civil rights cases, where the purpose of the lawsuit is often to stop unlawful actions by the government rather than to win large monetary judgments.” (09/16/26)
“Sydney Sweeney’s new ad for sports betting app Novig has sparked backlash from athletes and critics alike. But the real issue isn’t the ad – it’s that she’s a registered Republican.” (09/16/26)
