“Data centers have become an integral part of American life, powering search engines, GPS navigation, health care systems and more. But as companies invest in the infrastructure needed for AI, vicious land-use fights are emerging in communities nationwide. Nearly 3 in 4 Americans oppose hosting a data center in their community. Localized opposition has mobilized to halt projects in data center hot spots. It need not be this way. What if companies could build data centers on contaminated brownfield and Superfund sites in exchange for cleaning up the land?” (08/27/26)
“Last year, Carrboro, N.C. became the first town in America to officially declare itself a ‘Fourth Amendment City.’ At the same time, many small businesses in Carrboro have pledged to be ‘Fourth Amendment Businesses’ and to take specific steps to protect employees and customers from federal persecution by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). Under the Fourth Amendment, ICE agents cannot constitutionally enter a private area that is not open to the public unless they have a judicial warrant signed by a judge that says ‘U.S. District Court’ or a state court at the top. Despite claims by the Trump administration to the contrary, an administrative warrant from the Department of Homeland Security does not satisfy this constitutional requirement.” (08/27/26)
“On paper, Alexander Vindman’s loss in last week’s Florida Democratic Senate was a shocking upset. After all, Vindman had a 16-to-1 fundraising advantage and far more national name recognition than the winner — progressive state Rep. Angie Nixon. But the results reflect more than one poorly-run campaign. Vindman is one of the most prominent faces of a bygone political era known as ‘Russia-gate’ — a period which Democratic voters appear ready to leave behind. … the very reason Vindman succeeded in those heady days is likely — at least partly — to blame for why he and others lost their primaries. Their democracies vs. autocracies (read: Russia) foreign policy is not salient with the voters anymore. Another country is, however.” (08/27/26)
“The Trump administration is desperate for good news on inflation, so when they saw that prescription drug prices had dropped by the largest amount in 60 years, they grabbed onto that for dear life. ‘No previous Administration achieved this,’ the White House boasted in a press release, congratulating themselves for ‘delivering real relief to American families and putting patients first.’ It seems reasonably clear that the administration that delivered this was, in fact, the ‘previous Administration’, namely, Joe Biden’s. The lion’s share of the drop is attributable to drug price negotiations in Medicare, which just kicked in this year for ten high-priced medications. Some of the negotiated prices are 79 percent below the previous level. That Democrats put together a health care intervention designed not to lower prices until the next president’s term is severe political malpractice, but it happens to be the truth.” (08/27/26)
Source: Foreign Policy
by Emma Ashford & Matthew Rojansky
“The impasse in U.S. President Donald Trump’s war against Iran has now lasted for so long that even jokes about Groundhog Day have grown stale. Recent months have seen rounds of punishing airstrikes, followed by announcements that peace talks are resuming. None of this has moved the needle. Now the administration has returned to another dated strategy: maximum economic pressure, or as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has put it, an ‘economic D-Day’ against which Iran cannot hope to stand. The administration seems to believe time is on its side, and that the ongoing blockade and sanctions on Iran’s trading partners will succeed where bombing has not. But this is a dangerous game.” (08/27/26)
Source: The Daily Economy
by Logan Tantibanchachai
“Individual liberty is an essential feature of the constitutional order, not a competing good. To claim otherwise, critics must reject or rewrite our Founding.” (08/27/26)
“Are the externalities of airports positive or negative? If you base your answer on NIMBY complaining, the answer is obviously negative. Above all, there’s the noise. The deafening sounds of take-off and landing bedevil everyone who spends time near the airport. On top of that, there’s daily traffic. Not every airport is LAX (in fact, only LAX is LAX), but congestion is a common bonus burden on locals. Renters, to be fair, don’t really suffer on balance. They get compensated for the noise and traffic with lower rent. Local workers, too, receive extra pay to compensate them for their suffering. The main victims of the externalities, then, are property owners. Living right next to an airport typically depresses their property values by 5-15%, a major hit to their net worth.” (08/27/26)
