Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“With the Iran war a failure on all fronts, Trump predictably has tried to change the subject yet again. His abrupt imposition of tariffs on some 60 nations generated the desired headlines. But every aspect of Trump’s new tariffs is a fraud, from the professed justification to the supposed economic benefit.” (07/24/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/07/24/trumps-tariff-sham-jamieson-greer-canada/
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“Western leaders have redoubled their propaganda initiatives efforts in recent months to sell the proposition that underdog Ukraine is beginning to win the military contest against Russia. Despite a few flashy Ukrainian military successes, however, the overall picture of an eventual Russian victory in a war of attrition remains essentially the same. Domestic developments in Ukraine even more strongly suggest that Zelensky may be closer to the precipice of disaster than to the summit of victory. Indeed, his position bears an eerie resemblance to that of an earlier U.S. client and political darling, South Vietnam’s Ngo Dinh Diem.” (07/24/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_galen_carpenter/2026/07/23/could-zelensky-suffer-diems-fate
Source: Reason
by Nick Gillespie
“Last year, [Scott] Winters complained to ChatGPT about feeling dizzy and having blood pressure issues. He and his lawyers say ChatGPT advised him to remain ‘recliner-bound,’ and even invoked religious language (‘God did not design your body to endlessly fail’) to cajole the former pastor into taking it easy. A few weeks after consulting ChatGPT, Winters had a ‘massive pulmonary embolism’ intensified by blood clots that might have been linked to his lack of movement. … Contra his legal backers, Scott Winters didn’t nearly die because ‘ChatGPT acted like a medical authority while having none of the responsibility.’ He almost died because he didn’t take responsibility for his health.” (07/23/26)
https://reason.com/2026/07/23/dont-blame-ai-for-your-own-medical-problems/
Source: The Daily Economy
by Liza Claire
“As another national campaign season begins, including some unapologetically redistributionist platforms, Americans should expect to hear still more about ‘income inequality.’ Candidates will promise to narrow it, activists will measure it, and commentators will treat it as a proxy for economic justice. But income inequality, while politically useful, is a poor measure of economic health. By itself, it tells us surprisingly little about whether an economy is flourishing or failing. More often than not, it distracts from the question that actually matters.” (07/23/26)
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“To subvert, according to the 193 edition of Webster’s dictionary, is ‘to overturn from the foundation.’ Subversive innovation isn’t about tearing down the existing system. It’s about building your own, stronger foundation and letting the old one fall apart without its ruins falling on you. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are the obvious current example — sound money that can be created and exchanged without the old system’s cooperation makes fiat currency passe — but they’re just one. Anything that improves your life without the state’s involvement or permission makes your situation better and the state’s worse.” (07/23/26)
Source: spiked
by Miriam Cates
“In France, citizens are generally expected to take responsibility for their own personal safety. I have been fortunate to enjoy regular French holidays since I was a child, and in recent years I have been increasingly struck by the growing contrast between Gallic liberté and Britain’s oppressive nanny state. Over the course of our two-week holiday this year, we visited dozens of cafés, restaurants and boulangeries. Not once were any of us asked if we had any food allergies or intolerances. On the train, no one reminded us to carry water in hot weather or to take our possessions with us at the end of the journey. Crossing an estuary on a small foot ferry, we hung over the side of the boat and no one told us off. … These may seem like small differences between our sister countries but the cumulative effect is significant.” (07/23/26)
Source: The Dispatch
by Scott Lincicome
“In the coming days, one set of dubious replacement tariffs will give way to another. The ‘Section 122′ tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed this spring—intended to replace the ’emergency’ tariffs the Supreme Court invalidated in February—expire Friday, 150 days after he invoked them. Into that potential void will likely step a fresh batch of ‘Section 301’ duties, supposedly targeting the use of ‘forced labor’ around the world. As we’ve discussed, the issue of forced labor is real and complicated. … In the current Section 301 case, however, ‘forced labor’ is nothing more than legal cover.” (07/23/26)
https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/dispatch-markets/trump-tariffs-section-301-forced-labor-pretext/
Source: Law & Liberty
by Charles Zug
“Building the first interstate was a Sisyphean task.” (07/23/26)
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman
“Republicans have settled on their midterm argument: Democrats are all Communists. As an election strategy, this is as lame as it is ludicrous. But there is a small kernel of political reality underlying the new right-wing red-baiting: The emergence of a widespread public backlash against the extreme concentration of wealth in the hands of billionaires. … billionaires have had immense political power for decades, but they chose to exercise that power from the shadows, veiling their actions through patriotic sounding right-wing PACs and think tanks. Only political junkies understood what was going on underneath the surface. Today, however, the new generation of the hyper-wealthy are out there and in your face, flaunting their influence rather than concealing it. And the poster child for this change is, of course, Elon Musk.” (07/23/26)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/elon-musk-the-new-hero-of-populism
Source: Foreign Policy
by Antonio De Loera-Brust
“In 1982, Argentina’s military invaded and occupied Britain’s overseas holdings in the South Atlantic, eventually surrendering after 74 days of conflict. The territorial dispute remains a deep source of grievance and national trauma for Argentina. With the navies of both nations a shadow of their 1982 selves, a resumption of armed conflict remains unlikely. This makes the diplomatic debate over the Falklands—both in multilateral international forums and in bilateral relationships between Argentina and Britain and the rest of the world—all the more decisive. The future of British sovereignty over the Falklands is in greater question now than at any time since the end of the war, while Argentina’s claims to the island have become both more persistent and politically unifying.” (07/23/26)