Source: The Daily Economy
by Paul Mueller
“The financial crisis demonstrated how regulations can produce dangerous incentives — and how discretionary intervention can magnify uncertainty. Eighteen years later, policymakers remain tempted by both.” (09/18/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/good-intentions-paved-the-road-to-the-2008-financial-crisis/
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Julian Assange is officially back on Twitter, restoring to the world an important voice we were robbed of by the US empire’s years-long campaign to silence the WikiLeaks founder via lifelong imprisonment for forbidden acts of journalism. Not everyone will remember it but there was a time when this was almost impossible to imagine. It seemed almost certain that this man was going to die in Belmarsh Prison or spend his remaining years in some hellhole in America. Now whenever my nephew catches me or my husband expressing pessimism about something working out, he tells us ‘Hey. Assange is free now’. It’s become our family code for ‘Anything’s possible. Don’t give up hope’. We should really try to appreciate this. Never let hope die. A better world is possible. Anything can be.” (09/19/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/09/19/assange-returns-to-public-commentary-and-other-notes/
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“As with lies (see previous commentary), the number and variety of laws seems to be exploding in our Fifty States. And the world. We are constantly amazed by what municipalities, tribal councils, county commissions, State legislatures, and of course, the DC cabal passes and tries to (or pretends to) enforce. … It isn’t just the Bible and Americans that have pointed out the dangers and stupidity of too many laws. To say nothing of the content of those laws.” (09/19/26)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/09/19/laws-more-laws-and-really-amazing-laws/
Source: The UnPopulist
by Matt McManus
“A liberal theorist offers an intriguing if imperfect framework for an age-old question.” (09/19/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/can-elite-rule-be-reconciled-with
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“The standoff over Washington’s iconic Kennedy Center underscores the current place of the arts in America in ways that are both symbolic and substantive. On Tuesday, the complex formally known as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts formally closed to the public. The move followed President Donald Trump’s monthslong effort to rename and remake the center in his vision, which disrupted norms and expectations around political, artistic, and cultural touchstones. Like most buildings that are several decades old, the center needs repairs and updates. Mr. Trump says his star power would attract the needed millions – but will only be exerted if he receives recognition.” (09/18/26)
Source: The Hill
by Jonathan Turley
“This week, it became apparent that everyone believes in a free press, as long as it costs them nothing. Politicians in both parties are now using their offices to insulate themselves from opposing coverage — all in the name of protecting the public or the press. President Trump has ordered the banning of critical media companies from the White House. Meanwhile, Democrats are fighting to block a corporate media merger on equally raw political grounds.” (09/19/26)
Source: Common Dreams
by Ralph Nader
““I was in the Oval Office when I got a call with the results of the September 15th House Impeachment vote. Unbelievable. Of course, my Repubs all voted against this persecution, but 47 of the Dems, including their leaders (Hakeem Jeffries, Nancy Pelosi, and Richard Neal from Democratic Massachusetts) voted PRESENT! That is really a vote against Impeachment and makes them ON MY SIDE! My aide read their lame excuse, saying that ‘serious work’ had to be done, including ‘comprehensive investigations, reviews of thousands of documents … Congressional hearings, sustained public organizing … to build a broad national consensus.’ That’s why they voted PRESENT!’ ‘But they were really AWOL. The polls show well over a majority of people want me FIRED. The Dems are really cowards. All they had to do was to use my scores of Executive Orders, which they claim were illegal and unconstitutional.” (09/19/26)
Source: The Realist Review
by Martin Sieff
“Sending massive US forces in to try and succeed where US air power and the Saudis have already failed is the next obvious line of attack open to Trump and Hegseth and the pundits who guide them on Fox News every night. And because it is so simplistic and obvious, it is virtually a guaranteed certainty that they will indeed take it. But it will still fail, all the same.” (09/18/26)
https://therealistreview.substack.com/p/war-watch-the-storm-cone
Source: The American Prospect
by Gillian Brockell
“A federal appeals court roundly rejected the Trump administration’s third-country removal policy on Friday, largely upholding a lower court’s decision that the policy was unlawful. The three-judge panel on the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that immigrants must be given more time to raise fears about removal to a third country, while casting doubt on diplomatic agreements with the expanding network of ‘host’ countries. Immigration attorneys and immigrant rights groups hailed the decision, while noting it was unlikely to help the tens of thousands of immigrants already subjected to third-country removal. And though the decision is effective immediately, it may not stop the Supreme Court from using the so-called shadow docket to stay the ruling and allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to continue using the policy during appeal, they said.” (09/19/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/09/19/appeals-court-smacks-down-trump-third-country-removal-ice/
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Terrorists and their proponents have forfeited their right to sympathy.” (09/18/260
https://thedispatch.com/article/palestinians-irish-republicans-sympathy/