14th Amendment Is 160 Years Old Today, And We Are in Serious Trouble

Source: Common Dreams
by Jeffrey C Isaac

“On May 6, 1866, exactly one hundred and sixty years ago today, Thaddeus Stevens, US Congressman from Pennsylvania and the leading Radical Republican in the House of Representatives, rose to introduce the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution on the floor of the. Stevens, chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, was also co-chair of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction set up by Congress, in late 1865, to promote a radical Reconstruction, a program advanced over the consistent objections of President Andrew Johnson. … The Amendment passed in the House on June 13, by a vote of 138 in favor and 36 opposed, having passed in the Senate five days earlier, on June 8, by a vote of 33 in favor and 11 opposed. In other words, roughly a quarter of US Representatives and Senators, serving in houses of Congress that did not include representatives from the seceded Confederate states, voted against the amendment.” (05/06/26)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/history-of-14th-amendment

Iran Has All the Hallmarks of a Forever War

Source: Foreign Policy
by Will Walldorf

“Is the U.S.-Iran conflict becoming a forever war? At first glance, it doesn’t look that way. Rising oil and gas prices, growing congressional pressure around the War Powers Resolution, and scant public support are putting pressure on U.S. President Donald Trump to end the conflict soon. But if history is any guide, there’s a real chance the war continues to drag on. Why? Because a few core elements that have turned past conflicts into forever wars are present in this one, too. Those three components are high resolve by the weak, erosion of cost-benefit thinking by the strong, and weak institutional constraints to warfighting on at least one side. Combined, they mean resisting the expansion of the Iran conflict into a forever war won’t be easy.” (05/06/26)

https://archive.is/jWiWc

The Immigration Police-State’s Infliction of Harm

Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger

“In the midst of massive death and destruction inflicted by the U.S. government in Iran, Venezuela, the Caribbean, and here economically in the United States — and, before that, in Iraq and Afghanistan — and, before that, in Vietnam and Korea, it is easy to forget that the U.S. government is still inflicting economic destruction here at home with its immigration police state. There are, of course, countless horror stories of human suffering that the Trump administration has inflicted on people with its ruthless and brutal immigration police state, especially with ICE and Border Patrol raids, masked kidnappings, squalid detention centers, and forced deportations.” (05/06/26)

https://www.fff.org/2026/05/06/the-immigration-police-states-infliction-of-harm/

Trump’s Self-Serving Narrative Crashes Against the Reality of War

Source: Libertarian Institute
by Ted Snider

“Trump’s team is crafting a narrative that provides them with an off ramp to a war they have lost that tells the story of a war they have won. The U.S. had no legal reason for its war on Iran, and what publicly stated reasons they had were forever shifting. But there seem to have been four key goals: 1. Regime change. 2. Removing Iran’s ballistic missile program. 3. Severing Iran from its forward deterrent network, or proxies. 4. Zero enrichment of uranium. … The rest is fiction: a narrative fiction crafted by Trump’s team to give them a way to tell an angry and betrayed public that they won the war when none of the goals – and all of the nightmares — have been achieved.” (05/06/26)

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/trumps-self-serving-narrative-crashes-against-the-reality-of-war/

Killer Cars for Your Safety

Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

“‘It is in my memory banks,’ Eric Peters wrote last month, referencing an android on an old Star Trek episode, ‘the long-ago time when GM was a car company.’ Yes, in the “long-ago” they ‘made an almost infinite variety of vehicles to suit almost any need and budget, all of them designed and engineered to free their owners. Some were utilitarian. Others were beautiful. Some were arrogant. None were parenting. They were made by adults who respected other adults. What became of that GM?’ The answer? Government.” (05/06/26)

https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/05/05/killer-cars-for-your-safety/

How the Comey Indictment Could Backfire on Republicans

Source: The Dispatch
by Jacob Gaba

“The Department of Justice’s recent indictment of former FBI Director James Comey has been rightly criticized as flimsy and an affront to the First Amendment. This is nothing more than a naked use of federal authority to intimidate a notable critic of President Donald Trump. It’s also something that should make conservatives uneasy. The Republican Party won’t always control the government, but by treating hostile political symbolism as a threat, the Department of Justice has opened a door that future administrations may be all too willing to walk through.” (05/06/26)

https://archive.is/zNLIX

The Cost of Apathy

Source: The Pamphleteer
by Davis Hunt

“It’s official. Mayor Freddie O’Connell is running again. His decision breaks the ten-year streak of mayors who have ducked out of a second term, whether of their own volition or due to criminal negligence. ‘The next four years are about turning progress into permanence,’ O’Connell said. For decades, Nashville steeped in the cultural ferment of the country without drawing too much attention outside the Southeast. That all changed as Nashville’s explosive growth coincided with the cultural ascendancy of country music. Nashville is understood in the wider culture as a Red City. Country music, the horses out in Franklin, and lake culture all intertwine to give the area a distinctly Republican appeal – not to mention the makeup of the state government.” (05/06/26)

https://pamphleteer.co/newsletter/the-cost-of-apathy/

Trump’s Responses to Kimmel and Comey Highlight His Contempt for Freedom of Speech

Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum

“The president is not shy about using government power to punish people for saying things that offend him.” (05/06/26)

https://reason.com/2026/05/06/trumps-responses-to-kimmel-and-comey-highlight-his-disregard-for-freedom-of-speech/

Evaluating Kentucky’s Assessment Results: Part 2, The SAT Switch

Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Richard G Innes

“Legislators and the Kentucky Board of Education should act to restore proper oversight, ensure compliance with state law, and preserve the ability to accurately measure student performance over time.” (05/06/26)

https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/assessment-results-part-2/