Source: Expression
by Nate Honeycutt
“Americans’ confidence in U.S. colleges and universities remains near historic lows. Although some have suggested that public opinion about higher education may be stabilizing or rising, our latest survey finds little evidence of meaningful recovery.” (02/24/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/the-decline-of-confidence-in-higher
Source: CounterPunch
by Binoy Kampmark
“The Trump era of crude, vulgar might as the sole indicator of worth does not augur well for human rights advocates demanding investigations and prosecutions into the victims of Epstein’s predation. Even before President Donald Trump got the keys to the White House, there was impunity, complicity and permissiveness in the depravities of Club Epstein, a state of affairs tolerated, even encouraged by a ruling class bankrupted and soiled.” (02/24/26)
Source: Antiwar.com
by Alan Mosley
“Long before the current Iran standoff, America’s interventionist foreign policy had left deep scars. The Iraq War of 2003 – championed by a coalition of neoconservatives and assertive nationalists – killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions, and cost the United States roughly half a trillion dollars. Brookings Institution analysts noted that war planners believed American power could swiftly conquer threats and spread democracy, but their expectations proved disastrously wrong. The war shattered Iraq’s infrastructure, destabilized the region, and contributed to the rise of extremist groups.” (02/24/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/alan_mosley/2026/02/23/if-you-cant-beat-em-dont-join-em
Source: Quillette
by Benny Morris
“President Donald Trump must choose between a military strike on Iran, whose consequences no one can predict, and a deal that would leave the Islamic Republic still able to attack its own citizens, menace Israel, and export terrorism worldwide.” [editor’s note: Or simply no “deal” at all, and the US regime minds its own business. Funny how that’s never treated as being on the menu – TLK] (02/24/26)
https://quillette.com/2026/02/24/trumps-iranian-dilemma-israel-protests-war/
Source: Niskanen Center
by Will Raderman
“Anyone managing their household’s pocketbook knows to track two key numbers: how much is being spent and how much is being saved. Technically, you can spend all the income you earn each month without immediately going into debt, but unexpected expenses happen. The safer route is to save a steady portion of your paychecks and build up the reserves to cover a sudden surge in cost. States must manage their unemployment insurance programs in a similar manner.” (02/23/26)
Source: American Greatness
by Victor Davis Hanson
“How do destructive ideas and bouts of collective madness so quickly become policy, law, and the status quo? After all, most have little public support– and are not Western nations supposedly rationally governed? There is usually a multi-step process on the road to these self-destructive fits of society-wide insanity. The suicidal impulse so often begins with left-leaning researchers in elite universities (i.e., the tenured in search of a novel, grant-getting theory). They begin insisting that a new existential threat requires immediate government intervention, novel legislation, ample funding, and public awareness of the impending danger. So out of nowhere, the public is warned that the scorching planet will be inundated by rising seas in a mere decade.” (02/24/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/02/24/the-graveyard-of-destructive-ideas/
Source: In These Times
by Amie Stager
“For Eric Chornoby, leisure time is a ‘luxury’ he can’t afford. He’s a union postal worker from Detroit who hasn’t gone on vacation in five years. ‘Everyone told me our generation was getting it good. I did what I was supposed to do. But no matter how hard I try, I cannot get ahead,’ Chornoby said at a rally in Washington, D.C., on February 7. Chornoby, along with other workers from the American Postal Workers Union’s (APWU) Young Members Committee, traveled to the U.S. Capitol to attend the first-ever march for young workers. Today, the federal minimum wage sits at $7.25 an hour, and it hasn’t been increased since 2009. Many states and cities have doubled their minimum wages, but workers want to see an increase at the federal level that’s adjusted for inflation. In recent decades, workers have become the most productive they have ever been in history as wages have stagnated and corporations reached record-breaking profits.” (02/23/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/young-worker-march-washington-labor-federal-government
Source: Independent Institute
by Scott Beyer
“For years, America’s homelessness debate has been dominated by cautionary tales. The sprawling tent encampments of Los Angeles and San Francisco have become shorthand for urban decline. Those and other cities, particularly on the West Coast, spent billions to combat the problem yet have still seen dramatic growth in homelessness. As troubling as the sheer numbers are, the problem is compounded by a lack of behavioral standards in these cities. Thousands of people are allowed to camp, openly use drugs, and panhandle aggressively. The result is not mere poverty but disorder — creating permanent skid rows in certain sections. But while these cities dominate headlines, others across the country are getting this issue right — showing that homelessness can be reduced, sometimes dramatically.” (02/23/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/02/23/which-us-cities-are-solving-homelessness/
Source: Glenn Greenwald
by Glenn Greenwald
“From Vietnam to Iran and every U.S. war in between, the same propaganda narratives are deployed, no matter how discredited and debunked they are from all the prior times they were exposed as lies.” (02/23/26)
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/war-propaganda-and-iran-the-exact
Source: Foreign Policy
by Bruce Schneier
“Authoritarian regimes elsewhere are taking note.” (02/23/26)