“The phobia against human judgment is America’s unspoken taboo. As a result, the American state is floundering. The evils of bureaucratic micromanagement include: inability to adapt to new circumstances (sluggish defense procurement), diversion to rule compliance instead of doing the job (doctors and nurses spend half their time on desk work), loss of a sense of individual agency and pride (why bother when drowning in law?) and listless public cultures.” (09/16/26)
“No one today can think Jefferson to have been morally upright in all that he did. His writings and his work to achieve a liberal society—in some areas—are impossible to reconcile with his enslavement of other human beings, or the particularly cruel ways that he treated them. And yet he stands at the founding of our country. His proudest accomplishments survive, and it falls to us to explain how such a man could contain such contradictions.” (09/16/26)
“The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Homeland Security released a scathing report last Friday about the shuttered Florida concentration camp built on an abandoned airstrip known as ‘Alligator Alcatraz’, concluding the camp failed to meet numerous health and safety standards, and that the use of ‘small metal enclosures’ was ‘unprecedented’ and posed ‘significant risks to detainee health and safety’. The report included photos, taken by OIG inspectors during an “unannounced” visit in January to the camp, showing a phone booth–sized cage set up outdoors under a temporary awning. Staff at the camp euphemistically described the cages as ‘calming areas’ where detainees could ‘reflect on their behavior choices, manage their emotions’ and, they claimed, leave whenever they wanted.” (09/17/26)
“There are few sadder images than the abandoned steel towns of America’s formerly vibrant Rust Belt, and the all-too-true trope of a once-successful miner resorting to driving for Uber. We know this is a powerful motivator and is a reason for President Donald Trump’s rise. And who better to talk about this than [JD] Vance, who emerged from dire circumstances against all odds, who knows firsthand the afflictions faced by the working poor as prices on just about everything continue to rise? Except that if you listen closely, bitter irony overflows from Vance’s populist crusade: To save the working class, he wants to adopt the exact big-government policies that broke the economy in the first place.” (09/16/26)
“Why do so many beg for a big, authoritarian government involving itself in every facet of their lives? Even when it violently destroys their liberty and violates their rights every day? What could possibly be going on in their minds to make this seem like a good thing? Have these people not seen the results of this over at least the past 25 years? Has a bigger, more authoritarian government made life better or worse? It appears that many people see authoritarianism as strength. I don’t. I see it as weakness, relying on bullying tactics to make itself look strong to gullible observers. If the authoritarians were actually strong, they wouldn’t need to be authoritarian.” (09/16/26)
“Postwar subsidies paid American cities to bulldoze walkable live-work centers. Now average folk pay $13,000/year to own cars, and ‘walkable communities’ became a profitable luxury.” (09/16/26)
“President Donald Trump may have discovered a new opportunity to provoke a NATO ally. Last year, the White House created a brouhaha with Denmark (and other European countries) by insisting that Copenhagen sell Greenland to the United States. This time, Washington’s agitation involves a chain of islands off the east coast of Argentina that Great Britain claims and administers. Those islands, called the Falklands by Britain and most other countries, but claimed and referred to as the Malvinas by Argentina, has been a major source of contention before. London has had a presence in the Falklands since 1699, fending off rival claims over the decades by other European colonial powers as well as Argentina. On August 31, 2026, Trump stated that he was reviewing Washington’s official position regarding the islands.” (09/16/26)
“So much of being online is constructing and performing identity. You present yourself as something to people listening to, reading, or watching what you choose to put online, and that “something” isn’t who you really are. … This sounds grim: You’re just a brand you’ve constructed. My Marxist friends would say it’s another example of the late capitalism draining us of humanity. But let me push back. Because there’s something amazing and optimistic and encouraging about this. Online, you get to be who you want, or who you can figure out how to present. And you can be that thing consistently. You can, in other words, go all-in on your obsessions. … Except. The other thing about the online world, as it is now in its major structures, even if not as it always used to be, is that there are metrics. And metrics interfere with, smooth out, and dissipate obsessions.” (09/16/26)
“In the run-up to November’s midterm elections, potshots at opponents have been coming fast and hard in advertisements and social media, while legislating on Capitol Hill has slowed to a crawl. But state capitals and city halls across the United States offer encouraging examples of what the nonpartisan Future Caucus calls ‘constructive, collaborative governance’. This ‘get it done’ attitude is particularly evident among younger generations of elected officials, according to the organization’s head, Layla Zaidane. And that’s what offers hope for upcoming legislative cycles, she wrote Tuesday in Governing, a digital publication. Future Caucus supports and mentors more than 2,000 young lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, ranging from liberal to centrist to conservative. Together, they take part in workshops, field visits, and online connections. And together, they hone skills in negotiation and compromise across party lines, while deepening their understanding of each other as well as bread-and-butter public issues.” (09/15/26)
