“Canada Day is the Dominion’s national day and a statuatory federal holiday. It celebrates, not freedom from rule by the British Crown, but the anniversary of the Confederation of Canada. (On 1 July, 1867), merging the ‘United Canadas’ (Ontario and Quebec), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. The Confederation remained within the British Empire. Until 1982, when Canada got its own Constitution (by the Canada Act) and severed the vestiges of legal dependence on the UK Parliament in London, it was called Dominion Day. Although it is often informally referred to as ‘Canada’s birthday’ (parroting US ideas of Independence Day), it is not: Instead of an eight-year war and a peace treaty, it took a long time to reach the country’s full sovereignty.” (07/01/26)
“Primary season is more than halfway over, after 31 states and the District of Columbia picked their nominees. There’s a three-week pause before intra-party contests start again with Arizona. That means it’s a good time to take stock of what’s happening.” (07/01/26)
“For the second week in a row—and for the fifth time since the beginning of the 119th Congress—a faction of House Republicans voted down a rule on the House floor. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was once again forced to send Congress home. It’s an embarrassing situation for Johnson. Worse, it’s coming during an election year, as Republicans try to hold on to their already slim majority. You’ve got to remember that the House suspends the rules to pass most legislation.” (07/01/26)
“Pre-liberal faiths, such as tribalism and Christianity, provided meaningful stories—sometimes for better, though often for worse. In the recent past, liberalism, too, had a story: of a grand human endeavor of progress, equality, and liberation. Yet today, the author says, mass consumerism, fragmented media, tech-driven sociopathy, and cultural nihilism have taken a wrecking ball to meaning. In its own way, careerism has been just as bad; what Avent calls the Modern Faith ‘has no guidance for people in our situation’ beyond urging that we ‘achieve professional success, make money, job done.’ If any of this sounds familiar, that might be because the charge that individualism, industrialization, and consumerization lead to anomie and nihilism has roots that go back to Plato among the ancients and Rousseau and Marx among the moderns.” (07/01/26)
“The Founding Fathers had a finely honed sense of the corroding power of corruption. They wrote prohibitions on self-enrichment and the pull of bribery directly into the Constitution on three separate occasions, banning foreign and domestic gifts, changes to presidential compensation during one’s period in office, and appointments for members of Congress that could be remunerative. They believed that someone treated well by a foreign potentate or stateside special interest would be naturally inclined to benefit them, if even unconsciously, and that a wall needed to be constructed to guard against this. That the Supreme Court has directly or indirectly nullified these one by one is a tragedy. But the court of public opinion, at least as mediated by gatekeepers of information, has also separated what counts as corruption from what counts as a political scandal.” (07/02/26)
“How a voluntary, bottom-up answer to an information problem became a federally enforced cartel, and why prying it loose is a cause every liberal should own.” (07/01/26)
“We need a constitutional amendment to set the number of justices. Leaving to Congress the option of remaking the Court every time partisan control changes in Washington is … corrupting.” (07/01/26)
“The colonists declared independence from Britain. … Today’s America is built on dependence, not independence. The average American is born in a government-regulated hospital, issued a government birth certificate, assigned a government identification number, shipped off as early as possible to government-regulated schools, graciously allowed by government to work in government-regulated businesses (if his or her government papers are found to be in order), retires on a government pension, and is eventually buried or cremated in accordance with government regulations. And, of course, every Fourth of July, he or she dutifully waves a piece of cloth representing that government, cries tears of gratitude for the brave government employees who defend his or her ‘freedom,’ and perhaps — if, and only if, the government allows it — enjoys some fireworks.” (07/01/26)
Source: Cato Institute
by Scott Lincicome & Chad Smitson
“Today (July 1) marks the official deadline for renewing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement — and the US is expected to miss it. As I argued in my latest Bloomberg column, the missed deadline won’t be entirely costless but also won’t be as consequential as many headlines suggest. For starters, a missed deadline today simply means the deal will revert to annual reviews until it’s either extended for 16 more years or expires in 2036—ten years away. This will inject uncertainty into North American supply chains, likely hampering investment on the margins. But in terms of day-to-day trade among the three nations, it’ll be unnoticeable. Trump could, of course, try to withdraw from the deal—any party can for any reason, with six months’ notice—and he’s threatened as much. But, as I explain in my column, it’s a safe bet he’s bluffing.” (07/01/26)
“Politics – and specifically political opinions – can turn people into monsters. It’s almost guaranteed. No one is ever a better person because of their political opinions or because they’re involved in politics. In his story, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson was writing a morality tale about the good and evil within each individual and the dangers of drug abuse, but it could apply just as well to politics. Politics is a powerful drug, and it brings the evil within each individual to the surface. Someone may be a decent person, but add some political opinions and they can turn into beasts who want people robbed, caged, or killed because they don’t have a compatible political opinion. The more I see it happen, the less I want politics near me.” (07/01/26)
