“Every government institution should periodically be asked a simple question: is it still performing the mission for which Congress created it? That principle has become a hallmark of the Trump administration. Through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the closing of USAID, and the restructuring of federal agencies, the administration has encouraged the reexamination of longstanding institutions to ensure they remain faithful to their original purposes. That question should now be asked of one of Washington’s least scrutinized congressional bodies: the U.S. Helsinki Commission.” (08/05/26)
“Abdul El-Sayed earned a narrow victory in the Michigan Senate primary on Tuesday, coming from third place and withstanding a $62 million onslaught from his main opponent, Haley Stevens. He won a statewide primary in a swing state on a message that prominently featured Medicare for All. And he won despite Stevens’s outside backers using an eight-year-old quote from the most popular politician in the Democratic Party, Barack Obama, praising her for being part of his administration. Those facts and that framing do not necessarily reflect the way a lot of progressives are feeling right now. But if the past two weeks of bad polling had not appeared and the last survey of the race was the mid-July poll showing Stevens up by seven, that mood would be markedly different.” (08/05/26)
“‘Now that SCOTUS has opened the floodgates for foreign invaders to flock across our borders and spawn, the only choice we have is to triple down on immigration enforcement.’ Furious at the continued existence of the pernicious doctrine of birthright citizenship, online right-wing commentator Sean Davis joined the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh in calling for drastic measures: deny entry to all pregnant and/or female foreigners, require sterilization of all foreign visitors prior to entry, and if needed, dissolve the Union. What could explain such an extreme reaction to a judicial decision upholding the status quo? One answer, proffered by Ibram X. Kendi in his recent book Chain of Ideas, is that these amazing events are the latest episode in the grand history of racism in America.” (08/05/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Connor O’Keeffe
“Fauci’s ‘personal diary’ was really a long digital document where he would write up a summary of his workday every night to help inform his post-retirement memoir and any sympathetic future biographers. The release provided some new details on the nature of the government’s response to the pandemic and, to an even greater extent, exposed the mentality of the bureaucrat who quickly emerged as the public face of it all. These insights are instructive because, perhaps more than any other government official in recent years, the career of Anthony Fauci can teach us a lot about where power actually resides in America and how our system really works.” (08/05/26)
“So the geniuses in the white house have begin to suspect that maybe, just maybe, as journalist Mark Ames noted on X, after weeks of CIA-targeted bombings from Ukraine into Russia, maybe those nefarious Russkies are assisting Iran in targeting U.S. bases in the Gulf. I’ve got news for these Beltway Einsteins: China’s helping Iran too. And probably North Korea. In fact, every member of the multipolar alliance is likely doing their part: the mental opacity afflicting Washington does not afflict them. They know very well who is trying to destroy them. So they take countermeasures. That’s called sanity.” (08/05/26)
“While Trump repeatedly fails to grasp the seriousness of the situation, American bases are becoming more vulnerable. NBC News recently reported that in an effort to preserve the quickly-depleting supply of defensive systems, U.S. military commanders have begun allowing Iran to hit certain American targets. Not only does this report further prove that U.S. stockpiles of key missile interceptors are rapidly shrinking, but it also reveals the increased risk posed to U.S. troops. To put it simply, U.S. bases do not have the weapons or infrastructure needed to defend against extensive attacks during a prolonged conflict with Iran. For years, the Pentagon has warned presidents about this dynamic.” (08/05/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Sam Jenson & Ella Reed
“ALPRs have the potential to serve public safety by aiding in the recovery of stolen vehicles and the location of missing persons. However, the prevalent lack of policy safeguards and rigorous enforcement, combined with questionable police practices, raises significant concerns about the misuse of this technology. The ability to access historical ALPR data carte blanche allows law enforcement to track individuals’ movements and construct detailed profiles based solely on suspicion or criticism. While ALPRs can be effective tools for law enforcement, they should not be used in ways that infringe on individual rights, and clear boundaries and oversight are critical.” (08/04/26)
“If you’re surprised, you haven’t been paying attention. Abdul El-Sayed is a ‘Defund the Police’ socialist who has fantasized about putting an ‘ogre’ (fellow Democrat John Fetterman) on a pike, stumped alongside a 9/11 apologist and constructed an entire campaign around insidious Jew-baiting amid a raging epidemic of antisemitism. He is also the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan after narrowly dispatching establishment favorite Haley Stevens in Tuesday’s primary contest. El-Sayed’s triumph marks not the beginning of the end for the party’s old guard, but the final nail in its coffin. After all, the civil war was over before the (relative) moderates ever started fighting it in earnest.” (08/05/26)
“Concerns about constant government surveillance are legitimate. Surveillance equipment such as this was used by police around the world to enforce authoritarian restrictions during COVID. We shouldn’t have to give up our personal liberty—and that liberty includes the right not to be tracked by the government without a warrant—under the guise of safety. Thankfully, people are starting to push back against Flock and similar police surveillance equipment. I don’t believe our state or our country should become a vast surveillance society (assuming we are not already there), even if it makes us ‘safer’ in some ways.” (08/04/26)
