“The ceasefire was supposed to mark the beginning of the end of a crisis. Instead, it quickly became a symbol of strategic failure. With renewed clashes in the Strait of Hormuz, fresh U.S. strikes on Iranian military targets, and Tehran’s retaliation, the last hopes that the Donald Trump administration could manage the Iran crisis through negotiations have collapsed. What remains today is not a clear path toward an agreement, but a return to the familiar instruments that have defined U.S. policy for years: economic pressure, military threats, and the use of hard power.” (07/16/26)
“Before Graham Platner’s dramatic exit from the Maine Senate race last week, the Democratic hopeful received glowing coverage from the legacy media that pushed the narrative that he was a salt-of-the-earth oyster farmer who could win back male voters and unseat longtime Republican incumbent Susan Collins. Now out of the race after multiple scandals, including a rape allegation from a former girlfriend that he’s denied, the friendly coverage he received is getting a second look.” (07/16/26)
Source: Niskanen Center
by Rachel Levine & Zachary Norris
“If policymakers are serious about ‘Speed to Power,’ they should focus on permitting reform. Yet a coalition of utilities has repackaged a longstanding argument that the best way to speed up transmission development is to curtail competitive bidding for transmission projects in the Midwest and Plains. Their proposal overlooks both the driving causes of project slowdowns and the many benefits of competition.” (07/16/26)
“Late last month, the United Nations published its annual World Drug Report, chronicling the latest developments in the global war on drugs. Not only are the drugs winning that war, but there are greater quantities and more varieties of recreational chemicals available than ever before.” (07/16/26)
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Robert T Miller
“There are two main theories of corporate governance: the shareholder theory and the stakeholder theory. The former, which originated in the earliest corporate law decisions of courts of equity in the nineteenth century, requires directors to manage the corporation for the long-term benefit of its shareholders. The latter, which is largely the creation of academics, holds that directors should balance the interests of all corporate stakeholders, including employees, customers, suppliers, creditors, and the communities in which the corporation operates. In an age of climate change, the class of stakeholders may expand to include all human beings now living or to be born in the future.” (07/16/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Robert E Wright
“Every mass movement comes to be defined less by what it loves than by what it loathes. Hoffer identified hatred as the most accessible and comprehensive of unifying agents because it helps to channel self-contempt onto scapegoats, the vilification of which strengthens collective unity. So mass movements, Hoffer concludes, can arise without belief in a god but never without belief in a devil. … What, then, should liberty lovers do? Certainly not launch a counter-crusade. A mass movement of individualists is a contradiction in terms, and those who fight monsters by monstrous means soon sport fangs of their own.” (07/16/26)
“The reality is that, for all of the claims that Clayton is a saner, more acceptable DNI nominee than Pulte, the two share more in common than his supporters allow. Both of them lack real national security expertise, with Clayton being a corporate litigator, securities regulator, and enforcement attorney for his career. Both are fiercely loyal to the president, as shown by Clayton’s refusal to distance himself from the conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 election, which Trump plans to amplify in a prime-time speech tonight. And both have shown plenty of willingness to go after Trump’s political enemies, a significant character flaw in a choice for any DNI, with reams of classified information at their disposal.” (07/16/26)
“‘Stochastic terrorism’ is the idea that if you spread fear and mistrust against a target, then eventually people will commit violence against that target, and it will be your fault, even if you never specifically said the words ‘you should commit violence’. … The ‘stochastic terrorism’ concept is near-unique in how effectively it can be discredited merely by listing many examples of its use together in the same place.” (07/16/26)
“The chances are, if you speak to any financial adviser, they’ll tell you that asset allocation – how you divide up your investible pot among the major asset classes, including debt, equity, property, commodities and alternative investments – is the single most important investment decision you will make. And they’re right to do so.” (07/16/26)
“Terminator 2: Judgment Day gave us intelligence as hunter. Ex Machina gave us intelligence as deceiver. Transcendence gave us intelligence as god. Surveillance, then persuasion, then something close to apotheosis. The films did not plan this arc together, but placed end to end they map the territory we now live in with an accuracy that ought to make us uneasy.” (07/16/26)
