“In the 19th century, thousands of miles of railroad were built, and the opposition to them was intense. These weren’t organized environmental groups. They were conservationists, local residents, business owners, landowners, parents, farmers, Native American tribes and taxpayers enraged at how their elected leaders were spending their money. Many in the 19th century didn’t want trains rolling through their backyards. Many today don’t want data center complexes in theirs. You can’t blame them. Where would America be today without its railroads? … More than 150 years later, little has changed. Today’s data centers are yesterday’s railroads. They are the infrastructure behind everything that powers our economy. Railroads moved freight. Data centers move information and make modern commerce possible.” (07/28/26)
“Socialism is metastasizing like a cancer throughout our country. Though collectivism will inevitably fail, because it always does, it is already causing significant damage to our nation’s political and social fabric. It must be stopped. It is not enough to defeat Socialism at the ballot box. The factories producing this infection — the far-left faculties of our colleges and universities — must be starved of taxpayer money. Thankfully, the Trump White House has taken measures to start that process.” (07/28/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“As the New York Times finally begins to question whether progressives went ‘too far’ with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), it is worth reiterating that DEI policies are based on false and destructive premises, and for that reason they should be abandoned altogether. Rather than debating whether DEI has gone ‘too far,’ we should continue to oppose this sinister ideology in its entirety.” (07/28/26)
“It simply is true that if we concentrate power – of any kind – into one place then those who desire power over others will attempt to occupy that position. So as to have that power, d’ye see? The answer to the wrong people gaining such power is not to have the concentrations of power. We are not commenting upon whether Trump is good or bad as a person to have such power. Only upon the logic of the argument as presented. For one of the things we have observed over the decades is that The Guardian is very rarely happy with any occupant of such a position of power. There’s always something bad they’re doing, something good they’re not. That every powerful politician is such a disappointment is an obvious clue to the idea that power should not be so concentrated.” (07/28/26)
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Hekmat Aboukhater
“Back in 1975, reeling from the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973, President Gerald Ford signed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. The law established the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and framed it as a rainy day fund, made ready for the benefit of the American people should a crisis in supply reach us once more. Today, after two consecutive administrations, our rainy day fund has been drawn down to the lowest levels since 1983.” (07/28/26)
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Chao Liu & Katharine Trendacosta
“For years, John Deere had actively made repairing their tractors near-impossible for anyone but itself and the few ‘authorized’ repair shops—regardless of the ability of its customers to actually visit such shops. Now, in a major win for farmers and right to repair advocates, John Deere must soon provide farmers with not just the tools and resources to finally repair their own John Deere equipment, but also access to future updates for said equipment.” (07/28/26)
“The Discourse of ‘Iranian exceptionalism’ appears in both negative and positive forms. The negative version must be examined within the broader framework of ‘Middle Eastern exceptionalism’ and its various manifestations. In this view – whether in Orientalist discourses, Orientalism in reverse found in autocratic Islamism or authoritarian secular nationalism, or even in certain strands of cultural relativism – Iran, as part of the Global South, the Muslim world, and the Middle East, is deemed unfit for democracy. … The present analysis, however, is more concerned with a positive version of a particular articulation of Iranian exceptionalism that has been mobilized in support of war and sanctions, and in the normalization of the moral justification of military aggression, including alignment – whether strategic or discursive – with Trumpism and Netanyahu’s far-right, war-criminal regime.” (07/28/26)
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey
“Hey, did you hear the latest? Gallup put out the results of a poll showing that a record 45% of American adults now identify as political independents, while the old Democrat and Republican parties have each dropped 27%. Here in Florida, political independents (NPA) account for 3.3 million registered voters, rapidly catching up to Republican and Democratic Party registrations. Also of note, over half of Gen Z and Millennial voters prefer no party label and tend to register as independent voters, in Florida, known as NPA (No Party Affiliation). But we have seen this movie before. Polling of rising independent voters, yet when they get in the voting booth, they seem compelled to pull for either D or R (Democratic or Republican parties). Perhaps things will change sooner than later.” (07/28/26)
“Earlier this month, the Pentagon quietly extended the National Guard’s ‘D.C. Safe and Beautiful’ mission in Washington through Jan. 20, 2029. That date corresponds to no publicly identified security condition, crime objective or military task. It is simply the day President Trump’s term officially ends. The extension raises obvious questions: How will we know when this mission has been accomplished? If January 2029 is its only publicly announced endpoint, what tells the military its job is finished?
Defense Department missions are supposed to begin with defined objectives and include clear conditions for ending them.” (07/28/26)
