“The Watergate-era maxim still applies today: follow the money. In American education, the question is not how much money is spent, but where the money goes. Does funding follow institutions, or does it follow children? Does it serve adult interests, or truly benefit students? This distinction increasingly explains why some states spend more without producing better results, while others see academic gains by empowering parents with meaningful educational choices. New York City is a striking example. In 2024, its Department of Education spent roughly $40 billion, about $36,000 per pupil, one of the highest levels in the nation. Despite this massive investment, student literacy outcomes remain dire. Recent reports found that in 503 of 906 NYC schools studied, most students failed both reading and math exams. State data revealed only 29% of eighth graders were proficient in reading.” (08/14/26)
“Trump’s populist style ensures he will always try to project himself as the outsider on a crusade against ‘the establishment’—but as his party’s nominee in the last three presidential elections, and as a winner of two of them, he has no business portraying his movement as the rebellion when it is actually the empire. It’s time liberals made that clear by embracing an underdog spirit befitting liberalism’s new underdog reality.” (08/15/26)
“Although President Donald Trump is unable to publicly admit that ‘mistakes were made’ in his war with Iran—as American leaders sometimes describe their own blunders—he seems to be implicitly acknowledging that the military strategy he pursued has failed. He’s moving to a new strategy of extracting concessions from Iran via economic coercion, rather than bombing. Trump has described this as a ‘low-key’ and longer-term approach to the conflict. … Trump’s strategy of wearing Iran down economically would seemingly require him to keep the blockade and sanctions in place and the assets frozen, and certainly rules out providing war reparations. Moreover, the strategy isn’t truly ‘new’—America has long maintained economic pressure on Iran—and there’s little reason to suppose it will work now.” (08/15/26)
“In trying to hatch their own artificial intelligence, many countries are playing catch-up to the two world giants: the United States and China. In recent months, however, Japan has taken a different course. It admits it cannot create the most advanced AI models. Yet it might be the first nation to put AI at the center of a new economic strategy. In late July, Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s Cabinet approved a plan to inject $2.3 trillion in public and private investment toward strengthening key industries by 2040, starting with AI and the computer chips that run it. The plan goes beyond merely automating current work, improving efficiencies, cutting costs, or boosting the economy. It would also enhance human creativity and innovation by focusing on applying AI to real-world problems – starting on the factory floor of Japan’s existing world-class manufacturing industries.” (08/14/26)
There is a difference between reporting and storytelling, and the story many observers wanted to tell this summer—that this primary season is a referendum on the ideological future of the Democratic Party—is at least in part at odds with the reported facts. Sometimes the DSA wackadoodle pulls it out, sometimes the relatively sober municipal-government guy takes the win. That’s the thing about elections: Whatever you may hear on the internet, they really are not fixed—on Election Day, things can go either way. … The general consensus among psephologists is that female major-party candidates do about as well as male major-party candidates for federal office, ceteris paribus. But the picture gets a little more complicated when you start asking the right questions.” (08/14/26)
“He’s guilty as sin. Luigi Mangione has now admitted his role in the brazen murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson back in December of 2024. ‘I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died,’ Mangione declared Friday morning in Manhattan Federal Court. Those chilling words should put the 28-year-old behind bars for life. However, among his depraved army of fangirls, Mangione’s guilty plea only bolsters his status as a righteous warrior. As one self-declared ‘Mangionista’, 27-year-old Abril Rios, said outside the courthouse: ‘I see it more of a revolutionary act of protest, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the civil rights era.’ Another dimwit gushed that she and the killer used the same sleeping medication, calling it ‘a little bonding moment.'” (08/14/26)
“When a crisis is upon a society, it is natural to seek those who can and will take charge. And rapidly, silence and neuter those who are unwilling to join into a ‘common effort’ led by those emergent leaders. In some cases (even some recorded in history), once the crisis is resolved, that leadership steps back, retires. (The classical example is Cincinnatus of Rome. We might also consider Devorah of Issachar and Barak of Naphtali or other Judges of Israel, such as Gideon of Manassah. Some point to George Washington of Virginia.) But what we see the most is those in power who retained and even increased their power after the crisis was resolved. Octavian (Augustus), Gideon’s son Abimelech, Napoleon Bonaparte, Santa Ana de Lopez, are a few that come to mind.” (08/15/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Today in dystopia, the US government is monitoring the social media accounts of individuals who oppose the rapidly spreading installation of Flock surveillance cameras throughout the United States. … Mass surveillance is dramatically escalating around the world as the public grows increasingly discontented with the soul-crushing, planet-devouring, murderous abuses of the imperial status quo. In order to keep us subjugated, they need to control us. In order to control us, they need to spy on us. That’s what all these surging authoritarian measures are all about. … Today in dystopia, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says we are not far off from artificial intelligence monitoring every facet of our lives 24/7 in order to give it more ‘context’ for the assistance it can offer us throughout our day.” (08/14/26)
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Colleen Aldous & Eleftherios Gkioulekas
“On July 29, 2026, we watched Dr. Anthony Fauci’s appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which was coerced via Congressional subpoena after he declined to appear voluntarily. The hearing reopened a deep wound. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, we were part of a minority group that fought for the science of early outpatient multidrug treatments for Covid-19 based on repurposed medications with an excellent safety record, including but not limited to hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. Other minority groups advocated for the truthful investigation of other equally important matters such as the cost/benefit calculation of the lockdown policies, vaccine safety, the ethics of vaccine mandates, and the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We were all marginalized by several government public health agencies and by the downstream institutions that deferred to government public health policies and recommendations.” (08/15/26)
Source: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus
by David Beckworth
“In the sections that follow, I will briefly look at the two different paths being taken by the United States and Europe in their pursuit of digital currencies. To paraphrase poet Robert Frost, there are two roads diverging in the digital currency woods, but unlike Frost’s traveler we get to see both roads taken. The question is which one will make all the difference.” (08/14/26)
