“One morning, when Jacob started his 9 a.m. shift as a UPS driver in Minnesota, he noticed it was hazy outside. It was July 16, and wildfires raging across northeastern Minnesota and southern Canada had unleashed acrid, hazardous smoke across much of the state. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency was urging people to stay indoors. But Jacob was expected to work an estimated 9- or 10-hour shift, getting in and out of his vehicle delivering packages. Management hadn’t provided any protective measures, like masks, he says, and he was inhaling the toxic smoke for hours. ’The worst part about driving and working outside is we don’t have air conditioning or anything,’ he says over the phone.” [editor’s note: I don’t usually post these climate hoax pieces, but this was particularly delulu – SAT] (08/13/26)
“Affordability and war may be top of mind for many voters, but the fight for abortion rights still rages. In November, Virginia, Idaho, and Nevada will weigh in on ballot initiatives to protect abortion access. Virginia’s proposed constitutional amendment would enshrine ‘a right to reproductive freedom’, allowing women to make their own choices about their pregnancy barring a ‘compelling state interest’. Nevada voters approved the Right to Abortion Initiative in 2024, but constitutional amendments must be approved in two even-numbered election years, so voters must approve the question again. Idaho currently has one of the country’s strictest abortion bans, but the Idaho Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act Initiative would remove that ban and enable individuals to make their own choices about childbirth care, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care, and other supports throughout pregnancy.” [editor’s note: This piece never mentions Taxachusetts, where abortion has now become a sacrament, even up to the moment of birth – SAT] (08/15/26)
“The real goal isn’t to promote accuracy, but to encourage agitated conservatives to complain about historical references that make them uncomfortable.” (08/14/26)
“Three approaches to regulating the artificial intelligence industry have been gaining traction in recent weeks: Sam Altman’s call for an international regulatory body, styled after the International Atomic Energy Agency; a bipartisan House proposal that would subject AI developers to audits by government-licensed verification organizations, similar to the Federal Aviation Administration’s aircraft certification model; and Google’s proposal to set up an industry-funded self-regulatory body under federal oversight. Before even considering which regulatory agencies and policies to implement for AI, however, Congress should first define the limits of government power. The lesson of past technological innovation is not that the government should have no role; it is that its role should be circumscribed at the outset so that the technology is not stifled.” (08/13/26)
“Inequality is often the outcome of processes regarded as fair. Yet advantages acquired fairly in one sphere—economic, educational, or political—rarely remain confined to the domain that produced them. As these advantages spill over into other areas, they reshape opportunities and outcomes over time, gradually transforming what began as tolerable disparities into broader patterns of unequal access and influence. This process is driven not only by individual choices but also by the institutions through which social life is organized. Inequality is inherently multidimensional, relational and dynamic.” (08/13/26)
“Every day that passes brings Trump closer to the Captain Queeg of The Caine Mutiny. Queeg ran over his own tow cable, had a nervous tic that involved ball bearings, and was obsessed with his stash of strawberries, but he was at least able to command a ship, which is more than can be said of the president. There are darker parallels, too. Failing leaders often seek scapegoats. Idi Amin blamed Asian immigrants for his nation’s woes. The Ottomans blamed the Armenians for their poor showing in World War I. The focus on vandals, though, suggests no one more than Josef Stalin, who invented a whole category of crime, ‘wrecking,’ to deflect blame for his idiotic economic catastrophes. Trump is no Stalin—he’s not as smart, for one thing. But he would surely have no moral qualms about Stalin if the old monster were around today.” (08/13/26)
Source: Law & Liberty
by John O McGinnis & Mike Rappaport
“Originalism today is predominant yet divided. Courts regularly invoke original meaning, but originalist scholars still debate what interpretation itself requires. At the center of that division is the interpretation-construction distinction. Interpretation is the process of determining the meaning of a constitutional provision. Construction begins only when that meaning is deemed indeterminate—that is, when it is thought to run out—and the decision must be made on grounds other than the provision’s original meaning.” (08/13/26)
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey
“While yes, others are competing in the Democratic and Republican Party primaries, it is clear Byron Donalds will be Florida’s next governor. Sadly, he and most of his competitors represent expansion of government power rather than expanding individual freedoms for Floridians and tourists visiting our state. This leaves principled voters looking for a genuine alternative—good luck. So, unless the insider trading and other allegations bear fruit, Donalds is the frontrunner to be Florida’s next governor, though I’d prefer to see a more freedom-based Floridian in the governor’s mansion. Donalds is no free market capitalist, regardless of his rhetoric.” (08/13/26)
“When you run out of munitions, start launching threats. That’s obviously President Donald Trump’s latest strategy (to misuse the word) as his promised short war against Iran drags into its sixth month. It’s The Bunker’s grim mission to note where the U.S. military is falling short. Much of that is due to the military itself, but just as large a share is the responsibility of the institutional factors that fund it, enable it, and order it into action. Bottom line: Focusing on fixing an airplane in hopes that it can fly right won’t work if you only tinker with those ailerons trailing off its wings, while ignoring the fuselage, engines, and crew.” (08/13/26)
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“Mali remains in chaos. Al-Qaeda-linked militants and Tuareg separatists have recently demonstrated an ability to coordinate attacks against the Malian military, while the country’s Russian-backed junta struggles to maintain control over territory far beyond the capital. Violence has spread across the Sahel, and Mali remains one of the epicenters of the region’s seemingly endless war against jihadist insurgencies. Washington’s answer, as usual, is to ask what more it can do. That is the wrong question. The more important question is what Washington has already done.” (08/13/26)
