In this state, nurse practitioners pay for the right to do their job

Source: Washington Post
by Donna G Matias

“For more than 30 years, nurse practitioner Marcy Markes has cared for patients in intensive care units and small-town clinics across Missouri. She holds degrees from the University of Missouri and runs an allergy and asthma clinic in Columbia, Missouri. The state has a serious health care access problem, and its residents would be better off if experienced providers like Markes were free to provide the care they are licensed to give. Instead, a state law requires nurse practitioners to contract with a physician, which by some estimates can cost an average of $7,000 per year. The price tag for Markes to practice? $50,000 a year. … Courts have increasingly been willing to reassess occupational licensing laws that appear to serve entrenched economic interests more than consumer protection. Missouri’s CPA regime presents a fairly clear case …” (06/10/26)

https://archive.is/lXAc6

Section 224: How Far Should America’s Security Commitments to Israel Go?

Source: Antiwar.com
by Timothy Hopper

“Buried deep within the thousands of pages of the annual U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a single provision labeled Section 224 has quietly become one of the hottest political flashpoints in Washington this year. On the surface, it looks like standard bureaucratic language — just another push to strengthen technological and military cooperation between the United States and Israel. But the intensity of the reactions it’s sparked, from both supporters and fierce critics, reveals something much bigger at play. For many watchers, Section 224 isn’t merely a technical tweak; it’s become a symbol of larger, often uncomfortable questions about Israel’s role in U.S. foreign policy, how far America’s security commitments should go, and where the Republican Party is headed in this new era.” (06/10/26)

https://original.antiwar.com/timothy_hopper/2026/06/09/section-224-how-far-should-americas-security-commitments-to-israel-go/

The Freedom Caucus Is Cooked

Source: The Bulwark
by Joe Perticone

“The House Freedom Caucus, a group of former congressional rebels who have over the past few years evolved into Trump lackeys, is on the verge of total irrelevance. In a scenario where House Republicans become the minority, the caucus will lose whatever semblance of leverage it has, and current members know it; half a dozen of them will be leaving Congress at the end of the year.” (06/09/26)

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-freedom-caucus-is-cooked

The law faculty who self-censor the least are not the ones you think

Source: Expression
by Nate Honeycutt

“When discussions turn to free expression in higher education, a common assumption is that those with the lowest amount of job security feel the least free to speak. Junior faculty, adjunct instructors, and others without tenure are often presumed to be the most cautious, while senior professors are presumed to enjoy and exercise greater freedom to study, teach, or debate whatever they want without fear of reprisal. And survey data does support this. For example, among faculty in the academy at large non-tenured faculty are more likely to self-censor than tenured/tenure-track faculty. But results from FIRE’s 2026 survey of nearly 2,000 law faculty suggest the reality may be more complicated.” (06/09/26)

https://expression.fire.org/p/the-law-faculty-who-self-censor-the

When Leadership Loses Its Moral Compass

Source: Town Hall
by Joe Abraham

“The Apostle Paul once wrote that leadership requires ‘a good conscience.’ Whether one approaches that idea through faith, philosophy, or simple common sense, the principle remains timeless: public officials carry a moral obligation to protect the people entrusted to their care. That responsibility should come before ideology, political image, or partisan loyalty. Too often in Illinois, it does not. My daughter, Katie Abraham, was killed in Urbana, Illinois, by an intoxicated illegal [sic] immigrant with a troubling background and serious health issues; circumstances that, in my view, were enabled by reckless sanctuary policies that lacked meaningful vetting and prioritized ideology over public safety. But what permanently divided me from many Illinois leaders was not only the policy failure itself. It was the response afterward.” (06/10/26)

https://townhall.com/columnists/joe-abraham/2026/06/10/when-leadership-loses-its-moral-compass-n2677489

Donald Trump Is Accidentally Speeding the Green Transition

Source: Jacobin
by Robert Pollin

“Donald Trump’s policies, especially his war on Iran, are having the unintended effect of accelerating the very green transition project he scorns. The Left must ensure the renewable energy build-out advances the well-being of the US working class.” (06/09/26)

https://jacobin.com/2026/06/trump-fossil-fuels-green-transition-workers

What JFK Knew about Diplomacy that Modern Leaders Have Forgotten

Source: Independent Institute
by Abigail R Hall

“Kennedy facilitated important changes in U.S.-Soviet relations. Less than two months later, the two nations and Great Britain signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which prohibited weapons testing in the atmosphere and in the water. The signatories agreed to work toward ending the arms race and, ultimately, complete disarmament. The treaty didn’t succeed — but that doesn’t mean it didn’t matter. Kennedy’s efforts showed how bitter rivals could nevertheless work toward a common goal. Though he wouldn’t live to see them, future diplomatic efforts enabled even the most ideologically opposed regimes to build institutions that constrained humanity’s worst impulses.” (06/09/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/06/09/what-jfk-knew-about-diplomacy-that-modern-leaders-have-forgotten/

The Revolutionary Gordon Wood

Source: The Atlantic
by Craig Bruce Smith

“The American Revolution was revolutionary. That’s the deceptively simple claim to which Gordon Wood, the historian who was tragically killed at the age of 92 on Sunday, devoted his career. The Revolution, of course, overthrew a monarchy — but the freedoms it advanced were unequally enjoyed, and the Founders left a great deal undone. But Wood insisted that, even so, we not lose sight of its fundamental character.” ()6/09/26)

https://archive.is/XEo4t

Build homes, don’t seize them, Mayor Mamdani

Source: Washington Post
by Ilya Somin

“‘Block by Block,’ Zohran Mamdani’s ‘sweeping blueprint’ to reduce housing prices in New York City, comes with a dangerous promise. ‘When necessary,’ the mayor said on May 26, ‘we will take aggressive legal action to remove negligent owners and property managers’ and transfer ownership to ‘responsible stewards.’ The problem: The proposal is an unconstitutional power grab that would exacerbate the city’s housing crisis. … The mayor’s proposal doesn’t just violate the federal and state constitutions, which have nearly identical restrictions on takings. It would also make the city’s shortages worse. Faced with the prospect of potential expropriation, many owners would likely withdraw properties from the market or not list them in the first place.” (06/09/26)

https://archive.is/VJkjO