Source: Coyote Blog
by Warren Meyer

“I am not an expert in AI, but I have seen a lot of waves software-based productivity innovations in my lifetime, and have developed some intuition as to how fast or slow they can penetrate corporate America. I think the impact of AI over the next 5 years, particularly on productivity, has been exaggerated. Which should be no surprise as the impact of PC’s and later the Internet also undershot their productivity expectations for the first 5 years.” (07/08/26)

https://coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2026/07/my-mostly-contrarian-thoughts-on-ai.html

Source: Liberalism.org
by Emily Chamlee-Wright

“There is a crisis of trust in America’s governing institutions. We see it in the numbers. In 1964, for example, 77 percent of Americans said they trusted the federal government to do the right thing most of the time. Today, that number is 17 percent. The trust deficit represents more than dissatisfaction with policies or leaders. Democratic governance is increasingly experienced as something done to people by faraway elites, rather than something done for and by the people. Public remedies too often fail to address citizens’ concerns, or worse, inhibit their ability to act, adapt, and solve problems on their own. As trust erodes, respect for democratic norms wanes, and strongman politics gains ground. And all this creates the conditions in which a polarized media stokes the flames that have Americans actively fearing and hating one another.” (07/08/26)

https://www.liberalism.org/p/conservative-values-trust-and-the-prospects-for-democratic-renewal

Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin

“Five Weapons. One Target: Your Freedom. Washington, Webster, Paine, Madison, and more – they saw every one of them coming and warned us, but ‘we the people’ didn’t listen. It’s the top tools of tyrants: what they use against us and what’s self-inflicted.” (07/08/26)

https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2026/07/08/the-top-5-tools-of-tyranny/

Source: Checks & Balances
by Matthew Cavedon

“Today, about 95% of convictions come from plea bargains rather than jury trials.” (07/08/26)

https://chkbal.substack.com/p/the-founders-fought-for-jury-trials

Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

“I’m usually suspicious of business-government partnerships. But some occasional and low-level efforts are inevitable and at worst anodyne. Take the Great American State Fair in the District of Columbia.” (07/08/26)

https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/07/08/the-states-fair/

Source: Rutherford Institute
by John & Nisha Whitehead

“President Trump has no problem criticizing, condemning, insulting, demonizing and threatening those who refuse to fall in line. He has branded political opponents ‘communists,’ denounced critics as anti-American, lashed out at NATO allies, threatened to cut off trade with Spain, and referred to Iran’s leaders as ‘scum’ amid the ongoing war. In Trump’s America, the president is free to call other nations bad actors, label his opponents dangerous, and treat disagreement as betrayal. But dare to criticize Trump, his administration, ICE, the police state, the war machine, the surveillance state, or the government’s steady assault on the Constitution, and you may find yourself treated as the threat. This is the hypocrisy of the moment: those in power claim an unlimited right to criticize everyone else, while increasingly denying the people the right to criticize them.” (07/08/26)

https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/dissent_is_not_disloyalty_the_right_and_duty_to_criticize_the_government