Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger

“If we are ever to get our country back on the right track, it is imperative that we never forget that the U.S. national-security state and its foreign policy of interventionism are responsible for the wars in Ukraine and Iran. Let’s start with Iran. It’s obviously tempting to simply blame President Trump for launching his undeclared war of aggression against Iran. But the root cause of what has become a tar baby for Trump goes back a lot further — to the CIA’s coup in Iran in 1953 — a coup that destroyed Iran’s experiment with democracy.” (09/02/26)

https://www.fff.org/2026/09/02/the-root-causes-of-the-wars-in-iran-and-ukraine/

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Connor Echols & Kelley Beaucar Vlahos

“Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned this week, raising a flurry of questions about whether his departure is part of a larger political reordering that has pushed skeptics of President Donald Trump’s war policies to the margins. A long-time friend of Vice President JD Vance, Driscoll drew widespread praise for his efforts to modernize the Army. But he has clashed with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth …. Driscoll’s departure is the latest in a string of recent high-profile exits by Vance’s allies and ideological fellow travelers, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Deputy National Security Adviser Andy Baker, White House Director of Legislative Affairs James Braid, and Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent.” (09/02/26)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/vance-rubio-rivalry/

Source: Common Dreams
by Connie Peck

“Established by Congress in 1984, with legislation signed by Ronald Reagan and funded annually by Congress, the United States Institute of Peace, or USIP, was a well-respected, authoritative, independent, officially nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, until it was eviscerated by President Donald Trump early last year. Its purpose was to promote conflict prevention and resolution worldwide and to provide analysis, research, and training in diplomacy, mediation, and peace-related activities. … Although the institute’s extremely useful database was wantonly destroyed, one can see the breadth and depth of its important work by sampling some of its publications here.” (09/02/26)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/tragedies-donald-trump-peace

Source: Mindset Shifts
by Barry Brownstein

“The foundation of a free society and a fully human life rests on our commitment to the independent use of conscience.” (09/02/26)

https://mindsetshifts.substack.com/p/faucism-and-the-tyranny-of-prevailing

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Lawrence W Reed

“As the Kremlin sought to portray American democracy as hypocritical and the Soviet Union as a more promising future for mankind, its propagandists made much of racial injustice in the United States, while exploiting internal tensions throughout the West to stir dissent. In response, the US sought out a level-headed Black American who could challenge Paul Robeson’s claims and speak on the dangers of communism. Edith Sampson became that emerging voice during the World Town Hall in 1949, where she earned headlines for publicly denouncing Soviet propaganda about America. Sampson, at the time, was a prominent leader in the National Council of Negro Women while serving as assistant state’s attorney in Cook County, Illinois.” (09/02/26)

https://fee.org/articles/edith-sampson-vs-the-illusions-of-communism/

Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Laurence M Vance

“Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is on a mission to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA). This implies that America was healthy at one time but is not healthy now. Is this actually the case? How is something like this even measured? Can America be made healthy again? MAHA does not stand for Make Americans Healthy Again. So what exactly does it mean to make America, a country, healthy again?” (09/02/26)

https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/kennedy-gets-it-half-right/

Source: The Hill
by Jeffrey Stein

“From the beginning, the boat strikes campaign has been widely condemned as lawless. Contrary to President Trump’s absurd claims, the U.S. is not and cannot be in a formal armed conflict with the unnamed drug cartels supposedly targeted in these attacks. The boat strikes are therefore nothing more than premeditated killings of civilians. A chorus of elected officials, governments and international bodies have thus denounced the strikes as ‘illegal.’ But why focus on the strikes’ illegality in the first place? After all, one could just as easily condemn the strikes for their cruelty. The strikes have torn apart families from across Latin America, depriving them — forever — of husbands, fathers, brothers and sons. ” (09/02/26)

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/6064098-aclu-lawsuit-wrongful-deaths/