Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey

“What is going on in Texas? For all the talk that Texas Governor Greg Abbott is a principled Republican, he certainly reversed his free-market stance when it came to AI and hyperscale data center projects once polling showed how unpopular they are with his base. Abbott signed an executive directive requiring all kinds of roadblock-style regulations before any AI data centers can connect to the state’s grid. I am not saying it is right or wrong; I am just pointing out Abbott’s failure on the issue. Though I would suggest that government-managed energy monopolies and corporate tax subsidies always distort the free market, and he should just stand aside.” (08/12/26)

https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/greg-abbott-abandons-free-enterprise

Source: Common Dreams
by Olivia Dinucci

“One year ago, the Trump administration brought 800 National Guard troops to occupy the streets of Washington, DC, part of the ‘Safe and Beautiful Task Force’. There are now approximately 5,000 troops from 15 states deployed here, with some officially moved in and set to stay through 2029. This does not include the alphabet soup of law enforcement agencies swarming our neighborhoods across the city, from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the FBI, Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, Drug Enforcement Agency, Park Police, and more. The National Guard can be found meandering around metro stations, museums, and grocery stores there for mere posture. Despite crime being down before they were deployed here. A new analysis from the Center for American Progress found the Guard deployment has not had a measurable impact on violent crime. They are not even trained in ‘civilian policing’, and are unable to make actual arrests.” (08/12/26)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/dc-military-occupation

Source: Gideon’s Substack
by Noah Millman

“In 2015, roughly 16% of the world’s population lived in Africa. (That’s a bit less than double what Africa’s share of the globe’s population was in 1950, or in 1900 for that matter.) By 2025, Africa accounted for roughly 19% of the world’s population—but for fully 30% of the world’s children under 15 years, and 36% of the world’s births. The future has already been born—and the future is much, much more African than the past was.” (08/12/26)

https://gideons.substack.com/p/the-future-is-already-born

Source: Antiwar.com
by Edward Hunt

“Despite the fact that Trump campaigned against endless war and the White House issued a National Security Strategy that rejected ‘global domination,’ the Trump administration celebrated the nation’s two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary by glorifying empire as one of the country’s highest achievements. Administration officials praised moments in U.S. history when U.S. leaders embraced empire, such as when Thomas Jefferson and John Adams spoke in favor of an ’empire of liberty’ and Theodore Roosevelt acted to take Panama. At a time when many people in the country were reflecting on the ideals of liberty and equality that Jefferson had emphasized in the Declaration of Independence, the Trump administration glorified the country’s imperial history, creating a rationale for Empire First.” (08/12/26)

https://original.antiwar.com/edward_hunt/2026/08/11/the-new-apologists-for-american-empire

Source: Law & Liberty
by Christopher James Wolfe

“By returning to old books on the subject, we discover that arguments about the original meaning of Article II have not changed very much in 100 years. The much stronger argument in favor of a unitary executive is finally being made by justices in the majority other than Chief Justice Taft.” (08/12/26)

https://lawliberty.org/dispatching-humphreys-executor/

Source: Libertarian Institute
by Angelo Monaco

“A foundational premise of libertarian theory is straightforward: meaningful fiscal restraint is impossible while maintaining a global empire. For decades, federal budgets have bloated under the weight of an expansive foreign policy that treats the American military not as a lean, defensive shield for domestic soil, but as a global guarantor of foreign security. Because overseas deployments, foreign bases, and entangling alliances account for a massive portion of discretionary federal outlays, any serious effort to slash government spending, eliminate deficit-funded inflation, and reduce the tax burden on individual citizens must start at the water’s edge. True fiscal responsibility requires dismantling the garrison state, abandoning the pretense of global policing, and bringing American military forces back entirely within our own borders. From this perspective, America’s commitment to NATO functions as a massive, continuous transfer of assets seized from U.S. taxpayers to foreign governments.” (08/12/26)

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/nato-just-say-no/