Source: Law & Liberty
by Graham McAleer
“By focusing on Hume’s ideas about why we enter association and follow norms, [Max] Skjönsberg nicely puts in relief how Hume’s theory of historical association differs from the rationalism of the social contract theories of Hobbes and Locke: a motif of slow, uncertain growth marks Hume’s idea, whilst the mood of a blueprint marks social contract theory. Skjönsberg’s portrait also delivers a populist Hume which, I think, is something of a mischaracterization. Like other members of the Scottish Enlightenment, Hume makes establishment basic to governance.” (08/12/26)
https://lawliberty.org/forum/humes-perplexing-priorities/
Source: Niskanen Center
by Amanda Patarino, Ross Apter, Jacqueline Maffucci, & Luca Giobbio
“It has been said that Congress is not one institution but ‘535 small businesses.’ When you add the dozens of congressional committees, there is no one standard operating procedure for legislative work. That’s particularly true when it comes to writing legislation that delivers intended outcomes. Certainly, marshalling the support to get a bill through the committee process with sufficient backing to carry it through final passage and signed into law are baseline metrics for legislative success. But if the purpose of legislation is to get policy implemented successfully, then the political process is just the start. No less important, if much less visible, is writing legislation that actually enables outcomes.” (08/12/26)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/ta/
Source: Washington Post
by Vladimir Kara-Murza
“When Russian authorities registered Yabloko for the parliamentary ballot in late July, the Kremlin’s thinking was not hard to read. After all, it had everything under control: the media, the electoral commissions, the repressive apparatus of the state. Why not allow an anti-war party on the ballot, announce its official result at 2 percent, and show to the world that — as Putin had said so many times — the Russian people overwhelmingly back his war in Ukraine? But things began to go wrong. What the regime failed to grasp was that Yabloko was no longer just a small liberal party ….It was now the only avenue for Russian citizens to express opposition to the war. They seized on it. Yabloko exploded on social media, overtaking pro-Kremlin parties in the number of subscribers. … And Putin panicked.” (08/12/26)
https://archive.is/feLzJ
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Dave Hebert
“Exploring how a popular phrase conflates monetary creation, accounting conventions, legal liabilities, and the economic nature of money itself.” (08/12/26)
https://aier.org/article/why-detroit-failed-and-pittsburgh-recovered/
Source: US News & World Report
“Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia will respond in kind if European countries seize ussian merchant vessels, the TASS state news agency reported. The comments come as the EU intensifies pressure on Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, expanding sanctions against hundreds of vessels and detaining some ships and their crews for checks. Some European governments have said they are exploring tougher maritime enforcement measures against ships suspected of sanctions evasion.” (08/12/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-08-12/putin-says-russia-will-respond-in-kind-if-eu-nations-seize-russian-vessels
Source: The Fifth Column
“Hasan Piker, the DSA, AOC, Jason Arday, Francesca Hong, and miscellaneous lunacy.” (08/12/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/the-politics-of-pretending-episode
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Alan Cassels
“[H]ow useful is it to screen military personnel for low testosterone? Well, it might be useful to identify men who have had damaged testicles or who have hypogonadism (when the body produces little or no testosterone) but those cases are rare. But what will happen when you do test America’s servicepeople for ‘Low -T?’ Well, you will find that some of them ‘have it’ as identified. But if it’s not causing symptoms does this arbitrary ‘testosterone level’ really matter? For the answer to that you have to dig a bit into the weeds.” (08/12/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/mandatory-testosterone-screening-is-a-tactical-retreat-from-medical-reason/
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley
“This week, Gavin Newsom made his latest pitch to the mob by proclaiming himself ‘an established insurgent’. It was vintage Newsom in trying to be everything to everyone, part of the establishment and part of the revolution. Like a violent pacifist or a preservation arsonist, it makes no sense to anyone else. However, with the victory of radicals across the country, Newsom is trying to join other armchair revolutionaries in seeking to lead the far-left mob. He believes that he can use a class war that will spare him while destroying his enemies. Call it the Danton delusion. … What became known as ‘The Terror’ was started not by the working class, but by educated lawyers, journalists, and even aristocrats as part of the Jacobin movement.” (08/12/26)
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/08/12/gavin-newsom-the-dsa-and-the-danton-delusion/
Source: SFGate
“Heavy monsoon rains triggered a landslide in a densely populated neighborhood in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, early Wednesday, killing at least seven people and injuring four others, authorities said. The landslide struck before dawn when a section of hillside collapsed onto two or three homes in a tightly packed cluster of houses in Mumbai’s suburb of Ghatkopar, said Tanaji Kambli, a civic official. Authorities immediately launched a rescue operation involving firefighters, police, the National Disaster Response Force and civic officials, but efforts were hampered by narrow access lanes that prevented the use of heavy machinery, officials said. Rescue teams pulled at least 10 people from the debris and rushed them to a government hospital. Six people, including two children and two teenagers, were declared dead on arrival, Tanaji said. Four others were hospitalized and were receiving treatment. Rescuers recovered a body later on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to seven, Tanaji said.” (08/12/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/landslide-in-mumbai-kills-6-as-india-is-drenched-22384722.php
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“Amidst arguments over the morality of the death penalty and mistakes made in deciding who deserves punishment, some situations remind us why capital punishment retains support. Case in point: murder charges against Pete Van Winkle and Tracy Hampton for killing fellow prison inmate Kenneth Thompson, all three of whom were already on death row, in Pinal County, Arizona. Despite repeated revelations of mistaken convictions of the innocent and other perversions of justice, capital punishment remains popular because people want such psychopaths to never again pose a threat to life and safety.” (08/12/26)
https://reason.com/2026/08/12/why-do-americans-support-the-death-penalty-despite-wrongful-convictions/
