Source: Niskanen Center
by Robin Allen & Zachary Norris

“Dramatically expanding the high-voltage grid is a top priority to address surging demand from data centers, industrial growth, and electrification. In the U.S., most high-voltage projects are decided through transmission planning processes. Particularly in the wake of FERC’s Order 1000, the transmission planning policy discussions have often centered on longstanding disagreements over competition versus incumbent utility control. The debate has intensified with two recent FERC filings — one urging FERC to suspend or scale back market competition; the other to expand it.” [editor’s note: “The grid” should be abandoned (in favor of local/decentralized generation and delivery), not expanded – TLK] (07/28/26)

https://www.niskanencenter.org/finding-common-ground-on-high-capacity-transmission-collaboration-competition-and-a-path-forward/

Source: Townhall
by Ryan Walters

“For 45 years, the Department of Education has claimed to speak for the nation’s teachers. This month in Dallas, the secretary running it sat in a ballroom full of them and let them speak for themselves. Linda McMahon came to the Teacher Freedom Summit to argue that the best decisions in education are made closest to the child, and that the department she leads should hand its authority back to the states. She made the case, then spent the afternoon in roundtables asking classroom teachers what that shift would mean for their students. The willingness to ask is itself the news. An institution built in teachers’ name spent four decades deciding what teachers needed without much bothering to consult them.” (07/28/26)

https://townhall.com/columnists/ryan-walters/2026/07/28/the-secretary-trying-to-close-the-department-of-education-did-something-it-never-did-n2680265

Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye

“Although the House passed the budget resolution, the Senate hasn’t moved on it. There’s a real possibility that the Senate doesn’t do anything with it. Why? Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) doesn’t have the votes to move H.Con.Res. 113. Instead, Thune, who is in his first term as majority leader, is more interested in moving a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the federal government open. The House passed a CR, H.R. 9770, before the recess. However, the House-passed CR doesn’t include the anomalies requested by the White House, which include $1 billion for procurement of materials to build a new battleship.” (07/28/26)

https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/is-congress-ready-for-reconciliation

Source: Law & Liberty
by Daniel J Mahoney

“The hope and sober wisdom of the American Founding can help save us from creeping nihilism.” (07/29/26)

https://lawliberty.org/forum/renewal-and-gratitude/

Source: Aaron Ross Powell
by Aaron Ross Powell

“In the opening chapter of his book Ghosts of My Life, the Marxist theorist Mark Fisher argues that capitalism has destroyed creativity. That art—and he’s talking mostly about music in the book—has stagnated, that it’s no longer dynamic, but is instead endlessly remixing the past. I’ve always found this passage fascinating, because he’s very much onto something, even if not to quite the degree he imagines, but then he pins the blame in the wrong place. To the extent that we’ve lost the creative spark, in the way Fisher presents it, the culprit really isn’t capitalism. Or neoliberalism. It’s instead, to a rather blameworthy degree, NIMBYism.” (07/29/26)

https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/3mrqtnr7r2c2i