Source: Persuasion
by Harry Cheadle

“Alicia Kennedy, one of the most celebrated food writers of her generation, sometimes seems to approach food as a series of moral dilemmas waiting to be untangled. In her new memoir, On Eating—a useful starting point to consider progressive culture as a whole—she writes that alcohol ‘is one of the most wasteful things one can consume, producing twelve times the wastewater for the amount of spirit created.’ Climate change may make wheat scarce, she worries. Sugar, meanwhile, conjures up a litany of horrors—it was originally harvested by slaves, and the present-day sugar industry is often accused of mistreating workers. … For at least a decade, left-of-center, educated, middle-class-and-above Westerners have become inflamed with guilt for the way we live. In a roundabout way, the left has reinvented the idea of sin.” (07/06/26)

https://www.persuasion.community/p/progressives-have-reinvented-sin

Source: The Daily Economy
by Thomas Savidge

“Pandemic-era aid allowed many states to expand spending without confronting long-term costs. The bill is coming due.” (07/07/26)

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/states-relying-on-federal-aid-face-a-reckoning/

Source: Beat the Press
by Dean Baker

“I’m serious, and this is not just my disgust with everything Trump. There is no good reason for the overwhelming majority of people in the country to ever put a dollar in a Trump account for their kids. To be clear, I’m not in favor of tax-sheltered accounts in general. They strike me mostly as a very inefficient way to accomplish public goals, in this case making education more affordable. The more efficient route would be to have more public funds go to support public colleges and community colleges. The tax-sheltered account route also favors higher-income people. Over a quarter of households owe no income tax, meaning they would get no benefit whatsoever from putting money in a tax-sheltered account. Another 20 percent are in the 10 percent bracket, meaning the account would just save them just 10 cents on every dollar invested. By contrast, the highest income households save 37 cents on every dollar invested in a tax-sheltered account.” (07/07/26)

https://cepr.net/publications/if-your-financial-adviser-recommends-putting-money-in-a-trump-account-fire-them/

Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Marie McMullan

“For nearly four decades, students in America’s public schools have experienced a straightjacketed version of the First Amendment. That’s due to the Supreme Court’s Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier decision. School administrators — who are government officials — have used Hazelwood to censor student expression, often prioritizing the school’s reputation over student voices. These administrators mark certain stories and topics as off-limits, including critiques of school boards or commentary on federal immigration policy. … Justice Samuel Alito’s recent dissent calling the Court to reconsider Hazelwood should be echoed, not dismissed.” (07/06/26)

https://www.fire.org/news/hazelwood-training-wheels-version-free-speech-its-past-time-court-revisited-it

Source: Liberal Currents
by Mathan Goldwag

“Today it is not revolutionary communists but so-called conservatives who wish to trample on human individuality in service of dreams of a remade society.” (07/07/26)

https://www.liberalcurrents.com/there-is-no-such-thing-as-society/