Source: Reason
by Ilya Somin

“George Mason was not the greatest, the most admirable, or the most influential of the Founding Fathers. But he made enormous contributions that are often underrated. And I’m not saying that just because I teach at the university named after him. Mason was the principal drafter of the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, which became a key model for the other state constitutional bills of rights, and eventually for the federal Bill of Rights. Later, he was one of three members of the Constitutional Convention who refused to sign the document. Afterward he opposed ratification. Not all his objections to the Constitution were sound, but several were compelling and prescient.” (for publication 07/26)

https://reason.com/2026/06/16/1776-all-stars-george-mason/

Source: Libertarian Institute
by Patrick Pillow

“More than three decades after the Cold War ended, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty remains in operation — and Congress is now considering a major increase in its funding. As Americans continue to grapple with rising prices and persistent inflation, Washington DC’s attention has increasingly shifted toward foreign policy priorities rather than domestic economic concerns. When foreign spending does enter the public conversation, it is often through provisions buried deep within legislative text and only briefly summarized in committee reports, with limited public attention.” (06/16/26)

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/radio-free-europe-the-cold-war-weapon-congress-still-funds/

Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

“‘How proud are you to be an American?’ a new NBC News poll asked. ‘At the turn of the century, three quarters of Americans were ‘extremely’ or ‘very proud,’’ Steve Kornacki explained to Meet the Press host Kristen Welker yesterday. ‘That number’s fallen to 56 percent.’ It is a sizable drop, leading Kornacki to inquire, ‘What’s behind this?’ before supplying an answer: ‘it’s partisan.’ Boy, is it. Fully 90 percent of Republicans are ‘extremely’ or ‘very proud’ to be Americans, with just a mere 3 percent ‘only a little’ or ‘not at all’ proud. Compare that to Democrats, less than a third (29%) of whom are ‘extremely’ or ‘very proud’ to be Americans with a whopping 36 percent ‘only a little’ or ‘not at all’ proud.” (06/16/26)

https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/06/16/partisan-pride-divide/

Source: Understanding AI
by Timothy B Lee

“Anthropic stunned the AI world on Friday by announcing it was revoking access to Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5, the powerful new models it released just three days earlier. The government, Anthropic said, had ‘issued an export control directive to suspend all access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 by any foreign national, whether inside or outside the United States.’ Because Anthropic doesn’t have a way to limit access to Americans, this amounted to a de facto ban on the technology.” (06/15/26)

https://www.understandingai.org/p/the-maga-power-struggle-that-could

Source: The Federalist
by Eric Schmitt

“Over the past few weeks, the redistricting battles have revealed something important about the state of American politics: Republican voters are not recoiling from a fight. They are running toward it. Fights that the old Republican establishment would have treated as too aggressive, risky, or impolite have instead unleashed grassroots energy across the country. Why? Because Republican voters are starving for political courage. Republican voters have seen what courage looks like in their states. They want to see it in Washington. For too long, Republican politics was defined by caution masquerading as wisdom. Voters sent Republicans to Washington to stop the left, only to watch too many of them obsess over decorum, consultant-approved messaging, and the approval of people who despised them anyway. Meanwhile, the country they loved was slipping away …” (06/15/26)

https://thefederalist.com/2026/06/15/americans-want-republican-leadership-that-acts/