Source: The New Republic
“Trump’s Angry Tirade over Gas Prices Backfires in Humiliating Self-Own.” (08/17/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/214393/trump-angry-tirade-gas-prices-backfires-humiliating-self-own
Source: The Realist Review
by Stephan Ossenkopf
“Western media coverage is full of horror stories about the alleged repressive treatment by the Chinese leadership of Muslim Uyghurs in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang. It is rife with allegations, speculation, and accusations. But who really knows anything about the situation on the ground and is aware of where this slander originates, whether there are evidentiary sources for it, and what purpose it truly serves?” (08/17/26)
https://therealistreview.substack.com/p/china-and-the-uyghurs-truth-vs-tall
Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin
“This week marks the beginning of Brazil’s presidential campaign, with the two front-runners—current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro—officially launching their campaigns. After visiting Brazil and talking with politicians, activists, journalists, and ordinary citizens, I came away with the conviction that this is one of the most consequential presidential elections in Brazil’s recent history. The outcome on October 4 will shape not only Brazil’s future but also the political direction of Latin America. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, now 80 years old, is seeking a fourth presidential term. Brazil’s Constitution allows presidents to serve only two consecutive terms, but they may run again after sitting out at least one term. That is how Lula returned to office in 2023 after governing from 2003 to 2010.” (08/17/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/brazil-election-lula-bolsonaro
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Chinese researchers have engineered a probiotic that could make diabetes care as simple as drinking a cup of yogurt or swallowing a capsule. The ‘smart’ bacterium, designed to sense high blood sugar and automatically release a glucose-lowering hormone, performed on par with the blockbuster drug Ozempic in animal tests, according to a study published in Nature last week. The team at East China Normal University in Shanghai has already filed patents and is now scaling up production to meet pharmaceutical standards for the US and European markets.” (08/17/26)
Source: Heartland Institute
“The Climate Regulations Driving Up Costs Across America.” (08/17/26)
https://heartland.org/podcasts/the-climate-regulations-driving-up-costs-across-america-212/
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Scott
“In the coming weeks, a delegation of South Korean food safety officials will take an extensive tour of Brazilian meat processing plants, checking everything from chilling temperatures and drainage to the paper trail that charts the meat’s journey. The mission of officials was agreed at a presidential summit in July 2026 and is, in every sense that matters, the trade negotiation in action. Long stalled, the Korea–Mercosur trade talks have been revived as each nation adapts to the shifting sands of the international order; but the gap between political theater and technical progress is unusually wide between the two sides.” (08/17/26)
https://fee.org/articles/korea-and-brazil-at-the-negotiating-table/
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ramzy Baroud
“It is now official: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has flatly rejected the core conditions of the Board of Peace framework, explicitly stating that Israel will neither adhere to a ceasefire nor withdraw its forces from Gaza. … Therefore, action is needed, and urgently so. Indeed, Israel’s official position leaves the international community with no choice but to take direct, coordinated action across five key fronts …” (08/17/26)
Source: Common Dreams
“US Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday introduced legislation that would prohibit the federal government from garnishing Social Security payments from older Americans and people with disabilities who default on their student loans, a move that comes amid a debt crisis made worse by education cuts in President Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Stop Social Security Garnishment Act, co-sponsored by Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey (both D-MA), would bar the Treasury Department from seizing Social Security payments, including Social Security Disability Insurance, to collect on defaulted federal student debt. ‘As a result of Trump’s disastrous cuts to education, an increasing number of seniors are in danger of having their Social Security checks garnished to pay back student loans they took out decades ago. That is beyond unacceptable,’ Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement.” (08/17/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/sanders-social-security-student-debt
Source: Brookings Institution
“Building resilience in concentrated cyber ecosystems.” (08/17/26)
https://shows.acast.com/tech-tank/episodes/building-resilience-in-concentrated-cyber-ecosystems
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie
“The pub has been dying for a generation, but the pace has quickened sharply. The British Beer and Pub Association recorded 161 closures in the first quarter of 2026 alone, up 26 per cent on the same period the year before. That is two pubs shutting every day. … The prep school has followed a similar arc, on a shorter timetable. Twenty per cent VAT landed on school fees in January 2025. Most schools also lost the charitable rates relief that had cut their bills by up to 80 per cent. By January 2026, 105 independent schools had closed or been folded into mergers, more than 25,000 pupils displaced. … The pattern in both cases is the same. Government does not set out to destroy an institution. It raises the cost of employing people, taxes an activity that used to be exempt, and withdraws a relief that had cushioned the blow.” (08/17/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/the-pub-and-the-prep-school-two-deaths-one-cause