Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jennifer Kavanagh

“Last week, Russian military forces seized a valuable lithium field in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the latest success of Moscow’s grinding summer offensive. The lithium deposit in question is considered rather small by industry analysts, but is said to be a desirable prize nonetheless due to the concentration and high-quality of its ore. In other words, it is just the kind of asset that the Trump administration seemed eager to exploit when it signed its much heralded minerals agreement with Ukraine earlier this year. The response from Washington? Crickets.” (07/02/25)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/ukraine-loss-territory/

Source: Pioneer Institute
by Sam Davis

“As Steven Wilson argues in his new book, The Lost Decade: Returning to the Fight for Better Schools in America, ‘central to a liberal education is the pursuit of truth, however elusive.’ Indeed, the quest for truth, and knowledge of it, is enshrined in the slogans of most universities, including my own — the University of Chicago — as a reminder of our purpose. For scientists, that purpose is scientific truth, knowledge of the natural world. For historians, it’s historical truth, an accurate account of history. By definition, every academic discipline, and every scholar and student, presupposes the existence of some objective truth worth pursuing. It seems absurd to suggest otherwise, to propose educating students in anything but rationality, logic, and ultimately, truth — at least to Wilson.” (07/02/25)

https://pioneerinstitute.org/blog/truth-on-trial-relativism-in-the-classroom/

Source: The Hill
by A Scott Bolden

“Most Americans now disapprove of Donald Trump’s erratic, authoritarian and incompetent leadership, which has transformed the Republican Party into a cult of personality that rejects traditional Republican policies. Our country is suffering because of Trump’s failures. … The president has made big government even bigger by stretching the power of the executive branch to control our economy, interfere in our lives and limit our freedom of speech and other rights.” (07/02/25)

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/5380124-trumps-failures-are-turning-americans-away-from-him/

Source: Reason
by Eric Boehm

“‘The thing that will bankrupt this country more than any other policy is flooding the country with illegal immigration and then giving those migrants generous benefits. The OBBB fixes this problem. And therefore it must pass.’ Vance’s claim is factually wrong …. Vance understands this. He also understands that the facts don’t really matter when conservatives are talking about immigration within their own tribe.” (07/02/25)

https://reason.com/2025/07/02/j-d-vance-says-immigrants-will-bankrupt-the-federal-government-the-opposite-is-true/

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kerry McDonald

The Next Generation Accreditation pilot program aims to offer faster, more affordable, and more flexible routes for emerging schools.” (07/02/25)

https://fee.org/articles/how-new-microschool-accreditation-pathways-are-opening-doors-for-founders-and-families/

Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman

“Practically everyone at Porcfest was a libertarian as were many of the rationalists at Less Online but the cultural feel of the two events was different, hippy/conservative at Porcfest, Bay Area grey tribe at Less Online. Many rationalists are gay, some trans; I expect most Free Staters, being libertarians, are opposed to legal restrictions on both, but I saw nobody at Por[c]fest who was obviously either. Many rationalists believe in, some practice, polyamory; the dominant mating pattern visible at Porcfest was monogamy, a large fraction of the adults married couples with children, sometimes lots of children. The Rationalists had more elite educations, higher status jobs, more abstract intellectual interests but felt less likely to know how to fix a car or cook a simple meal — although some are cooking enthusiasts, many felt like the kind of college students who have to be taught how to boil an egg — still less how to slaughter a pig.” (07/02/25)

https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/two-communities