Source: Washington Post
by Ramesh Ponnuru
“Americans, for all their complaints about the health care system, generally dread the prospect of Washington disrupting their insurance. Many surveys have found that most people are satisfied with what they have. When Bill Clinton proposed a more government-run system a generation ago, the most potent attack against it was that it threatened that coverage. Barack Obama, having learned from Clinton’s failure to enact his legislation, made ‘if you like your plan, you can keep your plan’ a central promise of his own health policy. The lowest political moment for Obamacare was when that promise didn’t bear out for 4 million people who saw their plans canceled. … Medicare-for-all would impose more radical disruptions on the health care system than any of these earlier proposals and laws.” (08/17/26)
https://archive.is/yug86
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Jon Duffy
“The Trump administration chose this war, launched it without congressional authorization, has repeatedly changed its definition of success and has failed to define an achievable political end. It owns the strategic failure. But bad strategy does not absolve military leaders of responsibility for how military force has been employed.” (08/17/26)
https://archive.is/9RQhl
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“A Malian court sentenced on Monday a prominent broadcaster and an influencer, who had both criticised the ruling junta, to seven years in jail, an AFP journalist saw. The sentences are the latest handed to Malians critical of the unstable west African country’s military government, which came to power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021. Television and radio commentator Mohamed Youssouf Bathily – alias Ras Bath – was convicted by the court in Bamako of criminal conspiracy and discrediting the state, alongside Rokia Doumbia, a noted campaigner known online as ‘Rose, the cost of living’. Both had been in custody for several years following the airing of a 2023 programme by the journalist dedicated to the economic difficulties facing ordinary Malians.” (08/17/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20260817-prominent-mali-journalist-influencer-jailed-for-seven-years-for-criticising-junta
Source: EconTalk
“The Hidden Cause of the Industrial Revolution (with Ben Southwood).” (08/17/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/the-hidden-cause-of-the-industrial-revolution-with-ben-southwood/
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Charles Krblich
“Growing up, I never cared for Mathematics. It was too logical, bland, boring, difficult, and when contrasted against the stories, battles, wars, glory, destruction, growth, and exploration that was History, I never gave it a fair chance. So it was one of the little ironies of life, that I came to do Mathematics for a living. Focused study softened the difficulty, and armed with growing knowledge, bland and boring transformed to mildly charming. With new perspective, I discovered what has since become my favorite toy, a Galton Board. The toy is a small window into our experience over the last several years in which our free and independent lives have clashed broadly against arcane, top-down rules conceived by bureaucrats.” (08/17/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/chaos-and-the-birth-of-order/
Source: Fox News
by Gianno Caldwell
“When COVID hit in March 2020, I was living in Los Angeles. What I saw there changed the course of my life. It became clear almost immediately that local officials in California weren’t following the science. They were following the politics. Every decision, every mandate, every shutdown got filtered through one lens: how do we use this crisis to fight back against Trump and Republicans? Californians paid for that calculation. Businesses shuttered. Kids lost years of school. Families lost everything they’d built. I watched it happen in real time. Florida went a different way. Governor Ron DeSantis stood firm.” [editor’s note: DeSantis did his best impression of Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer having a secret love child until he realized Floridians were ignoring and/or laughing at him. Then he did his best impression of Mel Gibson yelling “FREEEEEEDOOOMMMM!” in Braveheart – TLK] (08/17/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/gianno-caldwell-florida-needs-byron-donalds-protect-desantis-legacy
Source: Seattle Times
“The yield on 30-year U.S. Treasuries hit the highest in almost two decades, reflecting investor angst over the surging national debt, a flood of long-dated bond sales and inflation that’s been stuck over the Federal Reserve’s target for the past five years. The rate on the so-called long bond rose three basis points to 5.29% on Monday, the highest since 2007. The move pushed it closer to that year’s 5.44% peak during the early days of the global financial crisis. The rise, which is driving up the U.S. government’s borrowing costs, is part of a broader trend in global bond markets, where investors are demanding more compensation to protect themselves against the risk of mounting government debts and persistently high inflation that’s likely to keep short-term interest rates elevated.” (08/17/26)
https://archive.is/k66Bu
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Lt Col Karen Kwiatkowski: RUBIO V. Vance: The White House Factions Frustrating Trump?” (08/17/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-guest-lt-col-karen-kwiatkowski-rubio-v-vance-the-white-house-factions-frustrating-trump/
Source: Law & Liberty
by Héctor Cárdenes Roque
“Europe is assembling, one defensible step at a time, a standing capacity for verifying who may enter the ordinary spaces of online life.” (08/17/26)
https://lawliberty.org/the-capacity-to-control/
Source: Aaron Ross Powell
by Aaron Ross Powell
“The disappointing alchemy of algorithmic advertising brought me a pitch for a magazine called Field Ethos, co-founded by the lowest of the Trump scions. It’s a publication for men who fancy themselves performers of the sort of masculinity typified by the victim in a Sherlock Holmes story who it turns out was murdered because he stole a jewel while doing colonialist things in the Indian subcontinent. What caught my eye, though, was the word showing up twice in the ad’s copy. ‘The premier lifestyle publication for the unapologetic man is here. Enjoy a mix of modern adventure, historical context, and perspectives forged through global travel while staying current with the latest products that elevate an unapologetic life.’ Now, ‘unapologetic’ is an odd trait to boast of.” (08/17/26)
https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/3mtbyvi4j4k2e
