Source: American Greatness
by Stephen Soukup
“For most Americans—or at least most Americans with even a remedial education in civics—the phrase ‘separation of powers’ usually explains the tripartite nature of the federal government. The Founders, in their wisdom, divided that government into branches: the legislative branch, which debates and enacts laws; the executive branch, which enforces the laws; and the judicial branch, which interprets the laws and ensures that they are compliant with one another and with constitutional principles. It’s a nice, clean, simple, and, above all, effective system for limiting the power of the federal polity. … People (understandably) tend to forget that the Founders’ separation of powers referred not only to the construction of the federal government but also to the construction of the federal republic.” (05/25/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/05/25/the-progressive-senate-and-its-discontents/
Source: US News & World Report
“Senegal’s parliament speaker, El Malick Ndiaye, has announced his resignation, deepening political turmoil in the West African nation two days after the president dismissed the government. Ndiaye, a senior figure in the ruling PASTEF party, said on Sunday his resignation was a personal decision, giving the “higher interest of the nation” as a reason for his departure. President Bassirou Diomaye Faye dismissed Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko on Friday and dissolved the government after months of mounting tension between the two leaders.” (05/25/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-05-25/senegals-parliament-speaker-quits-two-days-after-prime-minister-sacked
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“he Regulated Economy and the FBI.” (05/22/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL58gaEQ_RA
Source: The Daily Economy
by Jeffrey L Degner
“Americans now experience war more as an economic abstraction than a human catastrophe. Amid endless debt-financed conflict, have we forgotten war’s tragic cost?” (05/22/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/memorial-day-and-remote-war-has-our-nation-lost-its-capacity-to-mourn/
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
“One popular objection to AI concerns is to declare that LLMs can never be AGI. You need a ‘new paradigm.’ Therefore, AGI is so far in the future that it’s not worth worrying about. A common counterargument is to claim that no, LLMs can become AGI. But even without that counterargument, I think the ‘therefore’ fails on its own terms. The key question is: how much of a new paradigm do we need?” (05/22/26)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/new-paradigms-wont-save-you
Source: SFGate
“Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha on Monday was granted a royal pardon from his 27-year sentence for treason, a month after an appeals court affirmed his conviction and punishment. Hun Sen, the Senate president acting as head of state in the absence of King Norodom Sihamoni, issued the pardon freeing Kem Sokha from house arrest. Sihamoni is in China on an extended stay for medical treatment. Prime Minister Hun Manet, in a statement posted on the Telegram social media platform, described the pardon as a step in strengthening national unity. Kem Sokha made no immediate public comment. The decision is unlikely to greatly affect Cambodia’s politics, as other top opposition figures are in exile and political and social activists still face restrictions on freedom of speech and actions.” (05/25/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/cambodian-opposition-leader-kem-sokha-receives-22275361.php
Source: Brennan Center for Justice
“Hyperpartisanship and the Attack on Voting Rights (with Julian E. Zelizer).” (05/22/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e518vbxiK_E
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joshua Mawhorter
“While not entirely consistent in every respect, the Declaration of Independence — as an act of secession — can be understood as one of the earliest major challenges to centralized, modern, sovereign authority within the emerging nation-state system. Although it created new states rather than abolishing state power itself, it decentralized and imposed limits upon British imperial sovereignty through an appeal to self-government and national self-determination. To their great credit, Locke and Jefferson both affirmed pre-political natural rights, that the only legitimate role of government is to protect those rights, and that rights remain rights and crimes remain crimes whether one is a private individual or a state elite.” (05/22/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/how-social-contract-theory-became-state-apologetics
Source: The American Prospect
by Harold Meyerson
“Exactly one year and six days ago, the Prospect posted a piece I’d just written about Colorado’s Jared Polis, under the headline ‘The Democrats’ One and Only Union-Busting Governor’. As of a couple weeks ago, that headline is no longer accurate. Polis is still a union-buster and even more out of sync with Colorado Democrats, who’ve just formally censured him for complying with President Trump’s demand to commute the sentence of Tina Peters …. But Polis no longer holds that ‘one and only’ status when it comes to Democratic governors who bust unions. Two weeks ago, Virginia’s Abigail Spanberger did just that by vetoing a bill that would have given Virginia’s public-sector workers the right to bargain collectively.” [editor’s note: So now she has lied to ALL sectors in that state; can an impeachment be far behind? – SAT] (05/25/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/05/25/how-gov-spanberger-betrayed-virginias-workers/
Source: CNN
“The 12th test flight of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket came to a dramatic close, with the spacecraft managing to complete a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean despite operating without one of its engines. The spacecraft — a new prototype called Starship V3 — released mock satellites during a brief suborbital journey. The test flight was the Starship program’s first since October. The company experienced several mishaps with its V2 prototype and scrubbed its first V3 launch attempt Thursday evening after issues arose with seconds left on the countdown clock. SpaceX is racing to get Starship ready to launch satellites and carry humans into deep space. The company hopes to fulfill NASA’s plan to use the vehicle to land its astronauts on the moon by 2028.” (05/22/26)
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/22/science/live-news/spacex-starship-flight-12-version-3-launch