Source: Liberal Currents
by Austin Albanese

“Genuine pluralism requires people to act in ways that affirm the dignity and presence of others, even when difference remains.” (07/21/26)

https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-work-of-pluralism/

Source: Quillette
by Andrew BUshnell

“In the early 1930s, the Australian government lost a war against emus, and its present war, this time on tobacco, is heading the same way. Excessive taxation in the name of public health has backfired in extraordinary fashion, helping create a massive black market in tobacco products. This has led to an effective transfer to criminal gangs of billions of dollars of revenue previously earned by the legal tobacco industry, and a corresponding significant drop in excise tax revenue collected by the government, unprecedented violence between those gangs as they scrap over money and territory, and, to top it all off, an increase in the consumption of tobacco and nicotine.” (07/20/26)

https://quillette.com/2026/07/20/the-tobacco-wars/

Source: New York Post
by Rikki Schlott

“Young progressives are more likely to consider normal day-to-day struggles — like difficulty sleeping and feeling blue — as mental health problems, per a new analysis. Is it any wonder, given the left-leaning ideology that convinces Americans that the system is simply stacked against them? Data from the US General Social Survey, analyzed by the Financial Times, revealed that younger people and more progressive people were more likely to believe that everything from feeling worried, trouble sleeping and feeling a little sad were symptomatic of a disorder. … This politics of suffering and victimization pairs perfectly with a population eager to identify with their struggles rather than their strengths. In recent years, claiming mental illness has become chic in progressive spaces, conferring socially valuable oppression points in the battle to prove who is most downtrodden.” (07/20/26)

https://nypost.com/2026/07/20/opinion/young-lefties-say-normal-struggles-are-mental-health-issues/

Source: Unherd
by Poppy Sowerby

“Think about it: every day, every person of influence is likely to encounter an army of auxiliaries who at any moment could overhear privileged information. Bank tellers, family counselors, pharmacists. For a nice little earner, wedding planners could short a celebrity marriage, security staff have a flutter on which stars will show up, and soldiers gamble on the capture of a Venezuelan strongman — except that’s already (allegedly) happened. Closeness to major events transforms being ‘in the know’ into possessing insider alpha; with these new incentives, secrets become stranded assets. He who dares is not gambling on uncertainty — his privileged access means he knows the direction of travel — but rather on the likelihood of being rumbled. Taking that risk could set him up for life, and could far outstrip baseline salaries for clerical or flunky work. You can see the appeal. Within the present White House, the temptation would seem to be irresistible.” (07/20/26)

https://archive.is/eDB6r

Source: The Daily Economy
by Paul Mueller

“In her new book, Ray Madoff argues that America’s wealthiest exploit the tax code at the public’s expense. But her critique understates both what the rich pay and what they produce.” (07/21/26)

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-myth-of-the-free-riding-billionaire-a-review-of-ray-madoffs-the-second-estate/