Source: The Daily Beast
by Michael Daly

“In an era when one political dumpster fire follows another, President Trump is striving to address a rekindled scandal that initially seemed more of a mattress fire. … The seemingly never ending Epstein saga is threatening to become more like a lithium-ion battery fire. Despite all efforts to extinguish it, a smoldering lithium-ion battery can suddenly result in what is called a thermal runaway, resulting in intense fire that goes on for hours, even days. Think Tesla. ‘You could throw that thing in the Hudson River and it could keep burning,’ a New York firefighter told the Daily Beast. ‘It has to run its course.’ … because Trump built so much of his support with the inflammatory stuff of conspiracy theories, there is a chance his base could witness the equivalent of a thermal runaway.” (08/07/25)

https://archive.is/ExaNT

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Lee Schlenker

“For much of the Washington D.C. foreign policy apparatus, Latin America — a region plagued by economic instability, political upheaval, and social calamity — represents little more than a headache or an after-thought. Not for Greg Grandin. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Peter V. and C. Vann Woodward Professor of History at Yale University, and Non-Resident Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft makes the case in a new book that the United States’[s] unique national identity and foreign policy in fact emerged from a constant and turbulent engagement with Latin America that has molded the contours of U.S. history.” (08/07/25)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/us-latin-america/

Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin

“The Ninth Amendment. Most people don’t know what it says or means. Others just ignore it. Those who don’t, usually get it completely wrong. The Ninth isn’t a grant of additional federal power. It’s a partner to the Tenth Amendment and a firewall for federalism. It wasn’t an afterthought. It was the final lock on constructive federal power.” (08/06/25)

https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2025/08/06/the-ninth-amendment-partner-to-the-tenth-in-limiting-federal-power/

Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman

“From time to time I see or hear claims that Adam Smith favored progressive taxation, on at least one occasion that he favored a progressive income tax. One passage from The Wealth of Nations I have seen offered in support of the claim: ‘The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.’ Taxation in proportion to revenue is not progressive taxation but proportional taxation, in modern terminology a flat tax. The quote not only is not evidence for the claim, it is evidence against it, important evidence since it is the first of the maxims with which Smith introduces his discussion of taxes.” (0807/25)

https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/misrepresenting-adam-smith-11a

Source: Law & Liberty
by Stephe Eide

“Faith-based organizations (FBOs) loom large in conservative thinking about poverty and related ills. It’s widely believed that we could restore social health by reining in big government and expanding private religious programs. George W. Bush’s compassionate conservatism laid out the standard expansion plan. It called for giving religious nonprofits a better shot at government contracts. That framework has also been endorsed by Donald Trump. … America’s welfare state relies on a vast network of private nonprofit contractors to enact social policy. From one perspective, that model seems conducive to building a larger FBO sector. From another, it seems designed to tempt FBOs into overlooking how reliance on public financing makes it harder for a program to keep the faith.” (08/07/25)

https://lawliberty.org/bureaucratizing-faith/

Source: Common Dreams
by Edward Mukalazi

“On the last day of June, the Healey-Driscoll administration shocked community leaders, stakeholders, and residents across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with their announcement of their $360 million proposal to build upon the MCI-Framingham prison site. This came as a surprise to many politicians and constituents alike, as the administration had been nearly radio silent about any developments concerning the MCI-Framingham project since November 2024. The Healey-Driscoll administration has failed to be transparent with Massachusetts constituents regarding this plan. Information requests made by constituents and organizations about the status of this plan were ignored. This is especially concerning given the fact that many of these inquirers have been deeply involved in the Free Her Campaign — a movement and policy platform focused on criminal justice reform in the state.” (08/07/25)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/massachusetts-prisons