You Want a Real Commie?

Source: The American Conservative
by Bill Kauffman

“Fox World is all a-twitter because a handful of members or fellow travelers of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are about to be elected to the U.S. Congress and various state legislatures. They’re ‘godless communists,’ according to President Trump, and what with inflation, an insane war, and Trump family grift, we’ll be hearing about commies all election season. Michael ‘The Other America’ Harrington, founder of DSA, was about as threatening as the Mills Brothers. The current DSA candidates seem, at first glance, as off-putting as your typical hectoring grad-school wokester, but I can’t get too worked up over them. After all, New York City once sent a real communist to Congress—and his example complicates the Sean Hannity narrative.” (08/10/26)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/you-want-a-real-commie/

Thomas L. Knapp

Populism is Emotion Without Governing Principle

Source: The Erick Erickson Show
by Erick-Woods Erickson

“This is the fundamental weakness of populism. It possesses no governing philosophy, only a disposition. It moves from one grievance to the next, and each time it acts to remedy a single complaint, it creates others that must later be remedied in turn. It resolves that cheap imports are destroying jobs, so it taxes the imports, and then expresses surprise when the toaster, the washing machine, and the burrito all cost more. It demands that the government make housing affordable while defending the guarantees that made housing unaffordable. It insists at once on lower prices and greater intervention, and those two aims cannot be reconciled.” (08/10/26)

https://ewerickson.substack.com/p/populism-is-emotion-without-governing

Thomas L. Knapp

Trump names Will Scharf as White House counsel ahead of midterms

Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]

“United States President Donald Trump has named White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf as his next White House counsel, elevating a longtime legal ally to one of the administration’s most important legal positions months before November’s midterm elections. The former Trump lawyer, who worked on the presidential immunity case and later oversaw approval of the president’s disputed White House ballroom project, will replace David Warrington on September 1, with Warrington leaving the administration for the private sector.” (08/10/26)

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/10/trump-names-will-scharf-as-white-house-counsel-ahead-of-midterms

Thomas L. Knapp

Public presence, public duty

Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton

“Is it reasonable to say that libertarians, and even lovers of liberty who are rational, free-market, anarchists, believe that members of a community do have some public duties? Even while we recognize that people have a God-given right to reject those duties, just as they have the right to stupidly refuse to accept responsibility for their actions?” (08/09/26)

https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/08/09/public-presence-public-duty/

Thomas L. Knapp

Jason Arday, Barack Obama, and the Making of Myths

Source: American Greatness
by Stephen Soukup

“Yesterday in these pages, the inimitable Roger Kimball recounted the tall tale of Jason Arday, the youngest black professor at the University of Cambridge. As Kimball noted, Arday has been shown over the last few weeks to be more than just your average modern academic charlatan. With every passing day, it appears more and more that he’s a full-throated fabulist in the contemporary sense, which is to say that he made up almost everything about his life and public persona and plagiarized the rest. All his lies and deceptions were, however, uttered in the service of a larger purpose: to undermine the establishment and force its members to reckon with their hatreds and prejudices. Arday overcame more obstacles and barriers than the average man could ever even imagine, and therefore his struggle must be admired and applauded, while his ‘scholarship’ is celebrated.” (08/10/26)

https://amgreatness.com/2026/08/10/jason-arday-barack-obama-and-the-making-of-myths/

Steve Trinward

UK: Radio Caroline breached Ofcom rules after mistakenly announcing King’s death

Source: BBC News [UK state media]

“Radio Caroline has been found in breach of broadcasting rules after it mistakenly announced the death of King Charles III. The station aired three pre-recorded announcements falsely stating the King had died during the Barry Marsh Show on 19 May. The messages claimed the ‘news media’ had ‘confirmed’ the death, and were followed by the national anthem and 16 minutes of silence on DAB+, while AM listeners heard back-up music. A correction and apology was broadcast 30 minutes later. The ruling by media watchdog Ofcom stated that once the staff member who accidentally played the files realised what they had done, they stopped playing them, ‘panicked and left the premises’. Ofcom said the incident breached Rule 5.1, which requires news to be reported with due accuracy, and Rule 5.2, which says significant mistakes must be corrected quickly.” (08/10/26)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckge094k2k1o

Steve Trinward

The Choice: Peace and Civilization or War and AI?

Source: The Realist Review
by Val Aksilenko

“Artificial intelligence may be among the most valuable gifts the Creator has given humanity. It can help us understand languages, cure diseases, reduce exhausting labor, overcome ignorance, anticipate disasters, restore nature, expose deception, and help hostile peoples understand one another. But perhaps every great gift is also a test. … The peril is not that artificial intelligence will suddenly become malevolent in a human-like sense. The greatest peril is that it will become obedient to human enmity — that we will embed our accumulated fear, hatred, falsehoods, and ambitions within an intelligence that is more powerful and faster than ourselves.” (08/09/26)

https://therealistreview.substack.com/p/the-choice-civilization-or-ai

Thomas L. Knapp