Source: Washington Post
by Philip K Howard

“The phobia against human judgment is America’s unspoken taboo. As a result, the American state is floundering. The evils of bureaucratic micromanagement include: inability to adapt to new circumstances (sluggish defense procurement), diversion to rule compliance instead of doing the job (doctors and nurses spend half their time on desk work), loss of a sense of individual agency and pride (why bother when drowning in law?) and listless public cultures.” (09/16/26)

https://archive.is/WZNLN

Source: Liberalism.org
by Jeffrey Syck

“No one today can think Jefferson to have been morally upright in all that he did. His writings and his work to achieve a liberal society—in some areas—are impossible to reconcile with his enslavement of other human beings, or the particularly cruel ways that he treated them. And yet he stands at the founding of our country. His proudest accomplishments survive, and it falls to us to explain how such a man could contain such contradictions.” (09/16/26)

https://www.liberalism.org/p/jefferson-s-liberal-morals

Source: The American Prospect
by Gillian Brockell

“The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Homeland Security released a scathing report last Friday about the shuttered Florida concentration camp built on an abandoned airstrip known as ‘Alligator Alcatraz’, concluding the camp failed to meet numerous health and safety standards, and that the use of ‘small metal enclosures’ was ‘unprecedented’ and posed ‘significant risks to detainee health and safety’. The report included photos, taken by OIG inspectors during an “unannounced” visit in January to the camp, showing a phone booth–sized cage set up outdoors under a temporary awning. Staff at the camp euphemistically described the cages as ‘calming areas’ where detainees could ‘reflect on their behavior choices, manage their emotions’ and, they claimed, leave whenever they wanted.” (09/17/26)

https://prospect.org/2026/09/17/alligator-alcatrazs-tiny-cages-were-likely-even-tinier/

Source: The UnPopulist
by Bob Rae

“His actions will diminish US prosperity and security while Canada joins other powers in a new rules-based order.” (09/16/26)

https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trumps-trade-war-with-canada-will

Source: Cato Institute
by Norbert J Michel

“There are few sadder images than the abandoned steel towns of America’s formerly vibrant Rust Belt, and the all-too-true trope of a once-successful miner resorting to driving for Uber. We know this is a powerful motivator and is a reason for President Donald Trump’s rise. And who better to talk about this than [JD] Vance, who emerged from dire circumstances against all odds, who knows firsthand the afflictions faced by the working poor as prices on just about everything continue to rise? Except that if you listen closely, bitter irony overflows from Vance’s populist crusade: To save the working class, he wants to adopt the exact big-government policies that broke the economy in the first place.” (09/16/26)

https://www.cato.org/commentary/jd-vances-economic-agenda-just-socialism-wrapped-nationalist-flag