Source: The Hill
“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday announced a new effort to annually screen service members’ testosterone levels and offer testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), framing it as a way to keep troops on the ‘leading edge of lethality.’ The screening, added as part of war fighters’ periodic health assessment, will affect troops age 30 and older, though those under 30 can voluntarily choose to get the test, Hegseth said in a video message posted to X. … The Pentagon chief authorized the new screening program to ensure troops ‘have the right testosterone levels to operate at [their] absolute best because it’s well-established science that as we age, testosterone levels often naturally drop,’ he said.” (07/15/26)
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5969935-hegseth-testosterone-testing-dod/
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thomas Eddlem
“President Donald Trump, broadly speaking, is not at base a liar. Sure, almost every word out of his mouth is a lie. You don’t have to go back to his marriage vows to prove this; a simple survey of his 2024 campaign promises versus his results during the first eighteen months of his second term show it. He promised no foreign wars and bombed ten countries; he promised to release the Epstein Files and fought it; he promised to end warrantless FISA searches and lobbied to keep them going; he promised DOGE and tariff rebates to the American people and abandoned both, etc. Presidents telling lies are nothing new; they’ve become an American tradition. But I learned an important lesson a few years back about how Trump in particular is different from a now-defunct podcast called Unfilter. The podcast hosts posited that Trump was not a liar but instead is a bullshitter.” (07/15/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/donald-trump-is-not-a-liar
Source: The New Republic
by Joe Cirincione
“The first phase of Donald Trump’s war on Iran ended in defeat and humiliation. Iran emerged battered but stronger, with two new weapons: control of the Strait of Hormuz and a demonstrated drone and missile force that can cripple the economies of its Persian Gulf neighbors and wreak havoc on U.S. bases. Both are new instruments of power more usable than nuclear weapons. … So why did Trump restart the war? As Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan write in their new book, Regime Change, ‘Unlike recent Presidents, Trump had shown he was entirely comfortable using extraordinary presidential powers on a whim.’ Those extraordinary powers include the ability to launch waves of destructive attacks solely on his order. But these attacks, now numbering hundreds of sorties, are pointless. If it were possible to bomb Iran into submission, it would have worked the first time.” (07/15/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/213066/iran-war-trump-lose-twice
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“A man who threatened on social media in May to shoot Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage was arrested, London police said on Wednesday, as concerns grow over the security of politicians following the killing of Ann Widdecombe, a former member of parliament. The man was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of sending threatening communications to a member of parliament, the Metropolitan Police said. ‘I am going to shoot you in the head if you win,’ he allegedly told Farage on social media, according to the Telegraph newspaper. The July 8 killing of Widdecombe, who was a member of the anti-immigration Reform UK, has led the party to call for better protection of its members.” (07/15/26)
https://archive.is/M2YuB
Source: Reason
“How Much Control Do You Have Over Your Mind?” (07/15/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/07/15/how-much-control-do-you-have-over-your-mind/
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Laurence M Vance
“Planned Parenthood should not receive federal funds for one simple reason: it is unconstitutional. Nowhere does the Constitution authorize the federal government to spend one penny on sexual and reproductive health care or any other form of health care. Planned Parenthood should not receive federal funds for any reason because it is not the proper role of government at any level to fund sexual and reproductive health care or any other form of health care. This means it should not fund agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), or the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP); or services like community health centers, vaccinations, family planning, medical research, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, or nutrition guidelines.” (07/15/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/why-planned-parenthood-should-not-receive-federal-funds/
Source: Law & Liberty
by Roger Pilon
“It’s good that [Tal] Fortgang has gone after what he calls the counterintuitive Nejaime/Siegel democracy-promoting approach to protecting unenumerated rights, which is likely going nowhere. But his critique is itself a good example of what happens when a critic jumps into the middle of a complex issue and then tries to work his way out without ever going to the first principles of the matter. True, Fortgang seems to have something of a first principle, at least by implication. It’s that democracy trumps liberty, mostly. Problem is, that’s not the Constitution’s first principle …” (07/15/26)
https://lawliberty.org/on-the-importance-of-first-principles/
Source: Caitlin Johnstone
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Have you noticed how the liberal establishment hasn’t been nearly as emotional and outraged about Trump’s second term as they were about his first? Now that he’s the president who bombed Iran, the entire western political/media class is cool with him. … They’re no longer worried that he’s going to promote ‘isolationist’ foreign policy and roll back the US war machine. He went to war with Iran, so they like him now. Because they know he’s fully compliant.” (07/15/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/07/16/liberals-have-relaxed-about-trump-because-they-trust-him-to-keep-the-wars-going/
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said federal immigration agents won’t end vehicle stops, one day after officials announced a temporary pause in such stops after agents [murdered] two men in Texas and Maine. ‘We must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!’ Trump wrote in a social media post. On Tuesday, Trump administration officials said the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency had ordered its officers to suspend most vehicle stops around the country after two men were [murdered] by ICE agents during such stops six days apart.” (07/15/26)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-ice-traffic-stops-fatal-shootings-9.7270653
Source: Checks & Balances
“Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky on the fragility of the republic at 250.” (07/15/26)
https://chkbal.substack.com/p/it-doesnt-just-survive-on-autopilot
