Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

“‘It’s not every day that Michigan’s bureaucracy violates state and federal law while disenfranchising more than 700,000 Michigan voters,’ opens the legal brief filed in the Michigan Supreme Court last Thursday by Americans for Citizen Voting – Michigan. ‘But that’s exactly what happened [last] week.’ The group (which I chair) has worked for the last year to place the Citizen Only Voting Amendment on Michigan’s November ballot. It makes two basic reforms: requires the Secretary of State to check the voter rolls, identifying and removing noncitizens in a fair process, and requires photo identification to cast a ballot.” (09/02/26)

https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/09/02/maddened-in-michigan/

Source: Town Hall
by EJ Antoni, Ph.D.

“In a January Townhall column, I argued that the Venezuela operation was a win for America and a loss for China and Canada. Friday’s announcement from the Trump administration of an oil deal with Venezuela confirms that assessment. The agreement gives the U.S. a majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven reserves through a joint venture built around 17 strategic fields, with an initial production target north of 1.5 million barrels per day over a 25-year framework. On paper, it creates the second-largest private holder of proven reserves on the planet, behind only Saudi Aramco. But Americans need to be realistic about their expectations: this won’t translate into lower gasoline or diesel prices anytime soon.” (09/02/26)

https://townhall.com/columnists/ej-antoni/2026/09/02/america-wins-in-venezuela-while-china-and-canada-lose-n2682294

Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger

“If we are ever to get our country back on the right track, it is imperative that we never forget that the U.S. national-security state and its foreign policy of interventionism are responsible for the wars in Ukraine and Iran. Let’s start with Iran. It’s obviously tempting to simply blame President Trump for launching his undeclared war of aggression against Iran. But the root cause of what has become a tar baby for Trump goes back a lot further — to the CIA’s coup in Iran in 1953 — a coup that destroyed Iran’s experiment with democracy.” (09/02/26)

https://www.fff.org/2026/09/02/the-root-causes-of-the-wars-in-iran-and-ukraine/

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Connor Echols & Kelley Beaucar Vlahos

“Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned this week, raising a flurry of questions about whether his departure is part of a larger political reordering that has pushed skeptics of President Donald Trump’s war policies to the margins. A long-time friend of Vice President JD Vance, Driscoll drew widespread praise for his efforts to modernize the Army. But he has clashed with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth …. Driscoll’s departure is the latest in a string of recent high-profile exits by Vance’s allies and ideological fellow travelers, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Deputy National Security Adviser Andy Baker, White House Director of Legislative Affairs James Braid, and Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent.” (09/02/26)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/vance-rubio-rivalry/

Source: Common Dreams
by Connie Peck

“Established by Congress in 1984, with legislation signed by Ronald Reagan and funded annually by Congress, the United States Institute of Peace, or USIP, was a well-respected, authoritative, independent, officially nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, until it was eviscerated by President Donald Trump early last year. Its purpose was to promote conflict prevention and resolution worldwide and to provide analysis, research, and training in diplomacy, mediation, and peace-related activities. … Although the institute’s extremely useful database was wantonly destroyed, one can see the breadth and depth of its important work by sampling some of its publications here.” (09/02/26)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/tragedies-donald-trump-peace