Source: Independent Institute
by Richard K Vedder

“The news is awash with reports that younger Americans are learning less than their parents did a generation ago. One in eight freshmen at the highly selective University of California, San Diego campus place below high school levels in math, leading professors to complain that declining student proficiency is imperiling their ability to provide at least a modicum of math competency. Grade inflation is also leading university students to study far less than their parents or grandparents did in college—for much higher grades. Are we becoming a nation of lazy dumbbells?” (07/16/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/07/16/ignorance-is-not-bliss-the-dumbing-down-of-america/

Source: Libertarian Institute
by Ted Galen Carpenter

“Allies and clients have frequently entangled their great power patrons in needless geopolitical crises and sometimes even bloody wars. The tragic events leading to World War I in 1914 are a classic example. Serbia helped drag Czarist Russia into that bloody maelstrom and Austria-Hungary did the same to Wilhelmine Germany. Similar dangers exist today in the international system. Two of Washington’s current most odious and dangerous ‘loose cannon’ allies are Israel and Turkey. U.S. administrations have funded and armed both countries for decades and routinely excused outrageous acts that their clients have committed. Even worse from the standpoint of America’s best interests and purported values, the respective governments have increasingly competitive political and strategic objectives.” (07/16/26)

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/washingtons-two-rogue-allies-in-the-middle-east-face-off

Source: Persuasion
by Luke Hallam

“One of the greatest worries for the Founding Fathers was the specter of ‘standing armies’—a permanent, professional military under the direct control of the president. … Two and a half centuries later, with permanent armies and police forces very much the norm, we view such statements as a relic of the 18th century no longer applicable to the modern world. Yet the Founding Fathers were right to draw a connection between standing armies and liberty—and in this case, Madison’s comment about an ‘overgrown Executive’ is prophetic.” (07/16/26)

https://www.persuasion.community/p/ice-is-trumps-standing-army-now

Source: Antiwar.com
by Greg Pence

“The ceasefire was supposed to mark the beginning of the end of a crisis. Instead, it quickly became a symbol of strategic failure. With renewed clashes in the Strait of Hormuz, fresh U.S. strikes on Iranian military targets, and Tehran’s retaliation, the last hopes that the Donald Trump administration could manage the Iran crisis through negotiations have collapsed. What remains today is not a clear path toward an agreement, but a return to the familiar instruments that have defined U.S. policy for years: economic pressure, military threats, and the use of hard power.” (07/16/26)

https://original.antiwar.com/greg_pence/2026/07/15/trumps-all-stick-no-carrot-iran-policy-has-no-exit

Source: Fox News
by Joseph A Wulfsohn

“Before Graham Platner’s dramatic exit from the Maine Senate race last week, the Democratic hopeful received glowing coverage from the legacy media that pushed the narrative that he was a salt-of-the-earth oyster farmer who could win back male voters and unseat longtime Republican incumbent Susan Collins. Now out of the race after multiple scandals, including a rape allegation from a former girlfriend that he’s denied, the friendly coverage he received is getting a second look.” (07/16/26)

https://www.foxnews.com/media/credibility-crisis-graham-platner-received-glowing-media-coverage-dramatic-exit-senate-race