Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Stavroula Pabst

“From a new helipad to a UFC fight on White House grounds, President Trump’s personal projects have been front-and-center in American politics this summer. Defense contractors that do business with the administration have often supported them. But the weapons industry has long leveraged flashy gifts and sponsorships to engender influence among politicians, key institutions, and the public. Here are 5 notable cases when it comes to the Trump White House …” (07/09/26)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/weapons-industry-trump/

Source: Astral Codex Ten

“What would it take to honestly tell our children that we rose to the occasion, to make the AI transition go down alongside the American Revolution and D-Day as one of our country’s finest hours? If your brain sputters and throws an error message at the question, isn’t that a problem? It’s a total coincidence that Plan A comes out the week after America’s 250th birthday. It was supposed to come out earlier, but got delayed. Then it was supposed to come out later, but got pushed forward.” (07/09/26)

https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/introducing-plan-a

Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by William L Anderson

“The Platner campaign is a microcosm of a much larger political crisis in this country, as both Democrats and Republicans are heading for disaster and taking everyone else with them, which is why Platner’s rise and spectacular fall are relevant. Democrats are in the midst of a hostile takeover attempt by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), while the Republicans are being emasculated by Donald Trump and his MAGA true believers. Both parties are on paths that will not end well for them or Americans in general, and while we can feel a small amount of relief that a violence-spewing socialist like Platner won’t be in the US Senate, his saga changes nothing.” (07/09/26)

https://mises.org/mises-wire/senate-isnt-his-oyster-after-all-graham-platners-socialist-vessel-turned-out-be-leaky

Source: Common Dreams
by Sergio Infante

“Janeese George’s recent victory in the Washington, DC, mayoral primary and wins by progressive Democrats in New York and Colorado last week are signs that Zohran Mamdani’s election was not a one-off, and that populist, ‘eat the rich’ messaging is effective across a broad swath of voters. But as the US heads toward midterm elections, Democrats are having a hard time finding a partywide motto with similar resonance. Since last fall, they have been focusing on ‘affordability’ because the slogan resonates with working-class voters; their main message is that things are too expensive and that the cause is unchecked corporate greed. But here’s the problem with focusing on affordability: It addresses poor and working-class Americans as consumers rather than as workers.” (07/09/26)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/affordability-agenda-democrats

Source: The Daily Economy
by Jason Sorens

“Taxing vacant properties may be politically appealing, but they have little effect on rents while creating new economic distortions.” (07/09/26)

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-unintended-consequences-of-vacancy-taxes/