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

Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal

“Why do so many beg for a big, authoritarian government involving itself in every facet of their lives? Even when it violently destroys their liberty and violates their rights every day? What could possibly be going on in their minds to make this seem like a good thing? Have these people not seen the results of this over at least the past 25 years? Has a bigger, more authoritarian government made life better or worse? It appears that many people see authoritarianism as strength. I don’t. I see it as weakness, relying on bullying tactics to make itself look strong to gullible observers. If the authoritarians were actually strong, they wouldn’t need to be authoritarian.” (09/16/26)

https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2026/09/16/voices/opinion-authoritarian-government-weakest-of-all/234199.html

Source: The Daily Economy
by Laura Williams

“Postwar subsidies paid American cities to bulldoze walkable live-work centers. Now average folk pay $13,000/year to own cars, and ‘walkable communities’ became a profitable luxury.” (09/16/26)

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-hidden-13k-tax-did-the-government-make-you-buy-a-car/

Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter

“President Donald Trump may have discovered a new opportunity to provoke a NATO ally. Last year, the White House created a brouhaha with Denmark (and other European countries) by insisting that Copenhagen sell Greenland to the United States. This time, Washington’s agitation involves a chain of islands off the east coast of Argentina that Great Britain claims and administers. Those islands, called the Falklands by Britain and most other countries, but claimed and referred to as the Malvinas by Argentina, has been a major source of contention before. London has had a presence in the Falklands since 1699, fending off rival claims over the decades by other European colonial powers as well as Argentina. On August 31, 2026, Trump stated that he was reviewing Washington’s official position regarding the islands.” (09/16/26)

https://original.antiwar.com/ted_galen_carpenter/2026/09/15/trump-and-the-falkland-islands-a-message-to-nato/

Source: Aaron Ross Powell
by Aaron Ross Powell

“So much of being online is constructing and performing identity. You present yourself as something to people listening to, reading, or watching what you choose to put online, and that “something” isn’t who you really are. … This sounds grim: You’re just a brand you’ve constructed. My Marxist friends would say it’s another example of the late capitalism draining us of humanity. But let me push back. Because there’s something amazing and optimistic and encouraging about this. Online, you get to be who you want, or who you can figure out how to present. And you can be that thing consistently. You can, in other words, go all-in on your obsessions. … Except. The other thing about the online world, as it is now in its major structures, even if not as it always used to be, is that there are metrics. And metrics interfere with, smooth out, and dissipate obsessions.” (09/16/26)

https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/3mvnouy6tss22