Source: Brownstone Institute
by Cooper Davis & Jeffrey Lacasse

“How would your child score on a common mental health screening? A mental health professional might view the results and conclude that your child has a mental health problem … that needs to be psychiatrically diagnosed and treated, even medicated. Will this help your child thrive? Or will it reshape their identity in undesirable ways? Will you be comfortable with your child taking medications that alter their developing brains and could perturb their sexuality? When your child reaches adulthood, will they be able to withdraw from these drugs, or will they despair to find out that their body and brain have adapted to them, making this difficult or maybe even impossible? For any parent with even minor reservations about our current medical and mental health system, these aren’t theoretical questions. A new public policy has just made them very salient.” (08/21/25)

https://brownstone.org/articles/beware-universal-mental-health-screening/

Source: Fox News Forum
by Tony Strickland

“California has always touted itself as a beacon of democracy. In 2008 and 2010, voters enacted constitutional amendments establishing an independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, which is the gold standard for redistricting and should serve as the national model. Here in California, unlike other states, our citizens pick their representatives – the representatives don’t pick their citizens. In our Constitution, our criteria is that we keep cities, counties and communities of interest together while drafting district lines in public, during hearings across the state. Gavin Newsom wants to go against our Constitution. He drafted maps behind closed doors without community input, splitting counties 16 times and cities more than 100 times, again, without public hearings. The result will be no competitive districts in the state of California. Where voters today have a voice on who is elected, that will go away with Newsom’s redistricting scheme.” (08/21/25)

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/newsoms-backroom-gerrymander-gamble-betrays-voters-dismantles-democracy

Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy

“After more deadlines and deals, another round of President Donald Trump’s tariffs has arrived. With higher prices again needing to be justified—and on the heels of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which didn’t exactly balance the budget—protectionists are positioned to once again play the revenue hawk’s card. There are multiple problems with this story. The idea is that tariffs — which some believe function like the consumption taxes that economists generally view favorably — can raise money more efficiently than income taxes. First, how can tariffs both protect American producers and reliably raise tax revenue? Think about it: Any tariff high enough to keep out lots of foreign products will not be levied on very many. Conversely, any tariff low enough to generate steady revenue would need to let trade continue by skimming off just a small portion in duties, offering only token protectionism.” (08/21/25)

https://reason.com/2025/08/21/no-tariffs-cant-replace-income-taxes/

Source: Unpopular Front
by John Ganz

“As I’m sure you’re all very tired of being reminded, the title of my book, which covers the period roughly between 1989 and 1993, is When the Clock Broke. It’s a reference to a speech by one of the principal figures in the narrative, Murray Rothbard, but I thought it also captured the uncanny sense that, as a country, we seemed stuck dealing with many of the same issues that arose in that brief era. It also gestured at Francis Fukuyama’s famous End of History thesis, but suggested a mechanical breakdown of history instead of a triumphant denouement. … If you look at all [Donald Trump’s] impulses and instincts, you can trace them back to this particular period …. It makes sense why Trump would want to return to the time before he seemed vulnerable at all, before his businesses collapsed, and before his very nasty divorce with Ivana splashed across the tabloids.” (08/21/25)

https://www.unpopularfront.news/p/when-trumps-brain-broke

Source: OtherWords
by Peter Certo

“Credit where it’s due: US President Donald Trump has a talent for getting the chattering classes talking about whatever he wants. Especially when he really doesn’t want them talking about other stuff. That’s how we should view Trump’s latest drama in Washington, DC, where he mobilized the National Guard and took over the police department. On the one hand, there’s something new and dangerous about Trump’s willingness to deploy US troops against Americans in their own cities. On the other, scaremongering about cities is a tried and true (and sad!) distraction Republicans have relied on since Richard Nixon. Trump’s hysterics aside, crime just hit a 30-year low in DC. So why bring it up? Because the last month or two has been jam-packed with stories Trump has been desperate to dodge.” (08/21/25)

https://otherwords.org/trump-wants-you-talking-about-d-c-crime-not-his-medicaid-cuts/