Source: The Realist Review
by Chris Mott
“Israel would undoubtedly behave in an at least somewhat more normal fashion without endless American support. Already having a regional nuclear monopoly, the state’s existence is hardly as under threat as its many partisans in the media presume. But its offensive projection ability abroad is aided by American defense and logistical support. As Israel further wreaks havoc across the Middle East on an ever expanding list of countries which face direct attack, it is the United States that could (and should) pull the plug on outside support for this chaos. But it should not do it in a way that validates the standard neoconservative and liberal interventionist talking points about the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ doctrine.” (08/04/25)
https://therealistreview.substack.com/p/responsibility-to-protect-is-a-trap
Source: New York Times
“Loni Anderson, who played the platinum blonde receptionist on the screwball comedy ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’ in the late 1970s and early ’80s and later became a tabloid mainstay during her contentious divorce from the actor Burt Reynolds, died on Sunday at a hospital in Los Angeles. She was 79. Her death, just days before her 80th birthday, was confirmed by Cheryl J. Kagan, her publicist, who cited an unspecified prolonged illness. … Over the decades, Ms. Anderson amassed more than 60 acting credits. … She continued working well into her 70s.” (08/03/25)
https://archive.is/SjPsk
Source: Brookings Institution
“Measuring [b]lack women’s trust in AI.” (08/04/25)
https://shows.acast.com/tech-tank/episodes/measuring-black-womens-trust-in-ai
Source: Foreign Policy
by Julian E Zelizer
“Attacks on a Smithsonian show about the atomic bomb created a template for weaponizing the teaching of history.” (08/04/25)
https://archive.is/kxJF2
Source: The Pamphleteer
by Jerod Hollyfield
“Before I began my career as an English and media professor, I knew the system I was about to enter was already showing signs of decay. So, when Christopher Rufo announced the release of The Manhattan Statement on Higher Education in mid-July, I should have been overjoyed. Signed by a who’s who of conservative public figures, including Drs. Jordan B. Peterson, Victor Davis Hanson, Gad Saad, and Nashville’s own Carol Swain, the intended blueprint for President Trump’s higher education agenda aims to quell activism, uproot DEI initiatives, and lead to institutions of higher learning that ‘advance truth over ideology, with rigorous standards of academic conduct, controls for academic fraud, and merit-based decision-making throughout the enterprise.’ Yet, I’ve found myself uneasy. To its credit, The Manhattan Statement serves as a much needed articulation of the issues that initiated higher education’s largely self-inflicted crises.” (08/04/25)
https://pamphleteer.co/newsletter/watching-ivory-towers-crumble/
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A group of some 600 retired Israeli security officials, including former heads of intelligence agencies, have written to US President Donald Trump to pressure Israel to immediately end the war in Gaza. ‘It is our professional judgement that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel,’ the officials said. ‘Your credibility with the vast majority of Israelis augments your ability to steer Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and his government in the right direction: End the war, return the hostages, stop the suffering,’ they wrote. Their appeal comes amid reports that Netanyahu is pushing to expand military operations in Gaza as indirect ceasefire talks with Hamas have stalled. Israel launched a devastating war in Gaza following Hamas’s attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023 in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken into Gaza as hostages.” (08/04/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crkznje8nz8o
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“British police do some good things. In 2023, officers were credited with reducing the number of phone snatchings by punks on mopeds. Great. Let’s have more of that, less of telling victims of totalitarian dictatorship to shut up for their own good. The UK police wanted expatriate Hongkonger Carmen Lau, a pro-democracy activist and former Hong Kong politician who has been living in Britain since 2021, to stay out of trouble with China. So in March, London bobbies asked her to sign a ‘memorandum of understanding’ obliging her to avoid public gatherings and ‘cease any activity likely to put you at risk.’ What activity? Not hang gliding.” (08/04/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/08/04/uk-as-chinas-thumb-puppet/
