"For the last two months, President Trump's rhetoric on Iran has seesawed between expressing optimism on negotiations and making explicit threats to remove the mullahs from power.

This week, Trump has returned to pugilistic mode, boasting of the strikes that quickly followed a regime drone attack on a US Apache helicopter -- and warning, 'We're going to hit them hard again.'

Yet as long as Trump sees negotiations as an option, there's a danger that he'll try to treat the Islamic Republic in much the same way as he's approached the leftist regime in Venezuela after the capture of President Nicolas Maduro by US forces.

That is, that he expects extraordinary military and political pressure will force a pivot to incentive-based negotiations through which Tehran, like Caracas, can be bargained into behaving like a normal state."

Read the entire article here.

"Another academic year has wrapped up, and another batch of college graduates has walked across the stage to accept diplomas of declining value. Even the graduation ceremonies have lost their historic luster, as only ideologically approved speakers can provide commencement addresses. Any speaker who might bring a serious message is either disinvited or not considered in the first place.

"American sentiment about the value of a college education is in steep decline. Pew Research Center polling indicates seven in 10 Americans believe higher education is 'going in the wrong direction.' And a recent Fox News poll reports nearly two-thirds of respondents believe a college degree is less important to individual success compared to 25 years ago.

"University administrators should use the summer recess to acknowledge what has led to this downturn in public confidence. The market is speaking to the higher education establishment -- pricey administrators might descend from their ivory towers to listen."

Read the entire article here.

"State auditors across the country were unable to verify billions of dollars in unemployment spending, Medicaid payments, and pension obligations in federally-funded programs, according to a new report by a government watchdog group.

"The findings in the 2026 Financial Transparency Score report, released by the government watchdog Truth in Accounting, found that 13 states failed to earn clean audit opinions. The report comes as the Trump administration is cracking down on how states are spending federal dollars.

"The organization used data from annual comprehensive financial reports, or ACFRs, produced by each state as a requirement for getting federal funding.

"The biggest culprits of the unlucky 13 states, according to the analysis, were Delaware and Georgia, as auditors were unable to obtain enough evidence to issue an opinion at all. This is a 'disclaimer' in audit terms."

Read the entire article here.

"A week ago, former 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley arrived for a meeting with his new boss, Nick Bilton, on the CBS News show at which they both work. Pelley took this as an opportunity to lecture and browbeat Bilton. In the meeting, which was recorded and leaked to the press, Pelley publicly accused those whom he works for as lacking credentials as journalists. Singling Bilton out, Pelley said that he had 'slender qualifications' for the job of producing 60 Minutes. Necessarily, CBS fired Pelley the next day.

"In his posture against Bilton, Pelley portrayed himself as possessing the journalistic credibility his new boss lacked. This is a little like Jeffrey Epstein calling out the NYPD's Special Victims Unit for their lack of caring about underage girls.

"I make this claim based on personal experience."

Read the entire article here.

"Half of America is watching LA count its votes with a sense of deja vu: The spectacle of a candidate who is leading on election night, suddenly falling behind when mail-in ballots are counted, is what caused many to regard the 2020 election as fraudulent.

There was no proof of fraud then, just as there is no proof in LA; but the process does not inspire confidence. The fact that we are being told -- by incumbents -- that everything is OK only deepens the suspicion."

Read the entire article here.

"As home values skyrocket, taxpayers grow increasingly frustrated with 'dinner table issues' such as confidence in a secure financial future and anxiety over 'affordability.' Republican-led states enjoy budget surpluses, as a new trend of eliminating property taxes is emerging in red states.

"On Tuesday, the Florida State Legislature approved a November ballot measure that would abolish property taxes for most primary homeowners across the sunshine state.

"The vote came after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called the state legislature to a special session, citing rapidly rising property values, local tax collections surging from $32 billion in 2019 to a projected $60 billion currently (and $83 billion by 2032), and inflation burdens on residents."

Read the entire article here.

"'It was the best of energy policies; it was the worst of energy policies' -- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities. (Apocryphal)

"Higher electricity prices and a lack of cheap energy are in the news. Even before the start of the Iran war, consumers over the winter of 2025-2026 experienced some of the highest energy prices on record, especially electricity consumers in the Northeast and New England.

"A recent report by the American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC, America's largest voluntary membership organization for state legislators, shows the problem lies in local politics, not supply and demand. When it comes to electricity prices, there are two types of American states: those that manipulate electricity markets to the detriment of their citizens, and those that do not."

Read the entire article here.

"The doomer case against the Trump economy isn't imaginary. It's built on real price pain, real anger and real political ammunition. ...

"Yet the strongest broad economic numbers point in a different direction.

"The Trump economy is expensive, uneven and politically vulnerable. It is also much stronger than the doomer story allows.

"The broadest case against the collapse narrative starts with real GDP per capita, which reached $70,502 in the first quarter of 2026, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) data."

Read the entire article here.

"This week, the Department of Homeland Security announced a new effort to crack down on asylum fraud -- by going after the lawyers who enable it.

"DHS will be imposing civil fines on attorneys who file bogus and frivolous protection applications on behalf of their alien clients.

"About time: For decades, various administrations have turned a blind eye to those who exploit Americans' humanitarian instincts for pecuniary gain."

Read the entire article here.

"Hunting and fishing could soon by banned in Oregon if animal rights activists get their way after a ballot initiative gained support from thousands of residents.

"Initiative 28, which proposes expanding the state's animal cruelty ban to cover a wide range of pursuits, is one step closer to being part of the midterm elections after leaders submitted 120,000 signatures in favor of the move.

"People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions Act (PEACE) group are leading the campaign for the measure, which would effectively ban hunting, fishing, and slaughtering livestock."

Read the entire article here.