Richard Haas:
It is important to keep in mind that economic shortcomings still constitute the principal weakness of the Iranian regime. There is no reason to give up on the notion that economic pressure can lead to policy moderation or conceivably even regime change down the road. Economic relief for Iran should thus be heavily and specifically conditioned.
The whole thing is worth your time. And Trump’s.
Like calls to like:
Paxton struck back with Texas heavyweights…. The single $250,000 donation from Jones, the Cowboys owner, dwarfed any individual celebrity contribution to Talarico.
Via Colossal
Especially for England (but for France, too), having to play a stupid 3rd-place game amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
‘Now, Julian, we don’t want a sermon,’ said Winifred. ‘You know Mildred would never do anything wrong or foolish.’
I reflected a little sadly that this was only too true and hoped I did not appear too much that kind of person to others. Virtue is an excellent thing and we should all strive after it, but it can sometimes be a little depressing.
Barbara Pym, Excellent Women (1952)
This may resonate with some micro.bloggers: “The radical reasons why you dream of making things by hand”
Too many essays about [name your American institution (in this essay, it was scouting)] end with the same refrain: It isn’t what it used to be, so I’m leaving. Sometimes, that’s the right decision. Institutions can lose their way, and there are moments when fidelity to conscience requires us to walk away. But increasingly I wonder whether our first instinct has become departure rather than stewardship. Progressives are often criticized for believing institutions can simply be rebuilt from scratch. Yet conservatives sometimes make the opposite mistake: assuming that once an institution has changed, it is beyond salvaging. Both forget that institutions become what people make of them. Stated simply, institutions endure only when people remain long enough to preserve what is good and patiently reform what is not.
Can Scouting Still Raise Boys?, LuElla D’Amico, The Dispatch, July 6, 2026
