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We are at war with Iran, we are not at war with Iran. Federal lands are for sale, the sale of federal lands is prohibited. The tariffs are back, the tariffs are over. Foreign students are banned, foreign students can stay. Trump rebuffs Israel, Trump will defend Israel to the death.

To the death, to our death: the threat of death is the constant. Nothing is real except awful things that don’t stop growing and don’t backtrack. Death is behind the drapes you draw down like a gunfight you already lost. The temperature hits 100 and makes you remember when the world had centuries instead of one endless day.

The heat will not relent. Why should it when nothing else will?

Politics is a jigsaw seesaw with a push and pull that cuts. Every policy is retracted and reinstated so that you can no longer remember relief. What were its ingredients — time, promises? She inhaled a sigh of relief, you think, but all you inhale is heat. You open the front door and stick out your head and breathe like Sylvia Plath.

Slam the door: you have a choice. Slam the door on that cannonball sun.

This article is read by Eunice Wong, a Juilliard-trained actor, featured on Audible's list of Best Women Narrators. Her work is on the annual Best Audiobooks lists of the New York Times, Audible, AudioFile, & Library Journal. www.eunicewong.actor

Text originally published June 19, 2025

Buy my new book “A Genocide Foretold"

This article was originally published, in slightly different form, on the writer’s Substack, Chris Arnade Walks the World. It is shared here with permission. Photos provided by the writer.

By Manuel Aguilera

This blog is a follow-up to the panel discussion “Decolonising Public Administration: Rethinking Public Governance and Policy”, part of the 2025 IIPP Forum. The session gathered researchers and practitioners to interrogate how ‘decolonisation’ is being deployed across public institutions, and whether that language is matched by structural change. The recording of the event can be watched above.

What is the state? How does it function? And who benefits from it? For Professor Rainer Kattel, Co-Deputy Director and Professor of Innovation and Public Governance at UCL IIPP, these are the fundamental questions that any serious conversation about decolonising public administration must confront.

There’s a world before Trump’s descent down the escalator, and there’s a world after it. The recent “No Kings” protests transmitted the idée fixe of the pre-2015 world. That idea was hostility to personal authority, or personal power—hostility to the notion of sovereignty, to the power once exercised by kings. Donald Trump, the figure who has dominated politics since 2015, is its most visible sign of contradiction. In that sense, the protesters weren’t entirely wrong. Trump’s success marks the passing of the world of the latter half of the 20th century, which was defined by hatred of personal authority.

Successive generations demolished the concept of sovereignty, casting suspicion on the notion that a leader’s decisions can legitimately reshape political or social life. This shift began in the United States when the intelligentsia promulgated the concept of “the authoritarian personality.” They found this personality in the working classes, their churches and associations, their families and fathers, and the politicians who represented them. Where there was the whiff of authoritarian character traits, fascism probably lurked.

By Manuel Aguilera

In 2010, the U.S. government created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to restore public trust after the global financial meltdown. It was a bold experiment: a state agency with a clear mission, deep expertise, and a mandate to protect ordinary people from predatory financial practices. By all accounts, it worked. Until it became DOGE’s target.

At the recent panel, which opened IIPP’s Rethinking the State Festival, titled “Rethinking Public Value in the Age of Doge”, former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra described what’s happening:

A few days before my 39th birthday, I found myself relaxing in a reclining chair, Bob Marley and the Beach Boys playing through a home speaker while my Xanax kicked in. It might’ve been the perfect way to ring in another year gone- if I hadn’t also had a gigantic needle in my neck.

Yes, eight days ago I underwent a Stellate Ganglion Block procedure in yet another semi-experimental attempt to treat various Long COVID symptoms, including dysautonomia and migraines (both of which SGBs show some promise in alleviating). The nurse at the neurology and pain center asked me to pick a playlist, and I’d attempted to replicate the feeling of relaxing on a beach. And it had gone pretty well until needle met neck.

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To borrow a phrase from a writer many of my radical colleagues love to cite, the chickens are coming home to roost at colleges and universities around the country.

As anyone paying even a modicum of attention knows, the Trump Administration is endeavoring to curtail some of the more explicit ideological partisanship going on in higher education under the mask of scholarship and teaching. Beyond that, many schools are recognizing that bottom lines have shifted, and faculty hiring will have to adjust.

Recently, faculty and administrative communities on many campuses have discussed the difficulties departments are facing in replacing departing faculty lost through retirement or moves. The American Association of University Professors has been fretting about it for some years. My place of employment, Bucknell University, is currently experiencing just such a moment, as have institutions like American University and UNC-Chapel Hill.

Only President Trump could have ordered Operation Midnight Hammer, which dealt a blow to the Iranian nuclear program while blazing a path toward a real diplomatic solution to the Iran-Israel conflict. The president has demonstrated peace through strength, and it is now the responsibility of policymakers and defense officials to ensure the military can deter and, if necessary, win in a range of conflict environments.

By all accounts, Operation Midnight Hammer was a stunning success. It was a meticulously executed, 37-hour tactical operation that was meant to cripple Iran’s nuclear program. It demonstrated America’s unrivaled ability to project force across continents, penetrate air defenses, and strike hardened targets with precision.

The coordination of stealth bombers, mid-air refueling aircraft, and supporting naval assets showcased the professionalism and lethality of the U.S. military. At least a dozen B-2 bombers, including those that were part of the deception flights out of Guam, were joined by mid-air refueling tankers, multiple fighter jets, and even a few nuclear-powered submarines that acted in concert against three Iranian nuclear sites. For many observers, it appeared to reaffirm the conviction that when the United States chooses to act, it can do so with unmatched resolve and capability. President Trump’s decisiveness is fundamental to this reality, one that our enemies are only beginning to come to grips with.

The federal budget today resembles a time bomb with a Medicare card taped to it. Entitlement spending consumes the vast majority of federal outlays, and future obligations (mostly from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) far exceed $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Reform is overdue, but politically radioactive. The welfare state is no longer a safety net—it is a gravitational force pulling federal priorities inward.

Sixty-nine million Americans received $1.5 trillion in Social Security payments in 2024. Nearly $2 trillion was spent on Medicare and Medicaid combined. Welfare outlays were $1.6 trillion. The magnitude of these numbers is not simply staggering, but beyond comprehension. For comparative scale, the outlay for military salaries and housing was $176.2 billion for fiscal year 2024. Federal employees who weren’t military were paid $384 billion.

This is obviously irresponsible and unsustainable. Treating Social Security as anything other than a general fund and part of the federal income tax structure is dishonest. The program is a general fund in, and a general fund out. This was once an important debate—but it is no longer.

Stefan Avdjiev and Linda S. Goldberg

Read the full analysis here.

It is a consequence of an election in which more crossbench candidates than ever either won or came second in a House of Representatives seat.

Key findings:

• Second place to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Grayndler was a Green; to Opposition Leader Sussan Ley in Farrer was an independent; and to Nationals Leader David Littleproud in Maranoa was One Nation.
• Crossbench candidates set a record for the most first and second-place finishes in the 2025 federal election: 35, up from 27 in 2022 and just 15 in 2019.

“It is the first time in Australian history that every party leader had to defeat an independent or minor party runner-up to win their seat,” said Bill Browne, Democracy & Accountability Director at The Australia Institute.

“Over the past four decades, Australians have increasingly voted for minor parties and independents at the expense of the major parties.

“The minor party and independent vote exceeded the Liberal/National vote for the first time at this election.

“Australians are entitled to fair and competitive elections, but earlier this year Labor and Liberal voted together to pass laws that will give tens of millions of dollars to the major parties and treat independents and new entrants unfairly.

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Elinor discuss why being a CEO of a top company might be the sweetest gig in the country and the perverse debate over the government’s proposed superannuation tax changes.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 26 June 2025 and things may have changed since recording.

Our independence is our strength – and only you can make that possible. By donating to the Australia Institute’s End of Financial Year appeal today, you’ll help fund the research changing Australia for the better.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute and Centre for Future Work // @grogsgamut

Host: Elinor Johnston-Leek, Senior Content Producer, the Australia Institute // @elinorjohnstonleek

Show notes:

Super tax debate highlights everything wrong with Australia’s media and economic system by Greg Jericho, Guardian Australia (June 2025)

The ACCC alleges that Australian Gas Networks misled consumers by suggesting customers could be using “renewable gas” within a generation.

Renewable gas refers to alternatives, such as hydrogen or biomethane, to the natural gas that is currently piped into millions of Australian homes.

“We allege that Australian Gas Networks engaged in greenwashing in its ‘Love Gas’ ad campaign,” said ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb.

“It is not currently possible to distribute renewable gas at scale.

“We say these ads were intended to encourage consumers to connect to, or remain connected to, Australian Gas Networks’ distribution network and to purchase gas appliances for their homes, based on the misleading impression they would receive ‘renewable gas’ within a generation.”

According to the CSIRO, Australia is the 14th biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. The processing and burning of natural gas is a major contributor to those emissions. Australian gas also contributes to the emissions of many other countries, with huge quantities shipped overseas.

Australia Institute research shows the proposed expansion of the North West Shelf gas export project in Western Australia would lead to 182 million tonnes of emissions being released into the atmosphere, which is greater than the emissions of all of Australia’s coal power stations and greater than the emissions of 153 individual countries.