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On this episode of Follow the Money, Leanne Minshull and Rod Campbell join Ebony Bennett to discuss Australia’s dud deal on gas and the Australia Institute’s new petition calling on the government to hold a plebiscite on a gas export tax.

This episode was recorded on Tuesday 16 June.

Sign the petition calling for a national plebiscite on a 25% Gas Export Tax.

Support the research powerful interests fear. Make a tax-deductible donation to the Australia Institute’s End of Financial Year Appeal before 30 June.

Guest: Leanne Minshull, co-Chief Executive Officer, the Australia Institute // @leanneminshull

Guest: Rod Campbell, Research Director, the Australia Institute // @rodcampbell

Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebonybennett

Show notes:

“One Nation continues to remain silent on the real causes of the housing crisis,” Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said.

“Our housing crisis has been decades in the making as successive governments have walked away from building homes that are affordable and as more investors have milked homes for money.  

“Pauline Hanson is right to be angry about the homelessness and housing crisis, but she fails to point the blame at the real, structural causes of it.

“Senator Hanson claims to be for the battlers of Australia but we have failed to see her campaign for more social housing that’s actually affordable for the people who are doing it the toughest, and that we are severely lacking in this country.

“It’s disappointing that we did not hear a word about the need to massively expand public and community housing but instead heard her support tax breaks that line the pockets of investors and push housing out of reach for everyday Australians.

“The solutions that will make the biggest difference to housing affordability and fairness in Australia include building social housing at scale, strengthening renters’ rights, and seeing the Parliament – including Senator Hanson – pass investor tax break reform.”

sofie@hortonadvisory.com.au // lauren@hortonadvisory.com.au

As the Fourth of July approaches in this semiquincentennial year of the Declaration of Independence, the best commemorations will contain some element of civic education—a reflection on the words and deeds of the American Founding. In advance of celebrating what Frederick Douglass called “the first great fact” in our nation’s history, Justice Clarence Thomas delivered a civic cri de coeur at the University of Texas at Austin on the principles of the Declaration and the character necessary for maintaining the American way of life.

Exhibit A was the black American community in which he was raised. Identifying himself as “American by birth and Georgian by the grace of God,” Thomas showed his affection for a country where the black residents of Pin Point, Georgia, affirmed the nation’s “promised ideals” even as they experienced “the indelible mark of segregation and its companion evils.” Their moral fiber in the face of Georgia’s segregation laws and customs taught him his worth as a human being and his rights as an American. As Thomas put it, “At home, at school, and at Church, we were taught that we were inherently equal…. [T]hat you did not get your rights or your dignity from those governments, but from God.” That moral self-understanding, shaped by the ideals of the American Founding and a culture shaped by Christianity, was central to Thomas’s message about the Declaration of Independence.

For generations, Democrats have portrayed themselves as the party of ordinary Americans—factory workers, waitresses, truck drivers, police officers, construction workers, and middle-class families trying to get ahead. Yet one of the most striking features of modern American politics is how often Democrat leaders, activists, and media allies seem genuinely baffled by the very people they claim to represent.

The latest example comes from Washington Post columnist Monica Hesse, whose reaction to President Trump’s appearance at a packed UFC event on the White House lawn last weekend revealed a familiar pattern among America’s cultural elites. To tens of millions of Americans, UFC is simply entertainment. It is competitive, exciting, patriotic, and increasingly mainstream. To Hesse and myriad other journalists and political commentators, however, its popularity seems to require explanation—as though they are studying the customs of a distant tribe.

That reaction says far more about elite America than it does about UFC fans, and few institutions better embody elite opinion than the modern Democrat Party.

Since the RBA raised the cash rate from 4.10% to 4.35% in May – the third straight rate hike – unemployment has risen to 4.5% and the March quarter National Accounts reveal household discretionary spending was already stalling before the rate rises, as households cut back in order to pay for essentials.

“The current level of inflation has not been driven by either wages or consumer spending,” said Greg Jericho, Chief Economist at The Australia Institute.

“Rather, it’s been driven by increased profits and the war in Iran.

“For too long the Reserve Bank has punished households out of a belief that a wage-price spiral was just around the corner.

“Maybe they finally get it. Maybe the RBA board members understand they’ve been unfairly inflicting unnecessary pain on mortgage holders.”

The post Rates on hold. Maybe the RBA finally gets it … appeared first on The Australia Institute.

One of the many things I’m months late to covering is the war of choice that the United States and Israel launched against Iran. This, of course, is related to geopolitical events in the middle east that have happened for the past three years. I have mostly avoided commentary on these events in this publication, instead writing about my personal opinions on social media. Yet I can no longer sustain a division between my commentary now that the baseline functioning of the oil market has been disrupted. This war, which started on February 28th has gone on for 108 days and, as of this writing, it has been announced that the U.S. and Iran have signed a deal. At the same time, Israel restarted bombing Beirut, Lebanon which has been a major sticking point for Iran. It is thus unclear whether this deal will survive Israeli intransigence.

The usual focus of the Journal of Australian Political Economy (JAPE) is research – its framings, its findings, and the implications of the knowledge that the research generates. This issue of the journal is different because its focus is on teaching.

For university academics, this is familiar territory, of course. Teaching is something they nearly all do and, for the rising proportion of academics who have ‘teaching focused’ contracts, it is effectively the whole job. A journal issue that focuses on teaching should therefore be of keen interest to everyone working in or hoping to work in academia. It should also interest students who are seeking an intelligent and critical appreciation of what shapes the courses they study. For other readers less directly involved in educational institutions, it may also be of interest because of teaching’s influence on the ideologies that shape how the economy is understood and people’s views about what could produce better outcomes.

When 18-year-old student Henry Nowak was fatally stabbed by Vickrum Digwa, a British Sikh, a horrific local crime quickly escalated to international headlines due to a catastrophic law enforcement failure. Spurred by Digwa’s false accusation of racism, responding officers immediately handcuffed the mortally wounded teenager, even as he told them nine times that he could not breathe, and four times that he had been stabbed. That Nowak was arrested and treated as a criminal while taking his final breaths has shocked and appalled the United Kingdom.

Body-camera footage of his harrowing final minutes also caught the attention of the U.S. government. The State Department warned on X that “Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline that must be rejected across the West.”

On Monday, June 8^th in Ottawa, over 300 ACORN members from across the country gathered on Parliament Hill before marching to the government offices of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada. ACORN Canada is a community union made up of everyday low-to-moderate income people, organizing with more than 190,000 members in 30 chapters across 23 cities. ACORN Canada is the largest tenant union in the country.

The June 8 action organized by ACORN tenant leaders from across Canada was an escalation that came after months of unanswered emails, letters, and phone calls to the federal housing minister demanding a fair say on Canada’s housing policy. ACORN’s demand of the government is simple: give tenants a seat at the table as they consult on the renewal of Canada’s National Housing Strategy. The process, thus far, has been totally secretive and discussed behind closed doors without a voice for tenants in the room.

Join me at 7:00 pm on June 29 for a livestream in which we will discuss Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Idiot. Make sure to read before joining and come with questions to put in the chat.

If you have already read the book, we will also pull questions and comments from the comment section of this Substack post. To comment here, you must be a paid subscriber — see you on June 29!

Pre-order my new book "Requiem for Gaza"

On this episode of After America, foreign policy analyst Matt Duss and Dr Emma Shortis discuss the war on Iran, what the administration might be planning with regards to Cuba, the UFC fight on the White House lawn, and what a more progressive Australia-US alliance could look like.

This episode was recorded live on Friday 12 June.

Support the research powerful interests fear. Make a tax-deductible donation to the Australia Institute’s End of Financial Year Appeal before 30 June.

Guest: Matt Duss, Executive Vice President, Center for International Policy // @mattduss

Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis

Show notes:

Shorter America: Alliances crumble; White supremacy at home and abroad; History matters (always) by Emma Shortis, The Point (June 2026)

What’s the Left’s Vision for Foreign Policy After Trump?, The Ezra Klein Show (June 2026)

Gender Equality is facing new challenges in 2026, including rising authoritarianism, misogynistic anti rights figures, nudifying apps and other tech-facilitated abuse. The good news is there are phenomenal people and groups around the world leading the way in dismantling harmful gender stereotypes, challenging unfair policies, creating shared prosperity and building a gender equal future. Following the recent Women Deliver international conference held in Melbourne, GEN VIC CEO Micaela Drieberg provided an update on the state of gender equality in 2026 at home and abroad.

Per Capita also launched the new season of our ‘Homes Not Houses’ podcast, examining the housing system through a gender lens. From child care responsibilities to the gender pay gap to domestic violence, there are many factors that can make women’s experience of housing different to men’s. We explore what is needed to create a gender-equitable housing system.

Watch the recording below.

The post Gender Equality in 2026 with Micaela Drieberg appeared first on Per Capita.

Migration debates are a recurring feature of Australian politics. But what does the evidence tell us? At our April John Cain Lunch we heard from Melbourne University’s Professor Karen Block about her research on the interplay between host communities and migrants and the complex ways in which this interaction affects health inequalities, integration, inclusion and social cohesion. Watch the recording below.

Karen Block is head of the Migration and Health Unit, Nossal Institute of Global Health in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. She is also the Deputy Director of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute (MSEI) and the Academic Convenor of the Anti-racism Hallmark Research Initiative. For the MSEI, she leads work across the priority area of Migration and Mobility and Community Engaged and Coproductive research.

Prof Block has a strong national and international profile in the area of migration studies. Her recent and current research includes a range of projects involving immigrant and refugee-background young people, women and families focused on social inclusion across the life course, health inequalities, gender-based violence, anti-racism, and working in collaborative partnerships with communities and community-based organisations.

Polling shows the vast majority of Australians want a fair return for their gas.

Unions, community groups, charities, crossbench MP’s and business leaders are calling for a gas export tax.

Research by The Australia Institute reveals that if the Albanese Government had introduced a gas export tax after it was first elected, it would have raised more than $70 billion by now.

The research also shows that:

• More than half the gas exported from Australia is given away royalty-free.
• The Japanese government collects more tax from Australian gas exports than the Australian government.
• Enough gas to supply Australian homes and businesses for more than 20 years has been used in gas exports in the past 5 years, while Australians have been threatened with shortages.
• Allowing unrestricted gas exports from the east coast of Australia has resulted in domestic wholesale gas prices more than tripling and electricity prices doubling.
• Australian beer drinkers pay more in beer excise than the gas industry pays in Petroleum Resource Rent Tax.

“It’s not clear why the government won’t impose a 25% tax on gas exports, but what is clear is that they are not in a hurry to do it,” said Leanne Minshull, co-CEO of The Australia Institute.

Dozens of organisations working across housing, homelessness, and social services are urging Parliament to pass investor tax break reform without delay, as a two-day inquiry into the proposed changes kicks off.

Fifty-seven national and state-based organisations have signed an open letter to politicians. They include Everybody’s Home, ACOSS, National Shelter, Homelessness Australia, Anglicare Australia, Better Renting, and Tenants’ Union of NSW.

The organisations said the reforms will help build a fairer housing system designed around people instead of profits, and expressed concern about the property industry’s fearmongering.

The renewed call comes as members of the crossbench and opposition want to delay parts of the reform from passing.

“The quicker we pass reform to investor tax breaks, the sooner Australia has a fairer housing system,” Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said.

“Time and again, inquiries and research tell us that investor tax breaks have made housing more expensive, made it harder for renters to buy a home, and made inequality worse.

“Right across the country, we’re hearing from peak bodies, frontline services, renters, concerned parents, and even landlords who support the government’s proposed changes to negative gearing and the CGT Discount.

The Wrap with Greg Jericho

Governments can change the country for the better or worse. Failure to act for 26 years on housing affordability has left many Australians renting for most of their adult lives and led to for the first time since WWII, most Australians in their early 30s not owning their own home.

The path to undoing the damage will be long. But the changes made by the government in the May Budget have had an immediate impact. Finally there is hope that no longer will the housing market be treated as a place to increase wealth rather than a place to find a home to live in and grow a family.

This week it was reported that investor loans by Westpac had fallen 20% in the month, and a property investor bemoaned to a business conference that “these tax changes are a status war. They are killing residential investment and encouraging owner-occupier demand”.

Oh gosh, a government doing something to help home-owners rather than investors?!

Yes, it is possible, and that’s why we keep pushing for changes that make the economy fairer and our society better.

Good policy is a choice, and it’s why we keep pushing for better choices.  

For 26 years, we pushed for housing policy that put people before investors. This year, we finally broke through. We now have reforms that will make housing more affordable by reducing enormous tax concessions that deepen intergenerational inequality.

This interview is also available on podcast platforms and Rumble.

As the global economy teeters on the brink of a major crisis, the United States, with the aid of the Pakistani government, is once again attempting to finalize an agreement to end the war on Iran that could be signed this weekend. There are still many steps that must be taken before there can be a complete cessation of US/Israeli hostilities on Iran, but as oil reserves dwindle, time is running out. And, of course, even if a deal is signed, it remains to be seen whether the United States and Israel will violate it.

For a long time I’ve been thinking about doing a series about the concept of a “hierarchy of finance”. This phrase refers to the fact that different households and institutions have access to financing for their current—or desired—activities, at both different quantities and qualities. To put it in the simplest terms: some of us can borrow a million dollars easily with good terms…While some of us can’t borrow a hundred dollars at any interest rate. And that difference is not random, it is constructed! A panoply of legal instruments have been created over the centuries—particularly the past three centuries—which influence the quantities and qualities of finance different institutions have access to. Institutions that would otherwise be low down the hierarchy of finance can use specific legal instruments—which we will discuss at length in this series—to access financing on terms, and in quantities, they would not be able to access in any other way. 

The University of Florida can’t seem to find a candidate for president who doesn’t have a track record championing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

First, its presidential search committee tried to hire Santa Ono from the University of Michigan; now they’re targeting Stuart Bell from the University of Alabama. Florida supposedly opposes DEI, but it’s business as usual in the presidential search process. It seems that the best UF’s committee can get—now that a cruel fate has removed Ben Sasse from public service—are standard-issue products of the academic cursus honorum who blandly assure Florida’s policymakers that they didn’t really believe any of the things they said for years.

This points to a real supply problem. America isn’t just short of tradition-minded professors. It’s almost devoid of quality candidates for leadership positions in higher education administration.

This article is read by Eunice Wong. You can find her work at www.eunicewong.actor.

Text originally published June 1, 2026.

What Ever Happened to DOGE? The “OMBification” of the Trump-Musk Payments Crisis

 — Author: Nathan Tankus — Publication: Notes on the Crisis — Thursday 11th June 2026

Dear readers: My deepest apologies for my absence. I got the so-called “Super-Flu” that hit New York in December, then I followed that up with a very debilitating bout of food poisoning in January. As much as I tried to push myself to get back to writing after I physically recovered, it took much longer for me to cognitively recover. I hope it's clear to readers my passion for my unique corner of economics and politics. Thus I would have covered the fast paced events unfolding around me, if it had been possible. I hope you will bear with me as I return to work and restart my regular output. If I have missed your correspondence, please accept my apologies, and feel free to contact me again.

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The Truth Is in Here

 — Author: Sarah Kendzior — Thursday 11th June 2026

Welcome to Part Three of my Q &A, in which I answer questions sent by readers! I usually do this in one article. I ended up doing it in three parts thanks to severe illness and my father’s death. I tried to answer everyone. Here is Part One and Part Two.

I hope my personal disasters will subside so we can resume our regularly scheduled programming of political disasters! Thank you for your patience.

If you can afford to become a paying subscriber to my newsletter, please do. It keeps my articles open to all and feeds my family of four! You also get the perk of submitting a question for the next Q & A:

Sarah Kendzior’s Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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The impact of the government’s massive NDIS cuts

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — Thursday 11th June 2026

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Elinor discuss the latest house price data and the ongoing fearmongering around the changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing. Then, Greg shares the positive impact NDIS funding as had on his family – and what it could mean if the government’s proposed cuts pass through the parliament.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 11 June 2026.

Support the research powerful interests fear. Make a tax-deductible donation to the Australia Institute’s End of Financial Year Appeal before 30 June.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute // @grogsgamut

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

Show notes:

For those shedding a tear over house prices falling, these numbers may change your mind by Greg Jericho, Guardian Australia (June 2026)

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What’s On June 8-14 2026

 — Organisation: Free Palestine Melbourne — Monday 8th June 2026

What’s On around Naarm/Melbourne & regional Victoria: Jun 8-14, 2026

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Internationally renowned actor and activist Khalid Abdalla voices support for Free Marwan Barghouti campaign at Naksa Day Rally

 — Organisation: Free Palestine Melbourne — Monday 8th June 2026

British Egyptian actor and activist Khalid Abdalla (The Kite Runner, The Crown, The Square) spoke at the Free Palestine Naksa Day Rally in Naarm on Sunday June 7 where he mentioned his connection to the Free Marwan Barghouti campaign and paid tribute to the Free Palestine Melbourne movement.

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Rights Retention Starter Kit

 — Organisation: Open Access Australasia — Thursday 11th June 2026

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The Rise of the Global South - Read by Eunice Wong

 — Author: Chris Hedges — Wednesday 10th June 2026

This article is read by Eunice Wong. You can find her work at www.eunicewong.actor.

Text originally published May 28, 2026.

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The Chris Hedges Report is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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A Very Unfortunate World Cup 2026 Tier List

 — Publication: CityNerd — Wednesday 10th June 2026

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The American Mind Podcast: The Roundtable Episode 321

 — Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Wednesday 10th June 2026

The American Mind’s ‘Editorial Roundtable’ podcast is a weekly conversation with Ryan Williams, Spencer Klavan, and Mike Sabo devoted to uncovering the ideas and principles that drive American political life. Stream here or download from your favorite podcast host.

America’s Privileged Class – The Press, Libel, and Defamation | The Roundtable Ep. 321

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New push to outlaw lies in NSW politics ahead of next election

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — Wednesday 10th June 2026

Dishonest political campaign advertisements – like those falsely claiming a party will introduce a new tax or cut a government service – could be outlawed in time for next year’s NSW election, if a new petition is successful.

The petition to the Legislative Assembly is calling on the NSW Parliament to implement truth in political advertising laws, like those already in place in South Australia.

If the petition reaches 20,000 signatures from NSW residents, MPs will debate the issue in Parliament — opening the door for reforms to be introduced before the next state election, due in March next year.

The petition is an initiative of NSW resident Michelle Millner and The Australia Institute, with independent MLA Jacqui Scruby as its parliamentary sponsor.

Key details:

• 89% of NSW residents support truth in political advertising laws
• Truth in political advertising laws have existed in South Australia for 40 years
• If the petition attracts 20,000 signatures from NSW residents, politicians are required to debate the topic in the NSW Parliament
• The next NSW state election is due on 13 March 2027

“Truth in political advertising is vital to restoring public trust that has been greatly eroded. Without laws around this our democracy is broken,” said lead petitioner Michelle Millner.

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The trouble with necessary counterfactuals. Or, Hitler and Art School

 — Author: Patricia Roberts-Miller — Wednesday 10th June 2026

I’ve become fascinated by a specific kind of counterfactual argument that is often made, but is constraining and damag

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Films That Celebrate the Founding

 — Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Wednesday 10th June 2026

The American Founding was an epic, earthshaking, history-making event that still reverberates through the ages. For close to half of our history, America has had a filmmaking industry—Hollywood—one that has often been the envy of the world, although its global prestige has faded in recent years.

Despite the historic weight of the American Revolution, it has been mostly a spectral presence in the cinema. Even if we expand our focus to include the period from the war’s conclusion to shortly before the Civil War, Hollywood’s filmed history of early America is rather thin.  

That is not to say that American history was not present on the silver screen from the medium’s earliest days. James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, based on events during the French and Indian War, was portrayed as early as 1909. In fact, there were three different films based on that book, and another film based on Cooper’s novel The Spy by 1920. Betsy Ross (1917), about the famous flag maker, still survives.

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Soccer Jerseys for Hard Times

 — Publication: Perspectives Journal — Wednesday 10th June 2026

Early in 2026, I bought my second Greenland soccer jersey (the light blue, ice-patterned away kit) the day that US President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself planting a US flag on a Greenland landscape. He followed up later that day, posting another generated image featuring Europe’s leaders around his desk in the Oval Office, considering a map where both Greenland and Canada are overlaid with the American flag.

As acts of resistance go, buying a soccer jersey is pretty silly. It is just a piece of clothing, after all, and not even one with a political message. But over the last few years I have, rather unintentionally, built up a collection of soccer jerseys that have become a kind of armour for me against the increasingly horrifying direction of our world.

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Institutional Approaches to Rights Retention

 — Organisation: Open Access Australasia — Wednesday 10th June 2026

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Indigenous Research and Rights Retention

 — Organisation: Open Access Australasia — Wednesday 10th June 2026

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Jane Caro on the battle for public education

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — Wednesday 10th June 2026

On this episode of Follow the Money, recorded live at Politics in the Pub in Canberra, Jane Caro joins Dr Alice Grundy to discuss how Australia came to the most expensive place in the developed world for families to send a child to high school and Jane’s essay for Australia Institute Press, Rich Kid Poor Kid: The battle for public education.

The original conversation was recorded live on 3 June 2026. Stay across all of our events by signing up to our newsletter.

Support the research powerful interests fear. Make a tax-deductible donation to the Australia Institute’s End of Financial Year Appeal before 30 June.

Guest: Jane Caro, Walkley Award-winning columnist, novelist & author of Rich Kid, Poor Kid: The battle for public education // @janecaro

Host: Alice Grundy, Managing Editor, Australia Institute Press // @alicektg

Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebonybennett

Show notes:

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Definitions and Glossary of Terms

 — Organisation: Open Access Australasia — Wednesday 10th June 2026

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Trapped by Trans

 — Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Tuesday 9th June 2026

The Democratic Party has a problem: Americans are increasingly repelled by transgenderism.

Between 2022 and 2025, the average American’s favorability toward restrictions on transgender policies rose significantly. Support fell both for requiring insurance companies to cover gender reassignment procedures and for protecting trans individuals from job and housing discrimination. All of this happened as the share of Americans who consider it morally acceptable to change one’s gender has fallen from 46% to 40% since 2021.

This drop in support is seen in younger generations too. Eric Kaufmann found that between 2022 and 2025, the number of trans-identifying college students fell by half. The decline was even sharper at elite institutions: at Phillips Academy in Andover, the number of trans-identifying students fell from 9.2% in 2023 to a mere 3% in 2025. At Brown University, the number of nonbinary students was nearly halved between 2023 and 2025. The data highly suggests those rates will continue to fall.

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Tariffs Built to Last

 — Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Tuesday 9th June 2026

Though the Trump Administration has faced a series of legal setbacks on tariffs, it seems to have found a solution. After the Supreme Court ruled that the administration’s reciprocal tariffs were wrongfully imposed, the president immediately leapt to plan B: Section 122 tariffs, which allow the temporary placement of global tariffs. But these tariffs—derived from the Trade Act of 1974, which Trump used to install a 10% levy on most imported goods—expire in just over two months, and a court has ruled them unlawful.

Although that case is still working through the system, the administration is already planning to replace Section 122 tariffs with Section 301 tariffs. These, too, stem from the Trade Act, but unlike the previous tariffs, they will be here to stay. They will also allow the Trump Administration to target countries that have relied on unfair trade practices such as lax environmental standards that let our trade “partners” produce at excess capacity—essentially to get one over on the United States.

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Is the Ceasefire Dead? (w/ Alastair Crooke) | The Chris Hedges Report

 — Author: Chris Hedges — Tuesday 9th June 2026

This interview is also available on podcast platforms and Rumble.

The US-Israeli war has heated up again as Iran launched “Operation Victory” in response to Israel’s continued attacks on Southern Lebanon and attacks on Iranian infrastructure, and the United States bombing islands in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend. In this episode, Chris Hedges speaks with former British Diplomat Alastair Crooke of the Conflicts Forum Substack, who explains that given the failure of diplomatic negotiations, Iran has entered a new phase of the war utilizing the methodology of ‘escalatory deterrence’ in which every attack on Iran will be met with an increasingly greater response.

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The sports betting double standard: why our politicians blinked on gambling ads

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — Monday 8th June 2026

Australians love a punt, but the house always wins.

We’re the world’s biggest gamblers per capita, and the biggest losers, losing more than $32 billion in bets last year. Yes, the gambling reforms announced by the Albanese government are important, but they are roughly the equivalent of throwing a bucket of water on a bushfire.

Australia Institute research shows the $32 billion Australian households lost to gambling is more than Aussies spend on their electricity and gas bills ($29.5 billion) or alcohol ($26.8 billion). That’s more than $30 billion a year in profit going to gambling companies. Thirty billions dollars a year that’s not being spent in the economy at local businesses down the main street of your city or town, that’s not being spent on food, rent or the basic necessities of life. Can we really afford that, in this economy?

These massive gambling losses are often framed as the tragic but unavoidable cost of doing business, rather than the inevitable consequence of a predatory gambling industry untroubled by regulation.

The Whitlams once sang about blowing up the pokies (a timeless classic no less relevant today), but it’s online gambling that has exploded in recent years.

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The Mothers Behind the Men Who Won the West

 — Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Monday 8th June 2026

On my mantelpiece sits a silver teapot. It is boxy rather than delicate, in the 18th-century American Federal style, with a thick band of vines traced elegantly below the lid. The teapot was a wedding gift in 1797 for my great-great-great-great-great-grandmother, Frances Eleanor Clark.

For over two centuries, mother has gifted that teapot to daughter, keeping alive the gathered memories of our family. Crafted by a Virginian silversmith, it has traveled from Kentucky to Missouri, from the Montana Territory to California, before returning to the East Coast. One day, I will take my own place in the line of “teapot grandmas,” woven into the long memory of that teapot and its new familial guardian.

Though women who treasured that teapot did not make history—several of them spent their lives with men who left a lasting mark on the American West—they performed an important task: keeping it alive for future generations.

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