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A vendor's table next to a street in Mexico City's Centro neighborhood. Photos of and by Sterling Minor 2026
Sterling Minor
MY Social Experiences and thoughts
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News
College Affordability
In fall 2027, new Rice University students whose families earn up to $100,000 a year will get tuition, housing and fees covered, while those whose families earn between $100,000 and $200,000 a year will get their tuition covered. "We really want talented students from all walks of life to understand that a world class education could be theirs," [Rice Vice President for Enrollment Yvonne] Romero said. Romero said that families with incomes above $200,000 still receive some aid when they show financial need. Mandatory fees and on-campus housing bring the [2026] cost of attendance to $92,654. The average freshman [now] receives $75,643 in aid, according to the university website. Houston Chronicle, August 3, 2026
Texas Restaurants Need and Cannot Obtain Workers For more on this topic, Click Here
“Texas restaurants are in [financial] trouble. Farmers struggle to find enough laborers to harvest crops. Food processing facilities don’t have enough workers to run at full capacity. Trucking companies can’t find enough drivers to transport food to restaurants and grocery stores. And our restaurants themselves struggle to fully staff their kitchens and dining rooms.”
Houston Chronicle Opinion, August 4, 2026, Emily Williams Knight, CEO of Texas Restaurant Association
Another Successful Democratic nominee endorsed by Democratic Socialists of America, Michigan US Senate
Abdul El-Sayed: "My commitment to Jewish safety is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters. Because if there is one question of political philosophy that ought to animate us all, it's what would we do if we treated all our kids like they were all of our kids?" After victory in speech on August 5, 2026 Haley Stevens: “I love Michigan and am so proud to have put up my hand to serve. I spoke with Abdul [El-Sayed] moments ago to offer him my full support as we work to defeat Mike Rogers (R) this November.” After concession in speech on August 5, 2026
"More than 1.5 million people voted in the Democratic primary [in Michigan]. That’s close to the number that turned out in the sharply contested 2020 Democratic presidential primary. That’s a telling takeaway: Highly ideological candidates in both parties tend to do best in low-turnout races, not record ones. Yet time and again in recent cycles, progressive leftists have shown they can compete in sharply contested, high-turnout primaries, even when they are massively outspent. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani did it, and now El-Sayed has matched him. No serious Democratic strategist can say that there’s some slumbering Democratic majority that just needs to be awakened to hold back the insurgency at the gate." Henry Olsen, senior fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center, in the Washington Post
In fall 2027, new Rice University students whose families earn up to $100,000 a year will get tuition, housing and fees covered, while those whose families earn between $100,000 and $200,000 a year will get their tuition covered. "We really want talented students from all walks of life to understand that a world class education could be theirs," [Rice Vice President for Enrollment Yvonne] Romero said. Romero said that families with incomes above $200,000 still receive some aid when they show financial need. Mandatory fees and on-campus housing bring the [2026] cost of attendance to $92,654. The average freshman [now] receives $75,643 in aid, according to the university website. Houston Chronicle, August 3, 2026
Texas Restaurants Need and Cannot Obtain Workers For more on this topic, Click Here
“Texas restaurants are in [financial] trouble. Farmers struggle to find enough laborers to harvest crops. Food processing facilities don’t have enough workers to run at full capacity. Trucking companies can’t find enough drivers to transport food to restaurants and grocery stores. And our restaurants themselves struggle to fully staff their kitchens and dining rooms.”
Houston Chronicle Opinion, August 4, 2026, Emily Williams Knight, CEO of Texas Restaurant Association
Another Successful Democratic nominee endorsed by Democratic Socialists of America, Michigan US Senate
Abdul El-Sayed: "My commitment to Jewish safety is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters. Because if there is one question of political philosophy that ought to animate us all, it's what would we do if we treated all our kids like they were all of our kids?" After victory in speech on August 5, 2026 Haley Stevens: “I love Michigan and am so proud to have put up my hand to serve. I spoke with Abdul [El-Sayed] moments ago to offer him my full support as we work to defeat Mike Rogers (R) this November.” After concession in speech on August 5, 2026
"More than 1.5 million people voted in the Democratic primary [in Michigan]. That’s close to the number that turned out in the sharply contested 2020 Democratic presidential primary. That’s a telling takeaway: Highly ideological candidates in both parties tend to do best in low-turnout races, not record ones. Yet time and again in recent cycles, progressive leftists have shown they can compete in sharply contested, high-turnout primaries, even when they are massively outspent. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani did it, and now El-Sayed has matched him. No serious Democratic strategist can say that there’s some slumbering Democratic majority that just needs to be awakened to hold back the insurgency at the gate." Henry Olsen, senior fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center, in the Washington Post
Ratio of ChatGPT (Sam Altman's OpenAI) users who are men to users who are women: 1:1Ratio of Grok (Elon Musk's X social media) users who are men to users who are women: 3:1
Minimum number of total years in prison to which individuals protesting ICE facilities have been sentenced: 450To which individuals convicted for involvement in Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking ring have been sentenced: 20
Minimum number of total years in prison to which individuals protesting ICE facilities have been sentenced: 450To which individuals convicted for involvement in Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking ring have been sentenced: 20
Harper's Index is a trademark owned by the Harper's Magazine Foundation. Harper's Magazine is published monthly by the foundation, 666 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, Jackson Lears, Chairman, John R MacArthur, President. The archive of its 176 years of issues is available at harpers.org/archive
Numbers from Harper's Index®, SEPTEMBER 2026
Commentary i have read that I want to share
[The current Supreme Court is] a Court that continues to arrogate power from the other branches; that continues to aggrandize the role of lower federal courts (and then doesn’t defend them from external attacks); that continues to overrule prior precedents solely because of its disagreements with them; and that continues to assert that it isn’t (and ought not to be) accountable to anybody, is a Court that will only continue to lose public support—and, thus, lose its ability to stand up to other government institutions when it actually needs to—no matter how “independent” it is. A Court that wants to regain public trust is a Court that tries to earn that trust back. It’s more than a little difficult to look at the October 2025 Term (or any other recent session of the Court), or the justices’ behavior off the bench, and see any visible evidence of any concerted effort in that direction. The answer, as ever, is a Court that is responsive, and acts as if it ought to be responsive, to the other institutions of government—with justices, to go back to Justice Kennedy, who do what they must, not what they please. Steve Vladeck, The “Independent Court” Narrative, One First, Substack, August 3, 2026.
July’s report [from the Bureau of Labor Statistics] confirmed the now widespread view among economists that the Trump-era job slowdown isn’t a blip. It’s now clear that America has entered a new… era of stagnant employment. Is this slowdown in employment growth necessarily a bad thing? There are fewer U.S. jobs than past trends would have predicted, but there are also fewer workers seeking jobs. So why is this a problem? Well, it is indeed a problem. One reason is that America’s [fiscal] responsibilities — to ensure national security, to take care of retirees, maintain public infrastructure and provide healthcare — remain the same, but there will now be fewer workers, paying less taxes, than previously expected to meet those responsibilities. Paul Krugman, PhD, Substack post, August 16, 2026, for more from this piece, Click Krugman
Wyoming Freedom Caucus candidates lost every single statewide primary race. Thirteen incumbents were defeated in the House, as well as caucus-aligned candidates for another nine House seats being vacated by other caucus-aligned lawmakers. When small government conservatives get wiped out in the nation’s most conservative state, the writing is on the wall. That leaves Republicans with three choices. They can continue the course they’re on, hoping against hope that [Treasury Secretary Scott] Bessent is right that the deficit could magically disappear. They can endorse tax hikes, largely on businesses and the upper middle class, as part of a bipartisan plan to take America’s fiscal challenges seriously. Or they can ignore their own voters’ preferences and push for their cuts-only fever dream. This means the long-held GOP dream of reducing the federal budget deficit through spending cuts alone ought to die. Henry Olsen, Margin of Victory newsletter, August 26, 2026.Henry Olsen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
[The current Supreme Court is] a Court that continues to arrogate power from the other branches; that continues to aggrandize the role of lower federal courts (and then doesn’t defend them from external attacks); that continues to overrule prior precedents solely because of its disagreements with them; and that continues to assert that it isn’t (and ought not to be) accountable to anybody, is a Court that will only continue to lose public support—and, thus, lose its ability to stand up to other government institutions when it actually needs to—no matter how “independent” it is. A Court that wants to regain public trust is a Court that tries to earn that trust back. It’s more than a little difficult to look at the October 2025 Term (or any other recent session of the Court), or the justices’ behavior off the bench, and see any visible evidence of any concerted effort in that direction. The answer, as ever, is a Court that is responsive, and acts as if it ought to be responsive, to the other institutions of government—with justices, to go back to Justice Kennedy, who do what they must, not what they please. Steve Vladeck, The “Independent Court” Narrative, One First, Substack, August 3, 2026.
July’s report [from the Bureau of Labor Statistics] confirmed the now widespread view among economists that the Trump-era job slowdown isn’t a blip. It’s now clear that America has entered a new… era of stagnant employment. Is this slowdown in employment growth necessarily a bad thing? There are fewer U.S. jobs than past trends would have predicted, but there are also fewer workers seeking jobs. So why is this a problem? Well, it is indeed a problem. One reason is that America’s [fiscal] responsibilities — to ensure national security, to take care of retirees, maintain public infrastructure and provide healthcare — remain the same, but there will now be fewer workers, paying less taxes, than previously expected to meet those responsibilities. Paul Krugman, PhD, Substack post, August 16, 2026, for more from this piece, Click Krugman
Wyoming Freedom Caucus candidates lost every single statewide primary race. Thirteen incumbents were defeated in the House, as well as caucus-aligned candidates for another nine House seats being vacated by other caucus-aligned lawmakers. When small government conservatives get wiped out in the nation’s most conservative state, the writing is on the wall. That leaves Republicans with three choices. They can continue the course they’re on, hoping against hope that [Treasury Secretary Scott] Bessent is right that the deficit could magically disappear. They can endorse tax hikes, largely on businesses and the upper middle class, as part of a bipartisan plan to take America’s fiscal challenges seriously. Or they can ignore their own voters’ preferences and push for their cuts-only fever dream. This means the long-held GOP dream of reducing the federal budget deficit through spending cuts alone ought to die. Henry Olsen, Margin of Victory newsletter, August 26, 2026.Henry Olsen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
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