Think More: Tuesday, August 4, 2026
60,000 breach Ceuta, OpenAI settles for $3.2 million, Mamdani fires his fund board, and Florida's DOGE delivers.
Lead · The Price of Open Borders
Sixty Thousand Storm Ceuta and Bury the Fiction of the Guarded Border
Roughly 60,000 Moroccans broke through the border of Ceuta, Spain’s North African enclave, last week; scores died crossing, and most have since returned. A New York Post opinion piece reads the breach as an indictment of Western leaders who abandoned sovereign borders and as the death of the “asylum seeking” euphemism. Pedro Sánchez, fresh from a sweeping migrant amnesty, protests the violation of Spanish territory.
The Price of Open Borders
Twice Deported, He Returned Again: The Man Who Killed a Marine Faces a Third Removal
Martin Martinez-Ballinas, the Mexican national convicted in the 2017 Maryland hit-and-run that killed 21-year-old Marine James Ray Walden III, is in ICE custody facing his third deportation. Removed in 2020 and again in October 2022, he re-entered both times, the second on the Biden administration’s watch, and served 37 months in federal prison for the last crossing.
OpenAI Pays $3.2 Million for Steering Jobs Away from American Workers
Department of Justice | justice.gov
OpenAI and its subsidiary Statsig will pay $3.2 million, including $1.2 million in civil penalties and a $2 million back-pay fund, to settle Justice Department allegations that they favored temporary visa holders over U.S. workers. Investigators found the company kept PERM-track jobs off its careers page, demanded mailed paper applications, and advertised the openings on late-night radio.
Mamdani’s New York
Mamdani Purges the Mayor’s Fund Board and Fumbles His Grocery Scheme in One Day
Stephen Green tallies two fronts in Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign against New York business: the dismissal of the entire Mayor’s Fund advisory board, the first full purge in at least three administrations of a body that raised $107 million for September 11 families, and a grocery-store request for proposals that investor Nick Kokonas says rewards whichever bidder lowballs the subsidy.
The Abolish Rent Movement Has Friends in Gracie Mansion
Stu Smith traces the movement behind Abolish Rent, the manifesto by Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis, from Los Angeles rent strikes to Gracie Mansion. Rosenthal, who called crashing a landlord’s daughter’s wedding “really fun,” appears in photos alongside Mayor Mamdani and works closely with Cea Weaver, the DSA activist he installed as tenant advocate.
Institutions Under Audit
Florida’s DOGE Delivered on Three Employees and a Six-Figure Budget
Noah Wall, whose State Leadership Initiative co-produced the new State DOGE Playbook, reports that Florida’s version has identified nearly $1 billion in local government waste, returned $878 million to Washington, and audited more than 74,000 university syllabi, all with three full-time employees and a six-figure budget. He urges other red states to copy the model.
The Vanderbilt Report Indicts the Humanities, Then Pulls Its Punches
Peter W. Wood reviews the Vanderbilt Report, the commission study finding philosophy, anthropology, sociology, history, literary studies, and music studies “in trouble,” with anthropology an extreme case. Wood, a former anthropologist who leads the National Association of Scholars, faults the authors for timidity: their own evidence supports the systemic reform they decline to demand.
The Sinews of War
America’s Chip Supply Runs Through Taiwan, and the Exposure Is Growing
Hoover Institution | hoover.org
The Stanford Emerging Technology Review warns that the concentration of advanced chipmaking in Taiwan leaves the supply chain behind American economic and military power exposed to geopolitical disruption. Rising development costs, expanding energy demands, and a shortage of skilled workers compound the risk; the reviewers prescribe domestic manufacturing, design innovation, and a coordinated push to build semiconductor talent.
Opinion on the Iran War Has Not Moved in 24 Surveys
Scott Rasmussen | Napolitan News Service
Scott Rasmussen finds opinion on the Iran war frozen: 40% of voters favor the attacks and 49% oppose them, while 52% disapprove of President Trump’s handling, with strong disapproval outrunning strong approval by roughly two to one. Across 24 surveys since the war began, favorability moved beyond the margin of error by more than a point only twice.
Iran war opinion: Napolitan News Service, 1,000 voters, July 27-28
40%
Favor the attacks on Iran
52%
Disapprove of Trump’s handling
24
Surveys with opinion frozen
