Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“One expects that history will extend to Jesse Jackson the same indulgence it has extended to his mentor, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and to such figures as Mohandas K. Gandhi and (to a lesser extent) Thomas Jefferson — he was on the right side of the immensely important issue with which he was most intimately associated, and, while that is not everything, it is enough. And that is an excellent prospect for the reputation of Jesse Jackson, who, like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas K. Gandhi and (to a lesser extent) Thomas Jefferson, had a lot of bad political ideas and some positively daft economic ideas, some of which got worse over the years.” (02/20/26)
https://archive.is/xbyCa
Source: Persuasion
by Ruy Teixeira
“Gavin Newsom: friend of the Resistance, friend of moderates, friend of progressives, friend of populists, friend of labor, friend of abundance-istas, special chum of Big Tech, and hard man for the Democratic Party. He’s got it all, twinned with a preternatural ability to deliver a perfectly calibrated message to each of these audiences when called upon to do so. The Gavin Newsom message delivery system brings to mind another famed Democratic message delivery system, Bill Clinton, who was similarly adept at reaching a wide range of audiences and similarly willing to bend his principles to do so. … So is Newsom the next Bill Clinton? I don’t think so. Despite the similarities there is one huge and hugely important difference: Clinton’s message delivery magic was in the service ultimately of reaching a general election audience, not just a Democratic audience.” (02/20/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-false-hope-of-gavin-newsom
Source: US News & World Report
“The former police chief in New Haven, Connecticut, was arrested Friday on larceny charges following allegations he stole $85,000 from two department accounts. Karl Jacobson, 56, who abruptly retired from the department in January, turned himself in on an arrest warrant. He was later released on a court-set bond of $150,000, a state prosecutor said in a news release. Jacobson faces two counts of larceny related to defrauding a public community. … The state prosecutor’s office said Friday the city of New Haven first reported the embezzlement allegations on Jan. 5, which prompted an investigation by the Connecticut State Police. The probe revealed $81,500 was unaccounted for or misappropriated from the New Haven Police Department Narcotic Enforcement Fund between Jan. 1, 2024, and Jan. 5, 2026. Money from the fund is used to pay confidential informants who help in narcotics investigations.” (02/20/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2026-02-20/former-connecticut-police-chief-arrested-over-alleged-85-000-theft-from-department-funds
Source: The Bulwark
“Is This Republican Senator Too Normal for Republicans? (w/ Eric Benson).” (02/21/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxRap_pCKIE
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“Ron Paul Was Right About Everything.” (02/20/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2737-ron-paul-was-right-about-everything/
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Kevin Duffy
“No, the economy is not booming. Far from it. Last month, the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index hit its lowest level since 2014. The monthly ISM manufacturing index registered ten consecutive months of contraction through December. On February 5, the Challenger Report on the US labor market showed announced job cuts in January more than doubled year-over-year, ‘hitting their highest level since the 2009 Great Recession,’ according to Mohamed El-Erian, former CEO of Pimco. … How do we square vigorous GDP statistics with an economy clearly deteriorating?” (02/20/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/gdp-illusion-surging-statistics-hide-pain-average-americans
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“You can’t turn around these days without seeing some leftist somewhere whining about white men. As a white man, it seems like every Democrat is an obsessed stalker – it’s enough to make us want to take out a restraining order. I speak for all white men in this piece because, after watching a week’s worth of fawning coverage of the death of Jesse Jackson that glossed over or ignored his racism, affair (oh, the stories I’ve heard) and grifting, I remembered who he simply appointed himself a ‘leader’ and the corporate media crowned him the spokesman for black people, so I’ll take the job for whitey for today. What is the obsession the left has with us? It’s flattering, I suppose. We’ve done pretty well, though you never know it from the way Democrats talk about us.” (02/22/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/02/22/democrats-are-obsessed-with-white-men-n2671696
Source: SFGate
“The labor union pushing forward the highly controversial billionaire’s wealth tax is launching its first TV ad during the Olympics this weekend, SFGATE has learned. The 30-second ad, paid for by the Service Employees International Union, a health care union, will play during the men’s gold hockey game Sunday, the union confirmed. The commercial warns that California’s health care industry is under threat of collapse under looming federal health care cuts, and warns that more hospitals could close and that there are likely to be ‘longer wait times and overcrowded emergency rooms’ as a result. ‘Massive federal cuts will shut hospitals and emergency rooms forever because billionaires refuse to pay their fair share,’ the commercial says.” [editor’s note: And when the billionaires leave (and defeat the ex post facto part of the proposal in court)? How much tax revenue evaporates THEN? – TLK] (02/21/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/california-politics/article/billionaire-tax-tv-ad-olympics-21618922.php
Source: Yascha Mounk
“Yascha Mounk, Bethany Allen, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, and Chang Che examine how Asia is preparing for a more dangerous world.” (02/20/26)
https://writing.yaschamounk.com/p/the-good-fight-club-15
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Angela C Erickson & Vance Ginn
“Work comes in many shapes and sizes. In today’s economy, traditional 9-to-5 employment is but one option, and more people are choosing alternatives that better fit their values and lives. These workers deserve better access to benefits like health insurance and retirement savings. Over 330,000 Kentuckians earn income as freelancers, contractors or self-employed workers. They include rideshare and delivery drivers, truckers, freelance creatives, child care providers and consultants. Together, they generate more than $18 billion in annual revenue. This workforce is growing, diverse, and vital to the commonwealth’s economy — yet state and federal policies haven’t kept pace with that reality.” (02/20/26)
https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/independent-workers-portable-benefits/
