Source: Cato Institute
by Scott Lincicome

“Complexity is a tax, and today U.S. companies are paying through the nose.” (12/03/25)

https://www.cato.org/commentary/welcome-tariff-complexity-hell

Source: In These Times
by J Patrick Patterson

“Across the country, entire neighborhoods are losing their grocery stores — and not just big chains, but independents as well as family-owned shops and markets. It’s part of a broader pattern of food access disappearing where it’s needed most, often in poorer neighborhoods, larger Black or Latino communities and areas with a history of disinvestment. Some companies, like Walmart and Kroger, promote themselves as ‘a community partner’ only to turn around and cite the very same conditions as reasons to leave. In the South and West Sides of Chicago and parts of Detroit or Kansas City, Mo., grocery stores have left, citing low profits, crime or aging infrastructure. Other times, stores simply consolidate or move to wealthier suburbs. Have city-run stores been tried? Yep! But mostly in rural areas. Baldwin, Fla. (a town of about 1,300) opened its own grocery store, in 2019, after the last independently owned one closed.” (12/03/25)

https://inthesetimes.com/article/municipal-owned-grocery-store-food-desert-rural-chicago-kansas-city-detroit-market-vendors-public-community-care

Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander

“…the bad news is that they can’t agree which one. I explained the debate more here, but the short version is: twin studies find that most traits are at least 50% genetic, sometimes much more. But molecular studies – that is, attempts to find the precise genes responsible – usually only found enough genes for the traits to be ~10-20% genetic. The remaining 35% was dubbed ‘missing heritability.’ Nurturists argued that the twin studies must be wrong; hereditarians argued that missing effect must be in hard-to-find genes.” (12/03/25)

https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/the-good-news-is-that-one-side-has

Source: Libertarian Institute
by Jim Bovard

“The Trump administration’s killings of scores of Venezuelans are justifiably provoking outrage. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recently proclaimed, ‘We have only just begun to kill narco-terrorists.’ Donald Trump and Hegseth are cashing a blank check for carnage that was written years earlier by President Barack Obama. … Many Americans who voted for Obama in 2008 expected a seachange in Washington. However, from his first weeks in office, Obama authorized widespread secret attacks against foreign suspects, some of which spurred headlines when drones slaughtered wedding parties or other innocents. On February 3, 2010, Obama’s Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair stunned Washington by announcing that the administration was also targeting Americans for killing.” (12/03/25)

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/obama-paved-the-way-for-trumps-venezuelan-killings