Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“Maintaining a uniformed domestic security force is pricey in terms of life, liberty, and dollars.” (02/04/26)
https://reason.com/2026/02/04/deploying-troops-to-u-s-cities-cost-half-a-billion-dollars-in-2025/
Source: Liberal Currents
by David Lay Williams
“The sides of the inequality debate continue to talk past one another, as Don Boudreaux’s recent criticisms demonstrate.” (02/04/26)
Source: The Bulwark
“I Watched a Man Disappear (w/ Will Stancil).” (02/03/26)
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Oscar Grau
“Leaving aside the events that made the current monetary system possible, banknotes that are printed monopolistically (currency) by central banks have purchasing power and serve as a general medium of exchange (money) for billions of people around the world. Such currencies (paper money), with no backing and with no non-monetary use, make up the monetary base upon which the fractional reserve banking system relies; first, through their privileged backing by central banks as lenders of last resort and second, through the reserve multiplier, allowing commercial banks to provide loans (bank money) beyond their reserves. The new funds created and lent by commercial banks via mere accounting entries perform the same function as money and therefore increase the money supply.” (02/04/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/understanding-money-and-inflation-in-todays-world
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“A preview to this year’s congressional primary season kicks off, unusually, on Thursday. Former Rep. Mikie Sherrill won a landslide to become New Jersey’s governor last year, and a crowded primary to replace her in the state’s 11th Congressional District is being held tomorrow. It’s a light-blue district, but the winner of the 11-candidate Democratic primary is expected to easily prevail in the general election in early April. That’s brought a familiar face out of the shadows to help determine the outcome: AIPAC. Though some reports indicated that the pro-Israel PAC was pulling back on electoral spending, it has thrown down nearly $2.3 million in television ads through its subsidiary United Democracy Project (UDP), and $1.83 million more in direct mail and phone banks, to block former Rep. Tom Malinowski from winning the seat. As is typical for single-issue groups, the ads are 100 percent pretextual.” (02/04/25)
https://prospect.org/2026/02/04/2026-primaries-spending-aipac-analilia-mejia-tom-malinowski/
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Armed men have killed at least 35 people and burned homes and shops in Woro, a remote village in Nigeria’s north-central Kwara State, authorities said. … It was the deadliest assault this year in the district bordering Niger State, which armed gangs have attacked increasingly. Villagers fled into the surrounding bushland as the armed men attacked Woro, [lawmaker Sa’idu Baba] Ahmed told the Reuters news agency by phone. Several people were still missing, he said.” (02/04/26)
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Shoots Down Iranian Drone in Arabian Sea, Russia Says US Silent on New START, and More.” (02/04/26)
Source: The Dispatch
by Jonah Goldberg
“I should be clear that I do think the Biden family’s business dealings were corrupt, whether or not laws were broken. Others disagree. I also think Trump’s business dealings appear to be worse in many ways than even what Biden was alleged to have done. But none of that is relevant. The standard set by Trump and Republicans is the relevant political standard, and by the deputy attorney general’s own account, the Trump administration is doing ‘exactly the same thing,’ just more openly. Since when is being more transparent about wrongdoing a defense? Try telling a cop or judge: ‘Yes, I robbed that bank. I’ve been completely transparent about that. So, what’s the big deal?'” (02/04/26)
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Have you ever noticed that in the tug of war beteeen federal and state power, politicians of all stripes support the Constitution’s balance when it suits them and ignore it when it doesn’t?” (02/04/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/02/04/federal-election-takeover/
Source: The Atlantic
by Jonathan Lemire
“Anger about the scenes of unrest and violence amid ICE deportation operations in Minnesota? Well, the Trump administration has telegraphed that it would like to carry out a crackdown on Haitians in Ohio next. Concern about brandishing military force after the U.S. removed the leader of Venezuela and then threatened Greenland? Trump has sent an ‘armada’ of warships to the Persian Gulf to intimidate Iran. A sense that the president has lost focus on what got him elected as he takes on vanity projects such as the White House ballroom? Well, he’ll see you that and raise you both the Kennedy Center renovation and the construction of a giant arch that no one seems to want.” (02/04/26)