Source: Reason
by Eric Boehm

“An uncanny strength of the second Trump administration has been its ability to be involved in so many scandals that no single one seems to become a dominant story. Take the most recent allegations about Alina Habba, Trump’s former personal defense attorney, who recently landed a plush gig working for Julio Herrera Velutini, a Venezuelan banker. Habba will get $50 million over five years to do unspecified work for a company that barely exists, according to The New York Times, while Herrera got a presidential pardon for a 2025 campaign finance charge. That’s just a typical day for the current White House, where the mingling of personal and public business has become routine.” (10/22/26)

https://reason.com/2026/10/22/the-swamp-king/

Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger

“According to election polls, Democrats are fairly certain to take control over the U.S. House of Representatives. There is now also the possibility that they could take control over the U.S. Senate. Realizing the danger he faces of losing control over Congress, President Trump is barnstorming the country, doing his best to rally his MAGA supporters to go to the polls and vote. But a question naturally arises: If Trump becomes certain that he faces defeat next month, will he switch directions and simply suspend the midterm elections? After all, one cannot lose an election if no election is held.” (10/22/26)

https://www.fff.org/2026/10/22/will-trump-suspend-the-midterm-elections/

Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan

“After leading with the theory of perfect competition, economics textbooks standardly add a ‘corrective’ chapter on the evils of monopoly. While they occasionally mention government-created monopoly, the focus is almost always on the harm of free-market monopoly, and the necessity of antitrust laws to combat such monopoly. A free-market monopoly is a business that manages to control a whole industry, and uses its control to slash output and raise prices. Later textbook chapters move on to markets with varying degrees of ‘monopoly power’ – and broadly conclude that as monopoly power goes up, market performance goes down. The moral: Free markets are only optimal in an extreme polar case. The further the real world strays from that case, the more suboptimal they become – and the more regulation improves the free-market outcome. Murray Rothbard rejects this picture, using three different sets of arguments.” (10/22/26)

https://www.betonit.ai/p/repairing-rothbardian-monopoly-theory

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Joseph Solis-Mullen

“American farmers are in crisis, facing rising costs, disrupted export markets, and mounting financial pressure. While farming has always faced unavoidable challenges, such as weather, pests, and the vagaries of demand, the present problems are entirely of Washington’s making. The Trump administration’s tariffs have damaged critical trading relations, and its war against Iran has disrupted energy and fertilizer trade through the Strait of Hormuz. Washington’s response to beleaguered American agricultural interests has been billions of dollars in emergency aid and promises that future trade deals will deliver additional relief. It is a familiar cycle: Washington creates new risks for American producers, taxpayers absorb part of the resulting losses, and the underlying policies remain in place. Farmers receive temporary assistance but are left to navigate the same uncertain markets and elevated costs that made the assistance necessary.” (0/22/26)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/farmers-iran-war/