Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“There are two quite different models of why democracy works held by people who think it does. One is a model of incentives, one of selection. The incentive version relies on the fact that politicians want to get elected and reelected. To get elected they have to support the policies that a majority of the voters want; to get elected again, they have to actually work for those policies. … The selection model relies on the facts that people differ and that we have some ability to tell what other people are like.” (09/26/26)
“Hundreds of thousands of people packed Paris'[s] iconic Champs-Élysées Avenue for Pope Leo XIV’s big outdoor Mass on Saturday, a sign of the Catholic Church’s enduring appeal in the once staunchly Catholic but officially secular country. The Vatican estimated that 800,000 people came out for the Mass — more than the 600,000 who had registered in advance. The stunning turnout testified to the church’s enduring influence in France, despite sharp declines in churchgoing in recent decades and secularizing trends that have emptied churches around Europe.” (09/26/26)
“A year after launching his explosive antidrug campaign, President Donald Trump routinely rains death on alleged cocaine couriers.” (for publication 11/26)
“The entire AI craziness is, we believe, directly tied to the entire Data Center controversy. Whether the opposition to massive data centers is being pushed (or at least triggered) by the CCP (or Russia, or the Iranians, or ‘just’ Soros and Bill Gates) or is the latest tactic by the Woke, environists, and Luddites, it is clearly now a significant issue in thousands of communities. As well as an incredible display of cognitive or mental dissonance. You use AI, you use your smart phone, you spend all your time on social media and streaming movies and television series, but you are totally against the infrastructure and consumption of power and water necessary to furnish you those wonderful things. Of course, this is again (as with so many things) not new.” (09/25/26)
“Misael Ramos, an Austin City Council candidate running to represent District 1 in East Austin, was released from the Travis County Jail on Saturday evening after state troopers arrested him earlier in the day. … Jeffrey Clemmons, Ramos'[s] campaign manager, said two of Ramos’ neighbors saw him being detained by several state troopers, including officers in unmarked vehicles, while Ramos was walking his dog around 8:50 a.m. Saturday. Clemmons said the officers never showed Ramos a warrant for his arrest. … Travis County Sheriff’s Office records show that Ramos was booked into Travis County Central Booking at 9:31 a.m. Saturday on a charge of participating in a riot, a Class B misdemeanor.” [editor’s note: The “riot” was a protest over the ICE gang’s attempted murder of a DoorDash driver – TLK] (09/26/26)
“As incredible as it seems, many people today haven’t thought at all about food production, any more than driving gives us consciousness of car factories or wearing clothes makes us aware of cotton fields and robotic looms. When asked, people just assume food as we know it comes from some factory out there somewhere and who cares anyway? … an entire way of life – a way toward health, well-being, and happiness – has been stolen from us. Not neglected, not outcompeted, but literally forced out of existence. This happened not by market forces as such, not by some impersonal mind of history, but by a labyrinth of regulations, mandates, taxes, controls, subsidies, and monopoly-creating controls, all conspiring to keep the way of life of our ancestors from returning.” (09/26/26)
“Protesters outraged by the eviction of an 87-year-old woman spent the night camped in Madrid’s historic Puerta del Sol plaza, where more people — including multigenerational families — joined them Sunday for a second day of demonstrations over Spain’s housing crisis. Tens of thousands of people marched in Madrid on Saturday to protest the eviction of María del Carmen Abascal from an apartment in the upscale Retiro neighborhood which had been her home for decades. Protesters are demanding protective measures for tenants, anti-fraud rules and a ban on evictions without alternative housing.” (09/27/26)
