Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman

“Having observed undergraduate education as an undergraduate, as a professor and as a parent visiting schools, I have some thoughts on the subject.” (03/11/26)

https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/colleges

Source: Quillette
by Megan Gafford

“Why art and science serve different ends.” (03/12/26)

https://quillette.com/2026/03/12/on-truth-and-beauty-art-science/

Source: Mother Jones
by David Corn

“War is an extreme action and, thus, triggers extreme reactions. Including extreme stupidity. It’s always disheartening — or ought to be — to see what should be a last resort comes to pass. It’s worse when a war is accompanied by cruelty, callousness, recklessness, and idiocy, though for obvious reasons that might be unavoidable. As for Trump’s war in Iran — which could well be an immense blunder — it has been enveloped in layers of excessive dumbness. I’m not talking about the strategic wisdom — or lack thereof — of this attack, which could precipitate calamities throughout the region and beyond. Or the madness of impulsively launching such a war without planning for what comes afterward. I’m referring to how it has prompted imbecility among its supporters, including at the White House.” (03/11/26)

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/iran-war-trump-hegseth-graham-white-house-dumb-twitter/

Source: Hoover Institution
by David R Henderson

“The riches of Adam Smith’s economics masterwork are still ours.” (03/11/26)

https://www.hoover.org/research/celebrate-wealth-nations

Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson

“The argument that capitalists are needed to provide workers with means of production, and profit is their reward for doing so, is nonsense. All capitalists have are paper or digital claims on the right to allocate means of production or material resources. All of the actual material resources — means of production and raw materials — are entirely the product of labor acting on free gifts of nature. The entire point at issue is the legitimacy of the process by which capitalists happen to be in possession of those paper or digital claims, and how workers come to be dependent on those claims.” (03/11/26)

https://c4ss.org/content/61050

Source: The Bulwark
by Cathy Young

“At first glance, the latest Trumpian weirdness seems almost endearingly harmless: The Wall Street Journal reports that late last year, Trump developed a passion for black Florsheim Oxford shoes and started giving them as gifts. ‘All the boys have them,’ according to a female White House official. … if you read the Journal story closely, it starts to look more like a case of “beware of Trump bearing gifts.” For one, the gift shoes are not universally welcome — but recipients are reportedly ‘afraid not to wear them,’ especially since Trump badgers them with ‘Did you get the shoes?’ nudges at cabinet meetings. Some of the disgruntled recipients have issues with the downscale, non-designer brand. But also, it looks like many of the shoes just don’t fit …” (03/12/26)

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/if-the-shoe-fits-trump-cabinet-rubio-florsheim-wingtips