Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Katrina Gulliver
“The lumber market in recent years has been a rollercoaster. For those operating logging businesses, or lumber yards and mills, or contractors and homeowners looking to replace a few planks on the deck, not knowing which way the market will shift has been stressful.” (09/12/25)
Source: Reuters
“Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro was convicted by a Supreme Court majority on Thursday of plotting a coup to remain in power after losing the 2022 election, a powerful blow to the populist far-right movement he created. The presumptive ruling by a majority of a panel of five justices in Brazil’s Supreme Court makes Bolsonaro the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted for attacking democracy. … The verdict was not unanimous, with Justice Luiz Fux on Wednesday breaking with his peers by acquitting the former president of all charges. That single vote could open a path to challenges to the ruling, potentially bringing the trial’s conclusion closer to the run-up of the 2026 presidential elections, in which Bolsonaro has repeatedly said he is a candidate despite being barred from running for office.” (09/11/25)
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by John Whitehead
“They said it was for safety. They said it was for order. They said it was for the good of the nation. They always say it’s for something good … until it isn’t. Nearly a quarter-century after 9/11, we are still living with the consequences of fear-driven government power grabs. What began as ‘temporary’ measures for our security have hardened into a permanent architecture of control. The bipartisan police-state architecture that began with 9/11 has been passed from president to president and party to party, each recycling the same justifications — safety, security, patriotism — to expand its powers at the expense of the citizenry.” (09/11/25)
Source: Reason
“Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch discuss the murder of Charlie Kirk and how political violence is reshaping the national climate.” (09/11/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/09/11/charlie-kirk-and-americas-history-with-political-violence/
Source: Bloomberg
“Applications for US unemployment benefits jumped last week to the highest level in almost four years, indicating layoff activity may be on the rise amid a sharp slowdown in hiring. Initial claims rose by 27,000 to 263,000 in the week ended Sept. 6, the highest since October 2021, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 235,000 applications. Thursday’s figures follow a monthly report on employment, published on Sept. 5, which showed the US added just 22,000 jobs in August, extending the sharp slowdown in job growth seen in recent months. Uncertainty surrounding President Donald Trump’s economic policies has made employers more hesitant to hire in 2025.” (09/11/25)
Source: Washington Post
by Shadi Hamid
“Tuesday’s strike was an odd but telling maneuver: kill the people you’re trying to negotiate with to prolong the war you say you’re trying to end. But it wasn’t the first time. In strikes on Tehran in June, Israel tried to assassinate Ali Shamkhani, the Iranian official overseeing nuclear talks with the Trump administration. … There is indeed a double standard at play, but not in the way that is often assumed. Israel is the only country in the Middle East that appears to have an unlimited right to defend itself, while simultaneously denying that right to others. It can act with impunity across international borders, violate sovereignty and disrupt diplomatic processes — consequences be damned. No other country in the region, or anywhere else, enjoys such latitude. This isn’t only about Israel, though. It’s about us — about America’s willingness to enable behavior that we would condemn from any other nation.” (09/11/25)
Source: CNN
“Peter Mandelson was fired as Britain’s ambassador to the United States on Thursday after his ties to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein became another unwelcome problem for the embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Mandelson had been under mounting pressure over his relationship with Epstein after US lawmakers on Monday released a ‘birthday book,’ compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, in which the veteran Labour party politician had penned a handwritten note describing Epstein as ‘my best pal.’ … Hours later, the scandal snowballed after Bloomberg published a trove of emails between Mandelson and Epstein, in which Mandelson expressed support for his friend and offered to discuss his infamous 2008 Florida case with his political contacts. … Mandelson – who now has been forced out of three senior government roles over separate scandals – for years batted away questions about his links to Epstein.” (09/11/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/11/uk/peter-mandelson-uk-ambassador-fired-intl
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“If the feds won’t eliminate patents and government research funding, they should at least eliminate any and all combinations of the two, rather than demanding their own taste of the racket’s revenues.” (09/11/25)
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
“California lawmakers passed measures Thursday that would ban federal and local law enforcement officers — including immigration agents — from covering their faces and require them to clearly identify themselves. The bills now head to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who, despite being an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, will have to grapple with potential legal questions presented by one of the measures.” (09/11/25)
https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/california-ban-ice-masks-21040999.php
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“With the murder of 31-year-old noted conservative advocate Charlie Kirk, it’s worth asking an important question: Is America great again yet? My answer: Far from it. In my book, Kirk’s killing demonstrates that America is still a very sick, dysfunctional nation. Not only are there periodic killings like this one, there are also mass killings. … And let’s not forget that we still live in a massive drug-addled society, one in which millions of Americans are ingesting drugs because, U.S. officials say, they are being ‘attacked’ by international drug dealers who, I guess, are somehow forcing them to ingest the drugs against their will.” (09/11/25)