“We expect increasing costs in government ‘charity,’ in part because governments centralize and standardize methods, discouraging innovation and adaptation. It’s not a market. Government bureaucrats and operatives try to coordinate increasing staffs (along with market costs in housing, etc.) while necessarily dealing with clients as objects of pity and bother rather than, as in markets (where people exchange valuable goods), subjects whose responses immediately affect the ‘business’ at hand.” (03/24/26)
“Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi asked International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol for an additional coordinated release of oil stockpiles when they met on Wednesday, as Tokyo seeks to hedge against a prolonged Middle East conflict. After agreeing to release a record amount of oil stockpiles in coordination with the IEA to cover for the Middle East supply loss, Takaichi on Tuesday said Japan would also open up joint oil stockpiles co-owned by producing nations in the country. … There are 45 Japan-related ships that are still stranded in the Gulf as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, said Hitoshi Nagasawa, chairman of the Japan Shipowners’ Association and also head of Japan’s NYK Group, one of the world’s largest shipping companies, on Wednesday.” (03/25/26)
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Zoe Armbruster
“Across the United States, teenagers freely express themselves online. But that freedom is rapidly being restricted, and make no mistake: this doesn’t just end with teens. What is often portrayed as a youth mental health issue is really a battle for everyone’s online speech rights.” (03/24/26)
“British police arrested two men on Wednesday in connection with an arson attack on four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity, which authorities are investigating as an antisemitic hate crime. The Metropolitan Police said the two men, aged 45 and 47, were arrested in London on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and both men have been taken to a police station in the city for questioning.” (03/25/26)
“Israel has not prosecuted its citizens for killing Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank since the start of this decade, a Guardian analysis of legal data and public records show, creating impunity for a campaign of violence. Attacks have spurred former prime minister Ehud Olmert to call for an intervention by the international criminal court (ICC), to ‘save the Palestinians and us [Israelis]’ from state-backed [squatter] violence, carried out with the complicity and sometimes participation of the police and military. ‘I have decided not only to not remain silent, but to draw the attention of the ICC in The Hague so that it may take enforcement measures and issue arrest warrants,’ Olmert said in written comments to the Guardian. Dozens of former Israeli security commanders have demanded urgent action to stop ‘almost daily’ attacks on Palestinians.” (03/25/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullin
“Every year around the anniversary of the publication of The Wealth of Nations (1776), economists and commentators repeat a familiar story: Adam Smith — the Scottish moral philosopher — is celebrated as the father, or even the inventor, of economics. In this telling, Smith stands at the beginning of a scientific tradition, single-handedly discovering the principles of the market economy and the virtues of free trade. But this story is less history than myth.” (03/24/26)
Source: International Guild of Professional Anarchists
by Alexander Snitker
“Donald Trump’s latest outbursts, taunts, and diplomatic clown shows don’t just prove he’s unfit for the office. They prove the office itself is too dangerous to exist.” (03/24/26)
