Quantum Vibe, 02/23/26
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser
Cartoon. (02/23/26)https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=2576
Author: Thomas L. Knapp
Kentucky Cities Need Limits, Not Just Balanced Budgets
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Mark Moses
“When your scope is ‘whatever serves the community interest,’ you’ve created a mandate for unlimited growth.” (02/23/26)
https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/limits-not-just-balanced-budgets/
The Mona Charen Show, 02/23/26
Source: The Bulwark
“We Handed the World to China (w/ Atul Gawande).” (02/23/26)
Who’s Afraid of AOC?
Source: The American Conservative
by Spencer Neale
“Watching Trump repeat his rolling critique of AOC, I wondered why he, Vance, and the broader conservative movement seem so driven to undermine her aspirations for higher office beyond mere partisan loyalty. The obvious answer is that AOC has made a career out of punching back against Trump and the ever-shifting brand that is MAGA conservatism, which recently is drifting daily toward a retrograde neoconservatism. … nothing the congresswoman said in Munich—not her stumble on Taiwan or tacit support for the war effort in Ukraine—was so disastrous as the Trump administration’s current, real-life intentions for Iran are, should a deal fail to materialize.” (02/23/26)
I plan to donate my organs — but I’ve taken my name off the registry
Source: Washington Post
by Etan Yeshua
“Perhaps it is appropriate to disempower a grieving family and uphold a patient’s decision to donate if we are confident we know the patient’s wishes; but a lone checkbox among many others in a DMV form hardly clarifies those wishes …. I removed my name from the donor registry, told my husband that I generally wish to donate and revised my advance directive (often called a living will, which describes one’s medical treatment preferences) to correct the power imbalance codified in the law: ‘I hereby revoke from any OPO (organ procurement organization) the authority to require organ procurement or extend my time on life support. I give my husband the authority to decide whether to make a gift of my organs and under what circumstances.'” (02/22/26)
Netherlands: King swears in new coalition regime led by youngest premier Rob Jetten
Source: ABC News
“Dutch King Willem-Alexander swore in a new minority Dutch coalition government Monday led by the Netherlands’ youngest-ever prime minister, who will have to use all his bridge-building skills to pass laws and see out a full four-year term in office. Rob Jetten, 38, heads a three-party administration made up of his centrist D66, the center-right Christian Democrats and the center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy. The parties together hold only 66 of the lower house of parliament’s 150 seats, so Jetten will have to negotiate with opposition lawmakers to find support for every piece of legislation his government wants to pass.” (02/23/26)
Pink Flame of Liberty, 02/22/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Hector Roos, the Libertarian Party Flim Flam Man.” (02/22/26)
The problem with “relative poverty”
Source: spiked
by Albie Amankona
“Working-class Brits face genuine hardship, but not the Dickensian destitution that the left seems to imagine.” (02/22/26)
UK: Mandelson arrested amid Epstein fallout
Source: Politico
“Former U.K. ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson was arrested Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office. In a statement a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: ‘Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office.’ … The force is probing claims that the senior British politician leaked internal government discussions to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in the wake of the 2008 financial crash. Emails released as part of the Epstein files in the United States appeared to show the then-business secretary forwarding on correspondence to Epstein, triggering fresh scrutiny of his relationship with the late, disgraced financier. He has not been charged with an offense. Under British law, police can hold a suspect for up to 24 hours before either applying for more time for questioning, charging that person with a crime or releasing them.” (02/23/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-peter-mandelson-arrested-amid-jeffrey-epstein-fallout
Ludwig von Mises on Economic Policy in Interwar Austria
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Richard M Ebeling
“Academic positions at universities in Austria, especially after the First World War, were few and far between. Mises’s well known classical-liberal, free-market views did not fit in the Vienna of his time, which was filled with socialist, Marxist, and nationalist ideas and ideologies. Furthermore, the fact that Mises came from a Jewish family meant that degrees of anti-Semitism also worked against him in various academic circles. While he did have the status of a privatdozent (an unsalaried lecturer) who could deliver a course each term at the University of Vienna with the title of Professor Extraordinary, it did not provide an income to live on. From 1909 to 1934 (except during the First World War when he served in the Austrian Army), Mises worked as an economic policy analyst and advisor to the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, Crafts, and Industry.” (02/23/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/ludwig-von-mises-on-economic-policy-in-interwar-austria/