“When President Trump’s Republican acolytes primaried long-time US Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) and defeated him in the most expensive Congressional primary race in history (about $30 million) in May, pundits offered their assumptions and agendas. The Trumpites said he wasn’t nice playing their ball game (I’m being diplomatic) and therefore deserved to be sidelined. They couldn’t abide a rogue Republican, even if he did vote with the president 92 percent of the time. Opposing the war in Iran was over the top. … I believe the American country-boy mystique is wrapped up in conquering things. Trump enjoys overwhelming support in rural America. Country folks like to fight. Hatfields and McCoys. President Obama and his wife Michelle planted a White House garden – nonchemical, by the way; fertilized with compost. President Trump hosts fighting on the lawn.” (10/05/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Christopher J Calton
“In 1958, most homeless people in Chicago were at least 50 years old, and only around 10 percent were under 35. Three decades later, nearly 40 percent of Chicago’s homeless were younger than 35 years old, and other cities showed similar patterns. The falling age of the homeless was alarming in the 1980s, but according to federal data, the problem is even worse now. Today, an astonishing 47 percent of homeless persons are under 35, and more than one-quarter are younger than 25. Substance abuse, on the other hand, may help explain part of the shift.” (10/05/26)
“More than 5,000 supporters of imprisoned former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan began a dayslong march toward Islamabad on Sunday to demand his release, after talks between the government and the opposition fell through. The looming showdown threatens to deepen Pakistan’s political uncertainty at a time when the country is also grappling with a surge in militant attacks. Khan is current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s main political rival and has been imprisoned since 2023 on corruption and other charges that he and his party say are politically motivated.” (10/05/26)
“When Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, most people looked at each other wondering what they had missed. Now, in 2026, two Nobel laureates in economics have produced an argument that ought to make us stroke our chins. Writing in Evonomics, George Akerlof and Robert Shiller argue for more regulation. Indeed, they write that they ‘wrote it for government officials, who undertake the usually thankless task of regulating business.’ They argue that markets create powerful incentives to take advantage of people—not necessarily because entrepreneurs are evil, but because businesspeople tend to exploit opportunities to profit from human weakness.” (10/05/26)
“Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed reiterated on Monday that his landlocked country must have access to the Red Sea, despite neighboring countries saying at a summit Sunday that responsibility for the sea rests with states along its shores and warning of the risk of regional conflict. Ethiopia lost direct access to the Red Sea in 1993 after Eritrea, formerly a region of Ethiopia, became independent. Abiy said access to the Red Sea was critical to Ethiopia’s ‘civilization’ and that he would work to ensure the country has a port. … Ethiopia’s relations with its regional neighbors have deteriorated in recent months. The country also faces renewed war with separatist rebels in the northern Tigray region.” (10/05/26)
“He called press freedom ‘the Palladium of Liberty.’ But when did it become more of a curse than a blessing? What were an editor’s ethical duties? Should libels be met with speech or the law?” (10/05/26)
“What is Mr. Trump thinking? It’s simply the wrong way to govern: Using the public purse to broadcast pro-yourself messages to the people. And is there any constituency — outside of Mr. Trump — for these television spots? One that would override the stench from misusing public resources in broad daylight on Fifth Avenue? The White House calls these ads public service announcements. The whole thing smacks of leader-worship. Plus, the messages are purely political. The timing seems awfully vote-solicitous: ‘Together we will defeat.'” (10/05/26)
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“Utility functions are observed in the form of choices. If negative utility is the level at which existence is worse than nonexistence, zero utility is the level below which a person, given the choice, would prefer not to exist. People have that choice; for many of us, suicide is not only possible but inexpensive: All it costs is our life. Following the principle of consumer sovereignty to its somewhat grisly conclusion, it seems natural to say that if a person, having access to means for killing himself, refrains from doing so, it must be because his utility for living is greater than for dying. Making allowance for costs such as pain, injury to others, and the price of the bullet, we have a definition of zero utility: A person’s utility is zero when he is indifferent between committing and not committing a costless suicide.” (10/05/26)
