“President Trump named William Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to serve as the acting head of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. In tapping Pulte, Trump turns to an ally who has been behind referring several of his foes for prosecution for alleged mortgage fraud. Pulte would replace Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned last month.” (06/02/26)
“Consider the markets for fresh vegetables and instant noodles. Assume that fresh vegetables are a normal good, while instant noodles are an inferior good. Suppose Congress bans a commonly used fertilizer and pest-control chemical in vegetable farming. Without this input, vegetable yields fall and there is increased spoilage from pest damage.” (06/02/26)
“While Hamas has previously stated, on numerous occasions, that it would lay down its weapons in exchange for the creation of a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders, Israel has repeatedly rejected such an offer. In fact, the IDF has pushed deeper into Gaza since the ceasefire was signed and now occupies 60% of the strip instead of the 53% that was originally agreed on. By refusing to consider Hamas’s core demand, a mutually respected long term peace deal becomes difficult to envision.” (06/02/26)
“The conservative influencers have spoken: Harley-Davidson — whose motorcycles helped create the paradigm of American masculinity — is in fact woke and gay. The past week has seen wave after wave of MAGA personalities and meme accounts decide, seemingly out of nowhere, that Harley-Davidson was company non grata. MAGA influencer Priya Patel declared the manufacturer ‘fundamentally anti-American,’ while Hercules actor-turned-tweeter Kevin Sorbo said his friends were abandoning Harley-Davidson en masse. Conservative meme account ‘Prison Mitch’ told his more than 100,000 followers that Harley-Davidson is ‘woke and gay’ then posted a picture of a man in a biker’s vest having gay sex (jarring but basically SFW), quipping that Harley-Davidson riders rode a very different kind of ‘hog.'” (06/01/26)
“Poland wants to ban under-16s from using mobile phones in schools from September 1 and plans to introduce stricter age verification rules to access pornography, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday. Countries including the Netherlands, South Korea and Italy have banned smartphones in schools due to [feigned and/or irrational] concerns over their impact on concentration and behaviour. Others have banned – or are considering banning – children’s access to social media. The proposed bill would ban children aged 7-15 from using phones on school premises, including breaks between classes, and give schools legal bases for creating deposits to store phones.” (06/02/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“In the natural rights tradition, the rights to life, liberty, and property are inherent and inalienable. They are not “created” by the Constitution but are recognized and protected by it. It means each and every individual has these rights even if the law might deprive them of their rights. Justice Thomas explains how he learned this from his grandparents, who raised him, in Savannah, Georgia …. Justice Thomas was right to say that equality in this sense is a universal ideal, but he went astray when he attempted to ground this ideal in the Declaration of Independence.” (06/02/26)
