“The logic of the war at present offers a stark choice: either expand the mission to regime change — which will entail the use of large numbers of ground troops for an extended period of time — or else pocket the tactical gains achieved today and pursue an off-ramp. In light of the costs and with the war’s stated goals secure, Trump should work to end the conflict and reestablish the stable flow of oil and natural gas onto world markets, shoring up the U.S. and global economies. Caution is called for: However hard the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program were, talks to end the war are likely to be harder. Both sides will need to ignore things they want, stop doing things they want to keep doing, and restrain potential spoilers.” (03/24/26)
“The chief district judge in New Jersey appointed Robert Frazer, a career prosecutor, to serve as US attorney for the state, ending for now a dispute over the legality of the office’s leadership that threatened to derail criminal investigations. Frazer is a longtime prosecutor who has worked on violent crime and gang organized crime cases, and most recently served as senior trial counsel. … Federal Judge Matthew Brann ruled last summer that Habba was illegally appointed as the acting US attorney in the District of New Jersey. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that decision. Bondi later appointed a trio of attorneys to split Habba’s role: Philip Lamparello, Jordan Fox and Ari Fontecchio. Earlier this month, Brann found Bondi didn’t have the ability to create an alternative leadership structure in that way.” (03/23/26)
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“When I first published my interpretation of the implications of Coase’s article ‘The Problem of Social Cost,’ Coase was a colleague of mine at the University of Chicago Law School. His comment on the piece was that one never understands one’s ideas until someone else explains them to you. I suspected at the time that the comment was intended to be gently critical of my interpretation, only worked out more precisely why many years later, rereading the body of his work in the process of writing a review of his final book. Coase thought of the article primarily as a critique of modern economics. Since I was an economist with a position in a law school I read it for its implications for constructing legal systems. This is an account of his ideas from my point of view, not necessarily his.” (03/23/26)
“How much would it cost to bribe a Daily Caller writer for positive coverage? It could be cheaper than you think. According to a newly unearthed ledger kept by a Washington lobbyist who tracked his payments to conservative bloggers, it took only $500 to buy a story in the publication, which was one of a handful caught in the latest payola scandal. And though the story appeared under the byline of the Caller’s managing editor, prosecutors who unearthed the ledger say it was actually ghostwritten by the company that effectively bought the coverage. The spreadsheet listing these transactions was seized by the FBI as part of a 2020 investigation into a fraudulent cryptocurrency promoted by infamous Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.” (03/24/26)
“War allows governments to increase spending, taxes, and regulations in order to feed the war machine. Wars can justify measures that remain in place long after the wars end. An example of this is income tax withholding that was created to fund World War Two. The use of war as a justification for increased interference in the market is reason enough for libertarians to oppose war. However, war also enables the government to violate liberty.” (03/23/26)
“RISAA attempts to limit the use of Section 702 for purely domestic criminal investigations by prohibiting queries conducted solely to find evidence of a crime unrelated to foreign intelligence or national security. That constraint, however, is narrower than it may appear. RISAA does not impose a warrant requirement for U.S. person queries, and it allows queries to proceed where a foreign intelligence or national security nexus can be asserted. In practice, queries are almost never characterized as being conducted solely for evidence-of-a-crime purposes. This dynamic is at the center of the warrant requirement debate.” (03/24/26)
“European consumer group Euroconsumers along with Football Supporters Europe have filed a complaint with the European Commission accusing FIFA of abusing its monopoly over World Cup ticket sales to impose excessive prices and unfair conditions on fans. The complaint, obtained by POLITICO, alleges breaches of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which prohibits abuses of a dominant market position. … The groups point to a range of alleged abusive practices, including limited transparency on ticket categories and seat allocation, a ‘variable pricing’ system that can push prices higher over time, and the actual scarcity of tickets advertised from $60.” (03/24/26)
