The Kyle Anzalone Show, 05/11/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Kyle Anzalone
“Richard Medhurst: Trump Turned the American Empire Into a Pirate State.” (05/11/26)
Author: Thomas L. Knapp
Remembering and Rebuking the Covid Regime
Source: Independent Institute
by Phillip W Magness
“Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee’s In Covid’s Wake amply documents the consequences of pandemic-era policy and its destructive implications for public health.” (05/11/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/05/11/remembering-and-rebuking-the-covid-regime/
Report: UAE secretly launched strikes on Iran, attacked oil refinery
Source: Times of Israel [Jerusalem]
“The United Arab Emirates carried out military strikes on Iran, making it the only other country to join the United States and Israel in their war against the Islamic Republic, according to a Monday report. The strikes, which the UAE has not publicly acknowledged, included an attack on a refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island in the Persian Gulf, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The attack took place in early April, according to the report, which said it was around the time US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire, but did not specify if it was before or after the declaration. Iran acknowledged at the time that the site had been attacked by an unspecified enemy, then responded by firing missiles and drones at the UAE and Kuwait, the Journal noted.” (05/12/26)
Are We all Libertarian-Adjacent Now?
Source: Chris’s Substack
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
“[O]ne implication of [Matt] Zwolinski’s work is that there is no single, coherent libertarian project to speak of, that libertarianism is a Big Tent, which includes many, sometimes conflicting projects offering substantially different interpretations of the world and starkly different proposals on how to identify and resolve the social problems they encounter. How adjacent these proposals are to libertarianism is a key issue here because when the definition or even description of a term becomes so fluid that it encompasses virtually everything, it ultimately signifies nothing. This isn’t about asking those in libertarian and adjacent spaces to hand in their club cards. It’s a question of how ‘adjacency’ can morph into ideological complicity and outright support for the very power structures that most libertarians have sought to dismantle.” (05/11/26)
https://chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com/p/are-we-all-libertarian-adjacent-now
Reason Roundtable, 05/11/26
Source: Reason
“Gavin Newsom’s Free Diaper Disaster.” (05/11/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/05/11/gavin-newsoms-free-diaper-disaster/
Trump says he aims to suspend gas tax “for a period of time”
Source: CBS News
“President Trump said in a phone interview with CBS News Monday morning that he aims to suspend the federal gas tax ‘for a period of time.’ … Gas prices have soared over 50% since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28, hitting a high of over $4.52 on Sunday, according to AAA. … suspending the excise taxes — 18.4 cents per gallon on gas and 24.4 cents a gallon on diesel — requires an act of Congress, and pausing it would cost [sic] the federal government about a half billion dollars a week. Following the president’s comments, Reublican Sen. Josh Hawley said Monday that he would introduce legislation to suspend the federal gas tax. And GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida also said she plans to introduce a bill in the House …” [editor’s note: Not stealing that money doesn’t “cost” the goverment anything, any more than not mugging someone “costs” the mugger the contents of the prospective victim’s wallet – TLK] (05/11/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-interview-suspending-gas-tax-iran-war/
An Ode to Low-Skilled Workers
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“Social Desirability Bias aside, ‘Low-skilled workers are terrible’ is absolute lunacy. Most obviously, we’d starve without low-skilled workers, because they grow almost all of our food. The vast majority of construction and infrastructure workers lack college degrees, and without them, we’d be living in tents. If we’re lucky, because tents are made by low-skilled workers, too. … if the economy had to lose either Jeff Bezos or his driver, we’d be better off with Bezos. But the economy is, fortunately, not a Trolley Problem. We almost never choose between Bezos and his driver, or between any high-skilled worker and any low-skilled worker.” (05/11/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/an-ode-to-low-skilled-workers-version
Ukraine: Officials name Zelenskyy’s ex-chief of staff as suspect in money-laundering probe
Source: The Hill
“Two national agencies fighting corruption in Ukraine have named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s former chief of staff as an official suspect in a major graft investigation. Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office announced late Monday that Andriy Yermak is suspected in an alleged 460-million-hryvnia ($10.5 million) money-laundering scheme. Investigators said in an announcement on the Telegram messaging app that the investigation is ongoing. The move is a step short of formally charging Yermak, who resigned in November.” (05/12/26)
Trump’s “Unacceptable” Answer
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“The president curtly rejected another Iranian proposal yesterday: ‘President Trump on Sunday rejected the latest offer from Iran to end the war with the United States, declaring that it was ‘TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.” As many observers now acknowledge, the U.S. has lost the war. Trump cannot bring himself to accept that he is responsible for that defeat. He appears to have believed that he could win a great victory over Iran in a matter of days, and he can’t cope with the reality of his monumental failure. … the U.S. should jump at the chance to extricate itself from the mess it has created before the damage to the global economy gets far worse. It may not exactly be a return to the status quo ante, but that option isn’t available. This is probably as good of an offer as the U.S. is likely to get.” (05/11/26)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/trumps-unacceptable-answer
SCOTUS temporarily maintains block on order banning mifepristone by mail
Source: NBC News
“The Supreme Court on Monday maintained full access to the abortion pill mifepristone while it continues to mull how to rule in a case that could limit availability of the drug. The court on May 4, via an order issued by Justice Samuel Alito, had provisionally blocked a lower court decision that would have prevented the pill from being administered by mail. Alito on Monday extended the pause until 5 p.m. on Thursday, giving the court another three days to consider its next steps.” (05/11/26)