“I’ve been suspicious of the Southern Poverty Law Center for some time. The SPLC, a nonprofit founded in 1971, was built to combat hate and discrimination. The mission sounds worthy enough. But then the group began publishing its annual ‘Year in Hate and Extremism’ report, identifying hundreds – sometimes more than 1,000 – ‘hate groups’ across the United States. In 2019, it labeled Alliance Defending Freedom, a prominent conservative legal organization, a ‘hate group.’ Calling a firm that focuses on First Amendment and religious liberty cases a hate group is like calling a defense attorney a criminal for representing the accused. For many conservatives, that was a bridge too far, and it eroded their trust in the SPLC. I thought I might have been onto something. It turns out the situation could be even more serious.” (04/23/26)
“Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders have cleared the way for CNN, HBO and Warner’s other media brands to join Paramount Skydance later this year. Shareholders ‘overwhelmingly’ voted in support of the takeover deal, WBD said after a pro forma special meeting took place on Thursday morning. The vote was anticlimactic, but still a crucial moment in the monthslong struggle for control of WBD, one of the biggest media companies in the world. Paramount, led by CEO David Ellison, now has to secure regulatory approval in the United States and other countries. But company executives are optimistic that they’ll be able to complete the deal in the third quarter of the year, meaning by the end of September.” (04/23/26)
“Mancur Olson’s The Rise and Decline of Nations doesn’t provide a particularly optimistic picture: once your nation has been stable for a while, and may even have risen to wealth, it becomes more and more vulnerable to ‘institutional sclerosis.’ This happens because small groups are better able to overcome free-riding, resulting in their ability to effectively skew the system towards their own interests. As more and more of these groups emerge, survive and are able to reap their rents—protected from that competition which makes for general progress and growth—the overall system deteriorates. If you take Olson’s work to its logical conclusion, a very effective cure for economic stagnation is a catastrophic war. That is obviously not a desirable solution. But Olson was pointing to a real issue: the longer a society remains stable, the more it gets choked by special interest groups.” (04/23/26)
“[W]hat are Republicans to do? They try blaming Joe Biden, but the public does not buy that he is still responsible for the economy. They try preconditioning the electorate to dispute the 2026 election with specious fraud claims, but have found none: courts have slapped down demands for voter rolls (a scheme to purge voters), and a blue wave would make fraud claims entirely unbelievable. They try labeling the affordability crisis a ‘hoax,’ which only further enrages voters. They try to distract voters from serial failures with mean-spirited attacks on trans Americans, but the vast majority of voters do not put that on the list of their top concerns. … In sum, Republicans are rarely asked what they have done to deserve re-election.” (04/23/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mike Salem
“As London heads toward local elections on May 7, voters will hear plenty about housing, crime and the cost of living. But on the streets, literally underfoot, a smaller, more visible issue is shaping perceptions of how well the city is run: the explosion of dockless e-bikes. What should have been a triumph of consumer choice and green innovation has instead become a daily frustration. Across the capital, rental bikes are left sprawled across pavements, obstructing pedestrians and provoking growing public irritation. For many, this looks like a failure of the market. In reality, it is the opposite.” (04/23/26)
“Waymo cars are currently being tested in driverless mode in London and UK cities, and prepared for passenger use later this year. Waymo has started letting its software take the wheel on London streets, with trained specialists on standby as it gradually accelerates toward a fully driverless ride-hailing launch. It is aiming for a commercial launch in London by autumn 2026, which would make it the company’s first operational city outside the United States. Road safety is arguably the most significant potential benefit. Waymo’s technology has been involved in five times fewer injury-causing collisions, and twelve times fewer injury-causing collisions with pedestrians compared to human drivers in US deployments. … One of the most compelling and less-discussed benefits is for people who cannot drive.” (04/23/26)
“A woman living in a Russian-controlled part of southern Ukraine has been found guilty of treason and sentenced to 14 years in prison for buying war bonds to support the Ukrainian military, the court that convicted her said on Thursday. The Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia District Court said the woman had used a Ukrainian mobile app to purchase bonds worth 270,080 roubles ($3,600), and had been caught by the FSB security service. It identified her only by the initial B, and said she was a Russian citizen. People living in parts of Ukraine that Russian forces have captured in more than four years of war have effectively been forced to take Russian citizenship if they want to retain access to healthcare, pensions and property rights.” (04/23/26)
