“The death toll from a crackdown over Iran’s nationwide protests last month has reached at least 7,002 people killed with many more still feared dead, activists said Thursday. The rise in the number of dead from the demonstrations adds to the overall tensions facing Iran both inside the country and abroad as it tries to negotiate with the United States over its nuclear program. A second round of talks remains up in the air as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed his case directly with U.S. President Donald Trump to intensify his demands on Tehran in the negotiations.” (02/12/26)
“In recent years, the Arctic has returned to the center of public attention: the renewed interest in Greenland, the progressive opening of maritime routes due to ice melt, and the claims over areas like the Svalbard archipelago are clear signals that Arctic policy will remain in the public eye. … These profound developments in the Arctic, evident in the renewed scramble for resources and strategic positioning, are naturally subject to a plurality of interpretations. Analysts might foreground military superpower competition, climate security, international legal disputes, or economic opportunity. I propose applying a theoretical lens often overlooked in public debate: Harold Demsetz’s theory of property rights.” (02/12/26)
“The Justice Department is coming under intense scrutiny from members of Congress in both parties for allegedly cataloguing the search history of lawmakers who have gone to review the unredacted Epstein files. … Bondi was photographed at a testy House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday with notes that showed a ‘search history’ for Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) referencing specific Epstein files. Jayapal was one of several Judiciary Committee members who went this week to go through the unredacted files, which have been made available to lawmakers on terminals at the DOJ’s headquarters. … Democrats told Axios on Thursday that they are eyeing a wide array of responses. ‘I think we are within our right to pursue legal action,’ Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) told Axios. An official for one outside advocacy group confirmed they are ‘definitely exploring’ legal recourse in coordination with members.” (02/12/26)
“Once again, President Trump is steering the U.S. toward a perilous and unnecessary confrontation with Iran. In January, Trump threatened to topple the Iranian regime for violently crushing protests. Now, as U.S. forces amass in the Middle East, his rationale for pressuring Iran has shifted. Trump is demanding new concessions from the regime, including caps on Iran’s missile program and the total removal of enriched uranium from the country. He is also threatening consequences ‘far worse’ than last June’s Operation Midnight Hammer. The president’s ultimate goals in the region remain unclear, as are the military measures he might adopt, which could include airstrikes, a naval blockade, or even regime change. The risks of escalation are grave, with each side poised to misjudge the other’s determination.” (02/12/26)
“Rich, Lori, and Riley discuss the open secret of racism during the SuperBowl halftime show, does saying bigoted things make you a bigot, who should prevent trans people from transitioning and when should they do it, how much freedom should children really have.” (02/12/26)
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“In my earlier post I observed that the organizational costs of hierarchical coordination become larger as the size of the firm, the number of people being coordinated, increased. It occurred to me when I was writing it that there was also a pattern to the transaction costs of market coordination, that they decreased as the size of the market, the number of alternative sellers or buyers of the good being produced, increases. I did not have my thoughts on that subject well enough worked out at that point to include them in the post, hence this postscript.” (02/12/26)
“Gov. Tim Walz says he’s cautiously optimistic about the Trump administration announcing an end to the ICE [gang occupation of] Minnesota but is demanding the federal government take accountability for what happened during the surge, including ‘the incredible and immense costs.’ President Trump’s Border Czar, Tom Homan, announced Thursday morning that the surge would end. [Gang members] have already started leaving the state, but the drawdown will continue through next week. Homan cited several factors in ending the drawdown but primarily continued cooperation with local authorities. … Walz says the first thing he is focused on is economic recovery from the [occupation]. The topic of Thursday’s press conference was originally a budget proposal to help businesses impacted by the ICE [rioting]. Along with that proposal, Gov. Walz is pushing federal leaders to pay for ‘what they broke.'” (02/12/26)
“A highly classified whistleblower complaint against Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard stems from an intercepted conversation between two foreign nationals that referenced President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner and, in part, Iran, according to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. The intercept, collected by a foreign intelligence service and shared with the United States, became a flashpoint inside the intelligence community after questions arose over how widely the report was distributed. The whistleblower alleged that Gabbard limited access to the intelligence and delayed broader dissemination within spy agencies and to Congress. … News of the complaint and its apparent stagnant status due to national security concerns raised further concerns that Gabbard had been blocking a thorough investigation into whatever claims were in the document.” (02/12/26)
“Every aggressor would prefer that the other side yields everything without a fight, so it doesn’t mean anything when the president says that a deal is his ‘preference.’ No doubt he would also prefer that Denmark hands over Greenland without any resistance. Trump’s preference, as always, is for the domination and the humiliation of other nations. That is why his ‘good deal’ is a laundry list of things Iran will never accept. It is no accident that his diplomatic track record is extremely poor. Other governments have no interest in accepting Trump’s demands for their surrender. The president’s insistence on a ‘good deal’ is bad news for the U.S. and Iran.” (02/12/26)
