“Free immigration would appear to be in a different category from other policy decisions, in that its consequences permanently and radically alter the very composition of the democratic political body that makes those decisions. In fact, the liberal order, where and to the degree that it exists, is the product of a highly complex cultural development. One wonders, for instance, what would become of the liberal society of Switzerland under a regime of ‘open borders.’ Mises’s embrace of the economic benefits offered by free migration … is offset according to Raico by the political threat that migrants supposedly pose due to the illiberal cultures of their countries of origin. … Mises makes a crucially important point that Raico failed to acknowledge, namely that immigrants are not mindless puppets of the culture of their country of origin.” (02/25/26)
“The vast trove of documents released by the Justice Department from its investigations into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein failed to include some key materials related to a woman who made an accusation against President Trump, according to a review by The New York Times. The materials are F.B.I. memos summarizing interviews the bureau did in connection to claims made in 2019 by a woman who came forward after Mr. Epstein’s arrest to say she had been sexually assaulted by both Mr. Trump and the financier decades earlier, when she was a minor. The existence of the memos was revealed in an index listing the investigative materials …. According to that index, the F.B.I. conducted four interviews in connection with her claims and wrote summaries about each one. But only one summary of the four interviews, which describes her accusations against Mr. Epstein, was released by the Justice Department. The other three are missing.” (02/25/26)
“Plenty of reputable people have asked the question of what the effective tariff rate is, who actually pays the tariffs, and how many jobs will be created or lost. This is important to the work of gathering (further) evidence of the destructive effects of tariffs. But the decades of empirical, historical, and theoretical work on this front fail to capture the real cost of tariffs. It won’t show up in any BLS report, BEA release, or any other economic report one can imagine. The real cost is the destruction of trust on the world stage.” (02/25/26)
“A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed in the course of their work in 2025, two-thirds of them by Israeli forces, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). It was the second consecutive year in which killings of members of the press reached unprecedented levels, and the second year running in which Israel was responsible for roughly two-thirds of the total, the New York-based independent organisation, which documents attacks on journalists worldwide, said in its annual report published on Wednesday. … Israel was responsible for 81% of the 47 killings that the CPJ classified as intentionally targeted, or ‘murder.’ It said the actual figure was probably higher, owing to access restrictions that made verification difficult in Gaza.” (02/25/26)
“It feels like the world, and America specifically, is becoming an authoritarian dystopia. More rules, harsher punishment, more surveillance; all leading to less liberty. What disturbs me the most is how many people seem to think this is fine. Or actively demand it because they fear or hate other people or what other people might do. Government is always willing to violate your rights and will oblige when asked to do so. Too many people will trade liberty for a false promise of safety — a hope for something government power can never provide. As long as they believe ‘other people’ are getting it worse than they are, they’re fine with the police state being built around them. They seem genuinely shocked when it is inevitably used against them and their rights.” (02/25/26)
“The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled against a private prison company facing a lawsuit alleging immigration [abductees] were forced to work and paid only $1 a day in Colorado. The unanimous ruling is a procedural defeat for the GEO Group, but it’s not a final decision. The company is fighting a lawsuit from 2014 alleging detainees in Aurora had to perform unpaid janitorial work and other jobs for little pay to supplement meager meals. GEO defended its practices and argued that the case should be tossed out because it’s immune from lawsuits as a government contractor. After a judge disagreed, the company asked the Supreme Court to allow it to quickly appeal the ruling. But the justices refused.” (02/25/26)
“The old Soviet Union strictly controlled photocopiers, because they empowered individuals to share ideas that challenged state control. The restrictions ultimately broke down under the weight of mass defiance as people took advantage of every opportunity to distribute that which was forbidden by the government. Now, politicians in several states are channeling totalitarian policies of the past, this time with their eyes on 3D printers that can manufacture gun parts. Their intrusive rules are likely to suffer the same humiliating fate.” (02/25/26)
“Iceland will hold a referendum ‘in the coming months’ on restarting European Union accession talks, Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir said on Wednesday during a visit to Poland. Reykjavik abandoned EU membership talks in 2013 after four years of negotiations, but a rise in the cost of living and the war in Ukraine have helped rekindle the island nation’s interest in joining the bloc, opinion polls have shown. Repeated threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to annex Greenland, which is located between Iceland and the United States, have also made the question of EU membership more pressing for Iceland, which is home to almost 400,000 people. … Iceland’s centre-left government, which came to power after a snap election in 2024, had promised to hold a referendum no later than next year on restarting talks with the EU.” (02/25/26)
“he Venezuelan dictatorship’s release of some political prisoners and its passage of what it calls a general amnesty law no doubt represent moves in the right direction. But the amnesty is only partial, leaving in place the Chavistas’ entire apparatus of repression and showing, contrary to President Trump’s claims, that the regime remains very much in control of the country.” (02/25/26)
