The Science of Politics, 02/18/26
Source: Niskanen Center
“Legislators are raising money instead of making policy.” (02/18/26)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/legislators-are-raising-money-instead-of-making-policy
Author: Thomas L. Knapp
Was It a Coincidental Traffic Stop or AI-Powered Surveillance?
Source: Reason
by Mattha Busby
“Seth Ferranti was driving his Ford pickup on a southeastern Nebraska stretch of the interstate in November 2024 when law enforcement pulled him over, claiming that he had wobbled onto the hard shoulder. As the Seward County sheriff’s deputies questioned Ferranti, a filmmaker who had spent 21 years in prison for distributing LSD, they allegedly smelled cannabis. Declaring this probable cause for a search, they searched the vehicle and discovered more than 400 pounds of marijuana. But were those the actual reasons for the stop and search? When Ferranti went on trial, his attorneys presented a license plate reader report produced by the security communications company Motorola Solutions. It revealed Ferranti had been consistently monitored prior to his arrest, including by the local sheriff on the day he was apprehended.” (02/18/26)
https://reason.com/2026/02/18/was-it-a-coincidental-traffic-stop-or-ai-powered-surveillance/
“No taxation without representation” must be non-negotiable
Source: spiked
by Ann Strickland
“Around this time last week, I was standing in the pouring rain in West Sussex, handing out leaflets to defend something that should never have needed defending: the right of local residents to vote. The TaxPayers’ Alliance had been out across the county campaigning against the Labour government’s plan to cancel elections in 30 local authorities across England. … taxpayers should never have had to rely on opposition parties, newspapers and campaign groups to defend the most basic principles of democracy. Holding regular elections should be the bare minimum we expect of the people in charge.” (02/18/26)
South Korea: Yoon sentenced to life for martial law attempt
Source: CBS News
“Former President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to life in prison for his brief imposition of martial law in a dramatic culmination to the country’s biggest political crisis in decades. Yoon fell from office after an ill-advised attempt to overcome an opposition-controlled legislature by declaring martial law and sending troops to surround the legislature on Dec. 3, 2024. Judge Jee Kui-youn said he found Yoon guilty of rebellion for mobilizing military and police forces in an illegal attempt to seize the liberal-led National Assembly, arrest politicians and establish unchecked power for a ‘considerable’ time. Yoon is likely to appeal the verdict.” (02/19/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/yoon-life-sentence-martial-law-former-south-korea-president/
Blaming Buildings for Sex Trafficking
Source: Reason
by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
“Can a building be a sex trafficker? Some lawyers seem to be hoping so. Apartment buildings, nightclubs, and hotels have been coming under fire for facilitating interactions that some say should have been tip-offs to sex trafficking or sexual violence taking place. Victims in these lawsuits describe some heinous actions by their alleged abusers. I’m not trying to minimize any such harm or suggest actual perpetrators of violence shouldn’t be punished. But in the push to hold more entities legally accountable for alleged sex crimes against women, these suits are setting up a system in which women are increasingly watched and their sex lives increasingly subject to questioning. The end result here isn’t likely to be a world in which women are safer but one in which they’re more surveilled.” (02/18/26)
https://reason.com/2026/02/18/blaming-buildings-for-sex-trafficking/
Reason Interview: Fardad Farahzad
Source: Reason
“Can Iran’s Protest Movement Topple the Regime?” (02/18/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/02/18/can-irans-protest-movement-topple-the-regime/
Khanna, Massie Move to Force War Powers Vote in House as Senile Reality TV Star Signals Possible Iran Strike
Source: Benzinga
“Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) are set to compel a vote on their War Powers Resolution, requiring congressional approval for military action against Iran. This move comes in response to reports of a potential U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran, with a 90% likelihood, according to Trump officials cited by Khanna in his X post. On Wednesday, Khanna and Massie announced their plans to force a vote on the bipartisan resolution, which would necessitate congressional authorization for any U.S. military action against Iran.” (02/19/26)
We have to trust liberty completely
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal
“As Voltairine de Cleyre wrote in 1908, ‘[T]he sin our fathers sinned was that they did not trust liberty wholly.’ They thought America could have liberty along with a central government — a state. It didn’t work. Now we are stuck with a growing police state, and the tatters of our remaining liberty are being criminalized at an astonishing rate. This won’t end well. Liberty is indivisible — it can’t be broken into pieces and remain liberty. You can’t respect it selectively (for some people, in some areas, some of the time) and call it ‘liberty.’ True liberty requires consistent respect for everyone’s rights, everywhere, all the time.” (02/18/26)
Japan: Takaichi Formally Reappointed As PM Following Election Victory
Source: Barron’s
“Japan’s Sanae Takaichi was formally reappointed as prime minister on Wednesday, 10 days after her historic landslide election victory. Takaichi, 64, became Japan’s first woman premier in October and won a two-thirds majority for her party in the snap lower house elections on February 8. She has pledged to bolster Japan’s defences to protect its territory and waters, likely further straining relations with Beijing, and to boost the flagging economy. Takaichi suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if Beijing sought to take Taiwan by force. China, which regards the democratic island as part of its territory and has not ruled out force to annex it, was furious. Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday that forces in Japan were seeking to ‘revive militarism.'” (02/18/26)
My Plea To Team Gold
Source: The Findings Substack
by Paul Rosenberg
“I’m a bitcoin advocate, but I also love gold and silver; they’re honest money with no necessity of a counter-party. That is, they’re wonderful for decentralized commerce, which we and the world very much need. My plea to Team Gold is to begin using their wonderful money, rather than leaving it forever on shelves. (Whether their own or in a vault.) By no means am I opposed to keeping gold as an insurance policy; it’s great for that use. But the monetary metals have just enjoyed a great and long overdue run-up, at this point I think we need to take the next logical step: To start using our better money. … we’ll simultaneously build a new infrastructure. And I know this is true because I’ve watched it happen twice in a row over the past twenty-five years: first for e-gold and then for bitcoin.” (02/18/26)