“A federal appeals court restored the 58-month prison sentence for Norman Seabrook, the former head of New York City’s correction officers union who was convicted of bribery, saying a trial judge should not have reduced the sentence because it was much longer than that of the hedge fund founder who bribed him. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said ‘nothing extraordinary and compelling’ justified U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein’s decision in February 2023 to grant Seabrook, who led the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, compassionate release after he served 21 months in prison. … Prosecutors accused Seabrook, 65, of steering $20 million of union members’ money to Platinum [Partners] in exchange for a $60,000 cash bribe from [Murray] Huberfeld, which was delivered in a Salvatore Ferragamo bag. The union lost about $19 million of its investment.” (12/04/25)
“Robby Soave gives his radar on the fallout from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz allegedly ignoring reports of welfare fraud that cost his state a billion dollars.” (12/04/25)
“Modular housing is gaining prominence as a proposed way to increase the housing supply. This is an approach where the majority of home building is done off-site. Factories will construct entire rooms of a house, including all the wiring and plumbing connections built in. At the final construction site, the actual building process consists of the final step of connecting the rooms, plumbing, and so forth, to complete the build. Building in this way is faster and less expensive than traditional home building. … People might think that these companies increase the housing supply by, well, building more housing. But building more housing isn’t an increase in supply, it’s an increase in quantity supplied. An increase in supply means an increase in the capacity to produce something.” (12/04/25)
“As part of his promise to restore American manufacturing and the fortunes of the working class, President Donald Trump pledged to expand trade apprenticeships. In an April executive order, Trump directed the Department of Labor to deliver within 120 days a plan ‘to reach and surpass 1 million new active apprentices.’ That deadline has passed, with no evidence of progress or even a plan to reach the one-million apprenticeship milestone. Instead, drastic layoffs, funding cuts, and a purge of ‘DEI’-related initiatives have sabotaged the emerging apprenticeship movement. Growth in apprenticeships is at its slowest in years, far more sluggish than during Joe Biden’s administration or even the president’s first term.” (12/04/25)
“Mother Shipton predicted the dissolution of the Catholic Church under Henry VIII. She predicted the fall of Cardinal Wolsey, and the ascent of Queen Elizabeth. She forecast television and radio, ships made of iron, and arguably the California gold rush. But probably her most notorious prediction was that ‘The world to an end shall come, In eighteen hundred and eighty one.’ She was clearly off a bit on that one. Given the self-evident inaccuracy of forecasts of the end of days, their popularity does seem somewhat bewildering. … For as long as we’ve been working in the capital markets, there have also been sceptics warning of the demise of the biggest bond and credit bubble in history. Like the boy who cried wolf, they have all been discounted, and (rightly) ignored. This time, however, they could finally be justified.” (12/04/25)
“‘Member DOGE? ‘Member the excitement that the year started out with? There was Elon with a buzzsaw. There was a righteous effort to shed $1 trillion—or maybe it was $2 trillion?—from the federal budget. If that strikes only a distant chord, maybe it’s because it’s been lost in all the other swirling promises with which Trump started his second term. There was going to be the annexation of Greenland …. And then the Panama Canal was going to be taken ‘back,’ as Trump vowed in his inaugural address, and then Canada was going to be the 51st state. These things do stick in one’s memory. What leaves less of an impression is the denouement—is the inglorious end of DOGE …” (12/05/25)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Gregory Bresiger
“It’s a weekend in Pittsburgh and lots of people here and elsewhere around the country are waiting for a money-losing service called government transit. The system here, the same as many others throughout the nation, has two speeds—slow and slower. People search on their cellphones for when the buses are coming. Yet the system’s updates are often misleading. Buses never seem to come in the predicted time. Sometimes a promised bus—say one supposedly coming in ten minutes or less—will disappear from your cellphone. … I am not criticizing Pittsburg’s polite bus drivers who seem to suffer under the same problems as the riders: Their interaction with the incompetence of government reminds me of other government enterprises in other cities.” (12/04/25)
“Nearly four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, one can perhaps be forgiven for a bit of wishful thinking when another peace proposal is introduced to end the war in Ukraine. Even if ‘tough concessions’ are demanded from the Ukrainians—isn’t it worth paying a high price to end the war? Perhaps, this time, we are finally on the brink of peace? That wishful thinking quickly comes to an end once you realise that the latest Russian ‘peace proposal’ is not a peace proposal at all. It is a set of demands designed to enable a complete Russian takeover of Ukraine, which would otherwise be impossible to achieve.” (12/04/25)
“Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain have said they will boycott next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, following the decision to allow Israel to compete. The response on Thursday came immediately after the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the competition, said there would not be a vote on whether to exclude Israel, despite calls from some countries to do so. Opponents of Israel’s participation criticise it over its genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza – which has so far killed at least 70,125 people – and over allegations that it unfairly intervened in the most recent competition to the benefit of its entrant.” [editor’s note: Why would Israel, which is in Asia, be included in a European music competition anyway? – TLK] (12/04/25)
