“Eighteen years ago, when I first moved to the Twin Cities, they had a reputation for being ‘Minnesota nice.’ I sigh now to remember it. Somewhere deep in a dresser drawer, I still have a t-shirt that reads: ‘Keep St. Paul Boring.’ I liked boring St Paul. I admit that things could be worse. Our recent adventures haven’t been nearly as exciting as the ones in 2020. During the George Floyd riots, the chaos spilled over noticeably into surrounding neighborhoods, with columns of black smoke visibly rising into the sky, presumably from burned buildings and cars. … Even without the smoke and shattered windows, these have certainly been Interesting Times, which naturally prompts reflection.” (02/02/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“‘Government X does bad things’ and ‘therefore the US should forcibly overthrow Government X’ are two completely different claims. Propagandists keep acting like they’re the same claim and like the second claim naturally follows the first, and I’m seeing far too many people accepting this manipulation without question. They are not the same claim. They’re entirely unrelated. It should not be necessary to explain this to grown adults, but here we are. Even if we accept as fact all the claims about how badly the US-targeted government is behaving, and even if we ignore the obvious fact that unilateral US regime change wars are against international law, there is still no valid reason to accept that a government doing bad things justifies US regime change interventionism.” (02/02/25)
Source: Independent Institute
by Jonathan Hofer & Kristian Fors
“When people decide to rent or purchase a home, they often focus on financial liabilities (what they pay to others) and overlook the economic costs of capital. Several rent vs. buy calculators are available online …. These offer many insights but tend to understate the unrealized opportunity costs of the road not taken, from both the renter’s and the homebuyer’s perspectives. Renters may have the opportunity to invest what would have otherwise gone toward a down payment and closing costs, as well as the monthly savings they gain from not having a mortgage. On the other hand, at some point, a homeowner’s monthly mortgage payment is likely to be lower than monthly rent, and it also offers the potential benefit of property appreciation.” (02/02/26)
Source: ProSocial Libertarians
by Andrew Jason Cohen
“I’ve continued taking part in conversations about the problems of academia. Some I’ve recently discussed this with agree with me that thinking of academia as a mere means to a career is a big problem. They nonetheless worry that colleges have lost their way and are teaching things they oughtn’t. Some complain that the humanities have simply expanded too much, reducing the emphasis on classics. Some, typically folks in the social sciences, seem less concerned with the classics but nonetheless have an antipathy toward anything new. The social science advocates I’ve discussed these things with seemed to believe their disciplines were closer to the hard sciences than the humanities. Perhaps they are right, at least in some ways (assume they both use empirical evidence more than the humanities). I’m not sure why that matters.” (02/02/26)
“Tariffs and sanctions have continued to be the tool for which the Trump administration reaches most readily for regime change in recent days. As American attention turns to Cuba, the Trump administration has reportedly set an end of year deadline for regime change. … But regime change is not the only job that economic warfare is being used for. It is also being used to influence foreign elections.” (02/02/26)
“Last fall, when New York’s business community warned that the election of a self-described democratic socialist as mayor would trigger an assault on the city’s economic engine, we were waved off as hysterical. The press assured us that Zohran Mamdani was ‘evolving’, that his rhetoric would soften, that we should focus instead on his vague promises of ‘affordability’. That reassurance evaporated almost instantly. Barely two weeks after his swearing-in — amid lofty rhetoric about ‘the warmth of collectivism’ — the Mamdani administration unveiled its real agenda. Sam Levine, the newly installed commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and a veteran of Lina Khan’s Federal Trade Commission, released a sensational report accusing companies like DoorDash and Uber Eats of ‘diverting’ more than $500 million from delivery workers.” (02/02/25)
“In his second inaugural address, Trump claimed he wanted to be remembered as a peacemaker. Instead, he’s practicing what the scholar Alex de Waal calls ‘global mafia politics,’ the new rules of an unraveling order that render familiar debates between realists and idealists, or restrainers versus primacists, somewhat stale. To better understand this dynamic, I spoke to de Waal about his thesis that the ‘political marketplace’ now dominates international relations.” (02/02/26)
“After Friday, when I worried about robots taking over, I was glad to read a debunking of the AI Will Destroy Us All meme, so in vogue. In ‘Superintelligent AI Is Not Coming To Kill You,’ from the March issue of Reason, Neil Chilson argues that we shouldn’t freak out. Not only do I not want to freak out, I don’t want to use AI very much — though I understand that, these days, sometimes it makes sense to consult the Oracles.” (02/02/26)
“Missouri lawmakers are considering a proposal to abolish the state’s income tax and replace it with a sales tax. They’re not alone: Last year, Mississippi approved legislation that will decrease the state income tax over several years until it’s eliminated. That follows in the footsteps of Kentucky and Oklahoma. New Hampshire, which has no income tax, phased out its tax on interest and dividends. Several states making the move are considering sales taxes to fill the revenue gap, and they have the backing of the White House. But a new report warns that sales taxes may have to be higher than anticipated to make up the difference — unless state governments shrink in size and expense.” (02/02/26)
“The Trump administration’s latest threat to impose secondary tariffs on any nation selling oil to Cuba represents a dramatic and catastrophic tightening of the six-decade-long, deliberate chokehold the United States has maintained on Cuba’s access to essential resources. This act of collective punishment against the Cuban people, for alleged crimes the US government has scarcely attempted to substantiate, will be felt across every aspect of daily life. According to Trump’s January 29 executive order, this latest escalation in economic warfare is framed as a response to the ‘unusual and extraordinary threat’ the Cuban government allegedly poses to US national security.” (02/02/25)
