“Trump has already lost the support of hordes of folks who voted for him in November 2024. Consumer confidence last month plunged to the lowest level since 2014, according to a Conference Board survey. More than half of voters say Trump has ‘made life less affordable’ for them and their families, and only 34% approved of his handling of ‘the cost of living.’ Trump’s economic victory proclamations are starting to resemble a bad magician whose tricks are so lame that his audience starts to heckle him. But in his Wall Street Journal op-ed, Trump taunted his critics by telling them to wear ‘one of my favorite red hats — the one that reads, ‘TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!’'” (02/03/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Laurence M Vance
“The newest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Dietary Guidelines for Americans turns the iconic food pyramid upside down. It recommends that Americans eat the right amount of food, prioritize protein at every meal, consume full-fat dairy with no added sugars, eat vegetables and fruits throughout the day, incorporate healthy fats, prioritize fiber-rich whole grains, and avoid highly processed packaged, prepared, ready-to-eat, or other foods that are salty or sweet. … People are asking many questions about the new guidelines, but there is one question that only libertarians ask whenever the federal government issues new or revised guidelines: Why is the government issuing guidelines in the first place?” (02/03/26)
“When David Brooks claims that his preferred ‘moderate conservative political philosophy’ is in 2026 ‘so fantastically successful … that moderate Republicans are now the dominant force in American politics,’ his intentional sarcasm is clear before the fourth paragraph of his final New York Times column (‘Time to Say Goodbye,’ February 1): ‘I’m kidding.’ Even if a reader missed out on the decades of Brooks’s commentary as resolutely as literally-frozen-in-time Futurama protagonist Philip J. Fry, its remainder would beg for the response of Fry’s snarky robotic sidekick Bender: ‘Oh wait, you’re serious. Let me laugh even harder.'” (02/03/26)
“Americans suffer in large part because we don’t know our government‘s history, because we don’t care about that history. We root for our teams and we don’t notice or care until it’s too late. What we are watching play out today is an upshot of the fathomless ignorance and apathy of Americans who treat politics as professional sports or fake wrestling. Don Lemon’s case represents something close to the opposite of its portrayal in the corporate media. Rather than breaking with some pristine history of free speech and press freedom in our country, this moment represents our embarrassing history of noticing persistent constitutional violations only when they touch some celebrity.” (02/03/26)
“The answer to the question ‘Who pays the cost of tariffs?’ is obviously important. If the costs of all tariffs were paid exclusively by foreigners, with no negative consequences suffered by citizens of the country that imposes the tariffs, the case for a policy of free trade would be far weaker than if tariffs inflict some damage on the domestic economy. Ethical objections to tariffs would still be available, but the conventional economic case against protective tariffs would be null and void, as that case focuses almost exclusively on the economic welfare of citizens of the home country. Yet the costs of tariffs are always shared by buyers and sellers of tariffed goods and services.” (02/03/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“I saw a video of a food delivery robot navigating around the body of a homeless person lying on the sidewalk, and I can’t stop thinking about it. This video is as close to a self-portrait of western civilization as it gets. This is who we are. This is where we’re at. … It captures so perfectly the creepy dance between suffering, apathy, frivolity and corporate profiteering that makes our particular dystopia so distinctive, in just a few short seconds of footage. This is the dance that makes the empire go round. It’s got everything: * A man splayed out on the concrete because it hurts to be human in this global ghost town, and because he was unsuccessful at becoming a productive gear-turner in the capitalist machine, and because social safety nets have been stripped bare in order to help millionaires become billionaires.” (02/03/25)
“The ongoing murderous repression of protesters in Iran is symptomatic of a long-term and deeper cruelty on the part of the regime: the attempt to eradicate freedom of conscience.” (02/03/26)
“As the United States assembles a ‘massive armada’ off the coast of Iran — an aircraft carrier, accompanying destroyers, strike aircraft positioned across the region — the choreography is instantly recognizable. Forces move into place. Officials speak of ‘options.’ The president’s social media account warns of ‘far worse’ attacks than those launched against Iran last summer. What remains conspicuously absent is any explanation of what the use of that force is meant to accomplish.
If this sequence sounds familiar, it should. In late 2002 and early 2003, the U.S. followed a similar path. … Two decades later, the circumstances are different, but the failure is unmistakable.” (02/03/26)
“In an earlier post, Caplan proposed eliminating the welfare state as a means to increase adoptable infants. Hidden among the responses to his post is data suggesting that eliminating abortion would bring about a massive increase in adoptable babies. Elizabeth Kirk and Ryan Hanlon, in a response to Caplan’s argument, wrote ‘For every child placed for adoption, approximately 70 other women choose to rear the child as a single parent, and 50 other women choose to terminate the pregnancy.’ In a different response, Steven Salop wrote ‘One study found that among women denied access to abortion, only about 10% chose adoption, so simply prohibiting abortion is not the best route to supporting expanded adoption.’ While knowing the best route to expanded adoption is difficult, the data presented imply prohibiting abortion would be a very powerful force for expanded adoption.” (02/03/26)
“Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum on January 20 was not an exercise in pique. It was the clearest articulation yet of a strategic shift that has profound implications – not just for US-Canada relations, but for the entire structure of American alliances worldwide. Carney told the Davos audience that ‘the old order is not coming back’ and that the rules-based international system was always ‘partially false’. The strongest exempted themselves when convenient, trade rules were enforced asymmetrically, and Canada ‘placed the sign in the window’ while avoiding the gaps between rhetoric and reality. That bargain, he declared, no longer works. Canada is now building what Carney called ‘strategic autonomy’: the capacity to feed itself, fuel itself, and defend itself without depending on the United States.” (02/03/25)
