Source: Libertarian institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“For more than two decades, the United States has waged a quiet, little-noticed air and special operations war across the Horn of Africa. If most Americans are unaware of this fact, that is no accident. The campaign in Somalia has been conducted so far from public view, and with so little meaningful debate in Washington, that its continuation today is treated almost as a bureaucratic inevitability—a policy in search of a justification, defended out of habit rather than necessity. For there is no rational reason for the United States to be bombing Somalia at all. The entire enterprise stands as a textbook example of how inertia, institutional self-interest, and the perverse incentives of the national security bureaucracy combine to produce destructive policies that accomplish nothing for the American people.” (11/20/25)
“The quantitative perspective used the mathematical precision expected in the natural sciences like physics and chemistry to model and predict the economy. The qualitative perspective viewed economics as no less rigorous, but restrained economic thought to a study of human behavior and markets. The quantitative shift has continued well into the 20th century with Keynesianism, neoclassical economics, and monetarism, and has spurred the development of a host of new economic statistics. One such statistic is the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and is an example of this methodological error that abandoned the qualitative methodology in favor of a quantitative approach.” (11/20/25)
“When it comes to the reported draft framework agreement between the US and Russia, and its place in the Ukraine peace process, a quote by Winston Churchill (on the British victory at El Alamein) may be appropriate: ‘Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.’ This is because at long last, this document engages with the concrete, detailed issues that will have to be resolved if peace is to be achieved.” (11/20/25)
“During a visit to the United States this week, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman achieved much of what he sought, mainly access to advanced American fighter jets and microchips and ‘major ally’ status with the U.S. He also received a reputational redemption of sorts, when President Donald Trump dismissed questions about the prince’s suspected involvement in the murder of a Saudi journalist. And thanks to diplomacy by Saudi Arabia, along with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Mr. Trump also got something he wanted (and needed): approval from the U.N. Security Council for his Gaza peace plan. Soft-power persuasion by these Arab states helped avert potential vetoes by China and Russia. It underscored the value of keeping doors open to even potential foes – and to the institutions that maintain multilateral relationships. The Gulf States are playing a growing role in many global standoffs and bring unique perspectives to international mediation.” (11/19/25)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Spain has been celebrating all year, with a calendar of educational and cultural events intended ‘to highlight the great transformation achieved in this half-century of democracy.’ Inaugurating the ‘Spain in Liberty’ program in January, Socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez said: ‘You don’t need to have a particular ideology, to be on the left, in the center, or on the right, to regard with enormous sadness and terror the dark years of Francoism.’ You don’t, but it certainly helps. ‘Liberty in Spain’ deserves praise for innovatively addressing a complicated issue; but it has also highlighted deep-set disagreement over how Spain should confront its past—and even whether doing so is necessary.” (11/20/25)
“An increasing amount of public attention has been drawn to an obscure ideological movement called ‘postliberalism,’ which argues that free markets, individual liberty, and limited government handicap a societal commitment to what they call the ‘common good.’ Until just a few years ago, postliberalism hovered around the extreme periphery of the political right. That is no longer the case. The most obvious reason is that Vice President J.D. Vance self-identifies as a postliberal. And more recently, the postliberal movement has found itself at the center of a string of controversies.” (11/20/25)
Source: The Peaceful Revolutionist
by David S D’Amato
“Rather than continuing to pretend that we’re in an agreement or mutually beneficial relationship with a predatory ruling class, we could start to put facts ahead of abstractions and thought experiments. We could reimagine the social contract in Proudhonian terms, as working from the bottom-up, first relationships of equality and solidarity between individuals, then between their cooperative bodies, and outward from there in federations and agreements as may be needed for specific times and purposes. This is precisely the reverse of Rawlsian social contract philosophy in that it does not take the state as a given: it begins with contract where it can be found as a social fact and insists that any social arrangement must harmonize with genuine contract. But I don’t want to suggest that this reversal of Rawls is in method only.” (11/20/25)
“No, this isn’t a satirical Babylon Bee headline: ”Black Women Can’t Swim Because of Societal Expectations’: Michelle Obama’s Viral Claim Sparks Controversy.’ The former first lady, in a live podcast, recently said, ‘Let me explain something to white people. Our hair comes out of our head naturally in a curly pattern. So, when we’re straightening it to follow your beauty standards, we are trapped by the straightness. That’s why so many of us can’t swim, and we run away from the water. People won’t go to the gym because we’re trying to keep our hair straight for y’all. It is exhausting, and it is so expensive, and it takes up so much time!’ Who knew that black women straighten their hair to conform to the expectations of whites? Even worse, who knew this oppressive white standard of beauty, according to Obama, has the real-world effect of preventing black kids from learning to swim?” (11/20/25)
“On June 19, 2024, Khaled Mahajneh, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, became the first lawyer to visit a notorious detention facility for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, located inside the Sde Teiman military base in the Negev Desert, one of several detention facilities established after October 7, 2023 to hold Palestinians seized in Gaza. Speaking to +972 Magazine a week after his visit, Mahanjeh drew a pertinent comparison with the treatment of Muslim prisoners in the US’s post-9/11 ‘war on terror,’ but concluded that Israel’s behavior was even worse.” (11/20/25)
The shutdown was its own risk — but not one that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had a real choice on, after the blowback to his decision to fund the government in March. Schumer’s camp kept insisting that he didn’t want to reopen without a cleaner victory on health care, but the defection of his centrists underscored that the risk hadn’t paid off. Since the shutdown ended, Democrats who are behaving like potential presidential candidates have been lining up to argue that their party gave in because its Senate leaders were too cautious. … As the party’s base demands more brawls and more risks, Democrats in power are trying to catch up.” (11/19/25)
