Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Anarchists — genuine anarchists — favor the abolition of all government. Yet, when it comes to immigration, we have ‘anarchists’ favoring a massive socialist program, one that is enforced by a massive immigration police state. At the risk of belaboring the obvious, a massive socialist program and a massive immigration police state are the opposite of anarchy, which, again, means no government at all.” (05/01/26)
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Rosemary Kelanic
“This will surprise many Americans because Trump and Co. are flooding the zone with age-old misconceptions in order to prevent panic and opposition to the war.” (05/01/26)
“Over the last eight weeks of war with Iran, America’s two deliberative institutions, Congress and the media, have largely abandoned their duty to sustain public debate on the most important question a republic can face — the choice between war and peace. Neither institution performed perfectly during the Global War on Terror. Yet on Capitol Hill there was debate before the initiation of hostilities, and the media made considerable efforts to manufacture consent. By today’s standard, these activities seem almost admirable. The Iran War may be the first genuinely ‘post-deliberative’ war in American history.” (05/01/26)
“In Louisiana v. Callais, the Roberts Court has continued its war on civil rights [sic] in the name of civil rights. The cynicism of the 6-3 majority decision in Callais is staggering. According to the majority decision by Justice Samuel Alito, the long-standing interpretation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, requiring minorities to have opportunities to have representation in rough proportion to their population, has been overtaken by events. What has changed? Nothing, except Alito’s ability to cobble together a majority based on his disingenuous [sic] claim that this ruling is merely an ‘update.’ As recently as the Court’s 2023 ruling in Allen v. Milligan, Justices John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh voted to uphold a lower-court order requiring an additional majority-minority district in Alabama.” [editor’s note: Fascinating how the Dramacrat narrative has so entirely overwhelmed “progressive” pundit thought on this issue – SAT] (05/01/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joshua Mawhorter
“Many who do not understand markets, the division of labor, production, exchange, and profit—whether willingly or unwillingly—see no justification for unequal wealth and income because inequality can only result from nefarious activity or random luck. Many mock Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand,’ but they themselves seem to believe that another invisible hand of random luck or chance unevenly distributes benefits and deficits such that greater wealth and income are illegitimate. This invisible hand of luck is also determinative to the point that it is independent of purposeful action. Therefore, those who think this way want the very visible hand of the state to rearrange wealth in a way that makes sense to them since the invisible hand of luck distributed wealth unequally.” (05/01/26)
“Here’s a reality check: Since the only way to verify Satoshi’s identity is to get the unique cryptographic key linked to the 1.1 million bitcoins in their wallet, the best anyone can do is create a compelling circumstantial case. To really close the book, your evidence must be so powerful that it would convince even those who have gone before you and squandered months of their lives in the quest. … Projects to unmask Satoshi have a kabuki-style familiarity. They’re crypto-journalistic versions of Clue, the Agatha Christie-esque board game where players identify a murderer from a fixed set of suspects.” (05/01/26)
“While she recognizes that there is a relationship between the Fed’s target interest rate and the growth rate of the money supply, she has a highly exaggerated view of the Fed’s broader ability to affect market interest rates. She buys into the fallacy, widespread not only among the general public but also among many public-policy pundits, that the Fed has tight control over nearly all market interest rates.” (05/01/26)
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“Some people are born with bad hearts, some good. As long as nobody knows which is which it is possible to insure against the risk of having a bad heart. What happens if a genetic test is invented that distinguishes people who are likely to have a heart attack from people who are not?” (05/01/26)
“Amazon’s Web Services cloud-computing platform is more profitable than all the company’s retail operations combined. And AWS sells cloud-computing services to clients throughout the American government, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement: According to Forbes reporting, ICE spent at least $25 million on AWS during the second Trump administration. Amazon Web Services also holds contracts with Palantir, the surveillance-tech company behind much of ICE’s deportation operation. (And Amazon has served as an inspiration for ICE, too: acting ICE director Todd Lyons has said he wants deportations in the US to run ‘like Amazon Prime for human beings.’) That’s part of why, at Monday’s rally, non-union tech workers stood alongside unionized warehouse workers.” (05/01/26)
“The zeal of the convert can be a terrifying force to behold. An acolyte convinced of their own prior heresy will often be a more thorough inquisitor than the native-born believer. This dynamic may help explain why It’s on You by Nick Chater and George Loewenstein is so shrill and devoid of self-awareness. Having been leading researchers in behavioral psychology and economics who sought to manipulate individuals into ostensibly healthier and smarter choices — the world of ‘nudge’ theory — they are doing a righteous penance by exposing the flaws of their former discipline.” (05/01/26)
