Source: The Daily Economy
by Craig J Richardson
“A viral housing statistic has captured headlines and fueled frustration. But the emotionally satisfying data rests on shaky methodology, identifying the wrong problem.” (02/20/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/no-first-time-homebuyers-arent-all-40-now/
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Sarah McLaughlin
“We’ve said it before. We’ll say it again. Ending online anonymity is not some magical cure to “fix” whatever problems you believe plague the internet and its culture. And for whatever ills may exist on social media, this kind of cure would be worse than the disease. But German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said at an event this week that online anonymity is a problem — and he wants it to end. ‘I want to see real names on the internet. I want to know who is speaking,’ Merz said on Wednesday in Trier, Germany. ‘In politics, we engage in debates in our society using our real names and without visors. I expect the same from everyone else who critically examines our country and our society.’ … It’s one thing to praise the value and benefits of speaking out under your true identity, but German citizens have reason to be troubled by Merz’s comments.” (02/20/26)
Source: Expression
by Amy Sohn
“The life and times of Lyle Stuart, publisher of The Anarchist Cookbook and The Turner Diaries.” (02/20/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/americas-most-controversial-publisher
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“One expects that history will extend to Jesse Jackson the same indulgence it has extended to his mentor, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and to such figures as Mohandas K. Gandhi and (to a lesser extent) Thomas Jefferson — he was on the right side of the immensely important issue with which he was most intimately associated, and, while that is not everything, it is enough. And that is an excellent prospect for the reputation of Jesse Jackson, who, like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas K. Gandhi and (to a lesser extent) Thomas Jefferson, had a lot of bad political ideas and some positively daft economic ideas, some of which got worse over the years.” (02/20/26)
Source: Persuasion
by Ruy Teixeira
“Gavin Newsom: friend of the Resistance, friend of moderates, friend of progressives, friend of populists, friend of labor, friend of abundance-istas, special chum of Big Tech, and hard man for the Democratic Party. He’s got it all, twinned with a preternatural ability to deliver a perfectly calibrated message to each of these audiences when called upon to do so. The Gavin Newsom message delivery system brings to mind another famed Democratic message delivery system, Bill Clinton, who was similarly adept at reaching a wide range of audiences and similarly willing to bend his principles to do so. … So is Newsom the next Bill Clinton? I don’t think so. Despite the similarities there is one huge and hugely important difference: Clinton’s message delivery magic was in the service ultimately of reaching a general election audience, not just a Democratic audience.” (02/20/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-false-hope-of-gavin-newsom
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Kevin Duffy
“No, the economy is not booming. Far from it. Last month, the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index hit its lowest level since 2014. The monthly ISM manufacturing index registered ten consecutive months of contraction through December. On February 5, the Challenger Report on the US labor market showed announced job cuts in January more than doubled year-over-year, ‘hitting their highest level since the 2009 Great Recession,’ according to Mohamed El-Erian, former CEO of Pimco. … How do we square vigorous GDP statistics with an economy clearly deteriorating?” (02/20/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/gdp-illusion-surging-statistics-hide-pain-average-americans
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“You can’t turn around these days without seeing some leftist somewhere whining about white men. As a white man, it seems like every Democrat is an obsessed stalker – it’s enough to make us want to take out a restraining order. I speak for all white men in this piece because, after watching a week’s worth of fawning coverage of the death of Jesse Jackson that glossed over or ignored his racism, affair (oh, the stories I’ve heard) and grifting, I remembered who he simply appointed himself a ‘leader’ and the corporate media crowned him the spokesman for black people, so I’ll take the job for whitey for today. What is the obsession the left has with us? It’s flattering, I suppose. We’ve done pretty well, though you never know it from the way Democrats talk about us.” (02/22/26)
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Angela C Erickson & Vance Ginn
“Work comes in many shapes and sizes. In today’s economy, traditional 9-to-5 employment is but one option, and more people are choosing alternatives that better fit their values and lives. These workers deserve better access to benefits like health insurance and retirement savings. Over 330,000 Kentuckians earn income as freelancers, contractors or self-employed workers. They include rideshare and delivery drivers, truckers, freelance creatives, child care providers and consultants. Together, they generate more than $18 billion in annual revenue. This workforce is growing, diverse, and vital to the commonwealth’s economy — yet state and federal policies haven’t kept pace with that reality.” (02/20/26)
https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/independent-workers-portable-benefits/
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“All signs point to cultural insecurity (at best) as to why so many people are uncomfortable with the prospect of free, or ever freer, immigration. A few moments’ reflection is enough to show why that’s silly, especially in the United States. Trying to control a culture is like (my apologies; I can’t improve on this) trying to nail Jello to the wall. Ain’t gonna happen. … the desire to bar foreign-born people on grounds of cultural incompatibility is ridiculous. Since wonderful America, the envy of the world, has always been a changing mix of countless cultural elements, we’d be harming ourselves by any attempt to keep things ‘traditional.'” (02/20/26)
https://sheldonrichman.substack.com/p/tgif-immigration-and-culture
Source: New York Post
by John Ketcham
“Mayor Zohran Mamdani has painted himself as the unfortunate victim of a historic budget crisis, but he really should be counting his lucky stars. New York City has a big spending problem, but not a revenue problem. Yet that could change soon — warning signs are already flashing. Mamdani isn’t confronting an external economic shock like a recession, 9/11, the financial crisis or COVID-19. Wall Street is doing fine; the taxes on its stellar bonuses made $5 billion of the city’s budget gap disappear overnight. As much as the mayor would hate to admit it, he needs Wall Street more than it needs him. According to state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, the securities industry contributes 42.3% of the city’s personal-income tax and 8.4% of its total tax revenue.” (02/22/26)