“It’s fair to see the [Iryna] Zarutska mural campaign as a response to the veneration of [George] Floyd, and the effort — joined by the Democratic Party, progressive infrastructure, and much of corporate America — to change the country in his honor. Political movements have always elevated martyrs, and Trump has spent a decade raising the profiles of victims of violent crime and their family members. … The backlash against the Zarutska mural campaign isn’t purely about partisanship. In Chicago, one of the only places where art honoring her has gone up around a sizable Ukrainian-American community, it has not changed hearts or minds. It’s been received as the unwelcome manipulation of a tragedy by people who don’t care much about Ukraine.” (04/01/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Donald J Boudreaux
“The Declaration of Independence famously appeared on July 4th, 1776. But a less famous yet equally important text was published four months earlier — a text that eloquently explained the working of the economic institutions that created the modern world. That text is Adam Smith’s An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.” (04/01/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“On April 28 last year, a massive blackout plunged Spain and Portugal into darkness for over twelve hours. Flights were canceled, thousands of people were stranded on trains, and there were at least eight related deaths. The Spanish right seized on this freak event to attack what it called the Socialist-led government’s ‘climate fanaticism’ — but although renewable energy was generating about 70% of Spain’s power at the time, an in-depth investigation has found that it wasn’t the cause.” (04/01/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Connor O’Keeffe
“Last Saturday, the third so-called ‘No Kings’ protest took place in cities across the US. Left-leaning protestors again took to the streets to show everyone how much they oppose Trump. Going all the way back to 2017, the center-left and progressive opposition to Trump has always been, at best, highly flawed. Because it has rested on the idea that he represents a sharp and unique departure from the governmental status quo. Trump is characterized as a wannabe dictator corrupting what had been a sound democratic system that, while not perfect, was largely mobilizing the federal government to benefit the American people. That was never accurate. The American political system is not, and has never been, designed even with the intention of benefiting the American people.” (04/01/26)
Source: The American Conservative
by Spencer Neale
“[T]hough there is merit to the claim that Obama was ‘highly overrated,’ Trump appears to be vastly overrated himself by the sycophants leading his administration. He has bungled this war and made a mess of our standing among allies near and far. He has constantly shifted the goalposts on the objectives of the war and the timeline for a potential ceasefire deal. And now the latest reports trickling out of the ‘new’ Iranian regime — which by all measurable standards is more radical and hardline than the one he bombed to oblivion — suggest that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has yet to agree to negotiations. In truth, Trump’s war in Iran has led America down an extremely narrow path, without the sort of easy off-ramps that would provide relief for the tens of millions of families seeking the bare bones of an American dream once promised.” (04/01/26)
“‘Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.’ — James Madison … Our biggest concern in America today is the Democratic Party’s abuse of power, their desire for tyrannical control, and an unlimited government (‘Our rights come from government, not God,’ Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said a few months ago). If government gives us our rights, then government can take them away at will, and that is as good a definition of totalitarian government as one could wish for. It is exactly what Communist China has today, what Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and every other tyranny the world has ever seen foisted upon their people. It is exactly what tyrants and government (and Democrats) want. So, patriotic Americans (following our Founding Fathers) fear unlimited, oppressive government.” (04/01/26)
“‘You’re only going to create a real problem for an FBI employee if you call ‘em direct this way.’ Senior FBI official Thomas Gregory Motta was upset that I dared to call him to talk about the bureau’s hidden experiments on humans. He joined the bureau in 1998 and was promoted to the FBI’s senior ranks nearly 20 years ago. During his tenure, the bureau has grown proficient at snooping on journalists — as documented in a secret government report published by Racket — without having to face their questions.” (04/01/26)
“For my BlueDot AGI Governance course, I’m reading AGI, Governments, and Free Societies by Justin B. Bullock, Samuel Hammond, and Séb Krier. I briefly lived with Sam Hammond many years ago. Great kisser. Mediocre housekeeper. I knew that kid was going places. Anyway, I stopped short at this line: ‘We already have AI models that can approximate and even surpass the decision making capabilities of humans in many domains.’ The authors aren’t saying that, necessarily. But they’re saying that people are saying it. Is that true? I don’t think so. I could be wrong. But I also don’t see much evidence for it.” (04/01/26)
“Ozempic sells for close to $300 for a month’s dosage in developing countries like China and India. It is expected to sell for around $15 for a month’s dosage when generics are introduced, and the price could eventually fall to around $3 when there is enough competition in the market. The price differentials in the United States and other wealthy countries are even larger. People without insurance can pay as much as $1,000 for a month’s dosage, although discounts are available that can cut this price in half. The drug still has several more years of patent protection in the United States …. With rare exceptions, drugs are cheap to manufacture and distribute; however, they can end up being expensive because governments give drug companies patent monopolies or other forms of protection.” (04/01/26)
“While Adam Smith has often been thought of as only the father of economics, most scholars now agree that the projects undertaken in the two books published during his lifetime, Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) and Wealth of Nations (WN) are not separate endeavors of moral philosophy and political economy, respectively, but two ways of approaching one, unified project about realizing human flourishing. Though it is recognized that Smith’s moral philosophy informs, supplements, and supports his economic project, what has not been explored as much is that Smith’s political economy also has moral implications.” (04/01/26)
