“Daniel Cox just shared 2025 polling data showing that 57% of US dating app users were male and just 38% were female. This data point is just one more indication of a much wider reality that I don’t think a lot of people have incorporated into their worldview. Men are a lot more interested in dating (and marrying) women than women are interested in coupling with men. Below, allow me to present a few more stats that point in this direction.” (02/23/26)
“Everywhere one looks today you see signs of the opposition between ‘conservatives’ and so-called ‘liberals.’ Sometimes conservatives are designated ‘far-right,’ and liberals ‘left-wing.’ Both terms appear to be self-explanatory, unless one keeps in mind that concepts do evolve historically. The term, ‘amateur,’ for example, used to have a very positive or affirmative meaning, namely someone who does something (like painting, or playing the piano) well, because they love doing it (‘amateur’ derives from the Latin for ‘love’), but today its meaning is pejorative, contrasting with the term, ‘professional,’ which means more or less what ‘amateur’ used to mean; namely, that it applies to someone who excels at what they do. Similarly, the term, ‘liberal’ has arguably undergone a semantic shift in recent times – one that places it at a considerable remove from its original historical meaning.” (02/23/26)
“I was quite heartened by the Supreme Court’s rejection of President Trump’s asserted authority to unilaterally impose and remove tariffs at will simply because he has declared an emergency, a determination that, the administration asserted, was not subject to review by the courts, and that could only be overturned by a supermajority in Congress. The power to levy tariffs is explicitly given to the legislative branch under the Constitution, and the plain meaning of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act under the authority of which Trump was claiming to operate did not obviously authorize such an extraordinary degree of delegated authority. Whether or not one chooses to embrace the major questions doctrine, and in what form if so, I agree with Chief Justice John Roberts that what the administration asked for is ultimately incompatible with small-r republican government.” (02/23/26)
“Policy analysts have been warning about Social Security’s funding shortfall for decades, while politicians have sat on their hands. But time is running out: the Social Security trust fund will run out of money in 2034 and, unless Congress acts, current and future beneficiaries will face a 23 percent benefit cut. Congress’s available options include raising taxes or reducing promised benefits, both of which are politically unattractive. The only way to finance promised benefits without raising current taxes is to borrow the money, which will be challenging given the already unsustainable path of the federal debt. In this context, Romina Boccia and Ivane Nachkebia’s new collection — Reimagining Social Security: Global Lessons for Retirement Policy Changes — represents an important contribution to the public discussion.” (02/23/26)
“Private investment can deliver new rentals at scale, but few will want to build if NYC makes it impossible to charge market rates or remove delinquent tenants.” (02/23/26)
“The mayor’s Winter Storm Response Commission, chaired by former Tennessee governor Phil Bredesen, convened this morning for its first meeting. The commission is set to deliver its final report on the storm response in August. During the inaugural meeting, former TVA board member and Republican speaker of the House, Beth Harwell, indicated that members are still uncertain about their mission. ‘Are the recommendations going to the mayor, the Council, or the [NES] Board?’ asked Harwell. ‘And I’m a little confused as to really our overall objective, and so maybe the staff can answer that at some point.’ Throughout the proceedings, Chair Bredesen emphasized that he wants to avoid a ‘finger pointing’ exercise. Instead, members focused on procedure and constructive goals. During presentations, OEM Director Chief William Swann said that the department is independently implementing after-action changes.” (02/23/26)
“Either universities appoint and promote professors who display and disseminate intellectual virtues, or they reward those who exemplify and cultivate intellectual vices.” (02/23/26)
“Ed Crane used to say, as one of his longtime colleagues recollected a couple of years ago, ‘that the thing he did for libertarianism was put libertarians in suits and ties.’ The burly institution builder was not a household name, but he made the modern libertarian movement into what it is today, dragging weirdos and dreamers to the halls of power. A driven activist and domineering organizer once described by P.J. O’Rourke as having a ‘sequoia spine,’ he built both the modern Libertarian Party and the preeminent libertarian think tank in the United States, the Cato Institute.” (02/23/26)
“The president and secretary of defense have failed in their effort to see to the execution of six members of Congress after the lawmakers had the nerve to urge members of the U.S. military to refuse illegal orders, in other words, to obey the law. … The gruesome irony of Mr. Trump’s outburst, ‘they should be hanged,’ is that it’s been directed at war criminals. After WWII, Nazi commanders were hanged for following illegal orders.” (02/23/26)
