“According to the preliminary results of the Bundestag, or parliamentary, elections, the extreme right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has become the second-strongest force in Germany. It now has 20.8% of the vote, doubling its result compared to the last election. The conservative CDU/CSU got 28.5%. The Social Democrats and the Greens, who have been in government so far, were punished, receiving 16.4 and 11.6% of the vote, respectively. However, the party Die Linke was able to achieve a success. For a long time, it was stuck in polls well below the 5%, which is the mark to enter the Bundestag. But in a final sprint, it was able to significantly increase the result and garner 8.7%. Above all, strong speeches by Member of Parliament Heidi Reichinnek against the anti-migration agenda of all other parties and for real social change were able to mobilize.” (02/25/25)
“Anyone who’s been to Japan will tell you about its incredible levels of public order, safety, and cleanliness. When I went to Japan for the first time this summer, I assumed the Japanophiles were exaggerating, but I was blown away. From the remotest villages to the centers of the densest cities, every single street was immaculately clean, every public bathroom in perfect condition, every convenience store well-stocked and staffed by happy, smiling employees. There wasn’t a hint of danger or sketchiness even in the middle of the night, and not a single homeless person to be seen anywhere. I couldn’t believe how nice it was everywhere, so I resolved to see if I could find anywhere in Japan that wasn’t perfect. When I Googled ‘worst neighborhood in Japan,’ one result popped up more than any other: Kamagasaki, Osaka. When I went to Osaka, I had to check it out for myself.” (02/25/25)
“President Donald Trump’s net job approval average, in both the Real Clear Politics and FiveThirtyEight averages, has slid about 7 points over the first month of his second term, leaving his approval rating just barely above his disapproval. This is a historically bad beginning for a presidency. The only worse example is Donald Trump’s first presidency. Who cares about poll numbers anymore, you might ask. Congressional Republicans should. They are on the ballot next year, and the GOP could easily lose control of the House. If Trump does not defy political gravity, he could drag them down, as he did in his first term. Presidential polling honeymoons always end, but rarely so fast.” (02/25/25)
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“Just as today, in the years following World War II the United States faced a national debt exceeding 100% of GDP. Yet, by the early 1970s, that figure had fallen to around 30%. Many policymakers and commentators today point back at this period as proof that economic growth and sound fiscal policies can solve America’s current debt crisis. But can we really ‘grow our way out’ of today’s $36.4 trillion national debt the way we did after the war? The numbers suggest otherwise.” (02/25/25)
“Remember that guy who became a meme more than a decade ago screaming in a YouTube video for people to ‘LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!’? The ‘cry’ for privacy, ironically, went viral in the personification of the ‘Streisand Effect’ – when the attempt to get people not to look at something causes more people to look than otherwise would have. With the exception of Hollywood, politics is full of people desperate to have their privacy respected … just ask their publicists. Some people lead lives of example – something to aspire or look up to – while others lead lives that can best be described as cautionary tales. Whatever side of that divide you fall (and most people spend time on both sides, living their lives largely on the line in the middle), attention is always given to those who scream the loudest and act the dumbest.” (02/25/25)
“The new administration has at last come to DC, and opportunities for genuine reform, it seems, abound. Positive energy has been flowing since the recent ‘vibe-shift’ made cracks in the edifice of the progressive status quo. The breadth of the new governing coalition — from post-liberal populists to libertarians and practically everything in between those poles — has opened up a realm of creativity and enthusiasm for seeking fresh solutions to problems long thought to be intractable.” (02/25/25)
“For three years now, the U.S.-NATO policy of eschewing peace talks in Ukraine and pursuing a hypothetical and increasingly unlikely military victory has been predicated on defending democracy. Ukraine, we were told, has a vibrant, flourishing democracy, and preserving its survival is worth any cost — including the tremendous loss of life, physical destruction, and economic devastation borne by the country as a result of this policy. Yet now, Western media and commentators are in a state of panic at simply the idea that Ukraine might have to do what they’ve been saying is the entire mission of the war effort: act like a democracy.” (02/25/25)
“Statistical forgery is usually associated with autocratic and illiberal governments, as well as economically unsuccessful and extremely corrupt administrations. For instance, less democratic countries are more likely to fudge their official statistics. Comparing GDP growth to night-time electricity usage (which is highly correlated to GDP), researchers find that non-democracies tend to overstate economic growth by approximately 35%. … American statistics, it should be noted, may have flaws of various kinds, but are generally accurate: the Billion Prices Project, tracking the online price of a billion goods in 2015 and 2016, resulted in remarkably similar readings to the official CPI. So with a good starting point, and since autocracy, economic failure, and corruption are all on the menu for the Trump and Musk duumvirate, it’s worth taking a close look at how they could pull it off.” (02/25/25)
“I think that Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, have been misinformed. I don’t disagree with their shutting down USAID, but I think it’s rather small fry. There are much, much bigger fish to fry if you want to really save U.S. government money that is being wasted in programs that are mischievously justified as aid to the poor people of the world. Elon, hear me out: if you walk northwest from your headquarters at the Eisenhower Executive Building along Pennsylvania Avenue, you’ll come after one long block upon two ugly buildings squatting beside each other. One is the World Bank. The other is the International Monetary Fund (IMF).” (02/25/25)
“Things looked bad recently for Leland Dudek, an employee of the Social Security Administration. Dudek almost got fired for helping the DOGE team understand how SSA’s systems work so that DOGE could zero in on wasteful or fraudulent payments. … An investigation? Administrative leave? For helping, as an executive-branch employee, the head of the executive branch to find and extirpate waste and fraud? SSA managers may have been confused about whether Donald Trump really is the president. The suspense didn’t last long. Dudek was not fired. Instead, the SSA commissioner was fired and Dudek became acting commissioner.” (02/25/25)
