“If Americans thought the 2016 and 2020 elections were messy, just wait until Mr. Artificial Intelligence shows up for the 2026 midterms with his own election disruptions in hand. If you are an election official, an election integrity advocate, or even a candidate, you should start creating an anti-AI election disinformation plan – yesterday. Protecting elections has historically meant securing ballot boxes, counting rooms, and voting machines. In 2026, that will still matter, but will no longer be enough. The greatest threat now to confidence in elections may not be whether votes are counted accurately, but whether voters believe anything they see, hear, or read about the process.” (01/22/26)
“On January 16, the US Department of Education announced that it will delay the collection of defaulted federal student debt via wage garnishment and retention of federal funds such as Social Security payments. The reasons offered by the Trump administration are that the Biden administration left student debt repayment a confused mess that needs to be clarified before forced collection resumes, and the Working Families Tax Cuts Act — aka One Big Beautiful Bill — will simplify debt repayment starting this July, as well as allow a second chance for defaulted borrowers to rehabilitate their loans. … Even if legal, there is a huge problem with another delay: It will likely bolster the deleterious sentiment among borrowers for which the Trump administration blamed Biden.” (01/21/26)
“Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison declared Sunday that there are no federal grounds for prosecuting the mob that disrupted St. Paul’s Cities Church and characterized the conduct as ‘First Amendment activity.’ Ellison not only supported the protesters as exercising their First Amendment rights in an interview with CNN, but also signaled an unwillingness to enforce state laws allegedly violated by the protesters, including trespass and disorderly conduct. Ellison is infamous for his prior support for violent groups and has long-faced criticism for statements and associations involving extremist movements and figures linked to political unrest.” [editor’s note: Compare to Turley’s view of the “mob rule” in the Capitol riot – TLK] (01/22/25)
“It’s a safe assumption that any president would have a strong preference for an easing of monetary policy (lower policy rates at a minimum) as opposed to tightening monetary policy. Moreover, communicating that preference, although perhaps a lot more subtly than Trump, to the Fed Chairman has gone on for quite some time. However, by deploying extraordinary monetary policy from 2008 to 2018 and then from 2020 to 2022, the Fed has shown every president, both present and future, that those powers can juice the economy in ways that fiscal policy can rarely match. The temptation for a president to cajole a Fed chairman has risen dramatically since 2008 and I don’t expect it to end with the Trump presidency.” (01/21/26)
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Tori Noble
“Copyright owners increasingly claim more draconian copyright law and policy will fight back against big tech companies. In reality, copyright gives the most powerful companies even more control over creators and competitors. Today’s copyright policy concentrates power among a handful of corporate gatekeepers — at everyone else’s expense. We need a system that supports grassroots innovation and emerging creators by lowering barriers to entry—ultimately offering all of us a wider variety of choices.” (01/21/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
“Every time I read that Latin America is shifting to the right, I scratch my head thinking: are people unaware that Brazil and Mexico, both in the hands of the left, represent 56 percent of the gross domestic product of Latin America and the Caribbean and 54 percent of the region’s population? Not to mention that Colombia, the third most populated country, is also governed by the left. That said, yes, the right has won in Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, and Honduras, and is governing in other countries, such as El Salvador, Paraguay and Peru (after the President of the Congress assumed power following the impeachment of the previous president). But three important presidential elections that will take place this year will give us a sense of where the subcontinent really stands.” (01/21/26)
“Show-Me Institute analysts have been writing and talking about Paul McKee’s Northside (St. Louis) development plan since it started almost 20 years ago. The Northside project plan was to acquire and redevelop large, struggling parts of north St. Louis. The entire project was backed by huge amounts of state and city tax subsidies. How has the project worked out? Did the promises of redevelopment of this part of the city and a great return on the public tax investment pan out? Or did the warnings and concerns of people like Institute analyst Audrey Spalding prove correct? Of course, Northside has been a total failure, and Audrey and others were correct.” (01/21/26)
“The Trump administration’s exercise in armed regime change in Venezuela should have come as no surprise. The U.S. naval buildup in the Caribbean and the attacks on defenseless boats off the Venezuelan coast — based on unproven allegations that they contained drug traffickers — had been underway for more than three months. By the end of December 2025, in fact, such strikes on boats near Venezuela (and in the Eastern Pacific) had already killed 115 people. And those attacks were just the beginning. The U.S. has since intercepted oil tankers as far away as the North Atlantic Ocean, run a covert operation inside Venezuela, and earlier this month, launched multiple air strikes that killed at least 40 Venezuelans while capturing that country’s president, Nicholas Maduro, and his wife. Both of them are now imprisoned in New York City and poised to face a criminal trial for narco-terrorism and cocaine importing conspiracies, plus assorted weapons charges.” (01/22/25)
“‘Empires, by Pride & Folly & Extravagance, ruin themselves like Individuals.’ Benjamin Franklin wasn’t merely reciting history; he was warning us. Because every empire follows the same script. And while the common themes are overextension, debt, or even running the printing press, those are merely symptoms of the deadly disease. The root cause is always the same: Consolidate power. The eventual destruction of liberty and final collapse are guaranteed. And now, it’s our turn. This is the story of how empire destroys liberty, because liberty must die for empires to live.” (01/21/26)
