Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
by Jonathan Zimmerman
“When Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people, two of them fatally, at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020 — in self-defense, he said — Republicans made him into a hero. But when Alex Pretti showed up at an anti-ICE demonstration with a loaded handgun, Trump administration officials condemned him as a ‘would-be assassin’ and a ‘domestic terrorist.’ It’s outrageous. And hypocritical. Yet when it comes to guns, everyone’s a hypocrite right now. All of us are allowing the fatal shooting of Pretti in Minneapolis last week to alter our principles.” [editor’s note: Nope, not all of us – TLK] (01/28/26)
“merica loves to debate socialism. We argue about universal healthcare, guaranteed income, student loan forgiveness, and government dependency. We pride ourselves on our rugged independence and belief in free markets. We warn that socialism destroys innovation, freedom, and personal responsibility. But here’s the uncomfortable truth most Americans never stop to consider: the most centrally planned, government-dependent, subsidy-driven system in the United States isn’t medicine, housing, or energy — it’s food.” (01/28/26)
“Artificial intelligence offers potential for governmental transformation, but like all emerging technologies, it can only catalyze meaningful change when paired with effective operating models. Without this foundation, AI risks amplifying existing government inefficiencies rather than delivering breakthroughs. The primary barrier to AI-based breakthroughs is not an agency’s interest in adopting new tools but the structures and habits of government itself, particularly excessive risk management; rigid hierarchies; and organizational silos rather than adaptive problem solving and effective service delivery. Structural reform is critical and must accompany adoption of AI.” (01/28/28)
“Whores are the authority on masculinity. If you want to understand hunger, you don’t ask a hungry person. You ask someone who sells food. Whores sell masculinity to men. We don’t put it like that, of course. We sell sex, nominally. Because sex is what masculine men are supposed to want. Sex and power and resources. But they’re not allowed to want anything else. It’s not masculine to want to be touched softly. It’s not masculine to want to feel important or loved or interesting or special or attractive. Feelings are for girls, unless the feeling is anger or lust. It’s the same with food, too. Or really anything else you want to sell. What you’re selling isn’t a product or service, ultimately. It’s a feeling. It’s an experience. It’s a dream. Look at advertising.” (01/28/26)
“If you deploy a paramilitary force to terrorize the public — which certainly was the goal of flooding ICE and CBP agents into the Twin Cities — you must support your thugs and back up the narrative that the people they brutalize and perhaps kill had it coming. You can’t enforce rules and regs for this force. That will reveal contradictions and undermine your Manichean tale of good (us) and evil (them). This is about power and decidedly not about the rule of law. The aim is to obliterate the rule of law. So are we now in a police state? Not quite.” (01/28/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley
“On his recent trip to Beijing, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney praised the leadership of Xi Jinping and announced plans to bring 49,000 Chinese electric cars into Canada. In several ways that escaped notice, Carney was following in the footsteps of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. … In the late 1970s, Prime Minister Trudeau allowed the USSR to sell the Soviet-built Lada in Canada. Like all cars produced by Communist regimes, the Lada was an inferior vehicle that failed to catch on with Canadians in a significant way. The ‘plagiarized Fiat,’ as one reviewer called it, was built in the USSR, so the deal did not benefit Canadian auto workers, then struggling to compete with the surging Japanese.” (01/28/26)
“The time is ripe for The Golden Thread, James Hankins and Allen Guelzo’s ambitious two-volume history of Western civilization. Coming into a society that has passed its global obsession and is beginning to consider what being particularly rather than universally cultured means (and whether the latter is even possible without the former), there is a felt need for a project like theirs. In this vein, The Golden Thread forms part of a genre well-established in English-speaking popular culture, but one we’ve abandoned in recent decades. I hope its publication indicates revitalization.” (01/28/26)
“‘Disguised and undercover,’ explains the O’Keefe Media Group article, ‘James O’Keefe embeds inside the World Economic Forum, slipping past armed security and exclusive guest lists to capture what the global climate elite say when they think no one is listening.’ The bad haircut? A goofy blond wig that Mr. O’Keefe (1984– ) donned to fool the European bigwigs (er, elites). He looked like Andy Warhol as a special guest on ‘Sprockets.’ What did this subterfuge accomplish? ‘Posing as an employee of a fictional climate engineering firm, O’Keefe and the OMG team are welcomed into late-night events, luxury hotels, and mountaintop forums where climate financiers openly discuss carbon taxes, geoengineering, and weather modification, commonly referred to as ‘chemtrails.’’ Yes, chemtrails!” (01/28/26)
“More Americans now support abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) than keeping it. A January 13, 2026 Economist/YouGov poll found that 46 percent want to eliminate ICE, compared to 43 percent who support preserving it. It’s a trend that’s been growing since ICE agents have been running rampant in U.S. cities during President Donald Trump’s second term. … Senators who believe in compassion and human rights have a unique opportunity to pull back the agency’s powers by refusing to back an appropriations bill passed by the House of Representatives. That bill, according to the ACLU, ’would renew ICE’s excessive budget, with no strings attached, adding to the over $170 billion in taxpayer funds already allocated for immigration enforcement in July 2025.'” (01/28/26)
