“Since joining the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020, Justice Amy Coney Barrett has voted with the majority to expand gun rights, curtail affirmative action, kill Chevron deference, and eliminate the constitutional right to abortion, all causes that have long been near and dear to the hearts of American conservatives. Yet despite her role in bringing about these landmark conservative victories, a notable faction of the American right is now bizarrely denouncing Barrett as a closet liberal, a ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion hire,’ or worse. What gives? For the record, I have also found fault with some of Barrett’s legal views in recent years. But the notion that she is some kind of intellectual lightweight is ludicrous. Also preposterous is the notion that she is some kind of Justice David Souter redux.” (06/19/25)
“Voters oppose the big ugly reconciliation bill by a roughly 2:1 margin. … The numbers on Trump’s deportation scheme, when you drill down, are rotten. … Overall, Trump’s approval is down to the high thirties in several polls. … In sum, cruelty is not popular. And Democrats must focus on MAGA’s victims, tying them to the lawmakers responsible for their ordeal, in order to break MAGA’s grip on power in 2026.” (06/19/25)
“He lived over 1,000 years ago, but King Canute’s life still has some important lessons for our own time. After conquering England, Denmark, Norway, and part of Sweden, he forged a vast North Sea empire that made him, by the year 1030, the greatest of all the Viking kings. At that peak of power, he ordered his courtiers to place a throne on the seashore. There, according to a contemporaneous account, he shouted at the rising tide: ‘Thou, too, are subject to my command, as the land on which I am seated is mine and no one has ever resisted my commands with impunity. I command you then not to flow over my land, nor presume to wet the feet and the robe of your Lord.’ But the tide, of course, kept rising and waves soon washed over the legs of his royal person.'” (06/19/25)
“How should Democrats be approaching this chaotic and, at times, violent moment? From lawmakers and candidates all the way down to the staff who fuel their operations, a series of events over the past week have made national Democrats reconsider their strategy. Following the shootings of the state lawmakers in Minnesota, a weekend of nationwide protests, and Democratic lawmakers in handcuffs, Democrats are trying to figure out what meeting the Trump moment really means for an out-of-power coalition that’s already under fire from constituents for ostensibly rolling over. And for a number of lawmakers and strategists, that answer isn’t so simple.” (06/19/25)
“[R]egardless of how far the Israelis are hoping to go in this current fight with Iran, it’s quickly become clear that they need the U.S. to help them carry this operation out. Even if they’re exclusively going to target nuclear infrastructure from now on, the depth of these facilities can only be reached by U.S. bunker-buster munitions. An all-out regime change war would require a lot more — likely direct operations by the US military. So, a widespread effort has begun to convince the American people that it would be good for our government to get more involved in this war. Some are claiming it’s simply a straightforward way to prevent the impending annihilation of Israel without requiring much from us. Others are going as far as to say that, unless stopped, Iran is planning to soon hit targets in the continental United States.” (06/19/25)
“I like most of what President Donald Trump has done during his second administration. From DOGE and protecting women sports to bolstering the military and possibly cutting taxes via the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the American people voted for Trump’s agenda and likely would again. But Trump does one thing that really bothers me. He constantly drops comments on social media that outrage progressives, baffle journalists and confuse everyone else, with the possible exception of his most devoted followers. In precarious moments like the one we are in now, as the world wonders if the United States will join Israel in attacking Iran, that’s a problem.” (06/19/25)
“We suggest that what is labelled as financial markets are various individuals engaged in the buying and selling of financial assets. We hold that most of the time the actions of market participants are driven by popular ideas. If the decisions taken by the market participants are based on a theory which is detached from the facts of reality, then the direction of the market is likely to follow the theory. Conversely, if the market participants were to follow a theory that corresponds to the facts of reality, then the market is most likely going to reflect this.” (06/19/25)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by William L Anderson
“I wrote of what I call the ‘Keeper of the Secret’ syndrome in 1999 in which I point out that throughout the 20th century, socialists have believed that if the ‘right’ leader were in place, socialism would be tenable …. both AOC and Sanders believe that the modern capitalist economy is based upon theft in which wealthy people take wealth from everyone else …. Both Sanders and AOC seem to assume that goods just appear on store shelves or, if they were produced by someone, the production process really was a form of slavery in which all of the workers were forced to work in substandard conditions and not paid just wages. Either way, all that is needed is for socialists to take over production, pay higher wages, increase tax rates, and make sure that billionaires no longer have an income.” (06/19/25)
“When it comes to illegal-migrant [sic] deportations, President Trump stressed last week, ‘We’re going to have to use a lot of common sense.’ That principle must keep guiding his team’s drive to expel the millions of ‘asylum seekers’ the last guy waved in. In particular, deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller’s demand that ICE now aim for 3,000 arrests a day is asking for trouble. First, that’s impossible if Homeland Security boss Kristi Noem’s people focus mainly on the resource-intensive work of going after the worst of the worst — even though those are the deportations with the most overwhelming public support. Second, hitting the quota almost requires the kind of mass roundups that are the highest-risk, public opinion-wise.” [editor’s note: The only way to get the deportations right is top stop them – TLK] (06/19/25)
