Source: Washington Post
by George F Will
“One Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent’s knee was on his neck, another’s was grinding his back. Drenched with tear gas and pepper spray, George Retes might have wished that his 137 pounds were back in Kirkuk, Iraq, one of his Army deployments. Herewith a glimpse of your tax dollars at work.” (10/24/25)
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“We hear so much bad news about censorship coming out of the United Kingdom that it’s almost shocking when something good happens instead. That good news is a retreat from harassing innocent people for posting online too freely for the taste of British police enforcers. In the big picture, the change in policy by the Metropolitan Police Service is but a minor tactical withdrawal in the pursuit of a censorship agenda that is otherwise proceeding on all fronts. It’s not so minor for people like, say, comedy writer Graham Linehan.” (10/24/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/10/24/quit-banging-on-brits/
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“Atheist though I am, my wife’s rabbi insisted on parading me around on his shoulders as part of recent Simchat Torah festivities. As a volunteer security guard for the synagogue, I was weighed down with weapons and body armor, so it’s good he doesn’t skip leg day during his trips to the gym. Less vigorous was my adult son’s baptism at a Tucson church earlier this year. My Jewish wife, Wendy, and I were bemused by congratulations from members of the congregation on Anthony’s thoughtful pre-dousing speech. We knew we’d raised a good man, but we had little to do with his faith. For that matter, I’m not really sure how an atheist married to a once-secular woman ended up in a multi-faith household. But I’m not alone in seeing changes in the religious landscape and (maybe) a religious revival.” (10/24/25)
https://reason.com/2025/10/24/a-religious-revival-could-help-reinvigorate-the-liberal-west/
Source: The Daily Economy
by Peter C Earle
“Explore a counterfactual world in which the trade war ends abruptly, setting off a cascade of economic renewal.” (10/24/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/imagine-that-growth-lessons-from-a-tariff-free-timeline/
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Connor Echols
“President Donald Trump announced new sanctions on Russia’s leading oil producers in a move aimed at turning the screws on Moscow — and countries that continue to buy Russian oil, like India and Turkey. The decision surprised many Ukraine war observers, who have struggled to discern the logic behind Trump’s approach to the conflict in recent weeks. Just days before the sanctions announcement, Trump had held a seemingly cordial phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after which the U.S. leader had started to lean hard on Ukraine to make concessions. Trump had even suggested an imminent, in-person meeting in Budapest, where he and Putin were expected to make progress toward a peace deal. But now Trump appears to have grown frustrated with the Russian leader.” (10/24/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-russia-sanctions-2674227626/
Source: Expression
by Greg Lukianoff
“If you’re a free-speech lawyer, you face a choice: Either expect to be disappointed by people of all political stripes — or go crazy. I choose low expectations. Again and again, political actors preach the importance of free speech, only to reach for the censor’s muzzle when it helps their side. If, like me, you defend free speech as a principle rather than invoke it opportunistically, you get distressingly accustomed to seeing the same people take opposite positions on an issue, sometimes within the space of just a few months.” (10/23/25)
https://expression.fire.org/p/everyones-a-free-speech-hypocrite
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Jim Bovard
“President Donald Trump is rattling his saber against Colombian President Gustavo Petro to punish him for accusing the U.S. government of murdering Venezuelan fishermen. Trump has boasted of the killings by the U.S. military but claims all the targets were drug smugglers. He has threatened to suspend all U.S. government handouts for the Colombian government. Trump warned Petro that he ‘better close up’ cocaine production ‘or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.’ Tapping his own psychiatric expertise, Trump proclaimed that Colombia has ‘the worst president they’ve ever had – a lunatic with serious mental problems.’ Is anyone in the Trump White House aware of the long history of U.S. failure in that part of the world?” (10/23/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-sordid-history-of-u-s-aid-to-colombia
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“This whole ‘the president is so special’ thing has gotten way out of hand. Time to trim the fat. Let the White House stand if we must, I guess, but turn it into a reminder of our past errors rather than a symbol of pretend current greatness.” (10/23/25)
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
Suppose you’re crafting a Noble Lie to motivate people to defend democracy. What will you tell them First, that actually-existing democracy is wonderful. Second, that democracy faces an existential threat. If you convincingly and charismatically spread your Noble Lie, listeners won’t just be motivated. They’ll be hysterical: ‘We’re in heaven, yet hell is at our gates.’ Sure, a few strange listeners who combine gullibility and cynicism will shrug, ‘That’s terrible, but my personal ability to sway the outcome is trivial, so I’ll just keep my head down and hope for the best.’ But most people who fall for your Noble Lie will live in a state of panic — and unless they’re extremely introverted, they’ll spread their panic to others. The main problem with pushing Noble Lies is that skeptics will start asking obvious questions.” (10/23/25)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/against-the-noble-lies-of-democracy
Source: The American Conservative
by Doug Bandow
“What always mattered most to Netanyahu was strengthening his political position, preserving his narrow and extremist coalition parliamentary majority, thereby enabling him to continue avoiding trial and potential imprisonment on corruption charges. What matters most to the president is preserving his hold over America’s dwindling but still influential Israel-first constituency. For this, Trump promises that Americans will fight and die on behalf of privileged, corrupt, dissolute, and dictatorial Gulf monarchs.” (10/23/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/americans-shouldnt-die-for-qatar-or-saudi-arabia/