“An explosion of enthusiastic applause for Joseph Stalin followed a Communist Party conference in 1937. The ovation went on for three minutes, four, five … Palms were getting sore, arms were aching, and the older members of the audience were panting with exhaustion. According to dissident author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the clapping continued for 11 minutes. … It was only after the director of a local paper factory, ‘an independent and strong-minded man,’ sat down that the hall finally fell quiet. ‘They had been saved,’ wrote Solzhenitsyn. ‘The squirrel had been smart enough to jump off his revolving wheel.’ During Tuesday’s marathon 3-hour and 16-minute Cabinet meeting at the White House, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff offered a masterclass in sycophancy.” (08/27/25)
“On Wednesday, one of Europe’s smallest, poorest, and most rural countries, Moldova, received a visit by the leaders of France, Germany, and Poland. Why this abundant attention from European elite? It was not only to celebrate the 34th Independence Day of the former Soviet republic. It was also an appeal to Moldovan voters before a crucial Sept. 28 election not to fall for the ‘Kremlin’s propaganda,’ as French President Emmanuel Macron put it. ‘Unlike Russia, the European Union threatens no one and respects everyone’s sovereignty,’ the French leader said alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in the capital, Chisinau. After recently losing much of its economic leverage over its tiny neighbor, Russia now backs an immense disinformation campaign in Moldova, along with paid public protests and vote-buying, to help pro-Russia political parties win the election.” (08/27/25)
“If ever there were an example of the perils of the Democrat approach to crime and social disorder, it is Minneapolis, ground zero of the George Floyd/defund-the-police movement that roiled the country five years ago, and ‘a sanctuary transgender state.’ The deadly mass shooting of small children at Mass at Annunciation Catholic School Wednesday brings home the tragic cost of a disordered society, where evil rampages unchecked and those who would protect the vulnerable are handcuffed and pushed away. It’s too early to say exactly how, or even if, the tragedy could have been prevented. Yet Minnesota Democrats already have reached for their lazy gun-control mantra, in a state that has among the strictest gun laws in the country.” (08/27/25)
“By now, it is obvious that Trump does not understand what trade deficits are, does not know that Americans bear the cost of his tariffs, and does not comprehend how American manufacturing is dependent on global supply chains. But what if the problem actually runs deeper than that? What if the man who has been entrusted by the Republican Party to reshape huge swaths of the national economy and the flow of global trade is suffering from the same sort of cognitive decline that marked Joe Biden’s time in office? It’s an unsettling question, but one that ought to be pondered in the wake of what happened on Monday in the Oval Office. While hosting South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and taking questions from reporters, Trump went off on a long, nonsensical tangent about magnets and what he apparently believes is a two-decade-long conspiracy orchestrated by the Chinese government.” (08/27/25)
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“A state Republican or Democratic party redrawing the congressional map faces a tradeoff between two objectives. It maximizes the number of seats it holds with a bare majority in as many seats as possible. It minimizes the risk to incumbent representatives of losing their seats by giving them solid seats, seats where their party holds a comfortable majority. The relative weight given to each should depend on at least two variables: 1. How solid the majority party’s control of the state is. … 2. How strong the national party is vs the state party.” (08/28/25)
“Commerce and strategy are often linked, but mistaking temporary sectoral frictions for enduring intent is poor statecraft. The effect of the tariffs is sweeping. They undermine investor confidence and unsettle exporters. Both economies stand to lose commercially — India perhaps more. Yet the larger casualty will be confidence in the partnership itself. At risk is not only the flow of goods but also the strategic convergence that drives India and the United States as pivotal partners in a rapidly shifting global order.” (08/27/25)
“Punish them! That might as well be the explicit goal of California’s regulators and politicians — and all too many voters — for the results are clear enough. All who refuse to use electric cars and solar energy must suffer … with ever-higher gas prices, at the very least. Two major oil refineries that provide gas for California as well as a few neighboring states have announced that they are closing their doors. They can’t hack it. One analyst predicts that in consequence of these closures and related destruction of production, the price of gas will shoot up to $8 per gallon.” (08/27/25)
“The Trump administration should accept that facts are their friends, even when they hurt. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Lieutenant General Jeffery Kruse after he delivered the hard fact that the strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities were not quite as destructive as they had hoped. Last month, Trump fired the Commissioner of Labor Statistics Erika McEntarfer for delivering facts about a slump in job growth. It would be easy to compare these anti-fact firings to how dictators and fascists in other countries have attempted to obfuscate the truth in order to present themselves in a flattering fashion …. It would also be easy to point out that, if Trump cared about how the American people fared, he would ignore how unsavory facts portray his administration in favor of using those facts to make robust decisions for the common good.” (08/27/25)
“The Trump administration reportedly directed the Department of Defense recently to begin to use military force against a slew of drug cartels in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America. As a number of national security scholars and subject matter experts have argued, further militarization, particularly unilaterally, will not win the war on drugs. The White House should consider staying the course on its current diplomatic efforts while exploring demand-side options for curtailing the fentanyl crisis.” (08/28/25)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Fabricio Antezana Duran
“While visiting Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, I was intrigued and surprised by the amount of art and public displays commemorating communism and the Soviet era. These weren’t honorary tributes to ‘golden times,’ but rather pieces honoring those who suffered under the regime; reminders never to forget, and never to return to, those dark times.” (08/27/25)
