“Imagine Congress debating a bill to integrate Tunisia into the National Technology and Industrial Base (NTIB). Shared military supply chains, joint research, and development, linked battlefield data, and a U.S. executive agent coordinating defense-technology cooperation between Washington with Tunis. Presented plainly, the proposal forces the reaction before the argument even begins. The instinctive question: Why Tunisia? Arrives uninvited. Yet that is precisely what Congress has already begun to normalize.” (06/09/26)
“Firms that grow large before going public raise questions about whether index membership rules shape market reality rather than merely reflect it.” (06/09/26)
“Market failure, which I am defining here as a market not reaching the equilibrium condition where quantity supplied equals quantity demanded, is ubiquitous. Every time we walk into stores, we see market failure happening: shelves and shelves of goods sit, waiting for buyers. This is excess supply (surplus), a market failure. If the market were in equilibrium and perfectly clearing, then when you (the marginal consumer) walk into a store, you should see only the good(s) in the precise quantity you want to buy at the price that precisely equals your willingness to pay for the marginal unit. Nothing else should remain. … Obviously, such an outcome does not exist. Some of the goods we want exist in surplus. Some exist in shortage. And, consequently, the market has failed. But this failure is vital to the workings of the market, broadly called the ‘market process.'” (06/09/26)
“The Republican revolt against President Donald Trump began over an issue that was never supposed to become a crisis: another war in the Middle East. In recent weeks, a group of Republican members of Congress has openly challenged the White House — not over taxes, immigration, or even the budget, but over the most fundamental power of any president: the authority to lead the country into war. When several Republicans chose to stand alongside Democrats and support efforts to limit the president’s war powers, something greater than a routine legislative vote took place. This was not merely a legal disagreement over the interpretation of the Constitution; it was a sign of a deeper fracture emerging at the core of a movement that was once united around Trump’s leadership.” (06/09/26)
“The Los Angeles Republican mayoral candidate was seen as a cutting-edge adopter of artificial intelligence, but it only cut down his chances of winning.” (06/09/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“When the conduct of war is depicted as essentially a force for good, citizens who criticize wars risk incurring the wrath of their own governments. In Northern Opposition to Mr. Lincoln’s War, John Chodes recounts the hardships experienced by Indianans who criticized Lincoln’s war. The governor, Oliver P. Morton, ordered that his critics be arrested, subjected civilians to military trials, and imprisoned them in a detention camp. He shut down newspapers and imprisoned their editors. All this was ostensibly to rout out the traitors who did not agree that Lincoln’s war was necessary to hold the Union together.” (06/09/26)
Source: The American Conservative
by Spencer Neale
“I get it, I’m not supposed to like Hunter. In fact, I’d wager that my name is on some list in the catacombs of an FBI vault for purchasing the Marco Polo hardcover copy of Hunter’s laptop files in 2022, the darkest days. But what can I say? I do like Hunter. And I’m certainly not the only one. On X, many right-wing accounts, which usually spend their days defending the sleepiest of Sleepy Don’s final days, were mesmerized by the younger Biden’s fever dream this week, liking and resharing his honest accounting of the sort of drug addiction and degeneracy that was once used to attack the elder Biden’s shivering and quivering administration. … Authenticity is the only currency left in American politics, and it’s ideologically neutral. Trump proved that a decade ago. Hunter is proving it now from the opposite side.” (06/09/26)
“he typical politically active professor teaching at Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, and America’s other leading universities sits in the same ideological neighborhood as Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the three most progressive members of Congress. The bigger issue, however, is that many campuses lack the intellectual range for anyone to seriously challenge those professors’ views. That is the central finding of a new study commissioned by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and conducted by University of Rochester political scientist David Primo.” (06/09/26)
“Gas prices have increased 50% since the war began. Food prices have followed. The Consumer Price Index jumped 3.3% this April. Grocery bills jumped 0.7% in April. Such figures have not been seen since the peak of post-pandemic inflation. While it’s hard to ignore these costs, many Americans are not noticing the warning signs that higher prices and shortages for vital medications they rely on may soon be next, especially insulin. Supply chain experts at Stanford Health Care have flagged insulin syringes, generic drugs, and petroleum-based medical supplies as products at risk as oil prices rise and shipping costs climb. One logistics firm warned that consumers could see drug costs affected within four to six weeks of sustained disruption — a window that has already opened.” (06/08/26)
