“Populist politicians in Europe, whether left or right who use tactics of demonization and division to amass power, have been put on notice. In a much-watched election on April 12, voters in Hungary ousted Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who epitomized the continent’s identity politics of fear and hate over the past 16 years. In record turnout, they soundly opted for Péter Magyar, an astute coalition-builder who overcame a smear campaign thrown at him by offering ‘a message of love’ to all Hungarians. In a speech after his Tisza party won a supermajority in Parliament, Mr. Magyar touched on the election’s meaning: ‘It is a sin to divide the nation.'” (04/13/26)
“Democrats would rather not talk about national defense. It’s a rather remarkable place for the party and its wonks to find themselves today. Four years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine inaugurated the most intense period of conventional military conflict in living memory—and on the doorstep of America’s longest and, until President Trump’s return to the White House fifteen months ago, strongest alliance—Democrats and sympathetic commentators on the broad center-left in the United States still cannot bring themselves to think much about questions surrounding hard power and the use of force.” (04/14/26)
“It is trivially easy, in the year of our Lord 2026, to do a terrorism. Terrorism has always been trivially easy. So why do the doomers keep talking about how scared they are that AI will make it easier to do terrorism? It being hard is not the limiting factor. It has never been the limiting factor. There’s a reason they keep bringing up, as an example, the Sarin poisoning in Matsumoto, Japan. It’s the only instance of random weirdos using anything approaching advanced technology to do a mass murder. The 9/11 hijackers used the incredibly complex and hard-to-use technology otherwise known as ‘box cutters.'” (04/14/26)
“Tax bills are only the beginning. Borrowing and inflation also finance federal spending — in ways that are easier to ignore but harder to escape.” (04/14/26)
“In scholarly discussions of just war thought, nuclear weapons often serve as little more than terrifying symbols of injustice. Since 1945, many have argued that such weapons are incapable of being deployed in a just role, either in attacks or in a deterrent posture. These thinkers tend to view nukes as far too indiscriminate and entirely too prone to unleashing an escalatory spiral that none would survive. Such writers view nuclear weapons as intrinsically immoral, and there the discussion often ends. Realists tend to sidestep the moral challenge, shrug, and note that we live in an imperfect world—before moving on to what seems to them the real issues stemming from nuclear weapons: finding the right balance of ends, ways, and means for them in national security policy. But one need not embrace a more realistic view without rendering a moral account of these matters.” (04/14/26)
“While many of the states that are growing are currently seen as safe red territory, today’s Republican-voting states could be tomorrow’s swing states.” (for publication 05/26)
“Capitalism remains undefeated. In 2023, over 100 leading economists from around the world, including progressive darling Thomas Piketty, signed a letter warning that ‘far-right’ Argentine presidential candidate Javier Milei’s policies, which were ‘rooted in laissez-faire economics,’ would cause ‘devastation,’ spike inflation, expand poverty and worsen unemployment. Celebrated economists never penned any open letters warning that the preceding Peronists’ or Kirchnerists’ perverse blend of fascism, socialism and unionism would drive Argentina — once one of world’s wealthiest nations — into destitution, unemployment, soaring inflation and bankruptcy. But that’s how it always goes.” (04/13/26)
“Bayer bought Monsanto in 2018 for $63 billion — a few months before Monsanto lost its first liability case for causing non-Hodgkins lymphoma. I was not a close observer of the case, but the win seemed to hinge on documents obtained during discovery that revealed Monsanto knew a great deal about the injuries its product caused but deliberately hid those findings. Once there was a win — and the jury awarded the plaintiff with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma hundreds of millions, later reduced — the bandwagon effect began, with other lawyers seeking plaintiffs to sue Monsanto. … Bayer, a German company, hired a Texan, Bill Anderson, as CEO to come to its aid. CEO Anderson’s career hinged on stanching Bayer’s bleed. He initiated a very expensive series of legal and political strategies in the hopes that one would be successful. He also formed a new agricultural industry lobby group with a huge advertising budget.” (04/14/26)
