“A recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal lays out what has been on the minds of many (or at least mine) for some time. The traditional education establishment that was in charge of all things K-12 in the last century is crumbling. In the last decade, millions of children have exited their assigned public schools in exchange for a scholarship that is a fraction of what was spent on them by the education blob. It is becoming clear — parents want to be able to choose from a range of options when it comes to the education of their children.” (02/16/26)
“One of the towering questions hovering over the Epstein saga was whether the illicit sexual activities of the world’s most powerful people were used as blackmail by Epstein or by intelligence agencies with whom (or for whom) he worked. The Trump administration now insists that no such blackmail occurred. … There are still many files that remain heavily and inexplicably redacted. But, from the files that have been made public, we know one thing for certain. One of Epstein’s two key benefactors — the hedge fund billionaire Leon Black, who paid Epstein at least $158 million from 2012 through 2017 — was aggressively blackmailed over his sexual conduct. ” (02/16/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Ryan McMaken
“Decades before the Marxists came along, the classical liberals exposed how some classes exploit other classes. Through taxes and inflation, government regimes transfer wealth from the more productive members of society to the less productive ones. For at least two centuries, political theorists have attempted to identify and understand the ways that various social and economic classes have interacted within this system of state exploitation. … Among these classes we also find a group that is often ignored, or at least it is infrequently mentioned. It is the class small enterprise: the owners of small factories, the artisans, and the shopkeepers. Or, to use a term more frequently found outside the United States: the petite bourgeoisie.” (02/16/26)
“2025 was a good year for the stock market. Americans who invested in a broad market index like the Standard and Poor 500 did really well. But not as well as 29 members of the U.S. Congress who beat the market in 2025. Beating the market is not easy and beating an index like the S&P 500 in 2025 means getting gains of more than 16.8%. Unusual Whales compiled a report on the members of Congress whose investments beat that return in 2025. I compiled the chart below from the report to focus on the 29 members of Congress whose investment portfolios grew by more than 16.8% last year.” (02/16/26)
“On June 5, 2015, Kathy Ruemmler, then a corporate lawyer for Latham & Watkins but just one year removed from her stint as White House counsel for Barack Obama, emailed her good friend Jeffrey Epstein. Ruemmler, who was once under consideration to become Obama’s attorney general, wrote, ‘I am working on a PR strategy for MJ White v. Elizabeth Warren.’ Epstein responded, ‘Good[.] mj is good.’ And Ruemmler followed on in a response, ‘Yes, and EW is the worst.’ This is the perfect Jeffrey Epstein email, with as much explanatory power about this man, and more important the world he associated with and cultivated, than anything to do with child sex abuse. It shows that there is in fact an Epstein class, which not only believes in their own personal impunity, but seeks to protect their fellow travelers as well.” (02/17/26)
“Perpetual Trumpworld figure Steve Bannon is taking a lot of heat this month as newly released Jeffrey Epstein files show he maintained close ties with the notorious sex trafficker, even after many of Epstein’s worst crimes were exposed. But that’s not the only perilous legal matter on Bannon’s plate. The influential conservative podcaster also finds himself in hot water for his management of the disastrous ‘Fuck Joe Biden’ cryptocurrency.” (02/16/26)
“The history of ‘President’s Day’ is a convoluted one. (Isn’t everything with government?) Legally, for the FedGov, it is officially still ‘Washington’s Birthday’ and just the calendar date was changed back in 1971, from 22 February to the third Monday in February. (Many States have officially changed the name; the common title reflects the popular belief that it also replaced any celebration of Honest Abe’s birthday (12 February) honored ‘all POTUS.’ Yup, even Nixon.) But since most of us treat this like ‘All Presidents’ Day’ (and absolutely nothing to do with the idea behind All Saints’ Day), let us look back at one of the few POTUS that has some really good things to say about him. Thomas Jefferson.” (02/16/26)
“As ICE tactics continue to undermine due process rights, the New York Times editorial board and kindred others have reflected on the role ICE plays in a broader challenge the Trump administration poses to democracy. Trump’s immigration policies are dramatically unjust. But meaningful reflection on what’s wrong with them means recognizing an uncomfortable fact: they are not ‘undemocratic’ but all too much a product of democracy. It’s an uncomfortable fact that Donald Trump won the 2024 election, not just in the electoral college but by 2 million in the popular vote. And he did it by loudly campaigning for his immigration policy. He promised to carry out ‘the largest deportation effort in American history,’ and his running mate suggested starting with deporting 1 million people. Remorseful Trump voters have no excuse for thinking they voted for something else.” (02/16/26)
“The downside of the budget impasse is that it has made police state tactics a point of negotiation. In any other era, if a local police department were doing what ICE and Border Patrol have done in Chicago, Portland, and Minnesota, a state attorney general or federal government would have launched investigations, and the architects of the policy — Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, Corey Lewandowski — would be sweating out questions at oversight hearings. Instead, we’re talking about these abuses in the context of a budget fight. And that risks giving the impression that basic constitutional rights and restraints on police and executive power that date back to the Founding are, actually, negotiable. I guess we’ll see over the next couple weeks if the Democrats believe they really are.” (02/16/26)
“If you asked me to call it as I see it, I’d say President Trump is fasc-ish, fascist lite, or ‘semi-fascist.’ And until recently, writer Jonathan Rauch (whom I’ve long admired) would have agreed with my assessment. But in his Atlantic piece, ‘Yes, it’s Fascism,’ Rauch pulls a Jason Stanley. That is, he comes up with his own laundry list of purportedly fascist indicators to prove that President Trump is, indeed, a fascist, which suggests Trump is uniquely evil in American history. … In setting out to prove that Trump is a fascist, Rauch proves that the President is just an odd species of progressive and that past progressive presidents were fascist, too. Progressivism, after all, is a form of fascism.” (02/16/26)
