“With the idea of banning large investors from buying real estate, President Trump has brought to the forefront the issue of real estate. This has been recently at the top of popular discourse, and politicians and pundits of all colors have grabbed the opportunity to push their own agendas. And one of the ways to sway public opinion towards one’s goals is semantics. If we can rename something to our advantage, half the job of convincing people is done. It is a lot more important than most people think.” 902/04/26)
“The 2022 ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ protests erupted in Iran following the shocking death of 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini, in police custody. Like many Iranians in the diaspora, illustrator Roshi Rouzbehani was filled with grief, rage and a profound duty to speak out. She felt compelled to create art that echoed what so many were experiencing, and to share the images online to help bring global attention to her people’s struggle. ‘Art became both a personal coping mechanism and a form of activism for me,’ Rouzbehani tells In These Times. Now based in the UK, she left Iran in 2011 to seek safety from political pressures. In the year of the women-led uprising, the Iranian regime’s security forces killed hundreds of protesters and threatened the lives of numerous journalists, and detained, tortured and persecuted thousands more.” (02/03/25)
“With much of the country still digging out from Winter Storm Fern, one thing is clear: Severe winter storms continue to stress-test the grid’s reliability, and the system is repeatedly falling short. Fern has made the case once again for expanded interregional transmission to provide the power system with much needed resilience while lowering consumers’ energy costs.” [editor’s note: No, Winter Storm Fern has made the case once again for abandoning the obsolete “grid” paradigm in favor of localized / decentralized power – TLK] (02/04/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“The first thing to note about the federal conviction of libertarian Ian Freeman, who was in the business of selling Bitcoin, and the eight-year prison sentence that a federal judge meted out to him is that he would never have been convicted of his ‘crimes’ had he been living in 1890 America. The second thing to note about his conviction and long prison sentence is that he is innocent as a matter of fact and law.” (02/04/26)
Source: Jake Porter’s Analysis & Investigations
by Jake Porter
“In July of 2023, at Freedom Fest in Memphis, Tenn., then Libertarian Party Chair Angela McArdle secretly met with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. setting off a bizarre saga leading to the Libertarian Party essentially becoming a financial arm to support and market Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign. What followed were sponsored speaking engagements, sabotage, endorsements, money funneled to hidden LLCs and Presidential pardons. This series exposes who sold out the Libertarian Party, how they sold it out, and what party leadership, Kennedy and Donald Trump each benefited from it.” (02/04/26)
“I’m incredibly grateful for all the developments in computing, telecommunications, and collaboration software that have enabled the rise of partly-or-wholly remote work. I’m also appreciative of the many efforts humans have put in to adjust to this new way of remote working and uncover forms of collaboration that would have been much harder otherwise. At the margin, I think this does somewhat reduce the need for people to migrate to do jobs, and I think that’s a good thing! However, I also think that it’s easy to overstate the extent to which remote work obviates the need for people to move.” (02/04/26)
“If you won’t stand up for the rights of those you dislike, you don’t really believe in rights at all. At best, you believe in privileges — things you can do as long as some government official agrees and gives you temporary permission to do it.” (02/04/26)
“Certificate-of-Need (CON) laws require the approval of states’ health planning agencies for health care providers to engage in regulated actions such as opening or expanding facilities or purchasing equipment. Additionally, in many states with CON regulations, the decision to grant a CON is made by a board whose members may work for incumbent providers. This is sometimes referred to as a ‘competitor’s veto.’ … As of December 2025, 15 states have fully repealed CON regulations. Additionally, numerous states have reformed their CON regulations to shrink the healthcare services that require a CON. … Preventing incumbent providers from participating in the CON review process (including requesting hearings and appeals) can help reduce cronyism in the CON application process.” (02/04/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“I need you to understand that nothing is going to be done about anything in the Epstein files. Nothing. The people in the documents will suffer no consequences. The institutions responsible for the abuses you’ve learned about will not change anything about how they operate. Your government will change absolutely nothing about its policies and behavior. Nothing will be done if you vote in the other political party. Nothing will be done if you vote in new politicians. Nothing will be done if you write letters to your senators and representatives. Nothing will be done if you hold protests outside government buildings. No meaningful laws will be passed. No prosecutions of any meaningful consequence will occur. Don’t believe me? Just watch and pay attention.” (02/04/25)
