“New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is pushing for ‘$30 in ’30,’ to raise the city’s minimum from $17 today to $30/hour by the end of the decade. Supporters applaud lawmakers granting struggling workers a ‘living wage.’ The logic seems clear: Wage hikes boost incomes, making life more affordable. But although increases to the minimum wage help those lucky enough to keep their jobs, hours and benefits, they hurt many more.” (04/19/26)
“In late March, I sat in the gallery of the Supreme Court for the first time in my life. Throughout my 30 years of grassroots anti-poverty work, I’ve joined countless protests and vigils outside the Court. In 2018, I was even arrested and held in detention for praying on its palatial steps. Now, I was seated with a clear view of the nine justices of the nation’s highest court. I was there as a guest of immigrant rights lawyers, as their team made oral arguments in Noem v. Al Otro Lado, the most significant case on the right to asylum in decades. In February, the Kairos Center (the organization I direct) authored an interfaith amicus brief on that very case, alongside 31 denominations and organizations representing faith traditions practiced by billions worldwide. Those groups… joined together to declare that our societal obligation to provide for persecuted outsiders is a universally shared moral principle.” (04/20/26)
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“My previous post provided an example of the use of past legal systems in understanding our present legal system: the logic of feud law applied to high tech patent litigation. There are others, some of which suggest changes we might want to make to our system, ideas we could steal.” (04/19/26)
“Are America’s top scientists being kidnapped or disappeared by a foreign adversary? Right-wing media are abuzz with speculation that 11 different individuals working on issues related to secret technology or the investigation of extraterrestrial life have been picked off one by one: murdered, kidnapped, disappeared. The stuff of The X-Files, in short: ‘The truth is out there,’ but shadowy forces don’t want you to know. After working its way through the conservative press and the online Right, this narrative got a major boost last week, when White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the administration was looking into the matter. … Fortunately, this entire narrative appears to be, to put it gently, complete nonsense.” (04/19/26)
“Luis Hernandez, then 35, woke to a gray, hazy sky on Feb. 17, 2024. He opted for a warm sweater and cargo pants with pockets just big enough to hold his spare canister of oxygen, but he hoped he wouldn’t need it. It would be a big day out for him and his friends — the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, Calif., was hosting a special Pokemon Go event where some of the rarest Pokemon could be found. When the group arrived, they headed straight to the belly of the bowl, blanketed with bright green turf. Hernandez settled into a rhythm: Walk 50 feet. Pause for 30 minutes. Catch some Pokemon. Walk another 50 feet. Pause another 30 minutes. Catch some Pokemon. Walk another 50 feet. Pause another 30 minutes. When he started gasping for air, he sat down — on a chair if he was lucky, the turf if he was not.” (04/20/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kerry McDonald
“[Amanda] Pacheco is one of approximately 15,000 residents in what is known as America’s first solar-powered town, defined by its environmental vision, hurricane resilience and strong sense of community. Since welcoming its first residents in January 2018, Babcock Ranch’s population has soared, with plans to reach 50,000 in the years ahead. As this future-focused community grows, its K-12 education landscape is expanding alongside it, shaped by the same spirit of innovation. With a rising assortment of public schooling, homeschooling and micro-schooling options, Babcock Ranch offers a distinct snapshot of today’s evolving education offerings and the families who choose them.” (04/19/26)
“According to The Hill, in an article typical of U.S. media, Trump’s war on Iran is totally legal for 60 days if Congress does nothing, after which it becomes illegal, unless Congress has explicitly OK’d it. This is supposedly because of the War Powers Resolution of 1973. And The Hill is not alone in pushing this idea. However, the War Powers Resolution consists of words that you can read for yourself, and here are some of them …. It is simply not true that the war will become illegal after 60 days; it has been illegal since the instant it was begun. It is factually false that it must be ended after 60 days in order to comply with the law; it must be ended immediately.” (04/19/26)
“Some commentators look at Trump and the MAGA-dominated Republican Party and conclude that ‘the chaos is the point.’ That is, the purpose of some of the weirder and wilder actions of Trump’s administration is to build an omnipotent totalitarian state by sowing fear, discord, and confusion — to keep their opponents on perpetual tenterhooks, disorganized and unable to effectively respond, as new authoritarian measures roll out. But what if it’s not that?” (04/19/26)
“[T]he young and the hungry around the world, from India to Ukraine, want something different: They want choices and agency and fun and freedom that may not look exactly like our version of it but that is freedom nonetheless. They want to rock. And rock, as Johnny Rotten knows, is both a product of affluence and a route to it. It is not exactly a swindle, as the Sex Pistols insisted, but there is a kind of swindle at the heart of it: Rock is a rebellious pose for the rich kids of the world. It is not a product of rebellion, nor is it, in the American context, an instrument of rebellion. … Freedom is about having choices, and, unromantic and adultified and boring and Protestant and old-fashioned Republican as this particular piece of wisdom might be, money gives you choices.” (04/17/26)
“Digital environments like social media platforms are designed to deliver rewards intermittently and unpredictably, imitating the psychologically addictive qualities of slot machines. The randomness, opacity, and variability are all there on purpose to provoke compulsive engagement. If we take a step back and consider this system, it is strange beyond words: the system links the most personal, private aspects of life and identity to a gambling mechanism, co-opting the most fundamental human feelings and motivations. It has colonized life’s inherent uncertainty and unpredictability, leveraging these fundamental features of existence to generate anxiety and disciplinary power. Digital capitalism has changed the concept of uncertainty itself.” (04/17/26)
