“The entire ‘protest’ movement seems like a mating dance for people who otherwise wouldn’t ever get laid (not that they’re getting laid, but marching with people is about as close to the prospect of it as they’re likely to get). It’s hard for people who pay attention to what’s going on to care when someone gets hurt, or worse, when you know these people have taken to the street for what amounts to performance art.” (01/26/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Phillip W Magness
“If you follow economic policy debates, you’ve probably heard a stream of attacks on something called ‘neoliberalism.’ A purported ideology, neoliberalism is often said to have guided American and Western economic policy since shortly after the end of World War II. It’s also blamed for a long list of economic grievances, ranging from real events such as the 2008 Financial Crisis to exaggerated claims about the ‘hollowing out’ of American manufacturing. Just how neoliberalism gave rise to these episodes seldom finds any coherent elaboration among users of the term. In fact, despite allegedly running the global economy for some 80 years, the ideology has almost no adherents who would willingly describe themselves as ‘neoliberals.’ Instead, it has become a catch-all word for almost every economic complaint, while lacking any semblance of a coherent definition.” (01/26/26)
“To you and me, Renee Good and Alex Pretti are tragic victims of authoritarian overreach. To the Trump regime, they’re exhibits in building the case for martial law.” (01/26/26)
“The lies aren’t even creative. They’re pro forma. They tell them to cloak the impunity given to the murderous agents of the state, who’ve been unshackled from the Constitution and given license to raid and ransack, detain and kill at will. But how long will even the most slavish devotees of this regime be willing to swallow the lies without convulsing from deep-welling nausea? The right-to-lifers? The evangelicals? The NRA? How much will they tolerate? After all, federal agents disarmed Alex Pretti, then they shot him. You couldn’t script a more harrowing parable for the NRA’s warnings about the sanctity of gun rights for all these years. Will this heinous killing finally make them turn on Trump? Don’t count on it.” (01/26/26)
“An important mythical figure in Nazi Germany was a man named Horst Wessel. He was a mid-level Nazi street thug who was killed by communists over an unpaid rent dispute. Nazi propaganda turned him into a hero of the German nation, and the ‘Horst Wessel Song’ became the official Nazi anthem. The Trump administration is doing all in its power to create a similar fake martyr in the form of dead Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers. It’s central to the conservative victimhood complex: In order to violently dominate others, they must create a false narrative in which they are also the victim at the same time.” (01/26/26)
“What is the proper role of the judiciary in American political life? There has never been a clear answer to that question, even among the founders. The Constitution itself has relatively little to say about the judiciary, delegating most of its design and much of its authority to congressional action. Alexander Hamilton in Federalist #78 argued that the judiciary could resolve disputes arising under the Constitution. But James Madison in Federalist #51 suggested that many such questions should be settled by the political process. Thomas Jefferson, in retirement, was aghast at the sweeping rhetoric of McCulloch v. Maryland, in which his cousin, Chief Justice John Marshall, employed Hamiltonian reasoning to legitimize the Bank of the United States.” (01/26/26)
“If Americans, inspired by Minneapolis, collectively refuse to allow politicians to treat this as business as usual, then Renee Good and Alex Pretti will rightly be remembered as martyrs who gave their lives to the cause of restoring democracy.” (01/26/26)
“n medicine, silence can be more alarming than noise. For example, a patient who abruptly stops voicing discomfort or a monitor that ceases activity may signal system failure rather than resolution. Ecology presents a similar scenario, and currently, the silence is deeply concerning. Insects are disappearing across vast regions globally. This is not a modest decline or a simple geographic shift, but a rapid vanishing of beetles, butterflies, moths, flies, mosquitoes, bees, and entire functional groups. This phenomenon is not speculative or anecdotal; it is among the most consistently documented biological trends of the past 50 years and remains insufficiently addressed.” (01/26/26)
“The Trump administration is reportedly moving to ban TP-Link routers, but experts say they’re no less secure than other devices.” (for publication 02/26)
