Source: The Intercept
by Sam Biddle
“Conservatives once panicked about a supposed federal plot to invade their communities and quash dissent. Now they’re cheering it.” (02/02/26)
https://theintercept.com/2026/02/02/trump-ice-military-occupations-surveillance-state-violence/
Source: Independent Institute
by Jonathan Hofer & Kristian Fors
“When people decide to rent or purchase a home, they often focus on financial liabilities (what they pay to others) and overlook the economic costs of capital. Several rent vs. buy calculators are available online …. These offer many insights but tend to understate the unrealized opportunity costs of the road not taken, from both the renter’s and the homebuyer’s perspectives. Renters may have the opportunity to invest what would have otherwise gone toward a down payment and closing costs, as well as the monthly savings they gain from not having a mortgage. On the other hand, at some point, a homeowner’s monthly mortgage payment is likely to be lower than monthly rent, and it also offers the potential benefit of property appreciation.” (02/02/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/02/02/homo-economicus-rent-vs-buy-calculator/
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum
“The legal rationale for bombing suspected drug boats in the Caribbean doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.” (02/02/26)
https://reason.com/2026/02/02/trumps-drug-strategy-excuses-murder-as-self-defense/
Source: ProSocial Libertarians
by Andrew Jason Cohen
“I’ve continued taking part in conversations about the problems of academia. Some I’ve recently discussed this with agree with me that thinking of academia as a mere means to a career is a big problem. They nonetheless worry that colleges have lost their way and are teaching things they oughtn’t. Some complain that the humanities have simply expanded too much, reducing the emphasis on classics. Some, typically folks in the social sciences, seem less concerned with the classics but nonetheless have an antipathy toward anything new. The social science advocates I’ve discussed these things with seemed to believe their disciplines were closer to the hard sciences than the humanities. Perhaps they are right, at least in some ways (assume they both use empirical evidence more than the humanities). I’m not sure why that matters.” (02/02/26)
https://prosociallibertarians.substack.com/p/defending-the-humanities-again
Source: Liberal Currents
by Samantha Hancox-Li
“We will not achieve any of our ultimate goals without exercising state power, and the most effective way to take state power is through nonviolent but confrontational resistance.” [editor’s note: If your goals are dependent upon exercising state power, they’re terrible goals – TLK] (02/02/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/from-powerlessness-to-power/
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
“Tariffs and sanctions have continued to be the tool for which the Trump administration reaches most readily for regime change in recent days. As American attention turns to Cuba, the Trump administration has reportedly set an end of year deadline for regime change. … But regime change is not the only job that economic warfare is being used for. It is also being used to influence foreign elections.” (02/02/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_snider/2026/02/01/trump-is-broadening-his-use-of-economic-warfare
Source: Fox News
by Steve Forbes
“Last fall, when New York’s business community warned that the election of a self-described democratic socialist as mayor would trigger an assault on the city’s economic engine, we were waved off as hysterical. The press assured us that Zohran Mamdani was ‘evolving’, that his rhetoric would soften, that we should focus instead on his vague promises of ‘affordability’. That reassurance evaporated almost instantly. Barely two weeks after his swearing-in — amid lofty rhetoric about ‘the warmth of collectivism’ — the Mamdani administration unveiled its real agenda. Sam Levine, the newly installed commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and a veteran of Lina Khan’s Federal Trade Commission, released a sensational report accusing companies like DoorDash and Uber Eats of ‘diverting’ more than $500 million from delivery workers.” (02/02/25)
Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño
“A troubling convergence has emerged among Western think tanks, Israeli politicians, and exiled opposition figures advocating for the partition of Iran along ethnic and sectarian lines. This strategy represents a dangerous escalation from traditional regime change toward what can only be described as regime destruction, a policy shift that would benefit Israeli regional ambitions while catastrophically destabilizing the Middle East and creating humanitarian disasters that would dwarf the Syrian refugee crisis.” (02/02/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/fantasies-of-fragmenting-iran-only-serve-israeli-interests
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Martin de Caro
“In his second inaugural address, Trump claimed he wanted to be remembered as a peacemaker. Instead, he’s practicing what the scholar Alex de Waal calls ‘global mafia politics,’ the new rules of an unraveling order that render familiar debates between realists and idealists, or restrainers versus primacists, somewhat stale. To better understand this dynamic, I spoke to de Waal about his thesis that the ‘political marketplace’ now dominates international relations.” (02/02/26)
Source: Washington Monthly
by Garrett Epps
“Thanks to conservative justices, the law doesn’t allow him to compel cities, like Minneapolis, to bow to his immigration orders, and so he used ICE thuggery. It backfired. Now what?” (02/02/26)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/02/02/trumps-ice-problem-and-ours/