Source: The Daily Economy
by Corey A DeAngelis
“Adults siphon off taxpayer money earmarked for kids, and no one is held accountable. Teachers’ unions share the same dysfunctional incentives as headline-grabbing fraudsters in Minnesota.” (01/16/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-public-school-shell-game/
Source: The Intercept
by Alain Stephens
“Videos of agents falling down and dropping their guns feel beyond parody. But under-trained law enforcement officers are a real danger to the public.” (01/16/26)
https://theintercept.com/2026/01/16/ice-slips-raids-minnesota-videos/
Source: Orange County Register
by Steven Greenhut
“Based on the troubling goings-on in Minneapolis, it’s hard to describe former GOP Rep. Justin Amash’s post on X as hyperbolic: ‘They’re building a police state right before our eyes — which will ultimately be deployed against conservative Christians and gun owners and those who refuse the jab — and a lot of ‘Republicans’ with Gadsden flags in their bios are like, ‘Yeah, FAFO!’’ There’s no hope for anyone cheering, but ‘responsible’ conservatives have a rationale for defending these actions: It’s better than having Democrats in charge. Had, say, Kamala Harris won the presidency, she would have imposed socialistic policies, they say. That’s probably true, but have you noticed the latest policy plans from Donald Trump? His economic proposals echo the Democratic platform.” (01/16/26)
Source: The Atlantic
by Will Gottsegen
“There was a moment this fall when it seemed like the public might actually get some answers — that the extent of the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes might be exposed, and that his victims might see the accountability they’ve been waiting for. On November 19, President Trump reluctantly signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the Justice Department to publish a huge number of its unclassified files related to the late financier (and unrelated to ongoing investigations) within 30 days. But what actually arrived on December 19, the Friday before Christmas, was a relatively small (and sloppily redacted) tranche of files that raised far more questions than it answered. Nearly a month later, not a whole lot has changed.” (01/16/26)
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum
“The constitutionally anomalous status of broadcasting invites government meddling.” (for publication 02/26)
https://reason.com/2026/01/18/how-the-fcc-became-the-speech-police/
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kevin T Frazier
“President Donald Trump’s executive order on artificial intelligence invites analysis of a question so complex that it rarely gets asked: ‘What exactly do states have the authority to regulate?’ The current, somewhat trite answer is, ‘The residuary powers reserved under the Tenth Amendment.’ Omitting the legalese, that means that states can do whatever the federal government cannot. States have the power to look out for the health, safety, and welfare of their residents. Thus, for instance, they have the power to address local concerns through zoning laws, professional certifications via licensing regimes, and ensure public safety through law enforcement. These authorities make up what’s often referred to as a state’s ‘police powers.’ While this generic reading of state power is not necessarily wrong, it’s imprecise.” (01/16/26)
https://fee.org/articles/artificial-intelligence-in-the-united-states/
Source: Common Dreams
by Paul Shannon
“The Trump peace scheme is not an imperfect plan that at least ends the genocide in Gaza. It is in fact a new plan to continue the genocide using a different strategy. It poses a mortal threat to the survival of Palestinians in Gaza. However this plan is not being implemented in isolation from the massive Israeli attack on Palestinians in the West Bank, but in conjunction with it. We are now witnessing, not merely a messy and complicated ceasefire in Gaza and stepped up attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. Rather, we are witnessing a coordinated 2-pronged attack to destroy the very idea of Palestine. As a result we need to move from targeting the Gaza genocide as separate from what’s being done in the rest of Palestine to a focus on both Palestinian self-determination and opposing ongoing efforts to erase the reality of Palestinians as a people.” (01/18/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-peace-plan-genocide
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Why do so many U.S. Democrats, like some Europeans, want to outlaw X? The current stage of the U.S. assault on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter takes the form of senatorial demands that X be removed from iOS and Android app stores. Why the enmity? Well, under the ownership of Elon Musk, X lets people say and write stuff that Democrats dislike.” (01/16/26)
Source: Coyote Blog
by Warren Meyer
“On my first read I found this Substack post from Michael Magoon, ‘How a Generation of Young Women Moved Left after 2010 — And Why’ both fascinating and off-putting. Fascinating because he has crafted a pretty believable theory why Western women — the free-est, most liberated, most educated, and richest women with the most personal agency in the history of the planet — have been radicalized towards the Left and particularly to Marxism. … There are a lot of parts to his theory and he shares a good bit of data, but the theory boils down to certain psychological traits amplified via social media.” (01/16/26)
https://coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2026/01/marketing-marxism.html
Source: Antiwar.com
by Michael Holmes
“The history of Venezuela is often reduced to a cautionary tale of a single charismatic leader or a sudden economic collapse, yet the reality is a far more harrowing chronicle of structural extraction and imperial oversight. For over a century, the nation has served as a primary laboratory for a specific kind of Western imperialism – one where the democratic aspirations of a people are routinely sacrificed at the altar of energy security and corporate profit. In his meticulously researched volume, Venezuela: What Everyone Needs to Know, the author provides an evidentiary excavation of this history, revealing how the machinery of international finance and foreign military attaches have historically dictated the boundaries of Venezuelan sovereignty.” (01/16/26)