Source: Antiwar.com
by Julia Norman
“While the sheer pomposity, Trumpian megalomania, and painfully paradoxical context surrounding the so-called ‘Board of Peace’ (BoP) might tempt some to dismiss it as mere spectacle or farce, its criminal, inhumane, and hegemonic nature makes it far too dangerous to ignore.” (02/05/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/julia_norman/2026/02/04/trumps-board-of-peace-is-a-dystopia-in-motion/
Source: Independent Institute
by Richard K Vedder
“Shoplifting is the theft of goods from a store during business hours. Colleges increasingly engage in a legal, modified form of shoplifting: using inside accomplices, they legally ‘steal’ public funds during business hours through a complex, often convoluted appropriations process. This occurs at both the state and federal levels, but Open the Books recently exposed the extent of this form of legalized theft engineered by members of the U.S. Senate. Regarding the 2026 federal budget, 24 senators have requested $636 million in earmarks for universities they themselves attended.” (02/05/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/02/05/collegiate-shoplifting/
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman
“[T]oday’s price action shouldn’t change your view about Bitcoin’s usefulness or lack thereof. If, like me, you consider the whole thing a delusion — BTC isn’t a medium of exchange, nor is it a reliable store of value — then you already knew that and the fact that we seem to be having a Wile E. Coyote moment isn’t information about the fundamentals. (There are no fundamentals.) If you have some story about why this aging financial innovation is actually useful — do tell — you should HODL through the panic.” (02/05/26)
Source: The American Prospect
by Kenny Stancil, Julian Scoffield, & Chris Lewis
“The Revolving Door Project recently published a comprehensive accounting of Trump 2.0’s deadly rampage across the federal government. ‘DOGE: From Meme to Government Erosion Machine’ is a nearly 70-page audit of the Department of Government Efficiency’s origins, architects, and scorched-earth [sic] campaign against the federal government’s public-interest responsibilities. More than a timeline of DOGE’s infiltration of the Treasury Department, Environmental Protection Agency, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to name a few of the agencies covered, the report details how former shadow president Elon Musk and current Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought ‘eagerly shred political, professional, and legal precedent in their effort to dismantle the essential functions of the federal government (and most importantly, democracy [sic] at large).'” (02/05/25)
https://prospect.org/2026/02/05/doge-russell-vought-elon-musk-office-management-budget/
Source: Liberal Currents
by Alan Elrod
“MAGA sees art as nothing more than a tool of self-aggrandizement, and artists as less than human.” (02/05/26)
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum
“The federal case against the former CNN anchor hinges on conduct that can plausibly be viewed as part of a journalist’s work, combined with the obvious partiality of that work.” (02/05/26)
https://reason.com/2026/02/05/don-lemon-may-be-a-hack-but-that-does-not-make-him-a-felon/
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“With no external enforcement, functional forbearance, and vested interests at play, an outright ban seems unlikely, perpetuating a system where public polls scream for accountability, but Capitol Hill remains defiantly inert.” (02/05/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-vain-struggle-to-curb-congressional-stock-trading
Source: Persuasion
by Siddhu Pachipala
“There are two explanations for why the United States ends up with the policies it does. The first blames corruption. For example, six in ten Americans favor a national health plan like Medicare-for-all. That we haven’t adopted such a policy, and instead maintain an awkwardly assembled Rube Goldberg system — hybrid, employer-based, inconsistent — should be taken as damning evidence for the perversion of the democratic process. So you follow the money. … The second explanation appreciates just how complicated politics can be.” (02/04/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/corruption-is-real-but-its-less-consequential
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Fifty-seven Republicans in Congress worked with the bulk of Democrats, and the President of These United States, to continue funding development of a ‘kill switch’ on new cars. On Tuesday, the bill became law. You may have thought that most new cars driving down the road could already be switched ‘off’ remotely. After all, the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed by former President Joe Biden, required the National Traffic Safety Administration to develop just such a technology … But government isn’t fast, and the kill switch project ‘needed’ more funding, which was included in the new $1.2 trillion spending package.” (02/05/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/02/05/the-unstoppable-kill-switch/
Source: Foreign Policy
by David E Rosenberg
“Israel is by far the biggest recipient of U.S. military aid over the past 80 years. Is America getting its money’s worth? Advocates say it provides critical support for a small, embattled American ally. … But critics say that, today, Israel is rich enough to pay for its own defense and that the aid effectively discourages an over-armed Israel from reaching peace agreements with its neighbors or resolving the Palestinian issue. Israel’s growing violation of Palestinian human rights shouldn’t be funded by American taxpayers, the argument goes. For Israel, the case for military aid is much clearer. It covers a good part of its defense budget, and because U.S. presidents have never seriously used it to pressure Israel to change policies, it comes with almost no political strings attached.” (02/04/26)