“By now, we have heard the mantra that President Donald Trump was right to close the border, but wrong in his heavy-handed approach to immigration enforcement. We are also told that if he would have simply done what most Americans wanted, that is, arrest and deport violent criminals, then his poll numbers would be higher, and his administration wouldn’t find itself embroiled by crisis in the aftermath of two killings at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis. But this claim (that the problem with Trump’s immigration agenda is mainly about enforcement tactics) is flawed. Seriously addressing this country’s ongoing immigration crisis will require policy change, and to get to that point, there needs to be a narrative shift in this country away from indiscriminately criminalizing all undocumented people to humanizing them.” (02/04/25)
In our surveys assessing university student tolerance for hypothetical controversial speakers, most students have not wanted to allow most speakers on campus. You can almost hear someone saying, ‘These kids today are too soft. Send ‘em to boot camp!’ The funny thing is, that might actually help.” (02/04/26)
“Theodore Roosevelt came of age and rose to prominence in the late 1800s and, arguably, launched what Time magazine publisher H. R. Luce would later call the ‘American Century.’ As the Gilded Age faded, Roosevelt shaped America’s entry into world affairs and created the impetus for a robust America First foreign policy and hegemony in the Western Hemisphere. By sheer force of personality, he enlarged the stature of the presidency and the executive’s role in shaping public policy. No stranger to controversy and conflict, Roosevelt spoiled for a fight and delighted in lacerating his enemies with calculated comments and ridicule. In short, Roosevelt would be equally at home in both the early twentieth and twenty-first century American politics.” (02/04/26)
“The Republican Party’s early messaging in advance of this year’s midterm elections seems to boil down roughly to: Work longer, don’t carry guns and, as Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche recently said of the many powerful men who appear in the Jeffrey Epstein files, ‘It is not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein.’ Way to go, guys! As a licensed political pundit, I’m here to tell you this is exactly what GOP voters want to hear, and you should run hard on those ideas.” (02/04/26)
“Today — or rather already with Wednesday’s comment by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš that we should have taken the Swedish path — the third period of our Covid match begins. The first period consisted of a global loss of sanity itself. I called the second period the Great Covid Silence, when many players fervently hoped that how they played in the first period would be forgotten. The last period will — so I firmly hope — consist of catharsis and lessons learned. Let us hope no overtime will be needed.” (02/04/26)
“Despite being popularly positioned as leading advocates of opposing political philosophies, the signature works of public choice founder James Buchanan (with co-founder Gordon Tullock) and philosopher John Rawls share the same foundational approach. While Buchanan became more critical of Rawls’s work when A Theory of Justice finally appeared in 1971, his criticisms are more tempered than many readers would expect. Buchanan also admitted that his criticism of Rawls likewise indicted the approach that he and Tullock developed a decade earlier in The Calculus of Consent. …they are commonly conceived as occupying opposite and rival positions on the political spectrum. Yet throughout the 1960s, after publication of The Calculus of Consent, Buchanan and Rawls communicated frequently and warmly with each other, drawn together intellectually by commonalities in their work.” (02/04/26)
“Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s downfall was a blow for the Kremlin, but it did take it on the chin. Now, the relationship needs to be rebuilt on a new basis — not between patron and client, but on an equal footing. Russia is a part of the new Syrian government’s diversification agenda: Syria needs all the friends it can get, but without becoming a pawn in somebody else’s geopolitical game. Moscow, for now, seems happy to offer that.” (02/04/26)
“Billie Eilish won the Grammy Award for ‘Best Anti-ICE Tantrum’ on Sunday night by declaring that ‘No human being is illegal on stolen land.’ Unfortunately, the blowback against her is serving as the latest in a long line of reminders that Hollywood celebrities should lay off the politics and stick to doing what they do best, which is cocaine. Now, obviously, I have no idea if Billie is taking any drugs whatsoever, but you’d have to be on SOMETHING to think all of this Trump bashing is helping awards shows. Ratings were down 9% year over year for the Grammys, and of course, we all know that viewership has fallen by 50% in the last two decades for that Well-Dressed-Group-Therapy- Session we call the Oscars.” (02/04/25)
“When I wrote Compulsory monogamy as sexual socialism for mediocre men in 2023, I was very focused on the individual. It’s a lot about how dumb compulsory monogamy’s assumptions turn out to be upon just a hint of examination and how weak and silly men end up seeming when they insist upon those assumptions. In 2026, I’m less interested in the mechanics of monogamy versus consensual non-monogamy for the individuals involved and more interested in how monogamy functions in society. Like, what is the purpose of compulsory monogamy? What is its utility? Who does it serve, and how?” (02/04/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Deborah Palma
“The launch of Bitcoin in 2009 represents one of the most disruptive phenomena in financial history, establishing a unique link between computer science and an economic tradition opposed to the mainstream. To understand Bitcoin’s importance, it is not sufficient to analyze its cryptographic architecture alone; it is essential to delve into the intellectual roots that shaped its existence, primarily found in the Austrian School of Economics.” (02/04/26)
