“We knew it at some level, but recent audits reveal the extent of regime abhorrence. Government growth — in money, power, and ideology — has been laundered in non-governmental organizations. The NGO is poorly named, as far too many NGOs receive most of their funding from government agencies. The extent to which governments fund NGOs is the extent to which those entities are just GOs, only less accountable. That is, NGOs flush with government funds are just partisan extensions of state authorities — whatever the party. To hell with that. … Ideally, it would be illegal for governments to grant taxpayer funds to NGOs. But in the interests of compromise, Congress should pass a law: No NGO may accept more than 20 percent of its annual revenue from government entities. Furthermore, no NGO may accept funding from any other NGO that receives government funding.” (04/22/25)
“The sloppy and possibly illegal handling of sensitive information is a good reason for Hegseth to be fired, but that is just a symptom of the incompetent, slapdash way that is running the department. Hegseth doesn’t know what he’s doing, and he falls back on his cartoonish obsession with ‘lethality’ to try to distract from his inpetitude. His brief tenure has been marked by chaos and dysfunction, and that comes as no surprise when we recall that he had no qualifications to run a government department of this size and complexity. … One reason why he seems to be so obsessed with firing advisers to plug leaks is that so many of the leaks expose how bad he is at doing his job.” (04/22/25)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“One mistake many libertarians make is to suppose that theoretical principles can provide a complete resolution for difficult cases, in the sense that we should be able to ascertain — just by studying the NAP — whether it has been violated in specific cases. Gordon points out that this overlooks the role of other considerations, such as social conventions and legal norms, in resolving real world disputes. The ‘morally unacceptable implications’ that many libertarians find disturbing are the result of theorizing about the NAP without regard to the broader ethical framework within which Rothbard defends property rights. Rothbard’s theory of liberty is not just a philosophical or academic treatise based on a set of hypothetical problems. It is also a ‘system of libertarian law’ designed as a foundation for ‘the truly successful functioning of what we may hope will be the libertarian society of the future.'” (04/22/25)
“Thanks to President Trump’s new round of international tariffs, global economy is now at the risk of unraveling. This is not just the result of plunging world trade and investment, but of soaring US military expenditures.” (04/22/25)
“This year’s global celebration of Earth Day on April 22 had both sadness and celebration hanging over it. The sadness was that one of the world’s religious leaders who helped put a spiritual dimension into climate activism, Pope Francis, died on Monday. Among the many celebratory tributes to him was widespread praise for his missives citing a love of God and others – rather than fear – as the basis for stewardship of Earth’s atmosphere. Just days before his death, another fellow global church leader was celebrated. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians, won this year’s Templeton Prize. He was cited for his decades of work in promoting ‘a compelling moral and theological vision of humanity’s responsibility to care for the Earth,’ as the John Templeton Foundation put it.” (04/22/25)
“Nine large law firms have announced deals with President Donald Trump to provide pro bono legal services of nearly $1 billion to avert executive orders targeting their legal work. One firm claimed, in an internal statement to its employees, that these settlements do not mean the White House ‘is dictating what matters we take on.’ Another said it remained ‘completely free to choose whether or not we wish to work on any particular pro bono matter.’ The Trump administration, on the other hand, called the arrangements ‘fully binding’ and the president asserted that the nine firms have paid him ‘a lot of money in the form of legal fees.’ … Clearly, there has been no meeting of minds. Putting aside the small fact that the executive orders are demonstrably illegal, as four judges have found, the central question about these deals is: Who’s bamboozling whom?” (04/22/25)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Paul Meany
“The Trump administration’s tariffs and the damage they could cause to people’s livelihoods globally are a rude reminder that free markets matter. But we live in a time when the mainstream voices of the media, academia, and politics are hopelessly preoccupied with their disdain for ‘capitalism.’ Despite the unprecedented progress and technological advancement free markets have brought, much of society still hates the goose that lays the golden egg. But why?” (04/22/25)
“Under the guise of efficiency, the Trump administration is taking a sledgehammer to essential programs and agencies that are the backbone of America’s civilian government. The virtual elimination of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and plans to shut down the Department of Education are just the most visible examples of a campaign that includes layoffs of budget experts, public health officials, scientists, and other critical personnel whose work undergirds the daily operations of government and provides the basic services needed by businesses, families, and individuals alike. Many of those services can make the difference between solvency and poverty, health and illness, or even, in some cases, life and death for vulnerable populations. The speed with which civilian programs and agencies are being slashed in the second Trump era gives away the true purpose of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).” (04/22/25)
“In my 2022 novel, ‘Cyberwars,’ one of the characters suggests that internet technology makes it possible to turn a democracy into a democratic dictatorship. But when I wrote it, I couldn’t have imagined that this fiction could describe the U.S. under President Trump today. While much of the globe is embroiled in the tariff wars that are setting the world on fire, a far more critical development is quietly taking place here at home: the transformation of Americans from citizens to subjects. Following President Vladimir Putin, Trump is on his way to becoming an elected dictator. His behavior echoes the statement by Louis XIV to the Paris Parliament in 1655: ‘The state, it is me.’ And in the next election, Trump will not need a self-coup or to incite his supporters the way he tried in 2020.” (04/22/25)
“Kilmar Abrego Garcia shouldn’t be in a prison in El Salvador, but he also never should have been in the United States — or given relief from deportation. The White House is trying to make the alleged MS-13 gang member a symbol of illegal-immigrant [sic] crime, while President Trump’s opposition is seeking to make ‘the Maryland man’ a symbol of the administration’s disregard for due process. What has gotten less attention is that his case is an example of the self-defeating absurdities of our immigration system and, in particular, how it hands out ‘humanitarian protection.’ When Abrego Garcia avoided deportation back in 2019, he didn’t take advantage of asylum — which has been a key driver of the immigration crisis — but something called ‘withholding of removal.'” (04/22/25)
