Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Winston Bates
“In this essay I discuss the relevance of the concept of political entrepreneurship to an understanding of political outcomes that have substantially affected personal and economic freedom in different countries. The essay has a particular focus on authoritarianism.” [hat tip — Chris Matthew Sciabarra] (04/02/25)
https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2025/04/can-concept-of-political.html
Source: National Review
“The Donald Trump Tariff Extravaganza.” (04/03/25)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-charles-c-w-cooke-podcast/the-donald-trump-tariff-extravaganza/
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“There are a number of things about money that I did not discuss in my previous post and perhaps should have, some of which came up in comments on my post and my responses. Hence this post … and perhaps one more.” (04/03/25)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/more-on-money
Source: USA Today
“A North Dakota mayor resigned on Tuesday after an investigation into a lewd video he messaged to the city’s top attorney in January. Minot Mayor Tom Ross texted City Attorney Stefanie Stalheim a video of him masturbating shortly after the two talked on the phone about a police officer’s suicide, according to a report issued by the Minot City Council. Ross called Stalheim within minutes of sending the video, asking her to delete it without watching it and telling her it was intended for a girlfriend. The mayor stepped down from office the same day Minot legislators made the report into the incident public.” (04/02/25)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/04/02/north-dakota-mayor-video-city-attorney-tom-ross/82785307007/
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Donald Trump has been ordered by a judge in England to pay more than £620,000 in legal costs after unsuccessfully suing a company over denied allegations he took part in ‘perverted’ sex acts. The US president brought a data protection claim against Orbis Business Intelligence, a consultancy founded by a former MI6 officer, Christopher Steele, in 2022. Steele authored the report known as the Steele dossier …. Mrs Justice Steyn threw out the claim in February last year without ruling on the truth of the allegations, and ordered Trump to pay Orbis’s costs ‘of the entire claim’ including an initial payment of £290,000, which a hearing in January was told Trump had ‘decided not to pay.’ That led to him being prevented from taking part in a three-day hearing to decide the size of the total legal bill, after which Judge Rowley on Thursday ordered the US president to pay £626,058.98.” (04/03/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/03/donald-trump-ordered-pay-legal-costs-steele-dossier-lawsuit
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
“They Saw It Coming: The 19th-Century Libertarian Critique of Fascism.” (04/02/25)
https://c4ss.org/content/60246
Source: Cato Institute
by Scott Lincicome
“Companies tend to overpromise and underdeliver, while higher costs and uncertainty could trigger a retreat.” (04/02/25)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/three-big-reasons-doubt-trumps-tariff-driven-investment-boom
Source: Fox News
by Hugh Hewitt
“If President Trump wants to secure a national security legacy that will never be other than history changing, the time to do so is fast approaching. The Institute for the Study of War recently published this summary of the moment: ‘Senior Iranian officials are continuing to threaten nuclear weaponization, likely to try to deter a potential US or Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities amid new US threats to strike these facilities. Senior Supreme Leader Adviser Ali Larijani stated on March 31 that a US or Israeli strike on Iran would ‘force’ Iran to develop a nuclear weapon to ‘defend its security.’ Western media reported in January 2025 that Larijani had made secret trips to Russia to gain Russian assistance on Iran’s nuclear program. Hardline Iranian Parliamentarian Ahmad Naderi separately stated on March 31 that the United States ‘wouldn’t dare threaten to bomb’ Iran if Iran ‘had an atomic bomb’.'” (04/03/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/morning-glory-trump-has-drawn-red-line-iran
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“I’m aware of the innumeracy of the Trump administration, apparently using a shortcut AI formula to reset global trade imbalances and trying to bullshit their way through the criticism. But I think we give too much credit to Donald Trump and his lieutenants when we suggest that they’re pursuing a misguided trade policy, or that they aren’t pairing tariffs with the necessary steps to boost domestic manufacturing. Those things are true, of course: U.S. trade policy has been deeply inequitable for decades, favoring multinationals over workers and the environment, giving benefits to those corporations in free-trade agreements that they could never get through normal legislative channels, and handing over economic decisions to Wall Street. But these careful explanations, however correct, have nothing to do with what we saw on display in the Rose Garden yesterday. Because these aren’t really tariffs at all.” (04/03/25)
https://prospect.org/economy/2025-04-03-theyre-not-tariffs-theyre-sanctions/
Source: Seattle Times
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office is once again ensnared in scandal after police arrested two of his close associates this week on suspicion of accepting money from Qatar to promote a positive image of the Gulf Arab state in Israel. The affair has gripped Israelis because Qatar, a country that many view as a patron of Hamas, and which has no formal diplomatic ties to Israel, appears to have penetrated the highest corridors of power. Qatar, which is a key mediator for Hamas in its ceasefire negotiations with Israel, denies backing the militant group. Netanyahu has given a statement to police on the matter but is not a suspect in the case, which he says is baseless and meant to topple his rule.” 904/02/25)
https://archive.is/hgMvC
