Source: TomDispatch
by Tom Engelhardt

“Once upon a time, such wildly futuristic madness would have been left to the most dystopian of science-fiction novels — and undoubtedly not very popular ones at that, since such a plot and such a president would (once upon a time) have seemed far too unrealistic even for fiction. But now, thanks to President Donald J. Trump, the United States of America, in addition to all its other warring acts of recent months, is distinctly at war — and there’s no other adequate word for it — with Planet Earth (at least as a habitable place for future versions of us).” (05/17/26)

https://tomdispatch.com/the-president-of-peace-makes-war-on-the-planet/

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Scott

“After a recent Andean Community (CAN) ruling, Ecuador and Colombia have been forced into a climbdown from an escalating trade war that has been heating up since the beginning of 2026. … CAN, formed in 1969 following the Cartagena Agreement and composed of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Per — since then expanding to include Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay as associate members and Chile leaving in 1976 — is explicitly set up to deal with trade in goods and services, the regulation of a customs union between members, a common market, and even foreign policy.” (05/17/26)

https://fee.org/articles/good-trade-deals-make-good-neighbors/

Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp

“Because California is the ‘authoritarian law idea? Hold my beer!’ state, governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation last October which requires operating system providers to collect age information on each new user account, and provide an API that lets Internet platforms and app developers access that information so as to exclude users Gavin Newsom doesn’t think should be using those platforms and apps [“for the chillllllllllldren”]. It’s almost, but not quite, funny. It’s almost funny because it won’t take the chillllllllllldren in question more than a few minutes to figure out ways around this kind of thing. ‘Age verification’ laws are, and always have been, political fantasy, as you know yourself if you were ever a 19-year-old college student who used a fake ID to get into a nightclub. It’s not quite funny because it isn’t, and never was, about ‘the chillllllllllldren.'” (05/17/26)

https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20620

Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joshua Mawhorter

“Like it or not, for several centuries now, Hobbes’s nation-state concept has been the default paradigm and context for modern people whenever they think about government. Without having ever read Hobbes, people will unknowingly repeat his assumptions, presuppositions, concerns, and arguments for the state. Yet — with some simple logic and using Hobbes’s own presuppositions — we can internally critique Hobbes’s argument and see that his proposed solution of the state solves none of the problems he presents.” (05/15/26)

https://mises.org/mises-wire/hobbess-self-defeating-theory