Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by David Gordon & Roger E. Bissell

“Libertarianism has no ‘fixed philosophical essence,’ [Matt] Zwolinski says, or you wouldn’t have seen the drastic swings in how the term was applied between Déjacque’s anarcho-communism of the 1850s and Leonard Read’s free markets and limited government of the 1950s, let alone the present-day. There simply has never been a permanent, stable paradigm of liberty. Yes, an apparent consensus was arrived at in the 1970s in the ‘rights-based free-market’ views of Robert Nozick, Ayn Rand, and Murray Rothbard — which Zwolinski also tellingly labels as rationalist and absolutist. (Code-word alert: he means unempirical and dogmatic, which are bad things, unlike the empirical and flexible approach he favors.) But this was more of a historical accident, or perhaps a breathing spell, before society in general and libertarian theory in particular began a steady unraveling and loss of cohesion.” (05/05/26)

https://mises.org/mises-wire/libertarianism-incoherent

Source: Fox News
by Sara Carter

“During President Trump’s first year in office, the United States reduced drug overdose deaths by over 13,000, compared to the previous 12 months. That is more than a statistic: it is thousands of mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends and neighbors who are alive today because of the decisive actions taken under his leadership. Now, drug overdose deaths are lower than at any point under the Biden administration and nearly 40,000 lower than the previous Administration’s peak of almost 108,000. This result is historic, but it is not enough. We must continue fighting every day to save lives from the chemical war being waged on the American people by cartel terrorists. This week, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) will continue our work to save lives with the release of President Trump’s 2026 National Drug Control Strategy.” [editor’s note: I assume this was ghost-written, as no one with the brains to write it has the lack of brains to believe it – TLK] (05/06/26)

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/president-trumps-drug-control-strategy-sets-path-end-drug-crisis-good

Source: Independent Institute
by Craig Eyermann

“No matter how you slice it, the U.S. government has a major fraud problem. The federal government’s watchdog agency, the General Accounting Office (GAO), estimates that about half a trillion dollars will be lost to fraud this year. Let’s put that number a little differently. In February 2026, just three months ago, the Congressional Budget Office projected the U.S. government would spend a net total of $7.448 trillion this year. Half a trillion dollars is about 1 out of every 15 dollars the federal government will spend in 2026. The GAO says Washington, D.C.’s politicians and bureaucrats might as well just flush that money down a bottomless sewer. Why not? If they did, they would have just as much to show for it.” (05/05/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/05/05/steps-solve-massive-problems-fraud/

Source: Los Angeles Times
by Jonah Goldberg

“Trump’s famous claim that he could ‘shoot somebody’ on Fifth Avenue and not lose any voters, may have been hyperbole. But it’s not crazy to think he wouldn’t lose as many voters as he should. In the film [A Face in the Crowd, Lonesome Rhodes implodes when Americans encounter his off-air persona. The key to Trump’s success is that he ran as his off-air persona. Why people love that persona is a complicated question. Among the many complementary explanations is that he comes across as authentic, and some people value authenticity more than they value good character, honesty or competence. This is not just a problem for Republicans.” (05/05/26)

https://archive.is/28aDK

Source: The UnPopulist
by Andy Craig

“In the United States, constitutional amendments are notoriously difficult to adopt. They require two-thirds in both houses of Congress, and then ratification by three-quarters of the states. The process was last used successfully more than 50 years ago. That’s why formal amendments are often dismissed as unrealistic. … There are several worthwhile amendments which could plausibly secure broad consensus if shorn of overtly partisan goals. We also should not fall into a failure of imagination that assumes the current party system and political divisions will be entrenched in perpetuity.” (05/05/26)

https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/constitutional-amendments-to-stop

Source: In These Times
by Brad Swanson

“Donald Trump has long called global warming a hoax, but his sweeping anti-climate agenda has stunned even many of his supporters. Since returning to the White House, he’s withdrawn the U.S. from the Paris Treaty, rolled back critical greenhouse gas regulations, and opened up millions of acres of previously protected public land for oil and gas drilling. In response, big oil and gas companies have abandoned, without the slightest resistance, the showy public commitments they had previously made to climate transition. For example, BP has slashed green energy expenditures by 70 percent, Equinor has cut back its renewable capacity targets by almost 40 percent, and Chevron has reduced its carbon-reduction capital expenditures to about 5 percent of its total capital expenditures.” (05/05/26)

https://inthesetimes.com/article/is-ethical-capitalism-possible-myth-esg-criticism-climate-change