Source: EconLog
by Pierre Lemieux

“Two-thirds of the world supply of cocoa beans comes from [Ghana and Ivory Coast]. The official deal was to protect the farmers against price fluctuations on the world market. The real deal probably aimed to allow each state to establish a monopsony of the domestic cocoa production: it could then pay the farmers less than the world price, resell the beans on the world market, and use the difference to subsidize the urban elite. With a world price of cocoa that reached $10,000 per ton (now down to about $7,000) over the last year and a half, the price paid to farmers only crept up, with a lag, from $1,000 to between $3,000 and $5,000. An economist won’t be surprised. … In underdeveloped countries like Ghana and Ivory Coast, where farmers represent the bulk of the active population, they are typically exploited by the concentrated interests of urban and government elites.” (08/08/25)

https://www.econlib.org/interesting-facts-about-the-cocoa-market

Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

“If you follow me on Twitter you’ve probably seen me engaging with Israel supporters to address their arguments, but please don’t take this as a suggestion that engaging with Israel supporters is a good idea generally. It isn’t. I engage Zionists online in order to make sure their hasbara damages Israel more than it helps it by using their comments to show everyone that these people always lie about everything, and to familiarize myself with the hasbara talking points of the day so that I can attack them. I do this because I’m a visible figure who writes about this stuff every day for a living, and I’ve found a very energy-efficient strategy for doing so which doesn’t consume too much of my time and focus. For most people there’s no good reason to ever engage these freaks at all.” (08/10/25)

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/08/10/debating-israel-supporters-is-pointless-because-they-dont-care-about-facts-or-morality/

Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson

“Gerrymandering is a fact of political life in many Republican states and in many Democratic states. Democrats did not complain about it very much until Republicans had the bad manners to get good at it, in part by doing one of the most un-Republican things Republicans have ever done: embracing technological innovation and surpassing the Democrats’ efforts to apply it to their political interests. Should Texas Republicans forbear using their power to redraw the map to fortify their party’s position in the House? Maybe. And maybe those ethanol bastards shouldn’t lean on legislators to write fixed demand for their bulls–t corn juice into the law. And maybe California Democrats should organize public education in a way that puts students’ interests over those of public-sector union goons. There is a whole galaxy there in the word should.” (08/08/25)

https://thedispatch.com/article/gerrymandering-redistricting-texas-democrats/

Source: Fox News Forum
by Jonathan Turley

“Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz appears to be living through a remake of the Seinfeld Soup Nazi episode. However, Dershowitz is facing a new culinary menace in Martha’s Vineyard. Chef Krem Miskevich has barred the famed lawyer from buying pierogis because of his political views, and liberals are applauding him for it. Welcome to Pierogi Politics. It is the same distasteful politics that is tearing apart this country, only with an added carbo load. Dershowitz has previously described how his liberal [sic] neighbors, who were friendly when he was advancing left-wing [sic] causes, have blacklisted him in the elite community due to his defense of President Donald Trump. He is treated as a persona non grata and shunned by the wealthy community. Now the blacklisting has extended to food.” (08/09/25)

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-dershowitz-takes-pierogi-politics-leftist-hypocrisy