Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman

“My previous post proposed an economics course built around World of Warcraft. I have much less experience teaching statistics than teaching economics and I suspect the game is less suited for the former than the latter purpose but it does provide quite a lot of opportunities for observing data and trying to infer patterns from it so could be used to both explain and apply statistical inference. And I suspect that, as in the case of economics, application to a world with which the student was familiar and to problems of actual interest to him would have a significant positive effect on attention and understanding.” (10/20/26)

https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/statistics-with-world-of-warcraft

Source: Indepenent Institute
by Stephen P Halbrook

“On October 15, I published a post arguing that true ‘sensitive places’ where guns are banned must have armed protection. The same day, a murderer broke into a ‘gun-free-zone’ school in Oregan and began shooting children and teachers. A dad of two girls at the school just happened to be driving by and grabbed his pistol, rushed into the school, and ‘neutralized’ the killer with several shots. He was a concealed pistol licensee. … the brave community member who entered the school and ended the carnage would have violated the law, but for a ‘choice-of-evils’ justification defense.” (10/20/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/10/20/saving-lives-at-silver-rail-elementary-in-bend-oregon/

Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen & Maureen Tkacik

“Four months ago, a Kansas-based private equity mogul named Dan Tasset posted on LinkedIn about his admiration for a trusted representative in Congress. ‘I’ve known Senator Roger Marshall for many years and have long appreciated his willingness to engage thoughtfully on healthcare policy issues impacting physicians, patients, and independent care delivery’, Tasset wrote. He mentioned that Sen. Marshall recently met with an administrator from an ambulatory surgical center (ASC) who aimed to improve the Medicare reimbursement system. Tasset’s private equity firm, Nueterra, owns that surgical center, and he and his employee were promoting a bill that would make ASCs more attractive to patients.” (10/21/26)

https://prospect.org/2026/10/21/a-major-roger-marshall-donor-is-a-hospital-bandit/

Source: The Daily Economy
by Peter Jacobsen

“Politicians routinely promise benefits to current voters at future taxpayers’ expense. The president’s offer simply strips away the pretense.” (10/20/26)

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/trumps-5000-offer-reveals-how-washington-works/

Source: Show-Me Institute
by Patrick Tuohey

“You can plug a 1,500-watt space heater into your living room wall without asking anyone. Plug in a 1,200-watt solar panel, however, and Missouri treats you like a small power plant. The two aren’t identical, since the panel can push power back into the wiring. But that difference calls for a safety standard, not a permit process built for commercial grade rooftop arrays. Under Missouri’s net-metering law, a panel that feeds power into a home’s wiring is a ‘customer-generator.’ Its owner must file an interconnection application with a wiring diagram, wait for the utility’s approval, and have a qualified electrician or engineer certify the installation. Bright Saver, a nonprofit that sells plug-in solar kits, won’t ship them to Missouri until the law changes. Two bills filed in the 2026 legislative session would have fixed that.” (10/20/26)

https://showmeinstitute.org/article/economy/missouris-rules-for-plug-in-solar-are-out-of-proportion-to-the-risk/