Source: Washington Post
by Philip Bump

“The pronatalism movement often contains more than a hint of great replacement theory rhetoric.” (04/24/25)

https://archive.is/ghbCT

Source: Libertarian Institute
by Jose Nino

“As the world experiences significant geopolitical changes, political blocs like the European Union have a unique opportunity to chart a new path. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union and its twenty-seven member states have delivered nearly $155 billion in financial, military, humanitarian, and refugee assistance to Ukraine. Of that aid sent to Ukraine, the combined military support from the EU and its member states is estimated at €49.6 billion ($53 billion). This represented a transatlantic initiative to draw Russia into a protracted conflict in Ukraine through proxy warfare. However, this Western-backed proxy war appears to have fallen short, as Russia continues to make incremental gains on the battlefield and now seems positioned to preside over a de facto east-west partition of the country.” (04/24/25)

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/europe-must-stop-playing-pawn-to-american-power

Source: TomDispatch
by Mattea Kramer & Sean Fogler

“The United States has been in the throes of a mental health and overdose crisis so severe it has spanned five presidential administrations and been classified as an official state of emergency in three of them. No one knows exactly how this emergency will play out during the current Trumpian cocktail of uncertainty, fear, and cuts to social services, but charts of the recent turbulence of the stock market suggest a relevant visual: imagine the nervous systems of millions of already struggling Americans, along with millions more who are being pushed to the limits of what they can handle, all experiencing deep emotional crashes, briefly recovering, only to collapse again into new lows.” (04/24/25)

https://tomdispatch.com/this-mental-health-awareness-month/

Source: The Daily Economy
by Paul Mueller

“Despite a large welfare state and high taxes, most Americans continue to donate money — even without any federal tax benefit.” (04/24/25)

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/philanthropy-despite-the-state-americans-give-generously-even-without-tax-breaks/

Source: Sex and the State
by Cathy Reisenwitz

“I support investments in domestic manufacturing. From a negotiation standpoint, it seems unwise to completely depend on foreign trade for strategic and necessary goods, especially when the US government could probably create and maintain the ability to manufacture them domestically for a reasonable price. Then again, you’d think the US government could create and maintain rail lines for a reasonable price. But it can’t. More importantly, industrial policy isn’t the same thing as ‘reshoring.’ I don’t know how many bottom-half men the US can profitably employ. After all, most economists agree that automation reduced US manufacturing employment far more than outsourcing. If the GOP were really doing either smart industrial policy or ‘reshoring,’ you’d think this would be the first thing they’d estimate.” (04/24/25)

https://cathyreisenwitz.substack.com/p/how-many-bottom-half-men-can-the