Source: Students for Liberty
by Oscar Mario Tomianovic Parada
“Central bank independence has become one of the basic benchmarks of any liberal democracy today. The notion of separating decisions on monetary policy from the hands of elected politicians is relatively recent. Yet it has spread so widely that we now tend to take it for granted. This widespread acceptance, however, leaves several important questions unanswered: what exactly is central bank independence, and why does it truly matter?” (05/11/26)
https://studentsforliberty.org/blog/central-bank-independence-how-to-preserve-monetary-policy-from-fiscal-irresponsibility/
Source: Washington Monthly
by Bill Scher
“Trump pardoned a right-wing authoritarian convicted of cocaine trafficking, apparently to reinstate him to power in Honduras and undermine left-wing governments in Mexico and Colombia. So why isn’t America media covering it?” (05/11/26)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/05/12/hondurasgate-trump-honduras-juan-orlando-hernandez/
Source: Reuters
“Japan’s top maker of snacks has landed on a creative solution to conserve oil-derived input materials: it will switch its brightly coloured packaging to black and white. In an eye-catching move, Tokyo-based Calbee on Tuesday said it would temporarily use only two ink colours on 14 of its products including its Potato Chips, Kappa Ebisen snacks and the Frugra breakfast cereal. Products with the revised packaging will hit store shelves from May 25, it said. … Japanese companies have lately sought to minimise the impact of rising costs and input material shortages even as the government seeks to reassure the public and businesses over supplies. Printing ink requires naphtha, an oil derivative for which Japan relies on imports from the Middle East for about 40% of its consumption.” (05/11/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/snacks-giant-calbee-crunched-by-iran-related-ink-shortage-switches-monotone-2026-05-12/
Source: National Review
“Ben Sasse Writes About Kids and Technology.” (05/11/26)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/ben-sasse-writes-about-kids-and-technology/
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jeffrey A Tucker
“A leading columnist for the Washington Post just wrote: ‘Hantavirus has an incubation period of up to 8 weeks and kills 30-40% of people who show symptoms …. It’s not pandemic yet and probably won’t be, but if it were, the rational action would be — lockdown.’ She added: ‘If this thing goes pandemic, I personally will be hiding in my house.’ Yes, and let the workers and peasants deliver food and drink to you while you safely type and tell the rest of what to do. We know how this works. Keep in mind that no one thought this way a quarter century ago. No one was pushing for society-wide lockdowns in the event of a pandemic. That changed in 2005.” (05/12/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/george-bushs-2005-fowl-play/
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“It almost seems impossible, and I wouldn’t believe it if didn’t see it with my own eyes, but through the miracle of ‘new math’ and the sheer stupidity of the ABC News product ‘The View,’ it is not possible to bring five human beings together and make their collective IQ less than the sum of their individual IQs. How can people coming together be dumber collectively than individually? Skill, I have to assume, and really trying. I say trying because all the ladies on The View are so dumb that they have to be trying, like the whole show is some sort of dare. The end result is a show that makes its audience dumber: a cultural cancer on the country.” (05/12/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/05/12/the-view-is-a-cancer-on-the-culture-and-the-country-n2675912
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The US has been holding regular negotiations with Denmark to expand its military presence in Greenland, according to multiple officials familiar with the discussions, with talks between both sides progressing in recent months. US officials are seeking to open three new bases in the south of the territory, a semi-autonomous part of Denmark, as they work to resolve a diplomatic crisis sparked by President Donald Trump when he threatened to seize Greenland by force. Trump said in January that the US should ‘own’ Greenland to prevent Russia or China from taking it. He said this could happen ‘the easy way or the hard way.’ The White House confirmed the administration was engaged in high-level talks with Greenland and Denmark, but declined to comment on details of the negotiations.” (05/12/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx21669452lo
Source: New York Times
“How Iran’s Internet Blackout Is Crippling Its Economy, and the Fight Over Fruit-Flavored Vapes.” (05/11/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsrvvMOBFG8
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Amidst soaring gasoline prices and significant economic damage for the American people arising from President Trump’s war on Iran, we must never forget the most important factor in America’s never-ending foreign wars: the destruction of our liberty here at home. In this regard, it’s helpful to recall the wise and insightful words of James Madison, the father of our nation’s Constitution: ‘Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.'” (05/11/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/05/12/lets-not-forget-what-madison-said-about-war/
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thomas Karat
“At 6:49 a.m. on Monday, March 23, the oil futures market was quiet. Pre-dawn Mondays are always quiet. There was no scheduled data release, no Federal Reserve speech, no obvious catalyst for any significant market activity. Then, in the span of 27 seconds, roughly 6,200 Brent and West Texas Intermediate futures contracts were sold — a notional value of approximately $580 million …. Simultaneously, approximately 6,000 S&P 500 e-Mini futures contracts were purchased, representing more than $2 billion in notional value. Sell oil. Buy stocks. A perfectly paired bet that would only make sense if you knew — if you were certain — that the geopolitical picture was about to improve dramatically. At 7:05 a.m., sixteen minutes later, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that the United States and Iran had been engaged in ‘productive conversations’ to end the war.” (05/11/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/how-a-probable-situation-room-leak-made-someone-580-million-in-60-seconds/
