Source: Chris’s Substack
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
“My life with disability has been the subject of several interviews through the years, including one that appeared in Folks magazine in January 2018, and an interview conducted in February 2023 by Léa Hirschfeld that is finally being released today as part of an Out of Sync Podcast series, which explores ‘life through disability, one story at a time.’ Listening back to the interview, recorded less than three months after my sister’s death, I was struck not by how much had changed, but by how much had endured. The interview is broader in its subject matter than I’d remembered. It deals not only with my medical challenges, but also with my work on Ayn Rand, libertarianism, and dialectics. It explores the dangers of ideological rigidity in the face of real-world constraints, the need to live in a known reality, rather than an unknown ideal.” (04/28/26)
https://chrismatthewsciabarra.substack.com/p/153e7046-0763-48db-b764-57e047730828
Source: The Daily Economy
by Logan Tantibanchachai
“Is a product defective if it gives you too much of what you want? And are social-scroll algorithms regulated products — or protected speech?” (04/28/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/what-the-meta-google-verdict-gets-wrong/
Source: NBC News
“Taylor Swift is taking new steps to protect her voice and likeness from AI misuse. The global pop superstar on Friday filed trademark applications for two audio clips of her voice. … Swift also filed for a third trademark to protect an image of her onstage, wearing one of her signature sparkly bodysuits and strumming a pink guitar. … The Grammy winner has been the target of numerous deepfakes in recent years. Fake clips of her promoting a brand of cookware have tricked fans online, sexually suggestive deepfakes of her have gone viral on social media, and even President Donald Trump shared manipulated photos of her supporting his candidacy.” (04/27/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/taylor-swift-files-trademark-voice-likeness-protection-ai-deepfakes-rcna342367
Source: The Dispatch
“Arguing In Front of SCOTUS | Interview: Lisa Blatt.” (04/28/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/arguing-in-front-of-scotus-interview-lisa-blatt/
Source: EconLog
by Christine Brady
“Menger’s ‘saleableness’ is a lot like our term ‘liquidity.’ A more saleable good can be more easily sold at any time without having to lower the price. A house, for example, is not very saleable, because it might take months to find a good buyer, as contrasted with Girl Scout cookies, which have much broader appeal—even children can sell them. Because it’s hard to find someone willing to make a direct exchange for exactly what you want, Menger argued that people traded for more saleable items, which they would then use for exchanges. Over time, the most saleable commodities became the naturally emergent money. If people tend to trade for more saleable goods, why would they ever buy a gift card?” (04/28/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/making-money-less-useful
Source: Common Dreams
by Yahia Lababidi
“On April 19, 2026, an image circulated of an Israeli soldier standing before a statue of Jesus Christ in Debel, a Maronite Christian village in southern Lebanon, bringing a hammer down upon the sacred face while another soldier recorded him. The image spread within hours because it seemed to compress a moral education into one gesture. Tucker Carlson was furious. So was a segment of the American right that has, for years, supplied the political and theological conditions that produced this soldier. That is the story the image tells, if you are willing to read it past the shock. Since October 7, 2023, Israeli soldiers have assembled one of the most extensive self-incriminating records in the history of modern warfare.” (04/28/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/israeli-army-photographs-crimes
Source: Seattle Times
“Australia has proposed taxing digital giants Meta, Google and TikTok a proportion of their revenue to pay for news reporters. The government released draft legislation Tuesday it intends to introduce to Parliament by July 2 that would create a financial incentive for the social media companies to strike deals with news organizations to pay for journalism. The platforms’ criticisms included that the proposal was a ‘digital services tax’ that misunderstood the evolving advertising industry and would fail to deliver a sustainable news sector.” (04/28/26)
https://archive.is/fcnPz
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“One result of reading a book many times is that I start looking at the world and the plot for internal consistency. … It would be nice if[Naomi] Novik paid attention to the internal consistency of her story and world; it is, after all, supposed to be our world plus the wizards and mals that the rest of us don’t know about. But it doesn’t really matter, because factual consistency is not what the books are about. Novik is a painter, a very good painter, and she is painting in emotions.” (04/28/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/what-is-wrong-with-some-books-i-like
Source: Yascha Mounk
“David Bromwich on Why Americans Have Lost Faith in Universities.” (04/28/26)
https://writing.yaschamounk.com/p/david-bromwich
Source: The Intercept
by Liliana Segura
“A DOJ prosecutor insists he charged Abrego based strictly on evidence of human smuggling. A federal judge seems skeptical.” (04/28/26)
https://theintercept.com/2026/04/28/kilmar-abrego-garcia-trump-justice-department/