Source: Washington Post
by Megan McArdle

“[S]olving problems is hard, and in politics, it often involves taking on well-organized constituencies that will wave away the smoke and insist that everything is just fine. So institutions often choose to disregard the underlying issues and simply whack the alarm with a hammer until it stops beeping. There has been a lot of that going on recently, most notably in education. Instead of rectifying disparities in preparation and achievement, people decided it would be simpler to adjust the measurements.” (11/23/25)

https://archive.is/WvjRf

Source: Our Future
by Sulma Arias

“As many of you know, at People’s Action we have been thinking about and preparing for this moment for some time. Our 2023 report, The Antidote to Authoritarianism, issued a call to develop a shared playbook of the most effective tactics to stop the rise of an authoritarian regime. We have now done this, and are moving into action. Twenty national organizations endorsed our original call for an Organizing Revival. That number has since swelled to more than sixty, and more than four hundred state and local organizations, all across the country and in every state. Together with these partners and new friends, such as the May Day Strong alliance, we have trained more than 1,200 organizers across the country and are training more every day, so we can defend democracy while we still can. We welcome anyone who wants to join us.” (11/24/25)

https://ourfuture.org/20251124/it-is-up-to-us-to-defend-democracy

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Walter Block

“Under Mamdani’s proposal, [New York City’s] minimum wage would improve to $20 per hour in 2027, $23.50 in 2028, $27 in 2029 and $30 in 2030. This is almost double the present minimum wage currently prevailing in the Big Apple, at $16.50. … [T]he minimum wage law is not a floor, raising wages above the level stipulated by the enactment. Rather, it is a barrier over which one has to jump in order to get a job in the first place, and then to retain it.” (11/23/25)

https://fee.org/articles/mamdani-and-the-minimum-wage-law/

Source: Orange County Register
by John Seiler

“A couple hours before I began writing this column, I drove from Irvine up the 405 to the VA Long Beach Healthcare System for a routine appointment. At the hospital I saw two veterans in their 40s in wheelchairs. Although it’s possible they suffered civilian accidents, more likely their legs were blown off by IEDs — improvised explosive devices — in the Iraq War two decades ago. I backed President Donald Trump in three elections because I hoped he would end such senseless ‘regime-change wars,’ as Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called them. He promised to be a ‘peace president.’ Instead, recently he perpetrated the nonjudicial killings of 76 ‘narco-terrorists,’ who could just be fishermen given the lack of actual information, in violation of international law. … Worse is his inability to end the Ukraine War ‘in 24 hours,’ as he promised. … Then there’s the Middle East.” (11/23/25)

https://archive.is/Mphve

Source: Washington Post
by the editorial board

“What are a few deportation threats among friends? President Donald Trump has called Zohran Mamdani a ‘100% Communist lunatic’ who ‘needs to be DEPORTED.’ Mamdani called the president a ‘despot,’ promising to ‘Trump-proof’ New York. Yet they couldn’t have been chummier in their Oval Office meeting on Friday. What’s happening here? Trump loves populists and winners, and Mamdani is both. … This surreal scene is no bad thing for voters who have been told that the other side is the mortal enemy, though they might wonder how sincere each side was in their election insults. In reality, Mamdani and Trump have some shared interests, and it’s not just about building more apartments and tackling inflation. Both men are looking to seize more executive power, deepen the reach of the state into people’s everyday lives and bring government to bear on businesses and entrepreneurs who won’t fall in line.” (11/21/25)

https://archive.is/yHHVL