Source: TomDispatch
by Juan Cole

“The pro-democracy protesters in Iran deserved so much better. They deserved the support of a democratic United States that could sincerely urge the rule of law and habeas corpus (allowing people to legally challenge their detentions) be respected, not to speak of freedom of speech, the press, and assembly in accordance with the Constitution. Unfortunately, President Donald J. Trump has forfeited any claim to respect for such rights or a principled foreign policy and so has proved strikingly ineffective in aiding those protesters. The arbitrary arrests and killings committed by agents of Trump’s authoritarian-style rule differ only in number, not in kind, from the detainments and killings of protesters carried out by the basij (or pro-regime street militias) in Iran. In fact, they rendered his protests and bluster about Iran the height of hypocrisy.” (02/02/25)

https://tomdispatch.com/why-trumps-denunciations-of-the-iranian-killings-ring-fatally-hollow/

Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders

“Healthy societies balance freedom and order, just as healthy individuals balance the energies within each of us.” (02/02/26)

https://underthrow.substack.com/p/human-energies-feminine-and-masculine

Source: RealClearPolitics
by Bill King

“For the last two decades, Republican leaders have governed the state to satisfy their base – pandering to the issues important to those voters and ignoring what most Texans wanted. That was largely because independents, even though they frequently disagreed with the positions state leaders were taking, found Democratic candidates even further outside their comfort zone. But the Tarrant County results and the polling trends over the last year suggest Republican leaders may have gone so far that independents now view Democrats as the lesser of the two evils.” (02/03/26)

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2026/02/03/a_texas_political_shock_republicans_cant_ignore_153789.html

Source: Washington Post
by Matthew Lynn

“Governments can’t increase birth rates. Instead, learn to cope with a shrinking population.” (02/02/26)

https://archive.is/D7Omh

Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul

“For the past month, Americans have been wondering whether President Trump will attack Iran, or whether the massive military build-up in the Middle East is just another bluff. President Trump claims that the decision is his alone to make. Thus far, President Trump has made little effort to explain to the American people – or to Congress – why launching a war against Iran is in our national interest. Instead, he wanders from one reason to another, hoping something will stick.” (02/02/26)

http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/will-he-or-wont-he

Source: Town Hall
by Victor Davis Hanson

“In the months before the April 12, 1861, firing on Fort Sumter, there were lots of sharp divisions in the North about the proper reaction to the first seven Confederate states that had already left the Union. Not all Unionists believed that war was inevitable. Some, in fact, were happy to be done with the departing South and thus see their stain of slavery gone from the Union. Similarly, others agreed that the emerging Confederacy was not worth the trouble and costs of war, and the secessionists could just form their own nation and stew in their own backward, servile juice. But after Fort Sumter, Lincoln … gained a consensus that the Constitution had no clauses about any lawful departure from the Union. But it did operate under a clear supremacy clause that made state obstruction of federal law and occupation of federal property veritable sedition.” (02/02/25)

https://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2026/02/02/slouching-toward-fort-sumter-n2670522