Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid

“It’s a debate that has been raging between left and right libertarians for Kali knows how long; that age old question of just how libertarian are borders? Naturally, being a Situationist-cum-Agorist, the answer seems pretty fucking obvious to me, and it can be best delivered by another question. What the fuck does chucking people in jail for crossing invisible lines have to do with liberty? … it is also becoming increasingly obvious to me that leaning on empathy towards the ‘other’ as a debate tactic isn’t working very well and it may not have too either. That’s because, in the age of Trump, it doesn’t take a bleeding heart to realize that a strong border means weaker civil liberties for everyone. In fact, in the long run, American citizens may even stand to have as much to lose as the undocumented.” (04/06/25)

https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2025/04/trumps-fascist-immigration-regime-will.html

Source: New York Post
by staff

“Democrats have longed railed against the scourge of ‘dark money’ and foreign influence on elections and spent the entire 2024 election promising to ‘save democracy’ from the dastardly Republicans, but it turns out the call was coming from inside the house. Last week, three House committees released a report after a months-long probe showing that progressive money-making machine ActBlue lowered its standards for fraud twice during the 2024 election cycle. The result: Hundreds of fraudulent donations poured in — some from countries like Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Colombia. Worse, the nonprofit knew mass fraud was likely happening and increased the risk.” (04/06/25)

https://nypost.com/2025/04/06/opinion/actblue-scandal-proves-democrats-are-the-real-dark-money-party/

Source: The UnPopulist
by Larry Diamond

“An effective resistance agenda is necessarily selective — if democracy defenders scream at equal volume over every harmful presidential move, without distinguishing between their varying levels of illegality, unconstitutionality, irrationality, and cruelty, people will stop listening. We need a strategy to prioritize the most serious assaults on democracy, presidential accountability, and our laws and norms. However, there is no room for passivity or patience in the face of creeping authoritarianism. Early action is critical to frustrating authoritarian ambitions, and it must match escalating assaults with escalating mobilization.” (04/06/25)

https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/how-to-undo-trumps-growing-dictatorship

Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman

“What is the social cost of your cash balance, the cost summed over everyone in the society? The answer is roughly zero. Due to the Law of Large Numbers, on average total consumption and production are almost always equal, the individual differences averaged out. The society as a whole does not need a shock absorber. It follows that individuals will hold the optimal stock of money, the stock that maximizes economic efficiency, only if the nominal interest rate is close to zero. It is possible that a few of my readers, not being economists, are not familiar with the distinction I am making between real and nominal, hence a brief digression.” (04/06/25)

https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/the-optimal-quantity-of-money

Source: Coyote Blog
by Warren Meyer

“The history of sacrificing the mass of consumers to the profitability of a few elite producers goes all the way back to the horrible British corn laws. Economists refer to the problem as ‘concentrated benefits, dispersed costs.’ Costs are dispersed such that no one person bearing them really has the financial incentive to take on the costs of fighting them, while benefits are concentrated in a few hands that have the incentive and the means to fight to the death to protect their special privilege.” (04/06/25)

https://coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2025/04/is-the-world-trade-system-unfair-a-response-to-the-trump-tariffs.html