The Political Orphanage, 05/06/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“The Non-Profit Industrial Complex.” (05/06/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/the-non-profit-industrial-complex
Russia: Regime says Ukraine launched major drone attack after Moscow shunned ceasefire offer
Source: The Hill
“Russian air defenses shot down 347 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday, in what appeared to be a major attack after Moscow spurned Kyiv’s ceasefire earlier in the week and tension mounted over Russia’s upcoming Victory Day celebrations. Incoming drones were destroyed over 20 Russian regions, including Moscow, according to the Defense Ministry, in Ukraine’s second-biggest aerial attack since Russia’s all-out invasion more than four years ago. The largest was last March when it launched 389 drones. The attack came ahead of Russia’s most important secular holiday, when it marks the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Russian authorities have declared a unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine for Friday and Saturday. Ukraine had responded to that with its own suspension of hostilities from midnight Tuesday. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow disregarded the goodwill gesture and launched fresh attacks.” (05/07/26)
What “Never Again” Demands of Each of Us
Source: Mindset Shifts
by Barry Brownstein
“What [Dr. Edith] Eger understood, and what makes her work so urgent now, is that Jew-hatred is never only about Jews. It is a symptom of a deeper moral disorder; the same disorder she spent her career treating in her patients and herself. When we dehumanize any group, we do not harm only them. We do something to ourselves. We coarsen the inner voice that Adam Smith called the impartial spectator. We silence the conscience that might otherwise call us back. The Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambers; it began in the minds of people who decided that some human beings do not belong to humanity. That decision is always available to us. So is the opposite one.” (05/06/26)
https://mindsetshifts.substack.com/p/what-never-again-demands-of-each
It pleaseth the US crown to generously allow adults to use some flavored vapes
Source: United Press International
“The Food and Drug Administration approved some flavored vapes delivering on a campaign promise from President Donald Trump to ‘save vaping.’ The FDA gave its OK to electronic cigarettes from Glas, a company based in Los Angeles. The approved flavors are mango, blueberry and two varieties of menthol. Court filings show the FDA previously rejected more than 1 million vapes flavored like fruit, candy and desserts and nicotine companies sued the FDA for changing its standards unfairly, but the Supreme Court backed the FDA. … The FDA said in the announcement that the vape products will be age restricted via government ID and a Bluetooth connection with the user’s smartphone.” (05/06/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/05/06/fda-approves-flavored-vapes/5121778072996/
The problem with independent bureaucracies running things
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall
“It’s possible that modern slavery is indeed increasing. We tend to think that’s a result of the expansion of what slavery is meant to mean but perhaps that’s just us. There is though this problem of using independent bureaucracies to run all of these different things. Commissioners for this and that, commissions for the other and so on. … Say that you had a touch of the cynic in you. What would you expect a report from a bureaucracy to say about the issue that bureaucracy is meant to be dealing with? … The aim of a bureaucracy, as an organisation, is to continue to exist and to grow – to increase its budget. That’s it, that’s just what happens with this life form. Therefore every report from a bureaucracy is going to be well … yes … very difficult problem … growing all the time … give us more money.” ()5/06/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/the-problem-with-independent-bureaucracies-running-things
Iranian Regime Reviewing US Proposal as Trump Makes New Threats
Source: New York Times
“Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said Wednesday that his government was reviewing an American plan to end the war, hours after President Trump put pressure on Iran to agree to a deal to end the war and renewed threats, fueling uncertainty around the negotiations. Mr. Baghaei said that Iran had yet to respond to that proposal. ‘After finalizing its considerations, Iran will convey its views to the Pakistani side,’ he said in an interview with the semiofficial news agency ISNA. Earlier in the day, another Iranian official had dismissed a reported proposal to end the war as a ‘list of American wishes.'” (05/06/26)
Democrats’ fingerprints are all over the Spirit Airlines crime scene
Source: New York Post
by Rich Lowry
“Regulators no longer have to worry that Spirit Airlines might upset the air-travel market by merging with the wrong competitor. The now-defunct airline made poor business decisions and had to cope with tough circumstances. But if its demise were an Agatha Christie mystery, the fingerprints of Joe Biden’s antitrust officials would be all over the crime scene. These zealots fought a proposed deal between JetBlue and Spirit, and congratulated themselves on a 2024 court victory that doomed Spirit to likely oblivion. This was wanton economic destruction masquerading as antitrust enforcement. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who never met an antitrust action she didn’t like, exemplifies the perversity.” (05/05/26)
ADP: US private payrolls rose by 109,000 in April, topping expectations
Source: CNBC
“Private sector job creation was stronger than expected in April, providing more evidence of a stable labor market and less incentive for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates amid persistently higher inflation, ADP reported Wednesday. The payrolls processing firm said companies added 109,000 jobs for the month, a step up from the 61,000 created in March and better than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 84,000. April’s gains were the best for the ADP count since January 2025. The March total was revised down by 1,000. Wages for those staying in their jobs rose 4.4% annually, down 0.1 percentage point.” (05/06/26)
The real cost of the Iran War: $72 billion for the first 60 days
Source: Popular Information
by Stephen Semler
“Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Acting Comptroller Jules Hurst told Congress last week that the Iran War had cost $25 billion through the first 60 days. The next day, CBS reported that officials familiar with the Pentagon’s internal assessments estimated the cost was actually closer to $50 billion — double the amount department leadership had just stated publicly. However, even the figure reported as the war’s ‘true cost’ is at least $22 billion too low. Popular Information conducted a cost estimate of the Iran War based on officials’ statements, military procurement and operations data, and reporting on deployments and armament use. Through 60 days, the US spent an estimated $71.8 billion on the Iran War, or $1.2 billion per day on average.” (05/06/26)
The Man Behind the Tattoo
Source: The Bulwark
by Sarah Longwell
“While debates rage online about the Democratic party needing to be more moderate or more progressive, Democratic primary voters are focused on a different set of priorities entirely. They want fighters who can win and seem like they care about average people struggling in this economy. It makes sense that Democratic voters are in the mood for a candidate like Platner, with his oyster-farmer aesthetic and ‘not a regular politician’ energy. But we were still left wondering how voters were processing Platner’s laundry list of personal baggage, from the much-discussed Totenkopf tattoo to the slew of bad Reddit posts. Here’s what they said …” (05/06/26)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-man-behind-the-tattoo-graham-platner-maine-democrat-focus-group