Source: Reason
by Christian Britschgi
“For this week’s edition of Rent Free, I talked to Caplan about why he decided to make the YIMBY case in comic form, why abolishing zoning really is a panacea, and why even selfish NIMBYs should love more home construction.” (05/07/24)
https://reason.com/2024/05/07/rent-free-qa-bryan-caplan-on-build-baby-build/
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“What’s happening in Gaza should radicalize you. It absolutely should. Right now, even as its own criminality hits fever pitch, the western political-media class is fretting with increasing shrillness about young people getting ‘radicalized’ and turned against their government by the spread of information and ideas at campus demonstrations and on TikTok. But young people should be radicalizing right now. Everyone should. When you see Israel rejecting a Hamas ceasefire and beginning its long-threatened assault on Rafah (the last so-called ‘safe zone’ in Gaza), that should radicalize you. When you see US senators assist this horrifying onslaught by publicly threatening the International Criminal Court if they dare to indict Israeli officials for war crimes, that should radicalize you. When you see Israel shutting down Al Jazeera to quash news reporting about its criminality immediately before launching this mass atrocity, that should radicalize you.” (05/07/24)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2024/05/07/the-destruction-of-gaza-should-be-radicalizing-people/
Source: Axios
“Speaker Mike Johnson says he wants to lead the House in 2025, and isn’t apologizing for meeting with his defectors as he works to beat back an ouster attempt. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) are making demands of Johnson as he looks to stave off a motion to strip him of his gavel. But GOP members argue concessions could come at a price. … ‘It’s not a negotiation, okay, this is how I’ve operated as speaker,’ Johnson told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday. ‘I committed to do it before I became speaker and we’ve been doing this for the last, last six months.’ ‘On almost on an hourly basis I hear suggestions and ideas and thoughts from members, my door has been open from day one.'” (05/07/24)
https://www.axios.com/2024/05/07/mike-johnson-marjorie-taylor-greene-meetings
Source: Niskanen Center
“Decoding the birth rate decline, with Tim Carney.” (05/07/24)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/decoding-the-birth-rate-decline-with-tim-carney
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“This is a line endlessly repeated in the media. Somehow, we face a terrible risk if people decide to have fewer kids. While this is the accepted wisdom in elite circles, there is remarkably little basis in reality for this view.” (05/07/24)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/05/07/do-we-need-more-people/
Source: Associated Press
“In April, Bernie Sanders repeatedly stood shoulder to shoulder with President Joe Biden, promoting their joint accomplishments on health care and climate at formal White House events while eviscerating Donald Trump in a widely viewed campaign TikTok video. Then just last week, Sanders was bluntly warning that the crisis in Gaza could be ‘Biden’s Vietnam’ and invoking President Lyndon B. Johnson’s decision not to run for reelection as the nation was in an uproar over his support of that war. … in this election year, Sanders will be Biden’s most powerful emissary to progressives and younger voters — a task that will test the senator’s pull with the sectors of the Democratic Party most disillusioned with the president and his policies, especially on Gaza.” (05/07/24)
https://apnews.com/article/sanders-biden-gaza-election-trump-ea2720446481f1e77cd7b79b28ca4abe
Source: Students For Liberty
by Paramie Jayakody
“Fiction for many years has been cemented as an effective and worthy medium of communicating messages, philosophies, ideas and ideals, with multiple studies and research papers on the subject. Mar and Oatley note that immersing oneself in fictional stories is a form of learning through experience, serving to increase empathy and social inference. This is backed up by evolutionary science, which hypothesizes that fiction transferred knowledge as early as humankind’s foraging days. As per Ray, fiction ‘can be a powerful vehicle for delivering nuanced messages in a more approachable and digestible manner,’ with literary techniques enabling writers to impart their wisdom by subtle means. Why then, are the liberty book lists overrun with non-fiction to an alarming degree, particularly when it comes to modern day works?” (05/07/24)
https://studentsforliberty.org/blog/ayn-rand-and-beyond-the-future-of-liberty-in-fiction/
Source: ABC News
“The Czech Republic’s highest court on Tuesday ruled to dismiss part of a law requiring people to undergo gender-affirmation surgery, including sterilization, in order to officially change their gender. The Constitutional Court said the requirements are ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘in conflict with the fundamental right of trans people to have protected their physical integrity and personal autonomy in connection with their human dignity.’ Only two of the court’s 15 judges opposed the verdict, which cannot be appealed. Lawmakers must change the affected sections of the law by the middle of next year.” (05/07/24)
Source: Crooked Media
“Trump Holds VP Auditions.” (05/07/24)
Source: Cobden Centre
by Thorsten Polleit
“In a nutshell, Hayek, in his ‘Denationalization Of Money’ calls for putting an end to the state’s (or government’s) monopoly of money production, replacing it by a free market in money. At first glance, this seems to be a rather radical proposal. At a second glance, however, we would realize that there is actually strong economic and ethical support for Hayek’s idea. And Hayek is actually not alone. Quite a few economists have challenged and even opposed the status quo, namely that money production is monopolized by the state(s).” (05/07/24)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2024/05/hayeks-denationalization-of-money-some-critical-remarks/