Source: Agorist Nexus
by Free Market Militia

“Bitcoin, emerging as a defiant symbol of financial sovereignty, operates on a decentralized ledger that transcends global borders, eluding state control and its punitive tax regimes. It epitomizes the Agorist principle that true market operations require no state intervention. In stark contrast, CBDCs represent the state’s attempt to cloak its insidious control in the guise of modern financial innovation. By mimicking the technology behind cryptocurrencies, governments aim to seduce the public back into the fold of regulated financial systems, under the pretense of improved efficiency and security. However, this maneuver is fundamentally flawed. The very essence of blockchain technology, upon which Bitcoin thrives, is its ability to operate beyond the reach of centralized control.” (04/25/24)

https://www.agoristnexus.com/5061-2/

Source: The American Conservative
by Doug Bandow

“There simply is no justification for risking the lives of Americans, including military personnel, in Burma. Overthrowing the regime would be costly and transfer responsibility for Burma’s future to America, creating an unpredictable, probably violent long-term commitment. Supporting an insurgency is tempting but could go bad. The U.S. would become responsible for the outcome — and war is rarely a good humanitarian tool.” (04/25/24)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/burmas-military-junta-totters-toward-the-brink/

Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff

“A historical term in geopolitics – the Great Game, or when big powers fought to control the heartland of the Eurasian supercontinent – may need to be retired. Over the past two years, many countries in Central Asia and the Caspian basin have seen a flurry of investments and friendly diplomacy from around the world, reflecting the region’s emboldened streak of independence from foreign intervention. The latest example is an April 22 summit between Russia and Azerbaijan. The focus was mainly economic – how to finish building a road-and-rail corridor across Eurasia, one of several transportation projects in the region. That was in sharp contrast to news just days earlier when Russia, weakened by its war in Ukraine, started the withdrawal of some 2,000 peacekeeping soldiers from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, a remnant of Moscow’s previous clout.” (04/25/24)

https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2024/0425/Opportunity-knocks-in-Central-Asia

Source: Law & Liberty
by James C Capretta

“Health care presents unique challenges to elected officials. Without some public regulation, market failures will lead to consequences many voters would find unacceptable, as Kenneth Arrow explained long ago in a seminal essay. Among the problems that inevitably arise is the collision of risk aversion among consumers, which leads them to seek insurance protection against expensive medical services, with the ability of insurers to steer clear of potential customers who can be identified as high risks because of their health conditions. … Public regulation and subsidies are the tools all countries use, including the US, to address this unavoidable problem. But these challenges in the market do not mean that the only viable system is one based on full governmental control, which itself carries risks owing to the predictable failings of regulations written and overseen by politically sensitive officials.” (04/25/24)

https://lawliberty.org/how-to-discipline-health-care-costs/

Source: EconLog
by Kevin Corcoran

“A long time veteran of [National Public Radio], Uri Berliner, wrote an essay lamenting that the organization has gone from and admittingly left-leaning but still rigorous and fair journalistic enterprise to a politically driven monoculture that lets ideology drive its reporting. … Berliner resigned shortly thereafter. Naturally this got a lot of attention, and people have recently started highlighting a TED talk given by Katherine Maher, NPR’s new CEO and former CEO of the WikiMedia Foundation – the parent organization for Wikipedia. In her TED talk Maher made the following comment: ‘For our most tricky disagreements, seeking the truth and seeking to convince others of the truth might not be the right place to start. In fact, our reverence for the truth might be a distraction that’s getting in the way of finding common ground and getting things done.'” (04/25/24)

https://www.econlib.org/in-defense-of-seeking-the-truth/

Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

“It’s just a tough situation, with victims on both sides. On one side you’ve got people being slaughtered in droves by genocidal massacres and siege warfare, while on the other you’ve got people whose feelings get hurt when these atrocities are opposed. Hard to say which is worse. … I have dedicated every day of my life to the project of spreading awareness of the depravity and deceitfulness of the western empire, but I will never write anything more effective toward this end than what the empire is doing itself on university campuses right now. I mean, you kind of have to wonder what they’re thinking. ‘Yeah, that’s it. Violently quash pro-Palestine protests at universities, ban TikTok to ensure the suppression of pro-Palestine content, and saturate the boomer media with obvious propaganda. That’ll make the kids love Israel.'” (04/25/24)

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2024/04/25/quashing-university-protests-and-banning-tiktok-to-make-the-kids-love-israel/