To live is to act. To act is to choose. To choose is to prefer. To prefer is to pursue values—that is, to value. That's logic-guided observation. Ego sum, ergo aestimo: I am, therefore I value. (HT: Aristotle, Ayn Rand, and Ludwig von Mises.) Next: to think is to act....
Latest Articles
Klaus Schwab, Sophist
by Laurie Calhoun | May 1, 2025 | Featured Articles, Politics
The existence of Klaus Schwab became known to much of the thinking world during the Coronapocalypse, when so-called conspiracy theories began to flourish about the use of the novel COVID-19 virus as a pretext for reconfiguring the world. The “Great Reset” and the “New...
Let Colleges Fail!
by Joseph Solis-Mullen | May 1, 2025 | Book Reviews, Featured Articles
In Let Colleges Fail: The Power of Creative Destruction in Higher Education, Richard K. Vedder delivers a timely, incisive, and much-needed diagnosis of America’s bloated and increasingly dysfunctional university system. Published by the Independent Institute,...
50 Years On, Washington Has Learned Nothing from Defeat in Vietnam
by Ted Galen Carpenter | Apr 30, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
Today, April 30, 2025 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the final, definitive defeat of the U.S. military crusade in Vietnam. The images of U.S. helicopters desperately flying American diplomats and Washington’s high-level South Vietnamese collaborators from the roof...
On Free Speech, Trump’s as Bad as Biden
by Jack Hunter | Apr 30, 2025 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles
In September, candidate Donald Trump vowed, “I will bring back free speech in America...I will sign an executive order banning any federal employee from colluding to limit speech, and we will fire every federal bureaucrat who is engaged in domestic censorship under...
Trump Revives the Alien and Sedition Acts
by Thomas Eddlem | Apr 29, 2025 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles
President Donald Trump promised to revive the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 during his campaign last fall. “To expedite removals of this savage gang,” Trump pledged in an October campaign stop, “I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle every...
100 Days: What Trump Told TIME
by Ted Snider | Apr 29, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Politics
On April 22, U.S. President Donald Trump did an interview with Time on his first one hundred days in office. On foreign policy he made two bold claims. The first was that he would successfully conclude diplomatic deals in the Ukrainian-Russian war and in Iran. The...
America Should Bolt From the World Bank and IMF
by Jim Bovard | Apr 28, 2025 | Economics, Featured Articles
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent complained on Wednesday that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are suffering from “mission creep.” But Bessent announced that the Trump administration will be “doubling down” on supporting the largest...
Ukraine’s NATO Membership Was Always Russia’s Red Line
by Kyle Anzalone | Apr 28, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
Last week, the Kremlin said it was finally satisfied with Washington’s position on future NATO membership for Kiev. "We have heard from Washington at various levels that NATO membership for Ukraine has been ruled out,” Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained. “And...
TGIF: More on Menger and Value
by Sheldon Richman | Apr 25, 2025 | Economics, Featured Articles, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Consumer goods are also called finished goods. The products we buy at the supermarket and other retail stores have, in less finished form, passed through many stages (including distribution), reaching back to the original factors of production: land and labor. Land...
A Federal Reserve Unbound
by Joseph Solis-Mullen | Apr 24, 2025 | Economics, Featured Articles
For more than three decades, the Federal Reserve has steadily expanded its role in the American economy. From a relatively narrow mandate as a lender of last resort to commercial banks, to inflation and employment targeting, it now operates as a systemic backstop for...
Europe Must Stop Playing Pawn to American Power
by José Niño | Apr 24, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
As the world experiences significant geopolitical changes, political blocs like the European Union have a unique opportunity to chart a new path. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union and its twenty-seven member states have delivered...
Seven Reasons Not to Bomb Iran
by Ted Snider | Apr 23, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
“There are two ways Iran can be handled,” U.S. President Donald Trump has said, “militarily, or you make a deal.” National Security Adviser Mike Waltz advocated for the military solution; Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Vice President JD Vance...
MAGA or ‘Khanservatism’?
by Norman Singleton | Apr 23, 2025 | Economics, Featured Articles
Temu, a Chinese-based online retailer that has been available in the United States since the fall of 2022. Quickly become a leading online retailer, Temu has grown so fast that Bernstein analyst Robin Zhu projects that the site will generate as much as $1.8 billion in...
Our 2002 Redux
by Matt Wolfson | Apr 22, 2025 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
In the detention of Mahmoud Khalil and the ensuing crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism by Donald Trump's administration, a recognizable model for governance is emerging. The model is from 2002. During that year, as American citizens were distracted by the aftermath...
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News
Israel Preparing Major Mobilization to Ramp Up Operations in Gaza
Tel Aviv is calling tens of thousands of reservists into active duty as the Israel Defense Forces fights a myriad of wars in Syria, Lebanon, and the occupied Palestinian territories. Many Israeli reservists have already served multiple deployments and are threatening to ignore orders to redeploy.
Report: Zelensky Believes Vatican Meeting Pushed Trump To Take Tougher Approach with Putin
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky believes his Vatican meeting with President Donald Trump successfully nudged the American leader to take a more aggressive stance towards Russia. Following the meeting with Zelensky, Trump suggested he might add more sanctions on Moscow.
US Tells World Court Israel Has Right to Starve Gaza
Two months into Israel’s latest siege of Gaza, an American official argued to the International Court of Justice that Tel Aviv is within its rights to deprive Palestinians of food, medicine, and other aid.
Israel Accused of Using ‘Starvation Warfare’ in Gaza at World Court
South Africa charged Israel with violating international law in Gaza during arguments to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Tel Aviv has imposed a full blockade of Gaza since the beginning of March.
Russia Confirms North Korean Soldiers Fought in Kursk
President Vladimir Putin confirmed that North Korean soldiers aided Russia’s military operations in Kursk. Moscow’s forces have not forced all Ukrainian troops out of Russian territory.
Russia Says Putin, Witkoff Meeting Made ‘Progress’
President Donald Trump’s envoy traveled to Moscow on Friday to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The talks followed a car bombing outside the city.
Blog
Italian Navy Wins the Gold for Patrol Vessels
ITS Giovanni Delle Bande Nere arrived in Faslane and came alongside at Garelochhead yesterday. Italian shipbuilding bookends just how ghastly and horrendous US Navy procurement is. In roughly the same time it took the US to fight over and fail to build the...
Working Class w/Batya Ungar-Sargon
Batya and I discuss the point off view of working class people. Alp
A Review of Sinners (2025)
This review contains spoilers for Ryan Coogler's Sinners (2025). It is reprinted from Libertarian Institute editor Hunter DeRensis' Letterboxd. I never expected that I would be quoting Zora Neale Hurston in back-to-back film reviews, but her insights are too valuable...
New Episode of The Kyle Anzalone Show — James W. Carden : Europeanization Then Normalization
Former State Department official James Carden explains how Trump should approach Russia and end the war in Ukraine.
Yes, Minister Forever and Forever
Occam's Razor often reveals the easiest answer to a wicked problem. Take a half hour to watch the video below from the every entertaining staff at T.Rex. Yes, T.Rex makes some of the best holsters on Earth for all your social work needs. In the end, the state is built...
[GUEST] IAN PROUD, Fmr. British Diplomat to Russia – Is the end of war near? New Episode of the Kyle Anzalone Show
Host Kyle Anzalone talks with former British diplomat Ian Proud.