Links for 2–5-23
America sleepwalks into war with Russia. From: Real Clear Defense. The Biden administration and some of our NATO allies, while feigning caution and prudence, have gradually increased their involvement in Ukraine’s war effort. Some Western strategists talk of defeating Russia and forcing Vladimir Putin from power, even trying him as a war criminal.
The Supreme Court takes up Section 230. From: Brookings. “In contrast, social media, although constructed on an open platform, is a closed business in which algorithms are programmed to maximize revenue by selecting points of view and targeting their audience.”
⭐️ The dangers of licensing. From: Eric Peters Autos. Mainstream” journalism has become a kind of guild the members of which no longer question authority but rather cheerlead for it – often deliberately avoid covering anything that calls it into question.
What was behind today's “wow, wow, wow" jobs report. From: Zero Hedge. "If it seems too good to be true, that’s because it is too good to be true — the gain is mostly due to seasonal factors and revisions to past data."
👉 COVID stimulus spending played ‘sizable role' in inflation. From: Reason. Fiscal stimulus during the pandemic contributed to an increase in inflation of about 2.6 percentage points.
Theater of the absurd in J6 courtrooms. From: American Greatness. As judges hand down one absurd sentence after another, one might be inclined to laugh at the absurdity of it all except, of course, it’s not funny.
House bill rescinding $71B for 87k IRS agents stalled in Senate after nearly 4 weeks without vote. From: Just the News. In a recent poll, a solid majority of respondents supported the House-passed bill that strips the IRS funding from the Democrats' $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act, but it has languished in the Democrat-led Senate for nearly four weeks without a vote.
Subsidizing higher education is not creating widespread external benefits. From: Mises Institute. Contrary to the claim that taxpayer subsidies for higher education provide great social benefits, these subsidies actually are a wealth transfer from the less-well-off to wealthy people.