Embarrassed by Leaks, Feds Raid Washington Post Journalist’s Home

The government raided the home of a Journalist supposedly to get information about a leaker, but “its own prosecutors don’t seem to believe they need Natanson’s data to proceed…Given that the Justice Department apparently has everything it needs to go forward with the prosecution of Perez-Lugones for leaking classified information, the raid on Natanson and seizure of her devices looks like harassment of a journalist who annoyed powerful people combined with a general search for anything the government might not want revealed.

The government doesn’t get to torment people who receive and publish information that’s inconvenient to the powers that be. It certainly isn’t entitled to go trawling through private property for information it doesn’t want to see the light of day.”

https://reason.com/2026/01/26/embarrassed-by-leaks-feds-raid-washington-post-journalists-home/

Coal is Extremely Dumb

Compared to the alternatives, coal is worse for air pollution, worse for ocean pollution, worse for global warming, uses more water, is less efficient, and costs more. Coal was a competitive source of energy before we had modern gas plants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfvBx4D0Cms

Purge in Venezuela: The New President Is Selling Out Maduro’s Allies | VisualPolitik EN

Despite some changes, the Venezuelan regime is still the same authoritarian regime, just with a new dictator who is, at least for now, trying to give the Americans what they want.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX9qBqnQBDw

Tom Homan Isn’t the Solution

“When federal judges told the Trump administration that it was necessary to provide due process to suspected undocumented immigrants before deporting them, Homan said the administration was “not stopping,” and added: “I don’t care what the judges think.”

The FBI reportedly recorded Homan accepting a $50,000 bribe from undercover agents posing as potential government contractors. Homan has denied taking the money or doing anything wrong, and the White House has dismissed the case as politically motivated, but lots of questions remain unanswered”

https://reason.com/2026/01/27/tom-homan-isnt-the-solution/

Broken bones, burning eyes: How Trump’s DHS deploys ‘less lethal’ weapons on protesters

“They batter bodies with rubber bullets and sear eyes with pepper spray. They lob tear gas and explosive flash-bangs at chanting crowds. They smash car windows. They shove people to the ground. They ram vehicles and point their guns.

Federal officers carrying out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in cities across the country have shot 13 people with guns. But far more often, they have used harsh tactics to scare or repel those they see as getting in their way. The officers, masked and kitted out with military-grade armor and rifles, have faced down peaceful protesters and people who have threatened, obstructed or attacked them, with methods that are less deadly than guns but still inflict grievous injuries. Hundreds have been hurt, and courts in at least four states have found that officers used force inappropriately and indiscriminately.

NBC News reviewed dozens of incidents since the spring and found that Department of Homeland Security officers have repeatedly deployed “less lethal” weapons in ways that appear to violate their own policies or general policing guidelines, unless they believed their lives were in danger. The review was based on interviews with lawyers, experts and protesters who were injured as well as witness statements, documents from criminal and civil cases and videos taken at protests.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/broken-bones-burning-eyes-trumps-110000513.html

Bessent Says Construction Jobs Are Booming Under Trump’s Tariffs. Government Data Show the Opposite.

“The federal government’s data do not show this “burst” in construction jobs. In fact, quite the opposite: Construction jobs declined by 11,000 in December, the most recent month for which Bureau of Labor Statistics data are available, and grew by just 0.2 percent during 2025 as a whole. Like most other blue-collar professions, jobs in the construction industry have been underwater since last April.

The president’s tariffs aren’t the only factor shaping that job market, but they surely aren’t helping. The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) reports that overall construction input prices climbed 3.4 percent during 2025.

“Many tariff-affected materials, like derivative metal products and switchgear equipment, have experienced considerable price escalation in 2025,” Anirban Basu, chief economist for the ABC, said in a statement earlier this month. He pointed out that the price of aluminum, which is subject to huge new tariffs imposed by Trump in early 2025, climbed by more than 25 percent last year.

Why are gas prices falling when other products are getting more expensive?

For one, we are enjoying a period of low oil prices globally. That’s a good thing, though it is also largely beyond the president’s control.

It also seems important to note that gasoline and other oil products are exempt from the Trump administration’s tariffs.

In other words, when a barrel of crude oil crosses the border from Canada, it doesn’t suddenly have an extra 25 percent tax tacked onto it. But when a roll of aluminum or a pallet of lumber crosses the same border, it suddenly becomes significantly more expensive for Americans to buy. As a result, it has become more expensive to build things but gasoline has remained more affordable.”

https://reason.com/2026/01/29/scott-bessent-says-construction-jobs-are-booming-under-trumps-tariffs-government-data-show-the-opposite/

Stephen Miller’s Hardline Immigration Tactics Are Backfiring

“Trump’s second-term raids are not merely designed to sweep up immigrants for deportation; they are designed to act as shows of force, a dangerous and occasionally deadly form of political theater. And while Trump bears ultimate responsibility for the immigration sweeps and their consequences, it is Miller who has most clearly shaped their operational character. The masks, the menace, the militarism—these are all direct manifestations of a cruel and apocalyptic worldview, in which force is the only real governing power, illegal immigration represents a form of “invasion,” legal immigration mechanisms like birthright citizenship are “destructive and ruinous policies aimed at the heart of the Republic,” and public protest of deportation raids that turn violent is tantamount to “insurrection.”

Some of this can be understood as an outgrowth of Trump’s own worldview. The president notoriously launched his first campaign by declaring that “when Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best…They’re bringing crime. They’re bringing drugs. They’re rapists.” But Trump’s personal ability to implement policy and execute on his impulses is limited without competent staff to follow through. Miller is the White House aide who turns Trump’s immigration ideas into reality. As the Atlantic profile put it, he’s “the man who turns President Trump’s most incendiary impulses into policy.””

https://reason.com/2026/01/29/stephen-millers-hardline-immigration-tactics-are-backfiring/

Federal Judge Slams ICE for Violating Nearly 100 Court Orders: ‘ICE is Not a Law Unto Itself’

“It’s highly unusual for federal judges to issue such direct accusations and contempt threats against the government. However, an increasing number of judges have become exasperated by the Trump administration’s noncompliance with their orders in immigration cases.

The Trump administration insists that it can arrest anyone present in the country unlawfully without a warrant and hold them in mandatory detention without a bond hearing. This interpretation of the law abandons a precedent that has been in place for nearly 30 years.

judges find themselves batting down the same specious arguments from the Justice Department over and over.”

https://reason.com/2026/01/29/federal-judge-slams-ice-for-violating-nearly-100-court-orders-ice-is-not-a-law-unto-itself/

The Macedonian Fake News Industry and the 2016 US Election

‘Many disinformation posts on social media originated from a small town in central Macedonia called Veles. The epicenter of the viral phenomenon was Mirko Ceselkoski, who posts fake news and mentors others in it. The creators were mostly young people in their 20s with little English fluency. They said they were too poor to do anything and had no future, so work hard creating fake news to make money. They did this by exploiting conservative Americans’ hunger for negative stories about Hillary Clinton’

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/79F67A4F23148D230F120A3BD7E3384F/S1049096520000992a.pdf/macedonian_fake_news_industry_and_the_2016_us_election.pdf