“In July 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order vowing to end “crime and disorder on America’s streets” caused, the administration asserted, by the record number of homeless people, many of them with mental illnesses. The president promised that, among other measures, involuntarily committing more Americans with mental illnesses would “restore public order.” The risks to civil liberties that executive order created are now impossible to ignore.
A recent lawsuit involving a man who has been involuntarily committed, despite the dismissal of his criminal charge, shows that involuntary commitment can lead to permanent federal detention for people who have not been convicted of any crime.”
https://reason.com/2026/02/04/how-involuntary-commitment-could-become-indefinite-detention/
TrumpRx, where Trump negotiated prices with drug companies, has lower drug prices for certain weight loss and fertility drugs, but outside of that, it won’t help much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtgVg7aZ7wI
“Trump quietly pulls National Guard from Chicago and Los Angeles after series of court losses”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-quietly-pulls-national-guard-163846290.html
“The grounding of aircraft at El Paso International Airport early Wednesday morning was in response to the U.S. military testing technology that can be used to take down drones, according to four sources familiar with the matter.
The testing was taking place in the proximity of the airport, raising concerns within the Federal Aviation Administration, which responded by issuing a Temporary Flight Restriction Notice, the sources said.
Three of the sources said the military testing, which was taking place near Fort Bliss, was of high-energy lasers that are designed to protect against drones from drug cartels that could cross over the U.S. border.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/flights-el-paso-airport-texas-091722608.html
China is preparing to invade or blockade Taiwan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlXg204rMqI
“”Imagine if we had to go through the process of getting a judicial warrant.”
Those are the complaining words of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R–La.), who was voicing his support for the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which now claims that its agents have the right to forcibly enter private homes without first obtaining a warrant signed by a judge. According to ICE, its agents may forcibly enter homes in certain immigration enforcement contexts based merely on a so-called “administrative warrant,” which is not actually a warrant at all, but is rather just a piece of paper signed by someone in the executive branch.”
https://reason.com/2026/02/05/mike-johnson-wants-to-spare-ice-the-hassle-of-getting-the-right-warrant-before-forcibly-entering-a-home/
“Categorical exclusions mean that no National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmental impact statement or environmental assessment is required before a project may be approved. This saves a lot of time and bureaucratic effort since compiling an environmental impact statement takes nearly three years on average to complete.
The May executive order adopts many of the recommendations on how to improve nuclear power licensing outlined in an April 2025 report by researchers associated with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Among other items, the report suggests clarifying that the DOE does not need Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approval to “authorize any non-commercial demonstration nuclear reactor projects with no exceptions.”
Now, the DOE is issuing a notice for a new categorical exclusion that would apply to new advanced nuclear reactors sited on federal facilities and land. In support of this determination, the DOE finds that “advanced nuclear reactors have key attributes such as safety features, fuel type, and fission product inventory that limit adverse consequences from releases of radioactive or hazardous material from construction, operation, and decommissioning.””
https://reason.com/2026/02/05/energy-department-moves-to-fast-track-advanced-nuclear-reactor-approvals/
“Thanks to a lack of hiring standards, purposeful federal policy, poor training, and a lack of accountability for bad behavior, ICE is eroding safety and liberty for all Americans.”
https://reason.com/2026/02/06/militarized-policing-caused-at-the-root-of-the-minneapolis-mayhem/
“Another judge has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to follow federal law, even as the Trump administration argues it has broad authority to conduct warrantless immigration arrests.”
The administration’s mass deportation efforts are repeatedly unlawful.
https://reason.com/2026/02/06/once-again-a-federal-judge-orders-ice-to-stop-unlawful-warrantless-arrests/
“When The Columbus Dispatch interviewed voters headed to the polls in November 2025, almost all said they liked the idea of property tax abolition but didn’t want to see the quality of local services degrade.
None of Florida’s proposed property tax reforms include any plan to offset the lost revenue. The two measures that would eliminate homestead property taxes also include clauses forbidding local governments from cutting law enforcement funding.
The Ohio nonprofit Citizens for Property Tax Reform notably does not call for offsetting spending cuts. Instead, it suggests increases to sales taxes and local school district income taxes.
…
Making up for the revenue lost from property tax cuts would be a tall order.
…
Property taxes pay for nearly 30 percent of local government services in both Ohio and Florida. States trying to replace every dollar of property tax revenue with sales or income tax revenue would ultimately reduce overall economic efficiency as well.
Milton Friedman called the property tax (and particularly the tax on the value of unimproved land) the “least bad tax” because it discouraged less economic activity than sales and income taxes.
Property taxes are also less distortionary. People and firms can move to places where they are less heavily taxed to avoid local sales and income taxes. Real estate, in contrast, generally has to stay put.”
https://reason.com/2026/02/08/can-florida-and-ohio-kill-property-taxes/