“Finland is the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row, according to the World Happiness Report 2025 published Thursday. Other Nordic countries are also once again at the top of the happiness rankings in the annual report published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford. Besides Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden remain the top four and in the same order. … the United States has dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012.” (03/20/25)
“The January ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which brought a pause to the 15 months of death and destruction following Hamas’ October 2023 terror attack against Israel and Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza, has collapsed. President Donald Trump reportedly gave Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the green light to tank the agreement he and his team helped negotiate and resume the war. Trump’s decision to follow Netanyahu’s lead is wrong. Continuing to enable this war will result in more violence and further U.S. entanglement in the region. Ending support for the war now may be Washington’s last chance to get out and pull the region back from the brink.” (03/20/25)
“News reports about the World Happiness Report usually give the impression that it is based on a major research effort. Noting that the report is ‘compiled annually by a consortium of groups including the United Nations and Gallup,’ for example, an article about last year’s iteration in the New York Times warned darkly that ‘the United States fell out of the Top 20’ without a hint of skepticism about the reliability of such a finding. In light of such confident pronouncements, and the absence of any critical voices in most of these news stories, you might be forgiven for thinking that the report carefully assesses how happy each country in the world is according to a sophisticated methodology, one that likely involves both subjective and objective criteria. But upon closer examination …” (03/20/25)
“The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits increased slightly last week, suggesting the labor market remained stable in March, though the outlook is darkening amid rising trade tensions and deep cuts in government spending. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 223,000 for the week ended March 15, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 224,000 claims for the latest week.” (03/20/25)
“What do the JFK assassination files and an obscure booklet called ‘The Adam and Eve Story’ have in common? Both are examples of how the CIA and other Deep State actors keep us guessing and in the dark: by over-classification. A ‘sanitized’ copy of Chan Thomas’s immortal classic of seeming ultra-nuttery, the aforementioned ‘Adam and Eve Story,’ was de-classified in 2013. Now on the CIA’s website, it floats a wild theory about human history and life on this planet, complete with repeated global, world-turned-on-end catastrophes. Most people had never heard of the work until de-classified and placed on the website. The Wikipedia entry mentions the de-classification of the document but not why it was classified as secret in the first place. Here’s a theory: to confuse us.” (03/20/25)
“Charles E. Schumer, the top Senate Democrat since 2017, is facing calls for a primary challenge. The proximate cause? Progressive fury at Schumer’s decision to back a Republican budget bill to keep the government open. But the Democratic dissension runs deeper. It is starting to resemble the strife that afflicted Republicans 15 years ago during the tea party era. But the tea party did not solve Republicans’ problems, and following a similar path is unlikely to lead Democrats somewhere better.” (03/20/25)
