“The results of a rare, closely watched auction in Japan that ended this week are about to be released. But there were no paintings or antique cars on the auction block. The government is selling 165,000 tons of rice — equivalent to roughly two billion bowls — from its emergency stockpile to make up for over 200,000 tons that some Japanese news media say have ‘disappeared.’ But there’s more to the story. Japan doesn’t have enough rice, a pillar of its diet. A shortage forced supermarkets to implement buying limits, and soaring prices have driven restaurants to hike prices of everyday food. Things have gotten so dire that, for the first time, the government is tapping its emergency stockpile in an effort to drive down prices.” (03/13/25)
“Judge Orders Hearing on Columbia Student Deportation Case; Is the Ukraine Ceasefire Plan Serious? Trump Attacks Thomas Massie for His Budget Vote.” (03/12/25)
“I held out some small hope that while it was depressing to consider that Trump was likely to further trash the notion of free trade (and he has certainly delivered on this bad promise), Republicans — after years in the wilderness rightly complaining about government censorship and growing opposition on the Left to free speech — might, just might, do something to make things a bit better. I thought JD Vance calling out Europe on its deteriorating free speech environment in his Munich speech was great. But its easy to call out other countries on this topic, much harder to remain disciplined in one’s own country. It takes a lot of backbone to respect speech from people you really dislike and disagree with. And apparently this administration lacks such a backbone …” (03/12/25)
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Andrew Napolitano
“The world is filled with self-evident truths — truisms — that philosophers, lawyers and judges know need not be proven. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Two plus two equals four. A cup of boiling hot coffee sitting on a table in a room, the temperature of which is 70 degrees Fahrenheit, will eventually cool down. These examples, of which there are legion, are not true because we believe they are true. They are true essentially and substantially. They are true whether we accept their truthfulness or not. Of course, recognizing a universal truth acknowledges the existence of an order of things higher than human laws, certainly higher than government.” (03/12/25)
“An overnight Russian attack on Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region injured three people and targeted energy facilities of the state railways, according to local officials. The attack on Dnipro, which injured three women who were hospitalized, also blew out over 100 windows in the city’s apartment buildings, governor Serhiy Lysak wrote on Telegram. The Ukrainian military said on Thursday that Russia launched one ballistic missile and 117 drones to attack Ukraine overnight.” (03/13/25)
“When I first arrived in the United States, less than two decades ago, the assumption that WASPs were the true rulers of America remained widespread, and there was still some real grounding for it. In politics, their ranks comprised the president, the vice president, the treasury secretary, the secretary of the Interior, both the Senate majority and minority leaders, and at least a good dozen senators. Three out of nine Supreme Court justices were WASPs, as were three out of five CEOs of the largest publicly traded companies. Since then, the influence of WASPs in American life has — largely unremarked by the general public — cratered.” (03/13/25)
