We Need “More Muckrakers and Fewer Buck-Takers”

Source: CounterPunch
by Mickey S Huff

“Fifty years ago, Carl Jensen founded Project Censored because he knew that journalism was the lifeblood of democracy. He argued that the news media, despite its increasingly corporate and commercial nature, can have a positive influence on the world, especially when it operates ethically and independently in the public interest. He encouraged journalism programs at colleges across the country to turn out ‘more muckrakers and fewer buck-takers.'” (04/13/26)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/13/we-need-more-muckrakers-and-fewer-buck-takers/

India: Police Attack Allegedly Violent Protesters With Chemical Weapons

Source: US News & World Report

“Police lobbed ⁠tear ⁠gas shells and used ‘minimum ⁠force’ on Monday to quell a factory workers’ protest ​in the Indian national capital’s suburb of Noida, which turned violent on its fourth ‌day, with vehicles torched and ‌stones pelted in parts of the satellite city. … Visuals ⁠from news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake, showed ⁠dozens of protesters marching on the street and chanting slogans, while security personnel in anti-riot gear looked on. Other visuals showed an overturned vehicle with flames rising out of it, and protesters hurling stones and trying to break through barricades.” (04/13/26)

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-04-13/police-fire-tear-gas-as-workers-protest-in-indias-noida-turns-violent

The Nations in Wealth of Nations

Source: EconLog
by Caleb Petitt

“Much of Adam Smith’s writing in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (WN) is concrete. He explores examples of contemporary and ancient economic, political, religious, and military situations to better understand the world he lived in. As a result, his commentary touched on the economic situations of many nations.” (04/13/26)

https://www.econlib.org/econlog/the-nations-in-wealth-of-nations

The Constitution Died in Korea

Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño

“The Constitution of the United States could not be clearer on the question of who possesses the authority to take the nation to war. Article I, Section 8 grants Congress alone the power ‘to declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.’ The Founders understood that the decision to send Americans to kill and die in foreign lands was too consequential to rest in the hands of a single individual. They had witnessed the European monarchs drag their subjects into endless conflicts for dynastic glory and they resolved that the American republic would be different. That resolution lasted until 1950. President Harry Truman’s decision to send American forces into Korea without a congressional declaration of war established the precedent that every subsequent president has exploited.” (04/13/26)

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-constitution-died-in-korea

Libertarians and Social Security

Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger

“Most Americans believe that Social Security is a retirement program, an income replacement program, a savings program, or an investment program. The truth, however, is that Social Security is just another welfare program like food stamps; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); Medicaid; section 8 housing vouchers; and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Social Security from the very beginning has always been an intergenerational income transfer program where the young who work are forced to support the elderly who don’t.” (04/13/26)

https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/libertarians-and-social-security/

America Needs a Regime Change

Source: Antiwar.com
by Meg Hansen

“The American people need the Iran war like a fish needs a bicycle. For our politicians and permanent bureaucrats, it’s a different story. The political class, adrift after the Soviet Union fell, needed a new animating mythos. Neoconservatives taught them to experience preemptive war against tinpot tyrants as a civilizational crusade. The Middle East – where America’s ‘greatest ally’ faced existential threats – offered the ideal stage for the clash between order and barbarism. Here was the role of a lifetime: to call the shots on a world-historical mission that cast unilateral hard power as virtue. No wonder they cling to it, even after every failed​ regime-change war.” (04/13/26)

https://original.antiwar.com/meg_hansen/2026/04/12/america-needs-a-regime-change

China: Regime says it will resume some ties with Taiwan after visit by opposition leader

Source: Fox News

“China said Sunday it would resume some ties it had suspended with Taiwan, such as direct flights and imports of Taiwanese aquaculture products, following a visit by the Beijing-friendly opposition leader of the self-ruled island. The Taiwan Work Office under China’s Communist Party issued a statement saying it would explore setting up a longstanding communication mechanism between the Communist Party and Taiwan’s Kuomintang Party. It said it will facilitate the import of Taiwan’s aquaculture products that it had previously banned. Cheng Li-wun, the head of the Kuomintang, and China’s President Xi Jinping held a high-profile meeting Friday during which they called for peace, without offering specifics. China [pretends the island is] part of its territory and hasn’t ruled out the use of force to annex it.” (04/13/26)

https://www.foxnews.com/world/china-says-resume-some-ties-taiwan-after-visit-opposition-leader