Finding Freedom, 03/09/26
Source: Lions of Liberty
“The Male Loneliness Trap: How to Escape.” (03/09/26)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/ff-the-male-loneliness-trap-how-to-escape
Author: Thomas L. Knapp
If MAGA’s the Name, Then Chaos is the Game
Source: CounterPunch
by George Ochenski
“First Trump claimed an attack by Iran was ‘imminent’ — which has been proved false even by his own intelligence agencies. Then it was necessary to ‘take out’ Iran’s nuclear capability, which even those with short memories will recall he claimed to have ‘obliterated’ in last year’s Israel-U.S. attack on Iran. Then it was for regime change to get rid of what he dubbed “the lunatic” 87-year old ruler. But then it was we had to attack because Israel was going to attack first — and being the stalwart ally in Israel’s Gaza genocide, our Middle East assets would also be attacked. MAGA politicians can’t even agree if it’s a war.” (03/09/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/03/09/if-magas-the-name-then-chaos-is-the-game/
Inexcusable Incompetence
Source: The Contrarian
by Jennifer Rubin
“‘Everyone saw this coming except the President.’ An ‘unmitigated disaster of epic proportions.’ Were these the words from Democrats decrying Donald Trump for failing to plan to evacuate hundreds of thousands of civilians under a blizzard of retaliatory fire raining down on the Gulf States? No, those were Republicans excoriating former President Joe Biden for the botched 2021 exit from Afghanistan. Back then, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) thundered, ‘It’s a very dire situation when you see the United States Embassy being evacuated.’ Fast forward to last week. The Trump regime closed down three of our embassies (Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Kuwait), abandoning U.S. citizens in those countries. Trump’s minions failed to consider advanced planning to evacuate Americans from the region, leaving them to fend for themselves in places where missiles are flying and buildings are ablaze.” (03/09/26)
The Daily, 03/09/26
Source: New York Times
“Anthropic vs. the Pentagon: Inside the Battle Over A.I. Warfare.” (03/09/26)
Call You This Liberty?
Source: Liberal Currents
by Guillaume AW Attia
“When the Middle East journalist Omid Memariam was arrested by the Iranian government, his interrogators intentionally chose not to wear masks in order to convey both the legitimacy of the government and the propriety of the interrogation. ‘Once a mask is involved,’ Memariam explains, ‘people understand it as a sign of weakness, that the government has something to hide.’ With the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, it is hard to see how the government can convince large portions of the American public that they do not have something to hide. This raises a core issue at the heart of the mask discussion: the erosion of certain basic and long-standing moral and legal norms in America.” (03/09/26)
Travelers encounter long waits at some airports as DHS shutdown affects groper checkpoints
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“Travelers complained of long waits Sunday — lasting hours in some cases — at security checkpoints at airports in Houston and New Orleans, which officials blamed on a government shutdown of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.” [editor’s note: There’s an easy fix for that — “standing in a line to get groped has been suspended until further notice, just go to your gate and board your flight” – TLK] (03/09/26)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/03/09/dhs-shutdown-airport-security/
The Evil Within, part 4
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Foreign Interventionism.” (03/09/26)
David Halberstam’s Warning Is More Urgent Than Ever
Source: Foreign Policy
by Julian E Zelizer
“Any time a U.S. president deploys U.S. forces overseas, it is worth revisiting one of the most influential books about the U.S. war in Vietnam: The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam. The book serves as an enduring reminder of the mistakes presidents and their advisors have made when sending the U.S. military into harm’s way, always with the promise of acting in the nation’s best interests.”
Reflections on Four Decades of Teaching ECON 101
Source: The Daily Economy
by Donald J Boudreaux
“My ECON 101 course is taught as if it’s the only economic course my students will ever take. Unlike many professors, I do not teach Principles of Microeconomics to prepare my students for Intermediate Microeconomics, which is the next course up in the curriculum. Some such preparation occurs, I’m pleased to report, but that’s all incidental. My chief goal is to inject my students with the rudiments of the economic way of thinking in order to inoculate them against the most virulent fallacies that are likely to try to infect their minds as they go through life.” (03/09/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/reflections-on-four-decades-of-teaching-econ-101/
Continuing Kentucky Tax Reform Efforts
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Sai C Martha & Rea S Hederman Jr.
“Kentucky has established itself as a national leader in pro-growth tax reform after landmark legislation in 2018 replaced a complex graduated income tax with a flat rate and broadened the sales tax base. These structural improvements have propelled the Commonwealth’s business tax climate ranking from 37th to 18th and built a historic Budget Reserve Trust Fund. To sustain this competitive momentum and address unprecedented workforce mobility, The Buckeye Institute used its dynamic scoring model—STELA—to model the economic effects of the next two phases of tax reform: a scheduled reduction to a 3.5 percent individual income tax rate in 2026, and a hypothetical reduction to three percent in 2027.” (03/09/26)
https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/continuing-ky-tax-reform-efforts/