Source: Reason
“How America’s old-age entitlement system became a sprawling lifestyle-subsidy program that steals from the poor to give to the rich.” (03/30/26)
https://reason.com/video/2026/03/30/you-are-paying-for-retirees-lavish-lifestyles/
Source: Independent Institute
by Kristian Fors
“Milton Friedman once famously stated that ‘inflation always and everywhere is a monetary phenomenon.’ Inflation results from an increase in the money supply and a decline in the real value of fiat currency relative to goods and services. Prices can increase for a variety of reasons unrelated to the money supply, but that is not inflation. While the Iran conflict is certainly going to cause government policy-fueled price increases, there is a technical difference between that and inflation. Military actions do not directly cause inflation; however, they can be enabled by inflation, given the government’s capacity to print money and expand the budget.” (03/30/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/03/30/not-everthing-is-inflation/
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Iran attacked and set ablaze a fully loaded crude oil tanker anchored at Dubai port, with the strike damaging the vessel’s hull, in the latest strike on merchant vessels in the Gulf and strait of Hormuz amid the US and Israel war on Iran. Dubai authorities said the drone attack on the Al Salmi tanker caused a fire on board that was extinguished early on Tuesday, hours after the attack was first reported. They later confirmed there was no oil leak.” (03/31/26)
Source: The Heartland Institute
by Dalia Marciukaityte
“These days, most people assume that a central bank — in the United States that is the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) — is something that a country has to have. However, the declining purchasing power of our paper money makes more people realize that there is something very wrong with our monetary system, which is controlled by the Fed. Moreover, before the Fed was created in 1914, the United States prospered without experiencing prolonged recessions and depressions. Turns out that a central bank is not something that a country needs, but it is something that financially irresponsible governments and corrupt businesses desire.” (03/30/26)
https://heartland.org/opinion/why-do-we-have-the-federal-reserve-bank/
Source: Reason
“You’re Wrong About Social Media Being Addictive.” (03/30/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/03/30/youre-wrong-about-social-media-being-addictive/
Source: Benzinga
“Manhattan’s top fraud prosecutors met with Polymarket to discuss whether lucrative bets on the prediction market platform have violated insider trading and other federal laws. The meeting follows a warning from Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District and former SEC chairman, who told a securities law conference that criminal cases involving prediction market activity were coming. … One newly created Polymarket account turned $32,000 into over $400,000 in less than 24 hours after the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. In another instance, a trader netted nearly $1 million from making remarkably accurate Iran war bets on the platform. Polymarket and Kalshi are scrambling to get ahead of the scrutiny. Polymarket issued new rules last week banning trades based on confidential information. Kalshi, which has long banned insider trading, went further by blocking politicians and athletes from trading in their own markets and said it has referred over a dozen cases to law enforcement in the past year.” (03/30/26)
Source: Liberalism.org
by Radley Balko
“In 2017, six counties in North Carolina changed how they paid their public defenders. Previously, the counties paid private attorneys an hourly rate to represent indigent people charged with crimes. Under the new system, indigent defense would be handled with flat-fee contracts — an attorney would agree to represent a given percentage of a county’s indigent cases in exchange for a set amount of money. Five years later, a study documented the results: People represented under the flat-fee system were more likely to be convicted, far more likely to be incarcerated, and more likely to plead guilty without a trial. Flat-fee lawyers spent less time on each case and were significantly more likely to dispose of a case on the same day they met their clients. … Those outcomes were entirely predictable.” (03/30/26)
https://www.liberalism.org/p/in-criminal-justice-we-get-what-we-pay-for
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“This coming Fourth of July, when Americans will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, there will be an amusing aspect of the celebrations — the fact that Americans today hate everything our American ancestors stood for. But at least the feelings have been mutual; our American ancestors hated everything that today’s Americans stand for. No, I’m not referring to the issue of slavery. I’m referring to the issue of serfdom. Our American ancestors would never have countenanced a society in which the American people are serfs. Today’s Americans, on the other hand, wouldn’t have it any other way; they love their lives of serfdom.” (03/30/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/03/30/hating-our-american-legacy-on-the-fourth-of-july/
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“Israel’s Parliament on Monday passed a law approving the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis. The bill’s passage marked the culmination of a years-long push by Israel’s far-right to escalate punishment for Palestinians convicted of nationalistic offenses against Israelis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the chamber to vote yes in person. The law makes the death penalty — by hanging — the default punishment for West Bank Palestinians convicted for nationalistic killings. The law also gives Israeli courts the authority to impose either the death penalty or life imprisonment on its own citizens. It is not retroactive and will apply only to future cases. The measure has been harshly condemned by Israeli and Palestinian rights groups, who say it is racist, draconian and unlikely to deter attacks by Palestinian attackers.” (03/30/26)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/israel-death-penalty-law-palestinian-9.7147421
Source: The UnPopulist
by Andy Craig
“Both the law and the Constitution expressely ban such diversions because they nullify Congress and turn the president into a king.” (03/30/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trumps-executive-order-diverting