Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Source: The American Conservative
by Spencer Neale

“[T]hough there is merit to the claim that Obama was ‘highly overrated,’ Trump appears to be vastly overrated himself by the sycophants leading his administration. He has bungled this war and made a mess of our standing among allies near and far. He has constantly shifted the goalposts on the objectives of the war and the timeline for a potential ceasefire deal. And now the latest reports trickling out of the ‘new’ Iranian regime — which by all measurable standards is more radical and hardline than the one he bombed to oblivion — suggest that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has yet to agree to negotiations. In truth, Trump’s war in Iran has led America down an extremely narrow path, without the sort of easy off-ramps that would provide relief for the tens of millions of families seeking the bare bones of an American dream once promised.” (04/01/26)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trumps-war-makes-obama-look-presidential/

Source: Racket News

“‘You’re only going to create a real problem for an FBI employee if you call ‘em direct this way.’ Senior FBI official Thomas Gregory Motta was upset that I dared to call him to talk about the bureau’s hidden experiments on humans. He joined the bureau in 1998 and was promoted to the FBI’s senior ranks nearly 20 years ago. During his tenure, the bureau has grown proficient at snooping on journalists — as documented in a secret government report published by Racket — without having to face their questions.” (04/01/26)

https://www.racket.news/p/exclusive-exposing-the-fbis-human

Source: Sex and the State
by Cathy Reisenwitz

“For my BlueDot AGI Governance course, I’m reading AGI, Governments, and Free Societies by Justin B. Bullock, Samuel Hammond, and Séb Krier. I briefly lived with Sam Hammond many years ago. Great kisser. Mediocre housekeeper. I knew that kid was going places. Anyway, I stopped short at this line: ‘We already have AI models that can approximate and even surpass the decision making capabilities of humans in many domains.’ The authors aren’t saying that, necessarily. But they’re saying that people are saying it. Is that true? I don’t think so. I could be wrong. But I also don’t see much evidence for it.” (04/01/26)

https://cathyreisenwitz.substack.com/p/ai-decides-quickly-and-speed-is-underrated

Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker

“Ozempic sells for close to $300 for a month’s dosage in developing countries like China and India. It is expected to sell for around $15 for a month’s dosage when generics are introduced, and the price could eventually fall to around $3 when there is enough competition in the market. The price differentials in the United States and other wealthy countries are even larger. People without insurance can pay as much as $1,000 for a month’s dosage, although discounts are available that can cut this price in half. The drug still has several more years of patent protection in the United States …. With rare exceptions, drugs are cheap to manufacture and distribute; however, they can end up being expensive because governments give drug companies patent monopolies or other forms of protection.” (04/01/26)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/01/free-market-ozempic-will-make-a-huge-difference-to-tens-of-millions-of-people/

Source: EconLog
by Brianne Wolf

“While Adam Smith has often been thought of as only the father of economics, most scholars now agree that the projects undertaken in the two books published during his lifetime, Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) and Wealth of Nations (WN) are not separate endeavors of moral philosophy and political economy, respectively, but two ways of approaching one, unified project about realizing human flourishing. Though it is recognized that Smith’s moral philosophy informs, supplements, and supports his economic project, what has not been explored as much is that Smith’s political economy also has moral implications.” (04/01/26)

https://www.econlib.org/library/columns/y2026/wolf-wn250-4