Underthrow Podcast, 04/02/26
Source: Underthrow
“The Freedom Lover’s Dilemma.” (04/02/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/the-freedom-lovers-dilemma
Author: Thomas L. Knapp
The FBI’s FOIA Blacklist
Source: Antiwar.com
by Patrick Eddington
“The Freedom of Information Act was designed to empower citizens to hold their government accountable. But evidence suggests the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has quietly adopted a practice that turns that principle on its head: labeling some of the people who file Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests as ‘vexsome.’ In effect, the agency has created a FOIA-specific blacklist. Yet when asked, it denies having done so.” (04/02/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/patrick_eddington/2026/04/01/the-fbis-foia-blacklist
US jobless aid filings fall to 202,000 as layoffs remain low despite uncertainty of Iran war
Source: WTOP News
“U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell last week as layoffs remain sparse despite a softening labor market and rising energy costs due to the Iran war. The number of Americans applying for jobless aid for the week ending March 28 fell by 9,000 to 202,000 from the previous week’s 211,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 212,000 new filings analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting and within the range of the past several years. Filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.” (04/02/26)
The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 04/02/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Spirals Into Rage as Brutal Poll Hits and Legal Losses Pile Up.” (04/02/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/208520/trump-spirals-rage-brutal-poll-hits-legal-losses-pile
Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 04/02/26
Source: Freedom’s Phoenix
“Ray Youssef (cryptocurrency pioneer) on his arrest at Monerotopia and why the gov’t is coming after him; Ray was dramatically arrested at Monerotopia and he will discuss the U.S. government’s case against him following his work building the peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace Paxful.” (04/02/26)
The Pentagon’s “Orwellian” Case Against Anthropic
Source: Washington Monthly
by Matt Watkins
“A federal judge sided with the artificial intelligence company’s argument that the government violated its right to free speech, but the dispute is far from over.” (04/02/26)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/04/02/the-pentagons-orwellian-case-against-anthropic/
Liberty Beyond “Rational Control”
Source: Law & Liberty
by Daniel J Mahoney
“[Harvey] Mansfield is a political scientist as much as a political philosopher, an Aristotelian who never disparages moral virtue, political nobility, or patriotic attachment to a decent and free political order such as the United States. As one, he has repeatedly instructed fellow political scientists to care more about politics as the distinctively human realm than about narrow ‘methodological’ concerns that risk obscuring the reality and true stakes of human and political life. Mansfield has never been remotely tempted to identify the theoretical life with Epicurean disdain for the dignity and grandeur of the political vocation. At the same time, he is perfectly immune to the moralism that animates so many academics and intellectuals today.” (04/02/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/liberty-beyond-rational-control/
Why Presidents Don’t Care About Inflation as Much as You Do
Source: The Dispatch
by Jessica Riedl
“For the past four years, inflation has consistently polled as voters’ top economic concern—and often top concern overall. Nevertheless, President Joe Biden steadfastly ignored those concerns and pursued an inflationary agenda until it cost his party the White House. Then, after Trump campaigned on ending ‘Bidenflation,’ he re-entered the White House and immediately unleashed his own aggressively inflationary agenda — tariffs, tax cuts, spending expansions, immigration deportations, and demands for Federal Reserve rate cuts. … presidents invariably decide to focus on offering tangible benefits and roll the dice on any macroeconomic consequences.” (04/02/26)
The Headlines, 04/02/26
Source: New York Times
“Trump Says Strait of Hormuz Is Not America’s Problem, and How Musk May Get Richer.” (04/02/26)
Burnt Toast, Stoics, and Finding Growth in Small Frustrations
Source: The Daily Economy
by Barry Brownstein
“A viral mental habit about burnt toast echoes Stoic philosophy: adversity — no matter how small — is an opportunity to practice discipline, perspective, and self-mastery.” (04/02/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/burnt-toast-stoics-and-finding-growth-in-small-frustrations/