“Almost 750 U.S. troops have been wounded or killed in the Middle East since October 2023, an analysis by The Intercept has found. But the Pentagon won’t acknowledge it. U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, appears to be engaged in what a defense official called a ‘casualty cover-up,’ offering The Intercept low-ball and outdated figures and failing to provide clarifications on military deaths and injuries.” (04/01/26)
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“Capitalist countries such as Japan were much more productive than China. To learn why, special economic zones were created, areas within which Hong Kong businessmen and other foreign investors would be permitted to start businesses. The plan was to use such zones to experiment with capitalist principles that might be useful to a socialist economy …. They were intended as a way of quarantining dangerous ideas to prevent them from infecting the greater society while at the same time extracting whatever in them was of value. Over the next thirty years the first, Shenzhen, expanded from a village of 30,000 inhabitants to a city of fourteen million, pulling in ambitious Chinese from all over the country. In 1984, the authorities responded to the success of the first four zones by authorizing fourteen more. Still more followed. The exception ate the rule.” (04/01/26)
“NASA’s crew of astronauts launched to space and reached a stable orbit, kicking off a landmark journey that will take them closer to the lunar surface than anyone has been in more than 50 years. … The crew’s Lockheed Martin Corp.-built Orion capsule, stacked on the shoulders of Boeing Co.’s Space Launch System rocket, thundered off the launchpad at 6:35 p.m. local time at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. … The crew will spend roughly four days traveling to the lunar vicinity, where they will swing behind the moon’s far side — a vantage that is never seen from Earth. They are slated to perform a flyby of the lunar surface on April 6.” (04/02/26)
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Caleb O Brown & Patrick Jaicomo
“The federal government’s dramatic expansion of immigration-focused cooperative policing agreements with state and local authorities (about 1,500 agreements across 40 states) comes against the backdrop of the historic unpopularity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Worse, recent reporting indicates that American citizens are increasingly facing federal assault charges in cities with large immigration crackdowns despite video evidence that regularly contradicts the claims of federal agents. It’s time for states to step back and reconsider their cooperation with the feds in this arena and all others when it comes to policing. The state-federal collaboration campaign undermines some of federalism’s most basic aspects and reduces state control over state police officers.” (04/01/26)
“President Trump declared Wednesday night that other countries should ‘take the lead’ on the Strait of Hormuz in yet another signal that the US may aim to depart Iran with that economically vital issue unresolved. The latest message on the crucial waterway came during Trump’s address to the nation from the White House that was billed as ‘an important update on Iran.’ … Trump didn’t offer more details about a possible ceasefire in Wednesday night’s address. He said the bombing attacks could increase in the coming weeks as the US reserves the right to ‘bring them back to the stone age.’ … Trump again on Wednesday night seemed to be promising to end the war but is also keeping escalation on the table with US ground forces now in the region.” (04/02/26)
“I don’t like things that are bothersome, unnecessary, and intrusive. It’s even worse when those same things are harmful and are forced into our lives. Like government. It’s said a man needs a government like a fish needs a bicycle. I think it’s worse than that. The situation is more akin to telling the fish he can’t survive without the bicycle, forcing him to buy one, tacking him to its seat to force him to ride it, and then demanding he thank you for the bike you’ve provided.” (04/01/26)
“Russia’s Ministry of Defence says its forces have taken full control of the Luhansk region [which seceded in 2014 from Ukraine], suggesting they have wrested control of an area that had remained beyond their grasp since the beginning of their 2022 invasion. ‘Units of the ‘West’ military grouping have completed the liberation of the Luhansk People’s Republic,’ the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, using Moscow’s preferred name for the [former] Ukrainian region. There was no immediate confirmation of the development from Ukraine.” (04/01/26)
“A person of genuine self-esteem doesn’t boast about their successes at the expense of others’ losses. Truly confident people who achieve their goals don’t feel the need to diminish others for their alleged failures or the need to corral an audience to ‘listen’ to tall tales of their achievements. … But this way of thinking is anathema to Trump, who has always embraced a binary, dualistic view of the world, where there are winners and losers, where the ‘art of the deal’ takes place in the context of a zero-sum game, whether in trade or in war. In a cutthroat struggle to the top, rules need not be obeyed. The only rule is to win at all costs.” (04/01/26)
“In a highly consequential case testing the limits of executive power, the Supreme Court on Wednesday (April 1) appeared skeptical of President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship. The arguments were underscored by Trump’s rare personal appearance in the courtroom, marking the first time a sitting President has attended oral arguments at the nation’s highest court. Trump remained for just over an hour, listening as Solicitor General D. John Sauer defended the administration’s position before departing shortly after opposing counsel began presenting. Both conservative and liberal justices pressed the administration on the constitutional and logistical basis of the policy. The executive order seeks to deny citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are either in the country unlawfully or temporarily.” (04/01/26)
