Politics Politics Politics, 01/28/25
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Will Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. Survive Their Hearings? (with Jen Briney).” (01/28/25)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/will-tulsi-gabbard-and-rfk-jr-survive
Author: Thomas L. Knapp
Massive Ukrainian drone attack targets Russian power, oil facilities
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“A nuclear power plant was among the targets of a massive Ukrainian drone attack against Russian oil and power facilities, Russian officials and media outlets reported on Wednesday. Air defence systems destroyed a drone attempting to strike a nuclear power facility in the western region of Smolensk bordering Belarus, Governor Vasily Anokhin said on the Telegram messaging app. … Russia’s defence ministry said on Telegram that 104 drones were involved in raids across western Russia, 11 of which were destroyed over the Smolensk region.” (01/29/25)
Economic Warfare is Still Warfare
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“Economic warfare is preferable to kinetic warfare, but economic warfare is still warfare. President Trump, full of characteristic bluster and bombast, is threatening war on multiple fronts. Tariff threats seem to be the only weapon in the arsenal. But when you couple such with all of Biden’s sanctions and seizures, adding trade wars threatens to push America into autarky. ‘The thing about trade wars,’ writes economist Donald Boudreaux, ‘is that they’re wars where governments inflict damage on their own citizens in the hope of persuading the other government to stop inflicting damage on its citizens.’ A bizarre war, indeed.” (01/28/25)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/economic-warfare-is-still-warfare
Trump Watch, 01/28/25
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“President Trump’s Militarization of the Border.” (01/28/25)
Federal judge temporarily halts Trump funding freeze
Source: Axios
“A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily halted President Trump’s effort to temporarily pause federal grant, loan and financial assistance programs. U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan blocked Trump’s order minutes before it was to take effect, with an administrative stay that expires Monday. AliKhan in her order wrote she was issuing a preliminary injunction in order to ‘preserve the status quo while the court considers the merits of the case.’ … The Office of Management and Budget sent a memo to federal agencies Monday night directing them to ‘temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance.’ The memo created confusion among federal agencies and state governments, and some states reportedly lost access to a portal used to manage Medicaid spending.” (01/28/25)
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/28/trumps-funding-freezing-temporarily-halted-by-federal-judge
Trump’s “Return to Office” Order: The Opposite of DOGE?
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“I’m a fan of terminating government employment, whether through resignations or firings. So long as those employees aren’t replaced, it’s a win for America. Not on ‘efficiency’ grounds, though. I don’t want the government doing what it does more ‘efficiently,’ I just want it doing less of what it does. I’m also a fan of remote work in the private sector. If the work actually gets done, it saves employers money, saves employees time, and saves everyone unnecessary inconvenience. In the government sector, well, see above — I prefer government employment inconvenient, unpleasant, and expensive so that fewer people are willing to accept it. But from a ‘government efficiency’ standpoint, the ‘return to office’ mandate is a disaster in conception and will likely prove a disaster in execution. Let us count the ways.” (01/28/25)
India: Dozens feared dead in crowd crushes at Kumbh Mela religious festival
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Dozens of people are feared to have died in crowd crushes at India’s Kumbh Mela festival, local officials at the scene have said, as vast crowds of people went to bathe at one of the holiest sites of the Hindu gathering. People were crushed in the early hours of Wednesday as tens of millions of people flocked to immerse themselves in the sacred confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, on one of the most auspicious days of the Hindu festival. … More than 400 million people, the biggest crowd in its history, are expected to attend this year’s Kumbh Mela festivities, held over 45 days in Prayagraj in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.” (01/29/25)
Will There Be a Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“One of the earliest points to become apparent about Donald Trump’s second term as president is that there is a significant difference in foreign policy priorities and a vast change in style from his predecessors over the past 8 or 9 decades. Blather about the United States promoting or defending democracy around the world has already faded with the onset of the new administration. That change is just as well, since more often than not, such rhetoric merely served as a cover for U.S. power politics and an attempt to prolong Washington’s fading global hegemony. If one truly wants to understand Trump’s likely approach to both continental and world affairs, though, it would be more instructive to study the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt, James K. Polk, and Andrew Jackson than to focus on the post-Pearl Harbor, globalist presidents.” (01/28/25)
New Zealand: Regime requires Israelis to disclose IDF service details as condition for entry
Source: Times of Israel [Palestine]
“New Zealand’s government immigration authority has begun to require Israelis applying for a visa to report details of their military service as a condition for entry, and at least one person has been denied admission after doing so, The Times of Israel has learned. … At least one soldier who served in Gaza during the ongoing war against Hamas has been denied entry to New Zealand. He said that this was a direct result of his answers to the questionnaire, while noting that he said he had not been involved in war crimes in Gaza. Australia has been operating a similar policy, and at least two Israelis have been denied entry as a result.” (01/28/25)
On Barbie and Impossible Expectations
Source: EconLog
by Kevin Corcoran
“Gloria, portrayed by the actress America Fererra, gives an impassioned speech to Barbie about how it’s ‘literally impossible to be a woman.’ What makes it impossible, she explains, is that women are held to a wide range of expectations that are irreconcilable, so no matter what they do it’s always wrong. In an article talking about how people responded to this speech, one viewer says she loved it because it revealed ‘how self-contradictory society’s expectations of women are,’ and this was a common reaction. But I want to suggest there is something misguided here.” (01/28/25)
https://www.econlib.org/on-barbie-and-impossible-expectations/