“Are young boys everywhere on the verge of being pulled down into the abyss of online gambling? If you’ve been reading the news lately, you might be tempted to think so. Young men are all addicted to sports betting, and now the industry’s incessant advertising is luring in kids, so say some media outlets. If something isn’t done to limit ads for gambling apps, some argue, kids will continue to be taken advantage of. … In reality, gambling ads pose very little threat to children.” (03/25/26)
“The Trump administration is again seeking to prosecute New York Attorney General Letitia James after a judge threw out its case against her and grand juries twice declined to indict her last year, according to reports. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte is accusing James of alleged homeowners insurance fraud, according too documents obtained by CNN, NBC News and MS News. … The Trump administration last fall sought to prosecute James for mortgage fraud after prosecutors alleged she falsely claimed a Norfolk property she bought in 2020 would be her primary residence in order to secure better mortgage terms — an indictment that was thrown out in November. Then two separate grand juries declined to indict her in December.” (03/26/26)
“Four years after the Twitter Files, the Missouri v. Biden case ends in a consent decree barring government from threatening protected speech – a belated but important victory.” (03/25/26)
“The city of Herculaneum in Jefferson County is showing how use taxes can be properly added into the municipal revenue mix. A use tax is simply a sales tax on goods you purchase online (or through catalogs) and have delivered to your home. Many cities and counties have added them in recent years as online shopping has grown. Voters often approve them, but sometimes they say ‘“no, thank you.’ Supporters of use taxes say they level the playing field between online purchases and actual stores from a cost perspective, along with raising revenue for local services. That is true, and I have generally been supportive of use tax expansion in recent years. Broadening the sales tax base is a good thing. However, I have also called for cities and counties to offset the increased revenues from use taxes with cuts to other taxes (at least partly).” (03/25/26)
“Nepal’s newly elected members of parliament were sworn in Thursday with nearly two-thirds of them from a political party that is less than four years old. The 275 members of the House of Representatives, the powerful lower chamber of parliament, will be in their positions for the next five years. The election — the country’s first since last year’s youth-led revolt — was won by the Rastriya Swatantra Party, or RSP, led by rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah. Shah is expected to be chosen as the leader by the elected members from his party later on Thursday and formally inform President Ram Chandra Poudel. The president will then appoint Shah as the prime minister of Nepal.” (03/26/26)
“ou recall how the Covid lockdowns began. It was a soft and slow drumbeat that began in late January 2020, with growing amounts of panic and a faster tempo, increasing for several weeks. The US President and the UK Prime Minister resisted extreme reactions. Most governments did and so did most public health authorities. … Six years later and nearly to the day, this new attempted lockdown seems to be going the same way, not concerning infectious disease but energy use. Isn’t it remarkable how the officially recommended methods of managing these completely different realms bear so much in common? They both come down to restricting your liberty, rationing your consumption, redirecting your attention, and shouting down critics.” (03/26/26)
