Trump, Free Speech Hypocrisy, and the Streisand Effect

Source: Coyote Blog
by Warren Meyer

“I held out some small hope that while it was depressing to consider that Trump was likely to further trash the notion of free trade (and he has certainly delivered on this bad promise), Republicans — after years in the wilderness rightly complaining about government censorship and growing opposition on the Left to free speech — might, just might, do something to make things a bit better. I thought JD Vance calling out Europe on its deteriorating free speech environment in his Munich speech was great. But its easy to call out other countries on this topic, much harder to remain disciplined in one’s own country. It takes a lot of backbone to respect speech from people you really dislike and disagree with. And apparently this administration lacks such a backbone …” (03/12/25)

https://coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2025/03/trump-free-speech-hypocrisy-and-the-streisand-effect.html

Taking Rights Seriously

Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Andrew Napolitano

“The world is filled with self-evident truths — truisms — that philosophers, lawyers and judges know need not be proven. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Two plus two equals four. A cup of boiling hot coffee sitting on a table in a room, the temperature of which is 70 degrees Fahrenheit, will eventually cool down. These examples, of which there are legion, are not true because we believe they are true. They are true essentially and substantially. They are true whether we accept their truthfulness or not. Of course, recognizing a universal truth acknowledges the existence of an order of things higher than human laws, certainly higher than government.” (03/12/25)

https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2025/03/12/taking-rights-seriously-3/

Russian Attack on Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Region Injures Three, Local Officials Say

Source: US News & World Report

“An overnight Russian attack on Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region injured three people and targeted energy facilities of the state railways, according to local officials. The attack on Dnipro, which injured three women who were hospitalized, also blew out over 100 windows in the city’s apartment buildings, governor Serhiy Lysak wrote on Telegram. The Ukrainian military said on Thursday that Russia launched one ballistic missile and 117 drones to attack Ukraine overnight.” (03/13/25)

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-03-13/russian-attack-on-ukraines-dnipropetrovsk-region-injures-three-local-officials-say

The WASPs Are Gone

Source: Yascha Mounk
by Yascha Mounk

“When I first arrived in the United States, less than two decades ago, the assumption that WASPs were the true rulers of America remained widespread, and there was still some real grounding for it. In politics, their ranks comprised the president, the vice president, the treasury secretary, the secretary of the Interior, both the Senate majority and minority leaders, and at least a good dozen senators. Three out of nine Supreme Court justices were WASPs, as were three out of five CEOs of the largest publicly traded companies. Since then, the influence of WASPs in American life has — largely unremarked by the general public — cratered.” (03/13/25)

https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/the-wasps-are-gone?

Alibaba launches new version of AI assistant tool as competition heats up

Source: CNBC

“Alibaba Group on Thursday launched a new version of its artificial intelligence assistant app that will be powered by its own flagship Qwen AI reasoning model, amid a heating global race to produce next-generation tech. The launch is the company’s latest effort to gain an edge amid growing competition on the AI application front, further intensified by the emergence of DeepSeek’s blockbuster R1 model model earlier this year. Up till now, Quark, which was launched in 2016, had been using the app’s own AI models, known as QuarkLLM. The updated version will integrate functions including a chatbot, deep thinking, task execution into a one-stop app, Alibaba said Thursday.” (03/13/25)

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/13/alibaba-launches-new-version-of-ai-assistant-tool-as-competition-heats-up.html