“If I asked you to name the most unpopular Supreme Court justice, you might choose the venal Clarence Thomas or the perpetually enraged Samuel Alito. In either event, you’d be wrong. Americans’ least popular member of the high tribunal is Brett ‘I like beer’ Kavanaugh. Poll after poll has shown Kavanaugh taking the honor since his nomination in 2018. Kavanaugh also holds the honor of being President Donald Trump’s favorite justice, an accolade he earned with his dissenting opinion from the court’s February invalidation of Trump’s worldwide ‘reciprocal tariffs.’ Kavanaugh is now poised to deliberate on pending voting rights cases and a ruling on birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. It’s frightening but indisputable: The future of American law may rest in his ideological, incompetent hands.” (04/08/26)
Source: The American Prospect
by Whitney Curry Wimbish
“Late last year, the godfather of supply-side economics dropped in on a Georgia state Senate special committee hearing. He spoke of the urgent need to dump their income tax, a ‘killer, killer, killer,’ akin to ‘a nuclear weapon,’ that has destroyed the 11 states that have instituted it as of 1960: Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia. ‘Each and every one of those states in population has had a cataclysmic decline relative to the rest of the nation. It’s just amazing,’ said Arthur Laffer, inventor of the ‘Laffer curve,’ the discredited [sic] theory [sic] that claims lowering taxes raises tax revenue.” [editor’s note: The Laffer Curve is neither “discredited” nor a “theory.” It’s an observation of fact — the fact that there’s a point when increased tax rates decrease, and decreased tax rates increase, tax revenues – TLK] (04/08/26)
“The World Health Organization has suspended medical evacuations from Gaza to Egypt via the Rafah crossing after a contractor was killed by Israeli troops on Monday. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the contractor (named locally as Majdi Aslan, 54) was killed in a ‘security incident’ and that two staff were present but not injured. He gave no further details. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said the contractor was driving a WHO-rented vehicle in southern Gaza when it was targeted by Israeli forces. Israel’s military said its troops ‘identified an unmarked vehicle approaching them and the Yellow Line, posing an immediate threat,’ referring to the line marking Israeli-held territory. ‘In response, the troops fired warning shots. The vehicle continued to accelerate toward the troops, who then responded with additional fire that hit the vehicle,’ it added. ‘The incident is under review.'” (04/07/26)
“‘No Kings’ and other protests are sweeping America this year. On May 1, communists and other leftists are planning to try and shut the country down with ‘general strikes.’ ‘Recent reporting indicates that these protests are neither spontaneous nor decentralized,’ wrote Sen. Josh Hawley to then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in February, seeking an investigation into ‘radical left-wing organizations and individuals funding anti-ICE protests—including those with possible ties to the Chinese Communist Party.’ At the center of Chinese funding is Neville Roy Singham, an American tech billionaire living in Shanghai, who is implementing Xi Jinping’s euphemistically stated goal of ‘telling China’s story well.’ Singham, an avowed communist, operates an ‘international Revolutionary Front’ of about 2,000 groups.” (04/07/26)
“A couple of wars ago, when I gave readings from my book War Is Not a Game, I sometimes tried to liven things up by asking the audience to guess which of the names I mentioned were for video games and which were for actual U.S. military campaigns. It didn’t work when there were veterans in the audience — they were too familiar with both — but it did vividly point up the kinship of war and entertainment in our world. Now, welcome to Operation Epic Fury, the perfect name for an adolescent-id-on-steroids-style war. That name was, of course, chosen by Donald (‘How do you like the performance?’) Trump for his campaign against Iran, while his White House social-media team created actual mash-ups of games and reality to match.” (04/07/26)
Source: New York Post
by Drew Pinsky & Mary LG Theroux
“San Francisco is making real progress in the fight against homelessness; Los Angeles is not. And the difference is how each city treats addiction among the homeless population. Addicts are a crucial subset of that population. It is a brain disease, and brain diseases, as they progress, result in the loss of the ability to manage the necessities of daily life. We are not referring to those who may experience transient homelessness, who can make use of various resources that are available for housing. We are concerned with those for whom their brain conditions have progressed to the point that they lie down on the sidewalk, and stay there.” (04/06/26)
“Iran has allowed two French former detainees, Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, to leave the country, French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday. They had been holed up in French diplomatic premises there since their release from prison in November. ‘Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris are free and on route toward French territory, after three and a half years of detention in Iran,’ Macron posted on X. The green light for them to leave Iran, long sought by France, signaled how Iran is differentiating between nations, treating some favorably and others as foes, in the context of the Iran war. Macron has distanced France from the conflict, saying his country wasn’t consulted in advance about the U.S-Israel strikes and didn’t want the war. He thanked Oman for playing a mediation role in the release of Kohler and Paris.” (04/07/26)
“Within a span of three weeks, the world’s main monotheistic religions have marked significant annual observances – Ramadan for Muslims, Easter for Christians, and Passover for Jews. Specific worship practices during these periods of prayer and reflection differ. But they all touch on common themes of forgiveness as well as redemption or liberation – both from severe external dangers and harsh inner sentiments. ‘Forgiveness … forms an important part of what it means to be a Christian (and to be a follower of many other major religions, too),’ Financial Times columnist Jemima Kelly wrote recently. In addition to benefiting individuals, she noted, ‘It can allow nations to heal after decades of conflict [and] bridge the kind of deep divides … we now see in our societies.’ Celebrating Eid, at the end of Ramadan, ‘is all about forgiving people,’ according to Sadaf Farooqi, a writer and Islamic educator based in Karachi, Pakistan.” (04/06/26)
“Everyone remembers the photo of little Liam Ramos, the 5-year-old migrant child pictured in ICE custody wearing a sky blue bunny hat. ICE said that they tried to detain Liam’s father, an illegal [sic] migrant from Ecuador, who ran from them, leaving Liam in their custody. They then tried to give Liam to his mother, but she refused to open the front door, leaving ICE no choice but to detain Liam. Liam and his father were later taken to an ICE detention center, but a judge ordered them released after a few weeks on the grounds that they had a pending asylum case. … Just a month later, the truth that I and many others had suspected came out: The Ramos asylum case is bogus. … You probably didn’t hear about that. The media doesn’t tend to report such things.” (04/07/26)
“Ukrainian forces are operating in western Libya under a covert deal endorsed by the West, and they used the Northern African country’s territory to strike a Russian tanker in the Mediterranean last month, two Libyan officials said Tuesday. The Russian-flagged Arctic Metagaz, carrying 61,000 tons of liquefied natural gas, was badly damaged in a suspected sea drone attack near Maltese waters early in March. It has since drifted off Libya. All 30 crew members were rescued and put on another vessel heading to the Libyan city of Benghazi, the Libyan Maritime Authority said. The tanker is part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet transporting oil in violation of international sanctions over Moscow’s more than 4-year-old invasion of Ukraine. A recent temporary U.S. waiver on those sanctions is aimed at easing supply shortages amid the Iran war.” (04/07/26)
