“Before President Trump even took office in January, his personal envoy delivered an unlikely win. Since last spring, President Biden’s diplomats had been unable to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a cease-fire. But Trump’s man, real estate billionaire Steve Witkoff, joined the Biden team’s effort weeks before the inauguration. Witkoff put immense pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reportedly saying that his relationship with the incoming American president depended on him accepting the deal. After a 96-hour marathon of talks in Qatar, Witkoff clinched a cease-fire and hostage exchange. In so doing, Trump appeared to make good on his robust outreach to Arab and Muslim voters, who had helped him carry swing states.” (03/31/25)
“The U.S. government is one of the only ones in the world that routinely threatens other states with illegal punitive military action. Americans have become so accustomed to hearing these threats from our leaders that many of us can forget how insane and outrageous this behavior is. If any other major power made threats like this against smaller countries, our government would be among the first to denounce them as aggressors. It can’t be stressed enough that any U.S. attack on Iran would be illegitimate and unjustified. As a matter of international law, even the threat to use force against another state is a breach of the U.N. Charter. Using force when it is not in self-defense is a flagrant violation of international law. No one honestly believes that the U.S. would be defending itself if it bombed Iran.” (03/31/25)
“President Donald Trump isn’t the first U.S. leader to contemplate annexing Canada, though he may be the first to take the idea seriously in a long time — if he is serious. The ’51st state’ comments and maps of a unified North America could be an elaborate joke with no obvious punchline. If it’s a joke, Canadians aren’t amused; they’re upset and making plans to defend their country against a hostile takeover. Standing in the way, though, is their country’s pathetic excuse for a military, and the severe restrictions, relative to the U.S., that Canada’s government imposes on private weapons needed to resist an invasion. If they’re to avoid becoming Americans, Canadians need to become a little more American.” (03/31/25)
“Given the perception among many Canadians that their country has become engulfed not in a mere trade dispute but rather a struggle to preserve their national sovereignty, Ottawa will likely be more willing than Washington to endure the pain that the ongoing tariff war will bring, even if Canada is more economically dependent on the United States than the U.S. is on its northern neighbor. … Given these circumstances, Trump would be wise to declare victory and move on.” (03/31/25)
Source: Law & Liberty
by Alex J Pollock & Edward J Pinto
“Once again, we have efforts to release Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency in which they have been confined for nearly 17 years — ever since the US Treasury did a 100 percent bailout of their creditors in 2008. … The US Treasury owns all the senior preferred stock of Fannie and Freddie; this stock has a combined liquidation preference of $341 billion as of December 31, 2024. This is more than twice their combined total book equity. In other words, not counting the government’s investment, Fannie and Freddie are deeply insolvent, and have been since 2008.” 903/31/25)
“Anyone who remembered Donald Trump’s first-term as president knew what to expect. So it’s no surprise to them that virtually every day brings a new outrage, another crisis and unabated turmoil. If you’re a federal employee or a private firm worker with a government contract, no matter how competent, you worry that come tomorrow you won’t have a job to support your family. If you’re on Social Security or Medicare you fret opening your emails. If you’re a farmer who invested money in a Department of Agriculture program, you may be out of luck. If you’re a parent with a child in special education or a dependent with a disability you worry about losing any government assistance. You might say that on Nov. 5, 2024, we asked for all this and now we must live with it.” (03/31/25)
“Bringing manufacturing back to the US is a complex challenge that requires a realistic assessment of economic, logistical, and structural factors. While political rhetoric often frames reshoring as a straightforward solution to job losses and trade imbalances, the reality is more nuanced. It’s one thing to incentivize existing manufacturing firms to relocate to the US; it’s another to rebuild entire supply chains and industrial ecosystems that have lain fallow. Simply imposing tariffs or offering subsidies won’t undo decades of economic shifts overnight. Instead, a sober approach requires acknowledging the trade-offs, understanding which industries can feasibly return, and recognizing that reshoring may not necessarily lead to the same kind of job growth that manufacturing once provided. This creates a difficult, perhaps insurmountable, trade-off.” (03/31/25)
“Appeasement was a bad idea in 1938, but it’s often a good idea. Ukraine would be wise to appease Russia. Ukraine’s supporters in the United States and Europe insist that any agreement ending Kyiv’s war with Russia must not involve Ukrainian territorial concessions, or Russia will profit from an inexcusable act of aggression against its neighbor. However, demanding a return to pre-conflict borders ignores current military realities. Russian forces occupy approximately 20 percent of Ukraine’s prewar territory, and there are no signs that Kyiv’s position is likely to improve. Indeed, Ukraine’s latest offensive into Russian-held territory near Kursk has been a spectacular failure. The long-term prospects for Ukraine in a war of attrition are not encouraging either.” (03/31/25)
