Source: Mindset Shifts
by Barry Brownstein
“Merton learned bitter lessons about those with loud, passionate voices professing solutions with no foundation other than their own ‘strange, stubborn prejudices.'” (03/26/25)
https://mindsetshifts.substack.com/p/why-thomas-merton-renounced-communism
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman
“The amount of damage the second Trump administration has already done on many fronts, from foreign policy to public health to America’s economic prospects, both for the months ahead and in the long run, is astonishing. And they’re just getting started. But whenever I talk with other people about one of these disasters, I find them arguing about how to think about what’s happening. Are we looking at mind-boggling incompetence on the part of what Dan Drezner, using the technical language of international relations theory, calls ‘the dumbest motherfuckers alive?’ Or are we looking at a sinister plot to destroy America as we know it? The answer is ‘yes.’ These people are both incompetent and evil.” (03/26/25)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/incompetent-or-evil-a-false-dichotomy
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“Social Security is in danger. As my colleague Bob Kuttner has written, the system has endured a series of body blows, including alleged security measures that force beneficiaries to go into Social Security field offices rather than problem solving over the phone, even as those offices are seeing cuts to an already threadbare workforce and prolonged waits for recipients. The Washington Post has documented the repeated website crashes, floods of unanswered calls, and long waits for service that represent ‘a destruction of the agency from the inside out,’ according to Sen. Angus King (I-ME). Such barriers to access deny benefits, plain and simple. Other recipients are seeing their benefits terminated improperly, as part of a fruitless hunt for largely nonexistent benefits fraud.” (03/26/25)
https://prospect.org/health/2025-03-26-trumps-fox-in-the-social-security-henhouse/
Source: The Daily Economy
by Michael Munger
“From the cereal aisle to TikTok, an abundance of choice can leave us feeling unsatisfied. Most social media lacks the disciplined hand of market costs — at least for now.” (03/25/25)
Source: Liberal Currents
by Nathan Goldwag
“The province of Québec, in our northern neighbor of Canada, has a motto: Je me souviens. ‘I remember.’ It’s a promise — and a threat — from a province that has always prided itself on its distinction, its unique cultural and historical heritage. Today, when our government is engaged in despicable and unjustifiable saber-rattling against our Canadian friends, it seems appropriate that we take it up as a motto of our own. At a time when the Trumpist corruption and degradation of our government, our values, and our society continues at a frightening pace, I believe it is imperative that we remember. It is essential, if we want to rebuild something worthwhile someday, that the Democratic Party, or forces associated with it, begin work now on an explicit, open, and public program of accountability and reconstruction.” (03/26/25)
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“‘Election fraud,’ said the president. ‘You’ve heard the term? This will end it, hopefully.’ The ‘This’ being an Executive Order dated March 25, 2025, entitled ‘Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections.’ Interestingly, the opening unfavorably compares the American ways of voting with foreign nations.” (03/26/25)
Source: Town Hall
by Stephen Moore
“President Donald Trump has promised to create millions of new high-paying jobs. One easy first step to doing that is to repeal Biden regulations on America’s 4 million business partnerships (sometimes known as S corporations) that are prolific job creators. The latest estimates find 10 million Americans employed by these business partnerships, with $800 billion paid in worker salaries and benefits. … The profits from these enterprises are passed through to the 28 million partners, who make tax payments based on their share of those earnings. These have been the tax rules governing partnerships for many decades. The Biden administration didn’t like the tax rules, so instead of asking Congress to change them, then-President Joe Biden’s Treasury Department worked through the back door to unilaterally modify the rules as part of its ‘fairness’ agenda.” (03/26/25)
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Ian Proud
“There is no plan in place to fund the Ukrainian budget after 2025. Even if the war ends by the summer of 2025, it will take some time to reduce military expenditures, leaving European nations on the hook. It’s not clear that European elites have fully understood the political costs, however much longer the war continues. With intensive, U.S.-brokered negotiations ongoing in Saudi Arabia involving separate Ukrainian and Russian delegations, hopes are rising that the Trump administration will finally be able to bring an end to the war. But even if the war ends tomorrow, it would be unwise to assume that Ukraine could reduce military spending close to prewar levels.” (03/26/25)
Source: The Dispatch
by Jonah Goldberg
“[T]here’s a reason why the Enemy Aliens Act has only been used — and abused — during declared wars. If you’re not troubled by the idea that a president — any president — can simply assert that we’re in a war — without much evidence — and start deporting or imprisoning people, possibly including American citizens, without due process, I question your dedication to the Constitution and even your patriotism. But that doesn’t automatically mean the judiciary is the right institution to stop him — or empower him. That’s Congress’[s] job. Congress doesn’t have to rely on the last surviving relic of a package of laws that were reviled by Jefferson and Madison and discredited. It could write new ones. It could clarify what the president can or can’t do. It could even declare war on Venezuela or Tren de Aragua — that would clear things up in a hurry.” (03/26/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/boasberg-impeachment-congress-judges/
Source: Antiwar.com
by Scott Horton
“President Donald Trump appears set to repeat one of the worst mistakes of his first administration: fighting an unwinnable war in Yemen. This time, it could be far worse as Trump has sent two aircraft carrier strike groups to the Red Sea, meaning Americans will be doing the fighting, not the Saudis. While the Yemeni people will bear most of the suffering from Trump’s escalation, the needless war will further bleed the American treasury and deplete our arms depots.” (03/26/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/scott/2025/03/25/escalating-an-unwinnable-war/