“Trade deficits are an accounting fiction. We all run trade deficits with our local grocery store—to each of our great advantage. Republicans are obsessed with halting immigration, yet what better way to reduce the pressure for job seekers to immigrate to the United States than encouraging the construction of job-producing factories in Mexico and elsewhere and then just simply trading with them? Free trade boosts consumer choice and economic growth. It reduces prices and makes for freer lives. Unfortunately, the president is doubling down rather than learning the right lesson.” (09/18/26)
“The freedom of speech and of the press is not a gift bestowed by a president, Congress or a federal agency. It is a natural right of all persons. The First Amendment does not create that right; it prohibits the government from infringing upon it. The ability to think, speak, write, criticize, ridicule, persuade, offend, dissent and challenge those in government is among the most fundamental preconditions of the exercise of human liberty. It is also indispensable to personal happiness.” (09/18/26)
“The financial crisis demonstrated how regulations can produce dangerous incentives — and how discretionary intervention can magnify uncertainty. Eighteen years later, policymakers remain tempted by both.” (09/18/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Julian Assange is officially back on Twitter, restoring to the world an important voice we were robbed of by the US empire’s years-long campaign to silence the WikiLeaks founder via lifelong imprisonment for forbidden acts of journalism. Not everyone will remember it but there was a time when this was almost impossible to imagine. It seemed almost certain that this man was going to die in Belmarsh Prison or spend his remaining years in some hellhole in America. Now whenever my nephew catches me or my husband expressing pessimism about something working out, he tells us ‘Hey. Assange is free now’. It’s become our family code for ‘Anything’s possible. Don’t give up hope’. We should really try to appreciate this. Never let hope die. A better world is possible. Anything can be.” (09/19/26)
“As with lies (see previous commentary), the number and variety of laws seems to be exploding in our Fifty States. And the world. We are constantly amazed by what municipalities, tribal councils, county commissions, State legislatures, and of course, the DC cabal passes and tries to (or pretends to) enforce. … It isn’t just the Bible and Americans that have pointed out the dangers and stupidity of too many laws. To say nothing of the content of those laws.” (09/19/26)
“The standoff over Washington’s iconic Kennedy Center underscores the current place of the arts in America in ways that are both symbolic and substantive. On Tuesday, the complex formally known as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts formally closed to the public. The move followed President Donald Trump’s monthslong effort to rename and remake the center in his vision, which disrupted norms and expectations around political, artistic, and cultural touchstones. Like most buildings that are several decades old, the center needs repairs and updates. Mr. Trump says his star power would attract the needed millions – but will only be exerted if he receives recognition.” (09/18/26)
“This week, it became apparent that everyone believes in a free press, as long as it costs them nothing. Politicians in both parties are now using their offices to insulate themselves from opposing coverage — all in the name of protecting the public or the press. President Trump has ordered the banning of critical media companies from the White House. Meanwhile, Democrats are fighting to block a corporate media merger on equally raw political grounds.” (09/19/26)
““I was in the Oval Office when I got a call with the results of the September 15th House Impeachment vote. Unbelievable. Of course, my Repubs all voted against this persecution, but 47 of the Dems, including their leaders (Hakeem Jeffries, Nancy Pelosi, and Richard Neal from Democratic Massachusetts) voted PRESENT! That is really a vote against Impeachment and makes them ON MY SIDE! My aide read their lame excuse, saying that ‘serious work’ had to be done, including ‘comprehensive investigations, reviews of thousands of documents … Congressional hearings, sustained public organizing … to build a broad national consensus.’ That’s why they voted PRESENT!’ ‘But they were really AWOL. The polls show well over a majority of people want me FIRED. The Dems are really cowards. All they had to do was to use my scores of Executive Orders, which they claim were illegal and unconstitutional.” (09/19/26)
“Sending massive US forces in to try and succeed where US air power and the Saudis have already failed is the next obvious line of attack open to Trump and Hegseth and the pundits who guide them on Fox News every night. And because it is so simplistic and obvious, it is virtually a guaranteed certainty that they will indeed take it. But it will still fail, all the same.” (09/18/26)
