“An illegal auction of stolen Palestinian land at an elite Upper East Side synagogue, and the swift condemnations from groups like J Street launched against New Yorkers who attempted to protest it, reveal the Zionist rot at the heart of the American Jewish elite establishment that is bastardizing and corrupting the religion from within, and why liberal Zionist groups present only an impotent challenge to it. … J Street’s response to those protests – condemning both the protesters and the land sales in equal measure – is indicative of the balancing act the organization has attempted to manage, one that is unstable and contradictory, with its guiding (or rather, mis-guiding) principle that Zionism can ultimately be reformed …. and that the American Jewish elite institutions which have funded settlement expansion, armed soldiers to ethnically cleanse Gaza, and laundered Israel’s atrocity propaganda bears no meaningful responsibility for what Israel does.” (05/13/26)
“Ron Rosenbaum’s latest book, Bob Dylan: Things Have Changed, is not a biography. It is instead a ‘kind of biography’ — which is a distinction with a difference. It is, in keeping with Rosenbaum’s long record of fine-tuned literary analysis mixed with historical and, yes, biographical detail, a study of Dylan’s songwriting and a reckoning with his moral, philosophical, and religious imagery and fixations. ‘Dylan has remade American speech, American thought, American attitude,’ Rosenbaum writes. Bob Dylan: Things Have Changed is an examination of how he remade those things, with a particular emphasis on ‘theodicy’ and what Rosenbaum calls Dylan’s ‘argument with god.’ Steering clear of the usual cloud of hagiography that hovers above most writing about Dylan, it’s a book that instead focuses on what makes him unique. ” (05/13/26)
Source: Brennan Center for Justice
by Michael Waldman
“The late 19th century was a dismal time in American politics. Corruption ran rampant. Congress was governed by staunch partisan loyalties and nail-biting majorities. And redistricting, instead of being confined to after the census every 10 years, was a tool of manipulation and partisan hardball. ‘From 1872 to 1896,’ a political scientist reports, ‘at least one state redrew its congressional districts each year.’ Of course, that era was marred by another phenomenon — one too familiar to us today. It saw a swift rollback in voting rights and representation for the newly freed Black population of the South. In 1875, after the Civil War and the adoption of the 15th Amendment, seven Black men served in the House, and one sat as a senator. Terrorism, political cowardice, and racial backlash ended Reconstruction. By 1902, Congress was once again all white.” (05/13/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Arman Sidhu
“For a small-scale gold miner in Uganda, the question of where to sell has just been answered for him. Gold has surpassed coffee as Uganda’s largest export, and as of last month, the country’s central bank is positioning itself as the dominant legal buyer for nearly all of it. Late in April, the Bank of Uganda launched a three-year gold-buying program that registers it as a gold dealer purchasing directly from licensed Ugandan miners through contracts with two refiners.” (05/13/26)
“Americans seldom experience war directly — World War II was the last time a war reached US soil. Since then, our wars have been experienced much more indirectly. No ration books appeared during Vietnam, no mass retooling of factories happened for Desert Storm, and daily life seems largely unchanged despite a decades-long War on Terror. The Iran War seems to be the same, at least in these respects. All wars still impose costs on ordinary Americans, of course; they simply arrive in quieter ways. Enter every trip to the gas station since February 28.” (05/13/26)
“It’s not exactly a mystery why Sean Duffy, President Donald Trump’s secretary of Transportation, seems so befuddled and embittered about the backlash that followed his May 8 reveal that American corporations funded a five-part reality television series about a “Great American Road Trip” for his family. … Television shows have sponsors. And the Duffy family road trip has some of the biggest corporations paying the bills. And some of them are regulated by the Department of Transportation. Trump’s administration has always seemed at least as interested, if not more interested, in content generation than in governing. Why do boring public servants work when you can be an influencer on television and social media? But the look-at-me crowd gets pretty huffy when they receive actual scrutiny.” (05/13/26)
“Donald Trump has apparently not figured out that Iran holds all the cards. Still fixated on the notion that the ‘winner’ of the war is the side that blows up the most stuff, he remains convinced he can dictate terms to Iran. But the Iranians hold the Strait of Hormuz and have remained convinced that Trump has no stomach for more military action. In any event, they are confident they can sustain any further U.S. attacks. Naturally, then, Iran is sticking to demands to keep control of the Strait, obtain sanctions relief, and even extract reparations from the U.S. … Trump’s trip to China may only deepen his predicament.” (05/13/26)
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Marie McMullan
“The PPA limits the use of search warrants against those who intend to disseminate information to the public, which means it’s not specific to journalists in application. The PPA’s protections apply to any person intending to publish their ‘work product’ or ‘documentary’ materials (more on that later) in ‘a newspaper, book, broadcast or other similar form of public communication,’ which covers journalists but isn’t limited to the press. These protections are valuable to communicators who are independent and who don’t operate within the mainstream media, such as citizen journalists or documentarians. … the PPA’s protections require the federal government to adhere to its limits. The Natanson case is a recent example of what happens when assistant United States attorneys fail to do just that.” (05/12/26)
