“It is clear now that many Republicans saw constitutional fealty as a nice talking point, a way to skewer Democrats for their unpatriotic rejection of the American founding. But it appears that some Republicans’ own constitutionalism runs about as deep as Trump’s understanding of economics. They favor the Constitution when it thwarts the Democrats. They favor it because it is old and vaguely patriotic. Its antique and loopy cursive make for a beautiful backdrop for a speech. Like the flag itself, it’s the kind of thing you can hug (awkwardly). But it isn’t the kind of thing you think about.” (02/22/26)
“I adored Chomsky growing up. I knew the man through his work as a tireless crusader for the voiceless and the disenfranchised. His writings strongly informed my own writings and beliefs. But his relationship with billionaire child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein has been exposed to be far more significant and far more sinister than a handful of chance encounters. Quite the contrary, Chomsky appears to have been complicit in a garish attempt to rehabilitate this man’s flagging reputation in hopes of allowing him to get away with his sundry predations a second time. And once again, there is a line of well-intentioned, thoughtful people curling around the block, waiting on bated breath to make the same tired old excuses.” (02/22/26)
“For Eric Chornoby, leisure time is a ’luxury’ he can’t afford. He’s a union postal worker from Detroit who hasn’t gone on vacation in five years. ‘Everyone told me our generation was getting it good. I did what I was supposed to do. But no matter how hard I try, I cannot get ahead,’ Chornoby said at a rally in Washington, D.C., on February 7. Chornoby, along with other workers from the American Postal Workers Union’s (APWU) Young Members Committee, traveled to the U.S. Capitol to attend the first-ever march for young workers. Today, the federal minimum wage sits at $7.25 an hour, and it hasn’t been increased since 2009. Many states and cities have doubled their minimum wages, but workers want to see an increase at the federal level that’s adjusted for inflation.” (02/23/26)
“Last Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court tariff decision was a workmanlike exercise of statutory analysis. The reaction from the administration was not. President Trump impugned the integrity and patriotism of the justices, claiming that ‘the court has been swayed by foreign interests.’ … When Trump announced tariffs on any country that did not agree with his plans to seize Greenland, or increased tariffs on Brazil because Brazil’s Supreme Court refused to reverse the conviction of former President Bolsonaro, a friend of Trump, he was broadcasting to the court that his interpretation of the law had no limits. In light of those actual examples, it was a surprise that there were any justices willing to uphold the president’s view of his tariff power.” (02/22/26)
“With not just one — but two — carrier battle groups now steaming in circles somewhere off the coast of Oman out of the range of Iranian missiles, we are all left with the head-scratching question: what is it, exactly, that the United States hopes to accomplish with another round of air strikes on Iran? Trump hasn’t told us. The latest crisis du jour with Iran illustrates the strategic swamp willingly stepped into not just by Donald Trump but his predecessors as well. The swamp is built on a singular and hopelessly misguided assumption: that the use of force either by stand-off, limited strikes from 12,000 feet or even invasions will somehow solve complex political problems on the ground below.” (02/22/26)
“‘[The International Emergency Economic Powers Act] does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.’ That’s the single really important sentence from the US Supreme Court’s February 20 ruling in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump. Trump’s ongoing tariff tantrums, starting with his ‘Liberation Day’ schedule of ‘reciprocal’ tariffs, were illegal under the law in question, and under the US Constitution, which gives Congress, and only Congress, the power to levy taxes. … but don’t hold your breath waiting for relief, let alone recompense.” (02/21/26)
“It appears that the legislature in New Hampshire — a state declared in December 2025 as the ‘freest place in North America’ — has passed a bill that bans ‘leftist indoctrination’ and ‘LGBTQ+ teaching in public schools.’ But wait, there’s more! House Bill 1792, known as the CHARLIE Act (in a nod to assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk) is designed to ‘ban certain types of instruction and punish teachers who carried it out.’ CHARLIE is an acronym for ‘Countering Hate And Revolutionary Leftist Indoctrination in Education Act.’ … the bill prohibits the teaching of any ‘critical theories or related practices that promote division, dialectical world-views, critical consciousness or anti-constitutional indoctrination’ (emphasis added). … Dialectical thinking is a crucial component of critical thinking. … Alas, the right-wing zealots know that critical, dialectical thinking is also a component of radical thinking. And it is the radical that they most fear.” (02/21/26)
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“When conservative Sanae Takaichi became the new leader of Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the country’s prime minister in October 2025, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) clearly was unhappy about that development. Chinese officials became even more annoyed when Takaichi voiced strong support for preserving the de facto independence of Taiwan …. President Xi Jinping’s government responded with vitriol and threats. … However, if Chinese leaders thought that Japanese voters would repudiate their new prime minister and her uncompromising stance toward Beijing, they miscalculated badly. Takaichi gambled by calling a snap election for early February, and the results were a spectacular political success for her and her party.” (02/22/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by John W Whitehead
“A decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals allowing thousands of pages of Epstein-related documents to be unsealed referenced allegations involving ‘numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known Prime Minister, and other world leaders.’ That alone should have been enough to trigger full transparency. Instead, nearly 30 years after the first complaints against Epstein were filed, the full truth remains obscured. Why are documents still partially sealed? Why do redactions remain? Why are investigations declared ‘closed’ while unanswered questions linger? Epstein may have conveniently died in a jail cell six weeks after his arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, but the machinery that empowered and protected him is still very much intact and it continues to work overtime to shield the global power elite, silence victims, and erase accountability. And that is the real scandal.” (02/20/26)
