Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“LBC has a report titled ‘Republicans ‘storm out’ of Iran briefing as they claim US ‘war machine’ is trying to put boots on ground’ about MAGA lawmakers whining that Trump’s war looks set to turn into a land invasion. I get so tired of all this American hand-wringing about ‘boots on the ground.’ It’s a symptom of a wildly sick dystopia that these people are fine with raining military explosives on a densely populated city but draw the line at putting American troops in the line of fire. Sure, killing kids is fine, just don’t put boots on the ground! Sure you can rain hellfire on hospitals, homes and schools for weeks, just make sure you do all your massacring from the sky where nobody can return fire. Killing is okie dokie, so long as our troops aren’t the ones getting killed.” (03/28/26)
“The last thirty years have been a period of pronounced overextension in U.S. foreign policy, and it has upset the balance between promoting liberal values overseas and protecting liberalism at home. Worse, the two primary camps in today’s foreign policy debates — Trump’s America-First nationalism and Biden’s global democracy-vs-autocracy framework — are simultaneously protectionist and militarily interventionist. If liberals are to build an effective domestic agenda, they instead need to tether it to a more modest, realist foreign policy capable of protecting American democracy and prosperity at home. This need has only been heightened by the Trump administration’s disastrous war with Iran, which looks increasingly likely to seriously strain the American economy.” (03/27/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joshua Mawhorter
“[T]he concept of interventionist non-intervention argues that the state — following coercive taxation and monopolization or competition suppression — can intervene through doing ‘nothing,’ that is, paid non-delivery of promised and monopolized service. The core elements of interventionist non-intervention are: 1) the binary intervention of coercive taxation where citizens are forced to pay for a service regardless of whether or not they receive it; 2) the triangular interventions of monopolization or competition suppression where the state claims exclusive domain over the service provision; and, 3) non-delivery wherein the state then fails or refuses to provide the monopolized service for which it has extracted payment, in part or in whole.” (03/27/26)
“n the United States, cloud seeding has long been a subject of controversy. The process involves releasing small quantities of compounds such as Silver Iodide (AgI) into the atmosphere, causing clouds to produce rain or snow. Critics call it “weather modification,” but cloud seeding is a moderate and cost-effective effort to enhance rainfall that can benefit the water-strapped Southwest by fortifying its water supply.” (03/27/26)
“My mother did not die in an intensive care unit. She was not surrounded by machines, alarms, or artificial light. She died at home, in a room imbued with the quiet weight of memory. Decades of life were embedded in those walls, which had witnessed birthdays, conversations, laughter, arguments, and the countless ordinary moments that, in retrospect, constitute the true foundation of a life. A peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) line rested in her arm, serving not as a symbol of escalation but as an instrument of compassion. Medications were given to relieve discomfort rather than to reverse disease. Nurses entered the room with calm, deliberate purpose rather than urgency. Their voices were soft, their movements measured. Their objective was not to save her life, but to honor it.” (03/27/26)
“Friedrich Hayek published The Road to Serfdom in 1944, a classic book on economics for the ages. We would do well to understand his message, because it reads today less like a theory and more like a warning. What Hayek described is unfolding right before our eyes, yet it is so gradual and insidious that few recognize it is happening. Hayek believed prosperity and freedom are inseparable. In [his book], he warned about what happens when government begins to control economic decision-making through central planning. The result, he argued, is the slow erosion of freedom. When societies abandon individualism and classical liberal economics, the power of the state expands and the liberty of the citizen contracts. Eventually, this evolves to government control.” (03/28/26)
“Smith shows himself a great reader, not just of his great favorite Jonathan Swift, but of the other great English authors like Addison and Johnson. He recommended reading the novelist Samuel Richardson as well as Racine and Voltaire. Smith was a truly rounded humanist, a man who knew enough of life and books to write not just a great treatise but a work of significant pleasure.” (03/27/26)
“The Trump administration’s suspension of the Jones Act is well-reasoned; the Jones Act has kept oil prices in America higher than they would otherwise have been by increasing the cost of transporting oil. The Jones Act forces domestic shippers to use expensive ships with expensive crews, which drives up shipping costs beyond what a free market would bear. However, paying more for domestic shipping could easily be worth the cost if it made America more secure. Unfortunately, the Jones Act is a hindrance to American security.” (03/27/26)
