“As the Iran war dominates global economic calculations, media and social media alike, there’s one place where it’s been strangely absent: Washington, DC. The American capital in the second Trump administration has developed a bit of a devil-may-care, drink-with-lunch spirit captured in the Pentagon’s cheerily bellicose memes. Still, when I was in DC last week, I was surprised by the total absence of yellow ribbons, patriotic banners, or the usual wartime acknowledgements of fallen troops and the many others in danger. … During the Iraq War, yellow ribbons — showing support for the troops, if not the conflict — were ubiquitous, as were anti-war demonstrations. Then came the long global war on terror, which meant that the US was both constantly at war and never at war. Washington remembered Afghanistan, only briefly, when we withdrew. … The nation’s capital is, as always, a bubble, but it’s hard to see how this relative good cheer can last.” (03/16/26)
Source: The American Conservative
by Ryan Costello
“With the Iran war going very poorly, President Donald Trump has given increasing indications that he is looking for an off-ramp. He made the mistake of listening to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and other hawks in the run-up to the war, and now their Pollyannish predictions have all fallen flat. Declaring victory and getting out as soon as possible is far and away the best option available. … Yet, ending the war is not as easy as simply declaring victory. Key Iranian figures have signaled that they are not seeking a ceasefire and intend to inflict sufficient pain to deter any future attack on Iran. … To avoid a Forever War consisting of repeated short conflicts, the U.S. should start thinking about how to stop Israel from dragging it into Mideast hostilities.” (03/16/26)
“One of the more curious tendencies of the modern Western left — which claims to defend gender equality, pluralism, and secular democratic governance — is its knee-jerk defense of radical Islam. In fact, the further left the group, the more predictably it defends theocratic Muslim states that encourage violence against women, criminalize homosexuality, and outlaw free expression. Here on U.S. soil, increasing Muslim immigration, irrespective of the cultural attitudes held by given migrant groups, has become another boilerplate Democratic party cause. This contradictory ideological hybrid can best be described as Islamo-socialism: the merging of Islamist identity politics with socialist theories of power, grievance, and redistribution.” (03/16/26)
“Two things happened the week before Trump finally decided to end his will-he-won’t-he relationship with regime change in Iran. The first is that Benjamin Netanyahu told the Donald that Israel was going to whack the Ayatollah with or without him and that the results would be identical either way. Iran would retaliate by dumping literal tons of drones on the American bases that encircle it throughout the region and Trump would be duty bound to prove his manhood with blood. The other telltale thing that happened that week was that evidence surfaced from the heavily redacted Epstein Files that appears to show multiple sources corroborating the failed lawsuit of Katy Johnson; an anonymous plaintiff who accused our current president of raping her with Jeffrey Epstein at his side and then threatening to murder her if she spoke.” (03/15/26)
“I remember retiring from the U.S. Army and relocating the family to South Florida. That was a long drive from Ft Hood, Texas, to Ft Lauderdale, Florida, especially with two young daughters and two yap yap Pomeranian dogs. I decided we would depart at ‘Zero-dark Early’ so Aubrey and Austen would sleep, but when they awoke, the first words out of their mouths were, ‘Dad, are we there yet?’ Heck, I believe those two yap yap dogs were yapping the same inquiry. Needless to say, we had not even hit the Florida border, going along Interstate 10. This is a story that many parents and grandparents have experienced on a long drive with kids. But it also provides a very important lesson about how not to develop national security and foreign policy. ” (03/16/26)
“As the Israel Lobby gets more desperate watching the collapse of American support for their country, they also become more nakedly authoritarian to control US discourse.” (03/15/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kimberlee Josephson
“There is a peculiar irony in modern American consumer culture: we celebrate abundance, low prices, and convenience — until we decide to sue the businesses that make those things possible. Somewhere along the way, buyer beware — a principle as old as markets themselves — has been replaced with the belief that disappointment equates with legal injury. Disputes over marketing messages and lawsuits about the labeling of menu items shows that some patrons are eager to become plaintiffs. Recent skirmishes over chicken are a case in point.” (03/15/26)
“Three Dead Men’s Hands press down across the map of Europe accelerating the 21st century continent towards a suicidal thermonuclear confrontation with Russia that will pull in and annihilate North America as well. The hands are those of Woodrow Wilson, David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill — the three Anglo-American architects of the catastrophic 1919 Paris Peace Conference and Treaty of Versailles. For 70 years the Versailles Treaty and its following agreements were rightly reviled across Europe and the world as the fiasco and disaster that led directly to the rise of Adolf Hitler and to the even greater conflagration of World War II.” (03/15/26)
“Sure, we were laughing at him. But every reaction video or parody drove home the message that McDonald’s has a big new burger on the market, a message I’d never have heard if I hadn’t seen so many people making fun of the CEO. I would have eaten a Big Arch for dinner tonight — for research purposes, of course — if my column-writing duties hadn’t chained me to my desk. Such viral moments are marketing gold and at a bargain price — however much McDonald’s spent making that video, it probably only amounted to a fraction of the cost of producing a traditional ad, much less of blasting it into our consciousness in a prime time loop. Corporate America’s problem is that such moments are wildly unpredictable. If you want brand awareness on the cheap, you are dependent on the kindness (or more likely, unkindness) of strangers.” (03/15/26)
