Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“Our legal system has two different sets of rules to do the same thing, deter people from injuring others by making it costly to do so. O. J. Simpson was first acquitted of the crime of killing his wife and then convicted of the tort of killing his wife. The essential difference between tort and crime is that a tort is treated as an offense against the victim, a crime as an offense against the state. The victim of a tort prosecutes or settles the case, agents of the state prosecute or settle a crime. Legally speaking, I can never be the victim of a crime; if I am robbed, assaulted or murdered the victim is not me but the state of California. If my attacker is Mr. Smith the case will be not ‘Friedman vs Smith’ but ‘People of the state of California vs Smith.'” (04/10/26)
“U.S. relations with NATO ally Spain appear to have hit a modern low. On the very first day of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned the countries’ actions as violations of international law and denied Washington the use of airfields in Spain for the purposes of conducting attacks. Spain eventually closed its entire airspace to U.S. aircraft involved in the conflict. … Spain’s bold and consistent stance is much more in line with international law. Not only that — by opposing the war with Iran, Madrid is also doing a better job looking out for U.S. interests than the U.S. government.” (04/10/26)
“War is the most unrestrained expression of humanity’s destructive capacity, a setting where order disintegrates, moral boundaries are tested, and life is reduced to its most vulnerable state. Medicine, by contrast, stands as a deliberate act of resistance against that collapse, a disciplined and unwavering commitment to preserve life even when surrounded by death. Despite these opposing identities, war and medicine have remained deeply intertwined across history, not by design, but by inevitability.” (04/10/26)
“A Gallup study from February shows that American optimism is at an all-time low. When things in general seem so bad, it can feel inauthentic or out of touch to be hopeful. So, Gen Z adopted a jaded and ironic sense of humor to cope. The hope-and-change optimism that galvanized Millennials before them was hard to comprehend, so cynicism ruled the day. Not anymore. Lately, after years of hearing how anxious and lonely Gen Z-ers feel, I’m starting to detect a shift in my listening sessions with young adults. There’s a growing sense that the doom and gloom have gone on too long. There’s a desire for things to get better. And there’s a hope that politicians might just be able to help us get there.” (04/10/26)
“Americans are falling in love with Project Hail Mary, a movie about an astronaut who finds himself alone at the end of the universe, with perhaps no hope of ever returning among mankind. He then has to figure out how to save mankind in very difficult circumstances, by his wits and his technical know-how. A man a lot like the navigator-turned-shipwreck Robinson Crusoe, so much so that it’s worth comparing them, their stories, and why they matter to modern society.” (04/10/26)
“On Thursday, in the exact White House room where President Trump recently addressed the nation about the Iran war, First Lady Melania Trump strode up to the lectern to address a different sort of crisis. Her topic and demeanor were grave; her scripted words meant to convey solemnity. The delivery, however, conveyed a jarring disconnect. This is not to litigate the complex web of associations and legal questions swirling around the Jeffrey Epstein case. Those demand their own continuous investigation. But the timing of the First Lady’s rare national address was weird, the formal setting incongruous, and the call for Congress to act befuddling. We will certainly find out more in the coming days, but this piece is not about the Epstein case. This is about what we heard in that room.” (04/11/26)
“Less than 24 hours after the U.S.-Israeli coalition bombed oil depots around Tehran on March 7, blanketing the city of 10 million with smoke that blotted out the sun, Brenda — 6,300 miles away in South Baltimore — found out she had lost her food stamps. She had checked the status of her SNAP benefits after I had first interviewed her a few days prior about the United States spending billions on war with Iran while Americans like her struggle to eat. When she logged in to the online portal, she discovered her food stamps had been terminated. She’s tried to stay positive in the weeks since. … But it stings that she can’t afford to give her 13-year-old daughter healthy options, like fresh fruits and vegetables.” (04/10/26)
“He’s out of ideas, a mind running on empty. Increasingly, he is also short of reason, zapped by geopolitical addling and meddling. Now that US President Donald J. Trump has reached an uneasy understanding with Teheran that a two-week ceasefire should apply to the warring parties (Israel, as usual, has its own elastic interpretation as it continues attacking Lebanon), it is worth considering the warring language he has been using since February 28. Of note is the shrill wording of various ultimata he has directed at Iran.” (04/10/26)
“For a nation that dominates the seas, the United States now faces a critical crossroads. Its commercial shipyards — once the envy of the world — have fallen into near collapse. The Trump administration’s 2026 Maritime Action Plan aims to reverse this decline with sweeping fees on foreign-built ships and subsidies to revive domestic production and rebuild the maritime industrial base. Yet rather than confronting the structural causes of decline, Washington has turned to familiar tools: protectionism, subsidies, and penalties on foreign competition. America’s shipbuilding troubles did not begin with foreign rivals — and they will not be solved by taxing them.” (04/10/26)
