Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley
“Dr. Erica Schwartz, President Trump’s nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control, comes billed as a ‘home run pick’ but may face pressure from the ‘vaccine-skeptical’ Robert F. Kennedy’s HHS. Kennedy ally Aaron Siri recalls that Schwartz, ‘with threat and force, mandated almost every major vaccine on civilians and military members’ and disciplined those who refused. Others see the Schwartz pick as a political move in the run-up to the midterms. While confirmation awaits, the people might look back to the way the CDC handled COVID in the election year of 2020.” (04/29/26)
“President Trump’s dismissal of 17 federal inspectors general en masse; high-profile IG investigations of alleged mismanagement at two Cabinet departments; a high-stakes controversy over the Government Accountability Office’s finding of Impoundment Control Act violations — over the past year and a half, the behind-the-scenes work of the federal government’s oversight entities has never been so front and center. That makes it a good time to ask: What exactly is the purpose of this ordinarily low-key government function with the ability to shape public policy, public programs, and public opinion?” (04/29/26)
“When Turing wrote — and for most of the years since — it was possible to accept the hypothetical conclusion that, if a machine ever passed his operational test, we might consider it to be conscious. We were comfortably secure in the confidence that this was a very big if, kicked into future touch. However, the advent of large language models (LLM) such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and others has provoked a hasty scramble to move the goalposts. It was one thing to grant consciousness to a hypothetical machine that — just imagine! — could one day succeed at the Imitation Game. But now that LLMs can actually pass the Turing Test? ‘Well, er, perhaps, um … Look here, I didn’t really mean it when, back then, I accepted Turing’s operational definition of a conscious being …'” (04/29/26)
“This May Day, we are sounding the alarm. On a plane, ‘Mayday’ is a distress call. When a pilot says it three times into the radio — ’Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!’ — they’re saying we need help, we need it now, we cannot do this alone. We are calling Mayday because billionaires and corporations have rigged the rules, authoritarianism is tightening its grip, and because the people facing the sharpest edge of both cannot fight alone. Here in Florida, anti-immigrant laws weaponize fear in workplaces and neighborhoods. Attacks on free speech and public education are routine. The category of ‘“criminal’ expands year after year, absorbing more of our neighbors into a carceral system designed not only to punish, but to discipline labor, suppress wages, and push millions into precarity. This week, hundreds of us are gathering in Miami for two days of public testimony, training, and action.” (04/29/26)
“For over 50 years, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Gag Rule has required defendants who settle enforcement actions to commit to a lifetime prohibition on denying or criticizing — or even permitting others to criticize — the agency’s allegations. In the SEC’s view, this prior restraint on speech is necessary to avoid the incorrect ‘impression’ that ‘the conduct alleged did not, in fact, occur.’ But in reality, the SEC’s Gag Rule systematically deprives individuals of the right to criticize their government.” (04/29/26)
“Iran has proposed opening the Strait of Hormuz to all traffic if President Donald Trump removes his naval blockade of Iranian ports and ends his war against that country, according to the news outlets of Axios and Associated Press, which quoted regional officials knowledgeable of talks between Iran and mediator Pakistan. Negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program would be undertaken in a later phase of the agreement. Despite all the U.S. tactical successes in blowing things up in Iran, the Iranians have the conflict’s strategic trump card of a stranglehold on international maritime shipping, which has drastically increased prices on petroleum-based products and other vital commercial items for the entire world. Above all, Trump is under pressure from Republicans to get rid of this tar baby before the 2026 mid-term elections …. Trump needs a face-saving way out of this self-imposed mess, and the first step is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.” (04/29/26)
“When the Left rules, they’ll tax you into the ground to fund their pet projects, regulate your speech, your guns, your business, your very thoughts, and call it compassion. When the Right has a turn, they’ll ramp up the surveillance, the wars, and the ‘law and order’ boot on your neck, all while waving a flag and quoting Scripture. Same result: your money, your time, your choices — stolen by someone with power. Only the propaganda differs.” (04/29/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Writers in the mainstream press are describing the assassination attempt against President Trump as evil. What they fail to realize, however, is that simply because the assassination attempt was evil doesn’t necessarily mean that the actions of President Trump and the U.S. national-security establishment that apparently motivated the would-be assassin are good. It is entirely possible to have evil on both sides. For example, what about the U.S. government’s official assassinations? How often does the mainstream press condemn those as evil? Hardly ever.” (04/29/26)
“In the last year, coverage of former FBI Director James Comey appears to be reverting to the level of a high school yearbook. Last March, we were discussing how Comey channeled Beyoncé in a classified meeting and then may have revealed a code name in an encore performance for family. Now we are back to discussing Comey’s beach shell art on social media. The latter controversy is now at the heart of a second criminal indictment of Comey. … The problem with this indictment will be the merits. The indictment concerns an image that was later removed by Comey showing ’86 47′ in shells on a beach.” (04/28/26)
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jennifer Kavanagh
“The United States has long relied on ground-based air defense systems to protect U.S. personnel, infrastructure, and assets from adversary missiles. But Iran was able to effectively disable these systems, suggesting that this approach to force protection is entirely insufficient in a world of “precise mass” where even weak adversaries have advanced targeting capabilities. If the U.S. ground-based air defense network could not survive against Iran, it is most certainly inadequate for a war with China. The U.S. experience against Iran also raises questions about U.S. plans to rely primarily on stand-off weapons to strike Chinese ships and military targets in an Indo-Pacific contingency. Although this strategy evolved as a response to China’s anti-access/air denial capabilities, which will make operating close to the mainland coast impossible, the war in Iran suggests that the stand-off approach may be limited in what it can accomplish.” (04/29/26)
