Category: Opinion

Goodbye NATO, Hello America First

Source: Town Hall
by Jeff Crouere

“The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded in 1949 and has grown to 32 nations. Not surprisingly, the United States of America is the largest contributor to the organization, supplying 16 percent of the overall NATO budget and having the largest expenditure on national defense, totaling $980 billion, which is 62 percent of the overall defense spending of all member nations. Realizing that many nations were freeloading and not contributing their fair share, in 2014, the leadership of NATO mandated that members spend at least two percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defense spending. Unfortunately, in 2024, then-NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg admitted that nine member nations had still not met their two percent goal. The new goal for NATO is for members to spend 3.5 percent of their annual budget on defense spending by 2035. Currently, only three nations have met that goal.” (04/13/26)

https://townhall.com/columnists/jeffcrouere/2026/04/13/goodbye-nato-hello-america-first-n2674330

Steve Trinward

The Fight Against Red Tape Continues in Georgia

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by J Thomas Perdue

“Georgia is one of many states that has recently begun to look critically at its growing regulatory code. Lawmakers, business leaders and policy advocates have pointed out how regulations enacted by unelected bureaucrats in the executive branch have placed an unnecessary burden on the state’s workers and industries. The lack of legislative oversight in what functions as de facto lawmaking (this is especially true at the federal level) is another concern. This problem is compounded by the fact that Georgia’s code has grown unchecked for decades, resulting in a lack of transparency as well as redundant, outdated and even contradictory rules. But as the state’s code grows, so too does the list of other states that have taken steps to reduce their own.” (04/13/26)

https://fee.org/articles/the-fight-against-red-tape-continues-in-georgia/

Thomas L. Knapp

State Wars Bleed a Nation to Death

Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith

“The US, with its military prowess that comprises approximately 37 percent of all global military spending and exceeds the combined defense budgets of the next nine largest spenders, no longer worries about winning or losing wars. The point is to get them started — let the death and destruction begin. That’s where the money is — initially. Later, profits are made from rebuilding countries the attackers have demolished. But there’s a looming question: Does the American state have the funds to pick on any country it chooses? The answer: As long as the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve remains functional and Americans remain ignorant of its work, the sky’s the limit, at least until people wise up or the ink runs dry on its printing press.” (04/13/26)

https://mises.org/mises-wire/state-wars-bleed-nation-death

Thomas L. Knapp

War as a Pretext: Gulf States Are Tightening the Screws on Speech—Again

Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Jillian C York

“War does not only reshape borders. It also reshapes what can be seen, said, and remembered. When governments invoke ‘misinformation’ during wartime, they often mean something simpler: speech they do not control. Since the escalation of conflict between the United States, Israel, Iran, and related spillover attacks in the Gulf, several governments have intensified efforts to silence dissent and restrict the flow of information.” (04/13/26)

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/war-pretext-gulf-states-are-tightening-screws-speech-again

Thomas L. Knapp

We Need “More Muckrakers and Fewer Buck-Takers”

Source: CounterPunch
by Mickey S Huff

“Fifty years ago, Carl Jensen founded Project Censored because he knew that journalism was the lifeblood of democracy. He argued that the news media, despite its increasingly corporate and commercial nature, can have a positive influence on the world, especially when it operates ethically and independently in the public interest. He encouraged journalism programs at colleges across the country to turn out ‘more muckrakers and fewer buck-takers.'” (04/13/26)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/13/we-need-more-muckrakers-and-fewer-buck-takers/

Thomas L. Knapp

How Many People Have the US and Israel Killed in Iran?

Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin & Nicolas JS Davies

“After the breakdown of talks in Pakistan, the ceasefire between the US and Iran is more fragile than ever, and now seems likely to give way to a new phase of the war. The ceasefire and talks have failed to end Israel’s devastating attacks on Lebanon or to negotiate international access to the Strait of Hormuz, now under Iran’s control. The world must use this pause in the war to push for a permanent ceasefire and peace agreement, but we must also start to assess the true human cost of the war–something the US is always reluctant to do in its wars, from Vietnam to Iraq to Afghanistan. While we always know the exact number of Americans killed in these wars, we never have an accurate tally of how many people we have killed …” (04/13/26)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/how-civilians-killed-by-us-in-iran

Steve Trinward