“Other than among his devotees, Donald Trump has only the trust and empathy he has earned: none. It is too late for him to prudently increase Congress’s buy-in with his Iran policy by consulting it. So, the language and processes of law are the only arrows in his critics’ quivers. Those are, however, unavailing. Courts will not intervene where Congress is, as a practical matter, precluded by presidential nimbleness. There are many kinds of wars, and as many ways for presidents to evade Congress.” (03/06/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Cláudia Ascensão Nunes
“Switzerland is the freest country in the world, according to the Human Freedom Index. Small in territory but giant in institutional autonomy, it has built a decentralized, monetarily stable, and deeply participatory democracy, all outside the European Union. While Member States have no alternative to the uniform directives designed in Brussels, Switzerland negotiates sectoral agreements according to its national interest and the democratic consent of its citizens. The new ‘Bilaterals III’ package, whose entry into force depends on approval by the Swiss Parliament and possibly a referendum, is a reminder that there is an alternative to the European integrationist ‘one size fits all’ model. Switzerland’s institutional architecture limits central power.” (03/06/26)
“When Xi Jinping gloated about the ‘chaos’ that rules world affairs, he hardly had in mind a cacophony of drone strikes on Beijing’s energy partners in the Gulf. Nor did he envision the sudden closure of a chokepoint through which China gets half its oil. The president saw great opportunity in the general turmoil and supposed multipolarity of the age: a chance for the CCP lion to rise. If Washington has its way, it will be the lion of Persia, instead, that emerges triumphant—a long-oppressed people rising to retake a stolen country.” (03/06/26)
“Critics who call Operation Epic Fury folly or a distraction are missing the point: Iran is just one front in an ongoing, evolving global contest that includes Russia and China. It stretches to other fronts as well, though President Donald Trump has shut down the one in Venezuela and looks to have Cuba headed the same way. But Tehran is much more entangled with Moscow and Beijing, exchanging arms, technical know-how and intelligence. Even now, Russia is giving Iran high-quality intelligence to target missiles on US installations, experts conclude: Such precision is beyond the limited capabilities of the Islamic Republic’s handful of military-grade satellites. The cooperation runs both ways: Tehran has been sending Shahed drones to Moscow for attacks on Ukraine for four years now; it even built a factory in Russia to produce thousands of these cheap, deadly unmanned aerial vehicles.” (03/06/26)
“American military planners in the Pentagon have been wargaming scenarios for attacking Iran more or less non-stop since 1979. One major reason president after president stopped short of launching an attack was the frightening realization that the Islamic Republic could always choose to shut down the Strait of Hormuz …. American strategists cared a lot about the way Iran destabilizes the Middle East. But they cared about energy security, too. Which is one reason why every president from Jimmy Carter on took one look at the war option presented by the Pentagon and said, ‘yeah, no.’ So what changed? … a bunch of geology nerds working for a handful of U.S. energy firms figured out a way to inject water into shale formations at high enough pressure to dislodge the hydrocarbons embedded in the rock.” (03/06/26)
“It was astounding to learn from the TV show of the former Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-FL) that an overall theme seems to be forming for President Donald Trump’s much more aggressive, second-term foreign policy in his private conversations with high-level Trump administration officials. Unfortunately, that theme is based on a very shaky grasp of reality. Scarborough said the Trump administration rationale coming together is this: Decapitating the Venezuelan regime and attempting to topple the Iranian regime, both relying on stand-off force so far, combined with pressure on Russia, is an attempt to cut off China’s oil supply. One can only hope that this overall theme is an after-the-fact justification for an erratic president executing a shoot-from-the-hip foreign policy. And that would be the good news.” (03/06/26)
“Missouri’s property tax system works best when the assessments are accurate, the tax base is wide, and the rates are low. That combination will help grow Missouri’s economy for everyone while properly funding the necessary functions of local government. However, a radical change in the system is being put before voters in St. Charles, Jefferson, and Franklin counties in April. These three counties will vote on whether to prohibit any property tax increases due to reassessments. Current law requires local governments to roll back tax rates as assessments increase, but we all know that taxes still go up, sometimes substantially.” (03/06/26)
“Wars test nations. They test military readiness, alliance cohesion, and political resolve. But they also test something less visible and just as important: fiscal strength. Just days before the United States entered war with Iran, President Trump was arguing for a $500 billion defense spending increase. … Although the absurdity of President Trump’s arbitrary defense budget request hasn’t changed, the terms of the debate have. Whether justified or not, war places immediate pressure on defense budgets. The real question is whether the United States has put itself in a position to afford it.” (03/06/26)
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Corynne McSherry & Matthew Guariglia
“After protests from both users and employees who did not sign up to support government mass surveillance — early reports show that ChaptGPT uninstalls rose nearly 300% after the company announced the deal — Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, conceded that the initial agreement was ‘opportunistic and sloppy.’ He then re-published an internal memo on social media stating that additions to the agreement made clear that ‘Consistent with applicable laws, including the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, National Security Act of 1947, [and] FISA Act of 1978, the AI system shall not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of U.S. persons and nationals.’ Trouble is, the U.S. government doesn’t believe ‘consistent with applicable laws’ means ‘no domestic surveillance.'” (03/06/26)
