“Let’s all give a hand for Marco Rubio, secretary of state, favored champion of the White House, and all-around cretinous worm. The Amazing Plastic Man — the adjective refers to his flexible principles, not his increasingly inflexible face — was hitting the airwaves this Monday morning to articulate the latest version of what the Trump administration regards as its war aims. Excuse me, military operation aims; President Donald Trump has figured out the One Weird Trick around constitutional checks on executive war powers. You just have to use the right words! … Stupendously expensive and destructive military operations every six to 18 months for the foreseeable future does not seem like an appreciably better outcome than the Bush-era occupations.” (03/31/26)
“We know Donald Trump gets easily confused. During his campaign, he repeatedly insisted that he would keep us out of a war in Iran. Now, after being in office less than 14 months, he started an unprovoked war in Iran. Trump obviously couldn’t remember whether he was supposed to avoid a war in the Middle East or start one. It seems he is facing the same problem when it comes to inflation and prices. He promised to bring prices down on the first day of his presidency. While inflation had been falling to the Fed’s 2.0 percent inflation target before Trump was elected, it is now close to 3.0 percent and looks to be heading higher, and that was even before the impact of his war against Iran.” (03/31/26)
“Educators continue to debate a question that sounds philosophical but is actually quite practical: when a student earns a diploma, what exactly have they earned? Is it proof of real, transferable, labor-market-ready skills? Or is it a signal, a flag planted in the employer’s field of view that says this person showed up, tried hard, and turned things in on time? Most honest observers land somewhere in the middle. Yes, school teaches skills. And yes, the diploma itself also signals something beyond the skills taught. The degree is both product and receipt. New research throws a wrench into both sides of that supposed balance.” (03/31/26)
“In a positive twist, the Trump administration said it does not plan to block a Russian oil tanker from delivering 730,000 barrels of crude to Cuba, which has been suffering from acute fuel shortages since the U.S. imposed a de facto oil blockade on the island in late January. … On the one hand, the administration may be concerned about the dire humanitarian impacts of ongoing fuel shortages and a potential migratory crisis brewing just off U.S. shores in an election season. The island’s worsening crisis risks undermining U.S. moral standing and leverage in ongoing negotiations with Cuba, particularly if the country collapses before a deal can be reached. On the other hand, the U.S. may simply need to focus on other priorities.” (03/30/26)
“Get ready for the next Roe v. Wade — as a new Supreme Court case threatens to split the country, not over abortion, but over ‘birthright citizenship.’ Trump v. Barbara is before the court this week, and with it comes the very question of who is an American. On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order [pretending] that the children of illegal immigrants or temporary residents aren’t American citizens just by virtue of being born on American soil. People born here to at least one citizen parent are automatically citizens, and Trump’s order recognizes the children of lawful permanent residents as birthright citizens, too. But that’s not enough for those who insist the Constitution’s 14th Amendment establishes a radical definition of birthright citizenship.” [editor’s note: It didn’t “establish” anything — birthright citizenship was the case from the beginning of the US, except for slaves, and in England before that – TLK] (03/31/26)
“The New Democratic Party, which once championed the country’s unions, is now in the hands of a radicalised anti-Israel activist who wants to nationalise grocery sales and shut down oil production.” (03/30/26)
“Imagine you are engaging in the time-honored American tradition of criticizing your local government. You air your complaints on a website you’ve set up to report on city news — and then the city threatens you with legal action and potential jail time, all because some of your comments feature the city’s seal and logos. That’s what happened to Kyle L’Hommedieu and the local watchdog group he chairs, Take Out The Trash Committee of Cape Coral.” (03/30/26)
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by William Harris
“On Feb. 16, students and faculty at the University of North Texas solemnly filed into the Art Building courtyard for a funeral. No person had passed, but principles had departed; the loss they mourned was their own right to speak out free from fear.” (03/30/26)
“The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can’t be forced to deprive customers of Internet access on the basis of an unverified complaint about copyright violation. And can’t be held liable for refusing to kill a customer’s access. … Had the high court ruled otherwise, the consequences would have been dire.” (03/30/26)
“The threat of a city government shutdown loomed large in Chicago in December 2025 as the city faced an end-of-year deadline to close a projected $1.2 billion deficit. To counteract the impact of President Donald Trump’s 2025 tax law, Mayor Brandon Johnson had pitched a budget in October that would require some of the law’s biggest beneficiaries to pay more. His proposed payroll tax — on corporations with more than 1,000 employees — would, according to his administration, amount to less than 0.01% of the Trump tax cuts bestowed on companies like Google and Walmart. But a standoff ensued after a group of Chicago City Council alderpersons — led by Nicole Lee, a former United Airlines executive — announced they would refuse to cross a ’red line’: a new tax on the city’s largest corporations, including United. The group raised the specter of businesses fleeing Chicago in droves, despite a Chicago Sun-Times analysis casting doubt on this claim.” (03/31/26)
