“It has been amazing to watch the stock market gyrating in response to things that aren’t even policy changes — they’re hints and rumors of policy changes. Today’s Washington Post has an article with the headline ‘White House eases tone on tariffs on China but won’t be cutting them soon.’ OK, how much does the change in ‘tone’ tell you about what will actually happen? Why, then, did stocks rise on this non-news? I’d say that the market is like someone caught in an abusive relationship — still in denial, seizing on every hint of decency as evidence that their partner is really changing their ways.” (04/24/25)
“[T]he argument that the Alien Enemies Act is a key tool necessary to carry out mass deportations is absurd on its face. Trump’s proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act applied only to a very tiny percentage of the more than 500,000 Venezuelan unauthorized [sic] immigrants in the country — those who are members of the gang Tren de Aragua (TdA). While there aren’t reliable estimates for the total number of TdA members in the United States, it is perhaps a number in the thousands. The gang MS-13, which is much more well-established in America than Tren de Aragua, has an estimated 10,000 members in the United States according to the Department of Justice. In other words, Trump’s Alien Enemies Act proclamation likely applies to less than 0.1 percent of the entire population of 15 million illegal [sic] immigrants in the United States.” (04/14/25)
“In his historic speech in Munich this year, Vice President JD Vance confronted the Europeans over their attacks on free speech, declaring ‘If you are running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you.’ That is manifestly true, but it appears that there is something that certain Americans can still do for Europe. As the European Union ramps up its long-standing campaign against free speech, it is increasingly calling upon Americans to make the case against both free speech and the United States. Europeans and globalists see the Trump administration as a threat to efforts to create transnational governance systems.” (04/24/25)
“Most of the peace plan for Ukraine now sketched out by the Trump administration is not new, is based on common sense, and has indeed already been tacitly accepted by Kyiv. Ukrainian officials have acknowledged that its army has no chance in the foreseeable future of reconquering the territories now occupied by Russia. Vice President J.D. Vance’s statement that the U.S. plan would ‘freeze the territorial lines … close to where they are today’ simply acknowledges an obvious fact. On the other hand, by reportedly agreeing to a ceasefire along the present front line, Putin has indicated his readiness to abandon Russia’s demand that Ukraine withdraw from the parts of the provinces claimed by Russia that Ukraine still holds. This too is common sense.” (04/24/25)
“The president is counting on that to get away with taking over independent agencies and installing loyalists to advance his crooked plans.” (04/24/25)
“Trump’s sweeping tariffs have been opposed by much of the ruling class because they correctly recognize them as a recipe for recession and economic chaos in their system. … they’re certainly not opposing Trump’s tariffs on behalf of working people. At the same time, tariffs are not a solution for the international working class any more than free trade [sic] and neoliberal globalization have been.” (04/24/25)
“The world can be an ugly place. Russia invaded Ukraine. Sudan is consumed by civil war. Haiti is overrun by violent gangs. Conflict has surged in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Somalia is ravaged by violence. Israel is waging war on Palestinians. In Burma the military regime is committing murder and mayhem. The list goes on …. These and other conflicts and potential conflicts are terrible. Many people, especially in Washington, look to the U.S. for answers. In their view, if only Uncle Sam is willing to “lead,” the lion will be forced to lie down with the lamb. And all will be well. Unfortunately, this strategy, as evidenced by the last three decades, has proved to be disastrous. Fixing the world proved to be well beyond Washington’s capability. Equally important, these battles aren’t Americans’ responsibility.” (04/24/25)
“The constitutional settlement that once governed the United States has broken down. The world that we knew is gone. The second Trump Administration is working their hardest to forge a new settlement: an ugly settlement, based on personal authoritarian power and MAGA culture war. Is Trump II a structural result of a breakdown, or is Trump himself a singular and contingent cause of breakdown? At this point it hardly matters. Something has broken. The world that we were born in no longer exists. It is the task of this essay to ask what broke and what Trump II is trying to put in its place.” (04/24/25)
“A UK court has struck a rare blow for civil liberties. The highly secretive Investigatory Powers Tribunal rejected the British government’s bid last month to repress all public reporting of its attempts to gain ‘backdoor’ access to our private, encrypted data. The legal challenge was brought by Apple, which provides its UK customers with what is known as its Advanced Data Protection, or ADP, service. The ruling has barely been reported on in the British press, but is nonetheless of great significance.” (04/24/25)
“If the US intends to abandon Nato, the best hope of smaller nations is to strengthen their mutual defense alliances, perhaps even creating a unified European defense force. Even then, it would be considerably weaker than the US military. But deterrence doesn’t need military superiority to be successful, it merely needs to be strong enough to inflict considerable pain on its adversaries. Switzerland’s military wasn’t strong enough to defeat Germany in WWII, but they were strong enough so that Germany did not consider it worthwhile to attack.” (04/24/25)
