Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“When we’re kids we play cops and robbers, and watch cartoons about evil criminals being stopped by virtuous crime fighters. Then when we mature we learn that all the most evil people are operating within the laws of our nation, and nobody ever sends them to jail. Ask a child to draw a Bad Guy and they’ll probably draw a bank robber, a thief, a supervillain, or somebody breaking the law in some way, because that’s what young people are trained to believe wickedness looks like in their world. They won’t usually draw a politician, a billionaire, a media mogul, a tech plutocrat, a warmonger, or any of the rich and powerful people who are causing the real suffering in our world. The ones who impose laws upon our society ensuring the continuation of poverty, inequality, war, oppression and tyranny. ” (03/31/26)
“As the war passes the four-week mark, it is abundantly clear Iran will not be the next Venezuela. Operation Absolute Resolve, the code name for the U.S. attack on Venezuela, was a spectacular success in tactical terms. The U.S. achieved its military aim of removing Maduro in just a few hours and suffered zero U.S. service member fatalities and only a handful of injuries, although the operation cost the lives of around 70 Venezuelans and 32 Cuban security forces. While this toll should not be minimized, it pales in comparison to the U.S.–Israeli war on Iran, which as of mid-March has led to at least 3,000 deaths …. Well over a dozen countries are now involved, and the war threatens to bring the global economy to a halt due to the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a pivotal passage for oil, liquid natural gas, fertilizer, and other crucial commodities.” (03/31/26)
“Who has power over your online speech? Ask most Americans that question, and they are likely to name tech giants like Meta, our elected representatives or federal agencies. Hopefully, some would mention our Constitution. But few would agree to the idea that unelected bureaucrats in Europe can control what Americans see or say online. Yet that is increasingly a reality — and one that Elon Musk and X are challenging with a new lawsuit at the General Court of the European Union.” (03/31/26)
“I’m writing this piece well into President Donald Trump’s new war with Iran, which, with the help of Israel, has already killed more than 2,000 civilians, including 175 schoolgirls and staff; displaced some 3.2 million people; and is costing the American taxpayer at least one billion dollars a day. All of which is tragically reminiscent of the last time a Republican president led the U.S. into a war on a river of lies and greed. I’m thinking, of course, about George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Weapons that don’t exist. Threats to this country that aren’t real. Liberation for a people that the U.S. will never win over. Freedom for women about whom nobody in power cares a jot. A war that will bring total victory in only a few days or weeks. All this we heard in 2003, and all this we are hearing again now.” (03/31/26)
“America is three months away from the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and President Donald Trump is claiming it as his own, with Semiquincentennial dollar coins featuring his image and dollar bills bearing his signature. But while Trump exploits America’s birthday for further self-aggrandizement, he should read the document we are ostensibly celebrating. If he bothers, he will find the king from whom America’s founders were declaring independence was behaving in very familiar ways.” (03/31/26)
“By hiking its hotel tax to 19 percent, Chicago is funding marketing meant to draw visitors — but higher costs are likely to deter the very tourists it hopes to attract.” (03/31/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Lucas Peters
“The ongoing destruction of the world’s largest natural-gas reservoir at South Pars and Qatar has produced exactly what Austrian economics predicts: sudden, irreplaceable capital destruction followed by a violent supply shock. Oil has spiked, European gas prices have jumped, and the Strait of Hormuz is now a flashpoint. Everyday Americans already face higher gasoline, heating, trucking, and grocery costs; businesses confront malinvestment cascades; and central planners are salivating over the opportunity to impose rationing, digital IDs, CBDCs, and ‘energy lockdowns.’ This is not mere geopolitics; it is state warfare smashing the capital structure and then using the resulting artificial scarcity to expand control. From a strict libertarian and Austrian standpoint, two interlocking ideas cut through the chaos and point to the only workable solution today: immediate, total disentanglement from the conflict, and uncompromising reliance on free-market prices, sound money, and voluntary exchange instead of any form of central planning.” (03/31/26)
“The US and Israeli war has, from its very beginning, violated both US domestic and international law. The legal consequences go beyond specific violations. Washington and Tel Aviv’s breaches of the United Nations Charter and other legal frameworks also undermine the very foundations of the rule of law. Even while international legal institutions too often lack sufficient capacity to enforce their decisions, they still provide a crucial framework for protest, for pressure on individual governments, and for the hope of a future world where the rule of law is paramount. Now, however, that future is in more danger than any other time in recent memory. Right now, Iranian civilians are paying the highest price. But the collapse of the rule of law makes the future more dangerous for everyone else, too.” (03/31/26)
