“Managing Rand’s estate would entail more than handling her personal property. By the end of her life, her philosophy of objectivism — which proclaims the glory of individualism and the evils of altruism — had become a full-blown movement, and it was now [Leonard] Peikoff’s job to guide it forward. … With Rand no longer around to defend herself from critics, Peikoff redoubled his efforts to protect her. In 1989, he excommunicated a prominent objectivist named David Kelley — he’d read a Kipling poem at Rand’s burial ceremony — for the sin of speaking to a group of libertarians. (Despite Rand’s reputation, she was opposed to the libertarians of her time, dismissing them as anti-intellectual anarchists.)” (03/30/25)
“Globally, the list of major spacefaring nations — China and Russia preeminent alongside the U.S., with India, a country in an advanced stage of democratic backsliding, Japan, and the European Union in a second tier — does not inspire confidence that space policies and practices will be shaped with particular concern for liberal and democratic values. One can easily imagine a future in which authoritarian nations — or ones experiencing democratic backsliding — divide space into spheres of influence, much as they are prone to do on Earth. Perhaps they would designate particular celestial territories, orbits, or activities as the rightful province of one power or another. A private-sector space economy might fit into this crabbed scenario, but it might be dominated by well-connected companies that are willing to toe an autocratic line.” 903/30/25)
Source: In These Times
by Frederick Clarkson & Ben Lorber
“On October 12, 2024, tens of thousands of people thronged outside the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., for what organizers called the ’A Million Women’ rally. The event was staged by a clutch of leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), a dynamic and fast-growing Christian Right movement that has influenced hundreds of millions of people around the world, including tens of millions in the United States. Timed to coincide with the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the themes of the gathering included winning Christian ’dominion’ over political institutions, mobilizing voters and — in keeping with the movement’s focus on the idea of spiritual warfare — exorcizing demons from the Capitol. But, although what limited media attention the event drew didn’t cover it, another major purpose was rallying support for Israel.” (03/31/25)
“The notion that America could annex the sovereign territory of Denmark, a longstanding ally and a founding member of NATO, is so absurd that most people have so far refused to take it seriously. And it is certainly true that Trump loves to troll his political opponents, beckoning them into the trap of denouncing his half-joking pronouncement in overly moraline terms. But over the last days and weeks, the Trump administration has signaled in every way possible that it really does mean to expand American control over the Arctic island. And while a forcible American annexation of Greenland would have disastrous consequences — both for America and for the world — the prospect of such an action is now far less remote than has widely been assumed. It is time to take seriously the possibility of an American annexation of Greenland.” (03/30/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The US launched 65 airstrikes in 24 hours in Yemen, and then Trump’s intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard tweeted, ‘President Trump IS the President of Peace. He is ending bloodshed across the world and will deliver lasting peace in the Middle East.’ These freaks have no connection with reality. … I saw a video the other day of a father cradling the decapitated head of his son from an airstrike in Gaza, and I’m told I’m a terrorist supporter if I criticize the people who decapitated him. … The word ‘terrorist’ is a meaningless tool of imperial narrative control. Want to bomb some people? Designate them as terrorists. Want to silence protesters and dissidents? Say they’re supporting terrorists. Want sweeping surveillance powers? Say you need them to fight terrorism.” (03/30/25)
“Every time Trump issues, or federal agencies attempt to implement, an unconstitutional executive order — one or both of which happen on a near-daily basis — journalists and pundits want to know: First, will the courts order a halt to the executive branch’s latest roughshod running over of the US Constitution? Second, if the courts do so rule, will the administration comply with those rulings? I find that line of questioning rather odd, since history’s already answered it for us many times over the Constitution’s 230-odd years of supposed rule. The answer to both questions is ‘maybe, maybe not.'” (03/30/25)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Will Ogilvie Vega de Seoane
“Alexis de Tocqueville didn’t journey across the United States to write a travelogue — he set out to craft a mirror. He wasn’t interested in landscapes or monuments. He wanted to understand democracy not as an abstract theory but as a living, breathing reality. He wanted to see its people — their passions, their dreams, the way they lived, worked, and shaped their own future. But more than all of that, he wanted them to see themselves. His concern wasn’t that democracy would collapse overnight in a violent coup. Nor did he fear the rise of radical ideologies, from the left or the right, as much as something far more insidious: the slow suffocation of freedom under layers of bureaucracy, endless rules, the tyranny of the majority, and growing public apathy. He saw it coming. And, in many ways, we’re living it today.” (03/28/25)
“Trump has always known how to craft a reality show. But behind the curtain, there is still a small, bitter, vengeful, incompetent man, surrounded by third-rate sycophants and hacks with no coherent strategy for economic or political success, no serious experience in government, and a record of making enemies of everyone and losing long-loyal friends. A president who uses ancient laws and police-state tactics shows not only that he is a degenerate and a disgrace, but that he is too weak to do things the right way; he pushes executive orders because he doesn’t have the votes in Congress to achieve anything lasting …” (03/28/25)
“‘Compared to what?’ That should be the first response of any economist worth his or her salt if asked to opine on a specific public policy. For example, should we err on the side of disease prevention and lockdown an entire country despite devastating social and economic consequences? Or should we live with the risk of the disease? That is what economics is supposed to do well: compare alternatives based on tradeoffs. Experts in various policy realms often lack the perspective to consider the consequences of focusing exclusively on their narrow fields. Health experts focus on health, sometimes without consideration of other costs, particularly down the road. Of course, this assumes that the experts themselves have relevant, rigorously tested, and accurate prescriptions to handle public policy challenges.” (03/28/25)
“When we finally learn the full melodrama of the so-called Signal 1-2 day ‘scandal’ of inviting a leftwing, Trump-despising, Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg onto a supposedly secure conference list, involving most of the top Trump security officials, lots of questions need asking and answering. Most importantly, who exactly had Goldberg’s private number, and ostensibly (in error [?]) could have possibly inserted it into the cleared list of participants in the discussions? Why Goldberg, rather than some random person of some 345 million Americans? So why in the world would any top Trump officials or their staffers ever even have Goldberg’s private contact information, given his quite public record of: a) fabricating stories with unnamed sources, and b) suffering from a decade of chronic Trump derangement syndrome? Did Goldberg know the mechanisms that had prompted and continued his stealthy presence on the secure discussions?” (03/29/25)
