Source: Washington Monthly
by Bill Scher
“Donald Trump is poised to raise taxes on imported goods without coming close to offsetting them with other cuts.” (04/01/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/04/01/the-republican-party-is-no-longer-the-party-of-tax-cuts/
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“Everyone in politics is against waste, fraud and abuse … until they find themselves in a position to do something about it, then they go radio silent. They talk a good game, but that’s it. Action, in politics at least, is a difficult commodity to come by. Rather than waiting for everyone to agree, or even some from the other side to come on board, Republicans need to strike hard while they can and gut as much of the garbage in government as they can, starting with National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. Isn’t it odd how so many people get rich off taxpayer money? ” [editor’s note: Given that taxpayer support is only ONE PERCENT of “public airwaves” budgeting, it is hardly going to “kill” them, but the sentiment is correct – SAT] (04/01/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2025/04/01/time-to-kill-npr-and-pbs-n2654757
Source: New York Post
“Capitol Police arrested a staffer for Sen. Cory Booker who was carrying a gun Monday evening, as the New Jersey Democrat kicked off a marathon filibuster in the upper chamber. ‘Yesterday afternoon a Member of Congress led an IDed staff member around security screening at the Hart Senate Office Building. Later that evening, outside the Senate Galleries, the IDed staff member — who is a retired law enforcement officer — told our officers he was armed,’ a rep for US Capitol Police said in a statement Tuesday. ‘The staff member, 59-year-old Kevin A. Batts of New Jersey, was arrested for Carrying a Pistol Without a License. All weapons are prohibited from Capitol Grounds, even if you are a retired law enforcement officer, or have a permit to carry in another state or the District of Columbia.'” (04/01/25)
Source: Cato Institute
by Colin Grabow
“The U.S. economy is staring down the barrel of a tax increase to the tune of several hundred billion dollars. If the Trump administration follows through with its threats (never a sure thing), we will this week see the imposition of so-called reciprocal tariffs to ostensibly match the burden placed by other countries on U.S. exports. As President Donald Trump and administration officials tell it, the move is rooted in a desire to stop foreign countries from ripping Americans off through unfair trade. But such claims warrant considerable skepticism. The administration’s words and actions make it increasingly clear that this reciprocity talk is just a fig leaf for higher tariffs. They aren’t a means to an end but the end themselves. And unless Congress acts − an unlikely proposition − American businesses and consumers alike will suffer.” (03/31/25)
https://www.cato.org/commentary/brace-impact-america-trumps-tariffs-will-soon-hit-bank-accounts
Source: Politico
“New York is on the verge of becoming the next state to ban cellphone use during school hours — a victory for its Democratic governor who has been pushing to drastically limit the ‘endless disruptions from social media’ on students. Gov. Kathy Hochul and lawmakers are hashing out the parameters of a full-day ‘bell-to-bell’ restriction — one of the most sweeping issues the governor has championed during her tenure. Legislative leaders signed onto the thorny proposal this year, and are awaiting policy language as they work past Monday’s deadline to pass the state’s $252 billion budget.” (04/01/25)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/01/new-york-cellphone-ban-schools-00262427
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“The 2024 Election Madness Within ‘Fight’ (with Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes).” (03/31/25)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/the-2024-election-madness-within
Source: The Peaceful Revolutionist
by David S D’Amato
“It is almost axiomatic in political philosophy that a stable and enduring social order requires the state, a powerful ultimate authority, exclusive within a given territory, to which all other social institutions must be subordinated. Across the ideological landscape, it is largely taken for granted that the division of power within a single territory opens the way to social confusion, disorder, and violence. The state, the leviathan, is the necessary paternal figure, endowed with the power to make the rest of the social order fall in line under a uniform set of standards imposed from on high. But what if roughly the opposite is true — if social vitality, cohesion, and accountability thrive best in an environment decidedly without a final arbiter, a court of last resort, or a top boss who can dispose of all questions for us?” (03/31/25)
https://dsdamato.substack.com/p/colin-wards-topless-federations
Source: SFGate
“Top minds at the world’s largest atom smasher have released a blueprint for a much bigger successor that could vastly improve research into the remaining enigmas of physics. The plans for the Future Circular Collider — a nearly 91-kilometer (56.5-mile) loop along the French-Swiss border and below Lake Geneva — published late Monday put the finishing details on a project roughly a decade in the making at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The FCC would carry out high-precision experiments in the mid-2040s to study ‘known physics’ in greater detail, then enter a second phase — planned for 2070 — that would conduct high-energy collisions of protons and heavy ions that would ‘open the door to the unknown,’ said Giorgio Chiarelli, a research director at Italy’s National Institute of Nuclear Physics.” (04/01/25)
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Josh Stylman
“The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has long portrayed itself as America’s humanitarian aid organization, delivering assistance to developing nations. With an annual budget of nearly $40 billion and operations in over 100 countries, it represents one of the largest foreign aid institutions in the world. But recent disclosures reveal its true nature as something far more systematic: an architect of global consciousness.” (03/31/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/usaid-and-the-architecture-of-perception/
Source: In These Times
by Adam Johnson & Sarah Lazare
“President Trump’s unprecedented crackdown on constitutionally-protected speech has solicited crickets from key Democratic Party leaders and self-described ’free speech’ advocates in the U.S. media. A review of public statements from influential pundits and Democratic Party leadership shows that while there has been a smattering of (heavily qualified) support for Mahmoud Khalil and other Palestine solidarity activists who are being deported or threatened with deportation, most have been muted as Trump continues his war on free speech. Particularly notable is the absence of meaningful criticism from major Democratic Party luminaries such as former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, former Secretary of State, former Democratic nominee for president — and Columbia lecturer — Hillary Clinton, none of whom have commented on the Khalil case or any of the other individuals the Trump administration is kidnapping off the streets.” (04/01/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/democratic-party-free-speech-trump-deportation-mahmoud-khalil