Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander

“Every few weeks, a Trump administration official comes up with an insane plan that would devastate some American industry, region, or demographic. Maybe an Undersecretary of the Interior decides that aluminum is ‘woke’ and should be banned. … You’ve got to find someone who’s supported Trump until now, built up a reputation for loyalty, but this one time they finally snap and cash in some of their favors and agree to speak out. Sometimes it’s because they’re an aluminum magnate themselves and this would destroy their business. Other times they’re just a think tank guy or influencer who happens to be really knowledgeable on this one issue and willing to take a stand on it. By such people is the world preserved.” (03/18/26)

https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/support-your-local-collaborator

Source: Semafor
by David Weigel

“Five years ago, when pro-Israel groups began spending to beat left-wing candidates, their raison d’etre didn’t really become an issue in their races. UDP and the Democratic Majority for Israel didn’t focus on the Jewish state in their advertising. Progressives, winning or losing to them, didn’t talk about it either. But nowadays, unconditional US aid to Israel is deeply unpopular with Democratic voters, who are more likely than ever to sympathize with Palestinians over the Jewish state. That’s an existential threat to AIPAC. Why hasn’t it translated clearly into more primary victories for critics of the Netanyahu government?” (03/18/26)

https://www.semafor.com/article/03/18/2026/why-aipac-shouldnt-get-too-excited-about-its-illinois-primary-strategy

Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger

“When I read what the feds did to secure the conviction of Ian Freeman for money-laundering, I was absolutely shocked. What they did perfectly exemplified the moral rot that exists within the federal criminal-justice system that operates within the statist box. Moreover, what is equally shocking to me is what appeared to me to be an utter lack of deep moral outrage by the federal judges in the case, both at the district-court level and the appellate-court level.” (03/18/26)

https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/the-federal-punishment-of-an-innocent-man-part-2/

Source: The UnPopulist
by Gabriel Schoenfeld

“In our contemporary era, there have been a slew of controversies surrounding pardons, often issued by lame duck presidents. Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon is the most famous of these, but there is also George H.W. Bush’s pardon of the Iran-Contra defendants, Bill Clinton’s pardon of the financier Marc Rich, and George W. Bush’s commutation of I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby (subsequently granted a full pardon by Trump). Joe Biden does not escape scrutiny and judgment. … Is there anything that can be done to help us exit our pardon dystopia? As Trump’s second term proceeds, things are likely to get far worse.” (03/18/26)

https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/the-constitutions-sweeping-pardon

Source: Washington Times
by Gary Anderson

“My first official act as the Marine Corps officer instructor at the Naval ROTC at Vanderbilt University in 1979 was to blow up a classroom. My predecessor had warned me that I would be teaching the evolution of warfare at the death hour (1 p.m.) after lunch, when the students were drowsy. He recommended an ‘attention getter.’ That day, I was lecturing on ancient Greek naval warfare and decided to use a cardboard scale model of a period warship to demonstrate the early use of fuel-air explosives. Frankly, chemistry had never been one of my strong points, and I apparently used more white gas in the mix than was needed. The resulting explosion blew the door open and set off the fire alarms.” [editor’s note: I had assumed the piece would be about the idiotic attempt to make the Corps no longer a complete self-contained force, but no, it’s another one of those “a noun, a verb, DEI” rants – TLK] (03/18/26)

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/mar/17/us-marine-corps-destroyed-within/