Source: Reuters
“The Russian government is preparing a possible 10% cut to all ‘non-sensitive’ spending in this year’s budget, sources told Reuters, but the final decision will hinge on the sustainability of the oil price rise triggered by the Iran war. … The Finance Ministry told Reuters in comments on this story that it is discussing measures to prioritize budget spending with other ministries. Andrei Gangan, head of the monetary policy department at the central bank, said an optimisation of spending can only be welcomed. The ministry added that decisions will not affect spending on what Russia terms its ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine or social obligations to Russian citizens, but will help to avoid increasing debt and to retain long-term stability of state finances.” (03/11/26)
https://www.reuters.com/business/russia-prepares-10-cut-non-sensitive-spending-2026-sources-say-2026-03-11/
Source: The Dispatch
by Jonah Goldberg
“Let’s state the obvious: We’re at war with Iran. My evidence? Turn on your TV. U.S. forces, working with Israel, killed the supreme leader of Iran and many of his top aides. We sank Iran’s navy and destroyed most of its air force. We bombed thousands of military sites across the region. President Donald Trump, the commander in chief, has demanded ‘unconditional surrender’ from Iran. He routinely refers to this as a ‘war.’ Pete Hegseth, who calls himself the secretary of war, also describes this as a war daily, such as last week when he said, ‘We set the terms of this war.’ The truth that we are at war is so simple that only politicians and lawyers could make it seem complicated. Indeed, a slew of Republican legislators insist we’re not actually at war.” (03/11/26)
https://thedispatch.com/article/iran-war-congressional-republicans-declaration/
Source: The Hill
“A bipartisan group of senators is requesting that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) review the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) handling and release of documents related to the investigation into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a letter obtained by The Washington Post and CNBC. The March 11 letter outlines concerns about redactions in the millions of files released by the DOJ and seeks clarity about how the information was reviewed. … The lawmakers argued the DOJ failed to adequately comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a criticism that has been leveled repeatedly at the Trump administration since the first batch of files was released in December. The law, authored by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and passed almost unanimously by Congress, allowed victims’ identities and information that could jeopardize a federal investigation to be redacted, but not anything based on ’embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity.'” (03/11/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5779038-senators-investigation-doj-epstein-files/
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Who cares about the 175 Iranian girls, who were students at the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school in the town of Minab, Iran, when a U.S. Tomahawk missile slammed into them, killing them all? U.S. national-security state officials? Don’t make me laugh. Despite any public displays of remorse they might express, the truth is that they couldn’t care less about the deaths of those little girls. After all, let’s not forget the obvious: U.S. officials for decades have been targeting those little girls and the rest of the Iranian people with death by starvation and illness through their enforcement of their brutal, vicious, and evil system of economic sanctions.” (03/11/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/03/11/who-cares-about-those-175-dead-little-iranian-girls/
Source: WKYT News
“President Donald Trump visited Kentucky on Wednesday, speaking at Verst Logistics, a contract packaging facility in Hebron. … The visit was in Rep. Thomas Massie’s district, where Trump is endorsing Ed Gallrein in this year’s Republican primary. During his speech, Trump criticized Kentucky congressmen Thomas Massie and Rand Paul. ‘And now Massie, he’s the worst. And I don’t say that, I never hate a guy like this. We call him Rand Paul Jr. — he votes against everything. But at least I like Rand a little bit,’ Trump said. Trump continued: ‘He’s gotta be voted out of office as soon as possible. On the other hand, Ed Gallrein has my complete and total endorsement.'” [editor’s note: Gallrein left the GOP when Trump got its 2016 presidential nomination, but has since returned and become a JD Vance type Trump suck-up – TLK] (03/11/26)
https://www.wkyt.com/2026/03/11/trump-speaks-northern-kentucky/
Source: Semafor
by David Weigel
“Every Democrat agrees that the next election will hinge on which party is better at lowering the cost of living. They’re starting to disagree about how to make their case. For Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., it means a new tax cut that would double the standard deduction and push millions of people off the income tax rolls. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., is preparing to outdo Booker and propose an even larger income tax cut, nearly doubling the number of people who could ignore the IRS. … Critics of Booker and Van Hollen’s plans, including older-line progressives at the Center for American Progress and newer post-Biden players on the left, argue that the party’s mission depends on doing good things with public funds — not pitching taxes as a pox that people need ‘relief’ from.” (03/11/26)
https://www.semafor.com/article/03/11/2026/the-democratic-tax-fight-thats-really-over-copying-republicans
Source: Town Hall
by Gregory Lyakhov
“Few constitutional rights generate more debate in American politics than the right to free speech. The First Amendment protects both freedom of speech and freedom of the press, principles often described as absolute pillars of a democratic society. In reality, the Supreme Court has consistently recognized that these freedoms have limits. Courts have long permitted restrictions based on time, place, and manner, and American law has also recognized boundaries when speech collides with competing interests such as national security, defamation, or public safety. The same principle applies to freedom of the press. Newspapers and journalists enjoy broad constitutional protections, but those protections were never intended to create a system in which the press operates without legal accountability. From the earliest days of the republic, American law recognized that publishers could be held responsible for false statements that damage a person’s reputation.” (03/11/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/gregory-lyakhov/2026/03/11/should-the-supreme-court-reconsider-new-york-times-v-sullivan-n2672636
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Three Norwegian brothers have been arrested on suspicion of a ‘terrorist bombing’ at the US embassy in Oslo that caused minor damage at the weekend but no injuries. The police prosecutor Christian Hatlo told a press conference that the brothers, who were Norwegian citizens of Iraqi origin, had been arrested in Oslo and that police were investigating the motive. … The blast took place at around 1:00am local time on Sunday at the entrance to the embassy’s consular section. American embassies have been placed on high alert in the Middle East owing to US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Several have faced attacks as Tehran responds by targeting industrial and diplomatic facilities.” (03/11/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/11/three-norwegian-brothers-arrested-us-embassy-blast-oslo
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“As Iran War Escalates, Congress Passes Automatic Involuntary Draft Registration.” (03/11/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1AJEmOXOagbJL
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum
“President Donald Trump’s original plan for addressing the purported threat posed by the longstanding U.S. trade deficit, which the Supreme Court rejected in February, involved declaring an imaginary emergency to justify tariffs under a statute that does not authorize them. His backup plan, which he revealed immediately after that decision, avoids the second difficulty but not the first one.” (03/11/26)
https://reason.com/2026/03/11/trumps-new-tariff-plan-still-asserts-a-crisis-that-does-not-exist/