Source: Los Angeles Times
by Matt K Lewis
“Humans can’t perpetually stay on high alert. So when every statement sounds like it could trigger World War III — but then nothing happens — one response is to become inured to the chaos. And once those outrage receptors burn out, we won’t magically reset to normal if and when a serious, competent leader finally emerges. Which raises an uncomfortable question: After years of this high-drama, reality-show version of governance, could a normal, competent politician even hold our attention? For those who aren’t conditioned to crave copious amounts of drama, the other temptation during and after a dramatic rein is to tune out entirely. … Then again, Trump may see American apathy as a feature, not a bug.” (04/10/26)
https://archive.is/cRzIu
Source: Common Dreams
by Kevin Martin
“Reasonable people wonder if it was a coincidence the escalation (and now fragile ceasefire) of the massively unpopular, senseless, illegal US-Israeli war of aggression on Iran occurred while Congress was away from Capitol Hill for two weeks. Maybe so, but speculation aside, it soon won’t matter, as Congress returns to Washington to resume legislative business Tuesday, April 14. In the wake of President Donald Trump’s monstrous nuclear threat to obliterate Iran’s civilization, calls for his removal from office are rising, understandably. Doing so via the 25th Amendment, which would require Vice President JD Vance and the spineless supine sycophants in the Cabinet to certify Trump unfit for office, is the longest of long shots, though US Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a former Constitutional law professor and ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, notes the amendment mentions the ability for Congress to establish its own mechanism to remove an incompetent chief executive.” (04/11/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/congress-end-iran-war
Source: Yascha Mounk
“Andrés Velasco on Oil Shocks and Financial Crises.” (04/11/26)
https://writing.yaschamounk.com/p/andres-velasco
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“The Commerce Department released data on consumption and prices for the month of February today, and the picture is not good. Consumption is slowing and inflation is rising. Also, spending on health care continues to increase rapidly, which is bad news for the affordability gang.” (04/10/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/10/the-news-on-prices-and-consumption-is-not-good/
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Marcos Giansante
“Periods of crisis reveal something unsettling about human behavior. Faced with uncertainty, individuals and institutions alike tend to accept measures that would otherwise be unthinkable. Restrictions on movement, suspension of rights, and centralized decision-making often emerge not gradually, but almost effortlessly, as if they were the natural response to danger. This pattern is frequently interpreted as a political or institutional failure. But such an explanation remains incomplete. Crises do not merely alter policies, they alter the very structure of human action.” (04/10/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/fear-time-preference-and-distortion-human-action
Source: Persuasion
by Shalom Auslander
“We are increasingly powerless. Oligarchs control the media and governments. Our votes may or may not matter. Even if they’re counted, the results may not be accepted. If we take to the streets, we’ll either be shot, tear-gassed, or accused of being paid for, or the media won’t even report on it because Bryon Noem wears fake breasts. We need fuck. Obscenity is all we have. And so to hear the powerful use the words of the powerless drives me fucking insane. Are they just posturing? Of course. Is it performative? Yes. Is it meant to convince us they care? No doubt. But more than anything, to me, it’s a violation. If the government can’t come and take our guns, then they shouldn’t be able to come and take our obscenities.” (04/10/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/swearing-belongs-to-the-people-not
Source: New York Post
“A shooting broke out inside a New Jersey Chick-fil-A Saturday night, leaving multiple injured after a group of men stormed in, went behind the food counter, and opened fire, according to reports. The horror unfolded just before 9 p.m. at the fast food chain’s Route 22 location in Union, which has since been locked down with some workers reportedly still inside as Union County police probe the scene, WABC and CBS New York reported. A man who said his girlfriend works at the restaurant told CBS a group of masked men charged inside and fired multiple shots after forcing their way behind the counter. One employee’s family member said an altercation erupted that left multiple workers injured in the gunfire. ‘I heard the shots,’ a Lyft driver told WABC.” (04/11/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/04/11/us-news/new-jersey-chick-fil-a-shooting-leaves-multiple-injured-police-investigating/
Source: Liberal Currents
“On April 2, 2025, Donald Trump announced ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs which, according to him, would fix the trade deficit and bring American manufacturing roaring back. One year on, Samantha and economic analyst Joey Politano dig in to what actually happened.” (04/11/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/trumps-trade-con-neon-liberalism-69-with-joey-politano/
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Sam Aaron
“As the great Benjamin Franklin once said, ‘in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.’ In South Carolina, there might as well be another — government spending. Over the past decade, one pattern has held constant: the General Fund grows nearly every year, typically outpacing both inflation and population growth.” (04/10/26)
https://fee.org/articles/south-carolina-in-a-spending-spiral/
Source: Mother Jones
by Grace Byron
“After Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed Donald Trump in 2024, Republicans added a woo crowd to their base. Some outsiders found the connection odd. But in retrospect, it’s easy to see why it works. What unites alternative medicine practitioners, organic fanatics, tradwives, and Trump voters isn’t all that strange when you think about it: Each group is obsessed with what’s supposedly ‘natural.'” (04/10/26)
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/04/natural-maha-trans-rights-hormones-measles-rfk-jr-alex-clark/
