Source: The Bulwark
by Mona Charen
“If you’re not critical of Trump’s war in Iran, you probably haven’t been paying attention.” (03/31/26)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-iran-hawks-are-losing-their-heads-war-trump
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“A Malaysian court on Tuesday ordered jailed former prime minister Najib Razak to pay US$1.3 billion to a former unit of scandal-tainted state fund 1MDB, state media reported. The Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that Najib was liable for losses incurred by SRC International, a former subsidiary of sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, state news agency Bernama reported. High Court judge Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin ruled that Najib breached his fiduciary duties, abused his position as prime minister, and misappropriated SRC funds for personal gain, Bernama reported. … Najib has been in prison since August 2022 after being found guilty of corruption and money laundering over funds misappropriated from SRC in a separate case.” (03/31/26)
Source: The Dispatch
“How Far Will Trump Go in Cuba?” (03/31/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/dispatch-podcast/how-far-will-trump-go-in-cuba/
Source: Cobden Centre
by Tim Worstall
“The point of tariffs is not to make those things made by evil Johnny Foreigner more expensive. It is to enable the domestic capitalists to raise the prices of their domestically made goods: ‘HS2 firm says new steel tariffs will ‘exacerbate’ cost pressures for UK construction industry’ Doubling tariffs on imported steel will raise cost of the metal when Iran war is already inflating steel and concrete prices This is not an error nor a happenstance: it’s the whole and precise point of the act itself. … So, let’s not do that. Let’s not make everything in the country more expensive just to benefit that fraction of the 1%.” (03/31/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/03/but-this-is-the-very-point-of-tariffs/
Source: Common Dreams
by Steve Kaagan
“The numbers from No Kings protests made a big splash. Roughly 8 million people declared their opposition to the present administration this past weekend in over 3100 cities and towns across the nation. But in the long run the impact of quality will be greater than quantity. Beyond the splash, the values expressed in the protests will continue to ripple through our collective consciousness. Here are some of those ripples that will spread out and energize resistance efforts in the weeks, months, and years ahead. Harmony and Equality: Those who showed up on the streets joined as one, all equal, no person better or more entitled than the other. Their participation loudly reaffirmed cherished democratic values as expressed in the First Amendment and human values anchored in the world’s religions.” (03/31/26)
Source: SFGate
“The founder of a Texas megachurch who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a child in the 1980s was released Tuesday after serving six months in an Oklahoma jail. Robert Preston Morris, 64, was released just after midnight, said Osage County Sheriff’s Capt. Matt Clark. Morris pleaded guilty last year to five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child as part of a plea agreement under which he received a 10-year suspended sentence with the first six months to be served in the Osage County Jail. … Morris was the senior pastor of Gateway Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Southlake, where he led one of the nation’s largest megachurches until June 2024 when — faced with the victim’s allegations — he resigned. He was indicted last year by an Oklahoma grand jury.” (03/31/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/texas-megachurch-pastor-robert-morris-is-free-22162182.php
Source: Crooked Media
“SHOCKING GOP Plan to Fund War with Health Care Cuts.” (03/31/26)
https://audioboom.com/posts/8880856-shocking-gop-plan-to-fund-war-with-health-care-cuts
Source: Washington Post
by Jim Geraghty
“On Friday, the Iranians destroyed a U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry aircraft at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. The drone and missile attack on the base also injured 12 U.S. soldiers. This was foreseeable — and in fact foreseen. Yet if President Donald Trump was concerned about this predicted threat, he hid it well. … perhaps the Iranians just got lucky with the shot that destroyed the E-3 Sentry in Saudi Arabia. But since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, numerous reports have indicated that the Russians are helping Iran with their targeting of U.S. forces.” (03/31/26)
Source: The Dispatch
by Greg Lukianoff & Adam Goldstein
“Everybody understands, at least instinctively, why it matters when a president threatens the press. People also more or less understand why it matters when he menaces universities, museums, or other cultural institutions. Those are visible targets, and they read as political in an obvious way.
Attacks on law firms land differently. Part of that is because many major firms are hardly natural objects of public sympathy. Most everyday Americans won’t shed many tears for institutions associated with enormous hourly rates, corporate power, and a profession that people tend to joke about until they need a lawyer. … But that perception is exactly why this threat is so easy to underestimate.” (03/31/26)
Source: Mother Jones
by Pema Levy & Isabela Dias
“Meet the conservative legal minds telling the Supreme Court to side with Trump.” [editor’s note: By definition, a “conservative legal mind” would support birthright citizenship. Birthright citizenship is what the US has always had, and what the US Constitution has unambiguously mandated for the last 150 years. Only “living constitutionalists” (usually calling themselves “progressives”) could hold otherwise – TLK] (03/31/26)