Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“As my colleague Bob Kuttner explains, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tim Scott (R-SC) have moved through a bipartisan housing bill supported by President Trump that if signed would represent the most (only?) progress of the second Trump term. The bill passed 89-10, reflecting awareness that housing affordability is a critical subject to loosen public anger over an economy that doesn’t work for most of them. The bill mostly adds funding to build housing, tackles land use rules, and lifts restrictions on manufactured housing that could lower costs of construction. But on Wednesday, there was apparently only one provision worth talking about on the shambling mound that used to be Twitter: a requirement that investment companies that build single-family homes in order to rent them out (a strategy that has advanced over the past decade known as ‘build-to-rent’) and have over 350 properties sell them after seven years of rent collection.” (03/13/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/03/13/brian-schatz-comfort-with-big-money/
Source: ABC News
“North Korea on Saturday fired about 10 ballistic missiles toward the eastern sea, South Korea’s military said, staging its own show of force as the rival South conducts a joint military exercise with the United States. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired from an area near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, but didn’t immediately say how far they flew. Japan’s Defense Ministry said the weapons landed in waters outside the country’s exclusive economic zone. The South’s Joint Chiefs said the military has stepped up surveillance and is maintaining readiness against possible additional launches while closely sharing information with the U.S. and Japan.” (03/14/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/north-korea-fires-10-missiles-sea-show-force-131061822
Source: Liberal Currents
“Caitlin and Trent talk with Aurelien Mondon about his recent political science paper outlining the limitations of considering all politics through the lens of ‘polarization.'” (03/13/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/political-polarization-across-the-u-s-a-and-europe-half-the-answer-71-with-aurelien-mondon/
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Outbursts Over Oil Shock Go Off Rails as His Aides Quietly Panic.” (03/13/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/207723/trump-outbursts-oil-shock-go-off-rails-aides-quietly-panic
Source: CounterPunch
by John Feffer
“World War III will not start with an exchange of nuclear weapons. It won’t ignite from the jostling of great empires. Nor will it result from a single madman (or two) bent on taking over the world. It won’t be any of those things because World War III has already begun. The current global conflagration began not with the joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran. It began with the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. This blatant land grab was not only a massive war crime. Russian President Vladimir Putin also had another target in mind: the rules-based order.” (03/13/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/03/13/its-already-a-world-war/
Source: Independent Institute
by Phillip W Magness
“[F]or all its posturing as a conservative sea change, postliberal theory has more in common with Bush-era foreign policy than it cares to admit (as we are now seeing in Iran). The main intellectual link comes in the person of Carl Schmitt, an eccentric German legal theorist from the early 20th century. Once a leading conservative academic figure in the Weimar Republic, Schmitt fell into disrepute after 1933 when he joined the Nazi Party and wrote the legal justifications for Hitler’s seizure of power. Schmitt’s involvement with Nazism rightfully wrecked his postwar academic career, yet he managed to retain a stream of academic interlocutors who saw flashes of brilliance, or at least provocative insight, in his writings on constitutional theory.” (03/13/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/03/13/the-nazi-philosopher-behind-the-postliberal-right/
Source: Law & Liberty
by Titus Techera
“For all its expensive artistry, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein adaptation lacks the moral core that would make it a truly great film.” (03/13/26)
https://lawliberty.org/the-monster-and-the-critics/
Source: Le Monde [France]
“Jürgen Habermas, whose work on communication, rationality and sociology made him one of the world’s most influential philosophers and a key intellectual figure in his native Germany, has died. He was 96. Habermas’[s] publisher, Suhrkamp, said he died on Saturday, March 14, in Starnberg, near Munich. Habermas frequently weighed in on political matters over several decades. His extensive writing crossed the boundaries of academic and philosophical disciplines, providing a vision of modern society and social interaction. His best-known works included the two-volume ‘Theory of Communicative Action.'” (03/14/26)
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/03/14/jurgen-habermas-influential-german-philosopher-dies-at-96_6751441_4.html
Source: The Atlantic
“Why Is It So Hard to Make a Good Weather App?” (03/13/26)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2026/03/why-is-it-so-hard-to-make-a-good-weather-app/686362
Source: New York Times
“Trump Removes Sanctions on Russian Oil, and Chatbots Want Your Health Records.” (03/13/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAwbJochptM