Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“Congratulations, your cancer is cured. But that might be a heart attack.” (03/04/25)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/my-views-of-the-trump-administration
Source: In These Times
by Hamilton Nolan
“In the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, you can learn that the first animals with backbones evolved during the early Cambrian Period, 525 million years ago. Outside of that museum, few backbones can be found in Washington, DC. As you wonder why, muse on the fact that all of the information on life’s history is contained in the museum’s David H. Koch Hall of Fossils. When Koch died in 2019, he had amassed a fortune of $50 billion. There was a time when that was considered real money. Not any more. Downtown D.C. has an ambient glow at night, the light from omnipresent office windows suffusing the dark, bland streets. Yesterday evening, after dinnertime, the lights were still on in many of the cheerless, rectangular government office buildings below Independence Avenue, buildings that the new administration just announced are for sale.” (03/05/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/state-of-the-union-trump-dc-protest
Source: New York Post
“A buxom OnlyFans star who bragged online about having $20 million in cryptocurrency was yanked out of bed by a trio of robbers — who held her hostage, before she opened fire on them and sent them fleeing. Amouranth — whose real name is Kaitlyn Siragusa, 31 — posted about the terrifying Sunday ordeal on X, along with dramatic video. ‘I believe I shot one of them … I’m covered in blood but only some of it is mine,’ she wrote. Amouranth — who has 6.2 million followers on the streaming platform Twitch — shared a clip that reveals the moment she and her husband turned the tables on her attackers.” (03/05/25)
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Blood Meridian: War Is God?” (03/04/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/patrick/blood-meridian-war-is-god-ep-281
Source: The Atlantic
by Roge Karma
“If you were setting out to design a trade policy that would harm the American economy while undermining political support for its leadership, you might come up with something like the tariffs that Donald Trump just imposed on Canada, China, and Mexico. The new tariffs will raise prices for American consumers, weaken the American auto industry, and prompt severe retaliation from America’s top trading partners. … Usually, when elected officials implement foolish policies, they do so because they believe the political upside outweighs the substantive downside. What makes Trump’s tariffs so unusual is that the politics of them also appear to be terrible.” (03/04/25)
Source: New York Times
“China, Canada and Mexico responded angrily on Tuesday to steep new tariffs imposed by President Trump, setting off a day of retaliatory actions, stern warnings and falling stock prices as the potential ramifications of an escalating trade war began to sink in. Stung by the tariffs — an additional 10 percent on imports from China and 25 percent on almost all imports from Canada and Mexico — prompted Canada and China to quickly announce retaliatory actions, including measures that could bar some American products from their markets entirely and hit U.S. farmers particularly hard. … The S&P 500 fell as much as 2 percent, before moderating losses in the afternoon and ending the day down 1.2 percent. The day’s selling was broad based, with roughly 80 percent of the stocks in the S&P 500 lower for the day.” (03/04/25)
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“For the most part, [Elon] Musk is correct to refer to Social Security as a Ponzi scheme. It pays out benefits from newer revenues, not by investing Social Security taxes in profitable ventures. There’s one respect in which it differs from the traditional Ponzi scheme, though. In the ‘private sector,’ Ponzi scammers try to hide what they’re up to. … Social Security, on the other hand, has transparently operated in a facially Ponzi-like manner for decades — and the US Supreme Court publicly declared, 65 years ago, in its ruling on Flemming v. Nestor, that no one is ‘entitled to’ any payout at all …. The sad truth that Musk didn’t bring up is that the victims have known — or at least should have known — they were being scammed since at least as early as 1960.” (03/04/25)
Source: Law & Liberty
“Scrutinizing Christian Nationalism.” (03/04/25)
https://lawliberty.org/podcast/scrutinizing-christian-nationalism/
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“Leaders at an extraordinary meeting of the Arab League in Cairo have endorsed an Egyptian plan for the reconstruction of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip. ‘It has been endorsed,’ said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi told the closing session of the summit, at which he had presented a five-year plan to rebuild Gaza that will cost $53 billion (€50.5 billion), according to draft documents, and allow Palestinians to ‘remain on their land.’ … The Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the discussions and endorsements in Cairo ‘failed to address the realities of the situation’ …. Speaking at the Cairo summit, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he ‘strongly endorsed’ the Arab-led initiative, adding: ‘The UN stands ready to fully cooperate in this endeavor.'” (03/04/25)
https://www.dw.com/en/arab-leaders-un-endorse-egypts-53-billion-gaza-plan/a-71819003
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ron Paul
“Over the weekend, President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk made quite a stir with just two words posted on his social media platform, X. Responding to a post that, ‘It’s time to leave NATO and the UN,’ Musk replied, ‘I agree.’ The comment immediately made the rounds on social media and also on mainstream and alternative media. Was this the Elon Musk who owns X speaking, or was it the Elon Musk who has become one of President Trump’s closest advisors? Does it even matter? Having someone so close to the US president who advocates finally extracting the US from these international organizations is a significant and very positive shift for the United States.” (03/04/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/paul/2025/03/03/suddenly-leaving-nato-is-on-the-table/