The System Nobody Credits for Making Us Kinder

Source: Mindset Shifts
by Barry Brownstein

“Years ago, an MBA student of mine had immigrated from Albania after growing up under Communism. She shared with her classmates what she observed to be the most unexpected mindset difference between Americans and Albanians. She got emotional as she explained how in Albania, charity was rare—caring for anyone other than yourself and your family was uncommon. In contrast, she experienced Americans as generous and caring. My student described how exasperated she felt upon hearing the claim that capitalism leads to a survival-of-the-fittest mentality. In her experience, the opposite was true: under communism, the mindset was not to care for others.” (04/08/26)

https://mindsetshifts.substack.com/p/the-system-nobody-credits-for-making

Thomas L. Knapp

The Winner of Trump’s Iran War? Iran

Source: Informed Comment
by Juan Cole

“Trump announced a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday, April 7, the 39th day of the Israeli-US war on Iran. He depended on Pakistani mediators and a 10-point peace plan put forward by Iran itself. It did not win as in, scoring a knockout. It won in the sense that if I went 12 rounds with Deontay Wilder and was still standing up at the end of it, it would count as a win.” (04/08/26)

https://www.juancole.com/2026/04/how-iran-won.html

Steve Trinward

Heuermann pleads guilty to seven murders in Gilgo Beach serial killings

Sourcxe: CBS News

“Rex Heuermann pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing seven women between 1993 and 2011 and admitted he killed an eighth, in a series of murders that came to be known as the Gilgo Beach serial killings. … The ultimate break in the case when a car registered to Heuermann matched the description a witness gave of the one that picked up victim Amber Costello before she disappeared. Once police made that connection, they started checking cell phone records. Cell phone tower pings connected Heuermann to the victims, prosecutors said. … investigators collected pizza crust Heuermann allegedly tossed in a Manhattan trash can, resulting in what they said was a DNA match.” (04/08/26)

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/live-updates/rex-heuermann-gilgo-beach-long-island-serial-killer-case-guilty-plea/

Thomas L. Knapp

“Just following orders” is not a defense for war crimes

Source: Popular Information
by Judd Legum

“In March 1968, during the Vietnam War, members of the military killed hundreds of civilians in an incident known as the My Lai massacre. In a subsequent court-martial, Lt. William Calley argued that he was simply following orders from superior officers. Calley was convicted, and the U.S. Court of Military Appeals found that conformity with an illegal order is not a valid legal defense. Therefore, any members of the military who help destroy power plants or assist Trump in killing the entire Iranian civilization could be liable for war crimes.” (04/08/26)

https://popular.info/p/just-following-orders-is-not-a-defense

Thomas L. Knapp

Kentucky’s Supreme Court has ordered senators to abandon their oaths of office

Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Caleb O Brown

“A court ordering the legislature to dismiss a duly passed impeachment resolution is not the judiciary defending co-equality. It is the judiciary subordinating a co-equal branch.” (04/08/26)

https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/supreme-court-senators-oaths-of-office/

Thomas L. Knapp

Live mop

Source: Sex and the State
by Cathy Reisenwitz

“Unlike most pride-having, mentally well individuals, I wrote about my anxieties around taking a service-sector job. (Security clearances are a big thing in Huntsville. Recently my dad joked to me that I have at least one qualification: ‘You’re impossible to blackmail!’ he laughed. This is not a challenge.) Among other things, I worried a shit job would somehow preclude me from office work. I imagined a hiring manager smelling the stench of low-skill labor on me before I even walked in.” (04/08/26)

https://cathyreisenwitz.substack.com/p/live-mop

Thomas L. Knapp