Source: Politics Politics Politics
“The Modern Rebirth of Yellow Journalism. Talking Paxton, Cornyn, and Oklahoma (with Reese Gorman).” (03/17/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/the-modern-rebirth-of-yellow-journalism
Source: Unherd
by Elliot Haspel
“I’m something of a rarity: a liberal who is worried about declining birth rates across the West. I look at a rapidly aging and longer-living population with smaller and smaller birth cohorts, and see a future in which social spending buckles under top-heavy entitlement programs; workers struggle in sluggish economies; schools and libraries are forced to close or decay in the face of shrinking tax bases; and the national soul is harmed as more and more individuals fail to realize their desired family size. In recent years, concerns about declining family formation and fertility have spread to some respectable center-Left quarters. Yet liberals like me still find ourselves marooned on a small opinion island. One big reason for that is the work of the biologist Paul R. Ehrlich, who died over the weekend, aged 93. Ehrlich’s anti-birth, anti-human ideology continues to shadow every conversation about demographic change.” (03/18/26)
Source: New York Post
By Michael Goodwin
“Susan Rice, who played leading roles in the Obama and Biden administrations, has broken a Washington code of silence by threatening that anyone who plays ball with the Trump administration will suffer payback the next time Democrats take control. ‘When it comes to the elites, you know, the corporate interests, the law firms, the universities, the media, it’s not going to end well for them,’ she said on a podcast. ‘They’re going to be held accountable by those who come in opposition to Trump and win at the ballot box,’ she added. She is no stranger to dirty tricks, having been involved in the Obama administration’s spying on Trump’s 2016 White House campaign. And she was in the top ranks of the Biden White House when its Justice Department broke with two centuries of history by indicting and trying to convict Trump …” (03/17/26)
Source: Washington Post
“The top Republican on the Senate committee considering Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s nomination to run the Department of Homeland Security criticized his ‘machismo’ Wednesday and said he should ‘explain to the American public why they should trust a man with anger issues’ to lead the agency. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) used his opening statement at the confirmation hearing to launch a withering critique of Mullin (R-Oklahoma) for saying he understood why Paul’s neighbor violently attacked him in 2017. Leaning forward on the dais, Paul chastised Mullin, saying he suffered six broken ribs and had part of his lung removed after the assault …. Paul’s sparring with Mullin set an early tone for the hearing. President Donald Trump nominated Mullin to replace Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem, who is set to leave the position at the end of the month after the president removed her amid growing bipartisan criticism of her oversight of the department.” (03/18/26)
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A Chinese man and his Kenyan associate have been charged with illegally dealing in wildlife species after they were caught trying to smuggle more than 2,000 live queen garden ants out of Kenya. Zhang Kequn was arrested at the international airport in the capital Nairobi last week after authorities discovered the large consignment of ants in his luggage – each of them either stashed in a test tube or wrapped in tissue. On Tuesday, a court in Nairobi heard that Zhang bought the ants from Charles Mwangi at 10,000 Kenyan shillings ($77; £58) for every 100 of them. Kenyan authorities have been warning about of a growing demand for garden ants in Europe and Asia, where collectors keep them as pets. Officials have not said if this were the case for the insects Zhang tried to bring out of the country, but his luggage was bound for China.” (03/18/26)
Source: Liberal Currents
“Trent and Caitlin catch up with employment litigator Joshua Erlich about the difficulties of holding immigration and border patrol agents to account when they break the law.” (03/17/26)
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Josh Blackman
“Paul Ehrlich has died at the old age of 93. I am grateful he lived long enough to witness how many of his doomsday predictions were wrong. But he does not seem to have recognized his faults. As late as 2018, Ehrlich predicted (once again) that the collapse of civilization would happen in decades. How could a person who is consistently wrong about everything maintain his status as a public intellectual? I think the short answer is that Ehrlich told progressives what they wanted to hear and reaffirmed their world view. … There is much to say on Ehrlich’s death, but it may be most useful to connect his writings on population control with Roe v. Wade.” (03/17/26)
https://reason.com/volokh/2026/03/17/paul-ehrlich-helped-create-roe-v-wade/
Source: The Atlantic
by Anne Applebaum
“Donald Trump does not think strategically. Nor does he think historically, geographically, or even rationally. He does not connect actions he takes on one day to events that occur weeks later. He does not think about how his behavior in one place will change the behavior of other people in other places. He does not consider the wider implications of his decisions. He does not take responsibility when these decisions go wrong. Instead, he acts on whim and impulse, and when he changes his mind—when he feels new whims and new impulses — he simply lies about whatever he said or did before. For the past 14 months, few foreign leaders have been able to acknowledge that someone without any strategy can actually be president of the United States.” (03/17/26)
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/03/trump-iran-war-allies/686423
Source: ABC News
“Georgia’s Patriarch Ilia II, the longtime head of the Georgian Orthodox Church and one of the country’s most influential figures, has died. He was 93. Ilia II died late Tuesday after being hospitalized in critical condition with internal bleeding. … Ilia II led the church for nearly five decades. He assumed the leadership role in 1977, when Georgia was part of the Soviet Union and religious practices were restricted, and remained a dominant spiritual and public figure after Georgia regained independence.” (03/18/26)
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Wolff v. Trump — the Parties get SNIPPY (I am NOT A LAWYER, just a commenter).” (03/17/26)