Source: Reason
by Eric Boehm

“Tariffs implemented last year by President Donald Trump’s administration are entirely to blame for the recent surge in prices for consumer and household goods. Those tariffs have raised core goods prices by 3.1 percent, according to a new study by a trio of economists at the Federal Reserve. Those higher consumer prices were the result of retailers passing the cost of tariffs along the supply chain. As of February 2026, the tariffs ‘can explain the entirety of the excess inflation in the core goods category since January 2025,’ the economists concluded.” [editor’s note: That the claim comes from the Fed at least somewhat taints its credibility. On the other hand, there’s zero doubt that tariffs raise prices – TLK] (04/13/26)

https://reason.com/2026/04/13/federal-reserve-without-tariffs-inflation-would-have-dropped-to-pre-pandemic-levels-during-2025/

Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger

“After threatening to annihilate Iran with bombs, President Trump and the U.S. national-security establishment have decided to do so with their tried and true foreign policy tool of sanctions — or, in this case, they’re calling it for what it is — a blockade, which, as most everyone recognizes, is an act of war just as much as a bombing spree is. … While Trump, the Pentagon, and the CIA realize that American consumers will continue to suffer the economic consequences of their illegal and unconstitutional (i.e., no congressional declaration of war) war of choice and war of aggression on Iran, the hope is that Iranian officials, faced with the prospect of mass starvation among the Iranian people, will capitulate and unconditionally surrender to U.S. forces prior to the mid-term elections.”(04/13/26)

https://www.fff.org/2026/04/13/annihilating-iranian-civilization-with-a-blockade/

Source: The Nation
by Jeet Heer

“While Donald Trump panders to MAGA, Iranian satire is reaching a global audience.” (04/13/26)

https://www.thenation.com/article/world/iran-lego-videos-trump-hegseth-memes/

Source: Expression
by Alison Riddoch

“Some topics in medicine can be uncomfortable to discuss. But debate and disagreement are signs of conversations worth having, not problems to be avoided. It is only through open discussion that we can meaningfully address questions about ethics, patient care, and medical judgment. When educational institutions censor these conversations, they prevent the very debate necessary for informed decision-making, leaving students less equipped to navigate the ethical and clinical challenges of their chosen fields. Regardless of one’s views on late-term abortion, the ethical questions it raises are a reality that future medical practitioners must confront.” (04/13/26)

https://expression.fire.org/p/how-silencing-medical-debates-puts

Source: The American Conservative
by Scott McConnell

“Policymakers have not understood that the Iran War is more akin to Vietnam than Iraq.” (04/13/26)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-doomed-road-to-tehran/

Source: The Reframe
by AR Moxon

“If you live where I live, which is the United States, your country has been at war overseas for the last many weeks, and also for your entire life. The latest iteration of this war is between a fanatical religious autocracy whose militaristic posture, nuclear ambitions, and zeal for apocalyptic outcomes threatens the future of human life on the planet, and Iran. Yes, despite the best efforts of corporate media propaganda outlets to try to channel the U.S.’s latest needless adventures in overseas civilian-murder into more traditional narratives of American exceptionalism, it has not escaped the attention of most people that the current temporary U.S. president and longtime child rapist Don Trump is utterly deranged.” (04/13/26)

https://www.the-reframe.com/a-confrontation-with-truth