- VA: Cops swarm CIA HQ over report of man waving gun
Source: New York Post
“Heavily armed police swarmed CIA headquarters in Virginia on Wednesday after a man with a gun reportedly started making threats outside. The suspect allegedly pulled out a gun and pointed it at the building in McLean on Wednesday morning, ABC7 reported, citing a law enforcement official. No shots were fired and no injuries have been reported so far, according to the official. Fairfax County Police confirmed they were assisting with a ‘barricade incident’ at the agency’s headquarters but didn’t release further details.” (03/19/25)
- Judge blocks Trump regime order banning transgender people from military
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“A federal judge blocked enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender people from military service on Tuesday, the latest in a string of legal setbacks for his sweeping agenda. US District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C., ruled that Trump’s order to exclude transgender troops from military service likely violates their constitutional rights. She was the second judge of the day to rule against the administration, and both rulings came within hours of an extraordinary conflict as Trump called for impeaching a third judge who temporarily blocked deportation flights, drawing a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts.” (03/19/25)
- Report: Almost 70,000 South Africans interested in US asylum
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Close to 70,000 South Africans have expressed interest in moving to the US following Washington’s offer to resettle people from the country’s Afrikaner community, a business group has said. The South African Chamber of Commerce in the USA (Saccusa) said its website received tens of thousands of registrations from those seeking more information. In a February executive order, President Donald Trump said Afrikaners — descendants of mainly Dutch settlers who arrived in the 17th Century — could be admitted as refugees as they were ‘victims of unjust racial discrimination.’ Relations between the US and South Africa have become increasingly strained since Trump became president in January. Saccusa said that in a ‘pivotal step,’ it has handed the list of interested individuals to the US embassy in Pretoria. An embassy official confirmed to the BBC that it had received the list.” (03/19/25)
- Turkey: Regime Abducts Erdogan’s Main Rival in What Opposition Calls “Coup”
Source: US News & World Report
“Turkish authorities detained President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival on Wednesday on charges including corruption and aiding a terrorist group in what the main opposition party called ‘a coup against our next president.’ The move against Ekrem Imamoglu, the popular mayor of Istanbul, caps a months-long legal crackdown on opposition figures across the country which has been criticised as a politicised attempt to hurt their electoral prospects. Turkey’s lira currency crashed 12% to an all-time low of 42 to the dollar in response, underscoring worries over the eroding rule of law in the major emerging market and NATO member country that Erdogan has run for 22 years.” (03/19/25)
- European telescope studying dark universe unveils new images of distant galaxies
Source: SFGate
“A European space telescope launched to explore the dark universe has released a trove of new data on distant galaxies. The images and other information released Wednesday by the European Space Agency’s Euclid observatory includes a preview of three cosmic areas that the mission will spy in finer detail, mapping the shapes and locations of galaxies billions of light years away. A light year is nearly 6 trillion miles. The observatory, which blasted off in 2023 from Florida, is creating a cosmic atlas to gain clues about how our ever-expanding universe works and how mysterious forces called dark energy and dark matter may play a role. The elusive duo make up most of our universe, but researchers don’t know exactly what they are. Over six years of observing, the mission hopes to capture glamour shots of over 1.5 billion galaxies.” (03/19/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/european-telescope-studying-the-dark-universe-20229848.php
- Radio Free Europe sues Trump regime over funds termination
Source: Axios
“Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is suing the Trump administration, Kari Lake, the U.S. Agency for Global Media and USAGM acting CEO Victor Morales over moves to terminate the news organization’s federal funding. The lawsuit that was filed Tuesday says ‘Congress has appropriated funds specifically for RFE/RL’ and ‘expressly directed’ the USAGM to make these available to the outlet in the form of annual grants. ‘That agency is now refusing to disburse the appropriated funds on the basis that it is ending its ‘non-statutory’ functions,’ but funding Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty ‘is a statutory function’ of the agency, argues the suit that was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C.” (03/19/25)
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/19/radio-free-europe-sues-trump-administration-kari-lake
- Ukrainian, Russian forces exchange attacks overnight after Trump-Putin call
Source: CNN
“Ukraine and Russia exchanged aerial assaults overnight, just hours after the Kremlin agreed to temporarily halt attacks on energy infrastructure targets, but stopped short of signing off on a broader ceasefire sought by the US. President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump spoke by phone on Tuesday, with the Russian leader not agreeing to the 30-day truce that Trump has endorsed and Ukraine has agreed to. The White House said a narrower pause on attacking energy targets would go into effect followed by negotiations over a broader ceasefire. Further talks are expected to be held Sunday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff told Fox News on Tuesday.” (03/19/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/19/europe/ukraine-russia-drone-attacks-intl-hnk/index.html
- JFK assassination files released, sending history buffs hunting for new clues
Source: Associated Press
“More than 63,000 pages of records related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy were released Tuesday following an order by President Donald Trump, many without the redactions that had confounded historians for years and helped fuel conspiracy theories. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration posted to its website roughly 2,200 files containing the documents. … The National Archives said on its website that in accordance with the president’s directive, the release would encompass ‘all records previously withheld for classification.’ But [Jefferson Morley, vice president of the Mary Ferrell Foundation] said what was released Tuesday did not include two-thirds of the promised files, any of the recently discovered FBI files or 500 Internal Revenue Service records.” (03/19/25)
https://apnews.com/article/jfk-assassination-files-release-trump-3e8f31e18468d96b53210572e0992c07
- Palestine: Israeli forces launch fresh Gaza strikes, killing at least 13
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“At least 13 people have reportedly been killed in air strikes across Gaza overnight, after Israel said it was resuming combat operations in the Palestinian territory. Two civilians were killed and five others injured when an Israeli drone hit a tent near the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reports, citing Red Crescent medics. Israel’s army said it had targeted what it called a Hamas military site from where the group was preparing to fire into Israel. Vessels controlled by Hamas were also hit, the army said. It comes after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said fighting would resume ‘in full force,’ adding: ‘This is just the beginning.'” (03/19/25)
- Dow ends 260 points lower, Nasdaq and S&P 500 tumble ahead of Fed rate decision
Source: MarketWatch
“U.S. stocks finished lower on Tuesday, with technology companies dragging down the market ahead of the release of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 260.32 points, or 0.6%, to end at 41,581.31, according to FactSet data. The S&P 500 tumbled 60.46 points, or 1.1% to finish at 5,614.66. The Nasdaq Composite slumped 304.55 points, or 1.7%, ending at 17,504.12. All three major stock indexes failed to extend their recovery rally into a third day, resuming their sharp selloff on Tuesday despite a batch of stronger-than-expected economic data.” (03/18/25)
- SpaceX Dragon successfully splashes down, returning NASA astronauts back to Earth
Source: ABC News
“The two NASA astronauts whose eight-day stopover on the International Space Station (ISS) turned into a nine-and-a-half-month mission are finally back on Earth. On Tuesday at 5:57 pm EDT, SpaceX Dragon Freedom splashed down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, carrying Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams and Butch Wilmore along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. … Williams and Wilmore had in June 2024 performed the first astronaut-crewed flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule. What was expected to be a weeklong trip to the ISS instead turned into a nine-month stay. The Boeing Starliner that was expected to carry them home after about 10 days experienced issues, leaving the pair at the station for months.” (03/18/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/US/nasa-astronauts-begin-17-hour-journey-splashdown-off/story?id=119900615
- Roberts rebukes Trump over threat to impeach judges
Source: Financial Times [UK]
“US Chief Justice John Roberts said on Tuesday that Donald Trump’s threat to impeach federal judges was ‘not an appropriate response’ to disagreements about their rulings. ‘For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,’ Roberts said in statement. ‘The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.’ The chief justice’s intervention came shortly after the US president slammed a federal judge who attempted to block the deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador. ‘This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. … The rare public rebuke from the most senior judge on America’s top court underscores the mounting tensions between the Trump administration and the judicial branch of government.” (03/18/25)
- At least 18 killed in airstrike on market in northern Mali, separatist group says
Source: ABC News
“At least 18 people have been killed in an airstrike in northern Mali, a separatist group said. The army said it had mounted an attack targeting armed militants. The Collective for the Defence of the Rights of the Azawad People, which is part of a Tuareg separatist coalition, said Monday the Malian army bombed a market 50 km (30 miles) north of Lerneb, in the Timbuktu region. Seven people were also injured in the strike on Sunday, the group said in a statement, denouncing a ‘barbaric act from another age’ and a ‘flagrant human rights violation.’” (03/18/25)
- AL: Cop’s Murder Trial Will Proceed, Court Rules
Source: US News & World Report
“The immunity hearing for an Alabama police officer charged with murder will proceed in March, a criminal appeals court ruled, after finding no evidence to support the officer’s accusation that the judge overseeing the case improperly divulged his intentions to rule against him. … [Decatur police officer Mac] Marquette is charged with murder for fatally shooting Steve Perkins in 2023 while accompanying a tow-truck driver to repossess Perkins’ truck. Marquette’s lawyers said Perkins pointed a gun at the tow-truck driver, and that the officer should be granted immunity under “stand your ground” laws, which remove the duty to retreat before using deadly force in the face of danger. A neighbor’s home surveillance video, broadcast by WAFF, appears to show Marquette firing his weapon almost 20 times.” (03/18/25)
- Japan: Regime to deploy long-range missiles near East China Sea as fears over Taiwan grow
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Japan plans to deploy long-range missiles in its southwestern island of Kyushu near the East China Sea, amid growing fears of conflict in the Taiwan Strait, according to a Japanese media report. Japanese news agency Kyodo reported on Sunday that the missile deployment under consideration would strengthen ‘counterstrike capabilities’ in the event of an emergency. The deployment was likely to begin at the end of March next year, the report said, citing Japanese government sources. It said the move aimed to boost the security of the Nansei islands – an island chain in southwestern Japan also known as the Ryukyus that has gained strategic importance due to its proximity to Taiwan, around 110km (70 miles) apart at its closest point. ” (03/18/25)
- Amazon Scraps Privacy Feature, Sending Alexa Voice Recordings To Cloud
Source: NDTV [India]
“Starting March 28, Amazon Echo users will no longer have the option to process their Alexa voice recordings locally which means those recordings will be sent to the company’s cloud. Alexa currently offers an opt-in feature called ‘Do Not Send Voice Recordings’ to its customers which stops audio requests from being sent to Amazon. ‘We are reaching out to let you know that the Alexa feature ‘Do Not Send Voice Recordings’ that you enabled on your supported Echo device(s) will no longer be available beginning March 28th, 2025,’ the company said in an email sent to Echo customers who have enabled the option.” (03/18/25)
- Germany: Bundestag votes for historic boost to military spending
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“German lawmakers have voted to allow a huge increase in defence and infrastructure spending — a seismic shift for the country that could reshape European defence. A two-thirds majority of Bundestag parliamentarians, required for the change, approved the vote on Tuesday. The law will exempt spending on defence and security from Germany’s strict debt rules, and create a €500bn ($547bn; £420bn) infrastructure fund. This vote is a historic move for traditionally debt-shy Germany, and could be hugely significant for Europe, as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine grinds on, and after US President Donald Trump signalled an uncertain commitment to Nato and Europe’s defence. However, state government representatives in the upper house, the Bundesrat, still need to approve the moves — also by a two-thirds majority — before they officially become law. That vote is set for Friday.” (03/18/25)
- White House says US regime won’t return Statue of Liberty to France
Source: Washington Post
“The White House has dismissed a French politician’s symbolic call for the return of the Statue of Liberty — a gift from France some 140 years ago — on the grounds that the United States no longer represents the values embodied by the monument. President Donald Trump would ‘absolutely not’ return the statue, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday when asked about the comments from Raphael Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament.” (03/18/25)
- Report: Patient dies following muscular dystrophy gene therapy
Source: SFGate
“Sarepta Therapeutics said Tuesday that a patient died while taking its closely watched gene therapy for muscular dystrophy, sending company shares plummeting in morning trading. The young man died of acute liver injury, a known side effect, Sarepta said in a statement. But the company said the ‘severity’ of the patient’s case had not previously been seen with the therapy, called Elevidys. It’s the first known patient death with the therapy, which has been used in more than 800 patients, the company said. In 2023, Elevidys received expedited U.S. approval despite concerns from some Food and Drug Administration scientists about its effectiveness in treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It’s the first gene therapy approved in the U.S. for the rare muscle-wasting condition, which causes weakness, loss of mobility and early death in males.” (03/18/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/patient-dies-following-muscular-dystrophy-gene-20227832.php
- Canada: Department store blames America as it liquidates all remaining locations and lays off thousands
Source: Daily Mail [UK]
“An iconic 354-year-old Canadian retailer is going out of business and shutting down all of its stores. And it’s pointing the finger at America and the ongoing tariff war. Hudson’s Bay, a retailer and an anchor to dozens of malls across Canada, is preparing for an ‘immediate’ liquidation after failing to secure enough money to stay afloat. Clearance sales will begin as early as next week at all 80 Hudson’s Bay locations, as well as three Saks Fifth Avenue and 12 Saks Off 5th stores it operates in Canada. Hudson’s Bay blames its collapse on sluggish consumer spending, post-pandemic declines in foot traffic, and even trade tensions between Canada and the U.S.” (03/18/25)
- SC: Anti-Musk activist sets himself on fire after attacking Tesla charging station with Molotov cocktails
Source: New York Post
“A hapless arsonist who tried to burn down a Tesla charging station in protest at President Trump and Elon Musk ended up setting himself on fire, according to authorities. Daniel Clarke-Pounder, 24, burned down three EV chargers in a South Carolina parking lot Friday — where he scrawled ‘f–k Trump’ and ‘long live the Ukraine,’ according to federal prosecutors. He was seen throwing five Molotov cocktails — one of which left him on fire, according to witnesses who saw him fleeing the North Charleston lot. Witnesses said that ‘the suspect had accidentally caught their own back on fire while throwing the devices,’ the initial police report said. Clark-Pounder, a mechanic from James Island, was arrested later on Friday after the police issued a public appeal to help find him. It was not clear how badly hurt he’d been by the fire.” (03/18/25)
- Trump nixes Secret Service protection for Hunter and Ashley Biden
Source: Politico
“Hunter Biden and his half-sister Ashley Biden will be stripped of their Secret Service protection, Donald Trump announced Monday. ‘Hunter Biden has had Secret Service protection for an extended period of time, all paid for by the United States Taxpayer,’ President Trump wrote on his social media website Truth Social. ‘He is currently vacationing in, of all places, South Africa, where the Human Rights of people has been strenuously questioned.’ The directive will remove 18 agents assigned to protect Hunter and 13 who guard Ashley, Trump wrote. Only former presidents and their spouses receive lifelong Secret Service protection while coverage for their immediate family members typically ends when they leave office under government policy. It’s unclear why Hunter, 54, and Ashley, 43, continued to receive Secret Service protection after former President Joe Biden left office earlier this year.” (03/17/25)
- CA: San Francisco Pride takes financial hit after major companies pull sponsorships amid DEI fallout
Source: Fox News
“The organizers of San Francisco Pride (SF Pride) shared financial concerns due to major companies pulling funding this year. SF Pride executive director Suzanne Ford said that the show will still go on, but organizers are going to have to make due with a smaller budget. Ford expressed suspicion this was part of a wave of businesses distancing themselves from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs under the Trump administration. ‘I’m very concerned. Obviously, there’s pressure from the federal government,’ Ford told a local FOX affiliate. ‘The tone has changed in this country. Businesses already hedge their bets, and I think people who, this isn’t their hard core value of their corporation, maybe they’re rethinking their investment,’ Ford said. SF Pride is a nonprofit that runs an annual parade and festival for two days in San Francisco.” (03/18/25)
- Polish, Baltic Regimes Plan to Pull Out From Landmines Convention
Source: US News & World Report
“NATO members Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia plan to withdraw from the Ottawa convention banning anti-personnel mines due to the military threat from their neighbour Russia, the four countries said on Tuesday. Quitting the 1997 treaty, which has been ratified or acceded to by more than 160 nations but not by Russia, will allow Poland and the three Baltic countries to start stockpiling landmines again. ‘Military threats to NATO member states bordering Russia and Belarus have significantly increased,’ the countries’ defence ministers said in a joint statement.” (03/18/25)
- Trump administration guts board of US Institute of Peace
Source: SFGate
“The Trump administration fired most of the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace and sent its new leader into the Washington headquarters of the independent organization on Monday, in its latest effort targeting agencies tied to foreign assistance work. The remaining three members of the group’s board (Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Defense University President Peter Garvin) fired President and CEO George Moose on Friday, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press. An executive order that President Donald Trump signed last month targeted the organization, which was created by Congress over 40 years ago, and others for reductions. Current USIP employees said staffers from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency entered the building despite protests that the institute is not part of the executive branch. USIP called the police, whose vehicles were outside the building Monday evening.” (03/18/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/us-institute-of-peace-says-doge-has-broken-into-20226776.php
- You’ve Been Living Under Fascism for Decades
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thomas Eddlem“There’s a fake quote that has been making the rounds for years that Mussolini (or, alternatively, his house philosopher Giovanni Gentile) said that ‘fascism may be defined as the union of corporate and government power.’ Yes, it’s a fake quote, and neither ever said or wrote the phrase. That doesn’t change the fact that fascism is and has been since the beginning, economically speaking, the union of corporate and government power, along with the union of other powers with the state. Mussolini’s style of facism (and his was the original fascism) was technically ‘syndicalism.’ Syndicalism brings in all the essential elements of society into the national government: elected officials, the permanent executive branch bureaucracy, corporations, civil society and labor unions. Stop me if any of this sounds familiar.” (03/19/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/youve-been-living-under-fascism-for-decades
- My Name is Mahmoud Khalil and I am a Political Prisoner
Source: CounterPunch
by Mahmoud Khalil“On March 8, I was taken by DHS agents who refused to provide a warrant, and accosted my wife and me as we returned from dinner. … DHS would not tell me anything for hours — I did not know the cause of my arrest or if I was facing immediate deportation. At 26 Federal Plaza, I slept on the cold floor. In the early morning hours, agents transported me to another facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. There, I slept on the ground and was refused a blanket despite my request. My arrest was a direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza, which resumed in full force Monday night.” (03/18/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/03/18/my-name-is-mahmoud-khalil-and-i-am-a-political-prisoner/
- The art of freedom in Iran
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“An investigative report on Iran ordered by the United Nations Human Rights Council was delivered on Tuesday and it paints a picture of a theocratic government very much afraid of its own people. Aerial drones fly overhead to spot women without mandatory head covering. Facial recognition cameras look for dissidents in universities. An increase in executions of protesters has turned Iran into the world’s highest per capita user of the death penalty. All in all, the report concludes, the Islamic Republic has committed crimes against humanity since mass protests in 2022 following the death in custody of a woman without a ‘proper’ head scarf. … Yet despite the crackdown, Iranians from diverse social groups, especially young women, still find public ways to express freedom and equality, often through artistic life on the streets or in online forums.” (03/18/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0318/The-art-of-freedom-in-Iran
- The Dangers of Economic Nationalism
Source: Independent Institute
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa“The first problem with nationalism is semantics. People tend to confuse it with patriotism, a deeply felt emotion that a nationalist can easily stir with a discourse that equates love of country with hostility to the outside world and, domestically, to those presented as a threat to the nation. … The second major problem with economic nationalism is that it is ultimately statist and conflicts with the free-market and small-government initiatives the nationalists might espouse. … A third major problem regarding economic nationalism is that it leads to confrontation with friends and foes alike.” (03/18/25)
https://blog.independent.org/2025/03/18/dangers-economic-nationalism
- The Stablecoin Trap: The Backdoor to Total Financial Control
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Aaron Day“The Federal Reserve processes over $4 trillion daily through its Oracle database system, while commercial banks impose programmable restrictions on what you can buy and how you can spend your own money. The IRS, NSA, and Treasury Department collect and analyze financial data without meaningful oversight, weaponizing money as a tool of control. This isn’t speculation — it’s documented reality. Now, as President Trump’s Executive Order 14178 ostensibly ‘bans’ CBDCs, his administration is quietly advancing stablecoin legislation that would hand digital currency control to the same banking cartel that owns the Federal Reserve. The STABLE Act and GENIUS Act don’t protect financial privacy — they enshrine financial surveillance into law, requiring strict KYC tracking on every transaction. This isn’t defeating digital tyranny — it’s rebranding it.” (03/18/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-stablecoin-trap-the-backdoor-to-total-financial-control/
- Feds Have Been Main Source of Racial Bigotry in Classrooms
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard“More than 150 years ago, abolitionist Frederick Douglass declared, ‘Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.’ But federal education policymakers have prevented legions of kids from reaching that road to freedom. No modern American president did more than Barack Obama to canonize bigoted standards in federal education policy. President Obama championed subsidies for public schools so that ‘the federal government can play a leading role in encouraging the … high standards we need.’ But, as part of its convoluted plans to reduce the achievement gap, the Obama administration cajoled most states into setting lower academic goals for blacks and Hispanics. From 2009 onwards, the feds rubber-stamped official plans under which white and Asian students were expected to perform far better than black and Hispanic students.” (03/18/25)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2025/03/18/feds-have-been-main-source-of-racial-bigotry-in-classrooms/
- Labor Movement Should Stand Up for Mahmoud Khalil
Source: In These Times
by Jimmy Williams Jr.“If you’ve spent any time around the labor movement, you’ve probably heard the saying: ’an injury to one is an injury to all.’ This is a core principle of our movement, not just because we care for our brothers and sisters, but because we know that if we let those in power come for one of us, the rest of us are next. On March 8, Mahmoud Khalil was forcibly removed from his home — in front of his pregnant wife, a U.S. citizen — by officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A legal resident with a green card, Mr. Khalil was targeted by the Trump administration because of his role in the protests against Israel’s war on Gaza that erupted across U.S. universities last year.” (03/18/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/labor-movement-mahmoud-khalil-israel-gaza-trump
- Why Tech Bros Overestimate AI’s Creative Abilities
Source: Aaron Ross Powell
by Aaron Ross Powell“Silicon Valley’s overconfidence in the imminent arrival of Artificial General Intelligence stems from a combination of limited understanding of the humanities, an insular culture, and a business model that incentivizes exaggerated claims about AI’s capabilities.” (03/18/25)
https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/p/why-tech-bros-overestimate-ai-s-creative-abilities
- Turn Off That (Government) Radio!
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“At less than one 6,750th of last year’s $6.75 trillion federal spending, USAGM may seem like small potatoes, but as the late US Senator Everett Dirksen (R-IL) reportedly said, ‘a billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking about real money.’ And good reasons for wadding up the agency and tossing it in the dustbin of history go far beyond the financial. What are the agency and its outlets, really? In a word, propaganda. Their entire purpose is and always has been to regale the world — especially that portion of its population ruled by non-US-approved governments — with the US government’s take on every event and every issue.” (03/18/25)
- “Law” As A Mind Trick
Soure: Freeman’s Perspective
by Paul Rosenberg“About half the time it is used, the word ‘law’ is fairly close to a mind trick, and there is nothing noble, righteous, or even ‘conservative’ in that. More or less all of us were pushed into the trick, which complicates things because people don’t like to admit anything that smells like a mistake. Having been taught, repeatedly, to ‘respect the law,’ nearly all of us have decided certain things must be right, simply because they were ‘the law.’ We decided this, not because we understood the benefits that would follow certain actions, but because of repetitive prodding. And so it’s important to be clear on this: To uncritically, reflexively obey is not respect. Respect requires understanding.” (03/18/25)
- President Trump: Stop Bombing Yemen and Exit the Middle East!
Source: Campaign For Liberty
by Ron Paul“Over the weekend President Trump ordered a massive military operation against the small country of Yemen. Was Yemen in the process of attacking the United States? No. Did the President in that case go to Congress and seek a declaration of war against the country? No. The fact is, Yemen hadn’t even threatened the United States before the bombs started falling. Last year, candidate Trump strongly criticized the Biden Administration’s obsession with foreign interventionism to the detriment of our problems at home. … Yet once in office, Trump turned to military force as his first option.” (03/18/25)
https://www.campaignforliberty.org/president-trump-stop-bombing-yemen-exit-middle-east
- Exercise, Economics, and Margins
Source: EconLog
by Kevin Corcoran“One event I’ve participated in a few times is a 10k race called the Cooper River Bridge Run, in Charleston, South Carolina. When going, I’ve made an effort to try to prep for the run, to try to beat my time from the previous run. (Most recent result, for the 2021 race, was 41:25, better than any of my previous attempts. Hurray!) If someone showed me a massive and time-consuming training program that would improve my run time by 10%, it wouldn’t be worth it to me to take up. My goals about beating my previous times were about little more than flattering my personal vanity – and while I’m willing to pay some price to do that, the margin closes pretty quickly. But the person who comes first place in the run also wins a cash prize of $10,000.” (03/18/25)
- State Bans on Sports Betting Are Not Helping Anybody
Source: RealClearPolitics
by Stephen Kent“Last week, Georgia’s state legislature declined once more to take up the legalization of sports betting as a ballot referendum in 2025. Georgians will now have to wait until 2026 for the measure to be reconsidered, despite polling from the University of Georgia showing that 63% of voters would have backed legalization. Across the country, 39 states have legalized the practice and nine holdouts remain …. And yet, sports betting is still practiced in staggering numbers in every state. A new report from NEXT/Blask shows that Bovada, a betting site based in Costa Rica, dwarfs the brand strength and earnings of regulated U.S.-based brands such as FanDuel and DraftKings. The rise in offshore sports betting, far from any U.S. jurisdiction, should be concerning for both advocates and opponents of this particular type of gambling.” (03/18/25)
- The New Age Militarists: A Manhattan Project for AI Weaponry?
Source: TomDispatch
by William D Hartung“Alex Karp, the CEO of the controversial military tech firm Palantir, is the coauthor of a new book, The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West. In it, he calls for a renewed sense of national purpose and even greater cooperation between government and the tech sector. His book is, in fact, not just an account of how to spur technological innovation, but a distinctly ideological tract. As a start, Karp roundly criticizes Silicon Valley’s focus on consumer-oriented products and events like video-sharing apps, online shopping, and social media platforms, which he dismisses as ‘the narrow and the trivial.’ His focus instead is on what he likes to think of as innovative big-tech projects of greater social and political consequence.” (03/18/25)
- The Long Arm of Turkey’s Global Media Censorship
Source: Foreign Policy
by Katherine Kelaidis“Last September, under pressure from the Turkish government, Netflix agreed to release one of its new series only in Greece and Cyprus. Famagusta depicts the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The protagonists of the series — a co-production between Greek and Cypriot companies — are Greek Cypriots, and the show is broadly sympathetic to them. Turkish officials insisted that Famagusta was nothing more than pro-Greek propaganda and began a campaign to prevent global audiences from watching it. … Netflix’s decision was met with little furor outside of the Greek press, and the company did not respond to Foreign Policy’s request for comment about the move. It was part of a long-standing pattern of successful Turkish censorship of content that depicts either Turkish or Ottoman history in a negative light. Turkey not only blocks the release of such content domestically — but has maneuvered to do so abroad, as well.” (03/18/25)
- The Real Root Cause of the American Revolution
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin“Think the American Revolution was just about taxes, tea parties, and representation? Think again. The real conflict wasn’t about a few policies. It was about power – a British claim to unlimited, centralized power ‘in all cases whatsoever.’ James Madison later called this the ‘fundamental principle’ on which independence itself was declared. And he was far from alone. John Hancock, Thomas Paine, John Dickinson, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, and many others all agreed. Yet, you won’t hear about this in government-run schools. Because teaching the truth means exposing the real problem: unlimited, centralized power.” (03/18/25)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2025/03/18/the-real-root-cause-of-the-american-revolution/
- A Love Letter to the Student Movement
Source: In These Times
by Carrie Zaremba“In January, Gaza took its first tenuous breath of stillness in more than a year. It is a moment of clarity, a reminder that our work is far from done. For the student movement, this is a call to recalibrate and push forward. We cannot mistake temporary stillness for resolution, nor recognition for accomplishment. Nothing short of full liberation can be our goal. By now, you know that universities have nothing to offer us but spectacle and scorn. The U.S. ruling class has spent decades perfecting its support of Zionism, with universities as central pipelines for research, propaganda and profit. For 467 days, while every university in Gaza was reduced to rubble and its hospitals were running out of room for the dead, U.S. higher education upheld these partnerships with military contractors, surveillance tech firms and Zionist think tanks disguised as cultural exchange programs.” (03/17/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/a-love-letter-to-the-student-movement
- Fukuyama Fails to Answer the Basic Questions of Liberal Political Theory
Source: Liberal Currents
by Sourodipto Roy“Francis Fukuyama seeks to promote liberal democracy, but from underneath his own feet the specter of illiberalism reproduces itself.” (03/18/25)
- Federal judges’ Trump hate is only harming the courts themselves
Source: New York Post
by Glenn H Reynolds“The ability of a single federal judge to block government action nationwide — let alone a president’s exercise of foreign policy — is not well established. It was a rare occurrence before Trump’s first term. Chief Justice John Roberts has frequently expressed concern with the ‘institutional legitimacy’ of the federal judiciary. At times that’s seemed limited to gaining the approval of the editorial pages of the Washington Post and the New York Times. But he may need to consider what the rest of America thinks, lest he wind up on the 20% side of an 80/20 issue — an awkward place to be when you’re concerned about legitimacy.” (03/17/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/03/17/opinion/how-federal-judges-trump-hate-is-harming-the-courts/
- Trump’s Denial of Due Process Is Tyranny
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“President Trump’s vicious and malicious rendition of immigrants to El Salvador is just one more reminder of what America’s immigration-control system is doing to our nation and to the values on which our nation was founded. The Fifth Amendment guarantees that no person shall be deprived of his liberty without due process of law. Due process of law is a term that stretches all the way back to Magna Carta, when the great barons of England forced their king, at the point of a sword, to acknowledge that his powers over people were limited, not omnipotent.” (03/18/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/03/18/trumps-denial-of-due-process-is-tyranny/
- Israel Lied About Murdered Children To Justify Murdering Children
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Israel resumed its genocidal campaign of annihilation in Gaza early Tuesday morning, killing hundreds in a matter of hours, including many children. As of this writing, the death toll from this assault is reportedly at least 413. Israel is not even pretending that Hamas violated the ceasefire agreement it signed on to in January, saying instead that the decision to resume the onslaught was made because Hamas had been rejecting a significantly altered new agreement put forward by the Trump administration which would have allowed Israel to postpone moving toward a lasting peace. ‘This follows Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators,’ reads a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” (03/18/25)
- Britain Chose Stagnation. There’s Another Way
Source: Persuasion
by Francois Valentin“The tunnel connecting Kent and Essex saw its planning documentation grow to an unruly 360,000 pages across 2,383 documents as a result of red tape gone mad and inflexible public bodies. Higher electricity prices nationwide can be tied back in part to the lengthy delays in the construction of the new Hinkley Point nuclear power plant, which will be the first the UK has built in a generation. And it’s not just the economy — this extends into all areas of daily life. If you are reading this while in London and your 5G network is giving up on you as it often does, then you can blame it on local councilors blocking the construction of new masts for trivial aesthetic reasons.” (03/18/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/britain-chose-stagnation-theres-another
- Israel Shatters the Gaza Ceasefire
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison“The president owns the war in Gaza, and he is the one enabling the genocide now.” (03/18/25)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/israel-shatters-the-gaza-ceasefire
- Democrats “Play Dead” Strategy Will Be the Death of the Party
Source: The Daily Beast
by Amanda Litman“Democrats need to stop turning to the people who got us into this mess and start making a sincere effort to elevate and listen to leaders who understand how to navigate us out of it. The party can’t sit back and hope that Republicans dig their own grave. Sure, that sounds nice, but that’s not how our reality works anymore …. As a minority in Congress, Democrats can’t do much legislatively at this time, and the base (mostly) gets that. But in lieu of action, what they do want is to see that their fury is valid; that they’re not crazy for being mad. We’re asking for Democrats who are willing to at least attempt to call it like it is — and yes, sometimes that means being a little rude. Democrats need to get caught trying.” (03/18/25)
- Emperor Andrew Cuomo has no clothes
Source: New York Post
by staff“Andrew Cuomo was kind enough to spend two hours with us Monday — and prove that he hasn’t changed a whit. If you disagree with him, it’s politics. He can’t name an actual mistake he made, can barely say what he’d have done differently. His campaign and those coming round to supporting him are sold on the idea that he’s going to stand up to the left. But the emperor has no clothes. The left gained ground his whole time as governor, to the point that it was setting the Albany agenda even as he was appeasing it to get his pet projects (congestion pricing, the lunatic Climate Act) passed. But the bad bills he signed into law would’ve been even worse without him, he claims. If, that is, he’ll even admit they were bad …” (03/17/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/03/17/opinion/emperor-andrew-cuomo-has-no-clothes/
- Ceasefire: Ukrainians Died in Vain
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider“At the beginning of the war in Istanbul, before the inconceivable loss of life, a negotiated end to the war could have been signed. Three years later, after the loss of more land and hundreds of thousands more lives and limbs, a similar negotiated peace will be signed, only adjusted to the current realities on the ground. Ukraine could have had a similar deal but maintained all their territory but Crimea. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have died or been injured in vain in pursuit of America’s fantasy of a NATO without limits and a weakened Russia. Russia went to the negotiating table in Istanbul in a weaker position than it goes to the table today.” (03/18/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_snider/2025/03/17/ceasefire-thousands-of-ukrainians-died-in-vain/
- Emergency! Trump’s use of extraordinary powers for tariffs
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Marcus Stanley“Executive authorities have remained unchecked for decades. Is there any surprise that the president prefers them over working with Congress?” (03/18/25)
- The Diploma Divide
Source: Law & Liberty
by George Hawley“The modern conservative movement’s antipathy toward academia was present at the moment of its birth. William F. Buckley became a national figure thanks to his 1951 book, God and Man at Yale, which attacked his alma mater for abandoning its Christian heritage and embracing left-wing economics. … Fortunately for conservatives, the war on Marxist academics had few apparent downsides. Professors are a negligible part of the electorate, and unlikely to vote for conservative candidates in any event. Despite claims that universities were propaganda machines churning out radical leftists at an industrial scale, the Republican Party continued to perform well among college graduates throughout the second half of the twentieth century. This has changed.” (03/18/25)
- Neo-Feudalism: the Enemy the Left [sic] Must Name to Defeat
Source: Common Dreams
by Vinnie Rotondaro“In 1776, America declared independence not just from a king, but from an entire feudal order. The promise was radical: no more lords and vassals, no more aristocratic monopolies, no more inherited rule. It was a vision of self-governance, economic freedom, and political democracy. As we know, this promise was deeply flawed from the outset, built atop the brutal reality of chattel slavery, which entrenched a racial caste system even as the revolution sought to break from feudal hierarchy. … nearly 250 years later, we find ourselves under the shadow of a system that eerily resembles the one we once revolted against.” [editor’s note: I feel somewhat prescient, since I have been calling the current system this for 30 or 40 years – SAT] (03/18/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/name-and-defeat-neo-feudalism
- The Biden’s Four Ways
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“In response to controversies about pandemics, elections, and whatnot, Congress did not quite pass — nor President Biden quite sign — a new law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. (As far as I know.) Biden’s government did act, regardless, with the force of law to shut people up. According to the Media Research Center’s new report on Biden censorship — ready to be shared with all who contend that his administration perfectly respected our freedom of speech — the cabal I call The Biden censored Americans using four approaches …” (03/18/25)
- Trump Should Resist Another America-Last War in the Middle East
Source: The American Conservative
by Justin Logan“In his inaugural address, President Donald Trump made clear that he wants history to remember him as a ‘peacemaker and a unifier.’ In his telling, ‘we will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end — and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.’ That goal is in jeopardy. Forces inside and outside his administration are trying to drag the president into more wars in the Middle East. One possibility would be an expansion of the low-level war his predecessor Joe Biden lost to the Houthis in Yemen. Another, more consequential possibility would be a full-blown war with Iran. Both wars would be losers that would damage both the country and Trump’s legacy.” [editor’s note: Ever notice that whenever Trump’s actions don’t match his word (which is about 95% of the time), his supporters always insist that someone else is responsible? – TLK] (03/18/25)
- These State Lawmakers Want to Make Energy Prices Higher for Consumers
Source: Chasing Liberty
by Jeff Charles“Have you ever heard of Right of First Refusal Laws (ROFR)? Chances are, you are living in a state with this type of law and it’s costing you quite a bit on your electricity bills. However, if you live in Wisconsin, you haven’t had to deal with these laws – yet. Wisconsin lawmakers are once again trying to push through Right of First Refusal (ROFR) legislation, a move that would hand out sweetheart deals to utility companies while sticking consumers with higher energy bills. Senate Bill 28 (SB 28) and its Assembly counterpart, AB 25, would give in-state companies exclusive bidding rights on electric grid projects before out-of-state firms can even throw their hats in the ring. While proponents claim this measure protects Wisconsin businesses, opponents argue it’s nothing more than a giveaway to utility lobbyists at the expense of ordinary ratepayers.” (03/17/25)
https://www.libertychasers.com/p/these-state-lawmakers-want-to-make
- FDA Can Save Lives by Keeping Copycat Drugs Off the Market
Source: Town Hall
by Stephen Moore“For every drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration, there are nearly a dozen that fail and lose money for investors. The rare wonder drug ‘hits’ have to pay off to cover the cost of the much more common dead-end research — the ‘misses.’ The future of American drug innovation is threatened by U.S. regulations that permit knockoff versions of new drugs to be sold to U.S. consumers.” (03/18/25)
- Fight Now, Hope Always
Source: Aaron Ross Powell
by Aaron Ross Powell“Even as we fight back against illiberalism, we must always be examples of what makes liberalism worth fighting for.” (03/17/25)
https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/p/what-can-each-of-us-do-now
- Banana Republican
Source: The Dispatch
by Nick Catoggio“Due process in the federal justice system depends on many players. … if you want to get rid of it and fully weaponize the justice system, you need to undermine all of the players involved, not just one or two. … To collapse the structure of American justice and replace it with a proper banana republic, each pillar holding it up needs to be weakened. The president spent most of his first two months in office focused on a single pillar: law enforcement. … If all Trump wants to do is harass his enemies, weaponizing law enforcement will suffice. But if he’s after something more robustly caudillo-esque, the other pillars of due process will also have to yield. This weekend he began to discredit them more aggressively.” (03/17/25)
- (Re)Imagining Liberty, 03/18/25
Source: Aaron Ross Powell
“Ethics for Troubled Political Times (w/ Seth Zuihō Segall).” (03/18/25)
- Politics Politics Politics, 03/18/25
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Schumer In Hot Water! Maintaining A Healthy Media Diet And What’s Happening Inside The White House (with Isaac Saul and Tara Palmeri).” (03/18/25)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/schumer-in-hot-water-maintaining
- Fountainhead Forum, episode 285
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Agustín Etchebarne on Javier Milei’s first 15 months as President of Argentina.” (03/18/25)
- Power Problems, 03/18/25
Source: Cato Institute
“Strategic Empathy & the Roots of the Ukraine War.” (03/18/25)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/power-problems/strategic-empathy-roots-ukraine-war
- Uncommon Knowledge, 03/18/25
Source: Hoover Institution
“Conflict: Niall Ferguson on Ukraine, Taiwan, and His War of Words with V. P. Vance.” (03/18/25)
https://www.hoover.org/research/conflict-niall-ferguson-ukraine-taiwan-and-his-war-words-v-p-vance
- Capital Record, episode 220
Source: National Review
“The Tyranny of Where the Chair Goes” (03/18/25
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/the-tyranny-of-where-the-chair-goes/
- A Fresh Perspective with Jeff Charles, 03/18/25
Source: Chasing Liberty
“Dan ‘Taxation Is Theft’ Behrman: Everything You Know About Taxes Is a LIE.” (03/18/25)
https://www.libertychasers.com/p/dan-taxation-is-thef-behrman-everything
- Law & Liberty Podcast, 03/18/25
Source: Law & Liberty
“The pursuit of ignorance?” (03/18/25)
- Advisory Opinions, 03/18/25
Source: The Dispatch
“Is Trump Going to War Against the Rule of Law?” (03/18/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/trumps-war-on-the-rule-of-law-begins/
- The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 03/18/25
Source: The New Republic
“‘Chilling’: Trump Press Sec Hints Darkly at More Lawlessness to Come.” (03/18/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/192843/chilling-trump-press-sec-hints-darkly-lawlessness-come
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 03/18/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Israel Restarts Large-Scale Bombing in Gaza, Trump To Blame Iran for Houthi Attacks, and More.” (03/17/25)
- Pink Flame of Liberty, 03/17/25
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Libertarian Party Time Capsule Ep 36 March/April 1977.” (03/17/25)
- System Update, episode 424
Source: System Update
“Is Any Due Process Needed to Send Immigrants to Lifelong Prison in El Salvador? Trump Continues the Long-Standing Bipartisan Policy of Bombing Yemen.” (03/17/25)
- Reason Roundtable, 03/17/25
Source: Reason
“Why We Don’t Need the Department of Education.” (03/17/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/03/17/why-we-dont-need-the-department-of-education/
- Cato Daily Podcast, 03/17/25
Source: Cato Institute
“Which Is Worse: The Regime Uncertainty or the Tariffs?” (03/17/25)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-daily-podcast/which-worse-regime-uncertainty-or-tariffs
- Conflicts of Interest, episode 771
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Trump, Netanyahu Seek African Nation to Take Palestinians.” (03/17/25)
- The Bryan Hyde Show, 03/17/25
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“By now it should be obvious that the most crucial changes our society needs will have to originate from the individual and thread their way upwards. Annie Holmquist has a powerful essay on DOGE and the 4 essentials needed to create a decent society.” (03/17/25)
- Rising, 03/17/25
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave delivers radar on how the arrest of Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil is an infringement on free speech.” (03/17/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5198595-rising-march-17-2025/
- EconTalk, 03/17/25
Source: EconTalk
“How Better Feedback Can Revolutionize Education (with Daisy Christodoulou).” (03/17/25)
https://www.econtalk.org/how-better-feedback-can-revolutionize-education-with-daisy-christodoulou/
- Finding Freedom, 03/17/25
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Using AI to Transform Sales and Marketing with Steven Werley.” (03/17/25)