03/25 -- Iranian military mocks Trump's claims of ceasefire talks, strikes Gulf states overnight; The Ugly Path to Peace
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Thomas L. Knapp
Mar 25, 2026, 6:17:59 AM (yesterday) Mar 25
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 03/25/26
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Iranian military mocks Trump’s claims of ceasefire talks, strikes Gulf states overnight
2) FL: Democrat flips state House seat, gets Donald Trump as constituent
3) Russia, Ukraine: Tit-for-tat attacks knock out power for over half a million
4) NM: Jury orders Meta to pay $375 million to state in vexatious lawsuit
5) Asia boosts coal use as Iran war squeezes global LNG supplies
6) Rebels in Congo used containers to hold journalists in brutal conditions, advocacy group says
7) NASA plans $20 billion moon base, but pauses lunar space station project
8) Chile: Regime Withdraws Backing for Former President Bachelet as UN Secretary-General
9) MN: Millionaire who qualified for food stamps warns of “fraud by design” loophole
10) EU, Australian regimes seal trade deal as Western countries hedge against US risks
11) CA: USC cancels gubernatorial debate after excluding “candidates of color”
12) Coalition sues to stop Trump’s Kennedy Center reconstruction project
13) Afghanistan: Regime releases US detainee Dennis Coyle after more than a year
14) Hong Kong: Beijing quisling regime grants police power to demand phone, computer passwords
15) Geneva’s CERN hails delicate test on transporting antimatter as a scientific success
16) NJ: Judge appoints new US attorney after courts rejected Justice Department workarounds
17) Philippines: Regime declares energy emergency over Iran conflict
18) FIFA hit with complaint to EU over World Cup ticket pricing
19) CA: Man tries, fails to deliver meth-filled balloons via drone
20) TN: Homeowner shoots intruder
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) The Ugly Path to Peace
22) This Year, The Case Against Lawns Gets Even Stronger
23) Welfare on Wheels: The Truth About the Supposed Truck Driver Shortage
24) What Is China Up to in the Taiwan Strait?
25) Congress will get its vote on the war with Iran
26) Republicans Can Win on Healthcare Affordability
27) How Japan’s Prime Minister Could Have Responded to Trump
28) The Fed Already Has What It Needs to Navigate Supply Shocks
29) The American Gulag 2026: People Die While Companies Profit
30) Reassessing European Contact: Insights from Spanish America
31) Trump restores GOP as party of defense and deterrence
32) Can’t We Just Pick One?
33) Pronatalism for Freedom-Lovers
34) Jewish and Arab-American Solidarity Is More Important Than Ever
35) The Interesting Lies of Samuelson: How We Naively Believed the Case of Giffen Goods
36) The EU’s Failed Green Deal is a Warning to Us All
37) The Only Worthwhile Western Culture Is That Which Opposes The Western Empire
38) The Case for Letting FISA’s Section 702 Expire
39) Iran war could cripple the ‘Yuxi Circle’ or 55% of world population Iran war could cripple the “Yuxi Circle” or 55% of world population
40) Teachers Are Seeking Alternatives to Traditional Unions
41) Tom Steyer Is Trying Politics
42) Individualism in Rothbard’s Natural Rights Libertarianism
43) How to End the War in Iran
44) Implications of Coase for Law
45) Californian women protested for “Palestine;” why so silent on Iran?
46) War Abroad and Authoritarianism at Home
47) The Uncomfortable Truth About Immigrants
48) Stupidity, not malice
49) The New Antifascist Consensus
50) Our Train Trip to Political Hell
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Pink Flame of Liberty, 03/24/26
52) The Political Orphanage, 03/24/26
53) Trump Watch, 03/24/26
54) The Bryan Hyde Show, 03/24/26
55) The Corbett Report, episode 495
56) The Good Fight, 03/24/26
57) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 03/23/26
58) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 03/23/26
59) Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 03/23/26
60) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 03/23/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Iranian military mocks Trump’s claims of ceasefire talks, strikes Gulf states overnight
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“An Iranian military spokesperson mocked US attempts at a ceasefire deal, insisting Americans were only negotiating with themselves. Lt Col Ebrahim Zolfaghari’s statement came after the Trump administration reportedly sent a 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran through Pakistan. … Kuwait and Bahrain were both hit with damaging strikes on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning …. News that Trump had approved the deployment of more than 1,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East further undermined the US president’s repeated claims of successful peace talks.” (03/25/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/mar/25/middle-east-crisis-live-iran-war-oil-prices-more-us-troops-reportedly-deployed-donald-trump-attacks-on-lebanon
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2) FL: Democrat flips state House seat, gets Donald Trump as constituent
Source: NBC News
“Democrat Emily Gregory on Tuesday won a special election for the Florida state House district that includes President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, flipping the seat from Republican control, The Associated Press projects. Gregory beat Republican Jon Maples, who had been endorsed by Trump, in the race for a seat that has been vacant since August. Palm Beach County Clerk Mike Caruso left the seat empty when he resigned from the legislature last year and was appointed to his current office. Gregory had 51% of the vote to 49% for Maples with all precincts reporting. … The president carried this Florida legislative district by about 11 percentage points in the 2024 election, according to The Downballot, a left-leaning political site that tracks special elections.” (03/24/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/democrat-flips-republican-florida-house-seat-includes-trump-mar-lago-rcna264660
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3) Russia, Ukraine: Tit-for-tat attacks knock out power for over half a million
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Russia and Ukraine have targeted each other’s energy facilities in tit-for-tat attacks, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power, officials from both countries said, as the world’s attention has shifted to the US-Israel war on Iran. Nearly half a million people were left without electricity in Russia’s Belgorod region, while 150,000 consumers in the city of Chernihiv and surrounding areas were without power on Wednesday.” (03/25/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/25/russia-ukraine-tit-for-tat-attacks-knock-out-power-for-over-half-a-million
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4) NM: Jury orders Meta to pay $375 million to state in vexatious lawsuit
Source: KOMO News
“A New Mexico jury found Meta liable for misleading consumers about the safety of its platforms and endangering children, ordering the company to pay $375 million in civil penalties for violating the state’s consumer protection laws. The verdict in the landmark State of New Mexico v. Meta Platforms, Inc. trial makes New Mexico the first state in the nation to win against a major tech company accused of harming young people. The jury ordered Meta to pay the maximum penalty under the law of $5,000 per violation, totaling $375 million.” [editor’s note: On the up side, idiocy like this will hopefully help move social media toward more decentralized/ownerless models so that there aren’t any deep pockets to pick – TLK] (03/24/26)
https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/jury-orders-meta-to-pay-375-million-in-new-mexico-child-safety-deception-case
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5) Asia boosts coal use as Iran war squeezes global LNG supplies
Source: SFGate
“Asian countries are turning to coal as the Iran war disrupts oil and gas shipments. The continent is exposed because it relies on imported fuel, much of it passing through the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint for about a fifth of global oil and natural gas trade. … It burns cleaner than coal, but still emits climate change-causing gases, especially methane. The war has countries shifting back to coal to cover LNG shortfalls. India is burning more coal to meet higher summer demand. South Korea has lifted caps on electricity from coal. Indonesia is prioritizing using its domestic supply. Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam are boosting coal-fired power. Burning more coal risks worsening smog in major cities, slowing the transition to renewable energy and increasing the region’s planet-warming emissions.” (03/24/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/asia-boosts-coal-use-as-iran-war-squeezes-global-22092897.php
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6) Rebels in Congo used containers to hold journalists in brutal conditions, advocacy group says
Source: SFGate
“A rebel group in eastern Congo has detained civilians, including two journalists, in metal shipping containers without light or ventilation, an advocacy group said Tuesday. Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, said the Rwanda-backed M23, which controls parts of eastern Congo, used the containers in the city of Goma as makeshift detention cells under ‘inhumane’ and ‘degrading’conditions. … As many as 80 detainees at a time were placed inside a container, without light or ventilation and allowed out only once a day. Witnesses said they received minimal food, while some reported routine beatings. According to the testimonies, conditions were extreme — suffocating heat by day and cold at night — with deaths reported. Survivors were often held for weeks before being transferred to other locations.” (03/24/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/rebels-in-congo-used-containers-to-hold-22093305.php
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7) NASA plans $20 billion moon base, but pauses lunar space station project
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“NASA is cancelling plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and will instead use its components to construct a $20 billion US base on the moon’s surface over the next seven years, its new chief Jared Isaacman said on Tuesday. Isaacman, who was sworn in at the agency in December, made the announcement at the opening of a day-long event at NASA’s Washington headquarters at which he outlined a raft of changes he is making to the agency’s flagship moon program Artemis. … The Lunar Gateway station, largely already built with contractors Northrop Grumman and Vantor, formerly Maxar, was meant to be a space station in a lunar orbit. Repurposing the craft for a lunar surface base is not simple.” (03/24/26)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/nasa-lunar-gateway-9.7140073
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8) Chile: Regime Withdraws Backing for Former President Bachelet as UN Secretary-General
Source: US News & World Report
“Chile on Tuesday said it was withdrawing its backing for the candidacy of former President Michelle Bachelet as Secretary-General of the United Nations, ahead of an election that will decide its leader for a five-year term starting in 2027. The withdrawal of Chile’s support comes weeks after the swearing in of President Jose Antonio Kast, marking the South American country’s sharpest shift to the right in decades. Kast has repeatedly criticized Bachelet’s presidency and said his leftist predecessor Gabriel Boric ‘made a mistake’ when he supported her nomination, alongside Brazil and Mexico, for the leadership of the U.N. Bachelet was considered a frontrunner for the race.” (03/24/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-03-24/chile-withdraws-backing-for-former-president-bachelet-as-un-secretary-general
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9) MN: Millionaire who qualified for food stamps warns of “fraud by design” loophole
Source: Fox News
“Ahead of a Tuesday hearing where Minnesota lawmakers will discuss food stamp fraud, Fox News Digital spoke to a millionaire who says he was able to qualify for food stamps through a loophole — one that he hopes will soon be closed as the state grapples with a massive fraud scandal. Rob Undersander, a retired engineer who volunteers to help seniors navigate the government benefits system, said he learned during training that eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in Minnesota was based on income only, not assets. Because his retirement income was low, he realized he could qualify even though he had significant savings and property. To test the system, Undersander applied for benefits in Stearns County in 2016 and was approved within weeks. He later said he collected thousands of dollars in SNAP benefits over more than a year, which he donated to charity, in an effort to draw attention to the issue.” (03/24/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/minnesota-millionaire-who-qualified-for-food-stamps-warns-of-fraud-by-design-loophole-ahead-of-hearing
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10) EU, Australian regimes seal trade deal as Western countries hedge against US risks
Source: CNBC
“The European Union and Australia agreed to a sweeping trade deal on Tuesday, the latest move by U.S. allies to rethink their economic ties amid deepening global geopolitical uncertainty. The agreement, which resulted from almost eight years of talks, would remove most of the tariffs the two sides had imposed on each other’s goods and allow the EU greater access to critical mineral supplies from Australia. … The European Union has pushed to clinch new agreements with trade partners over the past year in an effort to diversify its economic relations, defense and military security partnerships that have come under threat as the U.S. appears to be increasingly unreliable.” (03/24/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/24/eu-australia-trade-deal-trump-tariffs-war-risks.html
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11) CA: USC cancels gubernatorial debate after excluding “candidates of color”
Source: SFGate
“The University of Southern California decided to cancel its Tuesday night gubernatorial debate after accusations that it excluded four of the only candidates of color, the Los Angeles Times reported. The private university came under fire when Xavier Becerra, a Mexican American candidate for governor, sent a scathing letter to the university’s president last week accusing it of the blatant exclusion of four candidates from the debate. He called it ‘a chilling and dangerous move.’ The university decided to cancel the event on Monday, less than a day before it was scheduled to take place. Becerra celebrated the news, which was first reported by the Times. ‘We fought. We won! We stood up against an unfair candidate debate set-up that prematurely chose winners and losers,’ he wrote on X on Monday night.” [editor’s note: This should be no surprise to Libertarians, who have seen Ed Clark, Harry Browne, Gary Johnson and others similarly excluded from Presidential debates for low polling and fundraising numbers – SAT] (03/24/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/usc-cancels-gubernatorial-debate-22093688.php
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12) Coalition sues to stop Trump’s Kennedy Center reconstruction project
Source: United Press International
“A coalition of leading cultural and architectural preservation organizations has asked the court to stop the Trump administration from carrying through with its quarter-billion-dollar Kennedy Center reconstruction project. The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States, along with seven other organizations, filed a lawsuit Monday in a Washington, D.C., federal court seeking injunctive relief prohibiting the Trump administration from starting any construction work at the iconic Potomac River center without completing the required public review and consultation process.” (03/24/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/03/24/Trump-sued-Kennedy-Center/7701774337904/
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13) Afghanistan: Regime releases US detainee Dennis Coyle after more than a year
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The Taliban has freed an American citizen after more than a year in captivity, amid pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration. Dennis Walter Coyle, 64, who was living in Afghanistan working as a language researcher, according to his family, was arrested in January 2025. In a statement posted online, the Taliban-run Afghan foreign ministry said Coyle’s imprisonment was deemed ‘sufficient’ and that he had been pardoned to mark Eid al-Fitr, the holiday at the end of Ramadan. The US government — which declared Afghanistan a ‘state sponsor of wrongful detention’ just weeks ago — welcomed the release, but called for other US citizens being ‘unjustly’ held to be freed, too. According to a family website, Coyle arrived in Afghanistan in the early 2000s to study Afghan linguistics and help communities develop resources in their native languages.” (03/24/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79j1wj4495o
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14) Hong Kong: Beijing quisling regime grants police power to demand phone, computer passwords
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Hong Kong police are now empowered to require anyone suspected of violating the semi-autonomous city’s national security [sic] law to hand over passwords to their mobile phones or computers. Officials will brief lawmakers on the new provisions on Tuesday, a government statement said. The measure, which took effect on Monday, is part of the national security [sic] law imposed by Beijing in 2020 following large, sometimes violent, pro-democracy protests in this Chinese territory. … Refusing to comply could lead to up to one year’s imprisonment and a fine of up to 100,000 Hong Kong dollars ($12,768), while providing false or misleading information could bring up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to 500,000 Hong Kong dollars ($63,840).” (03/24/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/24/hong-kong-grants-police-power-to-demand-phone-and-computer-passwords
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15) Geneva’s CERN hails delicate test on transporting antimatter as a scientific success
Source: SFGate
“Scientists in Geneva took some antiprotons out for a spin — a very delicate one — in a truck, in a never-tried-before test drive that has been deemed a success. If this so-called antimatter had come into contact with actual matter, even for a fraction of an instant, it would have been annihilated in a quick flash of energy. So experts at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, had to be extra careful when they took 92 antiprotons on the road for a short ride on Tuesday. The antiprotons were suspended in a vacuum inside a specially designed box and held in place by supercooled magnets. … The drive on CERN’s campus itself lasted only about a half-hour to test how — if at all — the infinitesimal particles could be transported by road without seeping out.” (03/24/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/on-the-road-with-antiprotons-cern-runs-delicate-22093233.php
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16) NJ: Judge appoints new US attorney after courts rejected Justice Department workarounds
Source: CNN
“The chief district judge in New Jersey appointed Robert Frazer, a career prosecutor, to serve as US attorney for the state, ending for now a dispute over the legality of the office’s leadership that threatened to derail criminal investigations. Frazer is a longtime prosecutor who has worked on violent crime and gang organized crime cases, and most recently served as senior trial counsel. … Federal Judge Matthew Brann ruled last summer that Habba was illegally appointed as the acting US attorney in the District of New Jersey. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that decision. Bondi later appointed a trio of attorneys to split Habba’s role: Philip Lamparello, Jordan Fox and Ari Fontecchio. Earlier this month, Brann found Bondi didn’t have the ability to create an alternative leadership structure in that way.” (03/23/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/23/politics/judge-appoints-new-top-prosecutor-new-jersey-robert-frazer
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17) Philippines: Regime declares energy emergency over Iran conflict
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The Philippines has become the world’s first country to declare a state of national energy emergency in response to the conflict in the Middle East. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said he had signed an executive order to safeguard energy security, citing the ‘imminent danger posed upon the availability and stability’ of the country’s energy supply. The US-Israel war with Iran and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a key shipping route — have sent shock waves through global energy markets, causing shortages and price rises. The Philippines imports 98% of its oil from the Gulf, and the price of diesel and petrol has more than doubled in the country since the war broke out on 28 February. On Tuesday, Marcos said the move would give the government the legal authority to impose measures to ensure energy stability and protect the broader economy.” (03/24/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3ex8ez3717o
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18) FIFA hit with complaint to EU over World Cup ticket pricing
Source: Politico
“European consumer group Euroconsumers along with Football Supporters Europe have filed a complaint with the European Commission accusing FIFA of abusing its monopoly over World Cup ticket sales to impose excessive prices and unfair conditions on fans. The complaint, obtained by POLITICO, alleges breaches of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which prohibits abuses of a dominant market position. … The groups point to a range of alleged abusive practices, including limited transparency on ticket categories and seat allocation, a ‘variable pricing’ system that can push prices higher over time, and the actual scarcity of tickets advertised from $60.” (03/24/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/fifa-eu-complaint-world-cup-ticket-pricing
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19) CA: Man tries, fails to deliver meth-filled balloons via drone
Source: SFGate
“A California man has been sentenced to over a decade in prison for attempting to use a drone to deliver balloons stuffed with methamphetamine to people in a state penitentiary, officials announced last week. According to a March 20 news release from the Eastern District of California U.S. Attorney’s Office, 28-year-old Jorge Narvaez admitted to using an Autel EVO II Pro V3 drone to attempt to deliver drugs to North Kern State Prison in June 2024. That year, Narvaez packed two balloons with meth and dropped them over a prison yard, the release said. When two prison officers recovered the contraband balloons and sent their contents to a laboratory, they discovered that they contained 21.4 grams of methamphetamine. Officers also discovered that this wouldn’t be Narvaez’s only delivery attempt. That same day, Narvaez launched the drone a second time, equipping it with three ‘similarly packaged balloons’ of meth, the news releases said.” (03/24/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/california-meth-balloons-drone-22093834.php
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20) TN: Homeowner shoots intruder
Source: Action News 5
“Memphis police are investigating a shooting near the Westwood area that left one woman injured early Monday morning. … Upon arrival, officers found a woman lying in front of the residence with visible gunshot wounds on her upper leg. The homeowner told police he was sleeping when he heard noises from the back of his home, then saw an unknown woman inside. The homeowner stated that when the woman said she wanted to buy his residence, that’s when he shot her. The woman told police she was shot after she entered the residence through the unlocked back door. MPD states that the woman is experiencing mental health issues.” (03/23/26)
https://www.actionnews5.com/2026/03/23/shooting-reported-near-westwood-area-mpd-says/
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) The Ugly Path to Peace
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“When Emperor Hirohito decided to surrender to the Allies, he provoked an attempted military coup. When asked, ‘Why didn’t Czar Nicholas back down in 1914?’ historians’ standard answer is, ‘Because if he had, Pan-Slavist hawks would have overthrown him.’ … Even if a large faction of the leadership of theocratic Iran, Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, or Czarist Russia wants to make peace, they probably won’t. Indeed, even if the Supreme Leader wants to make peace, they probably won’t. My reaction, in contrast, is agentic. If by some miracle, I were the Supreme Leader of any of these countries, I have devised a strategy to make peace with high probability of success — and low risk to myself. It’s not pretty, and once you grasp my strategy, you may think ill of me for publicizing this forbidden knowledge.” [editor’s note: It would work just as well for the US or Israel, if THEIR “Supreme Leaders” actually wanted peace – TLK] (03/24/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/how-to-make-peace
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22) This Year, The Case Against Lawns Gets Even Stronger
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“As you may have noticed, the price of one key lawn maintenance ingredient — gasoline for your mower — is way up lately. As you may not have noticed yet, you’ll also be paying more for a second ingredient, fertilizer. Both of those hits to your wallet result from war-related shipping woes (in particular, the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz), and both are likely to drag on for some time even if the war comes to an end soon. It’s always a good time to consider converting your surrounding green space from a carefully trimmed, lovingly landscaped ‘lawn’ to a more natural (or, if water usage matters, xeriscaped) ‘yard.’ But this year, it’s an even better time than usual.” (03/24/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20461
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23) Welfare on Wheels: The Truth About the Supposed Truck Driver Shortage
Source: Reason
by Gord Magill
“For years we have been told that the American economy is at risk of total collapse if the American Trucking Associations (ATA) can’t find another 60,000 or 70,000 or 160,000 truckers. If there were an actual shortage of truckers, trucking companies wouldn’t get away with barely paying minimum wage, would they? … In a properly functioning market economy, wouldn’t the shortage boost the price of truckers’ labor a little higher than what one might expect at a fast-food restaurant? What are we missing here? … When the ATA hit on the phrase truck driver shortage, it found a messaging tool that has helped them line their pockets with oodles of taxpayer money. In the process, it stymied wage growth — to the advantage of trucking-fleet owners and the Fortune 500 companies that are their customers.” (for publication 05/26)
https://reason.com/2026/03/24/welfare-on-wheels/
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24) What Is China Up to in the Taiwan Strait?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“For more than a decade, naval and air forces of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have exerted a strong presence in Taiwan’s immediate neighborhood. One U.S. expert calculated that Taiwan recorded an average of about 10 Chinese military flights a day in 2025, and on some days the number was in the dozens. The message being delivered was that the Chinese military was prepared to act quickly and decisively if pro-independence leaders in Taiwan tried to implement their agenda. Then, in late February of this year, a sudden, dramatic lull in PRC military flights near the island began.” (03/24/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_galen_carpenter/2026/03/23/what-is-china-up-to-in-the-taiwan-strait
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25) Congress will get its vote on the war with Iran
Source: The Hill
by Merrill Matthews
“It appears Congress will finally get to vote on President Trump’s self-initiated war with Iran. It won’t be a direct vote on the war, even though Article I of the U.S. Constitution vests that power in Congress and not the executive branch. It will be an indirect vote providing funding for the war effort and replenishing our munitions — and perhaps other items. But given Trump’s resentment at needing congressional support for his actions, the effort to pass a funding bill may not go well. … Trump will need Senate Democrats to pass the supplemental funding. And he may not even have all Republicans on board.” (03/24/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5797370-trump-congress-iran-war/
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26) Republicans Can Win on Healthcare Affordability
Source: Town Hall
by Stephen Moore
“For most of the last 40 years, pollsters have asked voters: Which party do you trust more on healthcare? The answer has been pretty much the same over this whole period. Voters trust Democrats more, sometimes by a two-to-one margin. When I’ve asked my Republican politicos why that is, the answer I typically receive is: Our party doesn’t do healthcare. Then they crouch in the fetal position. Well, the GOP certainly better start ‘doing healthcare’, because the issue of medical care access and affordability is front and center for American families. The Republican promise to voters should be better healthcare at half the cost. Here are five easy pieces to this saner and higher-quality healthcare system.” (03/24/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/stephenmoore/2026/03/24/republicans-can-win-on-healthcare-affordability-n2673329#google_vignette
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27) How Japan’s Prime Minister Could Have Responded to Trump
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“In a press conference with Tanaichi, Trump was asked why he hadn’t advised U.S. allies of the attack on Iran prior to it being initiated. In an interesting reveal — albeit somewhat impolitic — Trump used the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to justify the U.S. surprise attack on Iran. He stated: ‘Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK?’ Yet, doesn’t Trump’s answer raise the question I raised in my article: Should the official narrative on the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor now be revised, given that the U.S. government is now using it to justify its sneak attack on Iran?” (03/24/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/03/24/how-japans-prime-minister-could-have-responded-to-trump/
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28) The Fed Already Has What It Needs to Navigate Supply Shocks
Source: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus
by David Beckworth
“It is not easy being a central banker in a world plagued by supply shocks. These disturbances push economic activity and inflation in opposite directions, forcing difficult tradeoffs between full employment and price stability. Fed officials now face such a challenge with the war in the Middle East. The resulting reduction in oil production could dampen economic activity while temporarily raising inflation. In this environment, it may be tempting to ease monetary policy to cushion the blow. But doing so would risk further stoking inflation. And if the public were already sensitive to inflation, such easing could unanchor expectations and make matters worse.” (03/24/26)
https://macroeconomicpolicynexus.substack.com/p/the-fed-already-has-what-it-needs
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29) The American Gulag 2026: People Die While Companies Profit
Source: TomDispatch
by Rebecca Gordon
“The March 4, 2026, edition of the Arizona Daily Star put the facts succinctly: ‘A Haitian asylum seeker held for four months at Florence Correctional Center died Monday at a Scottsdale hospital due to complications from an infected tooth.’ It seems the infection spread from his tooth to his lungs, and he developed the pneumonia that killed him. In other words, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) allowed a prisoner to die of a toothache. His name was Emmanuel Damas. He was 56 years old and the father of two. And we can only expect medical treatment at ICE centers to deteriorate further.” (03/24/26)
https://tomdispatch.com/people-die-while-companies-profit/
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30) Reassessing European Contact: Insights from Spanish America
Source: Isonomia Quarterly
by Daniella F Bassi
“There’s no doubt that the Americas were irrevocably changed by European contact. The decimation and sociopolitical transformation of the Western Hemisphere was so thorough that many scholars speak of an indigenous genocide — the intentional destruction of native societies. But there’s also no doubt that the story is not so simple.” (03/24/26)
https://isonomiamag.substack.com/p/reassessing-european-contact-insights
-----
31) Trump restores GOP as party of defense and deterrence
Source: Fox News
by Hugh Hewitt
“As the fourth week of the battle with Iran opened, President Donald Trump announced a window of opportunity for negotiations. With whom, no one outside of the president and his closest advisors knows. The president did not halt strikes on Iran, and Israel continued to pound its long list of military targets as well as the regime’s massive apparatus of repression while the U.S. focuses on degrading the military-industrial capacity of the mullahs. Iran is a country with shattered defenses and no ability to project targeted force. This was accomplished in three weeks. No wonder someone wants to negotiate even as others tell our left-wing media that Iran is winning. … No ‘takes’ matter. The conflict will be judged twice: when major combat operations conclude and a year thereafter.” (03/24/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/morning-glory-trump-has-restored-gop-party-defense-deterrence
-----
32) Can’t We Just Pick One?
Source: The Erick Erickson Show
by Erick-Woods Erickson
“The reason we have stayed with fall back and spring forward is because southern states want permanent daylight saving time, and northern states want permanent standard time. It benefits northern states in the winter to have standard time and benefits southern states to have daylight saving time in the summer. But, as a nation, we only have standard time for four months. Daylight saving time is the default for eight months. The reality is that standard time makes a lot of sense. … Regardless, Congress should just pick one.” (03/24/26)
https://ewerickson.substack.com/p/cant-we-just-pick-one
-----
33) Pronatalism for Freedom-Lovers
Source: Law & Liberty
by Rachel Lu
“Starting this year, any US citizen under 18 qualifies for a 530A ‘Trump Account,’ sometimes referred to as a ‘Kid IRA.’ Parents, grandparents, or other loved ones can contribute up to $5000 per year, which will be tax-deferred until the child turns 18. The money will then be available to the child for major life events, such as going to college, buying their first home, or starting a small business. … It’s hard to say whether this will have any meaningful impact on birth rates, but it might be worth a try, because the other kind of family policy doesn’t seem to be working very well. Over the last ten years, the pronatal case for cradle-to-grave state largesse has become exceedingly weak.” (03/24/26)
https://lawliberty.org/pronatalism-for-freedom-lovers/
-----
34) Jewish and Arab-American Solidarity Is More Important Than Ever
Source: Common Dreams
by Jamie Beran & Maya Berry
“Our country is at war. The American-Israeli attack on Iran has plunged the Middle East and the Arab world into chaos, displacing millions and causing thousands of casualties. Here at home, this war has consequences for the safety of Jewish and Arab American communities. Last week, a man drove a car containing explosives into a synagogue just outside of Metro Detroit. Reports indicate he held Jews responsible for the death of several members of his family in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon. At the same time, multiple congressional Republicans have decided anti-Muslim bigotry will be a key part of their strategy for the midterms. This, after their language dehumanizing Palestinians and Arabs, went generally unchallenged. This moment requires solidarity. As we hold our breath with every new development abroad and at home, our hearts.” (03/24/26)
break.https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/jewish-arab-solidarity
-----
35) The Interesting Lies of Samuelson: How We Naively Believed the Case of Giffen Goods
Source: Cobden Centre
by Ali Hashemifara
“You have probably heard of the widely believed myth that Napoleon was very short. Evidence proved after his death, however, that he had a completely normal height. Historians, interestingly, have mentioned that this narrative could have spread so thoroughly due to British painters drawing him short almost in a sarcastic way. Myths such as this, however irrelevant, do not alter the truth. Some myths, however, are so powerful that they make truth appear like a myth. This is the case of ‘Giffen goods’ — goods that are demanded more when their prices rise. Many believe that there can be some special, so-called Giffen goods that can exclusively have an upward-sloping demand curve. Historically, mathematically, and economically, this is impossible.” (03/24/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/03/the-interesting-lies-of-samuelson-how-we-naively-believed-the-case-of-giffen-goods/
-----
36) The EU’s Failed Green Deal is a Warning to Us All
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Magnus Henrekson, Christian Sandström, & Miakel Stenkula
“In 2020, the European Union launched its Green Deal. Six years later, investments in hydrogen-based projects have collapsed, and electricity prices are twice as high as in the US and China. Europe is losing its competitive edge. In our research for the Institute of Economic Affairs, we identify eight reasons why the EU Green Deal is not working. In doing so, we draw policy lessons for the United Kingdom.” (03/24/26)
https://fee.org/articles/the-eus-failed-green-deal-is-a-warning-to-us-all/
-----
37) The Only Worthwhile Western Culture Is That Which Opposes The Western Empire
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The only worthwhile ‘western culture’ in modern times is culture which rejects and opposes the dystopian nature of western civilization and the abuses of the western empire. Western civilization is what’s bombing Iran. It’s what’s strangling Cuba. It’s what’s torching Lebanon. It’s what’s exterminating Palestine. It’s what stole Venezuela. It’s what’s plundering the labor and resources of the global south. It’s what’s keeping the systems in place which are killing our ecosystem and driving us closer to nuclear armageddon. There is no sane and truthful position to have toward all this but vehement rejection. Westerners — particularly white westerners in nations with colonialist histories like the United States and Australia — often struggle to find their cultural moorings. It can be difficult to find an authentic position from which to express art and take your stand as a personality when you feel culturally rootless and historically ungrounded.” (03/24/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/03/24/the-only-worthwhile-western-culture-is-that-which-opposes-the-western-empire/
-----
38) The Case for Letting FISA’s Section 702 Expire
Source: The Dispatch
by Patrick G Eddington
“Section 702 authorizes the National Security Agency (NSA) to collect communications of non-U.S. persons located abroad without a warrant. However, because of the structure of the global telecommunications system, the text messages, phone calls, and other digital data of people in the United States are invariably captured during FISA Section 702 collection activities. That information is stored in databases that are queried by the NSA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and even some Central Intelligence Agency personnel — all without having to obtain a warrant from a federal judge before conducting such searches. The prior abuses of such Section 702 collection and warrantless database querying are well documented. This month, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a 116-page bill—the Security and Freedom Enhancement (SAFE) Act — ostensibly designed to bring an end to nearly 20 years of constitutional rights violations under Section 702.” (03/24/26)
https://thedispatch.com/article/fisa-section-702-surveillance-intelligence/
-----
39) Iran war could cripple the ‘Yuxi Circle’ or 55% of world population Iran war could cripple the “Yuxi Circle” or 55% of world population
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Karthik Sankaran & Sarang Shidore
“The ‘Yuxi Circle,’ named for the Chinese city at its center, has a radius of roughly 2500 miles and contains about 55% of the world’s population within it – the Indian subcontinent, China, Japan, the Koreas, and all the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. For the last four decades, this region has benefited from GDP growth of about 5% each year, driven by the expansion of industrialization, trade, agricultural productivity, and urbanization. This has led to extraordinary increases in human welfare and a shift in the economic geography of the world away from the North Atlantic basin. But these achievements could all be seriously jeopardized by ongoing events in the Persian Gulf.” (03/24/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-war-asia/
-----
40) Teachers Are Seeking Alternatives to Traditional Unions
Source: The Daily Economy
by Corey A DeAngelis
“Anew Harvard-Harris poll shows that 60 percent of voters believe teachers unions should stay out of politics. A differently worded poll would likely reveal even stronger sentiment. Ask voters whether union dues pulled straight from teachers’ paychecks should fund political activity, and the numbers would likely climb higher. The public already senses what many teachers have lived: unions exist more for activism than for academics. The National Education Association’s annual financial report confirms the imbalance.” (03/24/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/teachers-are-seeking-alternatives-to-traditional-unions/
-----
41) Tom Steyer Is Trying Politics
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“‘I’m not saying we should run government like a business,’ Tom Steyer told a questioner at the latest in a series of question-and-answer sessions he’s been holding around the state as he campaigns for governor of California. ‘There’s a big fight right now between working people and rich companies who want to control our government and rip people off.’ If I didn’t tell you that Steyer was himself a billionaire business titan until he left the hedge fund he founded, Farallon Capital Management, in 2012, you might have assumed from the above exchange that he was a Bernie Sanders acolyte who camped overnight at Occupy Wall Street. He’s running for governor, even more so than in his unsuccessful 2020 presidential run, as a traitor to his class …” (03/24/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/03/24/tom-steyer-trying-politics-california-governor/
-----
42) Individualism in Rothbard’s Natural Rights Libertarianism
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“Individualism certainly means different things to different people, a point which Friedrich von Hayek highlighted in distinguishing between true and false individualism. He observed that individualism ‘has been used to describe several attitudes toward society which have as little in common among themselves as they have with those traditionally regarded as their opposites.’ It is important to bear this in mind when considering whether a political view is compatible with individualism. Much depends on what is meant by individualism in the first place.” (03/24/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/individualism-rothbards-natural-rights-libertarianism
-----
43) How to End the War in Iran
Source: The American Conservative
by Justin Logan
“The logic of the war at present offers a stark choice: either expand the mission to regime change — which will entail the use of large numbers of ground troops for an extended period of time — or else pocket the tactical gains achieved today and pursue an off-ramp. In light of the costs and with the war’s stated goals secure, Trump should work to end the conflict and reestablish the stable flow of oil and natural gas onto world markets, shoring up the U.S. and global economies. Caution is called for: However hard the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program were, talks to end the war are likely to be harder. Both sides will need to ignore things they want, stop doing things they want to keep doing, and restrain potential spoilers.” (03/24/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/how-to-end-the-war-in-iran/
-----
44) Implications of Coase for Law
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“When I first published my interpretation of the implications of Coase’s article ‘The Problem of Social Cost,’ Coase was a colleague of mine at the University of Chicago Law School. His comment on the piece was that one never understands one’s ideas until someone else explains them to you. I suspected at the time that the comment was intended to be gently critical of my interpretation, only worked out more precisely why many years later, rereading the body of his work in the process of writing a review of his final book. Coase thought of the article primarily as a critique of modern economics. Since I was an economist with a position in a law school I read it for its implications for constructing legal systems. This is an account of his ideas from my point of view, not necessarily his.” (03/23/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/implications-of-coase-for-law
-----
45) Californian women protested for “Palestine;” why so silent on Iran?
Source: New York Post
by Shirin Yadegar
“If feminism means standing for all women, then the silence surrounding Iranian women today demands an answer. Not all women are free — and not all feminists are willing to say so. Members of Iran’s women’s national soccer team recently sought asylum in Australia after refusing to sing the Islamic Republic’s national anthem. For that act alone, an act of conscience, they were treated as enemies of the state. Some were ultimately forced to return to Iran after being warned that their families’ lives were at risk. That is what courage looks like in Iran: choosing between your own freedom and the safety of the people you love most.” (03/23/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/03/23/opinion/why-are-las-women-protesters-silent-about-their-sisters-in-iran/
-----
46) War Abroad and Authoritarianism at Home
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul
“War allows governments to increase spending, taxes, and regulations in order to feed the war machine. Wars can justify measures that remain in place long after the wars end. An example of this is income tax withholding that was created to fund World War Two. The use of war as a justification for increased interference in the market is reason enough for libertarians to oppose war. However, war also enables the government to violate liberty.” (03/23/26)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/war-abroad-and-authoritarianism-at-home
-----
47) The Uncomfortable Truth About Immigrants
Source: Independent Institute
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
“We tend to focus on why immigrants want to come to the U.S., but we talk much less about why the U.S. wants immigrants to come to this country—i.e., why, xenophobic rhetoric notwithstanding, so many Americans have quietly and consistently welcomed them. The foremost reason for this is simply that Americans don’t want to have babies. For decades now, the fertility rate among native-born Americans has been below the replacement rate (2.1). … Not surprisingly, the native-born work force has diminished by several million since peaking in 2005 and now amounts to less than 140 million. If no foreign workers are added to the economy, in a few years, the labor force will shrink much more dramatically, reflecting the impact of the currently dismal fertility rate.” (03/23/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/03/23/the-uncomfortable-truth-about-immigrants/
-----
48) Stupidity, not malice
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“In the past several weeks, we have heard a lot of claims about the tragedy at a girl’s school in southern Iran. … The building was indeed part of the IRGC base until 2016, when a new wall was built dividing that area and that building from the rest. Apparently as part of the conversion of the building into a school. But American intel agencies: analysts and reviewers, did not know this. We submit this is not an excuse: there is no excuse for a negligent action like this. No excuse for killing innocent children, or even their teachers and staff. And we cannot even blame the IRGC or the tyrants of the Islamic Republic for perhaps attempting to use a girl’s school as a human shield for their military base. The blame rests solely on the intelligence agencies of the FedGov, both civilian and military. And therefore, upon their superiors.” (03/23/26)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/03/23/stupidity-not-malice/
-----
49) Source: In These Times
by Shane Burley
“Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg, like hundreds of other residents and organizers in the Twin Cities, now keeps a strict schedule — at least every other day — of long volunteer patrols for vehicles driven by federal immigration agents occupying the region. In about two and a half months, thousands of agents unleashed wanton violence across the country as they abduct an average of more than 60 residents per day; shooting, killing and firing chemical weapons at nonviolent protesters, and extrajudicially arrest preschoolers and send them across the country. Things have been hard, but neighborhoods have also become more united and communication has become systematized and effective. … We talked just days before the massive January 23 economic shutdown, where there was a stunning amount of participation and support across the state, and somewhere between 50,000 to 100,000 people poured out of work, school and their homes to fill the streets.” (03/23/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/the-new-antifascist-consensus-ice-rapid-response-community-defense
-----
50) Our Train Trip to Political Hell
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard
“A recent Facebook memory notice reminded me of when I was young and naïve and full of political hope. Okay, maybe I wasn’t full of political hope but at least I wasn’t as old at the end of the last century. Facebook flashed a jpeg image with a quote from my 1999 book, Freedom in Chains: ‘It is absurd to expect governments to descend gradually, step-by-step into barbarism – as if there was a train schedule to political hell and people could get off at any stop along the way.’ When I wrote that book, I reached deep within to dredge up whatever remnants of positive thinking that I could find. But that didn’t stop the Los Angeles Times from denouncing my ‘political paranoid’s view’ in which ‘government assumes an overweening, menacing aspect.'” (03/23/26)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2026/03/23/our-train-trip-to-political-hell/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Pink Flame of Liberty, 03/24/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Discussion: Case for Christian Nationalism: The Tyranny of Freedom (Ep3).” (03/24/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8IJl4HtKMU
-----
52) The Political Orphanage, 03/24/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“Maine is Smarter Than Your State about Prison.” (03/24/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/maine-is-smarter-than-your-state-about-prison
-----
53) Trump Watch, 03/24/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Iran Is Trump’s Tar Baby.” (03/24/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLX2z1diNXs
-----
54) The Bryan Hyde Show, 03/24/26
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“It’s my pleasure to welcome Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos back to the show this week. Eric brings us up to speed on his Trans Am project and we discuss other relevant topics for lovers of freedom.” (03/26/26)
https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-zyc74-1a7e598
-----
55) The Corbett Report, episode 495
Source: The Corbett Report
“This is the REAL Endgame in Iran.” (03/24/26)
https://corbettreport.com/this-is-the-real-endgame-in-iran/
-----
56) The Good Fight, 03/24/26
Source: Yascha Mounk
“David Goodhart on Why the Educated Elite Lost Touch with Democracy.” (03/24/26)
https://writing.yaschamounk.com/p/david-goodhart
-----
57) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 03/23/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US May Send 82nd Airborne To Attack Kharg Island, Trump Sends Mixed Signals on Iran, and More.” (03/23/26)
https://rumble.com/v77jcio-us-may-send-82nd-airborne-to-attack-kharg-island-trump-sends-mixed-signals-.html
-----
58) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 03/23/26
Source: Show-Me Institute
“The Public Safety Climate in the City of St. Louis with Susan Pendergrass and Patrick Tuohey.” (03/23/26)
https://showmeinstitute.org/article/state-and-local-government/the-public-safety-climate-in-the-city-of-st-louis-with-susan-pendergrass-and-patrick-tuohey/
-----
59) Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 03/23/26
Source: Freedom’s Phoenix
“Charles Goyette (NY Times bestselling author of The Dollar Meltdown and Red and Blue and Broke all Over) on his new book, Empire of Lies: Fragments from the Memory Hole; also comes on to catch up, discuss current economic and political issues …” (03/23/26)
https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Media/393046-2026-03-23-2026-03-23-ernest-hancock-interviews-charles-goyette-mp3-mp4.htm
-----
60) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 03/23/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Tulsi Breaks Her Silence Says YES, WAR WITH IRAN! JOE KENT RESIGNS Say Iran NO THREAT.” (03/23/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-tulsi-breaks-her-silence-says-yes-war-with-iran-joe-kent-resigns-say-iran-no-threat/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Iranian military mocks Trump’s claims of ceasefire talks, strikes Gulf states overnight
2) FL: Democrat flips state House seat, gets Donald Trump as constituent
3) Russia, Ukraine: Tit-for-tat attacks knock out power for over half a million
4) NM: Jury orders Meta to pay $375 million to state in vexatious lawsuit
5) Asia boosts coal use as Iran war squeezes global LNG supplies
6) Rebels in Congo used containers to hold journalists in brutal conditions, advocacy group says
7) NASA plans $20 billion moon base, but pauses lunar space station project
8) Chile: Regime Withdraws Backing for Former President Bachelet as UN Secretary-General
9) MN: Millionaire who qualified for food stamps warns of “fraud by design” loophole
10) EU, Australian regimes seal trade deal as Western countries hedge against US risks
11) CA: USC cancels gubernatorial debate after excluding “candidates of color”
12) Coalition sues to stop Trump’s Kennedy Center reconstruction project
13) Afghanistan: Regime releases US detainee Dennis Coyle after more than a year
14) Hong Kong: Beijing quisling regime grants police power to demand phone, computer passwords
15) Geneva’s CERN hails delicate test on transporting antimatter as a scientific success
16) NJ: Judge appoints new US attorney after courts rejected Justice Department workarounds
17) Philippines: Regime declares energy emergency over Iran conflict
18) FIFA hit with complaint to EU over World Cup ticket pricing
19) CA: Man tries, fails to deliver meth-filled balloons via drone
20) TN: Homeowner shoots intruder
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) The Ugly Path to Peace
22) This Year, The Case Against Lawns Gets Even Stronger
23) Welfare on Wheels: The Truth About the Supposed Truck Driver Shortage
24) What Is China Up to in the Taiwan Strait?
25) Congress will get its vote on the war with Iran
26) Republicans Can Win on Healthcare Affordability
27) How Japan’s Prime Minister Could Have Responded to Trump
28) The Fed Already Has What It Needs to Navigate Supply Shocks
29) The American Gulag 2026: People Die While Companies Profit
30) Reassessing European Contact: Insights from Spanish America
31) Trump restores GOP as party of defense and deterrence
32) Can’t We Just Pick One?
33) Pronatalism for Freedom-Lovers
34) Jewish and Arab-American Solidarity Is More Important Than Ever
35) The Interesting Lies of Samuelson: How We Naively Believed the Case of Giffen Goods
36) The EU’s Failed Green Deal is a Warning to Us All
37) The Only Worthwhile Western Culture Is That Which Opposes The Western Empire
38) The Case for Letting FISA’s Section 702 Expire
39) Iran war could cripple the ‘Yuxi Circle’ or 55% of world population Iran war could cripple the “Yuxi Circle” or 55% of world population
40) Teachers Are Seeking Alternatives to Traditional Unions
41) Tom Steyer Is Trying Politics
42) Individualism in Rothbard’s Natural Rights Libertarianism
43) How to End the War in Iran
44) Implications of Coase for Law
45) Californian women protested for “Palestine;” why so silent on Iran?
46) War Abroad and Authoritarianism at Home
47) The Uncomfortable Truth About Immigrants
48) Stupidity, not malice
49) The New Antifascist Consensus
50) Our Train Trip to Political Hell
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Pink Flame of Liberty, 03/24/26
52) The Political Orphanage, 03/24/26
53) Trump Watch, 03/24/26
54) The Bryan Hyde Show, 03/24/26
55) The Corbett Report, episode 495
56) The Good Fight, 03/24/26
57) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 03/23/26
58) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 03/23/26
59) Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 03/23/26
60) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 03/23/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Iranian military mocks Trump’s claims of ceasefire talks, strikes Gulf states overnight
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“An Iranian military spokesperson mocked US attempts at a ceasefire deal, insisting Americans were only negotiating with themselves. Lt Col Ebrahim Zolfaghari’s statement came after the Trump administration reportedly sent a 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran through Pakistan. … Kuwait and Bahrain were both hit with damaging strikes on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning …. News that Trump had approved the deployment of more than 1,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East further undermined the US president’s repeated claims of successful peace talks.” (03/25/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/mar/25/middle-east-crisis-live-iran-war-oil-prices-more-us-troops-reportedly-deployed-donald-trump-attacks-on-lebanon
-----
2) FL: Democrat flips state House seat, gets Donald Trump as constituent
Source: NBC News
“Democrat Emily Gregory on Tuesday won a special election for the Florida state House district that includes President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, flipping the seat from Republican control, The Associated Press projects. Gregory beat Republican Jon Maples, who had been endorsed by Trump, in the race for a seat that has been vacant since August. Palm Beach County Clerk Mike Caruso left the seat empty when he resigned from the legislature last year and was appointed to his current office. Gregory had 51% of the vote to 49% for Maples with all precincts reporting. … The president carried this Florida legislative district by about 11 percentage points in the 2024 election, according to The Downballot, a left-leaning political site that tracks special elections.” (03/24/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/democrat-flips-republican-florida-house-seat-includes-trump-mar-lago-rcna264660
-----
3) Russia, Ukraine: Tit-for-tat attacks knock out power for over half a million
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Russia and Ukraine have targeted each other’s energy facilities in tit-for-tat attacks, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power, officials from both countries said, as the world’s attention has shifted to the US-Israel war on Iran. Nearly half a million people were left without electricity in Russia’s Belgorod region, while 150,000 consumers in the city of Chernihiv and surrounding areas were without power on Wednesday.” (03/25/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/25/russia-ukraine-tit-for-tat-attacks-knock-out-power-for-over-half-a-million
-----
4) NM: Jury orders Meta to pay $375 million to state in vexatious lawsuit
Source: KOMO News
“A New Mexico jury found Meta liable for misleading consumers about the safety of its platforms and endangering children, ordering the company to pay $375 million in civil penalties for violating the state’s consumer protection laws. The verdict in the landmark State of New Mexico v. Meta Platforms, Inc. trial makes New Mexico the first state in the nation to win against a major tech company accused of harming young people. The jury ordered Meta to pay the maximum penalty under the law of $5,000 per violation, totaling $375 million.” [editor’s note: On the up side, idiocy like this will hopefully help move social media toward more decentralized/ownerless models so that there aren’t any deep pockets to pick – TLK] (03/24/26)
https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/jury-orders-meta-to-pay-375-million-in-new-mexico-child-safety-deception-case
-----
5) Asia boosts coal use as Iran war squeezes global LNG supplies
Source: SFGate
“Asian countries are turning to coal as the Iran war disrupts oil and gas shipments. The continent is exposed because it relies on imported fuel, much of it passing through the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint for about a fifth of global oil and natural gas trade. … It burns cleaner than coal, but still emits climate change-causing gases, especially methane. The war has countries shifting back to coal to cover LNG shortfalls. India is burning more coal to meet higher summer demand. South Korea has lifted caps on electricity from coal. Indonesia is prioritizing using its domestic supply. Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam are boosting coal-fired power. Burning more coal risks worsening smog in major cities, slowing the transition to renewable energy and increasing the region’s planet-warming emissions.” (03/24/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/asia-boosts-coal-use-as-iran-war-squeezes-global-22092897.php
-----
6) Rebels in Congo used containers to hold journalists in brutal conditions, advocacy group says
Source: SFGate
“A rebel group in eastern Congo has detained civilians, including two journalists, in metal shipping containers without light or ventilation, an advocacy group said Tuesday. Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, said the Rwanda-backed M23, which controls parts of eastern Congo, used the containers in the city of Goma as makeshift detention cells under ‘inhumane’ and ‘degrading’conditions. … As many as 80 detainees at a time were placed inside a container, without light or ventilation and allowed out only once a day. Witnesses said they received minimal food, while some reported routine beatings. According to the testimonies, conditions were extreme — suffocating heat by day and cold at night — with deaths reported. Survivors were often held for weeks before being transferred to other locations.” (03/24/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/rebels-in-congo-used-containers-to-hold-22093305.php
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7) NASA plans $20 billion moon base, but pauses lunar space station project
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“NASA is cancelling plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and will instead use its components to construct a $20 billion US base on the moon’s surface over the next seven years, its new chief Jared Isaacman said on Tuesday. Isaacman, who was sworn in at the agency in December, made the announcement at the opening of a day-long event at NASA’s Washington headquarters at which he outlined a raft of changes he is making to the agency’s flagship moon program Artemis. … The Lunar Gateway station, largely already built with contractors Northrop Grumman and Vantor, formerly Maxar, was meant to be a space station in a lunar orbit. Repurposing the craft for a lunar surface base is not simple.” (03/24/26)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/nasa-lunar-gateway-9.7140073
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8) Chile: Regime Withdraws Backing for Former President Bachelet as UN Secretary-General
Source: US News & World Report
“Chile on Tuesday said it was withdrawing its backing for the candidacy of former President Michelle Bachelet as Secretary-General of the United Nations, ahead of an election that will decide its leader for a five-year term starting in 2027. The withdrawal of Chile’s support comes weeks after the swearing in of President Jose Antonio Kast, marking the South American country’s sharpest shift to the right in decades. Kast has repeatedly criticized Bachelet’s presidency and said his leftist predecessor Gabriel Boric ‘made a mistake’ when he supported her nomination, alongside Brazil and Mexico, for the leadership of the U.N. Bachelet was considered a frontrunner for the race.” (03/24/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-03-24/chile-withdraws-backing-for-former-president-bachelet-as-un-secretary-general
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9) MN: Millionaire who qualified for food stamps warns of “fraud by design” loophole
Source: Fox News
“Ahead of a Tuesday hearing where Minnesota lawmakers will discuss food stamp fraud, Fox News Digital spoke to a millionaire who says he was able to qualify for food stamps through a loophole — one that he hopes will soon be closed as the state grapples with a massive fraud scandal. Rob Undersander, a retired engineer who volunteers to help seniors navigate the government benefits system, said he learned during training that eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in Minnesota was based on income only, not assets. Because his retirement income was low, he realized he could qualify even though he had significant savings and property. To test the system, Undersander applied for benefits in Stearns County in 2016 and was approved within weeks. He later said he collected thousands of dollars in SNAP benefits over more than a year, which he donated to charity, in an effort to draw attention to the issue.” (03/24/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/minnesota-millionaire-who-qualified-for-food-stamps-warns-of-fraud-by-design-loophole-ahead-of-hearing
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10) EU, Australian regimes seal trade deal as Western countries hedge against US risks
Source: CNBC
“The European Union and Australia agreed to a sweeping trade deal on Tuesday, the latest move by U.S. allies to rethink their economic ties amid deepening global geopolitical uncertainty. The agreement, which resulted from almost eight years of talks, would remove most of the tariffs the two sides had imposed on each other’s goods and allow the EU greater access to critical mineral supplies from Australia. … The European Union has pushed to clinch new agreements with trade partners over the past year in an effort to diversify its economic relations, defense and military security partnerships that have come under threat as the U.S. appears to be increasingly unreliable.” (03/24/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/24/eu-australia-trade-deal-trump-tariffs-war-risks.html
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11) CA: USC cancels gubernatorial debate after excluding “candidates of color”
Source: SFGate
“The University of Southern California decided to cancel its Tuesday night gubernatorial debate after accusations that it excluded four of the only candidates of color, the Los Angeles Times reported. The private university came under fire when Xavier Becerra, a Mexican American candidate for governor, sent a scathing letter to the university’s president last week accusing it of the blatant exclusion of four candidates from the debate. He called it ‘a chilling and dangerous move.’ The university decided to cancel the event on Monday, less than a day before it was scheduled to take place. Becerra celebrated the news, which was first reported by the Times. ‘We fought. We won! We stood up against an unfair candidate debate set-up that prematurely chose winners and losers,’ he wrote on X on Monday night.” [editor’s note: This should be no surprise to Libertarians, who have seen Ed Clark, Harry Browne, Gary Johnson and others similarly excluded from Presidential debates for low polling and fundraising numbers – SAT] (03/24/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/usc-cancels-gubernatorial-debate-22093688.php
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12) Coalition sues to stop Trump’s Kennedy Center reconstruction project
Source: United Press International
“A coalition of leading cultural and architectural preservation organizations has asked the court to stop the Trump administration from carrying through with its quarter-billion-dollar Kennedy Center reconstruction project. The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States, along with seven other organizations, filed a lawsuit Monday in a Washington, D.C., federal court seeking injunctive relief prohibiting the Trump administration from starting any construction work at the iconic Potomac River center without completing the required public review and consultation process.” (03/24/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/03/24/Trump-sued-Kennedy-Center/7701774337904/
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13) Afghanistan: Regime releases US detainee Dennis Coyle after more than a year
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The Taliban has freed an American citizen after more than a year in captivity, amid pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration. Dennis Walter Coyle, 64, who was living in Afghanistan working as a language researcher, according to his family, was arrested in January 2025. In a statement posted online, the Taliban-run Afghan foreign ministry said Coyle’s imprisonment was deemed ‘sufficient’ and that he had been pardoned to mark Eid al-Fitr, the holiday at the end of Ramadan. The US government — which declared Afghanistan a ‘state sponsor of wrongful detention’ just weeks ago — welcomed the release, but called for other US citizens being ‘unjustly’ held to be freed, too. According to a family website, Coyle arrived in Afghanistan in the early 2000s to study Afghan linguistics and help communities develop resources in their native languages.” (03/24/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79j1wj4495o
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14) Hong Kong: Beijing quisling regime grants police power to demand phone, computer passwords
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Hong Kong police are now empowered to require anyone suspected of violating the semi-autonomous city’s national security [sic] law to hand over passwords to their mobile phones or computers. Officials will brief lawmakers on the new provisions on Tuesday, a government statement said. The measure, which took effect on Monday, is part of the national security [sic] law imposed by Beijing in 2020 following large, sometimes violent, pro-democracy protests in this Chinese territory. … Refusing to comply could lead to up to one year’s imprisonment and a fine of up to 100,000 Hong Kong dollars ($12,768), while providing false or misleading information could bring up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to 500,000 Hong Kong dollars ($63,840).” (03/24/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/24/hong-kong-grants-police-power-to-demand-phone-and-computer-passwords
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15) Geneva’s CERN hails delicate test on transporting antimatter as a scientific success
Source: SFGate
“Scientists in Geneva took some antiprotons out for a spin — a very delicate one — in a truck, in a never-tried-before test drive that has been deemed a success. If this so-called antimatter had come into contact with actual matter, even for a fraction of an instant, it would have been annihilated in a quick flash of energy. So experts at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, had to be extra careful when they took 92 antiprotons on the road for a short ride on Tuesday. The antiprotons were suspended in a vacuum inside a specially designed box and held in place by supercooled magnets. … The drive on CERN’s campus itself lasted only about a half-hour to test how — if at all — the infinitesimal particles could be transported by road without seeping out.” (03/24/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/on-the-road-with-antiprotons-cern-runs-delicate-22093233.php
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16) NJ: Judge appoints new US attorney after courts rejected Justice Department workarounds
Source: CNN
“The chief district judge in New Jersey appointed Robert Frazer, a career prosecutor, to serve as US attorney for the state, ending for now a dispute over the legality of the office’s leadership that threatened to derail criminal investigations. Frazer is a longtime prosecutor who has worked on violent crime and gang organized crime cases, and most recently served as senior trial counsel. … Federal Judge Matthew Brann ruled last summer that Habba was illegally appointed as the acting US attorney in the District of New Jersey. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that decision. Bondi later appointed a trio of attorneys to split Habba’s role: Philip Lamparello, Jordan Fox and Ari Fontecchio. Earlier this month, Brann found Bondi didn’t have the ability to create an alternative leadership structure in that way.” (03/23/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/23/politics/judge-appoints-new-top-prosecutor-new-jersey-robert-frazer
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17) Philippines: Regime declares energy emergency over Iran conflict
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The Philippines has become the world’s first country to declare a state of national energy emergency in response to the conflict in the Middle East. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said he had signed an executive order to safeguard energy security, citing the ‘imminent danger posed upon the availability and stability’ of the country’s energy supply. The US-Israel war with Iran and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a key shipping route — have sent shock waves through global energy markets, causing shortages and price rises. The Philippines imports 98% of its oil from the Gulf, and the price of diesel and petrol has more than doubled in the country since the war broke out on 28 February. On Tuesday, Marcos said the move would give the government the legal authority to impose measures to ensure energy stability and protect the broader economy.” (03/24/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3ex8ez3717o
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18) FIFA hit with complaint to EU over World Cup ticket pricing
Source: Politico
“European consumer group Euroconsumers along with Football Supporters Europe have filed a complaint with the European Commission accusing FIFA of abusing its monopoly over World Cup ticket sales to impose excessive prices and unfair conditions on fans. The complaint, obtained by POLITICO, alleges breaches of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which prohibits abuses of a dominant market position. … The groups point to a range of alleged abusive practices, including limited transparency on ticket categories and seat allocation, a ‘variable pricing’ system that can push prices higher over time, and the actual scarcity of tickets advertised from $60.” (03/24/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/fifa-eu-complaint-world-cup-ticket-pricing
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19) CA: Man tries, fails to deliver meth-filled balloons via drone
Source: SFGate
“A California man has been sentenced to over a decade in prison for attempting to use a drone to deliver balloons stuffed with methamphetamine to people in a state penitentiary, officials announced last week. According to a March 20 news release from the Eastern District of California U.S. Attorney’s Office, 28-year-old Jorge Narvaez admitted to using an Autel EVO II Pro V3 drone to attempt to deliver drugs to North Kern State Prison in June 2024. That year, Narvaez packed two balloons with meth and dropped them over a prison yard, the release said. When two prison officers recovered the contraband balloons and sent their contents to a laboratory, they discovered that they contained 21.4 grams of methamphetamine. Officers also discovered that this wouldn’t be Narvaez’s only delivery attempt. That same day, Narvaez launched the drone a second time, equipping it with three ‘similarly packaged balloons’ of meth, the news releases said.” (03/24/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/california-meth-balloons-drone-22093834.php
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20) TN: Homeowner shoots intruder
Source: Action News 5
“Memphis police are investigating a shooting near the Westwood area that left one woman injured early Monday morning. … Upon arrival, officers found a woman lying in front of the residence with visible gunshot wounds on her upper leg. The homeowner told police he was sleeping when he heard noises from the back of his home, then saw an unknown woman inside. The homeowner stated that when the woman said she wanted to buy his residence, that’s when he shot her. The woman told police she was shot after she entered the residence through the unlocked back door. MPD states that the woman is experiencing mental health issues.” (03/23/26)
https://www.actionnews5.com/2026/03/23/shooting-reported-near-westwood-area-mpd-says/
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) The Ugly Path to Peace
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“When Emperor Hirohito decided to surrender to the Allies, he provoked an attempted military coup. When asked, ‘Why didn’t Czar Nicholas back down in 1914?’ historians’ standard answer is, ‘Because if he had, Pan-Slavist hawks would have overthrown him.’ … Even if a large faction of the leadership of theocratic Iran, Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, or Czarist Russia wants to make peace, they probably won’t. Indeed, even if the Supreme Leader wants to make peace, they probably won’t. My reaction, in contrast, is agentic. If by some miracle, I were the Supreme Leader of any of these countries, I have devised a strategy to make peace with high probability of success — and low risk to myself. It’s not pretty, and once you grasp my strategy, you may think ill of me for publicizing this forbidden knowledge.” [editor’s note: It would work just as well for the US or Israel, if THEIR “Supreme Leaders” actually wanted peace – TLK] (03/24/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/how-to-make-peace
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22) This Year, The Case Against Lawns Gets Even Stronger
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“As you may have noticed, the price of one key lawn maintenance ingredient — gasoline for your mower — is way up lately. As you may not have noticed yet, you’ll also be paying more for a second ingredient, fertilizer. Both of those hits to your wallet result from war-related shipping woes (in particular, the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz), and both are likely to drag on for some time even if the war comes to an end soon. It’s always a good time to consider converting your surrounding green space from a carefully trimmed, lovingly landscaped ‘lawn’ to a more natural (or, if water usage matters, xeriscaped) ‘yard.’ But this year, it’s an even better time than usual.” (03/24/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20461
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23) Welfare on Wheels: The Truth About the Supposed Truck Driver Shortage
Source: Reason
by Gord Magill
“For years we have been told that the American economy is at risk of total collapse if the American Trucking Associations (ATA) can’t find another 60,000 or 70,000 or 160,000 truckers. If there were an actual shortage of truckers, trucking companies wouldn’t get away with barely paying minimum wage, would they? … In a properly functioning market economy, wouldn’t the shortage boost the price of truckers’ labor a little higher than what one might expect at a fast-food restaurant? What are we missing here? … When the ATA hit on the phrase truck driver shortage, it found a messaging tool that has helped them line their pockets with oodles of taxpayer money. In the process, it stymied wage growth — to the advantage of trucking-fleet owners and the Fortune 500 companies that are their customers.” (for publication 05/26)
https://reason.com/2026/03/24/welfare-on-wheels/
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24) What Is China Up to in the Taiwan Strait?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“For more than a decade, naval and air forces of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have exerted a strong presence in Taiwan’s immediate neighborhood. One U.S. expert calculated that Taiwan recorded an average of about 10 Chinese military flights a day in 2025, and on some days the number was in the dozens. The message being delivered was that the Chinese military was prepared to act quickly and decisively if pro-independence leaders in Taiwan tried to implement their agenda. Then, in late February of this year, a sudden, dramatic lull in PRC military flights near the island began.” (03/24/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_galen_carpenter/2026/03/23/what-is-china-up-to-in-the-taiwan-strait
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25) Congress will get its vote on the war with Iran
Source: The Hill
by Merrill Matthews
“It appears Congress will finally get to vote on President Trump’s self-initiated war with Iran. It won’t be a direct vote on the war, even though Article I of the U.S. Constitution vests that power in Congress and not the executive branch. It will be an indirect vote providing funding for the war effort and replenishing our munitions — and perhaps other items. But given Trump’s resentment at needing congressional support for his actions, the effort to pass a funding bill may not go well. … Trump will need Senate Democrats to pass the supplemental funding. And he may not even have all Republicans on board.” (03/24/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5797370-trump-congress-iran-war/
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26) Republicans Can Win on Healthcare Affordability
Source: Town Hall
by Stephen Moore
“For most of the last 40 years, pollsters have asked voters: Which party do you trust more on healthcare? The answer has been pretty much the same over this whole period. Voters trust Democrats more, sometimes by a two-to-one margin. When I’ve asked my Republican politicos why that is, the answer I typically receive is: Our party doesn’t do healthcare. Then they crouch in the fetal position. Well, the GOP certainly better start ‘doing healthcare’, because the issue of medical care access and affordability is front and center for American families. The Republican promise to voters should be better healthcare at half the cost. Here are five easy pieces to this saner and higher-quality healthcare system.” (03/24/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/stephenmoore/2026/03/24/republicans-can-win-on-healthcare-affordability-n2673329#google_vignette
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27) How Japan’s Prime Minister Could Have Responded to Trump
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“In a press conference with Tanaichi, Trump was asked why he hadn’t advised U.S. allies of the attack on Iran prior to it being initiated. In an interesting reveal — albeit somewhat impolitic — Trump used the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to justify the U.S. surprise attack on Iran. He stated: ‘Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK?’ Yet, doesn’t Trump’s answer raise the question I raised in my article: Should the official narrative on the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor now be revised, given that the U.S. government is now using it to justify its sneak attack on Iran?” (03/24/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/03/24/how-japans-prime-minister-could-have-responded-to-trump/
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28) The Fed Already Has What It Needs to Navigate Supply Shocks
Source: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus
by David Beckworth
“It is not easy being a central banker in a world plagued by supply shocks. These disturbances push economic activity and inflation in opposite directions, forcing difficult tradeoffs between full employment and price stability. Fed officials now face such a challenge with the war in the Middle East. The resulting reduction in oil production could dampen economic activity while temporarily raising inflation. In this environment, it may be tempting to ease monetary policy to cushion the blow. But doing so would risk further stoking inflation. And if the public were already sensitive to inflation, such easing could unanchor expectations and make matters worse.” (03/24/26)
https://macroeconomicpolicynexus.substack.com/p/the-fed-already-has-what-it-needs
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29) The American Gulag 2026: People Die While Companies Profit
Source: TomDispatch
by Rebecca Gordon
“The March 4, 2026, edition of the Arizona Daily Star put the facts succinctly: ‘A Haitian asylum seeker held for four months at Florence Correctional Center died Monday at a Scottsdale hospital due to complications from an infected tooth.’ It seems the infection spread from his tooth to his lungs, and he developed the pneumonia that killed him. In other words, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) allowed a prisoner to die of a toothache. His name was Emmanuel Damas. He was 56 years old and the father of two. And we can only expect medical treatment at ICE centers to deteriorate further.” (03/24/26)
https://tomdispatch.com/people-die-while-companies-profit/
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30) Reassessing European Contact: Insights from Spanish America
Source: Isonomia Quarterly
by Daniella F Bassi
“There’s no doubt that the Americas were irrevocably changed by European contact. The decimation and sociopolitical transformation of the Western Hemisphere was so thorough that many scholars speak of an indigenous genocide — the intentional destruction of native societies. But there’s also no doubt that the story is not so simple.” (03/24/26)
https://isonomiamag.substack.com/p/reassessing-european-contact-insights
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31) Trump restores GOP as party of defense and deterrence
Source: Fox News
by Hugh Hewitt
“As the fourth week of the battle with Iran opened, President Donald Trump announced a window of opportunity for negotiations. With whom, no one outside of the president and his closest advisors knows. The president did not halt strikes on Iran, and Israel continued to pound its long list of military targets as well as the regime’s massive apparatus of repression while the U.S. focuses on degrading the military-industrial capacity of the mullahs. Iran is a country with shattered defenses and no ability to project targeted force. This was accomplished in three weeks. No wonder someone wants to negotiate even as others tell our left-wing media that Iran is winning. … No ‘takes’ matter. The conflict will be judged twice: when major combat operations conclude and a year thereafter.” (03/24/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/morning-glory-trump-has-restored-gop-party-defense-deterrence
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32) Can’t We Just Pick One?
Source: The Erick Erickson Show
by Erick-Woods Erickson
“The reason we have stayed with fall back and spring forward is because southern states want permanent daylight saving time, and northern states want permanent standard time. It benefits northern states in the winter to have standard time and benefits southern states to have daylight saving time in the summer. But, as a nation, we only have standard time for four months. Daylight saving time is the default for eight months. The reality is that standard time makes a lot of sense. … Regardless, Congress should just pick one.” (03/24/26)
https://ewerickson.substack.com/p/cant-we-just-pick-one
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33) Pronatalism for Freedom-Lovers
Source: Law & Liberty
by Rachel Lu
“Starting this year, any US citizen under 18 qualifies for a 530A ‘Trump Account,’ sometimes referred to as a ‘Kid IRA.’ Parents, grandparents, or other loved ones can contribute up to $5000 per year, which will be tax-deferred until the child turns 18. The money will then be available to the child for major life events, such as going to college, buying their first home, or starting a small business. … It’s hard to say whether this will have any meaningful impact on birth rates, but it might be worth a try, because the other kind of family policy doesn’t seem to be working very well. Over the last ten years, the pronatal case for cradle-to-grave state largesse has become exceedingly weak.” (03/24/26)
https://lawliberty.org/pronatalism-for-freedom-lovers/
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34) Jewish and Arab-American Solidarity Is More Important Than Ever
Source: Common Dreams
by Jamie Beran & Maya Berry
“Our country is at war. The American-Israeli attack on Iran has plunged the Middle East and the Arab world into chaos, displacing millions and causing thousands of casualties. Here at home, this war has consequences for the safety of Jewish and Arab American communities. Last week, a man drove a car containing explosives into a synagogue just outside of Metro Detroit. Reports indicate he held Jews responsible for the death of several members of his family in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon. At the same time, multiple congressional Republicans have decided anti-Muslim bigotry will be a key part of their strategy for the midterms. This, after their language dehumanizing Palestinians and Arabs, went generally unchallenged. This moment requires solidarity. As we hold our breath with every new development abroad and at home, our hearts.” (03/24/26)
break.https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/jewish-arab-solidarity
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35) The Interesting Lies of Samuelson: How We Naively Believed the Case of Giffen Goods
Source: Cobden Centre
by Ali Hashemifara
“You have probably heard of the widely believed myth that Napoleon was very short. Evidence proved after his death, however, that he had a completely normal height. Historians, interestingly, have mentioned that this narrative could have spread so thoroughly due to British painters drawing him short almost in a sarcastic way. Myths such as this, however irrelevant, do not alter the truth. Some myths, however, are so powerful that they make truth appear like a myth. This is the case of ‘Giffen goods’ — goods that are demanded more when their prices rise. Many believe that there can be some special, so-called Giffen goods that can exclusively have an upward-sloping demand curve. Historically, mathematically, and economically, this is impossible.” (03/24/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/03/the-interesting-lies-of-samuelson-how-we-naively-believed-the-case-of-giffen-goods/
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36) The EU’s Failed Green Deal is a Warning to Us All
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Magnus Henrekson, Christian Sandström, & Miakel Stenkula
“In 2020, the European Union launched its Green Deal. Six years later, investments in hydrogen-based projects have collapsed, and electricity prices are twice as high as in the US and China. Europe is losing its competitive edge. In our research for the Institute of Economic Affairs, we identify eight reasons why the EU Green Deal is not working. In doing so, we draw policy lessons for the United Kingdom.” (03/24/26)
https://fee.org/articles/the-eus-failed-green-deal-is-a-warning-to-us-all/
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37) The Only Worthwhile Western Culture Is That Which Opposes The Western Empire
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The only worthwhile ‘western culture’ in modern times is culture which rejects and opposes the dystopian nature of western civilization and the abuses of the western empire. Western civilization is what’s bombing Iran. It’s what’s strangling Cuba. It’s what’s torching Lebanon. It’s what’s exterminating Palestine. It’s what stole Venezuela. It’s what’s plundering the labor and resources of the global south. It’s what’s keeping the systems in place which are killing our ecosystem and driving us closer to nuclear armageddon. There is no sane and truthful position to have toward all this but vehement rejection. Westerners — particularly white westerners in nations with colonialist histories like the United States and Australia — often struggle to find their cultural moorings. It can be difficult to find an authentic position from which to express art and take your stand as a personality when you feel culturally rootless and historically ungrounded.” (03/24/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/03/24/the-only-worthwhile-western-culture-is-that-which-opposes-the-western-empire/
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38) The Case for Letting FISA’s Section 702 Expire
Source: The Dispatch
by Patrick G Eddington
“Section 702 authorizes the National Security Agency (NSA) to collect communications of non-U.S. persons located abroad without a warrant. However, because of the structure of the global telecommunications system, the text messages, phone calls, and other digital data of people in the United States are invariably captured during FISA Section 702 collection activities. That information is stored in databases that are queried by the NSA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and even some Central Intelligence Agency personnel — all without having to obtain a warrant from a federal judge before conducting such searches. The prior abuses of such Section 702 collection and warrantless database querying are well documented. This month, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a 116-page bill—the Security and Freedom Enhancement (SAFE) Act — ostensibly designed to bring an end to nearly 20 years of constitutional rights violations under Section 702.” (03/24/26)
https://thedispatch.com/article/fisa-section-702-surveillance-intelligence/
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39) Iran war could cripple the ‘Yuxi Circle’ or 55% of world population Iran war could cripple the “Yuxi Circle” or 55% of world population
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Karthik Sankaran & Sarang Shidore
“The ‘Yuxi Circle,’ named for the Chinese city at its center, has a radius of roughly 2500 miles and contains about 55% of the world’s population within it – the Indian subcontinent, China, Japan, the Koreas, and all the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. For the last four decades, this region has benefited from GDP growth of about 5% each year, driven by the expansion of industrialization, trade, agricultural productivity, and urbanization. This has led to extraordinary increases in human welfare and a shift in the economic geography of the world away from the North Atlantic basin. But these achievements could all be seriously jeopardized by ongoing events in the Persian Gulf.” (03/24/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-war-asia/
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40) Teachers Are Seeking Alternatives to Traditional Unions
Source: The Daily Economy
by Corey A DeAngelis
“Anew Harvard-Harris poll shows that 60 percent of voters believe teachers unions should stay out of politics. A differently worded poll would likely reveal even stronger sentiment. Ask voters whether union dues pulled straight from teachers’ paychecks should fund political activity, and the numbers would likely climb higher. The public already senses what many teachers have lived: unions exist more for activism than for academics. The National Education Association’s annual financial report confirms the imbalance.” (03/24/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/teachers-are-seeking-alternatives-to-traditional-unions/
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41) Tom Steyer Is Trying Politics
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
“‘I’m not saying we should run government like a business,’ Tom Steyer told a questioner at the latest in a series of question-and-answer sessions he’s been holding around the state as he campaigns for governor of California. ‘There’s a big fight right now between working people and rich companies who want to control our government and rip people off.’ If I didn’t tell you that Steyer was himself a billionaire business titan until he left the hedge fund he founded, Farallon Capital Management, in 2012, you might have assumed from the above exchange that he was a Bernie Sanders acolyte who camped overnight at Occupy Wall Street. He’s running for governor, even more so than in his unsuccessful 2020 presidential run, as a traitor to his class …” (03/24/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/03/24/tom-steyer-trying-politics-california-governor/
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42) Individualism in Rothbard’s Natural Rights Libertarianism
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“Individualism certainly means different things to different people, a point which Friedrich von Hayek highlighted in distinguishing between true and false individualism. He observed that individualism ‘has been used to describe several attitudes toward society which have as little in common among themselves as they have with those traditionally regarded as their opposites.’ It is important to bear this in mind when considering whether a political view is compatible with individualism. Much depends on what is meant by individualism in the first place.” (03/24/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/individualism-rothbards-natural-rights-libertarianism
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43) How to End the War in Iran
Source: The American Conservative
by Justin Logan
“The logic of the war at present offers a stark choice: either expand the mission to regime change — which will entail the use of large numbers of ground troops for an extended period of time — or else pocket the tactical gains achieved today and pursue an off-ramp. In light of the costs and with the war’s stated goals secure, Trump should work to end the conflict and reestablish the stable flow of oil and natural gas onto world markets, shoring up the U.S. and global economies. Caution is called for: However hard the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program were, talks to end the war are likely to be harder. Both sides will need to ignore things they want, stop doing things they want to keep doing, and restrain potential spoilers.” (03/24/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/how-to-end-the-war-in-iran/
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44) Implications of Coase for Law
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“When I first published my interpretation of the implications of Coase’s article ‘The Problem of Social Cost,’ Coase was a colleague of mine at the University of Chicago Law School. His comment on the piece was that one never understands one’s ideas until someone else explains them to you. I suspected at the time that the comment was intended to be gently critical of my interpretation, only worked out more precisely why many years later, rereading the body of his work in the process of writing a review of his final book. Coase thought of the article primarily as a critique of modern economics. Since I was an economist with a position in a law school I read it for its implications for constructing legal systems. This is an account of his ideas from my point of view, not necessarily his.” (03/23/26)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/implications-of-coase-for-law
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45) Californian women protested for “Palestine;” why so silent on Iran?
Source: New York Post
by Shirin Yadegar
“If feminism means standing for all women, then the silence surrounding Iranian women today demands an answer. Not all women are free — and not all feminists are willing to say so. Members of Iran’s women’s national soccer team recently sought asylum in Australia after refusing to sing the Islamic Republic’s national anthem. For that act alone, an act of conscience, they were treated as enemies of the state. Some were ultimately forced to return to Iran after being warned that their families’ lives were at risk. That is what courage looks like in Iran: choosing between your own freedom and the safety of the people you love most.” (03/23/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/03/23/opinion/why-are-las-women-protesters-silent-about-their-sisters-in-iran/
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46) War Abroad and Authoritarianism at Home
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul
“War allows governments to increase spending, taxes, and regulations in order to feed the war machine. Wars can justify measures that remain in place long after the wars end. An example of this is income tax withholding that was created to fund World War Two. The use of war as a justification for increased interference in the market is reason enough for libertarians to oppose war. However, war also enables the government to violate liberty.” (03/23/26)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/war-abroad-and-authoritarianism-at-home
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47) The Uncomfortable Truth About Immigrants
Source: Independent Institute
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
“We tend to focus on why immigrants want to come to the U.S., but we talk much less about why the U.S. wants immigrants to come to this country—i.e., why, xenophobic rhetoric notwithstanding, so many Americans have quietly and consistently welcomed them. The foremost reason for this is simply that Americans don’t want to have babies. For decades now, the fertility rate among native-born Americans has been below the replacement rate (2.1). … Not surprisingly, the native-born work force has diminished by several million since peaking in 2005 and now amounts to less than 140 million. If no foreign workers are added to the economy, in a few years, the labor force will shrink much more dramatically, reflecting the impact of the currently dismal fertility rate.” (03/23/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/03/23/the-uncomfortable-truth-about-immigrants/
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48) Stupidity, not malice
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“In the past several weeks, we have heard a lot of claims about the tragedy at a girl’s school in southern Iran. … The building was indeed part of the IRGC base until 2016, when a new wall was built dividing that area and that building from the rest. Apparently as part of the conversion of the building into a school. But American intel agencies: analysts and reviewers, did not know this. We submit this is not an excuse: there is no excuse for a negligent action like this. No excuse for killing innocent children, or even their teachers and staff. And we cannot even blame the IRGC or the tyrants of the Islamic Republic for perhaps attempting to use a girl’s school as a human shield for their military base. The blame rests solely on the intelligence agencies of the FedGov, both civilian and military. And therefore, upon their superiors.” (03/23/26)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/03/23/stupidity-not-malice/
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49) Source: In These Times
by Shane Burley
“Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg, like hundreds of other residents and organizers in the Twin Cities, now keeps a strict schedule — at least every other day — of long volunteer patrols for vehicles driven by federal immigration agents occupying the region. In about two and a half months, thousands of agents unleashed wanton violence across the country as they abduct an average of more than 60 residents per day; shooting, killing and firing chemical weapons at nonviolent protesters, and extrajudicially arrest preschoolers and send them across the country. Things have been hard, but neighborhoods have also become more united and communication has become systematized and effective. … We talked just days before the massive January 23 economic shutdown, where there was a stunning amount of participation and support across the state, and somewhere between 50,000 to 100,000 people poured out of work, school and their homes to fill the streets.” (03/23/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/the-new-antifascist-consensus-ice-rapid-response-community-defense
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50) Our Train Trip to Political Hell
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard
“A recent Facebook memory notice reminded me of when I was young and naïve and full of political hope. Okay, maybe I wasn’t full of political hope but at least I wasn’t as old at the end of the last century. Facebook flashed a jpeg image with a quote from my 1999 book, Freedom in Chains: ‘It is absurd to expect governments to descend gradually, step-by-step into barbarism – as if there was a train schedule to political hell and people could get off at any stop along the way.’ When I wrote that book, I reached deep within to dredge up whatever remnants of positive thinking that I could find. But that didn’t stop the Los Angeles Times from denouncing my ‘political paranoid’s view’ in which ‘government assumes an overweening, menacing aspect.'” (03/23/26)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2026/03/23/our-train-trip-to-political-hell/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Pink Flame of Liberty, 03/24/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Discussion: Case for Christian Nationalism: The Tyranny of Freedom (Ep3).” (03/24/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8IJl4HtKMU
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52) The Political Orphanage, 03/24/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“Maine is Smarter Than Your State about Prison.” (03/24/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/maine-is-smarter-than-your-state-about-prison
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53) Trump Watch, 03/24/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Iran Is Trump’s Tar Baby.” (03/24/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLX2z1diNXs
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54) The Bryan Hyde Show, 03/24/26
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“It’s my pleasure to welcome Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos back to the show this week. Eric brings us up to speed on his Trans Am project and we discuss other relevant topics for lovers of freedom.” (03/26/26)
https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-zyc74-1a7e598
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55) The Corbett Report, episode 495
Source: The Corbett Report
“This is the REAL Endgame in Iran.” (03/24/26)
https://corbettreport.com/this-is-the-real-endgame-in-iran/
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56) The Good Fight, 03/24/26
Source: Yascha Mounk
“David Goodhart on Why the Educated Elite Lost Touch with Democracy.” (03/24/26)
https://writing.yaschamounk.com/p/david-goodhart
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57) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 03/23/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US May Send 82nd Airborne To Attack Kharg Island, Trump Sends Mixed Signals on Iran, and More.” (03/23/26)
https://rumble.com/v77jcio-us-may-send-82nd-airborne-to-attack-kharg-island-trump-sends-mixed-signals-.html
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58) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 03/23/26
Source: Show-Me Institute
“The Public Safety Climate in the City of St. Louis with Susan Pendergrass and Patrick Tuohey.” (03/23/26)
https://showmeinstitute.org/article/state-and-local-government/the-public-safety-climate-in-the-city-of-st-louis-with-susan-pendergrass-and-patrick-tuohey/
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59) Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 03/23/26
Source: Freedom’s Phoenix
“Charles Goyette (NY Times bestselling author of The Dollar Meltdown and Red and Blue and Broke all Over) on his new book, Empire of Lies: Fragments from the Memory Hole; also comes on to catch up, discuss current economic and political issues …” (03/23/26)
https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Media/393046-2026-03-23-2026-03-23-ernest-hancock-interviews-charles-goyette-mp3-mp4.htm
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60) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 03/23/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Tulsi Breaks Her Silence Says YES, WAR WITH IRAN! JOE KENT RESIGNS Say Iran NO THREAT.” (03/23/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-tulsi-breaks-her-silence-says-yes-war-with-iran-joe-kent-resigns-say-iran-no-threat/
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