04/02 -- NASA Astronauts Reach Safe Orbit in Historic Moon Mission; GOP-led states that cooperate with ICE surrender their power
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Thomas L. Knapp
Apr 2, 2026, 6:15:25 AM (9 days ago) Apr 2
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 04/02/26
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Today's Freedom News:
1) NASA Astronauts Reach Safe Orbit in Historic Moon Mission
2) Senile reality TV star gives “important update on Iran” fiasco
3) Luhansk: Russian forces claim full control of region
4) SCOTUS signals skepticism over Trump’s attempt to repeal 14th Amendment by executive order
5) Judge: Trump not immune from civil claims from January 6 speech
6) US FDA approve Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 weight loss pill
7) Anthropic Rushes to Limit the Leak of Claude Code Source Code
8) Hungary: Election polls show opposition Tisza widening lead over Orban’s Fidesz
9) Study: Two to three cups of coffee per day could help cut dementia risk
10) Protest shuts down ferry rides between Puerto Rico and Vieques, snarling travel plans
11) Brazil: Judge blocks Sugarloaf Mountain zipline
12) Chinese navy arrives in Sea of Japan just as Tokyo deploys long-range missiles
13) US appeals court denies bid from families of Boeing 737 Max crash victims to reopen criminal case
14) US private sector hiring totaled 62,000 in March, better than expected
15) Crimea: Russian military plane crash kills 29
16) Tunisia: Political prisoner sentenced to two years for journalism
17) Trump regime moves Forest Service HQ to Utah in latest DC relocation push
18) Hegseth lifts Army suspension of Kid Rock flyby pilots
19) China: Mass robotaxi malfunction halts traffic in city
20) Kidnapping of US journalist in Iraq linked to Iranian militants
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) GOP-led states that cooperate with ICE surrender their power
22) Fish don’t need bicycles, or government
23) Winners and Losers
24) Braiding hair? That’ll require 500 training hours and a permit.
25) NASA’s Artemis Program Is a Monument to Government Waste. It Can Only Go Up From Here.
26) Iran War Sends Fertilizer Prices Sky-High
27) An Empire Without Liberty?
28) Afroman’s verdict is just the beginning: Officers also deserve criminal scrutiny
29) Birthright Citizenship Shouldn’t Be Up for Debate
30) Alberta Shrugs?
31) Will Oil-Loving Trump Go Down as the Greenest President in History?
32) Defund the War
33) Will a New Nuclear Arms Race Make Us More Secure?
34) The Musk-funded mural backlash elevates the messy politics of martyrdom
35) Going Nuclear
36) Trump’s War Makes Obama Look Presidential
37) The Abuse of Liberty Is As Dangerous As the Abuse of Power
38) Exposing the FBI’s Human Experimentation Studies
39) Free Market Ozempic Will Make a Huge Difference to Tens of Millions of People
40) Tiptoeing Towards Abundance?
41) EU and Canada lean into a new world role
42) April Fools for America First? Higher Prices and New War
43) Yes, Iran Is Playing Chess – But Only After Rewriting the Rules of the Game
44) Artificial Intelligence Hammers in the Final Nail in Karl Marx’s Coffin
45) Artemis II: America’s headed back to the moon, and beyond!
46) Why Do US Presidents Keep Risking Foreign Quagmires?
47) Every Argument Against Birthright Citizenship Is Hollow
48) Doing as they say, not as they do: The Trump administration’s golden passport problem
49) There Are No Good Zionists
50) The Folly of Little Metal Men
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) The Political Orphanage, 04/01/26
52) Reason Interview: Brink Lindsey
53) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 04/01/26
54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 04/01/26
55) My History Can Beat Up Your Politics, 04/01/26
56) PropagandaWatch, 04/01/26
57) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 04/01/26
58) Cato Daily Podcast, 03/31/26
59) Politics Politics Politics, 03/31/26
60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 03/31/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) NASA Astronauts Reach Safe Orbit in Historic Moon Mission
Source: Bloomberg
“NASA’s crew of astronauts launched to space and reached a stable orbit, kicking off a landmark journey that will take them closer to the lunar surface than anyone has been in more than 50 years. … The crew’s Lockheed Martin Corp.-built Orion capsule, stacked on the shoulders of Boeing Co.’s Space Launch System rocket, thundered off the launchpad at 6:35 p.m. local time at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. … The crew will spend roughly four days traveling to the lunar vicinity, where they will swing behind the moon’s far side — a vantage that is never seen from Earth. They are slated to perform a flyby of the lunar surface on April 6.” (04/02/26)
https://archive.is/uFHOu
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2) Senile reality TV star gives “important update on Iran” fiasco
Source: Yahoo! Finance
“President Trump declared Wednesday night that other countries should ‘take the lead’ on the Strait of Hormuz in yet another signal that the US may aim to depart Iran with that economically vital issue unresolved. The latest message on the crucial waterway came during Trump’s address to the nation from the White House that was billed as ‘an important update on Iran.’ … Trump didn’t offer more details about a possible ceasefire in Wednesday night’s address. He said the bombing attacks could increase in the coming weeks as the US reserves the right to ‘bring them back to the stone age.’ … Trump again on Wednesday night seemed to be promising to end the war but is also keeping escalation on the table with US ground forces now in the region.” (04/02/26)
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-declares-other-countries-need-to-take-the-lead-on-the-strait-of-hormuz-in-national-address-161325048.html
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3) Luhansk: Russian forces claim full control of region
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Russia’s Ministry of Defence says its forces have taken full control of the Luhansk region [which seceded in 2014 from Ukraine], suggesting they have wrested control of an area that had remained beyond their grasp since the beginning of their 2022 invasion. ‘Units of the ‘West’ military grouping have completed the liberation of the Luhansk People’s Republic,’ the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, using Moscow’s preferred name for the [former] Ukrainian region. There was no immediate confirmation of the development from Ukraine.” (04/01/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/1/russia-claims-to-take-full-control-of-ukraines-luhansk-region
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4) SCOTUS signals skepticism over Trump’s attempt to repeal 14th Amendment by executive order
Source: mint [India]
“In a highly consequential case testing the limits of executive power, the Supreme Court on Wednesday (April 1) appeared skeptical of President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship. The arguments were underscored by Trump’s rare personal appearance in the courtroom, marking the first time a sitting President has attended oral arguments at the nation’s highest court. Trump remained for just over an hour, listening as Solicitor General D. John Sauer defended the administration’s position before departing shortly after opposing counsel began presenting. Both conservative and liberal justices pressed the administration on the constitutional and logistical basis of the policy. The executive order seeks to deny citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are either in the country unlawfully or temporarily.” (04/01/26)
https://www.livemint.com/news/us-news/us-supreme-court-signals-skepticism-over-trump-s-birthright-citizenship-order-11775061417208.html
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5) Judge: Trump not immune from civil claims from January 6 speech
Source: The Hill
“A federal judge is allowing a civil suit brought against President Trump for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021 to proceed in court, a victory for Democratic lawmakers and Capitol Police officers who brought the litigation. The late Tuesday ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta found that Trump’s speech on the Ellipse that day was not covered by the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling, determining it could not be considered a core presidential act. He also determined the phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) asking him to ‘find’ more votes was clearly an effort ‘to alter the outcome of Georgia’s election.'” (04/01/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5811066-judge-allows-trump-jan6-suit/
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6) US FDA approve Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 weight loss pill
Source: United Press International
“The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved Eli Lilly’s pill version of a GLP-1 medication for weight loss, making it the second company to offer a non-injectable version of the drug. The orforglipron medication, which will be sold under the brand name Foundayo, joins Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill as the only two oral GLP-1 medications to have FDA approval. Eli Lilly also manufactures the injectable Zepound and Mounjaro GLP-1 medications and Novo Nordisk makes Wegovy and Ozempic. Eli Lilly said Foundayo differs from the Wegovy pill in that there are no restrictions on when the pill can be taken. The Wegovy pill must be taken in the morning 30 minutes before eating or drinking.” (04/01/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/04/01/eli-lilly-glp-1-fda/6551775058931/
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7) Anthropic Rushes to Limit the Leak of Claude Code Source Code
Source: Bloomberg
“Anthropic PBC is rushing to address the inadvertent release of internal source code behind Claude Code, an AI-powered assistant that has become a key moneymaker for the company. Thousands of copies of the code were removed from GitHub in response to copyright takedown requests from Anthropic, according to a notice on the popular developer platform. Anthropic later said the takedown impacted more GitHub repositories than intended and has since been significantly scaled back. … In a statement Tuesday, Anthropic confirmed the leak and said ‘no sensitive customer data or credentials were involved or exposed.’ The company added: ‘This was a release packaging issue caused by human error, not a security breach.'” (04/01/26)
https://archive.is/ICvx4
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8) Hungary: Election polls show opposition Tisza widening lead over Orban’s Fidesz
Source: Reuters
“Hungary’s centre-right Tisza party widened its lead over Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling Fidesz ahead of an April 12 parliamentary election, two opinion polls showed on Wednesday, although a large share of voters remained undecided. Veteran nationalist Orban faces the biggest challenge to his rule in 16 years, although the outcome of the election remains uncertain uncertain due to the many undecided voters, according to opinion polls. Centre-right Tisza, led by former government insider Peter Magyar, had the support of 56% of decided voters, up from 53% in early March, while 37% backed Fidesz, down from 39% three weeks ago, a poll by 21 Research Centre showed. Some 26% of respondents did not know who to back.” (04/01/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/hungary-election-polls-show-opposition-tisza-widening-lead-over-orbans-fidesz-2026-04-01/
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9) Study: Two to three cups of coffee per day could help cut dementia risk
Source: National Post
“A new large, long-running study suggests that drinking coffee might have cognitive benefits, provided it’s caffeinated and consumed in moderation. U.S. researchers found that people who regularly drank two to three cups of coffee or one to two cups of tea per day had a lower chance of developing dementia than those who drank little or abstained altogether. Though caffeinated coffee intake was ‘significantly associated’ with lower risk of dementia, the same wasn’t true of decaf, according to the study.” (04/01/26)
https://nationalpost.com/life/food/two-to-three-cups-of-coffee-per-day-could-help-cut-dementia-risk
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10) Protest shuts down ferry rides between Puerto Rico and Vieques, snarling travel plans
Source: ABC News
“A protest over a rate increase forced Puerto Rico’s government on Wednesday to cancel ferry rides between the U.S. territory and the tiny island of Vieques that is popular with tourists. The protest comes as Puerto Rico reports a surge in visitors this month, with many locals and tourists traditionally visiting surrounding islands during Holy Week. Police said in a statement that some 12 trucks were blocking the boat terminal in Vieques. A one-way ferry ride to the island for decades had cost $2, but officials recently increased it to $11.25 for anyone who doesn’t live on Vieques, prompting an outcry.” (04/01/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/protest-shuts-ferry-rides-puerto-rico-vieques-snarling-131611405
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11) Brazil: Judge blocks Sugarloaf Mountain zipline
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A judge in Brazil has blocked a project to build a zipline connecting the famous Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro to a nearby hill, Morro da Urca. The attraction’s developer said it would allow visitors to descend from Sugarloaf Mountain at speeds of almost 100km/h (62mph) via four ziplines covering a distance of 755m (0.47 miles). The project – which started four years ago — had triggered protests from locals and environmentalists, who argued that the construction work was causing irreparable damage to the Unesco World Heritage Site. The developer is expected to appeal against the decision.” (04/01/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx29e3wljj2o
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12) Chinese navy arrives in Sea of Japan just as Tokyo deploys long-range missiles
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong state media]
“Five ships transited Tsushima Strait and were tracked heading northeast after China warned of strong response to ‘neo-militarism.’ As Tokyo was completing the deployment on Tuesday of its two Type 25 missiles targeting China, a Chinese naval fleet entered the Sea of Japan, while bilateral tensions continued to escalate. China has strongly protested the Japan Ground Self-Defence Force’s addition of the newly designated Type 25 long-range surface-to-ship guided (SSM) missile and hypervelocity gliding projectiles (HGP).” (04/01/26)
https://archive.is/K1TlA
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13) US appeals court denies bid from families of Boeing 737 Max crash victims to reopen criminal case
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“A federal appeals court has denied a request from dozens of families to reopen a criminal case against Boeing over two fatal 737 Max crashes more than seven years ago. Lawyers for the families had argued that the U.S. Department of Justice failed to properly consult them before reaching a deal last year with Boeing that led a lower court to dismiss a criminal conspiracy charge against the company. The charge stemmed from allegations that Boeing misled federal regulators about a flight-control system linked to the crashes, which killed 346 people. In a unanimous decision released Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it disagreed with the families’ claims that federal prosecutors had violated their rights under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act and therefore could not revive the case.” (04/01/26)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/04/01/boeing-justice-department-criminal-case-appeal/
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14) US private sector hiring totaled 62,000 in March, better than expected
Source: CNBC
“Private sector employment growth was a bit better than expected in March, but health care and construction continued to provide nearly all the momentum, payrolls processing company ADP reported Wednesday. Job growth totaled 62,000 for the month, down just 4,000 from February’s upwardly revised level but above the Dow Jones consensus for 39,000. ADP’s report does not include government employees. Like February’s report, two sectors essentially provided all the gains. Education and health services contributed 58,000 — identical to the February total — while construction added 30,000. The health services total was held back in the prior month due to a since-resolved strike at Kaiser Permanente that sidelined more than 30,000 workers in Hawaii and California.” (04/01/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/01/private-sector-hiring-totaled-62000-in-march-better-than-expected-adp-says.html
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15) Crimea: Russian military plane crash kills 29
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A Russian military plane has crashed in [Crimea], killing 29 people on board, the Russian defence ministry has said. Wreckage of the An-26 aircraft was found on Tuesday after the plane lost contact with authorities during ‘a routine flight,’ according to the ministry. It blamed ‘a technical failure’ and reported no external damage to the aircraft, implying that missiles, drones or birds are not suspected of causing the crash. Seven crew members and 23 passengers had been on board as it flew over the … Crimean peninsula …. Russia’s Investigative Committee confirmed the crash and said it had opened an inquiry into a flight safety violation. News agency Tass reported that communication with the plane was lost at about 18:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, and the wreckage was found following a search and rescue effort. Ukraine has not commented on the crash.” (04/01/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly6387xgqxo
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16) Tunisia: Political prisoner sentenced to two years for journalism
Source: The New Arab [UK]
“A Tunisian court handed down a two-year prison sentence to news website editor Ghassen Ben Khelifa, in the latest prosecution targeting media workers, a move the journalists’ union described as part of a ‘systemic’ attack on free speech. The SNJT union said on Tuesday that Ben Khelifa, editor-in-chief of the news website Inhiyaz, was charged with publishing false news in a case dating back more than three years. Ben Khelifa denied the charges, saying the case was fabricated and calling it evidence of a failing system.” (03/31/26)
https://www.newarab.com/news/tunisian-journalist-sentenced-two-year
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17) Trump regime moves Forest Service HQ to Utah in latest DC relocation push
Source: Fox News
“The Trump administration is moving the Forest Service’s headquarters out of Washington and into Salt Lake City, Utah, as part of a broader push to shift federal agencies closer to the regions they oversee and reduce the footprint of government in the nation’s capital. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the move Tuesday and said it will begin a sweeping restructuring of the agency, relocating leadership and redistributing authority across the country in an effort officials say will improve decision-making, cut costs and strengthen hiring. The shift represents a significant structural change to how the Forest Service operates, moving top leadership and key functions closer to the western states where the majority of national forest land is located and where wildfire risk and land management demands are most concentrated.” (04/01/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-admin-moves-forest-service-hq-utah-latest-dc-relocation-push
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18) Hegseth lifts Army suspension of Kid Rock flyby pilots
Source: United Press International
“Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that helicopter pilots who conducted a flyby of musician Kid Rock’s Nashville estate over the weekend would not be punished, an abrupt reversal of the U.S. Army’s decision to suspend the Apache helicopter crews amid review of their conduct. … Rock published a pair of videos to social media on Saturday showing him cheering on a pair of Apache helicopters flying by and hovering near his Nashville estate, which he has called ‘The Southern White House.'” (03/31/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/03/31/Hegseth-Kid-Rock-helicopters/5201775007536/
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19) China: Mass robotaxi malfunction halts traffic in city
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A mass robotaxi outage in the Chinese city of Wuhan caused at least a hundred self-driving cars to stop mid-traffic, sparking renewed debate around the safety of driverless vehicles. Local police said initial findings suggested a ‘system malfunction’ caused multiple vehicles to stop in the middle of the road on Tuesday. Videos on social media have documented the outage, with one appearing to show it resulting in a highway collision, although police said no injuries had been reported and passengers exited their vehicles safely. Baidu did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to the police statement, posted on social media site Weibo, the cause of the incident is still under further investigation. Baidu operates its Apollo Go driverless taxi service in dozens of cities across the world, mostly in China.” (04/01/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvge91r9j80o
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20) Kidnapping of US journalist in Iraq linked to Iranian militants
Source: Politico
“An American journalist has been kidnapped in Iraq with the apparent involvement of an Iranian-backed militia, the State Department said Tuesday. Shelly Kittleson, a freelance journalist who has contributed to various publications including POLITICO, was seized from a Baghdad street, according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry, which said efforts were underway to recover her. … In a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on ‘Iraqi authorities to do everything in their power to locate Shelley Kittleson, ensure her immediate and safe release, and hold those responsible to account.'” (03/31/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/31/kidnapping-us-journalist-iraq-iranian-militants-00853116
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) GOP-led states that cooperate with ICE surrender their power
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Caleb O Brown & Patrick Jaicomo
“The federal government’s dramatic expansion of immigration-focused cooperative policing agreements with state and local authorities (about 1,500 agreements across 40 states) comes against the backdrop of the historic unpopularity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Worse, recent reporting indicates that American citizens are increasingly facing federal assault charges in cities with large immigration crackdowns despite video evidence that regularly contradicts the claims of federal agents. It’s time for states to step back and reconsider their cooperation with the feds in this arena and all others when it comes to policing. The state-federal collaboration campaign undermines some of federalism’s most basic aspects and reduces state control over state police officers.” (04/01/26)
https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/cooperate-with-ice-surrender-their-power/
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22) Fish don’t need bicycles, or government
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal
“I don’t like things that are bothersome, unnecessary, and intrusive. It’s even worse when those same things are harmful and are forced into our lives. Like government. It’s said a man needs a government like a fish needs a bicycle. I think it’s worse than that. The situation is more akin to telling the fish he can’t survive without the bicycle, forcing him to buy one, tacking him to its seat to force him to ride it, and then demanding he thank you for the bike you’ve provided.” (04/01/26)
https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2026/04/01/voices/opinion-fish-dont-need-bicycles-or-government/233120.html
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23) Winners and Losers
Source: Notablog
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
“A person of genuine self-esteem doesn’t boast about their successes at the expense of others’ losses. Truly confident people who achieve their goals don’t feel the need to diminish others for their alleged failures or the need to corral an audience to ‘listen’ to tall tales of their achievements. … But this way of thinking is anathema to Trump, who has always embraced a binary, dualistic view of the world, where there are winners and losers, where the ‘art of the deal’ takes place in the context of a zero-sum game, whether in trade or in war. In a cutthroat struggle to the top, rules need not be obeyed. The only rule is to win at all costs.” (04/01/26)
https://notablog.net/2026/03/31/winners-and-losers/
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24) Braiding hair? That’ll require 500 training hours and a permit.
Source: Washington Post
by Sarah Harbison
“Ashley N’Dakpri grew up watching her aunt run Afro Touch, a New Orleans hair-braiding shop. She learned the craft as a child and eventually took over Afro Touch’s Gretna, Louisiana, location, building a thriving business as natural hair styling boomed. Then the state stepped in. The Louisiana Board of Cosmetology informed her that without an ‘alternative hair design’ permit — requiring 500 hours of government-mandated training — she was braiding hair illegally. Even though N’Dakpri had spent years perfecting her trade and helping her customers, she needed a government permission slip to keep working. … a bill moving through the 2026 Louisiana legislative session would actually increase the training requirement from 500 to 600 hours …. There’s a motive hiding in plain sight: 600 hours is precisely the federal threshold that unlocks Title IV student loan funds for vocational programs. More red tape, more debt, more cosmetology school revenue — and fewer braiders.” (04/01/26)
https://archive.is/lzSAl
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25) NASA’s Artemis Program Is a Monument to Government Waste. It Can Only Go Up From Here.
Source: Reason
by Quade MacDonald
“If the pending Artemis II mission is successful, it will not just send Americans around the moon and back for the first time in more than half a century — it will send them further than any human being has traveled into space. If the rest of the Artemis program proceeds on schedule, astronauts will return to the lunar surface by the end of the decade. That’s been a long time coming. The government has been working to get Americans back on the moon since the Bush administration created the Constellation program in the mid-2000s. Wondering why it’s taking so long, given that the original moon mission required only seven years? The answer involves the familiar forces of government inefficiency and pork barrel congressional politics.” (04/01/26)
https://reason.com/2026/04/01/nasas-artemis-program-is-a-monument-to-government-waste-it-can-only-go-up-from-here/
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26) Iran War Sends Fertilizer Prices Sky-High
Source: The American Prospect
by Emma Janssen
“As the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran enters its second month, Iran has found a new way to hold leverage over the world economy: closing and opening the Strait of Hormuz at will. Iran’s ability to shut off one of the world’s major shipping routes, which transports one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas, allows it to dictate the cost of energy in the U.S. and everywhere else. Reporting suggests that Iran’s control over the strait won’t clear up whenever the war ends. … on Monday, the Iranian parliament passed a bill that would impose tolls on any ship passing through the strait, while banning U.S. and Israeli vessels from entering.” (04/01/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/04/01/iran-war-trump-strait-hormuz-fertilizer-fossil-fuels/
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27) An Empire Without Liberty?
Source: Libertarian Institute
by William J Watkins Jr.
“Since the beginning of the war, President Donald Trump has touted dismantlement of the Iranian government as the American endgame. Even as U.S. officials negotiate with their Iranian counterparts to end the fighting and restore stability to world energy markets, Trump says he still wants to see a ‘very serious form of a regime change’ in the ultimate peace deal. This imperial hubris is unworthy of the president of a federal republic and would cause the Founding Fathers to cringe.” (04/01/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/an-empire-without-liberty
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28) Afroman’s verdict is just the beginning: Officers also deserve criminal scrutiny
Source: The Hill
by Michael Mellette
“On March 18, a jury in rural Adams County, Ohio, rejected a defamation lawsuit in a matter of hours. That speed was itself a verdict — not just on the merits, but on the character of the case. Seven law enforcement officers had sued a music artist for using his own home security footage to criticize a police raid on his own home. The officers lost, in what civil liberties advocates called a huge First Amendment victory. The more important question, though, is going largely unasked — whether the officers who brought this lawsuit should face criminal scrutiny as well.” (04/01/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/5809358-officers-sued-rapper-security-footage/
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29) Birthright Citizenship Shouldn’t Be Up for Debate
Source: Brennan Center for Justice
by Michael Waldman
“The US Supreme Court today will hear a major constitutional case about birthright citizenship. We shouldn’t be debating this right now. But since the president chose to act with such striking disregard for the law, here we are. Birthright citizenship is in the Constitution. The first sentence of the 14th Amendment reads, ‘All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.’ This has been the law for more than 150 years. … The Supreme Court in 1898 confirmed the 14th Amendment’s plain meaning. In United States v. Wong Kim Ark, it ruled that children born here are citizens, even if their parents are not. That principle gave rise to generations of new Americans. Donald Trump tried to Sharpie this out of the Constitution.” (04/01/26)
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/birthright-citizenship-shouldnt-be-debate
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30) Alberta Shrugs?
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Political dysfunction is not limited to the United States of America. Take Canada. Things have gotten bad enough there that one province is taking measures to ‘dissolve the political bands which have connected them’ with the folks running everything from Ottawa. … Alberta’s secession is going to the ballot. Will the voters choose yes? Secession is a messy, difficult business. But it’s easier in Canada than in, say, the United States (where it led to war). So we will see how the people of the province really feel about how horrific the government in Ottawa really is.” (04/01/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/04/01/alberta-shrugs/
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31) Will Oil-Loving Trump Go Down as the Greenest President in History?
Source: Beat the Press
by Dean Baker
“President Donald Trump has an incredibly childish obsession with outdoing his predecessors, who he constantly derides as stupid and corrupt. There is, of course, no evidence for Trump’s charges, like the supposedly terrible economy he inherited from President Joe Biden, but Donald Trump is not a man who feels constrained by reality. While Trump does everything he can to reverse policies to promote clean energy, overturn trade agreements (including his own), and undermine security pacts, there is one area where Trump looks to substantially outpace the work of his predecessors. This is in promoting the transition to a non-fossil fuel-based economy. … his reckless attack on Iran will do a hundred times more to promote clean energy worldwide than all the incentives in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.” (04/01/26)
https://cepr.net/publications/march-2026-jobs-report-preview-what-to-expect/
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32) Defund the War
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“The Iran war is a war of aggression and a crime against the Iranian people. Belatedly authorizing a war that should never have happened would be an endorsement of that crime. It is bad enough that members of Congress failed in their constitutional responsibilities when they did nothing to stop this war. To approve Trump’s actions after the fact would be so much worse.” (04/01/26)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/defund-the-war
-----
33) Will a New Nuclear Arms Race Make Us More Secure?
Source: Common Dreams
by Connie Peck
“It is widely thought that the February 5 expiration of New START, the last arms control agreement capping US and Russian nuclear weapons, could usher in a dangerous and highly destabilizing new nuclear arms race. Since the Cold War peak of over 70,000 nuclear weapons in 1986, arms control treaties have reduced the number to approximately 12,200 today—still equivalent, however, to 145,000 Hiroshimas. Many of these decommissioned weapons remain in storage where they can be readily redeployed, making it possible to double Russian and US arsenals in one to two years. If a new nuclear arms race begins between the US and Russia, the US could ‘upload’ 800 bombs and cruise missiles stored at military bases back onto B-2 and B-52 bombers in a matter of weeks. ” (04/01/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/new-nuclear-arms-race-2676644499
-----
34) The Musk-funded mural backlash elevates the messy politics of martyrdom
Source: Semafor
by David Weigel
“It’s fair to see the [Iryna] Zarutska mural campaign as a response to the veneration of [George] Floyd, and the effort — joined by the Democratic Party, progressive infrastructure, and much of corporate America — to change the country in his honor. Political movements have always elevated martyrs, and Trump has spent a decade raising the profiles of victims of violent crime and their family members. … The backlash against the Zarutska mural campaign isn’t purely about partisanship. In Chicago, one of the only places where art honoring her has gone up around a sizable Ukrainian-American community, it has not changed hearts or minds. It’s been received as the unwelcome manipulation of a tragedy by people who don’t care much about Ukraine.” (04/01/26)
https://www.semafor.com/article/04/01/2026/the-musk-funded-mural-backlash-elevates-the-messy-politics-of-martyrdom
-----
35) Going Nuclear
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“On April 28 last year, a massive blackout plunged Spain and Portugal into darkness for over twelve hours. Flights were canceled, thousands of people were stranded on trains, and there were at least eight related deaths. The Spanish right seized on this freak event to attack what it called the Socialist-led government’s ‘climate fanaticism’ — but although renewable energy was generating about 70% of Spain’s power at the time, an in-depth investigation has found that it wasn’t the cause.” (04/01/26)
https://fee.org/articles/going-nuclear/
-----
36) Trump’s War Makes Obama Look Presidential
Source: The American Conservative
by Spencer Neale
“[T]hough there is merit to the claim that Obama was ‘highly overrated,’ Trump appears to be vastly overrated himself by the sycophants leading his administration. He has bungled this war and made a mess of our standing among allies near and far. He has constantly shifted the goalposts on the objectives of the war and the timeline for a potential ceasefire deal. And now the latest reports trickling out of the ‘new’ Iranian regime — which by all measurable standards is more radical and hardline than the one he bombed to oblivion — suggest that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has yet to agree to negotiations. In truth, Trump’s war in Iran has led America down an extremely narrow path, without the sort of easy off-ramps that would provide relief for the tens of millions of families seeking the bare bones of an American dream once promised.” (04/01/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trumps-war-makes-obama-look-presidential/
-----
37) The Abuse of Liberty Is As Dangerous As the Abuse of Power
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis
“‘Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.’ — James Madison … Our biggest concern in America today is the Democratic Party’s abuse of power, their desire for tyrannical control, and an unlimited government (‘Our rights come from government, not God,’ Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said a few months ago). If government gives us our rights, then government can take them away at will, and that is as good a definition of totalitarian government as one could wish for. It is exactly what Communist China has today, what Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and every other tyranny the world has ever seen foisted upon their people. It is exactly what tyrants and government (and Democrats) want. So, patriotic Americans (following our Founding Fathers) fear unlimited, oppressive government.” (04/01/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/04/01/the-abuse-of-liberty-is-as-dangerous-as-the-abuse-of-power-n2673721
-----
38) Exposing the FBI’s Human Experimentation Studies
Source: Racket News
“‘You’re only going to create a real problem for an FBI employee if you call ‘em direct this way.’ Senior FBI official Thomas Gregory Motta was upset that I dared to call him to talk about the bureau’s hidden experiments on humans. He joined the bureau in 1998 and was promoted to the FBI’s senior ranks nearly 20 years ago. During his tenure, the bureau has grown proficient at snooping on journalists — as documented in a secret government report published by Racket — without having to face their questions.” (04/01/26)
https://www.racket.news/p/exclusive-exposing-the-fbis-human
-----
39) Free Market Ozempic Will Make a Huge Difference to Tens of Millions of People
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“Ozempic sells for close to $300 for a month’s dosage in developing countries like China and India. It is expected to sell for around $15 for a month’s dosage when generics are introduced, and the price could eventually fall to around $3 when there is enough competition in the market. The price differentials in the United States and other wealthy countries are even larger. People without insurance can pay as much as $1,000 for a month’s dosage, although discounts are available that can cut this price in half. The drug still has several more years of patent protection in the United States …. With rare exceptions, drugs are cheap to manufacture and distribute; however, they can end up being expensive because governments give drug companies patent monopolies or other forms of protection.” (04/01/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/01/free-market-ozempic-will-make-a-huge-difference-to-tens-of-millions-of-people/
-----
40) Tiptoeing Towards Abundance?
Source: Law & Liberty
by Samuel Gregg
“Even when thriving markets are the goal, progressives have little interest in restraining the state.” (04/01/26)
https://lawliberty.org/forum/tiptoeing-towards-abundance/
-----
41) EU and Canada lean into a new world role
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“At the start of this week, a four-day gathering of the World Trade Organization ended in deadlock over a disagreement between just two of its 166 member countries. The United States sought a 10-year extension to existing duty-free digital purchasing rules (for items such as software, music, and movies); Brazil would only agree to a two-year extension. Nevertheless, working on the sidelines, 66 other members – from Asia, Europe, and the Americas – forged their own agreement on the issue. The recent increase in such ‘minilateral’ solutions to global obstacles signifies more than mere impatience with time-consuming multilateral processes. Rather, it highlights the impetus and realization among the world’s middle powers about their changing role – and responsibility – in shaping a world order amid major geopolitical shifts.” (03/31/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0331/EU-and-Canada-lean-into-a-new-world-role
-----
42) April Fools for America First? Higher Prices and New War
Source: The Daily Economy
by Stefan Bartl
“The President returned to office on promises to lower costs at home and restore our reputation abroad. Americans got the opposite.” (04/01/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/april-fools-for-america-first-higher-prices-and-new-war/
-----
43) Yes, Iran Is Playing Chess – But Only After Rewriting the Rules of the Game
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ramzy Baroud
“The origins of chess are contested, but few dispute that while the game began in India, it was the Sassanian Persian Empire that refined it into a recognizable strategic system. It was Persia that codified its language, symbolism and intellectual framework: the shah (king), the rokh (rook), and shatranj, the modern chess game. This is not a trivial historical detail. It is, in many ways, a metaphor that has returned with force. Since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran on February 28, 2026, political discourse – across Western, Israeli and alternative media – has repeatedly invoked the analogy of chess to describe Iran’s conduct. The comparison is seductive. But it is also incomplete.” (04/01/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/ramzy-baroud/2026/03/31/yes-iran-is-playing-chess-but-only-after-rewriting-the-rules-of-the-game/
-----
44) Artificial Intelligence Hammers in the Final Nail in Karl Marx’s Coffin
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Andy Fischer
“Karl Marx believed machines would eventually turn workers into something disposable. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels wrote that industrial labor had already reduced the worker to ‘a mere appendage of the machine.’ In Capital, Marx argued that machinery would create a permanent ‘industrial reserve army’ of unemployed workers. As automation increased, workers would lose bargaining power while capital consolidated control. The proletariat would become poorer and more desperate. From that condition, Marx believed revolution would follow. That prediction sits at the center of his entire framework. But history moved in the opposite direction.” (03/31/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/artificial-intelligence-hammers-final-nail-karl-marxs-coffin
-----
45) Artemis II: America’s headed back to the moon, and beyond!
Source: New York Post
by staff
“America’s space program is once again pushing toward new frontiers: For the first time in more than 50 years, the nation will send humans back to the moon — and then to Mars and beyond. It starts with the liftoff of Artemis II, scheduled for Wednesday evening. Yes, this mission in many ways is an echo, even a repeat, of the Apollo lunar flights of the ’60s and ’70s. The trip will bring them the furthest from Earth any humans have ever been and return them at a record speed of 25,000 miles per hour, facing temperatures of 5,000 degrees. Yet the point this time isn’t simply another lunar landing: It’s to prepare for even greater goals — such as the eventual establishment of a human base, with a continuous human presence, on the lunar surface and in lunar orbit, with a mission to Mars to follow.” (04/01/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/04/01/opinion/artemis-ii-americas-headed-back-to-the-moon-and-then-beyond/
-----
46) Why Do US Presidents Keep Risking Foreign Quagmires?
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
:During the past three-quarters of a century, beginning in 1950 and continuing right through to the current war with Iran, U.S. presidents repeatedly have risked involvement in conflicts that resulted in military quagmires with disappointing endings. Why do presidents keep repeating the same mistakes in the name of ‘national security?'” (03/31/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/03/31/presidents-keep-risking-foreign-quagmires/
-----
47) Every Argument Against Birthright Citizenship Is Hollow
Source: The UnPopulist
by Paul Gowder
“In the end, every single legal argument for stripping U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants of citizenship fails. The 14th Amendment is clear. Donald Trump’s push to deny them citizenship status is yet another assault on the Constitution.” (03/31/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/every-argument-against-birthright
-----
48) Doing as they say, not as they do: The Trump administration’s golden passport problem
Source: Niskanen Center
by Cassandra Zimmer
“The U.S. has every right to pressure Antigua & Barbuda and Dominica to reform programs that pose genuine national security risks. However, it does not have the credibility to do so while launching a program that contains design-level gaps that, if left unaddressed, create conditions for similar misuse.” (03/31/26)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/doing-as-they-say-not-as-they-do-the-trump-administrations-golden-passport-problem/
-----
49) There Are No Good Zionists
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“I don’t believe you can be a good Zionist anymore than I believe someone can be a decent Nazi. The ideology itself describes a major character flaw I cannot take seriously the idea that some ethnicities or religious groups are inherently prone to nefarious behavior; it goes against everything I’ve learned about the human condition over the course of my strange adventures on this planet. I absolutely do believe, however, that there are political ideologies whose adherents are universally dogshit people. If you’ve been watching the incineration of the Gaza Strip and thinking it’s good, or thinking it’s complicated, or thinking it’s an unfortunate development that can be blamed on a few bad apples in the Israeli government but doesn’t reflect Israel’s nature as a whole, then you’re a piece of shit. You’re a horrible human being. It really is that simple.” (04/01/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/04/01/there-are-no-good-zionists-and-other-notes/
-----
50) The Folly of Little Metal Men
Source: Desultory Scribblings
by Tyler Harris
“The attempt to rechristen the DOD the ‘Department of War,’ it could be argued, is itself a hallmark of attempting to larp the tough guy while trivializing institutions the administration does not fully understand or value. I think the problem is deeper, however, than just immature bravado. I think senior civilian leadership in this administration has an overwhelmingly gamified way of thinking about war.” (03/31/26)
https://tylerjohnharris.substack.com/p/the-folly-of-little-metal-men
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) The Political Orphanage, 04/01/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“How To Deal with Political Lizard People.” (04/01/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/how-to-deal-with-political-lizard-people
-----
52) Reason Interview: Brink Lindsey
Source: Reason
“How Capitalism Lost the Working Class.” (04/01/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/04/01/how-capitalism-lost-the-working-class/
-----
53) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 04/01/26
Source: Freedom Works
“Chris Edwards, CATO Institute ‘Fixing Airport Security Screening.'” (04/01/26)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2026-04-02_zfw04012026.mp3
-----
54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 04/01/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Trump Big Iran Announcement Tonight — Double Down Or Walk Away?” (04/01/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1RJjpzMLNLdKw
-----
55) My History Can Beat Up Your Politics, 04/01/26
Source: My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
“David Sirota On George W. Bush, Reagan and The Rise of Presidential Power.” (04/01/26)
https://myhistorycanbeatupyourpolitics.wordpress.com/2026/04/01/david-sirota-on-george-w-bush-reagan-and-the-rise-of-presidential-power/
-----
56) PropagandaWatch, 04/01/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“How to Create a COMPLETELY FICTIONAL Terror Hysteria!” (04/01/26)
https://corbettreport.com/how-to-create-a-completely-fictional-terror-hysteria-propagandawatch/
-----
57) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 04/01/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Hannah Arendt and the Crisis of Truth | Interview: Roger Berkowitz.” (04/01/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/hannah-arendt-and-the-crisis-of-truth-interview-roger-berkowitz/
-----
58) Cato Daily Podcast, 03/31/26
Source: Cato Institute
“Congressional Feuding and Airport Chaos.” (03/31/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/congressional-feuding-airport-chaos
-----
59) Politics Politics Politics, 03/31/26
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Can Trump Summon Congress to DC? Why the Military Community is Rosy on Iran (with Riley Blanton).” (03/31/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/can-trump-summon-congress-to-dc-why
-----
60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 03/31/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US-Israeli Strikes Pound Civilian Targets in Iran, US Deploys 3rd Carrier to Mideast, and More.” (03/31/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWR1bLgq7xw
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Today's Freedom News:
1) NASA Astronauts Reach Safe Orbit in Historic Moon Mission
2) Senile reality TV star gives “important update on Iran” fiasco
3) Luhansk: Russian forces claim full control of region
4) SCOTUS signals skepticism over Trump’s attempt to repeal 14th Amendment by executive order
5) Judge: Trump not immune from civil claims from January 6 speech
6) US FDA approve Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 weight loss pill
7) Anthropic Rushes to Limit the Leak of Claude Code Source Code
8) Hungary: Election polls show opposition Tisza widening lead over Orban’s Fidesz
9) Study: Two to three cups of coffee per day could help cut dementia risk
10) Protest shuts down ferry rides between Puerto Rico and Vieques, snarling travel plans
11) Brazil: Judge blocks Sugarloaf Mountain zipline
12) Chinese navy arrives in Sea of Japan just as Tokyo deploys long-range missiles
13) US appeals court denies bid from families of Boeing 737 Max crash victims to reopen criminal case
14) US private sector hiring totaled 62,000 in March, better than expected
15) Crimea: Russian military plane crash kills 29
16) Tunisia: Political prisoner sentenced to two years for journalism
17) Trump regime moves Forest Service HQ to Utah in latest DC relocation push
18) Hegseth lifts Army suspension of Kid Rock flyby pilots
19) China: Mass robotaxi malfunction halts traffic in city
20) Kidnapping of US journalist in Iraq linked to Iranian militants
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) GOP-led states that cooperate with ICE surrender their power
22) Fish don’t need bicycles, or government
23) Winners and Losers
24) Braiding hair? That’ll require 500 training hours and a permit.
25) NASA’s Artemis Program Is a Monument to Government Waste. It Can Only Go Up From Here.
26) Iran War Sends Fertilizer Prices Sky-High
27) An Empire Without Liberty?
28) Afroman’s verdict is just the beginning: Officers also deserve criminal scrutiny
29) Birthright Citizenship Shouldn’t Be Up for Debate
30) Alberta Shrugs?
31) Will Oil-Loving Trump Go Down as the Greenest President in History?
32) Defund the War
33) Will a New Nuclear Arms Race Make Us More Secure?
34) The Musk-funded mural backlash elevates the messy politics of martyrdom
35) Going Nuclear
36) Trump’s War Makes Obama Look Presidential
37) The Abuse of Liberty Is As Dangerous As the Abuse of Power
38) Exposing the FBI’s Human Experimentation Studies
39) Free Market Ozempic Will Make a Huge Difference to Tens of Millions of People
40) Tiptoeing Towards Abundance?
41) EU and Canada lean into a new world role
42) April Fools for America First? Higher Prices and New War
43) Yes, Iran Is Playing Chess – But Only After Rewriting the Rules of the Game
44) Artificial Intelligence Hammers in the Final Nail in Karl Marx’s Coffin
45) Artemis II: America’s headed back to the moon, and beyond!
46) Why Do US Presidents Keep Risking Foreign Quagmires?
47) Every Argument Against Birthright Citizenship Is Hollow
48) Doing as they say, not as they do: The Trump administration’s golden passport problem
49) There Are No Good Zionists
50) The Folly of Little Metal Men
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) The Political Orphanage, 04/01/26
52) Reason Interview: Brink Lindsey
53) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 04/01/26
54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 04/01/26
55) My History Can Beat Up Your Politics, 04/01/26
56) PropagandaWatch, 04/01/26
57) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 04/01/26
58) Cato Daily Podcast, 03/31/26
59) Politics Politics Politics, 03/31/26
60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 03/31/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) NASA Astronauts Reach Safe Orbit in Historic Moon Mission
Source: Bloomberg
“NASA’s crew of astronauts launched to space and reached a stable orbit, kicking off a landmark journey that will take them closer to the lunar surface than anyone has been in more than 50 years. … The crew’s Lockheed Martin Corp.-built Orion capsule, stacked on the shoulders of Boeing Co.’s Space Launch System rocket, thundered off the launchpad at 6:35 p.m. local time at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. … The crew will spend roughly four days traveling to the lunar vicinity, where they will swing behind the moon’s far side — a vantage that is never seen from Earth. They are slated to perform a flyby of the lunar surface on April 6.” (04/02/26)
https://archive.is/uFHOu
-----
2) Senile reality TV star gives “important update on Iran” fiasco
Source: Yahoo! Finance
“President Trump declared Wednesday night that other countries should ‘take the lead’ on the Strait of Hormuz in yet another signal that the US may aim to depart Iran with that economically vital issue unresolved. The latest message on the crucial waterway came during Trump’s address to the nation from the White House that was billed as ‘an important update on Iran.’ … Trump didn’t offer more details about a possible ceasefire in Wednesday night’s address. He said the bombing attacks could increase in the coming weeks as the US reserves the right to ‘bring them back to the stone age.’ … Trump again on Wednesday night seemed to be promising to end the war but is also keeping escalation on the table with US ground forces now in the region.” (04/02/26)
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-declares-other-countries-need-to-take-the-lead-on-the-strait-of-hormuz-in-national-address-161325048.html
-----
3) Luhansk: Russian forces claim full control of region
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Russia’s Ministry of Defence says its forces have taken full control of the Luhansk region [which seceded in 2014 from Ukraine], suggesting they have wrested control of an area that had remained beyond their grasp since the beginning of their 2022 invasion. ‘Units of the ‘West’ military grouping have completed the liberation of the Luhansk People’s Republic,’ the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, using Moscow’s preferred name for the [former] Ukrainian region. There was no immediate confirmation of the development from Ukraine.” (04/01/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/1/russia-claims-to-take-full-control-of-ukraines-luhansk-region
-----
4) SCOTUS signals skepticism over Trump’s attempt to repeal 14th Amendment by executive order
Source: mint [India]
“In a highly consequential case testing the limits of executive power, the Supreme Court on Wednesday (April 1) appeared skeptical of President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship. The arguments were underscored by Trump’s rare personal appearance in the courtroom, marking the first time a sitting President has attended oral arguments at the nation’s highest court. Trump remained for just over an hour, listening as Solicitor General D. John Sauer defended the administration’s position before departing shortly after opposing counsel began presenting. Both conservative and liberal justices pressed the administration on the constitutional and logistical basis of the policy. The executive order seeks to deny citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are either in the country unlawfully or temporarily.” (04/01/26)
https://www.livemint.com/news/us-news/us-supreme-court-signals-skepticism-over-trump-s-birthright-citizenship-order-11775061417208.html
-----
5) Judge: Trump not immune from civil claims from January 6 speech
Source: The Hill
“A federal judge is allowing a civil suit brought against President Trump for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021 to proceed in court, a victory for Democratic lawmakers and Capitol Police officers who brought the litigation. The late Tuesday ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta found that Trump’s speech on the Ellipse that day was not covered by the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling, determining it could not be considered a core presidential act. He also determined the phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) asking him to ‘find’ more votes was clearly an effort ‘to alter the outcome of Georgia’s election.'” (04/01/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5811066-judge-allows-trump-jan6-suit/
-----
6) US FDA approve Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 weight loss pill
Source: United Press International
“The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved Eli Lilly’s pill version of a GLP-1 medication for weight loss, making it the second company to offer a non-injectable version of the drug. The orforglipron medication, which will be sold under the brand name Foundayo, joins Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill as the only two oral GLP-1 medications to have FDA approval. Eli Lilly also manufactures the injectable Zepound and Mounjaro GLP-1 medications and Novo Nordisk makes Wegovy and Ozempic. Eli Lilly said Foundayo differs from the Wegovy pill in that there are no restrictions on when the pill can be taken. The Wegovy pill must be taken in the morning 30 minutes before eating or drinking.” (04/01/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/04/01/eli-lilly-glp-1-fda/6551775058931/
-----
7) Anthropic Rushes to Limit the Leak of Claude Code Source Code
Source: Bloomberg
“Anthropic PBC is rushing to address the inadvertent release of internal source code behind Claude Code, an AI-powered assistant that has become a key moneymaker for the company. Thousands of copies of the code were removed from GitHub in response to copyright takedown requests from Anthropic, according to a notice on the popular developer platform. Anthropic later said the takedown impacted more GitHub repositories than intended and has since been significantly scaled back. … In a statement Tuesday, Anthropic confirmed the leak and said ‘no sensitive customer data or credentials were involved or exposed.’ The company added: ‘This was a release packaging issue caused by human error, not a security breach.'” (04/01/26)
https://archive.is/ICvx4
-----
8) Hungary: Election polls show opposition Tisza widening lead over Orban’s Fidesz
Source: Reuters
“Hungary’s centre-right Tisza party widened its lead over Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling Fidesz ahead of an April 12 parliamentary election, two opinion polls showed on Wednesday, although a large share of voters remained undecided. Veteran nationalist Orban faces the biggest challenge to his rule in 16 years, although the outcome of the election remains uncertain uncertain due to the many undecided voters, according to opinion polls. Centre-right Tisza, led by former government insider Peter Magyar, had the support of 56% of decided voters, up from 53% in early March, while 37% backed Fidesz, down from 39% three weeks ago, a poll by 21 Research Centre showed. Some 26% of respondents did not know who to back.” (04/01/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/hungary-election-polls-show-opposition-tisza-widening-lead-over-orbans-fidesz-2026-04-01/
-----
9) Study: Two to three cups of coffee per day could help cut dementia risk
Source: National Post
“A new large, long-running study suggests that drinking coffee might have cognitive benefits, provided it’s caffeinated and consumed in moderation. U.S. researchers found that people who regularly drank two to three cups of coffee or one to two cups of tea per day had a lower chance of developing dementia than those who drank little or abstained altogether. Though caffeinated coffee intake was ‘significantly associated’ with lower risk of dementia, the same wasn’t true of decaf, according to the study.” (04/01/26)
https://nationalpost.com/life/food/two-to-three-cups-of-coffee-per-day-could-help-cut-dementia-risk
-----
10) Protest shuts down ferry rides between Puerto Rico and Vieques, snarling travel plans
Source: ABC News
“A protest over a rate increase forced Puerto Rico’s government on Wednesday to cancel ferry rides between the U.S. territory and the tiny island of Vieques that is popular with tourists. The protest comes as Puerto Rico reports a surge in visitors this month, with many locals and tourists traditionally visiting surrounding islands during Holy Week. Police said in a statement that some 12 trucks were blocking the boat terminal in Vieques. A one-way ferry ride to the island for decades had cost $2, but officials recently increased it to $11.25 for anyone who doesn’t live on Vieques, prompting an outcry.” (04/01/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/protest-shuts-ferry-rides-puerto-rico-vieques-snarling-131611405
-----
11) Brazil: Judge blocks Sugarloaf Mountain zipline
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A judge in Brazil has blocked a project to build a zipline connecting the famous Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro to a nearby hill, Morro da Urca. The attraction’s developer said it would allow visitors to descend from Sugarloaf Mountain at speeds of almost 100km/h (62mph) via four ziplines covering a distance of 755m (0.47 miles). The project – which started four years ago — had triggered protests from locals and environmentalists, who argued that the construction work was causing irreparable damage to the Unesco World Heritage Site. The developer is expected to appeal against the decision.” (04/01/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx29e3wljj2o
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12) Chinese navy arrives in Sea of Japan just as Tokyo deploys long-range missiles
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong state media]
“Five ships transited Tsushima Strait and were tracked heading northeast after China warned of strong response to ‘neo-militarism.’ As Tokyo was completing the deployment on Tuesday of its two Type 25 missiles targeting China, a Chinese naval fleet entered the Sea of Japan, while bilateral tensions continued to escalate. China has strongly protested the Japan Ground Self-Defence Force’s addition of the newly designated Type 25 long-range surface-to-ship guided (SSM) missile and hypervelocity gliding projectiles (HGP).” (04/01/26)
https://archive.is/K1TlA
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13) US appeals court denies bid from families of Boeing 737 Max crash victims to reopen criminal case
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“A federal appeals court has denied a request from dozens of families to reopen a criminal case against Boeing over two fatal 737 Max crashes more than seven years ago. Lawyers for the families had argued that the U.S. Department of Justice failed to properly consult them before reaching a deal last year with Boeing that led a lower court to dismiss a criminal conspiracy charge against the company. The charge stemmed from allegations that Boeing misled federal regulators about a flight-control system linked to the crashes, which killed 346 people. In a unanimous decision released Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it disagreed with the families’ claims that federal prosecutors had violated their rights under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act and therefore could not revive the case.” (04/01/26)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/04/01/boeing-justice-department-criminal-case-appeal/
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14) US private sector hiring totaled 62,000 in March, better than expected
Source: CNBC
“Private sector employment growth was a bit better than expected in March, but health care and construction continued to provide nearly all the momentum, payrolls processing company ADP reported Wednesday. Job growth totaled 62,000 for the month, down just 4,000 from February’s upwardly revised level but above the Dow Jones consensus for 39,000. ADP’s report does not include government employees. Like February’s report, two sectors essentially provided all the gains. Education and health services contributed 58,000 — identical to the February total — while construction added 30,000. The health services total was held back in the prior month due to a since-resolved strike at Kaiser Permanente that sidelined more than 30,000 workers in Hawaii and California.” (04/01/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/01/private-sector-hiring-totaled-62000-in-march-better-than-expected-adp-says.html
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15) Crimea: Russian military plane crash kills 29
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A Russian military plane has crashed in [Crimea], killing 29 people on board, the Russian defence ministry has said. Wreckage of the An-26 aircraft was found on Tuesday after the plane lost contact with authorities during ‘a routine flight,’ according to the ministry. It blamed ‘a technical failure’ and reported no external damage to the aircraft, implying that missiles, drones or birds are not suspected of causing the crash. Seven crew members and 23 passengers had been on board as it flew over the … Crimean peninsula …. Russia’s Investigative Committee confirmed the crash and said it had opened an inquiry into a flight safety violation. News agency Tass reported that communication with the plane was lost at about 18:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, and the wreckage was found following a search and rescue effort. Ukraine has not commented on the crash.” (04/01/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly6387xgqxo
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16) Tunisia: Political prisoner sentenced to two years for journalism
Source: The New Arab [UK]
“A Tunisian court handed down a two-year prison sentence to news website editor Ghassen Ben Khelifa, in the latest prosecution targeting media workers, a move the journalists’ union described as part of a ‘systemic’ attack on free speech. The SNJT union said on Tuesday that Ben Khelifa, editor-in-chief of the news website Inhiyaz, was charged with publishing false news in a case dating back more than three years. Ben Khelifa denied the charges, saying the case was fabricated and calling it evidence of a failing system.” (03/31/26)
https://www.newarab.com/news/tunisian-journalist-sentenced-two-year
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17) Trump regime moves Forest Service HQ to Utah in latest DC relocation push
Source: Fox News
“The Trump administration is moving the Forest Service’s headquarters out of Washington and into Salt Lake City, Utah, as part of a broader push to shift federal agencies closer to the regions they oversee and reduce the footprint of government in the nation’s capital. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the move Tuesday and said it will begin a sweeping restructuring of the agency, relocating leadership and redistributing authority across the country in an effort officials say will improve decision-making, cut costs and strengthen hiring. The shift represents a significant structural change to how the Forest Service operates, moving top leadership and key functions closer to the western states where the majority of national forest land is located and where wildfire risk and land management demands are most concentrated.” (04/01/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-admin-moves-forest-service-hq-utah-latest-dc-relocation-push
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18) Hegseth lifts Army suspension of Kid Rock flyby pilots
Source: United Press International
“Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that helicopter pilots who conducted a flyby of musician Kid Rock’s Nashville estate over the weekend would not be punished, an abrupt reversal of the U.S. Army’s decision to suspend the Apache helicopter crews amid review of their conduct. … Rock published a pair of videos to social media on Saturday showing him cheering on a pair of Apache helicopters flying by and hovering near his Nashville estate, which he has called ‘The Southern White House.'” (03/31/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/03/31/Hegseth-Kid-Rock-helicopters/5201775007536/
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19) China: Mass robotaxi malfunction halts traffic in city
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A mass robotaxi outage in the Chinese city of Wuhan caused at least a hundred self-driving cars to stop mid-traffic, sparking renewed debate around the safety of driverless vehicles. Local police said initial findings suggested a ‘system malfunction’ caused multiple vehicles to stop in the middle of the road on Tuesday. Videos on social media have documented the outage, with one appearing to show it resulting in a highway collision, although police said no injuries had been reported and passengers exited their vehicles safely. Baidu did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to the police statement, posted on social media site Weibo, the cause of the incident is still under further investigation. Baidu operates its Apollo Go driverless taxi service in dozens of cities across the world, mostly in China.” (04/01/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvge91r9j80o
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20) Kidnapping of US journalist in Iraq linked to Iranian militants
Source: Politico
“An American journalist has been kidnapped in Iraq with the apparent involvement of an Iranian-backed militia, the State Department said Tuesday. Shelly Kittleson, a freelance journalist who has contributed to various publications including POLITICO, was seized from a Baghdad street, according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry, which said efforts were underway to recover her. … In a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on ‘Iraqi authorities to do everything in their power to locate Shelley Kittleson, ensure her immediate and safe release, and hold those responsible to account.'” (03/31/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/31/kidnapping-us-journalist-iraq-iranian-militants-00853116
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) GOP-led states that cooperate with ICE surrender their power
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Caleb O Brown & Patrick Jaicomo
“The federal government’s dramatic expansion of immigration-focused cooperative policing agreements with state and local authorities (about 1,500 agreements across 40 states) comes against the backdrop of the historic unpopularity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Worse, recent reporting indicates that American citizens are increasingly facing federal assault charges in cities with large immigration crackdowns despite video evidence that regularly contradicts the claims of federal agents. It’s time for states to step back and reconsider their cooperation with the feds in this arena and all others when it comes to policing. The state-federal collaboration campaign undermines some of federalism’s most basic aspects and reduces state control over state police officers.” (04/01/26)
https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/cooperate-with-ice-surrender-their-power/
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22) Fish don’t need bicycles, or government
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal
“I don’t like things that are bothersome, unnecessary, and intrusive. It’s even worse when those same things are harmful and are forced into our lives. Like government. It’s said a man needs a government like a fish needs a bicycle. I think it’s worse than that. The situation is more akin to telling the fish he can’t survive without the bicycle, forcing him to buy one, tacking him to its seat to force him to ride it, and then demanding he thank you for the bike you’ve provided.” (04/01/26)
https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2026/04/01/voices/opinion-fish-dont-need-bicycles-or-government/233120.html
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23) Winners and Losers
Source: Notablog
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
“A person of genuine self-esteem doesn’t boast about their successes at the expense of others’ losses. Truly confident people who achieve their goals don’t feel the need to diminish others for their alleged failures or the need to corral an audience to ‘listen’ to tall tales of their achievements. … But this way of thinking is anathema to Trump, who has always embraced a binary, dualistic view of the world, where there are winners and losers, where the ‘art of the deal’ takes place in the context of a zero-sum game, whether in trade or in war. In a cutthroat struggle to the top, rules need not be obeyed. The only rule is to win at all costs.” (04/01/26)
https://notablog.net/2026/03/31/winners-and-losers/
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24) Braiding hair? That’ll require 500 training hours and a permit.
Source: Washington Post
by Sarah Harbison
“Ashley N’Dakpri grew up watching her aunt run Afro Touch, a New Orleans hair-braiding shop. She learned the craft as a child and eventually took over Afro Touch’s Gretna, Louisiana, location, building a thriving business as natural hair styling boomed. Then the state stepped in. The Louisiana Board of Cosmetology informed her that without an ‘alternative hair design’ permit — requiring 500 hours of government-mandated training — she was braiding hair illegally. Even though N’Dakpri had spent years perfecting her trade and helping her customers, she needed a government permission slip to keep working. … a bill moving through the 2026 Louisiana legislative session would actually increase the training requirement from 500 to 600 hours …. There’s a motive hiding in plain sight: 600 hours is precisely the federal threshold that unlocks Title IV student loan funds for vocational programs. More red tape, more debt, more cosmetology school revenue — and fewer braiders.” (04/01/26)
https://archive.is/lzSAl
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25) NASA’s Artemis Program Is a Monument to Government Waste. It Can Only Go Up From Here.
Source: Reason
by Quade MacDonald
“If the pending Artemis II mission is successful, it will not just send Americans around the moon and back for the first time in more than half a century — it will send them further than any human being has traveled into space. If the rest of the Artemis program proceeds on schedule, astronauts will return to the lunar surface by the end of the decade. That’s been a long time coming. The government has been working to get Americans back on the moon since the Bush administration created the Constellation program in the mid-2000s. Wondering why it’s taking so long, given that the original moon mission required only seven years? The answer involves the familiar forces of government inefficiency and pork barrel congressional politics.” (04/01/26)
https://reason.com/2026/04/01/nasas-artemis-program-is-a-monument-to-government-waste-it-can-only-go-up-from-here/
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26) Iran War Sends Fertilizer Prices Sky-High
Source: The American Prospect
by Emma Janssen
“As the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran enters its second month, Iran has found a new way to hold leverage over the world economy: closing and opening the Strait of Hormuz at will. Iran’s ability to shut off one of the world’s major shipping routes, which transports one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas, allows it to dictate the cost of energy in the U.S. and everywhere else. Reporting suggests that Iran’s control over the strait won’t clear up whenever the war ends. … on Monday, the Iranian parliament passed a bill that would impose tolls on any ship passing through the strait, while banning U.S. and Israeli vessels from entering.” (04/01/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/04/01/iran-war-trump-strait-hormuz-fertilizer-fossil-fuels/
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27) An Empire Without Liberty?
Source: Libertarian Institute
by William J Watkins Jr.
“Since the beginning of the war, President Donald Trump has touted dismantlement of the Iranian government as the American endgame. Even as U.S. officials negotiate with their Iranian counterparts to end the fighting and restore stability to world energy markets, Trump says he still wants to see a ‘very serious form of a regime change’ in the ultimate peace deal. This imperial hubris is unworthy of the president of a federal republic and would cause the Founding Fathers to cringe.” (04/01/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/an-empire-without-liberty
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28) Afroman’s verdict is just the beginning: Officers also deserve criminal scrutiny
Source: The Hill
by Michael Mellette
“On March 18, a jury in rural Adams County, Ohio, rejected a defamation lawsuit in a matter of hours. That speed was itself a verdict — not just on the merits, but on the character of the case. Seven law enforcement officers had sued a music artist for using his own home security footage to criticize a police raid on his own home. The officers lost, in what civil liberties advocates called a huge First Amendment victory. The more important question, though, is going largely unasked — whether the officers who brought this lawsuit should face criminal scrutiny as well.” (04/01/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/5809358-officers-sued-rapper-security-footage/
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29) Birthright Citizenship Shouldn’t Be Up for Debate
Source: Brennan Center for Justice
by Michael Waldman
“The US Supreme Court today will hear a major constitutional case about birthright citizenship. We shouldn’t be debating this right now. But since the president chose to act with such striking disregard for the law, here we are. Birthright citizenship is in the Constitution. The first sentence of the 14th Amendment reads, ‘All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.’ This has been the law for more than 150 years. … The Supreme Court in 1898 confirmed the 14th Amendment’s plain meaning. In United States v. Wong Kim Ark, it ruled that children born here are citizens, even if their parents are not. That principle gave rise to generations of new Americans. Donald Trump tried to Sharpie this out of the Constitution.” (04/01/26)
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/birthright-citizenship-shouldnt-be-debate
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30) Alberta Shrugs?
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Political dysfunction is not limited to the United States of America. Take Canada. Things have gotten bad enough there that one province is taking measures to ‘dissolve the political bands which have connected them’ with the folks running everything from Ottawa. … Alberta’s secession is going to the ballot. Will the voters choose yes? Secession is a messy, difficult business. But it’s easier in Canada than in, say, the United States (where it led to war). So we will see how the people of the province really feel about how horrific the government in Ottawa really is.” (04/01/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/04/01/alberta-shrugs/
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31) Will Oil-Loving Trump Go Down as the Greenest President in History?
Source: Beat the Press
by Dean Baker
“President Donald Trump has an incredibly childish obsession with outdoing his predecessors, who he constantly derides as stupid and corrupt. There is, of course, no evidence for Trump’s charges, like the supposedly terrible economy he inherited from President Joe Biden, but Donald Trump is not a man who feels constrained by reality. While Trump does everything he can to reverse policies to promote clean energy, overturn trade agreements (including his own), and undermine security pacts, there is one area where Trump looks to substantially outpace the work of his predecessors. This is in promoting the transition to a non-fossil fuel-based economy. … his reckless attack on Iran will do a hundred times more to promote clean energy worldwide than all the incentives in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.” (04/01/26)
https://cepr.net/publications/march-2026-jobs-report-preview-what-to-expect/
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32) Defund the War
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“The Iran war is a war of aggression and a crime against the Iranian people. Belatedly authorizing a war that should never have happened would be an endorsement of that crime. It is bad enough that members of Congress failed in their constitutional responsibilities when they did nothing to stop this war. To approve Trump’s actions after the fact would be so much worse.” (04/01/26)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/defund-the-war
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33) Will a New Nuclear Arms Race Make Us More Secure?
Source: Common Dreams
by Connie Peck
“It is widely thought that the February 5 expiration of New START, the last arms control agreement capping US and Russian nuclear weapons, could usher in a dangerous and highly destabilizing new nuclear arms race. Since the Cold War peak of over 70,000 nuclear weapons in 1986, arms control treaties have reduced the number to approximately 12,200 today—still equivalent, however, to 145,000 Hiroshimas. Many of these decommissioned weapons remain in storage where they can be readily redeployed, making it possible to double Russian and US arsenals in one to two years. If a new nuclear arms race begins between the US and Russia, the US could ‘upload’ 800 bombs and cruise missiles stored at military bases back onto B-2 and B-52 bombers in a matter of weeks. ” (04/01/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/new-nuclear-arms-race-2676644499
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34) The Musk-funded mural backlash elevates the messy politics of martyrdom
Source: Semafor
by David Weigel
“It’s fair to see the [Iryna] Zarutska mural campaign as a response to the veneration of [George] Floyd, and the effort — joined by the Democratic Party, progressive infrastructure, and much of corporate America — to change the country in his honor. Political movements have always elevated martyrs, and Trump has spent a decade raising the profiles of victims of violent crime and their family members. … The backlash against the Zarutska mural campaign isn’t purely about partisanship. In Chicago, one of the only places where art honoring her has gone up around a sizable Ukrainian-American community, it has not changed hearts or minds. It’s been received as the unwelcome manipulation of a tragedy by people who don’t care much about Ukraine.” (04/01/26)
https://www.semafor.com/article/04/01/2026/the-musk-funded-mural-backlash-elevates-the-messy-politics-of-martyrdom
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35) Going Nuclear
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“On April 28 last year, a massive blackout plunged Spain and Portugal into darkness for over twelve hours. Flights were canceled, thousands of people were stranded on trains, and there were at least eight related deaths. The Spanish right seized on this freak event to attack what it called the Socialist-led government’s ‘climate fanaticism’ — but although renewable energy was generating about 70% of Spain’s power at the time, an in-depth investigation has found that it wasn’t the cause.” (04/01/26)
https://fee.org/articles/going-nuclear/
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36) Trump’s War Makes Obama Look Presidential
Source: The American Conservative
by Spencer Neale
“[T]hough there is merit to the claim that Obama was ‘highly overrated,’ Trump appears to be vastly overrated himself by the sycophants leading his administration. He has bungled this war and made a mess of our standing among allies near and far. He has constantly shifted the goalposts on the objectives of the war and the timeline for a potential ceasefire deal. And now the latest reports trickling out of the ‘new’ Iranian regime — which by all measurable standards is more radical and hardline than the one he bombed to oblivion — suggest that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has yet to agree to negotiations. In truth, Trump’s war in Iran has led America down an extremely narrow path, without the sort of easy off-ramps that would provide relief for the tens of millions of families seeking the bare bones of an American dream once promised.” (04/01/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trumps-war-makes-obama-look-presidential/
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37) The Abuse of Liberty Is As Dangerous As the Abuse of Power
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis
“‘Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.’ — James Madison … Our biggest concern in America today is the Democratic Party’s abuse of power, their desire for tyrannical control, and an unlimited government (‘Our rights come from government, not God,’ Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said a few months ago). If government gives us our rights, then government can take them away at will, and that is as good a definition of totalitarian government as one could wish for. It is exactly what Communist China has today, what Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and every other tyranny the world has ever seen foisted upon their people. It is exactly what tyrants and government (and Democrats) want. So, patriotic Americans (following our Founding Fathers) fear unlimited, oppressive government.” (04/01/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/04/01/the-abuse-of-liberty-is-as-dangerous-as-the-abuse-of-power-n2673721
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38) Exposing the FBI’s Human Experimentation Studies
Source: Racket News
“‘You’re only going to create a real problem for an FBI employee if you call ‘em direct this way.’ Senior FBI official Thomas Gregory Motta was upset that I dared to call him to talk about the bureau’s hidden experiments on humans. He joined the bureau in 1998 and was promoted to the FBI’s senior ranks nearly 20 years ago. During his tenure, the bureau has grown proficient at snooping on journalists — as documented in a secret government report published by Racket — without having to face their questions.” (04/01/26)
https://www.racket.news/p/exclusive-exposing-the-fbis-human
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39) Free Market Ozempic Will Make a Huge Difference to Tens of Millions of People
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“Ozempic sells for close to $300 for a month’s dosage in developing countries like China and India. It is expected to sell for around $15 for a month’s dosage when generics are introduced, and the price could eventually fall to around $3 when there is enough competition in the market. The price differentials in the United States and other wealthy countries are even larger. People without insurance can pay as much as $1,000 for a month’s dosage, although discounts are available that can cut this price in half. The drug still has several more years of patent protection in the United States …. With rare exceptions, drugs are cheap to manufacture and distribute; however, they can end up being expensive because governments give drug companies patent monopolies or other forms of protection.” (04/01/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/01/free-market-ozempic-will-make-a-huge-difference-to-tens-of-millions-of-people/
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40) Tiptoeing Towards Abundance?
Source: Law & Liberty
by Samuel Gregg
“Even when thriving markets are the goal, progressives have little interest in restraining the state.” (04/01/26)
https://lawliberty.org/forum/tiptoeing-towards-abundance/
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41) EU and Canada lean into a new world role
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“At the start of this week, a four-day gathering of the World Trade Organization ended in deadlock over a disagreement between just two of its 166 member countries. The United States sought a 10-year extension to existing duty-free digital purchasing rules (for items such as software, music, and movies); Brazil would only agree to a two-year extension. Nevertheless, working on the sidelines, 66 other members – from Asia, Europe, and the Americas – forged their own agreement on the issue. The recent increase in such ‘minilateral’ solutions to global obstacles signifies more than mere impatience with time-consuming multilateral processes. Rather, it highlights the impetus and realization among the world’s middle powers about their changing role – and responsibility – in shaping a world order amid major geopolitical shifts.” (03/31/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0331/EU-and-Canada-lean-into-a-new-world-role
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42) April Fools for America First? Higher Prices and New War
Source: The Daily Economy
by Stefan Bartl
“The President returned to office on promises to lower costs at home and restore our reputation abroad. Americans got the opposite.” (04/01/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/april-fools-for-america-first-higher-prices-and-new-war/
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43) Yes, Iran Is Playing Chess – But Only After Rewriting the Rules of the Game
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ramzy Baroud
“The origins of chess are contested, but few dispute that while the game began in India, it was the Sassanian Persian Empire that refined it into a recognizable strategic system. It was Persia that codified its language, symbolism and intellectual framework: the shah (king), the rokh (rook), and shatranj, the modern chess game. This is not a trivial historical detail. It is, in many ways, a metaphor that has returned with force. Since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran on February 28, 2026, political discourse – across Western, Israeli and alternative media – has repeatedly invoked the analogy of chess to describe Iran’s conduct. The comparison is seductive. But it is also incomplete.” (04/01/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/ramzy-baroud/2026/03/31/yes-iran-is-playing-chess-but-only-after-rewriting-the-rules-of-the-game/
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44) Artificial Intelligence Hammers in the Final Nail in Karl Marx’s Coffin
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Andy Fischer
“Karl Marx believed machines would eventually turn workers into something disposable. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels wrote that industrial labor had already reduced the worker to ‘a mere appendage of the machine.’ In Capital, Marx argued that machinery would create a permanent ‘industrial reserve army’ of unemployed workers. As automation increased, workers would lose bargaining power while capital consolidated control. The proletariat would become poorer and more desperate. From that condition, Marx believed revolution would follow. That prediction sits at the center of his entire framework. But history moved in the opposite direction.” (03/31/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/artificial-intelligence-hammers-final-nail-karl-marxs-coffin
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45) Artemis II: America’s headed back to the moon, and beyond!
Source: New York Post
by staff
“America’s space program is once again pushing toward new frontiers: For the first time in more than 50 years, the nation will send humans back to the moon — and then to Mars and beyond. It starts with the liftoff of Artemis II, scheduled for Wednesday evening. Yes, this mission in many ways is an echo, even a repeat, of the Apollo lunar flights of the ’60s and ’70s. The trip will bring them the furthest from Earth any humans have ever been and return them at a record speed of 25,000 miles per hour, facing temperatures of 5,000 degrees. Yet the point this time isn’t simply another lunar landing: It’s to prepare for even greater goals — such as the eventual establishment of a human base, with a continuous human presence, on the lunar surface and in lunar orbit, with a mission to Mars to follow.” (04/01/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/04/01/opinion/artemis-ii-americas-headed-back-to-the-moon-and-then-beyond/
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46) Why Do US Presidents Keep Risking Foreign Quagmires?
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
:During the past three-quarters of a century, beginning in 1950 and continuing right through to the current war with Iran, U.S. presidents repeatedly have risked involvement in conflicts that resulted in military quagmires with disappointing endings. Why do presidents keep repeating the same mistakes in the name of ‘national security?'” (03/31/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/03/31/presidents-keep-risking-foreign-quagmires/
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47) Every Argument Against Birthright Citizenship Is Hollow
Source: The UnPopulist
by Paul Gowder
“In the end, every single legal argument for stripping U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants of citizenship fails. The 14th Amendment is clear. Donald Trump’s push to deny them citizenship status is yet another assault on the Constitution.” (03/31/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/every-argument-against-birthright
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48) Doing as they say, not as they do: The Trump administration’s golden passport problem
Source: Niskanen Center
by Cassandra Zimmer
“The U.S. has every right to pressure Antigua & Barbuda and Dominica to reform programs that pose genuine national security risks. However, it does not have the credibility to do so while launching a program that contains design-level gaps that, if left unaddressed, create conditions for similar misuse.” (03/31/26)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/doing-as-they-say-not-as-they-do-the-trump-administrations-golden-passport-problem/
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49) There Are No Good Zionists
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“I don’t believe you can be a good Zionist anymore than I believe someone can be a decent Nazi. The ideology itself describes a major character flaw I cannot take seriously the idea that some ethnicities or religious groups are inherently prone to nefarious behavior; it goes against everything I’ve learned about the human condition over the course of my strange adventures on this planet. I absolutely do believe, however, that there are political ideologies whose adherents are universally dogshit people. If you’ve been watching the incineration of the Gaza Strip and thinking it’s good, or thinking it’s complicated, or thinking it’s an unfortunate development that can be blamed on a few bad apples in the Israeli government but doesn’t reflect Israel’s nature as a whole, then you’re a piece of shit. You’re a horrible human being. It really is that simple.” (04/01/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/04/01/there-are-no-good-zionists-and-other-notes/
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50) The Folly of Little Metal Men
Source: Desultory Scribblings
by Tyler Harris
“The attempt to rechristen the DOD the ‘Department of War,’ it could be argued, is itself a hallmark of attempting to larp the tough guy while trivializing institutions the administration does not fully understand or value. I think the problem is deeper, however, than just immature bravado. I think senior civilian leadership in this administration has an overwhelmingly gamified way of thinking about war.” (03/31/26)
https://tylerjohnharris.substack.com/p/the-folly-of-little-metal-men
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) The Political Orphanage, 04/01/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“How To Deal with Political Lizard People.” (04/01/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/how-to-deal-with-political-lizard-people
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52) Reason Interview: Brink Lindsey
Source: Reason
“How Capitalism Lost the Working Class.” (04/01/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/04/01/how-capitalism-lost-the-working-class/
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53) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 04/01/26
Source: Freedom Works
“Chris Edwards, CATO Institute ‘Fixing Airport Security Screening.'” (04/01/26)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2026-04-02_zfw04012026.mp3
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54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 04/01/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Trump Big Iran Announcement Tonight — Double Down Or Walk Away?” (04/01/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1RJjpzMLNLdKw
-----
55) My History Can Beat Up Your Politics, 04/01/26
Source: My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
“David Sirota On George W. Bush, Reagan and The Rise of Presidential Power.” (04/01/26)
https://myhistorycanbeatupyourpolitics.wordpress.com/2026/04/01/david-sirota-on-george-w-bush-reagan-and-the-rise-of-presidential-power/
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56) PropagandaWatch, 04/01/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“How to Create a COMPLETELY FICTIONAL Terror Hysteria!” (04/01/26)
https://corbettreport.com/how-to-create-a-completely-fictional-terror-hysteria-propagandawatch/
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57) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 04/01/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Hannah Arendt and the Crisis of Truth | Interview: Roger Berkowitz.” (04/01/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/hannah-arendt-and-the-crisis-of-truth-interview-roger-berkowitz/
-----
58) Cato Daily Podcast, 03/31/26
Source: Cato Institute
“Congressional Feuding and Airport Chaos.” (03/31/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/congressional-feuding-airport-chaos
-----
59) Politics Politics Politics, 03/31/26
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Can Trump Summon Congress to DC? Why the Military Community is Rosy on Iran (with Riley Blanton).” (03/31/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/can-trump-summon-congress-to-dc-why
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60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 03/31/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US-Israeli Strikes Pound Civilian Targets in Iran, US Deploys 3rd Carrier to Mideast, and More.” (03/31/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWR1bLgq7xw
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