03/17 -- Afghanistan: Regime says 400 killed in Pakistani strike on Kabul hospital; Non-Intervention Without the Fairy Tale of Sovereignty
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Thomas L. Knapp
Mar 17, 2026, 6:15:56 AM (4 days ago) Mar 17
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 03/17/26
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Afghanistan: Regime says 400 killed in Pakistani strike on Kabul hospital
2) Iran war: US embassy in Iraq struck as Chinese regime pledges “humanitarian assistance”
3) FL: BBC asks US court to dismiss Trump’s frivolous $10 billion lawsuit
4) Cuba: Officials report island-wide blackout as country struggles with energy crisis
5) Aluminum Rises as Major Smelter Slashes Output in Middle East
6) Haiti: Pol arrested on terror financing, conspiracy charges
7) Trump Regime Asks Judge to Revisit Ruling Blocking Subpoenas to Fed’s Powell
8) Oldest known whale recording could unlock mysteries of the ocean
9) Hungary: Rival parties hold parallel rallies ahead of vote
10) White House chief of staff Wiles diagnosed with cancer, plans to stay in job
11) UK: Regime to raise steel tariffs to 50 percent in new sector strategy this week
12) Madagascar: Randrianirina names anticorruption chief as PM days after cabinet dissolved
13) Democratic senators again call to fund heimatschutz
14) Kazakhstan Approves New Constitution: 87.15% Vote in Favour, Election Commission Says
15) Afghan regime accuses Pakistani regime of carrying out strikes in Kabul, targeting hospital treating addicts
16) Myanmar: Parliament meets for first time in five years with military controlling most seats
17) US airline CEOs urge Congress to end shutdown and pay airport workers
18) Trump to other regimes: “I shit the bed again, YOU clean it up”
19) CA: San Jose mayor calls for immediate suspension of state gas tax
20) France: First round of local elections sees strong showing for National Rally and LFI
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Non-Intervention Without the Fairy Tale of Sovereignty
22) The War Without an Exit: Why Quick Victories in Iran Are Illusions
23) Remembering Brian Doherty, Chronicler of and Participant in Wild and Wonderful Subcultures
24) Mini Tacos, Murder, and the Problem of Getting Exactly What We Want
25) Why are school board members afraid to speak?
26) How the Past Whispers to the Present in Iran
27) Trump’s FDA is breaking promises to kids like mine
28) “Parental Rights” and the Authoritarian Family
29) My Enemies Are Not In Iran
30) The Sacrifice Ratio Puzzle
31) How America’s willful blindness has stoked the Islamist terror threat
32) Anarchists and Crime
33) Time to Cut Ties With the Anti-Defamation League
34) China’s AI Paradox: Can Innovation Thrive in a Captive Mind?
35) Portland or Polycentria?
36) Education for Virtue and Liberty
37) Overturning outlandish SCOTUS ruling the only way to fix education
38) When Hegseth Says “Lethality” He’s Talking About Killing Iranian School Girls
39) Weapons makers, foreign states lavish $32 million on US think tanks
40) Medical Research Is Hopelessly Caught in Red Tape
41) The Most Obvious Question Liberal Media Refuses to Ask About the Iran War
42) Put out more flags?
43) Yes, Trump Can End This War
44) The Ghost of Ali Shariati Dances with the Epstein Empire
45) Are We There Yet?
46) Don’t Bite the Hand That Feeds You
47) How McDonald’s “epic fail” turned into a surprise marketing win
48) The Ethics of Limit
49) Democrat Presidential Contenders Have a New Idea: Tax Cuts
50) The Trouble with Trump’s Maritime Action Plan
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) EconTalk, 03/16/26
52) Reason Roundtable, 03/16/26
53) Rising, 03/16/26
54) The Evil Within, Part 5
55) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 03/16/26
56) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 03/16/26
57) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 03/16/26
58) The Brian Nichols Show, 03/15/26
59) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 03/15/26
60) Zooming In, 03/15/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Afghanistan: Regime says 400 killed in Pakistani strike on Kabul hospital
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Hundreds were feared dead after a strike on a hospital treating drug users in the Afghan capital of Kabul, which officials from Afghanistan blamed on the Pakistani military. Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said the death toll had ‘so far’ reached 400 people, while about 250 people had been reported injured. He said most of those killed and wounded were patients undergoing treatment at the facility. Pakistan rejected the claim as false and misleading and said it ‘precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure’ on Monday night, dismissing allegations it had hit a civilian target.” (03/17/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/16/afghanistan-accuses-pakistan-of-kabul-hospital-strike-killed
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2) Iran war: US embassy in Iraq struck as Chinese regime pledges “humanitarian assistance”
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“The US Embassy in Baghdad was targeted by rockets and drones early Tuesday, Iraqi security sources said. While Iraq’s air defenses intercepted multiple drones and rockets, with no reported injuries, the officials said, shrapnel did hit the embassy compound, triggering an explosion and sending a plume of smoke into the sky. Meanwhile, a separate strike hit a house inside the fortified Presidential Compound in Baghdad’s al-Jadriya area. … Beijing has announced that it will provide emergency humanitarian assistance to four Middle East nations impacted by the war in the region: Iran, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. … Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi has said the war ‘should never have happened.'” (03/17/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/iran-war-us-embassy-in-iraq-struck-as-israel-bombs-beirut/live-76387955
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3) FL: BBC asks US court to dismiss Trump’s frivolous $10 billion lawsuit
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“The BBC said on Monday it had asked a US federal court in Florida to dismiss a US$10 billion lawsuit brought by US President Donald Trump against the British broadcaster. Trump launched a lawsuit last year over a BBC documentary that edited his 2021 speech ahead of the US Capitol riot. The documentary was ‘never aired in Florida – or the US’ or available to stream there on any platform, a representative for the British Broadcasting Corporation said in a comment sent to Agence France-Presse. It also argued that Trump could not show that it intended to misrepresent him.” (03/16/26)
https://archive.is/SQ16w
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4) Cuba: Officials report island-wide blackout as country struggles with energy crisis
Source: SFGate
“Officials in Cuba reported an island-wide blackout Monday in the country of some 11 million people as its energy and economic crises deepen. Cuba has blamed its woes on a U.S. energy blockade after President Donald Trump in January warned of tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to it. The Ministry of Energy and Mines on X noted a “complete disconnection” of the country’s electrical system and said it was investigating. President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Friday said the island had not received oil shipments in more than three months and was operating on solar power, natural gas and thermoelectric plants, and the government has had to postpone surgeries for tens of thousands of people. A massive outage over a week ago affected the island’s west, leaving millions without power.” (03/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/cuban-officials-report-an-island-wide-blackout-as-22079842.php
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5) Aluminum Rises as Major Smelter Slashes Output in Middle East
Source: Bloomberg
“Aluminum advanced after one of the world’s biggest smelters of the metal closed almost a fifth of its capacity, deepening the risk of shortages as the Iran war chokes supplies from the Middle East. Aluminium Bahrain BSC has started a phased shutdown of three production lines, together accounting for 19% of its total output capacity, the firm said on Sunday. Alba, as the company is known, is aiming to conserve raw materials while shipping through the Strait of Hormuz faces disruptions. … The Middle East accounts for some 9% of the world’s aluminum output, and Alba’s cuts add to other reductions that have stoked supply fears and prompted warnings of deepening shortages for manufacturers.” (03/16/26)
https://archive.is/CzeEp
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6) Haiti: Pol arrested on terror financing, conspiracy charges
Source: ABC News
“Authorities say they have arrested Haitian legislator Arnel Belizaire, who faces charges including financing terrorism and conspiracy against state security. … Haiti’s National Police made the announcement late Sunday, ending a hunt for the well-known lawmaker, who was first accused around two months ago. Belizaire previously characterized the arrest warrant against him as political intimidation. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney. Belizaire had registered his new political party late last week for the upcoming general election.” (03/16/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/police-haiti-arrest-lawmaker-arnel-belizaire-faces-charges-131117308
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7) Trump Regime Asks Judge to Revisit Ruling Blocking Subpoenas to Fed’s Powell
Source: US News & World Report
“President Donald Trump’s administration has asked a judge to reconsider his ruling that has effectively blocked a criminal investigation into U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, according to court documents made public on Monday. Washington-based U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in a ruling unsealed on Friday blocked subpoenas issued by federal prosecutors in January seeking information about cost overruns in renovations at the Fed’s headquarters and Powell’s testimony to Congress last year about the project. Boasberg concluded that prosecutors had improperly issued the subpoenas, saying a ‘mountain of evidence’ suggests the investigation — as Powell has argued — was intended to pressure the Fed chair to rapidly lower interest rates or resign as chair. The Justice Department in a new filing urged Boasberg to revisit his decision.” (03/16/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2026-03-16/trump-administration-asks-judge-to-revisit-ruling-blocking-subpoenas-to-feds-powell
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8) Oldest known whale recording could unlock mysteries of the ocean
Source: SFGate
“A haunting whale song discovered on decades-old audio equipment could open up a new understanding of how the huge animals communicate, according to researchers who say it’s the oldest such recording known. The song is that of a humpback whale, a marine giant beloved by whale watchers for its docile nature and spectacular leaps from the water, and was recorded by scientists in March 1949 in Bermuda, said researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Just as significant is the sound of the surrounding ocean itself, said Peter Tyack, a marine bioacoustician and emeritus research scholar at Woods Hole. The ocean of the late 1940s was much quieter than the ocean of today, providing a different backdrop than scientists are used to hearing for whale song, he said.” (03/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/oldest-known-whale-recording-could-unlock-22079063.php
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9) Hungary: Rival parties hold parallel rallies ahead of vote
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“Hungary’s ruling and opposition parties each held major rallies on Sunday as they race to shore up support ahead of hotly contested elections on April 12. The rallies, held to mark the country’s national day, pitted right-wing, pro-Russia Prime Minister Viktor Orban, 62, against opposition leader Peter Magyar, 44, who is seeking to end Orban’s 16-year rule and offer support to Ukraine. Orban’s nationalist Fidesz party has been trailing in polls against Magyar’s center-right Tisza party since last year and has turned to criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy more harshly. Tens of thousands of government supporters held a so-called ‘peace march’ that crossed the Danube River and headed towards Hungary’s parliament in Budapest. … Across town, Magyar accused Orban of ‘inviting Russian agents’ to ‘interfere in the elections.’ He addressed a crowd of at least 100,000 supporters at Budapest’s Heroes Square.” (03/16/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/hungarys-rival-parties-hold-parallel-rallies-ahead-of-vote/a-76367895
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10) White House chief of staff Wiles diagnosed with cancer, plans to stay in job
Source: Politico
“White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has breast cancer, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social on Monday afternoon. Wiles, a longstanding fixture of Trump’s campaign orbit, has been his chief of staff since he took office for his second term in 2025. Trump said Wiles had ‘early stage breast cancer’ and an ‘excellent’ prognosis. She will be staying on as Trump’s chief of staff while she undergoes treatment, the president said. … Wiles joined Trump at an event at the White House shortly after the president announced her diagnosis, sitting next to him at a meeting of Kennedy Center board members.” (03/16/26)
https://archive.is/BCuY5
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11) UK: Regime to raise steel tariffs to 50 percent in new sector strategy this week
Source: Politico
“Trade Secretary Peter Kyle is expected to announce the U.K.’s steel strategy at Tata Steel UK’s mill in Port Talbot on Thursday. The strategy will set out new protections for Britain’s steel sector, slashing quotas on imports of many products from overseas while raising duties outside those caps to 50 percent, two people familiar with the announcement told POLITICO. … British officials have told both U.K. steel producers and downstream importers, who use steel in everything from construction to automotive manufacturing, to expect a 50 percent duty outside of new quotas in a move ‘likely to be similar to the EU,’ said a second industry figure.” (03/16/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-raise-steel-tariffs-to-50-percent-sector-strategy-tata-port-talbot-kyle
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12) Madagascar: Randrianirina names anticorruption chief as PM days after cabinet dissolved
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Madagascar’s President Michael Randrianirina, who seized power in October, has appointed the country’s anticorruption chief as prime minister, barely a week after dissolving the cabinet. The presidency said on Sunday that Mamitiana Rajaonarison, a former senior gendarmerie officer and career civil administrator, would head the new government. … Randrianirina dismissed Prime Minister Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo and all other cabinet ministers last Monday, offering no explanation for the move.” (03/16/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/16/madagascar-names-anticorruption-chief-as-pm-days-after-cabinet-dissolved
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13) Democratic senators again call to fund heimatschutz
Source: Fox News
“Senate Democrats say they want to end the government shutdown but have repeatedly blocked GOP attempts to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as they push for immigration enforcement reforms. On Friday, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said at a news conference following an antisemitic attack on the Temple Israel synagogue in her state that ‘certainly’ Congress must fund DHS. However, Slotkin and most Senate Democrats have voted four times to block DHS funding, including several attempts to temporarily reopen the agency while negotiations continue. Slotkin is just one of several Senate Democrats calling for an end to the shutdown. Republicans argue the votes are part of a broader Democratic strategy to blame them for blocking efforts to reopen DHS.” [editor’s note: Instead of quibbling over what conditions to reopen it under, they should simply abolish it – TLK] (03/16/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dems-push-end-shutdown-while-blocking-gop-bid-reopen-dhs
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14) Kazakhstan Approves New Constitution: 87.15% Vote in Favour, Election Commission Says
Source: US News & World Report
“Kazakhstan voted 87.15% in favour of adopting a new constitution, the Central Election Commission said on Monday. Voter turnout for the referendum stood at 73.12%, the commission said. The new constitution streamlines the country’s Parliament and recreates the office of vice president, which was abolished in 1996. It gives the president the right to appoint the vice president, as well as a host of other key officials. The constitution’s swift drafting prompted some analysts in Kazakhstan to suggest that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev might be looking to anoint a successor as vice president and leave office early, or to stay in his post with a new constitution resetting his term limits.” (03/16/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-03-16/kazakhstan-approves-new-constitution-87-15-vote-in-favour-election-commission-says
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15) Afghan regime accuses Pakistani regime of carrying out strikes in Kabul, targeting hospital treating addicts
Source: SFGate
“Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Monday accused Pakistan’s military of targeting a Kabul hospital that treats drug addicts in airstrikes that killed four people and wounded several others. The attack came hours after Afghan officials said the two sides exchanged fire along their common border, killing four people in Afghanistan, as the deadliest fighting between the neighbors in years entered a third week. Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the strike on X, saying it violated Afghanistan’s territory. He said most of those killed and wounded were addicts undergoing treatment at the facility. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s spokesman, Mosharraf Zaidi, dismissed the allegations as baseless, saying no hospital was targeted in Kabul. He gave no further details, but Pakistan’s government and military have repeatedly said that their forces only target the Afghan military and facilities being used for attacks in Pakistan.” (03/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/afghanistan-says-pakistani-mortars-killed-2-22079214.php
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16) Myanmar: Parliament meets for first time in five years with military controlling most seats
Source: ABC News
“Myanmar opened its first parliamentary session in more than five years on Monday following an election that did not include major opposition parties, ensuring that the ruling military is set to retain a firm grasp on power. The military blocked Myanmar’s last parliament from convening when it seized power from the last legitimately elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, and has governed without a legislature since then. It’s touted elections held in late December and January as a step toward the return of democracy. But the military and its allies hold nearly 90% of the seats in two-chamber parliament, while Myanmar’s former ruling National League for Democracy and other major opposition parties were either blocked from running or refused to compete under conditions they deemed unfair.” (03/16/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/myanmars-parliament-meets-time-5-years-military-controlling-131107649
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17) US airline CEOs urge Congress to end shutdown and pay airport workers
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Major airline CEOs have urged the US Congress to end the government shutdown that has left airport workers without pay, warning travellers could face more delays. American Airlines, Delta, Southwest and JetBlue are among the airlines that have written to lawmakers to demand funding is restored to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the security agency, TSA. The DHS has gone without funding since February, after Congress failed to reach a funding agreement. The Trump administration has blamed delays on Democrats, who declined to pass funding without immigration reforms. ‘Once again, air travel is the political football amid another government shutdown,’ the CEOs wrote. ‘First, leaders should immediately come together to reach an agreement to fund the Department of Homeland Security,’ they added. ‘Then they need to act so this problem never happens again.'” (03/16/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yg12pk21no
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18) Trump to other regimes: “I shit the bed again, YOU clean it up”
Source: NBC News
“President Donald Trump said on Sunday his administration is talking to seven countries about helping to secure the Strait of Hormuz amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, calling on them to help protect ships in the vital waterway that Tehran has mostly blocked to oil tanker traffic. With the conflict creating turmoil across the Middle East and shaking up global energy markets in its third week, Trump insisted that nations relying heavily on oil from the Gulf have a responsibility to protect the strait. ‘I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory because it is their territory,’ Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on the way from Florida to Washington. ‘It’s the place from which they get their energy.'” (03/16/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-calls-allies-help-secure-strait-hormuz-iran-vows-step-up-retaliation-2026-03-15/
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19) CA: San Jose mayor calls for immediate suspension of state gas tax
Source: SFGate
“A Democratic and a Republican candidate for governor are floating similar ideas for financial relief as gas prices could climb up to $7 a gallon in California. Matt Mahan, a newcomer to the governor’s race and the current mayor of San Jose, suggested during a debate Thursday night in Monterey that state lawmakers should pause to the state’s gas tax –– which is currently $0.88 cents a gallon –– to keep gas prices from climbing. Republican candidate Steve Hilton proposed a similar idea earlier in the week. ‘Working families are struggling with skyrocketing costs. It’s past time for some relief,’ Mahan said according to a statement from his office. ‘And Californians shouldn’t have to wait for the next election for our government to act. That’s why I believe we need to temporarily suspend our state’s highest in the nation gas taxes, right now.'” (03/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/california-govenors-race-gas-22075853.php
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20) France: First round of local elections sees strong showing for National Rally and LFI
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“The first-round of the French municipal elections have seen a strong showing for Marine Le Pen’s far-right the National Rally (RN), as well as for Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s radical left, with both parties likely to increase their local presence ahead of next year’s French presidential race. The French local elections, which now go to a final round runoff on 22 March, are seen as a crucial test of the political temperature before next year’s presidential election. Emmanuel Macron’s two terms in office come to an end in spring 2027 and there is uncertainty about who will next lead the EU’s second-largest economy.” (03/15/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/15/french-local-elections-first-round-results
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Non-Intervention Without the Fairy Tale of Sovereignty
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Thiago VS Coelho
‘Humanitarian intervention’ sells itself as a moral shortcut: bypass the messy politics, send in the troops, stop the monster. Many libertarians respond with a familiar reply: non-intervention, because aggression against another nation is wrong. In his essay on Aggression Abroad, Jason Lee Byas’s point is that this reply often rests on a category mistake. If you take libertarianism seriously — if you really mean that only individuals have rights and only individuals can be wronged — then you can’t smuggle in a moral right called national sovereignty and treat states as if they’re rights-bearing persons. … So far, so interventionist: if sovereignty is a fiction, why not invade to stop atrocities? Because the same individualism that dissolves the sovereignty myth also destroys the interventionist fantasy of ‘surgical’ war.” (03/16/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/non-intervention-without-fairy-tale-sovereignty
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22) The War Without an Exit: Why Quick Victories in Iran Are Illusions
Source: Antiwar.com
by Jenny Williams
“The notion of a short and decisive war has always been a temptation for politicians. This notion holds a promise of quick victories, low costs, and clear triumphs. However, the course of history over the last few decades has indicated that wars do not always follow this pattern. The current conflict between the United States and Iran seems to be a clear manifestation of this reality, as the early indications of a quick victory are not supported by the fundamental realities of the conflict.” (03/16/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/jenny_williams/2026/03/15/the-war-without-an-exit-why-quick-victories-in-iran-are-illusions/
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23) Remembering Brian Doherty, Chronicler of and Participant in Wild and Wonderful Subcultures
Source: Reason
by Nick Gillespie
“Jesus, how do you write an obit of someone you hired? It is with a heavy heart but many, many fond memories and intense gratitude that I write about my colleague Brian Doherty, found dead unexpectedly on Friday at the age of 57. I joined Reason in the fall of 1993. He was hired later in 1994 and then left the staff for a while around the end of the decade. When I became editor in chief of the magazine and website in 2000, he was the first person I called. Come back, I said, Reason needs you. What I liked most about Brian was his abiding interest in things happening on the margins of American culture, politics, and thought, and his deep appreciation for the prodigious bounty that markets deliver reliably and without moralizing.” (03/16/26)
https://reason.com/2026/03/16/remembering-brian-doherty-chronicler-of-and-participant-in-wild-and-wonderful-subcultures/
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24) Mini Tacos, Murder, and the Problem of Getting Exactly What We Want
Source: Liberalism.org
by Sarah Skwire
“When personalization is king and optimization is everywhere, fiction has lessons about where to stop.” (03/16/26)
https://www.liberalism.org/p/mini-tacos-murder-and-the-problem-of-getting-exactly-what-we-want
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25) Why are school board members afraid to speak?
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Sheridan Macy
“Gail Nazarene, an elected school board member in New Jersey, thought she was performing her duties as a public servant and participating in the democratic process when she asked her constituents about tax increases on Facebook. This simple act led to an ethics complaint by another school board member because, unlike most other states, New Jersey interprets its school ethics rules to potentially cover any speech that’s merely about schools, supposedly because community members are likely to attribute any such statement from a board member as being on behalf of the board. But the First Amendment forbids the government from punishing school board members for speaking their minds on public issues. That’s why FIRE is suing New Jersey on Nazarene’s behalf.” (03/16/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/why-are-school-board-members-afraid-speak
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26) How the Past Whispers to the Present in Iran
Source: TomDispatch
by Alfred W McCoy
“In the first chapter of his 1874 novel The Gilded Age, Mark Twain offered a telling observation about the connection between past and present: ‘History never repeats itself, but the… present often seems to be constructed out of the broken fragments of antique legends.’ Among the ‘antique legends’ most helpful in understanding the likely outcome of the current U.S. intervention in Iran is the Suez Crisis of 1956, which I describe in my new book Cold War on Five Continents. After Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in July 1956, a joint British-French armada of six aircraft carriers destroyed Egypt’s air force, while Israeli troops smashed Egyptian tanks in the sands of the Sinai Peninsula. Within less than a week of war, Nasser had lost his strategic forces and Egypt seemed helpless before the overwhelming might of that massive imperial juggernaut.” (03/15/26)
https://tomdispatch.com/imperial-decline-in-the-straits-of-hormuz/
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27) Trump’s FDA is breaking promises to kids like mine
Source: USA Today
by Angelina Olivera
“President Donald Trump has already said that families deserve a voice in life-and-death medical decisions. Duchenne families are simply asking that this principle be carried through in practice.” (03/16/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2026/03/16/trump-fda-right-to-try-duchenne/88861876007/
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28) “Parental Rights” and the Authoritarian Family
Source: Liberal Currents
by Steve Kennedy
“For advocates of ‘parental rights,’ family autonomy becomes both reward and weapon, extended to those who conform and withdrawn from those who do not.” (03/16/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/parental-rights-and-the-authoritarian-family/
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29) My Enemies Are Not In Iran
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“My enemies are in Washington and Tel Aviv. In London and Canberra. My enemies are the western oligarchs and empire managers who are poisoning my society and making everything awful while slaughtering human beings with the help of my tax dollars. My enemies are the tyrants who are turning our civilization into a mind-controlled dystopia where it is increasingly illegal to criticize the abuses of my government and its allies, and increasingly difficult to find information which runs counter to the imperial narrative. My enemies are the empire apologists and the hasbarists. The propagandists and spinmeisters. Those who side with Israel and the United States against basic human interests. Imperial bootlickers always accuse me of writing ‘propaganda’ for ‘the enemy,’ with ‘enemy’ meaning whoever the US-centralized empire happens to be attacking or preparing to attack on any given day.” (03/16/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/03/16/my-enemies-are-not-in-iran/
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30) The Sacrifice Ratio Puzzle
Source: EconLog
by Asad E Butt
“When inflation was rising rapidly in 2022, it was predicted that a sustained period of high unemployment would be required to bring inflation back to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Such predictions are closely aligned with the findings of the classic Phillips curve, which hypothesizes a trade-off between inflation and unemployment. These predictions were strongly rooted in the sacrifice ratio — the rise in unemployment typically required to reduce inflation by one percentage point. Historical experience suggested that the sacrifice ratio would be substantial, but inflation declined significantly without a notable rise in unemployment. It remained low, fluctuating between 3.6% and 3.9% through 2021 and 2022. The sacrifice ratio turned out to be close to zero. The big question that these events raise is whether the economists overestimated the persistence of supply-side shocks and the sensitivity of inflation to unemployment.” (03/16/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/the-sacrifice-ratio-puzzle
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31) How America’s willful blindness has stoked the Islamist terror threat
Source: New York Post
by James A Gagliano
“After four separate terrorist attacks in the last two weeks on US soil, Americans are on edge. It’s taken me back to 2003 and a barren outpost in Khost, Afghanistan, where I interrogated a high-value target while serving with the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team. ‘You’ll go back to your country. But this struggle will follow you there,’ the detainee pronounced, through an interpreter. ‘We can be patient. You Americans certainly are not. We will wait you out. And the fight will continue.’ He was right. On March 1, a radical Islamist and naturalized citizen from Senegal shot up a bar in Austin, Texas, murdering three. On March 7, two teenaged jihadi wannabes from Pennsylvania (children of naturalized citizens from Afghanistan and Turkey) tossed homemade bombs at cops and protesters outside Gracie Mansion in New York City.” (03/15/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/03/15/opinion/how-americas-willful-blindness-has-stoked-the-islamist-terror-threat/
-----
32) Anarchists and Crime
Source: Isonomia Quarterly
by Katrina Gulliver
“The anarchist as a figure in crime is distinct. His goals are not financial, and the terrorist acts committed under the heading of anarchism have ranged from assassinations of public figures to bombings of random civilians. He has also slid far enough into history to seem quaint, or vaguely romantic, from the vantage point of the twenty-first century.” (03/16/26)
https://isonomiamag.substack.com/p/anarchists-and-crime
-----
33) Time to Cut Ties With the Anti-Defamation League
Source: Common Dreams
by Donna Nevel
“The Anti-Defamation League, or ADL, is holding its annual summit in New York City this week. The ironically-named ‘summit on hate’ features far-right MAGA pastors and politicians, billionaire CEOs, and conservative journalists among its speakers. No longer putting on the pretense of opposing all forms of bigotry, the ADL has shown it’s perfectly comfortable with Trump-era racism. In the year since the last summit, the ADL has withdrawn its criticism of white supremacist groups, denounced antiracist education as ‘radical,’ continued to loudly back Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and cheered on Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations of students and other noncitizens who have criticized Israel’s violence and stood in solidarity with the Palestinian people. In fact, the ADL endorsed the executive order issued by President Donald Trump in 2025 targeting critics of Israel and threatening those who aren’t US citizens with deportation for protesting in support of Palestinian human rights.” (03/16/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/cut-ties-with-anti-defamation-league
-----
34) China’s AI Paradox: Can Innovation Thrive in a Captive Mind?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Walter Donway
“In the technology arms race between the United States and China for dominance in artificial intelligence (AI), we are often told that the decisive factor will be computational power: who can build more data centers, secure more advanced chips, and train larger models more cheaply. Those are not irrelevant, but nor are they the crux of the competition. The true contest is one of political culture.” (03/16/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/chinas-ai-paradox-can-innovation-thrive-in-a-captive-mind/
-----
35) Portland or Polycentria?
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“There are shithole cities, planned cities, and emergent cities. Let’s move toward the latter.” (03/16/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/portland-or-polycentria
-----
36) Education for Virtue and Liberty
Source: Law & Liberty
by Aaron Alexander Zubia
“In Observations upon Liberal Education, Turnbull delivered ‘the substance of all that hath been said [on the subject of education] by the ancients or moderns’ — including Socrates, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, Locke, Milton, and Rollin. Turnbull borrowed freely from these authors. He described education as the French historian Charles Rollin did, as ‘the art of fashioning the heart and mind.’ Although he recommended the Socratic method — that is, for-and-against argumentation — as the best way to teach, he did not think the teacher’s role was to remain ‘neutral’ about content. He stated plainly that education should be oriented toward the ‘true philosophy,’ which includes ‘just and full conceptions of human duty, dignity, and happiness.’ What makes Turnbull’s educational program liberal is that it enables the student to develop mastery over passions and appetites. This is a far cry from what we think of as ‘liberal’ today.” (03/16/26)
https://lawliberty.org/classic/education-for-virtue-and-liberty/
-----
37) Overturning outlandish SCOTUS ruling the only way to fix education
Source: Fox News
by Corey DeAngelis
“Tennessee lawmakers have taken a bold stand against the misuse of taxpayer dollars in public education. On March 10, House Bill 793 advanced out of a full committee with a 15-9 vote, divided mostly along party lines, with Republicans in favor and all seven Democrats opposed. The proposal is scheduled to be heard on the House floor on March 16. The measure now requires public and charter school officials to verify students’ immigration status at enrollment and report the aggregate results to the state. The proposal originally empowered school officials to deny enrollment to students who could not prove lawful [sic] presence in the United States or to charge their families tuition.” [editor’s note: If you doubted that DeAngelis’s fake “school choice” advocacy was about anything and everything but freedom, now you know for sure – TLK] (03/16/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/overturning-outlandish-supreme-court-ruling-only-way-fix-education
-----
38) When Hegseth Says “Lethality” He’s Talking About Killing Iranian School Girls
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“I’m going to give our ‘Secretary of War’ a little credit. I will assume that even someone as openly bloodthirsty as Hegseth would not deliberately blow up a school building filled with little girls. But this tragic accident that led to the death of at least 165 Iranian girls between the ages of 7 and 12 was the direct result of Hegseth’s policy. The main point of the ‘woke’ rules of engagement that Hegseth has constantly derided, and told the military to ignore, is to prevent tragic accidents like the bombing of a girls’ school in the middle of the day. The rules are designed to try to minimize civilian casualties. This means reviewing designated bombing sites to make sure they are, in fact, military targets.” (03/16/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/03/16/when-hegseth-says-lethality-hes-talking-about-killing-iranian-school-girls/
-----
39) Weapons makers, foreign states lavish $32 million on US think tanks
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Nick Cleveland-Stout & Ben Freeman
“In 2024, top think tanks received over $25 million from foreign governments and $7 million from Pentagon contractors, according to the most recently available donor rolls. This figure is a conservative estimate, as about 40% of think tanks do not disclose any donors at all. These findings come from our newly updated Think Tank Funding Tracker, which now includes the top 75 foreign policy think tanks in the U.S. and tracks all of the foreign government, U.S. government, and Pentagon contractor money flowing to them. The top Pentagon contractor donor was Northrop Grumman, which gave over $1.1 million to think tanks in 2024. These same think tanks routinely promote ambitious new weaponry which benefit their donors.” (03/16/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/think-tank-funding-tracker/
-----
40) Medical Research Is Hopelessly Caught in Red Tape
Source: Persuasion
by Ruxandra Teslo
“A story about Paul Conyngham, an AI entrepreneur from Sydney who treated his dog Rosie’s cancer with a personalized mRNA vaccine, has been circulating on X this week. What makes the story inspiring is the initiative the owner showed: he used AI to teach himself about how a personalized vaccine could work, designed much of the process himself, and approached top researchers to take it forward. Whether the treatment itself was curative and how much of an improvement it represents over the current state of the art is not the point here. What interests me instead is the bureaucratic absurdity Conyngham encountered while trying to pursue the treatment.” (03/16/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/medical-research-is-hopelessly-caught
-----
41) The Most Obvious Question Liberal Media Refuses to Ask About the Iran War
Source: Common Dreams
by Ramzy Baroud
“Doubtless, the war launched by US President Donald Trump is not popular among ordinary Americans. According to the latest public opinion poll, only a minority of Americans (part of the dwindling [sic] core of Trump’s supporters) believe that the US-Israeli aggression against Iran has merit. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in early March 2026, only 27 percent of Americans approve of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran—while 43 percent disapprove and 29 percent are unsure. This pro-war constituency is likely to remain supportive of Trump until the end of his term in office, and long after. However, the war on Iran is not popular, and it is unlikely to become popular, especially as the Trump administration is reportedly fragmented between those who want to stay the course and those desperate for an exit strategy. Such a strategy would allow their president to save face before the midterm elections in November.” (03/16/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/liberal-media-iran-war
-----
42) Put out more flags?
Source: Semafor
by Ben Smith
“As the Iran war dominates global economic calculations, media and social media alike, there’s one place where it’s been strangely absent: Washington, DC. The American capital in the second Trump administration has developed a bit of a devil-may-care, drink-with-lunch spirit captured in the Pentagon’s cheerily bellicose memes. Still, when I was in DC last week, I was surprised by the total absence of yellow ribbons, patriotic banners, or the usual wartime acknowledgements of fallen troops and the many others in danger. … During the Iraq War, yellow ribbons — showing support for the troops, if not the conflict — were ubiquitous, as were anti-war demonstrations. Then came the long global war on terror, which meant that the US was both constantly at war and never at war. Washington remembered Afghanistan, only briefly, when we withdrew. … The nation’s capital is, as always, a bubble, but it’s hard to see how this relative good cheer can last.” (03/16/26)
https://www.semafor.com/article/03/15/2026/put-out-more-flags
-----
43) Yes, Trump Can End This War
Source: The American Conservative
by Ryan Costello
“With the Iran war going very poorly, President Donald Trump has given increasing indications that he is looking for an off-ramp. He made the mistake of listening to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and other hawks in the run-up to the war, and now their Pollyannish predictions have all fallen flat. Declaring victory and getting out as soon as possible is far and away the best option available. … Yet, ending the war is not as easy as simply declaring victory. Key Iranian figures have signaled that they are not seeking a ceasefire and intend to inflict sufficient pain to deter any future attack on Iran. … To avoid a Forever War consisting of repeated short conflicts, the U.S. should start thinking about how to stop Israel from dragging it into Mideast hostilities.” (03/16/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/yes-trump-can-end-this-war/
-----
44) The Ghost of Ali Shariati Dances with the Epstein Empire
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“Two things happened the week before Trump finally decided to end his will-he-won’t-he relationship with regime change in Iran. The first is that Benjamin Netanyahu told the Donald that Israel was going to whack the Ayatollah with or without him and that the results would be identical either way. Iran would retaliate by dumping literal tons of drones on the American bases that encircle it throughout the region and Trump would be duty bound to prove his manhood with blood. The other telltale thing that happened that week was that evidence surfaced from the heavily redacted Epstein Files that appears to show multiple sources corroborating the failed lawsuit of Katy Johnson; an anonymous plaintiff who accused our current president of raping her with Jeffrey Epstein at his side and then threatening to murder her if she spoke.” (03/15/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-ghost-of-ali-shariati-dances-with.html
-----
45) Are We There Yet?
Source: Town Hall
by Allen West
“I remember retiring from the U.S. Army and relocating the family to South Florida. That was a long drive from Ft Hood, Texas, to Ft Lauderdale, Florida, especially with two young daughters and two yap yap Pomeranian dogs. I decided we would depart at ‘Zero-dark Early’ so Aubrey and Austen would sleep, but when they awoke, the first words out of their mouths were, ‘Dad, are we there yet?’ Heck, I believe those two yap yap dogs were yapping the same inquiry. Needless to say, we had not even hit the Florida border, going along Interstate 10. This is a story that many parents and grandparents have experienced on a long drive with kids. But it also provides a very important lesson about how not to develop national security and foreign policy. ” (03/16/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/allenwest/2026/03/16/are-we-there-yet-n2672822
-----
46) Don’t Bite the Hand That Feeds You
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kimberlee Josephson
“There is a peculiar irony in modern American consumer culture: we celebrate abundance, low prices, and convenience — until we decide to sue the businesses that make those things possible. Somewhere along the way, buyer beware — a principle as old as markets themselves — has been replaced with the belief that disappointment equates with legal injury. Disputes over marketing messages and lawsuits about the labeling of menu items shows that some patrons are eager to become plaintiffs. Recent skirmishes over chicken are a case in point.” (03/15/26)
https://fee.org/articles/dont-bite-the-hand-that-feeds-you/
-----
47) How McDonald’s “epic fail” turned into a surprise marketing win
Source: Washington Post
by Megan McArdle
“Sure, we were laughing at him. But every reaction video or parody drove home the message that McDonald’s has a big new burger on the market, a message I’d never have heard if I hadn’t seen so many people making fun of the CEO. I would have eaten a Big Arch for dinner tonight — for research purposes, of course — if my column-writing duties hadn’t chained me to my desk. Such viral moments are marketing gold and at a bargain price — however much McDonald’s spent making that video, it probably only amounted to a fraction of the cost of producing a traditional ad, much less of blasting it into our consciousness in a prime time loop. Corporate America’s problem is that such moments are wildly unpredictable. If you want brand awareness on the cheap, you are dependent on the kindness (or more likely, unkindness) of strangers.” (03/15/26)
https://archive.is/XjuTl
-----
48) The Ethics of Limit
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Tommaso Biagi
“Every civilization — flawless, perfect in composition and intention — exists atop a quiet contradiction: We love freedom. We suffer domination. We justify it as ‘necessary authority,’ ‘the public order,’ ‘the social contract.’ We accept prisons ‘for safety,’ wage labour ‘for development,’ psychiatric coercion ‘for health.’ It’s the same ball game. A minority suffers, the majority lives ‘better.’ But better for whom? The one screaming in agony and the one smiling in comfort do not feel the sum. No one consciousness feels the totality. The ‘greater good’ is the fiction written by those for whom it works.” (03/15/26)
https://c4ss.org/content/61059
-----
49) Democrat Presidential Contenders Have a New Idea: Tax Cuts
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen and Ryan Cooper
“The last couple of weeks in Democratic politics has seen a rise in what is sometimes called ‘the ideas primary’: the competing sets of policy announcements, often well in advance of the next presidential race, intended to set priorities and draw battle lines for the future. As our colleague Harold Meyerson has documented, the early ideas primary is around tax policy, and in particular a debate that encompasses the role of taxes in society, how to best deal with rampant inequality, and how to prioritize America’s biggest challenges. Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), both of whom appear to be at least considering a run for the presidency in 2028 … have released bills that in different ways expand the standard deduction, which exempts a certain amount of earnings from taxation, and attempt to compensate for that further up the income ladder.” (03/16/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/03/16/democratic-presidential-contenders-new-idea-tax-cuts-van-hollen-booker/
-----
50) The Trouble with Trump’s Maritime Action Plan
Source: Independent Institute
by Caleb Petitt
“The White House recently released America’s Maritime Action Plan (MAP) to revitalize America’s maritime industry. It proposes a variety of regulatory modifications, subsidies, government financing options, and fees to encourage domestic shipbuilding. Although it includes a wide variety of proposals, two of them, when taken together, show the Trump administration’s hostility to free trade, as well as a general naïveté about the plan. The first is the proposed ‘universal fee’ on foreign-built ships; the second is the proposed regulatory change to the definition of a ‘U.S.-built’ ship.” (03/15/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/03/15/the-trouble-with-trumps-maritime-action-plan/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) EconTalk, 03/16/26
Source: EconTalk
“The Economics of Scarcity and the UNC-Duke Basketball Game (with Michael Munger).” (03/16/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/the-economics-of-scarcity-and-the-unc-duke-basketball-game-with-michael-munger/
-----
52) Reason Roundtable, 03/16/26
Source: Reason
"Why the Media Pushes Public Health Myths." (03/16/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/03/16/why-the-media-pushes-public-health-myths/
-----
53) Rising, 03/16/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Tucker Carlson’s claims that the CIA has spied on him and plans to refer him to the Department of Justice.” (03/16/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5782451-rising-march-16-2026/
-----
54) The Evil Within, Part 5
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“The Welfare State.” (03/16/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NtO2Yg9EVQ
-----
55) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 03/16/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Trump Begs For Help On Hormuz; World Says ‘No.'” (03/16/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1MJgNgzlYjAGL
-----
56) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 03/16/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Join the Counterinsurgency | Interview: David Bahnsen.” (03/16/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/join-the-counterinsurgency-interview-david-bahnsen/
-----
57) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 03/16/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Tells All Citizens To Leave Iraq as Attacks Escalate, IDF Kills 12 in Gaza, and More.” (03/16/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIKmFRBw2d8
-----
58) The Brian Nichols Show, 03/15/26
Source: Lions of Liberty
“More School Funding, Worse Results? | Here’s Why.” (03/15/26)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/tbns-more-school-funding-worse-results-heres-why
-----
59) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 03/15/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Harrison Berger: Will Trump Draft Americans for Israel’s War in Iran? Did Iran Try To Kill Trump?” (03/15/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-guest-harrison-berger-will-trump-draft-americans-for-israels-war-in-iran-did-iran-try-to-kill-trump/
-----
60) Zooming In, 03/15/26
Source: The UnPopulist
“Manosphere Men Want a Society That Loves Them For Their Vices: A Conversation With Toby Buckle.” (03/15/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/manosphere-men-want-a-society-that
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Afghanistan: Regime says 400 killed in Pakistani strike on Kabul hospital
2) Iran war: US embassy in Iraq struck as Chinese regime pledges “humanitarian assistance”
3) FL: BBC asks US court to dismiss Trump’s frivolous $10 billion lawsuit
4) Cuba: Officials report island-wide blackout as country struggles with energy crisis
5) Aluminum Rises as Major Smelter Slashes Output in Middle East
6) Haiti: Pol arrested on terror financing, conspiracy charges
7) Trump Regime Asks Judge to Revisit Ruling Blocking Subpoenas to Fed’s Powell
8) Oldest known whale recording could unlock mysteries of the ocean
9) Hungary: Rival parties hold parallel rallies ahead of vote
10) White House chief of staff Wiles diagnosed with cancer, plans to stay in job
11) UK: Regime to raise steel tariffs to 50 percent in new sector strategy this week
12) Madagascar: Randrianirina names anticorruption chief as PM days after cabinet dissolved
13) Democratic senators again call to fund heimatschutz
14) Kazakhstan Approves New Constitution: 87.15% Vote in Favour, Election Commission Says
15) Afghan regime accuses Pakistani regime of carrying out strikes in Kabul, targeting hospital treating addicts
16) Myanmar: Parliament meets for first time in five years with military controlling most seats
17) US airline CEOs urge Congress to end shutdown and pay airport workers
18) Trump to other regimes: “I shit the bed again, YOU clean it up”
19) CA: San Jose mayor calls for immediate suspension of state gas tax
20) France: First round of local elections sees strong showing for National Rally and LFI
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Non-Intervention Without the Fairy Tale of Sovereignty
22) The War Without an Exit: Why Quick Victories in Iran Are Illusions
23) Remembering Brian Doherty, Chronicler of and Participant in Wild and Wonderful Subcultures
24) Mini Tacos, Murder, and the Problem of Getting Exactly What We Want
25) Why are school board members afraid to speak?
26) How the Past Whispers to the Present in Iran
27) Trump’s FDA is breaking promises to kids like mine
28) “Parental Rights” and the Authoritarian Family
29) My Enemies Are Not In Iran
30) The Sacrifice Ratio Puzzle
31) How America’s willful blindness has stoked the Islamist terror threat
32) Anarchists and Crime
33) Time to Cut Ties With the Anti-Defamation League
34) China’s AI Paradox: Can Innovation Thrive in a Captive Mind?
35) Portland or Polycentria?
36) Education for Virtue and Liberty
37) Overturning outlandish SCOTUS ruling the only way to fix education
38) When Hegseth Says “Lethality” He’s Talking About Killing Iranian School Girls
39) Weapons makers, foreign states lavish $32 million on US think tanks
40) Medical Research Is Hopelessly Caught in Red Tape
41) The Most Obvious Question Liberal Media Refuses to Ask About the Iran War
42) Put out more flags?
43) Yes, Trump Can End This War
44) The Ghost of Ali Shariati Dances with the Epstein Empire
45) Are We There Yet?
46) Don’t Bite the Hand That Feeds You
47) How McDonald’s “epic fail” turned into a surprise marketing win
48) The Ethics of Limit
49) Democrat Presidential Contenders Have a New Idea: Tax Cuts
50) The Trouble with Trump’s Maritime Action Plan
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) EconTalk, 03/16/26
52) Reason Roundtable, 03/16/26
53) Rising, 03/16/26
54) The Evil Within, Part 5
55) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 03/16/26
56) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 03/16/26
57) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 03/16/26
58) The Brian Nichols Show, 03/15/26
59) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 03/15/26
60) Zooming In, 03/15/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Afghanistan: Regime says 400 killed in Pakistani strike on Kabul hospital
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Hundreds were feared dead after a strike on a hospital treating drug users in the Afghan capital of Kabul, which officials from Afghanistan blamed on the Pakistani military. Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said the death toll had ‘so far’ reached 400 people, while about 250 people had been reported injured. He said most of those killed and wounded were patients undergoing treatment at the facility. Pakistan rejected the claim as false and misleading and said it ‘precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure’ on Monday night, dismissing allegations it had hit a civilian target.” (03/17/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/16/afghanistan-accuses-pakistan-of-kabul-hospital-strike-killed
-----
2) Iran war: US embassy in Iraq struck as Chinese regime pledges “humanitarian assistance”
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“The US Embassy in Baghdad was targeted by rockets and drones early Tuesday, Iraqi security sources said. While Iraq’s air defenses intercepted multiple drones and rockets, with no reported injuries, the officials said, shrapnel did hit the embassy compound, triggering an explosion and sending a plume of smoke into the sky. Meanwhile, a separate strike hit a house inside the fortified Presidential Compound in Baghdad’s al-Jadriya area. … Beijing has announced that it will provide emergency humanitarian assistance to four Middle East nations impacted by the war in the region: Iran, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. … Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi has said the war ‘should never have happened.'” (03/17/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/iran-war-us-embassy-in-iraq-struck-as-israel-bombs-beirut/live-76387955
-----
3) FL: BBC asks US court to dismiss Trump’s frivolous $10 billion lawsuit
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“The BBC said on Monday it had asked a US federal court in Florida to dismiss a US$10 billion lawsuit brought by US President Donald Trump against the British broadcaster. Trump launched a lawsuit last year over a BBC documentary that edited his 2021 speech ahead of the US Capitol riot. The documentary was ‘never aired in Florida – or the US’ or available to stream there on any platform, a representative for the British Broadcasting Corporation said in a comment sent to Agence France-Presse. It also argued that Trump could not show that it intended to misrepresent him.” (03/16/26)
https://archive.is/SQ16w
-----
4) Cuba: Officials report island-wide blackout as country struggles with energy crisis
Source: SFGate
“Officials in Cuba reported an island-wide blackout Monday in the country of some 11 million people as its energy and economic crises deepen. Cuba has blamed its woes on a U.S. energy blockade after President Donald Trump in January warned of tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to it. The Ministry of Energy and Mines on X noted a “complete disconnection” of the country’s electrical system and said it was investigating. President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Friday said the island had not received oil shipments in more than three months and was operating on solar power, natural gas and thermoelectric plants, and the government has had to postpone surgeries for tens of thousands of people. A massive outage over a week ago affected the island’s west, leaving millions without power.” (03/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/cuban-officials-report-an-island-wide-blackout-as-22079842.php
-----
5) Aluminum Rises as Major Smelter Slashes Output in Middle East
Source: Bloomberg
“Aluminum advanced after one of the world’s biggest smelters of the metal closed almost a fifth of its capacity, deepening the risk of shortages as the Iran war chokes supplies from the Middle East. Aluminium Bahrain BSC has started a phased shutdown of three production lines, together accounting for 19% of its total output capacity, the firm said on Sunday. Alba, as the company is known, is aiming to conserve raw materials while shipping through the Strait of Hormuz faces disruptions. … The Middle East accounts for some 9% of the world’s aluminum output, and Alba’s cuts add to other reductions that have stoked supply fears and prompted warnings of deepening shortages for manufacturers.” (03/16/26)
https://archive.is/CzeEp
-----
6) Haiti: Pol arrested on terror financing, conspiracy charges
Source: ABC News
“Authorities say they have arrested Haitian legislator Arnel Belizaire, who faces charges including financing terrorism and conspiracy against state security. … Haiti’s National Police made the announcement late Sunday, ending a hunt for the well-known lawmaker, who was first accused around two months ago. Belizaire previously characterized the arrest warrant against him as political intimidation. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney. Belizaire had registered his new political party late last week for the upcoming general election.” (03/16/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/police-haiti-arrest-lawmaker-arnel-belizaire-faces-charges-131117308
-----
7) Trump Regime Asks Judge to Revisit Ruling Blocking Subpoenas to Fed’s Powell
Source: US News & World Report
“President Donald Trump’s administration has asked a judge to reconsider his ruling that has effectively blocked a criminal investigation into U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, according to court documents made public on Monday. Washington-based U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in a ruling unsealed on Friday blocked subpoenas issued by federal prosecutors in January seeking information about cost overruns in renovations at the Fed’s headquarters and Powell’s testimony to Congress last year about the project. Boasberg concluded that prosecutors had improperly issued the subpoenas, saying a ‘mountain of evidence’ suggests the investigation — as Powell has argued — was intended to pressure the Fed chair to rapidly lower interest rates or resign as chair. The Justice Department in a new filing urged Boasberg to revisit his decision.” (03/16/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2026-03-16/trump-administration-asks-judge-to-revisit-ruling-blocking-subpoenas-to-feds-powell
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8) Oldest known whale recording could unlock mysteries of the ocean
Source: SFGate
“A haunting whale song discovered on decades-old audio equipment could open up a new understanding of how the huge animals communicate, according to researchers who say it’s the oldest such recording known. The song is that of a humpback whale, a marine giant beloved by whale watchers for its docile nature and spectacular leaps from the water, and was recorded by scientists in March 1949 in Bermuda, said researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Just as significant is the sound of the surrounding ocean itself, said Peter Tyack, a marine bioacoustician and emeritus research scholar at Woods Hole. The ocean of the late 1940s was much quieter than the ocean of today, providing a different backdrop than scientists are used to hearing for whale song, he said.” (03/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/oldest-known-whale-recording-could-unlock-22079063.php
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9) Hungary: Rival parties hold parallel rallies ahead of vote
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“Hungary’s ruling and opposition parties each held major rallies on Sunday as they race to shore up support ahead of hotly contested elections on April 12. The rallies, held to mark the country’s national day, pitted right-wing, pro-Russia Prime Minister Viktor Orban, 62, against opposition leader Peter Magyar, 44, who is seeking to end Orban’s 16-year rule and offer support to Ukraine. Orban’s nationalist Fidesz party has been trailing in polls against Magyar’s center-right Tisza party since last year and has turned to criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy more harshly. Tens of thousands of government supporters held a so-called ‘peace march’ that crossed the Danube River and headed towards Hungary’s parliament in Budapest. … Across town, Magyar accused Orban of ‘inviting Russian agents’ to ‘interfere in the elections.’ He addressed a crowd of at least 100,000 supporters at Budapest’s Heroes Square.” (03/16/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/hungarys-rival-parties-hold-parallel-rallies-ahead-of-vote/a-76367895
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10) White House chief of staff Wiles diagnosed with cancer, plans to stay in job
Source: Politico
“White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has breast cancer, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social on Monday afternoon. Wiles, a longstanding fixture of Trump’s campaign orbit, has been his chief of staff since he took office for his second term in 2025. Trump said Wiles had ‘early stage breast cancer’ and an ‘excellent’ prognosis. She will be staying on as Trump’s chief of staff while she undergoes treatment, the president said. … Wiles joined Trump at an event at the White House shortly after the president announced her diagnosis, sitting next to him at a meeting of Kennedy Center board members.” (03/16/26)
https://archive.is/BCuY5
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11) UK: Regime to raise steel tariffs to 50 percent in new sector strategy this week
Source: Politico
“Trade Secretary Peter Kyle is expected to announce the U.K.’s steel strategy at Tata Steel UK’s mill in Port Talbot on Thursday. The strategy will set out new protections for Britain’s steel sector, slashing quotas on imports of many products from overseas while raising duties outside those caps to 50 percent, two people familiar with the announcement told POLITICO. … British officials have told both U.K. steel producers and downstream importers, who use steel in everything from construction to automotive manufacturing, to expect a 50 percent duty outside of new quotas in a move ‘likely to be similar to the EU,’ said a second industry figure.” (03/16/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-raise-steel-tariffs-to-50-percent-sector-strategy-tata-port-talbot-kyle
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12) Madagascar: Randrianirina names anticorruption chief as PM days after cabinet dissolved
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Madagascar’s President Michael Randrianirina, who seized power in October, has appointed the country’s anticorruption chief as prime minister, barely a week after dissolving the cabinet. The presidency said on Sunday that Mamitiana Rajaonarison, a former senior gendarmerie officer and career civil administrator, would head the new government. … Randrianirina dismissed Prime Minister Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo and all other cabinet ministers last Monday, offering no explanation for the move.” (03/16/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/16/madagascar-names-anticorruption-chief-as-pm-days-after-cabinet-dissolved
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13) Democratic senators again call to fund heimatschutz
Source: Fox News
“Senate Democrats say they want to end the government shutdown but have repeatedly blocked GOP attempts to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as they push for immigration enforcement reforms. On Friday, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said at a news conference following an antisemitic attack on the Temple Israel synagogue in her state that ‘certainly’ Congress must fund DHS. However, Slotkin and most Senate Democrats have voted four times to block DHS funding, including several attempts to temporarily reopen the agency while negotiations continue. Slotkin is just one of several Senate Democrats calling for an end to the shutdown. Republicans argue the votes are part of a broader Democratic strategy to blame them for blocking efforts to reopen DHS.” [editor’s note: Instead of quibbling over what conditions to reopen it under, they should simply abolish it – TLK] (03/16/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dems-push-end-shutdown-while-blocking-gop-bid-reopen-dhs
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14) Kazakhstan Approves New Constitution: 87.15% Vote in Favour, Election Commission Says
Source: US News & World Report
“Kazakhstan voted 87.15% in favour of adopting a new constitution, the Central Election Commission said on Monday. Voter turnout for the referendum stood at 73.12%, the commission said. The new constitution streamlines the country’s Parliament and recreates the office of vice president, which was abolished in 1996. It gives the president the right to appoint the vice president, as well as a host of other key officials. The constitution’s swift drafting prompted some analysts in Kazakhstan to suggest that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev might be looking to anoint a successor as vice president and leave office early, or to stay in his post with a new constitution resetting his term limits.” (03/16/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-03-16/kazakhstan-approves-new-constitution-87-15-vote-in-favour-election-commission-says
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15) Afghan regime accuses Pakistani regime of carrying out strikes in Kabul, targeting hospital treating addicts
Source: SFGate
“Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Monday accused Pakistan’s military of targeting a Kabul hospital that treats drug addicts in airstrikes that killed four people and wounded several others. The attack came hours after Afghan officials said the two sides exchanged fire along their common border, killing four people in Afghanistan, as the deadliest fighting between the neighbors in years entered a third week. Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the strike on X, saying it violated Afghanistan’s territory. He said most of those killed and wounded were addicts undergoing treatment at the facility. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s spokesman, Mosharraf Zaidi, dismissed the allegations as baseless, saying no hospital was targeted in Kabul. He gave no further details, but Pakistan’s government and military have repeatedly said that their forces only target the Afghan military and facilities being used for attacks in Pakistan.” (03/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/afghanistan-says-pakistani-mortars-killed-2-22079214.php
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16) Myanmar: Parliament meets for first time in five years with military controlling most seats
Source: ABC News
“Myanmar opened its first parliamentary session in more than five years on Monday following an election that did not include major opposition parties, ensuring that the ruling military is set to retain a firm grasp on power. The military blocked Myanmar’s last parliament from convening when it seized power from the last legitimately elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, and has governed without a legislature since then. It’s touted elections held in late December and January as a step toward the return of democracy. But the military and its allies hold nearly 90% of the seats in two-chamber parliament, while Myanmar’s former ruling National League for Democracy and other major opposition parties were either blocked from running or refused to compete under conditions they deemed unfair.” (03/16/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/myanmars-parliament-meets-time-5-years-military-controlling-131107649
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17) US airline CEOs urge Congress to end shutdown and pay airport workers
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Major airline CEOs have urged the US Congress to end the government shutdown that has left airport workers without pay, warning travellers could face more delays. American Airlines, Delta, Southwest and JetBlue are among the airlines that have written to lawmakers to demand funding is restored to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the security agency, TSA. The DHS has gone without funding since February, after Congress failed to reach a funding agreement. The Trump administration has blamed delays on Democrats, who declined to pass funding without immigration reforms. ‘Once again, air travel is the political football amid another government shutdown,’ the CEOs wrote. ‘First, leaders should immediately come together to reach an agreement to fund the Department of Homeland Security,’ they added. ‘Then they need to act so this problem never happens again.'” (03/16/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yg12pk21no
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18) Trump to other regimes: “I shit the bed again, YOU clean it up”
Source: NBC News
“President Donald Trump said on Sunday his administration is talking to seven countries about helping to secure the Strait of Hormuz amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, calling on them to help protect ships in the vital waterway that Tehran has mostly blocked to oil tanker traffic. With the conflict creating turmoil across the Middle East and shaking up global energy markets in its third week, Trump insisted that nations relying heavily on oil from the Gulf have a responsibility to protect the strait. ‘I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory because it is their territory,’ Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on the way from Florida to Washington. ‘It’s the place from which they get their energy.'” (03/16/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-calls-allies-help-secure-strait-hormuz-iran-vows-step-up-retaliation-2026-03-15/
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19) CA: San Jose mayor calls for immediate suspension of state gas tax
Source: SFGate
“A Democratic and a Republican candidate for governor are floating similar ideas for financial relief as gas prices could climb up to $7 a gallon in California. Matt Mahan, a newcomer to the governor’s race and the current mayor of San Jose, suggested during a debate Thursday night in Monterey that state lawmakers should pause to the state’s gas tax –– which is currently $0.88 cents a gallon –– to keep gas prices from climbing. Republican candidate Steve Hilton proposed a similar idea earlier in the week. ‘Working families are struggling with skyrocketing costs. It’s past time for some relief,’ Mahan said according to a statement from his office. ‘And Californians shouldn’t have to wait for the next election for our government to act. That’s why I believe we need to temporarily suspend our state’s highest in the nation gas taxes, right now.'” (03/16/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/california-govenors-race-gas-22075853.php
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20) France: First round of local elections sees strong showing for National Rally and LFI
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“The first-round of the French municipal elections have seen a strong showing for Marine Le Pen’s far-right the National Rally (RN), as well as for Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s radical left, with both parties likely to increase their local presence ahead of next year’s French presidential race. The French local elections, which now go to a final round runoff on 22 March, are seen as a crucial test of the political temperature before next year’s presidential election. Emmanuel Macron’s two terms in office come to an end in spring 2027 and there is uncertainty about who will next lead the EU’s second-largest economy.” (03/15/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/15/french-local-elections-first-round-results
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Non-Intervention Without the Fairy Tale of Sovereignty
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Thiago VS Coelho
‘Humanitarian intervention’ sells itself as a moral shortcut: bypass the messy politics, send in the troops, stop the monster. Many libertarians respond with a familiar reply: non-intervention, because aggression against another nation is wrong. In his essay on Aggression Abroad, Jason Lee Byas’s point is that this reply often rests on a category mistake. If you take libertarianism seriously — if you really mean that only individuals have rights and only individuals can be wronged — then you can’t smuggle in a moral right called national sovereignty and treat states as if they’re rights-bearing persons. … So far, so interventionist: if sovereignty is a fiction, why not invade to stop atrocities? Because the same individualism that dissolves the sovereignty myth also destroys the interventionist fantasy of ‘surgical’ war.” (03/16/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/non-intervention-without-fairy-tale-sovereignty
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22) The War Without an Exit: Why Quick Victories in Iran Are Illusions
Source: Antiwar.com
by Jenny Williams
“The notion of a short and decisive war has always been a temptation for politicians. This notion holds a promise of quick victories, low costs, and clear triumphs. However, the course of history over the last few decades has indicated that wars do not always follow this pattern. The current conflict between the United States and Iran seems to be a clear manifestation of this reality, as the early indications of a quick victory are not supported by the fundamental realities of the conflict.” (03/16/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/jenny_williams/2026/03/15/the-war-without-an-exit-why-quick-victories-in-iran-are-illusions/
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23) Remembering Brian Doherty, Chronicler of and Participant in Wild and Wonderful Subcultures
Source: Reason
by Nick Gillespie
“Jesus, how do you write an obit of someone you hired? It is with a heavy heart but many, many fond memories and intense gratitude that I write about my colleague Brian Doherty, found dead unexpectedly on Friday at the age of 57. I joined Reason in the fall of 1993. He was hired later in 1994 and then left the staff for a while around the end of the decade. When I became editor in chief of the magazine and website in 2000, he was the first person I called. Come back, I said, Reason needs you. What I liked most about Brian was his abiding interest in things happening on the margins of American culture, politics, and thought, and his deep appreciation for the prodigious bounty that markets deliver reliably and without moralizing.” (03/16/26)
https://reason.com/2026/03/16/remembering-brian-doherty-chronicler-of-and-participant-in-wild-and-wonderful-subcultures/
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24) Mini Tacos, Murder, and the Problem of Getting Exactly What We Want
Source: Liberalism.org
by Sarah Skwire
“When personalization is king and optimization is everywhere, fiction has lessons about where to stop.” (03/16/26)
https://www.liberalism.org/p/mini-tacos-murder-and-the-problem-of-getting-exactly-what-we-want
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25) Why are school board members afraid to speak?
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Sheridan Macy
“Gail Nazarene, an elected school board member in New Jersey, thought she was performing her duties as a public servant and participating in the democratic process when she asked her constituents about tax increases on Facebook. This simple act led to an ethics complaint by another school board member because, unlike most other states, New Jersey interprets its school ethics rules to potentially cover any speech that’s merely about schools, supposedly because community members are likely to attribute any such statement from a board member as being on behalf of the board. But the First Amendment forbids the government from punishing school board members for speaking their minds on public issues. That’s why FIRE is suing New Jersey on Nazarene’s behalf.” (03/16/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/why-are-school-board-members-afraid-speak
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26) How the Past Whispers to the Present in Iran
Source: TomDispatch
by Alfred W McCoy
“In the first chapter of his 1874 novel The Gilded Age, Mark Twain offered a telling observation about the connection between past and present: ‘History never repeats itself, but the… present often seems to be constructed out of the broken fragments of antique legends.’ Among the ‘antique legends’ most helpful in understanding the likely outcome of the current U.S. intervention in Iran is the Suez Crisis of 1956, which I describe in my new book Cold War on Five Continents. After Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in July 1956, a joint British-French armada of six aircraft carriers destroyed Egypt’s air force, while Israeli troops smashed Egyptian tanks in the sands of the Sinai Peninsula. Within less than a week of war, Nasser had lost his strategic forces and Egypt seemed helpless before the overwhelming might of that massive imperial juggernaut.” (03/15/26)
https://tomdispatch.com/imperial-decline-in-the-straits-of-hormuz/
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27) Trump’s FDA is breaking promises to kids like mine
Source: USA Today
by Angelina Olivera
“President Donald Trump has already said that families deserve a voice in life-and-death medical decisions. Duchenne families are simply asking that this principle be carried through in practice.” (03/16/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2026/03/16/trump-fda-right-to-try-duchenne/88861876007/
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28) “Parental Rights” and the Authoritarian Family
Source: Liberal Currents
by Steve Kennedy
“For advocates of ‘parental rights,’ family autonomy becomes both reward and weapon, extended to those who conform and withdrawn from those who do not.” (03/16/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/parental-rights-and-the-authoritarian-family/
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29) My Enemies Are Not In Iran
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“My enemies are in Washington and Tel Aviv. In London and Canberra. My enemies are the western oligarchs and empire managers who are poisoning my society and making everything awful while slaughtering human beings with the help of my tax dollars. My enemies are the tyrants who are turning our civilization into a mind-controlled dystopia where it is increasingly illegal to criticize the abuses of my government and its allies, and increasingly difficult to find information which runs counter to the imperial narrative. My enemies are the empire apologists and the hasbarists. The propagandists and spinmeisters. Those who side with Israel and the United States against basic human interests. Imperial bootlickers always accuse me of writing ‘propaganda’ for ‘the enemy,’ with ‘enemy’ meaning whoever the US-centralized empire happens to be attacking or preparing to attack on any given day.” (03/16/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/03/16/my-enemies-are-not-in-iran/
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30) The Sacrifice Ratio Puzzle
Source: EconLog
by Asad E Butt
“When inflation was rising rapidly in 2022, it was predicted that a sustained period of high unemployment would be required to bring inflation back to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Such predictions are closely aligned with the findings of the classic Phillips curve, which hypothesizes a trade-off between inflation and unemployment. These predictions were strongly rooted in the sacrifice ratio — the rise in unemployment typically required to reduce inflation by one percentage point. Historical experience suggested that the sacrifice ratio would be substantial, but inflation declined significantly without a notable rise in unemployment. It remained low, fluctuating between 3.6% and 3.9% through 2021 and 2022. The sacrifice ratio turned out to be close to zero. The big question that these events raise is whether the economists overestimated the persistence of supply-side shocks and the sensitivity of inflation to unemployment.” (03/16/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/the-sacrifice-ratio-puzzle
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31) How America’s willful blindness has stoked the Islamist terror threat
Source: New York Post
by James A Gagliano
“After four separate terrorist attacks in the last two weeks on US soil, Americans are on edge. It’s taken me back to 2003 and a barren outpost in Khost, Afghanistan, where I interrogated a high-value target while serving with the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team. ‘You’ll go back to your country. But this struggle will follow you there,’ the detainee pronounced, through an interpreter. ‘We can be patient. You Americans certainly are not. We will wait you out. And the fight will continue.’ He was right. On March 1, a radical Islamist and naturalized citizen from Senegal shot up a bar in Austin, Texas, murdering three. On March 7, two teenaged jihadi wannabes from Pennsylvania (children of naturalized citizens from Afghanistan and Turkey) tossed homemade bombs at cops and protesters outside Gracie Mansion in New York City.” (03/15/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/03/15/opinion/how-americas-willful-blindness-has-stoked-the-islamist-terror-threat/
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32) Anarchists and Crime
Source: Isonomia Quarterly
by Katrina Gulliver
“The anarchist as a figure in crime is distinct. His goals are not financial, and the terrorist acts committed under the heading of anarchism have ranged from assassinations of public figures to bombings of random civilians. He has also slid far enough into history to seem quaint, or vaguely romantic, from the vantage point of the twenty-first century.” (03/16/26)
https://isonomiamag.substack.com/p/anarchists-and-crime
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33) Time to Cut Ties With the Anti-Defamation League
Source: Common Dreams
by Donna Nevel
“The Anti-Defamation League, or ADL, is holding its annual summit in New York City this week. The ironically-named ‘summit on hate’ features far-right MAGA pastors and politicians, billionaire CEOs, and conservative journalists among its speakers. No longer putting on the pretense of opposing all forms of bigotry, the ADL has shown it’s perfectly comfortable with Trump-era racism. In the year since the last summit, the ADL has withdrawn its criticism of white supremacist groups, denounced antiracist education as ‘radical,’ continued to loudly back Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and cheered on Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations of students and other noncitizens who have criticized Israel’s violence and stood in solidarity with the Palestinian people. In fact, the ADL endorsed the executive order issued by President Donald Trump in 2025 targeting critics of Israel and threatening those who aren’t US citizens with deportation for protesting in support of Palestinian human rights.” (03/16/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/cut-ties-with-anti-defamation-league
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34) China’s AI Paradox: Can Innovation Thrive in a Captive Mind?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Walter Donway
“In the technology arms race between the United States and China for dominance in artificial intelligence (AI), we are often told that the decisive factor will be computational power: who can build more data centers, secure more advanced chips, and train larger models more cheaply. Those are not irrelevant, but nor are they the crux of the competition. The true contest is one of political culture.” (03/16/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/chinas-ai-paradox-can-innovation-thrive-in-a-captive-mind/
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35) Portland or Polycentria?
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“There are shithole cities, planned cities, and emergent cities. Let’s move toward the latter.” (03/16/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/portland-or-polycentria
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36) Education for Virtue and Liberty
Source: Law & Liberty
by Aaron Alexander Zubia
“In Observations upon Liberal Education, Turnbull delivered ‘the substance of all that hath been said [on the subject of education] by the ancients or moderns’ — including Socrates, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, Locke, Milton, and Rollin. Turnbull borrowed freely from these authors. He described education as the French historian Charles Rollin did, as ‘the art of fashioning the heart and mind.’ Although he recommended the Socratic method — that is, for-and-against argumentation — as the best way to teach, he did not think the teacher’s role was to remain ‘neutral’ about content. He stated plainly that education should be oriented toward the ‘true philosophy,’ which includes ‘just and full conceptions of human duty, dignity, and happiness.’ What makes Turnbull’s educational program liberal is that it enables the student to develop mastery over passions and appetites. This is a far cry from what we think of as ‘liberal’ today.” (03/16/26)
https://lawliberty.org/classic/education-for-virtue-and-liberty/
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37) Overturning outlandish SCOTUS ruling the only way to fix education
Source: Fox News
by Corey DeAngelis
“Tennessee lawmakers have taken a bold stand against the misuse of taxpayer dollars in public education. On March 10, House Bill 793 advanced out of a full committee with a 15-9 vote, divided mostly along party lines, with Republicans in favor and all seven Democrats opposed. The proposal is scheduled to be heard on the House floor on March 16. The measure now requires public and charter school officials to verify students’ immigration status at enrollment and report the aggregate results to the state. The proposal originally empowered school officials to deny enrollment to students who could not prove lawful [sic] presence in the United States or to charge their families tuition.” [editor’s note: If you doubted that DeAngelis’s fake “school choice” advocacy was about anything and everything but freedom, now you know for sure – TLK] (03/16/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/overturning-outlandish-supreme-court-ruling-only-way-fix-education
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38) When Hegseth Says “Lethality” He’s Talking About Killing Iranian School Girls
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“I’m going to give our ‘Secretary of War’ a little credit. I will assume that even someone as openly bloodthirsty as Hegseth would not deliberately blow up a school building filled with little girls. But this tragic accident that led to the death of at least 165 Iranian girls between the ages of 7 and 12 was the direct result of Hegseth’s policy. The main point of the ‘woke’ rules of engagement that Hegseth has constantly derided, and told the military to ignore, is to prevent tragic accidents like the bombing of a girls’ school in the middle of the day. The rules are designed to try to minimize civilian casualties. This means reviewing designated bombing sites to make sure they are, in fact, military targets.” (03/16/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/03/16/when-hegseth-says-lethality-hes-talking-about-killing-iranian-school-girls/
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39) Weapons makers, foreign states lavish $32 million on US think tanks
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Nick Cleveland-Stout & Ben Freeman
“In 2024, top think tanks received over $25 million from foreign governments and $7 million from Pentagon contractors, according to the most recently available donor rolls. This figure is a conservative estimate, as about 40% of think tanks do not disclose any donors at all. These findings come from our newly updated Think Tank Funding Tracker, which now includes the top 75 foreign policy think tanks in the U.S. and tracks all of the foreign government, U.S. government, and Pentagon contractor money flowing to them. The top Pentagon contractor donor was Northrop Grumman, which gave over $1.1 million to think tanks in 2024. These same think tanks routinely promote ambitious new weaponry which benefit their donors.” (03/16/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/think-tank-funding-tracker/
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40) Medical Research Is Hopelessly Caught in Red Tape
Source: Persuasion
by Ruxandra Teslo
“A story about Paul Conyngham, an AI entrepreneur from Sydney who treated his dog Rosie’s cancer with a personalized mRNA vaccine, has been circulating on X this week. What makes the story inspiring is the initiative the owner showed: he used AI to teach himself about how a personalized vaccine could work, designed much of the process himself, and approached top researchers to take it forward. Whether the treatment itself was curative and how much of an improvement it represents over the current state of the art is not the point here. What interests me instead is the bureaucratic absurdity Conyngham encountered while trying to pursue the treatment.” (03/16/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/medical-research-is-hopelessly-caught
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41) The Most Obvious Question Liberal Media Refuses to Ask About the Iran War
Source: Common Dreams
by Ramzy Baroud
“Doubtless, the war launched by US President Donald Trump is not popular among ordinary Americans. According to the latest public opinion poll, only a minority of Americans (part of the dwindling [sic] core of Trump’s supporters) believe that the US-Israeli aggression against Iran has merit. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in early March 2026, only 27 percent of Americans approve of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran—while 43 percent disapprove and 29 percent are unsure. This pro-war constituency is likely to remain supportive of Trump until the end of his term in office, and long after. However, the war on Iran is not popular, and it is unlikely to become popular, especially as the Trump administration is reportedly fragmented between those who want to stay the course and those desperate for an exit strategy. Such a strategy would allow their president to save face before the midterm elections in November.” (03/16/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/liberal-media-iran-war
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42) Put out more flags?
Source: Semafor
by Ben Smith
“As the Iran war dominates global economic calculations, media and social media alike, there’s one place where it’s been strangely absent: Washington, DC. The American capital in the second Trump administration has developed a bit of a devil-may-care, drink-with-lunch spirit captured in the Pentagon’s cheerily bellicose memes. Still, when I was in DC last week, I was surprised by the total absence of yellow ribbons, patriotic banners, or the usual wartime acknowledgements of fallen troops and the many others in danger. … During the Iraq War, yellow ribbons — showing support for the troops, if not the conflict — were ubiquitous, as were anti-war demonstrations. Then came the long global war on terror, which meant that the US was both constantly at war and never at war. Washington remembered Afghanistan, only briefly, when we withdrew. … The nation’s capital is, as always, a bubble, but it’s hard to see how this relative good cheer can last.” (03/16/26)
https://www.semafor.com/article/03/15/2026/put-out-more-flags
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43) Yes, Trump Can End This War
Source: The American Conservative
by Ryan Costello
“With the Iran war going very poorly, President Donald Trump has given increasing indications that he is looking for an off-ramp. He made the mistake of listening to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and other hawks in the run-up to the war, and now their Pollyannish predictions have all fallen flat. Declaring victory and getting out as soon as possible is far and away the best option available. … Yet, ending the war is not as easy as simply declaring victory. Key Iranian figures have signaled that they are not seeking a ceasefire and intend to inflict sufficient pain to deter any future attack on Iran. … To avoid a Forever War consisting of repeated short conflicts, the U.S. should start thinking about how to stop Israel from dragging it into Mideast hostilities.” (03/16/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/yes-trump-can-end-this-war/
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44) The Ghost of Ali Shariati Dances with the Epstein Empire
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“Two things happened the week before Trump finally decided to end his will-he-won’t-he relationship with regime change in Iran. The first is that Benjamin Netanyahu told the Donald that Israel was going to whack the Ayatollah with or without him and that the results would be identical either way. Iran would retaliate by dumping literal tons of drones on the American bases that encircle it throughout the region and Trump would be duty bound to prove his manhood with blood. The other telltale thing that happened that week was that evidence surfaced from the heavily redacted Epstein Files that appears to show multiple sources corroborating the failed lawsuit of Katy Johnson; an anonymous plaintiff who accused our current president of raping her with Jeffrey Epstein at his side and then threatening to murder her if she spoke.” (03/15/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-ghost-of-ali-shariati-dances-with.html
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45) Are We There Yet?
Source: Town Hall
by Allen West
“I remember retiring from the U.S. Army and relocating the family to South Florida. That was a long drive from Ft Hood, Texas, to Ft Lauderdale, Florida, especially with two young daughters and two yap yap Pomeranian dogs. I decided we would depart at ‘Zero-dark Early’ so Aubrey and Austen would sleep, but when they awoke, the first words out of their mouths were, ‘Dad, are we there yet?’ Heck, I believe those two yap yap dogs were yapping the same inquiry. Needless to say, we had not even hit the Florida border, going along Interstate 10. This is a story that many parents and grandparents have experienced on a long drive with kids. But it also provides a very important lesson about how not to develop national security and foreign policy. ” (03/16/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/allenwest/2026/03/16/are-we-there-yet-n2672822
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46) Don’t Bite the Hand That Feeds You
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kimberlee Josephson
“There is a peculiar irony in modern American consumer culture: we celebrate abundance, low prices, and convenience — until we decide to sue the businesses that make those things possible. Somewhere along the way, buyer beware — a principle as old as markets themselves — has been replaced with the belief that disappointment equates with legal injury. Disputes over marketing messages and lawsuits about the labeling of menu items shows that some patrons are eager to become plaintiffs. Recent skirmishes over chicken are a case in point.” (03/15/26)
https://fee.org/articles/dont-bite-the-hand-that-feeds-you/
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47) How McDonald’s “epic fail” turned into a surprise marketing win
Source: Washington Post
by Megan McArdle
“Sure, we were laughing at him. But every reaction video or parody drove home the message that McDonald’s has a big new burger on the market, a message I’d never have heard if I hadn’t seen so many people making fun of the CEO. I would have eaten a Big Arch for dinner tonight — for research purposes, of course — if my column-writing duties hadn’t chained me to my desk. Such viral moments are marketing gold and at a bargain price — however much McDonald’s spent making that video, it probably only amounted to a fraction of the cost of producing a traditional ad, much less of blasting it into our consciousness in a prime time loop. Corporate America’s problem is that such moments are wildly unpredictable. If you want brand awareness on the cheap, you are dependent on the kindness (or more likely, unkindness) of strangers.” (03/15/26)
https://archive.is/XjuTl
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48) The Ethics of Limit
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Tommaso Biagi
“Every civilization — flawless, perfect in composition and intention — exists atop a quiet contradiction: We love freedom. We suffer domination. We justify it as ‘necessary authority,’ ‘the public order,’ ‘the social contract.’ We accept prisons ‘for safety,’ wage labour ‘for development,’ psychiatric coercion ‘for health.’ It’s the same ball game. A minority suffers, the majority lives ‘better.’ But better for whom? The one screaming in agony and the one smiling in comfort do not feel the sum. No one consciousness feels the totality. The ‘greater good’ is the fiction written by those for whom it works.” (03/15/26)
https://c4ss.org/content/61059
-----
49) Democrat Presidential Contenders Have a New Idea: Tax Cuts
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen and Ryan Cooper
“The last couple of weeks in Democratic politics has seen a rise in what is sometimes called ‘the ideas primary’: the competing sets of policy announcements, often well in advance of the next presidential race, intended to set priorities and draw battle lines for the future. As our colleague Harold Meyerson has documented, the early ideas primary is around tax policy, and in particular a debate that encompasses the role of taxes in society, how to best deal with rampant inequality, and how to prioritize America’s biggest challenges. Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), both of whom appear to be at least considering a run for the presidency in 2028 … have released bills that in different ways expand the standard deduction, which exempts a certain amount of earnings from taxation, and attempt to compensate for that further up the income ladder.” (03/16/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/03/16/democratic-presidential-contenders-new-idea-tax-cuts-van-hollen-booker/
-----
50) The Trouble with Trump’s Maritime Action Plan
Source: Independent Institute
by Caleb Petitt
“The White House recently released America’s Maritime Action Plan (MAP) to revitalize America’s maritime industry. It proposes a variety of regulatory modifications, subsidies, government financing options, and fees to encourage domestic shipbuilding. Although it includes a wide variety of proposals, two of them, when taken together, show the Trump administration’s hostility to free trade, as well as a general naïveté about the plan. The first is the proposed ‘universal fee’ on foreign-built ships; the second is the proposed regulatory change to the definition of a ‘U.S.-built’ ship.” (03/15/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/03/15/the-trouble-with-trumps-maritime-action-plan/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) EconTalk, 03/16/26
Source: EconTalk
“The Economics of Scarcity and the UNC-Duke Basketball Game (with Michael Munger).” (03/16/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/the-economics-of-scarcity-and-the-unc-duke-basketball-game-with-michael-munger/
-----
52) Reason Roundtable, 03/16/26
Source: Reason
"Why the Media Pushes Public Health Myths." (03/16/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/03/16/why-the-media-pushes-public-health-myths/
-----
53) Rising, 03/16/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Tucker Carlson’s claims that the CIA has spied on him and plans to refer him to the Department of Justice.” (03/16/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5782451-rising-march-16-2026/
-----
54) The Evil Within, Part 5
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“The Welfare State.” (03/16/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NtO2Yg9EVQ
-----
55) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 03/16/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Trump Begs For Help On Hormuz; World Says ‘No.'” (03/16/26)
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1MJgNgzlYjAGL
-----
56) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 03/16/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Join the Counterinsurgency | Interview: David Bahnsen.” (03/16/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/join-the-counterinsurgency-interview-david-bahnsen/
-----
57) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 03/16/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Tells All Citizens To Leave Iraq as Attacks Escalate, IDF Kills 12 in Gaza, and More.” (03/16/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIKmFRBw2d8
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58) The Brian Nichols Show, 03/15/26
Source: Lions of Liberty
“More School Funding, Worse Results? | Here’s Why.” (03/15/26)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/tbns-more-school-funding-worse-results-heres-why
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59) The Kyle Anzalone Show, 03/15/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Harrison Berger: Will Trump Draft Americans for Israel’s War in Iran? Did Iran Try To Kill Trump?” (03/15/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-guest-harrison-berger-will-trump-draft-americans-for-israels-war-in-iran-did-iran-try-to-kill-trump/
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60) Zooming In, 03/15/26
Source: The UnPopulist
“Manosphere Men Want a Society That Loves Them For Their Vices: A Conversation With Toby Buckle.” (03/15/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/manosphere-men-want-a-society-that
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