“The reality is that, where foreign assistance is least effective, it is largely because it is designed to promote U.S. interests rather than those ostensibly on the receiving end.” cepr.net/publications/a…

Wilddd

.Sean M. O'Brien: "Stop looking for the perfect message about how to tell people what you’re going to do. Instead, do something and then tell them you did it. It’s not difficult." commonplace.org/2025/02/10/the…

An unequivocal good - especially for labor. Great news.

It was the Trump DOJ that initiated the most important anti-trust lawsuit: US v. Google. JD Vance was among many - like Josh Hawley and Matt Gaetz -- who effusively praised Lina Khan. And many of Trump's choices for FTC and DOJ are close to Khan on anti-trust enforcement:

"I don't think driving a Tesla is the emblem of environmentalism. I think driving your Toyota Corolla with 500K on it - that's real environmentalism. You can make a clutch last for 400k miles. That's it. I have immense respect and admiration for that kind of environmentalism."

You have to actually listen to the podbro shows at length to understand that they are not dogmatic. Too many on the liberal left don’t listen so aren’t aware, or have difficulty conceiving of something that isn’t purely with, or against, their team.

Even among (some) progressives, there is an almost pathological obsession with speaking order, titles, rank, introductions, and other petty trivialities. Saw it up close!

The Atlantic's decision to withhold newsworthy information over vague national security concerns is part of a disturbing trend in which media sees itself as an adjunct of the government kenklippenstein.com/p/trump-admin-…

BREAKING: Sky News reveals that the 15 aid workers—including paramedics and civil defense personnel—killed in Gaza on March 23 were attacked by Israel in an area not under an evacuation order at the time, contradicting Israel’s claim that coordination was required.

I intellectually understand the backlash against “Defund the police” but there are sooo many examples of habitual liars and shoddy people throughout policing - and no national system or culture that roots them out. Plenty of examples in media and politics as well

I spoke with Daniel Stid, an American Enterprise Institute nonresident fellow, about the potential of citizens’ assemblies and the conservative rationale for democratic reforms. He says college-educated reform advocates are “getting high on our own supply” - and he’s right. aei.org/op-eds/what-wi…

Breathtaking, magisterial

In Gaza, an entire population is being starved. They could be reached - there are hundreds of trucks waiting to go in, currently denied entry. Women, children, families, living crammed together in unsanitary conditions, and facing dozens on airstrikes everyday:

Just unfathomably horrific. The leadership of both U.S. parties - the Biden admin and now Trump - own this

Nine Palestinian children were killed in a single Israeli strike. Their parents are doctors in southern Gaza with no affiliation to Hamas. Palestinian kids are just like kids all over the world. They play, laugh and act silly. Dehumanizing them doesn't change the truth.