News of the Week for March 23rd, 2025
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Abortion
Dobbs Decision
Houston-area midwife arrested for providing illegal abortions in first criminal case under state ban: Texas AG
Maria Margarita Rojas, 48, who identified herself as ‘Dr. Maria,’ is also charged with practicing medicine without a license, authorities said
Gun Rights
Second Amendment Roundup: 18 to 20 Age Ban Cases Coming to a Head
Both sides agree the Supreme Court should grant cert.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
Jury finds Greenpeace must pay more than $650M in case over Dakota Access protest activities
A North Dakota jury on Wednesday found Greenpeace liable for defamation and other claims brought by a pipeline company in connection with protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
NOAA cuts more key weather data gathering after layoffs
The National Weather Service is reducing weather balloon launches at six more locations in the U.S. and temporarily suspending them at two more places due to staffing shortages, the agency announced Thursday afternoon.
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
A Trump county worries Medicaid cuts could throw them back into opioid spiral
The president has said entitlement programs like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security will remain untouched, even as he pushes for a contraction of federal spending.
NIH cancels funding for landmark diabetes study at a time of focus on chronic disease
Decision, likely tied to severing of grants at Columbia University, appears at odds with Trump officials’ priorities
War & Terror
DOGE Cuts Reach Key Nuclear Scientists, Bomb Engineers and Safety Experts
They handled the secure transport of nuclear materials — dangerous, demanding work that requires rigorous training. Four of them took the Trump administration’s offer of a buyout and left the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Justice Barrett’s sister targeted with bomb threat in South Carolina
The sister of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett was the target of a bomb threat at her home earlier this month in Charleston, South Carolina, police said Wednesday.
Choosing Sides
Over and over, in various ways, the president of the United States says that Ukraine is responsible for the war with Russia. Ukraine, somehow, brought this aggression on itself — or outright started the aggression.
A Signpost in a Changing World
The world is in a state of rapid, not gradual, change. The United States is abandoning longstanding commitments and alliances. In a post yesterday, I quoted Viktor Orbán, who, greeting Vladimir Putin in Budapest, said, “We all sense — it’s in the air — that the world is in the process of a substantial realignment.” That was in 2017. Eight years later, the realignment of which Orbán spoke is vivid.
Trump appoints Charlie Kirk, Walt Nauta, Michael Flynn to military boards
The president also posted additional appointments to the Naval Academy Board of Visitors, which included his personal aide, Walt Nauta. Nauta was indicted as part of former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents. The case has since been dropped.
Chinese Nationalists Praise Trump’s Cuts to Voice of America
Beijing has long criticized the outlet, as well as Radio Free Asia, for highlighting human rights abuses in China.
Conflict: Niall Ferguson on Ukraine, Taiwan, and His War of Words with Vice President Vance
Throughout the conversation, Ferguson explores historical analogies to better understand Ukraine’s position, using comparisons to South Korea and South Vietnam. He discusses China’s backing of Russia and its role in what he calls Cold War II, highlighting the long-term implications of this growing alliance. The discussion also covers the shock strategy deployed by Trump and Vice President JD Vance to pressure Europe into taking more responsibility for its own defense, a move that Ferguson believes has finally awakened European leaders to their countries’ security needs.
Putin Is Playing Trump
On the menu today: By early afternoon Tuesday, President Donald Trump was jumping onto Truth Social, boasting to the world that during his call with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, “we agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a Complete Ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible War between Russia and Ukraine.” Within a few hours, Putin had bombed the power grid in the Ukrainian city of Slovyansk and launched the largest air attack on civilian targets in Ukraine in many weeks, hitting a hospital in Sumy.
Australia’s ‘biggest defence export’ was meant to go to the US first, but Canada snuck past Donald Trump
Canada was always meant to follow the United States in acquiring world-leading Australian radar technology but “things moved quickly” after Donald Trump won the US presidency. Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed the $6.5 billion JORN purchase overnight, after a conversation with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Defence Minister Richard Marles says there are still some hurdles to clear, but the sale of the technology would be the biggest defence export in Australia’s history.
Yellow Sea stand-off over ‘steel structure’ raises China-South Korea tensions: reports
Last month’s confrontation between coastguards began when Chinese vessels blocked South Korean inspection of an object off Jeju Island, reports say
Trump admin considers giving up NATO command that has been exclusively American since Eisenhower
The move is being discussed as part of a possible restructuring of combatant commands that would help the Defense Department cut costs.
Fantasy and Reality about Putin and the Kremlin
Officially, Steve Witkoff is President Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East. But he is also involved in U.S. policy toward Russia. Of the recent phone call between Trump and Putin, Witkoff said, “It was these two great leaders coming together for the betterment of mankind, and it was honestly a privilege and an honor for me to sit there and listen to that conversation.”
I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped
I was stuck in a freezing cell without explanation despite eventually having lawyers and media attention. Yet, compared with others, I was lucky
European military powers work on 5-10 year plan to replace US in Nato
UK, France, Germany and Nordics among countries engaged in informal discussions over a managed transfer
Counter-terrorism police lead fire inquiry as Heathrow closed all day
Counter-terrorism police officers are leading the investigation into the cause of a fire which has led to the closure of Heathrow airport.
Warrantless Home Searches Under the Alien Enemies Act?
Trying to figure out a reported new legal argument.
Pentagon’s plan to merge combatant commands draws criticism from GOP lawmakers
The Republican chairmen of the Senate and House Armed Services committees pushed back Wednesday on the Pentagon’s reported plans to consolidate some of the nation’s combatant commands and cancel a plan to modernize the structure of U.S. Forces Japan.
Trump Announces F-47, the Air Force’s New Sixth-Gen Fighter Built by Boeing
President Donald Trump announced March 21 that Boeing has been selected to build the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter, which will be called the F-47.
Lawmakers push to end ‘double-dipping’ ban that keeps combat-wounded veterans from accessing full benefits
Lawmakers are pushing again to overturn a federal law that stops combat-injured veterans with less than 20 years of service from collecting their full retirement pay when they qualify for disability compensation.
What the Venezuelans Deported to El Salvador Experienced
On the night of Saturday, March 15, three planes touched down in El Salvador, carrying 261 men deported from the United States. A few dozen were Salvadoran, but most of the men were Venezuelans the Trump Administration had designated as gang members and deported, with little or no due process. I was there to document their arrival.
Florida Warned of China’s Growing Power in ‘America’s Backyard’
China has strengthened its ties in these regions for around two decades through infrastructure projects and diplomatic agreements. This includes the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Beijing’s massive global infrastructure project aimed at enhancing trade, investment, and economic cooperation across Asia and other parts of the world. More than 20 Latin American and Caribbean nations are currently involved in the project.
National
Trump says Biden’s autopen pardons are ‘void, vacant and of no further force or effect,’ vows probe of Jan. 6 House select committee
President Trump said early Monday that he was voiding all the last-minute pardons former President Joe Biden made using autopen.
Advocates worry National Fire Academy closing will have ‘foundational’ impact
A week after FEMA abruptly canceled classes, no word on the future of the Emmitsburg facility for firefighters
Trump Admin Defying Judge over Hearing About Its Earlier Defiance
I am traveling and haven’t been able to weigh in on the Trump administration’s deportation of somewhere between 230 and 300 Venezuelans whom the administration alleges (but has not proved) are members of the atrocious Tren de Aragua gang, which the administration has designated as a foreign terrorist organization despite never having prosecuted it on terrorist charges.
Chief justice pushes back against calls to impeach judges who rule against Trump
Chief Justice John Roberts issued a statement following President Donald Trump’s call for a judge to be impeached for ruling against the administration.
Trump, El Salvador, and the Alien Enemies Act.
Who got deported, where did they go, and why?
Jesse Watters mocked over his five ‘rules for men’ where leg crossing and milkshakes are banned
The Fox News host was responding to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s claim on Gavin Newsom’s podcast that MAGA focused on his masculinity ‘obsessively’
Illinois BOE Hit with Complaint over Gender-Inclusive Bathroom Policies
After Illinois mom Nicole Georgas blew the whistle on Deerfield School District 109’s “inclusive bathroom” policies that allowed a male in her 13-year-old daughter’s middle-school locker room, the Illinois Board of Education and Chicago Public Schools have been hit with a federal civil rights complaint.
Pence’s advocacy group finds its footing in Trump’s second term
Former Vice President Mike Pence’s advocacy organization, Advancing American Freedom, is seeking to find the right balance during President Trump’s second term.
J.D. Vance Secures an Inside Lane to 2028
Vance becomes the first sitting VP to hlp his party’s fundraising.
Trump says he would be happy for US to become ‘associate’ Commonwealth member
US president posted Sun news story that referred to a supposed ‘secret offer’ King Charles is due to extend
Lawsuit Over Binghamton University’s Alleged Suppression of Lecture by Economist Arthur Laffer Can Go Forward
Young America’s Foundation and others sued, and the court held the case could go forward; here’s a short excerpt from the long opinion (which also dealt with other controversies and other claims)
Justice Gorsuch’s Dissent in Death Penalty / Religious Objection Case
In Tuesday’s Hoffman v. Westcott, the Court denied a stay of execution; Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson would have granted a stay, but didn’t write an opinion; and Justice Gorsuch dissented, for himself
Diversity Statements Coming to an End at the University of California
Is the experiment over?
More than 400 Social Security numbers, other private information revealed in JFK files
The data belongs to more than 400 former congressional staffers and others with connections to decades-old investigations.
A Tale of Two Deportation Cases
In the case of the Venezuelans, the DOJ is resisting the kind of meticulous review that it provided in Mahmoud Khalil’s case.
Austin airport lifts ground stop for flights from Houston and Dallas due to FAA staffing issue
A temporary ground stop for flights from Houston and Dallas into the Austin airport has now been lifted. The ground stop was put into place due to what officials are calling a staffing issue.
Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Corner crossing, prison typewriting, and an interview with Webster Bivens.
IRS nears deal with ICE to share addresses of suspected undocumented immigrants
The Internal Revenue Service is nearing an agreement to allow immigration officials to use tax data to confirm the names and addresses of people suspected of being in the country illegally, according to four people familiar with the matter, culminating weeks of negotiations over using the tax system to support President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
A Former Child Star Is Taking On the Dark Side of Utah’s Mommy Bloggers
The Ruby Franke scandal has galvanized her daughter and state leaders to give rights to the kids who make their parents famous
They were arrested during routine ICE check-ins. Then they disappeared.
Henrry Albornoz Quintero’s family had been tracking his whereabouts through an online detainee locator ever since he was arrested and put in deportation proceedings after a routine check-in with immigration officials in late January.
As Trump Broadens Crackdown, Focus Expands to Legal Immigrants and Tourists
U.S. border officials are using more aggressive tactics at ports of entry as the administration scrutinizes green card and visa holders who have expressed opposition to its policies.
It Would Help if Our Guy Negotiating with Putin Knew Anything about Ukraine
There’s a lot to object to in Trump envoy Steve Witkoff’s interview with Tucker Carlson, but for now I’m going to stick to just a few glaring factual errors on the part of Witkoff.
Economy & Taxes
A Secret Mortgage Blacklist Is Leaving Homeowners Stuck With Unsellable Condos
Fewer homes can get Fannie Mae-backed mortgages, a response to Surfside condo collapse and insurance crunch
The US is turning to egg imports, but will trade wars scramble the plan?
With the US now relying on imports to ease its egg crisis, could retaliatory tariffs from key trading partners crack the plan or keep the industry sunny side up? The American Egg Board (AEB) is closely monitoring the situation, providing resources and market insights to help businesses navigate the turmoil
Trump’s game plan for devaluing the mighty dollar
Attempts to boost US exports risk undermining the foundations of American exceptionalism
Taking $200 Out of an ATM Should Not Trigger Federal Financial Surveillance
No, not even if you do it in a county that borders Mexico.
Employment for computer programmers in the U.S. has plummeted to its lowest level since 1980—years before the internet existed
Computer-programming employment in the U.S. has reached its lowest level since 1980, according to data from the Current Population Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The fall correlates with the introduction of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Buy now-pay later firm Klarna froze hiring last year after partnering with OpenAI on a chatbot that it claimed did the work of 700 full-time employees.
No One in Washington Is Serious About the Debt
The Wall Street Journal has a piece today about how rich country governments are set to issue a record $17 trillion in bonds in 2025, up from $16 trillion in 2024 and $13 trillion in 2023. This is partially a product of the insanely large response to COVID but also the rise in financing costs due to the rise in interest rates (itself due to inflation). The story highlights that five countries (the U.S., Japan, France, Italy, and the U.K.) will account for 85 percent of total issuance, with the U.S. alone responsible for over two-thirds.
Americans’ job anxiety soars to highest level in 10 years
Share of consumers who say they expect more unemployment in the next 12 months
Commerce secretary: No one but ‘fraudsters’ would complain about missed Social Security check
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick raised alarm over “fraudsters” receiving Social Security benefits, as Trump allies have ramped up rhetoric about potential waste in the program amid a major restructuring effort at the agency that oversees the program.
International
Fear at isolated Antarctica base as a man is accused of attacking a colleague and making threats
A member of a South African research team that is confined for more than a year at an isolated Antarctica base was put under psychological evaluation there after he allegedly assaulted and sexually harassed colleagues, government officials said.
What Type of Government Does Venezuela Have?
The New York Times has an article about some of the Americans who were freed from prison in Venezuela in January. The details of their detention — handcuffs with spikes, stripping prisoners naked, putting bags over their heads to beat them — are horrifying.
A river ‘died’ overnight in Zambia after an acidic waste spill at a Chinese-owned mine
Authorities and environmentalists in Zambia fear the long-term impact of an acid spill at a Chinese-owned mine that contaminated a major river and could potentially affect millions of people after signs of pollution were detected at least 100 kilometers (60 miles) downstream.
Arrested Istanbul mayor urges judges to act as protests resume
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on Thursday urged the judiciary to take a stand against the Turkish government’s misuse of the courts as protesters rallied for a second day over his shock arrest in a graft and terror probe.
Turkish court orders key Erdogan rival jailed pending trial on corruption charges
A court formally arrested the mayor of Istanbul, a key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Sunday and ordered him jailed pending the outcome of a trial on corruption charges.
Opinion
The rise of Jew-hating right-wing ‘influencers’ threatens the GOP
If you have little talent and few prospects, the quickest way to turn things around these days is to go on social media and accuse the Jews of starting the Vietnam War or blame them for replacing beef tallow with seed oil. Call yourself a “historian” or “researcher,” and wait. You’ll be a guest on Tucker Carlson’s podcast in no time.
A Better Voice of America, or No Voice of America at All?
There’s no disputing that the Voice of America’s leadership has made some egregiously bad decisions in the not-so-distant past — see our Jimmy Quinn’s reporting about VOA here, here, and here. As the Editors laid out in a July editorial, U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO Amanda Bennett’s “performance is sadly representative; she has allowed VOA to drift toward being just another left-leaning news outlet. Congress needs to use every tool at its disposal to right the ship.”
MAGA’s Crisis of Confidence in America
In a case of unilateral disarmament in the propaganda war, the Trump administration functionally mothballed the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
How Else Can Due Process Claims Be Resolved, Other Than by a Judge?
I have a great deal of sympathy for the complaint that, during both of his presidencies, Donald Trump has been habitually hampered in his legitimate use of power by solitary judges bearing bad-faith arguments. I also, as a political preference, want to deport illegal immigrants by the million and to deport violent immigrants by means of a trebuchet. But I am not at all convinced that, in the case of Judge Boasberg, we are witnessing an example of the same old capricious TrumpLaw that has afflicted this White House time and time again.
The Risk in the Trump Administration’s Contempt Strategy
Andy McCarthy takes a dim view of the administration’s decision to make a political spectacle out of its display of contempt for the courts. “It is near certain that the administration knowingly defied an order issued Saturday evening by Chief Judge James Boasberg,” he writes. He is unpersuaded by “the administration’s dizzying assertions over the weekend,” in which the president’s subordinates argued simultaneously that the judicial order they ignored was invalid and, also, that they had not ignored the courts at all. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the White House believes it can win the news cycle around this issue by casting those who side with the law as covert fans of criminally violent Latin American gangs. Although that “seems like a terrible legal strategy,” McCarthy concludes, it “may be winning politics . . . at least for a little while.”
The New Deep State
Donald Trump’s most lasting legacy may be the foreign policy apparatus forming in the shadows.
The Risk in the Trump Administration’s Contempt Strategy
Andy McCarthy takes a dim view of the administration’s decision to make a political spectacle out of its display of contempt for the courts. “It is near certain that the administration knowingly defied an order issued Saturday evening by Chief Judge James Boasberg,” he writes. He is unpersuaded by “the administration’s dizzying assertions over the weekend,” in which the president’s subordinates argued simultaneously that the judicial order they ignored was invalid and, also, that they had not ignored the courts at all. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the White House believes it can win the news cycle around this issue by casting those who side with the law as covert fans of criminally violent Latin American gangs. Although that “seems like a terrible legal strategy,” McCarthy concludes, it “may be winning politics . . . at least for a little while.”
Chief Justice John Roberts Rightly Condemns Trump’s Call to Impeach Judges who Rule Against Him
There is no justification for such impeachment efforts.
The Alien Enemies Act and Trump’s Power Struggle With Courts
Hazardous new moves in and out of court
The Progressive Abundance Agenda vs. Progressives
There is an emerging debate on the Left over the degree to which the tenets of popular progressivism have contributed to the Democratic Party’s political woes. When it comes to the progressive activist class’s boutique cultural bugbears, the debate has been decisively won by their critics. But there is an economic component to this critique, too, and the outcome of that contest is far from certain.
A square deal for the Little Guy!
Start here to fix rigged policies
An Unwelcome Fight Over Obeying Court Orders
It sometimes seems that Donald Trump and his most bitter antagonists live in a parallel universe of Trumplaw. In that mode, judges and lawyers abandon legal sobriety and bend the law beyond its recognizable contours in order to thwart Trump. In response, the president and his circle act intemperately by lobbing personal attacks at judges and lawyers, playing fast and loose with facts and the law, and at least flirting with outright defying the rulings of courts.
Why Trump Doesn’t Want Judicial Review of His Deportation of Venezuelans
The president’s legal position that he can proceed with no input from Congress or judicial review is on shaky ground.
How Trump’s Alien Enemies Act Deportations Violate the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment
The people deported are incarcerated in Salvadoran principles without any due process whatsoever.
Trump Administration Likely Violated Court Order in Alien Enemies Act Case
They used the Act to deport some 137 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador even after a federal court issued a temporary restraining order blocking such action.
Pardons and Autopen Signatures: A 2024 Appellate Decision Says Pardons Don’t Have to Be Signed (or Even Written) at All
See also the Wheat Memorandum (apparently approved by the Attorney General John Sargent in the late 1920s), on which the Fourth Circuit relies. It thus follows that a pardon’s bearing an autopen signature instead of a hand signature isn’t a legal problem, since no signature (and, according to the Fourth Circuit, no writing) is constitutionally required.
The Canary in the Coal Mine
Tens of thousands of pages related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy were released this week. Not to spoil it, but the President dies in the end. In the process of reviewing the documents, it is apparent that the government kept much private because the names of CIA agents in the field, their sources, methods of collecting data, etc. were all in the documents. An unredacted release when those agents were alive could have jeopardized them.1 Perhaps not surprisingly, some commentators were convinced the documents themselves were a coverup protecting supposed Jewish assassins.
In Defense of Amy Coney Barrett: An Examination of Her Record
Justice Barrett’s presence has fundamentally shifted the center of the Court. For decades, conservatives could only win by fitting their cases into the politically liberal framework of Anthony Kennedy. Now—thanks to Barrett—the path to victory is to fit it into the judicially conservative framework of Antonin Scalia. That alone is a political and jurisprudential victory, even if it doesn’t result in litigation victories in all cases.
As Reid Machine’s returns diminish, Cortez Masto must face a primary challenge
I remember the first time I saw Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV). She was speaking at an event for Awaken, a Reno-based nonprofit that helps victims of sex trafficking. She was inspiring, and I followed her work as Nevada’s attorney general, particularly her efforts to tackle sex trafficking. So, I enthusiastically supported her when she initially ran for Senate.
How Not to Argue With an Editorial
A Substack writer named Mike Brock has taken issue with National Review’s editorial on the Trump administration’s fight with D.C. federal district Judge James Boasberg over Venezuelan gang deportations, a topic that Andy McCarthy has covered extensively and addresses again this morning. Brock’s essay is an object lesson in how not to make an argument, and an excellent example of Bulverism, the habit of assuming the wrongness of the opposing position as your starting point rather than explaining why it is so.
Trump’s Risky Reliance on the Alien Enemies Act
Creating a state of war would be a steep cost to expedite the removal of Venezuelan gangsters, who could be deported under regular immigration laws anyway.
