Just One Thing: Trump vs drug gangs
This is a remarkable story: Donald Trump announces military strike on ship departing Venezuela
US conducts ‘kinetic strike’ against drug boat from Venezuela, killing 11, Trump says
Maduro Says War With Venezuela Would Stain Trump’s Hands with Blood - The New York Times
In general, I'd rather see the legalization of drugs than an ongoing drug war, a position that I know isn't shared by everyone and that I know has its own downsides, but to the extent that drugs are funding incredibly violent criminal gangs right now, hurting their business and, frankly, killing their members, seems like what needs to be done. It's also quite a signal to Mexican drug gangs and to the political leadership of countries that have violent gangs who sell drugs into the US that this administration is serious about using any necessary force to stop them.
I can't tell if it's a drone strike or a missile from one of the US Navy vessels recently deployed to the Caribbean. Usually when I've seen that kind of "crosshair in the sky" thing, it's a drone but I'm no expert and I bet they have missiles that can be targeted similarly.
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One More Thing: A bridge too far
Look, I get that folks want to make sure animals aren't mistreated, and so do I. But it makes more sense to me to have -- and enforce -- serious penalties for animal abuse than to do this: Denver considers banning sale of puppies, kittens and rabbits in pet stores
What do you think? Tell me your thoughts by email at ross(at)iheartmedia.com
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Today's Guests
Jacob Sullum is a senior editor at Reason magazine and one of the truly great libertarian writers and thinkers of recent years. I've been reading his work for a long time and I think this is the first time I've had him on the show (although it's possible I had one once before many years ago.)
We'll discuss Jacob's new book, "Beyond Control", about laws aimed at controlling drugs and guns and how interesting it is that people of one political persuasion tend to support one of those things while people of the opposite political persuasion tend to support the other, There's a LOT of interesting stuff in this book and I encourage you to read it if you're interested in this area of public policy. Jacob notes, for example, that both of these areas of prohibition have significantly racist components in their origins. Furthermore, there's precious little evidence that these laws provide benefit to the public though they surely -- especially with drug laws -- help make criminals rich. The question, then, is whether there are more sensible policies that might reduce harm without trampling liberty and without the massive negative unintended consequences of the current regimes.
Jacob Sullum, Author at Reason.com
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Corbin Barthold is Internet Policy Counsel at TechFreedom. We'll discuss yesterday's ruling by a federal judge regarding the US government's claim that Google is a monopolist and the government's desire to force Google to sell Chrome and do a bunch of other things. We'll get into the details but one indication of the result is that Google stock jumped about 7% -- well over $150 billion -- in after-market trading on the news.
Google Must Share Search Data With Rivals, Judge Rules in Antitrust Case - The New York Times
Google stock jumps as judge rules it can keep Chrome in antitrust case
Colorado's Attorney General Phil Weiser was a leader of the lawsuit and tries to put a happy face on what was mostly a loss for the plaintiffs (the US gov't and various state AGs): Attorney General Phil Weiser statement on Google search remedies court opinion - Colorado Attorney General | Colorado Attorney General
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Matthew Wielicki is proprietor of the Irrational Fear Substack, PhD Geochemist and former professor of earth science at the University of Alabama. We'll talk about his recent note regarding how almost everything you're being told by climate alarmists about sea level rise is nonsense.
The Sea Level Story You Are Not Being Told
I hope we have time for his latest note as well: DOE vs. the “Climate Expert Review”
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Other Stuff
A few of these are things I had on the blog yesterday but didn't get to...
LATE TUESDAY NEWS: Appeals court blocks Trump from deporting Venezuelan migrants under Alien Enemies Act, finding "no invasion" - CBS News
This is a very important case. As with all of the many cases surrounding President Trump's uses or abuses of power (depending on your perspective), it's not the "last word" until the Supreme Court rules. And maybe not even then, to the extent that the administration might look for another way to achieve their goals, much as Joe Biden routinely looked for ways to transfer student loan debt to taxpayers (which Biden called loan cancellation) even after the Supreme Court said he couldn't.
In this case, I do think the 5th Circuit (or at least the two judges in the 2-1 split) are correct that Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act stretched the meaning and intent of the law too far.
Here's the actual court ruling: gov.uscourts.ca5.224134.507678079.1.pdf
And another court ruling yesterday, this one in Trump's favor: Appeals court permits Trump EPA to terminate 'gold bars' climate funding
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Yesterday, President Trump announced the relocation of Space Command from Colorado Springs, CO to Huntsville, Alabama. It wasn't a big surprise as he tried to do this during his first administration. Before going further, I'll say that I think the commander-in-chief can make this decision for absolutely any reason, or for no reason, and I don't think any lawsuit (such as that threatened by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser) can stop it. That said, it might not have been the best move for Trump to say that a key reason he moved USSPACECOM from Colorado to Alabama is because he doesn't like Colorado's mail-in voting system.
Every Colorado member of Congress (House and Senate) signed a statement opposing the move: Officials react to potential Space Command move announced by Trump on Tuesday
I asked ChatGPT about fraud rates in Colorado elections. I know that plenty of folks won't trust any such answers but here you go: https://chatgpt.com/s/t_68b79fc355708191822b8ddee0814231
I also stipulate that there are some things about mail-in voting that do make fraud a little more likely, such as the ability to engage in "ballot harvesting." So far, it doesn't seem like this is showing up in data but it's not impossible that certain types of fraud might be exceedingly difficult to catch. For example, one person in a household voting the ballot of an older relative in ways that the older relative did not agree to, and getting the relative to sign the envelope so it passes signature verification. Not saying this is likely to be anything more than very rare, but it's also not impossible.
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As I often mention, foreign affairs (and especially wars) are too complex to predict with any certainty. So I don't know for sure that this will work out badly for the United States but it's hard to see how this is a good thing. I'm surprised that Trump went ahead with the "secondary sanctions" against India. India is a key ally (of sorts -- they certainly pursue their own interests) and it can't be great for us to push them toward a better relationship with China even if it is purely transactional: Xi, Putin and Kim: Biggest U.S. adversaries "conspire" in Beijing
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I am trying to get the Waymo spokesperson on the show but sharing this now anyway:
Waymo to launch driverless taxis in Denver this week - Denver Business Journal
Self-driving car company Waymo heading to metro Denver in 2026 - The Colorado Sun
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I guess some people still care about this. I'm not among them with the exception that I am curious as to why he got such an insane sweetheart deal during his first indictment: Thousands of Jeffrey Epstein files released in surprise House document dump | Fox News
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I didn’t talk about this yesterday. It’s a big deal but it’s not necessarily the final answer…not by a longshot: Trump tariffs: court rules most levies are not legal, here's what to know
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Fantastic discovery: Mosaics, mikvehs and oil lamps found at grand estate shed new light on ancient Samaritans | The Times of Israel
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When people say that entire nations' fertility rates are dropping without digging any deeper into whether those changes are evenly distributed within the nations, it's a little bit like a guy whose head is in the oven and feet are in the freezer so on average he's fine. I mean, the average isn't actually fine, but as bad as it is (regarding low birth rates), the political divide on this question is massive: Why progressives should care about falling birth rates (The Financial Times)
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Advocacy Programs, Hire Crowds and Manage Events with Crowds on Demand
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Keep it country: Cracker Barrel co-founder, 93, blasts $7M/year CEO’s ‘pitiful’ rebrand fail, work with Taco Bell. Is that unfair?
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Update on this unfortunate story: Colorado attorney general drops lawsuit against deputy who shared information leading to woman’s ICE arrest - The Colorado Sun
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Seems like fun: Popular Colorado mountain town now features North America's 'highest elevated' roller coaster | News | denvergazette.com
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A little legal nerdiness. I don't know if SCOTUS will agree with this appeals court but it's worth at least noting that there might be an important difference between the president's ability to fire the heads of executive branch agencies that are set up in a "normal" way and those structured by Congress to be "independent." I think some of the final answer may depend on a very high-level question that SCOTUS might end up addressing as to whether Congress can protect any agency of the federal government through designing with some degree of independence or whether the power of the president extends to plenary authority over all agencies of government.
Appeals court blocks Trump from firing FTC commissioner
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Today's Videos
Musically nerdy but kinda amusing
So, there's this...but make sure to read the note below the video
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So....apparently the young woman who made the dorm-room-in-prison is actually what the NY Times calls a "master troll"...and constantly makes rather believable videos that sometimes go viral...and which are entirely fiction: The Comedian as Master Troll - The New York Times