Analysis

The Iran Conundrum

The Iran Conundrum: A Tale of Three Presidents and a Regime on the Brink As the Middle East teeters on the edge of seismic change in June 2025, the escalating Israel-Iran conflict and the specter of a collapsing Iranian regime have thrust U.S. foreign policy into sharp focus. The actions of Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden toward Iran-spanning the Green Revolution, nuclear diplomacy, financial dealings, and the current crisis-reveal starkly different approaches to a regime that has defied easy solutions for decades. With Israel’s relentless strikes on Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure, President Trump’s bold moves at the…

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The Modern Slave Trade in North Africa

The Modern Slave Trade in North Africa A Story of Exploitation, Complicity, and Resilience Beneath the vast expanse of the Sahara, a modern tragedy unfolds, one that resurrects the specter of the ancient Trans-Saharan slave trade while thriving in the chaos of the 21st century. Across North Africa-Libya’s lawless detention centers, Mauritania’s caste-bound villages, and subtler exploitations in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia-an estimated 1–2 million people, including 100,000–200,000 children, are ensnared in modern slavery. Black sub-Saharan African migrants and Mauritania’s Haratin (Black Moors) bear the brunt, sold in open markets, forced into grueling labor, or bound by hereditary chains. This…

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It’s Time to Cut the Capital Gains Tax

Analysis: Capital Gains Tax Cuts and the Prospects for H.R. 1 The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), poised to reshape America’s economic landscape through reconciliation, presents a rare opportunity to ignite robust growth by including a capital gains tax cut. Whether modeled on Sen. Ted Cruz’s inflation-indexing approach or James Kay’s tiered-rate structure, a capital gains cut is a critical investment-focused complement to the bill’s consumption-driven tax relief, such as eliminating taxes on tips and overtime. This dual strategy maximizes economic impact, spurring both spending and investment to deliver unparalleled bang for the buck. The Taxpayer Relief Act of…

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Trump Wins on Tariffs

Update to My Originalist Critique Federal Circuit Grants Stay and Expedites En Banc Review of Trump Tariff Cases In my article "The Trump Tariffs Stay", I provide below an expanded analysis of my original points, incorporating today's Federal Circuit order granting a stay and expediting en banc review in V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump (2025-1812) and State of Oregon v. Trump (2025-1813). This expansion deepens my originalist critique, reflects the updated legal developments, and maintains my first-person perspective as the article’s author. 1. My Originalist Concern: Separation of Powers and Executive Authority In my article, I argued that the Trump tariff…

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The Federal Budget Process

How Congress Passes a Budget Editorial Note: The June 2, 2025, post, "Learning About Congressional Budgeting," focuses on Congress’s role in budgeting, particularly the budget resolution and committee actions. This post broadly covers the entire federal budget process, including the President’s proposal and agency roles. The former is Congress-specific, while this is more comprehensive. The federal budgeting process in the United States is a sprawling, intricate endeavor, a high-stakes balancing act where lawmakers navigate competing priorities to keep the government humming. Under “regular order,” as outlined by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, Congress follows a deliberate, structured…

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Supreme Court Roundup

Supreme Court Roundup, 6/5/2025 In a series of landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 2025, the Court addressed critical issues of discrimination, liability, religious liberty, jurisdiction, and class-action certification. In Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, the Court unanimously struck down the Sixth Circuit’s “background circumstances” rule, affirming that Title VII protects all individuals from workplace discrimination equally, regardless of majority or minority status. Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos saw the Court uphold the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, dismissing Mexico’s lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers for failing to prove intentional aiding and abetting…

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The Unfairness of Spot-Taking

The Unfairness of Spot-Taking Immutable Characteristics in Protected Categories In the 1986 film Soul Man, Mark Watson (C. Thomas Howell), a white male of European ancestry, dons blackface to secure a Harvard Law scholarship reserved for Black students, an act that crystallizes the profound unfairness of exploiting immutable characteristics for personal gain. Nearly four decades later, in August 2024, Imane Khelif, an athlete with XY chromosomes and male physiology, won gold in women’s boxing at the Paris Olympics, competing under the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) “recognized female” policy. These cases, though separated by time and context, are united by a shared…

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Logical Fallacies

A Lesson in Spotting Dishonesty and Logical Fallacies The Case of Michael LaRosa’s Fox News Segment In a heated Fox News segment on Monday, former Biden aide Michael LaRosa faced a grilling from host Sean Hannity about President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, a topic that dominated the 2024 election cycle. The confrontation, detailed in a Daily Caller article, serves as a masterclass in identifying dishonesty and logical fallacies in public discourse. LaRosa’s responses-deflecting allegations of Biden’s long-standing mental struggles-illustrate common tactics used to evade tough questions, obscure truth, and manipulate narratives. By dissecting LaRosa’s deflections, we can learn how to spot…

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AI’s Disruptive Power

Is AI Creating a 'White-Collar Bloodbath'? Summary of the Axios Article In an Axios article published last week, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s warning that advanced large language models (LLMs) like Claude 4 could automate up to 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs in sectors like technology, finance, law, and consulting within one to five years, potentially increasing U.S. unemployment from 4% to 10-20%. Amodei highlights LLMs’ ability to outperform humans in tasks such as coding, legal analysis, and medical data interpretation, citing trends like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg predicting AI will replace mid-level coders by 2025. He calls for transparency about these risks…

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