Syria: Israeli Airstrikes Target Damascus Countryside

Source: US News & World Report

“Israel early on Tuesday launched missiles at several military targets outside the Syrian capital Damascus resulting in some ‘material damage,’ Syria’s defense ministry said. Syrian air defenses intercepted Israeli ‘missiles and shot down some of them,’ the ministry added in a statement. Iran has been a major backer of President Bashar al-Assad during Syria’s nearly 12-year-old conflict. Its support for Damascus and the Lebanese group Hezbollah has drawn regular Israeli air strikes meant to curb Tehran’s extraterritorial military power.” (03/19/24)

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2024-03-18/israeli-airstrikes-target-damascus-countryside-syria-says

Commoditizing Excess Capacity

Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Michael Munger

“When I’m traveling, I have a firm rule: I never buy a car, because all I want is a ride to the airport so I can go home. I don’t want to own an apartment in that distant city, I just want a safe, clean place to spend the next two nights while I’m visiting. Owning is a clumsy, and expensive, way to get access to things, because I have a lot of capital tied up in the thing, and I have to pay to store it. What if we could commoditize excess capacity? That is, if I have a durable capital good, and I’m not using it, or I’m not using all of it, could I rent out part of it? I get a revenue stream, and users get access to inexpensive temporary use of an expensive item.” (03/18/24)

https://www.aier.org/article/commoditizing-excess-capacity/

Lawyers: Disgraced former president can’t post $464 million bond to appeal New York fraud case

Source: Axios

“Lawyers for former President Trump and his co-defendants said in a court filing on Monday it is ‘impossible’ for them to secure a $464 million bond to appeal New York’s fraud case against them. … Trump and his co-defendants were ordered to pay $464 million in damages and interest after being found liable for financial fraud. Trump is on the hook for $454 million of that amount. In New York, defendants in civil cases are required to post a bond worth at least 110% of the judgment amount in order delay paying the penalty as they appeal, so Trump’s appeal bond total is $464 million. Trump’s lawyers have asked an appeals court to delay the bond posting until his appeal of the case has run its court.” (03/18/24)

https://www.axios.com/2024/03/18/trump-new-york-fraud-case-appeal-bond

ACLU, Once a Defender of Free Speech, Goes After a Whistleblower

Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille

“Among the unfortunate changes of recent years has been the transformation of the American Civil Liberties Union from an advocate for free speech and other individual rights into just another progressive political organization. Historically, despite much pushback, the group defended the right of people from across the political spectrum to advocate and protest. But the organization has become unreliable on the issue; most recently in the very 21st century debate over gender identity, which sees the ACLU of Missouri targeting a whistleblower who is critical of medical transitions for minors. … Whether you agree with [Jamie] Reed or not, she’s a sincere advocate for a position on an issue that commands attention and has serious policy implications. … Reed is engaged in public debate of the sort that civil libertarians defend, so it’s bizarre to see the ACLU of Missouri putting the screws to her over her advocacy.” (03/18/24)

https://reason.com/2024/03/18/aclu-once-a-defender-of-free-speech-goes-after-a-whistleblower/

Haiti: Gangs unleash new attacks on upscale areas in capital, at least a dozen killed nearby

Source: Associated Press

“Gangs attacked two upscale neighborhoods in Haiti’s capital early Monday in a rampage that left at least a dozen people dead in surrounding areas. Gunmen looted homes in the communities of Laboule and Thomassin before sunrise, forcing residents to flee as some called radio stations pleading for police. The neighborhoods had remained largely peaceful despite a surge in violent gang attacks across Port-au-Prince that began on Feb. 29. An Associated Press photographer saw the bodies of at least 12 men strewn on the streets of Pétionville, located just below the mountainous communities of Laboule and Thomassin.” (03/18/24)

https://apnews.com/article/haiti-killed-gangs-laboule-thomassin-c1f4d1b367b15253cbd28ae9be886440

Now, “qualified immunity” fans justify jailing a forgetful grandmother

Source: Washington Post
by George F Will

“Law enforcement officials in Castle Hills, Tex., took no chances. To protect the safety of the small San Antonio suburb, they clapped the accused miscreant in jail and in irons: handcuffed to a metal bench, unable to stand up and stretch her 72-year-old legs. The grandmother in the orange jail shirt was accused of stealing — months earlier, and for only a few minutes — a petition that she had helped to instigate, and that a signer had submitted to the city council moments before the grandmother supposedly stole it. Next Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments as to whether Sylvia Gonzalez, represented by the indefatigable and infallible Institute for Justice, can sue the city officials who, she says, inflicted on her a retaliatory arrest as payback for her criticisms of the city government.” (03/18/24)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/18/supreme-court-qualified-immunity-texas-sylvia-gonzalez/

Report: Medication abortions rose in year after Dobbs decision

Source: NBC News

“Medication abortions rose in the year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, according to a report published Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports access to abortion. In 2023, the first full calendar year since the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, there were about 642,700 medication abortions, accounting for about 63% of all abortions in the country, up from 492,210 medication abortions, or 53%, in 2020, according to the report.” (03/19/24)

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/medication-abortions-rose-year-dobbs-decision-report-finds-rcna143874

NRA case shows the Supreme Court must stop informal censorship

Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Abby Smith

“If the First Amendment stands for anything, it stands for the idea that a government official can’t go after you just because someone doesn’t like what you say. But that’s exactly what New York state officials did in NRA v. Vullo, a case to be argued before the US Supreme Court this term. … rather than duke it out with the NRA in the marketplace of ideas, the Superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services Maria Vullo allegedly took a more pernicious approach: She used the power of her position to pressure insurance companies into refusing to insure the NRA because of its advocacy and its views, according to the NRA’s claims.” (03/18/24)

https://www.thefire.org/news/nra-case-shows-supreme-court-must-stop-informal-censorship

Israeli regime urges UN court to reject South African regime’s request for more emergency orders in genocide case

Source: SFGate

“Israel has urged the top U.N. court to reject the latest request by South Africa for interim orders to prevent starvation in Gaza as part of a case accusing Israel of breaching the Genocide Convention with its military offensive against Hamas. In a written response published Monday by the International Court of Justice, Israel said that claims by South Africa in its request filed earlier this month are ‘wholly unfounded in fact and law, morally repugnant, and represent an abuse both of the Genocide Convention and of the Court itself.’ Israel’s response was published on the day that the U.N. food agency said that ‘famine is imminent’ in northern Gaza, where 70% of the remaining population is experiencing catastrophic hunger, and that a further escalation of the war could push around half of Gaza’s total population to the brink of starvation.” (03/18/24)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/israel-urges-un-court-to-reject-south-africa-s-19202538.php