By George F. Smith  

April 11, 2026

The United States did not begin as an empire.

The early American vision, articulated by figures like Thomas Paine and John Quincy Adams, emphasized restraint. Paine warned that government was a "necessary evil," justified only insofar as it protected individuals and left them free, something no government had ever done but wouldn't it be nice ? Adams cautioned that America "goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy." America had "monsters" aplenty here needing attention first: The restless South and the Plains Indians.

By Peter Koenig
Global Research  

April 11, 2026

"Let me get one thing straight: Egypt charges $200,000 to $700,000 per transit through the Suez Canal.

Large container ships or tankers can exceed $1 million. Panama charges $100,000-$450,000 per transit.

Large Neopanamax vessels cost up to $500,000 to transit the Panama Canal.

Turkey charges fees for the Bosphorus Strait. Canada charges fees for the St.

By Brandon Smith
Alt-Market.us  

April 11, 2026

As much as many centrists and libertarians are opposed to Donald Trump's ongoing strikes against Iran, I have to say, the downstream result might end up becoming one of the most libertarian results I have ever seen. For decades, small government activists like those in the Ron Paul movement have been calling for a comprehensive US divorce from NATO and the shutdown of America's military bases overseas.

It is absurd to think one can make a deal with people who murder school children.  

By Kurt Nimmo
Another Day in the Empire  

April 11, 2026

Here we go again. Trump is sending two Zionists-the real estate developer Steve Witkoff, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and VP J.D. Vance-to Islamabad, Pakistan, this weekend to "engage with the Iranians," as CNN, soon to be owned by the Ellison Zionists, put it.

By John Leake
Courageous Discourse  

April 11, 2026

Edgar Allen Poe's, "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" tells the story of a man who visits a French mental asylum known for its "soothing system" of treatment,. Eventually, the narrator discovers that the patients have overthrown the staff and are now running the asylum themselves. It takes the narrator a while to realize this. He begins to get a weird feeling when he is invited to a "faculty dinner" and perceives the faculty members to be very strange.

By Paul Craig Roberts
PaulCraigRoberts.org  

April 11, 2026

I have concluded that there is no government on Earth involved in major events that is based in reality. Let's begin with Israel, Washington, Iran, Russia, China.

Israel's unrealism is the Zionist agenda of Greater Israel-Israel from the Nile in Egypt to Pakistan, the entirety of the Muslim Middle East. This agenda is the driver of the current Israeli-American war against Iran, with Turkey, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia waiting in the wings.

By Charles Hugh Smith
OfTwoMinds.com 

April 11, 2026

The rush to monetize automation / AI is self-liquidating.

Dependence is easy but crippling. When we're children or advanced in age, we're dependent on adults for our care. This is the normal flow of human life. But when we're dependent as adults, it cripples us, for it removes the pressure to acquire problem-solving skills that strengthen our facility with both processes and results.

The war on white Americans continues apace.  

By J.B. Shurk
American Thinker  

April 11, 2026

Wayne Allyn Root - businessman and ebullient, unapologetic conservative - wrote something the other day that caught my eye. Over an article about "The Great American National Divorce," his headline blared: "Escape of the White People." Describing the exodus of New Yorkers to Florida and Californians to Nevada, Root noted that interstate migration across America is speeding up.

The rupture between Pope Leo and the Trump Administration threatens to weaken both American diplomacy and the Church's moral voice.  

By Anne Hendershott
Crisis Magazine  

April 11, 2026

The relationship between the Trump administration and Pope Leo XIV has evolved into a kind of diplomatic cold war, shaped by a steady escalation of public papal denunciations and competing moral narratives in how each side interprets the responsibilities of global leadership.