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US Supreme Court in 6-3 majority rules against tariffs by DJT, but makes no mention of refunds.

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3 million people affected as Medicare Advantage Plans pull out of some counties in the US by March 2026.

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One consequence of the change in climate change policy is addressing the unaffordability crisis for cars. It would reduce the price of cars by about $2400. It removes the tighter emissions standards of the Biden administration giving automakers some relief. Price of car had surge under the Biden administration. As gas prices are brought down this is an effort to bring down car prices. How does this affect global emissions? Diana Roth from the DJT Transportation Department says- "It's gone to China, where it's made in a dirtier way. So to say that we're reducing global emissions by ending energy intensive manufacturing in some countries, then having it go to China and India, where it's made in a dirtier way, does not reduce global emissions." This suggests it is not necessarily true that global emissions that affect climate change are reduced when the US by itself alone cuts emissions and this then saves lives in a significant way. That does not offer the complete picture. And the current approach under DJT is to temporarily give affordability and cost of living priorities equal consideration for policy an approach accepted by the Biden administration. ...

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Much of the talk of risk posed by crypto digital assets when central banks around the world cautioned about crypto digital risk is less heard in 2026 with crypto companies financing of the DJT campaign. Banks remain wary of crypto digital assets and of new legislation supported by Coinbase to legitimize crypto assets. Most banks pay very low interest rates of 0.1% on small deposits and this also presents a problem, though there are options where some banks offer rates of 2-3 percent.

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WSJ reports in Feb 25, 2026 that most of the Mexican states and the Cancun, Tulum, Puerta Vallarta and other coastal tourist areas are controlled by different drug cartels. It is a collapse of good governance in a neighboring state for the US along a continent size border with huge ramifications for the US ignored by administrations ion the US for three decades (Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama), along with collapse in governance across Latin America. Only now are the dangers and effects on the US being fully grasped.

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Axel Springer is owned by Freide Springer (widow of Axel Springer) and Matthias Dopfner sole owners of media properties Bild, Welt, Politico The Telegraph. KKR is the owner of classified ads part of the business. By taking it private at $7.5 billion valuation it offers KKR a private equity company a way to have an offramp from the media business, which had come under scrutiny from investors. For Dopfner it was away to avoid investor pressures as he sought to expand the footprint of Axel Springer to UK and US, other countries.

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The Economist magazine presents the case for a second referendum on Brexit, because of the bad choices facing the UK once parliament rejects the current EU agreement negotiated by prime minister Theresa May. No brexit deal will be bad for the UK, the prospect of new elections remains. 

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Reading for pleasure leisure reading in US at 29% and 23% for women and men in 2004 drops to 18% and 14%. Lyrarc's Movement for Global Literacy seeks to revive the practice of reading step by step including reading in English in the modern world, for improved functioning as citizens of the modern world, and enhancing the practice of reading for curiosity in different fields to expand one's horizons and that of society at large. The decline of reading is about 40% studies done by the University of Florida and the University College of London show, much larger than anyone thought possible over 2 decades in which the Nation has lost some of its dynamism. More shocking is that only 2% of 240,000 Americans followed in this study over 2003 to 2023, a mere 5000 parents out of 240,000 read to children every day. Equally shocking is that half of all Americans about 46% do not read at all and most have parents not in the habit of reading. Bad as 150 second attention span sounds  as average for Americans in 2004 UC Irvine professor Gloria Mark says this is now a mere 47 seconds. This is what social media and interactions with google, internet have done to America. The major loss is in the happiness that leisure reading and reading for fun gives us, the deep loss  for our mental well being that reduces stress and anxiety makes us feel better, says Sonke of the University of Florida study. ...

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The Biden $1.9 trillion aid package that cleared the US Congress on March 10, 2021 sets the stage for an economic rebound by 2022. OECD forecasts now show the US economy by the end of 2022 to be larger than forecast before the pandemic. In trade and other business policy the Biden administration is quietly following the changes made under the Trump administration to make the US position stronger in international trade and manufacturing, and remaking supply chains to meet US interests.

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Glen Hubbard, who was Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors under President George W. Bush and is now Dean of Columbia University Business School, Hal Scott professor of International Fiancial Systems at Harvard Law School, and Luigi Zingales professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, say a different plan of action is needed from what the Obama administration is doing to tackle the banking crisis. They are really skeptical about the the Public Private Investment Program and other plans put forth upto now for several reasons. First, in every case they say there is a lot of carrot but very little stick, and this won't work. TARP program was mostly carrot, with Treasury getting back securities worth $78 billion less than the $254 billion invested, as pointed out by the Congressional Oversight Panel.The FDIC's guarantee of short term debt was worth $100 billion just for the original nine TARP participating banks, and the mortgage related asset guarantees offered Citibank and Bank of America were worth tens of billions. They see anew round of TARP injections with the conversion of the government's preferred stock into equity after release of the stress test results. Then there is PPIP the Public Private Investment Program, and its plans to subsidize the purchase of bank's"toxic assets" by hedge funds and other investors. They estimate the government will spend $2 for every $1 the private sector puts up. And even with this subsidy their thinking is that the probability of succes is low for the same reason that has prevailed since the earlier efforts by Treasury Secretary Paulson- there is just too big a gap between the bid and ask prices on the toxic assets, and add to that the reluctance of investors to partner with the government. Its time for more stick say these experts as the problem of toxic assets, and of credit and lending in the economy, will hang like a large shadow over the economy, as long as these tough problems are not wrestled with. This is the Hubbard-Scott-Luigi Plan: 1) The FDIC should announce that its guarantees of short term debt set to expire in October will not be renewed. Insolvent banks, defined not by stress tests but as those that cannot fund themselves in the private market, will be taken over by the FDIC under aclear and credible action plan. 2) The FDIC lacks the resources to run several large and complex banks which may become insolvent. And waving the idea of nationalization the creditors may try to get the government to bail them out. The authors of this plan say the FDIC should solit each bank into a "bad bank" and a "good bank." The "bad bank" would carry all the residential and commercial real estate loans and securitized mortgages as assets, and all the long term debt as liabilities. THe "bad bank" would obtain along term laon from the good bank to fund the assets of the bad bank. Al the remaining assets including the derivative contracts and the loan to the bad bank would be assets of the good bank. It would also have all the insured deposits and the FDIC guaranteed short term debt as liabilities. With the split accomplished the good bank can be released from FDIC receivership. 3) The long term debt holders would be compensated by receiving all the equity of the good bank. The old shareholders would get the equity in the bad bank. And in any restructuring bondholders should do better than equity holders. If banks are not really insolvent as some say and just facing temporary dislocations, then the bad bank will eventually surge in value, and the equity holders will do alright, and if not they will receive nothing as they should. 4) For this to work legislation needs to take effect before October for FDIC procedures for handling failed banks to be also applicable to bank holding companies. And this new legislation puts no new cost on the taxpayer....

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A 0.9% increase in Medicare payment to Insurers in 2026 by DJT administration as it considers how to lower health insurance costs.

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Rina Bliss, a professor of sociology at Rutgers, says while AI can bring information to kids it cannot make them think. To truly learn children will have to do it themselves and in interaction with teachers, parents and other children. She took the approach of a scientist and let her two children try out AI tools and software and came to this conclusion. One reason she says is that AI is based on computational intelligence and the human mind and brain are not quantifiable. The brain is flowing like a river and always learning from its environments.  There is a social environmental piece says Marin, there is interaction, there is a drive to know and connect, curiosity and passion that are part of learning.  Basically AI is developed through taking vast amounts of information collecting it and ordering it in a certain way. How each originator of the AI orders it affects how it will work. And what is in the basket of information collected will affect how it will work. There is no thinking brain outside of the human originator who put a particular version together. Like every piece of software there are implicit or explicit instructions on how to use the basket of information collected that is put in by an originator who developed the AI software. For these reasons it will only do basic tasks and is not intended for complex tasks that involve thinking processes and social-emotional aspects of human behaviour. The risks of using it begin to grow as soon as it is used for tasks it was never intended to perform such as replacing the human thinking  processes and the socio-emotional aspects of these processes.  If it is used to do things it was never intended for, the larger the activities it performs, the larger the mistakes and risks it it is liable to make or create. If it is assigned the task of transportation for a country, it will at some point be asked to think and at that point it will fail to make the right decisions, making the risks grow exponentially, very, very fast, leading to disaster. ...

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Two statements by Republican leaders in Congress show the seriousness with which they are approaching the issue of hacking by Russia during the U.S. presidential election of 2016. Senator Mitch McConell: "The Russians are not our friends, we need to approach all these on the assumption the Russians do not wish us well," strongly condemning the hacking. Rep. Paul Ryan: "As I've said before, any foreign intervention in our elections is entirely unacceptable. And any intervention by Russia is especially problematic because, under President Putin, Russia has been an aggressor and undermines American interests."

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People must “find the strength to ensure that right triumphs over wrong”, we should all “remember the past and learn from its lessons”. Charles is speaking from Westminster Abbey, historic center of the British people and place of pilgrimage.  He says of the values treasured by all great faiths, “resilience in the face of adversity; peace through forgiveness; simply getting to know our neighbours and, by showing respect to one another, creating new friendships”. These then are the things that are important through all time. “Pilgrimage is a word less used today, but it has particular significance for our modern world, and especially at Christmas. It is about journeying forward, into the future, while also journeying back to remember the past and learn from its lessons.” “In times of uncertainty, these ways of living are treasured by all the great faiths and provide us with deep wells of hope: of resilience in the face of adversity; peace through forgiveness; simply getting to know our neighbours and, by showing respect to one another, creating new friendships.” “As our world seems to spin ever faster, our journeying may pause, to quieten our minds — in TS Eliot’s words, ‘At the still point of the turning world’ — and allow our souls to renew.” ...

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The new India built refinery by RIL (Reliance India Limited) in the US at Brownsville, Texas, will reduce US trade balance by $15 billion a year and will produce oil using cleaner US shale oil and newer technologies that are less polluting for the environment.  India's RIL Refinery Project for $300 billion at Brownsville, Texas, is Explained here in the Indian Express. The Project is called America First Refining, and was announced by the US president recently.  $125 billion for 60 million barrels of US shale oil processed annually over 20 years and $175 billion for 2.5 billion gallons of refined product to be produced annually for 20 years. US  imports about 2.8 billion barrels a year and (exports 1 billion barrels a year) at a cost of $180 billion a year. This means the trade imbalance from crude imports will be cut by about 10% annually. The new refinery is the first in 50 years and is designed to process cleaner lighter shale oil from the US Permian Basin -whereas existing refineries are designed with older technology for heavier crude oil such as the US gets from Venezuela. Reliance India Limited has a fast turnaround time on projects- new project will come onstream in 2027. It currently has the world's largest single refining complex in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India.  ...

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The sport of Curling at the Milan Olympics and Britain's role in the sport. Curling sport Explained by the BBC Sports.

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Europe behind the scenes support with its bases in Iran War, March 2026. French, British, Portuguese, and Greek bases used by American aircraft.

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Bihar unemployment and West Bengal unemployment of 3-5% a fake number as the jobs counted include unstable temporary poorly paid work. Quality Jobs are only 10% of the workforce. These figures disguise huge problems. In Bihar and West Bengal youth unemployment is high and many youth simply leave the state for states in the western part of the country such as Gujarat and Maharashtra looking for work. In West Bengal the situation is particularly dire as the state government has blocked foreign investment and it is not an investment friendly environment. In addition the idea of a cut or a fee for everything and services, encouraged by the state government, leads to an entrenched climate of corruption that keeps out investment in industry and in infrastructure. The lack of cooperation with the federal government at the West Bengal state level leads to people in the state not having access to federal programs for housing, healthcare and water, sanitation. None of this shown in the media. When the media inside India and in the US or EU covers India, it fails to even give this importance. Probably because of the huge ignorance about India, its history and struggle for industrialization and modernization for the last 50 years. It is similar to the huge ignorance in America and Europe and inside China itself during the years of Japanese occupation of China in the 1930's, and through the efforts for industrialization in the 1960's and 1980's. A BBC article on fish is an example of this shown alongside this article on Bihar (and West Bengal). Both states were part of British Bengal, which is where the British based their Empire after the British East India Company secured rights to the revenues of Bihar and West Bengal by the 1780's, that had been take earlier by the Moghuls during their invasions from Afghanistan and Iran. This was the beginning of the destruction of West Bengal's economic structures in the way it happened in China by the 1850's with the Treaty Ports secured by the same East India Company of the British merchant Navy. The process of unwinding of this enterprise goes on today even 75 years after 1950 against the roadblocks to industrialization and modernization in India set by native corrupt state administrations. ...

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BBC looks at how immigration policy broke down in Canada for the first time in decades under PM Trudeau leading to his resignation and replacement by Mark Carney. About 1 million or about 3% of the population were admitted as immigrants in 2022 alone. about 5 million may have entered the country since 2019 taking the population from 36 million to 41 million which is a 14% addition in 7 years. By 2025 housing prices had shot up and social services were strained, the whole system was broken as foreign student visas became a way to get permanent resident status.

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For Germany's students and young people the preferred destination in Europe is Austria or Switzerland, and includes Tokyo, seen as cleaner better run and good places to live. A large number of people, about 21% of young Germans 18 years to 29 years would like to go to another country to live. This is shown by a survey "Youth In Germany," or "Jugend in Germany" by Verlag. Slow growth, the polarization of society and rise of AfD, poor job prospects, neglect of infrastructure and public services are given as reasons.

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Push to stop nuclear weapons development in Iran in light of  South Korea/ US/ Japan's North Korea experience. When seen in the light of small state nuclear weapons proliferation the policy of stopping the spread particularly in areas of repeated wars for over 5 decades (the Middle East) as pursued by the current US DJT government is something to take seriously, and not politicize, as has been done by politicians and others for their own interests. The world is a safer and better place without nuclear material in the Middle East being used for hidden nuclear weapons programs.

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Rep. Wesley Hunt is flown to Washington from campaigning in Texas to get the vote in the US House of Representatives to 215-215 on a War Powers Resolution on the president's action in Venezuela. He was driven directly to the House with escort from the Washington Dulles Airport by Capitol Police. Such is the drama in the House nowadays as Democrats look for ways to restrict the president's action in the international arena on the Monroe Doctrine. The resolution if passed would require Congress to authorize the action to deploy troops. The Venezuelan action was taken quickly in a few hours bringing Maduro to the US. The US set a naval blockade of the country which has fallen apart with high inflation and mismanagement, corruption and drug trafficking after Chavez entered Venezuelan politics with a military coup in 1998 and set up an authoritarian government. When he died the power was handed to a person who lacked experience tackling a complex oil economy and inflation reached 1000 percent destroying the economy. The Monroe doctrine had fallen into disuse since 1824 and its revival in 1904 by Teddy Roosevelt which made it difficult for the US to take action in the interests of peace and security in its neighborhood free of European colonial powers. Russia withdrew from Venezuela after the Trump administration set a new start for US Russia relations based on "respect" for Russia as a power in Northern Europe. In 1824 the situation facing Venezuela and other South American countries blocked by president Monroe was intervention by France, Spain to collect debts.  President Teddy Roosevelt affirmed the Monroe Doctrine during his term 1900-1909 to ensure fairplay, democratic governance and good governance in the western hemisphere free of European powers. In 2026 much of this is being misrepresented in a torrent of what TR called "mendacity." The issue of Greenland and security for the Eastern seaboard of America from foreign powers is also getting the same treatment by the US and European press with no mention of Admiral Perry's discoveries in Greenland for the US Navy in 1890's, and Denmark as a colonial power which had no belief in representation of local people having transferred its colonies in Asia and other parts of the world to other nations for payment or in exchange of territory. The entire population of Denmark of 6 million is smaller than the Houston area and the entire population of Greenland of 50,000 would not fill a baseball stadium, and yet it seeks to block US security for the entire eastern seaboard of  North America from foreign powers in 2026 after it did so in 1947 when Harry Truman offered $100 million for Greenland, as the Cold War intensified in Eastern Europe. ...

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This leader article in The Economist refutes the notion in an article by Greg Ip in the WSJ that Britain would benefit by being self reliant. Self reliant on what it asks? Self reliant on British selves for people outside of London by limiting contacts with mainland Europe and keeping out people. It points out that it is not just a rejection of Europe but also of London, the main financial centre of Europe before Brexit. It refutes the notion that the decline in the value of British currency, the Pound, would automatically lead to higher exports by saying that this was always one of the "inanities of Brexit"- that with supply chains spread out in many countries Britain which was integrated into the supply chain in Europe could suddenly integrate into supply chains far away in Asia. It predicts pain from Brexit, and sees the "hard Brexit" as a bad choice for Britain, as announced by Theresa May in October 2016 and planned for 2017.

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DJT MAGA factions in general support action in Venezuela and in Western Hemisphere for Monroe Doctrine, this includes J.D. Vance, Steve Bannon and Hispanic supporters from Cuba and Latin America in Florida. They support action to bring drug traffickers to justice in the Western Hemisphere. Essentially supporting the Monroe Doctrine that no colonial European or other foreign powers should interfere in the running of Latin America in the western democratic tradition set by Britain and the United States, and now popular throughout Asia and Latin America and Africa. The government in Venezuela say Canada and Britain is illegitimate and lost the 2024 election by a huge margin 30% or lower to 67% for the opposition under Machado and Gonzalez. And the drug trafficking by Maduro and his associates against the US is an offence that can be tried in US courts, is something Republicans support, and has general support in America. Worse drug trafficking to the European Union constitutes something the Europeans should be worried about because of its growing scale and damage to Europe. ...

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Average refund was $3642 for 100 million households in the US, above the $3116 in 2024 tax year by 10 percent. The IRS had sent out $241 billion by April 15, 2026, 14% higher than the $211 billion by April 15 2025. For people in the low wage restaurant industry it makes a big difference. One couple, a chef and a waitress took the no tax on tips and the car loan deductions from the "Big Beautiful Bill" of DJT, and instead of owing $12,000 as in 2024 got a tax refund of $26,000 for 2025 tax year. This family an immigrant from Spain says- “They’re not able to pay us a livable wage. ... If we were only taxed on our wage, not tips, that makes so much more sense for the cost of living here in New York.” 23 million households took the overtime tax deduction. Seniors qualifying got a $6000 deduction to get an additional $1320 in refunds.