John Klar: Elon Musk Battles for Free Speech for Artificial Intelligence

Free speech champion Elon Musk is once again leading an effort to protect commercial speech from government control. His company, xAI, filed suit on April 9 against the state of Colorado, seeking to block the enforcement of a Democrat bill that regulates the content of artificial intelligence applications to prevent unlawful discrimination. xAI asserts that the anti-discrimination statute cripples business development and is discriminatory in itself.

John Klar: Gas-Powered Engine Revival in High Gear

Americans aren’t as excited about electric vehicles (EVs) as they once were, so now General Motors (GM) is getting back in the gas-burning game. The company announced a major production shift at its Tonawanda Propulsion plant in New York state. GM has abandoned its previously announced $300 million capital investment in EV drive units and devoted $888 million to the production of its sixth-generation V-8 gas-powered engine in 2027. The move represents a significant shift in the wind direction of the market, reflecting changing attitudes and policies related to EVs and the expected impacts of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. It may also be a bellwether of consumer demand.

John Klar: EU Tariffs and Sweeping Climate Directives Threaten Global Trade

The European Union (EU) is facing off with the United States over tariffs, war with Russia, and increased regulations governing corporations doing business on the continent. Some claim globalist NGOs exert undue influence over modern Europe through the union: Pending laws that seek to impose environmental and social rules on all US and international companies resemble a globalized regulatory structure. The showdown is underway.

John Klar: Is Social Media Fueling Crime and Violence?

Burning, vandalizing, and even defecating on Tesla EVs have become commonplace despite cameras that capture culprits in the act. Such brazen behaviors are endorsed and encouraged, embracing lawlessness as a moral good. Vietnam War protesters were not this extreme, and their goal was more visible and less self-destructive. Social media algorithms seem to be fueling terrible side effects.

Musk Derangement Syndrome and TDS

John Klar: Homeschooling on the Rise Globally

Once considered the exception rather than the rule, more parents are choosing a homeschooling education over public schools as the best path for their children. A recent Illinois initiative, however, would compel registration of parents who teach their children outside the government’s oversight, revealing the popularity of what has become a parietal movement across the US and in the world’s most developed countries.

Homeschooling Revolt

John Klar: Defending Free Speech in America

The First Amendment seemed forgotten under the Biden Administration, but it’s back.

President Donald Trump let fly a flurry of executive orders in his first week as president. Among those was a reaffirmation of the US Constitution’s First Amendment prohibitions against government regulation of Americans’ liberties to speak and communicate free of government censorship. Volumes of evidence now point to blatant violations of this vital constitutional restraint by the Biden administration, including revelations by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg that the White House intensely pressured his social media platforms to regulate content. The new executive order directs government agencies to investigate these past violations as well as prohibiting future transgressions.

John Klar: Boston Proposes Regressive Sugar Tax

The unintended consequences of the nanny state.

Boston’s City Council is weighing a tax on sugary drinks to improve health, advance equity, and increase its coffers by tens of millions of dollars a year. Such progressive policies seek revenue in the name of rescue but inevitably inflict more significant inequities on the marginalized communities they purport to serve. A sugar tax is a regressive sin tax on the victims instead of the true sinners.

John Klar: David vs Goliath: Amish Farmer Prevails Over Feds in Court

Food rights and federalism clash in the MAHA era.

Legal counsel for Amish food rights activist Amos Miller claimed victory in a recent Pennsylvania decision that permits the feisty farmer to continue selling his raw milk outside of the state but not “within the Commonwealth.” The ruling permits Miller to keep his business afloat to fight for food rights another day, but his war is far from over.

Stirring Up the Amish

John Klar: Making the FDA Great Again?

Recent actions in the agency suggest MAHA has work to do.

The US  recently announced new requirements for foods to be labeled as “healthy.” Americans increasingly realize that not everything labeled edible is good for them; in principle, the change is much needed. The problem is that the FDA’s definition of what is healthy, based on many of its past policies, undermines rather than improves health.

John Klar: Europe’s Renewable Energy Disaster

EU “deindustrialization” pummels economic growth.

Europe’s zealous embrace of climate change ideology is yielding destructive dividends. State-compelled directives and wasteful subsidies implemented to reduce carbon dioxide have created an economic dependency on renewable energy technologies before they were proven and built. Europe’s economic engines have been shut down along with its nuclear reactors, coal-fired plants, and industrial production. Natural gas prices are rising quickly while EV sales plummet. Europe’s Green Deal is an economic disaster worsening by the day.

John Klar: New York Court Delays Bungled Trump Convictions

Tainted evidence and an election win put sentencing deadlines on ice.

The unusual saga of a former president of the United States being criminally convicted in New York has taken several twists and turns, and now the defendant Donald Trump has transformed from civilian ex-POTUS to President-elect. That was a challenge for New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

John Klar: Taxing Unrealized Capital Gains and an Inflation Nexus

The 'Inflate and Tax' proposals of Kamala Harris.

Among the various new taxes proposed by Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign are increased levies on capital gains and taxation of unrealized capital gains on wealthy Americans. Given recent history, this is particularly sneaky. The Biden-Harris team sparked rapid inflation, so now the Harris-Waltz duo wants to tax the phantom inflationary gain even before citizens holding assets as a shield against inflation have disposed of them. In other words, Harris plans to tax gains that don’t yet exist, which wouldn’t be possible without the inflation exacerbated under the Biden-Harris administration.