The Independent Review

3 days ago | independent.org | K. Lloyd Billingsley

Last week, former California governor Jerry Brown, 87, defended the state’s non-functional high-speed rail project, better known as the bullet train. “We’ve got the money. We’re a rich state,” Brown proclaimed.  “We got $4 trillion in gross domestic product. Spain has less domestic product. They got one. France has a lower domestic product. They’ve got one. So I think we have to rise to the occasion.” The four-term governor and three-time candidate for president seemed to have forgotten a few realities.

1 week ago | independent.org | Alvaro Vargas Llosa

With the clock ticking on the 90-day pause in President Donald Trump’s tariff and trade war, it’s time for the president to answer some questions. After all, when the president systematically uses economic nationalism in public discourse, he shapes people’s minds—regardless of whether his statements are intended for political negotiations or reflect deeply held beliefs. And people’s minds have consequences.

1 week ago | independent.org | K. Lloyd Billingsley

Joe Biden’s pardon of Dr. Anthony Fauci, without naming any crime he committed, drew extensive media coverage. It wasn’t so for Fauci’s allies, including his wife, Christine Grady. She was recently cut loose from her post as  at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center and head of the Department’s Section on Human Subjects Research. In the style of her husband, it was a job she never should have had in the first place.

1 week ago | independent.org | Kristian R. Fors

The American passport is one of the strongest in the world, offering visa-free access to 182 destinations. Some places, like Russia and Iran, require that Americans acquire a visa prior to entering the country. What some Americans may not realize, however, is that their own government has several restrictions about where they are allowed to travel, specifically to Cuba and North Korea. Restrictions on travel to Cuba date back to 1962, when John F.

1 week ago | independent.org | Kristian R. Fors |Christopher Calton |John Goodman |Scott Burns

In this episode, Scott welcomes Professor Michael McConnell, Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. From 2002 to 2009 he served as circuit judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. He teaches courses on constitutional law the first amendment and interpretive theory. He has published widely in constitutional law, especially church and state, equal protection, and separation of powers.