legislation

The bills that Congress reject are as informative as the ones it does. Reviews of all the legislation that meet their fate in government halls.

How an Overvalued Dollar Sank U.S. Naval Power
At the close of World War II, the United States possessed the most formidable maritime industrial base in human history. During the war, the United States launched thousands of vessels that secured global trade routes and projected power across every ocean. Today, that industrial might has virtually vanished. While East Asian shipbuilders—specifically China, South Korea, and Japan—have surged to dominate the seas, American shipbuilding has withered into a fraction of a percent of global output.
By Elliott J. Schuchardtabout 21 hours ago in The Swamp
The Irony of Black Justice Clarence Thomas teaching civil rights at UT. ⚖️🗡️🩹
YES... Justice is portrayed as blind to symbolize impartiality: the blindfold on Lady Justice represents decisions based solely on evidence and law, not on wealth, status, race, or personal influence.
By Novel Allen3 days ago in The Swamp
U.S. Army Engineer Equipment Readiness
By the end of 2027, the United States Army will only have 56 Active-Duty Combat Engineer Companies spread out across its force. Of those 56, 34 are designated as Combat Engineer Company – Armored (CEC-A), which makes up 60% of the Engineer Regiment’s combat capability.[1] What is common across all of these CEC-As and various National Guard Engineer Companies is that they possess Assault Breacher Vehicles (ABVs) and Joint Assault Bridges (JABs), which serve as the primary breaching assets for armored brigades. Each CEC-A is assigned three ABVs and four JABs; however, across the Army, they are plagued with maintenance issues that lead to readiness concerns. The current engineer breaching vehicles have systematically low operational readiness (OR) rates due to high op-tempo, poor supply chains, and extreme lack of expert knowledge; and fixing these issues cannot be solved at the individual unit level but rather from the top of the Engineer Regiment.
By Sam Shroyer5 days ago in The Swamp
Trump Stopped Israel’s $4 Billion Check on Election Day. Jerusalem Heard It on TV.
On the morning of November 3, 2026, with U.S. midterm polls just opening, Trump told Fox News that Washington would stop sending Israel about $4 billion a year in military aid by the end of the year. He said he and Netanyahu had settled the matter months earlier. He said Israel no longer needed the money.
By Jin10 days ago in The Swamp
The Figurehead and the Regency: Who Is Really Running the Government?
The President Was Never the Whole Government November 3, 1986. A Lebanese magazine exposed a secret operation involving the United States, Iran, and the sale of American weapons; what followed became one of the defining scandals of Ronald Reagan’s presidency of Iran-Contra.
By Cadma12 days ago in The Swamp
The Iran Ceasefire Talks Are Real. They’re Also a Minefield.
On November 2, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Baghaei said talks could begin “within two days.” Oil fell nearly 6%, spot gold rose 1.77%, and U.S. equity futures climbed. The market voted with prices.
By Jin12 days ago in The Swamp
Republicans Are Burning Campaign Cash in States They Never Had to Defend
A week before Election Day, an unusual adjustment appeared on a Kansas TV station’s ad schedule: the Republican Senate candidate’s ad slots moved from prime time to late night, while the Democrat’s ads stayed concentrated in the two suburban media markets of Johnson County and Sedgwick County. The schedule does not explain why. It records only who spent how much, and when. Place that schedule next to the same schedule from the previous three Senate cycles, and the comparison is the point: Republican TV spending in Kansas alone had already exceeded the state’s total Senate ad spending across the previous three cycles.
By Jin12 days ago in The Swamp
Why "Fortess America" is a Betrayal of the Public Trust
In late September 2026, the Department of Defense unveiled a plan that sounds more like the plot of a futuristic novel than military procurement. The initiative calls for the construction of a massive domestic military installation, which the government is calling "Fortress America."
By Elliott J. Schuchardt13 days ago in The Swamp
France Tried to Tax the Internet by the Gigabyte. The Internet Won.
On October 30, the French National Assembly passed a budget amendment by 11 votes to 10. Only 35 deputies were present. The government and the rapporteur of the Finance Committee opposed it. The amendment would tax internet data delivered to French users by volume. Content providers could pay €0.055 per GB. Its proposer, Laurent Lhardit, says France has about 154 million internet users, that roughly 200 billion GB passes through French ISPs each year, and that five major companies account for half of that traffic. He estimates €10 billion in annual revenue.
By Jin14 days ago in The Swamp
Lula Won the Election. The System Won the Term.
The count was clear. As of 21:20 Brasília time on October 25, with 99.83% of polling stations counted, Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court reported Lula at 64.116 million votes, 51.76% of valid votes. Flávio Bolsonaro had 59.755 million, 48.24%. The margin was about 4.36 million votes. Fewer than 0.2% of stations remained, not enough to change the result. Turnout was 80.79%, up from 78.92% in the first round.
By Jin20 days ago in The Swamp
Why Tennessee Must Reject Amendment 1
By Elliott J. Schuchardt In November 2026, Tennessee voters will face a critical decision on their ballots that threatens to fundamentally alter the state's legal landscape. Tennessee Amendment 1 , a proposed constitutional amendment passed by the state legislature, seeks to significantly expand the categories of crimes for which judges can completely deny bail. Currently, the Tennessee Constitution guarantees the right to bail for all defendants, with a singular, strict exception for capital offenses—which in practice applies almost exclusively to first-degree murder. Amendment 1 proposes to strip away this historic protection, allowing judges to deny bail entirely for a broad list of additional offenses, including aggravated rape, rape, aggravated stalking, terrorism, and certain domestic violence charges.
By Elliott J. Schuchardt25 days ago in The Swamp
When a Society Stops Replacing Itself: The Consequences of Declining Birthrates and the Path Toward Recovery. AI-Generated.
Introduction: The Consequences of a Changing Population In Part One, we examined the changes that reshaped American family formation across more than sixty years. From the expansion of contraception and changing marriage laws to rising living expenses, declining religious participation, increasing chronic illness, digital socialization, changing relationships between men and women, and the growing complexity of raising children, numerous developments have contributed to the conditions surrounding modern reproduction.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast26 days ago in The Swamp