It’s Monday, March 30. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: The future of war. How to fix air travel. The company promising man-made human eggs. Tyler Cowen on Conversations with Coleman. Ruy Teixeira on how Democrats learned to stop worrying and love losing. All that and much more.
But first: An unforced error in Jerusalem.
As a Free Press reader, you’re no doubt aware of an antisemitism problem within Catholicism. It’s an ancient issue turbocharged by social media algorithms and far-right Catholic influencers, who insist that Zionism and Catholicism are incompatible despite the Vatican’s insistence that antisemitism is a grave sin and Israel has a right to exist.
Gasoline was thrown onto this already flammable situation yesterday, when Israeli authorities blocked the top Catholic in the Jewish state from celebrating a Palm Sunday Mass. Police stopped Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa from walking to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the holiest site in Christianity, where he was set to hold a livestreamed Mass.
Critics of Israel said that it was proof that Israel hates Christians. The Israeli government insisted that the police stopped Pizzaballa due to security concerns, as Iranian missiles continue to hit Jerusalem and damage holy sites; earlier this month, for example, a fragment of an Iranian missile landed within walking distance of the church.
Today, Avi Mayer, founder of Jerusalem Journal and former editor in chief of The Jerusalem Post, reports on the controversy for The Free Press. One well-connected Israeli rabbi who works on interfaith issues blamed the incident on “a perfect storm of clumsiness, closed-mindedness, and rosh katan,” a Hebrew phrase denoting a tendency to do the bare minimum without taking the bigger picture into account.
For his part, Pizzaballa is hitting a conciliatory note, saying there were “misunderstandings” and that “everything was done in a very polite manner.”
Meanwhile, Israeli president Isaac Herzog expressed his “great sorrow” that the Mass was prevented, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has directed authorities to “enable [Pizzaballa] to hold services as he wishes.”
Read Avi’s story on the messy reality of life during wartime, how an avoidable bureaucratic mishap turned into an international incident, and why the Israeli government’s unforced errors are so costly.
—Will Rahn
ANTROPIC, ANDURIL AND THE FUTURE OF DEFENSE TECH
February 27, 2026, was a flash point in the cold war between Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. The AI giant Anthropic had drawn a red line with the Pentagon, forbidding the military from using its product for autonomous weapons or the mass surveillance of Americans. The Pentagon retaliated by ending their contract and designating Anthropic a supply-chain risk. Anthropic has since sued to overturn this designation.
The latest round in that fight came late last week, when a judge sided with Anthropic in the fight. So what does the law say about this? Our legal columnist Jed Rubenfeld breaks it down and forecasts where the long battle between Big Tech and Big Government could end.
The Anthropic-Pentagon dustup is part of a much bigger battle, between the technologists who want control over their own creation and the policymakers wary of an unelected tech oligarchy. Today, Anduril co-founder Trae Stephens explains why “patriotic cooperation” between public and private sectors is the only way out of that double bind—and why, if we don’t act on it soon, we could cede the next century to Beijing.
If you’ve been anywhere near an airport these past few weeks, you know that America has a major air travel problem. TSA lines are longer than ever, and agents are calling out from work as the partial government shutdown drags on. The good news is that some TSA agents could see paychecks as soon as today. But, as Judge Glock argues, the real problem with air travel is much bigger than that. Read his piece to find out how our aviation infrastructure fell apart, and what it will take to finally fix it.
We’re living in a time of medical miracles—just ask one of the millions of people whose life has been transformed by GLP-1s. Today, Maya Sulkin has the scoop on the next frontier in fertility treatments: making functional human eggs from stem cells. The CEO of a company trying to do just that tells Maya that it will be at least five years before the first baby is born using this technology.
Have the Democrats learned anything? That’s the question Ruy Teixeira asked in a prescient piece following their catastrophic defeat in the 2024 election. Now, as we approach the midterms two years later, Ruy argues that the party is confident of victory—and has given up on the idea that they need to do some soul-searching. Read his piece on the Democrats’ stasis, and the five major issues still holding them back.
These days, it’s easy to feel like the world is changing by the minute. Thankfully, there is no one better equipped to explain those developments than our favorite polymath, Tyler Cowen. From the latest AI developments to a volatile stock market, Tyler answers all of Coleman Hughes’s rapid-fire questions on the latest episode of his show. Tune in for a can’t-miss conversation making sense of international law, foreign aid, the risk of an economic bubble, and so much more.
MORE FROM THE FREE PRESS
THE NEWS
Israeli air strikes hit Tehran on Sunday, and the Iranian regime launched ballistic missiles into Israel. The exchange of fire comes as diplomats gathered in Iran, hoping to negotiate a peace deal.
A 26-year-old man has been arrested for planning to violently attack pro-Palestinian activist Nerdeen Kiswani. Authorities said Alexander Heifler was arrested in Hoboken, New Jersey, with eight Molotov cocktails. According to CBS News, police said Heifler is an “extremist with no criminal record with the NYPD.”
The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen launched a missile attack into Israel on Saturday. The attack raises concerns that the Houthis could block Red Sea shipping routes, further constraining global trade.
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned the U.S. against launching a ground invasion into the region. According to Ghalibaf, Iranian forces are “waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever.”
Thousands of protesters gathered across the country on Saturday for a series of “No Kings” rallies, protesting President Trump. This weekend’s marches were the first since last October, and came just as this year’s midterms are beginning to take shape.
The United States Coast Guard is allowing a Russian oil tanker to reach Cuba. The ship, expected to arrive Tuesday, will supply the island with a critical energy source after the Trump administration imposed an effective oil blockade on the country for the past several months.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told G7 leaders on Friday that the war in Iran will last another 2–4 weeks. Rubio’s comments mark the first time a senior U.S. official has indicated the conflict could last longer than President Trump’s initial 4–6 week timeline.
FBI director Kash Patel’s personal email was reportedly hacked by cyber criminals linked to Iran. The attack raises serious concerns about cybersecurity as the war continues to heat up on multiple fronts.
President Trump signed a memo on Friday ordering the Department of Homeland Security to restore pay for airport screeners across the country. The order came after TSA employees had missed two full paychecks, and were beginning to call out of work in record numbers.
The House of Representatives passed a short-term bill funding every agency under the Department of Homeland Security on Friday. While the vote offered a bit of daylight for government employees, the shutdown will likely drag on as the bill awaits approval in the Senate.
Figure skater Ilia Malinin, known affectionately as the “Quad god,” won his third consecutive world championship on Saturday. The win comes as a sorely needed redemption for Malinin, who made headlines for underperforming at the Winter Olympics.
I thought they closed all holy sites 2 weeks ago to protect people from missiles coming in from Iran
This is an attempt to divide us, as in divide and conquer. Look to China & Russia and their compatriots running No King protests for confirmation.
I can think of many legitimate reasons to shut down funding the government.
I can think of no legitimate reasons to blame the majority for the shutdown rather than the minority.
If you believe the actions of the government are so egregious that it must be stopped then by all means do it.
BUT to blame the majority for the shutdown is incredibly hypocritical.
Have the courage to stand tall and take pride in the fact that you were willing to bring some or all governmental functions to a halt.