Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Galen Carpenter

“U.S. administrations even have a long history of discouraging America’s technologically capable, firmly democratic allies from crossing the nuclear weapons threshold. Washington has not been shy about pressuring (if not outright bullying) Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan to foreswear building independent nuclear weapons capabilities instead relying totally on the United States for deterrence. A similar hostility has been directed toward any manifestations of interest in a nuclear deterrent by Germany and Washington’s other European allies. At the very least, it is time for U.S. leaders to review that rigid policy and carefully reconsider its various implications. Japanese who want their country to reduce or eliminate its total dependence on the United States for nuclear deterrence are not being reckless or unreasonable, given the realities of today’s regional and global security environments.” (12/27/25)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/washington-may-need-to-deal-with-a-nuclear-japan/

Source: EconLog
by Kevin Lavery

“All major American professional sports have a time of year when they capture the eyes of the nation. America’s pastime, baseball, has the ‘Fall Classic,’ the NFL dominates Thanksgiving, and the country has an entire weekend dedicated to the Super Bowl. Christmas Day is the NBA’s time to shine with action from noon to midnight (though the NFL tries to get in on the action). When Americans tune in to watch Lebron James and Kevin Durant battle it out on the court, they usually aren’t thinking about the referees, but it’s impossible to play without them.” (12/26/25)

https://www.econlib.org/econlog/peace-on-earth-goodwill-towards-refs

Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman

“Opponents argue that even the best legal system sometimes makes mistakes and that a system that sometimes makes mistakes ought to limit itself to mistakes that can be corrected. Letting a wrongfully convicted defendant out of prison is easier than bringing him back from the dead. The irreversibility of the death penalty is good rhetoric but bad argument.” (12/26/25)

https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/different-arguments

Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman

“Libertarian advocates of minimal government, such as the late Robert Nozick (Anarchy, State, and Utopia, 1974), have feared that individuals in a stateless libertarian society would face corrupt or careless protection firms that used ‘risky’ rights-enforcement procedures to determine guilt or liability. Innocent people might be held responsible for offenses they did not commit, while guilty individuals avoid paying restitution to their victims. Obviously, that would be undesirable. Without a minimal monopoly state to prohibit such abuse and protect ‘procedural rights,’ how could innocent people pursue their happiness securely?” (12/26/25)

https://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2025/12/tgif-due-process-under-anarcho.html

Source: Washington Post
by George F Will

What Samuel Johnson said of Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ can be said of 2025: No one ever wished it longer. As this year slinks offstage, remember some memorable moments: Cracker Barrel stumbled into crisis when many Americans who have too much spare time became enraged because the restaurant chain deleted from its logo an elderly man in overalls. … Elon (‘I’m not just MAGA, I’m dark gothic MAGA’) Musk’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), which never existed (actual departments are created by Congress), went out of existence after streamlining the government, which you might not have noticed. … The president decreed that the Gulf of Mexico is the Gulf of America. In 1945, Manhattan’s Sixth Avenue was renamed Avenue of the Americas. Has anyone ever called it that? … New York elected a socialist mayor (‘free’ buses and child care and lots of other stuff).” (12/26/25)

https://archive.is/rlYD8