Source: Brownstone Institute
by Joaquim Couto

“here was a time when debates about determinism and free will belonged to philosophy departments and late-night dorm room conversations. They were enjoyable precisely because they seemed harmless. Whatever the answer, life went on. Courts judged, doctors decided, teachers taught, and politicians were still — at least nominally — held responsible for their actions. That era is over. Artificial intelligence has transformed what once appeared to be an abstract philosophical question into a concrete issue of governance, power, and accountability. Determinism is no longer merely a theory about how the universe works. It is becoming an operating principle for modern institutions. And that changes everything.” (12/25/25)

https://brownstone.org/articles/the-real-war-of-the-century-artificial-intelligence/

Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy

“The Christmas season is a time to reflect on what we have, which includes the kind of society that has made countless blessings possible. The warmth, security, and generosity that many Americans experience during the holidays are not accidents or pure gifts of nature. In their tangible sense, they are the products of a long and extraordinary period of economic growth — one that has expanded opportunity, reduced hardship, and given moral ideals room to breathe. History shows quite clearly that the societies most capable of generosity and liberalism are not those trapped in poverty but those that have escaped it. An abundance of wealth does not corrupt moral life; it enables it. Economic growth is not a rival to our highest values. It’s a precondition to their most vigorous pursuit.” (12/25/25)

https://reason.com/2025/12/25/the-most-overlooked-holiday-miracle-abundance/

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Ann Matveeva

“Nearly four years of war has profoundly transformed Russia. Fostered by state propaganda, many ordinary Russians have developed a sense of pride that Russia has survived in the face of Western hostility. This feeling has been fed by Western expressions of contempt toward the Russian people and Russian culture — insults that are assiduously quoted by the state-controlled Russian media.The Russian public struggles to see how the situation can be viewed from the other side and acknowledge that Western concerns may have grounds behind them; for example, the Kremlin’s attempts at meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections better explain the negative attitudes toward Russia in Washington, rather than pre-existing cultural prejudices. … Even though it was Russia that invaded Ukraine and that continues to attack the formerly ‘brotherly nation,’ many in Russia view the war as defensive in nature and inevitable.” (12/24/25)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/russian-identity/

Source: CounterPunch
by Jeffrey St. Clair

“He’s easily triggered. He speaks on impulse. But where are the triggers? What are the impulses? Do the warps and perversions of Trump’s crude patois erupt from his subconscious? Or has Trump’s subconscious completely floated to the surface now and we are hearing directly from the fractured idiom of his Id? … Trump isn’t speaking in code so much as he is connecting at an instinctual level to a network of cultural affinities, prejudices and insecurities that exist beyond grammar and etymology and without which Trump and his followers would be lost. … Here then is a sampler of some of Trump’s most perplexing pronouncements over the last year. Good luck mining the meaning from the madness.” (12/25/25)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/12/25/goodbye-to-language-the-year-in-trumpspeak/