Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“President Trump and the U.S. national-security establishment (i.e., the Pentagon, CIA, and NSA) are ramping up the U.S. war machine for another military attack on a sovereign and independent nation — this time, Iran. Their rationale? They say that they just want to help the Iranian protestors who are being killed by the Iranian dictatorship and its own national-security establishment. Don’t make me laugh. Come on! Why not the same brutal honesty about Iran as we have seen with Venezuela? At least Trump, the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA are not justifying their extra-judicial killings on the high seas and their military kidnapping of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro by claiming to be helping the Venezuelan people.” (01/14/26)
“House Oversight Republicans will begin contempt of Congress proceedings against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after she failed to appear for a deposition Wednesday as part of the committee’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Both Clintons will face contempt of Congress proceedings — a rarely used congressional enforcement tool. … The Oversight panel will vote to hold Hillary and Bill Clinton in contempt next Wednesday, Comer said. Criminal contempt of Congress carries a maximum penalty of up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000, though not every witness who defies a subpoena is referred for prosecution.” (01/14/26)
“It’s not a crime to be young and dumb in America. It’s not even a career-ending offense to be young and dumb in journalism. As ludicrous as [Nick] Shirley’s current output is, he’s plainly got a certain aptitude for video reporting. In a different world — one set up to restrain his worst and dumbest instincts rather than to reward them — a guy like him could turn out to be a solid reporter. … Guys like Nick Shirley aren’t trying to join a publication, they’re picking up a camera and trying to go viral on their own. They have no safety net, no sounding board, no mentorship, no way to grow beyond what they’re doing this minute. All they have is the zero-sum game of the algorithm: Get noticed or die. … That’s what the ecosystem rewards, so we’re going to get more and more of it.” (01/14/26)
“The British government has watered down plans for mandatory digital identification cards, a contentious idea it had touted as a way to help control immigration. It’s the latest policy U-turn by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s embattled center-left government, which is under fire from both opposition politicians and governing Labour Party lawmakers. Officials confirmed Wednesday that it won’t be compulsory for citizens and residents to show a digital ID card in order to get a job, ditching a key plank of the policy announced in September. … Britain has not had compulsory identity cards for ordinary citizens since shortly after World War II, and the idea has long been contentious. Civil rights campaigners argue it infringes personal liberty and puts people’s information at risk.” (01/14/26)
“Interest rates aren’t a number just pulled out of nowhere. Higher-risk clients need to pay higher interest rates in order for banks to be willing to take their business. Telling banks they can only charge so much interest will make them more selective in whom they lend to. Trump and other populists imagine that in passing legislation capping interest rates, all other functions of the credit card industry will remain the same, just with a lower rate for consumers. The reality is that if banks cannot offset accepting riskier clientele by charging them higher interest rates, they simply will not expose themselves to the risk that some people provide. This means that low-income Americans or those with shaky credit histories will have no chance at obtaining credit cards.” (01/14/26)
“The home of a Washington Post reporter was searched by the FBI as part of an investigation by the bureau into the leaking of classified documents tied to President Trump’s efforts to trim the size of the federal government. The search, which was first reported by The New York Times and the Post itself, came at the home of journalist Hannah Natanson …. Natanson was home at the time of the search, the Post reported, and the FBI seized her two laptops, cell phone and a Garmin watch during the operation. A warrant tied to the search noted the investigation was focused on a government system administrator in Maryland who ‘has a top secret security clearance and has been accused of accessing and taking home classified intelligence reports that were found in his lunchbox and his basement,’ the outlet reported.” (01/14/26)
“We appear to be having one of those public fits of morality for which the British are famous. First there’s the observation that AI can be used to create naughty images. Yes, this does in fact mean all the different services, including the open source ones that can be run on a home PC, can be used to create such imagery. This is then focused in a two minute hate upon the evil of the day, X/Twitter and Grok. At which point X limits the ability to do so to paid accounts — paid accounts being those where the individual operating the account is a known individual. … Who is going to use a named and identified account to do something that’s illegal after all? At which point we’re told that this is ‘insulting.’ Solving the problem is insulting, eh?” (01/14/26)
