“The news this last weekend show that the end of 2025 is no better than the rest of the year. We aren’t talking about the traditional holiday wars on what decorations can be put where, and what people can use as greetings for the season. Or even what songs can be sung or broadcast. Nope, we are talking about shooting, knifing, and other ways of killing people.” (12/15/25)
“Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have said they would withdraw from the eastern Congo town of Uvira at the request of the U.S. administration, which had criticised seizure of the town last week as a threat to mediation efforts. The rebels entered Uvira, on the border with Burundi, less than a week after the presidents of Congo and Rwanda met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington and affirmed their commitment to a peace deal known as the Washington Accords. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Rwanda’s actions in eastern Congo violated the Washington Accords and vowed to ‘take action to ensure promises made to the President are kept.’ Rwanda denies supporting M23 and has blamed Congolese and Burundian forces for the renewed fighting.” (12/16/25)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Ryan McMaken
“A common myth about American history is the one in which a handful of so-called ‘founding fathers’ in the 1780s declared that America would create a ‘wall of separation’ between religious institutions and government institutions. After that, the First Amendment to the US constitution was instrumental in ensuring that religious institutions would be totally separate from American political institutions. Or so the story goes. Much of this myth is premised on the idea that the spread of religious freedom in America was a top-down process. … it is not at all the case that the First Amendment was central to the process of disestablishment — the process of abolishing the ‘official’ churches who held favored positions within most state governments. Rather, this process was carried out overwhelmingly in the state legislatures — and some of this was done before the First Amendment was even written.” (12/15/25)
“Politicians and policy experts like to talk about the ‘root causes’ of crime, homelessness, poverty, rising prices and other problems. If they want to understand the root cause of political polarization, they might want to consider the whole picture and look in the mirror. In a book published 40 years ago, economist and political philosopher Anthony de Jasay (1925-2019) proposed an explanation that did not receive the attention it deserved. … In de Jasay’s view, politics is necessarily polarizing. It is just a matter of degree. The larger the scope of the state (the entire apparatus of government), the more politics you have. And more politics leads to more polarization.” (12/15/25)
“The BBC has said it will defend itself against a $10 billion lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump on Monday, which alleges the British public broadcaster defamed him in a documentary before last year’s presidential election by deceptively editing parts of his Jan. 6, 2021, speech. In a brief statement, the BBC said it would fight the lawsuit, raising the possibility of a legal battle over whether the edit of the speech caused harm to the president’s reputation. … In a 33-page complaint, Trump’s attorneys asked a federal court in Miami for a jury trial and alleged a BBC documentary that aired a week before the 2024 presidential election was ‘a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence the Election’s outcome to President Trump’s detriment.’” (12/16/25)
“Placing marijuana in Schedule III would not legalize recreational use, and it would allow medical use only if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved specific cannabis-based products as prescription drugs. Producing and distributing marijuana, even in compliance with state law, would still be federal crimes, albeit subject to somewhat less severe penalties. Reclassifying marijuana nevertheless would be a financial boon to state-licensed marijuana businesses, relieving them of a disability that results in staggeringly high effective income tax rates. It also would make medical research easier by eliminating federal restrictions that are specific to Schedule I.” (12/15/25)
“The U.S. military says it struck three more alleged drug-carrying boats in the Eastern Pacific on Monday, the latest in a campaign of vessel strikes ordered by the Trump administration that have [murdered] at least 95 people in 25 boats. Monday’s strikes [murdered] eight men across three boats, the U.S. military’s Southern Command said in a post on X. It alleged the [victims] were ‘male narco-terrorists’ and the boats were ‘transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking.’ The strike was authorized by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Southern Command said.” (12/15/25)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Douglas E French
“Donald Trump told Politico’s Dasha Burns that he gives the US economy an A+++++. He posted on Truth Social, ‘When will I get credit for having created, with No Inflation, perhaps the Greatest Economy in the History of our Country?’ Herbert Hoover had the same view back in 1930. In his book 1929, Andrew Ross Sorkin points out that Hoover used every press conference to convince people the post crash economy was better than people thought. … Hoover said the very high 16 percent unemployment rate was deceptive. Trump would have called it a ‘hoax,’ as he calls continued price inflation a hoax. Jimmy Carter telling us to turn down our thermostats comes to mind when Trump says kids don’t need 37 pencils or 37 dolls for Christmas.” (12/15/25)
