Source: The Fifth Column
“The Young Turks’ agent provocateur joins us for a totally civilized conversation about Iran, Israel, ICE, and the what happened to the great state of California.” (01/13/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/why-cant-we-be-friends-w-ana-kasparian
Source: NBC News
“The Republican-led House Oversight Committee announced Tuesday that it will seek to hold former President Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress after he failed to appear for a deposition as part of the panel’s probe into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. ‘As a result of Bill Clinton not showing up for his lawful subpoena, which again was voted unanimously by the committee in a bipartisan manner, we will move next week in the House Oversight Committee markup to hold former President Clinton in contempt of Congress,’ Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., told reporters Tuesday morning on Capitol Hill. The committee had scheduled a deposition with Clinton for Tuesday morning, as well as a deposition with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for Wednesday. In a letter to Comer, the Clintons said they didn’t plan to appear for the depositions.” (01/13/26)
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Joseph Varon
“Medicine is defined not by the mechanical execution of tasks, but by the assignment of responsibility when outcomes are unfavorable. Writing a prescription is straightforward; accepting responsibility for its consequences — particularly when considering comorbidities, social context, patient values, or incomplete information — is far more complex. Throughout my career, this responsibility has continuously resided with a human who could be questioned, challenged, corrected, and held accountable. When Dr. Smith makes an error, the family knows whom to contact, ensuring a direct line to human accountability. No algorithm, regardless of sophistication, can fulfill this role. The primary risk is not technological, but regulatory and philosophical.” (01/13/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/when-physicians-are-replaced-with-a-protocol/
Source: Independent [UK]
“Donald Trump’s son in law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow for another round of peace talks with Vladimir Putin, according to a report. Sources told Bloomberg that the two envoys could meet with the Russian President this month amid faltering efforts by the US to negotiate an end to the conflict. A date for the meeting has not been agreed. … A flurry of diplomatic activity driven by Trump has failed to yield a peace agreement, with Moscow refusing to budge on its maximalist demands and Kyiv continuing to seek security guarantees from Washington.” (01/14/26)
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Jim Bovard
“‘There is no censorship here in Germany,’ according to Steffen Meyer, a top spokesman for the German government. In reality, Germans have freedom of speech except for ideas that politicians and government contractors and nonprofit activists don’t like. Germany is providing a road map for freedom can be squashed throughout the western world. Germany was the scene of some of the twentieth century’s worst tyranny but today’s German leaders have only noble intentions for oppression.” (01/13/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/germanys-latest-war-on-freedom
Source: CoinDesk
“Crypto markets ripped higher on Wednesday as easing U.S. inflation and renewed political uncertainty around the Federal Reserve reignited demand for scarce, non-sovereign assets. Bitcoin jumped more than 4% over the past 24 hours, breaking above $95,000 for the first time in a week and pushing toward the upper end of its January range. Ether outperformed, climbing over 7% to around $3,330, while major tokens, such as Solana’s SOL, Cardano’s ADA, and BNB Chain’s BNB, moved as much as 9% higher.” (01/14/26)
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“As my kids might say (if they bothered themselves with such issues rather than just plugging their bazillion game consoles into the wall and ignoring such things while raising my electric bill) ;grids are SOOOOOO 20th century.’ The idea of running power lines all over God’s green acre made a certain amount of sense in the 1930s. It makes no sense at all now. … The only real beneficiaries of continued reliance on centralized generation and large-scale ‘grids’ are the utilities which operate those power plants and those grids. They’re holding us back from what could be an era of cheap, clean, reliable energy.” (01/13/26)
Source: Variety
“Scott Adams, creator of the ‘Dilbert’ comic strip, who became controversial for his right-wing statements, has died following a battle with metastatic prostate cancer. He was 68. … Born in Windham, New York in 1957, Adams started drawing comics at age 6, citing the ‘Peanuts’ comics as an early inspiration. … By 1994, ‘Dilbert’ was syndicated in more than 400 newspapers, and in 1995, Adams left Pacific Bell to become a full-time cartoonist.” (01/13/26)
https://variety.com/2026/artisans/people-news/scott-adams-dead-dilbert-creator-1236630162/
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“Every time that the U.S. threatens or bombs the non-nuclear weapons state Iran, it vindicates North Korea’s decision to build its own deterrent. If there are any other would-be proliferators contemplating their next steps, they would have strong incentives to imitate North Korea and avoid making the same mistakes as Iran. That is one enduring legacy of our government’s incredibly awful Iran policy. The other is that our government’s policy has given the Iranian government every reason to acquire nuclear weapons despite its many formal commitments to reject that option.” (01/13/26)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/the-consequences-of-another-us-attack
Source: CNN
“The nation’s highest court heard more than three hours of arguments in two cases regarding state bans on transgender students playing on sports teams that are consistent with their gender identity. Chief Justice John Roberts has signaled his skepticism for what he called transgender ‘exception’ for sex-based laws. He also said he the blockbuster 2020 precedent that protects gay and transgender employees from discrimination doesn’t apply to the sports cases, signaling that he is prepared to undermine a central argument from LGBTQ advocates. Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that the court cannot look past what he characterized as the ‘harm’ that transgender-inclusive sports policies impose on cisgender women and girl’s sports teams.” (01/13/26)
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/supreme-court-arguments-transgender-athletes-01-13-26