Source: hypertext
by David Dagan
“Yes, Jonathan V. Last, liberalism needs to revisit its recipe. No, Ross Douthat, we should not give up on the starter.” (12/17/25)
https://hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/lets-bake-the-liberal-sourdough
Source: The Dispatch
“Shadows On the Wall of Twitter’s Cave | Interview: Jesse Arm.” (12/17/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/shadows-on-the-wall-of-twitters-cave-interview-jesse-arm/
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum
“Priscilla Villarreal was not arrested for ‘merely asking questions,’ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton insists in a brief urging the Supreme Court to reject the Laredo news vlogger’s petition for review of her First Amendment case. Yet that is literally what happened to Villarreal in 2017, and the precedent set by that incident poses a threat to journalists across the country. Villarreal, who operates a locally popular news outlet on Facebook, alleges that local officials, annoyed by her ‘unfiltered style’ and periodic criticism of them, conspired to punish her by treating her journalism as a crime. After months of looking for ‘any excuse’ to arrest her, she says, they settled on an obscure, rarely used Texas law, located in a chapter targeting ‘Abuse of Office,’ that makes it a felony to ‘solicit’ nonpublic information from a government official ‘with intent to obtain a benefit.'” (12/17/25)
Source: Seattle Times
“Employees at the Louvre Museum voted to extend a strike that has disrupted operations at the world’s most visited museum, though the attraction partially opened Wednesday to allow visitors to enjoy the ‘Mona Lisa’ and other highlights. The museum said that visitors have started entering the building, where they had access to a limited ‘masterpiece route’ which includes Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ and the famous Venus de Milo. … Union workers are protesting chronic understaffing, building deterioration and recent management decisions — pressures intensified by a brazen crown jewels heist in October.” (12/17/25)
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump Declares ‘Total Blockade’ on Venezuelan Tankers, Potential US Base in Israel, and More.” (12/17/25)
Source: The American Conservative
by Eldar Mamedov
“When NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warns, as he did last week, that the alliance must prepare ‘for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured,’ he is not merely outlining a defense posture. He intends to commit more American blood and treasure, backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. taxpayer, for an endless war in Europe against Russia. But Rutte could, ultimately, help bring about the opposite: an American backlash to NATO that sees a reduction of U.S. commitment to the Western alliance.” (12/17/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/european-alarmism-could-fuel-a-u-s-backlash-to-nato/
Source: Niskanen Center
“Why everyone hates white liberals, with Kevin Schultz.” (12/16/25)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/why-everyone-hates-white-liberals-with-kevin-schultz
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Branko Marcetic
“When it comes to the Ukraine war, there have long been two realities. One is propagated by former Biden administration officials in speeches and media interviews, in which Russian President Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion had nothing to do with NATO’s U.S.-led expansion into the now shattered country, there was nothing that could have been done to prevent what was an inevitable imperialist land-grab, and that negotiations once the war started to try to end the killing were not only impossible, but morally wrong. Then there is the other, polar opposite reality that occasionally slips through when officials think few people are listening, and which was recently summed up by former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Europe at the National Security Council Amanda Sloat, in an interview with Russian pranksters whom she believed were aides to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.” (12/17/25)
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“During President Trump’s first term, the economy was a relative strength of his. During the 2024 presidential campaign, his promises to lower prices in a country grappling with post-COVID inflation propelled him back into office. But toward the end of his first year in office this term, just 36% of Americans approve of his handling of the economy, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. It’s his worst mark in the six years that Marist has been asking the question. The only time in that span that Americans had a similarly negative view of a president’s handling of the economy in the poll was in February 2022, when Joe Biden was president.” (12/17/25)
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/17/nx-s1-5645003/trump-poll-economy-approval
Source: Serious Trouble
“What Part of ‘No Bill’ Don’t You Understand?” (12/16/25)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/what-part-of-no-bill-dont-you-understand