“DOGE fell victim to the absurdly unrealistic standards set by its leaders. Elon Musk originally pledged that his administrative actions to slash government waste could immediately save $2 trillion out of a $7 trillion federal budget. As Musk familiarized himself with basic federal budgeting, he quickly reduced his target to $1 trillion and then $150 billion. These ambitious goals reflected the long-held conservative fantasy that budget deficits are driven primarily by obvious waste, fraud, and abuse that any competent business leader could simply zero out, saving trillions of dollars. … DOGE’s failure was entirely predictable to anyone with a baseline understanding of the federal budget, public administration, or basic politics.” (12/15/25)
“In 2009, I got a call from Eric Garris, founder and editor of Antiwar.com. Would I consider writing a column for the website? As a reporter who covered politics for Fox News, hardly a bastion of skepticism during the second Bush administration, I gratefully agreed. … In those days, the mainstream press operated in the shadow of a furious establishment Borg. With few exceptions, they deferred and sucked up to, genuflected, and jock-sniffed their way into the good graces of the military and the imperial court. … Not surprisingly, when freelance reporter Michael Hastings transgressed this code of the courtier, the peacocks of the Washington news establishment unleashed a professional righteous anger on him that should have been reserved, but wasn’t, for the crimes of the U.S. government, like say, Abu Ghraib.” (12/15/25)
Source: ProSocial Libertarians
by Andrew Jason Cohen
“Together, Hinman vs. Pacific Air Transport (1936) and United States v. Causby (1945), ended ad coelum rights in the US. In ancient times and basically until Hinman, landowners were thought to have ad coelum rights of their land — rights to everything below it and everything above it ‘to the heavens.’ In the Hinman case, a landowner wanted the space above his land to be closed to airplanes. The court ruled that he had no such right. The essential concern was to allow for air travel, which was thought necessary for the future of the country. … Though I agree that air travel was good for economic prosperity and that such prosperity should be protected, I’ve never thought the court’s decision followed. Ending ad coelum rights was not necessary to attain the goal.” (12/15/25)
“Spain’s government has fined Airbnb 64 million euros ($75 million) for advertising unlicensed tourist rentals, officials said Monday. The move is the latest government action in Spain against short-term rental companies such as Airbnb and Booking.com as the country grapples with a housing affordability problem, particularly in city centers. The consumer rights ministry said the rentals didn’t include license numbers — a requirement in many regions in Spain — or listed license numbers that didn’t match what authorities had. Other had incorrect information about hosts, it said. Airbnb said that it plans to challenge the fine in court.” (12/15/25)
“Once again, the U.S. global military empire is the father of the fear that it propagates. And this time it’s right here in our own backyard. Just as freezing Russia’s dollar assets has encouraged foreign central banks’ gold accumulation and driven global de-dollarization, leading to President Donald Trump’s veiled threats against those that turn their back on the weaponized dollar, sanctions on Venezuela’s oil production and markets made certain the growing presence of Iran, Russia, and China in our hemisphere.” (12/15/25)
“All Chad Tausch wanted to do was add a few rooms to his Miami home. In many cities, homeowners need a permit to make such additions. But although the city had no problem with his proposed construction, it required something more than a permit fee: half of Tausch’s front yard — without even offering to pay for it. No land surrender, no permit. The city has been making the same demand of other homeowners who need alteration permits. The city has a plan, a goal: Pile up land that the city might one day use to widen roads.” (12/15/25)
“Inflation looks to be sapping some of Americans’ holiday cheer as they head out to buy gifts this Christmas season, according to the CNBC All-America Economic Survey. The survey found the high cost of goods has emerged as a major factor affecting how much shoppers spend and where they spend, suggesting inflation of the past several years and the rise in import goods prices from tariffs are being felt at the checkout counter. The survey of 1,000 people nationwide, with a margin of error of +/- 3.1%, found that the high cost of goods is the top reason Americans are spending less and, in a first for the survey, the main reason they are spending more. … Overall, 41% of Americans plan to spend less this year, with 42% saying they will spend about the same and 16% saying they will spend more.” (12/15/25)
