Source: Orange County Register
by the editorial board
“If President Donald Trump’s tariffs and trade wars are so great for the American economy, then why does he have to shell out, as he did this month, $12 billion to farmers adversely affected by tariffs and trade wars? The simple answer is of course that tariffs and the trade wars they lead to are never great for our economy, or for that of any other country. They are additional taxes — as if we needed additional taxes — on the American consumer, and no one else.” (12/28/25)
“A recent job inquiry we received at the construction company I work for illustrates the bad incentives caused by modern federal disability programs. The man who contacted us has been in and out of illness for years — enough to qualify for disability insurance. Yet he is still capable of work, doing part-time carpentry for others. But we cannot procure him because of his disability status. Hiring him could expose both him and our company to legal risk, and he cannot license or insure his business without jeopardizing his benefits, since such programs treat work as evidence of fraud rather than rehabilitation. His only rational choice is to remain officially ‘disabled’ — and not work at all, at least not on the books. There are many such cases.” (12/28/25)
“North Korea said Monday it fired long-range strategic cruise missiles into the sea to test the country’s nuclear deterrence, days after it showed apparent progress in the construction of its first nuclear-powered submarine. Sunday’s launches were the latest weapons display by North Korea ahead of its planned ruling Workers’ Party congress early next year. Keen outside attention on the congress, the first of its kind in five years, will be on whether North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will establish new priorities in relations with the U.S. and respond to Washington’s calls to resume long-dormant talks.” (12/28/25)
“Dante wrote that the ‘greatest sorrow is the memory of earlier good times when we are going through a bad time.’ We live in fear of the tyrant’s dungeon, but we remember a time when we weren’t even aware of the existence of the dungeons. We may never have been as free as we supposed, but at least we felt free. And when you feel free, you act as if you were. You speak, you write, you protest. Can you still do that today? I am an immigrant, a journalist, and an academic: the bullseye in the Venn diagram of everything this administration hates. As a writer, I ask myself, what is my dharma? — which is Sanskrit for duty.” (12/28/25)
“Jesus Christ was a shaggy-haired anarchist troubadour, a traveling mystical heretic delivering muckraking rants against the rich and the pious. Far from what the revisionists in Rome would have you believe, Jesus was a disgruntled Jew who despised the Old Testament and the gangsters who spewed it. Christ was hostile to pretty much all authority; banks, kings, empires … But he despised no seat of power more than ‘Moses’ seat’ in the temples of ancient Roman Judea. He went from town to town, passing right by these so-called houses of God and the pompous bigots who frequented them and then headed straight for the local red-light districts to rally whores, lepers and eunuchs against them. Christ taught these people that God was a divine spark within them and that they didn’t require holy men to access enlightenment.” (12/28/25)
“Days ahead of trial, a federal judge has dismissed an indictment against a TikTok streamer shot by ICE earlier this year, citing constitutional violations by the government. In a Saturday order, U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin cited the deprivation of Carlitos Ricardo Parias’ access to counsel while held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention and the government’s failure to comply with discovery deadlines — including the timely release of body worn camera footage that captured the shooting. Federal authorities had accused Parias, a well-known TikTok streamer of local breaking news, of ramming his car into agents’ vehicles after they boxed him in and tried to [abduct] him during an immigration enforcement operation in South L.A. in October. An ICE officer opened fire, striking Parias in the arm and injuring a deputy U.S. marshal with a ricochet bullet.” (12/28/25)
“‘A single step’ beyond the limits of the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson warned that just one solitary act lays the foundation for unlimited power. Consider the road to 1776. It wasn’t about a tiny tax on tea; it was about the claimed authority to levy it. From the Revolution back to ancient Greece, the Founders knew the score: once government seizes power, it keeps growing and it never gives it back.” (12/28/25)
“China is holding military drills around Taiwan simulating the seizure and blockade of the island’s key areas, as a warning against ‘separatist forces.’ The army, navy, air force and rocket force have been dispatched for the drills which include live-fire exercises, the Chinese military said. Codenamed ‘Justice Mission 2025,’ the drills are taking place days after the US announced the sale of one of its largest weapons packages to Taiwan worth $11bn (£8.2bn). That move drew sharp protest from Beijing which in turn sanctioned US defence firms. Taiwan’s push to ramp up its defence this year has also angered Beijing, which [pretends] the self-ruled island [is] its territory.” (12/29/25)
