Author: Thomas L. Knapp

The Trump Administration’s Policies Are Disrupting the Balkans

Source: The American Conservative
by Giorgio Cafiero

“Siniša Karan’s victory in the November 23 snap presidential election for Republika Srpska, one of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constituent polities, reinforces the enduring grip of the former President Milorad Dodik. Declaring that his opponents had merely ‘got two Dodiks’ this time, Dodik made clear that his influence remains undiminished. Dodik stepped down, following a court decision that required Dodik to pay a fine that spared him a prison sentence for actions undermining Bosnia and Herzegovina’s delicate order; yet the former president of Republika Srpska continues to loom large over the Bosnian-Serb entity’s political landscape despite being officially out of office. Karan’s win came less than a month after U.S. President Donald J. Trump suddenly and surprisingly lifted U.S. sanctions on Dodik, which had been in place since early 2017.” [editor’s note: Why should the US regime be sanctioning politicians in other countries in the first place? – TLK] (12/11/25)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-trump-administrations-policies-are-disrupting-the-balkans/

Thomas L. Knapp

The Specter of Al Capone is Haunting Poland

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Andrzej Strojny

“To American observers, Poland can appear to be an example of successful political transformation. A country that threw off the yoke of communism in 1989, shifted towards a market system, and this year ranked 20th among the world’s largest economies. However, more than 30 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, the demons of state tyranny are reawakening on the Vistula River. This time, the threat to freedom does not come from Moscow, but from local town halls. In selected cities, bans on the sale of alcohol by shops at night are being introduced. Under the guise of health concerns, regulations are being introduced that, in fact, restrict consumer freedom and harm small businesses.” (12/11/25)

https://fee.org/articles/the-specter-of-al-capone-is-haunting-poland/

Thomas L. Knapp

Signs of the regulatory apocalypse

Source: Los Angeles Times
by Jackie Calmes

“The confluence of two seemingly unrelated news events in recent days — the first one roiling Hollywood and media from coast to coast, the other playing out before the Supreme Court — was nothing short of uncanny. And disturbing. The first news was the one-two punch of Friday’s bombshell that Netflix planned to swallow up Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming business to create an entertainment industry behemoth, and then Monday’s competing hostile bid from jilted suitor Paramount Skydance for all of Warner. And in between, on Sunday, President Trump — tuxedoed and speaking on a red carpet, appropriately enough — proclaimed matter-of-factly ‘I’ll be involved’ in deciding the winner.” (12/11/25)

https://archive.is/UGBck

Thomas L. Knapp

US Navy delivers report to Hegseth on potential punishment of Kelly for mentioning the law

Source: CNN

“The US Navy has submitted its recommendations on potential punishments, if any, for Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly over his participation in a video that reminded US troops they have a duty to refuse illegal orders, a Pentagon official told CNN on Thursday. Those recommendations have been submitted to the Pentagon’s Office of General Counsel ‘where they are providing a legal review and input,’ the official said. It was not immediately clear what recommendations were included in the report. … The Trump administration has argued that by emphasizing service members’ legal duty to disobey unlawful orders, Kelly and the other Democratic lawmakers were inciting troops to disobey lawful orders.” (12/11/25)

https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/11/politics/navy-report-kelly-illegal-orders-video

Thomas L. Knapp

Austria: Pols pass headscarf ban for under-14s in schools

Sourced: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]

“Austria’s lower house of parliament has passed a ban on Muslim headscarves in schools after a previous ban was overturned on the grounds that it was discriminatory. Lawmakers passed the new legislation on Thursday by a large majority, meaning that girls younger than 14 will not be permitted to wear headscarves that ‘cover the head in accordance with Islamic traditions’ in all schools, with non-compliance fines ranging from 150 to 800 euros ($175-930). In 2019, the country introduced a ban on headscarves for under-10s in primary schools, but the Constitutional Court struck it down the following year, ruling that it was illegal because it discriminated against Muslims, going against the state’s duty to be religiously neutral.” (12/11/25)

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/11/austrian-lawmakers-pass-headscarf-ban-for-under-14s-in

Thomas L. Knapp

The Knowledge Socialists (Still) Can’t Calculate

Source: The Daily Economy
by Art Carden

“The ‘calculation problem’ is not a computational problem. It’s an epistemic problem. It isn’t that it was too hard to gather the necessary data and do the required calculations in 1920 (when Ludwig von Mises published ‘Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth’) or 1945 (when F.A. Hayek wrote ‘The Use of Knowledge in Society’) or 1985 (when Don Lavoie published Rivalry and Central Planning: The socialist calculation debate reconsidered). … The problem is that the data don’t exist unless the means of production are bought and sold in free markets – which means that modern technosocialists enamored with generative AI as the technology that will finally solve the calculation problem are missing the point.” (12/11/25)

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-knowledge-socialists-still-cant-calculate/

Thomas L. Knapp