“A small but consequential shift is taking place in co-ops and condos, and it deserves far more scrutiny than it’s getting. Habitat Magazine recently reported that more buildings are adopting ‘good citizen rules’ that ban ‘any verbal or physical conduct that is threatening, harassing, or otherwise offensive to anyone else.’a The language is framed as common sense. Who could oppose civility, respect, and peaceful use and enjoyment? But rules built around offense, rather than conduct, carry real risks. They subordinate clear standards to individual feelings and give boards broad authority to police speech according to subjective judgments. That is a recipe for abuse of power, not harmony.” (12/09/25)
“Brazil’s lower house of Congress approved a bill early Wednesday that could drastically reduce the sentence of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who has been serving 27 years in jail for staging a coup. If ratified by the Senate, the 70-year-old far-right leader, who has been behind bars since late November, could see his sentence cut to just over two years. Chaotic scenes erupted in Congress Tuesday as a lawmaker disrupted the lower house efforts to vote. Bolsonaro’s defense team meanwhile has asked the Supreme Court to authorise his release for a surgical procedure due to his deteriorating health, according to documents obtained by AFP.” (12/10/25)
“The Trump administration’s new National Security Strategy (NSS) is a mixed bag. Despite the Monroe Doctrine being declared in 1823, the Western Hemisphere, the geographically closest area to the United States, has been neglected in post-war U.S. foreign policy in order to undertake American interventions in regions perceived to be more important. Since 1945, the top priorities of U.S. policy have been in Europe, East Asia, and the Middle East. Thus, the new Trump NSS laudably puts more emphasis on the Western Hemisphere. However, in the document, the ‘Trump Doctrine’ appears to primarily rediscover the coercive aspects of the Monroe Doctrine, aimed at keeping foreign influence out of the hemisphere. Yet the first chapter of such coercive U.S. policy, from the 1898 Spanish-American War to the late 1920s, did not go that well.” (12/09/25)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Thorsten Polleit
“At the US-Saudi Investment Forum on November 19, 2025, entrepreneurial titan Elon Musk shared with his audience his vision of the future shaped by advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Among other things, Musk said: ‘And my guess is, if you go out long enough — assuming there’s a continued improvement in AI and robotics, which seems likely — money will stop being relevant.’ A future in which money no longer plays a role? Is that really possible, or at least probable? To answer these questions, let us first recall why people have demanded money for thousands of years.” (12/09/25)
“Democrats on Tuesday flipped a state House seat in a red-leaning district in Georgia, delivering the party another notable win heading into next year’s midterms. Democrat Eric Gisler was projected to defeat Republican Mack Guest IV in the special election in Georgia’s House District 121, according to Decision Desk HQ. Gisler’s victory is a major upset, as President Trump won the district last year by 12 points, according to DDHQ.” (12/09/25)
“Friday, December 12, marks twenty-five years since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bush v. Gore, which decided the outcome of Florida’s presidential election and, ultimately, America’s choice for its forty-third president. The date doesn’t pop up on the calendar as do other moments in the republic’s history, either celebratory (July 4) or tragic (September 11). But what transpired a quarter of a century ago matters thus: reverse the decision and it’s quite possibly a very different America.” (12/09/25)
“Ukraine is ‘ready for elections,’ President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, after US President Donald Trump repeated claims Kyiv was ‘using war’ to avoid holding them. Zelensky’s five-year term as president was due to end in May 2024, but elections have been suspended in Ukraine since martial law was declared after Russia’s invasion. Speaking to reporters following Trump’s comments in a wide-raging Politico interview, Zelensky said he would ask for proposals to be drawn up which could change the law. Elections could be held in the next 60 to 90 days if security for the vote was guaranteed with the help of the US and other allies, he said.” (12/10/25)
“States in general, and the EU in particular, have a lot in common with the users of social media platforms: Both want to decide how those platforms get used. States in general, and the EU in particular, also have a lot in common with the owners of social media platforms: Both want to make money on those platforms. Those commonalities make for an alliance of convenience between users and owners versus states. Owners make their money by pleasing users; states make their money by demanding bribes … er, ‘fines’ … from owners, often as punishment for refusing to cooperate in state censorship of user-created content. … So why doesn’t [Elon Musk] start his own country, with a state fashioned after his own liking, base his social media platform there, do business exclusively there, and tell the other states to go pound sand when they demand control and/or a piece of the financial action?” (12/09/25)
