Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Source: Law & Liberty
by Iris de Rode

“New York, August 16, 1824. The guns had scarcely fallen silent when the bells began. Bunting unfurled; apprentices scrambled onto rooftops; veterans pinned sun-faded cockades. A steamboat shrieked past Staten Island as ferries veered in for a glimpse of the man the papers called the Nation’s Guest. Then the figure who had once ridden beside Washington — older now but unmistakable — stepped ashore at Castle Garden: Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette. At the subsequent reception, ‘In they came, rich and poor, Black and white … old veterans, young soldiers.’ For thirteen months and more than six thousand miles, through all twenty-four states, variations of that scene replayed: processions, banquets, tears, toasts. Ryan L. Cole’s The Last Adieu invites us to follow Lafayette’s Farewell Tour — and asks why it mattered.” (11/25/25)

https://lawliberty.org/book-review/the-nations-guest/

Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison

“Regime change in Venezuela has been one of Trump’s few fairly consistent policies since his first term. He sought regime change in 2019 and backed Guaido through the end of the term. Almost as soon as he was back in office, Trump had Venezuela in his sights again. Once he had picked Rubio to be his Secretary of State, the writing was on the wall. It was practically guaranteed that he would be pursuing regime change in Caracas again, and that is what we are seeing unfold right now. … Perhaps the most straightforward explanation is that Trump is a crude throwback imperialist. Overthrowing the government of a much weaker country so that the U.S. can exploit that country’s resources is what he thinks the U.S. should have always been doing.” (11/25/25)

https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/venezuela-and-trumps-throwback-imperialism

Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman

“My first post after I brought this Substack back to life almost a year ago was about DOGE, the not-exactly-part-of-the-government organization, headed by Elon Musk, that Donald Trump was creating to save money by eliminating ‘waste, fraud and abuse.’ DOGE would, I predicted, fail. And it did indeed fail, even more spectacularly than I expected: Although DOGE still has eight months left on its original charter, it has already been quietly disbanded. But although DOGE is gone, its malign legacy endures.” (11/25/25)

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/doge-was-a-harbinger-of-trumps-assault

Source: Reason
by James Bovard

“If there were any doubts that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one of the greatest scoundrels of American political history, David Beito’s new biography should settle the issue. Beito — whose previous book, The New Deal’s War on the Bill of Rights, did yeoman’s work exposing Roosevelt’s depredations against civil liberties — has now written FDR: A New Political Life, and it should help FDR get the villainous reputation he deserves. Treachery was the consistent theme of Roosevelt’s political life.” (11/25/25)

https://reason.com/2025/11/25/an-antidote-to-the-fdr-cult/