Source: The American Conservative
by Spencer Neale
“These days, often your best bet to learn about what’s coming next, from hot-button political topics to shifts in cultural trends, is to check in with the round-the-clock traders on Polymarket and Kalshi. On the two foremost major prediction market websites, people bet real money nonstop on real-world events. Though both platforms have been operable for the better part of half a decade, it’s been the later stage of this year that has witnessed unmistakable growth in volume and name recognition for both. So much so that the two platforms are suddenly signing major deals with global tech and financial leaders amid their rise as the latest darlings of the internet these final months of 2025.” (01/12/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“I hate this. I hate waiting for the next imperial act of war. I hate having to be aware of sunrise time in Iran so I can relax knowing they made it through another night without US airstrikes. I hate having to wonder which empire-targeted population is going to get hit next. The imperial murder machine has been so frenetically active these last few years. When I first started writing about the US empire it was the beginning of Trump’s first term, at a state of relative calm. There were mounting cold war tensions with Russia and the US-backed Saudi atrocities in Yemen, a faltering dirty war in Syria and a half-assed coup attempt in Venezuela, but these frenzied nonstop regime change ops and brazen power grabs weren’t so much a thing back then.” (01/12/25)
“Developed-world consciousness is in demographic decline. If people in developed countries don’t have more babies, the developing world will inherit the earth. Does a dystopian future await?” (01/12/26)
“In a normal world, the president and vice president would call for calm and note that proper investigations would take place. Matt Walsh would be unknown outside of crank religious right circles still fixated on “the gay agenda” or whatever. And Kristi Noem definitely would not be the head of Homeland Security and instead would have peaked with a term or two in the South Dakota House of Representatives. Alas, here we are. And it’s indeed because of the weird politics of today that Renee Good is dead.” (01/12/26)
“Meme-stock investment infusions rescued the company without redeeming its model. Did that borrowed time produce market discipline — or simply delay error correction?” (01/12/26)
“The United States decapitated the Venezuelan regime and is dictating policy in Venezuela, running the country like an American colony. But the regime remains in place. Washington has been forced to exercise its dominance overtly through thuggish economic and military coercion rather than covertly by installing the pro-U.S. opposition. There are at least four reasons for this failure. The first is past failures. Many of them.” (01/12/26)
“The U.S. Supreme Court, by now all too familiar with lawfare, will consider a startling case on Monday, Jan. 12, chock-full of hard politicking and even the appearance of corruption. Small bayou towns and parishes in Louisiana, in partnership with plaintiffs’ firms, have filed dozens of lawsuits blaming American energy companies for coastal erosion stemming from energy production during World War II. The first of those cases reached trial this spring, with a jury in Plaquemines Parish returning a $750 million judgment against Chevron. The conduct of these cases recalls an old problem with a clear solution. States and localities have for decades weaponized their courts to derail lawful and legitimate federal objectives. … The answer is to remove these cases from Louisiana’s courts and adjudicate them in a fairer forum, namely federal court.” (01/12/25)
“The tension that exists is between two classics: Adam Smith’s extent of the market, where specialization and exchange reinforce each other, because ‘the division of labor is limited by the extent of the market,’ and Alexis de Tocqueville’s art of association, where civic life survives because people learn to act together. Smith’s division of labor delivers prosperity through specialization; Tocqueville’s civic associations safeguard liberty through engagement. Yet they can pull in opposite directions: specialization isolates, and isolation weakens democracy. This is not abstract: it decides whether the West stays free or slides into a new despotism.” (01/12/26)
“On January 7, Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother and U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis. After her death, Good was subjected to a vicious smear campaign by the President, the Vice President, administration officials, and their allies. The baseless attacks against Good are a coordinated, brazen and callous government propaganda effort. The goal is to convince Americans to believe an official narrative over objective evidence — including video of the incident. It is an ongoing campaign to legitimize the homicide of an American based on misinformation.” (01/12/26)
