“Free-speech advocates have long warned Americans about the dangers of adopting ‘hate speech’ codes. If they became widely enforced, the result wouldn’t be the kinder society intended by such censorship; it would be an intimidated, even frightened one. Either you engage in mass arrests, or you enforce the rules selectively — which means targeting some viewpoints above others. For an indication of where this censorious impulse can lead even in a democratic society, look no further than European Union nations and Britain, where the experiment in speech control is running not on university campuses but on national scales, backed by the state’s monopoly on force. The results are so extreme that American readers might assume they’re exaggerated. They aren’t.” (01/06/26)
“In June 1983, Paramount Studios released a comedy starring Dan Akyroyd and Eddie Murphy which culminates in an attempt by two wealthy commodity brokers to corner … the market in frozen concentrated orange juice futures, of all things. The film was called ‘Trading Places’ …. This was a peculiarly commercial example of Art imitating Life. Three years earlier, Bunker and Herbert Hunt, Texan heirs to an oil fortune, had attempted to corner the market in silver. … Although the current silver market environment would seem to suggest that the story of the Hunt Brothers – wild bull market followed by calamitous crash – is playing out all over again, there are some key distinctions this time around …” (01/06/26)
“On January 3, the US launched an illegal attack in Venezuela that resulted in the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. Attorney General Pamela Bondi wrote via Twitter-X that the couple has been indicted and ‘will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.’ For Vice President JD Vance, because ‘Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism,’ these military strikes were legal. This, despite the fact that these strikes were conducted without congressional approval in a clear violation of the Constitution and the separation of powers. With Maduro out of power, President Donald Trump announced that, ‘We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.'” (01/06/25)
“When Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU high representative for foreign affairs Kaja Kallas said that ‘sovereignty, territorial integrity and discrediting aggression as a tool of statecraft are crucial principles that must be upheld in case of Ukraine and globally.’ These were not mere words. The EU has adopted no less than 19 packages of sanctions against the aggressor — Russia — and allocated almost $200 billion in aid since 2022. Surely one would expect, then, the EU to condemn the U.S. unilateral attack on Venezuela in early days of 2026, resulting in an abduction of its leader Nicolás Maduro? Yet, nothing of the sort happened. In fact, the EU has already demonstrated its selective approach to the international legality when it failed to condemn its violations in Gaza half as vociferously as it did in Ukraine, shredding Europe’s credibility in the Global South and among many European citizens as well.” (01/06/26)
Source: Orange County Register
by Patrik S Ward & Abigail R Hall
“In the early hours of January 3, U.S. forces entered and carried out strikes in Venezuela, removing Nicolas Maduro from power. The operation was swift, decisive, and framed as a necessary act — an intervention to combat narco-trafficking, restore order, and free a population suffering under an entrenched dictatorship. We’ve seen this movie before; we know better than to think it will be ‘smooth sailing’ from here. It is worth stating what is obvious: Maduro was a dictator. His government repressed political opposition, hollowed out democratic institutions, and oversaw an economic collapse that drove millions of Venezuelans to flee. Many Venezuelans — though not all — are celebrating his removal. The question is not whether Maduro was a problem. The question is whether the U.S. invasion and forced regime change can provide a long-term solution. History offers a sobering answer.” (01/05/26)
“Is there any media outlet in the country that does actual journalism? I’ll save you the time, the answer is a resounding ‘no!’ None, not one, is worth their weight in post-digested food, and neither are the people who work there (and I say this as someone who knows a lot of people who work there, and likes some of them). It is getting harder and harder to come away from consuming any ‘news’ from anywhere and not be dumber for the experience. No matter how much you dislike these people and that profession, you cannot hate them enough. How many ‘journalists,’ upon seeing the original video about fraud in the Minnesota welfare system committed by Somalis, set out to report on the substance of the story versus how many reports did you see of reporters calling Nick Shirley’s reporting ‘a viral video’ by ‘a right-wing blogger?'” (01/06/25)
“President Donald Trump’s fans like to cheer on his most audacious moves by declaring, ‘I voted for this.’ It is safe to assume, though, that very few people who pulled the lever for Trump in 2024 expected that he would soon announce that he had seized control over Venezuela. One of Trump’s most popular qualities has always been his supposed opposition to foreign wars, his anti-imperialist isolationism. Yet J. D. Vance, who once wrote an op-ed headlined ‘Trump’s Best Foreign Policy? Not Starting Any Wars,’ now declares the new war in Venezuela to be a glorious and necessary exercise of America Firstism. MAGA is primarily a personality cult, the objectives of which evolve to suit Trump’s capricious moods. Yet his pivot to new wars of conquest is not some shocking reversal.” (01/05/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Ryan McMaken
“Countless conservatives who have long pretended to care about ‘the rule of law’ or a ‘strict constructionist’ view of the US constitution are now splitting hairs about whether or not the bombing of a foreign country and the kidnapping of its head of state counts as ‘war,’ and pretending to be confused as to why anyone would think a mere bombing operation constitutes warfare. This is the same tactic employed by the left: pretend to be confused by simple English words that are clear to honest people, but which are repeatedly redefined to fit a political agenda.” (01/05/26)
“The U.S. had attacked a sovereign nation with which it was not at war and did so without congressional authorization; kidnapped its leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and rendered them to the United States; announced plans to ‘run’ that country as a de facto colony; and threatened further attacks and military occupation unless the acting president does America’s bidding. ‘We’re in charge,’ Trump said of Venezuela on Sunday night, speaking to reporters on Air Force One. ‘We’re going to run everything.’ Reflecting on the operation, dubbed Absolute Resolve, a senior defense official called America a ‘rogue state’ and pronounced dead the liberal rules-based geopolitical order which U.S. administrations, of both parties, have championed since World War II.” (01/05/26)
