“Gradually reducing American aid to Ukraine and transferring the war funding to wealthy Europeans would have been a defensible policy. The Europeans, being geographically closer to both Russia and Ukraine, have always had much more at stake in terms of security in the conflict than has the United States. … Yet Trump went beyond that distancing policy, seemingly aiming to weirdly appease Putin by concocting a twenty-point peace plan that was embarrassingly favorable to Russia and then trying to put the screws to Ukrainian leader Zelensky to sign on board. … Putin thinks he is winning the war and will likely reject any peace settlement at this time; Trump should not be blinded to this reality, give up his weird affinity for Putin, and quit bullying Zelensky to make a disadvantageous and unsustainable peace agreement.” (12/30/25)
Source: Independent Institute
by Christopher Baecker & Crystal Keen
“Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced his reelection bid in November by saying he wants to abolish school property taxes. Naturally there have been objections, and we’d like to add our own feedback: it doesn’t go far enough. He also proposed limiting appraisals to once every five years. That would ideally lead to a reduction of payrolls as well, realizing additional savings for taxpayers. Lowering the appraisal cap from 10% to 3% is another point in his plan. Both of those, however, carry their own risks, as do most government fixes per se. The ideal solution is simply to lift the entire burden, across all taxing jurisdictions. There are countless reasons why.” (12/30/25)
“The Trump administration’s military campaign against alleged drug-trafficking vessels reads like a government overreach textbook — complete with body counts, zero transparency, and the tired rhetorical fig leaf that always accompanies expanded executive power: national security. … The administration has never produced an iota of proof that these boats are actually carrying drugs. Not once. In fact, when PolitiFact asked the White House for proof that Venezuela was exporting drugs to America or that the targeted vessels contained narcotics, the administration answered with a chorus of crickets. If the case is so clear-cut, why is the American public not allowed to see a shred of proof?” (12/30/25)
“As New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani prepares to take office, tax-happy progressive groups are eager to let you know that the idea that rich people move because of taxes is all a big myth. There are no consequences to raising taxes on rich people, they argue, because rich people will be rich no matter what. It’s a pretty picture, and a convenient one for those who have never met anything economically productive that they didn’t want to tax. The only problem is that the data proves it just isn’t true.” (12/30/25)
“It would be easy to end this year discouraged. From campus unrest to ideological extremes at some of the most prestigious universities in America, 2025 gave us more than enough to lament. But as a university president, and as we approach this season of Christmas, a time marked by reflection, renewal and hope, I believe the full story of higher education this year was not just about collapse. It was also about conviction. This was a year when students spoke up. Parents got involved. Christian leaders stayed the course. And across the country, signs of renewal began to take shape. Not everywhere. Not perfectly. But undeniably. As I reflect on this year in higher education, I believe these five moments signal that a meaningful shift is already underway.” (12/29/25)
“Dear President Trump, Of all the wrong ideas you hold in your heart — that tariffs are paid by foreigners, that good looks are the chief credential for cabinet offices, that the 2020 election was rigged, that allies are bloodsuckers we’d be better off without — perhaps the most gobsmacking is your cherished notion that people respect you when they kiss your ass. Sorry, that’s not true. They despise you on two levels. On the first level, because you’ve managed to get elected president, you do have leverage that nearly everyone must grapple with in some fashion. … The second level of contempt arises from the knowledge — recognized by the whole world, Mr. Trump, except you — that your extravagant need for attention and praise is evidence of your emotional stuntedness.” (12/30/25)
“On Christmas Day 2025, President Donald Trump declared that the United States had launched a salvo of Tomahawk missiles against the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in northwest Nigeria. In a Truth Social message from his Mar‑a‑Lago club, he boasted that ‘ISIS terrorist scum’ were being bombed for ‘slaughtering Christians’ …. Trump’s message played to a familiar trope in American politics that persecuted Christians abroad must be rescued by U.S. firepower. This narrative, however, ignores the realities of the Sahel. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) notes that although Boko Haram and its ISWAP offshoot are vicious toward Christians, most of their victims are Muslims because the insurgency takes place largely in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north. Attacks on mosques have become more common than attacks on churches since 2015.” (12/30/25)
“Mamdani’s promise was that, as mayor, he would defeat high prices. But many of Mamdani’s signature ideas are variations on price controls. Take a deeper look at his policies, and it becomes clear that he ran against prices, period. It’s not surprising that a self-declared socialist would make price controls a central part of his economic program. The conceit at the heart of socialism is that when it comes to the economy, politicians and bureaucrats know best. But prices, when they are allowed to work, are signals that provide decentralized information. Price controls don’t solve economic problems; they disguise them, making it harder to know what’s happening. Prices are messages, and Mamdani wants to shoot the messenger.” (for publication 2/26)
“In the annals of modern international relations, few moments carry as heavy a legacy as the speech given by US Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations Security Council on February 5, 2003. With solemn authority, Powell presented what he called ‘facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence’ regarding Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. The world watched. The Security Council listened. The invasion of Iraq soon followed. Yet nearly every core assertion Powell made that day collapsed under post-war scrutiny. Iraq, it turned out, had no active WMD program. The biological labs, the chemical weapons, the nuclear revival – none existed. The damage, however, had been done: hundreds of thousands of lives lost, regional instability that persists two decades later, and a critical blow to the credibility of the international system.” (12/29/25)
“Niccolo Machiavelli and Carl Schmitt are most often regarded as the two crucial modern authors to whom we can attribute our strong concept of the political. Both thinkers present politics as an agonistic struggle for power, and even in certain cases an irreconcilable antagonism between factions. No doubt, modern competitive democracy is itself based on a powerful concept of conflict and rivalry. This is the precondition for claiming that voters will receive well-defined alternative visions of how to handle common affairs, to have real choices. However, it is difficult for everyday thinking to understand why conflict would be necessary and unmanageable in the conduct of the affairs of the political community.” (12/30/25)
