“Even as he underwrites and wages multiple wars, proposes a gargantuan $500 billion increase in military outlays, and plans to build his own Arc de Triomphe, President Donald Trump apparently believes himself to be a man of peace. He has become a classic example of historian Lord Acton’s dictum in action: ‘Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ As Trump completes the first year of his second term, he is demonstrating that his first term was merely a playful preview. This time he has gotten serious, with new wars and threats of war multiplying, sometimes on an almost daily basis. He believes that there are no meaningful limits — legal, institutional, constitutional, or even moral, other than his own musings — on loosing the dogs of war with the most powerful military on earth. This makes him potentially the most dangerous U.S. president yet.” (01/15/26)
“I was in my mother’s womb when the Islamic Revolution of 1979 shattered my family’s homeland, forcing us into exile. Like so many Iranians, my country was stolen from me before I could even take my first breath. But my connection to Iran is not just a matter of heritage; it is written in blood. My father, Gen. Gholam Ali Oveissi, the former commander in chief of the Imperial Army, was a patriot who loved his people and died defending them against the tyranny of Ayatollah Khomeini. In 1984, he was assassinated in Paris for his loyalty to the Shah and his refusal to bow to the new regime. … today, the tide is turning. After 47 years of oppression, corruption and fiscal incompetence, the people of Iran — driven by a courageous younger generation — have had enough.” (01/15/25)
“Every year, rising numbers of Americans are diagnosed with chronic health conditions — diagnoses that are accompanied by rising out-of-pocket expenses. It is especially difficult for patients with cancer and other life-threatening conditions, whose frequent and aggressive treatments force them to bear a disproportionate share of these escalating out-of-pocket costs. But in a new study from Niskanen experts, we found that one simple reform would significantly ease this burden on the most vulnerable, high-need patients: site-neutral Medicare payments.” (01/15/26)
“Over the past few weeks, it’s become clear that numerous users on X have been using Grok, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot that’s integrated into the platform, to produce thousands of nonconsensual sexualized images of people — primarily women. The most common theme has involved users requesting the chatbot edit images by removing clothing, adding items like bikinis, and even further sexualizing the subject by altering their pose or photoshopping in additional graphic details.” [editor’s note: Why on earth would “consent” be needed to create an image that looks like someone? – TLK] (01/15/26)
“A New York magazine article titled ‘Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College’ made the rounds in mid-2025. I think about it often, and especially when I get targeted ads that are basically variations on ‘if you use our AI tool, you’ll be able to cheat without getting caught.’ Suffice it to say it’s dispiriting. But the problem is not that students are ‘using AI.’ I ‘use AI,’ and it’s something everyone needs to learn how to do. The problem arises when students represent AI’s work as their own. At a fundamental level, the question of academic integrity and the use of artificial intelligence in higher education is not technological. It’s ethical.” (01/15/26)
“In a scene in Robert Bolt’s famous play ‘A Man for All Seasons,’ about the treason trial of St. Thomas More, More argues with the attorney general of Wales about the law. The attorney general says he’d cut down all the laws in England to get to the Devil. More reminds him that the laws were written to protect us from those who’d cut them down, because, More asks, when the Devil turns round and seeks you, where would you hide, the laws having been flattened? Answer: nowhere. The recent statement of President Donald Trump in an interview with The New York Times that on the international stage only his ‘own morality’ and his ‘own mind’ can restrain him is a direct repudiation of his oath of office because it effectively cuts down the laws.” (01/15/26)
“The plan violates multiple constituitonal provisions and goes against Supreme Court precedent. If somehow allowed to stand, it would gravely imperil federalism and the separation of powers.” (01/15/26)
“Just days before US special forces grabbed Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan strongman, China rehearsed a ‘decapitation’ strike against its own nemesis, Taiwan’s leader Lai Ching-te. The drill was part of an intensifying military pressure campaign to intimidate the Taiwanese leadership, demoralize the population, and wear down the island’s resistance to unification with the mainland. The PLA Daily claimed that Lai, aware of the drills, had ‘outwardly feigned composure, but inwardly felt extremely fearful.’ Could Lai be the next Maduro? Many US commentators and analysts see heightened risks of just that: In their telling, the Trump administration’s defiance of international law and diplomatic norms to seize Maduro has set a precedent for Beijing, or that President Donald Trump’s claims to US dominance of the Western Hemisphere — the ‘Donroe’ doctrine — implicitly offers Chinese leader Xi Jinping a freer hand in his own backyard. These concerns sound plausible — but are mostly wrong-headed.” (01/15/26)
“The partisan charade boils down to a question of appearances. For Democrats, Trump is not guilty of war crimes so much as bad manners, crassly admitting that he is after the oil. Better to put lipstick on the pig and claim the empire is ‘promoting democracy.’ All the whining is about Congress being left out of the action.” (01/15/26)
“Just a week after Donald Trump first took office as president, he signed Executive Order 13769—his first travel ban. It halted refugee admissions and suspended entry into the US for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. All of these countries have a Muslim majority. Because of that, and also because Trump had previously said that he intends to ban Muslims from the US, critics referred to the order as a ‘Muslim ban’. The backlash was immediate and broad, coming from Republicans and Democrats alike, as well as US diplomats, business leaders, universities, faith groups, and international organizations such as the United Nations and Amnesty International. Protests erupted in airports and cities across the US. A friend and I (both of us immigrants to the US ourselves) spontaneously drove to the international airport in Houston to express our outrage, along with hundreds of other protesters. I remember I felt hopeful.” (01/15/25)
