Source: The Daily Economy
by Nicolas Cachanosky
“Until policymakers accept that financial regulation shifts risk rather than eliminates it, we will keep cycling through crisis, overreaction, unintended consequences, and the next crisis.” (01/05/26)
Source: Fox News
by Gordon Sondland
“For three years, the Washington foreign policy establishment has insisted that there is only one acceptable outcome in Ukraine: total victory over Russia achieved through relentless military aid, indefinite financial support and escalation readiness regardless of the risks. But strategy and morality are not always the same thing — and real leadership demands confronting reality as it exists, not as we wish it to be. I write this not as an academic or pundit, but as someone who worked at the center of this conflict. As U.S. ambassador to the European Union during the first Trump administration, President Donald Trump tasked me with bringing Europe into alignment — truly into alignment — behind Ukraine. That meant ending the EU’s habitual double-game: proclaiming solidarity with Kyiv while enriching Moscow through energy purchases and dragging its feet on serious sanctions.” (01/05/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/gordon-sondland-trumps-realpolitik-may-only-way-end-ukraine-war
Source: Liberal Currents
by Guillaume AW Attia
“Contra the dreams of populist strongmen, real constraints on executive power are the only approach consistent with real freedom.” (01/05/26)
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“The stunning U.S. raid on Venezuela that removed President and socialist thug Nicolás Maduro from power to face trial in the U.S. raises questions: What’s next for long-suffering but hopeful Venezuelans, what is the legal basis for snatching a country’s head of state without congressional authorization, and where do Americans stand on the Trump administration’s nation-building project? We’ll have to wait and see on the first point, and the answer to the second is that there is no legal basis for unilateral presidential missions to depose foreign leaders. But while the public will need some time to digest these events, we know Americans — especially young ones — are increasingly dubious about foreign adventures.” (01/05/26)
https://reason.com/2026/01/05/americans-are-increasingly-skeptical-of-foreign-military-intervention/
Source: CounterPunch
by Michelle Ellner
“Let’s be clear about the claims made. The president is asserting that the U.S. can detain a sitting foreign president and his spouse under U.S. criminal law, that the U.S. can administer another sovereign country without an international mandate. That Venezuela’s political future can be decided from Washington. That control over oil and ‘rebuilding’ is a legitimate byproduct of intervention. That all of this can happen without congressional authorization and without evidence of imminent threat. We have heard this language before.” (01/05/26)
Source: Common Dreams
by Ann Wright
“Seven years ago, US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard wrote in 2019 on Twitter: ‘The United States needs to stay out of Venezuela. Let the Venezuelan people determine their future. We don’t allow other countries to choose our leaders, so we have to stop trying to choose theirs.’ Now as director of National Intelligence in the Trump administration, Tulsi Gabbard is a key part of the US overthrow of the Venezuelan government and the kidnapping of the Venezuelan president and his wife and the deaths of at least 40 persons in Venezuela. During her 2018 Congressional reelection campaign, she warned of ‘regime change wars’: ‘Every dollar spent on interventionist regime change wars is a dollar not spent on education, healthcare, infrastructure, and a myriad of other needs desperately needed right here at home,’ Gabbard said in 2018.” (01/05/25)
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey
“So, we have a known risk. The flu is here, and this version of it packs a punch. The critical question now — the one that separates a libertarian perspective from the standard ‘public health’ view — is: Who is responsible for managing that risk? Thankfully, we haven’t heard too many serious suggestions that the government force flu vaccines onto the citizenry, it remains voluntary at this juncture. The prevailing narrative in modern public health often leans heavily on centralized collectivism.” (01/05/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/h3n2-flu-rising-in-palm-beach-and
Source: Antiwar.com
by Alan Mosley
“After nearly every U.S. military intervention since World War II, public opinion has followed the same trajectory: overwhelming support when the bombs first fall, then waning approval once casualties mount and victory proves elusive. … One reason for this cyclical amnesia is the way politicians package wars as risk‑free. In 2003 the Bush administration promised a short campaign financed by Iraqi oil, just as the Kennedy and Johnson administrations predicted a quick victory in Vietnam. Today President Trump suggests the Venezuelan operation will be swift, with no U.S. casualties. History suggests otherwise.” (01/05/26)
Source: Orange County Register
by Sal Rodriguez
“By now you have seen the reports about alleged widespread welfare and social services fraud in Minnesota. And by now, you have seen the right fixate on the state’s Somali community. The most prominent example of fraud took place via a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future, which bilked taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of federal COVID dollars as it falsely claimed to distribute meals. The founder of the organization, a white American named Aimee Bock, was convicted of her crimes. … If there’s blame to go around, it seems first aimed at the individual wrongdoers themselves. And then, as a systemic critique, the reckless throwing around of public funds. But, what do you know, MAGA world has chosen to make this not about the need to hold individuals liable for their actions or the need to better manage taxpayer funds. Instead, they made it about Somalis for being Somali.” (01/04/26)
Source: New York Post
by Natalya Murakhver
“‘How dare you?’ Remember that fiery 2019 United Nations speech, when a 16-year-old Greta Thunberg stared down world leaders and accused the adults in the room of stealing her future by ignoring climate change? The moment catapulted the perpetually pinch-faced teen towards unfathomable stardom as a self-anointed champion for human rights and the planet’s survival. But fast-forward to today, and Greta is falling quite short of that promise. She’s not a savior — in fact, she’s a malignant force trying to erase the horrors inflicted on some of the world’s most vulnerable, the victims of Hamas’[s] Oct. 7 massacre. How can someone who built her life around securing youth a future be so hell-bent on obliterating the past, silencing Jewish voices and denying the suffering of children burned alive, women raped and families slaughtered? Let’s look at her latest escapades.” (01/05/25)