“Every accusation is a confession. This is clearly true of the Trump administration’s insistence that Venezuela operates as a ‘narco-state,’ exporting terrorism to the U.S. via fentanyl, now labeled as a ‘weapon of mass destruction.’ The charge is not only false, given that virtually no fentanyl enters the country from Venezuela, but transparently political and pretextual. This hypocrisy was made unmistakable with Trump’s recent pardon of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted in 2024 in a U.S. federal court on drug trafficking charges. … This accusation collapses further when placed in broader historical context. For decades, the most powerful state actors facilitating and protecting narcotics trafficking have not been Washington’s adversaries but Washington itself.” (12/30/25)
“Just saying the words ‘Letters of Marque’ is to conjure the myth and romance of the pirate: Namely, that species of corsair also known as Blackbeard or Long John Silver, stalking the fabled Spanish Main, memorialized in glorious Technicolor by Robert Newton, hallooing the unwary with ‘Aye, me hearties!’ Perhaps it is no surprise that the legendary patois has been resurrected today in Congress. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has introduced the Cartel Marque and Reprisal Reauthorization Act on the Senate floor, thundering that it ‘will revive this historic practice to defend our shores and seize cartel assets’. If enacted into law, Congress, in accordance with Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, would license private American citizens ‘to employ all reasonably necessary means to seize outside the geographic boundaries of the United States and its territories the person and property of any cartel or conspirator of a cartel or cartel-linked organization.'” (12/29/25)
“Trump did not begin with as strong a hand for authoritarian consolidation as many thought. Orban, for example, came to power with a tidal wave of popularity, into a unicameral parliamentary system overseeing a unitary government. Trump, by contrast, won narrowly in 2024. … Still, there was no question that he and his people were going to try to consolidate an authoritarian regime, whatever hand they were dealt, the second they were able to take the White House again. And try they have. … But so far, it has been a failure, one that has backfired on them rather than strengthening their position. Trump’s narrow support among the public has vanished.” (12/30/25)
“Not long ago we were screamed at: ‘Trust the Science!’ So those of us paying attention came to distrust the scientists. Especially ‘scientists’ in positions of political power. Sadly, tragically, more than one scientific discipline has been perverted in shockingly non-scientific ways. A hidebound denialism about new data has crept in. Sure, it is about the money, but often we catch a whiff of ideology.” (12/30/25)
“Both Ukraine and Russia, before making a deal, want some assurance that the other won’t treat peace as a mere pause in fighting and then restart the war at an opportune moment. As always in the high-stakes game of international politics, no leader wants to be a sucker, and every state tends toward paranoia about its security. … There’s a creative way out of this impasse. Moscow has indicated it would permit [sic] Kiev to join the European Union. And the EU has a mutual defense arrangement that would amount to a long-term security guarantee for Ukraine if it joins the Union.” (12/30/25)
“President Trump recently signed an executive order changing marijuana’s Controlled Substances Act classification from Schedule I to Schedule III. Schedule I is supposed to include especially dangerous drugs that are likely to be abused and have no medical purpose. Whatever one thinks of the wisdom and morality of using marijuana, the fact is it is less addictive, and quite possibly safer, than alcohol. Many Americans who live in one of the 40 states that have legalized medicinal marijuana use it for a variety of ailments. Reclassifying marijuana does not repeal federal laws criminalizing its use. The reclassifying does, though, facilitate research into marijuana’s medical benefits.” (12/29/25)
Source: The American Prospect
by Matthew Cunningham-Cook
“On Friday, November 21, as most Americans were prepping for Thanksgiving, President Trump went on a tirade on his Truth Social platform. Egged on by unsubstantiated claims by noted right-wing pugilist Chris Rufo, he posted: ‘Minnesota, under Governor Waltz [sic], is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity …. Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back where they came from. It’s OVER!’ … In recent months, there has been ever greater attention paid to a spate of fraudulent activity in Minnesota, with most of those implicated being Somali. (The ringleader of the largest fraud, Feeding Our Future, is a white American, and nearly all of those indicted are naturalized or natural-born American citizens.)” (12/29/25)
“No matter what Trump does, no matter if he does or proposes the same sort of actions as Biden or Obama. Or Clinton or Bush I or II, the action is immediately condemned, and Trump is condemned for suggesting, approving, or speaking about it. And every article, regardless of source, looks to go out of its way to trash-talk Trump. He is not ‘the President’ but rather, ‘the Republican President.’ He is always ‘confused’ and always falsely claiming this or that. The contrast, not just between the media in general during the Obama and Biden regimes, but even the conservative media during those administrations, is phenomenal.” (12/29/25)
“I received feedback from a friend that made me wonder if he had misunderstood my argument against compulsory labeling of foods’ ingredients. He referred me to a post that makes the case that seed oils are bad for our health. So I think it’s worthwhile to explore an issue that I discussed on EconLog back in January 2012. Here’s what I wrote: I’ve noticed in discussions–in person, on Facebook, and in blogs–how hard it is for most people to see that opposition to having the government subsidize or require activity X does not mean that one opposes activity X. … One can strongly object to the use of illegal drugs and yet think they should be legal. One can strongly object to U.S. taxpayers being forced to subsidize Israel’s government without being ‘anti-Israel.'” (12/29/25)
“On Tuesday, President Trump denounced the New York Times in a Truth Social post as a ‘serious threat to the National Security of our Nation’ and a ‘TRUE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE’ for publishing an article detailing Trump’s close personal relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. … That was the Times’s second recent treasonous offense. After the Times published a story on how 79-year-old Trump was ‘slowing down physically’ and ‘showing signs of fatigue’ in his second term … rump proclaimed that ‘it’s seditious, perhaps even treasonous, for The New York Times, and others, to consistently do FAKE reports in order to libel and demean ‘THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.’’ … Trump is using practically a mirror image of treason compared to the standard the Founding Fathers canonized.” (12/29/25)
