“A Chinese billionaire tried. Give him that. But do we have to like what he was up to? The trier in question is fantasy video-game mogul Xu Bo, and The Wall Street Journal reports that he is trying to gain a foothold in the United States in a somewhat novel way … for a rich man, anyway. He’s fathering children in America. Many children. And by non-wives who are under surrogacy contracts to bear his children for him. … it’s a trend that the Chinese super-wealthy are taking advantage of. What advantage? Birthright citizenship: ‘Babies born via surrogacy in the U.S. are U.S. citizens by virtue of the 14th Amendment.'” (12/22/25)
“Social media has radically transformed not only the means of communication but also the very fabric of our daily lives. It has reshaped how we think, how we evaluate information, and whom we choose to trust. Instead of fostering informed dialogue, it has turned medical science into a contentious battleground where opinions clash and algorithms amplify the most extreme and polarizing voices, often sidelining more measured perspectives. Yet, amid the cacophony, there are invaluable elements that have emerged. Like medicine itself, social media encompasses a spectrum of experiences: the good, the bad, and the ugly.” (12/22/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The dumbest thing we are being asked to believe today is that pro-Palestinian protests caused the Bondi shooting. It’s self-evidently moronic. No one sincerely believes it. They’re just pretending to believe it to get protests banned and criticism of Israel outlawed. Nobody actually believes pro-Palestine protests caused the Bondi shooting. They’re just pretending to believe that to promote the interests of a genocidal apartheid state. Nobody actually believes ‘globalize the intifada’ means ‘kill all Jews.’ They’re just pretending to believe that to promote the interests of a genocidal apartheid state. Nobody actually believes pro-Palestine demonstrations are ‘hate marches’ or that pro-Palestine speech is ‘hate speech.’ They’re just pretending to believe that to promote the interests of a genocidal apartheid state.” (12/22/25)
Source: Washington Post
by US Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) & US Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
“In the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Biden administration gave Congress its assessment of Ukraine’s ability to hold back Russian forces. The projection was bleak. Kyiv, they said, would fall in weeks, if not sooner. … Instead, Ukraine successfully confined Russia’s troops to the far east of their country, where Russia has tried to steal territory since 2015. After almost four years of fighting, Russia has lost about a third of its strategic bombers, and it continues to lose equipment at significantly higher rates than Ukraine. It is Russia that has borne more than 1 million casualties, dead and wounded, in grinding battles of its own making. Pundits who predicted a quick Ukrainian defeat were wrong in 2022, and they are wrong today.” (12/22/25)
“Being the editor of Law & Liberty affords me more time than most to ponder the relationship between freedom and responsibility. It is, after all, sort of our thing. And sometimes you can’t help but see the question everywhere. That was the case for me when watching the Christmas classic Home Alone with my kids. They love it for the slapstick humor (okay — I love it for that, too). But like most John Hughes endeavors, it also has a little more depth than it initially lets on.” (12/22/25)
“Christmas is a time for watching movies. Every year, television schedules are packed with holiday classics, and the internet is awash with lists of the greatest festive features — from It’s a Wonderful Life to The Muppet Christmas Carol. Occasionally, some unconventional choices slip through, like Terry Gilliam’s dystopian comedy Brazil (which features a memorable cameo from Santa Claus) and Stanley Kubrick’s erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut (which includes Christmas trees and fairy lights in almost every scene). But one classic film is never mentioned in the Christmas movie conversation: Psycho.” (12/22/25)
“CBS’s new controversial editor-in-chief Bari Weiss pulled a 60 Minutes story that was set to air last night about the torture and other horrid conditions at CECOT, the El Salvador megaprison to which the Trump administration has send hundreds of deportees over the last year. Weiss’s reason for spiking the piece — that Trump administration officials refused to comment on it — raises questions about how CBS will be covering high profile stories going forward, particularly ones related to controversial U.S. national security policies like war with Venezuela, and the Trump administration’s relationship with Israel. … On Monday, Weiss confirmed that in order for the story to air, she wants Trump administration officials on the record. … If administration officials can effectively kill a story by simply refusing to talk about it on record, that’s basically allowing the government to censor your news coverage.” (12/22/25)
Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin & Nicolas JS Davies
“The United States has now intercepted multiple Venezuelan oil tankers as part of its escalating aggression against Venezuela, while also destroying dozens of small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific under the banner of ‘drug enforcement’, killing over 100 people whose identities the U.S. has obscured. At the same time, the Trump administration has threatened a naval blockade of Venezuela – a sovereign country with which the United States is not at war. How can Washington claim the right to seize or blow up vessels, disrupt maritime trade, and kill civilian boaters – while bombing Yemen and condemning its de facto Houthi government for intercepting ships in the Red Sea to counter Israel’s genocide in Gaza? This contrast exposes a stark double standard in U.S. policy.” (12/22/25)
“The U.S. blockade on Venezuela’s sanctioned oil tankers is illegal. It is an act of war that is based on false charges. Though it is hoped to bring about a coup that will usher in a pro-American government that opens Venezuela’s resources to the United States, the more likely outcome is mayhem and instability. Trump’s order of a blockade caught senior officials at the Pentagon by surprise, and they are unsure of what role the U.S. military is expected to play. But on the day after the order, three ships left Venezuela carrying oil-based products. This time, they were escorted by Venezuelan naval ships.” (12/22/25)
“New York poet David Lehman has overseen publication of Scribner’s annual Best American Poetry anthology for almost four decades now. But this summer, the 77-year-old Lehman announced that the series’[s] 2025 installment will be the last. Although he says his decision was sparked only by a desire for ‘new adventures,’ it’s hard to see it as anything but the falling of another tree in the artistic forest. True, the purported ‘best’ often included lousy work … but it also included samples from some of America’s best living poets, including A.E. Stallings, Amit Majmudar, and Stephen Kampa, and offered curious readers a chance to dip their toes into an art form that, more than any other, has been torn by the competing forces of our divided and divisive culture. Where can they look now?” (12/22/25)
