“Kentucky appears to be breaking its own education law. The Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 is meant to guarantee a stable, trustworthy assessment system for parents and lawmakers. Yet the state is now moving to dismantle the only reliable measure of high‑school performance it has ever had: the ACT. The alternative the education establishment has chosen does not meet Kentucky’s legal requirements. For nearly two decades, every Kentucky junior has taken the ACT. It is the sole long‑term trend line the state possesses, the one measure that has remained consistent through four different state‑assessment regimes. It has revealed something uncomfortable but important: since 2016‑17, Kentucky’s ACT scores in reading, math and science have declined.” (12/23/25)
“Sometimes I hear a soon-to-become-former patient of mine – occasionally an already-former patient of mine – tell me how they hate it, but they can’t come to see me any more since I don’t take their insurance. No, that’s incorrect. I assure you, you can come see me. But, because your insurance is a big pain in the neck for a single-doctor office like mine, I will not do the paperwork and take the discounts that they require to get any pay for my work. In fact, I will be happy to see you in my office. But, you will need to tell us how you will be paying for the visit.” (12/23/25)
“If anyone doubted that the rich would use their control of the media to push their agenda and silence dissent, CBS removed it with its decision to censor the scheduled ’60 Minutes’ broadcast on CECOT prison. CECOT is the notorious maximum-security prison in El Salvador where President Donald Trump has sent a number of the people that he has deported. There have been numerous accounts of torture and abusive treatment in the prison, which presumably would have been highlighted in the segment. CBS, under its new ownership, decided that we shouldn’t see the ’60 Minutes’ segment, or at least not the one its team had prepared for broadcast last night. Apparently, they were worried it would offend the Trump administration..” (12/23/25)
“[Charlie] Kirk’s murder, and the reaction to it, confirmed that the Western left [sic] has abandoned any belief not only in free speech and democracy, but also in basic humanity. He was not a president or the sort of powerful individual targeted in past political assassinations in America. He was murdered simply for holding right-wing opinions – and having the nerve to express them in public. The world should now know that cancel culture is not about protecting the vulnerable from hateful words or any of that guff. It does not stop at censorship, but can end with ‘No Platforming’ the speaker permanently. To paraphrase Chairman Mao’s views on political power, in 2025, cancel culture came out of the barrel of a gun.” (12/23/25)
“With the holidays upon us, what could be better than Christmas movies? And Christmas songs? And Christmas movies with great Christmas songs, like ‘Silver and Gold’ as sung by Burl Ives in Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer? And of course, there’s the profit-seeking entrepreneur-prospector, Yukon Cornelius, obsessed with finding silver and gold. If silver and gold are so great, why don’t we use them for everything? Silver conducts heat and electricity more efficiently than any other metal. Why don’t we wire our houses with it? Make electric stoves out of it? Or why don’t we do these things with gold?” (12/23/25)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“The idea is now widespread that communities or groups exercise a form of collective thought, which can be duly expressed by the leader of the group as the thoughts of the group mind. Community leaders often purport to speak on behalf of all members of their group when expressing the wishes or needs of the group. For example, when demanding reparations for historical injustices, they identify themselves and every member of their group as a collective unit deserving redress. … The justification for this, the identitarians claim, is that group identity is important and members of the group have a common experience that unifies them and makes it appropriate to see them as a group. This also has important implications for how history is understood, with historical events often being explained by reference to group opinions or group motivations. However, double standards apply.” (12/23/25)
“For Americans wondering about the future of China and its relationship with the West, the latest verdict in the Jimmy Lai case proves an ominous harbinger of Hong Kong’s continued slide towards authoritarianism. Lai, the self-made billionaire, media entrepreneur and pro-democracy activist, has been held prisoner of the Chinese Communist Party for five years under Hong Kong’s National Security Law. He was finally convicted Dec. 14 on trumped-up charges of sedition. This verdict, handed down in 855 pages of meaningless gobbledygook, is Lai’s second conviction during his state-sponsored persecution since Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests. Lai was previously found guilty of lease violations in connection with Apple Daily, his popular former newspaper that was closed by the Chinese government in 2021, and sentenced to 69 months in prison. The latest charges, for which Lai will be sentenced in early January, carry a penalty of 10 years to life in prison.” (12/23/25)
“Yet again, the military community is struck with the death of two outstanding individuals in the midst of unnecessary military involvement in Syria. And yet again, there will not be a single person bearing the burden of this loss other than close family and friends. In the latter half of the Global War on Terror, the American people have largely remained unaffected by continuous years of war and politicians have deferred all responsibility to the office of the President. Our involvement in the Middle East continues regardless of which party holds the Presidency, with virtually no accountability when soldiers are killed in what is perhaps our nation’s most baseless war to date.” (12/23/25)
“Since the beginning of the Trump administration, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the brainchild of billionaire Elon Musk, has gone through several iterations, leading periodically to claims — most recently from the director of the Office of Personnel Management — that the group doesn’t exist, or has vanished altogether. But DOGE isn’t dead. Many of its original members are in full-time roles at various government agencies …. Even if DOGE doesn’t survive another year, or until the US semiquincentennial — its original expiration date, per the executive order establishing it — the organization’s larger project will continue. DOGE from its inception was used for two things, both of which have continued apace: the destruction of the administrative state and the wholesale consolidation of data in service of concentrating power in the executive branch. It is a pattern that experts say could spill over beyond the Trump administration.” (12/23/25)
“Bronze Age Mindset is distracting book. Distracting is on purpose. Poorly written on purpose too. Editor say no? Writer say fuck you, I write. Book like that. Of course, there was no editor. We know this because its literary devices fail — the literary device called the paragraph break is never attempted — the history is almost entirely garbage, and the metaphysics is even worse. Bronze Age Mindset may also be the most important book in America right now. And it’ll stay important for at least as long as our current Leader draws breath. Our Leader’s followers love this book. Book maybe important in far future too. Author sure hope so.” (12/23/25)
