“Over the past week, Romania has been rocked by protests against corruption. Like many of its neighbors, the Eastern European nation has seen similar uprisings for more than a decade. This time, however, many protesters have appealed to people’s better angels. They lean toward affirming principles of governance rather than merely opposing evil acts. One chant favored during the protests, for example, is ‘Justice, no corruption’. Another is ‘Integrity, not complicity’. One protest sign reads: ‘Respect for honest magistrates’. In the midst of the demonstrations – which focus on a media report that some judges helped officials avoid trials on corruption charges – hundreds of judges and prosecutors signed an open letter. It supports whistleblowers inside the judicial system who, despite threats of punishment, bravely expose wrongdoing. ‘Truth and integrity must not be penalised but protected,’ the letter stated.” (12/17/25)
“The First Amendment says that ‘Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech.’ But one prominent conservative judge, whose name has been mentioned as a possible U.S. Supreme Court nominee by President Donald Trump, thinks that protection against government censorship may not apply to non-citizens who are present in the United States. Is the judge right? Writing for himself in the recent case of United States v. Escobar-Temal, Judge Amul Thapar of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit asserted that ‘neither history nor precedent indicates that the First Amendment definitively applies to aliens.’ Yet in Bridges v. Wilson (1945), the Supreme Court unambiguously stated that ‘freedom of speech and of press is accorded aliens residing in this country.'” (12/18/25)
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
“At Reason (‘The Anarchist and the Republican,’ April 13), Jesse Walker writes of a period in the 1970s when an Old Rightist speechwriter for Barry Goldwater turned New Leftist (Karl Hess), and a Nixon Republican and future Reagan speechwriter (John McClaughry), could reach unlikely consensus around values like worker self-management and ownership, and neighborhood self-governance. Reading it makes me nostalgic for that period in the 70s where the New Deal model of capitalism had become unsustainable, and elements of both the left and right were exploring decentralist/worker-controlled and direct democratic alternatives to large-scale corporate/state capitalism.” (12/18/25)
“In its manifesto for the 2024 general election, Britain’s Labour party listed ‘Five Missions to Rebuild Britain,’ the first being: ‘Kickstart economic growth.’ The party’s second budget since winning that election, delivered on November 26 by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, suggests it has already abandoned that mission—and offers a cautionary tale to other governments on what not to do.” (12/18/25)
“Trying to accelerate Ukraine’s entry into the European Union makes sense as part of the U.S.-sponsored efforts to end the war with Russia. But there are two big obstacles to this happening by 2027: Ukraine isn’t ready, and Europe can’t afford it. As part of ongoing talks to end the war in Ukraine, the Trump administration had advanced the idea that Ukraine be admitted into the European Union by 2027. On the surface, this appears a practical compromise, given Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s concession that Ukraine will drop its aspiration to join NATO. However, the idea of accelerated entry for Ukraine has not been met with widespread enthusiasm in Europe itself. Diplomats in Brussels dismissed the notion as ‘nonsense: There needs to be an appetite for enlargement that isn’t there’. There are two big problems with Ukraine’s rapid accession, the first being readiness and the second cost.” (12/18/25)
“Basically, I’m opposed to AI regulations because I agree with the public that we can’t trust our government. Voters expect our elected representatives from both parties to pass regulations that benefit current power players while hurting everyone else. So why let them loose on AI? If people want us to trust our government to regulate AI, they need to fix this problem or explain to us why we’re wrong to believe it’s a problem.” (12/18/25)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Denise Lever
“My first career was not in education; for me, it began on the fireline. As a young woman fighting wildland fires, I quickly learned that courage, clarity under pressure, and teamwork could mean the difference between containment and catastrophe. I was trained to work with confidence while structures were consumed and wildlands burned around me. That experience shaped my conviction that the people closest to the problem are often the best equipped to act. It also showed me how systems sometimes fail to support individuals who don’t quite fit the mold. This realization became the catalyst for the work I do today.” (12/18/25)
“For those of us who think central banks are a destabilising blight on the economy, responsible for encouraging malinvestment and engines of inflation, it’s tempting to lump them all into the same boat. But just as in George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm,’ ‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.’ This is particularly apparent when it comes to keeping inflation down. Putting aside the inherent problems with inflation targeting, price stability is typically the primary objective for most modern central banks. But as the UK endures a further round of above-target inflation at 3.8% for yet another gruelling month, when you pit the Bank of England against its contemporaries around the world it has a terrible track record that goes beyond the basic problem of knowledge that faces all central banks.” (12/18/25)
“In the year I was born, 1938, the White Christian males who ruled the sports world considered their various games and pastimes as definers of righteousness, crucibles of character, and a preparation for dominance in business and war. Anyone who played but didn’t look like them was an interloper, clearly operating with some kind of performance enhancers. That was made clear in a book published that very year by one of the premier sportswriters of his time, Paul Gallico. … he declaimed that the ‘colored brother’ was so good at boxing because he ‘is not nearly so sensible to pain as his White brother.’ … ; that New York Yankee slugger Babe Ruth, ‘like all people who spring from what we call low origins … never had any inhibitions’; and that the reason basketball ‘appeals to the Hebrew … is that the game places a premium on an alert, scheming mind and flashy trickiness, artful dodging, and general smart aleckness.'” (12/18/25)
“At any given time, the U.S. government is spending taxpayer dollars that are being wasted. Today’s example is being delivered by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). That’s a shame, because with around 533,000 career employees and another 106,000 non-career employees, the Postal Service accounts for about one out of every five of the U.S. government’s three million civilian employees. From post offices to stamp machines, mailboxes, and mail trucks, they represent the most visible connection Americans have with the federal government in their daily lives. But that connection doesn’t prevent them from squandering the resources of the taxpayers whose interests they are supposed to serve.” (12/18/25)
