“President Donald Trump’s fans like to cheer on his most audacious moves by declaring, ‘I voted for this.’ It is safe to assume, though, that very few people who pulled the lever for Trump in 2024 expected that he would soon announce that he had seized control over Venezuela. One of Trump’s most popular qualities has always been his supposed opposition to foreign wars, his anti-imperialist isolationism. Yet J. D. Vance, who once wrote an op-ed headlined ‘Trump’s Best Foreign Policy? Not Starting Any Wars,’ now declares the new war in Venezuela to be a glorious and necessary exercise of America Firstism. MAGA is primarily a personality cult, the objectives of which evolve to suit Trump’s capricious moods. Yet his pivot to new wars of conquest is not some shocking reversal.” (01/05/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Ryan McMaken
“Countless conservatives who have long pretended to care about ‘the rule of law’ or a ‘strict constructionist’ view of the US constitution are now splitting hairs about whether or not the bombing of a foreign country and the kidnapping of its head of state counts as ‘war,’ and pretending to be confused as to why anyone would think a mere bombing operation constitutes warfare. This is the same tactic employed by the left: pretend to be confused by simple English words that are clear to honest people, but which are repeatedly redefined to fit a political agenda.” (01/05/26)
“The U.S. had attacked a sovereign nation with which it was not at war and did so without congressional authorization; kidnapped its leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and rendered them to the United States; announced plans to ‘run’ that country as a de facto colony; and threatened further attacks and military occupation unless the acting president does America’s bidding. ‘We’re in charge,’ Trump said of Venezuela on Sunday night, speaking to reporters on Air Force One. ‘We’re going to run everything.’ Reflecting on the operation, dubbed Absolute Resolve, a senior defense official called America a ‘rogue state’ and pronounced dead the liberal rules-based geopolitical order which U.S. administrations, of both parties, have championed since World War II.” (01/05/26)
“The West Shore school board policy committee meeting came to a halt almost as soon as it began. As a board member started going over the agenda on July 17, 2025, local parent Danielle Gross rose to object to a last-minute addition she said hadn’t been on the district’s website the day before. By posting notice of the proposal so close to the meeting, charged Gross, who is also a partner at a communications and advocacy firm that works on state education policy, the board had violated Pennsylvania’s open meetings law, failing to provide the public at least 24 hours’ notice about a topic ‘this board knows is of great concern for many community members interested in the rights of our LGBTQ students.’ The committee chair, relentlessly banging her gavel, adjourned the meeting to a nonpublic ‘executive session.'” (01/06/25)
Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley
“Massive fraud in Minnesota, allegedly running into the billions, has caught the attention of California Rep. Kevin Kiley, who proclaims the Golden State ‘the fraud capital of America.’ First on his list is $32 billion in unemployment fraud, which took place under Harvard Law alum Julie Su, former head of California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA), which oversees the state Employment Development Department (EDD). On Su’s watch, the Golden State became an open door for fraudsters nationwide. … Now, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has tapped Julie Su as ‘deputy mayor for economic justice,’ a newly created position.” (01/05/26)
“Back in July 2016, when I predicted that Donald Trump would win his first campaign for the White House, I wrote skeptically about the coming ‘Trump Revolution.’ I was encouraged by only one thing: That Trump might foster a less interventionist foreign policy than, say, Hillary Clinton. He was belatedly critical of the Iraq War and when questioned by Bill O’Reilly about how Russia had interfered in U.S. elections, he replied correctly: ‘You think our country’s so innocent?’ Indeed, the United States government has been responsible for toppling more governments abroad (both covertly and overtly) than perhaps any other government in the history of the world. Unfortunately, not even in his first term did Trump live up to the ‘promise’ of a revolution in foreign policy.” (01/04/26)
“Mindwar creates false binaries. I don’t know who coined the phrase ‘rugged individualism,’ but surely there is something gentle in respecting the person and property of every individual. No doubt, there is a ruggedness to making one’s way in the world without government goodies and nationalized industries, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Nowadays, the phrase is almost always used sardonically. I also don’t see how communitarianism ever got associated with what government authorities ought to do, but community is not something that state officials can compel.” (01/05/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Peter G Klein
“Trump justifies his war on Venezuela by saying that ‘they’ stole ‘our’ oil. Unpacking this claim gives us insight into Trump’s version of crony capitalism – a system of private ownership in which the state intervenes to promote the interests of politically connected firms. … A common feature of crony capitalism is the subsidization of downside loss – owners keep the profits, but losses are passed onto the taxpayer. That is exactly what Trump and his allies propose here.” (01/05/26)
“Nothing snuffs out questions about a near-octogenarian president’s health quite like that president repeatedly bragging about passing a dementia test and telling the world he ignores his doctors and doesn’t exercise. … we have a commander in chief who’s pushing 80, doesn’t sleep much and bruises ‒ if you believe the White House’s excuses ‒ when someone shakes his hand. … If Trump administration officials were smart ‒ they’re not ‒ they would be putting Vice President JD Vance front and center more often to at least reassure Americans that Trump has a competent person behind him. The fact that they’re not doing this is either a testament to Trump’s ego ‒ which bruises more easily than his flesh ‒ or an indictment of Vance’s competence and likability, or both.” (01/05/26)
“The president has been lucky. His strikes in Iran did not lead to substantial escalation, and for the moment, the seizure of Maduro does not appear to have thrown Venezuela into chaos. But that does not mean the president’s ability to avoid the consequences of future strikes of this kind — in Mexico, say, or Greenland — couldn’t easily turn into blowback against the United States. And the more that Trump engages in these displays of U.S. force, the more likely it is that one of them will go catastrophically wrong.” (01/05/26)
