“That Kiev wants the American people to be ready to fight and die on its behalf is no surprise. Ukrainians have suffered greatly in a terrible war. Continuing combat is prodigiously consuming Ukrainian lives and wealth. However, alliances should be based on security, not charity. Although the conflict is a humanitarian tragedy, Ukraine’s future, and especially the details of any settlement, such as who controls the Donbas, are not vital U.S. concerns.” (12/04/25)
“Since January, Donald Trump has been conducting a large-scale experiment to probe all the ways presidential pardon power can be abused. He has granted pardons to his own co-conspirators in crime and insurrection. He has given pardons as rewards for campaign contributions or for business deals that benefit his family. He has given away pardons sometimes just because he feels the rich and famous should have a ‘get out of jail free’ card. And he has abused the pardon power to manipulate foreign elections and prop up right-wing authoritarians. It is possible there are more ways to abuse the pardon power than Trump has found so far, but we would be hard pressed to think what they would be.” (12/04/25)
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by US Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)
“In true Washington swamp fashion, this hemp ban is not being debated on its own. Once again, Congress created a crisis, then conveniently used the crisis to jam through new laws without debate.” (12/04/25)
“Calls to ban the development of superintelligence have gained traction among some technologists, pundits, and even a few policymakers. They argue that an artificial intelligence system so powerful that it could outthink humans would pose an existential threat to civilization. But this idea rests on unsubstantiated fears, not evidence. A government prohibition on advanced AI would not make the United States safer, but it would make it weaker. Such a ban would forfeit economic and technological leadership, undermine national security, and betray America’s founding commitment to liberty and progress.” (12/04/25)
“Last month, some House members publicly acknowledged that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza. It’s a judgment that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch unequivocally proclaimed a year ago. Israeli human-rights organizations have reached the same conclusion. But such clarity is sparse in Congress. And no wonder. Genocide denial is needed for continuing to appropriate billions of dollars in weapons to Israel, as most legislators have kept doing. Congress members would find it very difficult to admit that Israeli forces are committing genocide while voting to send them more weaponry.” (12/04/25)
“President Trump’s Cabinet meetings are a masterclass in postmodernism, a forum in which nothing is said yet everything is revealed. His most recent back-slapping session gave center stage to a clutch of White House quislings so preoccupied with propping up Trump’s fragile ego that they have lost even a passing interest in actually governing. … As Trump spends his second term eating dinner in bed and treating the presidency as a largely ceremonial job, feckless MAGA bros like Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are stepping in to fill the gaps — with predictably disastrous results. If Trump’s directionless Cabinet meeting was meant to clear the air about who is really running the country, the public got its answer loud and clear: absolutely no one.” (12/03/25)
“For five months, Daniel Sanchez Estrada was the prisoner of a government that has branded him an ‘Antifa Cell operative.’ He was accused of moving a box of anarchist zines from one suburb of Dallas to another after a protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On the day before Thanksgiving, he was released without warning or explanation. He walked out to a jail parking lot relishing the fresh air — and watching over his shoulder. During the week that followed, Sanchez Estrada savored his time with family members and worried that his release might have been an accident. Apparently, he was right.” (12/04/25)
Source: The American Prospect
by Shoaib Mir & Parthu Venkatesh P
“Sitting outside his modest house in India’s eastern state of Bihar, Sudeshwar Singh, 48, scrolls on his smartphone through the recent Global Tuberculosis Report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) last month to check India’s status. Just eight countries account for 67 percent of global TB cases, according to the report, with India contributing 25 percent of the total, topping the chart. Seeing India leading in global TB disappoints Singh. As the day starts to fade, he puts on a jacket with a ‘Stop TB’ logo, packs a few copies of handbooks and pamphlets in a tote bag, and starts walking toward a nearby village. Singh, himself a TB survivor and a renowned health advocate, has been a guide for a network of TB advocates in the region, working toward a global commitment to end the epidemic by 2030 under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.” (12/04/25)
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Christoph Schmon & Thorin Klosowski
“After a years-long battle, the European Commission’s ‘Chat Control’ plan, which would mandate mass scanning and other encryption-breaking measures, at last codifies agreement on a position within the Council of the EU, representing EU States. The good news is that the most controversial part, the forced requirement to scan encrypted messages, is out. The bad news is there’s more to it than that.” (12/03/25)
