Source: The American Conservative
by W James Antle III
“Conservatives have allowed libertarian rhetoric to talk themselves out of attempting to solve problems while not actually doing anything substantively libertarian. So we say ‘Don’t ask for free stuff, move instead’ while jacking up federal spending, running record deficits even during relative peace and prosperity, eroding civil liberties, waging all kinds of wars, and watching the national debt careen past $38 trillion. It is the kind of thing that makes a person think that they are taking crazy pills, as many conservatives now apparently are.” (11/15/25)
“MAGA’s favorite think tank, the Heritage Foundation, is reportedly in the midst of a conservative Civil War after Heritage president Kevin Roberts defended Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with the white supremacist Nick Fuentes. For readers not steeped in the nuances of the internet’s competing racist factions, Fuentes is a neo-Nazi podcaster and streamer …. His long march from the far-right fringe to conservative mainstream has been helped along by rising antisemitism, the movement’s increasingly-open embrace of gutter racism, and a cadre of zealous young followers whose political ideology was forged in white supremacist chat rooms (they call themselves ‘groypers’ after an alt-right meme). … Roberts attempted to thread a needle, claiming to oppose a nebulous notion of ‘cancellation’ while condemning some of Fuentes’[s] most over-the-top statements. But Fuentes’[s] open Nazism isn’t an ideological deviation.” (11/14/25)
“On one level, politics is about principles and values. At another level, it is about math. The Democrats angry about the compromise that resulted in the reopening of the federal government are confused about which level they are operating on. … Our constitutional system contains many chokepoints of different kinds — a feature, not a bug — and exploiting those is what you do, within reason, when the math is against you. Supermajority requirements empower legislative minorities, just as procedural mandates and the Bill of Rights protect minority interests outside of the legislative chamber. We do not follow strictly majoritarian conventions, nor should we: Majorities get things wrong — violently wrong, tragically wrong — all the time. That’s why the Founding Fathers so often used the word ‘democracy’ in a monitory fashion. But minority power is by nature largely obstructive in character.” (11/14/25)
“The world’s largest shopping event, Singles’ Day, was again held Nov. 11 in China – though the online bargains began weeks earlier, as is the case with Black Friday sales in other parts of the world. This year, however, the event was not just a commercial gala. China’s annual shopping spree, which began in 2009 in earnest, no longer focuses on singles. (The date 11.11 resembles ‘bare sticks’ in Chinese, an idiom for being unhitched.) The unofficial holiday of mass consumption is now a key economic indicator: Whether or not the world’s second-largest economy will fall into a downward spiral of falling prices, or deflation. Early reports from China’s giant e-commerce firms suggest spending for Singles’ Day was not enough to trigger a rise in retail prices and thus help end more than two years of declining prices.” (11/14/25)
Source: Property and Environment Research Center
by staff
“Implemented during the Biden administration, the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule was designed to help reduce conflict on federal lands and facilitate voluntary conservation. The rule identifies conservation as a valid ‘use’ of federal land under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), puts conservation on an equal footing with other uses such as grazing and energy development, and — importantly — authorizes ‘conservation leases’ as a tool to support voluntary, private investment in restoring and stewarding public lands. While PERC does not support most aspects of the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, we believe its conservation leasing provisions are worth keeping.” (11/14/25)
“Why did [Heritage Foundation president Kevin] Roberts weigh in on the Carlson-Fuentes controversy? He obviously felt he needed to express support for the right of conservatives to be conspiracy-theory antisemites — despite the fact that Heritage itself has an antisemitism task force. Unsurprisingly, many of the task force members have now resigned. Media reporting on this story has been excellent and revealing. However, I believe that much of the commentary misjudges the true nature of Heritage, portraying it as a genuine think tank that picked the wrong leader or was corrupted by MAGA. Because the truth is that Heritage has always been a fraud. It has always been a propaganda mill cosplaying as a research institution – a scam that worked for a long time.” (11/14/25)
“Through Trump’s first term and extending through the immediate aftermath of the insurrectionary riot on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, elected officials of the Republican Party would sometimes speak out harshly against him. In every case, it was figures from the GOP’s old Reaganite establishment, who would express their criticisms in the name of principles and norms that this establishment had long affirmed. In nearly every case, such defiance of Trump ended badly for the Republican officeholder. By the time Trump became his party’s nominee in 2024, expressions of opposition to him from within his own party had all but ceased. The second Trump administration has continued and even extended this obsequious passivity before the Great Leader. [Marjorie Taylor] Greene has now brought that period of reticence to an end.” (11/15/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“There are no easy fights in the struggle against the empire. Lots of losses and no clean wins. You spend years protesting the genocide in Gaza, and you get a fake, shitty ‘ceasefire’ deal that’s just designed to shut you up while Israel continues creating hell for the Palestinians and carving off more pieces of their territory. Humanity manages to avoid nuclear conflict at the most dangerous points of the Ukraine war, but the country continues getting torn apart for years in an idiotic bloodbath that could have been easily avoided with a little diplomacy and common sense. Assange gets free, but only after he agrees to plead guilty to doing journalism, and only after years of cruel treatment have made an example of him for all the world to see.” (11/16/25)
“My town, located just outside of Chicago, has been crawling with ICE agents or soldiers (the terms deserve to be used interchangeably) for weeks now. Recently, two moms, in the cold with their whistles, helped guard a crew working on a roof that was damaged by hail in a recent storm. The ICE agents/soldiers, dressed in full military kit, carrying semi-automatic weapons, and wearing ski masks to hide their identity, are patrolling in unmarked trucks — I think we all know how to spot them at this point. These people remind me of the soldiers I patrolled with in Afghanistan, only the average ICE agent has less training than the average soldier. It seems like every neighborhood in the U.S. is now subject to an armed and potentially violent confrontation with federal troops. The U.S. occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan has come full circle.” (11/14/25)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Sascha Hannig
“Communist candidate Jeanette Jara is currently leading in all polls for Chile’s upcoming Presidential election. Scheduled for November 16, 2025, Jara, former labor minister and candidate for President Gabriel Boric’s coalition, looks likely to win, having secured about 30% of the national vote. … Even so, far from turning red, Chile appears more likely to swing right. Three conservative contenders are each vying for dominance, and one of them will almost certainly capture the presidency in a runoff and secure the remaining 60% of national support …. In a vacuum of leadership and alternatives, Jara seems to have been the unifying compromise. In other words, she is the left’s survival candidate.” (11/14/25)
