“Readers might assume that, if forced to choose which U.S. policy shift was the year’s most important, I’d quickly blurt out ‘tariffs’ (before collapsing into a quivering heap), and—given the radical changes Trump has unilaterally and chaotically implemented in 2025—there are certainly good reasons for that choice. Yet there’s another, less-discussed policy change that could very well be more consequential over the long term—and one that, unlike tariffs, represents a truly radical break from how the United States has done business for a century: the Trump administration’s repeated efforts to give Uncle Sam a direct and permanent financial stake in numerous private, commercial companies.” (12/17/25)
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Jacob Gaba
“Last year, the Satanic Temple of New Hampshire put up a Baphomet statue (a part-human, part-goat satanic deity) in front of the State House in Concord. People vandalized it and knocked off its head. Concord vowed to review its policies after its mayor described the statue as ‘deliberately provocative and disturbing.’ That raised major constitutional concerns. FIRE wrote to Concord, arguing that the government could not discriminate against disfavored displays. In a victory for free speech, Concord kept the statue and arrested the perpetrators. This year, despite questions from public officials, Baphomet is back up in front of the State House. New Hampshire’s backing of the Satanic Temple’s right to display its religious symbol illustrates a core First Amendment principle: When the government invites private holiday displays, the First Amendment bars viewpoint discrimination.” (12/18/25)
“China may well become the singular Olympus that all mere mortals look up to, but so long as this Olympus is home to Ogres it will struggle to compel the allegiance of the wider world.” (12/18/25)
“As a nation of immigrants, the United States long has dealt with the phenomenon of ‘hyphenated Americans,’ people who retained some affection and even loyalty to their ancestral homeland. This phenomenon wasn’t much of a problem in the 19th century, since Washington generally avoided overseas misadventures. The Mexican–American War and Spanish–American War reflected imperialist expansion rather than ancestral politics. However, that changed with World War I, when one-third of Americans had at least one foreign-born parent, mostly from Europe. As the conflict raged, Theodore Roosevelt insisted that real Americans could only support the U.S. … That Sen. [Andy] Kim presumably feels affection for his parents’ birthplace is unexceptional. … However, so-called hyphenated Americans should abandon the interests of the old world even as they celebrate continuing family and cultural ties. Legislators, especially, should leave their ethnic backgrounds outside the Capitol when they vote.” (12/18/25)
“As the Trump Administration continues to kill so-called Venezuelan ‘narco terrorists’ through ‘non-international armed conflict’ (whatever that means), it is clear it is doing so without Congressional authorization and in defiance of international law. Perhaps worse, through these actions, the administration is demonstrating wanton disregard for centuries of Western battlefield precedent, customs, and traditions that righteously seek to preserve as many lives during war as possible. Continuing down this path will not only be a stain on our national honor that will spread like spilled ink, but will also ensure reciprocal treatment of our troops.” (12/18/25)
“President Donald Trump’s newly released National Security Strategy breaks the mold of White House strategy documents being a product of an elite policy consensus. From the outset, the document declares that America’s foreign-policy establishment ‘went astray’, overextending the nation abroad and ignoring the wishes and instincts of ordinary citizens. The document presents its ‘America First’ approach as a strategy grounded in the will of We the People. Conveniently, we now have a clear picture of what the American people actually think when it comes to our most pressing national security challenges. Our Reagan National Defense Survey, released just days before the strategy, offers one of the clearest assessments of public attitudes toward national defense, foreign policy, allies and adversaries.” (12/18/25)
“‘The Fairness Doctrine was controversial and led to lawsuits throughout the 1960s and ’70s that argued it infringed upon the freedom of the press,’ explained FCC commissioner Ajit Pai for the Wall Street Journal, in an op-ed I quoted yesterday. ‘The FCC finally stopped enforcing the policy in 1987, acknowledging that it did not serve the public interest.’ … Thankfully, this is old news. The former FCC commissioner’s piece was actually published nearly twelve years ago. Mr. Pai has since moved on to the private sector, in April becoming President and CEO of CTIA, the wireless industry trade association. We can breathe a sigh of relief. The FCC is not planning on regulating the news for biased content. Well, supposedly, anyway.” (12/18/25)
“In the closing days of 2025, the White House turned an opioid crisis into a national security drama. Standing in the Oval Office during a Mexican Border Defense Medal ceremony on December 15, President Donald Trump declared that he would sign an executive order to classify fentanyl as a ‘weapon of mass destruction,’ calling the announcement ‘historic.’ Treating a synthetic painkiller like a nuclear bomb says more about Washington’s mindset than about the drug. Though drug overdose deaths declined in 2024, 80,391 people still died and 54,743 of those deaths were from opioids. Those numbers mark a public‑health emergency. Rather than tackle fentanyl abuse as a medical or social problem, the administration reframed it as an existential threat requiring military tools. Labeling a narcotic a WMD creates a pretext for war and sidesteps due process.” (12/18/25)
“Shoppers are filling their carts, both literally and digitally, with last-minute gifts. One tempting purchase, whether for gifting or for showing up in style at a holiday sweater party, is ultra-cheap clothing from Shein. Like many around the world, the French hunt for deals in December. During a recent interview with journalist Thomas Mahler, I learned that fast fashion has become a political flashpoint in France, the country known for haute couture. French lawmakers are considering measures aimed at threatening the economic viability of Shein, the Chinese company that dominates ultra-cheap clothing globally. Millions of French consumers shop through Shein regularly. Mahler asked me: Can politicians persuade consumers to buy domestically-made clothes instead, in a country with a proud tradition in domestic fashion? My reply was that this dilemma extends beyond France.” (12/18/25)
“Last week, Sen. Charles Schumer, the leader of the Democrats in the United States Senate, introduced a resolution on behalf of himself and 40 other Senate Democrats that, if passed, would record the sense of the Senate as condemning the media superstar Tucker Carlson because of the political, historical and cultural opinions of a guest on Carlson’s podcast. You read that correctly: The U.S. Senate is being asked to condemn Carlson because of what someone else said. Here is the back story.” (12/18/25)
