“Second-wave feminism of the worst sort is alive and well in Britain, apparently. The United Kingdom is on its way to criminalizing depictions of choking during sex, in a move it describes as boosting ‘protection for women and girls.’ The ban wouldn’t just apply to disturbing or publishing such porn, but also possessing it. It also wouldn’t matter if the images were AI-generated. Proponents of the law suggest the mere existence of choking porn harms women, even when it’s created consensually between adults and even though many women enjoy ‘breath play’ like light strangulation or suffocation during sex. In the name of ‘protection,’ the U.K. government wants to control what women can look at, create, and do with their bodies. Cool, cool, cool.” (11/12/25)
“A few short weeks ago, people who largely represented one political faction were protesting for ‘No Kings.’ Then, too many of those from the very same faction in New York City did a flip-flop and voted for a man who promises to act exactly like a king. During his election night victory speech, New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said, ‘We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.’ This is real-world king-level stuff. His supporters didn’t notice the contradiction within themselves, but were thrilled at the prospect. Politics makes people stupid. Apparently, those voters aren’t opposed to kings at all. They just don’t like Donald Trump being the president. Who knew? All of us did.” (11/12/25)
“This year’s Nobel Prize laureate has spent much of her time recently in the U.S. lobbying policymakers to squeeze Maduro into vacating power. Constantly at risk of detention in her own country, [María Corina] Machado is granting interviews and dialing into conferences to advocate for regime change. Her talking points are clearly tailored for the Trump administration: Maduro is the head of a drug cartel that is poisoning Americans; his dictatorship rests on weak pillars; and the forces of democracy inside Venezuela are fully prepared to seize the mantle once Maduro is gone. … But as the old saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. While there’s no disputing that Maduro is a despot and a fraud who steals elections, U.S. policymakers can’t simply take what Machado is saying for granted.” (11/12/25)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“Though there is consensus in both the EU and US that clock-changing is a damaging and outdated practice, the debate about whether to adopt ST or DST permanently continues. Perhaps Franklin had the right answer two-and-a-half centuries ago: go to bed when it’s dark and rise with the sun, regardless of the arbitrarily-assigned hour. All governments have to do is supply the cannons needed to encourage this.” (11/12/25)
“Next month, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr will testify before the Senate Commerce Committee over his role in browbeating ABC into briefly suspending late-night ‘comedian’ Jimmy Kimmel. After Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Kimmel made stupid and insensitive comments that prompted Carr to wade into the fray, threatening to use his regulatory power to punish the TV host and his network. That prompted bipartisan condemnation of government interference and the upcoming Senate hearing. Now, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) wants to go further, suggesting five legal changes to make censorship by government officials more difficult.” (11/12/25)
“Were Milei’s radical reforms saved at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer? Bessant was asked this, yesterday, directly on MSNBC, and had a response: ‘Do you know what a swap line is?’ I had to brush up on it. … A currency swap is a financial agreement between two parties to exchange principal amounts and interest payments in different currencies over a set period — a temporary loan in one currency backed by collateral in another, designed to provide liquidity, hedge exchange rate risks, or access cheaper funding without the full risks of outright borrowing. ‘In most bailouts you don’t make money,’ Bessent said. ‘The U.S. government made money.’ In an exchange, both parties gain. But in any exchange involving extended spans of time, there is risk, so any initial win for Treasury could be wasted by a failure of Milei’s course.” (11/12/25)
“Regardless of who or what political party is in power, the untouchable layer does not seem to change much, from marble-walled compounds in Dubai or Bahrain to gilded palaces in Palm Springs — and a billionaire’s private island where other billionaires visit and do whatever they want, no matter whom they hurt. Untouchables enrich one another, protect one another’s power and keep each others’ secrets. At this societal layer, Democratic and Republican parties become irrelevant, and debate is merely theater. There is only one party, and we are not in it. … President Trump promised full disclosures and investigations into Epstein, then backtracked on his promise.” (11/12/25)
“Rural voters may be disproportionately dependent on certain kinds of government services, and their families often depend on income and benefits associated with government employment, but they are not left-wing radicals either as a matter of policy preference or as a matter of temperament. … Trump did not run in those counties as a socialist talking about income redistribution and intersectionality: He ran as a guy bitching about high prices at the grocery store. Rural America listened. And Trump, being Trump, has repaid rural America for its support by screwing over America’s farmers …. There are votes there in the countryside to be had by those willing to fight for them — they probably should not send the incoming mayor of New York City to do the asking, but one would think that would be obvious enough even for Democrats.” (11/12/25)
