Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy
“The strange new alliance between democratic socialists and nationalist populists isn’t a sign of political healing. It’s a sign that people have lost their grip on basic economics.” (12/11/25)
https://reason.com/2025/12/11/the-bipartisan-war-on-prices-is-coming-for-your-credit-card/
Source: The Bulwark
by Mona Charen
“Again and again, Trump administration goons have insisted that they are deporting only the ‘worst of the worst … rapists, savages, monsters.’ They have even — and this is one of the most vile aspects of this government — encouraged their base to revel in the misery of their victims by releasing videos lovingly dwelling on images of people being bound and frog-marched toward the planes. The videos are titled ‘ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight.’ If their intended audience experienced a tingle of pleasure, they might want to fact check the administration’s claims. A Cato Institute report based on leaked ICE information showed that 73 percent of deportees had no criminal convictions and only 5 percent had a conviction for a violent crime.” (12/11/25)
Source: Common Dreams
by Chuck Idelson
“As the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence nears, President Donald Trump’s escalating attacks on immigrants of color has made his administration the most globally racist, hostile administration for non-white immigrants in US history, on top of its aggressively implemented racist policies in the US and around the world. In the past two weeks alone, we’ve witnessed Trump’s racist rants against the Somali community in Minnesota, the freezing of all non-white asylum bids, and denial of citizenship rights for long-time legal immigrants from non-white majority nations. These come on top of the increasingly violent assaults and deportations of mostly brown and Black people, including citizens, solely based on skin color, language, and where they work. The November 26 shooting, one fatally, of two National Guard members in Washington was the pretext for the latest intensification of Trump’s anti-non-white immigrant crusade.” (12/11/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-immigration-racism
Source: The Jolly Libertarian
by Marco den Ouden
“Recently I published an overview of Eric Hoffer’s book, The True Believer. I had read the book twice before but only remembered the rough details of the book, namely that it as a study of the totalitarian mindset and the psychology of the people who are attracted to totalitarian mass movements. Given the current state of the world, the United States in particular, I wondered if MAGA was a mass movement. I also wondered about the divide in the libertarian/Objectivist world between Trump supporters and Trump opponents. Both sides observed the same facts, but each took an opposing view. Trump supporters see him as the Great Emancipator following in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln. Trump opponents see him as a clear threat to liberty bent on imposing a dictatorship in the United States. If the facts are there, why the great divide? And why the fervor over the issue?” (12/10/25)
https://jollylibertarian.blogspot.com/2025/12/maga-and-true-believer.html
Source: The Intercept
by Nick Turse
“After months of extrajudicial killings in the waters off Venezuela, the Trump administration opted instead to capture an oil tanker.” (12/10/25)
https://theintercept.com/2025/12/10/united-states-seizes-oil-tanker-venezuela/
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by David Brady, Jr.
“Today, some fans of our current administration will brow beat those with concerns over foreign policy and aid, accusing you of not being sufficiently focused on domestic issues. In a perfect world, one could stay focused on affordability (or immigration, as these brow beaters typically focus on) and other kitchen table issues. But the issue of war and peace touches every aspect of American life whether one wants to admit it or not. You should not allow gatekeepers, who selectively brow beat over foreign policy as a focus, to prevent you from caring about foreign policy.” (12/10/25)
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum
“The Justice Department recently established a ‘Second Amendment Section’ within its Civil Rights Division. On its face, that move is a welcome development for defenders of the constitutional right to armed self-defense — an impression reinforced by the alarm the new initiative has generated among gun control advocates. But the section’s mission statement raises doubts about its commitment to Second Amendment advocacy. So does the Justice Department’s (DOJ) ongoing defense of constitutionally dubious federal gun laws.” (12/10/25)
Source: The Realist Review
by James W Carden
“The reverberations from the new National Security Strategy (NSS)—published only a week ago—continue to echo throughout the trans-Atlantic national security establishment, not least due to the President’s explosive (is he capable of any other kind?) Politico interview, during which he took European leaders to task for not living up to the lofty example he, our Janus-faced Warlord and Prince of Peace, has set before them. A quick and easy measure of just how threatening the foreign policy establishment takes one or another policy can be taken by merely observing how strenuously the media attempts to link said policy to the Kremlin. And, as night follows day, attempts to portray the NSS as a Kremlin-friendly strategy commenced immediately.” (12/11/25)
https://therealistreview.substack.com/p/the-west-unique-or-universal
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Katharine Trendacosta
“The state of streaming is… bad. It’s very bad. The first step in wanting to watch anything is a web search: ‘Where can I stream X?’ Then you have to scroll past an AI summary with no answers, and then scroll past the sponsored links. After that, you find out that the thing you want to watch was made by a studio that doesn’t exist anymore or doesn’t have a streaming service. So, even though you subscribe to more streaming services than you could actually name, you will have to buy a digital copy to watch. A copy that, despite paying for it specifically, you do not actually own and might vanish in a few years. … It’s important to recognize this as we see more and more media mergers. These mergers are not about quality, they’re about control.” (12/10/25)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/12/best-big-media-merger-no-merger-all
Source: New York Post
by Karol Markowicz
“As antisemitism on college campuses remains rampant, too many administrators refuse to stamp it out — and parents of prospective students are increasingly alarmed. This week the civil-rights group StopAntisemitism released its 2025 ‘report card’ on 90 major American colleges and universities, and the results were frightening. Two years after on-campus Jew hatred exploded in the wake of Oct. 7, the review found that leadership at many American colleges still tolerate vandalism, bullying and outright violence. An appalling 16% of rated schools, including Harvard, Yale and Columbia, got F grades. For Jewish families, the concern centers on the physical safety of their children. Fully 39% of Jewish college students say they’ve had to hide their faith on campus, StopAntisemitism found. But parents of all faiths, and of no faith, must take these findings into account. … But not all schools are flailing — and those that are fighting this tide deserve applause.” (12/10/25)