Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Lucas Sylveira de Campos Mouawad
“President Donald Trump created new tariffs on April 2, a day he would come to call the Liberation Day. In July, he decided to increase tariff rates. On November 20, the same decided to pull 10 percent of the tariff he had imposed on Brazilian goods entering the US economy, leaving the rate at 40 percent. Brazil is the greatest coffee producer and exporter in the world, and its coffee used to represent one-third of what the United States of America consumed. With the tariffs imposed in April, prices rose rapidly and consumers in the US felt unsatisfied with the quality of product they had been getting, and — in case they wanted the same type of coffee they had been getting before Liberation Day — they would have to pay more for the same.” (12/22/25)
“If there’s one problem facing the story of renewable energy among American progressives, it is the grimness of the vibe. Renewables, as the story goes, are necessary to fight climate change, save the planet, and do our duty to our fellow living creatures. These things are, of course, all true. But the delivery feels like urging people to eat their vegetables. Yes, it will be good for you and will create new jobs, but any sense of green energy making life better and more exciting feels out of reach. … what if that story was wrong and renewable energy isn’t just a righteous yet painful solution to our problems? What if it was the herald of the greatest revolution in energy since the steam engine?” (12/22/25)
“Marcionism was an early Christian movement founded by Marcion of Sinope in the second century AD. Marcion taught that the God of the Old Testament — a deity focused on law and judgment — was entirely separate from and inferior to the God of the New Testament revealed by Jesus. Marcion not only rejected the Old Testament entirely but also created his own biblical canon, consisting of edited versions of Luke’s Gospel and ten of Paul’s letters. Crucially, he removed what he saw as Jewish influences. Early, mainstream Christians declared the sect heretical. Still, Marcionism remained influential for several centuries and ultimately pushed the Church to define its own scriptural canon and theological boundaries more formally. Marcionism is back — with an attitude.” (12/22/25)
“Earlier this month, the Trump administration released its new National Security Strategy, or NSS. Normally, such documents are poor predictors of what’s likely to happen in the real world. They are more like branding tools that communicate the attitudes of a given administration while rarely offering a detailed or accurate picture of its likely policies. The reason documents like the NSS are of limited import is simple enough: foreign and military policies aren’t set by documents but by power and ideology. Typically enough, the current U.S. approach to the world flows from struggles among representatives of contending interest groups, some of which, like the military-industrial complex (MIC), have a significant advantage in the fight.” (12/21/25)
“A Chinese billionaire tried. Give him that. But do we have to like what he was up to? The trier in question is fantasy video-game mogul Xu Bo, and The Wall Street Journal reports that he is trying to gain a foothold in the United States in a somewhat novel way … for a rich man, anyway. He’s fathering children in America. Many children. And by non-wives who are under surrogacy contracts to bear his children for him. … it’s a trend that the Chinese super-wealthy are taking advantage of. What advantage? Birthright citizenship: ‘Babies born via surrogacy in the U.S. are U.S. citizens by virtue of the 14th Amendment.'” (12/22/25)
“Social media has radically transformed not only the means of communication but also the very fabric of our daily lives. It has reshaped how we think, how we evaluate information, and whom we choose to trust. Instead of fostering informed dialogue, it has turned medical science into a contentious battleground where opinions clash and algorithms amplify the most extreme and polarizing voices, often sidelining more measured perspectives. Yet, amid the cacophony, there are invaluable elements that have emerged. Like medicine itself, social media encompasses a spectrum of experiences: the good, the bad, and the ugly.” (12/22/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The dumbest thing we are being asked to believe today is that pro-Palestinian protests caused the Bondi shooting. It’s self-evidently moronic. No one sincerely believes it. They’re just pretending to believe it to get protests banned and criticism of Israel outlawed. Nobody actually believes pro-Palestine protests caused the Bondi shooting. They’re just pretending to believe that to promote the interests of a genocidal apartheid state. Nobody actually believes ‘globalize the intifada’ means ‘kill all Jews.’ They’re just pretending to believe that to promote the interests of a genocidal apartheid state. Nobody actually believes pro-Palestine demonstrations are ‘hate marches’ or that pro-Palestine speech is ‘hate speech.’ They’re just pretending to believe that to promote the interests of a genocidal apartheid state.” (12/22/25)
Source: Washington Post
by US Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) & US Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
“In the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Biden administration gave Congress its assessment of Ukraine’s ability to hold back Russian forces. The projection was bleak. Kyiv, they said, would fall in weeks, if not sooner. … Instead, Ukraine successfully confined Russia’s troops to the far east of their country, where Russia has tried to steal territory since 2015. After almost four years of fighting, Russia has lost about a third of its strategic bombers, and it continues to lose equipment at significantly higher rates than Ukraine. It is Russia that has borne more than 1 million casualties, dead and wounded, in grinding battles of its own making. Pundits who predicted a quick Ukrainian defeat were wrong in 2022, and they are wrong today.” (12/22/25)
“Being the editor of Law & Liberty affords me more time than most to ponder the relationship between freedom and responsibility. It is, after all, sort of our thing. And sometimes you can’t help but see the question everywhere. That was the case for me when watching the Christmas classic Home Alone with my kids. They love it for the slapstick humor (okay — I love it for that, too). But like most John Hughes endeavors, it also has a little more depth than it initially lets on.” (12/22/25)
“Christmas is a time for watching movies. Every year, television schedules are packed with holiday classics, and the internet is awash with lists of the greatest festive features — from It’s a Wonderful Life to The Muppet Christmas Carol. Occasionally, some unconventional choices slip through, like Terry Gilliam’s dystopian comedy Brazil (which features a memorable cameo from Santa Claus) and Stanley Kubrick’s erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut (which includes Christmas trees and fairy lights in almost every scene). But one classic film is never mentioned in the Christmas movie conversation: Psycho.” (12/22/25)
