“President Biden on Monday commuted the death sentences to life sentences for 37 of the 40 men who are on the federal government’s death row. Those spared include child killers and mass murderers. Ironically, 36 of those 40 sentences were under a 1994 law written by then-Senator Biden, which designated dozens of new capital offenses. Biden’s decision came two days before Christmas. While Democrats oppose the death penalty, Americans overall support the death penalty by at least a 3-to-2 margin.” [editor’s note: Then Americans are wrong by at least a 3-to-2 margin. If it’s even possible at all to have “limited government,” it’s not possible to have “limited government” AND a government power of life and death over disarmed captives. They’re opposites – TLK (12/23/24)
“Oren Cass, the head economist of Compass, had a column in the New York Times today touting Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs. The gist of the piece is that ‘free trade’ has not worked out as economists’ textbooks promised and we should look to take a different path. As someone who was very critical of the major trade deals of the last three decades, I would say that they did work out very much as the economists’ textbooks promised. But they were also not ‘free trade’ and imposing high tariffs will not help us going forward.” (12/23/24)
“It’s been quite a year. From the election to weather extremes and the pent-up outrage we saw after the violent murder of a corporate CEO, we’ve faced unprecedented challenges. We know even bigger challenges await us in the next four years. That’s why I am so grateful to every member of the People’s Action family, and for all of the ways you have joined with others this year to make this country better for us all. Thank you. In 2024, you made millions of phone calls, knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors, and held meaningful conversations all across the country with complete strangers to change hearts and minds. You elected champions from your communities to state, local and federal governments, where they will fight for regular people, no matter the odds.” (12/22/24)
“President-elect Donald Trump has vowed he will deport millions of undocumented immigrants and their family members who are U.S. citizens. It may be a great soundbite. But this action is not only an injustice; it’s bound to devastate our economy. Our economy’s problems will not go away by blaming immigrants or by claiming that by deporting them, the nation will be great again.” (12/23/24)
“The fearmongering about China is a reminder of how pernicious defining U.S. foreign policy around great power rivalry can be. The threats against Panama show how Trump’s crude imperialism and the pursuit of rivalry with China reinforce each other. Trump assumes that the U.S. is always being ‘ripped off,’ and he believes that the answer to this is to steal from other countries. If he thinks another country is getting too close to a rival, he wants the U.S. to ‘solve’ that by threatening to steal some of their territory. Trump sees weaker countries in our hemisphere that he wants to dictate terms to, and rivalry with China provides him with the excuse for threatening them.” (12/23/24)
“As a physician deeply committed to improving the health of our nation, I have seen firsthand the challenges that plague our health care system. I wrote about these in Make America Healthy Again back in 2020. Sadly, we are worse off now than we were then. The new presidential administration has an opportunity to enact meaningful reforms that prioritize patient care, personal responsibility and the strength of American innovation. Here are five essential steps the administration should take to make America healthy again: 1) Promote Free Market Principles in Health Care … 2} Combat the Chronic Disease Epidemic … 3) Empower States to Innovate … 4) Restore the Doctor-Patient Relationship … 5) Ensure a Secure Pharmaceutical Supply Chain …” (12/23/24)
“If you live in Ukraine today, checking the news is your morning routine. You have to understand what is going on — how can you not? You have to understand which direction the drones are flying from, whether it is dangerous to go outside. If you want to protect yourself, you have to constantly monitor the situation. When the air raid alarm goes off, immediately everyone’s phones in the office start howling. Everyone has the alerts set up. The Russians have gotten more sophisticated with the air raids. … On the one hand, in Kyiv, the sheer number of drones — sometimes 150 per attack — makes it impossible to intercept them all. On the other hand, the cities closer to the front, like Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv, are simply defenseless.” (12/23/24)
“President-elect Donald Trump’s lawsuit against veteran pollster J. Ann Selzer for an off-target poll released just before last month’s election may be the first of its kind in a modern U.S. presidential election. In researching my book, ‘Lost in a Gallup,’ a narrative history of prominent polling failures in presidential elections since 1936, I uncovered nothing akin to Trump’s litigation, which accuses Selzer of ‘brazen election interference.’ The lawsuit may not survive what are likely to be sharp legal challenges. But its apparent unprecedented nature could have an uneasy effect on pollsters, given their checkered record of accuracy. It is not difficult to imagine their wariness and caution should pollsters face the risk of legal action when pre-election surveys go sideways.” (12/23/24)
