Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“Developed-world consciousness is in demographic decline. If people in developed countries don’t have more babies, the developing world will inherit the earth. Does a dystopian future await?” (01/12/26)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/civilizations-silent-killer
Source: Orange County Register
by Sal Rodriguez
“In a normal world, the president and vice president would call for calm and note that proper investigations would take place. Matt Walsh would be unknown outside of crank religious right circles still fixated on “the gay agenda” or whatever. And Kristi Noem definitely would not be the head of Homeland Security and instead would have peaked with a term or two in the South Dakota House of Representatives. Alas, here we are. And it’s indeed because of the weird politics of today that Renee Good is dead.” (01/12/26)
Source: The Daily Economy
by Peter C Earle
“Meme-stock investment infusions rescued the company without redeeming its model. Did that borrowed time produce market discipline — or simply delay error correction?” (01/12/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/five-years-after-gamestop-what-the-squeeze-actually-changed/
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
“The United States decapitated the Venezuelan regime and is dictating policy in Venezuela, running the country like an American colony. But the regime remains in place. Washington has been forced to exercise its dominance overtly through thuggish economic and military coercion rather than covertly by installing the pro-U.S. opposition. There are at least four reasons for this failure. The first is past failures. Many of them.” (01/12/26)
Source: Fox News
by William Barr
“The U.S. Supreme Court, by now all too familiar with lawfare, will consider a startling case on Monday, Jan. 12, chock-full of hard politicking and even the appearance of corruption. Small bayou towns and parishes in Louisiana, in partnership with plaintiffs’ firms, have filed dozens of lawsuits blaming American energy companies for coastal erosion stemming from energy production during World War II. The first of those cases reached trial this spring, with a jury in Plaquemines Parish returning a $750 million judgment against Chevron. The conduct of these cases recalls an old problem with a clear solution. States and localities have for decades weaponized their courts to derail lawful and legitimate federal objectives. … The answer is to remove these cases from Louisiana’s courts and adjudicate them in a fairer forum, namely federal court.” (01/12/25)
Source: Students For Liberty
by Riccardo Rossi
“The tension that exists is between two classics: Adam Smith’s extent of the market, where specialization and exchange reinforce each other, because ‘the division of labor is limited by the extent of the market,’ and Alexis de Tocqueville’s art of association, where civic life survives because people learn to act together. Smith’s division of labor delivers prosperity through specialization; Tocqueville’s civic associations safeguard liberty through engagement. Yet they can pull in opposite directions: specialization isolates, and isolation weakens democracy. This is not abstract: it decides whether the West stays free or slides into a new despotism.” (01/12/26)
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser
Cartoon. (01/12/26)
Source: Popular Information
by Judd Legum
“On January 7, Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother and U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis. After her death, Good was subjected to a vicious smear campaign by the President, the Vice President, administration officials, and their allies. The baseless attacks against Good are a coordinated, brazen and callous government propaganda effort. The goal is to convince Americans to believe an official narrative over objective evidence — including video of the incident. It is an ongoing campaign to legitimize the homicide of an American based on misinformation.” (01/12/26)
Source: Washington Monthly
by Jonathan Alter
“o one can predict how the murder of Renee Good will change this country. But there’s an encouraging history of change the aftermath of certain violent and tragic events, and a poor track record for governments that shoot their own people in the streets. Even when this story is pushed out of the headlines by some new outrage, we may look back on it as the moment when Donald Trump lost his grip. Of course, the ICE story will likely get worse before it gets better. … why am I hopeful that after tensions escalate for a time, we’ll get some accountability—if not for Good’s murder, then for Trump’s efforts to establish an American police state?” (01/12/26)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/01/12/how-the-murder-of-good-changes-the-stakes-for-good/
Source: Common Dreams
by Klaus Moegling
“The beginning of 2026 falls into a period of increasing global social destruction. Multilateral institutions such as the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe OSCE are being systematically destroyed. Countries such as the US and Russia are withdrawing from these institutions or attempting to obstruct them through blocking behavior. US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are political leaders who are dismantling or destroying the remnants of democracy in their countries, increasing repressive pressure on their populations, and acting aggressively toward the outside world. They find international law rather annoying, ignore it, and develop a right-wing and authoritarian nationalism, within the framework of which the ruling circles in the US and Russia enrich themselves excessively and disregard everything that previous values in terms of decency and justice demand.” (01/12/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/2026-war-authoritarianism