Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Cláudia Ascensão Nunes
“It is a deeply rooted belief in the Western political tradition, from Thomas Hobbes to contemporary interventionist currents, that a successful political community requires a strong central authority capable of imposing rules and guaranteeing order. According to this view, in the absence of such authority, society would inevitably collapse into chaos. History, however, offers a particularly intriguing counterexample. For nearly seven centuries, the Couto Mixto, a small microterritory composed of the villages of Santiago de Rubiás, Rubiás, and Meaus, existed along the border between Portugal and Spain without a permanent sovereign or centralized governmental authority. Despite this absence of formal state power, it developed a stable social order grounded in voluntary self-government and an extensive regime of free trade.” (01/07/26)
“It’s time to evict Cea Weaver from her new gig. Less than a week after Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed the radical-left tenant advocate to head up his Office to Protect Tenants, it’s clear that Weaver is not fit to work in city government. Besides being an avowed Communist and posting a social media call to ‘seize private property’ in 2018, the 37-year-old is also a woker-than-woke lady who clearly hates whitey — specifically, white men. According to Weaver, homeownership is a ‘weapon of white supremacy’. In a video from 2021 that’s making the rounds now, she says property should be transitioned ‘toward a model of shared equity’. She adds: ‘It will mean that families — especially white families, but some POC families — who are homeowners are, well, are gonna have a different relationship to property than the one we currently have.'” (01/07/25)
“Going downhill, like a Slinky on a staircase, the empire rolls down almost imperceptibly, until it reaches the floor and collapses in on itself. But the empire isn’t a Slinky. It is busy with class and imperial warfare, the few attacking the many in ways more numerous than a short essay can outline. Where is the resistance? Where are the unions? Even conservative Catholic, David Brooks, has called for a general strike and mass civil disobedience. It only makes sense.” (01/07/26)
“At 4:21 in the morning of January 3, U.S. President Donald Trump posted that ‘The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country.’ No one had anticipated such a military operation prior to the announcement, and no one anticipated the comments Trump would make later that morning in his press conference. The press conference, and the comments that followed shortly after, contained several shocking statements.” (01/07/26)
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Dan Grazier & Benjamin Gedan
“During the first game of the season in the second-greatest baseball movie of all time, ‘Major League,’ the character Willie Mays Hayes makes a basket catch at center field. Upon returning to the dugout, his manager shakes the outfielder’s hand and tells him, ‘Nice catch Hayes, don’t ever f&%#ing do it again!’ (‘Bull Durham’ is No. 1.) In some way, the success of Operation Absolute Resolve makes the episode more dangerous than if the mission had failed. That is because success can lead to overconfidence — and costly mistakes. In the wake of a spectacular military operation involving a lot of fancy aircraft and special forces, it is easy to start believing that warfare is nothing more than the proper application of technology. But what happened in Venezuela is the exception, not the rule.” (01/07/26)
“We are just a few weeks away from another deadline on government funding, and all sides want you to know something: This will not go the way it did the last time. Nobody wants to see a replay of the longest shutdown in American history that happened last October and November. Democrats are not going to ask for an extension of Obamacare subsidies, which ran out on December 31, as a condition of passing appropriations. (There will be a House vote on a three-year extension of the subsidies on Thursday, but that’s happening outside of the government funding process.) Republicans are going to try to negotiate appropriations bills with Democrats, rather than a unilateral demand to extend current funding. The sting of that shutdown, the subsequent Republican wipeout in special elections, and the Democratic capitulation to end the impasse have made all sides wary of disrupting the flow of government funding.” (01/07/25)
“In early 2024, Rick Doblin — the man whose work launched one of the biggest social and cultural movements of our time, ‘the Psychedelic Renaissance’ — was expecting to see the crowning achievement of his life’s mission. The non-profit he led and founded, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), had recently published the second of its Phase 3 clinical trials of the psychedelic drug MDMA, investigating its efficacy in the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The results seemed incontestable. … And then, in August 2024, ‘the FDA decision was worse than any of us [had] anticipated,’ said Doblin. It outright rejected the New Drug Application for MDMA, demanding that MAPS conduct a third Phase 3 study to gather more information, a process that would require at least three more years.” (01/07/26)
“Presidents are drawn to foreign policy in part because courts and Congress won’t constrain them as they do on domestic policy. Presidential historians love ambitious foreign policies, and rank war presidents higher than peace presidents. So it’s understandable that presidents often look to make their legacies through foreign policy. In the postwar era, though, for every Reagan, there is an LBJ, a Bush, or a Carter. The lure of foreign policy is that it promises national greatness; the peril is that the foreigners get a vote, and things may be sketchier than people tell you. To use a Trumpian metaphor, what can seem like a clear shot to the fairway can wind up in thick rough.” (01/07/26)
“Opposite errors have appeared after each of Trump’s two presidential victories. Following his surprise win in 2016, many dismissed Trumpism as an anomaly — a cultural spasm that would fade — when we were actually embarking on a genuine political realignment. After 2024, perhaps the inverse mistake was made: many assumed his second presidential victory reflected MAGA’s enduring cultural resonance, when it may instead represent the final surge of an unstable ideological coalition that has already crested. If initially there was an underestimation of Trump’s ability to tap into deep cultural currents, now there may be an overestimation of his coalition’s capacity to outlast the man himself.” (01/06/26)
“‘Are You Not Entertained?’ With the country’s economy improving and other issues losing traction with the public, Democrats are increasingly turning to the one thing lacking in Washington: impeachment. As they work to take back the House in the midterms, Democrats are again promising voters the equivalent of the Roman Games by restarting impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. For many liberal voters, impeachment has become the thrilling cage match of lawfare. Facing a challenger on the left in New York, Rep. Dan Goldman [D-NY] was the latest to dangle impeachment before his constituents. He insisted that Trump can be removed for the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. The same people who introduced what I called an abusive ‘snap impeachment’ against Trump are now suggesting that he can be impeached for an act that was previously upheld as lawful in the courts.” (01/07/25)
