Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“A popular belief among statists is that a powerful military equals a powerful nation. Actually, it’s the opposite. A powerful military equals a weak nation, and a weak military equals a powerful nation. The Americans who founded the United States understood this principle well. They were fiercely opposed to a powerful military, which they referred to as a ‘standing army.’ So did their successors, for some 150 years. From 1789, when the Constitution went into effect, through most of the 19th century, through the early part of the 20th century, our American ancestors had a system of government that entailed a small and weak military force. The result was the most powerful nation in history.” (12/15/25)
“Nearly 175 years later, Bastiat’s cautionary tale provides a window into the fallacy that lies at the heart of today’s trade war: the myth that destruction creates wealth – that breaking trade deals and global supply chains, like breaking windows, is a secret recipe for prosperity. Like the mayor in Bastiat’s tale, President Trump is a slick politician and a masterful spin artist. He’s exceptional at portraying his policy’s ‘success’ by focusing our attention squarely on its visible beneficiaries. That’s why he often unveils his latest tariffs in made-for-TV spectacles where he’s encircled by jubilant workers at revived factories that directly benefit from his protectionist policies. Thankfully, Bastiat’s parable exposes this clever marketing ploy for what it is: cheap sophistry.” (12/15/250
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Two shooters attacked a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach on Sunday, killing fifteen people and injuring dozens of others. Police report that the shooters were a father and his son; the father was killed by police, and the son was captured. The shooters appear to have been Muslim, but, much to the inconvenience of those who would like to use this incident to fan the flames of western Islamophobic hysteria, the man who selflessly risked his life to disarm one of them was also a Muslim father of two named Ahmed al-Ahmed. As usual we’re seeing a lot of speculation about false flags and psyops regarding this incident, but I prefer to hang back from such commentary until I’ve seen some solid evidence. I do have some thoughts about the public discourse we are seeing about the shooting right now, though.” (12/15/25)
“Last week, the U.S. Senate rejected two health care bills intended to resolve the impasse over COVID-19–era Affordable Care Act (ACA), a.k.a. Obamacare, subsidies and, to one extent or another, concerns over the cost of medical coverage. Both were blocked by the near impossibility of advancing anything in that body without 60 votes in support. The Democrat-sponsored legislation would have kicked the can down the road on Obamacare plans’ inherent flaws by extending ‘temporary’ subsidies for another three years. The Republican bill was a more serious effort that would bring some reform to the system by expanding Americans’ access to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). But neither is going anywhere right now. Maybe that’s for the best. Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) proposes better legislation that expands Americans’ access to HSAs and to group health plans offered by all sorts of organizations across state lines.” (12/15/25)
“One of the great mysteries about the rise of populism, in both the United States and Europe, is why it has benefited the political right so much more than the left. For years, American progressives have been trying to get people worked up over rising rates of economic inequality, with the expectation that this anger could fuel greater support for the Democratic Party. Yet the electoral fruits of this effort have been pretty much nonexistent. … The problem stems from a failure to grasp the psychology underlying populism. Broadly speaking, populism today is a revolt against cognitive elites, not economic elites. Its centerpiece is the affirmation of common sense over the fancy theories favored by intellectuals. … Populism is popular because it speaks to voters in concrete terms and tells them that their first instincts — about economics and more — are correct.” (12/15/25)
Source: Brennan Center for Justice
by Michael Waldman
“The 2026 election will take place in a political system that is divided, discordant, flagrantly gerrymandered, and marked by widening racial discrimination. Thank Chief Justice John Roberts and his colleagues on the Supreme Court. And the supermajority of highly activist justices seems poised, even eager, to make things appreciably worse. In 2019, in Rucho v. Common Cause, the Court refused to adopt any standard to police partisan gerrymandering, and it even prevented federal courts from hearing that claim. Fast-forward through a census, six years of line-drawing, and a flurry of lawsuits, and predictably, our democracy has become much less fair. Redistricting is supposed to take place once a decade, after the census. In fact, that’s why the census is written into the Constitution. But earlier this year, Texas abruptly drew new congressional maps in a gambit to squeeze out five extra seats for Republicans.” (12/15/25)
“The end of the Cold War ushered in a long period of make-believe in American foreign policy. We saw ourselves, in the words of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, as ‘the indispensable power. We stand tall. We see farther into the future.’ And we could use our unmatched abilities to transform the world in unprecedented ways. … Things obviously did not go as planned. President Trump’s new National Security Strategy says goodbye to such magical thinking.” (12/15/25)
“California used to be the place where people went to chase dreams. Today, it’s the place where fiscal discipline goes to die. The Golden State, which is home to Hollywood glitz, Silicon Valley billionaires and the highest state taxes in America, is broke again. It’s staring down another multibillion-dollar deficit that exposes just how unstable and dysfunctional its financial model has become. In short, the Golden State isn’t so golden anymore. For years, politicians like Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom have insisted that California is the shining example of fiscal sensibility that America should follow. But when you peel back the layers, what you really find is a state government that can’t stop spending, can’t plan for the future and is now caught in a structural budget crisis of its own making.” (12/15/25)
“DOGE fell victim to the absurdly unrealistic standards set by its leaders. Elon Musk originally pledged that his administrative actions to slash government waste could immediately save $2 trillion out of a $7 trillion federal budget. As Musk familiarized himself with basic federal budgeting, he quickly reduced his target to $1 trillion and then $150 billion. These ambitious goals reflected the long-held conservative fantasy that budget deficits are driven primarily by obvious waste, fraud, and abuse that any competent business leader could simply zero out, saving trillions of dollars. … DOGE’s failure was entirely predictable to anyone with a baseline understanding of the federal budget, public administration, or basic politics.” (12/15/25)
“I write this from the front of a Columbia classroom in which about 60 first-year college students are taking the final exam for Frontiers of Science. Yes, it’s a Sunday, but the class is required of all Columbia College students and so having the exam on the weekend ensures that there won’t be conflicts with the exams for other courses they are taking. The 60 students in my classroom are a fraction of the nearly 740 taking the course this semester. The exam began at 2 pm, less than 24 hours after the shooting at Brown University, and just hours after many of us learned about the shooting in Sydney, Australia. Given these devastating events, I offered this morning that anyone who was adversely affected could take the exam later in the week …” (12/15/25)
