“One interesting source of efficiency is removing unnecessary steps in the production process. For example, in an assembly line, if you raise the conveyor belt, the workers will not have to bend and lift objects. Modern writers often use scare quotes to describe ‘scientific management’ or ‘Taylorism,’ creating the impression that time-and-motion studies were instruments of oppression aimed at individual workers. But from Potter I learned that time-and-motion studies were used to discover ways to improve manufacturing processes. Raising the height of the conveyor belt is an example of scientific management that is a win-win for workers and for the manufacturer.” (12/19/25)
“Trump did not oppose the Iraq War at the time, but he did present himself as a critic after it went south. His most consistent reason for his opposition was that America had failed to seize Iraq’s oil, despite the fact that doing so would have been a war crime. … Trump has long benefited from his contrast with the second Bush administration’s failed experiments with nation building. He has dismissed his Republican critics as neoconservatives, and some left-wing populists credit him for moving his party away from Bush-style interventionism. Yet Trump’s saber-rattling against Venezuela confirms that his argument with neoconservatism was never about the hubris of exporting democracy or a faith in pacifistic leadership. Trump’s main complaint about Bush was that he squandered an opportunity to enrich the U.S. by caring too much about international law and the dignity of the Iraqi people.” (12/19/25)
“President Trump is rightfully angry that some of his top choices for U.S. attorneys in Democrat-controlled states are being blocked by Democrats and their leftist allies in the judicial branch. But the recent attacks from some supporters of the president against Sen. Chuck Grassley, Trump’s most effective ally in the Senate, are misplaced. To start, remember who Grassley is. He’s a dignified statesman but also a shrewd legislator, fearless investigator and Senate workhorse. He doesn’t chase the limelight but quietly puts one win after the other on the scoreboard for Trump and his MAGA agenda. This isn’t bluster. Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices, and two were carried squarely on the shoulders of Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.” (12/19/25)
“Funerals were held Saturday in northern Gaza for six people, including children, massacred the previous day by Israeli tank fire during a wedding celebration at a school sheltering displaced people, as the number of Palestinians killed during the tenuous 10-week ceasefire rose to over 400. On Friday, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank blasted the second floor of the Gaza Martyrs School, which was housing Palestinians displaced by the two-year war on Gaza in the al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City. Al Jazeera and other news outlets reported that the attack occurred while people were celebrating a wedding. Al-Shifa Hospital director Mohammed Abou Salmiya said those slain included a 4-month-old infant, a 14-year-old girl, and two women. At least five others were injured in the attack.” (12/20/25)
SourceS: Responsible Statecraft
by Stavroula Pabst
“By leveraging the dual-use nature of many of their products, where defense technologies can be integrated into the commercial sector and vice versa, Pentagon contractors like Palantir, Skydio, and General Atomics have gained ground at home for surveillance technologies — especially drones — proliferating war-tested military tech within the domestic sphere.” (12/19/25)
“Since Jeffrey Epstein’s second arrest in 2019, the Clintons have spent considerable effort distancing themselves from the enigmatic financier, and they are currently fending off House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, who threatened contempt proceedings after the political power couple refused to testify this week regarding their relationship to Epstein. … Yet as Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign ramped up, it was Epstein looking to duck the Clintons. Epstein was facing increasingly dire legal consequences in South Florida, stemming from his years-long sexual exploitation of young women and girls. The glare of a presidential campaign risked unraveling what Epstein and his friend and ally Ghislaine Maxwell had so effectively constructed over the years, as they were increasingly associated with the spectacle of ‘Clintonworld.'” (12/19/25)
“Signing a ceasefire deal before the cameras is usually just the beginning. Changing the realities on the ground — and getting combatants to lay down their weapons — requires a more sustained level of follow-through and commitment. It’s a lesson to keep in mind as Trump aims for what would be the grandest peace deal of all: an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to end the war about to enter its fourth bloody year. The Ukraine war is itself the product of entering into flimsy peace agreements and not following through.” (12/19/25)
“On 16 December, 2025, President Donald Trump announced what he called ‘a total and complete blockade’ of oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela. Delivered via his personal media platform, the statement was sweeping in its implications. Trump declared that Venezuela was ‘completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America’, and he made clear this would not end until all Venezuelan ‘oil, land, and other assets’ were returned to the United States. But beneath the dramatic language lies a far more dangerous truth: this action marks a breach of US constitutional limits, a perilous expansion of executive authority, and a break with both legal precedent and historical norms of dispute resolution. At its core, this naval blockade (undeclared, unauthorized, and now operational) poses a direct challenge to the War Powers Resolution, a congressional statute designed specifically to prevent precisely this kind of unilateral military escalation.” (12/20/25)
Source: Independent Institute
by Matthew B Crawford
“However, the ownership of Warner Bros. shakes out, it is worth thinking about the intuitions that caused people in the film and television business to freak out about the prospect of Netflix taking over a major studio. Last Thursday, a group of top film producers and other industry players sent a joint letter to congressional representatives, urging them to block the deal. It was published anonymously for fear of retaliation by Netflix and expressed skepticism that films produced under Netflix would continue to be released in theatres, despite Netflix’s assurances. The film industry group pointed out that Netflix’s incentives are such that they do not want people sitting in theatres, as this represents time not spent on the platform. The industry letter suggests the whole ecosystem of Hollywood would be put at risk with this deal, and the survival of an art form would be put in doubt.” (12/19/25)
