Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Willliamson

“Donald Trump is, from time to time, ungracious on social media. Republicans who accepted, justified, and celebrated outrage after outrage after outrage from Donald Trump for a decade — from ‘grab ’em’ to endless constant lies to gross corruption to illegal deportations to mass murder in the Caribbean to the attempted coup of 2021 and much more — have decided to draw the line at mocking the murder of the Reiners? That doesn’t mean that Republicans have rediscovered decency or their spines — it only means that Trump is starting to quack like a lame duck.” (12/17/25)

https://thedispatch.com/article/rob-reiner-death-trump-republicans-sycophants/

Source: Town Hall
by US Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)

“The Federal Reserve is one of the most powerful, secretive, and unaccountable institutions in U.S. history. Its insulation from oversight, combined with its massive coffers and strong statutory authorities, makes it a uniquely troubling institution. To give you an idea of just how powerful the Fed is, in 2018, Forbes ranked Jerome Powell, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, as the 11th most powerful person in the world, ahead of the prime ministers of France and the United Kingdom. Earnest oversight is long overdue. Current law prohibits the Government Accountability Office from auditing the Fed’s vast monetary policy functions, and the Fed’s Inspector General serves at the pleasure of the Fed Board of Governors, the very institution it’s supposed to hold accountable. This summer, I began investigating the Fed.” (12/17/25)

https://townhall.com/columnists/senatorrandpaul/2025/12/17/the-corruption-of-the-federal-reserve-n2667994

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Scott

“When I was at school, learning about the privatization waves of the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, my teacher made a comparison between our own fortunes in Britain, and those of our North Sea neighbors in Norway, that stuck with me. In Britain, we used the proceeds from re-privatizing key industries like British Petroleum to fund the tax cuts that were considered necessary to revitalize the economy. The story is well-told: by liberalizing the economy, the initial shortfall in direct income would be offset in the short-term and exceeded in the long-term from the proceeds of an energetic private sector, and a free-market economy would provide the future prosperity, built on a broad and reliable tax base, necessary to keep Britain afloat. In Norway, on the other hand, such future prosperity was secured in a different way: through a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF).” (12/17/25)

https://fee.org/articles/sovereign-wealth-funds-and-the-west/

Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Sarah McLaughlin

“The result press freedom and human rights advocates feared has arrived: 78-year-old media tycoon, Chinese Communist Party critic, and Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai was found guilty in Hong Kong this week. After five years in detention, much of it in solitary confinement, a West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court found him guilty of sedition and collusion with foreign forces on Monday morning. He will be sentenced at a later date. Lai, who has suffered deteriorating health amidst his detainment, may very well die in prison. It’s a page straight out of the authoritarian playbook: Censorship after a crisis to protect the interests of the state from the fallout. Unfortunately, authorities in Hong Kong are not straying away from this strategy.” (12/17/25)

https://www.thefire.org/news/blogs/free-speech-dispatch/repression-deepens-hong-kong-jimmy-lais-guilty-verdict-and

Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff

“Many Americans feel buffeted by a cycle of tit-for-tat political rhetoric, whipsaw policymaking, and norms breaking. A recent poll found that 82% of voters believe the way people talk about politics contributes to violence. Only one-third say it is possible to lower the temperature on political rhetoric. Yet, in recent weeks, more voices are calling for civic civility. They are based on a mix of political principles as well as moral and religious values. On Dec. 9, for example, two governors – a Democrat and a Republican – clasped hands after modeling respectful political dialogue at the National Cathedral in Washington. Democrat Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Republican Spencer Cox of Utah both often share how their faith traditions imbue their public service. Speaking to The Washington Post, Mr. Cox noted, ‘Bridge-building is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It takes … strong faith and strong courage’.” (12/16/25)

https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/1216/An-America-yearning-for-the-sacred-in-civic-life

Source: Law & Liberty
by Juliana Geran Pilon

“Western civilization is inconceivable without the biblical proposition that all humans were created in God’s image (Tzelem Elokim [צֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים] in Hebrew; imago Dei in Latin). But over time, paradoxically, the idea turned humanity against its own Maker. So argues Tomer Persico of the Shalom Hartman Institute in his ambitiously titled In God’s Image: How Western Civilization Was Shaped by a Revolutionary Idea, recently translated from the 2021 Hebrew version.” (12/17/25)

https://lawliberty.org/book-review/a-story-of-liberal-deicide/