Source: United Press International
“Swiss voters have rejected a tax on ultra wealthy residents and turned down a proposal to extend mandatory military service to women, initial poll results showed Sunday. Nearly 85% of voters rejected military or civic service for females, and 79% voted against a 50% inheritance tax for the most wealthy Swiss.” (11/30/25)
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“What work does democratic perform in the phrase democratic socialism? It’s a fig leaf intended to conceal what would presumably be repugnant to most people: the coercive regimentation inherent in socialism, whether international (Marxist) or national (fascist). Socialism has a nasty record dating back to 1917, so socialists have felt compelled to clean up its image. Democracy is supposed to do the cleaning up. But does it? Could it? Before we get to that, we should remind ourselves that no single conception of socialism exists.” (11/28/25)
https://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2025/11/tgif-socialism-with-fig-leaf.html
Source: CBS News
“Despite wider economic uncertainty hovering above this year’s holiday season, shoppers turned out in big numbers for Black Friday — spending billions of dollars both in stores and online. Adobe Analytics, which tracks e-commerce, said U.S. consumers spent a record $11.8 billion online Friday, marking a 9.1% jump from last year. It was a slight increase from the company’s spending estimate of $11.7 billion.” (11/29/25)
Source: The Bulwark
by Mona Charen
“To be unmasked as an Epstein crony is about the most embarrassing revelation for a public figure one can imagine at this moment, and sure enough, former treasury secretary and Harvard president Larry Summers, who exchanged scores of emails with the convicted pedophile, has seen his reputation shredded. … Summers has withdrawn from the Center for American Progress, the Yale Budget Lab, the board of directors of Open AI, the Center for Global Development, the Brookings Institution, and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and has taken a leave of absence from Harvard. … Why has there been no similar accountability for another of Epstein’s pen pals — Steve Bannon?” (11/30/25)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/steve-bannon-jeffrey-epstein-comeback-consultant
Source: USA Today
“President Donald Trump is issuing a warning to avoid Venezuelan airspace as his administration is ramping up its strikes against drug trafficking organizations. In a Nov. 29 post on social media, the president told ‘all airlines, pilots, drug dealers and human traffickers,” to keep clear of the flying areas ‘above and surrounding’ the South American country as he contemplates land strikes. Tensions are rising in the region as observers suspect the Trump administration may [attempt to] topple Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro …. The U.S. positioned its largest aircraft carrier, two guided missile destroyers, and a special operations ship near Venezuela and around 12,000 troops are stationed in the area.” (11/29/25)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/11/29/trump-venezuela-airspace/87525104007/
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“The first lesson was that Ukraine was stronger than Russian or American authorities expected. Most commenters expected Russia to win rapidly, not unreasonable given the relative size of the two countries’ population and economies. They didn’t. It took longer to learn but the second lesson was that so was Russia. Their military performance was not impressive but neither sanctions nor the cost of three and a half years of a very bloody war seems to have had much effect on the economy, the conditions for Russian civilians, or Putin’s hold on power.” (11/28/25)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/lessons-of-the-ukraine-war
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Trump has bizarrely announced that the airspace over Venezuela is ‘closed’, posting the following on Truth Social on Saturday: ‘To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.’ It isn’t even clear what precisely the president means by this. Are they about to start shooting down Venezuelan aircraft like they’ve been blowing up boats? Are they preparing for a ground invasion? Whatever it is, things are looking ugly. Washington is banging the war drums trying to justify regime change interventionism in Venezuela under the ridiculous claim that it’s about fighting drug trafficking just as Trump announces that he will pardon former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández, who the US convicted of drug trafficking charges just last year.” (12/01/25)
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Israel’s president for a pardon for bribery and fraud charges and an end to a five-year corruption trial, arguing that it would be in the ‘public interest.’ … Presidential pardons in Israel have almost never been granted before conviction, with the one notable exception of a 1986 case involving the Shin Bet security service. A pre-emptive pardon of a politician in a corruption case without an admission of guilt would be precedent-setting and highly controversial. The submission on Sunday comes weeks after Donald Trump wrote to Herzog to ask him to pardon Netanyahu, who has been on trial since 2020 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, involving alleged political favours for wealthy backers in return for gifts or positive media coverage.” (11/30/25)
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Larry Sanger on Wikipedia and how to fix it.” (11/29/25)
https://rumble.com/v72ei86-ff-393-larry-sanger-on-wikipedia-and-how-to-fix-it.html
Source: Boston Globe
by Eugene Scott
“Some liberals assume that supporters of President Trump will allow the president to get away with anything and everything. It’s a fair assumption, considering that despite his record-low approval ratings, most Republicans still look at his job performance favorably. But a new study shows that most Republican voters have little to no appetite for an authoritarian leader. Fewer than 30 percent of Republicans support giving Trump broad authority, including the power to bypass Congress, to achieve his goals, according to a report released last week from the Johns Hopkins University Agora Institute, where I am a visiting fellow. … Despite Trump and many of his most diehard supporters often proclaiming that voters gave the president a mandate to do whatever he wants by any means necessary, the data suggest that the facts couldn’t be further from the truth.” (11/29/25)