Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Trump’s cynical abuse of the pardon power to reward allies or simply to enrich himself and his family is obviously corrupt, which is hardly news. But as Lord Acton knew, absolute power does not corrupt only those who wield it: It ‘corrupts absolutely’ those who are adjacent to it, who are servants of that power. It is difficult to imagine that figures such as Pete Hegseth would be doing what they are doing … without the promise of a pardon should it come to that. … Congress lately cannot manage to perform even its most basic functions, and so this is not exactly a ripe time for a constitutional amendment. But we should begin the work of converting the president’s unilateral pardon power into something less corrupting, for example by requiring that pardons be ratified by a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate — even a simple majority would be an improvement.” (12/03/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/trump-pardon-cocaine-honduras-hegseth-congress/
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“President Trump has been holding talks with top advisors this week regarding potential US attacks on Venezuela in order to bring about regime change in yet another oil-rich nation. As the western political/media class frames Venezuela’s President Maduro as a ‘dictator’ who must urgently be removed from power, it is worth noting that any US military operation to remove him would be taking place directly against the will of the American public. A recent CBS News poll found that seventy percent of Americans ‘would oppose’ the US taking military action against Venezuela. So here we have the president of a nation which calls itself a democracy, holding meetings to plan military operations which are completely and unambiguously against the wishes of the electorate, in the name of removing a dictator and spreading freedom and democracy. Interesting.” (12/03/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/12/03/worlds-most-tyrannical-government-wants-to-free-venezuela-from-tyranny/
Source: CNN
“Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information, which could have endangered American troops and mission objectives, when he used Signal in March of this year to share highly-sensitive attack plans targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to four sources familiar with the contents of a classified Inspector General report. The repercussions of Hegseth’s action, two sources told CNN, are less clear since the IG concluded that the defense secretary has the authority to declassify information and Hegseth asserted he made an operational decision in the moment to share that information, though there is no documentation of such a decision. An unclassified version of the report is set to be publicly released Thursday. The classified report was sent to Congress on Tuesday night.” (12/03/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/03/politics/report-hegseth-signal
Source: The Intercept
“Donald Scott was killed in his home by an ad hoc team of raiding cops who were looking for marijuana — but the larger prize may have been his 200-acre Malibu ranch.” (12/03/25)
https://theintercept.com/2025/12/03/collateral-damage-episode-eight-legalized-takings/
Source: The Realist Review
by James W Carden
“Who are the Good and Bad guys again?” (12/03/25)
https://therealistreview.substack.com/p/a-thought-experiment-for-pro-war
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Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“There are so many absurdities coming out of the Trump administration on the economy that it’s hard to keep up. But one recurring theme with a solid basis in a misunderstanding of statistics is the claim that employment of native-born workers is exploding under Trump, after plummeting under Biden. We even got an official tweet of this ignorance from the Labor Department over Thanksgiving weekend. The problem, as I and others have explained, is that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has no direct count of native-born workers.” (12/03/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/12/03/trumpian-nonsense-on-employing-native-born-workers/
Source: Informed Comment
by Juan Cole
“Two hundred prominent literary, cultural and political figures have signed an open letter demanding the release from Israeli prison of Palestinian activist Marwan Barghouti. Barghouti 66, is widely thought to be one of the few figures who could unite the Palestinians and lead them to statehood. Israel has imprisoned him for 23 years after a trial most observers consider extremely flawed to say the least. Israel is apparently preparing to go on an execution spree against Palestinian prisoners, some of whom are held without charges or trial for indefinite periods of time. The star-studded list of signatories includes Margaret Atwood of ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ fame; Mark Ruffalo (a.k.a. the Incredible Hulk); Philip Pullman (author of ‘His Dark Materials’); Paul Simon, who knows a thing or two about bridges over troubled waters; Benedict Cumberbatch (a.k.a. Dr. Strange); Sting, who knows when someone’s watching you …” (12/03/25)
https://www.juancole.com/2025/12/luminaries-business-palestinian.html
Source: Reason
“Why Science Lost Its Way.” (12/03/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/12/03/why-science-lost-its-way/
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Last week, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius wrote about ‘a startling document’ that the CIA has kept hidden for some 50 years. The document apparently said that ‘the Mexican government had investigated Kennedy’s assassination and concluded Cuba was responsible.’ It’s just more misdirection on the part of the CIA. Its targeted audience is those Americans who cannot bring themselves to recognize that the Pentagon and the CIA orchestrated and carried out the assassination of a U.S. president. The misdirection serves to confuse and confound that segment of American society.” (12/03/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/12/03/castro-didnt-participate-in-the-jfk-autopsy/
