Source: Bloomberg
“India’s parliament passed a bill that will open up its nuclear industry to private firms and unlock investment opportunities worth $214 billion, after tight regulations stifled the sector for decades. The bill comes at a time of renewed global interest in nuclear as a steady source of clean energy, and as part of India’s plan to expand its atomic fleet to to support economic growth and help decarbonize its coal-dependent economy. The proposed law abolishes the decades-old state monopoly in atomic power generation and makes sweeping changes to the country’s liability provisions that had spooked investors.” (12/18/25)
https://archive.is/v6Kkf
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Roger Bate
“Every morning, hundreds of millions of people perform a socially approved ritual. They line up for coffee. They joke about not being functional without caffeine. They openly acknowledge dependence and even celebrate it. No one calls this addiction degenerate. It is framed as productivity, taste, wellness—sometimes even virtue. Now imagine the same professional discreetly using a nicotine pouch before a meeting. The reaction is very different. This is treated as a vice, something vaguely shameful, associated with weakness, poor judgment, or public health risk. From a scientific perspective, this distinction makes little sense.” (12/18/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/coffee-nicotine-and-the-politics-of-acceptable-addiction/
Source: US News & World Report
“American rapper Wiz Khalifa was sentenced by a court in Romania on Thursday to nine months in jail for drug possession, more than a year after he took part in a music festival in the Eastern European country. Khalifa was stopped by Romanian police in July 2024 after allegedly smoking cannabis on stage at the Beach, Please! Festival in Costinesti, a coastal resort in Constanta County. Prosecutors said the rapper, whose real name is Cameron Jibril Thomaz, was found in possession of more than 18 grams of cannabis, and that he consumed some on stage. … It isn’t clear whether Romanian authorities will seek to file an extradition request, since Khalifa is a U.S. citizen and doesn’t reside in Romania.” (12/18/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/entertainment/articles/2025-12-18/romanian-court-sentences-us-rapper-wiz-khalifa-to-9-months-for-drug-possession
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Trump’s Big Affordability Speech. Empathy in the Digital Political Age (with Brian Brushwood).” (12/18/25)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/trumps-big-affordability-speech-empathy
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“Two students were murdered by an unknown monster at Brown University over the weekend and the odds are pretty high you don’t know their names. I don’t blame you; you don’t have to, and, unless you knew them, you have no real reason to. But I bet you know the names of some of those left-wing gun control students who’ve formed anti-Second Amendment groups and have gone on to become progressive cable news celebrities. Seems odd, doesn’t it? Until you realize that not all victims are created equally. It’s a deviant sect on the left that only cares about people’s well-being if those people agree with them; everyone else is disposable. Unless, that is, Democrats can use their deaths to advance their agenda, then they’ll pretend to care.” (12/18/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2025/12/18/some-victims-are-more-equal-than-others-n2668074
Source: Nonzero
“The Year in Trump Foreign Policy | Robert Wright, Andrew Day, and Connor Echols.” (12/18/25)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/69193
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“I can’t help but feel very sorry for the Venezuelan people. Imagine living under a brutal and corrupt illegitimately elected dictatorship, a national-security state form of government, and a full socialist economic system. Oh, but unfortunately, that’s not all. Imagine also having to live in a country in which the most powerful military empire in world history is also waging war against the citizenry. That’s what life is like for average Venezuelans. On one side of the vise is their brutal political regime and socialist system, and on the other side of the vise is the U.S. Empire. Both sides of the vise continue to tighten.” (12/18/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/12/18/the-brutality-of-the-u-s-empire-is-on-display-in-venezuela/
Source: Show-Me Institute
by Susan Pendergrass & Cory Koedel
“Under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states must identify unsafe schools and notify families of students who attend them that they have the right to move their child to a safer public school. This requirement is called the Unsafe School Choice Option (USCO). In Missouri, it isn’t working. The problem comes down to one word in state policy. Right now, Missouri only classifies a school as unsafe if it has a high rate of violence and a high number of expulsions for three years in a row. Because expulsions almost never happen, the conditions are almost impossible to meet. As a result, no school is ever designated as unsafe, and families aren’t allowed to transfer out. Changing one word, from ‘AND’ to ‘OR,’ would finally make the rule work the way federal law intended.” (12/18/25)
https://showmeinstitute.org/blog/education/one-word-could-let-missouri-students-leave-unsafe-schools/
Source: CNBC
“The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill aimed at making it easier to get federal permits to build infrastructure for artificial intelligence projects. The bill, known as the SPEED Act, is backed Big Tech giants such as OpenAI, Micron and Microsoft. The bill cleared the House in a 221-196 vote, overcoming a conservative rebellion that nearly sank the legislation in a procedural vote earlier this week. The bill now heads to the Senate, where it is likely to be part of a larger conversation around permitting reform. The SPEED Act’s proponents argue it is critical to help the U.S. outpace China and other global competitors in the race for AI dominance.” (12/18/25)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/18/house-passes-permit-reform-bill-ai.html
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Shaka Mitchell & Gary W Houchens
“As education freedom sweeps across the country, Kentucky stands out as an unfortunate bulwark against innovation, improved academic outcomes, and parental choice. For decades, Kentucky families have watched neighboring states take bold steps to expand educational opportunity while policymakers in Frankfort debate the same old questions. … Now, a new federal tax credit scholarship program offers a rare chance to leap forward — and it’s time for Kentucky to take it.” (12/18/25)
https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/new-federal-tax-credits-can-unlock-kentuckys-educational-freedom/
