Source: CNN
“International tourists visiting popular national parks in the US next year will be required to pay additional fees and raised rates on annual passes, the US Department of the Interior announced Tuesday. In a statement hailing a new ‘resident-focused fee structure that puts American families first,’ the department said as of January 1, 2026, the annual pass will cost non-US residents $250 to obtain, more than triple the standard $80 which US residents will continue to pay. Foreign tourists who don’t purchase the pass will pay a $100-per-person fee, in addition to the standard entrance fee, to enter 11 of the most visited national parks, including the Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone and Yosemite, the statement said. … This announced price hike comes amid a decline in international tourism to the US, fueled by changes to tariff policies and crackdowns on immigration.” (12/26/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/26/travel/us-national-park-foreign-fees-tourism-hnk
Source: Foreign Policy
by Stephen M Walt
“I’ve been extraordinarily blessed since birth, and I’m grateful for all the favorable bounces I’ve had. But in times like these, when it sometimes seems like events are spiraling downward and the worst people have more and more power and are using it just as badly as you’d expect, it’s especially important to take solace in whatever positive signs we can discern.” (11/26/25)
https://archive.is/0JIsF
Source: US News & World Report
“The European Parliament called on Wednesday for the European Union to set minimum ages for children to access social media, to combat a rise in mental health problems among adolescents from excessive exposure. The call, which is not binding, comes as Australia is poised to institute the world’s first social media ban for children younger than 16 and as Denmark and Malaysia also plan bans. French President Emmanuel Macron has previously called for EU regulation to ban social media for children under 15, although it is not quite clear how the EU would carry this out, given it is up to individual EU members to impose age limits. Parliament’s resolution, backed by 483 votes to 92, with 86 abstentions, called for an EU-wide ban on access for children under 16 to online platforms, video-sharing sites and AI companions without parental consent and an outright ban for those younger than 13.” [editor’s note: It’s not about protecting kids, it’s about protecting themselves. They’re desperate to stop kids from finding out things / having ideas the political class would rather they didn’t know / think – TLK] (11/26/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-11-26/eu-parliament-pushes-for-age-limits-on-social-media-to-safeguard-minors
Source: Antiwar.com
“Study: IDF Has Killed More Than 100,000 in Gaza, US Flies More Bombers Near Venezuela, and More.” (11/26/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gegg8iUi_4s
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“As a long-time critic of Washington’s obsession with the so-called ‘China threat’ — and having written an entire book debunking it, The Fake China Threat — I could not in good conscience allow this year’s Report to Congress of the U.S. — China Economic and Security Review Commission — to pass without comment. If anything, the 2025 edition is an even more sweeping reiteration of the assumptions and exaggerations I have challenged for years. Page after page, the report presents an alarming narrative about Beijing’s intentions and capabilities, while simultaneously insisting that every corner of the globe — and every sector of American life — now constitutes a frontline in a zero-sum geopolitical struggle.” (11/26/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/this-thanksgiving-were-being-served-fake-china-threats
Source: CBS News
“A U.S. official told CBS News on Tuesday that Ukraine’s government had ‘agreed to a peace deal’ brokered by the Trump administration to stop Russia’s nearly four-year assault. The American official and Ukraine’s national security adviser Rustem Umerov said a common understanding on a proposal had been reached, with details still to be worked out. Umerov voiced optimism that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could travel to the U.S. before the end of November to finalize an agreement. … The news came as U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was in Abu Dhabi to meet with Russian officials …. The president said he directed his envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and that Driscoll would meet with the Ukrainians. … There was no immediate reaction from Russia, the invading force, to what was agreed to in Abu Dhabi, and there were no details from U.S. or Ukrainian officials about what is in the latest proposal.” (11/26/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-russia-war-peace-deal-trump-driscoll-abu-dhabi-talks-latest/
Source: Brownstone Institute
by David Bell
“The average person of the Enlightenment era, it seems to me, was not sitting around in salons sharing the free flow of ideas, but being oppressed and kicked around by their enlightened compatriots or invaders. There were some good ideas and far better art and music than much of the soulless fare of today — but this arose not from a flourishing paradise but closer to, for many, a living hell. Perhaps it was poverty and harsh reality that opened Handel’s mind and inspired Rembrandt’s brush, and we now miss something that this makes us see. But this better be by choice. Looking back to former times is a good way to learn and understand, and a person ignorant of history is like a scrap of paper blown in the wind. But history was written by the literate elite and should not be confused with a destination.” (11/25/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/we-need-to-do-better-than-another-enlightenment/
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on the new X feature that allows user to see what country an account is based in, and how it could expose problems with the platform’s revenue sharing program.” (11/25/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5621769-rising-november-25-2025/
Source: Reuters
“A constitutional challenge against Australia’s social media ban on children younger than 16 has been filed in the nation’s highest court, two weeks before the world-first law is set to take effect. A campaign group called the Digital Freedom Project said on Wednesday it launched proceedings in the High Court of Australia in a bid to block the law, with two 15-year-olds, Noah Jones and Macy Neyland, as plaintiffs in the case. More than one million accounts held by teenagers under 16 are set to be deactivated in Australia when the ban on platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram starts on December 10. In a statement on Wednesday, the Digital Freedom Project said the ban ‘robs’ young Australians of their freedom of political communication, an implied right in the constitution.” (11/26/25)
https://archive.is/epj0q
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“It’s been 40 years since I spent the summer in San Diego becoming a US Marine. I’m sure things have changed since then, but I doubt they’ve changed so much that anyone graduates any armed forces boot camp without receiving instruction in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. A summary, from memory, on the section (Article 92) concerning orders: You must obey lawful orders. You must not obey unlawful orders. … If it’s ‘treason’ or ‘sedition’ to state that fact, then every instructor in every basic training class on military law is a traitor who’s been teaching treason and preaching sedition to every recruit since 1950, when the UCMJ was adopted … and probably long before that.” (11/25/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20166
