Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Ian Proud
“Trying to accelerate Ukraine’s entry into the European Union makes sense as part of the U.S.-sponsored efforts to end the war with Russia. But there are two big obstacles to this happening by 2027: Ukraine isn’t ready, and Europe can’t afford it. As part of ongoing talks to end the war in Ukraine, the Trump administration had advanced the idea that Ukraine be admitted into the European Union by 2027. On the surface, this appears a practical compromise, given Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s concession that Ukraine will drop its aspiration to join NATO. However, the idea of accelerated entry for Ukraine has not been met with widespread enthusiasm in Europe itself. Diplomats in Brussels dismissed the notion as ‘nonsense: There needs to be an appetite for enlargement that isn’t there’. There are two big problems with Ukraine’s rapid accession, the first being readiness and the second cost.” (12/18/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/ukraine-european-union/
Source: Deadline
“Peter Arnett, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter whose international war journalism brought him widespread renown from the Vietnam era through the Gulf wars, died December 17 of prostate cancer in Newport Beach, CA. He was 91. … Born on November 13, 1934, in Riverton, New Zealand, Arnett rose to prominence for his work as a wire-service correspondent in Vietnam from 1962 until the war’s end in 1975. He won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for his war coverage for The Associated Press. Arnett remained with the AP until 1981, when he signed on with the fledgling CNN. Later in his career, Arnett would re-emerge as a leading journalistic voice for his 1991 reports on the Gulf War for CNN. He and his team were among the last foreign reporters broadcasting from Baghdad after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein forced out most international journalists.” (12/18/25)
https://deadline.com/2025/12/peter-arnett-dead-cnn-correspondent-1236652411/
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“The Ongoing Morass in Ukraine.” (12/18/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkaQXBpcy3M
Source: Sex and the State
by Cathy Reisenwitz
“Basically, I’m opposed to AI regulations because I agree with the public that we can’t trust our government. Voters expect our elected representatives from both parties to pass regulations that benefit current power players while hurting everyone else. So why let them loose on AI? If people want us to trust our government to regulate AI, they need to fix this problem or explain to us why we’re wrong to believe it’s a problem.” (12/18/25)
https://cathyreisenwitz.substack.com/p/ai-regulation-stans-should-fix-corporatism
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Denise Lever
“My first career was not in education; for me, it began on the fireline. As a young woman fighting wildland fires, I quickly learned that courage, clarity under pressure, and teamwork could mean the difference between containment and catastrophe. I was trained to work with confidence while structures were consumed and wildlands burned around me. That experience shaped my conviction that the people closest to the problem are often the best equipped to act. It also showed me how systems sometimes fail to support individuals who don’t quite fit the mold. This realization became the catalyst for the work I do today.” (12/18/25)
https://fee.org/articles/from-the-fireline-to-the-frontline-of-education-freedom/
Source: SFGate
“The Senate on Wednesday confirmed billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to be NASA administrator on Wednesday, placing him atop the agency after a monthslong saga where President Donald Trump revoked his nomination as part of a feud with tech billionaire Elon Musk. Isaacman, who has promised to bring a business-minded approach to the space agency, was confirmed in a bipartisan vote, 67-30. He will take over after an unusual confirmation process upended by the Republican president’s oscillating and at times tumultuous relationship with prominent tech leaders who backed his campaign, most notably Musk, the Tesla CEO who is a close ally of Isaacman. Trump picked Isaacman last year but withdrew the nomination in May after feuding with Musk over the administration’s policies on issues such as electric vehicles and the performance of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.” (12/17/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/senate-confirms-jared-isaacman-as-nasa-21248629.php
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“President Donald Trump’s handpicked board voted on Thursday to rename Washington’s leading performing arts center as the Trump-Kennedy Center, the White House said. … Trump showed scant interest in the Kennedy Center during his first term as president, but since returning to office in January he has replaced board members appointed by Democratic presidents with some of his most ardent supporters, who then elected him as board chairman. He also has criticized the center’s programming and its physical appearance and has vowed to overhaul both.” (12/18/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/12/18/trump-renaming-kennedy-center/
Source: Liberal Currents
“What Do Republicans Know?” (12/18/25)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/half-the-answer-55-what-do-republicans-know/
Source: Cobden Centre
by Damien Phillips
“For those of us who think central banks are a destabilising blight on the economy, responsible for encouraging malinvestment and engines of inflation, it’s tempting to lump them all into the same boat. But just as in George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm,’ ‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.’ This is particularly apparent when it comes to keeping inflation down. Putting aside the inherent problems with inflation targeting, price stability is typically the primary objective for most modern central banks. But as the UK endures a further round of above-target inflation at 3.8% for yet another gruelling month, when you pit the Bank of England against its contemporaries around the world it has a terrible track record that goes beyond the basic problem of knowledge that faces all central banks.” (12/18/25)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2025/12/not-all-central-banks-are-created-equal/
Source: TomDispatch
by Robert Lipsyte
“In the year I was born, 1938, the White Christian males who ruled the sports world considered their various games and pastimes as definers of righteousness, crucibles of character, and a preparation for dominance in business and war. Anyone who played but didn’t look like them was an interloper, clearly operating with some kind of performance enhancers. That was made clear in a book published that very year by one of the premier sportswriters of his time, Paul Gallico. … he declaimed that the ‘colored brother’ was so good at boxing because he ‘is not nearly so sensible to pain as his White brother.’ … ; that New York Yankee slugger Babe Ruth, ‘like all people who spring from what we call low origins … never had any inhibitions’; and that the reason basketball ‘appeals to the Hebrew … is that the game places a premium on an alert, scheming mind and flashy trickiness, artful dodging, and general smart aleckness.'” (12/18/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/a-farewell-to-sports/
