Source: Wired
by Cory Doctorow

“In 2026, the leaders of America’s (former) trading partners are going to have to grapple with the political consequences of tit-for-tat tariffs. A tariff is a tax paid by consumers, and if there’s one thing the past four years have taught us, it’s that the public will not forgive a politician who presides over a period of rising prices, no matter what the cause. Luckily for the political fortunes of the world’s leaders, there is a better way to respond to tariffs. Tit-for-tat tariffs are a 19th-century tactic, and we live in a 21st-century world — a world where the most profitable lines of business of the most profitable US companies are all vulnerable to a simple legal change that will make things cheaper for billions of people, all over the world, including in the US, at the expense of the companies whose CEOs posed with Trump on the inaugural dais.” (12/26/25)

https://archive.is/FbldE

Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis

“I think we would all agree that education is one of the most important facets of any society. I’m not just talking about ‘going to school;’ there is much more to education than that. Education can even begin in the womb, and takes off from birth. Everything we are surrounded by ‘educates’ us, in one way or another — for good or ill. Not all education is ‘good.’ It should be unnecessary to say that. People can only know and act upon what they have been taught. If people don’t know what ‘freedom’ and ‘tyranny’ are — and the source of both — then they will not know how to protect the former and guard against the latter.” (12/26/25)

https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2025/12/26/the-miseducation-of-america-n2668494

Source: Bitcoin.com
by Terence Zimwara

“The start of the second Trump administration in January brought optimism that the crypto economy was headed for better times. During the run-up to the November 2024 U.S. elections, Donald Trump had pledged to eliminate the Biden administration’s anti- crypto policies and end government ‘lawfare’ against crypto entrepreneurs. It was hardly a surprise that bitcoin and a wave of altcoins surged in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s victory and the pro- crypto Republican Party’s consolidation of power in Congress. … Yet the rally soon gave way to the darker side of crypto’s DNA: volatility. The months that followed reminded traders that parabolic gains are often followed by brutal corrections.” (12/27/25)

https://news.bitcoin.com/the-leverage-tinderbox-how-geopolitics-and-open-interest-fueled-the-largest-wipeouts-ever/

Source: Law & Liberty
by Graham McAleer

“Their battlefield experiences informed a ‘literary counteroffensive’ against the grim ideologies of the twentieth century.” (12/26/25)

https://lawliberty.org/book-review/lewis-and-tolkien-at-war/

Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Galen Carpenter

“U.S. administrations even have a long history of discouraging America’s technologically capable, firmly democratic allies from crossing the nuclear weapons threshold. Washington has not been shy about pressuring (if not outright bullying) Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan to foreswear building independent nuclear weapons capabilities instead relying totally on the United States for deterrence. A similar hostility has been directed toward any manifestations of interest in a nuclear deterrent by Germany and Washington’s other European allies. At the very least, it is time for U.S. leaders to review that rigid policy and carefully reconsider its various implications. Japanese who want their country to reduce or eliminate its total dependence on the United States for nuclear deterrence are not being reckless or unreasonable, given the realities of today’s regional and global security environments.” (12/27/25)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/washington-may-need-to-deal-with-a-nuclear-japan/