Source: Brownstone Institute
by Roger Bate

“efore Covid, I would have described myself as a technological optimist. New technologies almost always arrive amid exaggerated fears. Railways were supposed to cause mental breakdowns, bicycles were thought to make women infertile or insane, and early electricity was blamed for everything from moral decay to physical collapse. Over time, these anxieties faded, societies adapted, and living standards rose. The pattern was familiar enough that artificial intelligence seemed likely to follow it: disruptive, sometimes misused, but ultimately manageable. The Covid years unsettled that confidence — not because technology failed, but because institutions did.” (01/07/26)

https://brownstone.org/articles/how-a-techno-optimist-became-a-grave-skeptic/

Source: Town Hall
by Byron York

“There have been two parts to the political world’s reaction to the American operation that deposed and captured Nicolas Maduro. The first part was to marvel at what Brit Hume called ‘the extraordinary level of skill, technology and daring’ on the part of American forces and leadership. Hume noted that the U.S. performance, when considered alongside the flawless attack on Iran’s nuclear program, sent to the world ‘precisely the opposite signal from that sent by the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan’. The second reaction emerged after President Donald Trump’s press conference announcing the action. ‘We’re going to run [Venezuela] until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,’ Trump said. ‘So we don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years.'” (01/07/25)

https://townhall.com/columnists/byronyork/2026/01/07/columnistsbyronyork20260106venezuela-it-all-depends-on-the-meaning-of-the-word-run-n2668974

Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum

“Venezuela is well rid of Nicolás Maduro, a corrupt, oppressive, and illegitimate leader who presided over that country’s continuing decline after succeeding Hugo Chávez in 2013. And judging from what happened after the 1989 invasion of Panama, when U.S. forces nabbed a similarly odious strongman who likewise faced a federal drug indictment, the courts will not stand in the way of Maduro’s prosecution. The ‘law enforcement’ rationale for Saturday’s attack on Venezuela is nevertheless both implausible and troubling. It offers an open-ended license for any president who wants to excise Congress from decisions about the use of military force, accelerating a trend that threatens to nullify its constitutional war powers.” (01/07/26)

https://reason.com/2026/01/07/the-law-enforcement-rationale-for-invading-venezuela-is-an-open-ended-license-for-war/

Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey

“In case you’ve been hiding under a rock, you know that NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has just appointed Cea Weaver to lead his new tenant protection office. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Weaver is the architect of New York’s aggressive ‘cancel rent’ movements. And it’s her past comments that are currently setting the internet on fire. In resurfaced posts, Weaver labeled private property — and specifically homeownership — as a ‘tool of white supremacy.’ She has since pulled her X account. As an American, I find her perspective not just radical, but dangerously racist and seriously flawed.” (01/07/26)

https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/is-homeownership-white-supremacy

Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff

“The private lives of political leaders have long been fair game for opponents and investigative reporters – and, increasingly, amateur internet sleuths and online provocateurs. When the high-profile individuals are female, whether leaders themselves or their wives or partners, studies show that the scrutiny tends to be harsher and more speculative. ‘The scandalization and personalization of news is profitable,’ observed the Character Assassination and Reputation Politics Research Lab, a joint initiative between an American and a Dutch university. However, this trend not only ‘diminish[es] the public standing or credibility of the politician, but … also divert[s] attention from substantive policy discussions.’ Progressively powerful internet-enabled searching and sharing amplifies both facts and fictions, honest persuasion as well as embedded prejudices. This week, as the Monitor reports, a Paris court convicted 10 individuals of ‘degrading, insulting, and malicious’ cyberharassment of French first lady Brigitte Macron.” (01/06/25)

https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2026/0106/Discernment-that-shatters-online-falsehoods