Source: Law & Liberty
by John G Grove

“Being the editor of Law & Liberty affords me more time than most to ponder the relationship between freedom and responsibility. It is, after all, sort of our thing. And sometimes you can’t help but see the question everywhere. That was the case for me when watching the Christmas classic Home Alone with my kids. They love it for the slapstick humor (okay — I love it for that, too). But like most John Hughes endeavors, it also has a little more depth than it initially lets on.” (12/22/25)

https://lawliberty.org/the-education-of-kevin-mccallister/

Source: Quillette
by Christian Kriticos

“Christmas is a time for watching movies. Every year, television schedules are packed with holiday classics, and the internet is awash with lists of the greatest festive features — from It’s a Wonderful Life to The Muppet Christmas Carol. Occasionally, some unconventional choices slip through, like Terry Gilliam’s dystopian comedy Brazil (which features a memorable cameo from Santa Claus) and Stanley Kubrick’s erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut (which includes Christmas trees and fairy lights in almost every scene). But one classic film is never mentioned in the Christmas movie conversation: Psycho.” (12/22/25)

https://quillette.com/2025/12/22/alfred-hitchcocks-christmas-movie-psycho/

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Ben Armbruster

“CBS’s new controversial editor-in-chief Bari Weiss pulled a 60 Minutes story that was set to air last night about the torture and other horrid conditions at CECOT, the El Salvador megaprison to which the Trump administration has send hundreds of deportees over the last year. Weiss’s reason for spiking the piece — that Trump administration officials refused to comment on it — raises questions about how CBS will be covering high profile stories going forward, particularly ones related to controversial U.S. national security policies like war with Venezuela, and the Trump administration’s relationship with Israel. … On Monday, Weiss confirmed that in order for the story to air, she wants Trump administration officials on the record. … If administration officials can effectively kill a story by simply refusing to talk about it on record, that’s basically allowing the government to censor your news coverage.” (12/22/25)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/bari-weiss-60-minutes/

Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin & Nicolas JS Davies

“The United States has now intercepted multiple Venezuelan oil tankers as part of its escalating aggression against Venezuela, while also destroying dozens of small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific under the banner of ‘drug enforcement’, killing over 100 people whose identities the U.S. has obscured. At the same time, the Trump administration has threatened a naval blockade of Venezuela – a sovereign country with which the United States is not at war. How can Washington claim the right to seize or blow up vessels, disrupt maritime trade, and kill civilian boaters – while bombing Yemen and condemning its de facto Houthi government for intercepting ships in the Red Sea to counter Israel’s genocide in Gaza? This contrast exposes a stark double standard in U.S. policy.” (12/22/25)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-oil-blockade-venezuela

Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider

“The U.S. blockade on Venezuela’s sanctioned oil tankers is illegal. It is an act of war that is based on false charges. Though it is hoped to bring about a coup that will usher in a pro-American government that opens Venezuela’s resources to the United States, the more likely outcome is mayhem and instability. Trump’s order of a blockade caught senior officials at the Pentagon by surprise, and they are unsure of what role the U.S. military is expected to play. But on the day after the order, three ships left Venezuela carrying oil-based products. This time, they were escorted by Venezuelan naval ships.” (12/22/25)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/three-big-problems-with-trumps-venezuela-oil-blockade/

Source: The Dispatch
by Timothy Sandefur

“New York poet David Lehman has overseen publication of Scribner’s annual Best American Poetry anthology for almost four decades now. But this summer, the 77-year-old Lehman announced that the series’[s] 2025 installment will be the last. Although he says his decision was sparked only by a desire for ‘new adventures,’ it’s hard to see it as anything but the falling of another tree in the artistic forest. True, the purported ‘best’ often included lousy work … but it also included samples from some of America’s best living poets, including A.E. Stallings, Amit Majmudar, and Stephen Kampa, and offered curious readers a chance to dip their toes into an art form that, more than any other, has been torn by the competing forces of our divided and divisive culture. Where can they look now?” (12/22/25)

https://thedispatch.com/article/best-american-poetry-shutter-art-form/