Source: Orange County Register
by Sal Rodriguez

“Today marks the 97th birthday of Noam Chomsky, known both for his status as ‘the father of modern linguistics’ as well as his prolific political commentary. I’m aware that as the opinion editor of an editorial page that tilts libertarian he’s an unusual figure to highlight, but he was intellectually influential to me ever since I read a booklet of his (‘9/11’) sometime in 2002 (I would’ve been 11). Though I came to identify more with thinkers like Milton Friedman, Chomsky is still someone whose writings and speeches I return to.” (12/08/25)

https://archive.is/8l2Bh

Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

“The European Commission is fining the X platform 120 million euros (140 million dollars), for ‘transparency failures’: not sharing advertising and user data with the EU and not making it easy to censor account holders. As Reclaim the Net reports, the European Union wants platforms to open themselves to what it calls ‘independent research.’ In practice, this means that ‘academics and NGOs, often with pro-censorship political affiliations’ get special access to the data, ‘exactly the kind of surveillance the [Digital Services Act] claims to prevent.… The EU is angry that X is not policing speech the way it wants.’ My advice to Elon Musk is to shut down X (formerly Twitter) throughout the EU. And refuse to pay the fine.” (12/08/25)

https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/12/08/dont-pay-dont-play/

Source: The American Prospect
by Ryan Cooper

“A major theme of American politics over the past few decades is Democrats repeatedly bailing Republicans out from the political consequences of their own actions, particularly with health care. During the Obama years, House Republicans voted dozens of times to repeal Obamacare, which Democrats blocked every time. During Trump’s first term, the GOP came within one vote of actually repealing it. Now, with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), Republicans have finally gotten what they wanted: namely, taking a trillion-dollar bite out of Medicaid, and allowing Biden-era Obamacare subsidies to lapse, meaning premiums on the exchanges are going to more than double. Except, whoops, it turns out that people don’t like this at all, and even the more dim-witted congressional Republicans are starting to fear this might blow up in their faces.” (12/08/25)

https://prospect.org/2025/12/08/republicans-scramble-for-health-care-ideas-obamacare-deadline-looms/

Source: The American Conservative
by Harrison Berger

“Russia hawks in Congress and their allies in corporate media have been on the warpath against the Trump administration’s 28-point peace plan for ending the Ukraine war, dubbing the plan a ‘Russian wish-list.’ The MSNBC host Rachel Maddow went so far as to hold it up as proof that ‘the Kremlin runs U.S. foreign policy.’ … Yet there are also criticisms of the plan from the other end of the ideological spectrum. Among the most prominent voices who argued from the start that the United States should never have been drawn into the Ukraine conflict are the War Room host and former White House advisor Steve Bannon and the University of Chicago’s Professor John Mearsheimer. They now warn that far from being a ‘Russian wish list,’ the Trump administration’s plan may not actually address the underlying political problems that ultimately caused the Ukraine proxy war.” (12/08/25)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/bannon-mearsheimer-trumps-ukraine-plan-wont-end-the-war/

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Connor Echols

“In early November of last year, the Assad regime had a lot to look forward to. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had just joined fellow Middle Eastern leaders at a pan-Islamic summit in Saudi Arabia, marking a major step in his return to the international fold. … Less than a month later, Assad fled the country in a Russian plane as Turkish-backed opposition forces began their final approach to Damascus. Most observers were taken aback by this development. But long-time Middle East analyst Neil Partrick was less surprised. As Partrick details in his new book, ‘State Failure in the Middle East,’ the seemingly resurgent Assad regime had by that point been reduced to a hollowed-out state apparatus, propped up by foreign backers. When those backers pulled out, Assad was left with little choice but to flee.” (12/08/25)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/assad-regime-collapse/