The Daily, 12/01/25
Source: New York Times
“The Fallout From the National Guard Shooting.” (12/01/25)
The Science of Politics, 12/01/25
Source: Niskanen Center
“Who now directs spending: Congress or the president?” (12/01/25)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/who-now-directs-spending-congress-or-the-president
Trump Has Never Been More Isolated
Source: The Atlantic
by Jonathan Lemire
“Although Trump hated being on the road, the travel took him out of the Manhattan skyscraper emblazoned with his name in gold and into many struggling, disgruntled communities. … The people Trump met clued him in to the issues his supporters cared about …. But it has been many months since Trump hosted a full-on campaign-style rally. He has opted instead to travel abroad, golf at his private clubs, and dine with wealthy friends, business leaders, and major donors. Beyond the rallies, Trump has dramatically scaled back speeches, public events, and domestic travel compared with the first year of his initial term. And that lack of regular voter contact has contributed to a growing fear among Republicans and White House allies: that Trump is too isolated, and has become out of touch with what the public wants from its president.” (12/01/25)
White House confirms Hegseth ordered murder of Caribbean boat strike survivors
Source: The Hill
“White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Monday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the second, follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean in September following a bombshell Washington Post report that claimed he ordered the military to ‘kill everybody.’ Leavitt told reporters at the White House press briefing that Hegseth authorized Adm. Frank Bradley to carry out the second strike, which reportedly killed two people who were hanging onto the burning vessel after an initial strike. … According to the Post, an initial strike left two survivors, and Bradley ordered a follow-up strike to comply with Hegseth’s orders to leave no survivors.” (12/01/25)
https://thehill.com/homenews/5628447-defense-secretary-authorizes-drug-boat-strike/
The “Free” World Is Coming for Your Private Messages
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“As I write, European Union (E.U.) officials are debating the details of a proposal to either require or pressure tech companies to scan all private messages for child sexual abuse material. Dubbed ‘chat control,’ the scheme inevitably entails mass surveillance of private communications — targeting one sort of content for the moment, though it’s difficult to see how that would long remain limited in any way. It’s an illustration of the continuing decline in online liberty documented in a new report from Freedom House. … It’s unsurprising that countries already recognized as authoritarian are continuing repressive practices. Nobody expects China or Iran to suddenly develop a taste for protecting online dissent and respecting privacy of communications. More disturbingly though, as seen in the European debate over chat control, nominally free countries are becoming increasingly intrusive when it comes to the digital world.” (12/01/25)
https://reason.com/2025/12/01/the-free-world-is-coming-for-your-private-messages/
Reason Roundtable, 12/01/25
Source: Reason
“Is Economic Anxiety Driving People to Socialism?” (12/01/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/12/01/is-economic-anxiety-driving-people-to-socialism/
Third Russian tanker allegedly attacked in Black Sea
Source: Le Monde [France]
“Turkey said on Tuesday, December 2, another tanker had reported coming under attack in the Black Sea while en route to Georgia, without sustaining any injuries. The incident took place just days after two other tankers were hit by explosions off the Turkish coast. A Ukrainian security source claimed responsibility for those attacks, telling AFP agency that drones had hit vessels that were ‘covertly transporting Russian oil.’ The latest incident on Tuesday morning hit the Midvolga 2, which ‘reported that it was attacked 80 nautical miles off our coast,’ Turkey’s maritime affairs directorate wrote on X, saying the tanker was ‘sailing from Russia to Georgia loaded with sunflower oil’ with 13 crew on board.” (12/02/25)
If free speech only matters when convenient, it isn’t free at all
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Samuel J Abrams
“The recent controversies surrounding Charlie Kirk — and the extraordinary reaction that followed his campus appearances and commentary — offer a revealing window into the fragile state of free expression in contemporary America. Two recent New York Times opinion pieces examining the backlash were right to highlight how quickly public discourse has hardened into a zero-sum contest in which speech itself becomes grounds for professional punishment, social ostracism, and institutional retaliation. But the deeper lesson is even more unsettling: Free speech is increasingly treated not as a constitutional principle, but as a conditional privilege — one that applies only when speech is politically comfortable.” (12/01/25)
https://www.thefire.org/news/if-free-speech-only-matters-when-convenient-it-isnt-free-all
Appeals court disqualifies Alina Habba as US attorney for New Jersey
Source: Axios
“A federal appeals court on Monday disqualified President Trump’s former personal attorney Alina Habba from serving as U.S. attorney for New Jersey. … Habba was appointed to the post on an interim basis in March, a designation that could last for 120 days. Trump then nominated her for the permanent post in June, but the Senate never acted on her nomination, which the president eventually withdrew. A federal judge ruled in August that Habba was acting without legal authority for about two months, at that point. Her actions since July 1 may be considered void, U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann wrote at the time.” (12/01/25)
Pete Hegseth, not Mark Kelly, should be facing justice
Source: Washington Post
by Max Boot
“There is a good reason Mark Kelly and the other lawmakers felt compelled to warn service members not to carry out illegal orders. That seems to be precisely what the military is now doing at the behest of an administration that disdains any limits on the president’s imperial authority and treats war crimes as a joke.” (12/01/25)