Source: Cobden Centre
by Damien Phillips

“For those of us who think central banks are a destabilising blight on the economy, responsible for encouraging malinvestment and engines of inflation, it’s tempting to lump them all into the same boat. But just as in George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm,’ ‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.’ This is particularly apparent when it comes to keeping inflation down. Putting aside the inherent problems with inflation targeting, price stability is typically the primary objective for most modern central banks. But as the UK endures a further round of above-target inflation at 3.8% for yet another gruelling month, when you pit the Bank of England against its contemporaries around the world it has a terrible track record that goes beyond the basic problem of knowledge that faces all central banks.” (12/18/25)

https://www.cobdencentre.org/2025/12/not-all-central-banks-are-created-equal/

Source: TomDispatch
by Robert Lipsyte

“In the year I was born, 1938, the White Christian males who ruled the sports world considered their various games and pastimes as definers of righteousness, crucibles of character, and a preparation for dominance in business and war. Anyone who played but didn’t look like them was an interloper, clearly operating with some kind of performance enhancers. That was made clear in a book published that very year by one of the premier sportswriters of his time, Paul Gallico. … he declaimed that the ‘colored brother’ was so good at boxing because he ‘is not nearly so sensible to pain as his White brother.’ … ; that New York Yankee slugger Babe Ruth, ‘like all people who spring from what we call low origins … never had any inhibitions’; and that the reason basketball ‘appeals to the Hebrew … is that the game places a premium on an alert, scheming mind and flashy trickiness, artful dodging, and general smart aleckness.'” (12/18/25)

https://tomdispatch.com/a-farewell-to-sports/

Source: Independent Institute
by Craig Eyermann

“At any given time, the U.S. government is spending taxpayer dollars that are being wasted. Today’s example is being delivered by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). That’s a shame, because with around 533,000 career employees and another 106,000 non-career employees, the Postal Service accounts for about one out of every five of the U.S. government’s three million civilian employees. From post offices to stamp machines, mailboxes, and mail trucks, they represent the most visible connection Americans have with the federal government in their daily lives. But that connection doesn’t prevent them from squandering the resources of the taxpayers whose interests they are supposed to serve.” (12/18/25)

https://www.independent.org/article/2025/12/18/billions-usps-electric-vehicle/

Source: Cato Institute
by Scott Lincicome

“Readers might assume that, if forced to choose which U.S. policy shift was the year’s most important, I’d quickly blurt out ‘tariffs’ (before collapsing into a quivering heap), and—given the radical changes Trump has unilaterally and chaotically implemented in 2025—there are certainly good reasons for that choice. Yet there’s another, less-discussed policy change that could very well be more consequential over the long term—and one that, unlike tariffs, represents a truly radical break from how the United States has done business for a century: the Trump administration’s repeated efforts to give Uncle Sam a direct and permanent financial stake in numerous private, commercial companies.” (12/17/25)

https://www.cato.org/commentary/year-america-went-kinda-socialist

Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Jacob Gaba

“Last year, the Satanic Temple of New Hampshire put up a Baphomet statue (a part-human, part-goat satanic deity) in front of the State House in Concord. People vandalized it and knocked off its head. Concord vowed to review its policies after its mayor described the statue as ‘deliberately provocative and disturbing.’ That raised major constitutional concerns. FIRE wrote to Concord, arguing that the government could not discriminate against disfavored displays. In a victory for free speech, Concord kept the statue and arrested the perpetrators. This year, despite questions from public officials, Baphomet is back up in front of the State House. New Hampshire’s backing of the Satanic Temple’s right to display its religious symbol illustrates a core First Amendment principle: When the government invites private holiday displays, the First Amendment bars viewpoint discrimination.” (12/18/25)

https://www.thefire.org/news/can-government-ban-controversial-public-holiday-displays

Source: Liberal Currents
by Guillaume AW Attia

“China may well become the singular Olympus that all mere mortals look up to, but so long as this Olympus is home to Ogres it will struggle to compel the allegiance of the wider world.” (12/18/25)

https://www.liberalcurrents.com/china-between-ogre-and-olympus/