Source: Le Monde [France]
“On Thursday, December 11, Amnesty International accused Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups for the first time of crimes against humanity, including extermination, during and after the October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war in Gaza. … The rights group has also accused Israel of committing genocide in its retaliatory campaign in Gaza, an accusation that Israel has vehemently denied. … Amnesty has previously accused Hamas and other groups of committing war crimes, which are serious violations of international law against civilians and combatants during armed conflict. Crimes against humanity can occur in peacetime and include torture, rape and discrimination, be it racial, ethnic, cultural, religious or gender-based.” (12/11/25)
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/12/11/amnesty-international-accuses-hamas-of-crimes-against-humanity-during-and-after-the-october-7-attack_6748369_4.html
source: EconLog
by JP Bastos
“Any book that intends to provide a complete account of a chapter covering almost 70 years in the history of ideas is an ambitious achievement by itself, especially when it is centered around a fuzzy concept like neoliberalism. If such a book also attempts to cover decades of economic history, discussing the evolution of policymaking and the intellectual and political debates that shaped it, one would probably worry that the author is trying to accomplish too much. Now, add that the author will try to do so while navigating murky waters, surrounded by the history of a violent dictatorship and the overall context of Latin American politics of the Cold War era. It seems like a recipe for failure. Yet, to the great benefit of his readers, Sebástian Edwards accomplishes all this brilliantly. The Chile Project: The Story of the Chicago Boys and the Downfall of Neoliberalism is nothing short of a monumental achievement.” (12/11/25)
https://www.econlib.org/library/columns/y2025/bastoschileproject
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Alan Mosley
“On December 5, 1886, on a windswept homestead near De Smet in Dakota Territory, Rose Wilder Lane entered a world of adversity. She was the only surviving child of Laura Ingalls and Almanzo Wilder. Within a few short years her family’s cabin burned, her parents were stricken with diphtheria, her father suffered a crippling stroke, and severe winters forced them to leave the prairie. Those early calamities impressed on Lane two lessons that would define her life: that individual fortitude matters more than fate, and that no external authority can substitute for self‑discipline. … By age sixteen she was supporting herself as a Western Union operator, moving from town to town and reading voraciously after her night shifts. The hardships of her youth fostered a fierce independence that would blossom into a philosophy.” (12/11/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/rose-wilder-lane-frontier-prophet-of-freedom
Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy
“The strange new alliance between democratic socialists and nationalist populists isn’t a sign of political healing. It’s a sign that people have lost their grip on basic economics.” (12/11/25)
https://reason.com/2025/12/11/the-bipartisan-war-on-prices-is-coming-for-your-credit-card/
Source: New York Post
“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) dropped almost $50,000 on hotels and meals in Puerto Rico in the third quarter of this year — as well as renting a San Juan venue where she was caught on tape grooving at an August Bad Bunny concert. AOC’s principal campaign committee shelled out $680.52 on July 28 to stay at the lavish Hotel Palacio Provincial, along with another $1,507.26 on Aug. 29 and a whopping $9,440,79 on Sept. 29, according to third quarter federal campaign finance filings — even as the ‘Squad’ rep on her social media accounts denounced gentrification that was taking place on the island. The ‘first-class’, ‘adults only’ Palacio Provincial boasts of being ‘situated within an historic early 19th century building’ with ‘transcendent hints of the structure’s grand colonial past.'” (12/11/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/12/11/us-news/aoc-splurged-nearly-50k-on-pricey-hotel-stays-dining-and-renting-puerto-rico-concert-venue-where-bad-bunny-performed/
Source: US News & World Report
“Train services ground to a halt across Portugal on Thursday, hundreds of flights were cancelled, and schools closed as unions launched a first general strike in more than a decade, in protest against proposed labour reforms. The minority centre-right government says the proposed changes – amending more than 100 labour-code articles – aim to boost productivity and spur economic growth. But unions accuse it of tilting power toward employers at the expense of workers’ rights, despite a strong economy and low unemployment. The bill, yet to be submitted to parliament, is expected to pass with backing from the far-right Chega party. Some public transport operated due to minimum service requirements imposed by authorities, but Lisbon’s streets were noticeably quieter. While hospitals stayed open, most surgeries and appointments have been postponed as nursing staff walked out.” (12/11/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-12-11/portugal-general-strike-stalls-transport-closes-schools-in-labour-reform-protest
Source: The Dispatch
“The Illusion of Campaign Finance Reform.” (12/11/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/the-illusion-of-campaign-finance-reform/
Source: The Bulwark
by Mona Charen
“Again and again, Trump administration goons have insisted that they are deporting only the ‘worst of the worst … rapists, savages, monsters.’ They have even — and this is one of the most vile aspects of this government — encouraged their base to revel in the misery of their victims by releasing videos lovingly dwelling on images of people being bound and frog-marched toward the planes. The videos are titled ‘ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight.’ If their intended audience experienced a tingle of pleasure, they might want to fact check the administration’s claims. A Cato Institute report based on leaked ICE information showed that 73 percent of deportees had no criminal convictions and only 5 percent had a conviction for a violent crime.” (12/11/25)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trumps-deportations-are-ripping-mothers-babies-venezuela-el-salvador-cecot-immigration
Source: Common Dreams
by Chuck Idelson
“As the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence nears, President Donald Trump’s escalating attacks on immigrants of color has made his administration the most globally racist, hostile administration for non-white immigrants in US history, on top of its aggressively implemented racist policies in the US and around the world. In the past two weeks alone, we’ve witnessed Trump’s racist rants against the Somali community in Minnesota, the freezing of all non-white asylum bids, and denial of citizenship rights for long-time legal immigrants from non-white majority nations. These come on top of the increasingly violent assaults and deportations of mostly brown and Black people, including citizens, solely based on skin color, language, and where they work. The November 26 shooting, one fatally, of two National Guard members in Washington was the pretext for the latest intensification of Trump’s anti-non-white immigrant crusade.” (12/11/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-immigration-racism
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“The Food and Drug Administration is investigating whether COVID-19 vaccines caused deaths in adults, as part of a safety review that earlier appeared to just be focused on children. The investigation, being conducted across different divisions of the FDA, comes at a time when U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is upending longstanding guidance for a wide range of vaccines. The ‘FDA is doing a thorough investigation, across multiple age groups, of deaths potentially related to COVID vaccines,’ a spokesperson said in a statement to Bloomberg Tuesday.” (12/10/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/12/10/covid-possible-covid-vaccine-deaths/
