Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The Lithuanian government has declared a ‘nationwide emergency situation’ in response to a series of incursions from neighbouring Belarus by weather balloons carrying smuggled cigarettes. Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene condemned the balloon incursions as a ‘hybrid attack’ by Belarus that posed a real risk to national security and civil aviation. This year alone, officials say about 600 balloons linked to smuggling and almost 200 drones have entered Lithuanian airspace, leading to the repeated closure of Vilnius airport. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko denies being behind the incursions, alleging the issue has been ‘politicised’ by Lithuania, which is a member of both the EU and Nato.” (12/09/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c39pr3d10wlo
Source: The Fifth Column
“UNLOCKED Members Only #290 – AI George Washington, LSD Margaritas, and Tara Reid.” (12/09/25)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/unlocked-members-only-290-ai-george
Source: Washington Monthly
by Bill Scher
“Trump’s clemency record should be viewed alongside his deregulatory agenda, putting global markets at risk.” (12/09/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/12/09/trump-pardons-white-collar-crime-deregulation/
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“‘Social sector’ workers — described by Forbes as ‘nonprofit organizations and the social sector at-large’ — have been losing jobs because of budget cuts and corruption cuts. Many newly unemployed are unhappy about having to job-hunt. Some complain about having to take jobs from profit-making businesses. Others lament sparse communication from prospective employers. … Job seekers might feel less demoralized if they didn’t take the impersonal aspects of the search so personally.” (12/09/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/12/09/looking4work/
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced a leader of the feared Sudanese Janjaweed militia to 20 years imprisonment Tuesday for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the catastrophic conflict in Darfur more than two decades ago. At a hearing last month, prosecutors sought a life sentence for Ali Muhammad Ali Abd–Al-Rahman who was was convicted in October of 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity that included ordering mass executions and bludgeoning two prisoners to death with an ax in 2003-2004.” (12/09/25)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/international-criminal-court-sudanese-leader-9.7008390
Source: Unpopular Front
“Talking to Jeffrey Herf about Reactionary Modernism.” (12/09/25)
https://www.unpopularfront.news/p/talking-to-jeffrey-herf-about-reactionary
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jorge Heine
“The president’s new hemispheric strategy revives interventionist logic while ignoring the region’s urgent need for infrastructure and economic diversification.” (12/09/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-corollory/
Source: Town Hall
by Stephen Moore
“President Donald Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei have a special relationship. Each is engaged in a crusade to make his respective country’s economy great again. Trump was all in on helping Milei win his elections earlier this year, and he has also offered the Argentines a $20 billion ‘lifeline’ as they adjust to the bumpy path to needed free-market reforms. The stakes are gigantic because the whole world is watching Milei’s embrace of free-market ‘shock capitalism,’ which so far is working. He has restored sound money (by linking to the dollar) and taken a chainsaw to the bloated state bureaucracy as he privatizes rather than nationalizes government assets. Argentina’s tragic detour into the dead end of socialism drove the nation into a half-century-long economic ditch, with poverty rates skyrocketing.” (12/09/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/stephenmoore/2025/12/09/how-trump-can-help-accelerate-argentinas-economic-comeback-n2667571
Source: USA Today
“The Supreme Court won’t get involved in states’ regulation of vanity license plates, rejecting an appeal from a Tennessee woman challenging the rejection of her controversial ’69PWNDU’ personalized plate. The court on Dec. 8 declined to hear an appeal from Leah Gilliam, who argued that states’ rules for what is and isn’t allowed on personalized plates are often unclear and can amount to a ‘dizzying array of censorship.’ She wanted the court to find that she is expressing her own views through a vanity plate, not the government’s, a decision that would have limited states’ ability to control that message.” (12/09/25)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/08/supreme-court-vanity-license-plates-tennessee/87506942007/
Source: The New Republic
“Hegseth Defense Collapsing as Fresh Leaks on Strikes Grow More Damning.” (12/09/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/204157/hegseth-defense-full-collapse-leaks-strikes-grow-damning
