News of the Week for December 21st, 2025
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Socialized Medicine
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Abortion
Court Cases & Legislation
Trump advisers strafe Hawley over new anti-abortion group
President Trump’s advisers are furious with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) for starting an anti-abortion group to spur new action on the issue, which the White House views as a loser for Republicans in next year’s midterms.
Gun Rights
Second Amendment Roundup: Supreme Court to decide status of unlawful drug users.
ATF’s expansive regulation conflicts with U.S. position that only habitual users are disarmed.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
The Critical Flaw in Single-Event Hurricane Climate Attribution
Less than a month has passed since the official end of the 2025 hurricane season for the Northern Hemisphere. Interestingly, 2025 statistics show that Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) in the northern hemisphere was roughly 20% below the 1991-2020 mean while the number of major hurricanes and major hurricane days were down about 27% and 36%, respectively, compared to their 30-year averages (shown in parentheses).
Socialized Medicine
Government in Healthcare
We’re Killing Ourselves — and the Most Vulnerable
In recent days, the British House of Commons discussed pregnant women and assisted suicide. Lord Charles Falconer, who was Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice under Tony Blair, said pregnancy should not stop a mother’’s assisted suicide.
New York’s Death Wish: Abandoning the Most Vulnerable to Assisted Suicide
It’s not surprising, but it is shocking and devastating all the same. Empire State Governor Kathy Hochul is about to sign the assisted-suicide bill that lawmakers sent her way months ago.
War & Terror
Germany investing in military amid concerns over Putin, uncertainty about U.S. support for European defense
Nearly four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Germany is beefing up its security, increasing military enlistment and investing in an innovative array of defense technology, including drones and reconnaissance cockroaches.
Continuing Cambodia–Thailand Clashes Leave 38 Dead, Border Towns Emptied Out
Thai bombing raids have struck near shelters for displaced people and about 50 miles away from the country’s key tourist spot of Angkor Wat.
ISIS Rears Its Head Once More
From Australia to Syria, the fight against Islamic State isn’t over.
Coast Guard enacts policy calling swastikas, nooses ‘potentially divisive’
A new workplace harassment manual that downgrades the definition of such symbols quietly went into effect this week.
MIT nuclear science professor Nuno Loureiro found shot dead in home in swanky Mass. neighborhood
A prominent nuclear science professor at MIT was shot and killed inside his home in a swanky Massachusetts neighborhood Monday night, with police mum on details of the tragic slaying
Senators freeze Coast Guard admiral’s promotion over swastika, noose policy
Adm. Kevin Lunday had condemned both symbols and directed they be prohibited, but a new workplace harassment policy downgrading them to “potentially divisive” was allowed to take effect.
Why U.S. and Chinese satellites are ‘dogfighting’ in orbit
The American patrol satellite had the targets in its sights: two recently launched Chinese spacecraft flying through one of the most sensitive neighborhoods in space. Like any good tactical fighter, the American spacecraft, known as USA 270, approached from behind, so that the sun would be at its back, illuminating the quarry.
Russia says it hopes Trump does not make a ‘fatal mistake’ on Venezuela
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it hoped that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration would not make a fatal mistake over Venezuela and said Moscow was concerned about U.S. decisions that threatened international shipping.
‘Violent act’: Chilling reason carload of men arrested en route to Bondi
Heavily-armed police have detained seven men understood to be on their way to Bondi Beach, dramatically ramming their car.
No, the Venezuelan Regime Has Not Been Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization
Yesterday, I wrote about President’s Trump’s claims, made in a social media post, that Venezuela had stolen oil and land from the United States. As I explain, there is an undeveloped good point: Venezuela’s expropriations without just compensation have grossly violated the American interpretation of international law. Regrettably but not surprisingly, this point is obscured by the president’s crazy talk: Obviously, the land and resources of a foreign country belong to that country, not to us, under legal doctrines to which our government has adhered for decades and the American understanding of national territorial sovereignty (which we expect other nations to respect, especially when it comes to our own territory and resources).
Trump’s ‘Blockade’ of Venezuela
In two posts, I’ve covered what was specifically wrong with President Trump’s Truth Social diatribe about Venezuela — as opposed to the general wrongness of its tone and content. Now, let’s deal with something that could be productive, although it, too, is being lost in the bombast.
Russia wants to drain Europe’s investigative resources with its sabotage campaign, officials say
In November, a train carrying almost 500 people came to a sudden halt in eastern Poland. A broken overhead line had smashed several windows, and the track ahead was damaged. Elsewhere on the line, explosives detonated under a passing freight train.
A Bear in a China Trap
It is, to say the least, ironic that Putin’s neo-imperial war against Ukraine is, for all the talk of friendship and partnership “without limits” with Beijing, steadily reducing Russia to something close to a Chinese vassal state, a process that may eventually come at a very steep price. For, as far as Beijing is concerned, there is longstanding unfinished business with whoever is in charge in the Kremlin.
National
Rob Reiner and His Wife Michele Were Killed by Their Son
Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead in their home, and their son Nick is now being questioned by police
DHS to focus on arresting illegal immigrants with serious offenses amid negative polling on ICE raids: report
Border Patrol will allegedly focus on illegal immigrants convicted of serious crimes rather than large-scale operations
Sen. Rand Paul says redistricting efforts could lead to political violence
The Kentucky Republican said he believes redistricting efforts on both sides of the aisle are a “mistake” that could lead voters to feel disenfranchised.
Dev hacks Xiaomi’s Smart Humidifier to free it from the cloud, now works with Home Assistant locally — custom firmware allows the product to evade planned obsolescence
Swedish-German developer Steffen has just shared the source code for a new firmware they created that allowed them to free a new Xiaomi humidifier from? the cloud.
Trump Vows ‘Truckloads’ of Evidence the 2020 Election Was ‘Rigged’ Is Coming Out
President Donald Trump said his administration has “truckloads” of evidence to show Democrats “rigged” the 2020 election on Sunday.
Immigration Agents Have Often Grabbed and Mistreated Citizens, Congressional Investigators Find
Prompted by ProPublica’s reporting, an investigation by Senate Democrats documented the experiences of nearly two dozen citizens wrongly detained by immigration agents, contradicting the Trump administration’s claims that it only detains immigrants.
Measure Microcredential Outcomes
Accreditors overseeing the short-term-credentials market should do so properly.
Less-Than-Reassuring Answers in the Brown University Shooting
On the menu today: My colleagues Kamden Mulder, Phil Klein, and Noah Rothman will get you up to speed on the latest violent outbreak of murderous antisemitism, the appalling, outrage-inducing Bondi Beach mass shooting in Australia. The suspects are Sajid Akram and Naveed Akram, a father and son. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that “Australia’s domestic intelligence agency, ASIO, examined one of the Bondi Beach gunmen six years ago over his close ties to a Sydney-based Islamic State terrorism cell,” and reportedly, “Two IS flags were found in their car at Bondi Beach.” Apparently, Australian authorities determined he represented no ongoing threat. Once again, if you see something, say something, so the authorities can do nothing.
Trump’s Top Aide Acknowledges ‘Score Settling’ Behind Prosecutions
In interviews with Vanity Fair, Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, said President Trump “has an alcoholic’s personality,” called JD Vance a “conspiracy theorist” and concluded that Pam Bondi “completely whiffed” the early handling of the Epstein files.
Norman Podhoretz, 1930-2025
My father died tonight, December 16, a month shy of his 96th birthday. Norman Podhoretz passed peacefully and without pain, with a new translation of The Odyssey on his desk that had been sent to him by his friend Roger Hertog. It sat next to a copy of Alexander Pope’s legendary translation, which he had asked my sister Naomi to order for him so he could compare the two.
Antisemitism tensions rise as NYC Young Republicans host the far-right
A Jewish Republican lawmaker turned down her invitation, despite being touted by the group as an “honored guest.”
NC Sen. Thom Tillis says it’s time to move on from Trump-nominated Mark Walker
Sen. Thom Tillis said Tuesday he believes that the Senate needs to move on from the nomination of former Rep. Mark Walker for ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.
Republicans push mail-in voting for the midterms in defiance of Trump
Fearing a turnout slump, Republicans are promoting mail voting to keep Trump’s supporters engaged — even as he tries to end the practice.
A retired policeman was jailed over an anti-Trump meme. Now he’s suing.
Attorneys for 61-year-old Larry Bushart say a Tennessee sheriff violated the First Amendment: “In America, we do not jail people for political speech.”
Trump administration prepares sweeping crackdown on leftist networks
The Trump administration is embarking on an expansive effort to root out what it sees as rampant left-wing domestic terrorism, raising concerns among some security experts and lawmakers that broad categories of Americans’ political speech could come under surveillance.
Dan Bongino to leave FBI deputy director job — with rumored replacement waiting in the wings
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino will resign his position with less than a year on the job — after reportedly packing up his belongings and bidding adieu to his team.
Trump Administration Aims to Strip More Foreign-Born Americans of Citizenship
An official with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it would prioritize “those who’ve unlawfully obtained U.S. citizenship.”
Six GOP-led states push sweeping bans on public funding for DEI programs
A new report highlights Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas as the most active states advancing legislation to limit or defund DEI initiatives at public colleges and universities. Researchers argue that a wave of anti-DEI legislation in Republican-led states has reduced funding and support for diversity offices, training, and policies across higher education.
New Ban Bars 1 in 5 Legal Immigrants, Even Citizens’ Spouses & Kids
President Trump signed a new proclamation that bans nearly all legal immigration from about 40 countries, covering about one in five legal immigrants from abroad and nearly 400,000 legal immigrants over three years. Although it exempts some foreign workers and travelers from certain countries, this ban does not include any categorical exemption or waiver for spouses, minor children, or parents of US citizens or legal permanent residents, making it far harsher than his prior bans.
Claudio Neves-Valente Identified as Brown University Gunman, Found Dead
It was a wild and sudden finish to a mysterious case Thursday night. A press conference had been scheduled in Providence, Rhode Island, after it was reported that police had finally identified a “person of interest” wanted in connection with last Saturday’s deadly shooting at Brown University. However, the press conference was then cancelled, as new developments in the case unfolded. Eventually, police descended on a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, where they found 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Microdosing Cannabis Pauses Alzheimer’s Decline in Unprecedented Trial
As the world’s population ages, the number of people living with dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease increases.
Short Circuit: An inexhaustive weekly compendium of rulings from the federal courts of appeal
Horseracing integrity, beneficial owners, and bills of attainder.
Why dogs love you so much, according to science
Thousands of years of history have secured their status as man’s best friend – and there are ways to strengthen the bond even further
Democrats Just Won Seats in Mississippi. The Supreme Court Could Block a Repeat.
A veteran civil rights attorney won a landmark redistricting case. He fears such wins could soon vanish.
Economy & Taxes
Robot Vacuum Roomba Maker Goes Bankrupt, Chinese Owner Emerges
iRobot Corp., the company that revolutionized robot vacuum cleaners in the early 2000s with its Roomba model, filed for bankruptcy and proposed handing over control to its main Chinese supplier.
China Buys Rare Argentine Wheat Cargo as Milei Trims Tariffs
China is buying its first cargo of Argentine wheat in decades at a time when farmers on the Pampas are harvesting a record crop and President Javier Milei is trimming tariffs on shipments in a bid to boost exports.
Copper could hit ‘stratospheric new highs’ as hoarding of the metal in U.S. continues
Copper prices have been hitting record highs. Industry experts say the latest leg of the rally has been turbocharged by tariff concerns. The red metal is seen as a leading pulse check for economic health.
Tariffs Mean Costco Has Fewer Product Types This Holiday. But It Has Plenty of Pies.
Costco is changing its product assortment to mitigate tariffs, the big-box retailer said, after posting mostly positive earnings.
Trump administration pivots to buying stakes in critical sectors
The Trump administration is ramping up efforts to secure U.S. supply chains for critical minerals and semiconductors by converting federal grants for companies into equity stakes, aimed at reducing reliance on China.
The Fed Is Already Monetizing the National Debt
My boss, Andrew Stuttaford, writes that the Federal Reserve is slouching toward fiscal dominance, a condition in which monetary policy is made subservient to fiscal policy to help service an unmanageable national debt, even at the expense of controlling inflation. I believe we’re already there.
Will Trump Put His Thumb on the Antitrust Scale?
His ties to hostile bidders for Warner Bros. Discovery raise questions about the politicization of antitrust.
Manufacturers plan price hikes over reshoring to combat tariff effects
Industry leaders are displaying “slight optimism” for next year, with increased projections for revenue and capital spending as trade uncertainty settles, according to ISM.
Trump Holds Americans Hostage to Improve the Well-Being of Non-Americans
I’m glad to learn from your kind email that you agree with my assessment that the economic interventions of President Xi and his henchmen won’t improve China’s economy. (If ever I find myself in disagreement with you, I’ve almost certainly messed up.)
The Loaded Language of Protectionism
It’s trite but true that language matters and can mislead. Nowhere in economic policy is this more evident than in trade.
Service-Sector Workers Want Other People to Work in the Manufacturing Sector
You correctly report that Trump’s punitive taxes – a.k.a. tariffs – on Americans’ purchases of imports are not delivering the promised increase in manufacturing employment (“Where Are Those Manufacturing Jobs?” December 17). Because such an employment increase is a goal set by the administration for these tariffs, it’s fair to criticize the tariffs for failing to achieve this goal.
NY Fed President Williams says some ‘technical factors’ distorted November’s CPI reading downward
“There were some special factors of practical factors that really are related to the fact that they weren’t able to collect data in October and not in the first half of November,” Williams said. “And because of that, I think the data were distorted in some of the categories, and that pushed down the CPI reading, probably by a tenth or so,” Williams said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Jobs Could Soon Replace Prices as Focus of Anxiety
Inflation has been top-of-mind for years. That could change.
The Year America Went (Kinda) Socialist
Trump’s unprecedented ‘state corporatism’ could stay with us for a long time.
Major Kentucky bourbon maker Jim Beam shuttering distillery for 2026
One of Kentucky’s largest bourbon producers apparently is pausing whiskey production at the end of the year.
International
Right-wing candidate José Antonio Kast wins Chile election
Chile elected its most right-wing president in 35 years of democracy on Sunday as conservative Jose Antonio Kast scored a thumping victory over his leftist rival.
Hong Kong’s opposition Democratic Party commits to disband
The Democratic Party was once the largest opposition party in the city’s legislature, commanding as many as 13 seats in the then 60-strong legislature in 1998.
Hating — and Murdering — a Ten-Year-Old Girl Because She Is Jewish
Matilda was the youngest victim of the Bondi Beach attack in Australia this weekend. She was ten. Her mother describes how it wasn’t a stray bullet: The gunman saw the child and aimed right at her.
Opinion
The American Conservative Mood
I’ve been thinking a good deal lately about the mood of conservatism — and how the Buckley-Meyer fusion of the pre-existing elements of specifically American conservatism provides an important balance.
Notes from the Revolution That Changed America
Deaths have consequences.
Trump’s Appalling Reiner Reaction Is a Sign of Something Deeply Wrong
Yes, we must talk about what President Trump posted on Truth Social about the brutal murders of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, and how Trump doubled down when asked about it Monday afternoon. We must talk about it because a lot of Americans are embarrassed by the president, and for the president, and a whole lot of Americans would prefer to avert their eyes and pretend it didn’t happen. But it did happen. We must talk about it because there are some Americans still so blinded by partisan animus and cult-like loyalty that their first instinct will be to defend the president’s remarks. We will never become a better or more united country if we cannot point to indecent actions taken and statements made by those we agree with politically and say, “This is wrong. This is something that decent human beings do not do. You must do better than this.”
Australia’s ‘Swift’ National Cabinet Is Bad, Actually
NPR explains why Australia’s government is able to make “swift legal changes” — unlike, say, the federal government here in the United States
Conservatism Can’t Conserve Itself
How did we end up with the MAGA intellectuals?
Susie Wiles’s No-Drama Streak Comes to an End
For most of the first year of Trump’s second term, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has operated relatively under the radar and avoided being at the center of any controversies. That streak came to a dramatic end Tuesday, as Vanity Fair published a long profile of her, full of quotes that criticized other members of the administration. Wiles now claims she is the victim of a “hit piece” that aimed to “paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team.” It’s a hit piece that she apparently inadvertently assisted with, er, eleven on-the-record interviews.
On faith and foster care, one state does the right thing
Massachusetts backs off from foster-care rule that barred families over gender-identity requirements.
The Administration Isn’t as Blind to Putin’s Ambitions as They Pretend
Their protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, the remarks Trump administration officials provided to Vanity Fair reporter Chris Whipple in his profile of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles certainly are candid.
Hey, Good for You, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino
Dan Bongino began this year as a podcaster, was sworn in as deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on March 17, and recently announced he will be leaving his position in January.
Trump Won’t Commit to the Pivot
Pity the poor viewer who tuned into the president’s primetime address on Wednesday night under the misapprehension that he would explain the rationale for a U.S. military campaign against the regime in Venezuela. Instead, the national crisis Donald Trump set out to confront was his sagging poll numbers. What viewers witnessed last night was a classic presidential pivot. But instead of stopping at 180 degrees, the president whirled around so hard he ended the night right where he began it.
That Speech
I was on NewsNation with Leland Vittert last night, right at 10pm ET. During our conversation, NewsNation’s White House correspondent noted the White House staff said that was one of the President’s greatest speeches and reminded people he is the greatest President.
The Godfather of American Liberalism
H. G. Wells: novelist, historian, authoritarian, anticapitalist, eugenicist, and advisor to presidents
Bush v. Gore Propaganda at 25
Over at SCOTUSBlog, Erwin Chemerinsky looked at the legacy of Bush v. Gore on its 25th anniversary. His explanation of what happened in the case, geared for the law student reader too young to remember the facts, leaves out a number of key factors.
Ben Shapiro Is Right
The ideological war, which has spread from the pundits to at least some corners of the conservative movement, has been heating up.
Is Populism Popular?
As ever, ‘generic Republican’ is still the most potent political brand in America.
Instead of Draining the Swamp, Trump Starts Renaming It After Himself
On Wednesday Donald Trump unveiled his newest addition to the White House, a series of presidential plaques featuring Trump’s own highly ungrammatical (and wildly undignified) opinions on his predecessors, engraved for posterity’s sake and put on public display. I wrote about it on Thursday morning, thinking I’d said enough about Trump’s attention-seeking and glory-thirsting outbursts for one week.
Trump Has No Authority to Categorize Fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction
Common sense tells us that narcotic drugs are different from WMD. As one would expect, these differences are reflected in law.
One-Dimensional Chess
Donald Trump does a lot of smart things, but he also does some inexplicably dumb things. Like–if this was an endorsement–endorsing MyPillow founder Mike Lindell as the GOP candidate for Governor of Minnesota:
