The root cause of our current health care affordability crisis is a broken market structure on the supply side resulting in out-of-control costs. The (apparently) core public policy issues: insurance, pre-existing conditions, employment linkage, lack of portability, the extent of coverage, denials, out of pocket costs, and deductibles would all become non-issues if health care was a normal expense that people could afford out of their income.

Among the many rationalizations that the Trump administration is using to initiate massive force and violence against the Venezuelan people is that the Venezuelan government nationalized American oil interests many years ago. The notion is that since “they stole our oil” several decades ago, it is entirely proper, U.S. officials say, for the U.S. government to retaliate against Venezuela, including, presumably, getting back the oil they supposedly “stole from us.”

India saw a wave of anti-Christian attacks, including arson on homes and churches, over the Christmas period by Hindu extremists.

Trump and Netanyahu held a joint press conference where the US president again expressed support for the idea of another attack on Iran, though he suggested it wasn’t “confirmed” that Tehran was “building up” again.

In a provision that has drawn widespread opposition from conservation groups, the bill also declares that “reissuance of the final rule under Section 2 shall not be subject to judicial review.”

Trump said he would like to fire Powell during a Monday press conference, calling the Fed chief a “fool” and railing against renovations to the central bank’s headquarters. 

Wired: “2026 will be the year when US dollar dilution—the quiet erosion of its global dominance as countries trade and pay in alternatives—starts to build momentum.”

The idea of constitutionalism is that of limited government under the rule of law. The whole point of agreeing on the basic rules by which the country is to be governed is to constrain the tendency of bureaucrats, and all those vested with executive power, to become despots and turn on their own citizens. In theory, the Constitution should safeguard individual liberty by giving citizens a bulwark against state tyranny.

On Tuesday, President Trump denounced the New York Times in a Truth Social post as a “serious threat to the National Security of our Nation” and a “TRUE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE” for publishing an article detailing Trump’s close personal relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. “Chasing women was a game of ego and dominance. Female bodies were currency,” the Times reported.