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The Narrative Fails Again…Unexpectedly!

The Perpetual Surprise of Prosperity Just in time for Christmas, the Bureau of Economic Analysis finally released the delayed third-quarter GDP figures-delayed, of course, by the longest government shutdown in modern history-and what do we find? Real GDP growth at an annualized 4.3%, accelerating from 3.8% in Q2 and marking the strongest quarterly expansion in two years. Consumer spending surges 3.5%, exports jump 8.8%, and corporate profits leap $166 billion. Yet the headlines, from CNBC to CNN, uniformly intone the same ritual incantation: "much more than expected," "unexpectedly robust," "blasts past forecasts." This is not mere journalistic shorthand. It is the…

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The Art of the Hemisphere, Part III

Reclaiming the Caribbean: The Cuban Cascade Three weeks after detailing how Trump's pardon of Juan Orlando Hernández turned Honduras into a strategic ally and intensified pressure on Nicolás Maduro, and just a day after Part II outlined the escalating actions of Operation Southern Spear—targeting strikes, seizures, and a shadow-fleet blockade—the Wall Street Journal delivers a stark report: Cuba on the edge of economic collapse, driven by the same Venezuelan oil restrictions. This development underscores the broader implications of Trump's strategy, not as unintended fallout, but as a deliberate ripple effect designed to dismantle the Havana-Caracas alliance and compel both regimes toward…

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The Art of the Hemisphere, Part II

Trump's Corollary in Action: Choking the Narco-Nexus Three weeks ago, I laid out how President Trump's pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH)-a man convicted of turning his country into a cocaine superhighway-was no act of mercy, but a stroke of asymmetric genius. Low domestic cost, high strategic yield: Flip Honduras, isolate Nicolás Maduro, and dangle a "golden bridge" of exile and asset unfreezing in exchange for Venezuelan oil concessions, base closures, and a clean break from his narco-terror cronies. Critics howled hypocrisy; I called it the biggest real-estate deal since Manhattan, with 300 billion barrels of Orinoco heavy…

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The DEI Reckoning

Identity Politics and the Fracturing of American Institutions Trump's Corollary in Action: Choking the Narco-Nexus Three weeks ago, I laid out how President Trump's pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH)-a man convicted of turning his country into a cocaine superhighway-was no act of mercy, but a stroke of asymmetric genius. Low domestic cost, high strategic yield: Flip Honduras, isolate Nicolás Maduro, and dangle a "golden bridge" of exile and asset unfreezing in exchange for Venezuelan oil concessions, base closures, and a clean break from his narco-terror cronies. Critics howled hypocrisy; I called it the biggest real-estate deal since…

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Red State Cowardice

Indiana Republicans' Redistricting Fumble: A Generational Self-Inflicted Wound Note: This column was drafted last week in the immediate aftermath of the Indiana Senate's December 11 vote, but its publication was delayed by a cascade of shattering national and international tragedies that dominated the news cycle. The mass shooting at Brown University—followed days later by the linked murder of an MIT professor and the suspect's suicide—claimed young lives during finals week and reopened raw wounds over campus safety and gun violence. Then came the horrific antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney on the first night of Hanukkah, a targeted assault…

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From Obamacare Failures to GOP Fixes

The GOP's Path to Overhauling Democrats Failed Health Legacy Congress has adjourned for the holiday recess without extending the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits, which expire on December 31, 2025. This locks in a reversion to the original 2010 ACA framework for 2026 marketplace plans, with projected sharp premium increases and potential coverage losses. Republican alternatives-the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act (H.R. 6703) (passed by the House on December 17) and the Health Care Freedom for Patients Act of 2025 (S. 3386) (stalled in the Senate)-represent market-oriented responses but do not include subsidy extensions. Critically,…

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Rebalancing the American Workforce

November Jobs Report Shows Prioritizing Private, Native-Born Employment The U.S. labor market in 2025 shows a clear rebalancing toward private-sector and native-born workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' November report, delayed due to the earlier government shutdown, reported 64,000 jobs added, with unemployment at 4.6%-its highest since late 2021. Private-sector gains of 69,000 fully offset public-sector losses, highlighting a shift driven by policy changes. This rebalancing reduces government bloat and redirects job growth to Americans, but low workforce participation and discouraged workers remain concerns that could limit long-term benefits. The GOP's Path to Overhauling Democrats Failed Health Legacy Congress has adjourned…

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Tennessee’s Smelting Rise in the REE-naissance Saga

Tennessee's Role in Breaking China's Critical Minerals Grip In the arc of America's REE-naissance-spanning policy blueprints in Saskatoon separators, Utah's ionic bounty, and Uyuni's lithium pivot-the missing link has been robust, scalable downstream processing. Enter Korea Zinc's $7.4 billion U.S.-backed smelter in Tennessee, announced Monday, transforming an operational Nyrstar site into a fortress for 13 critical metals, including 5,100 tonnes of rare earths annually. This isn't mere metallurgy; it's the industrial anvil forging hemispheric independence, syncing upstream feeds from Utah clays and Bolivian brines with midstream tech like REalloys-SRC's AI-driven purity. As China's rare earth export licenses flow under truce terms,…

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Uyuni’s Southern Pivot

Bolivia's Lithium Joins the Hemispheric REE-naissance As the Trump administration accelerates America's critical minerals independence through landmark legislation and domestic breakthroughs, a quiet but seismic shift is unfolding 4,000 miles south in the blinding white expanse of Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni. The world's largest lithium reserve-23 million metric tons of "white gold" buried beneath the iconic salt flat-is on the cusp of integration into the Western Hemisphere's emerging battery metals ecosystem. President Rodrigo Paz Pereira, inaugurated just over a month ago, has signaled a pragmatic review of stalled Chinese and Russian contracts, opening the door to U.S.-led partnerships that could extend…

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Remembering Rob Reiner

Rob Reiner Made Generat Bolivia's Lithium Joins the Hemispheric REE-naissance As the Trump administration accelerates America's critical minerals independence through landmark legislation and domestic breakthroughs, a quiet but seismic shift is unfolding 4,000 miles south in the blinding white expanse of Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni. The world's largest lithium reserve-23 million metric tons of "white gold" buried beneath the iconic salt flat-is on the cusp of integration into the Western Hemisphere's emerging battery metals ecosystem. President Rodrigo Paz Pereira, inaugurated just over a month ago, has signaled a pragmatic review of stalled Chinese and Russian contracts, opening the door to U.S.-led…

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