Analysis of recent political events, including the Federal Reserve’s decisions and international relations.
I’ve 15 tabs for a moment .
This sounds like treason https://t.co/u8vAq6MMyN— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2025
Ed: Not treason, but certainly a violation of Ilhan Omar’s oath of office. Even in the most benign interpretation, Omar is committing to carrying out the demands of a foreign government over the interests of the US as a member of Congress. The House Ethics Committee should take this up as a potential disqualification from office.
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WSJ: Federal Reserve officials cut interest rates at their third consecutive meeting, but signaled little appetite for more amid unusual internal divisions over whether inflation or the job market should be their bigger worry.
The Fed voted 9-3 for the reduction on Wednesday, the first time in six years that three officials cast dissents. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid thought the reduction wasn’t warranted, while Fed governor Stephen Miran favored a larger, half-point cut.
The decision to reduce the benchmark federal-funds rate by a quarter point—to between 3.5% and 3.75%, a three-year low—is aimed at protecting against a sharper-than-anticipated slowdown in hiring.
Ed: I’m surprised there was this much dissent to a rate cut. The rate of inflation is a little above target, but job creation numbers have been mediocre to poor for months. That’s the priority for the economy now. The Fed needs to boost economic activity and deal with inflationary pressures in other ways. The dissent itself is another issue, as Heather Long notes.
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Wow. Dissent is back a the Federal Reserve.
3 people voted against today’s cut. —>The most dissent since 2019.
And check out the «dot plot.»
6 people did NOT want to cut today. (Some of those people don’t vote at the meetings).
2026 is even more wild.
The bottom line:… pic.twitter.com/vey4jx1zuL— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) December 10, 2025
The bottom line: «Stagflation-lite» is a tough and confusing situation for Americans and the Fed.
Ed: Indeed it is. But this problem didn’t start in 2025; it started in 2021.
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Axios: The Trump Administration dramatically escalated its standoff with Venezuela on Wednesday by seizing a large tanker loaded with crude oil bound for Cuba.
Why it matters: President Trump’s pressure campaign on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro has now struck at the heart of Venezuela’s oil-based economy. .
The U.S. has sanctioned Venezuela’s oil shipments for years, but never before seized an oil-laden tanker of this size departing the country, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves.
Ed: Technically speaking, this is an act of war. The US has had sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sales for years, but Trump is escalating now for a reason. He’s trying to force Maduro into either a military response, which would be utterly devastating to Maduro as Trump would be free to respond without Congress, or to leave. Trump is leveraging his credibility from the June attack on Iranian nuclear facilities to force the issue.
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This action was in some ways unfinished business from Trump’s first term, sources say, when then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper balked at seizing a Venezuelan tanker
But things are very different in Trump 2, including Rubio’s influence https://t.
