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December 31, 2025

Welcome to The Lighthouse, the weekly email newsletter of the Independent Institute covering politics, economics, current events, and everything in between.

Dear Readers,

Thank you to all our readers who have followed our stories throughout this year!

Before we wade into 2026, here are our articles to close the year—prefaced by our year-in-review episode of Independent Outlook.

Ivan Eland argues that Trump’s Ukraine policy has veered from strategic restraint to outright appeasement, pressuring Kyiv to accept a lopsided peace that rewards Russian aggression.

It's that time of year again: Senator Rand Paul’s Festivus Report skewers Washington for blowing over $1.6 trillion on everything, from binge‑drinking ferrets to “Plinko”-playing monkeys.

In a pair of articles, Craig Eyermann notes several bizarre examples found in the Festivus Report as well as staggering cases of outright fraud, including government workers using agency credit cards for personal expenses—all on the taxpayer’s dime.

Allen Gindler discusses the economic fallacy at the core of the Trump fraud investigation as well as its impact on general economic sentiment. He addresses the misleading belief that subjective property valuations are objective facts, and he explains why courts are unable to make accurate price determinations.

Finally, Matthew B. Crawford writes about the pending sale of Warner Bros., arguing we must consider the intuitions that led people in the film and television business to panic about the prospect.

Enjoy—and have a happy New Year!

Jonathan Hofer
Managing Editor

Top picks this week


** VIDEO
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** Year in Review: How Did Liberty Fare in 2025? | Independent Outlook 75 ([link removed])
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For those who care about liberty, 2025 was a mixed bag.
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** The United States Should Butt Out of the Ukraine-Russia Conflict ([link removed])
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** by Ivan Eland
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Trump should give up his weird affinity for Putin and quit bullying Zelensky.
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** 2025’s Festivus Airing of Grievances for Wasteful Government Spending ([link removed])
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** by Craig Eyermmann
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This is a special occasion for everyone who celebrates fiscal responsibility … and wishes all the politicians and bureaucrats would join in that celebration.
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** The Bureaucrats Who Deserve Lumps of Coal for Christmas ([link removed])
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** by Craig Eyermann
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There are many stories about bureaucrats behaving badly within the U.S. government—but did you know some of the worst of the worst all worked for a single federal agency?
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** Courts Cannot Determine the ‘Correct’ Price of Property ([link removed])
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** The economic misunderstanding behind the Trump fraud case ([link removed])
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** by Allen Gindler
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Trump’s court case touches upon the key question that occupies the minds of economists: what value is and how it is determined.
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** Netflix’s Ownership of Warner Bros. Would Change Filmmaking Incentives ([link removed])
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** How managerialism strangles craftsmanship in the culture industry ([link removed])
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** by Matthew B. Crawford
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The lovelessness of managerialism is like a pillow held firmly over the face of culture.
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** FEATURED BOOK
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** Crossroads for Liberty
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** Recovering the Anti-Federalist Values of America’s First Constitution
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** by William J. Watkins, Jr.
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“Given that the Anti-Federalists’ predictions about the growth of national power have come true, their views of the weaknesses of the Constitution deserve to be heard.”

—Randy E. Barnett, Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at the Georgetown University Law Center
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