Now at the helm of CBS News, Bari Weiss has become the most prominent figure pushing the idea that America is held hostage by two political “extremes” that have sidelined a large, unified, moderate, and pragmatic political center. That is the opposite of the truth.

Telemundo found a way to report the massive fraud exposed in Minnesota by independent journalist Nick Shirley. In so doing, they reveal the extent to which Shirley embarrassed the media. Watch as climate propagandist Vanessa Hauc quickly goes to the “far-right YouTuber” card, as a reverse appeal to authority against what she is forced to report: NICK SHIRLEY: That’s just a simple question. Where are the children at? VANESSA HAUC: This all comes after a video by a far-right YouTuber went viral on social media. In the video recorded by Nick Shirley, who identifies as an independent journalist, he says he visited daycare centers that receive federal and state subsidies but found no children inside. NBC News contacted Shirley to find out what time he visited the centers but received no response. The footage was filmed in the area inhabited by Minneapolis' Somali community, and has already garnered over 100 million views. In one paragraph, Hauc got off “far-right YouTuber”, “identifies as an independent journalist”, NBC News getting the silent treatment, and the virality of the report by indicating that it garnered over 100 million views (127M as of this writing). The rest of the report treads lightly over Shirley’s findings. There is no substantive mention of the staggering scope of the fraud that was uncovered, either across agencies or in dollars stolen. There is no apparent interest in holding Minnesota elected officials, mostly Democrats, accountable for years of broken oversight.  And there is a simple explanation for this. The Somali fraud story is, at its core, an immigration story. We are all witnessing in real time what happens when there is no effort to encourage the assimilation of large numbers of immigrants who bring their idiosyncrasies and tribal divides with them to America. Telemundo is a network whose survival depends on unfettered immigration. This story is therefore additionally inconvenient and embarrassing.  Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on Noticias Telemundo Ahora on Tuesday, December 30th, 2025: CLAUDIA DE LA FUENTE: Federal agents launched a massive fraud operation targeting various businesses in Minneapolis. The operation, announced by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, followed the convictions of more than 50 people in Minnesota for diverting funds intended to feed children during the pandemic. Vanessa Hauc has the latest on this case. VANESSA HAUC: The Department of Homeland Security is knocking on the doors of more than 30 businesses in Minneapolis in search of those that may be fraudulently collecting tax money. NICK SHIRLEY: That’s just a simple question. Where are the children at? HAUC: This all comes after a video by a far-right YouTuber went viral on social media. In the video recorded by Nick Shirley, who identifies as an independent journalist, he says he visited daycare centers that receive federal and state subsidies but found no children inside. NBC News contacted Shirley to find out what time he visited the centers but received no response. The footage was filmed in the area inhabited by Minneapolis' Somali community, and has already garnered over 100 million views. SHIRLEY: These buildings should be operating, as they are receiving literally millions of dollars this year. HAUC: The commissioner of the state's Department of Children and Families said that many of those centers had been investigated and no fraud was found. According to the commissioner, eight of the ten daycare centers featured in the video are still operating and receiving government assistance, which is why she confirmed that her teams continue to make unannounced visits to these centers to ensure that the children are in the designated daycare settings. The video sparked outrage among Republicans against Democratic Governor Tim Walz, whom they blame for inaction. The governor's office responded, saying, "The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action." The Justice Department, under both the Biden and Trump administrations, has conducted multiple investigations into the alleged fraud in the state. In Washington, FBI Director Kash Patel said he has allocated additional personnel and resources to dismantle the large-scale fraud.

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This is from The Free Press, and the instructions were to fess up to a mistake made in a piece for The Free Press (not elsewhere).  Here is mine:

On October 26 I wrote about President Trump’s $20 billion support package for Argentinian president Javier Milei. At the time I, along with many other economists, thought the bailout was a costly mistake, but so far the decision has been vindicated.

The backstory is that Milei was trying to peg the Argentinian peso artificially high. Such policies usually do not work, even with strong backing from the International Monetary Fund, or in this case the U.S. It felt like the U.S. would lose a lot of money supporting a doomed economic policy. After all, Milton Friedman taught us long ago that floating exchange rates, set by market forces, usually are best.

But Milei stuck to his guns with the peg, an unusual move for a libertarian-oriented reformer, and Trump decided to back him. What happened in the “market test of strength” is that Milei and Trump won. The peg held, and the U.S. government seems not to have suffered any losses from this policy. By December, Argentina announced that it would be softening its currency peg and moving closer to a floating-rate system, as most economists recommend.

Why were the economists—including me—wrong? Maybe we were right ex ante, and Milei and Trump got lucky ex post. An alternative view is that the political symbolism of holding the peg was more important than the economics of the decision, and Milei had insight the economists did not.

When you are not sure why you were wrong, or how wrong you were, that is all the more reason to stay humble.

There are many other answers at the link.

The post “What we got wrong this year” appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

Starmer’s commitment to universal human rights – which necessarily implies open borders – is now a threat to national security and, paradoxically, the human rights of the British people. By welcoming el-Fattah, a virulent anti-Semite, Starmer has violated the right of our Jewish community to feel secure in their own land. His refusal to police the pro-Palestinian, anti-Semitic hate marchers since October 2023 has also trampled on the security of British Jews and infringed upon their liberty – Central London has become a no-go zone.

– Joe Baron

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… is from page 259 of Vol. 1 of the 1980 Knopf edition of Alexis de Tocqueville’s 1835 Democracy in America [footnote deleted]:

If it be admitted that a man possessing absolute power may misuse that power by wronging his adversaries, why should not a majority be liable to the same reproach? Men do not change their characters by uniting with one another; nor does their patience in the presence of obstacles increase with their strength. For my own part, I cannot believe it; the power to do everything, which I should refuse to one of my equals, I will never grant to any number of them.

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