Groups keyboard shortcuts have been updated
Dismiss
See shortcuts
04/07 -- "Ugly" Monday Crash Warning As Sudden $1.3 Trillion Crypto Price Meltdown Hits Bitcoin, Others; Trump Will Never Accept Responsibility, But His Disappointed Voters Should
6 views
Skip to first unread message
Thomas L. Knapp
Apr 7, 2025, 6:20:08 AMApr 7
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 04/07/25
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Presented by the Liberty International
https://liberty-intl.org/
Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's Freedom News:
1) “Ugly” Monday Crash Warning As Sudden $1.3 Trillion Crypto Price Meltdown Hits Bitcoin, Others
2) Palestine: Israeli occupation forces murder American teen
3) France: Far-right supporters rally in Paris against Le Pen’s conviction
4) Ukraine: One killed in Russian attack on Kyiv as death toll from earlier strike rises to 19
5) Israel: Regime changes story on Gaza aid worker murders
6) Prosecutors seek seven-year prison term for George Santos
7) Angry protesters from New York to Alaska assail Trump and Musk in “Hands Off!” rallies
8) No wigs please; new rules shaking up beauty pageants
9) US Senate (Republicans) pass measure to move forward on Trump’s tax cuts
10) CA: Judge restrains trade in milling machinery
11) Senate just made it easier for national parks and forests to be sold
12) Italy: Prosecutors probe “sacrilegious” sales of future saint’s bone fragments, hair
13) DOJ suspends lawyer for failing to lie to judge about deportation mistake
14) Nintendo delays Switch 2 US pre-orders following Trump tariffs
15) US regime revokes all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders
16) Judge blocks White House funding cuts to NIH
17) UK: Denying two MPs entry to Israel “unacceptable,” says Lammy
18) SpaceX flight over Earth’s poles ends with splashdown in California
19) No state has ended personal income taxes since 1980, but MS & KY may change that
20) Trump extends TikTok ban deadline again
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Trump Will Never Accept Responsibility, But His Disappointed Voters Should
22) Malevolent Laziness
23) The City That Treats Adults Like Children
24) Even without the tariffs, Trump’s economic agenda is a disaster
25) Beyond Signalgate: Understanding the Real Scandal in Yemen
26) This Is What Oligarchy Looks Like
27) How Party Politics Destroys Independent Thought and Liberty
28) Tariffs and Trade Deficits
29) On 15th Anniversary Of Collateral Murder, Trump Shares Collateral Murder-Style Snuff Film
30) Trump Has Already Botched His Own Bad Tariff Plan
31) Never Forgive Democrats For The Lies They Told You
32) Turning San Quentin into Norway isn’t the worst idea
33) Dear DNC: Open the Gates Wide for Your People’s Cabinet
34) Tariffs Aren’t Liberating
35) Will Trump Invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 Next?
36) A Silver Lining, but…
37) Here’s what Trump is really up to with high-stakes tariff gambit
38) All Trade is Reciprocal. Trump’s Tariffs Interfere With That Reciprocity.
39) Trump’s “Liberation Day” Tariffs Are a Mistake
40) Unscrambling the Price of Eggs
41) Why Are “Hands Off” Rallies Defending War-Hungry NATO?
42) The Great Carl Menger
43) Justice or a Democratic Scandal?
44) Deadbeats! Saudis won’t pay $13.7 million bill for US military fuel
45) Why the Feds are eyeing China’s grifter oligarchs, shedding light on corruption at every level
46) NIH: The $47-Billion Sacred Cow Is Scared
47) The College Essay Is Everything That’s Wrong With America
48) The Argentine Ratline
49) More Than 1,800 Academics Say They Will Boycott Columbia, and the Number Is Growing
50) New York Times Blockbuster Article Prepares Americans for Defeat in Ukraine
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Unattended Baggage, episode 288
52) Matt Taibbi on The Scott Horton Show
53) The Anarchist Experience, episode 522
54) Kinsella On Liberty, episode 457
55) The Climate Realism Show, episode 152
56) Serious Trouble, 04/04/25
57) Nonzero, 04/04/25
58) The Dischcast with Andrew Sullivan, 04/04/25
59) Conflicts of Interest, episode 781
60) The Chris Spangle Show, 04/04/25
61) The Fifth Column, episode 499
62) Freakonomics Radio, episode 628
63) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 04/04/25
64) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2627
65) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/04/25
vvvvv SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS vvvvv
Tyranny Demands AN ACT OF SELF-DEFENSE: A NOVEL BY ERNE LEWIS
https://tinyurl.com/actofselfdefense
ONE IDENTITY FOR ALL YOUR CRYPTO
https://fioprotocol.io/
SAMUEL EDWARD KONKIN III REVOLUTIONARY FRIEND BY WENDY MCELROY
https://www.amazon.com/Samuel-Edward-Konkin-Revolutionary-Friend-ebook/dp/B0DP7B6127
SHOP ONLINE, COLLECT A REBATE IN BITCOIN!
https://www.lolli.com/share/MZB4cCpheL
THE CONSTITUTION OF NON-STATE GOVERNMENT: FIELD GUIDE TO TEXAS SECESSION, by TL Hulsey
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1947660853
^^^^^ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ^^^^^
_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) “Ugly” Monday Crash Warning As Sudden $1.3 Trillion Crypto Price Meltdown Hits Bitcoin, Others
Source: Forbes
“Bitcoin and crypto prices have fallen sharply, catching up with stocks that plunged in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s so-called Liberation Day of global tariffs that could become a ‘crisis scenario.’ The bitcoin price has plummeted under $77,000 per bitcoin, down more than 10% from its high of almost $90,000 last week. Ethereum, XRP, solana, dogecoin and other major coins have dropped even more sharply, taking the value wiped from the combined crypto market since January to $1.3 trillion. Now, as Wall Street braces for a Congress crypto game-changer, traders are scrambling to figure out if the sudden bitcoin price correction could escalate into a full-blown market crash.” (04/07/25)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2025/04/07/crash-fear-as-sudden-13-trillion-crypto-price-meltdown-hits-bitcoin-ethereum-xrp-solana-and-dogecoin/
-----
2) Palestine: Israeli occupation forces murder American teen
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Israeli forces have opened fire on a group of children in the occupied West Bank, killing a 14-year-old Palestinian-American boy and wounding at least two others, according to the Wafa news agency. The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the victim on Sunday as Omar Mohammed Rabea, and said he was shot near the town of Turmus Aya, northeast of the city of Ramallah. The Israeli military said it had killed a ‘terrorist’ who was throwing stones. … According to Wafa, Israeli officials [abducted] Rabea, later pronouncing him dead, and have withheld his body. Two other Palestinian boys, aged 14 and 15, were shot in the attack that killed Rabea, the agency reported. The boys, who hold United States citizenship, were wounded in the abdomen and the thigh and were transferred by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) to a hospital for treatment.” (04/06/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/6/palestinian-us-teen-killed-by-israeli-settler-in-the-occupied-west-bank
-----
3) France: Far-right supporters rally in Paris against Le Pen’s conviction
Source: WTOP News
“Supporters of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen were gathering in Paris on Sunday to protest her conviction for embezzlement and a five-year ban on running for office. Le Pen, who is appealing the verdict, has vowed ‘not to let the presidency be stolen.’ A rival leftist demonstration was assembling at Place de la République, denouncing what organizers called a ‘Trumpist turn’ by Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) party. Despite the court ruling last Monday, polls are showing RN holding strong, even with Le Pen’s protegee Jordan Bardella as a candidate in a 2027 presidential matchup.” (04/06/25)
https://wtop.com/world/2025/04/frances-far-right-supporters-rally-in-paris-against-le-pens-conviction/
-----
4) Ukraine: One killed in Russian attack on Kyiv as death toll from earlier strike rises to 19
Source: ABC News
“One person was killed Sunday as Russian air strikes hit the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, while the death toll from Friday’s deadly attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih continued to rise. The Kyiv victim was found close to the strike’s epicenter of the attack in the city’s Darnytskyi district, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. A further three people were injured in the strike, which saw fires break out in several nonresidential areas, damaging cars and buildings. In a statement on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the intensifying Russian attacks showed that there is still insufficient international pressure on Moscow.” (04/06/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/1-killed-russian-attack-kyiv-death-toll-earlier-120532888
-----
5) Israel: Regime changes story on Gaza aid worker murders
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“The Israeli military has provided new details that changed its initial account of the killing of 15 emergency workers near the southern Gaza city of Rafah last month but said investigators were still examining the evidence. The 15 paramedics and emergency responders were shot dead on March 23 and buried in a shallow grave …. The military initially said soldiers had opened fire on vehicles that approached their position ‘suspiciously’ in the dark without lights or markings. It said they killed nine militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were travelling in Palestinian Red Crescent vehicles. But video recovered from the mobile phone of one of the dead men and published by the Palestinian Red Crescent showed emergency workers in their uniforms and clearly marked ambulances and fire trucks, with their lights on, being fired on by soldiers.” (04/06/24)
https://archive.is/YUecq
-----
6) Prosecutors seek seven-year prison term for George Santos
Source: United Press International
“Former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., is facing more than seven years in prison after federal prosecutors asked a judge to hand the disgraced congressman an 87-month sentence. Santos deserves the prison sentence for ‘unparallelled crimes,’ the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York wrote in a court filing earlier in the week. The 36-year-old last August pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges, avoiding a trial. The U.S. House of Representatives expelled Santos from Congress in December 2023.” (04/05/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/04/05/george-santos-prison-sentence-prosecutors-seven-years/8811743866437/
-----
7) Angry protesters from New York to Alaska assail Trump and Musk in “Hands Off!” rallies
Source: Associated Press
“Crowds of people angry about the way President Donald Trump is running the country marched and rallied in scores of American cities Saturday in the biggest day of demonstrations yet by an opposition movement trying to regain its momentum after the shock of the Republican’s first weeks in office. So-called Hands Off! demonstrations were organized for more than 1,200 locations in all 50 states by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organizations, labor unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans and elections activists. The rallies appeared peaceful, with no immediate reports of arrests.” (04/05/25)
https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-doge-protests-hands-off-472c574303260cbac315367cc808960d
-----
8) No wigs please; new rules shaking up beauty pageants
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Long, flowing wigs and weave extensions have dominated the catwalks of Ivory Coast’s massively popular beauty pageants for years. Contestants in the West African nation often spend a huge amount of money on their appearance, from outfits to hairdos — with very few choosing the natural look. In more than six decades, there have only been two notable exceptions, the most recent was Marlène-Kany Kouassi, who took the Miss Ivory Coast title in 2022 — looking resplendent with her short natural hair, the crown becoming her only adornment. … But this year the organisers of the Ivorian competition are shaking things up right from the start. Wigs, weaves and hair extensions have been banned from the preliminary stages of the competition, which are held in 13 cities across the country (as well as two abroad for those in the diaspora).” (04/06/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9w8r094k41o
-----
9) US Senate (Republicans) pass measure to move forward on Trump’s tax cuts
Source: Reuters
“The U.S. Senate approved a Republican budget blueprint early on Saturday that aims to extend trillions of dollars worth of President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and sharply reduce government spending. The 51-48 vote, following a late-night legislative session, unlocks a maneuver called budget reconciliation that will allow Republicans to bypass the Senate’s filibuster — a rule that imposes a 60-vote threshold on most legislation — and pass Trump’s tax, border security and military priorities later this year without Democratic votes.” (04/05/25)
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-republicans-pass-measure-move-forward-trumps-tax-cuts-2025-04-05/
-----
10) CA: Judge restrains trade in milling machinery
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“A San Diego Superior Court judge has issued a ruling that bars a Texas-based company from selling and marketing in California a computer-controlled milling machine designed to make untraceable ‘ghost guns,’ with the decision marking the third significant victory for San Diego County in the early stages of its lawsuit against the company. The county’s lawsuit, filed last May on behalf of state residents, accused Defense Distributed and several related entities of slapping a new name and paint job on the ‘Ghost Gunner’ milling machine, which is barred from sale in California, and instead illegally marketing and selling the device in California under the name ‘Coast Runner.’ The county claimed that ‘ghost guns such as the ones that can be manufactured using the Coast Runner are fueling an epidemic of gun violence across the country.'” (04/05/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/04/05/san-diego-judge-blocks-texas-company-from-selling-rebranded-ghost-gun-machine-in-california/
-----
11) Senate just made it easier for national parks and forests to be sold
Source: SFGate
“In a marathon voting session that stretched from Friday night into early Saturday morning, the GOP-led Senate voted to approve President Trump’s latest budget framework but rejected an amendment aimed at preventing the privatization of public lands. The amendment was introduced by Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) in response to reports of Republicans’ tentative plans to sell federal land in the Western United States in order to offset deficits incurred by Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. Some Republicans intend for the potentially privatized land to be used in order to address housing crises in gateway communities throughout the West, E&E News first reported, while others see the move simply as an opportunity to generate more revenue.” (04/05/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/senate-public-land-bill-rejection-20260660.php
-----
12) Italy: Prosecutors probe “sacrilegious” sales of future saint’s bone fragments, hair
Source: Daily Mail [UK]
“Italian prosecutors are investigating an alleged illegal marketplace for relics of Carlo Acutis, the late British-born 15-year-old set to become the first millennial saint later this month. Bishop Domenico Sorrentino filed a formal complaint after learning of an alleged sale of Acutis'[s] hair, said to have been bought online by an anonymous user for as much as 2,000 euros (£1,675). ‘We do not know whether the relics are real or fake,’ the bishop acknowledged. ‘But if it were also all invented, if there was deception, we would be not only in the midst of a fraud but also of an insult to religious belief.’ The Diocese of Assisi-Nocera-Gualdo claims to have verified at least one of the relics. But they warn others are still circulating on the internet, always attributed to Acutis.” (04/06/25)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14559395/italian-prosecutors-probe-sale-carlo-acutis.html
-----
13) DOJ suspends lawyer for failing to lie to judge about deportation mistake
Source: Fox News
“The Trump administration has placed a Justice Department (DOJ) lawyer on leave for not ‘zealously advocating’ its position in the case involving a Salvadoran man living in Maryland who was mistakenly deported last month. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office placed Erez Reuveni, who argued for the government, in Friday’s hearing in which a judge ruled Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia must be returned to the U.S. by Monday, on indefinite paid leave, Fox News has learned. … Reuveni on Friday admitted that Garcia’s deportation was a mistake, according to the New York Times. On Saturday, the Trump administration argued in an emergency appeal that U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis can’t force the administration to return Garcia to the U.S.” (04/05/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-admin-suspends-lawyer-case-maryland-man-mistakenly-deported-failing-zealously-advocate
-----
14) Nintendo delays Switch 2 US pre-orders following Trump tariffs
Source: Engadget
“Nintendo has delayed US Switch 2 pre-orders in response to the new set of tariffs announced by President Donald Trump earlier this week, as first reported by Polygon. Following Nintendo’s announcement of the console on Wednesday, pre-orders in the United States were slated to open on April 9. They’re now delayed indefinitely. … the Trump administration said it would impose a sweeping set of new tariffs targeted against a broad swath of countries, including Japan, China and Vietnam. Products from the latter two countries, where Nintendo manufactures much of its hardware, will be subject to import duties of 54 percent and 46 percent, respectively.” (04/04/25)
https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-delays-switch-2-us-pre-orders-following-trump-tariffs-150747208.html?src=rss&guccounter=1
-----
15) US regime revokes all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders
Source: New York Post
“The Trump administration is revoking all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders over the African nation’s failure to accept repatriated citizens. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the announcement Saturday, calling the action part of the administration’s efforts to ramp up immigration enforcement. ‘Effective immediately, the United States Department of State is taking actions to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and prevent further issuance to prevent entry into the United States by South Sudanese passport holders,’ Rubio said in a press statement. ‘Every country must accept the return of its citizens in a timely manner when another country, including the United States, seeks to remove them,’ the statement read. Rubio added that the new stringent policy will only be reviewed when South Sudan is in cooperation with the Trump administration’s policy.” (04/05/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/04/05/us-news/us-revokes-all-south-sudan-visas-over-failure-to-accept-repatriation-of-citizens/
-----
16) Judge blocks White House funding cuts to NIH
Source: United Press International
“A federal judge in Massachusetts issued an order this week permanently blocking the White House from limiting funding to the National Institutes of Health. District Court Judge Angel Kelley delivered the order, after previously issuing a temporary ban prohibiting President Donald Trump’s administration from limiting funding to the medical research agency. U.S. Attorneys asked Kelley to make that decision in a filing, setting the stage for an appeal to a higher court. The NIH falls under the Department of Health and Human Services and is the primary agency responsible for public health research.” (04/05/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/04/05/nih-white-house-funding-cuts-national-institutes-health/4251743870490/
-----
17) UK: Denying two MPs entry to Israel “unacceptable,” says Lammy
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Foreign Secretary David Lammy has criticised Israeli authorities for denying two Labour MPs entry to the country and detaining them. He described the move as ‘unacceptable, counterproductive, and deeply concerning,’ adding that the foreign office had been in touch with both MPs to offer support. Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang were refused entry because they intended to spread ‘hateful rhetoric’ against Israel, the Israeli population and immigration authority said in a statement reported by Israeli media. Lammy said: ‘I have made clear to my counterparts in the Israeli government that this is no way to treat British Parliamentarians.’ Ms Yang, MP for Earley and Woodley, and Ms Mohamed, MP for Sheffield Central, flew to the country from Luton airport on Saturday with two aides, according to reports.” (04/06/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn9133z2v30o
-----
18) SpaceX flight over Earth’s poles ends with splashdown in California
Source: USA Today
“A SpaceX Dragon vehicle carrying four international astronauts on a commercial spaceflight around Earth’s poles has landed off the coast of California. The water landing brings to an end a four-day mission known as Fram2 in which the private spacefarers sought to become the first humans to fly in orbit over both the North and South poles. Cryptocurrency billionaire Chun Wang financed and led the pioneering mission, which launched late Monday from Florida on a southern trajectory. … Circling from pole to pole, the crew observed Earth’s polar regions from about 267 miles above the ground – an altitude that allowed the Dragon to fly from the North Pole to the South Pole in just more than 46 minutes. The Dragon traveled in a polar orbit at an inclination of 90 degrees, making it perpendicular to the equator.” (04/04/25)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/04/04/fram2-splashdown-california-spacex-dragon/82864374007/
-----
19) No state has ended personal income taxes since 1980, but MS & KY may change that
Source: SFGate
“About 45 years have passed since a U.S. state last eliminated its income tax on wages and salaries. But with recent actions in Mississippi and Kentucky, two states now are on a path to do so, if their economies keep growing. The push to zero out the income tax is perhaps the most aggressive example of a tax-cutting trend that swept across states as they rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic with surging revenues and historic surpluses. But it comes during a time of greater uncertainty for states, as they wait to see whether President Donald Trump’s cost cutting and tariffs lead to a reduction in federal funding for states and a downturn in the overall economy.” [editor’s note: Just a reminder, but we (mostly libertarians) STOPPED this from even being an issue in the Volunteer State, 23 years ago] (04/05/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/no-state-has-ended-personal-income-taxes-since-20261153.php
-----
20) Trump extends TikTok ban deadline again
Source: Semafor
“US President Donald Trump said Friday he would grant TikTok another 75-day extension to comply with a law that requires the app to either be sold or face a ban in the US. The app was facing a Saturday deadline. … NBC News reported Friday that Trump was weighing a deal that would see China retaining control of TikTok’s prized algorithm, which would be leased to a US company with a minority ownership stake. The Financial Times had previously reported that the White House was close to endorsing a deal for a consortium of US investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Blackstone, to buy the app’s American operations.” (04/04/25)
https://www.semafor.com/article/04/04/2025/trump-extends-tiktok-ban-deadline
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Trump Will Never Accept Responsibility, But His Disappointed Voters Should
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“Nearly three months into Trump’s second presidency and after three consecutive presidential campaigns, none of his supporters have any excuse for not knowing his record …. At least the supporters who continue to make excuses for him — ‘he’s playing 6D chess and you just don’t understand,’ ‘the DEEP STATE is making him do all the bad things he does,’ etc. — can be explained: Half of Americans possess below-median intelligence. And those who, at any point, have finally admitted to themselves and others that they fell for a scam should be supported, commended, and consoled. But the ‘I didn’t vote for THIS!’ crowd? They clearly follow current affairs. They clearly know their votes enabled this craziness. Now they want absolution without first accepting responsibility for what they did.” (04/05/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/19487
-----
22) Malevolent Laziness
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“As I have been writing for some time, Donald Trump’s most fundamental character flaw — his laziness — has been his country’s saving grace, at least at times. Trump is an aspiring caudillo whose political models are Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, and a would-be tyrant who attempted to stage a coup d’état after losing the 2020 election to a barely sentient Joe Biden — but, as bad as he was and is, he could have been and could be a great deal worse if not for the fact that he is unbelievably lazy, a Fox News-watching, social-media-addicted couch potato of a chief executive who might have wielded the levers of power to greater malevolent effect if he had bothered to work at his craft a little bit. But the so-called reciprocal tariffs are shockingly lazy even by Trumpian standards.” (04/04/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/trump-tariffs-lazy-trade-deficit/
-----
23) The City That Treats Adults Like Children
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Randall Bock
“In January 2025, Newton’s City Council passed an ordinance so absurd, it could only have been conceived by people who think authority equals wisdom. By a vote of 19 to 4, the Council approved a ‘generational ban’ on tobacco products. Anyone born after March 1, 2004, will never — ever — be allowed to purchase tobacco in the city. Not at 21, not at 35, not at 55. It’s a lifetime prohibition based solely on your birth year. Let that sink in: a 25-year-old veteran returning to Newton in 2030 could be carded and denied a cigarette because he was born three months too late. Meanwhile, his 31-year-old neighbor lights up with impunity. What starts as a health measure ends in age-based discrimination enshrined in law. … Indeed, Newton’s law bans everything with nicotine—whether it burns or not. Cigarettes. Vapes. Nicotine gum. Pouches. Even options that help people quit smoking are now outlawed for future generations.” (04/04/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-city-that-treats-adults-like-children/
-----
24) Even without the tariffs, Trump’s economic agenda is a disaster
Source: Washington Post
by George F Will
“Donald Trump’s economic agenda, from taxes to tariffs (which are themselves taxes), is variable because he believes in the immediate translation of whims into policy proposals, without an intervening pause for study. (His conversation with a Las Vegas waitress quickly became his proposal to end taxation on tips.) Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says Trump suddenly favors eliminating ‘taxes’ on people making less than $150,000 a year — in 2022, about 93 percent of Americans 15 and over. If Trump is referring only to income taxes, that would mean (according to Jared Dillian, writing for Reason) that only 7 percent of Americans would pay any income taxes. … Progressives want income taxation to be more progressive so the wealthy will pay ‘their fair share.’ Trump is more progressive still, wanting the wealthy to pay everyone else’s share, too.” (04/04/25)
https://archive.is/NuUos
-----
25) Beyond Signalgate: Understanding the Real Scandal in Yemen
Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato
“Yemen and Palestine have tested the limits of the imperial system — how many innocent women and children can we liquidate before self-absorbed, mindlessly scrolling, Netflix-watching, garbage-eating Americans will bat an eyelash? Lots of them apparently. The Signal story is the perfect apparently anti-Trump narrative for the chattering classes: they need not even pretend to stake out a progressive position contrary to Trump. As legal residents who have broken no law are disappeared from our streets for opposing a genocide in Palestine — fully supported by both wings of the ruling class — the ruling class can focus our attention and loyalties on America’s righteous military mission.” (04/04/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/04/04/beyond-signalgate-understanding-the-real-scandal-in-yemen
-----
26) This Is What Oligarchy Looks Like
Source: Inequality.org
by huck Collins
“The ranks of global billionaires has grown by 247 in the past year, bringing up the total worldwide to 3,028, according to Forbes’ annual survey of the wealthy published April 1. The combined wealth of the nine-figure club is now $16.1 trillion, up $2 trillion from a year ago. There are 902 billionaires in the United States as of the newest survey, up from 813 in 2024. However, the Forbes data release is dated March 7, 2025, and there has been significant market volatility since then. There are now three billionaires in America with more than $200 billion in estimated wealth: Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos. And there are 15 billionaires with more than $100 billion each and combined wealth of $2.4 trillion. For comparison, that’s more wealth than the ‘poorest’ 1,500 billionaires combined.” (04/05/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/what-does-oligarchy-look-like
-----
27) How Party Politics Destroys Independent Thought and Liberty
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin
“‘Nothing is more dangerous to the cause of truth and liberty than a party-spirit.’ Noah Webster didn’t mince words. Over 200 years ago, he saw the warning signs we still ignore today – the danger of trading truth and principle for party loyalty. This isn’t just some abstract warning. It’s a direct hit on the rot that dominates American politics today. When people stop thinking and start following, liberty doesn’t stand a chance. Let’s walk through Webster’s message. Piece by piece and step by step.” (04/04/25)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2025/04/04/how-party-politics-destroys-independent-thought-and-liberty/
-----
28) Tariffs and Trade Deficits
Source: Independent Institute
by Allen Gindler
“Imagine two businesses across the street from each other: a hardware store and a café. Once a year, the café buys a set of pans from the hardware store to keep its kitchen running. Meanwhile, every day, the hardware store’s employees pop over to the café for lunch — sandwiches, coffee, maybe a slice of pie. At the end of the year, the hardware store’s manager tallies up the books and frowns. ‘Look at this!’ he says. ‘We’re spending way more on lunches than the café spends on our pans. We’ve got a trade deficit with them! This has to stop.’Sounds familiar? It’s the kind of logic you hear on the news: ‘Country X buys less from us than we buy from them — unfair!’ The solution, we’re told, is tariffs — taxes on imports to ‘level the playing field.'” (04/04/25)
https://blog.independent.org/2025/04/04/tariffs-trade-deficits-lessons-hardware-store-cafe
-----
29) On 15th Anniversary Of Collateral Murder, Trump Shares Collateral Murder-Style Snuff Film
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“President Trump has posted a video on social media showing a US airstrike in Yemen killing dozens of people who he claims are ‘Houthis gathered for instructions on an attack.’ Trump also bizarrely suggested that Ansar Allah has been sinking US ships in its Red Sea attacks, writing ‘They will never sink our ships again!’ There is no public information about any US ships having been sunk by Houthi attacks. As of this writing there is also no evidence supporting the president’s claim that the people killed in the airstrike were combatants; there are photos online of unarmed Yemeni tribesmen standing in the exact formation seen in the video Trump posted for normal civilian gatherings.” (04/06/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/04/06/trump-shares-collateral-murder-style-snuff-film-on-15th-anniversary-of-collateral-murder/
-----
30) Trump Has Already Botched His Own Bad Tariff Plan
Source: The Atlantic
by Jonathan Chait
“Donald Trump had a plan. It was not a good plan, or even a plausible one. But it was, at least, a coherent plan: By imposing large trade barriers on the entire world, he would create an incentive for American business to manufacture and grow all the goods the country previously imported. Whatever chance this plan had to succeed is already over. The key to making it work was to convince businesses that the new arrangement is durable. Nobody is going to invest in building new factories in the United States to create goods that until last week could be imported more cheaply unless they’re certain that the tariffs making the domestic version more competitive will stay in place.” (04/04/25)
https://archive.is/q9xXw
-----
31) Never Forgive Democrats For The Lies They Told You
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“I get it; politicians lie. That’s like saying beer drinkers burp or fish swim – it’s just how life is. But some lies are unforgivable, and the lies Democrats told last year fall in that category. Democrats, in and out of the media, not only swore that Joe Biden was ‘the best Biden ever,’ they insisted that even suggesting anything to the contrary was ageism, outrageous, and heresy. They attacked you, us, for the simple act of noticing reality. They denied that reality insisted it wasn’t so, and attempted to destroy people for pointing it out. And they did it all with a smug sense of holier-than-thou-ism for the record books. Now, they’re retroactively on board with all of it.” (04/06/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2025/04/06/never-forgive-democrats-for-the-lies-they-told-you-n2655048
-----
32) Turning San Quentin into Norway isn’t the worst idea
Source: Orange County Register
by Steven Greenhut
“I believe dangerous predators should spend their lives behind bars. … I also cringe at many California Democrats’ refusal to take seriously public-safety concerns. … Yet, unlike some of my conservative-minded friends, I am encouraged rather than appalled by the Newsom administration’s $239-million plan to remake the notorious San Quentin State Prison in Marin County ‘into a Scandinavian-style rehabilitation center complete with a farmer’s market, a podcast production studio and a self-service grocery store,’ per the San Francisco Chronicle. The podcast idea sounds dopey, but the rest of it isn’t.” (04/04/25)
https://archive.is/aCudC
-----
33) Dear DNC: Open the Gates Wide for Your People’s Cabinet
Source: Common Dreams
by Sarah Van Gelder
“DNC Chair Ken Martin on Friday announced the launching of a People’s Cabinet! This is potentially exciting news. As I wrote about last month, a People’s Cabinet is a powerful way to combat the latest unlawful, unconstitutional, cruel, and downright stupid action from the Trump-Musk administration. And it’s a great way to lift up leaders who can propose common sense, people-centered alternatives. One proposal that may be a stretch for the DNC, though: Instead of the same old top-down decision making, please make this an open process. Invite everyone to help select cabinet members …. The Democratic Party’s approval ratings are very low and there is a lot of ground to make up after the party first insisted Joe Biden would be the 2024 presidential candidate and then anointed Kamala Harris as the presidential candidate — with no public input.” (04/05/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/dnc-people-s-cabinet
-----
34) Tariffs Aren’t Liberating
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Reem Ibrahim
“‘Liberation Day’: That is what US President Donald Trump has called Wednesday, April 2, the day he announced huge swaths of taxes on imports worldwide. Despite the label, it was far from a day of liberation. By making imports to the US more expensive, the government is actively increasing the cost of living for American consumers. The Trump administration has fallen for one of the most common misconceptions about trade — that it only benefits a country when it is the exporter. This could not be further from the truth. One of the greatest benefits of free trade lies with the importing country, where consumers gain access to a huge range of goods, crucially, at lower prices.” (04/04/25)
https://fee.org/articles/tariffs-arent-liberating/
-----
35) Will Trump Invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 Next?
Source: The Bulwark
by Adrian Carrasquillo
“[T]ucked away in section 6B of Trump’s day-one executive order declaring a national emergency at the southern border was this pearl, which I’ve set in bold and italics so you can’t miss it: ‘Within 90 days of the date of this proclamation, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a joint report to the President about the conditions at the southern border of the United States and any recommendations regarding additional actions that may be necessary to obtain complete operational control of the southern border, including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807.’ Since we can assume the report from the secretaries will reflect Trump’s preferences, by the end of this month we’ll have a clear signal of the likelihood of his invoking the Insurrection Act — a previously unfathomable step that would dramatically escalate the administration’s already deeply controversial detention and deportation efforts.” (04/04/25)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/will-trump-invoke-the-insurrection-act-1807-southern-border
-----
36) A Silver Lining, but…
Source: EconTalk
by Pierre Lemieux
“The customs tariffs imposed on imported goods by President Donald Trump on April 2 will, according to some estimates, bring the average US tariff higher than after the infamous Smoot-Hawley tariffs of 1930 …. As these tariffs are a tax on American consumers … the impact on the cost of living will be significant. The poorest Americans, a large part of whom voted for Trump, will be the hardest hit. … However, the costly shock that will hit the American economy and the world may have a silver lining. If Mr. Trump does not rapidly back up or is not rapidly forced to, the episode will show again what economists have known for nearly three centuries and what economic history has constantly confirmed — that mercantilism has disastrous effects on most of the population.” (04/04/25)
https://www.econlib.org/a-silver-lining-but/
-----
37) Here’s what Trump is really up to with high-stakes tariff gambit
Source: Fox News Forum
by Tanvi Ratna
“Let us be honest: When most people hear ‘tariffs,’ they think about price hikes and trade wars. But the Trump administration’s latest tariff rollout is not merely a knee-jerk protectionist move — it is part of a far broader strategy. What is actually in play here is a high-stakes effort to build up leverage and resources to manage America’s debt, reset its industrial base, and renegotiate its standing in the global order. And it all begins with a problem most people have not been told enough about. In 2025, the U.S. government must refinance $9.2 trillion in maturing debt. Some $6.5 trillion of that comes due by June.” [editor’s note: The only “broader strategy” this insanity could plausibly be part of is wrecking the US economy – TLK] (04/05/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/heres-what-trump-really-up-high-stakes-tariff-gambit
-----
38) All Trade is Reciprocal. Trump’s Tariffs Interfere With That Reciprocity.
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“[I]n order to eliminate trade deficits with other nations that aren’t really a problem to begin with, the Trump administration is hiking tariffs to raise the cost of imported goods so that Americans will buy less of them. That’s interference in the free reciprocal exchanges chosen by consumers and businesses. And the price of that interference comes out of Americans’ pockets. That’s because, as the Tax Foundation’s Alex Durante warns, tariffs are taxes that, while partially paid by foreign firms, are mostly a burden for people in the countries that impose them — especially as they rise to the heights we now see.” (04/04/25)
https://reason.com/2025/04/04/all-trade-is-reciprocal-trumps-tariffs-interfere-with-that-reciprocity/
-----
39) Trump’s “Liberation Day” Tariffs Are a Mistake
Source: Cobden Centre
by Connor O’Keeffe
“Trump, his team, and his allies are dismissing all the panic as the result of the ‘fake news media’ reaching for new lies to try and tarnish his public support and cover up all the success his administration is having in this second term. And after the last ten years of biased, misleading, and outright false coverage deployed by the establishment media to unsuccessfully go after Trump, that’s a believable angle. Establishment politicians, official ‘experts,’ and media figures have cried wolf so many times that it’s remarkable that anyone still trusts them. However, that does not necessarily mean that they are wrong one hundred percent of the time. And in this case, the establishment media and the mainstream economic ‘experts’ are more right than wrong in their warnings about these new tariffs.” (04/04/25)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2025/04/trumps-liberation-day-tariffs-are-a-mistake/
-----
40) Unscrambling the Price of Eggs
Source: Washington Monthly
by Claire Kelloway
“The fate of the nation, as we have all learned, hangs on the price of eggs. But have you noticed that the price of some eggs has risen much faster than others? In the past, if you went down to your farmers’ market and bought eggs laid by local free-range hens living under humane conditions, you had to pay a big premium. But now, if you go to Walmart or Kroger and buy conventional eggs produced by caged hens on supposedly super-efficient industrial-scale farms, you are likely to pay just as much or even more. How can this be? Part of the answer lies with the bird flu outbreak, which has affected different kinds of poultry operations differently. But another factor appears to be just as important: corporate conclusion [sic] and resulting greedflation.” (04/04/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/04/04/unscrambling-the-price-of-eggs/
-----
41) Why Are “Hands Off” Rallies Defending War-Hungry NATO?
Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin & David Swanson
“We are passionate supporters of all but one of the items on the Hands Off agenda for the April 5 rallies. We couldn’t agree more that the corrupt U.S. government should stop destroying, privatizing, firing, and giving away the post office, schools, land, Social Security, healthcare, environmental protections, and all sorts of essential public services. But we are deeply disturbed to see NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization) on the list of items that we are rallying to protect. Many people believe that NATO is a peace-loving, defensive alliance, but the opposite is true. During the past 30 years, NATO has fomented a vast arc of violence stretching from Libya to Afghanistan, leaving villages bombed, infrastructure destroyed, and countless dead. Originally formed in opposition to the Soviet Union, NATO not only failed to disband with the fall of the Soviet Union, but it increased from 16 members in 1991 to 32 members today.” (04/05/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/nato-hands-off-rallies
-----
42) The Great Carl Menger
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“Menger (1840-1921), a professor at the University of Vienna, launched the Austrian school of economics with his trailblazing Principles of Economics, published in 1871. (It was not translated into English until 1950.) He is famous for being one of three economists who independently and nearly simultaneously shifted economics onto a radically different track: marginal utility. Hence, the term marginal revolution in economics. This was a radical recasting of value and price theory.” (04/04/25)
https://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2025/04/tgif-great-carl-menger.html
-----
43) Justice or a Democratic Scandal?
Source: Quillette
by John Lloyd
“A French criminal court ruling forbidding Marine Le Pen from contesting the 2027 presidential election could throw the country into turmoil.” (04/04/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/04/04/justice-or-a-democratic-scandal-le-pen-france/
-----
44) Deadbeats! Saudis won’t pay $13.7 million bill for US military fuel
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Nick Cleveland-Stout
“Between 2015 and 2018, the United States supplied Saudi Arabia with tens of millions of dollars worth of jet fuel in support for the kingdom’s bombing campaign in Yemen. Seven years later, the Saudis refuse to repay most of their debt. And they are being rewarded for it.” (04/04/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/saudi-arabia-2671671015/
-----
45) Why the Feds are eyeing China’s grifter oligarchs, shedding light on corruption at every level
Source: New York Post
by Steven W Mosher
“The unclassified report from US spy agencies is only seven pages long. But it surely struck fear into the hearts of China’s Communist overlords when Tulsi Gabbard released it last month. It was supposed to. The report from Gabbard’s Office of the Director of National Intelligence is entitled ‘Wealth and Corrupt Activities of the Leadership of the Chinese Communist Party’. It highlights the defining characteristic of Chinese Communism: The corruption of party officials at all levels of government. And it starts at the very top, singling out Chinese leader Xi Jinping himself. ‘Xi’s siblings, nieces, and nephews held assets worth over $1 billion in business investments and real estate,’ the report notes, going on to suggest that the Chinese premier’s immediate family is managing these holdings on his behalf.” (04/05/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/04/05/opinion/why-the-feds-are-eyeing-chinas-grifter-oligarchs/
-----
46) NIH: The $47-Billion Sacred Cow Is Scared
Source: The Daily Economy
by Walter Donway
“If we’re seeking breakthroughs and innovation in biomedicine, why are we funding the same bureaucratic institutions?” (04/04/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/nih-the-47-billion-sacred-cow-is-scared/
-----
47) The College Essay Is Everything That’s Wrong With America
Source: Yascha Mounk
by Yascha Mounk
“The college essay is a deeply unfair way to select students for top colleges, one that is much more biased against the poor than standardized tests. The college essay wrongly encourages students to cast themselves as victims, to exaggerate the adversity they’ve faced, and to turn genuinely upsetting experiences into the focal point of their self-understanding. The college essay, dear reader, should be banned and banished and burned to the ground.” (04/04/25)
https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/the-college-essay-is-everything-thats
-----
48) The Argentine Ratline
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“In less than one month, the 80th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s death may be celebrated — unless President Javier Milei’s formal disclosure of the Argentine ‘ratline’ shows what a lot of people believe: that Hitler didn’t kill himself in that bunker. Ratlines are what the human smuggling routes of Nazis out of falling Germany in 1945 were called. And yes, Argentina was the chief receiver of Nazis. This is known. Confirmed. Not controversial. But did the South American country accept Nazis higher up than Dr. Josef Mengele and Adolf Eichmann? Well, the FBI was searching for Hitler in South America for decades, into the 1960s.” (04/04/225)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/04/04/ratline/
-----
49) More Than 1,800 Academics Say They Will Boycott Columbia, and the Number Is Growing
Source: In These Times
by Jessica Halliday Hardie & Ajantha Subramanian
“Near the end of March, Gary Wilder, a professor of anthropology at the City University of New York, sent an email about his decision to decline attending a conference at Columbia University, explaining he was doing so because Columbia is ’actively colluding with the U.S. government’s project to destroy higher education and criminalize dissent.’ ‘A boycott is one of the few instruments available to the academic community through which to censure Columbia,’ Wilder wrote to many of those involved in the gathering. Wilder is one of more than 1,800 academics and 50 organizations who have joined a quickly expanding boycott of Columbia, which has been at the center of U.S. state and political repression surrounding activism for Palestinian liberation.” (04/04/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/columbia-boycott-faculty-khalil-trump-ice
-----
50) New York Times Blockbuster Article Prepares Americans for Defeat in Ukraine
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
“Ukraine has blamed the U.S. for its failure, pointing to a failure to keep its promise of whatever they need for as long as they need it. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may have meant his Ukraine Victory Plan to allow him to claim that he has begged the U.S. to keep its promise to no avail. They had broken their promise and abandoned him, leaving no choice but to concede defeat and turn to negotiations. The Times article flips the script: the U.S. did everything they could do, but the Ukrainians wouldn’t listen. That is why the war was lost, and now we have no choice but to force negotiations.” (04/04/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_snider/2025/04/03/new-york-times-blockbuster-article-prepares-americans-for-defeat-in-ukraine/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Unattended Baggage, episode 288
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Ya gotta break a few eggs to crash the economy.” (04/05/25)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-288-hour-1-ya-gotta-break
-----
52) Matt Taibbi on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Matt Taibbi on Government Censorship, Russiagate and Why he’s Suing a Congresswoman.” (04/05/25)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/4-4-25-matt-taibbi-on-government-censorship-russiagate-and-why-hes-suing-a-congresswoman/
-----
53) The Anarchist Experience, episode 522
Source: The Anarchist Experience
“Rich, MC, and KS discuss Tariffs, the predictability of their outcomes, and the absurd procedure of how they were calculated, and this related HEADLINE: My Trade Deficit with Safeway.” (04/05/25)
https://theanarchistexperience.wordpress.com/2025/04/05/the-anarchist-experience-522/
-----
54) Kinsella On Liberty, episode 457
Source: StephanKinsella.com
“Sheldon Richman & IP; Andre from Brazil re Contract Theory, Student Loan Interest Payments, Bankruptcy, Vagueness, Usury.” (04/04/25)
https://stephankinsella.com/as_paf_podcast/kol457-interview-sheldon-richman-ip-brazlian-contracts-interest-usury/
-----
55) The Climate Realism Show, episode 152
Source: Heartland Institute
“Checking in on Net Zero in the UK.” (04/04/25)
https://heartland.org/podcasts/checking-in-on-net-zero-in-the-uk-the-climate-realism-show-152/
-----
56) Serious Trouble, 04/04/25
Source: Serious Trouble
“The Trump administration offers Ken an opportunity to discuss some of his favorite legal concepts; BigLaw associates politely protest their leaders’ accommodation of Trump; Eric Adams is a free man.” (04/04/25)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/venue-and-jurisdiction
-----
57) Nonzero, 04/04/25
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“How Trump’s tariffs could reshape the world | NonZero World feat. Karthik Sankaran.” (04/04/25)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/68556
-----
58) The Dischcast with Andrew Sullivan, 04/04/25
Source: The Weekly Dish
“Douglas Murray On Israel And Deportations.” (04/04/25)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/douglas-murray-on-israel-and-deportations
-----
59) Conflicts of Interest, episode 781
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Breaking Down the NYT’s Investigation on US Support for Ukraine.” (04/04/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-781-breaking-down-the-nyts-investigation-on-us-support-for-ukraine
-----
60) The Chris Spangle Show, 04/04/25
Source: We Are Libertarians
“Liberation Day or Tax Hike? Trump Imposes Massive Tariffs.” (04/04/25)
https://www.chrisspangle.com/p/liberation-day-or-tax-hike-trump
-----
61) The Fifth Column, episode 499
Source: The Fifth Column
“One of the Dumbest Decisions in American Political History? (w/ Scott Lincicome).” (04/04/25)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/499-one-of-the-dumbest-decisions
-----
62) Freakonomics Radio, episode 628
Source: Freakonomics
“Is Government the Problem, or the Solution?” (04/04/25)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/sludge-part-2-is-government-the-problem-or-the-solution/
-----
63) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 04/04/25
Source: The New Republic
“‘Horrifying’: Trump’s Weird, Confused Rant to Media as Markets Tanked.” (04/04/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/193604/horrifying-trump-weird-confused-rant-media-markets-tanked
-----
64) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2627
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“Are We in for More War?” (04/04/25)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2627-are-we-in-for-more-war/
-----
65) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/04/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Hamas Wants To Free All Hostages for Permanent Truce, Houthis Shoot Down Another US Drone, and More.” (04/04/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqEHAfweuyo
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FND is published every weekday except on holidays. Forward freely.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
http://groups.google.com/group/freedom-news-daily
Support the Liberty International (tax deductible)
https://liberty-intl.org/join-the-movement/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Presented by the Liberty International
https://liberty-intl.org/
Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's Freedom News:
1) “Ugly” Monday Crash Warning As Sudden $1.3 Trillion Crypto Price Meltdown Hits Bitcoin, Others
2) Palestine: Israeli occupation forces murder American teen
3) France: Far-right supporters rally in Paris against Le Pen’s conviction
4) Ukraine: One killed in Russian attack on Kyiv as death toll from earlier strike rises to 19
5) Israel: Regime changes story on Gaza aid worker murders
6) Prosecutors seek seven-year prison term for George Santos
7) Angry protesters from New York to Alaska assail Trump and Musk in “Hands Off!” rallies
8) No wigs please; new rules shaking up beauty pageants
9) US Senate (Republicans) pass measure to move forward on Trump’s tax cuts
10) CA: Judge restrains trade in milling machinery
11) Senate just made it easier for national parks and forests to be sold
12) Italy: Prosecutors probe “sacrilegious” sales of future saint’s bone fragments, hair
13) DOJ suspends lawyer for failing to lie to judge about deportation mistake
14) Nintendo delays Switch 2 US pre-orders following Trump tariffs
15) US regime revokes all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders
16) Judge blocks White House funding cuts to NIH
17) UK: Denying two MPs entry to Israel “unacceptable,” says Lammy
18) SpaceX flight over Earth’s poles ends with splashdown in California
19) No state has ended personal income taxes since 1980, but MS & KY may change that
20) Trump extends TikTok ban deadline again
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Trump Will Never Accept Responsibility, But His Disappointed Voters Should
22) Malevolent Laziness
23) The City That Treats Adults Like Children
24) Even without the tariffs, Trump’s economic agenda is a disaster
25) Beyond Signalgate: Understanding the Real Scandal in Yemen
26) This Is What Oligarchy Looks Like
27) How Party Politics Destroys Independent Thought and Liberty
28) Tariffs and Trade Deficits
29) On 15th Anniversary Of Collateral Murder, Trump Shares Collateral Murder-Style Snuff Film
30) Trump Has Already Botched His Own Bad Tariff Plan
31) Never Forgive Democrats For The Lies They Told You
32) Turning San Quentin into Norway isn’t the worst idea
33) Dear DNC: Open the Gates Wide for Your People’s Cabinet
34) Tariffs Aren’t Liberating
35) Will Trump Invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 Next?
36) A Silver Lining, but…
37) Here’s what Trump is really up to with high-stakes tariff gambit
38) All Trade is Reciprocal. Trump’s Tariffs Interfere With That Reciprocity.
39) Trump’s “Liberation Day” Tariffs Are a Mistake
40) Unscrambling the Price of Eggs
41) Why Are “Hands Off” Rallies Defending War-Hungry NATO?
42) The Great Carl Menger
43) Justice or a Democratic Scandal?
44) Deadbeats! Saudis won’t pay $13.7 million bill for US military fuel
45) Why the Feds are eyeing China’s grifter oligarchs, shedding light on corruption at every level
46) NIH: The $47-Billion Sacred Cow Is Scared
47) The College Essay Is Everything That’s Wrong With America
48) The Argentine Ratline
49) More Than 1,800 Academics Say They Will Boycott Columbia, and the Number Is Growing
50) New York Times Blockbuster Article Prepares Americans for Defeat in Ukraine
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Unattended Baggage, episode 288
52) Matt Taibbi on The Scott Horton Show
53) The Anarchist Experience, episode 522
54) Kinsella On Liberty, episode 457
55) The Climate Realism Show, episode 152
56) Serious Trouble, 04/04/25
57) Nonzero, 04/04/25
58) The Dischcast with Andrew Sullivan, 04/04/25
59) Conflicts of Interest, episode 781
60) The Chris Spangle Show, 04/04/25
61) The Fifth Column, episode 499
62) Freakonomics Radio, episode 628
63) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 04/04/25
64) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2627
65) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/04/25
vvvvv SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS vvvvv
Tyranny Demands AN ACT OF SELF-DEFENSE: A NOVEL BY ERNE LEWIS
https://tinyurl.com/actofselfdefense
ONE IDENTITY FOR ALL YOUR CRYPTO
https://fioprotocol.io/
SAMUEL EDWARD KONKIN III REVOLUTIONARY FRIEND BY WENDY MCELROY
https://www.amazon.com/Samuel-Edward-Konkin-Revolutionary-Friend-ebook/dp/B0DP7B6127
SHOP ONLINE, COLLECT A REBATE IN BITCOIN!
https://www.lolli.com/share/MZB4cCpheL
THE CONSTITUTION OF NON-STATE GOVERNMENT: FIELD GUIDE TO TEXAS SECESSION, by TL Hulsey
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1947660853
^^^^^ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ^^^^^
_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) “Ugly” Monday Crash Warning As Sudden $1.3 Trillion Crypto Price Meltdown Hits Bitcoin, Others
Source: Forbes
“Bitcoin and crypto prices have fallen sharply, catching up with stocks that plunged in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s so-called Liberation Day of global tariffs that could become a ‘crisis scenario.’ The bitcoin price has plummeted under $77,000 per bitcoin, down more than 10% from its high of almost $90,000 last week. Ethereum, XRP, solana, dogecoin and other major coins have dropped even more sharply, taking the value wiped from the combined crypto market since January to $1.3 trillion. Now, as Wall Street braces for a Congress crypto game-changer, traders are scrambling to figure out if the sudden bitcoin price correction could escalate into a full-blown market crash.” (04/07/25)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2025/04/07/crash-fear-as-sudden-13-trillion-crypto-price-meltdown-hits-bitcoin-ethereum-xrp-solana-and-dogecoin/
-----
2) Palestine: Israeli occupation forces murder American teen
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Israeli forces have opened fire on a group of children in the occupied West Bank, killing a 14-year-old Palestinian-American boy and wounding at least two others, according to the Wafa news agency. The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the victim on Sunday as Omar Mohammed Rabea, and said he was shot near the town of Turmus Aya, northeast of the city of Ramallah. The Israeli military said it had killed a ‘terrorist’ who was throwing stones. … According to Wafa, Israeli officials [abducted] Rabea, later pronouncing him dead, and have withheld his body. Two other Palestinian boys, aged 14 and 15, were shot in the attack that killed Rabea, the agency reported. The boys, who hold United States citizenship, were wounded in the abdomen and the thigh and were transferred by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) to a hospital for treatment.” (04/06/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/6/palestinian-us-teen-killed-by-israeli-settler-in-the-occupied-west-bank
-----
3) France: Far-right supporters rally in Paris against Le Pen’s conviction
Source: WTOP News
“Supporters of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen were gathering in Paris on Sunday to protest her conviction for embezzlement and a five-year ban on running for office. Le Pen, who is appealing the verdict, has vowed ‘not to let the presidency be stolen.’ A rival leftist demonstration was assembling at Place de la République, denouncing what organizers called a ‘Trumpist turn’ by Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) party. Despite the court ruling last Monday, polls are showing RN holding strong, even with Le Pen’s protegee Jordan Bardella as a candidate in a 2027 presidential matchup.” (04/06/25)
https://wtop.com/world/2025/04/frances-far-right-supporters-rally-in-paris-against-le-pens-conviction/
-----
4) Ukraine: One killed in Russian attack on Kyiv as death toll from earlier strike rises to 19
Source: ABC News
“One person was killed Sunday as Russian air strikes hit the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, while the death toll from Friday’s deadly attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih continued to rise. The Kyiv victim was found close to the strike’s epicenter of the attack in the city’s Darnytskyi district, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. A further three people were injured in the strike, which saw fires break out in several nonresidential areas, damaging cars and buildings. In a statement on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the intensifying Russian attacks showed that there is still insufficient international pressure on Moscow.” (04/06/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/1-killed-russian-attack-kyiv-death-toll-earlier-120532888
-----
5) Israel: Regime changes story on Gaza aid worker murders
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“The Israeli military has provided new details that changed its initial account of the killing of 15 emergency workers near the southern Gaza city of Rafah last month but said investigators were still examining the evidence. The 15 paramedics and emergency responders were shot dead on March 23 and buried in a shallow grave …. The military initially said soldiers had opened fire on vehicles that approached their position ‘suspiciously’ in the dark without lights or markings. It said they killed nine militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were travelling in Palestinian Red Crescent vehicles. But video recovered from the mobile phone of one of the dead men and published by the Palestinian Red Crescent showed emergency workers in their uniforms and clearly marked ambulances and fire trucks, with their lights on, being fired on by soldiers.” (04/06/24)
https://archive.is/YUecq
-----
6) Prosecutors seek seven-year prison term for George Santos
Source: United Press International
“Former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., is facing more than seven years in prison after federal prosecutors asked a judge to hand the disgraced congressman an 87-month sentence. Santos deserves the prison sentence for ‘unparallelled crimes,’ the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York wrote in a court filing earlier in the week. The 36-year-old last August pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges, avoiding a trial. The U.S. House of Representatives expelled Santos from Congress in December 2023.” (04/05/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/04/05/george-santos-prison-sentence-prosecutors-seven-years/8811743866437/
-----
7) Angry protesters from New York to Alaska assail Trump and Musk in “Hands Off!” rallies
Source: Associated Press
“Crowds of people angry about the way President Donald Trump is running the country marched and rallied in scores of American cities Saturday in the biggest day of demonstrations yet by an opposition movement trying to regain its momentum after the shock of the Republican’s first weeks in office. So-called Hands Off! demonstrations were organized for more than 1,200 locations in all 50 states by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organizations, labor unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans and elections activists. The rallies appeared peaceful, with no immediate reports of arrests.” (04/05/25)
https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-doge-protests-hands-off-472c574303260cbac315367cc808960d
-----
8) No wigs please; new rules shaking up beauty pageants
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Long, flowing wigs and weave extensions have dominated the catwalks of Ivory Coast’s massively popular beauty pageants for years. Contestants in the West African nation often spend a huge amount of money on their appearance, from outfits to hairdos — with very few choosing the natural look. In more than six decades, there have only been two notable exceptions, the most recent was Marlène-Kany Kouassi, who took the Miss Ivory Coast title in 2022 — looking resplendent with her short natural hair, the crown becoming her only adornment. … But this year the organisers of the Ivorian competition are shaking things up right from the start. Wigs, weaves and hair extensions have been banned from the preliminary stages of the competition, which are held in 13 cities across the country (as well as two abroad for those in the diaspora).” (04/06/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9w8r094k41o
-----
9) US Senate (Republicans) pass measure to move forward on Trump’s tax cuts
Source: Reuters
“The U.S. Senate approved a Republican budget blueprint early on Saturday that aims to extend trillions of dollars worth of President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and sharply reduce government spending. The 51-48 vote, following a late-night legislative session, unlocks a maneuver called budget reconciliation that will allow Republicans to bypass the Senate’s filibuster — a rule that imposes a 60-vote threshold on most legislation — and pass Trump’s tax, border security and military priorities later this year without Democratic votes.” (04/05/25)
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-republicans-pass-measure-move-forward-trumps-tax-cuts-2025-04-05/
-----
10) CA: Judge restrains trade in milling machinery
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“A San Diego Superior Court judge has issued a ruling that bars a Texas-based company from selling and marketing in California a computer-controlled milling machine designed to make untraceable ‘ghost guns,’ with the decision marking the third significant victory for San Diego County in the early stages of its lawsuit against the company. The county’s lawsuit, filed last May on behalf of state residents, accused Defense Distributed and several related entities of slapping a new name and paint job on the ‘Ghost Gunner’ milling machine, which is barred from sale in California, and instead illegally marketing and selling the device in California under the name ‘Coast Runner.’ The county claimed that ‘ghost guns such as the ones that can be manufactured using the Coast Runner are fueling an epidemic of gun violence across the country.'” (04/05/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/04/05/san-diego-judge-blocks-texas-company-from-selling-rebranded-ghost-gun-machine-in-california/
-----
11) Senate just made it easier for national parks and forests to be sold
Source: SFGate
“In a marathon voting session that stretched from Friday night into early Saturday morning, the GOP-led Senate voted to approve President Trump’s latest budget framework but rejected an amendment aimed at preventing the privatization of public lands. The amendment was introduced by Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) in response to reports of Republicans’ tentative plans to sell federal land in the Western United States in order to offset deficits incurred by Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. Some Republicans intend for the potentially privatized land to be used in order to address housing crises in gateway communities throughout the West, E&E News first reported, while others see the move simply as an opportunity to generate more revenue.” (04/05/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/senate-public-land-bill-rejection-20260660.php
-----
12) Italy: Prosecutors probe “sacrilegious” sales of future saint’s bone fragments, hair
Source: Daily Mail [UK]
“Italian prosecutors are investigating an alleged illegal marketplace for relics of Carlo Acutis, the late British-born 15-year-old set to become the first millennial saint later this month. Bishop Domenico Sorrentino filed a formal complaint after learning of an alleged sale of Acutis'[s] hair, said to have been bought online by an anonymous user for as much as 2,000 euros (£1,675). ‘We do not know whether the relics are real or fake,’ the bishop acknowledged. ‘But if it were also all invented, if there was deception, we would be not only in the midst of a fraud but also of an insult to religious belief.’ The Diocese of Assisi-Nocera-Gualdo claims to have verified at least one of the relics. But they warn others are still circulating on the internet, always attributed to Acutis.” (04/06/25)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14559395/italian-prosecutors-probe-sale-carlo-acutis.html
-----
13) DOJ suspends lawyer for failing to lie to judge about deportation mistake
Source: Fox News
“The Trump administration has placed a Justice Department (DOJ) lawyer on leave for not ‘zealously advocating’ its position in the case involving a Salvadoran man living in Maryland who was mistakenly deported last month. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office placed Erez Reuveni, who argued for the government, in Friday’s hearing in which a judge ruled Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia must be returned to the U.S. by Monday, on indefinite paid leave, Fox News has learned. … Reuveni on Friday admitted that Garcia’s deportation was a mistake, according to the New York Times. On Saturday, the Trump administration argued in an emergency appeal that U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis can’t force the administration to return Garcia to the U.S.” (04/05/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-admin-suspends-lawyer-case-maryland-man-mistakenly-deported-failing-zealously-advocate
-----
14) Nintendo delays Switch 2 US pre-orders following Trump tariffs
Source: Engadget
“Nintendo has delayed US Switch 2 pre-orders in response to the new set of tariffs announced by President Donald Trump earlier this week, as first reported by Polygon. Following Nintendo’s announcement of the console on Wednesday, pre-orders in the United States were slated to open on April 9. They’re now delayed indefinitely. … the Trump administration said it would impose a sweeping set of new tariffs targeted against a broad swath of countries, including Japan, China and Vietnam. Products from the latter two countries, where Nintendo manufactures much of its hardware, will be subject to import duties of 54 percent and 46 percent, respectively.” (04/04/25)
https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-delays-switch-2-us-pre-orders-following-trump-tariffs-150747208.html?src=rss&guccounter=1
-----
15) US regime revokes all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders
Source: New York Post
“The Trump administration is revoking all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders over the African nation’s failure to accept repatriated citizens. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the announcement Saturday, calling the action part of the administration’s efforts to ramp up immigration enforcement. ‘Effective immediately, the United States Department of State is taking actions to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and prevent further issuance to prevent entry into the United States by South Sudanese passport holders,’ Rubio said in a press statement. ‘Every country must accept the return of its citizens in a timely manner when another country, including the United States, seeks to remove them,’ the statement read. Rubio added that the new stringent policy will only be reviewed when South Sudan is in cooperation with the Trump administration’s policy.” (04/05/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/04/05/us-news/us-revokes-all-south-sudan-visas-over-failure-to-accept-repatriation-of-citizens/
-----
16) Judge blocks White House funding cuts to NIH
Source: United Press International
“A federal judge in Massachusetts issued an order this week permanently blocking the White House from limiting funding to the National Institutes of Health. District Court Judge Angel Kelley delivered the order, after previously issuing a temporary ban prohibiting President Donald Trump’s administration from limiting funding to the medical research agency. U.S. Attorneys asked Kelley to make that decision in a filing, setting the stage for an appeal to a higher court. The NIH falls under the Department of Health and Human Services and is the primary agency responsible for public health research.” (04/05/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/04/05/nih-white-house-funding-cuts-national-institutes-health/4251743870490/
-----
17) UK: Denying two MPs entry to Israel “unacceptable,” says Lammy
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Foreign Secretary David Lammy has criticised Israeli authorities for denying two Labour MPs entry to the country and detaining them. He described the move as ‘unacceptable, counterproductive, and deeply concerning,’ adding that the foreign office had been in touch with both MPs to offer support. Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang were refused entry because they intended to spread ‘hateful rhetoric’ against Israel, the Israeli population and immigration authority said in a statement reported by Israeli media. Lammy said: ‘I have made clear to my counterparts in the Israeli government that this is no way to treat British Parliamentarians.’ Ms Yang, MP for Earley and Woodley, and Ms Mohamed, MP for Sheffield Central, flew to the country from Luton airport on Saturday with two aides, according to reports.” (04/06/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn9133z2v30o
-----
18) SpaceX flight over Earth’s poles ends with splashdown in California
Source: USA Today
“A SpaceX Dragon vehicle carrying four international astronauts on a commercial spaceflight around Earth’s poles has landed off the coast of California. The water landing brings to an end a four-day mission known as Fram2 in which the private spacefarers sought to become the first humans to fly in orbit over both the North and South poles. Cryptocurrency billionaire Chun Wang financed and led the pioneering mission, which launched late Monday from Florida on a southern trajectory. … Circling from pole to pole, the crew observed Earth’s polar regions from about 267 miles above the ground – an altitude that allowed the Dragon to fly from the North Pole to the South Pole in just more than 46 minutes. The Dragon traveled in a polar orbit at an inclination of 90 degrees, making it perpendicular to the equator.” (04/04/25)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/04/04/fram2-splashdown-california-spacex-dragon/82864374007/
-----
19) No state has ended personal income taxes since 1980, but MS & KY may change that
Source: SFGate
“About 45 years have passed since a U.S. state last eliminated its income tax on wages and salaries. But with recent actions in Mississippi and Kentucky, two states now are on a path to do so, if their economies keep growing. The push to zero out the income tax is perhaps the most aggressive example of a tax-cutting trend that swept across states as they rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic with surging revenues and historic surpluses. But it comes during a time of greater uncertainty for states, as they wait to see whether President Donald Trump’s cost cutting and tariffs lead to a reduction in federal funding for states and a downturn in the overall economy.” [editor’s note: Just a reminder, but we (mostly libertarians) STOPPED this from even being an issue in the Volunteer State, 23 years ago] (04/05/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/no-state-has-ended-personal-income-taxes-since-20261153.php
-----
20) Trump extends TikTok ban deadline again
Source: Semafor
“US President Donald Trump said Friday he would grant TikTok another 75-day extension to comply with a law that requires the app to either be sold or face a ban in the US. The app was facing a Saturday deadline. … NBC News reported Friday that Trump was weighing a deal that would see China retaining control of TikTok’s prized algorithm, which would be leased to a US company with a minority ownership stake. The Financial Times had previously reported that the White House was close to endorsing a deal for a consortium of US investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Blackstone, to buy the app’s American operations.” (04/04/25)
https://www.semafor.com/article/04/04/2025/trump-extends-tiktok-ban-deadline
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Trump Will Never Accept Responsibility, But His Disappointed Voters Should
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“Nearly three months into Trump’s second presidency and after three consecutive presidential campaigns, none of his supporters have any excuse for not knowing his record …. At least the supporters who continue to make excuses for him — ‘he’s playing 6D chess and you just don’t understand,’ ‘the DEEP STATE is making him do all the bad things he does,’ etc. — can be explained: Half of Americans possess below-median intelligence. And those who, at any point, have finally admitted to themselves and others that they fell for a scam should be supported, commended, and consoled. But the ‘I didn’t vote for THIS!’ crowd? They clearly follow current affairs. They clearly know their votes enabled this craziness. Now they want absolution without first accepting responsibility for what they did.” (04/05/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/19487
-----
22) Malevolent Laziness
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“As I have been writing for some time, Donald Trump’s most fundamental character flaw — his laziness — has been his country’s saving grace, at least at times. Trump is an aspiring caudillo whose political models are Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, and a would-be tyrant who attempted to stage a coup d’état after losing the 2020 election to a barely sentient Joe Biden — but, as bad as he was and is, he could have been and could be a great deal worse if not for the fact that he is unbelievably lazy, a Fox News-watching, social-media-addicted couch potato of a chief executive who might have wielded the levers of power to greater malevolent effect if he had bothered to work at his craft a little bit. But the so-called reciprocal tariffs are shockingly lazy even by Trumpian standards.” (04/04/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/trump-tariffs-lazy-trade-deficit/
-----
23) The City That Treats Adults Like Children
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Randall Bock
“In January 2025, Newton’s City Council passed an ordinance so absurd, it could only have been conceived by people who think authority equals wisdom. By a vote of 19 to 4, the Council approved a ‘generational ban’ on tobacco products. Anyone born after March 1, 2004, will never — ever — be allowed to purchase tobacco in the city. Not at 21, not at 35, not at 55. It’s a lifetime prohibition based solely on your birth year. Let that sink in: a 25-year-old veteran returning to Newton in 2030 could be carded and denied a cigarette because he was born three months too late. Meanwhile, his 31-year-old neighbor lights up with impunity. What starts as a health measure ends in age-based discrimination enshrined in law. … Indeed, Newton’s law bans everything with nicotine—whether it burns or not. Cigarettes. Vapes. Nicotine gum. Pouches. Even options that help people quit smoking are now outlawed for future generations.” (04/04/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-city-that-treats-adults-like-children/
-----
24) Even without the tariffs, Trump’s economic agenda is a disaster
Source: Washington Post
by George F Will
“Donald Trump’s economic agenda, from taxes to tariffs (which are themselves taxes), is variable because he believes in the immediate translation of whims into policy proposals, without an intervening pause for study. (His conversation with a Las Vegas waitress quickly became his proposal to end taxation on tips.) Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says Trump suddenly favors eliminating ‘taxes’ on people making less than $150,000 a year — in 2022, about 93 percent of Americans 15 and over. If Trump is referring only to income taxes, that would mean (according to Jared Dillian, writing for Reason) that only 7 percent of Americans would pay any income taxes. … Progressives want income taxation to be more progressive so the wealthy will pay ‘their fair share.’ Trump is more progressive still, wanting the wealthy to pay everyone else’s share, too.” (04/04/25)
https://archive.is/NuUos
-----
25) Beyond Signalgate: Understanding the Real Scandal in Yemen
Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato
“Yemen and Palestine have tested the limits of the imperial system — how many innocent women and children can we liquidate before self-absorbed, mindlessly scrolling, Netflix-watching, garbage-eating Americans will bat an eyelash? Lots of them apparently. The Signal story is the perfect apparently anti-Trump narrative for the chattering classes: they need not even pretend to stake out a progressive position contrary to Trump. As legal residents who have broken no law are disappeared from our streets for opposing a genocide in Palestine — fully supported by both wings of the ruling class — the ruling class can focus our attention and loyalties on America’s righteous military mission.” (04/04/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/04/04/beyond-signalgate-understanding-the-real-scandal-in-yemen
-----
26) This Is What Oligarchy Looks Like
Source: Inequality.org
by huck Collins
“The ranks of global billionaires has grown by 247 in the past year, bringing up the total worldwide to 3,028, according to Forbes’ annual survey of the wealthy published April 1. The combined wealth of the nine-figure club is now $16.1 trillion, up $2 trillion from a year ago. There are 902 billionaires in the United States as of the newest survey, up from 813 in 2024. However, the Forbes data release is dated March 7, 2025, and there has been significant market volatility since then. There are now three billionaires in America with more than $200 billion in estimated wealth: Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos. And there are 15 billionaires with more than $100 billion each and combined wealth of $2.4 trillion. For comparison, that’s more wealth than the ‘poorest’ 1,500 billionaires combined.” (04/05/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/what-does-oligarchy-look-like
-----
27) How Party Politics Destroys Independent Thought and Liberty
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin
“‘Nothing is more dangerous to the cause of truth and liberty than a party-spirit.’ Noah Webster didn’t mince words. Over 200 years ago, he saw the warning signs we still ignore today – the danger of trading truth and principle for party loyalty. This isn’t just some abstract warning. It’s a direct hit on the rot that dominates American politics today. When people stop thinking and start following, liberty doesn’t stand a chance. Let’s walk through Webster’s message. Piece by piece and step by step.” (04/04/25)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2025/04/04/how-party-politics-destroys-independent-thought-and-liberty/
-----
28) Tariffs and Trade Deficits
Source: Independent Institute
by Allen Gindler
“Imagine two businesses across the street from each other: a hardware store and a café. Once a year, the café buys a set of pans from the hardware store to keep its kitchen running. Meanwhile, every day, the hardware store’s employees pop over to the café for lunch — sandwiches, coffee, maybe a slice of pie. At the end of the year, the hardware store’s manager tallies up the books and frowns. ‘Look at this!’ he says. ‘We’re spending way more on lunches than the café spends on our pans. We’ve got a trade deficit with them! This has to stop.’Sounds familiar? It’s the kind of logic you hear on the news: ‘Country X buys less from us than we buy from them — unfair!’ The solution, we’re told, is tariffs — taxes on imports to ‘level the playing field.'” (04/04/25)
https://blog.independent.org/2025/04/04/tariffs-trade-deficits-lessons-hardware-store-cafe
-----
29) On 15th Anniversary Of Collateral Murder, Trump Shares Collateral Murder-Style Snuff Film
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“President Trump has posted a video on social media showing a US airstrike in Yemen killing dozens of people who he claims are ‘Houthis gathered for instructions on an attack.’ Trump also bizarrely suggested that Ansar Allah has been sinking US ships in its Red Sea attacks, writing ‘They will never sink our ships again!’ There is no public information about any US ships having been sunk by Houthi attacks. As of this writing there is also no evidence supporting the president’s claim that the people killed in the airstrike were combatants; there are photos online of unarmed Yemeni tribesmen standing in the exact formation seen in the video Trump posted for normal civilian gatherings.” (04/06/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/04/06/trump-shares-collateral-murder-style-snuff-film-on-15th-anniversary-of-collateral-murder/
-----
30) Trump Has Already Botched His Own Bad Tariff Plan
Source: The Atlantic
by Jonathan Chait
“Donald Trump had a plan. It was not a good plan, or even a plausible one. But it was, at least, a coherent plan: By imposing large trade barriers on the entire world, he would create an incentive for American business to manufacture and grow all the goods the country previously imported. Whatever chance this plan had to succeed is already over. The key to making it work was to convince businesses that the new arrangement is durable. Nobody is going to invest in building new factories in the United States to create goods that until last week could be imported more cheaply unless they’re certain that the tariffs making the domestic version more competitive will stay in place.” (04/04/25)
https://archive.is/q9xXw
-----
31) Never Forgive Democrats For The Lies They Told You
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“I get it; politicians lie. That’s like saying beer drinkers burp or fish swim – it’s just how life is. But some lies are unforgivable, and the lies Democrats told last year fall in that category. Democrats, in and out of the media, not only swore that Joe Biden was ‘the best Biden ever,’ they insisted that even suggesting anything to the contrary was ageism, outrageous, and heresy. They attacked you, us, for the simple act of noticing reality. They denied that reality insisted it wasn’t so, and attempted to destroy people for pointing it out. And they did it all with a smug sense of holier-than-thou-ism for the record books. Now, they’re retroactively on board with all of it.” (04/06/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2025/04/06/never-forgive-democrats-for-the-lies-they-told-you-n2655048
-----
32) Turning San Quentin into Norway isn’t the worst idea
Source: Orange County Register
by Steven Greenhut
“I believe dangerous predators should spend their lives behind bars. … I also cringe at many California Democrats’ refusal to take seriously public-safety concerns. … Yet, unlike some of my conservative-minded friends, I am encouraged rather than appalled by the Newsom administration’s $239-million plan to remake the notorious San Quentin State Prison in Marin County ‘into a Scandinavian-style rehabilitation center complete with a farmer’s market, a podcast production studio and a self-service grocery store,’ per the San Francisco Chronicle. The podcast idea sounds dopey, but the rest of it isn’t.” (04/04/25)
https://archive.is/aCudC
-----
33) Dear DNC: Open the Gates Wide for Your People’s Cabinet
Source: Common Dreams
by Sarah Van Gelder
“DNC Chair Ken Martin on Friday announced the launching of a People’s Cabinet! This is potentially exciting news. As I wrote about last month, a People’s Cabinet is a powerful way to combat the latest unlawful, unconstitutional, cruel, and downright stupid action from the Trump-Musk administration. And it’s a great way to lift up leaders who can propose common sense, people-centered alternatives. One proposal that may be a stretch for the DNC, though: Instead of the same old top-down decision making, please make this an open process. Invite everyone to help select cabinet members …. The Democratic Party’s approval ratings are very low and there is a lot of ground to make up after the party first insisted Joe Biden would be the 2024 presidential candidate and then anointed Kamala Harris as the presidential candidate — with no public input.” (04/05/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/dnc-people-s-cabinet
-----
34) Tariffs Aren’t Liberating
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Reem Ibrahim
“‘Liberation Day’: That is what US President Donald Trump has called Wednesday, April 2, the day he announced huge swaths of taxes on imports worldwide. Despite the label, it was far from a day of liberation. By making imports to the US more expensive, the government is actively increasing the cost of living for American consumers. The Trump administration has fallen for one of the most common misconceptions about trade — that it only benefits a country when it is the exporter. This could not be further from the truth. One of the greatest benefits of free trade lies with the importing country, where consumers gain access to a huge range of goods, crucially, at lower prices.” (04/04/25)
https://fee.org/articles/tariffs-arent-liberating/
-----
35) Will Trump Invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 Next?
Source: The Bulwark
by Adrian Carrasquillo
“[T]ucked away in section 6B of Trump’s day-one executive order declaring a national emergency at the southern border was this pearl, which I’ve set in bold and italics so you can’t miss it: ‘Within 90 days of the date of this proclamation, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a joint report to the President about the conditions at the southern border of the United States and any recommendations regarding additional actions that may be necessary to obtain complete operational control of the southern border, including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807.’ Since we can assume the report from the secretaries will reflect Trump’s preferences, by the end of this month we’ll have a clear signal of the likelihood of his invoking the Insurrection Act — a previously unfathomable step that would dramatically escalate the administration’s already deeply controversial detention and deportation efforts.” (04/04/25)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/will-trump-invoke-the-insurrection-act-1807-southern-border
-----
36) A Silver Lining, but…
Source: EconTalk
by Pierre Lemieux
“The customs tariffs imposed on imported goods by President Donald Trump on April 2 will, according to some estimates, bring the average US tariff higher than after the infamous Smoot-Hawley tariffs of 1930 …. As these tariffs are a tax on American consumers … the impact on the cost of living will be significant. The poorest Americans, a large part of whom voted for Trump, will be the hardest hit. … However, the costly shock that will hit the American economy and the world may have a silver lining. If Mr. Trump does not rapidly back up or is not rapidly forced to, the episode will show again what economists have known for nearly three centuries and what economic history has constantly confirmed — that mercantilism has disastrous effects on most of the population.” (04/04/25)
https://www.econlib.org/a-silver-lining-but/
-----
37) Here’s what Trump is really up to with high-stakes tariff gambit
Source: Fox News Forum
by Tanvi Ratna
“Let us be honest: When most people hear ‘tariffs,’ they think about price hikes and trade wars. But the Trump administration’s latest tariff rollout is not merely a knee-jerk protectionist move — it is part of a far broader strategy. What is actually in play here is a high-stakes effort to build up leverage and resources to manage America’s debt, reset its industrial base, and renegotiate its standing in the global order. And it all begins with a problem most people have not been told enough about. In 2025, the U.S. government must refinance $9.2 trillion in maturing debt. Some $6.5 trillion of that comes due by June.” [editor’s note: The only “broader strategy” this insanity could plausibly be part of is wrecking the US economy – TLK] (04/05/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/heres-what-trump-really-up-high-stakes-tariff-gambit
-----
38) All Trade is Reciprocal. Trump’s Tariffs Interfere With That Reciprocity.
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“[I]n order to eliminate trade deficits with other nations that aren’t really a problem to begin with, the Trump administration is hiking tariffs to raise the cost of imported goods so that Americans will buy less of them. That’s interference in the free reciprocal exchanges chosen by consumers and businesses. And the price of that interference comes out of Americans’ pockets. That’s because, as the Tax Foundation’s Alex Durante warns, tariffs are taxes that, while partially paid by foreign firms, are mostly a burden for people in the countries that impose them — especially as they rise to the heights we now see.” (04/04/25)
https://reason.com/2025/04/04/all-trade-is-reciprocal-trumps-tariffs-interfere-with-that-reciprocity/
-----
39) Trump’s “Liberation Day” Tariffs Are a Mistake
Source: Cobden Centre
by Connor O’Keeffe
“Trump, his team, and his allies are dismissing all the panic as the result of the ‘fake news media’ reaching for new lies to try and tarnish his public support and cover up all the success his administration is having in this second term. And after the last ten years of biased, misleading, and outright false coverage deployed by the establishment media to unsuccessfully go after Trump, that’s a believable angle. Establishment politicians, official ‘experts,’ and media figures have cried wolf so many times that it’s remarkable that anyone still trusts them. However, that does not necessarily mean that they are wrong one hundred percent of the time. And in this case, the establishment media and the mainstream economic ‘experts’ are more right than wrong in their warnings about these new tariffs.” (04/04/25)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2025/04/trumps-liberation-day-tariffs-are-a-mistake/
-----
40) Unscrambling the Price of Eggs
Source: Washington Monthly
by Claire Kelloway
“The fate of the nation, as we have all learned, hangs on the price of eggs. But have you noticed that the price of some eggs has risen much faster than others? In the past, if you went down to your farmers’ market and bought eggs laid by local free-range hens living under humane conditions, you had to pay a big premium. But now, if you go to Walmart or Kroger and buy conventional eggs produced by caged hens on supposedly super-efficient industrial-scale farms, you are likely to pay just as much or even more. How can this be? Part of the answer lies with the bird flu outbreak, which has affected different kinds of poultry operations differently. But another factor appears to be just as important: corporate conclusion [sic] and resulting greedflation.” (04/04/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/04/04/unscrambling-the-price-of-eggs/
-----
41) Why Are “Hands Off” Rallies Defending War-Hungry NATO?
Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin & David Swanson
“We are passionate supporters of all but one of the items on the Hands Off agenda for the April 5 rallies. We couldn’t agree more that the corrupt U.S. government should stop destroying, privatizing, firing, and giving away the post office, schools, land, Social Security, healthcare, environmental protections, and all sorts of essential public services. But we are deeply disturbed to see NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization) on the list of items that we are rallying to protect. Many people believe that NATO is a peace-loving, defensive alliance, but the opposite is true. During the past 30 years, NATO has fomented a vast arc of violence stretching from Libya to Afghanistan, leaving villages bombed, infrastructure destroyed, and countless dead. Originally formed in opposition to the Soviet Union, NATO not only failed to disband with the fall of the Soviet Union, but it increased from 16 members in 1991 to 32 members today.” (04/05/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/nato-hands-off-rallies
-----
42) The Great Carl Menger
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“Menger (1840-1921), a professor at the University of Vienna, launched the Austrian school of economics with his trailblazing Principles of Economics, published in 1871. (It was not translated into English until 1950.) He is famous for being one of three economists who independently and nearly simultaneously shifted economics onto a radically different track: marginal utility. Hence, the term marginal revolution in economics. This was a radical recasting of value and price theory.” (04/04/25)
https://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2025/04/tgif-great-carl-menger.html
-----
43) Justice or a Democratic Scandal?
Source: Quillette
by John Lloyd
“A French criminal court ruling forbidding Marine Le Pen from contesting the 2027 presidential election could throw the country into turmoil.” (04/04/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/04/04/justice-or-a-democratic-scandal-le-pen-france/
-----
44) Deadbeats! Saudis won’t pay $13.7 million bill for US military fuel
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Nick Cleveland-Stout
“Between 2015 and 2018, the United States supplied Saudi Arabia with tens of millions of dollars worth of jet fuel in support for the kingdom’s bombing campaign in Yemen. Seven years later, the Saudis refuse to repay most of their debt. And they are being rewarded for it.” (04/04/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/saudi-arabia-2671671015/
-----
45) Why the Feds are eyeing China’s grifter oligarchs, shedding light on corruption at every level
Source: New York Post
by Steven W Mosher
“The unclassified report from US spy agencies is only seven pages long. But it surely struck fear into the hearts of China’s Communist overlords when Tulsi Gabbard released it last month. It was supposed to. The report from Gabbard’s Office of the Director of National Intelligence is entitled ‘Wealth and Corrupt Activities of the Leadership of the Chinese Communist Party’. It highlights the defining characteristic of Chinese Communism: The corruption of party officials at all levels of government. And it starts at the very top, singling out Chinese leader Xi Jinping himself. ‘Xi’s siblings, nieces, and nephews held assets worth over $1 billion in business investments and real estate,’ the report notes, going on to suggest that the Chinese premier’s immediate family is managing these holdings on his behalf.” (04/05/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/04/05/opinion/why-the-feds-are-eyeing-chinas-grifter-oligarchs/
-----
46) NIH: The $47-Billion Sacred Cow Is Scared
Source: The Daily Economy
by Walter Donway
“If we’re seeking breakthroughs and innovation in biomedicine, why are we funding the same bureaucratic institutions?” (04/04/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/nih-the-47-billion-sacred-cow-is-scared/
-----
47) The College Essay Is Everything That’s Wrong With America
Source: Yascha Mounk
by Yascha Mounk
“The college essay is a deeply unfair way to select students for top colleges, one that is much more biased against the poor than standardized tests. The college essay wrongly encourages students to cast themselves as victims, to exaggerate the adversity they’ve faced, and to turn genuinely upsetting experiences into the focal point of their self-understanding. The college essay, dear reader, should be banned and banished and burned to the ground.” (04/04/25)
https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/the-college-essay-is-everything-thats
-----
48) The Argentine Ratline
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“In less than one month, the 80th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s death may be celebrated — unless President Javier Milei’s formal disclosure of the Argentine ‘ratline’ shows what a lot of people believe: that Hitler didn’t kill himself in that bunker. Ratlines are what the human smuggling routes of Nazis out of falling Germany in 1945 were called. And yes, Argentina was the chief receiver of Nazis. This is known. Confirmed. Not controversial. But did the South American country accept Nazis higher up than Dr. Josef Mengele and Adolf Eichmann? Well, the FBI was searching for Hitler in South America for decades, into the 1960s.” (04/04/225)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/04/04/ratline/
-----
49) More Than 1,800 Academics Say They Will Boycott Columbia, and the Number Is Growing
Source: In These Times
by Jessica Halliday Hardie & Ajantha Subramanian
“Near the end of March, Gary Wilder, a professor of anthropology at the City University of New York, sent an email about his decision to decline attending a conference at Columbia University, explaining he was doing so because Columbia is ’actively colluding with the U.S. government’s project to destroy higher education and criminalize dissent.’ ‘A boycott is one of the few instruments available to the academic community through which to censure Columbia,’ Wilder wrote to many of those involved in the gathering. Wilder is one of more than 1,800 academics and 50 organizations who have joined a quickly expanding boycott of Columbia, which has been at the center of U.S. state and political repression surrounding activism for Palestinian liberation.” (04/04/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/columbia-boycott-faculty-khalil-trump-ice
-----
50) New York Times Blockbuster Article Prepares Americans for Defeat in Ukraine
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
“Ukraine has blamed the U.S. for its failure, pointing to a failure to keep its promise of whatever they need for as long as they need it. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may have meant his Ukraine Victory Plan to allow him to claim that he has begged the U.S. to keep its promise to no avail. They had broken their promise and abandoned him, leaving no choice but to concede defeat and turn to negotiations. The Times article flips the script: the U.S. did everything they could do, but the Ukrainians wouldn’t listen. That is why the war was lost, and now we have no choice but to force negotiations.” (04/04/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_snider/2025/04/03/new-york-times-blockbuster-article-prepares-americans-for-defeat-in-ukraine/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Unattended Baggage, episode 288
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Ya gotta break a few eggs to crash the economy.” (04/05/25)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-288-hour-1-ya-gotta-break
-----
52) Matt Taibbi on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Matt Taibbi on Government Censorship, Russiagate and Why he’s Suing a Congresswoman.” (04/05/25)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/4-4-25-matt-taibbi-on-government-censorship-russiagate-and-why-hes-suing-a-congresswoman/
-----
53) The Anarchist Experience, episode 522
Source: The Anarchist Experience
“Rich, MC, and KS discuss Tariffs, the predictability of their outcomes, and the absurd procedure of how they were calculated, and this related HEADLINE: My Trade Deficit with Safeway.” (04/05/25)
https://theanarchistexperience.wordpress.com/2025/04/05/the-anarchist-experience-522/
-----
54) Kinsella On Liberty, episode 457
Source: StephanKinsella.com
“Sheldon Richman & IP; Andre from Brazil re Contract Theory, Student Loan Interest Payments, Bankruptcy, Vagueness, Usury.” (04/04/25)
https://stephankinsella.com/as_paf_podcast/kol457-interview-sheldon-richman-ip-brazlian-contracts-interest-usury/
-----
55) The Climate Realism Show, episode 152
Source: Heartland Institute
“Checking in on Net Zero in the UK.” (04/04/25)
https://heartland.org/podcasts/checking-in-on-net-zero-in-the-uk-the-climate-realism-show-152/
-----
56) Serious Trouble, 04/04/25
Source: Serious Trouble
“The Trump administration offers Ken an opportunity to discuss some of his favorite legal concepts; BigLaw associates politely protest their leaders’ accommodation of Trump; Eric Adams is a free man.” (04/04/25)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/venue-and-jurisdiction
-----
57) Nonzero, 04/04/25
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“How Trump’s tariffs could reshape the world | NonZero World feat. Karthik Sankaran.” (04/04/25)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/68556
-----
58) The Dischcast with Andrew Sullivan, 04/04/25
Source: The Weekly Dish
“Douglas Murray On Israel And Deportations.” (04/04/25)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/douglas-murray-on-israel-and-deportations
-----
59) Conflicts of Interest, episode 781
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Breaking Down the NYT’s Investigation on US Support for Ukraine.” (04/04/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-781-breaking-down-the-nyts-investigation-on-us-support-for-ukraine
-----
60) The Chris Spangle Show, 04/04/25
Source: We Are Libertarians
“Liberation Day or Tax Hike? Trump Imposes Massive Tariffs.” (04/04/25)
https://www.chrisspangle.com/p/liberation-day-or-tax-hike-trump
-----
61) The Fifth Column, episode 499
Source: The Fifth Column
“One of the Dumbest Decisions in American Political History? (w/ Scott Lincicome).” (04/04/25)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/499-one-of-the-dumbest-decisions
-----
62) Freakonomics Radio, episode 628
Source: Freakonomics
“Is Government the Problem, or the Solution?” (04/04/25)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/sludge-part-2-is-government-the-problem-or-the-solution/
-----
63) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 04/04/25
Source: The New Republic
“‘Horrifying’: Trump’s Weird, Confused Rant to Media as Markets Tanked.” (04/04/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/193604/horrifying-trump-weird-confused-rant-media-markets-tanked
-----
64) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2627
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“Are We in for More War?” (04/04/25)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2627-are-we-in-for-more-war/
-----
65) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/04/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Hamas Wants To Free All Hostages for Permanent Truce, Houthis Shoot Down Another US Drone, and More.” (04/04/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqEHAfweuyo
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FND is published every weekday except on holidays. Forward freely.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
http://groups.google.com/group/freedom-news-daily
Support the Liberty International (tax deductible)
https://liberty-intl.org/join-the-movement/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages