01/23 -- Iran: Regime's protester murders allegedly top 5k as Trump says US "armada" approaching; Carney Speech: The Rupture is a Necessary Part of the Transition
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Thomas L. Knapp
Jan 23, 2026, 6:10:56 AMJan 23
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 01/23/26
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https://news.rationalreview.com/
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Today's Freedom News:
0) Hybrid Friday!
1) Iran: Regime’s protester murders allegedly top 5k as Trump says US “armada” approaching
2) US House sends $1.2 trillion borrow and spend package to Senate
3) Sources: Rodriguez conspired with US regime in Maduro abduction
4) ICE gang takes four from same school in child abduction spree
5) Former metro Atlanta CEO pleads guilty to wire fraud in $380 million Ponzi scheme
6) Report: US murder rate hits lowest level since 1900
7) Massive Winter Storm With Damaging Ice In South, Heavy Snow From Texas To Northeast To Affect Over 230 Million
8) US applications for jobless benefits inch up last week to a still-low 200,000
9) Mediterranean: Pirates hijack oil tanker
10) Ex-con congresscritter pushes bill to bar recent ICE gang associates from satellite gangs
11) Von der Leyen wins no-confidence vote in European Parliament
12) Judge Blocks US Regime From Reviewing Seized Washington Post Devices
13) JP Morgan boss: Trump credit card plan would be “a disaster”
14) Japan shuts reactor at world’s biggest nuclear plant a day after restart
15) Bondi: Minnesota anti-gang activists arrested in wake of church protest
16) GA: Pol pleads guilty to lying to collect pandemic unemployment benefits
17) UK: Barron Trump called UK police after seeing woman “beat up”
18) Spain: Regime Urges EU to Create Joint Army Amid Greenland Dispute
19) Trump regime to expand ban on foreign aid for abortion providers, adding groups promoting DEI
20) PA: Teen knocks out intruder posing as ICE thug
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Carney Speech: The Rupture is a Necessary Part of the Transition
22) Towards A Complete Libertarianism
23) The Case for Making Every Vote Count
24) As Republicans embrace Big Government, they are becoming “Depublicans”
25) Greenland as a Stress Test for MAGA Loyalty
26) Oppose Israel’s Abuses While You Still Can
27) Our Expanding Immigration-Control Tyranny
28) The UK Is Allergic To Free Speech
29) What the Civil Rights Movement Can Teach Us About Resisting Fascism Today
30) The Information War Over Antidepressants
31) Midterms: Not About “Affordability” Just More Trump Hatred
32) We Are Witnessing the Self-Immolation of a Superpower
33) US Must Stop Pointing Fingers and Admit: We Are the Bad Guys
34) Housing Lessons From Spain
35) Predation Without Apology: Trump Defrocks the Long Western Tradition
36) Heroes and Tragedy at the American Founding
37) Mission behind Trump’s Board of Peace is simple, and critics keep getting it wrong
38) Defining Money
39) Does Humanomics Need a Moral Anchor?
40) My Bank Froze “My” Account — Is Permissioned Access Still Money?
41) Rio Grande: Once an Inviting River, Now a Militarized Border
42) Trump’s Tariffs Made His Farm Bailouts Inevitable
43) Trump’s Attempted Greenland Grab Has Turned America Into a Predatory Power
44) The Troubles with the Trump Administration’s Involuntary Student Debt Collection Delay
45) When Minnesota AG Ellison excuses mob rule, religious freedom is trampled
46) Trump: We got a $1.5 trillion military budget. He’s (kinda) right.
47) Latin America — Three Crucial Elections
48) Liberty OR Empire: You Can’t Have Both
49) Maybe a General Strike Isn’t So Impossible Now
50) It Could Never Happen Here
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) "Venezuela's Struggle for Freedom: Past Failures, Future Hopes" with Jacek Spendel and José Cordeiro
52) Flying Is Better Than in the Good Old Days, No Matter How Luxurious Those Old Photos Look
53) Rising, 01/22/26
54) TAC Right Now, 01/22/26
55) So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, 01/22/26
56) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2728
57) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 01/22/26
58) The Fifth Column, episode 541
59) System Update, episode 569
60) LPA After Dark, 01/21/26
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
0) Hybrid Friday!
Hey, everyone …
It’s a “Hybrid Friday” at the freedom movement’s daily newspaper — we’ve got a full 60-item email and social media edition for you below, plus another 50 (maybe more by the time you read this) news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links at our web edition. Enjoy!
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Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous weekend!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
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1) Iran: Regime’s protester murders allegedly top 5k as Trump says US “armada” approaching
Source: Associated Press
“The toll in Iran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests has reached at least 5,002 people killed, activists said Friday, warning many more were feared dead as the most comprehensive internet blackout in the country’s history crossed the two-week mark. The challenge in getting information out of Iran persists because of authorities cutting off access to the internet on Jan. 8, even as tensions rise between the United States and Iran as an American aircraft carrier group moves closer to the Middle East. U.S. President Donald Trump likened the carrier group to an ‘armada’ in comments to journalists late Thursday. Analysts say a military buildup could give Trump the option to carry out strikes, though so far he’s avoided that despite repeated warnings to Tehran.” (01/23/22)
https://apnews.com/article/iran-protests-crackdown-death-toll-acb1968a973f19be217ea28b4a7adb0b
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2) US House sends $1.2 trillion borrow and spend package to Senate
Source: USA Today
“With just a week left to avoid another government shutdown, the U.S. House of Representatives voted Jan. 22 to send a $1.2 trillion spending package to the Senate. The appropriations bills passed despite widespread consternation from Democrats over keeping the lights on at the Department of Homeland Security. The Trump administration’s nationwide immigration enforcement operations – which came to a head recently with the [murder] of Renee Good in Minneapolis – prompted most Democrats to vote against funding the agency, which includes Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Seven Democrats supported the DHS bill.” (01/22/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/01/22/shutdown-deadline-house-dhs-funding-package/88301498007/
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3) Sources: Rodriguez conspired with US regime in Maduro abduction
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Before the US military snatched Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, earlier this month, Delcy Rodríguez and her powerful brother pledged to cooperate with the Trump administration once the strongman was gone, four sources involved at high levels with the discussions told the Guardian. Rodríguez, who was sworn in on 5 January as acting president to replace Maduro, and her brother Jorge, the head of the national assembly, secretly assured US and Qatari officials through intermediaries ahead of time that they would welcome Maduro’s departure, according to the sources. The communications between US officials from Delcy Rodríguez, who was then Maduro’s vice-president, began in the fall and continued after Trump and Maduro spoke in a crucial phone call in late November, the Guardian has learned, in which Trump insisted that Maduro leave Venezuela. Maduro rejected the demand.” (01/22/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/22/delcy-rodriguez-capture-maduro-venezuela
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4) ICE gang takes four from same school in child abduction spree
Source: United Press International
“Immigration and Customs Enforcement has [abducted] four children from the same Minnesota school district this month, including a 5-year-old boy. Preschooler Liam Ramos was [abducted] in the driveway of his home along with his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, on Tuesday. The father and son were then transported to a detention center in Texas. … Ramos is the fourth child in the Columbia Heights Public School District to be [abducted] by ICE this month.” (01/22/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/01/22/ice-detains-5-year-old-child-minnesota/2641769093606/
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5) Former metro Atlanta CEO pleads guilty to wire fraud in $380 million Ponzi scheme
Source: Atlanta News First
“Todd Burkhalter, the CEO of former Alpharetta-based financial advisory group Drive Planning, has pleaded guilty to orchestrating one of the largest Ponzi schemes in Georgia history. ‘This is a matter of public safety,’ said Theodore Hertzberg, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. ‘It’s about protecting the community. People losing perhaps their life savings or something close to their life savings has a devastating impact.’ Authorities said between 2020 and 2024, Burkhalter sold a dream that investors would receive a huge return if they invested their money with his company. He defrauded more than 2,000 people out of $380 million. ‘Investor money was used to pay off other investors instead of being put towards actual investments,’ according to Hertzberg.” (01/22/26)
https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2026/01/22/former-metro-atlanta-ceo-pleads-guilty-wire-fraud-380-million-ponzi-scheme/
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6) Report: US murder rate hits lowest level since 1900
Source: Axios
“Murders fell 21% last year in 35 large U.S. cities — the biggest one-year drop ever and likely the lowest rate since 1900, Axios-reviewed data shows. The decline signals a complete reversal of the COVID-era crime wave. 11 of 13 tracked crimes were lower in 2025 than in 2024, according to data compiled by the Council on Criminal Justice.” (01/22/26)
https://archive.is/JaSfH
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7) Massive Winter Storm With Damaging Ice In South, Heavy Snow From Texas To Northeast To Affect Over 230 Million
Source: Weather.com
“A major, widespread, long-lasting winter storm will hammer parts of the South, Midwest and Northeast Friday through Monday with potentially damaging ice and heavy snow for millions from New Mexico and Texas to parts of New England. This storm will lead to widespread dangerous travel and its destructive South ice storm could lead to long-lasting power outages and tree damage. The storm has been named Winter Storm Fern by The Weather Channel. According to The Weather Company forecasters, Fern could affect over 230 million in the U.S. with snow and/or ice, two-thirds of the nation’s estimated population.” (01/22/26)
https://weather.com/storms/winter/news/2026-01-21-winter-storm-fern-ice-snow-forecast-south-northeast-midwest
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8) US applications for jobless benefits inch up last week to a still-low 200,000
Source: Orange County Register
“The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits inched up last week but U.S. layoffs remain historically low despite signs of a softening labor market. U.S. filings for jobless aid for the week ending Jan. 17 rose by 1,000 to 200,000, up from 199,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 207,000 new applications that analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting. Applications for unemployment benefits are viewed as a proxy for layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.” (01/22/26)
https://archive.is/FaSu9
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9) Mediterranean: Pirates hijack oil tanker
Source: NBC News
“France’s navy, working with intelligence provided by the United Kingdom, on Thursday intercepted an oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea that traveled from Russia, in a mission targeting the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet, officials said. French maritime authorities for the Mediterranean said the ship, the Grinch, is suspected of operating with a false flag. The French navy is escorting the ship to anchorage for more checks, the statement said. The tanker departed from the city of Murmansk in northwestern Russia, it said.” (01/22/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/europe/france-navy-intercepts-oil-tanker-mediterranean-sailing-russia-rcna255425
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10) Ex-con congresscritter pushes bill to bar recent ICE gang associates from satellite gangs
Source: Fox News
“A Democratic lawmaker in Washington state introduced a bill this week called the ICE Out Act of 2026, which would prohibit state law enforcement agencies from hiring anyone that has taken a job as a sworn U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term. The legislation was introduced by state Rep. Tarra Simmons, who served time for three felony convictions for possession of controlled substances and retail theft in 2011 before having her criminal record cleared. ‘In this Washington, we have worked incredibly hard to build trust between law enforcement and community,’ Simmons said in a press release. ‘In most Washington agencies, the men and women who step up to serve have developed a culture of holding each other accountable to the highest professional standards. The last thing we need is infiltration of ICE agents trained during the Trump Administration to send us backwards.” (01/22/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/washington-dem-pushes-bill-bar-recent-ice-hires-future-police-jobs-slamming-trump-occupying-force
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11) Von der Leyen wins no-confidence vote in European Parliament
Source: Politico
“Ursula von der Leyen comfortably survived a no-confidence vote in the European Parliament on Thursday. A large majority of members of the European Parliament backed the center-right European Commission president in a confidence motion brought by the far-right Patriots for Europe group. Of the 720 EU lawmakers, 565 showed up to vote. Only 165 backed toppling the Commission, with 390 voting against and 10 abstaining. Von der Leyen was not in Strasbourg for the vote. The motion’s proponents argued that von der Leyen and her team of commissioners should be dismissed over their handling of the EU–Mercosur trade deal, which they claim undermines European farmers by opening up the European market to unfair competition.” (01/22/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-wins-no-confidence-vote-european-parliament/
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12) Judge Blocks US Regime From Reviewing Seized Washington Post Devices
Source: New York Times
“A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the government not to review materials seized during the search of a Washington Post reporter’s home last week. The ruling, from Magistrate Judge William B. Porter, was in response to a legal filing by the newspaper on Wednesday arguing that the seizures violated the First Amendment and demanding the return of the items. ‘The seizure chills speech, cripples reporting and inflicts irreparable harm every day the government keeps its hands on protected materials,’ the company said in the filing. Judge Porter wrote that The Post and the reporter, Hannah Natanson, had shown ‘good cause’ to maintain the ‘status quo’ while the issues were being sorted out in court.” (01/22/26)
https://archive.is/rW6nB
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13) JP Morgan boss: Trump credit card plan would be “a disaster”
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“US President Donald Trump’s proposal to cap credit card costs would be ‘an economic disaster’, the boss of one of the world’s biggest banks has warned. JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon said the plan would remove credit from the majority of Americans and hit restaurants, retailers, travel firms and schools. Trump this month wrote on Truth Social that interest rates on credit cards should be limited to 10% for one year from 20 January. The cap has yet to come into force and the president did not say how it might be introduced or whether such a move would be legally enforceable. Asked about the cap at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Dimon said: ‘It would be an economic disaster, and I’m not making that up because our business … we would survive it by the way.'” (01/22/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3944lv2220o
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14) Japan shuts reactor at world’s biggest nuclear plant a day after restart
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The restart of a reactor at the world’s largest nuclear power plant has been suspended in Japan, a day after the process began, its operator, which also manages the wrecked Fukushima plant, said. But the reactor remains ‘stable.’ The No 6 reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in north-central Japan – closed since the 2011 Fukushima disaster – reactivated on Wednesday as plant workers started removing neutron-absorbing control rods from the core to start stable nuclear fission. But the process had to be suspended hours later due to a malfunction related to control rods, which are essential to safely starting up and shutting down reactors, the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) said.” (01/22/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/22/japan-shuts-reactor-at-worlds-biggest-nuclear-plant-a-day-after-restart
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15) Bondi: Minnesota anti-gang activists arrested in wake of church protest
Source: Fox News
“Federal authorities have arrested two anti-ICE agitators after a mob stormed a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday. Bondi named Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen as the suspects. FBI Director Kash Patel said Armstrong’s arrest was in connection with a violation of the FACE Act, which prohibits interfering with the exercise of religion at a place of worship. Armstrong is expected to appear Thursday before U.S. Judge Douglas Micko. Allen is charged with conspiracy to deprive rights, the Department of Homeland Security said.” (01/22/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/minnesota-agitator-arrested-wake-church-invasion-bondi-says
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16) GA: Pol pleads guilty to lying to collect pandemic unemployment benefits
Source: CBS News
“A former Georgia House member has pleaded guilty to lying to collect federal unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Karen Bennett’s guilty plea to one count of making false statements to collect $13,940 had been expected after she waived her indictment on Jan. 5. Bennett, 70, had resigned from the House in the days before she was charged. … Prosecutors said Bennett, a physical therapist, lied in 2020 when she stated she was being prevented by quarantine from working for Metro Therapy Providers, a company Bennett owned. Prosecutors said that in reality, Bennett’s role with the company was administrative and she worked from a home office, instead of providing therapy to clients. They also allege that Metro Therapy continued operating and generating income after a brief disruption. In addition, prosecutors say Bennett failed to disclose that she was also receiving $905 in week pay from a church.” (01/21/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/karen-bennett-georgia-lawmaker-covid-benefits-fraud-guilty-plea/
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17) UK: Barron Trump called UK police after seeing woman “beat up”
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Donald Trump’s youngest son contacted UK police saying he witnessed a friend in London being ‘beat up’ during a video call, a court has heard. Barron Trump, 19, told police he had friends call 999 from the US so that he could report the alleged attack in January 2025. Matvei Rumiantsev, 22, is on trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court accused of assault and two counts of rape, among other charges, against the alleged victim. He denies assault, actual bodily harm, two counts of rape, intentional strangulation and perverting the course of justice by pressuring the woman to withdraw her complaints. Trump called the alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, on 18 January last year, the court heard. Shortly after placing the call, the US president’s fifth child contacted the police and said she was being assaulted.” (01/22/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg5gg05y0mlo
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18) Spain: Regime Urges EU to Create Joint Army Amid Greenland Dispute
Source: US News & World Report
“Spain is urging the EU to move towards creating a joint army for the bloc as a deterrence measure, Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said in comments to Reuters on Wednesday ahead of a day of meetings in Davos. The region should focus first on bringing together its tangible assets to properly integrate its defence industry, and then mobilising a coalition of the willing, the foreign minister said. … The comments come ahead of an emergency meeting between EU leaders later on Thursday in Brussels to coordinate a joint response to U.S. President Trump’s threats to buy or annex Greenland. ” (01/21/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-01-21/spain-urges-eu-to-create-joint-army-amid-greenland-dispute
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19) Trump regime to expand ban on foreign aid for abortion providers, adding groups promoting DEI
Source: SFGate
“The Trump administration is expanding its ban on U.S. foreign aid for groups supporting abortion services to include assistance going to international and domestic organizations and agencies that promote gender identity as well as diversity, equity and inclusion programs. An administration official said Thursday that the State Department would release final rules that expand the scope of the ‘Mexico City’ policy that has already severely reduced assistance to international organizations that provide abortion-related care. The policy was first established under President Ronald Reagan but rescinded by subsequent Democratic administrations. The new rules, first reported by Fox News, would halt foreign assistance from going toward not only groups that provide abortion as a method of family planning but also those that advocate ‘gender ideology’ and DEI, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the rules’ publication in the Federal Register on Friday.” (01/22/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/trump-administration-to-expand-ban-on-foreign-aid-21309475.php
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20) PA: Teen knocks out intruder posing as ICE thug
Source: PennLive
“A Pennsylvania teenager knocked an intruder unconscious after the man broke into the family home over the weekend claiming to be an ICE agent. Citing a criminal complaint, WTAE-TV and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that William Gregory, a 35-year-old Carnegie resident, climbed through a kitchen window to enter the home in the city’s Betlzhoover neighborhood Saturday night. Gregory lied that he was an ICE agent and threatened the family with a knife while demanding their immigration paperwork. … Gregory tried to steal a PlayStation console and cell phone, but the 17-year-old boy punched him the face and knocked him unconscious, which is how police officers found him when they arrived.” [editor’s note: And if he WAS an ICE gang member, he’d still have deserved that if not worse – TLK] (01/21/26)
https://www.pennlive.com/crime/2026/01/pa-man-posing-as-ice-agent-gets-punched-unconscious-by-teen-during-home-invasion.html
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Carney Speech: The Rupture is a Necessary Part of the Transition
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“Writ large, Canada’s move away from the US and toward China is just the latter part of Mike’s answer, in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises — ‘Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly’ — to the question of how he went bankrupt. Which, in turn, is just a waypoint in another transition. In Mike’s case, it was all downhill from the bankruptcy. In America’s case, who knows? It’s easy to just blame Trump for all this craziness, but it’s also a little bit lazy. Yes, Trump’s trade and economic policies seem purpose-built for the task of dismantling American prosperity at home and power (‘soft’ and ‘hard’) abroad. In reality, though, the American empire and the supposed global ‘rules-based order’ have been in continual decline pretty much since that happy accident 80 years ago, when World War 2 ended with most of the world’s industry wrecked, but America’s untouched.” (01/22/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20283
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22) Towards A Complete Libertarianism
Source: Isonomia Quarterly
by Kevin Vallier
“Libertarian political philosophy in the analytic tradition nears the half-century mark. Libertarian theorists have produced sophisticated defenses of limited government and individual liberty, but these defenses diverge in fundamental ways. The divergences reflect incompatible views about the nature and source of justice itself. This philosophical diversity may point toward a more complete understanding of libertarian justice. Two recent works capture these divergent strands. Billy Christmas’s Property and Justice advances a natural rights libertarianism that derives a complete theory of justice from the single principle of non-interference. Nick Cowen’s Neoliberal Social Justice builds a contractualist case for classical liberal institutions that takes seriously the epistemic limitations plaguing any attempt at social organization.” (01/22/26)
https://isonomiaquarterly.com/archive/volume-3-issue-4/towards-a-complete-libertarianism/
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23) The Case for Making Every Vote Count
Source: The Dispatch
by Larry Diamon
“A growing share of voters (some 60 percent) are dissatisfied with the way our democracy is working and feel alienated from both major political parties. One factor is polarization: the growing emotional and policy distance and declining trust between supporters of the two parties. Another is the parties’ perceived failure to address the country’s economic and social problems. Related to this is a sense that both parties have become too captive to their most militant elements. … Ranked-choice voting (RCV) for president in November (state by state) could ease this problem by enabling voters to cast a sincere vote for their first preference, knowing that if their candidate didn’t make it and no one won an initial majority, their vote would be transferred to their second preference.” (01/22/26)
https://archive.is/IU0LE
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24) As Republicans embrace Big Government, they are becoming “Depublicans”
Source: Orange County Register
by Veronique de Rugy
“For some years now, conservatives who believe in free markets and limited government have been labeled RINOs — ‘Republicans in name only’ — as GOP liberals or moderates have historically been known. The MAGA movement flings this term as an insult and a signal that respecting the realities of supply and demand instead of endorsing price controls is a character flaw. But after watching the last few weeks unfold, it’s hard not to ask this: If believing in markets makes you a RINO, what exactly do we call Republicans who now openly embrace ideas lifted from the playbooks of Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts)? How about ‘Depublicans?'” (01/22/26)
https://archive.is/AhmTq
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25) Greenland as a Stress Test for MAGA Loyalty
Source: Reason
by Daniel Hannan
“Pollsters have long understood that the act of casting a ballot creates a bond. Once we have voted for a candidate, we feel invested in him. We don’t want to admit to ourselves that we might have made a mistake. … Will anything turn MAGA against [Donald Trump]? I wondered whether, by threatening to annex Greenland, he had found the one issue where his base would not follow him. He was elected as the candidate who would put an end to foreign adventurism, and voters opposed taking Greenland by 71 percent to 4 percent — 4 percent being, coincidentally, the ‘lizardman’s constant,’ the estimated proportion of people in any poll who will give insincere or demented replies. Perhaps that is why, as I write, he seems to be backing down from the demand.” (01/22/26)
https://reason.com/2026/01/22/greenland-as-a-stress-test-for-maga-loyalty/
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26) Oppose Israel’s Abuses While You Still Can
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“I’ve seen some Australians expressing confusion as to whether or not they can still legally criticize Israel online after new ‘hate speech’ laws were passed on Tuesday under the pretense of combatting ‘antisemitism’. The answer is yes, and you definitely should keep opposing Israel and its genocidal atrocities. I am worried that these new laws may indirectly have a bit of a chilling effect on pro-Palestine activism due to Australians not understanding these new laws and what people are allowed to do without being jailed. … it is still legal for Australians to oppose Israel and to associate with pro-Palestine groups — and we should. What’s changed is that now those groups can be classified as ‘hate groups’ and banned, similarly to how Palestine Action has been banned in the UK. But this hasn’t happened yet, and hopefully never will.” (01/22/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/01/22/oppose-israels-abuses-while-you-still-can/
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27) Our Expanding Immigration-Control Tyranny
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“One of the most important lessons in the loss of liberty is how the federal government, especially the all-powerful national-security branch of the federal government, enlists the support of the American people for measures that destroy their very own rights and liberties. A good example of this phenomenon is America’s socialist (i.e., central planning) system of immigration controls, which millions of Americans have come to support on the basis that it supposedly protects the nation from invaders, rapists, murderers, drug dealers, terrorists, communists, anarchists, and other scary people. By converting Americans into a fear-filled people, the federal government has been able to destroy their liberty through an immigration police state accompanies America’s socialist system of immigration controls.” (01/22/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/01/22/our-expanding-immigration-control-tyranny/
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28) The UK Is Allergic To Free Speech
Source: Persuasion
by Leonora Barclay
“Over the last 18 months, the grip of the [Online Safety Act] has become more apparent to internet users with each click. The law was passed by the British parliament in October 2023 but came into effect in stages, the last of which was in July 2025. Among other things, it requires tech companies to take action against illegal content on their platforms, such as child sexual abuse, revenge porn, and fraud. Concerningly, however, the OSA also requires tech companies to protect children from content that is not illegal, but which is nevertheless deemed ‘harmful.'” (01/22/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-uk-is-allergic-to-free-speech
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29) What the Civil Rights Movement Can Teach Us About Resisting Fascism Today
Source: OtherWords
by Mitchell Zimmerman
“In the mid-1960s, I joined the freedom movement in the South as a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Georgia, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Those were heady years, and I am proud of my small role in the great achievements of that time. Our movement breathed new life into American democracy, inspiring and teaching people who led many of the other liberation movements of the 1960s and ‘70s. It opened up schools, education, jobs, public accommodations, voting power, electoral office, and judgeships to people of color in the South and throughout the country. But there is also a fight for history.” (01/22/25)
https://otherwords.org/dr-king-would-be-standing-beside-those-standing-up-for-our-democracy/
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30) The Information War Over Antidepressants
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Peter C. Gøtzsche
“Stat News hit the ethical and scientific bottom two weeks ago when they published an article by Stephen B. Soumerai, professor of population medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Christine Y. Lu, professor at the Sydney Pharmacy School of the University of Sydney. I have rarely seen so much disinformation in so few words, only 1,220. I reproduce the article in its entirety, in italics, with my comments.” (01/22/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-information-war-over-antidepressants/
-----
31) Midterms: Not About “Affordability” Just More Trump Hatred
Source: Town Hall
by Larry Elder
“No, the midterms will not turn on the issue of ‘affordability.’ If affordability truly were decisive, Republicans would easily retain the House and the Senate. Consider the economic backdrop. Gas prices are at a five-year low, with gas stations in several states selling a gallon of regular for under $2. Several times since Trump’s reelection, the stock market indexes have recorded all-time highs. GDP growth hit 4.3% in the third quarter of 2025. Wage growth is exceeding inflation, but as always, some benefit more than others. Inflation itself is under 3% and trending lower.” (01/22/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/larryelder/2026/01/22/the-midterms-its-not-about-affordability-its-about-trump-hatred-n2669860
-----
32) We Are Witnessing the Self-Immolation of a Superpower
Source: Wired
by Garrett M Graff
“With Donald Trump’s actions in Greenland, Minneapolis, and Venezuela, a foreign enemy could not invent a better chain of events to wreck the standing of the United States.” (01/22/26)
https://archive.is/nJXmd
-----
33) US Must Stop Pointing Fingers and Admit: We Are the Bad Guys
Source: Common Dreams
by Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler
“Every single moving mouth and face I see in the media seems to be obligated to stress the barbarity and illegitimacy of the Maduro government to establish some acceptable moral clarity even before they can carry on with any analysis of the current political situation, or the current political conditions in the world. Likewise, each personality seems obligated to make similar statements as a prerequisite to speak on the Iranian regime and the religionists controlling the country. Each is evil they must claim, and that they expressively disagree and denounce them in all shape and form. Each is beyond the specter of acceptable civilization, they must state. Each has no inkling of morality, but is simply obsessed with power and control. This was the same in any discussion of Hamas in Gaza.” (01/22/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-pointing-at-self
-----
34) Housing Lessons From Spain
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“Tourism might have exacerbated Spain’s housing problem, but it’s not the root cause. The gap between sluggish supply and explosive demand has resulted in a deficit of around 700,000 homes. As a result, rental rates have doubled and house prices risen by 44% since 2020. In its last Financial Stability Report, released in November, the Bank of Spain identified historically low construction levels as a key factor in the deficit. … Still, it’s easier to blame tourists.” (01/22/26)
https://fee.org/articles/housing-lessons-from-spain/
-----
35) Predation Without Apology: Trump Defrocks the Long Western Tradition
Source: CounterPunch
by L Ali Khan
“The Trump predation does not mark a departure from Western history; it signals the end of its traditional justifications. For centuries, Western ruling elites relied on intricate theological and philosophical frameworks to justify predation—the taking of foreign resources through force, deception, or coercion. During President Donald Trump’s tenure, these frameworks are no longer necessary. Predation persists, but its rhetorical disguise has been stripped away. What remains is the U.S. asymmetric power advantage, openly asserting itself against weaker targets like Venezuela, while remaining cautious around stronger foes like China. To understand Trump’s predatory stance toward Venezuela, Greenland, and possibly other targets, one must resist the urge to see it as abnormal.” (01/22/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/01/22/predation-without-apology-trump-defrocks-the-long-western-tradition/
-----
36) Heroes and Tragedy at the American Founding
Source: Law & Liberty
by Kevin Gutzman
“Popular historian Joseph J. Ellis’s latest book, The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the American Founding, examines the persistence of slavery in the wake of the American Founding and the American Revolution’s impact on American Indians. Expulsion of the British from the Thirteen Colonies and John Jay’s diplomatic masterstroke yielding the Mississippi River rather than the Appalachian Mountains as America’s western boundary would have effects on blacks, Indians and ultimately the American Union that no one could have foreseen. This is what Ellis considers ‘the tragic side of the American Founding.’ What is new about Ellis’s telling of this tale is that he apportions responsibility differently than has become customary in recent years.” (01/22/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/heroes-and-tragedy-at-the-american-founding/
-----
37) Mission behind Trump’s Board of Peace is simple, and critics keep getting it wrong
Source: New York Post
by Jonathan Schanzer
“President Trump is making big moves the world over. From nabbing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro to threatening the conquest of Greenland to pushing for a Ukraine-Russia cease-fire, Trump’s foreign policy plate is full. The World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, is still buzzing about it. Overshadowed by these bigger headlines but no less important is Trump’s newly minted Board of Peace. The board is designed to implement the president’s 20-point peace plan for the war-torn Gaza Strip, as endorsed verbatim by the UN Security Council in November. Notable critics, including French President Emmanuel Macron, assert that Trump … is trying to supplant the United Nations as part of a wider overhaul of the international system that, in the wake of World War II, produced the UN, NATO and many of the other organizations that are steadily losing relevance today.” (01/21/25)
https://nypost.com/2026/01/21/opinion/the-mission-behind-trumps-board-of-peace-is-simple-and-critics-keep-getting-it-wrong/
-----
38) Defining Money
Source: Cobden Centre
by James Turk
“Many modern economists struggle to define money. Often beginning with an historical overview of the concept of moneyness, they generally end by describing the functions of money. What money ‘does’ is not a definition of what money ‘is.’ Another way they strive to define money is with the use of adjectives. A common example is ‘sound money,’ which is like saying ‘wet water.’ The adjective is superfluous because the noun is intuitively understood, or at least should be, as it was to the pioneers of the Austrian School. Although I obviously cannot speak for Menger and Mises, their intuitive understanding of money is different from that of modern writers. It had to be because the environmental factors when they were writing a century or more ago were so very different from today given the then prevailing everyday use of gold and silver.” (01/22/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/01/defining-money/
-----
39) Does Humanomics Need a Moral Anchor?
Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Dr. Edward W Younkins
“At its core, Humanomics aims to integrate moral and social dimensions into the scientific study of economic behavior, recapturing insights from Adam Smith that have been marginalized in mainstream economic theory. Rather than reducing humans to narrow maximizers of utility, Humanomics treats them as sentient, social, purposeful, learning agents whose actions are shaped by sentiments, norms, ethical commitments, and reflective judgment.” (01/22/26)
https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2026/01/does-humanomics-need-moral-anchor.html
-----
40) My Bank Froze “My” Account — Is Permissioned Access Still Money?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Joakim Book
“Banks can freeze your account and stop your payments at any time, for any reason. Thus, bank deposits fail any rudimentary sniff test of ‘money,’ yet everyone treats them as synonymous with the freest, simplest monetary media they’ve ever seen. It just always works, right?” (01/22/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/my-bank-froze-my-account-is-permissioned-access-still-money/
-----
41) Rio Grande: Once an Inviting River, Now a Militarized Border
Source: The American Prospect
by Elena Bruess
“As a child, Michelle Serrano would take trips to Boca Chica with her grandmother. From her home in Brownsville, the drive ran east through Texas wetlands and countryside before landing on miles of beach, stretching far down the Gulf Coast just above the U.S.-Mexico border. They’d spend the day there, swimming, laying out — which didn’t cost anything, unlike at South Padre Island to the north. For them, it was the people’s beach. Today, decades later, it’s hard for Serrano to believe those memories. It’s early December at Boca Chica Beach. A thick fog has settled over the sand dunes as Serrano pulls up the hood of her jacket to block the coastal wind. Already, she had seen four U.S. Border Patrol trucks driving along the sand—trucks she knows will slow down as the drivers stare at her with suspicion. ” (01/22/25)
https://prospect.org/2026/01/22/trump-mexico-rio-grande-militarized-border-patrol/
-----
42) Trump’s Tariffs Made His Farm Bailouts Inevitable
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“In the comic theater of American politics, few spectacles are as reliably absurd as the utopian promises of protectionism. Donald Trump’s tariffs, hailed by their proponents as a bold strike against foreign exploitation, have instead proven to be a blunt instrument of economic self-sabotage — particularly for the nation’s farmers. From his first administration to the present day these policies have not only disrupted free markets but have necessitated a cascade of government bailouts, turning independent producers into wards of the state. Such interventions are not savvy trade strategy but are classic crony capitalism: politicians picking winners and losers, all while taxpayers foot the bill for the inevitable fallout.” (01/22/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/trumps-tariffs-made-his-farm-bailouts-inevitable
-----
43) Trump’s Attempted Greenland Grab Has Turned America Into a Predatory Power
Source: The UnPopulist
by Berny Belvedere
“Territorial seizures are hardly novel phenomena in international relations. What makes this crisis different is that the aggressor is the United States, a close ally of Denmark’s and the architect of the very international order designed to discourage such brazen territorial acquisitiveness. It is particularly absurd since America has had unlimited military access, an open invitation to station whatever forces it wants on Greenland, since World War II. It’s understandable why the Danes and Greenlanders are bewildered at supposed security motivations for the Arctic Anschluss. Throughout the postwar era, a defining tenet of American hegemony has been that military might does not confer territorial rights, and that America itself would resolutely defend weaker nations against the predations of their mightier neighbors. This president has reversed that mission entirely. Under Trump, on the international stage, the U.S. has gone from protector to predator.” (01/21/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trumps-attempted-greenland-grab-has
-----
44) The Troubles with the Trump Administration’s Involuntary Student Debt Collection Delay
Source: Cato Institute
by Neal McCluskey
“On January 16, the US Department of Education announced that it will delay the collection of defaulted federal student debt via wage garnishment and retention of federal funds such as Social Security payments. The reasons offered by the Trump administration are that the Biden administration left student debt repayment a confused mess that needs to be clarified before forced collection resumes, and the Working Families Tax Cuts Act — aka One Big Beautiful Bill — will simplify debt repayment starting this July, as well as allow a second chance for defaulted borrowers to rehabilitate their loans. … Even if legal, there is a huge problem with another delay: It will likely bolster the deleterious sentiment among borrowers for which the Trump administration blamed Biden.” (01/21/26)
https://www.cato.org/blog/troubles-trump-administrations-involuntary-student-debt-collection-delay
-----
45) When Minnesota AG Ellison excuses mob rule, religious freedom is trampled
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley
“Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison declared Sunday that there are no federal grounds for prosecuting the mob that disrupted St. Paul’s Cities Church and characterized the conduct as ‘First Amendment activity.’ Ellison not only supported the protesters as exercising their First Amendment rights in an interview with CNN, but also signaled an unwillingness to enforce state laws allegedly violated by the protesters, including trespass and disorderly conduct. Ellison is infamous for his prior support for violent groups and has long-faced criticism for statements and associations involving extremist movements and figures linked to political unrest.” [editor’s note: Compare to Turley’s view of the “mob rule” in the Capitol riot – TLK] (01/22/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-when-minnesota-ag-ellison-excuses-mob-rule-religious-freedom-trampled
-----
46) Trump: We got a $1.5 trillion military budget. He’s (kinda) right.
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Ben Freeman
“His boast to Davos today wasn’t off the mark if he combines these overflowing pots of national security funding.” (01/21/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-trillion-military-budget/
-----
47) Latin America — Three Crucial Elections
Source: Independent Institute
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
“Every time I read that Latin America is shifting to the right, I scratch my head thinking: are people unaware that Brazil and Mexico, both in the hands of the left, represent 56 percent of the gross domestic product of Latin America and the Caribbean and 54 percent of the region’s population? Not to mention that Colombia, the third most populated country, is also governed by the left. That said, yes, the right has won in Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, and Honduras, and is governing in other countries, such as El Salvador, Paraguay and Peru (after the President of the Congress assumed power following the impeachment of the previous president). But three important presidential elections that will take place this year will give us a sense of where the subcontinent really stands.” (01/21/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/01/21/latin-america-elections/
-----
48) Liberty OR Empire: You Can’t Have Both
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin
“‘Empires, by Pride & Folly & Extravagance, ruin themselves like Individuals.’ Benjamin Franklin wasn’t merely reciting history; he was warning us. Because every empire follows the same script. And while the common themes are overextension, debt, or even running the printing press, those are merely symptoms of the deadly disease. The root cause is always the same: Consolidate power. The eventual destruction of liberty and final collapse are guaranteed. And now, it’s our turn. This is the story of how empire destroys liberty, because liberty must die for empires to live.” (01/21/26)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2026/01/21/liberty-or-empire-you-cant-have-both/
-----
49) Maybe a General Strike Isn’t So Impossible Now
Source: In These Times
by Alex Han
“Trump’s attacks on working people (threats to send troops into major U.S. cities, ripping collective bargaining rights from a million federal workers, an immigration enforcement terror campaign that borders on unconstitutional) have been so extreme that many people are talking about a general strike. These calls are coming not just from the usual suspects, but even from my own mayor, former Chicago Teachers Union leader and organizer Brandon Johnson. We’ve all heard calls for a general strike before — usually not as a serious proposal or strategy, but as a reaction to the attacks that working people face on a regular basis from existing political and economic power.” (01/21/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/alex-han-general-strike-trump-brandon-johnson-chicago-minnestora-shut-down
-----
50) It Could Never Happen Here
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“The common mindset among most Americans is that the United States could never become a totalitarian-like country — that is, one in which freedom of speech is sharply curtailed, protests and demonstrations are violently suppressed, people are kidnapped on the streets and quickly incarcerated in secret prisons without trial or due process, prisoners are tortured, no one dares to criticize what is occurring, deep fear exists within the citizenry, the powers of the president and the national-security establishment are omnipotent, elections are temporarily suspended, and people have convinced themselves that all this totalitarian tyranny is necessary because some national-security emergency requires it. Yet, there is one big problem with that mindset: U.S. officials have demonstrated that they favor that way of life, at least in foreign countries.” (01/21/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/01/21/it-could-never-happen-here-2/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) "Venezuela's Struggle for Freedom: Past Failures, Future Hopes" with Jacek Spendel and José Cordeiro
Source: Liberty International
"On January 13th, Liberty International hosted an engaging webinar titled 'Venezuela's Struggle for Freedom: Past Failures, Future Hopes,' bringing together audiences to reflect on Venezuela's dramatic past, difficult present, and uncertain yet hopeful future. The discussion was moderated by Jacek Spendel, President of Liberty International, and featured Board Member José Cordeiro as the special guest." (01/22/26)
https://liberty-intl.org/2026/01/22/venezuelas-struggle-for-freedom-past-failures-future-hopes-liberty-international/
-----
52) Flying Is Better Than in the Good Old Days, No Matter How Luxurious Those Old Photos Look
Source: Reason
“The big lesson from the past 50 years of American air travel is that the aesthetics matter a lot less than the economics.” (01/22/26)
https://reason.com/2026/01/22/flying-is-better-than-in-the-good-old-days-no-matter-how-luxurious-those-old-photos-look/
-----
53) Rising, 01/22/26
Source: The Hill
“Scott Jennings calls out Cameron Kasky over [allegedly] false Trump-Epstein smear: Robby Soave.” (01/22/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5698380-rising-january-22-2026/
-----
54) TAC Right Now, 01/22/26
Source: The American Conservative
“Trump Covets Greenland, Europe Freaks Out.” (01/22/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/tac-right-now-trump-covets-greenland-europe-freaks-out/
-----
55) So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, 01/22/26
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
"Escaping Iran." (01/22/26)
-----
56) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2728
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“Why the Left Wins (but Why It Isn’t Inevitable).” (01/22/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2728-why-the-left-wins-but-why-it-isnt-inevitable/
-----
57) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 01/22/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Press Sec. Goes Full Cult as Reviews of Davos Fiasco Turn Brutal.” (01/22/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/205528/trump-press-sec-goes-full-cult-reviews-davos-fiasco-turn-brutal
-----
58) The Fifth Column, episode 541
Source: The Fifth Column
“Trump Would Do Anything For Greenland (But He Won’t Do That).” (01/21/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/trump-would-do-anything-for-greenland
-----
59) System Update, episode 569
Source: System Update
“SHOCKING Confession by Canada’s PM Mark Carney at Davos.” (01/21/26)
https://rumble.com/v74nmlg-shocking-confession-by-canadas-pm-mark-carney-at-davos-system-update-569.html
-----
60) LPA After Dark, 01/21/26
Source: LP Alliance
“LPA After Dark.” (01/21/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FTBF1yF_cg
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Today's Freedom News:
0) Hybrid Friday!
1) Iran: Regime’s protester murders allegedly top 5k as Trump says US “armada” approaching
2) US House sends $1.2 trillion borrow and spend package to Senate
3) Sources: Rodriguez conspired with US regime in Maduro abduction
4) ICE gang takes four from same school in child abduction spree
5) Former metro Atlanta CEO pleads guilty to wire fraud in $380 million Ponzi scheme
6) Report: US murder rate hits lowest level since 1900
7) Massive Winter Storm With Damaging Ice In South, Heavy Snow From Texas To Northeast To Affect Over 230 Million
8) US applications for jobless benefits inch up last week to a still-low 200,000
9) Mediterranean: Pirates hijack oil tanker
10) Ex-con congresscritter pushes bill to bar recent ICE gang associates from satellite gangs
11) Von der Leyen wins no-confidence vote in European Parliament
12) Judge Blocks US Regime From Reviewing Seized Washington Post Devices
13) JP Morgan boss: Trump credit card plan would be “a disaster”
14) Japan shuts reactor at world’s biggest nuclear plant a day after restart
15) Bondi: Minnesota anti-gang activists arrested in wake of church protest
16) GA: Pol pleads guilty to lying to collect pandemic unemployment benefits
17) UK: Barron Trump called UK police after seeing woman “beat up”
18) Spain: Regime Urges EU to Create Joint Army Amid Greenland Dispute
19) Trump regime to expand ban on foreign aid for abortion providers, adding groups promoting DEI
20) PA: Teen knocks out intruder posing as ICE thug
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Carney Speech: The Rupture is a Necessary Part of the Transition
22) Towards A Complete Libertarianism
23) The Case for Making Every Vote Count
24) As Republicans embrace Big Government, they are becoming “Depublicans”
25) Greenland as a Stress Test for MAGA Loyalty
26) Oppose Israel’s Abuses While You Still Can
27) Our Expanding Immigration-Control Tyranny
28) The UK Is Allergic To Free Speech
29) What the Civil Rights Movement Can Teach Us About Resisting Fascism Today
30) The Information War Over Antidepressants
31) Midterms: Not About “Affordability” Just More Trump Hatred
32) We Are Witnessing the Self-Immolation of a Superpower
33) US Must Stop Pointing Fingers and Admit: We Are the Bad Guys
34) Housing Lessons From Spain
35) Predation Without Apology: Trump Defrocks the Long Western Tradition
36) Heroes and Tragedy at the American Founding
37) Mission behind Trump’s Board of Peace is simple, and critics keep getting it wrong
38) Defining Money
39) Does Humanomics Need a Moral Anchor?
40) My Bank Froze “My” Account — Is Permissioned Access Still Money?
41) Rio Grande: Once an Inviting River, Now a Militarized Border
42) Trump’s Tariffs Made His Farm Bailouts Inevitable
43) Trump’s Attempted Greenland Grab Has Turned America Into a Predatory Power
44) The Troubles with the Trump Administration’s Involuntary Student Debt Collection Delay
45) When Minnesota AG Ellison excuses mob rule, religious freedom is trampled
46) Trump: We got a $1.5 trillion military budget. He’s (kinda) right.
47) Latin America — Three Crucial Elections
48) Liberty OR Empire: You Can’t Have Both
49) Maybe a General Strike Isn’t So Impossible Now
50) It Could Never Happen Here
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) "Venezuela's Struggle for Freedom: Past Failures, Future Hopes" with Jacek Spendel and José Cordeiro
52) Flying Is Better Than in the Good Old Days, No Matter How Luxurious Those Old Photos Look
53) Rising, 01/22/26
54) TAC Right Now, 01/22/26
55) So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, 01/22/26
56) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2728
57) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 01/22/26
58) The Fifth Column, episode 541
59) System Update, episode 569
60) LPA After Dark, 01/21/26
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-----
1) Iran: Regime’s protester murders allegedly top 5k as Trump says US “armada” approaching
Source: Associated Press
“The toll in Iran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests has reached at least 5,002 people killed, activists said Friday, warning many more were feared dead as the most comprehensive internet blackout in the country’s history crossed the two-week mark. The challenge in getting information out of Iran persists because of authorities cutting off access to the internet on Jan. 8, even as tensions rise between the United States and Iran as an American aircraft carrier group moves closer to the Middle East. U.S. President Donald Trump likened the carrier group to an ‘armada’ in comments to journalists late Thursday. Analysts say a military buildup could give Trump the option to carry out strikes, though so far he’s avoided that despite repeated warnings to Tehran.” (01/23/22)
https://apnews.com/article/iran-protests-crackdown-death-toll-acb1968a973f19be217ea28b4a7adb0b
-----
2) US House sends $1.2 trillion borrow and spend package to Senate
Source: USA Today
“With just a week left to avoid another government shutdown, the U.S. House of Representatives voted Jan. 22 to send a $1.2 trillion spending package to the Senate. The appropriations bills passed despite widespread consternation from Democrats over keeping the lights on at the Department of Homeland Security. The Trump administration’s nationwide immigration enforcement operations – which came to a head recently with the [murder] of Renee Good in Minneapolis – prompted most Democrats to vote against funding the agency, which includes Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Seven Democrats supported the DHS bill.” (01/22/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/01/22/shutdown-deadline-house-dhs-funding-package/88301498007/
-----
3) Sources: Rodriguez conspired with US regime in Maduro abduction
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Before the US military snatched Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, earlier this month, Delcy Rodríguez and her powerful brother pledged to cooperate with the Trump administration once the strongman was gone, four sources involved at high levels with the discussions told the Guardian. Rodríguez, who was sworn in on 5 January as acting president to replace Maduro, and her brother Jorge, the head of the national assembly, secretly assured US and Qatari officials through intermediaries ahead of time that they would welcome Maduro’s departure, according to the sources. The communications between US officials from Delcy Rodríguez, who was then Maduro’s vice-president, began in the fall and continued after Trump and Maduro spoke in a crucial phone call in late November, the Guardian has learned, in which Trump insisted that Maduro leave Venezuela. Maduro rejected the demand.” (01/22/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/22/delcy-rodriguez-capture-maduro-venezuela
-----
4) ICE gang takes four from same school in child abduction spree
Source: United Press International
“Immigration and Customs Enforcement has [abducted] four children from the same Minnesota school district this month, including a 5-year-old boy. Preschooler Liam Ramos was [abducted] in the driveway of his home along with his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, on Tuesday. The father and son were then transported to a detention center in Texas. … Ramos is the fourth child in the Columbia Heights Public School District to be [abducted] by ICE this month.” (01/22/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/01/22/ice-detains-5-year-old-child-minnesota/2641769093606/
-----
5) Former metro Atlanta CEO pleads guilty to wire fraud in $380 million Ponzi scheme
Source: Atlanta News First
“Todd Burkhalter, the CEO of former Alpharetta-based financial advisory group Drive Planning, has pleaded guilty to orchestrating one of the largest Ponzi schemes in Georgia history. ‘This is a matter of public safety,’ said Theodore Hertzberg, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. ‘It’s about protecting the community. People losing perhaps their life savings or something close to their life savings has a devastating impact.’ Authorities said between 2020 and 2024, Burkhalter sold a dream that investors would receive a huge return if they invested their money with his company. He defrauded more than 2,000 people out of $380 million. ‘Investor money was used to pay off other investors instead of being put towards actual investments,’ according to Hertzberg.” (01/22/26)
https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2026/01/22/former-metro-atlanta-ceo-pleads-guilty-wire-fraud-380-million-ponzi-scheme/
-----
6) Report: US murder rate hits lowest level since 1900
Source: Axios
“Murders fell 21% last year in 35 large U.S. cities — the biggest one-year drop ever and likely the lowest rate since 1900, Axios-reviewed data shows. The decline signals a complete reversal of the COVID-era crime wave. 11 of 13 tracked crimes were lower in 2025 than in 2024, according to data compiled by the Council on Criminal Justice.” (01/22/26)
https://archive.is/JaSfH
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7) Massive Winter Storm With Damaging Ice In South, Heavy Snow From Texas To Northeast To Affect Over 230 Million
Source: Weather.com
“A major, widespread, long-lasting winter storm will hammer parts of the South, Midwest and Northeast Friday through Monday with potentially damaging ice and heavy snow for millions from New Mexico and Texas to parts of New England. This storm will lead to widespread dangerous travel and its destructive South ice storm could lead to long-lasting power outages and tree damage. The storm has been named Winter Storm Fern by The Weather Channel. According to The Weather Company forecasters, Fern could affect over 230 million in the U.S. with snow and/or ice, two-thirds of the nation’s estimated population.” (01/22/26)
https://weather.com/storms/winter/news/2026-01-21-winter-storm-fern-ice-snow-forecast-south-northeast-midwest
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8) US applications for jobless benefits inch up last week to a still-low 200,000
Source: Orange County Register
“The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits inched up last week but U.S. layoffs remain historically low despite signs of a softening labor market. U.S. filings for jobless aid for the week ending Jan. 17 rose by 1,000 to 200,000, up from 199,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 207,000 new applications that analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting. Applications for unemployment benefits are viewed as a proxy for layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.” (01/22/26)
https://archive.is/FaSu9
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9) Mediterranean: Pirates hijack oil tanker
Source: NBC News
“France’s navy, working with intelligence provided by the United Kingdom, on Thursday intercepted an oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea that traveled from Russia, in a mission targeting the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet, officials said. French maritime authorities for the Mediterranean said the ship, the Grinch, is suspected of operating with a false flag. The French navy is escorting the ship to anchorage for more checks, the statement said. The tanker departed from the city of Murmansk in northwestern Russia, it said.” (01/22/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/europe/france-navy-intercepts-oil-tanker-mediterranean-sailing-russia-rcna255425
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10) Ex-con congresscritter pushes bill to bar recent ICE gang associates from satellite gangs
Source: Fox News
“A Democratic lawmaker in Washington state introduced a bill this week called the ICE Out Act of 2026, which would prohibit state law enforcement agencies from hiring anyone that has taken a job as a sworn U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term. The legislation was introduced by state Rep. Tarra Simmons, who served time for three felony convictions for possession of controlled substances and retail theft in 2011 before having her criminal record cleared. ‘In this Washington, we have worked incredibly hard to build trust between law enforcement and community,’ Simmons said in a press release. ‘In most Washington agencies, the men and women who step up to serve have developed a culture of holding each other accountable to the highest professional standards. The last thing we need is infiltration of ICE agents trained during the Trump Administration to send us backwards.” (01/22/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/washington-dem-pushes-bill-bar-recent-ice-hires-future-police-jobs-slamming-trump-occupying-force
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11) Von der Leyen wins no-confidence vote in European Parliament
Source: Politico
“Ursula von der Leyen comfortably survived a no-confidence vote in the European Parliament on Thursday. A large majority of members of the European Parliament backed the center-right European Commission president in a confidence motion brought by the far-right Patriots for Europe group. Of the 720 EU lawmakers, 565 showed up to vote. Only 165 backed toppling the Commission, with 390 voting against and 10 abstaining. Von der Leyen was not in Strasbourg for the vote. The motion’s proponents argued that von der Leyen and her team of commissioners should be dismissed over their handling of the EU–Mercosur trade deal, which they claim undermines European farmers by opening up the European market to unfair competition.” (01/22/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-wins-no-confidence-vote-european-parliament/
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12) Judge Blocks US Regime From Reviewing Seized Washington Post Devices
Source: New York Times
“A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the government not to review materials seized during the search of a Washington Post reporter’s home last week. The ruling, from Magistrate Judge William B. Porter, was in response to a legal filing by the newspaper on Wednesday arguing that the seizures violated the First Amendment and demanding the return of the items. ‘The seizure chills speech, cripples reporting and inflicts irreparable harm every day the government keeps its hands on protected materials,’ the company said in the filing. Judge Porter wrote that The Post and the reporter, Hannah Natanson, had shown ‘good cause’ to maintain the ‘status quo’ while the issues were being sorted out in court.” (01/22/26)
https://archive.is/rW6nB
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13) JP Morgan boss: Trump credit card plan would be “a disaster”
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“US President Donald Trump’s proposal to cap credit card costs would be ‘an economic disaster’, the boss of one of the world’s biggest banks has warned. JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon said the plan would remove credit from the majority of Americans and hit restaurants, retailers, travel firms and schools. Trump this month wrote on Truth Social that interest rates on credit cards should be limited to 10% for one year from 20 January. The cap has yet to come into force and the president did not say how it might be introduced or whether such a move would be legally enforceable. Asked about the cap at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Dimon said: ‘It would be an economic disaster, and I’m not making that up because our business … we would survive it by the way.'” (01/22/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3944lv2220o
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14) Japan shuts reactor at world’s biggest nuclear plant a day after restart
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The restart of a reactor at the world’s largest nuclear power plant has been suspended in Japan, a day after the process began, its operator, which also manages the wrecked Fukushima plant, said. But the reactor remains ‘stable.’ The No 6 reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in north-central Japan – closed since the 2011 Fukushima disaster – reactivated on Wednesday as plant workers started removing neutron-absorbing control rods from the core to start stable nuclear fission. But the process had to be suspended hours later due to a malfunction related to control rods, which are essential to safely starting up and shutting down reactors, the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) said.” (01/22/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/22/japan-shuts-reactor-at-worlds-biggest-nuclear-plant-a-day-after-restart
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15) Bondi: Minnesota anti-gang activists arrested in wake of church protest
Source: Fox News
“Federal authorities have arrested two anti-ICE agitators after a mob stormed a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday. Bondi named Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen as the suspects. FBI Director Kash Patel said Armstrong’s arrest was in connection with a violation of the FACE Act, which prohibits interfering with the exercise of religion at a place of worship. Armstrong is expected to appear Thursday before U.S. Judge Douglas Micko. Allen is charged with conspiracy to deprive rights, the Department of Homeland Security said.” (01/22/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/minnesota-agitator-arrested-wake-church-invasion-bondi-says
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16) GA: Pol pleads guilty to lying to collect pandemic unemployment benefits
Source: CBS News
“A former Georgia House member has pleaded guilty to lying to collect federal unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Karen Bennett’s guilty plea to one count of making false statements to collect $13,940 had been expected after she waived her indictment on Jan. 5. Bennett, 70, had resigned from the House in the days before she was charged. … Prosecutors said Bennett, a physical therapist, lied in 2020 when she stated she was being prevented by quarantine from working for Metro Therapy Providers, a company Bennett owned. Prosecutors said that in reality, Bennett’s role with the company was administrative and she worked from a home office, instead of providing therapy to clients. They also allege that Metro Therapy continued operating and generating income after a brief disruption. In addition, prosecutors say Bennett failed to disclose that she was also receiving $905 in week pay from a church.” (01/21/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/karen-bennett-georgia-lawmaker-covid-benefits-fraud-guilty-plea/
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17) UK: Barron Trump called UK police after seeing woman “beat up”
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Donald Trump’s youngest son contacted UK police saying he witnessed a friend in London being ‘beat up’ during a video call, a court has heard. Barron Trump, 19, told police he had friends call 999 from the US so that he could report the alleged attack in January 2025. Matvei Rumiantsev, 22, is on trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court accused of assault and two counts of rape, among other charges, against the alleged victim. He denies assault, actual bodily harm, two counts of rape, intentional strangulation and perverting the course of justice by pressuring the woman to withdraw her complaints. Trump called the alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, on 18 January last year, the court heard. Shortly after placing the call, the US president’s fifth child contacted the police and said she was being assaulted.” (01/22/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg5gg05y0mlo
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18) Spain: Regime Urges EU to Create Joint Army Amid Greenland Dispute
Source: US News & World Report
“Spain is urging the EU to move towards creating a joint army for the bloc as a deterrence measure, Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said in comments to Reuters on Wednesday ahead of a day of meetings in Davos. The region should focus first on bringing together its tangible assets to properly integrate its defence industry, and then mobilising a coalition of the willing, the foreign minister said. … The comments come ahead of an emergency meeting between EU leaders later on Thursday in Brussels to coordinate a joint response to U.S. President Trump’s threats to buy or annex Greenland. ” (01/21/26)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-01-21/spain-urges-eu-to-create-joint-army-amid-greenland-dispute
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19) Trump regime to expand ban on foreign aid for abortion providers, adding groups promoting DEI
Source: SFGate
“The Trump administration is expanding its ban on U.S. foreign aid for groups supporting abortion services to include assistance going to international and domestic organizations and agencies that promote gender identity as well as diversity, equity and inclusion programs. An administration official said Thursday that the State Department would release final rules that expand the scope of the ‘Mexico City’ policy that has already severely reduced assistance to international organizations that provide abortion-related care. The policy was first established under President Ronald Reagan but rescinded by subsequent Democratic administrations. The new rules, first reported by Fox News, would halt foreign assistance from going toward not only groups that provide abortion as a method of family planning but also those that advocate ‘gender ideology’ and DEI, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the rules’ publication in the Federal Register on Friday.” (01/22/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/trump-administration-to-expand-ban-on-foreign-aid-21309475.php
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20) PA: Teen knocks out intruder posing as ICE thug
Source: PennLive
“A Pennsylvania teenager knocked an intruder unconscious after the man broke into the family home over the weekend claiming to be an ICE agent. Citing a criminal complaint, WTAE-TV and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that William Gregory, a 35-year-old Carnegie resident, climbed through a kitchen window to enter the home in the city’s Betlzhoover neighborhood Saturday night. Gregory lied that he was an ICE agent and threatened the family with a knife while demanding their immigration paperwork. … Gregory tried to steal a PlayStation console and cell phone, but the 17-year-old boy punched him the face and knocked him unconscious, which is how police officers found him when they arrived.” [editor’s note: And if he WAS an ICE gang member, he’d still have deserved that if not worse – TLK] (01/21/26)
https://www.pennlive.com/crime/2026/01/pa-man-posing-as-ice-agent-gets-punched-unconscious-by-teen-during-home-invasion.html
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Carney Speech: The Rupture is a Necessary Part of the Transition
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“Writ large, Canada’s move away from the US and toward China is just the latter part of Mike’s answer, in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises — ‘Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly’ — to the question of how he went bankrupt. Which, in turn, is just a waypoint in another transition. In Mike’s case, it was all downhill from the bankruptcy. In America’s case, who knows? It’s easy to just blame Trump for all this craziness, but it’s also a little bit lazy. Yes, Trump’s trade and economic policies seem purpose-built for the task of dismantling American prosperity at home and power (‘soft’ and ‘hard’) abroad. In reality, though, the American empire and the supposed global ‘rules-based order’ have been in continual decline pretty much since that happy accident 80 years ago, when World War 2 ended with most of the world’s industry wrecked, but America’s untouched.” (01/22/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20283
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22) Towards A Complete Libertarianism
Source: Isonomia Quarterly
by Kevin Vallier
“Libertarian political philosophy in the analytic tradition nears the half-century mark. Libertarian theorists have produced sophisticated defenses of limited government and individual liberty, but these defenses diverge in fundamental ways. The divergences reflect incompatible views about the nature and source of justice itself. This philosophical diversity may point toward a more complete understanding of libertarian justice. Two recent works capture these divergent strands. Billy Christmas’s Property and Justice advances a natural rights libertarianism that derives a complete theory of justice from the single principle of non-interference. Nick Cowen’s Neoliberal Social Justice builds a contractualist case for classical liberal institutions that takes seriously the epistemic limitations plaguing any attempt at social organization.” (01/22/26)
https://isonomiaquarterly.com/archive/volume-3-issue-4/towards-a-complete-libertarianism/
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23) The Case for Making Every Vote Count
Source: The Dispatch
by Larry Diamon
“A growing share of voters (some 60 percent) are dissatisfied with the way our democracy is working and feel alienated from both major political parties. One factor is polarization: the growing emotional and policy distance and declining trust between supporters of the two parties. Another is the parties’ perceived failure to address the country’s economic and social problems. Related to this is a sense that both parties have become too captive to their most militant elements. … Ranked-choice voting (RCV) for president in November (state by state) could ease this problem by enabling voters to cast a sincere vote for their first preference, knowing that if their candidate didn’t make it and no one won an initial majority, their vote would be transferred to their second preference.” (01/22/26)
https://archive.is/IU0LE
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24) As Republicans embrace Big Government, they are becoming “Depublicans”
Source: Orange County Register
by Veronique de Rugy
“For some years now, conservatives who believe in free markets and limited government have been labeled RINOs — ‘Republicans in name only’ — as GOP liberals or moderates have historically been known. The MAGA movement flings this term as an insult and a signal that respecting the realities of supply and demand instead of endorsing price controls is a character flaw. But after watching the last few weeks unfold, it’s hard not to ask this: If believing in markets makes you a RINO, what exactly do we call Republicans who now openly embrace ideas lifted from the playbooks of Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts)? How about ‘Depublicans?'” (01/22/26)
https://archive.is/AhmTq
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25) Greenland as a Stress Test for MAGA Loyalty
Source: Reason
by Daniel Hannan
“Pollsters have long understood that the act of casting a ballot creates a bond. Once we have voted for a candidate, we feel invested in him. We don’t want to admit to ourselves that we might have made a mistake. … Will anything turn MAGA against [Donald Trump]? I wondered whether, by threatening to annex Greenland, he had found the one issue where his base would not follow him. He was elected as the candidate who would put an end to foreign adventurism, and voters opposed taking Greenland by 71 percent to 4 percent — 4 percent being, coincidentally, the ‘lizardman’s constant,’ the estimated proportion of people in any poll who will give insincere or demented replies. Perhaps that is why, as I write, he seems to be backing down from the demand.” (01/22/26)
https://reason.com/2026/01/22/greenland-as-a-stress-test-for-maga-loyalty/
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26) Oppose Israel’s Abuses While You Still Can
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“I’ve seen some Australians expressing confusion as to whether or not they can still legally criticize Israel online after new ‘hate speech’ laws were passed on Tuesday under the pretense of combatting ‘antisemitism’. The answer is yes, and you definitely should keep opposing Israel and its genocidal atrocities. I am worried that these new laws may indirectly have a bit of a chilling effect on pro-Palestine activism due to Australians not understanding these new laws and what people are allowed to do without being jailed. … it is still legal for Australians to oppose Israel and to associate with pro-Palestine groups — and we should. What’s changed is that now those groups can be classified as ‘hate groups’ and banned, similarly to how Palestine Action has been banned in the UK. But this hasn’t happened yet, and hopefully never will.” (01/22/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/01/22/oppose-israels-abuses-while-you-still-can/
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27) Our Expanding Immigration-Control Tyranny
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“One of the most important lessons in the loss of liberty is how the federal government, especially the all-powerful national-security branch of the federal government, enlists the support of the American people for measures that destroy their very own rights and liberties. A good example of this phenomenon is America’s socialist (i.e., central planning) system of immigration controls, which millions of Americans have come to support on the basis that it supposedly protects the nation from invaders, rapists, murderers, drug dealers, terrorists, communists, anarchists, and other scary people. By converting Americans into a fear-filled people, the federal government has been able to destroy their liberty through an immigration police state accompanies America’s socialist system of immigration controls.” (01/22/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/01/22/our-expanding-immigration-control-tyranny/
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28) The UK Is Allergic To Free Speech
Source: Persuasion
by Leonora Barclay
“Over the last 18 months, the grip of the [Online Safety Act] has become more apparent to internet users with each click. The law was passed by the British parliament in October 2023 but came into effect in stages, the last of which was in July 2025. Among other things, it requires tech companies to take action against illegal content on their platforms, such as child sexual abuse, revenge porn, and fraud. Concerningly, however, the OSA also requires tech companies to protect children from content that is not illegal, but which is nevertheless deemed ‘harmful.'” (01/22/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-uk-is-allergic-to-free-speech
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29) What the Civil Rights Movement Can Teach Us About Resisting Fascism Today
Source: OtherWords
by Mitchell Zimmerman
“In the mid-1960s, I joined the freedom movement in the South as a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Georgia, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Those were heady years, and I am proud of my small role in the great achievements of that time. Our movement breathed new life into American democracy, inspiring and teaching people who led many of the other liberation movements of the 1960s and ‘70s. It opened up schools, education, jobs, public accommodations, voting power, electoral office, and judgeships to people of color in the South and throughout the country. But there is also a fight for history.” (01/22/25)
https://otherwords.org/dr-king-would-be-standing-beside-those-standing-up-for-our-democracy/
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30) The Information War Over Antidepressants
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Peter C. Gøtzsche
“Stat News hit the ethical and scientific bottom two weeks ago when they published an article by Stephen B. Soumerai, professor of population medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Christine Y. Lu, professor at the Sydney Pharmacy School of the University of Sydney. I have rarely seen so much disinformation in so few words, only 1,220. I reproduce the article in its entirety, in italics, with my comments.” (01/22/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-information-war-over-antidepressants/
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31) Midterms: Not About “Affordability” Just More Trump Hatred
Source: Town Hall
by Larry Elder
“No, the midterms will not turn on the issue of ‘affordability.’ If affordability truly were decisive, Republicans would easily retain the House and the Senate. Consider the economic backdrop. Gas prices are at a five-year low, with gas stations in several states selling a gallon of regular for under $2. Several times since Trump’s reelection, the stock market indexes have recorded all-time highs. GDP growth hit 4.3% in the third quarter of 2025. Wage growth is exceeding inflation, but as always, some benefit more than others. Inflation itself is under 3% and trending lower.” (01/22/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/larryelder/2026/01/22/the-midterms-its-not-about-affordability-its-about-trump-hatred-n2669860
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32) We Are Witnessing the Self-Immolation of a Superpower
Source: Wired
by Garrett M Graff
“With Donald Trump’s actions in Greenland, Minneapolis, and Venezuela, a foreign enemy could not invent a better chain of events to wreck the standing of the United States.” (01/22/26)
https://archive.is/nJXmd
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33) US Must Stop Pointing Fingers and Admit: We Are the Bad Guys
Source: Common Dreams
by Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler
“Every single moving mouth and face I see in the media seems to be obligated to stress the barbarity and illegitimacy of the Maduro government to establish some acceptable moral clarity even before they can carry on with any analysis of the current political situation, or the current political conditions in the world. Likewise, each personality seems obligated to make similar statements as a prerequisite to speak on the Iranian regime and the religionists controlling the country. Each is evil they must claim, and that they expressively disagree and denounce them in all shape and form. Each is beyond the specter of acceptable civilization, they must state. Each has no inkling of morality, but is simply obsessed with power and control. This was the same in any discussion of Hamas in Gaza.” (01/22/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-pointing-at-self
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34) Housing Lessons From Spain
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“Tourism might have exacerbated Spain’s housing problem, but it’s not the root cause. The gap between sluggish supply and explosive demand has resulted in a deficit of around 700,000 homes. As a result, rental rates have doubled and house prices risen by 44% since 2020. In its last Financial Stability Report, released in November, the Bank of Spain identified historically low construction levels as a key factor in the deficit. … Still, it’s easier to blame tourists.” (01/22/26)
https://fee.org/articles/housing-lessons-from-spain/
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35) Predation Without Apology: Trump Defrocks the Long Western Tradition
Source: CounterPunch
by L Ali Khan
“The Trump predation does not mark a departure from Western history; it signals the end of its traditional justifications. For centuries, Western ruling elites relied on intricate theological and philosophical frameworks to justify predation—the taking of foreign resources through force, deception, or coercion. During President Donald Trump’s tenure, these frameworks are no longer necessary. Predation persists, but its rhetorical disguise has been stripped away. What remains is the U.S. asymmetric power advantage, openly asserting itself against weaker targets like Venezuela, while remaining cautious around stronger foes like China. To understand Trump’s predatory stance toward Venezuela, Greenland, and possibly other targets, one must resist the urge to see it as abnormal.” (01/22/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/01/22/predation-without-apology-trump-defrocks-the-long-western-tradition/
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36) Heroes and Tragedy at the American Founding
Source: Law & Liberty
by Kevin Gutzman
“Popular historian Joseph J. Ellis’s latest book, The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the American Founding, examines the persistence of slavery in the wake of the American Founding and the American Revolution’s impact on American Indians. Expulsion of the British from the Thirteen Colonies and John Jay’s diplomatic masterstroke yielding the Mississippi River rather than the Appalachian Mountains as America’s western boundary would have effects on blacks, Indians and ultimately the American Union that no one could have foreseen. This is what Ellis considers ‘the tragic side of the American Founding.’ What is new about Ellis’s telling of this tale is that he apportions responsibility differently than has become customary in recent years.” (01/22/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/heroes-and-tragedy-at-the-american-founding/
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37) Mission behind Trump’s Board of Peace is simple, and critics keep getting it wrong
Source: New York Post
by Jonathan Schanzer
“President Trump is making big moves the world over. From nabbing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro to threatening the conquest of Greenland to pushing for a Ukraine-Russia cease-fire, Trump’s foreign policy plate is full. The World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, is still buzzing about it. Overshadowed by these bigger headlines but no less important is Trump’s newly minted Board of Peace. The board is designed to implement the president’s 20-point peace plan for the war-torn Gaza Strip, as endorsed verbatim by the UN Security Council in November. Notable critics, including French President Emmanuel Macron, assert that Trump … is trying to supplant the United Nations as part of a wider overhaul of the international system that, in the wake of World War II, produced the UN, NATO and many of the other organizations that are steadily losing relevance today.” (01/21/25)
https://nypost.com/2026/01/21/opinion/the-mission-behind-trumps-board-of-peace-is-simple-and-critics-keep-getting-it-wrong/
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38) Defining Money
Source: Cobden Centre
by James Turk
“Many modern economists struggle to define money. Often beginning with an historical overview of the concept of moneyness, they generally end by describing the functions of money. What money ‘does’ is not a definition of what money ‘is.’ Another way they strive to define money is with the use of adjectives. A common example is ‘sound money,’ which is like saying ‘wet water.’ The adjective is superfluous because the noun is intuitively understood, or at least should be, as it was to the pioneers of the Austrian School. Although I obviously cannot speak for Menger and Mises, their intuitive understanding of money is different from that of modern writers. It had to be because the environmental factors when they were writing a century or more ago were so very different from today given the then prevailing everyday use of gold and silver.” (01/22/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/01/defining-money/
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39) Does Humanomics Need a Moral Anchor?
Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Dr. Edward W Younkins
“At its core, Humanomics aims to integrate moral and social dimensions into the scientific study of economic behavior, recapturing insights from Adam Smith that have been marginalized in mainstream economic theory. Rather than reducing humans to narrow maximizers of utility, Humanomics treats them as sentient, social, purposeful, learning agents whose actions are shaped by sentiments, norms, ethical commitments, and reflective judgment.” (01/22/26)
https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2026/01/does-humanomics-need-moral-anchor.html
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40) My Bank Froze “My” Account — Is Permissioned Access Still Money?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Joakim Book
“Banks can freeze your account and stop your payments at any time, for any reason. Thus, bank deposits fail any rudimentary sniff test of ‘money,’ yet everyone treats them as synonymous with the freest, simplest monetary media they’ve ever seen. It just always works, right?” (01/22/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/my-bank-froze-my-account-is-permissioned-access-still-money/
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41) Rio Grande: Once an Inviting River, Now a Militarized Border
Source: The American Prospect
by Elena Bruess
“As a child, Michelle Serrano would take trips to Boca Chica with her grandmother. From her home in Brownsville, the drive ran east through Texas wetlands and countryside before landing on miles of beach, stretching far down the Gulf Coast just above the U.S.-Mexico border. They’d spend the day there, swimming, laying out — which didn’t cost anything, unlike at South Padre Island to the north. For them, it was the people’s beach. Today, decades later, it’s hard for Serrano to believe those memories. It’s early December at Boca Chica Beach. A thick fog has settled over the sand dunes as Serrano pulls up the hood of her jacket to block the coastal wind. Already, she had seen four U.S. Border Patrol trucks driving along the sand—trucks she knows will slow down as the drivers stare at her with suspicion. ” (01/22/25)
https://prospect.org/2026/01/22/trump-mexico-rio-grande-militarized-border-patrol/
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42) Trump’s Tariffs Made His Farm Bailouts Inevitable
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“In the comic theater of American politics, few spectacles are as reliably absurd as the utopian promises of protectionism. Donald Trump’s tariffs, hailed by their proponents as a bold strike against foreign exploitation, have instead proven to be a blunt instrument of economic self-sabotage — particularly for the nation’s farmers. From his first administration to the present day these policies have not only disrupted free markets but have necessitated a cascade of government bailouts, turning independent producers into wards of the state. Such interventions are not savvy trade strategy but are classic crony capitalism: politicians picking winners and losers, all while taxpayers foot the bill for the inevitable fallout.” (01/22/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/trumps-tariffs-made-his-farm-bailouts-inevitable
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43) Trump’s Attempted Greenland Grab Has Turned America Into a Predatory Power
Source: The UnPopulist
by Berny Belvedere
“Territorial seizures are hardly novel phenomena in international relations. What makes this crisis different is that the aggressor is the United States, a close ally of Denmark’s and the architect of the very international order designed to discourage such brazen territorial acquisitiveness. It is particularly absurd since America has had unlimited military access, an open invitation to station whatever forces it wants on Greenland, since World War II. It’s understandable why the Danes and Greenlanders are bewildered at supposed security motivations for the Arctic Anschluss. Throughout the postwar era, a defining tenet of American hegemony has been that military might does not confer territorial rights, and that America itself would resolutely defend weaker nations against the predations of their mightier neighbors. This president has reversed that mission entirely. Under Trump, on the international stage, the U.S. has gone from protector to predator.” (01/21/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trumps-attempted-greenland-grab-has
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44) The Troubles with the Trump Administration’s Involuntary Student Debt Collection Delay
Source: Cato Institute
by Neal McCluskey
“On January 16, the US Department of Education announced that it will delay the collection of defaulted federal student debt via wage garnishment and retention of federal funds such as Social Security payments. The reasons offered by the Trump administration are that the Biden administration left student debt repayment a confused mess that needs to be clarified before forced collection resumes, and the Working Families Tax Cuts Act — aka One Big Beautiful Bill — will simplify debt repayment starting this July, as well as allow a second chance for defaulted borrowers to rehabilitate their loans. … Even if legal, there is a huge problem with another delay: It will likely bolster the deleterious sentiment among borrowers for which the Trump administration blamed Biden.” (01/21/26)
https://www.cato.org/blog/troubles-trump-administrations-involuntary-student-debt-collection-delay
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45) When Minnesota AG Ellison excuses mob rule, religious freedom is trampled
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley
“Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison declared Sunday that there are no federal grounds for prosecuting the mob that disrupted St. Paul’s Cities Church and characterized the conduct as ‘First Amendment activity.’ Ellison not only supported the protesters as exercising their First Amendment rights in an interview with CNN, but also signaled an unwillingness to enforce state laws allegedly violated by the protesters, including trespass and disorderly conduct. Ellison is infamous for his prior support for violent groups and has long-faced criticism for statements and associations involving extremist movements and figures linked to political unrest.” [editor’s note: Compare to Turley’s view of the “mob rule” in the Capitol riot – TLK] (01/22/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-when-minnesota-ag-ellison-excuses-mob-rule-religious-freedom-trampled
-----
46) Trump: We got a $1.5 trillion military budget. He’s (kinda) right.
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Ben Freeman
“His boast to Davos today wasn’t off the mark if he combines these overflowing pots of national security funding.” (01/21/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-trillion-military-budget/
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47) Latin America — Three Crucial Elections
Source: Independent Institute
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
“Every time I read that Latin America is shifting to the right, I scratch my head thinking: are people unaware that Brazil and Mexico, both in the hands of the left, represent 56 percent of the gross domestic product of Latin America and the Caribbean and 54 percent of the region’s population? Not to mention that Colombia, the third most populated country, is also governed by the left. That said, yes, the right has won in Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, and Honduras, and is governing in other countries, such as El Salvador, Paraguay and Peru (after the President of the Congress assumed power following the impeachment of the previous president). But three important presidential elections that will take place this year will give us a sense of where the subcontinent really stands.” (01/21/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/01/21/latin-america-elections/
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48) Liberty OR Empire: You Can’t Have Both
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin
“‘Empires, by Pride & Folly & Extravagance, ruin themselves like Individuals.’ Benjamin Franklin wasn’t merely reciting history; he was warning us. Because every empire follows the same script. And while the common themes are overextension, debt, or even running the printing press, those are merely symptoms of the deadly disease. The root cause is always the same: Consolidate power. The eventual destruction of liberty and final collapse are guaranteed. And now, it’s our turn. This is the story of how empire destroys liberty, because liberty must die for empires to live.” (01/21/26)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2026/01/21/liberty-or-empire-you-cant-have-both/
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49) Maybe a General Strike Isn’t So Impossible Now
Source: In These Times
by Alex Han
“Trump’s attacks on working people (threats to send troops into major U.S. cities, ripping collective bargaining rights from a million federal workers, an immigration enforcement terror campaign that borders on unconstitutional) have been so extreme that many people are talking about a general strike. These calls are coming not just from the usual suspects, but even from my own mayor, former Chicago Teachers Union leader and organizer Brandon Johnson. We’ve all heard calls for a general strike before — usually not as a serious proposal or strategy, but as a reaction to the attacks that working people face on a regular basis from existing political and economic power.” (01/21/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/alex-han-general-strike-trump-brandon-johnson-chicago-minnestora-shut-down
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50) It Could Never Happen Here
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“The common mindset among most Americans is that the United States could never become a totalitarian-like country — that is, one in which freedom of speech is sharply curtailed, protests and demonstrations are violently suppressed, people are kidnapped on the streets and quickly incarcerated in secret prisons without trial or due process, prisoners are tortured, no one dares to criticize what is occurring, deep fear exists within the citizenry, the powers of the president and the national-security establishment are omnipotent, elections are temporarily suspended, and people have convinced themselves that all this totalitarian tyranny is necessary because some national-security emergency requires it. Yet, there is one big problem with that mindset: U.S. officials have demonstrated that they favor that way of life, at least in foreign countries.” (01/21/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/01/21/it-could-never-happen-here-2/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) "Venezuela's Struggle for Freedom: Past Failures, Future Hopes" with Jacek Spendel and José Cordeiro
Source: Liberty International
"On January 13th, Liberty International hosted an engaging webinar titled 'Venezuela's Struggle for Freedom: Past Failures, Future Hopes,' bringing together audiences to reflect on Venezuela's dramatic past, difficult present, and uncertain yet hopeful future. The discussion was moderated by Jacek Spendel, President of Liberty International, and featured Board Member José Cordeiro as the special guest." (01/22/26)
https://liberty-intl.org/2026/01/22/venezuelas-struggle-for-freedom-past-failures-future-hopes-liberty-international/
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52) Flying Is Better Than in the Good Old Days, No Matter How Luxurious Those Old Photos Look
Source: Reason
“The big lesson from the past 50 years of American air travel is that the aesthetics matter a lot less than the economics.” (01/22/26)
https://reason.com/2026/01/22/flying-is-better-than-in-the-good-old-days-no-matter-how-luxurious-those-old-photos-look/
-----
53) Rising, 01/22/26
Source: The Hill
“Scott Jennings calls out Cameron Kasky over [allegedly] false Trump-Epstein smear: Robby Soave.” (01/22/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5698380-rising-january-22-2026/
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54) TAC Right Now, 01/22/26
Source: The American Conservative
“Trump Covets Greenland, Europe Freaks Out.” (01/22/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/tac-right-now-trump-covets-greenland-europe-freaks-out/
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55) So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, 01/22/26
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
"Escaping Iran." (01/22/26)
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56) The Tom Woods Show, episode 2728
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“Why the Left Wins (but Why It Isn’t Inevitable).” (01/22/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2728-why-the-left-wins-but-why-it-isnt-inevitable/
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57) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 01/22/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Press Sec. Goes Full Cult as Reviews of Davos Fiasco Turn Brutal.” (01/22/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/205528/trump-press-sec-goes-full-cult-reviews-davos-fiasco-turn-brutal
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58) The Fifth Column, episode 541
Source: The Fifth Column
“Trump Would Do Anything For Greenland (But He Won’t Do That).” (01/21/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/trump-would-do-anything-for-greenland
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59) System Update, episode 569
Source: System Update
“SHOCKING Confession by Canada’s PM Mark Carney at Davos.” (01/21/26)
https://rumble.com/v74nmlg-shocking-confession-by-canadas-pm-mark-carney-at-davos-system-update-569.html
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60) LPA After Dark, 01/21/26
Source: LP Alliance
“LPA After Dark.” (01/21/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FTBF1yF_cg
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