11/18 -- Year-End Fundraiser Update ... Is This Thing On?; UN security council votes to endorse Donald Trump’s Gaza plan; Immigration, Innovation, and Half-Truths
3 views
Skip to first unread message
Thomas L. Knapp
Nov 18, 2025, 6:16:55 AM (3 days ago) Nov 18
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 11/18/25
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Presented by the Liberty International
https://liberty-intl.org/
Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's Freedom News:
0) Year-End Fundraiser Update ... Is This Thing On?
1) UN security council votes to endorse Donald Trump’s Gaza plan
2) Bitcoin drops below $90,000
3) Japan: Regime says warplanes scrambled as Chinese drone detected near southern island close to Taiwan
4) Judge pauses release of grand jury material to Comey after magistrate hints at dismissal
5) Poland: Tusk says rail track explosion was “sabotage”
6) French, Ukrainian regimes sign letter of intent for up to 100 Rafale fighter jets
7) FAA ends all flight reductions at major US airports
8) Thailand: 81 monkeys and meth found in car driven by suspected wildlife smugglers
9) Nigeria: Gunmen kill vice principal, abduct female students in attack on school
10) Acting head of FEMA leaves after short and troubled tenure
11) X launches encrypted DMs
12) OR: Off-duty pilot who tried to cut a flight’s engines midair is released without prison time
13) New international student enrolment drops 17% at US universities
14) India: Authorities make arrest in Red Fort car terrorist attack
15) NC: Over 130 abducted as governor says immigration crackdown is “stoking fear”
16) FL: Grandfather, born in refugee camp, abducted by ICE after 70 years in US
17) Ecuador: Voters Crush Right-Wing Push to Allow Return of US Military Bases
18) Chile: Hard-right holds the upper hand as presidential election goes to a runoff
19) IN: Homeowner charged in fatal shooting of house cleaner who showed up at the wrong door
20) Trump whines at Indiana Republicans for defying re-gerrymandering pressure
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Immigration, Innovation, and Half-Truths
22) Trump’s Saudi First Foreign Policy Continues
23) Ending the trade war would do more to help families than tariff dividend checks
24) Robert Nozick, From Socialist Youth to Libertarian Visionary
25) The Supreme Court made a horrible mistake when it gave Trump absolute power
26) What Mexicans demand, and deserve
27) No, Trump 2.0. Is Not Normal Constitutional Evolution
28) My Fears About Post-Primate Theory
29) The Shutdown Is Over, But America’s Hunger Crisis Isn’t
30) A Novel Analysis of the Pfizer Trial: Vaccine Effectiveness Was Nowhere Near 95%
31) In Capitalism [sic], They Tell You To Become The Hammer If You Don’t Like Being The Nail
32) Grand theft government
33) Will We Give Birth to a Loving or Shackled Future?
34) The Savage Heart of Socialism: Fear and Loathing Among the Democratic Socialists of America
35) Iran: Three Things The New York Times Gets Wrong
36) Is it Happening All Over Again?
37) When the law goes to the dogs
38) Quantum Vibe, 11/17/25
39) A Trump offer that Putin cannot refuse
40) Invasive Ideological Species
41) ICE Air’s Sloppy, Dangerous Deportation Flights
42) Transparency, Weaponized
43) A Third Trump Term Is an Impossibility
44) The “Easy” Way to Crush the Mainstream Media
45) FBI, Secret Service butchered Thomas Crooks case & invited conspiracies; we deserve the truth
46) Those Dark Clouds Are the Debt
47) A Manifesto for Liberal Trans Activism
48) Cheney Died the Only Dick Who Deserved Donald Trump
49) The Overshoot Presidency and the State of Climate Politics
50) Ignorance and Freedom Cannot Coexist
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 11/17/25
52) Conflicts of Interest, episode 854
53) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 11/17/25
54) Rising, 11/17/25
55) EconTalk, 11/17/25
56) Fountainhead Forum, episode 390
57) The Dispatch Podcast, 11/17/25
58) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 11/17/25
59) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 11/17/25
60) Trump Watch, 11/16/25
vvvvv SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS vvvvv
SAMUEL EDWARD KONKIN III REVOLUTIONARY FRIEND BY WENDY MCELROY
https://www.amazon.com/Samuel-Edward-Konkin-Revolutionary-Friend-ebook/dp/B0DP7B6127
SHOP ONLINE, COLLECT A REBATE IN BITCOIN!
https://www.lolli.com/share/MZB4cCpheL
THE CONSTITUTION OF NON-STATE GOVERNMENT: FIELD GUIDE TO TEXAS SECESSION, by TL Hulsey
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1947660853
Tyranny Demands AN ACT OF SELF-DEFENSE: A NOVEL BY ERNE LEWIS
https://tinyurl.com/actofselfdefense
ONE IDENTITY FOR ALL YOUR CRYPTO
https://fioprotocol.io/
^^^^^ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ^^^^^
_____ Today's Freedom News _____
0) Year-End Fundraiser Update ... Is This Thing On?
Hey, everyone ...
Yesterday was a "zero-dollar day" in our year-end Fundraiser, and we've had more of those than usual so far this year. Our total remains (as of about 5am Tuesday) at $1,190.84.
Our goal is $5,501; once we've raised $2,750.50, supporter GL has pledged to "match funds" for the rest.
But we have to raise that FIRST $2,750.50 to get the SECOND $2,750.50.
Anyone out there? Anyone reading? PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT'S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
I'd go on for longer, but I'm writing this from my family's new (to us) home, on a small laptop screen (we've barely begun moving and my home office isn't set up yet). So one more time for emphasis: PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT'S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
And while you're at it, have a great day.
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
-----
1) UN security council votes to endorse Donald Trump’s Gaza plan
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“The UN security council has endorsed proposals put forward by Donald Trump for a lasting peace in Gaza, including the deployment of an international stabilisation force and a possible path to a sovereign Palestinian state. The resolution, passed by a vote of 13-0 with abstentions by China and Russia …. However, on the eve of the UN vote, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu restated his government’s adamant opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state, raising questions on whether Israel will allow the implementation of the UN-mandated proposals. After the vote, Hamas rejected what it described as as an imposed ‘international guardianship mechanism’ and insisted it would not disarm.” (11/18/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/18/un-security-council-votes-to-endorse-donald-trumps-gaza-plan
-----
2) Bitcoin drops below $90,000
Source: Reuters
“Bitcoin slipped below $90,000 for the first time in seven months on Tuesday in the latest sign that investor appetite for risk-taking is drying up across financial markets. The risk-sensitive cryptocurrency has erased 2025 gains and is now down nearly 30% from a peak above $126,000 in October. It traded down 2% at $89,953 in the Asia afternoon, having collapsed through chart support around $98,000 last week.” (11/18/25)
https://archive.is/TwveV
-----
3) Japan: Regime says warplanes scrambled as Chinese drone detected near southern island close to Taiwan
Source: CBS News
“Japan said Monday that it had scrambled aircraft after detecting a suspected Chinese drone near its southern island of Yonaguni, which is close to Taiwan, on Saturday, as tension between the Asian adversaries spiked. On Sunday, Chinese coast guard vessels spent several hours in Japan’s territorial waters around the disputed Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu in China and a frequent flashpoint, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said. The incidents came amid escalating tension between the neighbors over remarks by Japan’s staunchly conservative new leader, who suggested Tokyo could intervene militarily in any hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan.” (11/17/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/japan-china-tension-taiwan-war-takaichi-intervention/
-----
4) Judge pauses release of grand jury material to Comey after magistrate hints at dismissal
Source: CNBC
“A federal judge on Monday paused an order by another judge requiring the Department of Justice to give FBI Director James Comey all grand jury materials related to a criminal indictment that accuses him of lying to Congress in 2020 testimony. Judge Michael Nachmanoff said he would rule on whether to allow the order to take effect after considering objections to it by the DOJ and arguments in favor of it by Comey’s lawyers. …. The judge’s action came hours after Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick issued the order, and suggested that the charges against Comey could soon be dismissed because of potential ‘misconduct’ by the prosecution.” (11/17/25)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/17/trump-james-comey-doj-grand-jury.html
-----
5) Poland: Tusk says rail track explosion was “sabotage”
Source: Politico
“A rail line linking the Polish capital to the eastern city of Lublin and on to Ukraine was blown up Sunday in an ‘act of sabotage,’ Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Monday morning. Train traffic along the busy route was halted Sunday morning after a high speed Intercity train driver spotted damage to the line, warning nearby trains. ‘The track might have been destroyed deliberately,’ Tusk said Sunday. Authorities now say they are certain the damage is the result of a planned attack. … The Polish prime minister did not directly indicate who was responsible, but linked the incident to Russia’s war in Ukraine.” (11/17/25)
https://www.politico.eu/article/polish-pm-donald-tusk-says-rail-track-explosion-was-sabotage
-----
6) French, Ukrainian regimes sign letter of intent for up to 100 Rafale fighter jets
Source: AeroTime [Lithuania]
“France and Ukraine have signed what both leaders called a historic defense agreement covering the procurement of 100 Dassault Rafale fighter jets, along with new air defense systems and drone capabilities. The signing took place on November 17, 2025, at Villacoublay Air Base, where French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the tarmac. Zelenskyy described the deal as historic and said it will significantly strengthen Ukraine’s combat aviation and air defense network as it continues to face sustained Russian missile and drone attacks.” (11/17/25)
https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/france-and-ukraine-sign-letter-of-intent-for-up-to-100-rafale-fighter-jets
-----
7) FAA ends all flight reductions at major US airports
Source: The Hill
“The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is set to end all flight reductions at major U.S. airports in the wake of a lengthy government shutdown that caused aviation chaos over the last few weeks. On Sunday, the FAA issued an order to end the reduction of ‘operations at certain airports by 3 percent’ and reinstate ‘normal operating levels’ by Monday at 6:00 a.m. … The FAA and Transportation Department had previously said flight reductions would go down from 6 percent to 3 percent over the weekend at 40 major airports.” (11/16/25)
https://thehill.com/regulation/transportation/5608530-faa-ends-flight-reductions/
-----
8) Thailand: 81 monkeys and meth found in car driven by suspected wildlife smugglers
Source: CBS News
“Thai rangers have arrested two men suspected of being part of an international wildlife smuggling network, the military said Saturday after they were intercepted in a car carrying 81 macaques near the Cambodian border. Thailand is a major transit hub for wildlife smugglers, who often sell highly-prized endangered creatures on the lucrative black market in China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. A patrol stopped the vehicle on Friday afternoon in Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo province, where troops found the monkeys stuffed into blue net bags. … The soldiers also seized methamphetamine pills and crystal meth, though no quantities were specified.” (11/17/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/monkeys-meth-car-suspected-wildlife-smugglers-thailand/
-----
9) Nigeria: Gunmen kill vice principal, abduct female students in attack on school
Source: Jerusalem Post [Jerusalem]
“Gunmen attacked a government boarding school in Nigeria’s Kebbi state early on Monday, killing the vice principal and abducting an unspecified number of female students, according to a security report and a school official. The assailants, armed with rifles and reportedly using coordinated tactics, stormed the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga town around 1 a.m. local time. Vice Principal Hassan Yakubu Makuku was shot dead while resisting the attackers, and a security guard sustained injuries, a teacher told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to safety concerns.” (11/17/25)
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-874160
-----
10) Acting head of FEMA leaves after short and troubled tenure
Source: Reuters
“David Richardson, the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is stepping down, according to the Department of Homeland Security, ending a troubled tenure just six months into the job and while the Atlantic hurricane season is still underway. Richardson, a former Marine Corps officer, is the second FEMA head to leave or be fired since May. He departs amid criticism that he kept a low profile during deadly Texas floods in July that killed 130 people and baffled staff in June when he said he was unaware the country had a hurricane season. A DHS spokesperson gave no reasons for the FEMA chief stepping down. It was not immediately clear who Richardson’s successor will be. Richardson’s predecessor was fired in May, after pushing back against Trump administration efforts to dismantle the agency.” (11/17/25)
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/acting-head-fema-resigns-after-short-tenure-washington-post-reports-2025-11-17/
-----
11) X launches encrypted DMs
Source: The Verge
“X has revealed Chat, an encrypted upgrade to the platform’s direct messaging service. It also includes support for video and voice calls, disappearing messages, and file sharing. The company announced Chat on Friday, and it’s available now on iOS and the web, with an Android version coming ‘soon.’ It replaces X’s existing messaging system, though your old messages should be carried across. X says that Chat supports end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for both messages and files, though a support page notes that this doesn’t cover message metadata — such as who received it, or when it was sent. There’s also no protection against man-in-the-middle attacks, the company admitting that if ‘a malicious insider or X itself’ compromised an encrypted conversation, there would be no way for users to know, though ways to verify message authenticity and device identity are coming.” (11/17/25)
https://www.theverge.com/news/821950/x-chat-encrypted-dms-video-calls
-----
12) OR: Off-duty pilot who tried to cut a flight’s engines midair is released without prison time
Source: SFGate
“A former Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to cut the engines of a passenger flight in 2023 while riding off-duty in the cockpit will serve no additional prison time, a federal judge ruled Monday. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio sentenced Joseph Emerson to time served and supervised release for three years a hearing in Portland, Oregon. Federal prosecutors had asked for one year in prison, while his attorneys had sought probation. ‘Pilots are not perfect. They are human,’ she said. ‘They are people and all people need help sometimes.’ Emerson was subdued by the flight crew after trying to cut the engines of a Horizon Air flight from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2023, while he was riding in an extra seat in the cockpit. The plane was diverted to Portland, where it landed safely with more than 80 people on board.” (11/17/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/off-duty-pilot-who-tried-to-cut-a-flight-s-21191683.php
-----
13) New international student enrolment drops 17% at US universities
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The rate of new international students enrolment at US universities dropped by 17% this autumn compared to previous years, research released on Monday indicates. The drop comes as the Trump administration has made it more difficult to obtain student visas, with the research suggesting visa application issues like delays and denials are among the top reasons for the decline in first-time students. The survey found a modest overall 1% decline in international students when taking into account students who have been in the US for years. Foreign students make up about 6% of total US enrollment and contributed $55bn (£41bn) to the economy, according to 2024 figures from the commerce department. The survey by the Institute of International Education examined the population of international students at 828 higher education institutions.” (11/17/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8v336lyz4o
-----
14) India: Authorities make arrest in Red Fort car terrorist attack
Source: United Press International
“Indian authorities have arrested a man whose vehicle was used in last week’s Red Fort car bombing attack that killed 10 people and injured 32 others. In a statement Sunday, India’s National Investigation Agency said Amir Rashid Ali was arrested in Delhi by NIA agents in a massive search operation. Authorities identified the accused as a resident of Pampore in Muslim-majority Kashmir, a disputed region under Hindu-majority India control. The NIA accused Ali of conspiring with the alleged suicide bomber Umar Un Nabi in the attack, which occurred Nov. 10 near the tourist-heavy and crowded Red Fort in New Delhi.” (11/17/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/11/17/india-Red-Fort-blast-arrest-made/6631763366974/
-----
15) NC: Over 130 abducted as governor says immigration crackdown is “stoking fear”
Source: SFGate
“U.S. immigration agents [abducted] more than 130 people in a weekend sweep through North Carolina’s largest city, a federal official said Monday, as the governor warned that the crackdown is simply ‘stoking fear.’ The Trump administration has made Charlotte, a Democratic city of about 950,000 people, its latest focus for an immigration enforcement surge it says will combat crime, despite fierce objections from local leaders and declining crime rates. City residents reported encounters with immigration agents near churches, apartment complexes and stores. … Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that Border Patrol officers had [abducted] ‘over 130 illegal [sic] aliens, who have all broken’ immigration laws [sic].” (11/17/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/after-weekend-s-border-patrol-surge-in-north-21192075.php
-----
16) FL: Grandfather, born in refugee camp, abducted by ICE after 70 years in US
Source: Orlando Sentinel
“Paul John Bojerski was born to Polish parents in a German refugee camp a year after World War II ended. His family legally emigrated to the United States in 1952 when he was five. More than seven decades later, the 79-year-old Sanford grandfather – still a man without a country – found himself in legal limbo in the Alligator Alcatraz detention camp in the Everglades, [abducted] on a decades-old deportation order authorities had previously chosen not to enforce. … The retired optician, [abducted] late last month, was recently moved to the Krome Detention Center in Miami and has a bond hearing on Nov. 18. His family worries his health is failing while he’s in custody and fears for his future.” (11/16/25)
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/16/sanford-grandfather-born-in-refugee-camp-nabbed-by-ice-after-70-years-in-u-s/
-----
17) Ecuador: Voters Crush Right-Wing Push to Allow Return of US Military Bases
Source: Common Dreams
“Ecuador’s voters on Sunday delivered a major blow to right-wing President Daniel Noboa by decisively rejecting the proposed return of foreign military bases to the South American country’s soil—including installations run by the United States. Around two-thirds of voters opposed the measure with most ballots tallied, a result that was widely seen as a surprise. Voters also rejected a separate effort to rewrite the country’s progressive 2008 constitution, which enshrined strong labor and environmental rights. The stinging defeat for Noboa, an ally of US President Donald Trump, comes as the United States carries out an aggressive military buildup and deadly airstrike campaign in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific—and weighs a direct attack on Venezuela.” (11/17/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/ecuador-us-military-bases
-----
18) Chile: Hard-right holds the upper hand as presidential election goes to a runoff
Source: ABC News
“A hard-right former lawmaker and admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump held the upper hand as Chile headed to a polarizing presidential runoff against a member of Chile’s Communist Party representing the incumbent government. José Antonio Kast, an ultraconservative lawyer opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage, appears to be in pole position after nearly 70% of votes went to right-wing candidates in Sunday’s first round, as many Chileans worry about organized crime, illegal immigration and unemployment in one of Latin America’s safest and most prosperous nations. … He came in second with nearly 24% of the vote after campaigning on plans to crack down on crime, build a giant border wall and deport tens of thousands of undocumented migrants. Jeannette Jara, a former labor minister in President Gabriel Boric’s left-wing government, eked out a narrower-than-expected lead with 27% of the vote.” (11/17/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/chiles-hard-holds-upper-hand-presidential-election-tense-127584418
-----
19) IN: Homeowner charged in fatal shooting of house cleaner who showed up at the wrong door
Source: SFGate
“An Indiana homeowner accused of killing a house cleaner was charged Monday with voluntary manslaughter in a case that raises questions about the limits of stand-your-ground laws. Curt Anderson, 62, could face anywhere from 10 to 30 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if he’s convicted. He was being held in the Boone County Jail pending an initial court hearing. His attorney, Guy Relford, did not respond to voice messages seeking comment. Officers found Maria Florinda Rios Perez De Velasquez, 32, dead on the front porch of a home in Whitestown, an Indianapolis suburb, on Nov. 5. Authorities said the Guatemalan immigrant was part of a cleaning crew that had gone to the wrong house just before 7 a.m. Her husband told media outlets that he was with her on the porch and someone fired through the front door.” (11/17/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/indiana-homeowner-charged-in-fatal-shooting-of-21192881.php
-----
20) Trump whines at Indiana Republicans for defying re-gerrymandering pressure
Source: Axios
“President Trump lambasted Indiana Republicans who resisted his pressure to enter the mid-decade redistricting war, saying any party member who votes against redistricting ‘should be PRIMARIED.’ Indiana marks the latest setback in Trump’s drive to lock in a GOP House majority through mid-decade [re-]gerrymandering — part of his broader push to expand Republican power state by state. Republicans have pushed through aggressive maps in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Democrats benefited from a court-approved map in Utah and their own partisan redraw in California. Indiana joins Kansas, Nebraska and New Hampshire, other Republican-led states that have resisted reopening their maps so far.” (11/16/25)
https://archive.is/khsSn
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Immigration, Innovation, and Half-Truths
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“Critics of low-skilled immigration usually lament their effect on low-skilled natives. Once in a while, however, the critics bemoan the effect of low-skilled immigrants on robots. Without low-skilled immigrants, there would be a much stronger incentive to mechanize agriculture, deliveries, driving, gardening, and beyond. Indeed, without low-skilled immigrants, we should expect much faster innovation for a vast range of labor-saving technologies. As J.D. Vance explained earlier this year: ‘[C]heap labor is fundamentally a crutch, and it’s a crutch that inhibits innovation.’ … The argument is correct — and deeply misleading. It’s a technophile’s variant on the classic Broken Window Fallacy.” (11/17/25)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/immigration-innovation-and-half-truths
-----
22) Trump’s Saudi First Foreign Policy Continues
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington is a disgrace, and it is outrageous that he will likely leave with new U.S. pledges of support and more arms deals. The crown prince is a war criminal and a murderer in addtion to being an increasingly repressive despot. He is the de facto leader of one of the world’s worst governments, and he ought to be treated like a pariah. Welcoming him to the White House is an affront to American interests and basic human decency. Trump defined his first term with his abject servility to Saudi and Emirati interests. It seems that he wants to outdo himself in the second term.” (11/17/25)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/trumps-saudi-first-foreign-policy
-----
23) Ending the trade war would do more to help families than tariff dividend checks
Source: Orange County Register
by Alex Durante
“President Trump began his second term with a trade war, and the sentiment among US workers has been anything but great. Last week, however, the president surprised his cabinet and introduced a new idea: sending out a $2,000 ‘dividend’ check to Americans. Using revenue from the trade war, Trump is proposing the influx of money be put into people’s pockets as well as ‘lower our debt.’ What’s old is new. This isn’t the first time the president has floated sending out checks, and the idea faces countless hurdles were it ever to become law. However, one thing remains certain: sending out tariff rebates does not provide a long-term solution for families, but ending the trade war would.” (11/16/25)
https://archive.is/ZlAU7
-----
24) Robert Nozick, From Socialist Youth to Libertarian Visionary
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Alan Mosley
“Born on November 16, 1938 in Brooklyn, Robert Nozick began his intellectual life as a young socialist but ended it as one of the twentieth century’s fiercest defenders of property rights and limited government. Raised in a Jewish immigrant household, he joined Norman Thomas’s Socialist Party youth wing and helped organize the Student League for Industrial Democracy, yet his curiosity soon led him beyond doctrinaire leftism. While studying at Columbia and later Princeton, he encountered thinkers such as Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbard, and Ayn Rand, whose arguments for self‑ownership and free markets challenged his egalitarian assumptions. In the preface to his most famous book, he recalled that a long conversation with Rothbard ‘stimulated my interest in individualist anarchist theory’ and began a process that changed his mind.” (11/17/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/robert-nozick-from-socialist-youth-to-libertarian-visionary
-----
25) The Supreme Court made a horrible mistake when it gave Trump absolute power
Source: The Hill
by William S Becker
“By now, the U.S. Supreme Court surely must see that it made a horrendous mistake last year when it ruled that presidents are above the law. The court’s conservative majority should admit its error and fix it. Their decision in Trump v. United States was naïve at best. More likely, the court bought into the right wing’s confusion about the difference between a unitary president and a dictator. Either way, the ruling put the Constitution and the rule of law into the hands of a president who willfully abuses both. It was an especially reckless act when President Trump was seeking the presidency again. … he was clearly running for office to escape trials and jail time for dozens of additional alleged crimes. Trump ran on a platform of personal retribution rather than public service. Once in office, he wasted no time proving how ill-advised the court’s decision was.” (11/17/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/5606565-trump-presidential-abuse-power/
-----
26) What Mexicans demand, and deserve
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“Coordinated weekend protests in Mexico’s capital and other cities were organized through social media tools popular among young people around the world. But labeling them ‘Gen Z protests’ (akin to recent ones in Asia and Africa) would miss the significance of this movement and this moment for all Mexicans. In fact, the estimated 17,000 citizens who marched in Mexico City on Saturday represented a cross section of Mexican society. The multigenerational march was sparked by outrage over the recent killings of Carlos Manzó, a popular, tough-on-crime mayor, and Bernardo Bravo, head of a citrus growers’ association. Spontaneous demonstrations first broke out in the two men’s home state of Michoacán, which has been mired in cartel-linked violence for years. ‘This reaction, organic and honest, fed up with the security situation … is something new,’ David Mora, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, told CNN.” (11/17/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/1117/What-Mexicans-demand-and-deserve
-----
27) No, Trump 2.0. Is Not Normal Constitutional Evolution
Source: Persuasion
by Damon Linker
“How should we understand the character of the American political present? Are we living through the radical transformation of American democracy into a competitive (or even uncompetitive) authoritarian system? Or are we merely experiencing the fulfillment of longstanding antiliberal and anti-democratic trends in American politics in general and the Republican Party in particular? Or do we merely find ourselves at a rare (but nonetheless democratically legitimate) moment of rapid constitutional evolution to the right after nearly a century of consistently leftward shifts?” (11/17/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/no-trump-20-is-not-normal-constitutional
-----
28) My Fears About Post-Primate Theory
Source: The Findings Substack
by Paul Rosenberg
“Humanity is just now hitting its stride, or at least we’re threatening to. We approached it before World War I, then suffered through a long, ugly period. More recently our leading edges have started to push through the thorns and weeds, and there’s a reasonable chance that we’ll make it this time. But even if this attempt fails, one of the generations that follows us will make it. Post-primate society is coming; it’s only a question of when. This is certain because the development of mankind, of the human race, has been nothing short of spectacular. We have risen so fast that any other conclusion must stand upon gloominess and depression. The long-term record is clear.” (11/17/25)
https://thefindings.substack.com/p/my-fears-about-post-primate-theory
-----
29) The Shutdown Is Over, But America’s Hunger Crisis Isn’t
Source: OtherWords
by Reyanna James
“The roughly 42 million Americans who rely on food stamps did not receive their November 1 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits as the government shutdown dragged on. The missed payments came just as the holiday season began, leaving many families struggling to put food on the table. Lines at food banks backed up traffic across the country. The Trump administration defied federal court orders to restore full funding to the program before the Supreme Court’s conservative majority temporarily green-lit the freeze. The White House even tried to claw back funding from states that had already distributed it to hungry families. Lawmakers have now negotiated an end to the shutdown. But the threat to the nation’s primary nutrition assistance program, SNAP, is far from over. As the government reopens, millions will still lose access to food assistance starting almost immediately.” (11/17/25)
https://otherwords.org/even-with-the-shutdown-ending-millions-will-lose-food-aid/
-----
30) A Novel Analysis of the Pfizer Trial: Vaccine Effectiveness Was Nowhere Near 95%
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Eyal Shahar
“The natural home for this work is a biomedical journal. There is zero chance, however, that a paper would be accepted by any conventional journal. Why? Because the results are earthshaking, as stated in the title. This post is technical, but the preamble is not. For the non-academic reader, the preamble will serve two purposes: 1) to share an interesting story about the evolution of this work; 2) to give a simple summary of what I found. So, stay with me at least through this section.” (11/17/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/a-novel-analysis-of-the-pfizer-trial-vaccine-effectiveness-was-nowhere-near-95/
-----
31) In Capitalism [sic], They Tell You To Become The Hammer If You Don’t Like Being The Nail
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Came across an old Hampton Institute tweet: ‘If you don’t like being exploited (employee, tenant), then become the exploiter (boss/owner, landlord) is the capitalist mindset that has been drilled into all of us since we were kids. The real solution is to end exploitation (capitalism) altogether.’ You run into this sort of argument all the time when interacting with capitalism supporters. If people can’t make enough money to get by then they should get better-paying jobs. If people don’t like getting kicked around by an abusive status quo then they should climb their way into a socioeconomic strata that isn’t getting kicked around as much. If someone doesn’t like being the nail then they should become the hammer. They deflect criticisms of the abusive system by babbling about what people can do as individuals to be less abused personally.” (11/17/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/11/16/in-capitalism-they-tell-you-to-become-the-hammer-if-you-dont-like-being-the-nail/
-----
32) Grand theft government
Source: Popular Information
by Judd Legum
“Obtaining a judgment against the federal government under [the Federal Tort Claims Act] is difficult in virtually every circumstance, and [Michael] Flynn’s case is deeply flawed. So why is the Trump administration so eager to settle? Following his prosecution, Flynn ingratiated himself with Trump by being an outspoken proponent of the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. … By all appearances, as a reward for his loyalty, the Trump administration is poised to pay Flynn millions of taxpayer dollars to resolve a case that, at present, he cannot even convince a court to consider on the merits. Trump is also seeking a large settlement from the federal government. Like Flynn, Trump argues that he was subjected to malicious prosecution during the Russia investigation. He also argues that his privacy rights were violated during a search of Mar-a-lago in 2022. But Trump is seeking a much larger payout of $230 million.” (11/17/25)
https://popular.info/p/grand-theft-government
-----
33) Will We Give Birth to a Loving or Shackled Future?
Source: Common Dreams
by Robert C Koehler
“It occurs to me that ‘giving birth to the future’ isn’t simply a metaphor. I say this as I continue wrestling with infinity — that is to say, working on the book project I began a decade ago: a book about creating peace. My exploration into all this goes beyond politics, global or otherwise. There are countless ways that humanity needs to change and, indeed, is changing. For instance: ‘For much of the 20th century, the childbirth process in this country didn’t invite a lot of active participation from parents. Mothers in labor were given heavy doses of drugs, and fathers were banished to waiting rooms.’ So wrote David Colker in the Los Angeles Times in 2015, shortly after the death of Elisabeth Bing (at age at 100!), the German-born woman who cofounded Lamaze International in 1960 and helped profoundly change the way we birth the future.” (11/17/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/giving-birth-to-future
-----
34) The Savage Heart of Socialism: Fear and Loathing Among the Democratic Socialists of America
Source: The Daily Economy
by Paul McDonald
“Seizing the means of production requires control of not only private businesses, natural resources, and factories, but human bodies and minds.” (11/17/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-savage-heart-of-socialism-fear-and-loathing-among-the-democratic-socialists-of-america/
-----
35) Iran: Three Things The New York Times Gets Wrong
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
“On November 9, The New York Times published an update on the situation with Iran’s nuclear program. The article contains some valuable material. But it also gets three important things wrong. The article badly misses the shift in relations in the region. By implying that other countries in the region are more willing to work with the U.S. and insisting that ‘Iran is more isolated from the West than it has been in decades,’ the article presents an Iran who is increasingly alone in the region. Nothing could be further from the truth.” (11/17/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_snider/2025/11/16/iran-three-things-the-new-york-times-gets-wrong
-----
36) Is it Happening All Over Again?
Source: Racket News
by Eric Salzman
“Perhaps the quote that will define the next Great Financial Crisis will be this one from an executive at a former lender to the $10 billion fraud known as First Brands. ‘You’re not paid to do due diligence in this market.’ There have been three high-profile Private Credit (PC) blowups in the past month. All were due to fraud, and all had telltale signs of problems ahead if anyone bothered to look under the hood. … The same was true leading up to the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis. No one was looking under the hood of either the borrowers or the lenders. The game plan was to make your money, move on to the next deal, feign ignorance when it all blows up, get a bailout, and let others pay the price.” (11/17/25)
https://www.racket.news/p/is-it-happening-all-over-again
-----
37) When the law goes to the dogs
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley
“Next time your dog begs for a treat, you might want to give it to him. In Pennsylvania, a dog reportedly wounded his owner with a shotgun left on the bed, while in North Carolina, a dog was caught on camera setting a house (of the assistant fire chief no less) on fire with a damaged lithium battery. Since I just finished teaching my torts students about animal liability (and strict liability for dog bites), these cases offer a teachable moment for humans and canines alike. Dog bite cases have long been a mainstay of torts, even including recent incidents involving the Biden family at the White House. However, what about canine attacks using weapons?” (11/17/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-when-law-goes-dogs
-----
38) Quantum Vibe, 11/17/25
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser
Cartoon. (11/17/25)
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=2561
-----
39) A Trump offer that Putin cannot refuse
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jennifer Kavanagh
“Every threat has failed and it is too late for the US to just ‘walk away’ from the Ukraine war. But Washington has something Russia wants, badly.” (11/17/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-putin-ukraine-talks/
-----
40) Invasive Ideological Species
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“If we think of it as a particular kind of ecosystem, the West has cultural, institutional, and ideological features that have made it successful, but also easy to exploit. In other words, invasive ideological species (IIS) don’t care a jot about those institutions, but will use them to take power.” (11/17/25)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/invasive-ideological-species
-----
41) ICE Air’s Sloppy, Dangerous Deportation Flights
Source: The American Prospect
by Gillian Brockell
“In a memo to staff on October 30, Avelo Airlines’ head of flight operations Scott Hall painted a rosy, if defensive, picture of the company’s future. Avelo’s financial strategy was working, he said. The company had a big contract from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to do charter deportation flights … Sure, shutting down their entire West Coast operation looked bad, but it was good, actually, a long-planned move toward efficiency that had nothing to do with the ‘outrage mob’ boycotting Avelo for its association with ICE. … The truth is much more bleak: Avelo’s ICE flights appear to be a fiasco, defined by the poor planning, cruel treatment, and serious safety lapses endemic to ‘ICE Air,’ the network of charter carriers and military planes that transport shackled migrants to detention facilities and out of the country.” (11/17/25)
https://prospect.org/2025/11/17/ice-airs-sloppy-dangerous-deportation-flights/
-----
42) Transparency, Weaponized
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Transparency is usually a good thing. But so is privacy. And so, too, are limits on government power.
Which bring me to the Epstein files — or, more accurately, those files bring me here. …. The public has a right to know! But does it?” (11/17/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/11/17/transparency-weaponized/
-----
43) A Third Trump Term Is an Impossibility
Source: The American Conservative
by Peter Van Buren
“Jon Stewart joked Trump ‘already has the merch,’ referring to a red ‘Trump 2028’ cap. Steve Bannon keeps teasing ‘a plan’ to keep Trump in office. The Russian dissident and former chess champion Garry Kasparov warns of democracy’s demise. It’s a perfect storm of satire, conspiracy, and clickbait, but none of it adds up to a third term for Donald Trump. … Who knows what goes through Trump’s mind when he thinks of 2028, but we do know there is no way he is going to run for a third term. Three things make a genuine third-term bid for Trump impossible: the 22nd Amendment, the extraordinary difficulty of changing that amendment, and the legal implausibility of proposed way-out-there workaround schemes.” (11/17/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/a-third-trump-term-is-an-impossibility/
-----
44) The “Easy” Way to Crush the Mainstream Media
Source: The Atlantic
by Gilad Edelman
“Conservatives have been complaining about media bias for decades, but Republican officials were long averse to interfering with the decisions of private companies. Then came the second Trump administration, and its willingness to wage cultural warfare in more intrusive ways. [FCC chair Michael] Carr’s role in that effort is not to tell networks what to air and whom to fire. It’s to get to the point where he doesn’t have to.” (11/17/25)
https://archive.is/J8bwZ
-----
45) FBI, Secret Service butchered Thomas Crooks case & invited conspiracies; we deserve the truth
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine
“We are all owed a better explanation from the FBI and Secret Service about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump 16 months ago at a campaign rally in Butler, PA. The president himself remains unsatisfied with the answers he’s been given about the circumstances leading to 20-year-old Thomas Crooks climbing on a rooftop with an AR-15-style rifle and firing eight times at Trump, narrowly missing his head but hitting his ear. Crooks was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper, but not before he killed rallygoer Corey Comperatore, 50, and seriously wounded David Dutch, 58, and James Copenhaver, 75, who were sitting in the bleachers behind Trump. There is something very wrong with the official story and that invites conspiracy theories. The president demanded answers months ago. A man was murdered. What is going on?” (11/17/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/11/17/opinion/fbi-secret-service-butchered-the-thomas-crooks-case-and-invited-conspiracies-we-deserve-the-truth/
-----
46) Those Dark Clouds Are the Debt
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Douglas Carswell
“The future for our state looks bright. In just the past five years, Mississippi has seen more economic growth than in the entire 15 years before that combined. We’re on track to phase out the state income tax entirely, allowing families to keep more of what they earn. Mississippi has attracted a surge of new investment, and for the first time in years, our workforce participation rate is finally heading in the right direction. Zoom out, and the picture gets even better. Contrary to the endless gloom from the pundits, the American economy has consistently outperformed expectations for decades. Since the late 1990s, the US has delivered strong, steady growth that few forecasters saw coming. But there is one dark cloud on all our horizons that we cannot forever ignore: US national debt.” (11/16/25)
https://fee.org/articles/those-dark-clouds-are-the-debt/
-----
47) A Manifesto for Liberal Trans Activism
Source: Persuasion
by Jamie Paul
“By virtually any measure, trans activism has failed in the United States. It has proven itself a decisively losing electoral issue, been repudiated by the Supreme Court, lost the culture war, alienated a majority of society, and caused public opinion to turn against trans people. Trans activism ignited a trans backlash — one whose flames now threaten to consume LGBT rights more broadly. As a result, many political moderates are now quietly backing away from trans issues. Nobody wants to be burned again. But trans activism was only a losing issue because it was pursued by extremist bullies within the framework of a radical and authoritarian far-left ideology.” (11/16/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/a-manifesto-for-liberal-trans-activism
-----
48) Cheney Died the Only Dick Who Deserved Donald Trump
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“Well, Satan died last week, or at least so I’m told. Speaking personally, I won’t sleep easier until I see a body because that neocon fossil should have died centuries ago. I can’t help but to feel like the final girl in some cheesy 80s slasher flick, waiting for one last jump-scare after the killer was shot 84 times, set on fire and dropped from a skyscraper. Dick Cheney was the killer, literally and figuratively, and I’ll believe that monster has finally left us when I see his open casket lowered into an active volcano.” (11/16/25)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2025/11/cheney-died-only-dick-who-deserved.html
-----
49) The Overshoot Presidency and the State of Climate Politics
Source: In These Times
by Alberto Toscano
“Ahead of this November’s Cop30 climate summit, to be held in Belém, Brazil — the gateway to the Amazon River — United Nations Secretary General António Guterres delivered a stark statement: ‘Let’s recognize our failure. The truth is that we have failed to avoid an overshooting above 1.5 degrees [Celsius] in the next few years. And that going above 1.5 degrees has devastating consequences.’ Guterres’s remarks came just as Hurricane Melissa was making landfall in Jamaica as one of the most powerful Atlantic basin storms in recorded history. And it came after a year of other grim milestones: the devastating wildfires that struck Los Angeles in January and Canada in May, lethal flash floods from Argentina to Texas and heatwaves in India and Pakistan that brought temperatures up to 49 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit), leading to crop failures.” (11/17/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/climate-change-cop30-the-long-heat-book-interview-fossil-fuels
-----
50) Ignorance and Freedom Cannot Coexist
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin
“Thomas Jefferson understood what most people ignore today: Freedom demands a price: knowledge. Tyrants across history have weaponized ignorance for one reason: educated people argue. Ignorant people obey. They play whack-a-mole with control: When one tactic fails, they switch to another. Ban knowledge, then deceive, then outright lie. That pattern leaves us with one choice today.” (11/16/25)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2025/11/16/ignorance-and-freedom-cannot-coexist/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 11/17/25
Source: Reason
"How the Epstein Files Turned MAGA Against Trump." (11/17/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/11/17/how-the-epstein-files-turned-maga-against-trump/
-----
52) Conflicts of Interest, episode 854
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Who Is the Superpower?” (11/17/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-854-who-is-the-superpower
-----
53) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 11/17/25
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“How Is This Possible? US Debt ROSE By $620 Billion … During The Shutdown!” (11/17/25)
https://rumble.com/v71u534-how-is-this-possible-us-debt-rose-by-620-billion…during-the-shutdown.html
-----
54) Rising, 11/17/25
Source: The Hill
“Robby gives his radar on Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene drawing fiery comments from President Trump, who labeled her a ‘traitor’ for her recent criticisms of his administration.” (11/17/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5608900-rising-november-17-2025/
-----
55) EconTalk, 11/17/25
Source: EconTalk
“The Wonder of the Emergent Mind (with Gaurav Suri).” (11/17/25)
https://www.econtalk.org/the-wonder-of-the-emergent-mind-with-gaurav-suri/
-----
56) Fountainhead Forum, episode 390
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Doug Bandow on the life and career of Dick Cheney.” (11/17/25)
https://rumble.com/v71tkf2-ff-390-doug-bandow-on-the-life-and-career-of-dick-cheney.html?
-----
57) The Dispatch Podcast, 11/17/25
Source: The Dispatch
“Will AI Destroy Humanity? | Interview: Andy Mills.” (11/17/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/dispatch-podcast/will-ai-destroy-humanity-interview-andy-mills/
-----
58) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 11/17/25
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Explodes in Angriest Epstein Tirade Yet as Allies Visibly Panic.” (11/17/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/203262/trump-explodes-angriest-epstein-tirade-yet-allies-visibly-panic
-----
59) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 11/17/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Airstrikes Pound Somalia, Civilians Reported Killed, Trump Suggests Talks With Maduro, and More.” (11/17/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok-OVdMGxOk
-----
60) Trump Watch, 11/16/25
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Will Trump and the Pentagon Attack Venezuela?” (11/16/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM2xTyqW9YA
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FND is published every weekday except on holidays. Forward freely.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
http://groups.google.com/group/freedom-news-daily
Support the Liberty International (tax deductible)
https://liberty-intl.org/join-the-movement/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Presented by the Liberty International
https://liberty-intl.org/
Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's Freedom News:
0) Year-End Fundraiser Update ... Is This Thing On?
1) UN security council votes to endorse Donald Trump’s Gaza plan
2) Bitcoin drops below $90,000
3) Japan: Regime says warplanes scrambled as Chinese drone detected near southern island close to Taiwan
4) Judge pauses release of grand jury material to Comey after magistrate hints at dismissal
5) Poland: Tusk says rail track explosion was “sabotage”
6) French, Ukrainian regimes sign letter of intent for up to 100 Rafale fighter jets
7) FAA ends all flight reductions at major US airports
8) Thailand: 81 monkeys and meth found in car driven by suspected wildlife smugglers
9) Nigeria: Gunmen kill vice principal, abduct female students in attack on school
10) Acting head of FEMA leaves after short and troubled tenure
11) X launches encrypted DMs
12) OR: Off-duty pilot who tried to cut a flight’s engines midair is released without prison time
13) New international student enrolment drops 17% at US universities
14) India: Authorities make arrest in Red Fort car terrorist attack
15) NC: Over 130 abducted as governor says immigration crackdown is “stoking fear”
16) FL: Grandfather, born in refugee camp, abducted by ICE after 70 years in US
17) Ecuador: Voters Crush Right-Wing Push to Allow Return of US Military Bases
18) Chile: Hard-right holds the upper hand as presidential election goes to a runoff
19) IN: Homeowner charged in fatal shooting of house cleaner who showed up at the wrong door
20) Trump whines at Indiana Republicans for defying re-gerrymandering pressure
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Immigration, Innovation, and Half-Truths
22) Trump’s Saudi First Foreign Policy Continues
23) Ending the trade war would do more to help families than tariff dividend checks
24) Robert Nozick, From Socialist Youth to Libertarian Visionary
25) The Supreme Court made a horrible mistake when it gave Trump absolute power
26) What Mexicans demand, and deserve
27) No, Trump 2.0. Is Not Normal Constitutional Evolution
28) My Fears About Post-Primate Theory
29) The Shutdown Is Over, But America’s Hunger Crisis Isn’t
30) A Novel Analysis of the Pfizer Trial: Vaccine Effectiveness Was Nowhere Near 95%
31) In Capitalism [sic], They Tell You To Become The Hammer If You Don’t Like Being The Nail
32) Grand theft government
33) Will We Give Birth to a Loving or Shackled Future?
34) The Savage Heart of Socialism: Fear and Loathing Among the Democratic Socialists of America
35) Iran: Three Things The New York Times Gets Wrong
36) Is it Happening All Over Again?
37) When the law goes to the dogs
38) Quantum Vibe, 11/17/25
39) A Trump offer that Putin cannot refuse
40) Invasive Ideological Species
41) ICE Air’s Sloppy, Dangerous Deportation Flights
42) Transparency, Weaponized
43) A Third Trump Term Is an Impossibility
44) The “Easy” Way to Crush the Mainstream Media
45) FBI, Secret Service butchered Thomas Crooks case & invited conspiracies; we deserve the truth
46) Those Dark Clouds Are the Debt
47) A Manifesto for Liberal Trans Activism
48) Cheney Died the Only Dick Who Deserved Donald Trump
49) The Overshoot Presidency and the State of Climate Politics
50) Ignorance and Freedom Cannot Coexist
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 11/17/25
52) Conflicts of Interest, episode 854
53) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 11/17/25
54) Rising, 11/17/25
55) EconTalk, 11/17/25
56) Fountainhead Forum, episode 390
57) The Dispatch Podcast, 11/17/25
58) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 11/17/25
59) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 11/17/25
60) Trump Watch, 11/16/25
vvvvv SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS vvvvv
SAMUEL EDWARD KONKIN III REVOLUTIONARY FRIEND BY WENDY MCELROY
https://www.amazon.com/Samuel-Edward-Konkin-Revolutionary-Friend-ebook/dp/B0DP7B6127
SHOP ONLINE, COLLECT A REBATE IN BITCOIN!
https://www.lolli.com/share/MZB4cCpheL
THE CONSTITUTION OF NON-STATE GOVERNMENT: FIELD GUIDE TO TEXAS SECESSION, by TL Hulsey
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1947660853
Tyranny Demands AN ACT OF SELF-DEFENSE: A NOVEL BY ERNE LEWIS
https://tinyurl.com/actofselfdefense
ONE IDENTITY FOR ALL YOUR CRYPTO
https://fioprotocol.io/
^^^^^ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ^^^^^
_____ Today's Freedom News _____
0) Year-End Fundraiser Update ... Is This Thing On?
Hey, everyone ...
Yesterday was a "zero-dollar day" in our year-end Fundraiser, and we've had more of those than usual so far this year. Our total remains (as of about 5am Tuesday) at $1,190.84.
Our goal is $5,501; once we've raised $2,750.50, supporter GL has pledged to "match funds" for the rest.
But we have to raise that FIRST $2,750.50 to get the SECOND $2,750.50.
Anyone out there? Anyone reading? PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT'S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
I'd go on for longer, but I'm writing this from my family's new (to us) home, on a small laptop screen (we've barely begun moving and my home office isn't set up yet). So one more time for emphasis: PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT'S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
And while you're at it, have a great day.
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
-----
1) UN security council votes to endorse Donald Trump’s Gaza plan
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“The UN security council has endorsed proposals put forward by Donald Trump for a lasting peace in Gaza, including the deployment of an international stabilisation force and a possible path to a sovereign Palestinian state. The resolution, passed by a vote of 13-0 with abstentions by China and Russia …. However, on the eve of the UN vote, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu restated his government’s adamant opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state, raising questions on whether Israel will allow the implementation of the UN-mandated proposals. After the vote, Hamas rejected what it described as as an imposed ‘international guardianship mechanism’ and insisted it would not disarm.” (11/18/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/18/un-security-council-votes-to-endorse-donald-trumps-gaza-plan
-----
2) Bitcoin drops below $90,000
Source: Reuters
“Bitcoin slipped below $90,000 for the first time in seven months on Tuesday in the latest sign that investor appetite for risk-taking is drying up across financial markets. The risk-sensitive cryptocurrency has erased 2025 gains and is now down nearly 30% from a peak above $126,000 in October. It traded down 2% at $89,953 in the Asia afternoon, having collapsed through chart support around $98,000 last week.” (11/18/25)
https://archive.is/TwveV
-----
3) Japan: Regime says warplanes scrambled as Chinese drone detected near southern island close to Taiwan
Source: CBS News
“Japan said Monday that it had scrambled aircraft after detecting a suspected Chinese drone near its southern island of Yonaguni, which is close to Taiwan, on Saturday, as tension between the Asian adversaries spiked. On Sunday, Chinese coast guard vessels spent several hours in Japan’s territorial waters around the disputed Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu in China and a frequent flashpoint, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said. The incidents came amid escalating tension between the neighbors over remarks by Japan’s staunchly conservative new leader, who suggested Tokyo could intervene militarily in any hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan.” (11/17/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/japan-china-tension-taiwan-war-takaichi-intervention/
-----
4) Judge pauses release of grand jury material to Comey after magistrate hints at dismissal
Source: CNBC
“A federal judge on Monday paused an order by another judge requiring the Department of Justice to give FBI Director James Comey all grand jury materials related to a criminal indictment that accuses him of lying to Congress in 2020 testimony. Judge Michael Nachmanoff said he would rule on whether to allow the order to take effect after considering objections to it by the DOJ and arguments in favor of it by Comey’s lawyers. …. The judge’s action came hours after Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick issued the order, and suggested that the charges against Comey could soon be dismissed because of potential ‘misconduct’ by the prosecution.” (11/17/25)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/17/trump-james-comey-doj-grand-jury.html
-----
5) Poland: Tusk says rail track explosion was “sabotage”
Source: Politico
“A rail line linking the Polish capital to the eastern city of Lublin and on to Ukraine was blown up Sunday in an ‘act of sabotage,’ Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Monday morning. Train traffic along the busy route was halted Sunday morning after a high speed Intercity train driver spotted damage to the line, warning nearby trains. ‘The track might have been destroyed deliberately,’ Tusk said Sunday. Authorities now say they are certain the damage is the result of a planned attack. … The Polish prime minister did not directly indicate who was responsible, but linked the incident to Russia’s war in Ukraine.” (11/17/25)
https://www.politico.eu/article/polish-pm-donald-tusk-says-rail-track-explosion-was-sabotage
-----
6) French, Ukrainian regimes sign letter of intent for up to 100 Rafale fighter jets
Source: AeroTime [Lithuania]
“France and Ukraine have signed what both leaders called a historic defense agreement covering the procurement of 100 Dassault Rafale fighter jets, along with new air defense systems and drone capabilities. The signing took place on November 17, 2025, at Villacoublay Air Base, where French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the tarmac. Zelenskyy described the deal as historic and said it will significantly strengthen Ukraine’s combat aviation and air defense network as it continues to face sustained Russian missile and drone attacks.” (11/17/25)
https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/france-and-ukraine-sign-letter-of-intent-for-up-to-100-rafale-fighter-jets
-----
7) FAA ends all flight reductions at major US airports
Source: The Hill
“The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is set to end all flight reductions at major U.S. airports in the wake of a lengthy government shutdown that caused aviation chaos over the last few weeks. On Sunday, the FAA issued an order to end the reduction of ‘operations at certain airports by 3 percent’ and reinstate ‘normal operating levels’ by Monday at 6:00 a.m. … The FAA and Transportation Department had previously said flight reductions would go down from 6 percent to 3 percent over the weekend at 40 major airports.” (11/16/25)
https://thehill.com/regulation/transportation/5608530-faa-ends-flight-reductions/
-----
8) Thailand: 81 monkeys and meth found in car driven by suspected wildlife smugglers
Source: CBS News
“Thai rangers have arrested two men suspected of being part of an international wildlife smuggling network, the military said Saturday after they were intercepted in a car carrying 81 macaques near the Cambodian border. Thailand is a major transit hub for wildlife smugglers, who often sell highly-prized endangered creatures on the lucrative black market in China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. A patrol stopped the vehicle on Friday afternoon in Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo province, where troops found the monkeys stuffed into blue net bags. … The soldiers also seized methamphetamine pills and crystal meth, though no quantities were specified.” (11/17/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/monkeys-meth-car-suspected-wildlife-smugglers-thailand/
-----
9) Nigeria: Gunmen kill vice principal, abduct female students in attack on school
Source: Jerusalem Post [Jerusalem]
“Gunmen attacked a government boarding school in Nigeria’s Kebbi state early on Monday, killing the vice principal and abducting an unspecified number of female students, according to a security report and a school official. The assailants, armed with rifles and reportedly using coordinated tactics, stormed the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga town around 1 a.m. local time. Vice Principal Hassan Yakubu Makuku was shot dead while resisting the attackers, and a security guard sustained injuries, a teacher told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to safety concerns.” (11/17/25)
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-874160
-----
10) Acting head of FEMA leaves after short and troubled tenure
Source: Reuters
“David Richardson, the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is stepping down, according to the Department of Homeland Security, ending a troubled tenure just six months into the job and while the Atlantic hurricane season is still underway. Richardson, a former Marine Corps officer, is the second FEMA head to leave or be fired since May. He departs amid criticism that he kept a low profile during deadly Texas floods in July that killed 130 people and baffled staff in June when he said he was unaware the country had a hurricane season. A DHS spokesperson gave no reasons for the FEMA chief stepping down. It was not immediately clear who Richardson’s successor will be. Richardson’s predecessor was fired in May, after pushing back against Trump administration efforts to dismantle the agency.” (11/17/25)
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/acting-head-fema-resigns-after-short-tenure-washington-post-reports-2025-11-17/
-----
11) X launches encrypted DMs
Source: The Verge
“X has revealed Chat, an encrypted upgrade to the platform’s direct messaging service. It also includes support for video and voice calls, disappearing messages, and file sharing. The company announced Chat on Friday, and it’s available now on iOS and the web, with an Android version coming ‘soon.’ It replaces X’s existing messaging system, though your old messages should be carried across. X says that Chat supports end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for both messages and files, though a support page notes that this doesn’t cover message metadata — such as who received it, or when it was sent. There’s also no protection against man-in-the-middle attacks, the company admitting that if ‘a malicious insider or X itself’ compromised an encrypted conversation, there would be no way for users to know, though ways to verify message authenticity and device identity are coming.” (11/17/25)
https://www.theverge.com/news/821950/x-chat-encrypted-dms-video-calls
-----
12) OR: Off-duty pilot who tried to cut a flight’s engines midair is released without prison time
Source: SFGate
“A former Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to cut the engines of a passenger flight in 2023 while riding off-duty in the cockpit will serve no additional prison time, a federal judge ruled Monday. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio sentenced Joseph Emerson to time served and supervised release for three years a hearing in Portland, Oregon. Federal prosecutors had asked for one year in prison, while his attorneys had sought probation. ‘Pilots are not perfect. They are human,’ she said. ‘They are people and all people need help sometimes.’ Emerson was subdued by the flight crew after trying to cut the engines of a Horizon Air flight from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2023, while he was riding in an extra seat in the cockpit. The plane was diverted to Portland, where it landed safely with more than 80 people on board.” (11/17/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/off-duty-pilot-who-tried-to-cut-a-flight-s-21191683.php
-----
13) New international student enrolment drops 17% at US universities
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The rate of new international students enrolment at US universities dropped by 17% this autumn compared to previous years, research released on Monday indicates. The drop comes as the Trump administration has made it more difficult to obtain student visas, with the research suggesting visa application issues like delays and denials are among the top reasons for the decline in first-time students. The survey found a modest overall 1% decline in international students when taking into account students who have been in the US for years. Foreign students make up about 6% of total US enrollment and contributed $55bn (£41bn) to the economy, according to 2024 figures from the commerce department. The survey by the Institute of International Education examined the population of international students at 828 higher education institutions.” (11/17/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8v336lyz4o
-----
14) India: Authorities make arrest in Red Fort car terrorist attack
Source: United Press International
“Indian authorities have arrested a man whose vehicle was used in last week’s Red Fort car bombing attack that killed 10 people and injured 32 others. In a statement Sunday, India’s National Investigation Agency said Amir Rashid Ali was arrested in Delhi by NIA agents in a massive search operation. Authorities identified the accused as a resident of Pampore in Muslim-majority Kashmir, a disputed region under Hindu-majority India control. The NIA accused Ali of conspiring with the alleged suicide bomber Umar Un Nabi in the attack, which occurred Nov. 10 near the tourist-heavy and crowded Red Fort in New Delhi.” (11/17/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/11/17/india-Red-Fort-blast-arrest-made/6631763366974/
-----
15) NC: Over 130 abducted as governor says immigration crackdown is “stoking fear”
Source: SFGate
“U.S. immigration agents [abducted] more than 130 people in a weekend sweep through North Carolina’s largest city, a federal official said Monday, as the governor warned that the crackdown is simply ‘stoking fear.’ The Trump administration has made Charlotte, a Democratic city of about 950,000 people, its latest focus for an immigration enforcement surge it says will combat crime, despite fierce objections from local leaders and declining crime rates. City residents reported encounters with immigration agents near churches, apartment complexes and stores. … Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that Border Patrol officers had [abducted] ‘over 130 illegal [sic] aliens, who have all broken’ immigration laws [sic].” (11/17/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/after-weekend-s-border-patrol-surge-in-north-21192075.php
-----
16) FL: Grandfather, born in refugee camp, abducted by ICE after 70 years in US
Source: Orlando Sentinel
“Paul John Bojerski was born to Polish parents in a German refugee camp a year after World War II ended. His family legally emigrated to the United States in 1952 when he was five. More than seven decades later, the 79-year-old Sanford grandfather – still a man without a country – found himself in legal limbo in the Alligator Alcatraz detention camp in the Everglades, [abducted] on a decades-old deportation order authorities had previously chosen not to enforce. … The retired optician, [abducted] late last month, was recently moved to the Krome Detention Center in Miami and has a bond hearing on Nov. 18. His family worries his health is failing while he’s in custody and fears for his future.” (11/16/25)
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/16/sanford-grandfather-born-in-refugee-camp-nabbed-by-ice-after-70-years-in-u-s/
-----
17) Ecuador: Voters Crush Right-Wing Push to Allow Return of US Military Bases
Source: Common Dreams
“Ecuador’s voters on Sunday delivered a major blow to right-wing President Daniel Noboa by decisively rejecting the proposed return of foreign military bases to the South American country’s soil—including installations run by the United States. Around two-thirds of voters opposed the measure with most ballots tallied, a result that was widely seen as a surprise. Voters also rejected a separate effort to rewrite the country’s progressive 2008 constitution, which enshrined strong labor and environmental rights. The stinging defeat for Noboa, an ally of US President Donald Trump, comes as the United States carries out an aggressive military buildup and deadly airstrike campaign in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific—and weighs a direct attack on Venezuela.” (11/17/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/ecuador-us-military-bases
-----
18) Chile: Hard-right holds the upper hand as presidential election goes to a runoff
Source: ABC News
“A hard-right former lawmaker and admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump held the upper hand as Chile headed to a polarizing presidential runoff against a member of Chile’s Communist Party representing the incumbent government. José Antonio Kast, an ultraconservative lawyer opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage, appears to be in pole position after nearly 70% of votes went to right-wing candidates in Sunday’s first round, as many Chileans worry about organized crime, illegal immigration and unemployment in one of Latin America’s safest and most prosperous nations. … He came in second with nearly 24% of the vote after campaigning on plans to crack down on crime, build a giant border wall and deport tens of thousands of undocumented migrants. Jeannette Jara, a former labor minister in President Gabriel Boric’s left-wing government, eked out a narrower-than-expected lead with 27% of the vote.” (11/17/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/chiles-hard-holds-upper-hand-presidential-election-tense-127584418
-----
19) IN: Homeowner charged in fatal shooting of house cleaner who showed up at the wrong door
Source: SFGate
“An Indiana homeowner accused of killing a house cleaner was charged Monday with voluntary manslaughter in a case that raises questions about the limits of stand-your-ground laws. Curt Anderson, 62, could face anywhere from 10 to 30 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if he’s convicted. He was being held in the Boone County Jail pending an initial court hearing. His attorney, Guy Relford, did not respond to voice messages seeking comment. Officers found Maria Florinda Rios Perez De Velasquez, 32, dead on the front porch of a home in Whitestown, an Indianapolis suburb, on Nov. 5. Authorities said the Guatemalan immigrant was part of a cleaning crew that had gone to the wrong house just before 7 a.m. Her husband told media outlets that he was with her on the porch and someone fired through the front door.” (11/17/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/indiana-homeowner-charged-in-fatal-shooting-of-21192881.php
-----
20) Trump whines at Indiana Republicans for defying re-gerrymandering pressure
Source: Axios
“President Trump lambasted Indiana Republicans who resisted his pressure to enter the mid-decade redistricting war, saying any party member who votes against redistricting ‘should be PRIMARIED.’ Indiana marks the latest setback in Trump’s drive to lock in a GOP House majority through mid-decade [re-]gerrymandering — part of his broader push to expand Republican power state by state. Republicans have pushed through aggressive maps in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Democrats benefited from a court-approved map in Utah and their own partisan redraw in California. Indiana joins Kansas, Nebraska and New Hampshire, other Republican-led states that have resisted reopening their maps so far.” (11/16/25)
https://archive.is/khsSn
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Immigration, Innovation, and Half-Truths
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“Critics of low-skilled immigration usually lament their effect on low-skilled natives. Once in a while, however, the critics bemoan the effect of low-skilled immigrants on robots. Without low-skilled immigrants, there would be a much stronger incentive to mechanize agriculture, deliveries, driving, gardening, and beyond. Indeed, without low-skilled immigrants, we should expect much faster innovation for a vast range of labor-saving technologies. As J.D. Vance explained earlier this year: ‘[C]heap labor is fundamentally a crutch, and it’s a crutch that inhibits innovation.’ … The argument is correct — and deeply misleading. It’s a technophile’s variant on the classic Broken Window Fallacy.” (11/17/25)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/immigration-innovation-and-half-truths
-----
22) Trump’s Saudi First Foreign Policy Continues
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington is a disgrace, and it is outrageous that he will likely leave with new U.S. pledges of support and more arms deals. The crown prince is a war criminal and a murderer in addtion to being an increasingly repressive despot. He is the de facto leader of one of the world’s worst governments, and he ought to be treated like a pariah. Welcoming him to the White House is an affront to American interests and basic human decency. Trump defined his first term with his abject servility to Saudi and Emirati interests. It seems that he wants to outdo himself in the second term.” (11/17/25)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/trumps-saudi-first-foreign-policy
-----
23) Ending the trade war would do more to help families than tariff dividend checks
Source: Orange County Register
by Alex Durante
“President Trump began his second term with a trade war, and the sentiment among US workers has been anything but great. Last week, however, the president surprised his cabinet and introduced a new idea: sending out a $2,000 ‘dividend’ check to Americans. Using revenue from the trade war, Trump is proposing the influx of money be put into people’s pockets as well as ‘lower our debt.’ What’s old is new. This isn’t the first time the president has floated sending out checks, and the idea faces countless hurdles were it ever to become law. However, one thing remains certain: sending out tariff rebates does not provide a long-term solution for families, but ending the trade war would.” (11/16/25)
https://archive.is/ZlAU7
-----
24) Robert Nozick, From Socialist Youth to Libertarian Visionary
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Alan Mosley
“Born on November 16, 1938 in Brooklyn, Robert Nozick began his intellectual life as a young socialist but ended it as one of the twentieth century’s fiercest defenders of property rights and limited government. Raised in a Jewish immigrant household, he joined Norman Thomas’s Socialist Party youth wing and helped organize the Student League for Industrial Democracy, yet his curiosity soon led him beyond doctrinaire leftism. While studying at Columbia and later Princeton, he encountered thinkers such as Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbard, and Ayn Rand, whose arguments for self‑ownership and free markets challenged his egalitarian assumptions. In the preface to his most famous book, he recalled that a long conversation with Rothbard ‘stimulated my interest in individualist anarchist theory’ and began a process that changed his mind.” (11/17/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/robert-nozick-from-socialist-youth-to-libertarian-visionary
-----
25) The Supreme Court made a horrible mistake when it gave Trump absolute power
Source: The Hill
by William S Becker
“By now, the U.S. Supreme Court surely must see that it made a horrendous mistake last year when it ruled that presidents are above the law. The court’s conservative majority should admit its error and fix it. Their decision in Trump v. United States was naïve at best. More likely, the court bought into the right wing’s confusion about the difference between a unitary president and a dictator. Either way, the ruling put the Constitution and the rule of law into the hands of a president who willfully abuses both. It was an especially reckless act when President Trump was seeking the presidency again. … he was clearly running for office to escape trials and jail time for dozens of additional alleged crimes. Trump ran on a platform of personal retribution rather than public service. Once in office, he wasted no time proving how ill-advised the court’s decision was.” (11/17/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/5606565-trump-presidential-abuse-power/
-----
26) What Mexicans demand, and deserve
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“Coordinated weekend protests in Mexico’s capital and other cities were organized through social media tools popular among young people around the world. But labeling them ‘Gen Z protests’ (akin to recent ones in Asia and Africa) would miss the significance of this movement and this moment for all Mexicans. In fact, the estimated 17,000 citizens who marched in Mexico City on Saturday represented a cross section of Mexican society. The multigenerational march was sparked by outrage over the recent killings of Carlos Manzó, a popular, tough-on-crime mayor, and Bernardo Bravo, head of a citrus growers’ association. Spontaneous demonstrations first broke out in the two men’s home state of Michoacán, which has been mired in cartel-linked violence for years. ‘This reaction, organic and honest, fed up with the security situation … is something new,’ David Mora, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, told CNN.” (11/17/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/1117/What-Mexicans-demand-and-deserve
-----
27) No, Trump 2.0. Is Not Normal Constitutional Evolution
Source: Persuasion
by Damon Linker
“How should we understand the character of the American political present? Are we living through the radical transformation of American democracy into a competitive (or even uncompetitive) authoritarian system? Or are we merely experiencing the fulfillment of longstanding antiliberal and anti-democratic trends in American politics in general and the Republican Party in particular? Or do we merely find ourselves at a rare (but nonetheless democratically legitimate) moment of rapid constitutional evolution to the right after nearly a century of consistently leftward shifts?” (11/17/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/no-trump-20-is-not-normal-constitutional
-----
28) My Fears About Post-Primate Theory
Source: The Findings Substack
by Paul Rosenberg
“Humanity is just now hitting its stride, or at least we’re threatening to. We approached it before World War I, then suffered through a long, ugly period. More recently our leading edges have started to push through the thorns and weeds, and there’s a reasonable chance that we’ll make it this time. But even if this attempt fails, one of the generations that follows us will make it. Post-primate society is coming; it’s only a question of when. This is certain because the development of mankind, of the human race, has been nothing short of spectacular. We have risen so fast that any other conclusion must stand upon gloominess and depression. The long-term record is clear.” (11/17/25)
https://thefindings.substack.com/p/my-fears-about-post-primate-theory
-----
29) The Shutdown Is Over, But America’s Hunger Crisis Isn’t
Source: OtherWords
by Reyanna James
“The roughly 42 million Americans who rely on food stamps did not receive their November 1 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits as the government shutdown dragged on. The missed payments came just as the holiday season began, leaving many families struggling to put food on the table. Lines at food banks backed up traffic across the country. The Trump administration defied federal court orders to restore full funding to the program before the Supreme Court’s conservative majority temporarily green-lit the freeze. The White House even tried to claw back funding from states that had already distributed it to hungry families. Lawmakers have now negotiated an end to the shutdown. But the threat to the nation’s primary nutrition assistance program, SNAP, is far from over. As the government reopens, millions will still lose access to food assistance starting almost immediately.” (11/17/25)
https://otherwords.org/even-with-the-shutdown-ending-millions-will-lose-food-aid/
-----
30) A Novel Analysis of the Pfizer Trial: Vaccine Effectiveness Was Nowhere Near 95%
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Eyal Shahar
“The natural home for this work is a biomedical journal. There is zero chance, however, that a paper would be accepted by any conventional journal. Why? Because the results are earthshaking, as stated in the title. This post is technical, but the preamble is not. For the non-academic reader, the preamble will serve two purposes: 1) to share an interesting story about the evolution of this work; 2) to give a simple summary of what I found. So, stay with me at least through this section.” (11/17/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/a-novel-analysis-of-the-pfizer-trial-vaccine-effectiveness-was-nowhere-near-95/
-----
31) In Capitalism [sic], They Tell You To Become The Hammer If You Don’t Like Being The Nail
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Came across an old Hampton Institute tweet: ‘If you don’t like being exploited (employee, tenant), then become the exploiter (boss/owner, landlord) is the capitalist mindset that has been drilled into all of us since we were kids. The real solution is to end exploitation (capitalism) altogether.’ You run into this sort of argument all the time when interacting with capitalism supporters. If people can’t make enough money to get by then they should get better-paying jobs. If people don’t like getting kicked around by an abusive status quo then they should climb their way into a socioeconomic strata that isn’t getting kicked around as much. If someone doesn’t like being the nail then they should become the hammer. They deflect criticisms of the abusive system by babbling about what people can do as individuals to be less abused personally.” (11/17/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/11/16/in-capitalism-they-tell-you-to-become-the-hammer-if-you-dont-like-being-the-nail/
-----
32) Grand theft government
Source: Popular Information
by Judd Legum
“Obtaining a judgment against the federal government under [the Federal Tort Claims Act] is difficult in virtually every circumstance, and [Michael] Flynn’s case is deeply flawed. So why is the Trump administration so eager to settle? Following his prosecution, Flynn ingratiated himself with Trump by being an outspoken proponent of the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. … By all appearances, as a reward for his loyalty, the Trump administration is poised to pay Flynn millions of taxpayer dollars to resolve a case that, at present, he cannot even convince a court to consider on the merits. Trump is also seeking a large settlement from the federal government. Like Flynn, Trump argues that he was subjected to malicious prosecution during the Russia investigation. He also argues that his privacy rights were violated during a search of Mar-a-lago in 2022. But Trump is seeking a much larger payout of $230 million.” (11/17/25)
https://popular.info/p/grand-theft-government
-----
33) Will We Give Birth to a Loving or Shackled Future?
Source: Common Dreams
by Robert C Koehler
“It occurs to me that ‘giving birth to the future’ isn’t simply a metaphor. I say this as I continue wrestling with infinity — that is to say, working on the book project I began a decade ago: a book about creating peace. My exploration into all this goes beyond politics, global or otherwise. There are countless ways that humanity needs to change and, indeed, is changing. For instance: ‘For much of the 20th century, the childbirth process in this country didn’t invite a lot of active participation from parents. Mothers in labor were given heavy doses of drugs, and fathers were banished to waiting rooms.’ So wrote David Colker in the Los Angeles Times in 2015, shortly after the death of Elisabeth Bing (at age at 100!), the German-born woman who cofounded Lamaze International in 1960 and helped profoundly change the way we birth the future.” (11/17/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/giving-birth-to-future
-----
34) The Savage Heart of Socialism: Fear and Loathing Among the Democratic Socialists of America
Source: The Daily Economy
by Paul McDonald
“Seizing the means of production requires control of not only private businesses, natural resources, and factories, but human bodies and minds.” (11/17/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-savage-heart-of-socialism-fear-and-loathing-among-the-democratic-socialists-of-america/
-----
35) Iran: Three Things The New York Times Gets Wrong
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
“On November 9, The New York Times published an update on the situation with Iran’s nuclear program. The article contains some valuable material. But it also gets three important things wrong. The article badly misses the shift in relations in the region. By implying that other countries in the region are more willing to work with the U.S. and insisting that ‘Iran is more isolated from the West than it has been in decades,’ the article presents an Iran who is increasingly alone in the region. Nothing could be further from the truth.” (11/17/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_snider/2025/11/16/iran-three-things-the-new-york-times-gets-wrong
-----
36) Is it Happening All Over Again?
Source: Racket News
by Eric Salzman
“Perhaps the quote that will define the next Great Financial Crisis will be this one from an executive at a former lender to the $10 billion fraud known as First Brands. ‘You’re not paid to do due diligence in this market.’ There have been three high-profile Private Credit (PC) blowups in the past month. All were due to fraud, and all had telltale signs of problems ahead if anyone bothered to look under the hood. … The same was true leading up to the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis. No one was looking under the hood of either the borrowers or the lenders. The game plan was to make your money, move on to the next deal, feign ignorance when it all blows up, get a bailout, and let others pay the price.” (11/17/25)
https://www.racket.news/p/is-it-happening-all-over-again
-----
37) When the law goes to the dogs
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley
“Next time your dog begs for a treat, you might want to give it to him. In Pennsylvania, a dog reportedly wounded his owner with a shotgun left on the bed, while in North Carolina, a dog was caught on camera setting a house (of the assistant fire chief no less) on fire with a damaged lithium battery. Since I just finished teaching my torts students about animal liability (and strict liability for dog bites), these cases offer a teachable moment for humans and canines alike. Dog bite cases have long been a mainstay of torts, even including recent incidents involving the Biden family at the White House. However, what about canine attacks using weapons?” (11/17/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-when-law-goes-dogs
-----
38) Quantum Vibe, 11/17/25
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser
Cartoon. (11/17/25)
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=2561
-----
39) A Trump offer that Putin cannot refuse
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jennifer Kavanagh
“Every threat has failed and it is too late for the US to just ‘walk away’ from the Ukraine war. But Washington has something Russia wants, badly.” (11/17/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-putin-ukraine-talks/
-----
40) Invasive Ideological Species
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“If we think of it as a particular kind of ecosystem, the West has cultural, institutional, and ideological features that have made it successful, but also easy to exploit. In other words, invasive ideological species (IIS) don’t care a jot about those institutions, but will use them to take power.” (11/17/25)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/invasive-ideological-species
-----
41) ICE Air’s Sloppy, Dangerous Deportation Flights
Source: The American Prospect
by Gillian Brockell
“In a memo to staff on October 30, Avelo Airlines’ head of flight operations Scott Hall painted a rosy, if defensive, picture of the company’s future. Avelo’s financial strategy was working, he said. The company had a big contract from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to do charter deportation flights … Sure, shutting down their entire West Coast operation looked bad, but it was good, actually, a long-planned move toward efficiency that had nothing to do with the ‘outrage mob’ boycotting Avelo for its association with ICE. … The truth is much more bleak: Avelo’s ICE flights appear to be a fiasco, defined by the poor planning, cruel treatment, and serious safety lapses endemic to ‘ICE Air,’ the network of charter carriers and military planes that transport shackled migrants to detention facilities and out of the country.” (11/17/25)
https://prospect.org/2025/11/17/ice-airs-sloppy-dangerous-deportation-flights/
-----
42) Transparency, Weaponized
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“Transparency is usually a good thing. But so is privacy. And so, too, are limits on government power.
Which bring me to the Epstein files — or, more accurately, those files bring me here. …. The public has a right to know! But does it?” (11/17/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/11/17/transparency-weaponized/
-----
43) A Third Trump Term Is an Impossibility
Source: The American Conservative
by Peter Van Buren
“Jon Stewart joked Trump ‘already has the merch,’ referring to a red ‘Trump 2028’ cap. Steve Bannon keeps teasing ‘a plan’ to keep Trump in office. The Russian dissident and former chess champion Garry Kasparov warns of democracy’s demise. It’s a perfect storm of satire, conspiracy, and clickbait, but none of it adds up to a third term for Donald Trump. … Who knows what goes through Trump’s mind when he thinks of 2028, but we do know there is no way he is going to run for a third term. Three things make a genuine third-term bid for Trump impossible: the 22nd Amendment, the extraordinary difficulty of changing that amendment, and the legal implausibility of proposed way-out-there workaround schemes.” (11/17/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/a-third-trump-term-is-an-impossibility/
-----
44) The “Easy” Way to Crush the Mainstream Media
Source: The Atlantic
by Gilad Edelman
“Conservatives have been complaining about media bias for decades, but Republican officials were long averse to interfering with the decisions of private companies. Then came the second Trump administration, and its willingness to wage cultural warfare in more intrusive ways. [FCC chair Michael] Carr’s role in that effort is not to tell networks what to air and whom to fire. It’s to get to the point where he doesn’t have to.” (11/17/25)
https://archive.is/J8bwZ
-----
45) FBI, Secret Service butchered Thomas Crooks case & invited conspiracies; we deserve the truth
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine
“We are all owed a better explanation from the FBI and Secret Service about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump 16 months ago at a campaign rally in Butler, PA. The president himself remains unsatisfied with the answers he’s been given about the circumstances leading to 20-year-old Thomas Crooks climbing on a rooftop with an AR-15-style rifle and firing eight times at Trump, narrowly missing his head but hitting his ear. Crooks was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper, but not before he killed rallygoer Corey Comperatore, 50, and seriously wounded David Dutch, 58, and James Copenhaver, 75, who were sitting in the bleachers behind Trump. There is something very wrong with the official story and that invites conspiracy theories. The president demanded answers months ago. A man was murdered. What is going on?” (11/17/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/11/17/opinion/fbi-secret-service-butchered-the-thomas-crooks-case-and-invited-conspiracies-we-deserve-the-truth/
-----
46) Those Dark Clouds Are the Debt
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Douglas Carswell
“The future for our state looks bright. In just the past five years, Mississippi has seen more economic growth than in the entire 15 years before that combined. We’re on track to phase out the state income tax entirely, allowing families to keep more of what they earn. Mississippi has attracted a surge of new investment, and for the first time in years, our workforce participation rate is finally heading in the right direction. Zoom out, and the picture gets even better. Contrary to the endless gloom from the pundits, the American economy has consistently outperformed expectations for decades. Since the late 1990s, the US has delivered strong, steady growth that few forecasters saw coming. But there is one dark cloud on all our horizons that we cannot forever ignore: US national debt.” (11/16/25)
https://fee.org/articles/those-dark-clouds-are-the-debt/
-----
47) A Manifesto for Liberal Trans Activism
Source: Persuasion
by Jamie Paul
“By virtually any measure, trans activism has failed in the United States. It has proven itself a decisively losing electoral issue, been repudiated by the Supreme Court, lost the culture war, alienated a majority of society, and caused public opinion to turn against trans people. Trans activism ignited a trans backlash — one whose flames now threaten to consume LGBT rights more broadly. As a result, many political moderates are now quietly backing away from trans issues. Nobody wants to be burned again. But trans activism was only a losing issue because it was pursued by extremist bullies within the framework of a radical and authoritarian far-left ideology.” (11/16/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/a-manifesto-for-liberal-trans-activism
-----
48) Cheney Died the Only Dick Who Deserved Donald Trump
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“Well, Satan died last week, or at least so I’m told. Speaking personally, I won’t sleep easier until I see a body because that neocon fossil should have died centuries ago. I can’t help but to feel like the final girl in some cheesy 80s slasher flick, waiting for one last jump-scare after the killer was shot 84 times, set on fire and dropped from a skyscraper. Dick Cheney was the killer, literally and figuratively, and I’ll believe that monster has finally left us when I see his open casket lowered into an active volcano.” (11/16/25)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2025/11/cheney-died-only-dick-who-deserved.html
-----
49) The Overshoot Presidency and the State of Climate Politics
Source: In These Times
by Alberto Toscano
“Ahead of this November’s Cop30 climate summit, to be held in Belém, Brazil — the gateway to the Amazon River — United Nations Secretary General António Guterres delivered a stark statement: ‘Let’s recognize our failure. The truth is that we have failed to avoid an overshooting above 1.5 degrees [Celsius] in the next few years. And that going above 1.5 degrees has devastating consequences.’ Guterres’s remarks came just as Hurricane Melissa was making landfall in Jamaica as one of the most powerful Atlantic basin storms in recorded history. And it came after a year of other grim milestones: the devastating wildfires that struck Los Angeles in January and Canada in May, lethal flash floods from Argentina to Texas and heatwaves in India and Pakistan that brought temperatures up to 49 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit), leading to crop failures.” (11/17/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/climate-change-cop30-the-long-heat-book-interview-fossil-fuels
-----
50) Ignorance and Freedom Cannot Coexist
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin
“Thomas Jefferson understood what most people ignore today: Freedom demands a price: knowledge. Tyrants across history have weaponized ignorance for one reason: educated people argue. Ignorant people obey. They play whack-a-mole with control: When one tactic fails, they switch to another. Ban knowledge, then deceive, then outright lie. That pattern leaves us with one choice today.” (11/16/25)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2025/11/16/ignorance-and-freedom-cannot-coexist/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 11/17/25
Source: Reason
"How the Epstein Files Turned MAGA Against Trump." (11/17/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/11/17/how-the-epstein-files-turned-maga-against-trump/
-----
52) Conflicts of Interest, episode 854
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Who Is the Superpower?” (11/17/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-854-who-is-the-superpower
-----
53) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 11/17/25
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“How Is This Possible? US Debt ROSE By $620 Billion … During The Shutdown!” (11/17/25)
https://rumble.com/v71u534-how-is-this-possible-us-debt-rose-by-620-billion…during-the-shutdown.html
-----
54) Rising, 11/17/25
Source: The Hill
“Robby gives his radar on Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene drawing fiery comments from President Trump, who labeled her a ‘traitor’ for her recent criticisms of his administration.” (11/17/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5608900-rising-november-17-2025/
-----
55) EconTalk, 11/17/25
Source: EconTalk
“The Wonder of the Emergent Mind (with Gaurav Suri).” (11/17/25)
https://www.econtalk.org/the-wonder-of-the-emergent-mind-with-gaurav-suri/
-----
56) Fountainhead Forum, episode 390
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Doug Bandow on the life and career of Dick Cheney.” (11/17/25)
https://rumble.com/v71tkf2-ff-390-doug-bandow-on-the-life-and-career-of-dick-cheney.html?
-----
57) The Dispatch Podcast, 11/17/25
Source: The Dispatch
“Will AI Destroy Humanity? | Interview: Andy Mills.” (11/17/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/dispatch-podcast/will-ai-destroy-humanity-interview-andy-mills/
-----
58) The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 11/17/25
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Explodes in Angriest Epstein Tirade Yet as Allies Visibly Panic.” (11/17/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/203262/trump-explodes-angriest-epstein-tirade-yet-allies-visibly-panic
-----
59) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 11/17/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Airstrikes Pound Somalia, Civilians Reported Killed, Trump Suggests Talks With Maduro, and More.” (11/17/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok-OVdMGxOk
-----
60) Trump Watch, 11/16/25
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Will Trump and the Pentagon Attack Venezuela?” (11/16/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM2xTyqW9YA
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FND is published every weekday except on holidays. Forward freely.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
http://groups.google.com/group/freedom-news-daily
Support the Liberty International (tax deductible)
https://liberty-intl.org/join-the-movement/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages