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04/09 -- Trump's giant tax hikes on Americans take effect; The Reason of Rules: Uncertainty is the Growth Killer
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Thomas L. Knapp
Apr 9, 2025, 6:30:19 AMApr 9
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 04/09/25
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Presented by the Liberty International
https://liberty-intl.org/
Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Trump’s giant tax hikes on Americans take effect
2) Israel: High Court Suspends Netanyahu’s Firing of Intelligence Chief
3) Acting IRS gang shot-caller to resign over requirement to share information with DHS gang
4) Turkey: Butthurt pol files criminal complaint over “insult”
5) Mexico: Sheinbaum rejects unilateral US military action after report US regime is weighing strikes
6) Belgian PM Pledges €1 Billion New Aid Package in 2025 to Ukraine
7) SCOTUS blocks order requiring Trump regime to reinstate thousands of federal workfare clients
8) NH: Republicans Dealt Blow in Key Senate Race as Sununu Declines to Run
9) CT: Woman gets 12 years in prison for shooting up gang lair
10) Cambodia hit with highest Trump tariff but manufacturing “absolutely not” coming back to US, trade group says
11) Ethiopia: Abiy Appoints New Leader of Tigray Regime
12) Titanic scan reveals ground-breaking details of ship’s final hours
13) TX: Venue cancels Liberal Party event, allegedly over immigration freedom elements
14) South Sudan: Regime rescinds its decision to deny a deportee entry after US revokes visas
15) North Korean soldiers cross tense DMZ border, South Korea fires warning shots
16) Trump, Hegseth promise record $1 trillion Pentagon budget
17) Ukraine: Regime claims capture of two Chinese nationals fighting for Russia
18) Soyuz spacecraft with US-Russian crew lands on ISS
19) Guatemala: Altar found in jungle evidence of mingling of Mayan & Teotihuacan cultures
20) MI: Homeowner shoots, injures intruder
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) The Reason of Rules: Uncertainty is the Growth Killer
22) Waiting for the Fever to Break
23) MAGA Maoism is spreading through the populist right
24) The Zone Is Flooded. Buy Hip Waders.
25) Treating People Like Horse Dung
26) Leaderless and losing: Why Democrats are imploding from within
27) Yes, Elon Musk’s Vote-Buying Is Against the Law
28) X Marks the Censor
29) Israel’s Innocent Oopsie-Poopsie Medical Massacre Mistake
30) Trump’s Trade Contradictions Come Home to Roost
31) President Bankrupt, and a Country (and World) Coming Apart at the Seams
32) Reagan Knew the Art of the Trade Deal Better
33) Exterminator Netanyahu Comes to Washington Again, Begging for More Bombs
34) Trump’s Tariffs Are Economic Folly, Top to Bottom
35) Authoritarianism Without Ideology
36) Sacred Cinema, part 2: Robes, Swords, and Sandals
37) Why the Trump Alien Enemies Act win at SCOTUS makes America safe again
38) How Trump’s Tariffs are Driving the World Toward Economic Chaos
39) Why Trump probably can’t pull off a “reverse Nixon”
40) “Abundance” Does Not Offer a Viable Electoral Strategy
41) We Never Had Free Trade
42) Our Treasury Secretary Is an Economic Illiterate
43) Liberation or Obliteration?
44) Nondelegation: The Constitutional Principle Almost Everyone Ignores
45) The Israel-Iran War is closer to its end than its beginning
46) The Cost of Politicians and Bureaucrats Doing Business as Usual
47) Why is cheap domestic gas a bad policy choice?
48) Medicare: We Were Warned
49) Unions as a 21st Century Anti-Fascist Force
50) They’re Using a Teen’s Death to Divide the Nation — And It’s Working
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Trump Watch, 04/08/25
52) Politics Politics Politics, 04/08/25
53) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 04/08/25
54) Kinsella On Liberty, episode 458
55) Law & Liberty Podcast, 04/08/25
56) Advisory Opinions, 04/08/25
57) SolutionsWatch, 04/08/25
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/08/25
59) Nonzero, 04/07/25
60) Fountainhead Forum, episode 293
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Trump’s giant tax hikes on Americans take effect
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Donald Trump’s higher tariffs on [American buyers of goods from] 60 countries which he deems the ‘worst offenders,’ including 104% duties on [American buyers of goods from] China, have come into effect. … Several US-based global brands such as Nike and Apple, which manufacture their goods outside the US, have suffered steep falls in their share prices over the last few days — and are expected to be impacted further by the reciprocal tariffs. … many US consumers fear rising prices on everyday goods such clothes and food, with some people stockpiling while they can.” (04/09/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cp8vyy35g3mt?page=2
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2) Israel: High Court Suspends Netanyahu’s Firing of Intelligence Chief
Source: Bloomberg
“Israel’s Supreme Court told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he couldn’t dismiss Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet intelligence agency, until further notice. The decision Tuesday came at the end of a heated 10-hour court hearing debating multiple petitions against Bar’s firing that were submitted on grounds of improper procedure and conflict of interest on the part of Netanyahu. The Shin Bet has been investigating ties between his close aides and Qatar. The Israeli premier’s cabinet voted unanimously to fire Bar several weeks ago, saying that he had a ‘misunderstanding of the subordination of the service and its head to the political echelon.’ Netanyahu and the Shin Bet chief have quarreled over responsibility for the failure to prevent the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that triggered the war in Gaza, and the subsequent handling of hostage negotiations.” (04/08/25)
https://archive.is/vX3ZS
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3) Acting IRS gang shot-caller to resign over requirement to share information with DHS gang
Source: United Press International
“Acting Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Melanie Krause told her staff Tuesday that she plans to resign, according to two administration officials, citing internal turmoil and the agency’s new immigrant data-sharing deal. Krause’s resignation announcement comes one day after the IRS reached a data-sharing agreement with Homeland Security to locate undocumented immigrants in the United States, the two officials told CNN, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem agreed to allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to submit the names of immigrants to the IRS for cross-verification of tax records.” (04/08/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/04/08/acting-irs-commissioner-Melanie-Krause-resign/7151744165864/
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4) Turkey: Butthurt pol files criminal complaint over “insult”
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has filed a criminal complaint alleging he was insulted by the main opposition party chief, who has argued the nation is run by a ‘junta,’ the Turkish leader’s lawyer said on Tuesday. ‘A criminal complaint was filed to the general prosecutor’s office in Ankara for insulting the president’ targeting Ozgur Ozel, head of the CHP opposition party, Erdogan’s lawyer Huseyin Aydin said. At a CHP meeting on Sunday, Ozel said that ‘Turkey is governed by a junta that is afraid of elections, afraid of its opponents and afraid of the nation.'” (04/08/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20250408-turkey-s-erdogan-files-criminal-complaint-against-opposition-leader-over-insult
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5) Mexico: Sheinbaum rejects unilateral US military action after report US regime is weighing strikes
Source: Reuters
“Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that her nation would categorically reject any unilateral U.S. military in Mexico and that such military action ‘would not resolve anything.’ Sheinbaum’s comments during her regular morning press conference came in response to questions about an NBC News report that President Donald Trump’s administration is considering drone strikes on drug cartels in Mexico to combat trafficking across the shared border. ‘The people of Mexico will not, under any circumstances, accept intervention, interference, or any other act from abroad,’ Sheinbaum said.” (04/08/25)
https://archive.is/LFzz7
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6) Belgian PM Pledges €1 Billion New Aid Package in 2025 to Ukraine
Source: US News & World Report
“Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said on Tuesday his government had decided to grant Ukraine a new bilateral aid package of one billion euros ($1.10 billion) in 2025, adding that he had the ambition to deliver the war-torn country at least that same amount every year during his term. During a press conference in Kyiv alongside Ukrainian President Volodmymyr Zelenskiy, he also said Belgium would make good on its pledge to deliver all the fighter planes that it had promised Ukraine.” (04/08/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-04-08/belgian-pm-pledges-1-billion-new-aid-package-in-2025-to-ukraine
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7) SCOTUS blocks order requiring Trump regime to reinstate thousands of federal workfare clients
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked an order for the Trump administration to return to work thousands of federal employees who were let go in mass firings aimed at dramatically downsizing the federal government. The justices acted in the administration’s emergency appeal of a ruling by a federal judge in California ordering that 16,000 probationary employees be reinstated while a lawsuit plays out because their firings didn’t follow federal law. The effect of the high court’s order will keep employees in six federal agencies on paid administrative leave for now. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson said they would have kept the judge’s order in place. A second lawsuit, filed in Maryland, also resulted in an order blocking the firings at those same six agencies, plus roughly a dozen more.” (04/08/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/04/08/trump-mass-firings-supreme-court/
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8) NH: Republicans Dealt Blow in Key Senate Race as Sununu Declines to Run
Source: Newsweek
“Former New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu said he is not running for Senate in the Granite State, dealing a blow to Republicans who viewed him as their best bet to flip the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen. … While the race remains more than a year away, limited polling of the state suggested Sununu would have been a stronger nominee than other prospective GOP candidates in what already may be a difficult year for Republicans, as the party of the president in power typically loses seats in the midterms. Sununu confirmed his decision not to run in comments to local televison news station WMUR.” (04/08/25)
https://www.newsweek.com/chris-sununu-declines-run-new-hampshire-senate-2056961
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9) CT: Woman gets 12 years in prison for shooting up gang lair
Source: SFGate
“A Connecticut woman was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison for firing a gun several times in the lobby of a police department, where an officer fired back but bulletproof glass prevented anyone from getting hurt. Suzanne Laprise walked into the Bristol police department in October 2023 distraught, under the influence of alcohol and carrying a 9 mm pistol, police said. She fired three shots at the windows of the front desk and two more at an interior door, which officers were standing behind as they tried to talk with her. An officer fired two shots at Laprise from behind the door, but its glass windows also were bulletproof …. Laprise … appeared briefly in New Britain Superior Court on Tuesday, when a judge imposed the prison sentence she agreed to when she pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree assault in February. She was initially charged with attempted murder and other crimes.” (04/08/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/woman-gets-12-years-in-prison-for-shooting-up-20265396.php
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10) Cambodia hit with highest Trump tariff but manufacturing “absolutely not” coming back to US, trade group says
Source: CNBC
“While the 49% tariff rate that the Trump administration is placing on Cambodian goods will lead to an existential crisis for Cambodian factories and workers already at the low end of global income distribution, reshoring of its manufacturing to the U.S. is not going to happen, according to a trade group that represents U.S. interests in the retail manufacturing hub. ‘They’re absolutely not going to go back to the United States,’ said Casey Barnett, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia, the trade association representing U.S. companies manufacturing in Cambodia. ‘I can’t imagine that Americans want to sit down and sew a pair of sweatpants for long hours of the day,’ Barnett said. Barnett said manufacturers in Cambodia are looking at other countries to mitigate the tariffs, but the U.S. is not among the options.” (04/08/25)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/08/trump-tariffs-cambodia-manufacturing-reshoring-us.html
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11) Ethiopia: Abiy Appoints New Leader of Tigray Regime
Source: US News & World Report
“Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Tuesday appointed Tadesse Worede to lead the interim administration in the northern Tigray region, where divisions in the ruling party have sparked fears of a renewed war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Tadesse, the administration’s deputy president for the last two years, was a top commander in the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) during the 2020-2022 war with Ethiopia’s federal government, which killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions from their homes. Eritrean forces fought in support of Ethiopia’s federal army during that conflict, but relations between the longtime rivals have since soured over an agreement ending the conflict signed in November 2022.” (04/08/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-04-08/ethiopias-pm-abiy-appoints-new-leader-of-tigray-administration
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12) Titanic scan reveals ground-breaking details of ship’s final hours
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A detailed analysis of a full-sized digital scan of the Titanic has revealed new insight into the doomed liner’s final hours. The exact 3D replica shows the violence of how the ship ripped in two as it sank after hitting an iceberg in 1912; 1,500 people lost their lives in the disaster. The scan provides a new view of a boiler room, confirming eye-witness accounts that engineers worked right to the end to keep the ship’s lights on. And a computer simulation also suggests that punctures in the hull the size of A4 pieces of paper led to the ship’s demise. ‘Titanic is the last surviving eyewitness to the disaster, and she still has stories to tell,’ said Parks Stephenson, a Titanic analyst. The scan has been studied for a new documentary by National Geographic and Atlantic Productions called ‘Titanic: The Digital Resurrection.'” (04/08/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy6gjwd0g6o
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13) TX: Venue cancels Liberal Party event, allegedly over immigration freedom elements
Source: Independent Political Report
“A political summit and rally planned for Memorial Day weekend in Houston was canceled by the venue due to the involvement of pro-immigration organizations, according to a recent press release from the Liberal Party USA, which organized the event. Originally announced by the party in January as the ‘New Frontier Summit’ before being rebranded to include ‘Resist the Regime,’ the event was scheduled for four days beginning on Saturday, May 24, at the Houston Airport Marriott. It was intended as a strategy seminar featuring nonpartisan advocacy training and panel discussions on topics such as immigration enforcement, gay and transgender rights, criminal justice reform, and free speech. A public rally focused on immigration policy and deportations was also later added. The party claims in the release that the hotel canceled the summit on Friday, April 4, after it confirmed that ‘pro-immigration organization partners and advocates’ were invited.” (04/07/25)
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2025/04/liberal-party-usa-resist-the-regime-summit-canceled-by-venue/
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14) South Sudan: Regime rescinds its decision to deny a deportee entry after US revokes visas
Source: SFGate
“South Sudanese officials said Tuesday that they will allow a foreign national entry into the country after their initial refusal to do so prompted the United States to revoke the visas of all its citizens. Congolese national Makula Kintu will be accepted into the country ‘in the spirit of maintaining friendly relations’ between South Sudan and the U.S., said foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Apuk Ayuel Mayen. Last Friday, officials refused entry to Kintu, who had been deported from the United States, saying he illegally used the travel documents of a South Sudanese national, Nimeri Garang. The following day, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the U.S. would revoke all visas for South Sudanese citizens because the country had failed to accept the return of its citizens deported from the United States ‘in a timely manner.'” (04/08/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/south-sudan-rescinds-its-decision-to-deny-a-20265394.php
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15) North Korean soldiers cross tense DMZ border, South Korea fires warning shots
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“South Korea’s military said on Tuesday that it had fired warning shots after North Korean soldiers violated the military demarcation line before returning. ‘Our military conducted warning broadcasts and warning shots after about 10 North Korean soldiers crossed the military demarcation line (MDL) in the eastern area of the demilitarised zone (DMZ) around 5.00pm local time,’ the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a text message to reporters. ‘Our military is closely monitoring the North Korean military’s activity and taking necessary measures according to the operational procedures,’ JCS said. Some of the North Korean soldiers were armed, according to the South Korean military.” (04/08/25)
https://archive.is/EoS5h
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16) Trump, Hegseth promise record $1 trillion Pentagon budget
Source: Politico
“President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pledged a first ever $1 trillion defense budget proposal on Monday, a record sum for the military. Trump, during a press event with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the upcoming budget would be ‘in the vicinity’ of $1 trillion. Hegseth went further in an X post on Monday evening, saying Trump ‘is rebuilding our military — and FAST.’ ‘COMING SOON: the first TRILLION dollar @DeptofDefense budget,’ Hegseth posted from his personal account. ‘(PS: we intend to spend every taxpayer dollar wisely — on lethality and readiness).'” (04/07/25)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/07/hegseth-trump-1-trillion-defense-budget-00007147
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17) Ukraine: Regime claims capture of two Chinese nationals fighting for Russia
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Ukrainian forces have captured two Chinese nationals who were fighting for the Russian army in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. The Ukrainian president said intelligence suggested the number of Chinese soldiers in Russia’s army is ‘much higher than two.’ Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Chinese troops fighting on Ukrainian territory ‘puts into question China’s declared stance for peace’ and added that their envoy in Kyiv has been summoned for an explanation. It marks the first official allegation that China is supplying Russia with manpower for its war in Ukraine. There has been no immediate response to the claims from Moscow or Beijing.” (04/08/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2vg1x7g32o
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18) Soyuz spacecraft with US-Russian crew lands on ISS
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“A Soyuz spacecraft carrying an American and two Russians docked at the International Space Station Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos said on Tuesday. The MS-27 craft, which was decorated to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, took off at 10:47 am (0547 GMT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, according to televised images shown by the Russian Roscosmos space agency. It entered orbit a few minutes later. Onboard were Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, as well as NASA astronaut Jonny Kim.” (04/08/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/technology/20250408-soyuz-spacecraft-launches-for-iss-with-us-russian-crew
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19) Guatemala: Altar found in jungle evidence of mingling of Mayan & Teotihuacan cultures
Source: SFGate
“An altar from the Teotihuacan culture, at the pre-Hispanic heart of what became Mexico, was discovered in Tikal National Park in Guatemala, the center of Mayan culture, demonstrating the interaction between the two societies, Guatemala’s Culture and Sports Ministry announced Monday. The enormous city-state of Tikal, whose towering temples still stand in the jungle, battled for centuries with the Kaanul dynasty for dominance of the Maya world. Far to the north in Mexico, just outside present day Mexico City, Teotihuacan (‘the city of the gods’ or ‘the place where men become gods’) is best known for its twin Temples of the Sun and Moon. It was actually a large city that housed over 100,000 inhabitants and covered around 8 square miles (20 square kilometers). The still mysterious city was one of the largest in the world at its peak between 100 B.C. and A.D. 750.” (04/07/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/altar-found-in-guatemalan-jungle-evidence-of-20263949.php
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20) MI: Homeowner shoots, injures intruder
Source: Yahoo! News
“Jackson police arrested a 40-year-old homeowner after they say he shot and injured a man in his home who was not supposed to be there. … Police tell 6 News they believe the man is a 47-year-old homeless person who had earlier broken into the home through a basement window. Police say the injured man told them he thought the home was vacant and was confronted by the homeowner as he was walking up the stairs from the basement. … 6 News has confirmed the homeowner has since been released from custody.” (04/07/25)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/shooting-jackson-leads-person-injured-130632545.html
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) The Reason of Rules: Uncertainty is the Growth Killer
Source: EconLog
by Jon Murphy
“[T]he reason for rules is to prevent arbitrary behavior. Even when there may be cases where the rules hinder some desired outcome, where the temptation to break rules is highest, rules should be followed. Once the rules are broken, once arbitrary behavior becomes the norm, it makes planning extraordinarily difficult and ends up undermining the goals of the actions. … we are seeing exactly this now with Donald Trump’s arbitrary tariff ‘policy’ (‘policy’ is in quotes here because, since there is no consistency, it’s hard to call it policy by any reasonable sense of the word). Trump’s decrees on tariffs change day to day, sometimes even hour to hour. It’s quite impossible to predict what’s going to happen as there is no rhyme nor reason to these changes.” (04/08/25)
https://www.econlib.org/the-reason-of-rules-uncertainty-is-the-growth-killer/
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22) Waiting for the Fever to Break
Source: Virginia’s Newsletter
by Virginia Postrel
“As Donald Trump disrupts international trade, sends suspected gangsters to indeterminate imprisonment in a Salvadoran hellhole without due process, wages war on the right to counsel, abandons American allies, and throws Ukraine under the bus — as Donald Trump does, in other words, pretty much what he promised — I haven’t written anything about this mess beyond retweeting the work of more energetic writers. Trump wants to make the United States a Peronist nation and a whole lot of people voted enthusiastically to go along with his mad ideas. Having watched friends and former allies enthusiastically embrace Trumpism, I feel like the loved ones of a smallpox victim after vaccination but before effective treatment. Yes, the illness might have been prevented. But now that it’s here, all we can do is let it run its course and hope the patient survives without too many scars.” (04/08/25)
https://vpostrel.substack.com/p/waiting-for-the-fever-to-break
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23) MAGA Maoism is spreading through the populist right
Source: Washington Post
by Rotimi Adeoye
“Recently, a viral meme in MAGA circles captured the moment, featuring a cartoon Trump addressing a faceless American: ‘Your great grandfather worked the mines, your grandfather worked in a steel plant, and you thought you could be a ‘product manager’ ???’ It’s a joke, but it’s also a worldview — one where white-collar ambition is seen not as a step forward, but as a fall into decadence. The meme doesn’t just mock digital work; it exalts physical labor as the only authentic form of contribution.
What we’re seeing is a kind of MAGA Maoism, remixed for the algorithm age. Like the Chinese Cultural Revolution, it glorifies physical labor as moral purification, only now the purification is from the supposed ‘wokeness’ of desk work, filtered through TikTok, X and Twitch. It’s not about creating jobs. It’s about creating vibes: strong men doing hard things, reshared until they become ideology.” (04/08/25)
https://archive.is/6uwl6
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24) The Zone Is Flooded. Buy Hip Waders.
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“‘The real opposition is the media,’ Donald Trump confidant Steve Bannon told Michael Lewis in 2018, ‘and the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with sh*t.’ … The zone is flooded. I’m always at least knee deep in Dr. Bannon’s prescription-strength fecal matter and flinging a little of it at you doesn’t seem likely to leave you better informed than you were. Many of MAGA’s supposed opponents say this situation is about ‘democracy,’ but it isn’t. It’s about reality, and about our ability to clearly discern that reality and act accordingly.” (04/08/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/19492
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25) Treating People Like Horse Dung
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“One of the things that fascinates me about Americans living today is the willingness of many of them to treat immigrants like horse dung. I just don’t get it. No, I’m not saying that they treat people like that directly. I’m saying that they support and even get excited about how the U.S. government treats immigrants like horse dung. … Many Americans are outright giddy over what is happening. They think it’s fantastic that people who have never been convicted of a crime are being subjected to this type of horrific mistreatment.” (04/08/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/04/08/treating-people-like-horse-dung/
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26) Leaderless and losing: Why Democrats are imploding from within
Source: Washington Times
by Newt Gingrich
“The Democrats face a real dilemma that may cripple their ability to be competitive in upcoming elections. Real cracks are forming within the party’s coalition. The Democratic base and left wing were furious at Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer when he dared to allow the recent continuing resolution to go through to avoid a government shutdown. Mr. Schumer is in what I would consider the survivalist wing. The survivalists accept that hard-left policies and past performance failures have put the Democrats in a vulnerable position. The survivalist wing understands that the party’s 29% national favorability represents a real danger (it is almost comparable to the Republican collapse after Watergate in the 1970s). As California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently said, ‘The Democratic brand is toxic.'” (04/07/25)
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/apr/7/leaderless-losing-democrats-imploding-within/
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27) Yes, Elon Musk’s Vote-Buying Is Against the Law
Source: The Bulwark
by Andy Craig
“In the bad old days of corrupt party machines — think Tammany Hall and the like — voter bribery was rampant. It took a variety of forms — most famously patronage, handing out public-service jobs controlled by the party bosses. But sometimes it was as simple and direct as literally handing people cash for showing up at the polls and casting a ballot. … Today, voter bribery is a crime. It’s illegal to pay people for their participation in an election, plain and simple. Despite this, Elon Musk has been flagrantly bribing voters, both in last year’s presidential election and most recently in the high-profile election for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.” (04/08/25)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/yes-elon-musk-vote-buying-is-against-law-federal-wisconsin
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28) X Marks the Censor
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“The European Union’s censors are outraged that Elon Musk’s social media platform, Twitter‑X, flouts their demands to gag users. So they’re gearing up to fine X more than a billion dollars. The EU will also be demanding ‘product changes.’ … All this is rationalized by a new EU law to compel social media platforms to police users. One would be hard put to find a clearer case of governmental censorship-by-delegation. It’s not even taking place behind closed doors, as was the case regarding the U.S. Government and Twitter before Mr. Musk bought the platform. These European censors brag about it.” (04/08/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/04/08/x-marks-the-censor/
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29) Israel’s Innocent Oopsie-Poopsie Medical Massacre Mistake
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The Israeli military has changed its story about why its forces killed 15 medical workers and then buried them and their vehicles to hide the evidence. After their initial claim that the medical vehicles were approaching ‘suspiciously’ without their emergency lights on was disproven by video evidence, they are now calling the whole thing a big mistake. Sure, who among us has not accidentally massacred 15 medical workers and buried them and their vehicles in a shallow grave from time to time? We’re only human, mistakes happen. Asked by the press about Israel’s latest war crime scandal, White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes blamed the whole thing on Hamas, saying, ‘Hamas uses ambulances and more broadly human shields for terrorism. President Trump understands the impossible situation this tactic creates for Israel and holds Hamas entirely responsible.'” (04/08/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/04/08/israels-innocent-oopsie-poopsie-medical-massacre-mistake/
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30) Trump’s Trade Contradictions Come Home to Roost
Source: Foreign Policy
by Peter Coy
“U.S. President Donald Trump has long been of two minds about the dollar. He has said he wants it weaker to make American products cheaper in global markets, but he has also said he wants it strong so it remains the world’s dominant reserve currency. … Trump is getting the weakness he wants. The dollar has fallen 5 percent against other major currencies since his inauguration in January. But the strength he promised is nowhere to be seen. Last year, one of Trump’s key advisors, Stephen Miran, imagined a so-called Mar-a-Lago Accord in which the United States would essentially require its trading partners to help bring down the dollar’s value. That would have been, the theory goes, engineering a devaluation from a position of strength. Instead, the dollar is falling because of perceptions of American weakness.” (04/08/25)
https://archive.is/VJ43B
-----
31) President Bankrupt, and a Country (and World) Coming Apart at the Seams
Source: TomDispatch
by Tom Engelhardt
“From childhood, I think I had some eerie sense of just how bad it could get in America. After all, in junior high and high school, I was riveted by this country’s Civil War. Among all my toy soldiers — cowboys and Indians, British marching troops in red jackets, and plastic Army-green World War II soldiers (from my father’s war) — and those Landmark Books on American history that I piled up on my floor to create hills and valleys where I could play out the cowboy and Indian ambushes and battles I had seen at local movie theaters, my favorites were always the blue and grey lead soldiers of the Union and Confederacy, including Commanding General Ulysses S. Grant on a horse.” (04/08/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/president-bankrupt/
-----
32) Reagan Knew the Art of the Trade Deal Better
Source: The Daily Economy
by David Hebert & Marcus M Witcher
“For all the prosperity that expanded trade had brought the US, the Reagan campaign did demand that ‘free trade must be fair trade.’ Much like today’s administration, they condemned other nations that were imposing ‘barriers to our exports and unfairly [subsidizing] their own industries.’ Similarly, the Reagan campaign insisted that they would ‘work to prevent such unfair trade practices.’ Unlike the current administration, however, they insisted that the answer was entrepreneurship, lower taxes, and deregulation, not protectionism.” (04/08/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/reagan-knew-the-art-of-the-trade-deal/
-----
33) Exterminator Netanyahu Comes to Washington Again, Begging for More Bombs
Source: Common Dreams
by Ann Wright
“The chief of the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, Exterminator-in-Chief Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, jumped on his plane and jetted from one International Criminal Court denier (authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán of Hungary) to another in Washington, D.C.: U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump is the second U.S. president to give Netanyahu the green light for the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Biden was guilty of 17 months of complicity in the Israeli genocide of Gaza, while Trump is 2.5 months and counting. Trump and Netanyahu are two peas in a nasty pod. No doubt, Trump issued his sudden invitation to Netanyahu to visit him in Washington as a morale booster to the war criminal facing International Criminal Court arrest warrants abroad and court proceedings on corruption charges when he returns to Israel.” (04/08/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/netanyahu-washington-bombs
-----
34) Trump’s Tariffs Are Economic Folly, Top to Bottom
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“The current direction of U.S. trade policy marks a dramatic departure from over two centuries of debate, experimentation, and eventual liberalization. As shown in the chart below, U.S. average tariff rates were historically high throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, peaking during periods like the Tariff of Abominations (1828), the Morrill Tariff (1861), and the Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1930). Since the mid-twentieth century, however, trade liberalization has steadily brought these rates down. Does anyone actually believe that the lives of Americans since World War II have been in some sort of material decline due to increasing global trade? All the evidence says the exact opposite.” (04/08/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/trumps-tariffs-are-economic-folly-top-to-bottom
-----
35) Authoritarianism Without Ideology
Source: Persuasion
by Matt Johnson
“Like other transactional authoritarian leaders, Trump doesn’t believe the United States’[s] relationships with other countries should be based on shared values or the maintenance of international institutions — he thinks those relationships should be conditional and impermanent like business agreements. This is why he says allies should treat the United States like an ‘insurance company.’ Trump’s recent scattershot tariffs are a perfect example of his transactionalism. Beyond the fact that these massive tariffs — the most significant attack on global trade in a century — ignore basic economic principles like comparative advantage, they also target the United States’[s] closest allies and partners.” (04/08/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/authoritarianism-without-ideology
-----
36) Sacred Cinema, part 2: Robes, Swords, and Sandals
Source: Chris Matthew Sciabarra
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
“The Robe was the first Biblical-themed film I’d ever seen. It transported me to a truly colorful world beyond my imagination. This 1953 adaptation of the Lloyd C. Douglas novel, directed by Henry Koster, starred Richard Burton as Tribune Marcellus Gallio; Jean Simmons as Marcellus’s childhood love, Diana; Victor Mature as the slave Demetrius; Michael Rennie as the disciple Peter; and Jay Robinson as the crazed Emperor Caligula. Aside from its spectacular sets and reverent storyline, the movie boasts a truly passionate and moving Alfred Newman score. Everything about this absorbing film enthralled me. … When it was finally released on DVD in October 2001, it was presented in its full widescreen CinemaScope aspect ratio. … Almost from the moment I hit ‘play’ on the DVD unit, I noticed differences. From the opening credits, something was very wrong.” (04/08/25)
https://medium.com/@cms10_7549/sacred-cinema-13a326fbdcbf
-----
37) Why the Trump Alien Enemies Act win at SCOTUS makes America safe again
Source: New York Post
by staff
“With the Supreme Court slapdown of the DC Circuit judges who’d blocked deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, Team Trump has won a significant legal victory in its effort to get killers and thugs out of America. This is a good first step, essential to restoring America’s national security — but also a nuanced call, not a trumpet alarum to bring in the jackboots. The Supremes seemingly took into account the fact that Judge James Boasberg lacked sufficient legal grounds for his initial blocking of the deport order. … It also emphasizes that illegal [sic] immigrants up for deportation under the AEA — i.e., members of Tren de Aragua and other large-scale criminal organizations — must get a (more than just) share of due process.” (04/08/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/04/08/opinion/why-trump-alien-enemies-act-win-will-make-america-safer/
-----
38) How Trump’s Tariffs are Driving the World Toward Economic Chaos
Source: CounterPunch
by Imran Khalid
“The given rationale behind Trump’s tariff policy is that if a country levies a 10 percent tariff on American goods, the United States should reciprocate. However, this approach reflects a fundamental misapprehension of the mechanics of international trade. American manufacturers are heavily reliant on imported components for assembling final products. By inflating the cost of these inputs through tariffs, the competitiveness of U.S.-made goods in global markets will be significantly undermined. Moreover, a substantial segment of the American workforce is employed in export-driven industries—from agriculture to automotive manufacturing—that thrive on open markets. A retaliatory trade policy would inevitably provoke foreign governments to impose counter-tariffs on American exports, directly jeopardizing these industries and their workers.” (04/08/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/04/08/how-trumps-tariffs-are-driving-the-world-toward-economic-chaos/
-----
39) Why Trump probably can’t pull off a “reverse Nixon”
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Lyle J Goldstein
“President Donald Trump’s unorthodox diplomacy has alarm bells ringing around the world, not least in Washington, D.C. While much of the inside-the-beltway elite is horrified at the prospect of America supposedly reorienting toward Russia, administration insiders have hinted at an ambitious plan to drive a wedge between Moscow and Beijing. They’ve raised the possibility of a so-called ‘Reverse Nixon’ maneuver aimed at fostering a global balance of power more favorable to America. But can it work?” (04/08/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-nixon-china/
-----
40) “Abundance” Does Not Offer a Viable Electoral Strategy
Source: Liberal Currents
by Isaiah Glick
“The Democratic Party is currently going through the usual rounds of soul-searching that follows a party’s defeat in an election, but this time it is more urgent than ever. … There is an opportunity for policy entrepreneurs to provide their solutions to the Democrats’ current woes. With their new book Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, attempt to provide their own contribution to this debate. However, regardless of whether their plan would benefit America if implemented, the political programme will probably alienate more voters than it will win, and presents no workable solution to breaking America’s political divisions and establishing a new political order to turn the page from Trumpism.” (04/08/25)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/abundance-does-not-offer-a-viable-electoral-strategy/
-----
41) We Never Had Free Trade
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“On April 2, as he imposed exorbitant tariffs that triggered a stock market collapse, Donald Trump said this: ‘For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike. American steelworkers, autoworkers, farmers, and skilled craftsmen—they really suffered gravely. They watched in anguish as foreign leaders have stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories, and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once beautiful American dream.’ Trump’s tariffs, which are more about indiscriminate bullying than trade policy, set off reams of simplistic commentary praising the glory days of free trade. Yet we would do well to remember our history, or we could end up cherishing the kind of corporate globalization whose backlash paved the way for Trump in the first place.” (04/08/25)
https://prospect.org/economy/2025-04-08-we-never-had-free-trade/
-----
42) Our Treasury Secretary Is an Economic Illiterate
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Changing the units of measure does not change the reality of the phenomenon being measured. If your employer starts paying you in Japanese yen tomorrow instead of U.S. dollars, the number on the paycheck will be about 146 times what it would have been otherwise. But you aren’t better off—you’re just measuring your income by a different metric. … You’d think that this would not need explaining to a man such as Scott Bessent, the hedge-fund guy who currently serves as Donald Trump’s treasury secretary — because, of course, Mr. ‘Real America’ hires his help from Soros Fund Management. But during a speech to the Economic Club of New York … Bessent declared: ‘Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream. … The American Dream is rooted in the concept that any citizen can achieve prosperity, upward mobility, and economic security.'” (04/08/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/bessent-american-dream-wages-prices-tariffs/
-----
43) Liberation or Obliteration?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ron Paul
“President Trump’s actions are setting off a global trade war that means US consumers will suffer from increased prices for many products both foreign and domestic. Manufacturing and other American businesses that rely on imported raw materials and other inputs from abroad will have to pay more for these inputs, assuming they are able to get them at all. US exporters will suffer from decreased demand for US products in overseas markets.” (04/08/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/paul/2025/04/07/liberation-or-obliteration/
-----
44) Nondelegation: The Constitutional Principle Almost Everyone Ignores
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin
“‘The very definition of tyranny.’ That’s how James Madison described the consolidation of legislative, executive, and judicial power in the same hands. This wasn’t just a warning. It’s one of the core principles underlying the Constitution: separation of powers. Each branch has its role, clearly defined in the Constitution. And when one branch tries to take on the role of another – such as ‘legislating from the bench’ – it’s not only bad policy; it’s unconstitutional. Just as dangerous – and just as unconstitutional – is when Congress hands its legislative power off to the executive branch. It’s not just ‘bad policy.’ It’s not ‘efficiency.’ It’s destroying the Constitution. Both scenarios don’t just set us on the path to tyranny – they are tyranny in action.” (04/07/25)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2025/04/07/nondelegation-the-constitutional-principle-almost-everyone-ignores/
-----
45) The Israel-Iran War is closer to its end than its beginning
Source: Fox News
by Hugh Hewitt
“America’s early and strong support for the Jewish State faltered as President Biden’s cognitive impairment grew worse and more obvious. We do not know whether the former president’s infirmity impacted his original, resolute support for Israel by allowing the anti-Israel wing of his party to ascend within the West Wing or to worry his campaign’s guiding hands into advising him that appeasement of Iran and its forces was necessary to win last fall. Thanks to the new book Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House by NBC’s Jonathan Allen and The Hill’s Amie Parnes, however, we now know for sure that the divide between the U.S. and the equal of any of its allies on the planet widened and deepened as the months went by.” (04/08/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/morning-glory-israel-iran-war-closer-its-end-than-its-beginning
-----
46) The Cost of Politicians and Bureaucrats Doing Business as Usual
Source: Independent Institute
by Craig Eyermann
“The CBO’s Long-Term Budget Outlook: 2025 to 2055 provides a thirty year window of alarming projections for the federal government’s deficits and debt. The most important thing to know about the CBO’s projections is they’re based on current law. They assume every tax cut with an expiration date expires. They assume there will never be new spending for anything we do not already know about today. They assume there will never be another recession that tanks revenues while blowing up spending. They assume Washington D.C.’s politicians and bureaucrats will be able to continue doing business exactly the way they have been. And they will continue doing business that way forever. This means the CBO’s projections are very much like a best-case scenario. But the long-term budget outlook is dismal even when viewed through the rosiest of rosy-colored glasses.” (04/07/25)
https://blog.independent.org/2025/04/07/the-cost-of-politicians-and-bureaucrats-doing-business-as-usual/
-----
47) Why is cheap domestic gas a bad policy choice?
Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Geoff Edwards
“Peter Dutton says his government would separate the domestic price of gas in eastern Australia from the export price. For efficient resource use for tradeables, whether meat, steel or gas, prices within Australia need to be driven by prices in world markets. That is fundamental to the liberal trading order long supported by Australia. Seeking to make the price of gas used in Australia independent of the price in international trade is a policy of distorting the gas market and the broader economy. Not efficient. Not liberal. Not smart.” (04/07/25)
https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2025/04/why-is-cheap-domestic-gas-bad-policy.html
-----
48) Medicare: We Were Warned
Source: EconLog
by Walter Donway
“In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law, transforming American healthcare. Today, those programs have become so much part of our national consciousness that imagining a world without them borders on the unthinkable. And yet, just seven decades ago, the United States had a medical and hospital care system that functioned well for most Americans largely without government. Was it a perfect system? No. But the question we should be asking is if the radical transformation that came with Medicare and Medicaid was ever an improvement or sustainable economically or systemically.” (04/07/25)
https://www.econlib.org/library/columns/y2025/donwaymedicare.html
-----
49) Unions as a 21st Century Anti-Fascist Force
Source: In These Times
by Bill Fletcher, Jr.
“One of the principal difficulties facing the Democratic Party establishment and most leaders of organized labor is a failure to accept a fundamental reality: there is no normality. The failure to grasp this state of affairs has led to strategic paralysis and a tendency to believe that by being ‘the adults in the room,’ the Democrats — or the trade union leadership — can embarrass the Republicans and force them to engage in good faith behavior. That is not the case. The rise of President Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement has represented the morphing of a broad, rightwing populist movement into a fascist movement that seeks to destroy constitutional democracy. The current purging of the federal government, through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), aims at both opening the doors to a kleptocracy as well as ensuring loyalty to the MAGA vision and its retrograde goals.” (04/08/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/unions-labor-trump-oligarchy-fascism
-----
50) They’re Using a Teen’s Death to Divide the Nation — And It’s Working
Source: Chasing Liberty
by Jeff Charles
“Just after I published a piece describing how the elites, government, and its opinion molders provoke division to help them amass more power and influence, we were given a prime example in the tragic killing of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf. The online reactions to this story provide a glaring example of how social media influencers use these stories to pit Americans against one another based on race.” (04/07/25)
https://www.libertychasers.com/p/theyre-using-a-teens-death-to-divide
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Trump Watch, 04/08/25
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Tariffs and Trade Wars Destroy Liberty.” (04/08/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHZuWKJD5oM
-----
52) Politics Politics Politics, 04/08/25
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Are The Trump Tariffs Real? Or A Negotiation Tactic? (with Big Jim and J.D. Durkin).” (04/08/25)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/are-the-trump-tariffs-real-or-a-negotiation
-----
53) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 04/08/25
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Rages Wildly at Tariff Blowback as GOPers Start Turning on Him.” (04/08/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/193708/unwell-trump-rages-many-targets-gop-starts-turning-tariffs
-----
54) Kinsella On Liberty, episode 458
Source: StephanKinsella.com
“Patent and Copyright versus Innovation, Competition, and Property Rights (APEE 2025).” (04/08/25)
https://stephankinsella.com/as_paf_podcast/kol458-patent-copyright-innovation-competition-property-apee-2025/
-----
55) Law & Liberty Podcast, 04/08/25
Source: Law & Liberty
“In the Rubble of Totalitarianism.” (04/08/25)
https://lawliberty.org/podcast/in-the-rubble-of-totalitarianism/
-----
56) Advisory Opinions, 04/08/25
Source: The Dispatch
“Justice Barrett’s RICO Revolution.” (04/08/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/justice-barretts-rico-revolution/
-----
57) SolutionsWatch, 04/08/25
Source: The Corbett Report
“Calling Things By Their Right Name.” (04/08/25)
https://corbettreport.com/calling-things-by-their-right-name/
-----
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/08/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump and Netanyahu Reaffirm Ethnic Cleansing Plan, Pentagon Will Get $1 Trillion Budget, and More.” (04/08/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8MrfMOdixQ
-----
59) Nonzero, 04/07/25
Source: Bloggingheads.tv
“The Psychopolitics of the Noosphere.” (04/07/25)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/68563
-----
60) Fountainhead Forum, episode 293
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Christian Heiens on why the world will collapse before the USA.” (04/07/25)
https://rumble.com/v6rsrx5-ff-293-christian-heiens-on-why-the-world-will-collapse-before-the-usa.html
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https://news.rationalreview.com/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Trump’s giant tax hikes on Americans take effect
2) Israel: High Court Suspends Netanyahu’s Firing of Intelligence Chief
3) Acting IRS gang shot-caller to resign over requirement to share information with DHS gang
4) Turkey: Butthurt pol files criminal complaint over “insult”
5) Mexico: Sheinbaum rejects unilateral US military action after report US regime is weighing strikes
6) Belgian PM Pledges €1 Billion New Aid Package in 2025 to Ukraine
7) SCOTUS blocks order requiring Trump regime to reinstate thousands of federal workfare clients
8) NH: Republicans Dealt Blow in Key Senate Race as Sununu Declines to Run
9) CT: Woman gets 12 years in prison for shooting up gang lair
10) Cambodia hit with highest Trump tariff but manufacturing “absolutely not” coming back to US, trade group says
11) Ethiopia: Abiy Appoints New Leader of Tigray Regime
12) Titanic scan reveals ground-breaking details of ship’s final hours
13) TX: Venue cancels Liberal Party event, allegedly over immigration freedom elements
14) South Sudan: Regime rescinds its decision to deny a deportee entry after US revokes visas
15) North Korean soldiers cross tense DMZ border, South Korea fires warning shots
16) Trump, Hegseth promise record $1 trillion Pentagon budget
17) Ukraine: Regime claims capture of two Chinese nationals fighting for Russia
18) Soyuz spacecraft with US-Russian crew lands on ISS
19) Guatemala: Altar found in jungle evidence of mingling of Mayan & Teotihuacan cultures
20) MI: Homeowner shoots, injures intruder
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) The Reason of Rules: Uncertainty is the Growth Killer
22) Waiting for the Fever to Break
23) MAGA Maoism is spreading through the populist right
24) The Zone Is Flooded. Buy Hip Waders.
25) Treating People Like Horse Dung
26) Leaderless and losing: Why Democrats are imploding from within
27) Yes, Elon Musk’s Vote-Buying Is Against the Law
28) X Marks the Censor
29) Israel’s Innocent Oopsie-Poopsie Medical Massacre Mistake
30) Trump’s Trade Contradictions Come Home to Roost
31) President Bankrupt, and a Country (and World) Coming Apart at the Seams
32) Reagan Knew the Art of the Trade Deal Better
33) Exterminator Netanyahu Comes to Washington Again, Begging for More Bombs
34) Trump’s Tariffs Are Economic Folly, Top to Bottom
35) Authoritarianism Without Ideology
36) Sacred Cinema, part 2: Robes, Swords, and Sandals
37) Why the Trump Alien Enemies Act win at SCOTUS makes America safe again
38) How Trump’s Tariffs are Driving the World Toward Economic Chaos
39) Why Trump probably can’t pull off a “reverse Nixon”
40) “Abundance” Does Not Offer a Viable Electoral Strategy
41) We Never Had Free Trade
42) Our Treasury Secretary Is an Economic Illiterate
43) Liberation or Obliteration?
44) Nondelegation: The Constitutional Principle Almost Everyone Ignores
45) The Israel-Iran War is closer to its end than its beginning
46) The Cost of Politicians and Bureaucrats Doing Business as Usual
47) Why is cheap domestic gas a bad policy choice?
48) Medicare: We Were Warned
49) Unions as a 21st Century Anti-Fascist Force
50) They’re Using a Teen’s Death to Divide the Nation — And It’s Working
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Trump Watch, 04/08/25
52) Politics Politics Politics, 04/08/25
53) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 04/08/25
54) Kinsella On Liberty, episode 458
55) Law & Liberty Podcast, 04/08/25
56) Advisory Opinions, 04/08/25
57) SolutionsWatch, 04/08/25
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/08/25
59) Nonzero, 04/07/25
60) Fountainhead Forum, episode 293
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Trump’s giant tax hikes on Americans take effect
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Donald Trump’s higher tariffs on [American buyers of goods from] 60 countries which he deems the ‘worst offenders,’ including 104% duties on [American buyers of goods from] China, have come into effect. … Several US-based global brands such as Nike and Apple, which manufacture their goods outside the US, have suffered steep falls in their share prices over the last few days — and are expected to be impacted further by the reciprocal tariffs. … many US consumers fear rising prices on everyday goods such clothes and food, with some people stockpiling while they can.” (04/09/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cp8vyy35g3mt?page=2
-----
2) Israel: High Court Suspends Netanyahu’s Firing of Intelligence Chief
Source: Bloomberg
“Israel’s Supreme Court told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he couldn’t dismiss Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet intelligence agency, until further notice. The decision Tuesday came at the end of a heated 10-hour court hearing debating multiple petitions against Bar’s firing that were submitted on grounds of improper procedure and conflict of interest on the part of Netanyahu. The Shin Bet has been investigating ties between his close aides and Qatar. The Israeli premier’s cabinet voted unanimously to fire Bar several weeks ago, saying that he had a ‘misunderstanding of the subordination of the service and its head to the political echelon.’ Netanyahu and the Shin Bet chief have quarreled over responsibility for the failure to prevent the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that triggered the war in Gaza, and the subsequent handling of hostage negotiations.” (04/08/25)
https://archive.is/vX3ZS
-----
3) Acting IRS gang shot-caller to resign over requirement to share information with DHS gang
Source: United Press International
“Acting Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Melanie Krause told her staff Tuesday that she plans to resign, according to two administration officials, citing internal turmoil and the agency’s new immigrant data-sharing deal. Krause’s resignation announcement comes one day after the IRS reached a data-sharing agreement with Homeland Security to locate undocumented immigrants in the United States, the two officials told CNN, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem agreed to allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to submit the names of immigrants to the IRS for cross-verification of tax records.” (04/08/25)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/04/08/acting-irs-commissioner-Melanie-Krause-resign/7151744165864/
-----
4) Turkey: Butthurt pol files criminal complaint over “insult”
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has filed a criminal complaint alleging he was insulted by the main opposition party chief, who has argued the nation is run by a ‘junta,’ the Turkish leader’s lawyer said on Tuesday. ‘A criminal complaint was filed to the general prosecutor’s office in Ankara for insulting the president’ targeting Ozgur Ozel, head of the CHP opposition party, Erdogan’s lawyer Huseyin Aydin said. At a CHP meeting on Sunday, Ozel said that ‘Turkey is governed by a junta that is afraid of elections, afraid of its opponents and afraid of the nation.'” (04/08/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20250408-turkey-s-erdogan-files-criminal-complaint-against-opposition-leader-over-insult
-----
5) Mexico: Sheinbaum rejects unilateral US military action after report US regime is weighing strikes
Source: Reuters
“Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that her nation would categorically reject any unilateral U.S. military in Mexico and that such military action ‘would not resolve anything.’ Sheinbaum’s comments during her regular morning press conference came in response to questions about an NBC News report that President Donald Trump’s administration is considering drone strikes on drug cartels in Mexico to combat trafficking across the shared border. ‘The people of Mexico will not, under any circumstances, accept intervention, interference, or any other act from abroad,’ Sheinbaum said.” (04/08/25)
https://archive.is/LFzz7
-----
6) Belgian PM Pledges €1 Billion New Aid Package in 2025 to Ukraine
Source: US News & World Report
“Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said on Tuesday his government had decided to grant Ukraine a new bilateral aid package of one billion euros ($1.10 billion) in 2025, adding that he had the ambition to deliver the war-torn country at least that same amount every year during his term. During a press conference in Kyiv alongside Ukrainian President Volodmymyr Zelenskiy, he also said Belgium would make good on its pledge to deliver all the fighter planes that it had promised Ukraine.” (04/08/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-04-08/belgian-pm-pledges-1-billion-new-aid-package-in-2025-to-ukraine
-----
7) SCOTUS blocks order requiring Trump regime to reinstate thousands of federal workfare clients
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked an order for the Trump administration to return to work thousands of federal employees who were let go in mass firings aimed at dramatically downsizing the federal government. The justices acted in the administration’s emergency appeal of a ruling by a federal judge in California ordering that 16,000 probationary employees be reinstated while a lawsuit plays out because their firings didn’t follow federal law. The effect of the high court’s order will keep employees in six federal agencies on paid administrative leave for now. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson said they would have kept the judge’s order in place. A second lawsuit, filed in Maryland, also resulted in an order blocking the firings at those same six agencies, plus roughly a dozen more.” (04/08/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/04/08/trump-mass-firings-supreme-court/
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8) NH: Republicans Dealt Blow in Key Senate Race as Sununu Declines to Run
Source: Newsweek
“Former New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu said he is not running for Senate in the Granite State, dealing a blow to Republicans who viewed him as their best bet to flip the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen. … While the race remains more than a year away, limited polling of the state suggested Sununu would have been a stronger nominee than other prospective GOP candidates in what already may be a difficult year for Republicans, as the party of the president in power typically loses seats in the midterms. Sununu confirmed his decision not to run in comments to local televison news station WMUR.” (04/08/25)
https://www.newsweek.com/chris-sununu-declines-run-new-hampshire-senate-2056961
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9) CT: Woman gets 12 years in prison for shooting up gang lair
Source: SFGate
“A Connecticut woman was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison for firing a gun several times in the lobby of a police department, where an officer fired back but bulletproof glass prevented anyone from getting hurt. Suzanne Laprise walked into the Bristol police department in October 2023 distraught, under the influence of alcohol and carrying a 9 mm pistol, police said. She fired three shots at the windows of the front desk and two more at an interior door, which officers were standing behind as they tried to talk with her. An officer fired two shots at Laprise from behind the door, but its glass windows also were bulletproof …. Laprise … appeared briefly in New Britain Superior Court on Tuesday, when a judge imposed the prison sentence she agreed to when she pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree assault in February. She was initially charged with attempted murder and other crimes.” (04/08/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/woman-gets-12-years-in-prison-for-shooting-up-20265396.php
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10) Cambodia hit with highest Trump tariff but manufacturing “absolutely not” coming back to US, trade group says
Source: CNBC
“While the 49% tariff rate that the Trump administration is placing on Cambodian goods will lead to an existential crisis for Cambodian factories and workers already at the low end of global income distribution, reshoring of its manufacturing to the U.S. is not going to happen, according to a trade group that represents U.S. interests in the retail manufacturing hub. ‘They’re absolutely not going to go back to the United States,’ said Casey Barnett, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia, the trade association representing U.S. companies manufacturing in Cambodia. ‘I can’t imagine that Americans want to sit down and sew a pair of sweatpants for long hours of the day,’ Barnett said. Barnett said manufacturers in Cambodia are looking at other countries to mitigate the tariffs, but the U.S. is not among the options.” (04/08/25)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/08/trump-tariffs-cambodia-manufacturing-reshoring-us.html
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11) Ethiopia: Abiy Appoints New Leader of Tigray Regime
Source: US News & World Report
“Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Tuesday appointed Tadesse Worede to lead the interim administration in the northern Tigray region, where divisions in the ruling party have sparked fears of a renewed war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Tadesse, the administration’s deputy president for the last two years, was a top commander in the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) during the 2020-2022 war with Ethiopia’s federal government, which killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions from their homes. Eritrean forces fought in support of Ethiopia’s federal army during that conflict, but relations between the longtime rivals have since soured over an agreement ending the conflict signed in November 2022.” (04/08/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-04-08/ethiopias-pm-abiy-appoints-new-leader-of-tigray-administration
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12) Titanic scan reveals ground-breaking details of ship’s final hours
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A detailed analysis of a full-sized digital scan of the Titanic has revealed new insight into the doomed liner’s final hours. The exact 3D replica shows the violence of how the ship ripped in two as it sank after hitting an iceberg in 1912; 1,500 people lost their lives in the disaster. The scan provides a new view of a boiler room, confirming eye-witness accounts that engineers worked right to the end to keep the ship’s lights on. And a computer simulation also suggests that punctures in the hull the size of A4 pieces of paper led to the ship’s demise. ‘Titanic is the last surviving eyewitness to the disaster, and she still has stories to tell,’ said Parks Stephenson, a Titanic analyst. The scan has been studied for a new documentary by National Geographic and Atlantic Productions called ‘Titanic: The Digital Resurrection.'” (04/08/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy6gjwd0g6o
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13) TX: Venue cancels Liberal Party event, allegedly over immigration freedom elements
Source: Independent Political Report
“A political summit and rally planned for Memorial Day weekend in Houston was canceled by the venue due to the involvement of pro-immigration organizations, according to a recent press release from the Liberal Party USA, which organized the event. Originally announced by the party in January as the ‘New Frontier Summit’ before being rebranded to include ‘Resist the Regime,’ the event was scheduled for four days beginning on Saturday, May 24, at the Houston Airport Marriott. It was intended as a strategy seminar featuring nonpartisan advocacy training and panel discussions on topics such as immigration enforcement, gay and transgender rights, criminal justice reform, and free speech. A public rally focused on immigration policy and deportations was also later added. The party claims in the release that the hotel canceled the summit on Friday, April 4, after it confirmed that ‘pro-immigration organization partners and advocates’ were invited.” (04/07/25)
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2025/04/liberal-party-usa-resist-the-regime-summit-canceled-by-venue/
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14) South Sudan: Regime rescinds its decision to deny a deportee entry after US revokes visas
Source: SFGate
“South Sudanese officials said Tuesday that they will allow a foreign national entry into the country after their initial refusal to do so prompted the United States to revoke the visas of all its citizens. Congolese national Makula Kintu will be accepted into the country ‘in the spirit of maintaining friendly relations’ between South Sudan and the U.S., said foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Apuk Ayuel Mayen. Last Friday, officials refused entry to Kintu, who had been deported from the United States, saying he illegally used the travel documents of a South Sudanese national, Nimeri Garang. The following day, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the U.S. would revoke all visas for South Sudanese citizens because the country had failed to accept the return of its citizens deported from the United States ‘in a timely manner.'” (04/08/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/south-sudan-rescinds-its-decision-to-deny-a-20265394.php
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15) North Korean soldiers cross tense DMZ border, South Korea fires warning shots
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“South Korea’s military said on Tuesday that it had fired warning shots after North Korean soldiers violated the military demarcation line before returning. ‘Our military conducted warning broadcasts and warning shots after about 10 North Korean soldiers crossed the military demarcation line (MDL) in the eastern area of the demilitarised zone (DMZ) around 5.00pm local time,’ the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a text message to reporters. ‘Our military is closely monitoring the North Korean military’s activity and taking necessary measures according to the operational procedures,’ JCS said. Some of the North Korean soldiers were armed, according to the South Korean military.” (04/08/25)
https://archive.is/EoS5h
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16) Trump, Hegseth promise record $1 trillion Pentagon budget
Source: Politico
“President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pledged a first ever $1 trillion defense budget proposal on Monday, a record sum for the military. Trump, during a press event with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the upcoming budget would be ‘in the vicinity’ of $1 trillion. Hegseth went further in an X post on Monday evening, saying Trump ‘is rebuilding our military — and FAST.’ ‘COMING SOON: the first TRILLION dollar @DeptofDefense budget,’ Hegseth posted from his personal account. ‘(PS: we intend to spend every taxpayer dollar wisely — on lethality and readiness).'” (04/07/25)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/07/hegseth-trump-1-trillion-defense-budget-00007147
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17) Ukraine: Regime claims capture of two Chinese nationals fighting for Russia
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Ukrainian forces have captured two Chinese nationals who were fighting for the Russian army in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. The Ukrainian president said intelligence suggested the number of Chinese soldiers in Russia’s army is ‘much higher than two.’ Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Chinese troops fighting on Ukrainian territory ‘puts into question China’s declared stance for peace’ and added that their envoy in Kyiv has been summoned for an explanation. It marks the first official allegation that China is supplying Russia with manpower for its war in Ukraine. There has been no immediate response to the claims from Moscow or Beijing.” (04/08/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2vg1x7g32o
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18) Soyuz spacecraft with US-Russian crew lands on ISS
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“A Soyuz spacecraft carrying an American and two Russians docked at the International Space Station Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos said on Tuesday. The MS-27 craft, which was decorated to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, took off at 10:47 am (0547 GMT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, according to televised images shown by the Russian Roscosmos space agency. It entered orbit a few minutes later. Onboard were Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, as well as NASA astronaut Jonny Kim.” (04/08/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/technology/20250408-soyuz-spacecraft-launches-for-iss-with-us-russian-crew
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19) Guatemala: Altar found in jungle evidence of mingling of Mayan & Teotihuacan cultures
Source: SFGate
“An altar from the Teotihuacan culture, at the pre-Hispanic heart of what became Mexico, was discovered in Tikal National Park in Guatemala, the center of Mayan culture, demonstrating the interaction between the two societies, Guatemala’s Culture and Sports Ministry announced Monday. The enormous city-state of Tikal, whose towering temples still stand in the jungle, battled for centuries with the Kaanul dynasty for dominance of the Maya world. Far to the north in Mexico, just outside present day Mexico City, Teotihuacan (‘the city of the gods’ or ‘the place where men become gods’) is best known for its twin Temples of the Sun and Moon. It was actually a large city that housed over 100,000 inhabitants and covered around 8 square miles (20 square kilometers). The still mysterious city was one of the largest in the world at its peak between 100 B.C. and A.D. 750.” (04/07/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/altar-found-in-guatemalan-jungle-evidence-of-20263949.php
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20) MI: Homeowner shoots, injures intruder
Source: Yahoo! News
“Jackson police arrested a 40-year-old homeowner after they say he shot and injured a man in his home who was not supposed to be there. … Police tell 6 News they believe the man is a 47-year-old homeless person who had earlier broken into the home through a basement window. Police say the injured man told them he thought the home was vacant and was confronted by the homeowner as he was walking up the stairs from the basement. … 6 News has confirmed the homeowner has since been released from custody.” (04/07/25)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/shooting-jackson-leads-person-injured-130632545.html
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) The Reason of Rules: Uncertainty is the Growth Killer
Source: EconLog
by Jon Murphy
“[T]he reason for rules is to prevent arbitrary behavior. Even when there may be cases where the rules hinder some desired outcome, where the temptation to break rules is highest, rules should be followed. Once the rules are broken, once arbitrary behavior becomes the norm, it makes planning extraordinarily difficult and ends up undermining the goals of the actions. … we are seeing exactly this now with Donald Trump’s arbitrary tariff ‘policy’ (‘policy’ is in quotes here because, since there is no consistency, it’s hard to call it policy by any reasonable sense of the word). Trump’s decrees on tariffs change day to day, sometimes even hour to hour. It’s quite impossible to predict what’s going to happen as there is no rhyme nor reason to these changes.” (04/08/25)
https://www.econlib.org/the-reason-of-rules-uncertainty-is-the-growth-killer/
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22) Waiting for the Fever to Break
Source: Virginia’s Newsletter
by Virginia Postrel
“As Donald Trump disrupts international trade, sends suspected gangsters to indeterminate imprisonment in a Salvadoran hellhole without due process, wages war on the right to counsel, abandons American allies, and throws Ukraine under the bus — as Donald Trump does, in other words, pretty much what he promised — I haven’t written anything about this mess beyond retweeting the work of more energetic writers. Trump wants to make the United States a Peronist nation and a whole lot of people voted enthusiastically to go along with his mad ideas. Having watched friends and former allies enthusiastically embrace Trumpism, I feel like the loved ones of a smallpox victim after vaccination but before effective treatment. Yes, the illness might have been prevented. But now that it’s here, all we can do is let it run its course and hope the patient survives without too many scars.” (04/08/25)
https://vpostrel.substack.com/p/waiting-for-the-fever-to-break
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23) MAGA Maoism is spreading through the populist right
Source: Washington Post
by Rotimi Adeoye
“Recently, a viral meme in MAGA circles captured the moment, featuring a cartoon Trump addressing a faceless American: ‘Your great grandfather worked the mines, your grandfather worked in a steel plant, and you thought you could be a ‘product manager’ ???’ It’s a joke, but it’s also a worldview — one where white-collar ambition is seen not as a step forward, but as a fall into decadence. The meme doesn’t just mock digital work; it exalts physical labor as the only authentic form of contribution.
What we’re seeing is a kind of MAGA Maoism, remixed for the algorithm age. Like the Chinese Cultural Revolution, it glorifies physical labor as moral purification, only now the purification is from the supposed ‘wokeness’ of desk work, filtered through TikTok, X and Twitch. It’s not about creating jobs. It’s about creating vibes: strong men doing hard things, reshared until they become ideology.” (04/08/25)
https://archive.is/6uwl6
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24) The Zone Is Flooded. Buy Hip Waders.
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“‘The real opposition is the media,’ Donald Trump confidant Steve Bannon told Michael Lewis in 2018, ‘and the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with sh*t.’ … The zone is flooded. I’m always at least knee deep in Dr. Bannon’s prescription-strength fecal matter and flinging a little of it at you doesn’t seem likely to leave you better informed than you were. Many of MAGA’s supposed opponents say this situation is about ‘democracy,’ but it isn’t. It’s about reality, and about our ability to clearly discern that reality and act accordingly.” (04/08/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/19492
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25) Treating People Like Horse Dung
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“One of the things that fascinates me about Americans living today is the willingness of many of them to treat immigrants like horse dung. I just don’t get it. No, I’m not saying that they treat people like that directly. I’m saying that they support and even get excited about how the U.S. government treats immigrants like horse dung. … Many Americans are outright giddy over what is happening. They think it’s fantastic that people who have never been convicted of a crime are being subjected to this type of horrific mistreatment.” (04/08/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/04/08/treating-people-like-horse-dung/
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26) Leaderless and losing: Why Democrats are imploding from within
Source: Washington Times
by Newt Gingrich
“The Democrats face a real dilemma that may cripple their ability to be competitive in upcoming elections. Real cracks are forming within the party’s coalition. The Democratic base and left wing were furious at Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer when he dared to allow the recent continuing resolution to go through to avoid a government shutdown. Mr. Schumer is in what I would consider the survivalist wing. The survivalists accept that hard-left policies and past performance failures have put the Democrats in a vulnerable position. The survivalist wing understands that the party’s 29% national favorability represents a real danger (it is almost comparable to the Republican collapse after Watergate in the 1970s). As California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently said, ‘The Democratic brand is toxic.'” (04/07/25)
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/apr/7/leaderless-losing-democrats-imploding-within/
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27) Yes, Elon Musk’s Vote-Buying Is Against the Law
Source: The Bulwark
by Andy Craig
“In the bad old days of corrupt party machines — think Tammany Hall and the like — voter bribery was rampant. It took a variety of forms — most famously patronage, handing out public-service jobs controlled by the party bosses. But sometimes it was as simple and direct as literally handing people cash for showing up at the polls and casting a ballot. … Today, voter bribery is a crime. It’s illegal to pay people for their participation in an election, plain and simple. Despite this, Elon Musk has been flagrantly bribing voters, both in last year’s presidential election and most recently in the high-profile election for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.” (04/08/25)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/yes-elon-musk-vote-buying-is-against-law-federal-wisconsin
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28) X Marks the Censor
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“The European Union’s censors are outraged that Elon Musk’s social media platform, Twitter‑X, flouts their demands to gag users. So they’re gearing up to fine X more than a billion dollars. The EU will also be demanding ‘product changes.’ … All this is rationalized by a new EU law to compel social media platforms to police users. One would be hard put to find a clearer case of governmental censorship-by-delegation. It’s not even taking place behind closed doors, as was the case regarding the U.S. Government and Twitter before Mr. Musk bought the platform. These European censors brag about it.” (04/08/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/04/08/x-marks-the-censor/
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29) Israel’s Innocent Oopsie-Poopsie Medical Massacre Mistake
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The Israeli military has changed its story about why its forces killed 15 medical workers and then buried them and their vehicles to hide the evidence. After their initial claim that the medical vehicles were approaching ‘suspiciously’ without their emergency lights on was disproven by video evidence, they are now calling the whole thing a big mistake. Sure, who among us has not accidentally massacred 15 medical workers and buried them and their vehicles in a shallow grave from time to time? We’re only human, mistakes happen. Asked by the press about Israel’s latest war crime scandal, White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes blamed the whole thing on Hamas, saying, ‘Hamas uses ambulances and more broadly human shields for terrorism. President Trump understands the impossible situation this tactic creates for Israel and holds Hamas entirely responsible.'” (04/08/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/04/08/israels-innocent-oopsie-poopsie-medical-massacre-mistake/
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30) Trump’s Trade Contradictions Come Home to Roost
Source: Foreign Policy
by Peter Coy
“U.S. President Donald Trump has long been of two minds about the dollar. He has said he wants it weaker to make American products cheaper in global markets, but he has also said he wants it strong so it remains the world’s dominant reserve currency. … Trump is getting the weakness he wants. The dollar has fallen 5 percent against other major currencies since his inauguration in January. But the strength he promised is nowhere to be seen. Last year, one of Trump’s key advisors, Stephen Miran, imagined a so-called Mar-a-Lago Accord in which the United States would essentially require its trading partners to help bring down the dollar’s value. That would have been, the theory goes, engineering a devaluation from a position of strength. Instead, the dollar is falling because of perceptions of American weakness.” (04/08/25)
https://archive.is/VJ43B
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31) President Bankrupt, and a Country (and World) Coming Apart at the Seams
Source: TomDispatch
by Tom Engelhardt
“From childhood, I think I had some eerie sense of just how bad it could get in America. After all, in junior high and high school, I was riveted by this country’s Civil War. Among all my toy soldiers — cowboys and Indians, British marching troops in red jackets, and plastic Army-green World War II soldiers (from my father’s war) — and those Landmark Books on American history that I piled up on my floor to create hills and valleys where I could play out the cowboy and Indian ambushes and battles I had seen at local movie theaters, my favorites were always the blue and grey lead soldiers of the Union and Confederacy, including Commanding General Ulysses S. Grant on a horse.” (04/08/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/president-bankrupt/
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32) Reagan Knew the Art of the Trade Deal Better
Source: The Daily Economy
by David Hebert & Marcus M Witcher
“For all the prosperity that expanded trade had brought the US, the Reagan campaign did demand that ‘free trade must be fair trade.’ Much like today’s administration, they condemned other nations that were imposing ‘barriers to our exports and unfairly [subsidizing] their own industries.’ Similarly, the Reagan campaign insisted that they would ‘work to prevent such unfair trade practices.’ Unlike the current administration, however, they insisted that the answer was entrepreneurship, lower taxes, and deregulation, not protectionism.” (04/08/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/reagan-knew-the-art-of-the-trade-deal/
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33) Exterminator Netanyahu Comes to Washington Again, Begging for More Bombs
Source: Common Dreams
by Ann Wright
“The chief of the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, Exterminator-in-Chief Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, jumped on his plane and jetted from one International Criminal Court denier (authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán of Hungary) to another in Washington, D.C.: U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump is the second U.S. president to give Netanyahu the green light for the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Biden was guilty of 17 months of complicity in the Israeli genocide of Gaza, while Trump is 2.5 months and counting. Trump and Netanyahu are two peas in a nasty pod. No doubt, Trump issued his sudden invitation to Netanyahu to visit him in Washington as a morale booster to the war criminal facing International Criminal Court arrest warrants abroad and court proceedings on corruption charges when he returns to Israel.” (04/08/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/netanyahu-washington-bombs
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34) Trump’s Tariffs Are Economic Folly, Top to Bottom
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“The current direction of U.S. trade policy marks a dramatic departure from over two centuries of debate, experimentation, and eventual liberalization. As shown in the chart below, U.S. average tariff rates were historically high throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, peaking during periods like the Tariff of Abominations (1828), the Morrill Tariff (1861), and the Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1930). Since the mid-twentieth century, however, trade liberalization has steadily brought these rates down. Does anyone actually believe that the lives of Americans since World War II have been in some sort of material decline due to increasing global trade? All the evidence says the exact opposite.” (04/08/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/trumps-tariffs-are-economic-folly-top-to-bottom
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35) Authoritarianism Without Ideology
Source: Persuasion
by Matt Johnson
“Like other transactional authoritarian leaders, Trump doesn’t believe the United States’[s] relationships with other countries should be based on shared values or the maintenance of international institutions — he thinks those relationships should be conditional and impermanent like business agreements. This is why he says allies should treat the United States like an ‘insurance company.’ Trump’s recent scattershot tariffs are a perfect example of his transactionalism. Beyond the fact that these massive tariffs — the most significant attack on global trade in a century — ignore basic economic principles like comparative advantage, they also target the United States’[s] closest allies and partners.” (04/08/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/authoritarianism-without-ideology
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36) Sacred Cinema, part 2: Robes, Swords, and Sandals
Source: Chris Matthew Sciabarra
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
“The Robe was the first Biblical-themed film I’d ever seen. It transported me to a truly colorful world beyond my imagination. This 1953 adaptation of the Lloyd C. Douglas novel, directed by Henry Koster, starred Richard Burton as Tribune Marcellus Gallio; Jean Simmons as Marcellus’s childhood love, Diana; Victor Mature as the slave Demetrius; Michael Rennie as the disciple Peter; and Jay Robinson as the crazed Emperor Caligula. Aside from its spectacular sets and reverent storyline, the movie boasts a truly passionate and moving Alfred Newman score. Everything about this absorbing film enthralled me. … When it was finally released on DVD in October 2001, it was presented in its full widescreen CinemaScope aspect ratio. … Almost from the moment I hit ‘play’ on the DVD unit, I noticed differences. From the opening credits, something was very wrong.” (04/08/25)
https://medium.com/@cms10_7549/sacred-cinema-13a326fbdcbf
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37) Why the Trump Alien Enemies Act win at SCOTUS makes America safe again
Source: New York Post
by staff
“With the Supreme Court slapdown of the DC Circuit judges who’d blocked deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, Team Trump has won a significant legal victory in its effort to get killers and thugs out of America. This is a good first step, essential to restoring America’s national security — but also a nuanced call, not a trumpet alarum to bring in the jackboots. The Supremes seemingly took into account the fact that Judge James Boasberg lacked sufficient legal grounds for his initial blocking of the deport order. … It also emphasizes that illegal [sic] immigrants up for deportation under the AEA — i.e., members of Tren de Aragua and other large-scale criminal organizations — must get a (more than just) share of due process.” (04/08/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/04/08/opinion/why-trump-alien-enemies-act-win-will-make-america-safer/
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38) How Trump’s Tariffs are Driving the World Toward Economic Chaos
Source: CounterPunch
by Imran Khalid
“The given rationale behind Trump’s tariff policy is that if a country levies a 10 percent tariff on American goods, the United States should reciprocate. However, this approach reflects a fundamental misapprehension of the mechanics of international trade. American manufacturers are heavily reliant on imported components for assembling final products. By inflating the cost of these inputs through tariffs, the competitiveness of U.S.-made goods in global markets will be significantly undermined. Moreover, a substantial segment of the American workforce is employed in export-driven industries—from agriculture to automotive manufacturing—that thrive on open markets. A retaliatory trade policy would inevitably provoke foreign governments to impose counter-tariffs on American exports, directly jeopardizing these industries and their workers.” (04/08/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/04/08/how-trumps-tariffs-are-driving-the-world-toward-economic-chaos/
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39) Why Trump probably can’t pull off a “reverse Nixon”
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Lyle J Goldstein
“President Donald Trump’s unorthodox diplomacy has alarm bells ringing around the world, not least in Washington, D.C. While much of the inside-the-beltway elite is horrified at the prospect of America supposedly reorienting toward Russia, administration insiders have hinted at an ambitious plan to drive a wedge between Moscow and Beijing. They’ve raised the possibility of a so-called ‘Reverse Nixon’ maneuver aimed at fostering a global balance of power more favorable to America. But can it work?” (04/08/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-nixon-china/
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40) “Abundance” Does Not Offer a Viable Electoral Strategy
Source: Liberal Currents
by Isaiah Glick
“The Democratic Party is currently going through the usual rounds of soul-searching that follows a party’s defeat in an election, but this time it is more urgent than ever. … There is an opportunity for policy entrepreneurs to provide their solutions to the Democrats’ current woes. With their new book Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, attempt to provide their own contribution to this debate. However, regardless of whether their plan would benefit America if implemented, the political programme will probably alienate more voters than it will win, and presents no workable solution to breaking America’s political divisions and establishing a new political order to turn the page from Trumpism.” (04/08/25)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/abundance-does-not-offer-a-viable-electoral-strategy/
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41) We Never Had Free Trade
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“On April 2, as he imposed exorbitant tariffs that triggered a stock market collapse, Donald Trump said this: ‘For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike. American steelworkers, autoworkers, farmers, and skilled craftsmen—they really suffered gravely. They watched in anguish as foreign leaders have stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories, and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once beautiful American dream.’ Trump’s tariffs, which are more about indiscriminate bullying than trade policy, set off reams of simplistic commentary praising the glory days of free trade. Yet we would do well to remember our history, or we could end up cherishing the kind of corporate globalization whose backlash paved the way for Trump in the first place.” (04/08/25)
https://prospect.org/economy/2025-04-08-we-never-had-free-trade/
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42) Our Treasury Secretary Is an Economic Illiterate
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Changing the units of measure does not change the reality of the phenomenon being measured. If your employer starts paying you in Japanese yen tomorrow instead of U.S. dollars, the number on the paycheck will be about 146 times what it would have been otherwise. But you aren’t better off—you’re just measuring your income by a different metric. … You’d think that this would not need explaining to a man such as Scott Bessent, the hedge-fund guy who currently serves as Donald Trump’s treasury secretary — because, of course, Mr. ‘Real America’ hires his help from Soros Fund Management. But during a speech to the Economic Club of New York … Bessent declared: ‘Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream. … The American Dream is rooted in the concept that any citizen can achieve prosperity, upward mobility, and economic security.'” (04/08/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/bessent-american-dream-wages-prices-tariffs/
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43) Liberation or Obliteration?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ron Paul
“President Trump’s actions are setting off a global trade war that means US consumers will suffer from increased prices for many products both foreign and domestic. Manufacturing and other American businesses that rely on imported raw materials and other inputs from abroad will have to pay more for these inputs, assuming they are able to get them at all. US exporters will suffer from decreased demand for US products in overseas markets.” (04/08/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/paul/2025/04/07/liberation-or-obliteration/
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44) Nondelegation: The Constitutional Principle Almost Everyone Ignores
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin
“‘The very definition of tyranny.’ That’s how James Madison described the consolidation of legislative, executive, and judicial power in the same hands. This wasn’t just a warning. It’s one of the core principles underlying the Constitution: separation of powers. Each branch has its role, clearly defined in the Constitution. And when one branch tries to take on the role of another – such as ‘legislating from the bench’ – it’s not only bad policy; it’s unconstitutional. Just as dangerous – and just as unconstitutional – is when Congress hands its legislative power off to the executive branch. It’s not just ‘bad policy.’ It’s not ‘efficiency.’ It’s destroying the Constitution. Both scenarios don’t just set us on the path to tyranny – they are tyranny in action.” (04/07/25)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2025/04/07/nondelegation-the-constitutional-principle-almost-everyone-ignores/
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45) The Israel-Iran War is closer to its end than its beginning
Source: Fox News
by Hugh Hewitt
“America’s early and strong support for the Jewish State faltered as President Biden’s cognitive impairment grew worse and more obvious. We do not know whether the former president’s infirmity impacted his original, resolute support for Israel by allowing the anti-Israel wing of his party to ascend within the West Wing or to worry his campaign’s guiding hands into advising him that appeasement of Iran and its forces was necessary to win last fall. Thanks to the new book Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House by NBC’s Jonathan Allen and The Hill’s Amie Parnes, however, we now know for sure that the divide between the U.S. and the equal of any of its allies on the planet widened and deepened as the months went by.” (04/08/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/morning-glory-israel-iran-war-closer-its-end-than-its-beginning
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46) The Cost of Politicians and Bureaucrats Doing Business as Usual
Source: Independent Institute
by Craig Eyermann
“The CBO’s Long-Term Budget Outlook: 2025 to 2055 provides a thirty year window of alarming projections for the federal government’s deficits and debt. The most important thing to know about the CBO’s projections is they’re based on current law. They assume every tax cut with an expiration date expires. They assume there will never be new spending for anything we do not already know about today. They assume there will never be another recession that tanks revenues while blowing up spending. They assume Washington D.C.’s politicians and bureaucrats will be able to continue doing business exactly the way they have been. And they will continue doing business that way forever. This means the CBO’s projections are very much like a best-case scenario. But the long-term budget outlook is dismal even when viewed through the rosiest of rosy-colored glasses.” (04/07/25)
https://blog.independent.org/2025/04/07/the-cost-of-politicians-and-bureaucrats-doing-business-as-usual/
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47) Why is cheap domestic gas a bad policy choice?
Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Geoff Edwards
“Peter Dutton says his government would separate the domestic price of gas in eastern Australia from the export price. For efficient resource use for tradeables, whether meat, steel or gas, prices within Australia need to be driven by prices in world markets. That is fundamental to the liberal trading order long supported by Australia. Seeking to make the price of gas used in Australia independent of the price in international trade is a policy of distorting the gas market and the broader economy. Not efficient. Not liberal. Not smart.” (04/07/25)
https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2025/04/why-is-cheap-domestic-gas-bad-policy.html
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48) Medicare: We Were Warned
Source: EconLog
by Walter Donway
“In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law, transforming American healthcare. Today, those programs have become so much part of our national consciousness that imagining a world without them borders on the unthinkable. And yet, just seven decades ago, the United States had a medical and hospital care system that functioned well for most Americans largely without government. Was it a perfect system? No. But the question we should be asking is if the radical transformation that came with Medicare and Medicaid was ever an improvement or sustainable economically or systemically.” (04/07/25)
https://www.econlib.org/library/columns/y2025/donwaymedicare.html
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49) Unions as a 21st Century Anti-Fascist Force
Source: In These Times
by Bill Fletcher, Jr.
“One of the principal difficulties facing the Democratic Party establishment and most leaders of organized labor is a failure to accept a fundamental reality: there is no normality. The failure to grasp this state of affairs has led to strategic paralysis and a tendency to believe that by being ‘the adults in the room,’ the Democrats — or the trade union leadership — can embarrass the Republicans and force them to engage in good faith behavior. That is not the case. The rise of President Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement has represented the morphing of a broad, rightwing populist movement into a fascist movement that seeks to destroy constitutional democracy. The current purging of the federal government, through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), aims at both opening the doors to a kleptocracy as well as ensuring loyalty to the MAGA vision and its retrograde goals.” (04/08/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/unions-labor-trump-oligarchy-fascism
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50) They’re Using a Teen’s Death to Divide the Nation — And It’s Working
Source: Chasing Liberty
by Jeff Charles
“Just after I published a piece describing how the elites, government, and its opinion molders provoke division to help them amass more power and influence, we were given a prime example in the tragic killing of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf. The online reactions to this story provide a glaring example of how social media influencers use these stories to pit Americans against one another based on race.” (04/07/25)
https://www.libertychasers.com/p/theyre-using-a-teens-death-to-divide
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Trump Watch, 04/08/25
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Tariffs and Trade Wars Destroy Liberty.” (04/08/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHZuWKJD5oM
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52) Politics Politics Politics, 04/08/25
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Are The Trump Tariffs Real? Or A Negotiation Tactic? (with Big Jim and J.D. Durkin).” (04/08/25)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/are-the-trump-tariffs-real-or-a-negotiation
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53) The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 04/08/25
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Rages Wildly at Tariff Blowback as GOPers Start Turning on Him.” (04/08/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/193708/unwell-trump-rages-many-targets-gop-starts-turning-tariffs
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54) Kinsella On Liberty, episode 458
Source: StephanKinsella.com
“Patent and Copyright versus Innovation, Competition, and Property Rights (APEE 2025).” (04/08/25)
https://stephankinsella.com/as_paf_podcast/kol458-patent-copyright-innovation-competition-property-apee-2025/
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55) Law & Liberty Podcast, 04/08/25
Source: Law & Liberty
“In the Rubble of Totalitarianism.” (04/08/25)
https://lawliberty.org/podcast/in-the-rubble-of-totalitarianism/
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56) Advisory Opinions, 04/08/25
Source: The Dispatch
“Justice Barrett’s RICO Revolution.” (04/08/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/justice-barretts-rico-revolution/
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57) SolutionsWatch, 04/08/25
Source: The Corbett Report
“Calling Things By Their Right Name.” (04/08/25)
https://corbettreport.com/calling-things-by-their-right-name/
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58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 04/08/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump and Netanyahu Reaffirm Ethnic Cleansing Plan, Pentagon Will Get $1 Trillion Budget, and More.” (04/08/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8MrfMOdixQ
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59) Nonzero, 04/07/25
Source: Bloggingheads.tv
“The Psychopolitics of the Noosphere.” (04/07/25)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/68563
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60) Fountainhead Forum, episode 293
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Christian Heiens on why the world will collapse before the USA.” (04/07/25)
https://rumble.com/v6rsrx5-ff-293-christian-heiens-on-why-the-world-will-collapse-before-the-usa.html
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