12/24 -- Happy Holidays, w/Year-End Fundraiser Update; Donetsk: Russian forces seize Siversk as Ukrainian troops withdraw; Sorry, Santa Claus, you belong on Trump's trade naughty list
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Thomas L. Knapp
Dec 24, 2025, 6:14:19 AM (8 days ago) Dec 24
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, Weekend Special Edition, 12/24/25
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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:
0) Happy Holidays, w/Year-End Fundraiser Update
1) Donetsk: Russian forces seize Siversk as Ukrainian troops withdraw
2) SCOTUS rejects Trump’s Illinois occupation plans
3) Israel: Regime extends media censorship order
4) US DOJ releases third batch of Jeffrey Epstein files, tries to cover for Trump
5) Bitcoin Falls in Holiday-Thinned Trade
6) Turkey: Libya’s army chief killed in air crash
7) Senate quietly works on bipartisan Obamacare fix as healthcare cliff nears
8) Safety Panel Calls Out NASA for Downplaying the Boeing Starliner Mess
9) Yemen: Saudi puppet regime, Houthi regime agree to exchange thousands of prisoners
10) US economy expands at a surprisingly strong 4.3% annual rate in the third quarter
11) Japan: Former emperor turns 92 as heart condition stabilizes after health concerns
12) Student Loan Borrowers in Default Could See Wages Garnished in Early 2026
13) Sasse announces Stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis, says he is “gonna die”
14) UK: Thunberg arrested for expressing opinion
15) UK: Brand charged with new offences of rape and sexual assault
16) Kansas City Chiefs clamp lips to corporate welfare teat
17) IL: Johnson’s progressive tax push puts Chicago on brink of rare shutdown as mayor weighs veto
18) Sudan’s PM Kamil Idris presents peace plan to UNSC to end war
19) TX: Camp Mystic’s reopening plans have drawn outrage, but some families want to return
20) Trump whines about photos of people who “innocently met” with Epstein
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Sorry, Santa Claus, you belong on Trump’s trade naughty list
22) Stop Picking On Poor Little Israel
23) A Christmas Gift to the War Machine
24) The Strange Death of English Justice
25) Obesity Economics: How Subsidies Distort the American Diet
26) The Trump Boomerang Effect: Bari Weiss, Meet Ozymandias
27) Terror on the Beach
28) The Eurasian Trap
29) Ending the American Dream by 2029? Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog in Trump’s USA
30) Does Israel really still need a “qualitative military edge?'”
31) Kentucky’s Switch to the SAT Violates Public Trust; It May Also Violate State Law
32) How a Grown-Up Health Care System Operates
33) CBS Killing “60 Minutes” CECOT Segment Shows Why We Must Back Independent Media
34) Cancel culture comes out of the barrel of a gun
35) Silver and Gold
36) The Roots of Collectivist Thinking
37) China’s phony conviction of Jimmy Lai is a warning
38) Veterans: Time to Wake Up
39) Big Balls Was Just the Beginning
40) Reviewer Judge Words In Book: Bronze Age Mindset, reviewed
41) Behind the USDA’s Regenerative Rhetoric Lurks Business as Usual
42) The Haters Are Wrong. Netflix’s Glut of Christmas Movies Is Good, Actually.
43) A Place Without Hope?
44) Trump Can’t Hide His Most Serious Illness
45) How “Woke” Thinking Leads to Antisemitism
46) Government lies — sealevel rise and benefits versus costs
47) A conference of clowns
48) Courts Cannot Determine the “Correct” Price of Property
49) The Narco-Terrorist Elite
50) No Sweetheart, Favoritism Isn’t Driving “The Great Feminization,” Modernity Is
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Trump Watch, 12/23/25
52) Rising, 12/23/25
53) Serious Trouble, 12/23/25
54) Reason Interview: Tony Gilroy
55) (Re)Imagining Liberty, episode 96
56) The Political Orphanage, 12/23/25
57) Advisory Opinions, 12/23/25
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 12/22/25
59) Fountainhead Forum, episode 402
60) Mean Age Daydream, 12/22/25
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
0) Happy Holidays, w/Year-End Fundraiser Update
No, it's not "happy holidays" because we're afraid to say "Merry Christmas." Merry Christmas! But we're aware that among our thousands of readers, some celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or other "winter holidays," and hope they're happy too. As for those of you who just welcome a winter break with no need for a holiday, enjoy!
THANK YOU to TMM, whose $100 donation yesterday brings our year-end fundraiser total to $2,453.84!
We're less than $300 short of reaching our goal ... and need YOUR help to get there. Once we've reached $2,750.50, supporter GL will "match funds" for the other half. But if we don't get there, then so far as I know the "matching funds" offer goes away. And we've only got a week.
In other words, YOUR $296.66 is OUR $3,047.16. And I'll be honest ... we could really use that money.
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We generally run very short editions between Christmas and the New Year -- not because we don't want to bring you the content, but because it tends to be a period of "slow news days" and lots of commentary and podcast sources take time off. But we'll bring you SOMETHING every non-holiday weekday.
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Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
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1) Donetsk: Russian forces seize Siversk as Ukrainian troops withdraw
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The Ukrainian military says its forces have withdrawn from the battle-scarred town of Siversk in the [seceded] Donetsk region after heavy fighting with Russian forces. In a statement on Telegram on Tuesday, Ukraine’s General Staff said that Russian troops had a ‘significant advantage’ in manpower and equipment and had exerted constant pressure on the defending Ukrainian troops by staging small-unit assaults in difficult weather conditions. … Ukraine’s DeepState military monitoring site reported late on Tuesday that Russian forces had occupied Siversk as well as Hrabovske, a village in Ukraine’s Sumy region close to the border with Russia. Russian Lieutenant General Sergei Medvedev had told Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 11 that troops had taken Siversk, where fighting has been fierce in recent months, but Ukrainian officials denied the Russian reports at the time.” (12/24/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/24/russian-forces-seize-embattled-siversk-town-as-ukrainian-troops-withdraw
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2) SCOTUS rejects Trump’s Illinois occupation plans
Source: SCOTUSblog
“The Supreme Court on Tuesday left in place a ruling by a federal judge in Chicago that bars the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops in Illinois. In a three-page unsigned order, the justices turned down the government’s request to put the temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge April Perry on Oct. 9 on hold while litigation continues in the lower courts. ‘At this preliminary stage,’ the court said, ‘the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois.’ … Although the dispute came to the Supreme Court in its preliminary stages, the case was an important test of the president’s power to send National Guard troops, who are normally controlled by the states, into U.S. cities.” (12/23/25)
https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/12/supreme-court-rejects-trumps-effort-to-deploy-national-guard-in-illinois/
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3) Israel: Regime extends media censorship order
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Israel’s parliament has extended an order allowing the government to shut down foreign broadcasters operating in the country. The legislation, passed by 22 votes to 10, expands temporary powers introduced during the Gaza war to shutter outlets seen as a threat to national security. It allows the government for the next two years to cease operations of a foreign outlet even in peace time and without the need for a court order. Originally dubbed the ‘Al Jazeera Law,’ the powers were used to shut down the Qatari-owned channel’s offices and block its broadcasts in May 2024.” (12/23/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2k47wg2j90o
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4) US DOJ releases third batch of Jeffrey Epstein files, tries to cover for Trump
Source: NBC News
“The Justice Department on Tuesday released a third batch of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, including some that have references to President Donald Trump. The Justice Department, which [was legally required to release the files by last Friday] under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, acknowledged the Trump appearances in a post on social media, and said some include ‘untrue and sensationalist claims.’ ‘The Department of Justice has officially released nearly 30,000 more pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already,’ the department said in a post on X.” (12/23/25)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/justice-department-releases-3rd-batch-jeffrey-epstein-files-mention-tr-rcna250533
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5) Bitcoin Falls in Holiday-Thinned Trade
Source: Barron’s
“Bitcoin was falling in holiday-thinned trade, with the cryptocurrency on course to end the year lower. … With many markets closed early for Christmas Eve on Wednesday, reduced liquidity raises the potential for increased volatility. Bitcoin fell 0.7% to $87,090 and is down 7% in the year to date, LSEG data show.” (12/24/25)
https://www.barrons.com/livecoverage/stock-market-news-today-122425/card/bitcoin-falls-in-holiday-thinned-trade-aK63ufUycCRuiNhVNF3B
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6) Turkey: Libya’s army chief killed in air crash
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The Libyan army chief has been killed in an air crash in Turkey, Libya’s prime minister has said. Gen Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad and four others were on board a Falcon 50 aircraft flying out of the Turkish capital, Ankara. In a post on X, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said signal with the business jet was lost at 20:52 local time (17:52 GMT) – about 42 minutes after it took off from Ankara’s airport. The Tripoli-bound jet had issued an emergency landing request before contact was lost.” (12/23/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyvgzyepdqno
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7) Senate quietly works on bipartisan Obamacare fix as healthcare cliff nears
Source: Fox News
“Obamacare subsidies that have dominated the conversation on Capitol Hill are set to expire after Congress failed to act, but a cohort of bipartisan senators are quietly working to find a solution for when lawmakers return next year. It has engulfed Congress since September and played a starring role in the longest-ever government shutdown. And both Republicans and Democrats tried, and failed, to pass their partisan plans to either extend or replace the Biden-era enhanced tax credits. They are guaranteed to expire, and millions of Americans who use the subsidies are set to experience hikes to their out-of-pocket costs for healthcare that can vary widely depending on the state. Still, some in Congress haven’t given up on the issue.” (12/23/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-quietly-works-bipartisan-obamacare-fix-healthcare-cliff-nears
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8) Safety Panel Calls Out NASA for Downplaying the Boeing Starliner Mess
Source: Gizmodo
“A NASA safety panel has criticized space agency officials for how they handled the busted Starliner mission that left two astronauts stranded on board the International Space Station (ISS). A new report highlights a wave of uncertainty that lurked behind Boeing’s unfortunate saga, casting doubt over whether NASA can properly address safety concerns with future missions like Artemis. For months, NASA and Boeing officials reassured the press that astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams could depart the ISS on board the faulty Boeing spacecraft. Given the severity of the situation, however, NASA should have immediately declared the incident as a mishap to prompt an investigation with the agency’s safety office, according to a new report by NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP).” (12/23/25)
https://gizmodo.com/safety-panel-calls-nasa-out-for-downplaying-the-boeing-starliner-mess-2000702881
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9) Yemen: Saudi puppet regime, Houthi regime agree to exchange thousands of prisoners
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Yemen’s internationally recognised government and the Houthi group have reached an agreement to free detainees, according to the United Nations, with officials from both sides putting the number at thousands. In a statement on Tuesday, the UN envoy on Yemen Hans Grundberg said the prisoner swap deal came after nearly two weeks of talks in Muscat, the capital of Oman, a mediator in the conflict between the government and the Houthis that began in 2014. … The war in Yemen has been largely frozen since 2022, but tensions have risen in recent weeks as the separatist Southern Transitional Council made military advances in the country’s eastern governorates of Hadramout and al-Mahra. Overall, the conflict has killed tens of thousands people and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.” (12/23/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/23/yemen-government-houthis-agree-to-exchange-thousands-of-prisoners
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10) US economy expands at a surprisingly strong 4.3% annual rate in the third quarter
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“The U.S. economy expanded at a surprisingly strong 4.3% annual rate in the third quarter, the most rapid expansion in two years, as consumer and government spending, as well as exports, all grew. U.S. gross domestic product from July through September — the economy’s total output of goods and services — rose from its 3.8% growth rate in the April-June quarter, the Commerce Department said Tuesday in a report delayed by the government shutdown. Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet forecast growth of 3% in the period. However, inflation remains higher than the Federal Reserve would like. The Fed’s favored inflation gauge — called the personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE — climbed to a 2.8% annual pace last quarter, up from 2.1% in the second quarter.” (12/23/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/12/23/us-economy-gdp-3rd-quarter/
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11) Japan: Former emperor turns 92 as heart condition stabilizes after health concerns
Source: ABC News
“Japan’s beloved former Emperor Akihito marked his 92nd birthday Tuesday as his heart condition stabilized, palace officials said, following health concerns earlier this year. Akihito, the father of Emperor Naruhito, was diagnosed in May with insufficient blood flow to the heart muscles but has been in stable condition since he started a new medication in July, the Imperial Household Agency said in a statement. … Akihito, who has held the title of emperor emeritus since his abdication in 2019, was to celebrate his birthday with his family and receive guests, including Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Known for his efforts to make amends for Japan’s wartime past, Akihito repeatedly prayed this year for its victims and the survivors who faced hardships as he marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.” (12/23/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/japans-former-emperor-turns-92-heart-condition-stabilizes-128641423
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12) Student Loan Borrowers in Default Could See Wages Garnished in Early 2026
Source: New York Times
“The Trump administration will begin to garnish the pay of student loan borrowers in January, the Department of Education said, stepping up a repayment enforcement effort that began this year. Beginning the week of Jan. 7, roughly 1,000 borrowers who are in default will receive notices informing them of their status, according to an email from the department. The number of notices will increase on a monthly basis. The collection activities are ‘conducted only after student and parent borrowers have been provided sufficient notice and opportunity to repay their loans,’ according to the email, which was unsigned.” (12/23/25)
https://archive.is/Obu2X
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13) Sasse announces Stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis, says he is “gonna die”
Source: New York Post
“Former GOP Sen. Ben Sasse revealed Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and does not have long to live. In a lengthy statement on X, the 53-year-old said bluntly: ‘Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.’ ‘Death is a wicked thief, and the bastard pursues us all,’ the former senator from Nebraska added. ‘Still, I’ve got less time than I’d prefer. This is hard for someone wired to work and build, but harder still as a husband and a dad.'” (12/23/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/12/23/us-news/ex-sen-ben-sasse-announces-stage-4-pancreatic-cancer-diagnosis-says-he-is-gonna-die/
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14) UK: Thunberg arrested for expressing opinion
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“London police arrested Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday at a pro-Palestinian protest, UK-based campaign group Defend Our Juries said. Thunberg was arrested under the Terrorism Act for holding a sign that said she supported prisoners linked to Palestine Action, an organisation which the British government has proscribed as a terrorist group, Defend Our Juries said.” (12/23/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20251223-activist-greta-thunberg-arrested-at-london-pro-palestinian-protest
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15) UK: Brand charged with new offences of rape and sexual assault
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Russell Brand has been charged with two further offences including one count of rape, the Metropolitan Police has said. In a new statement, the police force said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has authorised an additional charge of rape and a charge of sexual assault relating to two further women. The broadcaster, comedian and actor previously pleaded not guilty to five charges including two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault in relation to four women. … A trial is set to start at Southwark Crown Court on 16 June 2026 for the five original charges which allegedly took place on dates spanning between 1999 and 2005 in central London and Bournemouth.” (12/23/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyd5ynxvqxo
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16) Kansas City Chiefs clamp lips to corporate welfare teat
Source: Yahoo! Sports
“The Kansas City Chiefs are moving to Kansas. The Chiefs, in conjunction with Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, announced in a statement from owner and chairman Clark Hunt on Monday that the team will move to a domed stadium in Kansas City, Kansas. The announcement came after a meeting of the Kansas Legislative Coordinating Council to discuss the Chiefs’ stadium plans. The new stadium is planned to be completed in time for the 2031 NFL season and Kelly said the project would cost $3 billion. … A tug-of-war has unfolded for months between the states of Kansas and Missouri. And the Chiefs are moving because Kansas is willing to foot more of the bill than Missouri.” (12/22/25)
https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/breaking-news/article/chiefs-announce-move-from-arrowhead-stadium-in-missouri-to-new-3-billion-domed-stadium-in-kansas-211526929.html
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17) IL: Johnson’s progressive tax push puts Chicago on brink of rare shutdown as mayor weighs veto
Source: Fox News
“A potential veto of Chicago’s 2026 budget by Mayor Brandon Johnson could trigger the Windy City’s first-ever municipal shutdown. Johnson reportedly rebuked the budget passed by council over the weekend, which lacks the mayor’s favored per-employee ‘head tax’ on corporations, as ‘morally bankrupt.’ If Johnson were to veto the budget, it would place the onus back on city council to rehash a plan that could get signed before Dec. 30 – or plunge the city into shutdown. … Items in the council’s budget include legalized video-gambling machines at eateries and Chicago-Midway Airport, raising the shopping-bag tax and a nationally unique proposal to tax social media companies – levying $0.50-per active Chicago user beyond 100,000 users that a platform has – with an expected windfall of $31 million, if approved. While a shutdown would be a novel development, late-year budget vetoes in Chicago are not.” (12/23/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/brandon-johnsons-progressive-tax-push-puts-chicago-brink-rare-shutdown-mayor-weighs-veto
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18) Sudan’s PM Kamil Idris presents peace plan to UNSC to end war
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Sudan’s prime minister has presented a plan to end the country’s nearly three-year war before the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), calling on members to stand ‘on the right side of history’ by backing the initiative, as fighting continued in Kordofan and North Kordofan states. Addressing the UNSC on Monday, Kamil Idris outlined the proposal that includes a ceasefire monitored by the UN, African Union and Arab League, and the withdrawal of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary from territory it controls. The plan would also see RSF forces, who have been engaged in fierce clashes with the Sudanese army since April 2023, being placed in camps and disarmed – a measure, Idris said, would be necessary for the truce to have any ‘chance for success.'” (12/23/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/23/sudans-pm-kamil-idris-presents-peace-plan-to-unsc-to-end-war
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19) TX: Camp Mystic’s reopening plans have drawn outrage, but some families want to return
Source: SFGate
“Patrick Hotze’s three daughters made it home safe from Camp Mystic after July’s catastrophic floods that killed 25 campers and two teenage counselors. He attended some of the funerals and says he understands the outrage over the Texas camp’s plan to partially reopen next year. He also intends to send his girls back. … For the first time since the roaring flood, the 100-year-old all-girls Christian sleepaway retreat plans to sign up campers in January, forging ahead with a reopening that has divided families and stunned some lawmakers. Campers will start arriving in May, bunking on higher ground than the area where fast-rising waters on the Guadalupe River swept away two cabins. Some families say the decision to let their daughters return is a vital step in their own healing from the disaster that is still under scrutiny.” (12/23/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/parents-are-divided-on-whether-their-girls-should-21258675.php
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20) Trump whines about photos of people who “innocently met” with Epstein
Source: Politico
“President Donald Trump expressed sympathy Monday for powerful and influential people caught up in convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit, including former President Bill Clinton, telling reporters that he doesn’t ‘like the pictures of other people being shown.’ … Photos included Epstein with well-known figures, including Trump, on his plane or at social events. Clinton has appeared in multiple photos that were released last week as part of the first batch of documents the DOJ made available. There has been ‘tremendous backlash’ to the documents, Trump said, because they’ve ensnared ‘people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago,’ including successful lawyers and businesspeople. … Trump briefly acknowledged that there were photos of himself included in the recent document dumps, but didn’t provide any details on his relationship with Epstein at the time, except to say that he threw him out of Mar-a-Lago.” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/KRED9
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Sorry, Santa Claus, you belong on Trump’s trade naughty list
Source: Washington Post
by Dominic Pino
“Here’s how Claus gains an illicit advantage and creates a trade deficit. Claus is not an American, and he brings his gifts from the North Pole (which is suspiciously close to Canada, a country that threatens U.S. national security). The gifts are produced by elves who don’t have the protections of U.S. labor laws in workshops that aren’t subject to U.S. environmental or safety standards. Claus has stolen jobs from American workers with his industrial policy, which uses Yuletide magic to subsidize the manufacturing and transportation of his exports. This unfair competition allows Claus to flood our country with toys priced lower than anyone else can produce them: $0. American children have been trained not merely to accept but to celebrate the dumping of foreign goods …. The gleeful acceptance of low-priced imports is only one of many symptoms of the failed neoliberal mindset wrecking this great nation.” (12/23/25)
https://archive.is/6u4wq
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22) Stop Picking On Poor Little Israel
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“It’s just sitting there minding its own business trying to do a little genocide in peace while aggressively lobbying your government to crush your freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, and you’re OBSESSING about it for NO REASON. You just hate Jews. That’s the only possible reason you could spend so much time obsessing about this one tiny little harmless country: you’ve got a crazy, irrational fixation on a small abrahamic religion, because you’re a weirdo. Stop saying it’s actually about all the wars and atrocities and apartheid and starving children and lobbying and propaganda and nonstop assaults on your civil rights and your government’s complicity in genocidal abuses …. No. That’s not it. It’s because you get freakishly enraged by small hats. Don’t you know there was a shooting on Bondi Beach?” (12/23/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/12/23/stop-picking-on-poor-little-israel/
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23) A Christmas Gift to the War Machine
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul
“Late last week, Congress passed and President Trump signed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill marks the first time the US military budget officially passed the one trillion dollar mark. Of course, when you add in other military-related spending such as interest on the debt, veterans’ affairs, and military components of other government agencies, the true number is at least one and a half times that amount. To paraphrase the famous 1953 President Eisenhower speech, ‘The Chance for Peace,’ each of these dollars spent on military offense and the maintenance of the US global empire rather than on defense of our own nation is taken from the mouths of the hungry and off the backs of hardworking American families.” (12/22/25)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/a-christmas-gift-to-the-war-machine
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24) The Strange Death of English Justice
Source: Quillette
by Ralph Leonard
“There is a contradiction at the heart of the revised justice system that is about to come into being. If trial by jury remains our method of trying the most serious crimes, this implies that it is the best way of litigating criminal cases. If so, then we are accepting that ‘non-serious’ cases are going to be tried using an inferior form of litigation. That will create a two-tier legal system. The irony is that, over the past year, public discourse has been obsessed with what some are calling a crisis of national identity. Does ‘Englishness’ exist? If so, is it good? What are its ethnic boundaries? Yet, jury trial, something that is very important to English history, identity, and our understanding of ourselves — something that has been an ancient, even ancestral, English right, is facing a wrecking ball.” (12/23/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/12/23/the-strange-death-of-english-justice-trial-by-jury/
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25) Obesity Economics: How Subsidies Distort the American Diet
Source: The Daily Economy
by Laura Williams
“Federal subsidies drive food production, consumption, and — unintentionally — chronic disease. Now we’re being asked to subsidize weight loss drugs to fight what farm policy broke.” (12/23/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/obesity-economics-how-subsidies-distort-the-american-diet/
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26) The Trump Boomerang Effect: Bari Weiss, Meet Ozymandias
Source: Washington Monthly
by Jonathan Alter
“While Trump muscles the media and renames the Kennedy Center, history will get the last laugh. Just ask the good people of Appleton, Wisconsin.” (12/23/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/12/23/the-trump-boomerang-effect-bari-weiss-meet-ozymandias/
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27) Terror on the Beach
Source: Law & Liberty
by Helen Dale
“Many Jews came to Australia precisely because they thought they would be safe. The Bondi massacre changed that.” (12/23/25)
https://lawliberty.org/terror-on-the-beach/
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28) The Eurasian Trap
Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño
“When President Donald Trump celebrated Kazakhstan’s decision to join the Abraham Accords, he spoke of peace and partnership in the familiar language of statesmen. The announcement sounded like a diplomatic victory in a region marked by instability. In reality, it looked more like one more step in a slow and deliberate effort to turn Central Asia into a forward operating base against Russia, China, and Iran. Kazakhstan sits at the heart of that emerging contest. American strategists began to speak of a unified space that they call ‘Greater Central Asia’ years before Trump returned to the White House.” (12/23/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-eurasian-trap
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29) Ending the American Dream by 2029? Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog in Trump’s USA
Source: TomDispatch
by Alfred McCoy
“For writers, the future has long been a tricky terrain. While the past can prove unsettling and the present uncomfortable, the future seems to free the mind from reality’s restraints and let the imagination soar. Yet it has also proven full of political pitfalls. Sometimes writers can tweak a trend of their moment to produce a darkly dystopian future, as with George Orwell’s omniscient tyranny in 1984, Margaret Atwood’s institutionalized misogyny in The Handmaid’s Tale, or Ray Bradbury’s book-burning autocracy in Fahrenheit 451. And ever since H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds (about technologically advanced Martians invading this planet) was published in 1898, space has been a particularly fertile frontier for the literary imagination. It has given us Isaac Asimov’s seven-part galactic Foundation fable, Frank Herbert’s ecological drama Dune, and Philip K. Dick’s post-nuclear wasteland in Blade Runner, opening us to possible techno-futures beyond our mud-bound presence on this small planet.” (12/23/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/ending-the-american-dream-by-2029/
-----
30) Does Israel really still need a “qualitative military edge?'”
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Josh Paul
“The Trump administration’s approach to the military balance in the Middle East is not determined solely by politics, but also by the requirement in US law to maintain Israel’s ‘qualitative military edge’ (QME). The policy was originally conceived almost 45 years ago as a way to ensure Middle East stability by guaranteeing Israel’s military superiority over regional rivals. But the QME requirement has created perverse incentives that have the potential to sustain destabilizing military action by Israel, to fuel arms races, and ultimately to undermine US strategic interests in the Middle East.” (12/23/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/israel-qualitative-military-edge/
-----
31) Kentucky’s Switch to the SAT Violates Public Trust; It May Also Violate State Law
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Richard G Innes
“Kentucky appears to be breaking its own education law. The Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 is meant to guarantee a stable, trustworthy assessment system for parents and lawmakers. Yet the state is now moving to dismantle the only reliable measure of high‑school performance it has ever had: the ACT. The alternative the education establishment has chosen does not meet Kentucky’s legal requirements. For nearly two decades, every Kentucky junior has taken the ACT. It is the sole long‑term trend line the state possesses, the one measure that has remained consistent through four different state‑assessment regimes. It has revealed something uncomfortable but important: since 2016‑17, Kentucky’s ACT scores in reading, math and science have declined.” (12/23/25)
https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/kentuckys-switch-to-the-sat-violates-public-trust-it-may-also-violate-state-law/
-----
32) How a Grown-Up Health Care System Operates
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Eric Hussey
“Sometimes I hear a soon-to-become-former patient of mine – occasionally an already-former patient of mine – tell me how they hate it, but they can’t come to see me any more since I don’t take their insurance. No, that’s incorrect. I assure you, you can come see me. But, because your insurance is a big pain in the neck for a single-doctor office like mine, I will not do the paperwork and take the discounts that they require to get any pay for my work. In fact, I will be happy to see you in my office. But, you will need to tell us how you will be paying for the visit.” (12/23/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/how-a-grown-up-health-care-system-operates/
-----
33) CBS Killing “60 Minutes” CECOT Segment Shows Why We Must Back Independent Media
Source: Beat the Press
by Dean Baker
“If anyone doubted that the rich would use their control of the media to push their agenda and silence dissent, CBS removed it with its decision to censor the scheduled ’60 Minutes’ broadcast on CECOT prison. CECOT is the notorious maximum-security prison in El Salvador where President Donald Trump has sent a number of the people that he has deported. There have been numerous accounts of torture and abusive treatment in the prison, which presumably would have been highlighted in the segment. CBS, under its new ownership, decided that we shouldn’t see the ’60 Minutes’ segment, or at least not the one its team had prepared for broadcast last night. Apparently, they were worried it would offend the Trump administration..” (12/23/25)
https://cepr.net/publications/the-rich-control-the-media-whining-is-not-a-strategy/
-----
34) Cancel culture comes out of the barrel of a gun
Source: spiked
by Mick Hume
“[Charlie] Kirk’s murder, and the reaction to it, confirmed that the Western left [sic] has abandoned any belief not only in free speech and democracy, but also in basic humanity. He was not a president or the sort of powerful individual targeted in past political assassinations in America. He was murdered simply for holding right-wing opinions – and having the nerve to express them in public. The world should now know that cancel culture is not about protecting the vulnerable from hateful words or any of that guff. It does not stop at censorship, but can end with ‘No Platforming’ the speaker permanently. To paraphrase Chairman Mao’s views on political power, in 2025, cancel culture came out of the barrel of a gun.” (12/23/25)
https://archive.is/cMMjR
-----
35) Silver and Gold
Source: EconLog
by Art Carden
“With the holidays upon us, what could be better than Christmas movies? And Christmas songs? And Christmas movies with great Christmas songs, like ‘Silver and Gold’ as sung by Burl Ives in Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer? And of course, there’s the profit-seeking entrepreneur-prospector, Yukon Cornelius, obsessed with finding silver and gold. If silver and gold are so great, why don’t we use them for everything? Silver conducts heat and electricity more efficiently than any other metal. Why don’t we wire our houses with it? Make electric stoves out of it? Or why don’t we do these things with gold?” (12/23/25)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/silver-and-gold
-----
36) The Roots of Collectivist Thinking
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“The idea is now widespread that communities or groups exercise a form of collective thought, which can be duly expressed by the leader of the group as the thoughts of the group mind. Community leaders often purport to speak on behalf of all members of their group when expressing the wishes or needs of the group. For example, when demanding reparations for historical injustices, they identify themselves and every member of their group as a collective unit deserving redress. … The justification for this, the identitarians claim, is that group identity is important and members of the group have a common experience that unifies them and makes it appropriate to see them as a group. This also has important implications for how history is understood, with historical events often being explained by reference to group opinions or group motivations. However, double standards apply.” (12/23/25)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/roots-collectivist-thinking
-----
37) China’s phony conviction of Jimmy Lai is a warning
Source: Fox News
by Roger Ream
“For Americans wondering about the future of China and its relationship with the West, the latest verdict in the Jimmy Lai case proves an ominous harbinger of Hong Kong’s continued slide towards authoritarianism. Lai, the self-made billionaire, media entrepreneur and pro-democracy activist, has been held prisoner of the Chinese Communist Party for five years under Hong Kong’s National Security Law. He was finally convicted Dec. 14 on trumped-up charges of sedition. This verdict, handed down in 855 pages of meaningless gobbledygook, is Lai’s second conviction during his state-sponsored persecution since Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests. Lai was previously found guilty of lease violations in connection with Apple Daily, his popular former newspaper that was closed by the Chinese government in 2021, and sentenced to 69 months in prison. The latest charges, for which Lai will be sentenced in early January, carry a penalty of 10 years to life in prison.” (12/23/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/chinas-phony-conviction-jimmy-lai-warning
-----
38) Veterans: Time to Wake Up
Source: Antiwar.com
by Patrick Samuels
“Yet again, the military community is struck with the death of two outstanding individuals in the midst of unnecessary military involvement in Syria. And yet again, there will not be a single person bearing the burden of this loss other than close family and friends. In the latter half of the Global War on Terror, the American people have largely remained unaffected by continuous years of war and politicians have deferred all responsibility to the office of the President. Our involvement in the Middle East continues regardless of which party holds the Presidency, with virtually no accountability when soldiers are killed in what is perhaps our nation’s most baseless war to date.” (12/23/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/patricksamuels/2025/12/22/veterans-time-to-wake-up/
-----
39) Big Balls Was Just the Beginning
Source: Wired
by Vittoria Elliott
“Since the beginning of the Trump administration, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the brainchild of billionaire Elon Musk, has gone through several iterations, leading periodically to claims — most recently from the director of the Office of Personnel Management — that the group doesn’t exist, or has vanished altogether. But DOGE isn’t dead. Many of its original members are in full-time roles at various government agencies …. Even if DOGE doesn’t survive another year, or until the US semiquincentennial — its original expiration date, per the executive order establishing it — the organization’s larger project will continue. DOGE from its inception was used for two things, both of which have continued apace: the destruction of the administrative state and the wholesale consolidation of data in service of concentrating power in the executive branch. It is a pattern that experts say could spill over beyond the Trump administration.” (12/23/25)
https://archive.is/56FK6
-----
40) Reviewer Judge Words In Book: Bronze Age Mindset, reviewed
Source: Liberal Currents
by Jason Kuznicki
“Bronze Age Mindset is distracting book. Distracting is on purpose. Poorly written on purpose too. Editor say no? Writer say fuck you, I write. Book like that. Of course, there was no editor. We know this because its literary devices fail — the literary device called the paragraph break is never attempted — the history is almost entirely garbage, and the metaphysics is even worse. Bronze Age Mindset may also be the most important book in America right now. And it’ll stay important for at least as long as our current Leader draws breath. Our Leader’s followers love this book. Book maybe important in far future too. Author sure hope so.” (12/23/25)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/reviewer-judge-words-in-book/
-----
41) Behind the USDA’s Regenerative Rhetoric Lurks Business as Usual
Source: Common Dreams
by Matthew Dominguez
“Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, in her recent USA Today and Newsweek opinion pieces, has worked hard to present herself as a champion of American farmers and a steward of healthier food options. Alongside Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., she spoke of the values these farmers embody (independence, grit, patriotism) and celebrated a $700 million regenerative agriculture initiative as proof that this administration is delivering for rural America. But if you pull back the curtain on Secretary Rollins and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the narrative changes. What looks like a bold vision for ‘regeneration’ quickly reveals itself as a political performance designed to distract from the USDA’s business-as-usual that props up industrial agriculture, not family farmers.” (12/23/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/usda-regenerative-agriculture
-----
42) The Haters Are Wrong. Netflix’s Glut of Christmas Movies Is Good, Actually.
Source: Reason
by Natalie Dowzicky
“Netflix has learned that Christmas cheer sells even with modest-to-low production value. During their debut weeks this year, Jingle Bell Heist drew 19.3 million views, My Secret Santa reached 18.1 million, and Champagne Problems logged roughly 14.4 million. Those figures aren’t as jaw-dropping as the 59.6 million viewers who tuned in for the premiere of the final season of Stranger Things, but they’re far from insignificant. These ‘slop’ movies have plenty of critics, but they aren’t trying to be Oscar-worthy. And complaining that there are too many of them is akin to complaining that the grocery store has too many deodorants. No one is forcing you to buy the Dove Go Fresh Cucumber & Green Tea spray or Augustinus Bader’s $48 stick. The existence of options you don’t personally enjoy is not a cultural failure; it’s a luxury.” (12/23/25)
https://reason.com/2025/12/23/the-haters-are-wrong-netflixs-glut-of-christmas-movies-is-good-actually/
-----
43) A Place Without Hope?
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“‘Don’t lose hope.’ That’s what Bonnie Miller, president of the League of Women Voters of Arkansas, told her fellow Arkansans after the state’s highest court overturned a 74-year precedent. The justices ruled that constitutional amendments passed by citizens’ initiative can be amended or repealed by legislators with a two-thirds vote of both chambers. Without the issue ever going back to voters. … How long can politicians thwart the will of the people and get away with it? The people of Arkansas are finding out.” (12/23/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/12/23/a-place-without-hope/
-----
44) Trump Can’t Hide His Most Serious Illness
Source: CounterPunch
by Nick Licata
“When critics suggest potential illnesses President Donald Trump might have, they point to evidence of a possible ailment. They notice bruises on his hands, swollen joints, dozing off during televised meetings, and his rambling, disjointed speeches. However, they never identify the one hallmark of a serious illness that he had shown even before he became president. It is a mental condition officially defined and diagnosed by the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).” (12/23/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/12/23/trump-cant-hide-his-most-serious-illness/
-----
45) How “Woke” Thinking Leads to Antisemitism
Source: Town Hall
by John C Goodman
“Antisemitism is on the upswing in the United States and around the world. Although antisemitism has a long tradition on the European right, the communists under Stalin were also very antisemitic. That’s why so many Russian Jews immigrated to Israel. What is surprising is the recent increase in antisemitism on the progressive left – particularly on college campuses. The explanation, I believe, lies in ‘woke’ ideology. By one widely respected measure, America is the most individualistic country in the world. Geert Hofstede, who pioneered the study of the subject, defines individualism as ‘a cultural orientation in which people see themselves primarily as independent individuals rather than as members of tight, cohesive groups.’ They also see others that way. That undoubtedly explains why America is the most successful melting pot in the world.” (12/23/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/johncgoodman/2025/12/23/how-woke-thinking-leads-to-antisemitism-n2668342
-----
46) Government lies — sealevel rise and benefits versus costs
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“The US on-line edition of the Mirror recently published an article about the infamous NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) map showing cities and areas that will be inundated in the year 2100. Don’t worry if it is too small to see exactly what areas are covered. Except for a very few areas right on the coast in Northern California and Oregon, and in Maine, they claim it is all gonna be underwater. (Yep, plus much of the Mississippi Valley, not shown.) Unless, of course, we bow down to government and stop driving our cars and trucks, stop flying, stop heating our houses about 55 in winter or below 85 in summer. And always charge our phones and tablets with solar panels. While of course, paying more and more taxes, and otherwise start behaving like the peasants that Pharaoh let Joseph squeeze.” (12/22/25)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2025/12/22/government-lies-sealevel-rise-and-benefits-versus-costs/
-----
47) A conference of clowns
Source: Washington Post
by Jim Geraghty
“From the moment you saw the speaker lineup at Turning Point USA’s year-end conference, the biggest national event for the organization since the assassination of its founder, Charlie Kirk, you could see the trouble waiting to happen. No, the group did not book podcaster Candace Owens, who has spun a seemingly endless variety of conspiracy theories around Kirk’s murder, insisting that the alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, was merely a pawn of larger, more sinister forces. (In early October, Owens claimed that Kirk appeared to her in a dream and told her ‘that he was betrayed.’ It is very difficult to corroborate her sources.) But Turning Point did invite big-name podcasters such as Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, who have steadfastly refused to utter a critical word about Owens’s unhinged rants and unfounded accusations.” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/j1GhL
-----
48) Courts Cannot Determine the “Correct” Price of Property
Source: Independent Institute
by Allen Gindler
“President Trump and his administration have recently lost numerous court cases, raising questions about the qualifications of his legal team. While I am not a lawyer, I believe one civil case involving his Mar-a-Lago estate could have been won if he had a competent economist on his team. President Trump was accused not of violence or theft, but of assigning a higher value to his own property than government officials and expert witnesses deem acceptable. If we scrupulously examine this court case in essence, we can see that it touches upon the main problem that occupied the minds of economists of the past, namely, what value is and how it is determined.” (12/22/25)
https://www.independent.org/article/2025/12/22/courts-cannot-determine-the-correct-price-of-property/
-----
49) The Narco-Terrorist Elite
Source: The American Prospect
by Maureen Tkacik
“If you’re a little too online, you likely know that Marco Rubio as a teenager made extra cash working for his late brother-in-law Orlando Cicilia. The business imported and sold exotic animals as a front for moving nearly a half million pounds of cocaine and marijuana. It was later said, when kingpin Mario Tabraue became a main character on the monstrously popular documentary series Tiger King, that the cocaine was actually stuffed into the bodies of vipers and boa constrictors, though an 80-page indictment of the enterprise makes no mention of that, and Tabraue has been known to sue those who accuse him of animal cruelty. ‘I dealt to support my animal habit,’ Tabraue humbly told the Netflix documentarians about the drug ring that imported and distributed $79 million worth of drugs between 1976 and 1987. It was Rubio’s job, the current secretary of state wrote in his memoir, to clean the cages.” (12/23/25)
https://prospect.org/2025/12/23/narco-terrorist-elite-rubio-south-america-iran-contra/
-----
50) No Sweetheart, Favoritism Isn’t Driving “The Great Feminization,” Modernity Is
Source: The UnPopulist
by Samantha Hancox-Li
“And it’s a good thing for women and the world, contrary to claims of the neo-right’s new darling.” (12/22/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/no-sweetheart-favoritism-isnt-driving
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Trump Watch, 12/23/25
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“The Stultification of Conscience.” (12/23/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7-LaJZrUc8
-----
52) Rising, 12/23/25
Source: The Hill
“Lindsey Granger delivers her lens on Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) dropping out of New York’s Governors’s race after getting jilted by President Trump.” (12/23/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5660903-rising-december-23-2025/
-----
53) Serious Trouble, 12/23/25
Source: Serious Trouble
"The Justice Department gets out its black highlighter; the Pulitzer board wants Trump's tax returns and medical records; Sam Bankman-Fried is not a good lawyer." (12/23/25)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/redacted
-----
54) Reason Interview: Tony Gilroy
Source: Reason
“Andor Creator Tony Gilroy on Bureaucracy and the Surveillance State.” (12/23/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/12/23/andor-creator-tony-gilroy-on-bureaucracy-and-the-surveillance-state/
-----
55) (Re)Imagining Liberty, episode 96
Source: Aaron Ross Powell
“The Irrationality of Rationalists (w/ Samantha Hancox-Li).” (12/23/25)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/096-the-irrationality-of-rationalists-w-samantha-hancox-li/id1614436300?i=1000742468058
-----
56) The Political Orphanage, 12/23/25
Source: The Political Orphanage
“Heaton and Monkey: Yuletide Spysolvers.” (12/23/25)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/heaton-and-monkey-yuletide-spysolvers
-----
57) Advisory Opinions, 12/23/25
Source: The Dispatch
“The Right-Wing Shake-Up.” (12/23/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/the-right-wing-shake-up/
-----
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 12/22/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump Says US Will Keep Venezuelan Oil and Tankers, Huckabee: Iran Didn’t Get the Message, and More.” (12/22/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk3-KSX8UDQ
-----
59) Fountainhead Forum, episode 402
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Pat Dixon on running for governor of Texas and his time on Lago Vista city council.” (12/22/25)
https://rumble.com/v73cbre-ff-402-pat-dixon-on-running-for-governor-of-texas-and-his-time-on-lago-vist.html
-----
60) Mean Age Daydream, 12/22/25
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Leftist Pigs Rewrite ‘Animal Farm.'” (12/22/25)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/madd-leftist-pigs-rewrite-animal-farm
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Today's Freedom News:
0) Happy Holidays, w/Year-End Fundraiser Update
1) Donetsk: Russian forces seize Siversk as Ukrainian troops withdraw
2) SCOTUS rejects Trump’s Illinois occupation plans
3) Israel: Regime extends media censorship order
4) US DOJ releases third batch of Jeffrey Epstein files, tries to cover for Trump
5) Bitcoin Falls in Holiday-Thinned Trade
6) Turkey: Libya’s army chief killed in air crash
7) Senate quietly works on bipartisan Obamacare fix as healthcare cliff nears
8) Safety Panel Calls Out NASA for Downplaying the Boeing Starliner Mess
9) Yemen: Saudi puppet regime, Houthi regime agree to exchange thousands of prisoners
10) US economy expands at a surprisingly strong 4.3% annual rate in the third quarter
11) Japan: Former emperor turns 92 as heart condition stabilizes after health concerns
12) Student Loan Borrowers in Default Could See Wages Garnished in Early 2026
13) Sasse announces Stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis, says he is “gonna die”
14) UK: Thunberg arrested for expressing opinion
15) UK: Brand charged with new offences of rape and sexual assault
16) Kansas City Chiefs clamp lips to corporate welfare teat
17) IL: Johnson’s progressive tax push puts Chicago on brink of rare shutdown as mayor weighs veto
18) Sudan’s PM Kamil Idris presents peace plan to UNSC to end war
19) TX: Camp Mystic’s reopening plans have drawn outrage, but some families want to return
20) Trump whines about photos of people who “innocently met” with Epstein
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Sorry, Santa Claus, you belong on Trump’s trade naughty list
22) Stop Picking On Poor Little Israel
23) A Christmas Gift to the War Machine
24) The Strange Death of English Justice
25) Obesity Economics: How Subsidies Distort the American Diet
26) The Trump Boomerang Effect: Bari Weiss, Meet Ozymandias
27) Terror on the Beach
28) The Eurasian Trap
29) Ending the American Dream by 2029? Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog in Trump’s USA
30) Does Israel really still need a “qualitative military edge?'”
31) Kentucky’s Switch to the SAT Violates Public Trust; It May Also Violate State Law
32) How a Grown-Up Health Care System Operates
33) CBS Killing “60 Minutes” CECOT Segment Shows Why We Must Back Independent Media
34) Cancel culture comes out of the barrel of a gun
35) Silver and Gold
36) The Roots of Collectivist Thinking
37) China’s phony conviction of Jimmy Lai is a warning
38) Veterans: Time to Wake Up
39) Big Balls Was Just the Beginning
40) Reviewer Judge Words In Book: Bronze Age Mindset, reviewed
41) Behind the USDA’s Regenerative Rhetoric Lurks Business as Usual
42) The Haters Are Wrong. Netflix’s Glut of Christmas Movies Is Good, Actually.
43) A Place Without Hope?
44) Trump Can’t Hide His Most Serious Illness
45) How “Woke” Thinking Leads to Antisemitism
46) Government lies — sealevel rise and benefits versus costs
47) A conference of clowns
48) Courts Cannot Determine the “Correct” Price of Property
49) The Narco-Terrorist Elite
50) No Sweetheart, Favoritism Isn’t Driving “The Great Feminization,” Modernity Is
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Trump Watch, 12/23/25
52) Rising, 12/23/25
53) Serious Trouble, 12/23/25
54) Reason Interview: Tony Gilroy
55) (Re)Imagining Liberty, episode 96
56) The Political Orphanage, 12/23/25
57) Advisory Opinions, 12/23/25
58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 12/22/25
59) Fountainhead Forum, episode 402
60) Mean Age Daydream, 12/22/25
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0) Happy Holidays, w/Year-End Fundraiser Update
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-----
1) Donetsk: Russian forces seize Siversk as Ukrainian troops withdraw
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The Ukrainian military says its forces have withdrawn from the battle-scarred town of Siversk in the [seceded] Donetsk region after heavy fighting with Russian forces. In a statement on Telegram on Tuesday, Ukraine’s General Staff said that Russian troops had a ‘significant advantage’ in manpower and equipment and had exerted constant pressure on the defending Ukrainian troops by staging small-unit assaults in difficult weather conditions. … Ukraine’s DeepState military monitoring site reported late on Tuesday that Russian forces had occupied Siversk as well as Hrabovske, a village in Ukraine’s Sumy region close to the border with Russia. Russian Lieutenant General Sergei Medvedev had told Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 11 that troops had taken Siversk, where fighting has been fierce in recent months, but Ukrainian officials denied the Russian reports at the time.” (12/24/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/24/russian-forces-seize-embattled-siversk-town-as-ukrainian-troops-withdraw
-----
2) SCOTUS rejects Trump’s Illinois occupation plans
Source: SCOTUSblog
“The Supreme Court on Tuesday left in place a ruling by a federal judge in Chicago that bars the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops in Illinois. In a three-page unsigned order, the justices turned down the government’s request to put the temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge April Perry on Oct. 9 on hold while litigation continues in the lower courts. ‘At this preliminary stage,’ the court said, ‘the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois.’ … Although the dispute came to the Supreme Court in its preliminary stages, the case was an important test of the president’s power to send National Guard troops, who are normally controlled by the states, into U.S. cities.” (12/23/25)
https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/12/supreme-court-rejects-trumps-effort-to-deploy-national-guard-in-illinois/
-----
3) Israel: Regime extends media censorship order
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Israel’s parliament has extended an order allowing the government to shut down foreign broadcasters operating in the country. The legislation, passed by 22 votes to 10, expands temporary powers introduced during the Gaza war to shutter outlets seen as a threat to national security. It allows the government for the next two years to cease operations of a foreign outlet even in peace time and without the need for a court order. Originally dubbed the ‘Al Jazeera Law,’ the powers were used to shut down the Qatari-owned channel’s offices and block its broadcasts in May 2024.” (12/23/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2k47wg2j90o
-----
4) US DOJ releases third batch of Jeffrey Epstein files, tries to cover for Trump
Source: NBC News
“The Justice Department on Tuesday released a third batch of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, including some that have references to President Donald Trump. The Justice Department, which [was legally required to release the files by last Friday] under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, acknowledged the Trump appearances in a post on social media, and said some include ‘untrue and sensationalist claims.’ ‘The Department of Justice has officially released nearly 30,000 more pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already,’ the department said in a post on X.” (12/23/25)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/justice-department-releases-3rd-batch-jeffrey-epstein-files-mention-tr-rcna250533
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5) Bitcoin Falls in Holiday-Thinned Trade
Source: Barron’s
“Bitcoin was falling in holiday-thinned trade, with the cryptocurrency on course to end the year lower. … With many markets closed early for Christmas Eve on Wednesday, reduced liquidity raises the potential for increased volatility. Bitcoin fell 0.7% to $87,090 and is down 7% in the year to date, LSEG data show.” (12/24/25)
https://www.barrons.com/livecoverage/stock-market-news-today-122425/card/bitcoin-falls-in-holiday-thinned-trade-aK63ufUycCRuiNhVNF3B
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6) Turkey: Libya’s army chief killed in air crash
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The Libyan army chief has been killed in an air crash in Turkey, Libya’s prime minister has said. Gen Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad and four others were on board a Falcon 50 aircraft flying out of the Turkish capital, Ankara. In a post on X, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said signal with the business jet was lost at 20:52 local time (17:52 GMT) – about 42 minutes after it took off from Ankara’s airport. The Tripoli-bound jet had issued an emergency landing request before contact was lost.” (12/23/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyvgzyepdqno
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7) Senate quietly works on bipartisan Obamacare fix as healthcare cliff nears
Source: Fox News
“Obamacare subsidies that have dominated the conversation on Capitol Hill are set to expire after Congress failed to act, but a cohort of bipartisan senators are quietly working to find a solution for when lawmakers return next year. It has engulfed Congress since September and played a starring role in the longest-ever government shutdown. And both Republicans and Democrats tried, and failed, to pass their partisan plans to either extend or replace the Biden-era enhanced tax credits. They are guaranteed to expire, and millions of Americans who use the subsidies are set to experience hikes to their out-of-pocket costs for healthcare that can vary widely depending on the state. Still, some in Congress haven’t given up on the issue.” (12/23/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-quietly-works-bipartisan-obamacare-fix-healthcare-cliff-nears
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8) Safety Panel Calls Out NASA for Downplaying the Boeing Starliner Mess
Source: Gizmodo
“A NASA safety panel has criticized space agency officials for how they handled the busted Starliner mission that left two astronauts stranded on board the International Space Station (ISS). A new report highlights a wave of uncertainty that lurked behind Boeing’s unfortunate saga, casting doubt over whether NASA can properly address safety concerns with future missions like Artemis. For months, NASA and Boeing officials reassured the press that astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams could depart the ISS on board the faulty Boeing spacecraft. Given the severity of the situation, however, NASA should have immediately declared the incident as a mishap to prompt an investigation with the agency’s safety office, according to a new report by NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP).” (12/23/25)
https://gizmodo.com/safety-panel-calls-nasa-out-for-downplaying-the-boeing-starliner-mess-2000702881
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9) Yemen: Saudi puppet regime, Houthi regime agree to exchange thousands of prisoners
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Yemen’s internationally recognised government and the Houthi group have reached an agreement to free detainees, according to the United Nations, with officials from both sides putting the number at thousands. In a statement on Tuesday, the UN envoy on Yemen Hans Grundberg said the prisoner swap deal came after nearly two weeks of talks in Muscat, the capital of Oman, a mediator in the conflict between the government and the Houthis that began in 2014. … The war in Yemen has been largely frozen since 2022, but tensions have risen in recent weeks as the separatist Southern Transitional Council made military advances in the country’s eastern governorates of Hadramout and al-Mahra. Overall, the conflict has killed tens of thousands people and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.” (12/23/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/23/yemen-government-houthis-agree-to-exchange-thousands-of-prisoners
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10) US economy expands at a surprisingly strong 4.3% annual rate in the third quarter
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“The U.S. economy expanded at a surprisingly strong 4.3% annual rate in the third quarter, the most rapid expansion in two years, as consumer and government spending, as well as exports, all grew. U.S. gross domestic product from July through September — the economy’s total output of goods and services — rose from its 3.8% growth rate in the April-June quarter, the Commerce Department said Tuesday in a report delayed by the government shutdown. Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet forecast growth of 3% in the period. However, inflation remains higher than the Federal Reserve would like. The Fed’s favored inflation gauge — called the personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE — climbed to a 2.8% annual pace last quarter, up from 2.1% in the second quarter.” (12/23/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/12/23/us-economy-gdp-3rd-quarter/
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11) Japan: Former emperor turns 92 as heart condition stabilizes after health concerns
Source: ABC News
“Japan’s beloved former Emperor Akihito marked his 92nd birthday Tuesday as his heart condition stabilized, palace officials said, following health concerns earlier this year. Akihito, the father of Emperor Naruhito, was diagnosed in May with insufficient blood flow to the heart muscles but has been in stable condition since he started a new medication in July, the Imperial Household Agency said in a statement. … Akihito, who has held the title of emperor emeritus since his abdication in 2019, was to celebrate his birthday with his family and receive guests, including Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Known for his efforts to make amends for Japan’s wartime past, Akihito repeatedly prayed this year for its victims and the survivors who faced hardships as he marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.” (12/23/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/japans-former-emperor-turns-92-heart-condition-stabilizes-128641423
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12) Student Loan Borrowers in Default Could See Wages Garnished in Early 2026
Source: New York Times
“The Trump administration will begin to garnish the pay of student loan borrowers in January, the Department of Education said, stepping up a repayment enforcement effort that began this year. Beginning the week of Jan. 7, roughly 1,000 borrowers who are in default will receive notices informing them of their status, according to an email from the department. The number of notices will increase on a monthly basis. The collection activities are ‘conducted only after student and parent borrowers have been provided sufficient notice and opportunity to repay their loans,’ according to the email, which was unsigned.” (12/23/25)
https://archive.is/Obu2X
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13) Sasse announces Stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis, says he is “gonna die”
Source: New York Post
“Former GOP Sen. Ben Sasse revealed Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and does not have long to live. In a lengthy statement on X, the 53-year-old said bluntly: ‘Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.’ ‘Death is a wicked thief, and the bastard pursues us all,’ the former senator from Nebraska added. ‘Still, I’ve got less time than I’d prefer. This is hard for someone wired to work and build, but harder still as a husband and a dad.'” (12/23/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/12/23/us-news/ex-sen-ben-sasse-announces-stage-4-pancreatic-cancer-diagnosis-says-he-is-gonna-die/
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14) UK: Thunberg arrested for expressing opinion
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“London police arrested Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday at a pro-Palestinian protest, UK-based campaign group Defend Our Juries said. Thunberg was arrested under the Terrorism Act for holding a sign that said she supported prisoners linked to Palestine Action, an organisation which the British government has proscribed as a terrorist group, Defend Our Juries said.” (12/23/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20251223-activist-greta-thunberg-arrested-at-london-pro-palestinian-protest
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15) UK: Brand charged with new offences of rape and sexual assault
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Russell Brand has been charged with two further offences including one count of rape, the Metropolitan Police has said. In a new statement, the police force said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has authorised an additional charge of rape and a charge of sexual assault relating to two further women. The broadcaster, comedian and actor previously pleaded not guilty to five charges including two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault in relation to four women. … A trial is set to start at Southwark Crown Court on 16 June 2026 for the five original charges which allegedly took place on dates spanning between 1999 and 2005 in central London and Bournemouth.” (12/23/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyd5ynxvqxo
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16) Kansas City Chiefs clamp lips to corporate welfare teat
Source: Yahoo! Sports
“The Kansas City Chiefs are moving to Kansas. The Chiefs, in conjunction with Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, announced in a statement from owner and chairman Clark Hunt on Monday that the team will move to a domed stadium in Kansas City, Kansas. The announcement came after a meeting of the Kansas Legislative Coordinating Council to discuss the Chiefs’ stadium plans. The new stadium is planned to be completed in time for the 2031 NFL season and Kelly said the project would cost $3 billion. … A tug-of-war has unfolded for months between the states of Kansas and Missouri. And the Chiefs are moving because Kansas is willing to foot more of the bill than Missouri.” (12/22/25)
https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/breaking-news/article/chiefs-announce-move-from-arrowhead-stadium-in-missouri-to-new-3-billion-domed-stadium-in-kansas-211526929.html
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17) IL: Johnson’s progressive tax push puts Chicago on brink of rare shutdown as mayor weighs veto
Source: Fox News
“A potential veto of Chicago’s 2026 budget by Mayor Brandon Johnson could trigger the Windy City’s first-ever municipal shutdown. Johnson reportedly rebuked the budget passed by council over the weekend, which lacks the mayor’s favored per-employee ‘head tax’ on corporations, as ‘morally bankrupt.’ If Johnson were to veto the budget, it would place the onus back on city council to rehash a plan that could get signed before Dec. 30 – or plunge the city into shutdown. … Items in the council’s budget include legalized video-gambling machines at eateries and Chicago-Midway Airport, raising the shopping-bag tax and a nationally unique proposal to tax social media companies – levying $0.50-per active Chicago user beyond 100,000 users that a platform has – with an expected windfall of $31 million, if approved. While a shutdown would be a novel development, late-year budget vetoes in Chicago are not.” (12/23/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/brandon-johnsons-progressive-tax-push-puts-chicago-brink-rare-shutdown-mayor-weighs-veto
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18) Sudan’s PM Kamil Idris presents peace plan to UNSC to end war
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Sudan’s prime minister has presented a plan to end the country’s nearly three-year war before the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), calling on members to stand ‘on the right side of history’ by backing the initiative, as fighting continued in Kordofan and North Kordofan states. Addressing the UNSC on Monday, Kamil Idris outlined the proposal that includes a ceasefire monitored by the UN, African Union and Arab League, and the withdrawal of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary from territory it controls. The plan would also see RSF forces, who have been engaged in fierce clashes with the Sudanese army since April 2023, being placed in camps and disarmed – a measure, Idris said, would be necessary for the truce to have any ‘chance for success.'” (12/23/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/23/sudans-pm-kamil-idris-presents-peace-plan-to-unsc-to-end-war
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19) TX: Camp Mystic’s reopening plans have drawn outrage, but some families want to return
Source: SFGate
“Patrick Hotze’s three daughters made it home safe from Camp Mystic after July’s catastrophic floods that killed 25 campers and two teenage counselors. He attended some of the funerals and says he understands the outrage over the Texas camp’s plan to partially reopen next year. He also intends to send his girls back. … For the first time since the roaring flood, the 100-year-old all-girls Christian sleepaway retreat plans to sign up campers in January, forging ahead with a reopening that has divided families and stunned some lawmakers. Campers will start arriving in May, bunking on higher ground than the area where fast-rising waters on the Guadalupe River swept away two cabins. Some families say the decision to let their daughters return is a vital step in their own healing from the disaster that is still under scrutiny.” (12/23/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/parents-are-divided-on-whether-their-girls-should-21258675.php
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20) Trump whines about photos of people who “innocently met” with Epstein
Source: Politico
“President Donald Trump expressed sympathy Monday for powerful and influential people caught up in convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit, including former President Bill Clinton, telling reporters that he doesn’t ‘like the pictures of other people being shown.’ … Photos included Epstein with well-known figures, including Trump, on his plane or at social events. Clinton has appeared in multiple photos that were released last week as part of the first batch of documents the DOJ made available. There has been ‘tremendous backlash’ to the documents, Trump said, because they’ve ensnared ‘people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago,’ including successful lawyers and businesspeople. … Trump briefly acknowledged that there were photos of himself included in the recent document dumps, but didn’t provide any details on his relationship with Epstein at the time, except to say that he threw him out of Mar-a-Lago.” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/KRED9
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Sorry, Santa Claus, you belong on Trump’s trade naughty list
Source: Washington Post
by Dominic Pino
“Here’s how Claus gains an illicit advantage and creates a trade deficit. Claus is not an American, and he brings his gifts from the North Pole (which is suspiciously close to Canada, a country that threatens U.S. national security). The gifts are produced by elves who don’t have the protections of U.S. labor laws in workshops that aren’t subject to U.S. environmental or safety standards. Claus has stolen jobs from American workers with his industrial policy, which uses Yuletide magic to subsidize the manufacturing and transportation of his exports. This unfair competition allows Claus to flood our country with toys priced lower than anyone else can produce them: $0. American children have been trained not merely to accept but to celebrate the dumping of foreign goods …. The gleeful acceptance of low-priced imports is only one of many symptoms of the failed neoliberal mindset wrecking this great nation.” (12/23/25)
https://archive.is/6u4wq
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22) Stop Picking On Poor Little Israel
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“It’s just sitting there minding its own business trying to do a little genocide in peace while aggressively lobbying your government to crush your freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, and you’re OBSESSING about it for NO REASON. You just hate Jews. That’s the only possible reason you could spend so much time obsessing about this one tiny little harmless country: you’ve got a crazy, irrational fixation on a small abrahamic religion, because you’re a weirdo. Stop saying it’s actually about all the wars and atrocities and apartheid and starving children and lobbying and propaganda and nonstop assaults on your civil rights and your government’s complicity in genocidal abuses …. No. That’s not it. It’s because you get freakishly enraged by small hats. Don’t you know there was a shooting on Bondi Beach?” (12/23/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/12/23/stop-picking-on-poor-little-israel/
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23) A Christmas Gift to the War Machine
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
by Ron Paul
“Late last week, Congress passed and President Trump signed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill marks the first time the US military budget officially passed the one trillion dollar mark. Of course, when you add in other military-related spending such as interest on the debt, veterans’ affairs, and military components of other government agencies, the true number is at least one and a half times that amount. To paraphrase the famous 1953 President Eisenhower speech, ‘The Chance for Peace,’ each of these dollars spent on military offense and the maintenance of the US global empire rather than on defense of our own nation is taken from the mouths of the hungry and off the backs of hardworking American families.” (12/22/25)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/a-christmas-gift-to-the-war-machine
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24) The Strange Death of English Justice
Source: Quillette
by Ralph Leonard
“There is a contradiction at the heart of the revised justice system that is about to come into being. If trial by jury remains our method of trying the most serious crimes, this implies that it is the best way of litigating criminal cases. If so, then we are accepting that ‘non-serious’ cases are going to be tried using an inferior form of litigation. That will create a two-tier legal system. The irony is that, over the past year, public discourse has been obsessed with what some are calling a crisis of national identity. Does ‘Englishness’ exist? If so, is it good? What are its ethnic boundaries? Yet, jury trial, something that is very important to English history, identity, and our understanding of ourselves — something that has been an ancient, even ancestral, English right, is facing a wrecking ball.” (12/23/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/12/23/the-strange-death-of-english-justice-trial-by-jury/
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25) Obesity Economics: How Subsidies Distort the American Diet
Source: The Daily Economy
by Laura Williams
“Federal subsidies drive food production, consumption, and — unintentionally — chronic disease. Now we’re being asked to subsidize weight loss drugs to fight what farm policy broke.” (12/23/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/obesity-economics-how-subsidies-distort-the-american-diet/
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26) The Trump Boomerang Effect: Bari Weiss, Meet Ozymandias
Source: Washington Monthly
by Jonathan Alter
“While Trump muscles the media and renames the Kennedy Center, history will get the last laugh. Just ask the good people of Appleton, Wisconsin.” (12/23/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/12/23/the-trump-boomerang-effect-bari-weiss-meet-ozymandias/
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27) Terror on the Beach
Source: Law & Liberty
by Helen Dale
“Many Jews came to Australia precisely because they thought they would be safe. The Bondi massacre changed that.” (12/23/25)
https://lawliberty.org/terror-on-the-beach/
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28) The Eurasian Trap
Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño
“When President Donald Trump celebrated Kazakhstan’s decision to join the Abraham Accords, he spoke of peace and partnership in the familiar language of statesmen. The announcement sounded like a diplomatic victory in a region marked by instability. In reality, it looked more like one more step in a slow and deliberate effort to turn Central Asia into a forward operating base against Russia, China, and Iran. Kazakhstan sits at the heart of that emerging contest. American strategists began to speak of a unified space that they call ‘Greater Central Asia’ years before Trump returned to the White House.” (12/23/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-eurasian-trap
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29) Ending the American Dream by 2029? Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog in Trump’s USA
Source: TomDispatch
by Alfred McCoy
“For writers, the future has long been a tricky terrain. While the past can prove unsettling and the present uncomfortable, the future seems to free the mind from reality’s restraints and let the imagination soar. Yet it has also proven full of political pitfalls. Sometimes writers can tweak a trend of their moment to produce a darkly dystopian future, as with George Orwell’s omniscient tyranny in 1984, Margaret Atwood’s institutionalized misogyny in The Handmaid’s Tale, or Ray Bradbury’s book-burning autocracy in Fahrenheit 451. And ever since H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds (about technologically advanced Martians invading this planet) was published in 1898, space has been a particularly fertile frontier for the literary imagination. It has given us Isaac Asimov’s seven-part galactic Foundation fable, Frank Herbert’s ecological drama Dune, and Philip K. Dick’s post-nuclear wasteland in Blade Runner, opening us to possible techno-futures beyond our mud-bound presence on this small planet.” (12/23/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/ending-the-american-dream-by-2029/
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30) Does Israel really still need a “qualitative military edge?'”
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Josh Paul
“The Trump administration’s approach to the military balance in the Middle East is not determined solely by politics, but also by the requirement in US law to maintain Israel’s ‘qualitative military edge’ (QME). The policy was originally conceived almost 45 years ago as a way to ensure Middle East stability by guaranteeing Israel’s military superiority over regional rivals. But the QME requirement has created perverse incentives that have the potential to sustain destabilizing military action by Israel, to fuel arms races, and ultimately to undermine US strategic interests in the Middle East.” (12/23/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/israel-qualitative-military-edge/
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31) Kentucky’s Switch to the SAT Violates Public Trust; It May Also Violate State Law
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Richard G Innes
“Kentucky appears to be breaking its own education law. The Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 is meant to guarantee a stable, trustworthy assessment system for parents and lawmakers. Yet the state is now moving to dismantle the only reliable measure of high‑school performance it has ever had: the ACT. The alternative the education establishment has chosen does not meet Kentucky’s legal requirements. For nearly two decades, every Kentucky junior has taken the ACT. It is the sole long‑term trend line the state possesses, the one measure that has remained consistent through four different state‑assessment regimes. It has revealed something uncomfortable but important: since 2016‑17, Kentucky’s ACT scores in reading, math and science have declined.” (12/23/25)
https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/kentuckys-switch-to-the-sat-violates-public-trust-it-may-also-violate-state-law/
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32) How a Grown-Up Health Care System Operates
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Eric Hussey
“Sometimes I hear a soon-to-become-former patient of mine – occasionally an already-former patient of mine – tell me how they hate it, but they can’t come to see me any more since I don’t take their insurance. No, that’s incorrect. I assure you, you can come see me. But, because your insurance is a big pain in the neck for a single-doctor office like mine, I will not do the paperwork and take the discounts that they require to get any pay for my work. In fact, I will be happy to see you in my office. But, you will need to tell us how you will be paying for the visit.” (12/23/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/how-a-grown-up-health-care-system-operates/
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33) CBS Killing “60 Minutes” CECOT Segment Shows Why We Must Back Independent Media
Source: Beat the Press
by Dean Baker
“If anyone doubted that the rich would use their control of the media to push their agenda and silence dissent, CBS removed it with its decision to censor the scheduled ’60 Minutes’ broadcast on CECOT prison. CECOT is the notorious maximum-security prison in El Salvador where President Donald Trump has sent a number of the people that he has deported. There have been numerous accounts of torture and abusive treatment in the prison, which presumably would have been highlighted in the segment. CBS, under its new ownership, decided that we shouldn’t see the ’60 Minutes’ segment, or at least not the one its team had prepared for broadcast last night. Apparently, they were worried it would offend the Trump administration..” (12/23/25)
https://cepr.net/publications/the-rich-control-the-media-whining-is-not-a-strategy/
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34) Cancel culture comes out of the barrel of a gun
Source: spiked
by Mick Hume
“[Charlie] Kirk’s murder, and the reaction to it, confirmed that the Western left [sic] has abandoned any belief not only in free speech and democracy, but also in basic humanity. He was not a president or the sort of powerful individual targeted in past political assassinations in America. He was murdered simply for holding right-wing opinions – and having the nerve to express them in public. The world should now know that cancel culture is not about protecting the vulnerable from hateful words or any of that guff. It does not stop at censorship, but can end with ‘No Platforming’ the speaker permanently. To paraphrase Chairman Mao’s views on political power, in 2025, cancel culture came out of the barrel of a gun.” (12/23/25)
https://archive.is/cMMjR
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35) Silver and Gold
Source: EconLog
by Art Carden
“With the holidays upon us, what could be better than Christmas movies? And Christmas songs? And Christmas movies with great Christmas songs, like ‘Silver and Gold’ as sung by Burl Ives in Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer? And of course, there’s the profit-seeking entrepreneur-prospector, Yukon Cornelius, obsessed with finding silver and gold. If silver and gold are so great, why don’t we use them for everything? Silver conducts heat and electricity more efficiently than any other metal. Why don’t we wire our houses with it? Make electric stoves out of it? Or why don’t we do these things with gold?” (12/23/25)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/silver-and-gold
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36) The Roots of Collectivist Thinking
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“The idea is now widespread that communities or groups exercise a form of collective thought, which can be duly expressed by the leader of the group as the thoughts of the group mind. Community leaders often purport to speak on behalf of all members of their group when expressing the wishes or needs of the group. For example, when demanding reparations for historical injustices, they identify themselves and every member of their group as a collective unit deserving redress. … The justification for this, the identitarians claim, is that group identity is important and members of the group have a common experience that unifies them and makes it appropriate to see them as a group. This also has important implications for how history is understood, with historical events often being explained by reference to group opinions or group motivations. However, double standards apply.” (12/23/25)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/roots-collectivist-thinking
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37) China’s phony conviction of Jimmy Lai is a warning
Source: Fox News
by Roger Ream
“For Americans wondering about the future of China and its relationship with the West, the latest verdict in the Jimmy Lai case proves an ominous harbinger of Hong Kong’s continued slide towards authoritarianism. Lai, the self-made billionaire, media entrepreneur and pro-democracy activist, has been held prisoner of the Chinese Communist Party for five years under Hong Kong’s National Security Law. He was finally convicted Dec. 14 on trumped-up charges of sedition. This verdict, handed down in 855 pages of meaningless gobbledygook, is Lai’s second conviction during his state-sponsored persecution since Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests. Lai was previously found guilty of lease violations in connection with Apple Daily, his popular former newspaper that was closed by the Chinese government in 2021, and sentenced to 69 months in prison. The latest charges, for which Lai will be sentenced in early January, carry a penalty of 10 years to life in prison.” (12/23/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/chinas-phony-conviction-jimmy-lai-warning
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38) Veterans: Time to Wake Up
Source: Antiwar.com
by Patrick Samuels
“Yet again, the military community is struck with the death of two outstanding individuals in the midst of unnecessary military involvement in Syria. And yet again, there will not be a single person bearing the burden of this loss other than close family and friends. In the latter half of the Global War on Terror, the American people have largely remained unaffected by continuous years of war and politicians have deferred all responsibility to the office of the President. Our involvement in the Middle East continues regardless of which party holds the Presidency, with virtually no accountability when soldiers are killed in what is perhaps our nation’s most baseless war to date.” (12/23/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/patricksamuels/2025/12/22/veterans-time-to-wake-up/
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39) Big Balls Was Just the Beginning
Source: Wired
by Vittoria Elliott
“Since the beginning of the Trump administration, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the brainchild of billionaire Elon Musk, has gone through several iterations, leading periodically to claims — most recently from the director of the Office of Personnel Management — that the group doesn’t exist, or has vanished altogether. But DOGE isn’t dead. Many of its original members are in full-time roles at various government agencies …. Even if DOGE doesn’t survive another year, or until the US semiquincentennial — its original expiration date, per the executive order establishing it — the organization’s larger project will continue. DOGE from its inception was used for two things, both of which have continued apace: the destruction of the administrative state and the wholesale consolidation of data in service of concentrating power in the executive branch. It is a pattern that experts say could spill over beyond the Trump administration.” (12/23/25)
https://archive.is/56FK6
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40) Reviewer Judge Words In Book: Bronze Age Mindset, reviewed
Source: Liberal Currents
by Jason Kuznicki
“Bronze Age Mindset is distracting book. Distracting is on purpose. Poorly written on purpose too. Editor say no? Writer say fuck you, I write. Book like that. Of course, there was no editor. We know this because its literary devices fail — the literary device called the paragraph break is never attempted — the history is almost entirely garbage, and the metaphysics is even worse. Bronze Age Mindset may also be the most important book in America right now. And it’ll stay important for at least as long as our current Leader draws breath. Our Leader’s followers love this book. Book maybe important in far future too. Author sure hope so.” (12/23/25)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/reviewer-judge-words-in-book/
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41) Behind the USDA’s Regenerative Rhetoric Lurks Business as Usual
Source: Common Dreams
by Matthew Dominguez
“Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, in her recent USA Today and Newsweek opinion pieces, has worked hard to present herself as a champion of American farmers and a steward of healthier food options. Alongside Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., she spoke of the values these farmers embody (independence, grit, patriotism) and celebrated a $700 million regenerative agriculture initiative as proof that this administration is delivering for rural America. But if you pull back the curtain on Secretary Rollins and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the narrative changes. What looks like a bold vision for ‘regeneration’ quickly reveals itself as a political performance designed to distract from the USDA’s business-as-usual that props up industrial agriculture, not family farmers.” (12/23/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/usda-regenerative-agriculture
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42) The Haters Are Wrong. Netflix’s Glut of Christmas Movies Is Good, Actually.
Source: Reason
by Natalie Dowzicky
“Netflix has learned that Christmas cheer sells even with modest-to-low production value. During their debut weeks this year, Jingle Bell Heist drew 19.3 million views, My Secret Santa reached 18.1 million, and Champagne Problems logged roughly 14.4 million. Those figures aren’t as jaw-dropping as the 59.6 million viewers who tuned in for the premiere of the final season of Stranger Things, but they’re far from insignificant. These ‘slop’ movies have plenty of critics, but they aren’t trying to be Oscar-worthy. And complaining that there are too many of them is akin to complaining that the grocery store has too many deodorants. No one is forcing you to buy the Dove Go Fresh Cucumber & Green Tea spray or Augustinus Bader’s $48 stick. The existence of options you don’t personally enjoy is not a cultural failure; it’s a luxury.” (12/23/25)
https://reason.com/2025/12/23/the-haters-are-wrong-netflixs-glut-of-christmas-movies-is-good-actually/
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43) A Place Without Hope?
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“‘Don’t lose hope.’ That’s what Bonnie Miller, president of the League of Women Voters of Arkansas, told her fellow Arkansans after the state’s highest court overturned a 74-year precedent. The justices ruled that constitutional amendments passed by citizens’ initiative can be amended or repealed by legislators with a two-thirds vote of both chambers. Without the issue ever going back to voters. … How long can politicians thwart the will of the people and get away with it? The people of Arkansas are finding out.” (12/23/25)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/12/23/a-place-without-hope/
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44) Trump Can’t Hide His Most Serious Illness
Source: CounterPunch
by Nick Licata
“When critics suggest potential illnesses President Donald Trump might have, they point to evidence of a possible ailment. They notice bruises on his hands, swollen joints, dozing off during televised meetings, and his rambling, disjointed speeches. However, they never identify the one hallmark of a serious illness that he had shown even before he became president. It is a mental condition officially defined and diagnosed by the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).” (12/23/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/12/23/trump-cant-hide-his-most-serious-illness/
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45) How “Woke” Thinking Leads to Antisemitism
Source: Town Hall
by John C Goodman
“Antisemitism is on the upswing in the United States and around the world. Although antisemitism has a long tradition on the European right, the communists under Stalin were also very antisemitic. That’s why so many Russian Jews immigrated to Israel. What is surprising is the recent increase in antisemitism on the progressive left – particularly on college campuses. The explanation, I believe, lies in ‘woke’ ideology. By one widely respected measure, America is the most individualistic country in the world. Geert Hofstede, who pioneered the study of the subject, defines individualism as ‘a cultural orientation in which people see themselves primarily as independent individuals rather than as members of tight, cohesive groups.’ They also see others that way. That undoubtedly explains why America is the most successful melting pot in the world.” (12/23/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/johncgoodman/2025/12/23/how-woke-thinking-leads-to-antisemitism-n2668342
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46) Government lies — sealevel rise and benefits versus costs
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“The US on-line edition of the Mirror recently published an article about the infamous NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) map showing cities and areas that will be inundated in the year 2100. Don’t worry if it is too small to see exactly what areas are covered. Except for a very few areas right on the coast in Northern California and Oregon, and in Maine, they claim it is all gonna be underwater. (Yep, plus much of the Mississippi Valley, not shown.) Unless, of course, we bow down to government and stop driving our cars and trucks, stop flying, stop heating our houses about 55 in winter or below 85 in summer. And always charge our phones and tablets with solar panels. While of course, paying more and more taxes, and otherwise start behaving like the peasants that Pharaoh let Joseph squeeze.” (12/22/25)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2025/12/22/government-lies-sealevel-rise-and-benefits-versus-costs/
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47) A conference of clowns
Source: Washington Post
by Jim Geraghty
“From the moment you saw the speaker lineup at Turning Point USA’s year-end conference, the biggest national event for the organization since the assassination of its founder, Charlie Kirk, you could see the trouble waiting to happen. No, the group did not book podcaster Candace Owens, who has spun a seemingly endless variety of conspiracy theories around Kirk’s murder, insisting that the alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, was merely a pawn of larger, more sinister forces. (In early October, Owens claimed that Kirk appeared to her in a dream and told her ‘that he was betrayed.’ It is very difficult to corroborate her sources.) But Turning Point did invite big-name podcasters such as Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, who have steadfastly refused to utter a critical word about Owens’s unhinged rants and unfounded accusations.” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/j1GhL
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48) Courts Cannot Determine the “Correct” Price of Property
Source: Independent Institute
by Allen Gindler
“President Trump and his administration have recently lost numerous court cases, raising questions about the qualifications of his legal team. While I am not a lawyer, I believe one civil case involving his Mar-a-Lago estate could have been won if he had a competent economist on his team. President Trump was accused not of violence or theft, but of assigning a higher value to his own property than government officials and expert witnesses deem acceptable. If we scrupulously examine this court case in essence, we can see that it touches upon the main problem that occupied the minds of economists of the past, namely, what value is and how it is determined.” (12/22/25)
https://www.independent.org/article/2025/12/22/courts-cannot-determine-the-correct-price-of-property/
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49) The Narco-Terrorist Elite
Source: The American Prospect
by Maureen Tkacik
“If you’re a little too online, you likely know that Marco Rubio as a teenager made extra cash working for his late brother-in-law Orlando Cicilia. The business imported and sold exotic animals as a front for moving nearly a half million pounds of cocaine and marijuana. It was later said, when kingpin Mario Tabraue became a main character on the monstrously popular documentary series Tiger King, that the cocaine was actually stuffed into the bodies of vipers and boa constrictors, though an 80-page indictment of the enterprise makes no mention of that, and Tabraue has been known to sue those who accuse him of animal cruelty. ‘I dealt to support my animal habit,’ Tabraue humbly told the Netflix documentarians about the drug ring that imported and distributed $79 million worth of drugs between 1976 and 1987. It was Rubio’s job, the current secretary of state wrote in his memoir, to clean the cages.” (12/23/25)
https://prospect.org/2025/12/23/narco-terrorist-elite-rubio-south-america-iran-contra/
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50) No Sweetheart, Favoritism Isn’t Driving “The Great Feminization,” Modernity Is
Source: The UnPopulist
by Samantha Hancox-Li
“And it’s a good thing for women and the world, contrary to claims of the neo-right’s new darling.” (12/22/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/no-sweetheart-favoritism-isnt-driving
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Trump Watch, 12/23/25
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“The Stultification of Conscience.” (12/23/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7-LaJZrUc8
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52) Rising, 12/23/25
Source: The Hill
“Lindsey Granger delivers her lens on Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) dropping out of New York’s Governors’s race after getting jilted by President Trump.” (12/23/25)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5660903-rising-december-23-2025/
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53) Serious Trouble, 12/23/25
Source: Serious Trouble
"The Justice Department gets out its black highlighter; the Pulitzer board wants Trump's tax returns and medical records; Sam Bankman-Fried is not a good lawyer." (12/23/25)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/redacted
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54) Reason Interview: Tony Gilroy
Source: Reason
“Andor Creator Tony Gilroy on Bureaucracy and the Surveillance State.” (12/23/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/12/23/andor-creator-tony-gilroy-on-bureaucracy-and-the-surveillance-state/
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55) (Re)Imagining Liberty, episode 96
Source: Aaron Ross Powell
“The Irrationality of Rationalists (w/ Samantha Hancox-Li).” (12/23/25)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/096-the-irrationality-of-rationalists-w-samantha-hancox-li/id1614436300?i=1000742468058
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56) The Political Orphanage, 12/23/25
Source: The Political Orphanage
“Heaton and Monkey: Yuletide Spysolvers.” (12/23/25)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/heaton-and-monkey-yuletide-spysolvers
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57) Advisory Opinions, 12/23/25
Source: The Dispatch
“The Right-Wing Shake-Up.” (12/23/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/the-right-wing-shake-up/
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58) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 12/22/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump Says US Will Keep Venezuelan Oil and Tankers, Huckabee: Iran Didn’t Get the Message, and More.” (12/22/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk3-KSX8UDQ
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59) Fountainhead Forum, episode 402
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Pat Dixon on running for governor of Texas and his time on Lago Vista city council.” (12/22/25)
https://rumble.com/v73cbre-ff-402-pat-dixon-on-running-for-governor-of-texas-and-his-time-on-lago-vist.html
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60) Mean Age Daydream, 12/22/25
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Leftist Pigs Rewrite ‘Animal Farm.'” (12/22/25)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/madd-leftist-pigs-rewrite-animal-farm
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