12/23 -- Happy Birthday To Us! (Hybrid Tuesday w/Fundraiser Update); Ukraine: Russian air attack kills three and knocks out power in most regions; Did TSA Finally Grab the Wrong Groin?
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Thomas L. Knapp
Dec 23, 2025, 6:41:38 AM (9 days ago) Dec 23
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, Weekend Special Edition, 12/23/25
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Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
https://news.rationalreview.com/
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Today's Freedom News:
0) Happy Birthday To Us! (Hybrid Tuesday w/Fundraiser Update)
1) Ukraine: Russian air attack kills three and knocks out power in most regions
2) US military forces murder one in latest Pacific strike
3) US FCC bans new foreign-made drones
4) Schumer moves to sue Trump regime over Epstein files rollout
5) South Korean politicians agree to Unification Church special probe in rare move
6) Trump removes nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial positions
7) France: Cyberattack disrupts postal service and banking during Christmas rush
8) Betty Reid Soskin, 1921-2025
9) Iran: Media report missile drills in a number of cities
10) Ellison offers $40.4 billion guarantee to beef up Paramount’s Warner Bros bid
11) MT: Farmers Describe $12 Billion Federal Ag Bailout as a “Far Cry” From Actual Losses
12) Japan: TEPCO prepares to restart world’s biggest nuclear plant, 15 years after Fukushima
13) Judge allows Kilmar Abrego Garcia to remain free while she “considers immigration issues”
14) KY: Jim Beam shutting down bourbon production at distillery for a year as Trump’s trade wars hit sales
15) US regime pauses offshore wind projects over pretend security concerns
16) Denmark: Regime summons US ambassador after Trump names special envoy to Greenland
17) “No way” that Walz administration was unaware of Minnesota fraud scandal, Emmer says
18) Palestine: Israeli military storms West Bank towns, carries out demolition
19) Italy: Antitrust agency demands $116 million bribe over privacy feature; Apple announces appeal
20) Sacks, Witkoff could face ethics probe over UAE deals
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Did TSA Finally Grab the Wrong Groin?
22) The trouble with banning Fizz
23) Trump’s Fake Peace Deals Are Dangerous
24) The Real Reason for Military Suicides
25) On Hiring A Restaurant Critic to Run a Restaurant
26) The Latest “Stolen Election” Story
27) Can I Get Some Coffee?
28) In Defense of the Old Testament
29) Talking Diplomacy, Promoting Conflict: The “President of Peace” Prepares for War
30) How Social Media Has Distorted Medical Judgment
31) Notes On Bondi Beach And Free Speech
32) Alfred Hitchcock’s Christmas Movie
33) Who’s the Real Criminal at Sea? Trump’s Tanker Grab vs. the Houthis’ Anti-Genocide Blockade
34) Three Big Problems with Trump’s Venezuela Oil Blockade
35) The Nationalization of AI Threatens Innovation and the American Mind
36) MAHA Republicans Are Imposing New Food Labeling Mandates
37) Race bait: To skirt the law, colleges incentivize applicants to write “identity essays”
38) Trump Economy: One Doll, Multiple Dolls
39) Volodymyr Zelensky’s Non-Compromise NATO Compromise
40) Ukraine’s own pragmatism demands “armed un-alignment”
41) Demands for Data Center Moratoriums Surge
42) Sharing the Wealth?
43) Quantum Vibe, 12/22/25
44) Donald Trump is not a conservative, let’s stop calling him one
45) A Red State Handout Designed to Keep People in Poverty
46) My Resignation From The Heritage Foundation
47) The Mainstream Left Will Never Represent the Lumpenproletariat
48) Let’s Not Grant the Postliberal Critique of Market Liberalism
49) Antifa everywhere: What does antifascism mean?
50) How Federal Land Sales Can Fund Highways
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 12/22/25
52) Bulwark Takes, 12/22/25
53) The Brian Nichols Show, 12/22/25
54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 12/22/25
55) Conflicts of Interest, episode 861
56) Deplatforming Backfired
57) TechTank, season 5, episode 33
58) EconTalk, 12/22/25
59) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 12/22/25
60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 12/22/25
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
0) Happy Birthday To Us! (Hybrid Tuesday w/Fundraiser Update)
It's a "Hybrid Tuesday" -- a full email and social media edition, plus another 30 or so news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links at our web edition:
https://news.rationalreview.com
On Monday, December 23, 2002, Rational Review News Digest published its first daily edition -- Steve Trinward, Mary Lou Seymour, R. Lee Wrights, Brad Spangler, and I stepped in to replace Freedom News Daily, which had shut down the previous Thursday after its publisher, the Henry Hazlitt Foundation, shut down without notice. Two years later, the International Society for Individual Liberty (now Liberty International), which had taken over FND, asked us to start publishing it for them, and we have ever since. Happy birthday to us ...
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1) Ukraine: Russian air attack kills three and knocks out power in most regions
Source: Reuters
“Russia hammered Ukraine with missiles and drones in a new air attack on Tuesday, authorities said, killing at least three people including a child and triggering emergency power cuts across the country as Ukrainians gear up to celebrate Christmas. Moscow’s latest combined strike hit energy facilities in western regions the hardest, said Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, and came days after another round of U.S.-led peace talks to end the nearly four-year-old war.” (12/23/25)
https://archive.is/yd2Lc
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2) US military forces murder one in latest Pacific strike
Source: The Hill
“The U.S. military struck an alleged drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, [murdering] one ‘narco-terrorist.’ U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) shared a 27-second video of the strike on X, adding that the vessel was ‘operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters’ and was ‘transiting along known narco-trafficking routes’ in the eastern Pacific. No U.S. military forces were injured in the latest operations, Southcom noted. The U.S. military has now conducted a minimum of 27 strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea since early September, [murdering] at least 105 people.” (12/22/25)
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5660638-us-military-strikes-alleged-drug-boat/
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3) US FCC bans new foreign-made drones
Source: Seattle Times
“The Federal Communications Commission on Monday said it would ban new foreign-made drones, a move that will keep new Chinese-made drones such as those from DJI and Autel out of the U.S. market.
The announcement came a year after Congress passed a defense bill that [pretended there are] national security concerns about Chinese-made drones …. The bill called for stopping the two Chinese companies from selling new drones in the U.S. if a review found they posed a risk to American national security. The deadline for the review was Dec. 23. The FCC said Monday the review found that all drones and critical components produced in foreign countries, not just by the two Chinese companies, posed ‘unacceptable risks to the national security of the United States and to the safety and security of U.S. persons.'” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/l1M7k
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4) Schumer moves to sue Trump regime over Epstein files rollout
Source: Politico
“Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to force a vote on a measure to allow the chamber to jump-start litigation against the Trump administration for failing to comply with the new law requiring the full release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. ‘The law Congress passed is crystal clear: release the Epstein files in full so Americans can see the truth,’ the New York Democrat said in a statement Monday. ‘Instead, the Trump Department of Justice dumped redactions and withheld the evidence — that breaks the law. Today, I am introducing a resolution to force the Senate to take legal action and compel this administration to comply.’ … It’s unlikely that enough Republicans would join Democrats in supporting the measure, but Schumer intends to put his colleagues on the spot in January, bringing the resolution to the floor when the Senate reconvenes after the holiday recess.” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/rkhCN
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5) South Korean politicians agree to Unification Church special probe in rare move
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“South Korea’s rival political parties are set to appoint special prosecutors to investigate allegations that the Unification Church bribed and lobbied politicians across the ideological divide, a rare move that observers have said could test the country’s constitutional separation of religion and politics. On Monday, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said it would accept a proposal from the conservative opposition People Power Party (PPP) for the team of special prosecutors to investigate the church’s alleged political influence. The decision marks a turnaround for the DPK, which has previously opposed the idea, and reflects growing public pressure to launch an inquiry to examine politicians from both ruling and opposition parties over their supposed links to the Unification Church.” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/1pK1C
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6) Trump removes nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial positions
Source: Washington Post
“The Trump administration is recalling nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial and other senior embassy posts as it moves to reshape the U.S. diplomatic posture abroad with personnel deemed fully supportive of President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ priorities. The chiefs of mission in at least 29 countries were informed last week that their tenures would end in January, according to two State Department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel moves.” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/122M3
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7) France: Cyberattack disrupts postal service and banking during Christmas rush
Source: ABC News
“A suspected cyberattack knocked France’s national postal service and its banking arm offline Monday, blocking and delaying package deliveries and online payments at the height of the busy Christmas season. The postal service, called La Poste, said in a statement that a distributed denial of service incident, or DDoS, ‘rendered its online services inaccessible.’ It said the incident had no impact on customer data, but disrupted package and mail delivery. At a Paris post office decked out in holiday garlands and usually bustling this time of year, employees turned away frustrated customers lining up to send or retrieve packages, including Christmas gifts. Customers of the company’s banking arm, La Banque Postale, were blocked from using the application to approve payments or conduct other banking services.” (12/22/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/cyberattack-disrupts-frances-postal-service-banking-christmas-rush-128616353
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8) Betty Reid Soskin, 1921-2025
Source: WSB 2 News
“The nation’s oldest National Park Ranger, Betty Reid Soskin, died at the age of 104. In a public post on Soskin’s social media accounts, a spokesman confirmed the news of her death, saying Soskin had died at her home in Richmond, California on Sunday. … Soskin was hired by the National Park Service as a ranger at the age of 85, working at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park until her retirement in 2022 at the age of 100, according to her obituary. The National Park Service said Soskin worked to establish the park as a site for honoring women’s roles during World War II before she began working there as a park ranger.” (12/22/25)
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/national/oldest-national-park-ranger-betty-reid-soskin-dies-104/6C2MYMVK5BFA3E7WPQOUHVQHHU/
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9) Iran: Media report missile drills in a number of cities
Source: Times of Israel [Jerusalem]
“Iranian state media reported missile drills in different Iranian cities, citing unnamed sources and witnesses. The Telegram channel of Iran’s public broadcaster and semi-official Nournews publish videos of what appear to be missile launches …. Israel has warned the Trump administration that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may be using an ongoing military exercise focusing on missiles as cover to launch an attack on Israel, according to a report yesterday. However, the US intelligence community has not seen any signs that an Iranian strike could be imminent, an American source told the outlet.” (12/22/25)
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/iranian-media-reports-missile-drills-in-a-number-of-cities/
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10) Ellison offers $40.4 billion guarantee to beef up Paramount’s Warner Bros bid
Source: Reuters
“Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has stepped in to personally guarantee $40.4 billion in Paramount Skydance’s latest effort to pry Warner Bros Discovery away from selling its prized Hollywood assets to streaming giant Netflix. The guarantee, disclosed in a filing on Monday, seeks to allay the Warner Bros board’s doubts about Paramount’s financing and the lack of full Ellison family backing, which had pushed it toward the competing cash-and-stock offer from Netflix. Warner Bros shares rose nearly 4%, while Paramount added about 3%. Warner Bros and Netflix did not immediately respond to requests for comment.” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/BV9Uc
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11) MT: Farmers Describe $12 Billion Federal Ag Bailout as a “Far Cry” From Actual Losses
Source: Flathead Beacon
“Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced the $12 billion bailout package that will include one-time Farmer Bridge Payments to American farmers. The relief is a ‘response to temporary trade market disruptions and increased production costs,’ according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) release. … But [Tryg] Koch and agriculture economists say the plan hardly represents a bailout and will have little impact on Montana farmers as they brace for potential losses in 2026. … Koch estimates the package will grant $30 per acre for row crop farmers who produce things like wheat, canola and pulses. ‘The $30 per acre will help, but it’s a far cry from what the actual losses are,’ Koch said. ‘We don’t need government bailouts – that doesn’t solve the problem and all it does is put a Band-Aid over it to keep up with inflation. We should be selling wheat for $8 or $9 per bushel.'” (12/22/25)
https://flatheadbeacon.com/2025/12/19/montana-farmers-describe-12-billion-federal-ag-bailout-as-a-far-cry-from-actual-losses/
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12) Japan: TEPCO prepares to restart world’s biggest nuclear plant, 15 years after Fukushima
Source: NBC News
“Japan[‘s regime] took the final step to allow the world’s largest nuclear power plant to resume operations with a regional vote on Monday, a watershed moment in the country’s return to nuclear energy nearly 15 years after the Fukushima disaster. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, located about 136 miles northwest of Tokyo, was among 54 reactors shut after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi plant in the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Since then, Japan has restarted 14 of the 33 that remain operable, as it tries to wean itself off imported fossil fuels. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa will be the first operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO,) which ran the doomed Fukushima plant.” (12/22/25)
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/japan-prepares-restart-worlds-biggest-nuclear-plant-15-years-fukushima-rcna250433
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13) Judge allows Kilmar Abrego Garcia to remain free while she “considers immigration issues”
Source: SFGate
“A federal judge on Monday questioned whether government officials could be trusted to follow orders barring them from taking Kilmar Abrego Garcia into immigration custody or deporting him. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis noted that Abrego Garcia was already deported without legal authority once and said she was ‘growing beyond impatient’ with government misrepresentations in her court. ‘Why should I give the respondents the benefit of the doubt?’ she asked, referring to the government attorneys. Abrego Garcia’s mistaken [sic] deportation and imprisonment in El Salvador in March has galvanized both sides of the immigration debate. The Trump administration initially fought efforts to bring him back to the U.S. but eventually complied after the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in. He returned to the U.S. in June, only to face an arrest warrant on human smuggling charges in Tennessee.” (12/22/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/federal-judge-to-decide-whether-kilmar-abrego-21256386.php
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14) KY: Jim Beam shutting down bourbon production at distillery for a year as Trump’s trade wars hit sales
Source: Independent [UK]
“Jim Beam, one of the largest makers of American whiskey globally, is shutting down bourbon production at one of its Kentucky distilleries for a year. The move comes amid President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada, which has contributed to a significant decline in U.S. liquor sales after the country ushered in a boycott of American booze, and as more young adults are cutting back on drinking. Jim Beam, owned by Suntory Global Spirits, is one of Kentucky’s biggest bourbon producers. … Industry group Distilled Spirits Council of the United States said that U.S. spirits exports plummeted 85 percent, falling below $10 million in the second quarter of 2025, which CEO Chris Swonger blamed on ‘persistent trade tensions.'” (12/22/25)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/jim-beam-distillery-trump-tariffs-b2888451.html
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15) US regime pauses offshore wind projects over pretend security concerns
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The US is immediately pausing leases for offshore wind energy projects currently being built near the Atlantic coastline, citing security concerns. In a statement, the Department of the Interior said it was pausing five large-sale projects to look into how windmills could interfere with radar and create other risks to east coast cities. President Donald Trump has long opposed wind energy, saying it is unreliable and drives up costs, and attempted to stop all projects when he returned to office. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said wind farms have no future in the US energy grid. Renewable energy companies, as well as state leaders, have expressed alarm over the administration’s stance.” (12/22/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd74lyr094vo
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16) Denmark: Regime summons US ambassador after Trump names special envoy to Greenland
Source: CBS News
“Denmark said Monday it would summon the U.S. ambassador after President Trump appointed a special envoy to Greenland, the Danish autonomous territory he has often expressed interest in obtaining. Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Mr. Trump has said the U.S. needs the resource-rich island for security reasons and has refused to rule out the use of force to secure it. On Sunday, Mr. Trump appointed Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland. … The vast majority of Greenland’s 57,000 people want to become independent from Denmark but don’t wish to become part of the U.S, according to a January opinion poll. Leaders of both Denmark and Greenland have repeatedly insisted that the huge Arctic island isn’t for sale and that it will decide its future itself.” (12/22/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/greenland-trump-special-envoy-jeff-landry-denmark-us-ambassador/
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17) “No way” that Walz administration was unaware of Minnesota fraud scandal, Emmer says
Source: Fox News
“The highest-ranking Minnesotan in Congress is demanding accountability for anyone who was involved in or aware of the growing social services fraud scandal in the Gopher State. ‘I think as they start to peel this onion back, which just seems to be getting deeper and deeper and broader and broader, whoever was responsible needs to be held accountable,’ House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, the No. 3 House Republican, told Fox News Digital. It comes after U.S. attorneys suggested that Minnesota social services programs could have seen potentially billions of dollars’ worth of fraud and abuse since 2018.” (12/22/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/no-way-walz-administration-unaware-minnesota-fraud-scandal-emmer-says
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18) Palestine: Israeli military storms West Bank towns, carries out demolition
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Israeli forces have stormed towns in the occupied West Bank and demolished a residential building. Soldiers fired stun grenades and tear gas on Monday as they carried out the demolition in East Jerusalem. Palestinian officials accused Israel of a campaign of displacement in the city, saying the operation was part of a systematic attempt to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their land. Scores of Palestinians were displaced as Israeli bulldozers tore through a four-storey residential building. Activists called it the largest such demolition in the area this year.” (12/22/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/22/israeli-military-storms-west-bank-towns-carries-out-demolition
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19) Italy: Antitrust agency demands $116 million bribe over privacy feature; Apple announces appeal
Source: SFGate
“Italy’s antitrust authority fined Apple 98.6 million euros ($116 million) on Monday after determining that operating one of its privacy features restricted App Store competition. Apple said it would appeal the sanction. Apple abused its dominant position with its App Tracking Transparency, ATT, policy, which forces apps to obtain permission before collecting data to target users with personalized ads, the antitrust authority said in a statement. The company rolled out ATT starting in April 2021 as part of an update to the operating system powering the iPhone and iPad. While the feature was designed to tighten up privacy, it faced criticism from Big Tech rivals that it would make it harder for smaller apps to survive without charging consumers. The authority didn’t criticize the policy per se, but the fact that the Apple system requires third-party app makers to ask users for consent twice in order to comply with Europe’s strict privacy rules.” (12/22/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/italy-antitrust-agency-fines-apple-116-million-21257132.php
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20) Sacks, Witkoff could face ethics probe over UAE deals
Source: Semafor
“The State Department’s independent watchdog is reviewing a request from two Democratic senators to investigate whether Trump officials broke ethics rules in connection with deals involving the United Arab Emirates, according to correspondence shared with Semafor. The department’s inspector general wrote to Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., this month confirming that it was evaluating their request for an investigation of the involvement by Trump aides Steve Witkoff and David Sacks in a decision to allow the export of advanced US-made chips to the UAE. Witkoff and Sacks’ work on the issue drew scrutiny from the senators as a result of their reported financial ties to the UAE in the cryptocurrency space.” (12/22/25)
https://www.semafor.com/article/12/22/2025/sacks-witkoff-could-face-ethics-probe-over-uae-deals
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Did TSA Finally Grab the Wrong Groin?
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard
“Evita Duffy-Alfonso, the pregnant daughter of Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, tore into TSA last week over the abuse she suffered prior to a recent flight. Writing on X on Thursday, she called for abolishing TSA: ‘I nearly missed my flight this morning after the TSA made me wait 15 minutes for a pat-down because I’m pregnant and didn’t feel like getting radiation exposure from their body scanner. The agents were passive-aggressive, rude, and tried to pressure me and another pregnant woman into just walking through the scanner because it’s ‘safe.’ … Duffy-Alfonso’s condemnation of TSA is refreshing regardless of whether it spurs the Trump administration to repent. But the outrage that her comment evoked on Twitter does raise the question: How many Trump voters abandoned their opposition to unleashing federal agencies after Trump was back in the Oval Office?” (12/22/25)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2025/12/22/did-tsa-finally-grab-the-wrong-groin/
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22) The trouble with banning Fizz
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by William Harris
“On college campuses across the country, students and administrators are debating bans on Fizz, a mobile app that lets users within a particular community — such as a college or university — communicate anonymously. Some view Fizz as a source of bullying and other unwelcome content. Yet many students see Fizz — founded by two Stanford dropouts who felt their campus lacked opportunities to build community during the COVID-19 pandemic — as a source of vital connection. … The practical stakes of banning anonymous forums from campus are high. Cutting off access to online platforms doesn’t only silence offensive comments — it restricts the tools students use to speak, organize, and mobilize around political and social causes, in ways that are often faster and more powerful than offline alternatives. Consistent with their right to speak anonymously, students possess the First Amendment freedom to assemble and receive information through both online platforms and offline media.” (12/22/25)
https://www.thefire.org/news/trouble-banning-fizz
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23) Trump’s Fake Peace Deals Are Dangerous
Source: Foreign Policy
by Stephen M Walt
“Ending wars and creating lasting peace are rarely easy, and it usually requires an outright victory by one side (followed by a reasonable settlement that discourages the losers from trying to reverse the results) or mutual recognition that nothing is to be gained by continuing the fighting. In the latter case, both sides must accept that they are not going to get everything they want and focus instead on obtaining enough of what they need to be satisfied. In either case, however, a host of details need to be worked out …. Ideally, a peace agreement will also point the way to long-term reconciliation, a process that typically takes a long time. Evenhanded third-party mediators can facilitate all these steps and help guarantee that an agreement sticks. Trump is a poor peacemaker because he and his team ignore all these requirements.” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/ETczQ
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24) The Real Reason for Military Suicides
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“As with American young people, the suicide rate among current and former military personnel continues to rise. The way I figure it is that when young people are checking out of life early, that’s a surefire way to know that there is something dreadfully wrong with that society. I believe that the same holds true for a nation’s military personnel — those who ostensibly devote their lives to the defense of the United States. The common perception is that soldiers who commit suicide are suffering from PTSD — that is, from the mental and emotional problems arising from the overall horror of combat and war. That might well be a factor but I don’t believe it is the biggest factor. I have long contended that the biggest factor leading soldiers and former soldiers to take their own lives is guilt — deeply seated guilt arising from the wrongful killing of other human beings.” (12/22/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/12/22/the-real-reason-for-military-suicides/
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25) On Hiring A Restaurant Critic to Run a Restaurant
Source: Waste No More Time
by Nicholas Sarwark
“You may have heard of Bari Weiss. Ms. Weiss became famous for leaving her position as an opinion writer at the New York Times and starting the Free Press and recently being named editor-in-chief at CBS News under the pro-Trump ownership of the Ellison family. The Free Press embraced conspiracy, controversy, and ‘debate’ in a bid to earn newsletter subscribers, which resulted in backing down from Radley Balko over an inaccurate and conspiratorial George Floyd story. It’s an incredible rise, but is unlikely to end well because Bari Weiss doesn’t know what she doesn’t know. Reporting on the news requires attention to detail and accuracy that writing an opinion column doesn’t. If you’re wrong about an opinion, nobody gets sued for defamation. Wrong about material facts that damage someone’s reputation … well that’s a different story.” (12/22/25)
https://nsarwark.substack.com/p/on-hiring-a-restaurant-critic-to
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26) The Latest “Stolen Election” Story
Source: The Erick Erickson Show
by Erick-Woods Erickson
“A story has come out that the State of Georgia inappropriately counted 315,000 votes in Fulton County, Georgia. Elon Musk and others have recirculated the claim and it is being amped up by conservative writers, talk hosts, etc. It is simply not true. 315,000 is the early in-person votes cast in Fulton County. The issue is not about the legitimacy of the votes. It is about the failure of an election bureaucrat to sign a certificate related to poll closing tapes. There actually is no law that requires the certificate be signed for the votes to count. … Y’all, there were absolutely issues in the election. But this really is not one.” (12/22/25)
https://ewerickson.substack.com/p/the-latest-stolen-election-story
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27) Can I Get Some Coffee?
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Lucas Sylveira de Campos Mouawad
“President Donald Trump created new tariffs on April 2, a day he would come to call the Liberation Day. In July, he decided to increase tariff rates. On November 20, the same decided to pull 10 percent of the tariff he had imposed on Brazilian goods entering the US economy, leaving the rate at 40 percent. Brazil is the greatest coffee producer and exporter in the world, and its coffee used to represent one-third of what the United States of America consumed. With the tariffs imposed in April, prices rose rapidly and consumers in the US felt unsatisfied with the quality of product they had been getting, and — in case they wanted the same type of coffee they had been getting before Liberation Day — they would have to pay more for the same.” (12/22/25)
https://mises.org/power-market/can-i-get-some-coffee
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28) In Defense of the Old Testament
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“Marcionism was an early Christian movement founded by Marcion of Sinope in the second century AD. Marcion taught that the God of the Old Testament — a deity focused on law and judgment — was entirely separate from and inferior to the God of the New Testament revealed by Jesus. Marcion not only rejected the Old Testament entirely but also created his own biblical canon, consisting of edited versions of Luke’s Gospel and ten of Paul’s letters. Crucially, he removed what he saw as Jewish influences. Early, mainstream Christians declared the sect heretical. Still, Marcionism remained influential for several centuries and ultimately pushed the Church to define its own scriptural canon and theological boundaries more formally. Marcionism is back — with an attitude.” (12/22/25)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/in-defense-of-the-old-testament
-----
29) Talking Diplomacy, Promoting Conflict: The “President of Peace” Prepares for War
Source: TomDispatch
by William D Hartung
“Earlier this month, the Trump administration released its new National Security Strategy, or NSS. Normally, such documents are poor predictors of what’s likely to happen in the real world. They are more like branding tools that communicate the attitudes of a given administration while rarely offering a detailed or accurate picture of its likely policies. The reason documents like the NSS are of limited import is simple enough: foreign and military policies aren’t set by documents but by power and ideology. Typically enough, the current U.S. approach to the world flows from struggles among representatives of contending interest groups, some of which, like the military-industrial complex (MIC), have a significant advantage in the fight.” (12/21/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/the-president-of-peace-prepares-for-war/
-----
30) How Social Media Has Distorted Medical Judgment
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Joseph Varon
“Social media has radically transformed not only the means of communication but also the very fabric of our daily lives. It has reshaped how we think, how we evaluate information, and whom we choose to trust. Instead of fostering informed dialogue, it has turned medical science into a contentious battleground where opinions clash and algorithms amplify the most extreme and polarizing voices, often sidelining more measured perspectives. Yet, amid the cacophony, there are invaluable elements that have emerged. Like medicine itself, social media encompasses a spectrum of experiences: the good, the bad, and the ugly.” (12/22/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/how-social-media-has-distorted-medical-judgment/
-----
31) Notes On Bondi Beach And Free Speech
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The dumbest thing we are being asked to believe today is that pro-Palestinian protests caused the Bondi shooting. It’s self-evidently moronic. No one sincerely believes it. They’re just pretending to believe it to get protests banned and criticism of Israel outlawed. Nobody actually believes pro-Palestine protests caused the Bondi shooting. They’re just pretending to believe that to promote the interests of a genocidal apartheid state. Nobody actually believes ‘globalize the intifada’ means ‘kill all Jews.’ They’re just pretending to believe that to promote the interests of a genocidal apartheid state. Nobody actually believes pro-Palestine demonstrations are ‘hate marches’ or that pro-Palestine speech is ‘hate speech.’ They’re just pretending to believe that to promote the interests of a genocidal apartheid state.” (12/22/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/12/22/notes-on-bondi-beach-and-free-speech/
-----
32) Alfred Hitchcock’s Christmas Movie
Source: Quillette
by Christian Kriticos
“Christmas is a time for watching movies. Every year, television schedules are packed with holiday classics, and the internet is awash with lists of the greatest festive features — from It’s a Wonderful Life to The Muppet Christmas Carol. Occasionally, some unconventional choices slip through, like Terry Gilliam’s dystopian comedy Brazil (which features a memorable cameo from Santa Claus) and Stanley Kubrick’s erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut (which includes Christmas trees and fairy lights in almost every scene). But one classic film is never mentioned in the Christmas movie conversation: Psycho.” (12/22/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/12/22/alfred-hitchcocks-christmas-movie-psycho/
-----
33) Who’s the Real Criminal at Sea? Trump’s Tanker Grab vs. the Houthis’ Anti-Genocide Blockade
Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin & Nicolas JS Davies
“The United States has now intercepted multiple Venezuelan oil tankers as part of its escalating aggression against Venezuela, while also destroying dozens of small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific under the banner of ‘drug enforcement’, killing over 100 people whose identities the U.S. has obscured. At the same time, the Trump administration has threatened a naval blockade of Venezuela – a sovereign country with which the United States is not at war. How can Washington claim the right to seize or blow up vessels, disrupt maritime trade, and kill civilian boaters – while bombing Yemen and condemning its de facto Houthi government for intercepting ships in the Red Sea to counter Israel’s genocide in Gaza? This contrast exposes a stark double standard in U.S. policy.” (12/22/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-oil-blockade-venezuela
-----
34) Three Big Problems with Trump’s Venezuela Oil Blockade
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider
“The U.S. blockade on Venezuela’s sanctioned oil tankers is illegal. It is an act of war that is based on false charges. Though it is hoped to bring about a coup that will usher in a pro-American government that opens Venezuela’s resources to the United States, the more likely outcome is mayhem and instability. Trump’s order of a blockade caught senior officials at the Pentagon by surprise, and they are unsure of what role the U.S. military is expected to play. But on the day after the order, three ships left Venezuela carrying oil-based products. This time, they were escorted by Venezuelan naval ships.” (12/22/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/three-big-problems-with-trumps-venezuela-oil-blockade/
-----
35) The Nationalization of AI Threatens Innovation and the American Mind
Source: The Daily Economy
by Walter Donway
“State regulation of AI is not, by itself, an ideal situation. We are indeed seeing 50 variations of concern, from the merely paternalistic to the openly fearful. Some states worry about algorithmic bias, others about deepfakes, still others about data privacy or labor displacement. Several are experimenting with rules requiring disclosure of training data, transparency of model decision-making, or permission requirements for models above certain compute thresholds. This is confusing. It is also federalism working as intended. The states are laboratories of democracy, not subordinate offices waiting for federal consolidation. The administration’s answer — federal preemption followed by federal regulation — is not a remedy. It is a cure worse than the disease.” (12/22/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-nationalization-of-ai-threatens-innovation-and-the-american-mind/
-----
36) MAHA Republicans Are Imposing New Food Labeling Mandates
Source: Reason
by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
“Burdensome food labeling mandates were once the province of Democrats, who pushed for calorie count requirements on restaurant menus and insisted packaged food must feature warnings about genetically modified ingredients and trans fats. Now it’s Republicans leading the charge — with equally foolish results. … Seed oils have become a major target of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, whose figurehead is Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ‘Seed oils are one of the driving causes of the obesity epidemic,’ according to Kennedy, who has accused fast-food restaurants that use seed oils of poisoning Americans. But among nutrition experts, opinions about seed oils and health are much more mixed, with plenty suggesting they’re fine in moderation, are better than alternatives, or are unwisely treated as a unit despite the fact that different seed oils have different properties and effects on health.” (12/22/25)
https://reason.com/2025/12/22/maha-mandates-food-labels/
-----
37) Race bait: To skirt the law, colleges incentivize applicants to write “identity essays”
Source: New York Post
by Wai Wah Chin
“Attention high-school seniors: Deadlines are coming up! Polish your dream-college applications, hit send, and hope the admissions game isn’t rigged with ‘race proxies’! To stay ahead of the curve, consider including your ‘subjective social status’ — what’s good enough for the governor of California should be good enough for admissions officers. Education gatekeepers are always hunting for fresh metrics to cherry-pick students, especially after the Supreme Court’s 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard ruling banned racial preferences in college admissions. Some elite schools produced expected racial shifts post-SFFA, others amazingly kept racial proportions similar to pre-SFFA. Was this by feigning compliance using stealthier ‘socioeconomic status’ preferences? ‘Socioeconomic’ is deceptive. It sneaks in the term ‘economic’ to win over generous Americans who support helping those with genuine financial need. Then ‘socio’ takes over, shunting aside tax returns and bank statements apparently to favor racial outcomes.” (12/22/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/12/22/opinion/race-bait-to-skirt-the-law-colleges-incentivize-applicants-to-write-identity-essays/
-----
38) Trump Economy: One Doll, Multiple Dolls
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“The government shutdown made the November jobs report especially hard to read. There was not just the problem of missing a month of jobs data for the first time in many decades, but also the difficulty in trying to determine how much impact the shutdown had on the data. In principle, the shutdown should have had little direct impact on either the household or the establishment survey. In the household survey, people who had been furloughed should have been back at work during the reference period and therefore answered that they were employed. With the establishment survey, government employees were always on the payroll, so should have been listed as employed. But there are indirect ways in which the shutdown could have affected the data.” (12/22/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/12/22/trump-economy-one-doll-multiple-dolls/
-----
39) Volodymyr Zelensky’s Non-Compromise NATO Compromise
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
“A key reason that Russia went to war in Ukraine was to prevent Ukraine from ever joining NATO; a key reason that Ukraine went to war with Russia was to defend their right to join NATO. On December 14, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave up Ukraine’s right to join NATO. He presented the concession as a compromise. But it is not really a compromise. Zelensky may intend the non-compromise to leverage concessions from Russia, but it may not really change anything.” [editor’s note: There was never any chance that Ukraine would join NATO … and Putin knew that. A manufactured excuse is not a real reason – TLK] (12/22/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_snider/2025/12/21/volodymyr-zelenskys-non-compromise-nato-compromise/
-----
40) Ukraine’s own pragmatism demands “armed un-alignment”
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jennifer Kavanagh
“Under the current plan — or what is publicly known about it — Ukraine would cede the 20 percent of Donetsk that it currently controls to Russia in return for a package of security guarantees including an ‘Article 5-style’ commitment from the United States, a European ‘reassurance force’ inside post-war Ukraine, and peacetime Ukrainian military of 800,000 personnel. Despite optimism from U.S. officials, this proposal is unlikely to be the one that ends the conflict. There is a better path for Ukraine, one that will leave the country more secure and more confident in that security over the long run, without crossing Russian redlines or requiring expansive commitments from the United States: armed un-alignment.” (12/22/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/ukraine-neutrality-peace/
-----
41) Demands for Data Center Moratoriums Surge
Source: The American Prospect
by Gabrielle Gurley
“The major artificial intelligence companies’ prime directive to literally bulldoze AI infrastructure into states with minimal regulation has produced citizen-led, bipartisan demands for local and national moratoriums on data center siting. While the Trump administration is doing everything it can to facilitate the only capital spending with a pulse in the economy, these calls for moratoriums are growing, and connecting with local successes in blocking data center construction. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) recently called for a national moratorium on the construction of data centers that are ‘powering this unregulated sprint to develop and deploy AI’. Sanders did credit ‘the transformative power of AI and robotics’ before calling out Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, and Bill Gates with a simple question: ‘Are these multibillionaires staying up nights worrying about what AI and robotics will do to the working families of our country and the world?'” (12/22/25)
https://prospect.org/2025/12/22/demands-for-data-center-moratoriums-surge/
-----
42) Sharing the Wealth?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“El Gordo is the world’s second longest-running lottery, behind the Netherlands’ Staatsloterji, which started in 1726. It was first held on December 18, 1812, in the southwestern city of Cádiz, the home of Spain’s government-in-exile during the Napoleonic Wars. Though it raised much-needed money for cannons and bullets, some thought it morally questionable. Agustín de Argüelles, a member of the national congress, claimed that it ‘would be desirable to adopt more decent means … to sustain public necessities because the lottery, raffles and other games are resources that conspire with immorality and, as a consequence, are incompatible with the virtuous character that should be what distinguishes Spaniards in the future.’ Argüelles’s fears proved unfounded: over two centuries on, El Gordo is surely one of the most wholesome instances of mass-gambling on the planet.” (12/22/25)
https://fee.org/articles/sharing-the-wealth/
-----
43) Quantum Vibe, 12/22/25
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser
Cartoon. (12/21/25)
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=2566
-----
44) Donald Trump is not a conservative, let’s stop calling him one
Source: Orange County Register
by Matt Fleming
“Many commenting on American politics use the term conservative to describe anyone on the right side of the political spectrum, but that is inaccurate. Conservatives, libertarians, nationalists and populists are all distinct from each other but are all too often lumped together as one. It’s just as false to say liberal, progressive and socialist are all the same. Sure, all three might want to raise my taxes, but that doesn’t mean they’re identical philosophies. … Trump doesn’t govern like someone interested in limited government. In fact, he’s expanded government power at times and attempted to consolidate power for himself at other times. Trump’s use of executive orders and his novel interpretations of the Constitution have sought to seize more power for the Executive Branch than many of his predecessors. In this he is much closer to Franklin D. Roosevelt than he is to George Washington.” (12/21/25)
https://archive.is/uObNy
-----
45) A Red State Handout Designed to Keep People in Poverty
Source: Town Hall
by Scott Morefield
“A family friend, a single mom of two small children, just got denied help from Tennessee’s Families First, a program that is supposed to, among other things, help offset skyrocketing daycare costs for working families. This program is obviously huge because for lower-income people, the cost of daycare can be equal to or even more than what they make working a job. … She relies on her around $16/hour entry-level full-time job to pay rent, utilities, gas, car, vehicle maintenance, clothing, and other expenses (she does get some help for food and healthcare). You would think this person would be a prime candidate for childcare help, especially since she is working full-time and genuinely trying to move up the income ladder and make good decisions after somewhat of a troubled past that includes some minor drug charges.” (12/22/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/scottmorefield/2025/12/22/a-red-state-handout-designed-to-keep-people-in-poverty-n2668271
-----
46) My Resignation From The Heritage Foundation
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Josh Blackman
“It is with deep regret that I must resign my position as Senior Editor of the Heritage Guide to the Constitution. Indeed, I could not have even conceived of such an action only a few months ago when we launched the third edition of the guide. On Constitution Day, I proudly stood at the Heritage Foundation as we released this book to the world. But your actions have made my continued affiliation with Heritage untenable. … My resignation is effective immediately.” (12/21/25)
https://reason.com/volokh/2025/12/21/my-resignation-from-the-heritage-foundation/
-----
47) The Mainstream Left Will Never Represent the Lumpenproletariat
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“The problem on the mainstream left today is almost identical to the problem on the right. They are both run by old white cis het men for old white cis het men. The only difference is that the right admits it while the left just uses minorities like human shields while they kill Muslims with drones and organize the global bourgeoisie beneath decaying relics of progressive internationalism like the EU and the UN. Well, no more. No more Weimar allies buttering us up with petty privileges while the Nazis gather their guns. We need our own goddamn guns, our own clinics, our own schools, our own parties and organizations run from the bottom up by our own people.” (12/21/25)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-mainstream-left-will-never.html
-----
48) Let’s Not Grant the Postliberal Critique of Market Liberalism
Source: The UnPopulist
by Jonathan Rauch
“Discontents with liberal modernity are perennial and a spiritual awakening won’t cure them.” (12/21/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/lets-not-grant-the-postliberal-critique
-----
49) Antifa everywhere: What does antifascism mean?
Source: In These Times
by Alberto Toscano
“On the night Zohran Mamdani won New York City’s mayoral election, he delivered a rousing victory speech that made explicit the connection between his economic agenda and the national fight against authoritarianism. Calling out President Donald Trump, Mamdani declared, ‘If there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power.’ Several weeks later — after that despot had threatened to besiege New York City with immigration raids and strip its federal funding, should Mamdani win—the mayor-elect stood beside Trump during a surreal White House press briefing. When a reporter pressed Mamdani on whether he still considered the president a fascist, the jovial, clearly charmed Trump interjected, ’You can just say yes. … It’s easier than explaining it’. The response was disarmingly nonchalant, coming from the head of an administration that has gone to great lengths to crush opposition to fascism elsewhere.” (12/22/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/antifa-everywhere-war-on-terror-cve-material-support-laws-hlf5-terrorism
-----
50) How Federal Land Sales Can Fund Highways
Source: Independent Institute
by Scott Beyer
“Since the federal government entered the highway business early last century, it has largely paid for roads by taxing gasoline purchases. The federal gas tax accounts for roughly 70 percent of Highway Trust Fund revenue, and every state has its own gas tax as well. But today people don’t buy as much gas, and these funds face shortfalls. According to the Pew Research Center, the collective road maintenance backlog of 24 states has grown to over $86 billion since 2015. The tax was never a particularly good way to fund roads, and new solutions are overdue. Fortunately, there may be an opportunity to take advantage of skyrocketing demand for warehouses and data centers to help pay for roads, by selling state and federal land near highways.” (12/21/25)
https://www.independent.org/article/2025/12/21/how-federal-land-sales-can-fund-highways/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 12/22/25
Source: Reason
"Can J.D. Vance Stop a MAGA Civil War?" (12/22/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/12/22/can-j-d-vance-stop-a-maga-civil-war/
-----
52) Bulwark Takes, 12/22/25
Source: The Bulwark
“Jim Beam Distillery To Stop Production Amid Trump’s Trade War.” (12/22/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwjWDI6bnk4
-----
53) The Brian Nichols Show, 12/22/25
Source: Lions of Liberty
“AI Will Transform the 2026 & 2028 Elections Like Obama Did in 2008.” (12/22/25)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/tbns-ai-will-transform-the-2026-amp-2028-elections-like-obama-did-in-2008
-----
54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 12/22/25
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“US Seizes Tanker Carrying Chinese Oil … Beijing Not Amused.” (12/22/25)
https://rumble.com/v73cbz6-us-seizes-tanker-carrying-chinese-oil…beijing-not-amused.html
-----
55) Conflicts of Interest, episode 861
Source: Libertarian Institute
“US Seizes More Ships in The Caribbean.” (12/22/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-861-us-seizes-more-ships-in-the-caribbean
-----
56) Deplatforming Backfired
Source: Reason
“Progressive censors failed to suppress our political demons. It’s finally time to confront them.” (12/22/25)
https://reason.com/2025/12/22/deplatforming-backfired/
-----
57) TechTank, season 5, episode 33
Source: Brookings Institution
“‘Navigating Technology and National Security’ with author Justin Sherman.” (12/22/25)
https://shows.acast.com/tech-tank/episodes/navigating-technology-and-national-security-with-author-just
-----
58) EconTalk, 12/22/25
Source: EconTalk
“David Deutsch on the Pattern.” (12/22/25)
https://www.econtalk.org/david-deutsch-on-the-pattern/
-----
59) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 12/22/25
Source: The Dispatch
“Rights, Obligations, and Nostalgia | Interview: Megan McArdle.” (12/22/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/rights-obligations-and-nostalgia-interview-megan-mcardle/
-----
60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 12/22/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Netanyahu To Ask Trump for Another Iran War, US ‘Pursuing’ Third Tanker Near Venezuela, and More.” (12/22/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isCl7heUMmI
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Today's Freedom News:
0) Happy Birthday To Us! (Hybrid Tuesday w/Fundraiser Update)
1) Ukraine: Russian air attack kills three and knocks out power in most regions
2) US military forces murder one in latest Pacific strike
3) US FCC bans new foreign-made drones
4) Schumer moves to sue Trump regime over Epstein files rollout
5) South Korean politicians agree to Unification Church special probe in rare move
6) Trump removes nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial positions
7) France: Cyberattack disrupts postal service and banking during Christmas rush
8) Betty Reid Soskin, 1921-2025
9) Iran: Media report missile drills in a number of cities
10) Ellison offers $40.4 billion guarantee to beef up Paramount’s Warner Bros bid
11) MT: Farmers Describe $12 Billion Federal Ag Bailout as a “Far Cry” From Actual Losses
12) Japan: TEPCO prepares to restart world’s biggest nuclear plant, 15 years after Fukushima
13) Judge allows Kilmar Abrego Garcia to remain free while she “considers immigration issues”
14) KY: Jim Beam shutting down bourbon production at distillery for a year as Trump’s trade wars hit sales
15) US regime pauses offshore wind projects over pretend security concerns
16) Denmark: Regime summons US ambassador after Trump names special envoy to Greenland
17) “No way” that Walz administration was unaware of Minnesota fraud scandal, Emmer says
18) Palestine: Israeli military storms West Bank towns, carries out demolition
19) Italy: Antitrust agency demands $116 million bribe over privacy feature; Apple announces appeal
20) Sacks, Witkoff could face ethics probe over UAE deals
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Did TSA Finally Grab the Wrong Groin?
22) The trouble with banning Fizz
23) Trump’s Fake Peace Deals Are Dangerous
24) The Real Reason for Military Suicides
25) On Hiring A Restaurant Critic to Run a Restaurant
26) The Latest “Stolen Election” Story
27) Can I Get Some Coffee?
28) In Defense of the Old Testament
29) Talking Diplomacy, Promoting Conflict: The “President of Peace” Prepares for War
30) How Social Media Has Distorted Medical Judgment
31) Notes On Bondi Beach And Free Speech
32) Alfred Hitchcock’s Christmas Movie
33) Who’s the Real Criminal at Sea? Trump’s Tanker Grab vs. the Houthis’ Anti-Genocide Blockade
34) Three Big Problems with Trump’s Venezuela Oil Blockade
35) The Nationalization of AI Threatens Innovation and the American Mind
36) MAHA Republicans Are Imposing New Food Labeling Mandates
37) Race bait: To skirt the law, colleges incentivize applicants to write “identity essays”
38) Trump Economy: One Doll, Multiple Dolls
39) Volodymyr Zelensky’s Non-Compromise NATO Compromise
40) Ukraine’s own pragmatism demands “armed un-alignment”
41) Demands for Data Center Moratoriums Surge
42) Sharing the Wealth?
43) Quantum Vibe, 12/22/25
44) Donald Trump is not a conservative, let’s stop calling him one
45) A Red State Handout Designed to Keep People in Poverty
46) My Resignation From The Heritage Foundation
47) The Mainstream Left Will Never Represent the Lumpenproletariat
48) Let’s Not Grant the Postliberal Critique of Market Liberalism
49) Antifa everywhere: What does antifascism mean?
50) How Federal Land Sales Can Fund Highways
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Reason Roundtable, 12/22/25
52) Bulwark Takes, 12/22/25
53) The Brian Nichols Show, 12/22/25
54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 12/22/25
55) Conflicts of Interest, episode 861
56) Deplatforming Backfired
57) TechTank, season 5, episode 33
58) EconTalk, 12/22/25
59) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 12/22/25
60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 12/22/25
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On Monday, December 23, 2002, Rational Review News Digest published its first daily edition -- Steve Trinward, Mary Lou Seymour, R. Lee Wrights, Brad Spangler, and I stepped in to replace Freedom News Daily, which had shut down the previous Thursday after its publisher, the Henry Hazlitt Foundation, shut down without notice. Two years later, the International Society for Individual Liberty (now Liberty International), which had taken over FND, asked us to start publishing it for them, and we have ever since. Happy birthday to us ...
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1) Ukraine: Russian air attack kills three and knocks out power in most regions
Source: Reuters
“Russia hammered Ukraine with missiles and drones in a new air attack on Tuesday, authorities said, killing at least three people including a child and triggering emergency power cuts across the country as Ukrainians gear up to celebrate Christmas. Moscow’s latest combined strike hit energy facilities in western regions the hardest, said Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, and came days after another round of U.S.-led peace talks to end the nearly four-year-old war.” (12/23/25)
https://archive.is/yd2Lc
-----
2) US military forces murder one in latest Pacific strike
Source: The Hill
“The U.S. military struck an alleged drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, [murdering] one ‘narco-terrorist.’ U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) shared a 27-second video of the strike on X, adding that the vessel was ‘operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters’ and was ‘transiting along known narco-trafficking routes’ in the eastern Pacific. No U.S. military forces were injured in the latest operations, Southcom noted. The U.S. military has now conducted a minimum of 27 strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea since early September, [murdering] at least 105 people.” (12/22/25)
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5660638-us-military-strikes-alleged-drug-boat/
-----
3) US FCC bans new foreign-made drones
Source: Seattle Times
“The Federal Communications Commission on Monday said it would ban new foreign-made drones, a move that will keep new Chinese-made drones such as those from DJI and Autel out of the U.S. market.
The announcement came a year after Congress passed a defense bill that [pretended there are] national security concerns about Chinese-made drones …. The bill called for stopping the two Chinese companies from selling new drones in the U.S. if a review found they posed a risk to American national security. The deadline for the review was Dec. 23. The FCC said Monday the review found that all drones and critical components produced in foreign countries, not just by the two Chinese companies, posed ‘unacceptable risks to the national security of the United States and to the safety and security of U.S. persons.'” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/l1M7k
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4) Schumer moves to sue Trump regime over Epstein files rollout
Source: Politico
“Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to force a vote on a measure to allow the chamber to jump-start litigation against the Trump administration for failing to comply with the new law requiring the full release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. ‘The law Congress passed is crystal clear: release the Epstein files in full so Americans can see the truth,’ the New York Democrat said in a statement Monday. ‘Instead, the Trump Department of Justice dumped redactions and withheld the evidence — that breaks the law. Today, I am introducing a resolution to force the Senate to take legal action and compel this administration to comply.’ … It’s unlikely that enough Republicans would join Democrats in supporting the measure, but Schumer intends to put his colleagues on the spot in January, bringing the resolution to the floor when the Senate reconvenes after the holiday recess.” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/rkhCN
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5) South Korean politicians agree to Unification Church special probe in rare move
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“South Korea’s rival political parties are set to appoint special prosecutors to investigate allegations that the Unification Church bribed and lobbied politicians across the ideological divide, a rare move that observers have said could test the country’s constitutional separation of religion and politics. On Monday, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said it would accept a proposal from the conservative opposition People Power Party (PPP) for the team of special prosecutors to investigate the church’s alleged political influence. The decision marks a turnaround for the DPK, which has previously opposed the idea, and reflects growing public pressure to launch an inquiry to examine politicians from both ruling and opposition parties over their supposed links to the Unification Church.” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/1pK1C
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6) Trump removes nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial positions
Source: Washington Post
“The Trump administration is recalling nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial and other senior embassy posts as it moves to reshape the U.S. diplomatic posture abroad with personnel deemed fully supportive of President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ priorities. The chiefs of mission in at least 29 countries were informed last week that their tenures would end in January, according to two State Department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel moves.” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/122M3
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7) France: Cyberattack disrupts postal service and banking during Christmas rush
Source: ABC News
“A suspected cyberattack knocked France’s national postal service and its banking arm offline Monday, blocking and delaying package deliveries and online payments at the height of the busy Christmas season. The postal service, called La Poste, said in a statement that a distributed denial of service incident, or DDoS, ‘rendered its online services inaccessible.’ It said the incident had no impact on customer data, but disrupted package and mail delivery. At a Paris post office decked out in holiday garlands and usually bustling this time of year, employees turned away frustrated customers lining up to send or retrieve packages, including Christmas gifts. Customers of the company’s banking arm, La Banque Postale, were blocked from using the application to approve payments or conduct other banking services.” (12/22/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/cyberattack-disrupts-frances-postal-service-banking-christmas-rush-128616353
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8) Betty Reid Soskin, 1921-2025
Source: WSB 2 News
“The nation’s oldest National Park Ranger, Betty Reid Soskin, died at the age of 104. In a public post on Soskin’s social media accounts, a spokesman confirmed the news of her death, saying Soskin had died at her home in Richmond, California on Sunday. … Soskin was hired by the National Park Service as a ranger at the age of 85, working at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park until her retirement in 2022 at the age of 100, according to her obituary. The National Park Service said Soskin worked to establish the park as a site for honoring women’s roles during World War II before she began working there as a park ranger.” (12/22/25)
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/national/oldest-national-park-ranger-betty-reid-soskin-dies-104/6C2MYMVK5BFA3E7WPQOUHVQHHU/
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9) Iran: Media report missile drills in a number of cities
Source: Times of Israel [Jerusalem]
“Iranian state media reported missile drills in different Iranian cities, citing unnamed sources and witnesses. The Telegram channel of Iran’s public broadcaster and semi-official Nournews publish videos of what appear to be missile launches …. Israel has warned the Trump administration that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may be using an ongoing military exercise focusing on missiles as cover to launch an attack on Israel, according to a report yesterday. However, the US intelligence community has not seen any signs that an Iranian strike could be imminent, an American source told the outlet.” (12/22/25)
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/iranian-media-reports-missile-drills-in-a-number-of-cities/
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10) Ellison offers $40.4 billion guarantee to beef up Paramount’s Warner Bros bid
Source: Reuters
“Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has stepped in to personally guarantee $40.4 billion in Paramount Skydance’s latest effort to pry Warner Bros Discovery away from selling its prized Hollywood assets to streaming giant Netflix. The guarantee, disclosed in a filing on Monday, seeks to allay the Warner Bros board’s doubts about Paramount’s financing and the lack of full Ellison family backing, which had pushed it toward the competing cash-and-stock offer from Netflix. Warner Bros shares rose nearly 4%, while Paramount added about 3%. Warner Bros and Netflix did not immediately respond to requests for comment.” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/BV9Uc
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11) MT: Farmers Describe $12 Billion Federal Ag Bailout as a “Far Cry” From Actual Losses
Source: Flathead Beacon
“Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced the $12 billion bailout package that will include one-time Farmer Bridge Payments to American farmers. The relief is a ‘response to temporary trade market disruptions and increased production costs,’ according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) release. … But [Tryg] Koch and agriculture economists say the plan hardly represents a bailout and will have little impact on Montana farmers as they brace for potential losses in 2026. … Koch estimates the package will grant $30 per acre for row crop farmers who produce things like wheat, canola and pulses. ‘The $30 per acre will help, but it’s a far cry from what the actual losses are,’ Koch said. ‘We don’t need government bailouts – that doesn’t solve the problem and all it does is put a Band-Aid over it to keep up with inflation. We should be selling wheat for $8 or $9 per bushel.'” (12/22/25)
https://flatheadbeacon.com/2025/12/19/montana-farmers-describe-12-billion-federal-ag-bailout-as-a-far-cry-from-actual-losses/
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12) Japan: TEPCO prepares to restart world’s biggest nuclear plant, 15 years after Fukushima
Source: NBC News
“Japan[‘s regime] took the final step to allow the world’s largest nuclear power plant to resume operations with a regional vote on Monday, a watershed moment in the country’s return to nuclear energy nearly 15 years after the Fukushima disaster. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, located about 136 miles northwest of Tokyo, was among 54 reactors shut after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi plant in the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Since then, Japan has restarted 14 of the 33 that remain operable, as it tries to wean itself off imported fossil fuels. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa will be the first operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO,) which ran the doomed Fukushima plant.” (12/22/25)
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/japan-prepares-restart-worlds-biggest-nuclear-plant-15-years-fukushima-rcna250433
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13) Judge allows Kilmar Abrego Garcia to remain free while she “considers immigration issues”
Source: SFGate
“A federal judge on Monday questioned whether government officials could be trusted to follow orders barring them from taking Kilmar Abrego Garcia into immigration custody or deporting him. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis noted that Abrego Garcia was already deported without legal authority once and said she was ‘growing beyond impatient’ with government misrepresentations in her court. ‘Why should I give the respondents the benefit of the doubt?’ she asked, referring to the government attorneys. Abrego Garcia’s mistaken [sic] deportation and imprisonment in El Salvador in March has galvanized both sides of the immigration debate. The Trump administration initially fought efforts to bring him back to the U.S. but eventually complied after the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in. He returned to the U.S. in June, only to face an arrest warrant on human smuggling charges in Tennessee.” (12/22/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/federal-judge-to-decide-whether-kilmar-abrego-21256386.php
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14) KY: Jim Beam shutting down bourbon production at distillery for a year as Trump’s trade wars hit sales
Source: Independent [UK]
“Jim Beam, one of the largest makers of American whiskey globally, is shutting down bourbon production at one of its Kentucky distilleries for a year. The move comes amid President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada, which has contributed to a significant decline in U.S. liquor sales after the country ushered in a boycott of American booze, and as more young adults are cutting back on drinking. Jim Beam, owned by Suntory Global Spirits, is one of Kentucky’s biggest bourbon producers. … Industry group Distilled Spirits Council of the United States said that U.S. spirits exports plummeted 85 percent, falling below $10 million in the second quarter of 2025, which CEO Chris Swonger blamed on ‘persistent trade tensions.'” (12/22/25)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/jim-beam-distillery-trump-tariffs-b2888451.html
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15) US regime pauses offshore wind projects over pretend security concerns
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The US is immediately pausing leases for offshore wind energy projects currently being built near the Atlantic coastline, citing security concerns. In a statement, the Department of the Interior said it was pausing five large-sale projects to look into how windmills could interfere with radar and create other risks to east coast cities. President Donald Trump has long opposed wind energy, saying it is unreliable and drives up costs, and attempted to stop all projects when he returned to office. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said wind farms have no future in the US energy grid. Renewable energy companies, as well as state leaders, have expressed alarm over the administration’s stance.” (12/22/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd74lyr094vo
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16) Denmark: Regime summons US ambassador after Trump names special envoy to Greenland
Source: CBS News
“Denmark said Monday it would summon the U.S. ambassador after President Trump appointed a special envoy to Greenland, the Danish autonomous territory he has often expressed interest in obtaining. Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Mr. Trump has said the U.S. needs the resource-rich island for security reasons and has refused to rule out the use of force to secure it. On Sunday, Mr. Trump appointed Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland. … The vast majority of Greenland’s 57,000 people want to become independent from Denmark but don’t wish to become part of the U.S, according to a January opinion poll. Leaders of both Denmark and Greenland have repeatedly insisted that the huge Arctic island isn’t for sale and that it will decide its future itself.” (12/22/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/greenland-trump-special-envoy-jeff-landry-denmark-us-ambassador/
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17) “No way” that Walz administration was unaware of Minnesota fraud scandal, Emmer says
Source: Fox News
“The highest-ranking Minnesotan in Congress is demanding accountability for anyone who was involved in or aware of the growing social services fraud scandal in the Gopher State. ‘I think as they start to peel this onion back, which just seems to be getting deeper and deeper and broader and broader, whoever was responsible needs to be held accountable,’ House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, the No. 3 House Republican, told Fox News Digital. It comes after U.S. attorneys suggested that Minnesota social services programs could have seen potentially billions of dollars’ worth of fraud and abuse since 2018.” (12/22/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/no-way-walz-administration-unaware-minnesota-fraud-scandal-emmer-says
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18) Palestine: Israeli military storms West Bank towns, carries out demolition
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Israeli forces have stormed towns in the occupied West Bank and demolished a residential building. Soldiers fired stun grenades and tear gas on Monday as they carried out the demolition in East Jerusalem. Palestinian officials accused Israel of a campaign of displacement in the city, saying the operation was part of a systematic attempt to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their land. Scores of Palestinians were displaced as Israeli bulldozers tore through a four-storey residential building. Activists called it the largest such demolition in the area this year.” (12/22/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/22/israeli-military-storms-west-bank-towns-carries-out-demolition
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19) Italy: Antitrust agency demands $116 million bribe over privacy feature; Apple announces appeal
Source: SFGate
“Italy’s antitrust authority fined Apple 98.6 million euros ($116 million) on Monday after determining that operating one of its privacy features restricted App Store competition. Apple said it would appeal the sanction. Apple abused its dominant position with its App Tracking Transparency, ATT, policy, which forces apps to obtain permission before collecting data to target users with personalized ads, the antitrust authority said in a statement. The company rolled out ATT starting in April 2021 as part of an update to the operating system powering the iPhone and iPad. While the feature was designed to tighten up privacy, it faced criticism from Big Tech rivals that it would make it harder for smaller apps to survive without charging consumers. The authority didn’t criticize the policy per se, but the fact that the Apple system requires third-party app makers to ask users for consent twice in order to comply with Europe’s strict privacy rules.” (12/22/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/italy-antitrust-agency-fines-apple-116-million-21257132.php
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20) Sacks, Witkoff could face ethics probe over UAE deals
Source: Semafor
“The State Department’s independent watchdog is reviewing a request from two Democratic senators to investigate whether Trump officials broke ethics rules in connection with deals involving the United Arab Emirates, according to correspondence shared with Semafor. The department’s inspector general wrote to Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., this month confirming that it was evaluating their request for an investigation of the involvement by Trump aides Steve Witkoff and David Sacks in a decision to allow the export of advanced US-made chips to the UAE. Witkoff and Sacks’ work on the issue drew scrutiny from the senators as a result of their reported financial ties to the UAE in the cryptocurrency space.” (12/22/25)
https://www.semafor.com/article/12/22/2025/sacks-witkoff-could-face-ethics-probe-over-uae-deals
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Did TSA Finally Grab the Wrong Groin?
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard
“Evita Duffy-Alfonso, the pregnant daughter of Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, tore into TSA last week over the abuse she suffered prior to a recent flight. Writing on X on Thursday, she called for abolishing TSA: ‘I nearly missed my flight this morning after the TSA made me wait 15 minutes for a pat-down because I’m pregnant and didn’t feel like getting radiation exposure from their body scanner. The agents were passive-aggressive, rude, and tried to pressure me and another pregnant woman into just walking through the scanner because it’s ‘safe.’ … Duffy-Alfonso’s condemnation of TSA is refreshing regardless of whether it spurs the Trump administration to repent. But the outrage that her comment evoked on Twitter does raise the question: How many Trump voters abandoned their opposition to unleashing federal agencies after Trump was back in the Oval Office?” (12/22/25)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2025/12/22/did-tsa-finally-grab-the-wrong-groin/
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22) The trouble with banning Fizz
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by William Harris
“On college campuses across the country, students and administrators are debating bans on Fizz, a mobile app that lets users within a particular community — such as a college or university — communicate anonymously. Some view Fizz as a source of bullying and other unwelcome content. Yet many students see Fizz — founded by two Stanford dropouts who felt their campus lacked opportunities to build community during the COVID-19 pandemic — as a source of vital connection. … The practical stakes of banning anonymous forums from campus are high. Cutting off access to online platforms doesn’t only silence offensive comments — it restricts the tools students use to speak, organize, and mobilize around political and social causes, in ways that are often faster and more powerful than offline alternatives. Consistent with their right to speak anonymously, students possess the First Amendment freedom to assemble and receive information through both online platforms and offline media.” (12/22/25)
https://www.thefire.org/news/trouble-banning-fizz
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23) Trump’s Fake Peace Deals Are Dangerous
Source: Foreign Policy
by Stephen M Walt
“Ending wars and creating lasting peace are rarely easy, and it usually requires an outright victory by one side (followed by a reasonable settlement that discourages the losers from trying to reverse the results) or mutual recognition that nothing is to be gained by continuing the fighting. In the latter case, both sides must accept that they are not going to get everything they want and focus instead on obtaining enough of what they need to be satisfied. In either case, however, a host of details need to be worked out …. Ideally, a peace agreement will also point the way to long-term reconciliation, a process that typically takes a long time. Evenhanded third-party mediators can facilitate all these steps and help guarantee that an agreement sticks. Trump is a poor peacemaker because he and his team ignore all these requirements.” (12/22/25)
https://archive.is/ETczQ
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24) The Real Reason for Military Suicides
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“As with American young people, the suicide rate among current and former military personnel continues to rise. The way I figure it is that when young people are checking out of life early, that’s a surefire way to know that there is something dreadfully wrong with that society. I believe that the same holds true for a nation’s military personnel — those who ostensibly devote their lives to the defense of the United States. The common perception is that soldiers who commit suicide are suffering from PTSD — that is, from the mental and emotional problems arising from the overall horror of combat and war. That might well be a factor but I don’t believe it is the biggest factor. I have long contended that the biggest factor leading soldiers and former soldiers to take their own lives is guilt — deeply seated guilt arising from the wrongful killing of other human beings.” (12/22/25)
https://www.fff.org/2025/12/22/the-real-reason-for-military-suicides/
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25) On Hiring A Restaurant Critic to Run a Restaurant
Source: Waste No More Time
by Nicholas Sarwark
“You may have heard of Bari Weiss. Ms. Weiss became famous for leaving her position as an opinion writer at the New York Times and starting the Free Press and recently being named editor-in-chief at CBS News under the pro-Trump ownership of the Ellison family. The Free Press embraced conspiracy, controversy, and ‘debate’ in a bid to earn newsletter subscribers, which resulted in backing down from Radley Balko over an inaccurate and conspiratorial George Floyd story. It’s an incredible rise, but is unlikely to end well because Bari Weiss doesn’t know what she doesn’t know. Reporting on the news requires attention to detail and accuracy that writing an opinion column doesn’t. If you’re wrong about an opinion, nobody gets sued for defamation. Wrong about material facts that damage someone’s reputation … well that’s a different story.” (12/22/25)
https://nsarwark.substack.com/p/on-hiring-a-restaurant-critic-to
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26) The Latest “Stolen Election” Story
Source: The Erick Erickson Show
by Erick-Woods Erickson
“A story has come out that the State of Georgia inappropriately counted 315,000 votes in Fulton County, Georgia. Elon Musk and others have recirculated the claim and it is being amped up by conservative writers, talk hosts, etc. It is simply not true. 315,000 is the early in-person votes cast in Fulton County. The issue is not about the legitimacy of the votes. It is about the failure of an election bureaucrat to sign a certificate related to poll closing tapes. There actually is no law that requires the certificate be signed for the votes to count. … Y’all, there were absolutely issues in the election. But this really is not one.” (12/22/25)
https://ewerickson.substack.com/p/the-latest-stolen-election-story
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27) Can I Get Some Coffee?
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Lucas Sylveira de Campos Mouawad
“President Donald Trump created new tariffs on April 2, a day he would come to call the Liberation Day. In July, he decided to increase tariff rates. On November 20, the same decided to pull 10 percent of the tariff he had imposed on Brazilian goods entering the US economy, leaving the rate at 40 percent. Brazil is the greatest coffee producer and exporter in the world, and its coffee used to represent one-third of what the United States of America consumed. With the tariffs imposed in April, prices rose rapidly and consumers in the US felt unsatisfied with the quality of product they had been getting, and — in case they wanted the same type of coffee they had been getting before Liberation Day — they would have to pay more for the same.” (12/22/25)
https://mises.org/power-market/can-i-get-some-coffee
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28) In Defense of the Old Testament
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“Marcionism was an early Christian movement founded by Marcion of Sinope in the second century AD. Marcion taught that the God of the Old Testament — a deity focused on law and judgment — was entirely separate from and inferior to the God of the New Testament revealed by Jesus. Marcion not only rejected the Old Testament entirely but also created his own biblical canon, consisting of edited versions of Luke’s Gospel and ten of Paul’s letters. Crucially, he removed what he saw as Jewish influences. Early, mainstream Christians declared the sect heretical. Still, Marcionism remained influential for several centuries and ultimately pushed the Church to define its own scriptural canon and theological boundaries more formally. Marcionism is back — with an attitude.” (12/22/25)
https://underthrow.substack.com/p/in-defense-of-the-old-testament
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29) Talking Diplomacy, Promoting Conflict: The “President of Peace” Prepares for War
Source: TomDispatch
by William D Hartung
“Earlier this month, the Trump administration released its new National Security Strategy, or NSS. Normally, such documents are poor predictors of what’s likely to happen in the real world. They are more like branding tools that communicate the attitudes of a given administration while rarely offering a detailed or accurate picture of its likely policies. The reason documents like the NSS are of limited import is simple enough: foreign and military policies aren’t set by documents but by power and ideology. Typically enough, the current U.S. approach to the world flows from struggles among representatives of contending interest groups, some of which, like the military-industrial complex (MIC), have a significant advantage in the fight.” (12/21/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/the-president-of-peace-prepares-for-war/
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30) How Social Media Has Distorted Medical Judgment
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Joseph Varon
“Social media has radically transformed not only the means of communication but also the very fabric of our daily lives. It has reshaped how we think, how we evaluate information, and whom we choose to trust. Instead of fostering informed dialogue, it has turned medical science into a contentious battleground where opinions clash and algorithms amplify the most extreme and polarizing voices, often sidelining more measured perspectives. Yet, amid the cacophony, there are invaluable elements that have emerged. Like medicine itself, social media encompasses a spectrum of experiences: the good, the bad, and the ugly.” (12/22/25)
https://brownstone.org/articles/how-social-media-has-distorted-medical-judgment/
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31) Notes On Bondi Beach And Free Speech
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The dumbest thing we are being asked to believe today is that pro-Palestinian protests caused the Bondi shooting. It’s self-evidently moronic. No one sincerely believes it. They’re just pretending to believe it to get protests banned and criticism of Israel outlawed. Nobody actually believes pro-Palestine protests caused the Bondi shooting. They’re just pretending to believe that to promote the interests of a genocidal apartheid state. Nobody actually believes ‘globalize the intifada’ means ‘kill all Jews.’ They’re just pretending to believe that to promote the interests of a genocidal apartheid state. Nobody actually believes pro-Palestine demonstrations are ‘hate marches’ or that pro-Palestine speech is ‘hate speech.’ They’re just pretending to believe that to promote the interests of a genocidal apartheid state.” (12/22/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/12/22/notes-on-bondi-beach-and-free-speech/
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32) Alfred Hitchcock’s Christmas Movie
Source: Quillette
by Christian Kriticos
“Christmas is a time for watching movies. Every year, television schedules are packed with holiday classics, and the internet is awash with lists of the greatest festive features — from It’s a Wonderful Life to The Muppet Christmas Carol. Occasionally, some unconventional choices slip through, like Terry Gilliam’s dystopian comedy Brazil (which features a memorable cameo from Santa Claus) and Stanley Kubrick’s erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut (which includes Christmas trees and fairy lights in almost every scene). But one classic film is never mentioned in the Christmas movie conversation: Psycho.” (12/22/25)
https://quillette.com/2025/12/22/alfred-hitchcocks-christmas-movie-psycho/
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33) Who’s the Real Criminal at Sea? Trump’s Tanker Grab vs. the Houthis’ Anti-Genocide Blockade
Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin & Nicolas JS Davies
“The United States has now intercepted multiple Venezuelan oil tankers as part of its escalating aggression against Venezuela, while also destroying dozens of small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific under the banner of ‘drug enforcement’, killing over 100 people whose identities the U.S. has obscured. At the same time, the Trump administration has threatened a naval blockade of Venezuela – a sovereign country with which the United States is not at war. How can Washington claim the right to seize or blow up vessels, disrupt maritime trade, and kill civilian boaters – while bombing Yemen and condemning its de facto Houthi government for intercepting ships in the Red Sea to counter Israel’s genocide in Gaza? This contrast exposes a stark double standard in U.S. policy.” (12/22/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-oil-blockade-venezuela
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34) Three Big Problems with Trump’s Venezuela Oil Blockade
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider
“The U.S. blockade on Venezuela’s sanctioned oil tankers is illegal. It is an act of war that is based on false charges. Though it is hoped to bring about a coup that will usher in a pro-American government that opens Venezuela’s resources to the United States, the more likely outcome is mayhem and instability. Trump’s order of a blockade caught senior officials at the Pentagon by surprise, and they are unsure of what role the U.S. military is expected to play. But on the day after the order, three ships left Venezuela carrying oil-based products. This time, they were escorted by Venezuelan naval ships.” (12/22/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/three-big-problems-with-trumps-venezuela-oil-blockade/
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35) The Nationalization of AI Threatens Innovation and the American Mind
Source: The Daily Economy
by Walter Donway
“State regulation of AI is not, by itself, an ideal situation. We are indeed seeing 50 variations of concern, from the merely paternalistic to the openly fearful. Some states worry about algorithmic bias, others about deepfakes, still others about data privacy or labor displacement. Several are experimenting with rules requiring disclosure of training data, transparency of model decision-making, or permission requirements for models above certain compute thresholds. This is confusing. It is also federalism working as intended. The states are laboratories of democracy, not subordinate offices waiting for federal consolidation. The administration’s answer — federal preemption followed by federal regulation — is not a remedy. It is a cure worse than the disease.” (12/22/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-nationalization-of-ai-threatens-innovation-and-the-american-mind/
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36) MAHA Republicans Are Imposing New Food Labeling Mandates
Source: Reason
by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
“Burdensome food labeling mandates were once the province of Democrats, who pushed for calorie count requirements on restaurant menus and insisted packaged food must feature warnings about genetically modified ingredients and trans fats. Now it’s Republicans leading the charge — with equally foolish results. … Seed oils have become a major target of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, whose figurehead is Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ‘Seed oils are one of the driving causes of the obesity epidemic,’ according to Kennedy, who has accused fast-food restaurants that use seed oils of poisoning Americans. But among nutrition experts, opinions about seed oils and health are much more mixed, with plenty suggesting they’re fine in moderation, are better than alternatives, or are unwisely treated as a unit despite the fact that different seed oils have different properties and effects on health.” (12/22/25)
https://reason.com/2025/12/22/maha-mandates-food-labels/
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37) Race bait: To skirt the law, colleges incentivize applicants to write “identity essays”
Source: New York Post
by Wai Wah Chin
“Attention high-school seniors: Deadlines are coming up! Polish your dream-college applications, hit send, and hope the admissions game isn’t rigged with ‘race proxies’! To stay ahead of the curve, consider including your ‘subjective social status’ — what’s good enough for the governor of California should be good enough for admissions officers. Education gatekeepers are always hunting for fresh metrics to cherry-pick students, especially after the Supreme Court’s 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard ruling banned racial preferences in college admissions. Some elite schools produced expected racial shifts post-SFFA, others amazingly kept racial proportions similar to pre-SFFA. Was this by feigning compliance using stealthier ‘socioeconomic status’ preferences? ‘Socioeconomic’ is deceptive. It sneaks in the term ‘economic’ to win over generous Americans who support helping those with genuine financial need. Then ‘socio’ takes over, shunting aside tax returns and bank statements apparently to favor racial outcomes.” (12/22/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/12/22/opinion/race-bait-to-skirt-the-law-colleges-incentivize-applicants-to-write-identity-essays/
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38) Trump Economy: One Doll, Multiple Dolls
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker
“The government shutdown made the November jobs report especially hard to read. There was not just the problem of missing a month of jobs data for the first time in many decades, but also the difficulty in trying to determine how much impact the shutdown had on the data. In principle, the shutdown should have had little direct impact on either the household or the establishment survey. In the household survey, people who had been furloughed should have been back at work during the reference period and therefore answered that they were employed. With the establishment survey, government employees were always on the payroll, so should have been listed as employed. But there are indirect ways in which the shutdown could have affected the data.” (12/22/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/12/22/trump-economy-one-doll-multiple-dolls/
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39) Volodymyr Zelensky’s Non-Compromise NATO Compromise
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Snider
“A key reason that Russia went to war in Ukraine was to prevent Ukraine from ever joining NATO; a key reason that Ukraine went to war with Russia was to defend their right to join NATO. On December 14, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave up Ukraine’s right to join NATO. He presented the concession as a compromise. But it is not really a compromise. Zelensky may intend the non-compromise to leverage concessions from Russia, but it may not really change anything.” [editor’s note: There was never any chance that Ukraine would join NATO … and Putin knew that. A manufactured excuse is not a real reason – TLK] (12/22/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/ted_snider/2025/12/21/volodymyr-zelenskys-non-compromise-nato-compromise/
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40) Ukraine’s own pragmatism demands “armed un-alignment”
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jennifer Kavanagh
“Under the current plan — or what is publicly known about it — Ukraine would cede the 20 percent of Donetsk that it currently controls to Russia in return for a package of security guarantees including an ‘Article 5-style’ commitment from the United States, a European ‘reassurance force’ inside post-war Ukraine, and peacetime Ukrainian military of 800,000 personnel. Despite optimism from U.S. officials, this proposal is unlikely to be the one that ends the conflict. There is a better path for Ukraine, one that will leave the country more secure and more confident in that security over the long run, without crossing Russian redlines or requiring expansive commitments from the United States: armed un-alignment.” (12/22/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/ukraine-neutrality-peace/
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41) Demands for Data Center Moratoriums Surge
Source: The American Prospect
by Gabrielle Gurley
“The major artificial intelligence companies’ prime directive to literally bulldoze AI infrastructure into states with minimal regulation has produced citizen-led, bipartisan demands for local and national moratoriums on data center siting. While the Trump administration is doing everything it can to facilitate the only capital spending with a pulse in the economy, these calls for moratoriums are growing, and connecting with local successes in blocking data center construction. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) recently called for a national moratorium on the construction of data centers that are ‘powering this unregulated sprint to develop and deploy AI’. Sanders did credit ‘the transformative power of AI and robotics’ before calling out Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, and Bill Gates with a simple question: ‘Are these multibillionaires staying up nights worrying about what AI and robotics will do to the working families of our country and the world?'” (12/22/25)
https://prospect.org/2025/12/22/demands-for-data-center-moratoriums-surge/
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42) Sharing the Wealth?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“El Gordo is the world’s second longest-running lottery, behind the Netherlands’ Staatsloterji, which started in 1726. It was first held on December 18, 1812, in the southwestern city of Cádiz, the home of Spain’s government-in-exile during the Napoleonic Wars. Though it raised much-needed money for cannons and bullets, some thought it morally questionable. Agustín de Argüelles, a member of the national congress, claimed that it ‘would be desirable to adopt more decent means … to sustain public necessities because the lottery, raffles and other games are resources that conspire with immorality and, as a consequence, are incompatible with the virtuous character that should be what distinguishes Spaniards in the future.’ Argüelles’s fears proved unfounded: over two centuries on, El Gordo is surely one of the most wholesome instances of mass-gambling on the planet.” (12/22/25)
https://fee.org/articles/sharing-the-wealth/
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43) Quantum Vibe, 12/22/25
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser
Cartoon. (12/21/25)
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=2566
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44) Donald Trump is not a conservative, let’s stop calling him one
Source: Orange County Register
by Matt Fleming
“Many commenting on American politics use the term conservative to describe anyone on the right side of the political spectrum, but that is inaccurate. Conservatives, libertarians, nationalists and populists are all distinct from each other but are all too often lumped together as one. It’s just as false to say liberal, progressive and socialist are all the same. Sure, all three might want to raise my taxes, but that doesn’t mean they’re identical philosophies. … Trump doesn’t govern like someone interested in limited government. In fact, he’s expanded government power at times and attempted to consolidate power for himself at other times. Trump’s use of executive orders and his novel interpretations of the Constitution have sought to seize more power for the Executive Branch than many of his predecessors. In this he is much closer to Franklin D. Roosevelt than he is to George Washington.” (12/21/25)
https://archive.is/uObNy
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45) A Red State Handout Designed to Keep People in Poverty
Source: Town Hall
by Scott Morefield
“A family friend, a single mom of two small children, just got denied help from Tennessee’s Families First, a program that is supposed to, among other things, help offset skyrocketing daycare costs for working families. This program is obviously huge because for lower-income people, the cost of daycare can be equal to or even more than what they make working a job. … She relies on her around $16/hour entry-level full-time job to pay rent, utilities, gas, car, vehicle maintenance, clothing, and other expenses (she does get some help for food and healthcare). You would think this person would be a prime candidate for childcare help, especially since she is working full-time and genuinely trying to move up the income ladder and make good decisions after somewhat of a troubled past that includes some minor drug charges.” (12/22/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/scottmorefield/2025/12/22/a-red-state-handout-designed-to-keep-people-in-poverty-n2668271
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46) My Resignation From The Heritage Foundation
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Josh Blackman
“It is with deep regret that I must resign my position as Senior Editor of the Heritage Guide to the Constitution. Indeed, I could not have even conceived of such an action only a few months ago when we launched the third edition of the guide. On Constitution Day, I proudly stood at the Heritage Foundation as we released this book to the world. But your actions have made my continued affiliation with Heritage untenable. … My resignation is effective immediately.” (12/21/25)
https://reason.com/volokh/2025/12/21/my-resignation-from-the-heritage-foundation/
-----
47) The Mainstream Left Will Never Represent the Lumpenproletariat
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“The problem on the mainstream left today is almost identical to the problem on the right. They are both run by old white cis het men for old white cis het men. The only difference is that the right admits it while the left just uses minorities like human shields while they kill Muslims with drones and organize the global bourgeoisie beneath decaying relics of progressive internationalism like the EU and the UN. Well, no more. No more Weimar allies buttering us up with petty privileges while the Nazis gather their guns. We need our own goddamn guns, our own clinics, our own schools, our own parties and organizations run from the bottom up by our own people.” (12/21/25)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-mainstream-left-will-never.html
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48) Let’s Not Grant the Postliberal Critique of Market Liberalism
Source: The UnPopulist
by Jonathan Rauch
“Discontents with liberal modernity are perennial and a spiritual awakening won’t cure them.” (12/21/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/lets-not-grant-the-postliberal-critique
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49) Antifa everywhere: What does antifascism mean?
Source: In These Times
by Alberto Toscano
“On the night Zohran Mamdani won New York City’s mayoral election, he delivered a rousing victory speech that made explicit the connection between his economic agenda and the national fight against authoritarianism. Calling out President Donald Trump, Mamdani declared, ‘If there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power.’ Several weeks later — after that despot had threatened to besiege New York City with immigration raids and strip its federal funding, should Mamdani win—the mayor-elect stood beside Trump during a surreal White House press briefing. When a reporter pressed Mamdani on whether he still considered the president a fascist, the jovial, clearly charmed Trump interjected, ’You can just say yes. … It’s easier than explaining it’. The response was disarmingly nonchalant, coming from the head of an administration that has gone to great lengths to crush opposition to fascism elsewhere.” (12/22/25)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/antifa-everywhere-war-on-terror-cve-material-support-laws-hlf5-terrorism
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50) How Federal Land Sales Can Fund Highways
Source: Independent Institute
by Scott Beyer
“Since the federal government entered the highway business early last century, it has largely paid for roads by taxing gasoline purchases. The federal gas tax accounts for roughly 70 percent of Highway Trust Fund revenue, and every state has its own gas tax as well. But today people don’t buy as much gas, and these funds face shortfalls. According to the Pew Research Center, the collective road maintenance backlog of 24 states has grown to over $86 billion since 2015. The tax was never a particularly good way to fund roads, and new solutions are overdue. Fortunately, there may be an opportunity to take advantage of skyrocketing demand for warehouses and data centers to help pay for roads, by selling state and federal land near highways.” (12/21/25)
https://www.independent.org/article/2025/12/21/how-federal-land-sales-can-fund-highways/
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Reason Roundtable, 12/22/25
Source: Reason
"Can J.D. Vance Stop a MAGA Civil War?" (12/22/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/12/22/can-j-d-vance-stop-a-maga-civil-war/
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52) Bulwark Takes, 12/22/25
Source: The Bulwark
“Jim Beam Distillery To Stop Production Amid Trump’s Trade War.” (12/22/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwjWDI6bnk4
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53) The Brian Nichols Show, 12/22/25
Source: Lions of Liberty
“AI Will Transform the 2026 & 2028 Elections Like Obama Did in 2008.” (12/22/25)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/tbns-ai-will-transform-the-2026-amp-2028-elections-like-obama-did-in-2008
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54) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 12/22/25
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“US Seizes Tanker Carrying Chinese Oil … Beijing Not Amused.” (12/22/25)
https://rumble.com/v73cbz6-us-seizes-tanker-carrying-chinese-oil…beijing-not-amused.html
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55) Conflicts of Interest, episode 861
Source: Libertarian Institute
“US Seizes More Ships in The Caribbean.” (12/22/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/kyle/coi-861-us-seizes-more-ships-in-the-caribbean
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56) Deplatforming Backfired
Source: Reason
“Progressive censors failed to suppress our political demons. It’s finally time to confront them.” (12/22/25)
https://reason.com/2025/12/22/deplatforming-backfired/
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57) TechTank, season 5, episode 33
Source: Brookings Institution
“‘Navigating Technology and National Security’ with author Justin Sherman.” (12/22/25)
https://shows.acast.com/tech-tank/episodes/navigating-technology-and-national-security-with-author-just
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58) EconTalk, 12/22/25
Source: EconTalk
“David Deutsch on the Pattern.” (12/22/25)
https://www.econtalk.org/david-deutsch-on-the-pattern/
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59) The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 12/22/25
Source: The Dispatch
“Rights, Obligations, and Nostalgia | Interview: Megan McArdle.” (12/22/25)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/rights-obligations-and-nostalgia-interview-megan-mcardle/
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60) Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 12/22/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“Netanyahu To Ask Trump for Another Iran War, US ‘Pursuing’ Third Tanker Near Venezuela, and More.” (12/22/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isCl7heUMmI
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